When we think of the holidays, it is very easy to get caught up in the joy of it all. There is a general consensus that the final months of the year are happy times filled with laughter and togetherness. However, for many people that is simply not the case. Instead, the holiday season can be quite the opposite.
In this issue, we want to showcase the complexities that come with the holidays, to show that there are always two sides to a story. Throughout this magazine, you will find stories that dive into the harsh realities of the most seemingly wonderful time of the year.
This is my third and final issue as the editor-in-chief of Access Magazine. As I sit down to write this letter, I’m flooded with gratitude for this incredible chapter of my life. While my time here may be coming to an end, I could not be more grateful for the experience I gained and the relationships I created along the way.
I was scared when I first took on this role. Although looking back, I now realize stepping into this position has been one of the most rewarding decisions I have ever made. Despite all the challenges and setbacks, I would not trade my time here for anything.
I want to say thank you to every single person who was involved in this process. To my incredible team of editors, writers, designers and photographers, none of the magazines we produced this semester would be possible without your hard work and dedication. I am so proud of everything we accomplished together. To our readers and supporters, thank you for engaging with our stories and pushing us to grow.
Lastly, to my amazing parents, thank you for giving me the strength to take on this challenge in the first place. I would not be here without your unwavering support and belief in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. Words cannot express my gratitude, I owe you both everything.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
maya pettiford
CONSUMERISM
Melissa Alejandres Staff Writer | @mel_72a
ronmental damage.
This begs the question: Where do all those gift bags, wrapping paper and unwanted plastic presents go? What about the loss of trees that go into making packaging boxes and those unused gifts?
“The trash produced between Thanksgiving and Christmas contributes one million extra tons of waste per week. And about $500 billion worth of items are bought and returned,” according to the Badger Herald, an independent student newspaper located in Madison, Wis.
Economics Associate Professor Justin Rietz said it’s the holiday season that puts many retailers to overproduce manufacturing goods for overconsumption.
As soon as commercials for new UGG boots and advertisements for the latest iPhone hit consumer’s Instagram feeds, there is a yearning desire to purchase items like these.
“Then maybe they give a gift that person doesn’t
Rietz said that the cycle of gift-giving produces more waste and affects the environment, leading to pollution.
“If we didn’t consume so much (then) we wouldn’t use so much wrapping paper and the production of that wrapping paper includes costing chemicals,” Rietz said.
Child development sophomore Andrea Jimenez at California State University Sacramento said one of the reasons why consumption occurs over the holidays is because of retail tactics.
“Many companies have already started putting up deals for Christmas when it’s literally a month away, which gets people shopping a month before Christmas,” Jimenez said.
During the holidays, it’s almost impossible to ignore the flashing letters on every screen or the bold signs sitting in storefront windows offering deals that draw shoppers.
Photos by Erika Vinculado
“They have crazy deals like 70% off an 80-inch TV, for $400, who doesn’t want that?
”
Seth Santarinala Communication Studies Senior
Jimenez said that retail affects overconsumption, but social pressure adds to the issue.
“People tend to give other people random stuff that they don’t use or probably will not end up using, some people just throw it away and or exchange it for something else,” Jimenez said.
The concept of gift-giving can also stem from culture.
“In many cultures, you are supposed to give gifts to your elders for respect, and in other cultures it’s flipped (where) you give gifts to your grandkids,” Jimenez said.
She added that the environment can be negatively affected during the holidays but how it is also a time to spread love and enjoy the concept of gift-giving.
Communication studies senior Seth Santarinala said he noticed that overconsumption tends to occur more especially during Black Friday.
The Gift of
Saturn WIlliams
Staff Writer | @saturn.sjsu
While families all over the United States gather around feasts in celebration of Thanksgiving and the holiday season, as many as 18 million households may struggle to find their next meal.
Representing the fifth largest economy in the world, 1 in 5 Californians experience food insecurity, according to 2020 Census data. In 2023, roughly 5 million residents fell below the California Poverty Measure poverty line, a household income of $39,900 a year.
Giving Back
iday meals tracker on the Second Harvest of Silicon Valley website.
“Many people reach out to us and they are like, ‘Hey, where can we direct people if they want a holiday meal?’” Gubbi said.
In 2024, the organization provided groceries to about 500,000 individuals each month on average, roughly one-sixth of Silicon Valley’s population.
The holiday season can be an increasingly stressful time for millions of Californians living in poverty. Multiple organizations are working to bridge the gap in San José and give back to underserved communities.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is one of the largest food banks in the United States and provides free groceries to food-insecure populations in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Shobana Gubbi, the organization’s chief philanthropy officer, has watched this population grow in her nine years working at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, outpacing the level of support for the food bank.
“Right now, we are seeing the highest level of need that we have ever experienced in our community,” Gubbi said.
In the last five years, the use of the food bank has doubled, distributing 11 million pounds of food each month in 2023, according to the Second Harvest of Silicon Valley website.
The food bank sees an increase of those in need during the holiday months and features a hol-
“It’s very unfortunate that in a place of so much wealth there is so much need, because we have enough food to go around, it’s not a supply issue,” Gubbi said.
Second Harvest of Silicon Valley also gives back to the community through advocacy work such as supporting California’s Universal School Meals Program legislated in 2022, which guarantees free breakfast and lunch to all K-12 students.
“There is more work to do. A lot of it is the need, the root causes (and) there are a lot of inequities,” Gubbi said.
Among the plethora of partner organizations helping the food bank distribute food, San José State University’s Spartan Food Pantry is one providing needed food for Silicon Valley college students.
The pantry opened in 2019, evolving from occasional distribution events in the Provident Credit Union Event Center with support from Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, according to the organization’s reporting on the opening.
Brenj Cuneta is the basic needs coordinator for the Spartan Food Pantry, a service utilized by over 3,800 students during the 2023-24 academic year, according to SJSU Cares’ annual report.
“
It’s very unfortunate that in a place of so much wealth there is so much need, because we have enough food to go around, it’s not a supply issue.
Shobana Gubbi Second Harvest of Silicon Valley Chief Philanthropy Officer ”
“Knowing these services help a lot of people and encountering someone who needs it, you get to share these services and lead them our way,” Cuneta said.
One of the organizations featured on Second Harvest of Silicon Valley’s free food finder is Martha’s Kitchen. This soup kitchen has been active since 1981 in San José which has served over 2 million meals so far in 2024 and is projected to serve over 2.5 million by the end of the year, according to the Martha’s Kitchen “About Us” page.
The kitchen’s executive director Bill Lee said these numbers are often underreported.
“We have people that won’t give us their information, and we don’t poke and prod because we don’t want that kind of a qualification to bar somebody from being able to eat and have a meal,” Lee added.
Students can visit the pantry once a week and qualify for its service by reporting their food insecurity in the Spartan Food Pantry intake form.
“In terms of the population, it’s very diverse, but we try to accommodate and we try to make outreach to make sure that the services of the pantry are known by all of those who need it,” Cuneta said.
The pantry operates under SJSU Cares, which provides emergency relief and support services for students in need and is led by Kednel Jean, the director of case management.
A soup kitchen is distinct from a food bank in that a food bank provides free groceries for food-insecure individuals while a soup kitchen serves hot meals.
“If you are unhoused, living in a car, an RV, a tent, etc., you don’t have refrigerators, you don’t have a way to take groceries and use them and cook and so you need prepared meals,” Lee said.
Californians over the age of 50 disproportionately experienced houselessness, making up 40% of the households interacting with houselessness response services while only making up 34% of the state’s general population.
“A very common demographic you will see (is) a couple who are living off of Social Security to rent a place and they’ll just barely eke by until one of the spouses passes away,” Lee said. “At that point, the surviving spouse now only has one Social Security check, not two, and that
surviving spouse can no longer afford the rent and utilities to where they were living and so that spouse becomes homeless.”
Lee usually sees an increase in volunteer turnout during the last two months of the year due to some of the kitchen’s special holiday programs.
“Aside from that, we hope that some of those folks may turn into regular volunteers because the regulars that come every week, they’re really our anchor,” Lee said. “People need to eat 365 days a year, so we’re not going to leave people without food on any given particular day,”
At Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, the strictly seasonal volunteers have led to detrimental effects elsewhere.
“A lot of people want to volunteer during the holidays, (so) we usually have a shortage of vol-
unteers in January and in the summer months,” Gubbi said.
Resource gaps, declining community engagement, awareness and stigma are some of the issues these local charitable organizations have dealt with.
Lee became the head of Martha’s Kitchen six years ago and has since observed the importance of not just uplifting one’s community during the season of giving but throughout all 12 months of the year.
“If you don’t get out and get involved in your community and make a difference, don’t expect your community to be a good community or get better,” he said.
Photos by Erika Vinculado Snowflakes from Adobe Stock
Traditional Holiday Foods
Melissa Alejandres Staff Writer | @Mel_72a
The season’s change brings in the need to satisfy holiday food cravings. Whether it be from street vendors or busy drivethroughs, food brings people from different cultures and backgrounds together.
“Culture food is traditionally timed throughout generations, preserving, seasoning, flavors, proteins and just unique methods (of) creation,” SJSU public relations alum Sendy Tapia said.
Tapia said she learned more about her Mexican roots through food.
“One of my favorite foods to make is enchiladas,” she said.
According to Guadalajara Grill and Tequila Bar’s menu, traditional enchiladas feature a tortilla wrapped around other food such as meat, cheese, or vegetables.
“Depending on the region of Mexico (it) varies (on) how dishes are made,” Tapia said.
Tapia’s parents are from Michoacan, Mexico, where the tortillas are lightly fired, dressed with red or green sauce, and finally stuffed with shredded chicken.
“Other cultural foods are tamales that are cornbased wrapped in corn husk where it may or may not carry protein, corn or chocolate,” Tapia said.
Tapia learned about Indigenous food by paying attention to the ingredients and how assimilation impacted their cuisine.
“Since food was an indicator of status and Indigenous people could enhance their status
with colonists by taking on Spanish culture, many Indigenous people adopted Spanish practices, cuisine included, ” according to the National Library of Medicine.
Tapia isn’t a big cook but she learned a lot about Southern comfort food from her partner who is from Mississippi. For example, she learned the difference between stuffing and dressing.
“I’ve learned how to make macaroni and cheese deliciously that would make any Mississippi auntie happy,” she said.
Animation and illustration sophomore Olivia Gallagher said her favorite holiday dessert is a baked good called black bottoms. It is a family recipe that her mother inherited from her grandmother.
“It’s half chocolate muffin and half cream cheesecake and there are chocolate chips sprinkled all over,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher said her favorite holiday food is macaroni and cheese with bread crumbs, which adds a crunchy twist to the dish.
“Food is a large part of culture because it’s not just about the food you are eating or making, it’s about the community that comes together to make the food,” Gallagher said.
Food is passed down through generations and is a fundamental part of culture and identity. It doesn’t matter what part of the globe you’re from each holiday traditional food represents where you come from.
Illustrations by Cia Castro
“
Food is a large part of culture because it’s not just about the food you are eating or making its about the community that coming together to make the food.
Olivia Gallagher Animation and Illustration Sophomore ”
Sophia Sipe Managing Editor | @sophiasipe
Photos by Jennifer Yin and Sophia Sipe
She could feel the wheeze of her panicked breathing. She could only hear the sound of her own thumping, her heartbeat racing. Eight-year-old Jeanette Tamayo was running aimlessly through bare blackness in east Palo Alto. She had no clue where she was going, searching only for semblance of safety. Desperate to get away from her captor.
Her wrists weren’t hurting from hours in metal handcuffs. The stab wounds in her chest and forehead no longer stung. The ache between her legs disappeared.
Surviving was all that mattered.
“You (Tamayo) were brave and that’s why you’re here today,” Chief Heather Randol of San José Special Victims Unit said.
Tamayo, a South San José native, is now 31. She’s a mother to a brutally honest and decisive daughter. She is a sworn full-time police officer and a self-proclaimed motorcycle enthusiast, with friends whom she rides with.
It’s been 21 years since she was kidnapped, raped and tortured by a stranger.
Though it produced a greater good, more than buried memories that occasionally resurface when her traumas are triggered.
The horror she endured shaped her perspective, from relationships to parenthood. It forged her motivation and narrowed her passion.
Now, those same wounds help guide her as a San Diego police officer and a mother. The depths of hurt forced a transition from victim to survivor. The courage she found that day, the resolve to overcome the trauma, has morphed into a drive to save others.
She’s grown so much. She’s overcome. She finds solace in her support system. She has a full appreciation of the mundane — holidays, lunch with friends, laughter.
CAPING
Without looking backwards, she chases a light peeking through the darkness. The glow of an eastside market on this June night was the first sign of salvation. She runs even faster with hope in her sights.
“What if he comes back for me?”
At full speed, she bursts through the glass doors and darts to the back of the drink aisle. “And I start to cry,” Tamayo said, recalling that memory seared into her psyche. “I’m crying because I’m like, ‘Really? Ok. I’m here.’ Like, I’m safe and I’m crying.”
The clerk sees her crying and asks if she’s ok. With a shaky voice, she says no and asks to use the clerk’s phone. She frantically dials her mother’s phone number. Voicemail. The familiar panic creeps back.
The clerk recognized the face across the counter. It was plastered across every sign and screen in town. Even national news outlets covered the story of the missing San José fourth grader.
“You’re the little girl from TV,” she recalled him asking.
Seconds later, police officers filled the store. Tamayo was overcome with relief.
“The police helped my family in time of need and we felt protected,” Tamayo said. “I wanted to be that for others.”
Heather Randol Chief of San Jose’s Special Victims Unit
HOMECOMING
Within seconds, officers swept Tamayo into a squad car. The cold leather seats stuck to her small thighs. The female officer’s gentleness was warming. They drove to the station together in silence.
Inside the precinct, walkie-talkie chatter permeated the air. Tamayo followed the officers to a table. Her lips turned upwards at the sight of a McDonald’s happy meal and some art supplies. With a kids cheeseburger in one hand and a crayon in the other, she began to draw.
She created a complete portrait for the officers. Only this artwork was too dark to decorate a kitchen fridge. It was devoid of a blazing sun in the corner. There was no white picket fence. This house was lifeless. Numbers trailed beneath it.
It was the place she spent hours bound to a dirty shower head. The place with a sunken bed. The place with enough of a view to be a devastating reminder of all she once took for granted.
“I remember looking outside of the window, seeing the trees and the sky, and I appreciated it so much,” Tamayo said.
She continued, “I thought ‘I can’t believe I never looked out the window and appreciated the way the wind blows.’”
After she finished her drawing, the officer who inquired about her picture eventually got to the numbers she drew at the bottom. Her answers left the cops painted with disbelief and awe.
“That’s his address and phone number,” young Jeanette told them.
They got to work. She did too.
COPING
Over the years, she’d try everything to feel normal. Anything to drown out the glimpses of being stabbed with a screw gun, bleeding out in a car and suffocating under a pillow.
Kids at school berated her with questions. Adults pitied her. She was the brunt of every cautionary tale.
A concoction of fist fights, tequila and weed served as the duct tape binding her adolescence. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t sustainable. But the young stopped messing with her and adults gave her respect.
The tape held until it didn’t.
“I stopped believing in God for a little bit,” she said, “because it feels like he’s supposed to be a protector of his children and I felt like I cheated death.”
A run-in with the law corrected her vision. When her case opened, she realized that change was necessary.
Her rebellion was a part of the process. It created a pivotal pathway to thrive. “I was making poor decisions … so they (officers) ended up saving me,” Tamayo said.
She fixed her high school GPA and found a new perspective. That’s when life began to change.
In tandem with the PTSD, she experienced signs of post-traumatic growth, or PTG, a psychological phenomenon found in trauma survivors.
“PTG refers to what can happen when some-
one who has difficulty bouncing back experiences a traumatic event that challenges his or her core beliefs, endures psychological struggle (even a mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder), and then ultimately finds a sense of personal growth,” Kanako Taku, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Oakland University said.
From PTG, survivors describe having a new appreciation for life, more relationships, strength and spiritual changes.
After graduating and joining the San José Police Department, she found herself longing for a new beginning. One less about who she was and more about who she’s becoming.
AVING SAN JOSE
She wound up in San Diego, where she’d build a new community and leave San José behind.
There, she’d learn that alongside community support, she was always equipped to save herself and others.
She saved herself countless times before.
After all, it was her own abilities that led officers to her captor.
“I asked her ‘Do you think you can find this [abductor’s] house?’” Randol said. When Tamayo responded yes, she led Randol and detectives to the place where she was held. From memory, she recounted each turn on various streets to lead them back to the house.
She’s the one who stowed her DNA-soaked underwear in her pockets as evidence for police officers to find.
Now, Tamayo does the rescuing.
It’s what gets her through active duty. It’s what sparks her commitment every morning. She works to pay forward that relief, the gratitude of being rescued. To be someone else’s beacon of light in a world that can be blindingly dark. It’s how good can come of her hurt.
Tamayo found a better life in San Diego.
There, she’d start piecing together a normal life. She’d join the police force. She’d try her hand at romance, dating the mixed bag of options on the scene.
A local course would teach her all she needed to know about driving a motorcycle. She’d get licensed and find a community of biker friends, driving a Kawasaki Ninja she bought. Something about the open road helps her feel free.
In 2019, her daughter was born. The young girl reminds Tamayo of the child she once was, before the kidnapping, when she played mermaids at the pool. Her daughter brought innocence back into her life.
NG ANEW
Apart from her occupation, she slowly found solace in her hobbies. She writes in her journal whenever she gets that itch. She paints and watches movies. She goes on day trips to SeaWorld.
When that grows tiresome, she rides her Kawaski monthly, watching the city fly by. Going out with her friends keeps her grounded. Talking to her brother about his travel plans fills the space.
Though most of her time is spent being a mother. Together, they do it all — the boring and the celebratory.
“I’m grateful because I feel like I’m doing more than I ever could do as a kid,” Tamayo said. “I felt like my childhood was wrong for me, and my daughter rebuilt that.”
She helps her with her homework and slicks back her ponytails. She takes her on dinner dates and Hawaii vacations. She lets her child soak up the effluvia of being young.
“My daughter should be able to be a kid even though me and my siblings didn’t grow up the same,” Tamayo said. “And that’s the cycle that I’m kind of breaking.”
400-500 CE
The first historical accounts of “Yule” in 5th century Germanic calendars.
Though the pagan winter holiday had existed far before this account, these calendars are the first intact references of it being called “Yule.” Traditional Yule festivities include the decorating of the Yule tree and placing the Yule log in the home to burn for 12 days, the entire length of the festival, according to a 2021 Loudoun Museum article. The Yule Tree represents Norse mythology’s Yggdrasil and is decorated to ward off evil spirits, according to the same article. The concept of decorating a tree for Christmas would not appear until more than 1000 years later.
900-1000 CE 1800-1900 CE
Scandinavia was the last Germanic region to be Christianized during the 10th century.
Haakon I Adalsteinsfostre, a king of Norway from 920-961, initiated the Christianizing of Norway by moving the Yule holiday to coincide with the Christian Christmas celebration. Historically, moving the pagan and Christian holidays to coincide has preceded the overtaking of pagan traditions by the spread of Christianity, as seen with the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti in Rome. The Saga of Haakon the Good written by 13th-century Norse historian Snorri Sturlason stated, “It was his intent, as soon as he had set himself fast in the land, and had subjected the whole to his power, to introduce Christianity.”
Many modern Christmas traditions were solidified in the 19th century as a part of the Oxford Movement from the Church of England.
The movement emphasized Christmas as a festive family holiday and was influenced by English writers such as Charles Dickens and Clement Clark Moore. In 1822, Moore connected the 4th-century bishop and patron saint of children, St. Nicholas, to the Christmas tradition as the central gift-giver in “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” Meanwhile, decorated Christmas trees were popularized by the British royal family, introduced by Queen Charlotte in 1800, according to accounts from the queen’s biography.
Photos by Analyn Do Illustrations by Jose Pelaez
Busy Days & Silent Nights
Kennedy
Mayo Staff Writer | @kennedymayo_
For most people, the holiday season represents a time to relax and spend quality time with family. However, the balance of work and personal life through the holidays is a significant challenge for teachers.
Teachers often find themselves overwhelmed with hosting final exams, grading papers and helping students, which can disrupt time that could be spent with their families. San Jose Staté University’s faculty share their different perspectives when it comes to managing life and school during the holidays.
Dr. Anji Buckner-Capone, assistant professor for public health and recreation, has been at SJSU for 15 years. She discusses her approach to balancing teaching and personal life during the holidays.
“I’ve stopped using the word balance because it doesn’t work for me,” Buckner-Capone said. “Parts of my personal life and professional life will never be balanced.”
Instead, she uses the word ‘harmony.’
“I want these parts of my life to be able to work concurrently to meet my needs and to also meet the needs of the places where I am,” Buckner-Capone said.
Her strategy includes self-grace, clear communication, staying organized and setting realistic timelines.
She emphasizes the importance of reflection to assess what is working, identify areas for improvement and seek help when needed. This allows her to manage her responsibilities and achieve a sense of accomplishment.
“I establish a timeline for what I can do and when I can do that, and then I try to stick with it, acknowledging and accepting that those things are going to change,” Buckner-Capone said.
“Parts of my personal life and professional life will never be balanced.
”Dr. Anji Buckner-Capone Assistant Professor for Public Health and Recreation
Michael Dao, assistant professor in the department of kinesiology, has been at SJSU for six years and discusses his strategy for balancing academic responsibilities with personal life during the holidays.
“We know it’s quite busy at the end of the semester, leading into the holidays, so with grading and getting everything done, I make sure I get that done the best way I can and the most immediate way I can,” Dao said.
He prioritizes grading and other tasks efficiently to ensure it is distinct from his holiday time. He also emphasizes the importance of spending quality time with family without work interruptions.
“I prioritize being with my family when they meet me and when I want to be with them,” Dao said. “I just make sure to get things done and then I turn my email off.”
Assistant professor for the Higher education Leadership MA program, Liliana Lilliana Castrellón, shares her approach to balancing work and personal life during the holidays. She emphasizes the importance of physically removing herself from her workplace, especially by traveling home to Los Angeles.
“The only time I didn’t get to go home was, during COVID-19 and that makes a difference to physically remove myself from my workplace and to be around family,” Castrellón said.
Despite not typically going on vacations, she values spending time with family more since moving from the East Coast to the West Coast.
“My breaks are always spent going home, especially because I was on the East Coast for so long and not able to really go home that often,” Castrellón said. “Being back for the past year and a half has let me be able to go home much more often than I’ve been able to in the past.”
For some teachers, balancing school and life during the holidays might involve setting specific times for work and personal activities, reflecting on their daily routines to identify areas for improvement, and using strategies such as time-blocking or delegation to manage their workload. As teachers navigate their busy lives, they demonstrate the power of resilience and different forms of self-care.
Erika Vinculado Staff Writer | @ikavinc
(un)HOME ALONe
As festive lights brighten the streets, cheerful songs take over the radio and gifts fly off retail shelves, many celebrate yuletide spirit. For houseless individuals surviving in the streets, it is just another season.
The houseless community in Santa Clara County are facing obstacles with the upcoming change in weather and grief of surviving the holidays out on the streets.
There are 6,340 houseless individuals living within Santa Clara County, which ranks San José as the fourth highest houseless population in the United States, according to NBC Bay Area News.
RRR
The houseless community suffers from instability of living conditions, lack of access to basic necessities, high risk of being harassed and deteriorating mental and physical health.
Living on the streets may have long-term negative trauma to the houseless community. The high rate of houselessness in Santa Clara County reflects the systemic injustices that stem from inequities such as limited access to healthcare, structural racism and affordable housing.
Julie Anderson, executive director of Recovery Café San José, described the challenges houseless individuals face during the holidays.
Photos of Recovery Café San José
Photos by Erika Vinculado
RRecovery Café San José is a local nonprofit organization that focuses on supporting individuals from houselessness, trauma and drug addiction rehabilitation. It focuses on mental health challenges, ensures unhoused individuals with food, comfort and navigation of housing.
“The main challenges of the houseless population are staying warm, getting enough food and feeling comfortable,” Anderson said.
Donald Raywallace, an active Recovery Café San José member who has experienced houselessness in the past, had felt isolated during the holiday season.
“When I was houseless in the past, I had nobody during the holiday season, no support, no family, no friends,” Raywallace said. “I felt really down as nobody helped and I found the people living on the streets were much friendlier than those who walked by the streets everyday.”
Raywallace’s determination to seek help taught him how to navigate housing, food, supportive communities and organizations like Recovery Café San José.
R“There’s always one person who will help if you ask questions,” Raywallace said.
Currently, Raywallace has housing and plans to cook and celebrate the holidays with friends.
Emmanuel Bautista, a houseless Bay Area resident, sleeps in his car near his workplace.
“Housing that is local to my workplace is too expensive,” Bautista said.
He said that he has to deal with obstacles and worries while finding a safe place to park.
“People have preconceptions about the houseless community based on their own life experiences as we see the world through the lens of our own experience, there’s a lot of misunderstanding why people are
Rhouseless and what keeps people houseless,” Anderson said. “Places like Santa Clara County are missing a large range of affordable living options and opportunities to get into those.”
NBC Bay Area News reported how in Santa Clara County, about 24% of those surveyed were unhoused because they lost their job and 11% because of drug or alcohol use. It is also claimed that one third of the houseless population are unable to work, 41% seek employment and 28% are not seeking employment.
Staying warm is another concern for houseless communities. With the cold weather approaching, low temperatures and quick spreading diseases can be a concerning risk for houseless people in public and in shelters according to Eccovia, a company that provides data analytics solutions to health and human services providers.
Bautista has a family in Sacramento, but the long drive and work obligations during the holiday season prevents him from visiting.
“I wish I could spend the holidays with my family, but those are the only days when I can make sure I can earn extra money with every opportunity I get,” Bautista said. “It’s hard not
” “
RI felt really down as nobody helped and I found the people living in the streets were much friendlier than those who walked by the streets everyday.
Donald
Raywallace Recovery Café member
being with my family for the holidays and I miss being able to be with my daughters.”
For Bautista, the holiday season showcases the isolation that comes with houselessness and another reminder of the struggles living paycheck to paycheck.
“Being able to have holiday plans is not an option for me,” he said. “The weather is getting colder and I’m more worried about my car breaking down than I am about celebrating.”
Despite hardships, Bautista is hopeful for better days.
“My daughters are waiting for me and I hope things get better soon,” he said.
The holiday season serves as a reminder of grief to many houseless individuals and how it is just another typical day.
“
Being able to have holiday plans is not an option for me. The weather’s getting colder, and I’m more worried about my car breaking down than I am about celebrating.
Emmanuel Bautista Houseless Bay Area resident ”
$TEALINGCHRI$TMA$
Taylor Shepherd Content Editor | @taylor.shepherd
As the holiday season approaches, retailers gear up for a surge in record gift spending, while also contending with a rise in organized retail crime and evolving theft tactics.
Over 2,055 stores have closed or are set to close across the U.S. this year, according to a business tally from 13 retail chains. Target blamed theft and violence for their decision to close nine stores, according to CNBC.
Americans are expected to spend a record $957 billion on gifts as online shopping has become one of the biggest shifts in consumer behavior from the pandemic, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported by the television news station WRGB.
“Online and other non-store sales are expected to increase between $273.7 billion and $278.8 billion. That figure is up from $255.8 billion in 2022,” the NRF said.
More spending is expected because many feel optimistic about the economy and feel there is a solid footing with the economy this year, according to NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.
Coined on X in the early 2010s, “porch pirates,” denotes a new way of stealing during the holiday season.
These modern thieves follow delivery trucks
and others’ packages as if these were addressed to them, stealing what is left outside peoples’ doors. It is estimated that 36% of Americans have had a package stolen from outside of their house at least once, according to ADT.
Porch pirates feel excitement as they try to guess what’s in the packages they took for themselves. They hope that the small packages they steal have expensive items that can be resold.
“Porch piracy has become an epidemic in this country with 67% of Americans falling victim, 22% have had more than one package stolen and 11% have had three or more stolen,” according to Forbes.
T.J. Maxx loss prevention and customer service associate Walter Robinson said he has to be more aware of his surroundings during the holiday season.
“I have been trained to combat retail theft by identifying subjects as well as how to prevent shrink and loss,” Robinson said. “Last year, we had about $880,000 worth of loss at the Brentwood location alone. This year right now [October] it’s around $791,000.”
Shrink is the loss of inventory in a retail store that is unaccounted for or unknown. Employees at T.J. Maxx are trained to do “shrink walks” when heading to and from their breaks.
This entails walking to high-theft parts of the store such as luggage and handbags, the beauty department and women’s shoes.
When doing the shrink walks, employees look for luggage or handbags that are not locked up or censored, beauty products on the floor and shoes out of place.
Robinson adds that during the holidays it is important to be aware of customers who carry bigger bags, bigger carts or come in groups.
While on the floor he said that they have to pay attention to the “big fish.”
“If there are multiple shoplifters in the store, you have to focus on the person who is known to really go for it,” he said.
To combat these issues, workers in the entrance act as deterrents. Robinson continued by saying that holiday theft can be hectic.
“It is not the Super Bowl or anything, but it is to be treated as such,” he said. “Everybody is a potential player and somebody is going to steal day in and day out.”
Design studies junior Juan Rodriguez Balderas works at Lowe’s.
“Theft is a bummer because I’m here as a student working my ass off trying to get an education, get a degree, get a job and pay for my stuff, but people just come in, steal it and that’s why all the prices go up,” he said.
“
” If there are multiple shoplifters in the store, you have to focus on the person who is known to really go for it.
Walter Robinson
T.J. Maxx Loss Prevention and Customer Service Associate
Photos by Jason Parker
Business administration, corporate accounting and finance concentration junior Jhaed Isaac Gregorio has worked in retail for a few years.
“I used to job hop and every job I have had there are always more people stealing during the holidays,” he said. “The stores are much busier making it easier to blend in when walking out.”
Justice studies junior Yuliana Alcaraz has worked at several locations throughout the holiday season including Marshalls, Toys“R”Us and JOANN Fabric and Crafts.
“At JOANN’s, starting from November until the end of January, we had a group of women who would come in, gather things in their shopping carts and try to return them,” she said. “In reality, they would try to return these items as if they had actually bought them and get cash back.”
Alcaraz said the group of women would do this at various JOANN’s locations.
“The store in total ended up losing about $2,000 and I do not think they were caught, but I left before finding out,” she said.
Preventing retail theft during the holidays helps safeguard businesses, support employees and create a safer, festive shopping experience for everyone.
Photo of Taylor Shepherd
Photos by Jason Parker
The pressure to find the perfect present while sticking to a budget and meeting high expectations can quickly turn from a thoughtful gesture to a source of anxiety.
In a nationwide survey to explore the psychology behind America’s gift giving habits, “two thirds of surveyed Americans struggle to find the perfect gift and 71% of Americans felt anxiety about gift shopping within the past year,” according to Etsy News.
The same report states how over half of the surveyed Americans have at least one person in their life who they find stressful to buy a gift for.
Photo of Alejandra Gallo
Photo by Analyn Do
Taylor Shepherd
“I buy gifts for my mother, sister and a couple of friends. I feel pressured when someone gets me a gift and I did not get them one.”
—Film senior Tino Luu
“I buy gifts for my parents, close friends, grandmother and three cousins. I always feel pressured when I think about how much I spend per person. If I spend $40 on one cousin and only $30 on another, I start to feel guilty about the difference. This can make it tough since everyone has different tastes and each comes with a different price range.”
—Nutrition sophomore Alexander Tran
“I don’t want them to feel disappointed when receiving a gift that they will never use.”
—Undeclared sophomore Peter Pham
“As an international student it is really hard for me to buy gifts for everyone because our budget is limited, the price of things and we do not celebrate Christmas in my country, so for me it’s just a normal day. Because of this, I have to put more effort into thinking and planning out their gifts.”
—Business administration of management sophomore Thao Nguyen
“I stress the most when it comes to buying gifts for one of my best friends, my brother and his wife. I find it challenging to set an equal price for everyone, but I tried to be smart this year and get everyone’s gifts before Halloween.”
—M.A. Library information science Ashlee Vasquez
The Harsh Reality
for San Jose’s Animal Shelters
Jennifer Yin
Copy Editor | @Misslovetohaight
Trappers and Lani’s Legacy:
Michael and Holly Trapper, a husband and wife duo, tend to their rescued chinchillas at their home, which they comfortably call California Chins (CA Chins). The Trapper’s wedding photo, taken in 1993, can be seen poking through the glass door with Holly’s white puffy dress and Michael’s gleaming smile that seemingly welcomes guests.
However, tending to chinchillas was not always their main profession in life. Holly served as a software configuration manager at Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), an American defense and aerospace manufacturer that is known for developing missile systems including ballistic missiles and reentry systems.
Michael currently works as a Linux system administrator with LMT and president for CA Chins.
“How we got started — we had a foster son but wanted a pet hamster because he watched ‘Hamtaro.’ We had to get something more durable, so we had chinchillas. Holly struck up a friendship with Lani and ‘bing, bang, boom’ that’s where we are now,” Michael said.
CA Chins was founded by three women, Lani Ritchey, Betti Cogswell and Roxane Beeman in 1998 with a core mission of educating people regarding rescued chinchillas. However, Ritchey transferred ownership of the nonprofit to the Trappers after her mother became ill in 2018. A year later, Ritchey mournfully passed away in her 60s which may have been due to type 1 diabetes.
by Jennifer Yin
Photo
However, Ritchey’s last gift to the world and her chinchillas was to leave her entire estate to CA Chins after her passing. Now, the Trappers can tend to her legacy by continuing to care for rescued chinchillas.
As the day progressed, Michael and Holly closed their day by feeding the chinchillas dried rose petals while planning their next adoption event, “ChinDome Chinchilla Petting Zoo,” at Pet Food Express
Adopt My Block with Dan:
Away from CA Chins lies Adopt My Block (AMB), a northern San José dog rescue organization that “focuses on rehoming at-risk dogs as well as helping struggling pet parents with supplies and emergency vet services.”
AMB was founded in 2019 by Dan Martinez with the hopes of improving the lives of dogs in his neighborhood. However, the nonprofit had to pivot directions once people started surrendering their canines.
“Some of the dogs that (were) surrendered were dogs that were purchased at one point — pit bulls and bullies (American bully),” Martinez said. “It shocked me that someone would spend money on (it) then a year later they say, ‘oh, I can’t have this thing anymore,’ especially when I realized how impacted the shelters were.”
The City of San José Animal Care and Services, located at 200 E. Santa Clara St., currently has roughly 150 dogs, 185 cats and 53 small rodents available on its website. However, AMB only houses seven to eight dogs at a time.
“Fortunately, in San José, there is no such thing as a kill shelter, that’s a term that people put on shelters. The San José Animal Care Center will work with a dog for as long as possible but resources are finite. At some point, they have to make a tough decision if a dog is not thriving or making any kind of strides in that department,”
Martinez collects donations year-round and sells merchandise from his clothing company ‘Dogs Are Dope,’ as a way to financially support AMB where all proceeds goes directly back to their adoptable canines. In addition, the organization provides financial assistance for spay, neuter and vaccine services for their clients.
Dog photos courtesy of Adopt My Block
“We are fortunate enough to have one of San José Foos, Jorge Anthony Gomez, as a board member and marketing director, so he designs all of our ‘Dogs Are Dope’ merchandise,” Martinez said. “We’re the official dog rescue of San José Foos. Last year, they posted adoptable dogs on their Instagram page and all five dogs were adopted.”
Relax with The Dancing Cats:
The community seems to be the foundation for San José animal adoption nonprofit, including The Dancing Cat, a cage-free feline lounge located in downtown. Similarly to the City of San José Animal Care and Services, the nonprofit has seen an abundance in the number of available cats for adoption.
“Running a cat rescue can be very emotional because there is a need for cats to find homes and there are so many living on the streets,” Co-founder and President Ann Chasson said. “We hear sad stories that people can no longer care for it and they turn to us (but) we don’t have the capacity, so to have to say ‘no’ is very sad and difficult.”
However, Ellen Hayenga, a volunteer and greeter, sheds a hopeful light on Chasson’s struggles. She said as the cats
bolted from one side of the room, “There’s a lot of volunteers and they’re taking cats out of the community — it’s remarkable. I was told at a recent volunteer picnic that there were a couple hundred people.”
Dan Martinez Founder of Adopt My Block ” “
It always shocked me that someone would spend so much money on (it) then a year later they say, ‘oh, I can’t have this thing anymore’
The animals at CA Chin, AMB and The Dancing Cat may differ in species but what the animals do have in common is the shared experience of being cared for by passionate people such as the Trappers, Martinez, Chasson and Hayenga despite their organization’s hardships.
Photo by Jennifer Yin
CHRISTMAS
Erika Vinculado Staff Writer | @ikavinc
As holiday lights twinkle and festive tunes fill the air, the year-end celebrations draw near but beneath the cheer, the festive season could be leaving a lasting mark on our planet.
Here are some ideas to create more conscious festive decoration alternatives:
Christmas Tree:
Gather fallen leaves and stick them to the wall to create a Christmas tree.
Buy a small plant that resembles a Christmas tree and reuse each year.
Gift Wrapping Ideas:
Reuse disposable bags and paper bags.
Use unwanted old clothes, cut them into pieces and sew them together.
Christmas alternative decorations:
Use old paper to create origami pieces and connect them through strings like yarn, twine, etc to make a garland.
Dry out plants and hang them around the house.
Gifts:
Consider making gifts from scratch.
Thrifting has a lot of great quality second-hand items for cheaper prices.
Shopping at places such as REI where there are second-hand items for almost half the price.
Background texture from Adobe Stock
Illustrations by Jose Pelaez
TECH BROS CAN’T DRAW
The Relationship (or lack thereof) between Silicon Valley Tech and the Arts and Culture Sector
Sendy Tapia | @sunlightbysailynn
Atransitional wind commenced a shift into the autumn season claiming the northern hemisphere, rustling leaves in the treetops, prompting cooler temperatures and harnessing the social practice of gathering. Still, this October evening was far from celebrating a change in seasons.
The gathering is about acknowledging changes in a sector specializing in bringing communities together.
Under the serene glass panels in the Mexican Heritage Plaza, a vital arts and culture organization buds in the heart of East San José. There, leaders from various creative and folk practices gather to support the exigency of philanthropic revitalization in Silicon Valley’s arts and culture sector.
On the inaugural evening of the State of the Arts Report, a study conducted by a coalition of independent artists and organizations, known as Cultural New Deal Silicon Valley (CNDsv), chairs uniformly lined the front of a stage where Taiko and African drummers collaborated.
The gathering stood as a representative tapestry of how cultures can shape and form around each other for the collective good. A good that is undervalued by foundations, institutions and funders. In a singular statement by Demone
Carter, one of the arts leaders in the CNDsv steering committee, a unanimous ache is recognized: “Living here hurts.”
The financial ache of rising living costs in Silicon Valley is a dominant narrative, but to equitably thrive in the environment is only recently being measured, let alone properly valued.
The Silicon Valley Pain Index (SVPI), a statistical overview of structured inequalities in the valley, releases an annual report on the aggravating quality of life.
While new riches spread across Silicon Valley, wealth inequality skyrocketed throughout the rest of the valley. Families with multigenerational roots in this once fertile soil are grasping for the resemblance of the simple life: before jammed freeways, before the impossible housing prices and before San Jonera was used and abused by the influx of tech culture.
A direct consequence of these agonizing costs is the declining health of the arts and culture sector. Once sustained by the altruistic acts of philanthropy amongst the wealthy, the new elite recognized as the digital revolutionists, stray from charitable acts in the creative sector.
The shift in philanthropic acts between emerging wealth and the conventional methods of
giving is weakening sustainability, creating an urgent crisis demanding attention and action.
The Withering Philanthropy Well
Private philanthropy holds an essential role in the arts and culture sector — it fills the gaps that the government fails to meet. During the inaugural evening with the creative thought leaders behind the State of the Arts report, a compelling
There’s a disconnect between the role of the arts, of activating spaces and the arts ecosystem as it relates to daily life.
Omar Rodriguez Marketing Director of Kooltura Marketing ”
question echoed in the glass room: ‘What would your artist practice look like if money was not an object?’
The whispers of a utopian and mundane reality filled with seasons of theatrical, and captivating art scenes loom above Silicon Valley residents.
An artist’s freedom could fuel the local sector into a new era of renaissance.
“In this world, artists could pause and reflect on their art, support their loved ones, put down payments on homes, and do more volunteer mentoring work with youth and seniors,” Demone Carter said.
That’s the power of imagination, inspiration and perseverance even in the face of adversity. The State of the Arts report defined the fears behind artists and organizations as potential backlash by current partnerships for being ‘ungrateful.’ Yet, these executive directors are often pinned against each other when competing for the limited grants and resources available at the federal, state and especially local levels.
The lasting damage to professional and interpersonal relationships cuts deep when foundations and institutions shift their priorities for trends. These shifts impact the sustainability of the sector. The structure of current philanthropy is an unstable foundation lacking equitable investments in Silicon Valley.
Omar Rodriguez, marketing director of Kooltura Marketing explains from the perspective of a multicultural marketing agency working with nonprofit arts organizations across the valley.
“There’s a disconnect between the role of the arts, of activating spaces and the arts ecosystem as it relates to daily life,” Rodriguez said.“We forget that in order for a venue to function, it needs a lot of investment just to function as an event space, and that disconnects how much it actually takes to produce events and activate a space.”
“The investment may be overlooked or undervalued because it’s more than the mainstream arts; there’s a lot of smaller creative pockets playing a pivotal role in feeding the arts ecosystem within San José,” he said.
Riches in Silicon
If Silicon Valley were a nation, it would rank among the wealthiest due to its high concentration of tech companies and per-capita wealth potentially placing it near countries like Qatar or Luxembourg.
According to a statistic in the SVPI, “Total wealth in Silicon Valley amounts to $1.7 trillion; if divided equally, every resident would receive $2 million; today, 224,000 households have less than $5,000.”
Some of these corporations’ most in-demand tech positions include software engineers, web developers, computer systems engineers, analysts and system security. In a wicked twist of fate, engineering evolved from solving and refining the betterment of humankind to a conditioned system centered on production for profit and capitalistic growth.
In a 2019 study by Edward Conlon at the Technological University Dublin, corporate engineers are regarded as prisoners to a capitalist machine. “Engineers matter to capitalism: economic growth is dependent on a process of continual technological renewal and change.”
However, this new generation of professionals are on screens, working on computers; sociology is different. A common identifier across tech workers and leaders is the lack of artistic and cultural artifacts in their homes. These things are replaced by devices, workout rooms and minimal decor.
“There are strong pressures on engineers to conform to corporate agendas. These are reinforced by engineering education which, in the main, endorses a market-orientated approach to education,” Conlon explains. Perhaps to produce quality products, one must always be engaging in said products.
The motivating force of capitalism is the never-ending quest for profits and accumulation. And yet, SVPI demonstrates, “0.001% of Silicon Valley households hold $110 billion in total liquid wealth, 12 times more than the bottom 50% of the region.”
The chokehold is the disconnection between high-tech corporations and Silicon Valley’s arts and culture sector, which are as vital to their livelihoods as the working class community who cooks their meals, cleans office spaces and manicures corporations.
When employees take off, where will they entertain themselves if galleries close and spaces on shoestring budgets can’t fund high-quality events?
“These high-tech folks that have become wealthy don’t have the same culture of giving that other millionaires and billionaires of the
past have of giving money,” said Scott Myer-Lipton, a sociology professor at San Jose State University and co-author of the SVPI.
Diving deeper into the sociology of an engineer and the prosocial behavior of corporate giving will take further investigation of the emerging elite. If the shift is in the culture, what will motivate a software engineer to donate to l nonprofits who are eager to develop relationships with new funders?
Omar Rodriguez Marketing Director of Kooltura Marketing ” “
The investment may be overlooked or undervalued because it’s more than the mainstream arts; there’s a lot of smaller creative pockets playing a pivotal role in feeding the arts ecosystem within San José.
San Jose’s Tormented Victorian Houses
Alexis Marquez
The old Victorian houses on North 4th Street and East St. John Street have become sites for fires, a fatal shooting and homeless encampments. Blights in San Jose are prevalent all around the city, but one site in particular has faced a lot of torment. In March, a fire took down both houses on North 4th Street and East St. John Street. Since the location has become a site for a fatal shooting and homeless encampments.
The March fire left half-standing burnt houses with debris covering the site, but now dangerous metals, wood, plastics and materials are all that remain. Although the lot is fenced, the environmental impacts cause concern for the local community.
Dan Holden, a San José man experiencing houselessness, expressed his safety concerns. “Well, the big fear that I have is [I and other] homeless going in there scavenging for whatever we can find in the rubble and that is obviously kind of dangerous to us too, it can hurt us...we can step on something sharp,” Holden said.
Not only are people looking for items in the debris but some are setting up encampments there.
Holden expresses his sadness for the victims of the fire, the people the blight is affecting, and the lack of action in the city.
Tai Nguyen, a local business owner near the sites, speaks to many of these concerns.
“One of the owners by the site came over to ask if I have any recording of a person trying to set another fire at that same location,” Nguyen said.
He mentions that some who hang around his business at night have allegedly witnessed the arsonist. According to Nguyen, police investigated
the affected area often, but the San José Police Department was unable to make a comment to confirm or deny these claims.
His neighbors are not just affected by the fires. Nguyen recounts “a bullet ricocheting into their [neighbors’] window.”
Living and working by this blight is an adjustment for the community, who’ve become accustomed to danger and pollution.
Public Information Manager for Planning Building and Code Enforcement, Marika Krause, said there are now two code enforcement officers for vacant buildings that focus their efforts toward beautifying the city.
Similarly, stronger violations will be enforced in an effort to clean up the city. A slew of properties are affected. The Lawrence Hotel on East San Fernando Street will start seeing higher charges for their code violations if they are not fixed by September 30.
The abandoned church at 39 E. St. James St. reached its maximum fine of $100,000, leading officials to talk about the next steps to meet compliances. The old Victorian houses are projected to be put under new management.
In addition, a judge established a receiver to handle the cleanup for the site. Two big, blue, graffitied portable containers have been removed from the lot as well as the torn yellow caution tape from the fence. However, concerned residents maintain that not much else has changed.
Due to this inactivity San Jose has filed a lawsuit against the new receiver Brent Lee. San Jose aims to get the blight taken care of sooner rather than later as there have been reports since 2018.
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Photo of Alejandra Gallo and Jason Parker Photo by Analyn Do
ABOUT ACCESS TEAM
Access Magazine is a student-run publication at San José State University. It is conceptualized, edited, designed, published and distributed by students.
Our goal is to write stories for our students and our community on topics that are important, informative, educational and entertaining.
Our team comprises creative thinkers and passionate writers who strive to produce unforgettable issues every semester.
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Maya Pettiford
MANAGING EDITOR
Sophia Sipe
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Simon Haupt
CONTENT EDITOR
Taylor Shepherd
COPY EDITORS
Jennifer Yin
Tracy Escobedo
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Tracy Escobedo
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Tony Hoang, Adora Vu, Doan (Iris) Nguyen, Jose Pelaez, Cia Castro, Antony Cucina
