DAM! UP IN SMOKE Page 17
letter from
G
THE EDITOR
Dear reader,
et it? The title refers to the fact the school’s mascot is the beaver, and beavers build dams. This is what I imagined whoever came up with the title for this thing was thinking, but as the semester dragged on, I felt as if I was damned for putting my name in the hat to be in charge of creating the thing that is currently in your hands. This issue we bring to you a look on the last days of the ban of marijuana, a linguist who invented a language that is featured on the HBO television series “Game of Thrones” and athletes who beat each other up with medieval style weapons while dressed in metal armor. I would like to say thank you to design editor Jordan Schauberger, copy editor Hannah Darden and the DAM! Magazine staff for all of the hard work that was put into this issue. Thank you to journalism adviser Walter Hammerwold for his support and for keeping us on track, and to photo adviser Jill Wagner for all your insight and advice. The first magazine’s editor playfully referred to DAM! Magazine as a monster to put together. With that said, I would also like to extend a word of thanks to the past magazine editors, Cintia Lopez and Barbara Harvey. You created the skeleton of the beast; we were the ones who added the additional layers of flesh to it. And most importantly, thank you for reading this. Without you, what we are doing would have been meaningless.
Joseph Daniels Magazine Editor
DAM! STAFF
MAGAZINE EDITOR Joseph Daniels COPY EDITOR Hannah Darden DESIGN EDITOR Jordan Schauberger STAFF Itzin Alpizar Timon Barkley Bailey Carpenter Shiavon Chatman Ashley Davis Kyle Elsasser Mack Ervin III Robert Hansen Nicole Kesler Timothy Lipuma Allante Morris Matthew Nobert Matthew Peirson Sharriyona Platt Justina Sharp ADVISER Walter Hammerwold PHOTO ADVISER Jill Wagner
3 5 7 11 13 15 17 19
HANDBAGS AND HANDGUNS
A Sacramento gun group chapter aims to empower women by teaching them about firearms
FLIPPING TIRES
A gym that utilizes hundred pound tires instead of traditional weightlifting equipment
YE OLDE FIGHT CLUB
Combatants who fight each other with medieval weapons
CONSTRUCTING LANGUAGES
A linguist explains how he was able to create Dothraki, a language that is featured in ‘Game of Thrones’
PRAYING AT ARC
A southern-style baptist church congregates at ARC every Sunday
FAST CARS AND GEARHEADS
People explain the connections that car culture brings to their lives
UP IN SMOKE
A look at the closing days of the prohibition against marijuana
QUEENS OF THE STAGE
An inside look at drag queens and their performances
Handbags and handguns Story by Hannah Darden | Photos by Sharriyona Platt and Hannah Darden
In a world where women cannot walk down the street after dark without the fear of violence or sexual assault, they need a way to defend themselves. Such is the belief of the Sacramento chapter of the Well Armed Woman (TWAW). 3 DAM!
B
efore making the decision to shoot someone, the person has to be okay with the idea of killing an individual, according to Debbie MacDonald, a founding member of the Sacramento chapter. “What’s the alternative?” said MacDonald. “Death. And for women, rape. Is that a fun alternative? No. We’re not gonna let that happen.” TWAW is a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to firearms education, safety and law. Their meetings happen in classrooms in the back of gun ranges, and focus on teaching gun owners’ rights, safety and upcoming legislation. The Sacramento chapter meets at a gun range in North Highlands to practice self-defense with firearms. The group is made up entirely of women, of all ages and skill levels. Chapter member Cece Cox described it as a “sorority house atmosphere.” A member came to one of the meetings with her newborn, and was later surrounded by women cooing over her. “There’s no intimidation factor,” said TWAW member and Friends of the National Rifle Association (NRA) committee member Debbie Anderson. “It’s an organization by women, for women.” The women spent an hour-long meeting on March 8 discussing the legality behind using a firearm against an attacker, and the legal defense they would need to put together if a situation ever arose that required them to fire their weapon at another human being. The club’s female-only membership intends to lend an air of comfort, security and camaraderie to the sometimes frightening idea of owning a firearm, which allows the women to express their hobby in a way that traditional gun clubs cannot. “The firearms area tends to be more male-dominated, this is a more comfortable avenue to discover if a gun is right, because we do feel a little more comfortable with women,” said Sacramento chapter member Leanne Sweeney. The women also shared their experiences of being condescended to by men at gun ranges, and said it was empowering for them to learn more about firearms in a nonthreatening environment. “Some men are very encouraging, ask me questions. But just recently, a man in a gun shop saw my husband and I and asked ‘how can I help you, sir?’… he ignored me,” Sweeney said. There is a distinct air of patriotism which pervades the room, with frequent references to the second amendment and
Julie Gilchrist shoots at a gun range in North Highlands, California. She’s a part of The Well Armed Woman, a organization dedicated to firearms education, safety and law.
“Some people want to get on a pedestal, ‘get a gun, get a gun, get a gun,’ but this organization is about learning.” — Leanne Sweeney a recitation of the pledge of allegiance to begin the evening. “For some members, this is their first time saying the pledge since elementary school,” said founding member and gun range instructor Debbie MacDonald.“That is a sad comment on where we’ve let our patriotism go.” While members such as Anderson and Julie Gilchrist had experience before they joined the Well Armed Woman, not all are gun savvy when they join. Gilchrist initially was browsing the Internet to buy a new holster for her Glock, when she found the Well Armed Woman website, which sells gun-related products and accessories. Sweeney was doing research, looking at self defense options and laws when she found TWAW and decided to attend a meeting. “Some people want to get on a pedestal, ‘get a gun, get a gun, get a gun,’” said Sweeney. “But this organization is about learning … I wanted to learn.” MacDonald and Sweeney discussed the
law behind self-defense shootings and explained the standard of judgment to the club. The standard of judgment is used in law to determine what a “reasonable person” would have done in the given situation, and helps both prosecutors and defense lawyers cultivate their arguments. The chapter members also discussed the California castle doctrine, a popular defense in self-defense homicide cases which happen inside the home. The castle doctrine refers to section 198.5 of the California Penal Code, which states that if an assailant “unlawfully and forcibly enters” the home and is shot by a member of the household, it is presumed that the shooter “held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household.” This means that a shooter is less likely to be convicted for harming an intruder. The meeting also gave the women information on how to get their concealed carry permits and discussed court cases and legislation that might make concealed carry permits more difficult ‒ or easier ‒ to get. The organization, however, cannot throw its support behind any laws because of its status as a nonprofit. “It’s a fine line we walk … being politically involved in any way. We need to be cognizant,” said McDonald. Its members may vote for or support any laws, propositions or amendments that they’d like, as private citizens.
DAM! 4
Flipping tires STRONGMAN GYM OWNER LIFTS HIS WAY TO YOUTUBE FAME
Story by Timothy Lipuma Photos by Bailey Carpenter
5 DAM!
T
he popular conception of athletes who compete in strongman events is that they are always men who have bulging muscles that invoke images of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The reality is that the type of person who trains is more diverse. Karley Broadbent, who’s a ballet dancer, trains at Untamed Strength, a strongman gym that’s only a short distance away from American River College. The term strongman first came into use to describe circus performers demonstrating feats of strength, like bending iron bars. The modern usage of the term refers to the sport of strongman, popularized by the World’s Strongest Man competition. Broadbent enjoys performing an exercise that has her lift an Atlas stone, which is a smooth sphere of concrete that weights from the range of 20 to 500 plus lbs, and putting it over a bar. With every succession, the person progresses to a heavier stone. “Honestly it’s a lot of fun being strong and lifting heavy things.” Broadbent said. “The Atlas stones are my favorite, because I never thought I’d be able to lift a 110 lb rock.” Alan Thrall is the owner of Untamed Strength, where Broadbent and others were training on Strongman Saturday, a free gym day open to anyone willing to head out to Untamed Strength. Untamed Strength does not offer cable machines or treadmills, but there are plenty of tires, iron and chains. Much of the equipment around the gym were made or obtained by Thrall at minimal cost. “The business secret is that it’s very easy to acquire strongman equipment. I made those Atlas stones, those tires were from a junkyard for free, the kegs are from
Opposite page: Alan Thrall flips a tire that weighs 440 pounds. Thrall is the owner of Untamed Strength, a gym that specializes in strongman training. Above: Brandy French overhead presses at the strongman-styled gym. Below: Thrall lifts at his gym that gained popularity after finding fame through YouTube videos.
“It’s always good to test your limits, and it’s always good to try and improve yourself, whether it’s by bodybuilding or strongman competition.” — Tom Jones Craigslist and I filled them with sand,” Thrall said. “If you’re looking at opening an Olympic weightlifting gym, and you have to buy $600 barbells, the bumpers, the kilogram plates—or a powerlifting gym and you have to buy certain types of racks to squat in—it’s very expensive.” Untamed Strength wasn’t always filled with its eclectic group. When Thrall opened his first location in September 2013, he didn’t have many members, so he created YouTube videos to pass the time. “When I opened the gym I had no intentions of starting a YouTube channel or promoting the gym. When I first opened I had no clients or no members, so it was just long hours and empty gym,” Thrall said. The video that lifted him to internet stardom was his tutorial on squatting,
posted in June 2014. Thrall recalled that he had a few hundred subscribers before that video went viral. His fun side project then turned into a huge platform – his YouTube channel currently has over 170,000 subscribers. His YouTube videos have helped Untamed Strength grow since its opening, with many people, like Tom Jones, seeking personal training sessions with Thrall. Jones is a 67 year old grandfather who has been powerlifting since he was 22. He deadlifted 385 lbs for three reps in his house slippers on Strongman Saturday. “It’s always good to test your limits, and it’s always good to try and improve yourself, whether it’s by bodybuilding or strongman competition. This is one of the areas of life where you can improve yourself, and especially in strongman, it transfers over to other areas in life.” With no shortage of choices when it comes to exercise, it might be easy to overlook a strongman gym as a place to train, but Thrall says there’s a starting level for everyone. “Anyone can do strongman...we have a 55 lb log you can press overhead, an empty 35 lb keg, so it can be adjusted. Anyone can do it as long as the gym has the equipment for it. It’s completely accessible. I hate hearing people say ‘I’m not ready to come here, I’m not strong enough,’ that’s the whole point of coming here—to get stronger,” Thrall said.
DAM! 6
Ye olde
fight club
DAM! 7
Story by Joseph Daniels | Photos by Kyle Elsasser
A
s the rain pelted down onto their medieval armor, the two men began to stalk one another, figuring out how to defeat their opponent while staying diligent so that no one could tackle them from behind. Armored Combat League (ACL) is a sports organization that features armed combatants who fight in steel armor, looking and acting like medieval knights. The organization has teams throughout the United States, and each region has an all-star team. They use real weapons to fight, attacking with swords, axes, maces and shields. The combatants also throw punches and kicks. While their weapons are required to be blunted to a minimum of two millimeters thickness, the knights are still in real danger.
DAM! DAM! X 8
The Northwest region “WolfPack” battles with the USA Knights during the Armored Combat League U.S. national championship held at the Auburn Fairgrounds on Mar. 5. The USA Knights is a U.S. all-star team and are set to compete in the world championships on May 26.
E
rik Saari, who serves as the regional commander for the Grizzlies, said that the worst injury he faced was the tip of his thumb being almost entirely cut off by an axe. “I went straight to the ER and they sewed it back through the nail,” Saari said. “They did a fantastic job.” Many of the fighters said that this looks much worse from an audience perspective than it actually is. It is uncomfortable for the reasons people may not automatically expect. “It kind of jostles you, All the sudden it’s like ‘woah,’ I am looking in the sky, and
9 DAM!
“I went straight to the ER and they sewed it (my thumb) back through the nail.” — Erik Saari your neck gets knicked.” Bonnie Jensen said. “If I get hit in the head, you know my first automatic (instinct) is to go with it, and so your body goes with it too. ” There are two different matches fought
during armored combat events -- one on one, and team matches. One on one matches are similar to boxing and are judged by a 10 point system. Each round lasts a minute, and is scored the best out of three. The only variety displayed during team combat matches is the number of people allowed on each team. A fighter is eliminated when they are knocked down to the ground. The round is automatically over when there is only one combatant against more than two opponents. Similar to that of mixed martial arts in recent years, armored combat league also features female fighters. What separates
ARMORED COMBAT LEAGUE BY THE NUMBERS
27 tournaments per year. 24 ACL chapters in the
United States.
Blood trickles down the nose of a member of the USA Knights after a fight during the Armored Combat League U.S. national championship.
the league from MMA, at least in the U.S., is that women have a choice to fight against the men. However, this practice is not at all common. With the small number of women who participate in the sport, at most a match could have three versus three. Most matches involve one versus one. Adam Vodermark helps create the fighters’ armor and weapons. He said that after years of participating in actual combat with swords and shields, watching films like Lord of the Rings has become hard for him. “I look at it, and I am like, ‘dude, how are those dwarves holding those swords when the handles are like twice the size of their hands?’” Vodermark said. Some of the fighters who compete in armored combat have also had experience in martial arts. Almost everyone who competes in armored combat are not making a living from it. Balin Mallavia owns a warehouse fulfillment facility that stores products for companies, while Saari is a firefighter. Samantha Matyas, who participates in full armored fighting, said she owns and operates a horse farm in Michigan. “I work my cardio, I work my endurance, I work on my muscles, because every day I’m tossing hay, moving sacks of grain, and if you can tell a 1,200 pound horse what to do, facing these girls is no problem,” Matyas said. Andre Sinou is co-founder of ACL and
serves the regional commander for USA Knights. The USA Knights is the United States all-star team, and competes overseas in Europe in the International Medieval Combat Federation. Sinou said that he discovered the international league while he and his friends were looking up videos on YouTube. The first time that the Knights competed in Europe, the team did not fare as well as Sinou had hoped, but the following year, the team was able to finish in fourth place. Sinou said his experience with the U.S. Marines has influenced the way he leads his team in armored combat. He said that when he is overseas, people would comment that members of his team seem like they were military at one point, due to how he organized the team. When he participates in 16 versus 16, the entire team is broken down into smaller groups, while he is in charge of the whole. “I have one center unit and two flanking units,” Sinou said. “Instead of coordinating single people, we are actually coordinating units.” Sinou said that generally speaking, the strategy of teams in Europe is simply to fight the person that is standing directly in front of them. The USA Knights will be competing in the world championship on May 26 in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.
23countries are
members of the International Medieval Combat Federation.
16 fighters participate
in team battles.
9
regions make up the United States ACL.
9 competitions are
held during the world championships.
4 years since the
International Medieval Combat Federation was founded to replace the Battle of Nations competition.
3
world championships have been held in places like Spain, Poland and Portugal.
DAM! DAM!10 X
n o C
c t u i n r t g s WHEN IT COMES TO THE WORLD OF HBO’S HIT ‘GAME OF THRONES,’ IT’S ALL IN THE LANGUAGE — DOTHRAKI
Story by Justina Sharp | Illustration by Allante Morris
E
very day, people use thousands of words, real and entirely made up, to express themselves and the world around them. They connect, disconnect, and share their lives through an arrangement of letters, symbols, and grammatical structures. Languages dictate cultures and vice versa. But what does it take to learn one? Or even make one up entirely? While learning a new language may seem like a near impossible task, David J. Peterson creates constructed language (conlang) from scratch. Peterson is best known for creating the fictional language of Dothraki, featured on the HBO television show Game of Thrones, which is based on a fantasy book series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Dothraki is a spoken language that is used by a nomadic people that shares their name with their form of communication. Game of Thrones takes place in a fictional world that has a large cast of characters and settings. Dothraki is a spoken language that is used by a nomadic people who share their name with their language. Fictional languages, such as Dothraki, are languages that are used as if they are real by fictional characters. Klingon is the most popular example of this, which is used in the science fiction television series Star Trek. “The grammars are complete,” Peterson said. “The grammar is there, can handle any kind of construction, and can theoretically translate anything. But it’s not neces-
XDAM! DAM!11
“It’s almost like a game, because that’s what a language is.” — David J. Peterson sarily going to have all the vocabulary that you’re going to need to cover that.” Peterson begins the creation process making a conlang with how a language sounds. “Usually I start with the nouns and move into the verbs, then onto more complex bits of grammar,” Peterson said. “Sentence structure, relativization, coordination, question information, things like that.” One cultural example of how a language is shaped by the user’s environment is that the Eskimo language has 50 different ways a speaker could refer to the concept of snow. “If you’re creating a language for a fictional people, say they’re just basic humans, then the language should look like it belongs there,” Peterson said. But creation is not necessarily an easy track to fluency. When asked if he speaks every language he’s created, Peterson immediately responds. “Oh no - I mean, I’ve never studied them. It’s a different thing to create a language than it is to study it.” Dothraki is one of Peterson’s best known works, but it came to him minimally. He started with 56 words already existed in the original novels.
“The first thing I had to do was determine what grammar was present there, because then that needed to be part of the grammar I was creating, so that everything in the books was still okay, still grammatical,” Peterson said. “It should look like the other natural languages we have on the planet, in which case that brings in a whole host of other considerations.” Languages should never be built for ease, or alternatively, immediately bogged down with too much vocabulary. Just like with many other things, what you start with changes what you’ll end up with. “That top level goal really radically alters your focus, and guides what you do down the line. Once you’ve got that, it really sends you down a path,” Peterson said. There are some languages that have no need for a grammar structure, or even words at all. They can be entirely glyphic, written only in symbols. In many cultures, the first exposure to a new language was through missionaries, who came bearing roughly translated bibles. When a word didn’t exist in the native language, it was pulled from English, beginning the embedding process that eventually normalizes it into everyday vernacular. So is Dothraki a complete enough language that is possible to translate complete works such as William Shakespeare’s Hamlet from English to Dothraki? “I mean, yeah it’s possible, but why would you do it?” Peterson said. “You
g
la ng
ge
ua
could, but there’d be a ton of borrowing. There’s no real point to that. ” Many argue that language equals culture, so it must equal mindset, but Peterson believes that is not always the case. “Certainly, to an extent, but not to as large an extent as some might argue. I’ll say the one thing though, that I’ve noticed. If you speak only one language, and that’s it, you have one idea of how language works. Not just your own, but language period,” Peterson said.” The second you study another one, your entire understanding of what a language possibly can be is altered dramatically.” “In Europe, learning a foreign language is a given, but in America, students are not exposed,” said Esther Martinelli, who is an Italian professor at American River College. Kayla Countryman, a psychology major, found that learning a language requires consistent practice and discipline. “I tried to study Spanish, but
s
I missed one day (of class) and that threw everything off.” Oftentimes, because it’s something new, people believe foreign languages are beyond their grasp, or out of their skill set. While teaching her first conversational Italian class, Martinelli experienced something similar. “This conversational class really made me realize - we don’t always know what we’re good at.” In closing, Peterson said, “It’s almost like a game, because that’s what a language is. It’s a system, and that’s all games are really. So you’re just learning a new system, a new way of solving a problem of communication.”
DAM! 12
Praying at ARC Story by Shiavon Chatman | Photos by Timon Barkley
A SOUTHERN-STYLE BAPTIST CHURCH CONGREGATES AT ARC IN HOPES OF IMPACTING THE COMMUNITY
13 DAM!
S
mall trickles of sweat appear on the preacher’s brow, intensity in his eyes and his voice becoming sharp as he preaches. As he speaks in a calm voice, the audience raises one hand to the ceiling and another to their heart with their eyes shut in agreement. The room is filled with loud music and prayer, as what is normally a college classroom transforms into a southern black church. This takes place in Raef Hall at American River College every Sunday. The church is called Faith Covenant Community Church and caters to close to 50 people of various ages. Members of the congregation come from different areas of Sacramento. The church operates like any church normally operates. They practice communion, a religious ceremony done on the first Sunday of every month. Instead of using wine for the blood of Jesus Christ, they use a substitute such as cranberry juice instead. “Let us commune together,” said Pastor Kendall Young as he lifted his bread and juice. Young relocated his family and the rest of his congregation from his original church in south Sacramento. Young said that he chose ARC so he could “impact this community and hopefully the students on campus.” Young added that he wanted to focus on students because a lot of young adults don’t believe that God exists and lack the “guidance” that can be provided from a role model like God. Young and his family have used ARC as a host for their church gatherings for about a year. Intercessory prayer appeared to be the most intense segment of the church service. Most of this involves the churchgoers praying for the sick, praying for those who are traveling and praying for those who are less fortunate. Frankie Johnson, who works at ARC as a student personnel assistant in the Center for Leadership and Development, attends the church every week and said praying for others is an important reason to go to church. “When praying, you pray for others before you pray for yourself because there’s other people praying for you,” Johnson said. “It helps people feel like they’re doing good things.” The church’s worship band is made up of Young’s sons, Ke’mar Young and Kameron Young.
Opposite page: Faith Covenant Community Church’s pastor Kendall Young prays with members of the congregation while embracing one another. The church meets every Sunday at ARC in Raef Hall. Above: A young girl participates in communion during congregation on Feb. 7. Several children attend the church, including two of Pastor Kendall Young’s children.
“When praying, you pray for others before you pray for yourself because there’s other people praying for you.” — Frankie Johnson Ke’mar plays the drums for the church every Sunday, and said that “reading the bible and being around people who care” are his favorite parts about being in church. Kameron Young is a singer and an usher for the church every Sunday. “(My favorite part about church) is worshipping and praise dancing,” Kameron said.
Young reminds the churchgoers that we are “living in a world where people don’t know there’s a God” during his sermon. Cheleysa Oliver said that she relates to the style of Young’s preaching, who is a singer and frequent attendee of the church. While she is a member of another church, Oliver attends the Faith Covenant Community Church with her grandmother. Young gives advice to the audience, “don’t argue with someone about God. Learn to let it go.” Young said that the church tries to contribute to the community as much as possible. “I could be in line at Target, and I’ll pay for the person’s items in front of me and say that the Faith Covenant Community Church shows you love,” said Young. Young’s intent is for all the those who attend, to not have a hand left untouched and not a single soul left unwelcomed.
DAM! 14
Fast cars and gearheads
CAR CULTURE ZOOMS THROUGH SACRAMENTO AND THE REST OF THE WORLD Story by Matthew Nobert | Photos by Kyle Elsasser
F
or most people, cars are just another machine that brings them from point A to point B, and on the way there it tries to take every dollar out of their wallet. However, there is so much more behind these so called “machines” that a whole culture and community of millions of fans, called gearheads, has formed around them. Kori Nelson, who is a longtime participant of the Roseville Car Meets and drives a highly customized Subaru WRX, said he found his love of working on cars from his dad at a very young age. “First thing that ever got me hooked on cars was when I was little I was growing up with my dad who was a mechanic and was handing me wrenches, telling me to do work on the cars he was working on,” Nelson said. Nelson got his passion and design style from people he followed on Instagram, and from seeing the other cars at meets. “Once I started seeing other people doing what they wanted to do with their cars, I just started getting ideas in my head to really start doing my own thing,” Nelson said. “I started blending with others to get my own stuff together for my car, and that’s how mine came along.” Nelson said he finds the biggest pleasure from sharing his style and inspiring people. “I really like meeting the people and I like showing my style out there cause I’ve had people message me saying that I’ve been an inspiration,” Nelson said. “It’s cool to feel that people actually like what you do, and like that you doing what you do is something that people would want to see more often.” Anfernee Lee, founder of the Roseville Car Meets, started off his life in the car community like this. “I first moved here in 2012 when I was 15 and I didn’t even have my permit yet, but I wanted to see more car meets and I didn’t have any connections back then and I didn’t see any meets going on, so then I thought I might as well start my own,” Lee said. His first meet was that year and only two people show up. Now, every Thursday night nearly 50 people show up with their cars to show off their work and trade
Opposite page: Kori Nelson is a longtime gearhead and participant at the Roseville Car Meets. Above: many gearheards customize their cars like Nelson’s custom samurai sword shifter in his 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX.
stories and knowledge learned with their fellow car enthusiasts. “It keeps me out of trouble and helped me make basically 99 percent of my friends and it helps me connect with people a lot more easily, especially at car meets because we all have the same passion for the same thing,” Lee said. Sukh Chahal said he began with more of an interest in the big rigs than cars and, over time, realized that the opportunity he was looking for wasn’t going to be in diesel trucks so he made the switch to cars. “The switch was because there are so many types of builds and how you can build, its your own style, said Chahal. “It’s a lot bigger world to be in.” Chahal is working toward his dream of becoming his own boss and his love of cars is helping him do that, because he plans to open his own auto body shop. Chahal said “I always enjoy helping my peers. I enjoy giving that extra hand when it is needed, or even when it’s not, I’m still there.” Car culture, with supporters like Nelson and Chahal and self starters like Lee, is quickly spreading. One group lead by Victor Lim, owner of
Hard Park, is a major player in it spreading throughout California. Lim started Hard Park about two years ago, based out of Sacramento with around 20 supporters to start with, but is now collaborating with other car groups in the Bay Area and Southern California. Lim said his passion for cars began when he was around seven years old, when his mom would buy him Hot Wheels. “I was apart of this group called Running Free, we could drive up in the mountains at one or two in the morning, and I was 18 at the time,” Lim said. “We go to the Sacramento Raceway, and watch the drag strip like every week with my friends.” Lim’s goal when starting Hard Park was to get car meets out of dangerous, unregulated and unfriendly venues and making them easier to find, more fun to go to and able to have an impact on the community. When Lim moved out, all he wanted was a place to put his cars. “I went shopping for a house with my wife and the only thing on my bucket list was a three car garage,” Lim said. “My life has just pretty much been about cars.”
Up in
smoke
Story and photos by Robert Hansen
X DAM! 17 DAM!
BEHIND THE LAST DAYS OF THE BAN ON MARIJUANA
A
rmy veteran Nick House began smoking marijuana in high school with friends, then quit when he joined the military at age 21. After returning from the army, he quickly acquired a cannabis card. Weed dispensaries, both storefront and delivery, have established a strong presence since California voters passed Senate Bill 420, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2004. The bill established the amount of medicinal marijuana patients or their caregivers may grow and possess without being subject to arrest. Having a cannabis card gives House the ability to legally carry marijuana, feel secure as a customer in a professional atmosphere, and have an alternative to other pharmaceuticals for the PTSD and seizures he acquired from his time in the military. Black market marijuana dealers faced a challenge in keeping customers after the clinics began opening their doors, according to Jose Carbajal, an American River College student who sells marijuana. “(Some dealers) got their card and started selling to clubs, but most of ‘em didn’t,” Carbajal said. “Without a card, you’re asking a friend to commit a crime when you call them to hook up some pot,” House said. House said that by far the best part about having a card is that he no longer has to feel like a criminal for smoking weed. “You get to go to a professional business establishment, they’re going to cater to your needs by concerning themselves with my safety, privacy and the quality of product I’m buying,” House said. “I pay more, but it’s worth it.” American River College student Pat Stark, 30, has been smoking marijuana since he was 16. He does not have a cannabis card and does not plan on getting one anytime soon. “I never dealt with like, such large quantities that I was that worried about (getting arrested),” Stark said. “I don’t know, I guess I’ve just never really felt like jumping through all the hoops of it.” Stark said that it is difficult to find marijuana on the black market that rivals the product at clinics. “Oh, high grade indoor is rough to find nowadays,” said Stark, “But it was always kinda hard to find, you had to know the right people to find indoor because outdoor is easier to grow.” The Adult Use of Marijuana Act, sup-
In spite of the fact that it is now possible for people to buy marijuana from a clinic, there are still some who would rather get their product from the black market.
ported by former Facebook president and billionaire Sean Parker, is an initiative ending marijuana prohibition in California and is likely to be on the 2016 ballot. Under the proposed initiative, marijuana would be regulated, taxed and treated similarly to alcohol. Adults would no longer be punished simply for possessing it, and law enforcement officials would be able to spend more time addressing other crimes. It would take marijuana sales out of the underground market, and marijuana cultivation out of California neighborhoods and national forests. California black market cannabis farmers have been able to survive since medical marijuana was legalized, but if the Adult Use of Marijuana Act passes, the threat from big business will be inevitable. Stephen Dillion, executive manager of the Humboldt Sun Growers Guild, knows firsthand the challenges that pot farmers are facing. “After witnessing the massive amount of corporate money and power at the Las Vegas cannabis convention, it was overwhelming,” said Dillion, on a Facebook post. “They cared about our communities and livelihoods not one bit.” Dillion said that small famers like himself can’t compete with the size of corporations. “What the north coast has built with love, blood, sweat, tears for forty plus years is in danger. As a small farmer, we stand little chance,” Dillion said. “Yet, as an organized group, like an ag co-op, we are as big as any of these companies.
LEGALIZATION ACROSS THE U.S. Alaska: Legal to grow up to 24 plants with a license; Feb. 25, 2015. Colorado: Legal to grow up to six plants with a license; Nov. 6, 2012. Oregon: Legal to grow up to four plants with a license; July 1, 2015. Washington: Anyone over the age of 21 can carry up to one ounce; Dec. 6, 2012.
“We have the land, love and experience they lack,” Dillion said. “Like the days when road associations and volunteer fire departments and community centers were built, we need to come together for the benefit of us all. We hope to talk with you soon, until then, Happy Harvest.” Stark and House both think that black market marijuana is so large that even if recreational marijuana was legal in California, there would still be a marijuana black market. “You’re always going to have people wanting to grow it themselves,” Stark said.
DAM! 18
XDAM! DAM!19
Queens of the stage ‘I never thought, I want to be a woman, I just love to impersonate or to have an image of being like one of those powerful women that inspired me for my entire life.’ — Jordo Medina
Story and photos by Joseph Daniels and Itzin Alpizar
DAM! 20
Above: American River College student Jordo Medina prepares his makeup for his drag performance at Sidetrax on Dec. 27, 2015. Below: Medina wears his complete outfit for the drag queen showcase.
A
fter transforming into Roselia Valentine for the first time, he walked on stage to a Lana Del Rey song, wearing what he later described to be a disgusting wig and shoes that were too big for him. “(Drag is) great for people who love attention,” said Jordo Medina, an American River College student. “Because even if you look bad, you absolutely know everyone’s eyes on you.” Medina said he performs at a gay bar in midtown Sacramento called Sidetrax. The drag queen showcase at Sidetrax is hosted by two performers that go by the stage names of Chantal and Kima Shay LaRue. “I’m perfectly happy being a boy,” Medina said. “I never thought, I want to be a woman, I just love to impersonate or to have an image of being like one of those powerful women that inspired me for my entire life.” Medina listed both Frida Kahlo and his mother as his life inspirations. He has a tattoo of Kahlo on his left foot. “As morbid as it sounds, my right foot is
21 DAM!
going to be reserved for (my mom) when my mom’s time comes,” Medina said. “I know that sounds like really dark, like ‘yeah, when you die, I’m going to get a tattoo right there.” According to Medina, there is a fascination about seeing a man dressed up as a feminine character. “It’s really baffling when it’s done well, because you’re just completely into it,” Medina said. “I realized, like, ‘OK, I obviously have these people’s attention now. Let me give them something (to) really make them go crazy and make them bust out those dollar bills.’” Medina took the first name from a character from the Japanese anime franchise Pokémon, and the last name from Mai Valentine, a character from Yu-Gi-Oh. Most of the drag queens performed lip synch to a collection of songs that they had selected. Audience members showed their appreciation of each performance by giving a performer dollar bills. Chris Brown performs under the name Harmony Envy, and is a host for a drag queen showcase across the street at another gay club called Faces. Initially, he
said that the two venues had a rivalry. Now, both shows would not only feature the same drag performers, but the host for both shows would be booked at both events. “It’s more of a sisterhood now,” Brown said. “I usually wait until after to start my show, and then she usually starts her show toward the end.” Brown said that hosts of Sidetrax will come to Faces to show their support after the end of their act. “Why put each other down?” Brown said. “We get enough of that already, just pretty much walking outside, ‘look that’s a dude,’ or ‘what the heck, that outfit is cheap.’” Medina is not an anomaly when it comes to mixing nerd culture with drag. A regular performer at Sidetrax, who goes by the stage name Adam Apples, said that many of his audience members don’t get the joke behind his stage name. “‘It’s like autumn? Like Emily Autumn?’” Apples said, describing what people would usually would ask him about his name. “Not really, it’s because I have an adam’s apple. He said he usually plays along with whoever it is that does not understand. Adams said that he enjoys bringing cosplay on the stage. A performer who goes under the stage name of Presea Envy at times dresses up as the character Mileena from the Mortal Kombat series. Apples said the reason why it’s so common for drag queens to fall back into nerd culture is because those who tend to pick up drag as a hobby tend to be video gamers. One of Medina’s goals is to perform as the Marvel character Storm. The one obstacle that he said that he is facing when performing as her is that he does not know what song to choose for his act. “It’s all the weird stuff that nobody really wants to get into, which kind of becomes a kind of a strength for most of us who got into it, because it is like it is one of the things that we know about,” Medina said. “A lot of people are into it or really into it.” Initially, Medina said he thought drag only involved people who wanted to dress or become someone of the opposite gender, but as he began to learn more about the culture, he realized that it was another form of theater. Medina, who is a theater student at ARC, said that one of the influencing factors for doing drag came from his drama background and time performing in “Music
Chantal, one of the co-hosts of the Drag Queen Showcase at Sidetrax, holds a fistful of dollar bills that she collected from her audience.
“OK, I obviously have these people’s attention now. Let me give them something (to) really make them go crazy and make them bust out those dollar bills.” — Jordo Medina Man.” “It was nothing but rehearsal, learning discipline about what you’re going to perform and making sure it looks good,” Medina said. “Making sure you know how to connect with the audience and that you’re doing these rehearsed steps.” Medina said that he has no plans of telling his father that he performs as a drag queen. “He just has not been supportive in other aspects of my life,” Medina said. “Like pursuing theater or being gay in general, that I don’t see any redeeming quality in me telling him ‘hey, I dress up like a woman.’” Medina is able to keep the fact that he
is a drag queen secret because he doesn’t live in the same household as his father. Medina said his mother is mesmerized by her son’s makeup skills and his ability to become feminine, and even said that she appears to be indifferent to the fact he performs in drag. Medina said that his mother is supportive of him, though she has not said so directly. “I know she’s not like disappointed, it’s not that at all, she’s like, ‘okay, be safe,’” Medina said. “Because I’m obviously going to be drawing attention.” Maria Medina said, in an interview that has been translated from Spanish, that she is concerned that her son may take it the wrong way that she has not been vocal about his decision to perform in drag. “I think in that respect, I think he can say I have not been too strict with him or hit him or destroy his things, or close the door or insult him, which has never come,” said Maria. “And I think that as the time passes, he is going to look that as a support, because maybe I didn’t tell him many things but I don’t have other attitudes.” Maria said that she plans on seeing her son perform in drag. “I think that the most important thing is when you give them the support and who better than myself that I’m his mother to clap and congratulate him.”
DAM! 22
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2016 AN AMERICAN RIVER COLLEGE STUDENT-RUN MAGAZINE PRODUCED BY JOURNALISM 410-413