Ink Summer - Fall 2016
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Morning Cigarette-fiction Great Migration to gentrification Zombie High School-comic Treat-fiction Summer fun Farewell to Peter Garcia Stories of Good Folk (and otherwise)-comic excerpt Going above and beyond for student athletes Rise of the right Toubled-comic It’s time for reform Water-comic A life’s legacy through teaching: Marcia Goodman Writer bios
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magazine Co-editors-in-Chief Jesse Sutterley Katharine Hada
Editors Print News Features Opinion Sports
Cooper Mead Sean Ross Erin Smith Marcel Scott Julianna Cardinale
Senior Staff Members Madeline Berry Melanie Calimlim Austin Lemak Allison Roullier
Staff Members Jess Parry Chelsey Schallig Dominique Smith
Letter from the Editors Dear Inquiring reader, As the semester comes to a close and you race around like a mad man (or woman) trying to get everything turned in, thank you for taking the extra minute to grab a copy of our magazine. We hope to provide you with at least a few hours of entertainment over your summer break. Thank you for reading our articles, answering our Buzz questions, liking our facebook posts, and sharing your feedback. If you want to turn that feedback into something more, and feel passionately about campus events, news, or the current state of human existence, we encourage you pick up a notebook or a camera and join the Inquirer! No experience necessary. If you like sarcasm and dark humor, we might be your people. Come to the dark side, we have deadline cupcakes.
Lab Coordinator
We especially want to thank our editorial board and staff members for their hard work throughout this semester. And a special shout out to Mary and Julius, for everything you do, and for all your patience and snark, thank you.
Advisor
Have fun reading the magazine! Have a great summer.
Julius Rea
Mary Mazzocco Ink magazine is produced by members of the Inquirer Staff. All material is created by Diablo Valley College students and does not represent the opinions of the college or the Contra Costa Community College District.
We out! Katharine Hada & Jesse Sutterley Co-editors-in-chief
Contact Us inquirer@dvc.edu
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Morning Cigarettes
By STERLING FARRANCE
I
turned the heater up and watched the trees zip by the window. The air began to smell of salt. I knew she’d be there, and that excited me. Also, it made me feel hollow. I knew she’d give me that look, but not what’d come next. Soon, the ocean, the music, alcohol. We’d played The Landing before, a nothing dive in a tiny beach town—we loved it. The night would be fun. I wondered if when the morning came, I’d wake in time to see her go.
Drinks. So many drinks. Jameson shots with pineapple juice, fancy-ass IPAs, some kind of idiotically concocted “bomb” of crap booze dropped into a crappier beer. On a stage, looking past a microphone in my hand, a crowd; struggling to focus my vision on either. Words. So many words. Warm inebriation, cold wind, dark to light, light to dark, back and forth, I can see, I can’t see. Breathing out milky, confused moisture. Voices reached fingers toward me, a hooked cane pulled me back on stage. Dingy, small, unkempt tables. Raucous noise; energy, amplified music, flashing multicolored stage lights, billows of weed smoke, laughter, fuck yous’, the clank of shot after shot bursting from the building’s seams. Cerebral fog, light, dark. A stumble through the night-time-sea air, pungent salt, bone-cold wind, careless laughing; Chasing the beautiful girl I used to know. Crummy hotel by the water, pastel plastic-steel-wool blanket. Darkness. Noise. Speech, smoke, crunchy salt, whiskey, guitar. “Eat the god damned mushrooms Will!” Alex said as she wrestled me to the dirty hotel floor. I was confused. How did I end up with gorgeous her straddling me, trying to cram psychotropic mushrooms in my mouth? I was painfully distracted by her breasts—in all of their low-cut-shirt-no-bra-at-all glory. The drunken blur was gone. Just me, Alex, bloody gums, mushrooms, and big, beautiful tits. Giggling wildly, she yelled, “Come on! What’s wrong with you? Just eat em!” I could feel my gums start to bleed as the dry shrooms crunched against my hard-shut teeth. I couldn’t help but giggle. Ridiculous. She tickled me suddenly, and my mouth burst open in defeat. Mouth full of the sunflower seed shell tasting fungus, I chewed, swallowed. Ceiling fan blades turned lazily above, I could almost feel the breeze. Seated on the floor in the corner of the room, I peered through a haze. “What the hell, Alex?” I exhaled. “What?” she said, “Aren’t you having fun yet?” Her toothy clown grin was almost scary. “Feel better?” “‘Better?’ No I’m not ‘better!’” My thoughts were oddly clear, the shitty car, the overdue rent, this “friendship,” the drinking, the excuses, the justification that it all helped write lyrics. I wanted to be mad at her, but when I looked
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in her eyes my chest turned to mush. She’d get bored by morning, but I couldn’t help but revel in how easy it was to be with her. “Well, I’m smoking. You coming?” She gently nodded her head toward the door, seemingly in slow motion. Her hair bounced gleefully and I could smell that flowery shampoo she used. She walked out the door and left it hanging open. I was suddenly aware of the sleeping couple in the bed—the protruding one-sock-on-one-sock-off feet of one of its occupants— and the holy-fucking-shit pile of liquor bottles, beer bottles, half smoked joints, Cheez-its. I raised my head, a 1980s television glowed dully and a woman inside it screamed. Turning back to the doorway, I saw wafts of yellow smoke bounce by in rhythm with my heartbeat. I grinned. “Will, if you don’t get your ass out here—” “I’m coming,” I said, giggling stupidly. Through the door and into the night, I was born. “I don’t like this.” I said through a grin. She smiled and handed me a lit cigarette. My new friend fit snuggly between my outstretched fingers and consoled me. I smoked, and regarded her beautiful form. “Come here stupid!” She slid her arms around my back and hugged me deeply. “I miss you. I need these nights. I need you.” She was everything, both right and wrong with my life. If only you had held on. “You hear me?” “Yes,” I answered, “I do love you, you know.” “I know, I love you too.” What would she say tomorrow? “I’m out of smokes, take me to the store? Please?” Flashing, flowing, lights, dazzling my eyes, leaving streaks on my vision. Cold, wet air whipping through the car, keeping us warm. Guitars and drums assaulting, cradling our ears. Alex’s hands pressing the ceiling, body bouncing, rhythmic, sexual. We sang with the speakers: Drifting by, is all I ever need I have my friends and these songs, And I don’t mind, what people think about me, I do whatever I want. What, ever I want. I pressed my foot firmly on the gas pedal. The speedometer topped a hundred and my little ‘91 Toyota felt like it was ready to fly apart. “You’re crazy!” Alex yelled at me before sticking her head out the window. Pot, meet kettle. Seeing the 7-11, I pressed the brakes and took the turn fast, squealing the tires as I yanked the car into a spot. “Nutcase,” she said through glinting teeth. As she jumped out of the car, I considered her round behind in those plush sweatpants. I stepped outside and watched my creamy breath float away. I looked up to a clear sky, blazing pinholes shining down at me, nightly born children of the sky. It would be nice to be far away. Unbidden tears began to fill my eyes. It felt like childish frustration, life, the messy beauty of it all. My body felt amazing, yet my world weighed heavily upon me. I used to tell myself she’d come around eventually.
I was convinced that the nights were worth the mornings, the love was worth the pain. We laid together, she said she loved me and slowly slid my hand on her belly. Eventually, the ‘I have to go’ still came—like it always did—to wipe the slate clean. She was always going, and I was always staying. I was searching for resolutions I knew would be immediately lost like so much smoke in the wind. I rolled my shoulders, turned my neck to one side, to the other, then wiped my face on my sleeve. I saw Alex walking toward the door, and felt disgusting for the rush of sexual images that filled my head. “Got your precious Newports?” I asked as Alex exited the cool fluorescent lights. “Yep, I missed smoking,” she opened the green box and lit up, “feels good.” she said through a smoky cloud. “I don’t wanna be here anymore.” “Oh, good thing,” she laughed, “I don’t wanna hang at the liquor store all night either.” Shaking my head, I replied “I mean this town. Maybe this area really. It’s…Forget it, let’s go.” “I’m hungry, was that a bakery by the Hotel? Take me?” Warm rolls. The little shack-like bakery’s walls pressed in on me. Surrounded by the pink, plastic grandmaey décor, I felt pleasantly insane. Porcelain babies stared down at me, eyes wide open. “Here you go sweetie,” the lady said, handing me a piping hot cocoa. “Careful now, it’s really hot.” Kind eyes amidst crinkled tissue-paper skin. “Just let me know if you kids need anything else.” She slipped into the back, but I could hear her sweet voice humming. “I miss you.” Alex said, “Did you really give up on me?” “I miss you too.” I replied. Looking through the tiny, porthole-like window, I saw the patchy fog and the shrouded ocean in the distance. It was so fucking good to sit with her, to occasionally let my eyes wash over her. I wanted to hold her, show her how much I still loved her. “Let’s take these outside, I need a smoke,” she said. “You go on ahead. I’ll be out soon.” She sat somewhere just out of sight, though I could see her smoke drifting by the window. A sense of loss washed over me then, there on the precipice of the cold cloudy air in this twisted dream of a grandma’s house. I caught snippets of the lady’s conversation, something about grandchildren. My chest felt empty. The waves crashed, drawing my attention out with them. I couldn’t take another goodbye and the void that came with it. The sun was rising over the water, and I suddenly felt peaceful. I exited the bakery, walked straight to my car, got in, and left. As I got on the highway, I imagined her sitting there on the side of the bakery. I sat with her, embraced her. She said she loved me. But then of course, she always did.
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Great Migration to gentrification By Dominque Smith
M
ost millennials today probably never imagined they'd have to experience a world where racism, racial discrimination and segregation still exist. In 2016, 106 years after the start of the Great Migration, it has been speculated among the black community that African American people are still seen as the lowest class of humans in the United States. They have perpetually been discriminated against by white people and, as a result, have been isolated into ghettos and projects. In other words, locations where most middle class white families wouldn't dare to live. In direct comment on these issues, Diablo Valley College drama presented "Clybourne Park," a spin off of the popular play "A Raisin in the Sun." Divided into two acts, the play takes audience members back in time to a fictional neighborhood in Chicago in the 1950's, and then back to the same neighborhood in 2009. Act one of the play is based on a white family moving away from their white neighborhood after losing their son, and the conflict surrounding the neighborhood when the new buyers turn out to be a black family. In the predominately white neighborhood of "Clybourne Park," all kinds of concerns arise when they find out "Negros" will be moving in. Are they contagious? Do white grocery stores have foods they like? If they move in will other black people move here? The general attitude of this being the end of civil community, "Well, there goes the neighborhood." In act two of the play, 48 years later, at the beginning stages of
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gentrification in "Clybourne Park," a white family plans on moving into the now predominantly black neighborhood, with intentions of modernizing their new home. The black residents of the area, who have been living in "Clybourne Park" since the Great Migration. They increasingly fear white people will take their homes and strip them away of their historical value, removing them from the neighborhood altogether. These feelings are indicative of the attitude of the neighborhood in the 1950's when the racial roles were reversed. Although "Clybourne Park" is a fictional neighborhood, the play emulates real historical events that are currently still happening all across America. Between the years of 1919 and 1970, African American people migrated to the Northeast and the Northwest to escape the increasingly dangerous environment of the South. When black people realized they and their families didn't have a chance to prosper, they fled in the hopes that the Northern states would bring them prosperity, equality, hope and comfort. But when African Americans began to settle into Northern states, white people discriminated against them and moved out of the cities and into the suburbs. This was known as the "white flight," it left black people isolated from jobs, money and segregated blacks and whites. As a result, cities such as Oakland and Richmond became predominantly populated by black, impoverish families. Now African Americans face a new problem, gentrification. It's the process of renewing and rebuilding an area with the intention of
of inviting wealthier people in. However, this simultaneously displaces the poorer residents of every racial background who were there initially. Today both Oakland and San Francisco are undergoing the process of gentrification, but San Francisco seems to be the center of all the attention. Residents who were born and raised in San Francisco are being booted out and many blame it on renter greed. Laurie Segall, CNNMoney tech correspondent and host of CNN’s documentary on gentrification in the city, says San Franciscans working in the tech industry are making twice the amount as average workers, which adds to the increasing rent in San Francisco. If people make more money, they can pay more money to live. Dr. Amos C. Brown, board member of the NAACP, pastor and resident of San Francisco says, “between 1970 to 1995 there were about 100,000 black people living in San Francisco, now there are only 40,000 black people.” According to Brown, “Urban renewal was black removal...there can never be wealth without the concern of the common wealth.” As gentrification in San Francisco continues, the lower and middle class will relocate out, and will likely be pushed to cities that offer more affordable housing. And we see the ripple effects in Oakland and the surrounding areas. Lateefah Simon, evicted from her San Francisco home in 1997, said, “Gentrification is not just about housing. It’s about the way in which people live within cities.” The play concludes in a dispute between the new white buyers and a black couple with personal ties to the house. One family stubbornly holding on to their historical ties to the home, the other wanting to rebuild the home on a larger scale, perfectly encapsulating the argument of our age. By pushing one class out of their homes and off to somewhere else, you begin a ripple effect which continually displaces families from their roots over time. “Clybourne Park” poignantly depicts the feelings of cultural displacement and alienation surrounding gentrification in America. Marlena Lowry, who played Lindsay in the show, pointed to the shows catalytic qualities, saying, “I hope the audience takes something away from it, that it allows them to reflect on their own lives, the words they use and how they treat other people. The characters are extreme, but there are moments when you question your own actions.”
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By Kristin Solis
TREAT By Kari Flickinger
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e were down to the can at the bottom of the brown paper bag. The gals at the factory where mom worked had all pulled together to present her with this ancient paper bag of items culled from their cupboards. We’d eaten the sad turkey, and the canned peas, and corn slowly throughout the last two weeks, stretching each bit. Even the tomatoes were mixed into ramen noodles, which we’d grifted from the pair of swingers who own this godawful tangerine and cobalt house where we lived. Sheila’s on her imposed mail woman vacation with her perpetually orange wife in whatever tropical place might be left, they’ll never know. And it’s down to this unholy blue can. Treet. Mom’s face is a mirror of my own, wide mouth stretched like something hung out to dry, we match—a set. “Let’s try it, girls. Couldn’t be that bad. I heard in, Hawaii? They used to... It was a thing- they put it with pineapple… or sushi…” her hand emphasized each word, floating through the air in time to the soprano tone of her voice. She’d been a singer when art was still relevant, but that was a time as old as these cans of food. “We don’t have pineapple or sushi,” I said picking at the edge of my lip. My fingers caressed the dried blood, pulling my jagged nail across the thin veil to unzip the flow, and reveal the pulsing comfortable warmth. I watched her pull the tab back. The metal top peeled, scraping my ears with the sound, and exposing the pink meat substance. Her fingers were dull, bone white. The skin was raw where she used to place her wedding ring. I wonder if she sometimes wears it now, placing it behind the confines of a locked bathroom door just to remember our old life. She held the can upside down and pat it, but it held, sucked
in, battling her until finally she triumphed, if you could call it a triumph. She coaxed the lumpy molded goo from the tin, and it slopped noisily onto the counter, dripping down the faded wooden cabinet. Mom used a striped-yellow towel to clear the juice, and Mallory looked up from the checkered linoleum floor with her shining blue eyes and said “plop”. Then she slammed her bouncing ball against the wall and it skittered from one edge of the cabinet to the other. Mom heated the pan, and sliced the congealed mass into chunky pieces: one for Mallory, one for me, and the last for her. Then she placed them into the pan and the stench filled the room. It was a thick, dirty smell, like ham mixed with roots dug from fertilized earth. You could smell the fat. Our eyes met, and she smiled, but I could see the wet storm gathering at the edges of her eyelids, and it was hard to tell if it was the shame of this struggle, or the stinging of the greasy meat product which curled into blackened bits. She put the pieces onto one plate, and we all stood in the kitchen staring at the mess. Mallory put her hands on her hips, and scrunched her freckled nose. “It smells weird. Like poops. And grass? Mom. Poops and grass,” she bounced the ball again when she said poops, and then again on grass. Then she repeated the two words, bouncing the ball each time. Mom’s bald head dropped. I poked the Treet with my finger, and it jiggled slightly, and the dam flooded. She doubled over, and tears swam the length of her jagged cheekbones. I took the plate from her and set it into the kitchen sink. We settled on the floor, in simultaneous paroxysm of extreme joyful sadness, and Mallory bounced her ball. “Poops, grass. Poops, grass. Poops, grass!”
By ERIn sMITH For the intellectual: *June 7: Walk amongst great pieces of art for free every first Tuesday at The de Young Museum and Legion of Honor. *July 2 - Oct 2, weekends only: Spendeth thy summer watching The Winter’s Tale at the Shakespeare Festival. Nearest performances art taking lodging in Pleasanton and SF. *July 16: Pub crawl meets book worm at Oakland’s Beast Crawl Literature Festival. Spread over 3 hours and 36 venues, drink your way through a variety of literary and poetry readings and performances. Aug: 29-30: Dave Matthews Band: why deal with multiple stages and set times at a sold out Outside Lands when you can just listen to DMB jam out for three straight hours instead? They hit the Greek Theater in August and tickets are $85.
For the foodie: *May 21: Pledge to be veg and check out Oakland Veg Fest at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater. Speakers, local vendors, and lots of free food samples will be happening.
Bay area s For the country folk:
For the nature lover:
*Aug 20: Join 15,000 other summer lovMay 21, and every Saturday: Get revved ing people and take part in NoisePop’s 20th up and take witness to some serious carnage Street Block Party. Music, food and drinks at the Antioch Speedway. Races take place collide in this delicious summer event. every Saturday, and tickets run $15.
*May 20: Come hang out with a great horned owl and learn about native California animals for free every third Friday at the Lindsay Wildlife Experience.
Aug: 25-28: ‘Eat. Drink. SF.’ is the premier food, wine, and spirits festival of the Bay Area. Get your fancy on with a one of four Grand tastings taking place over the weekend. Tickets are on sale now. Prices range from $75 - $189
*June 1: Become one with nature every first Wednesday of every month when admission is free to enter the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens.
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May 15: Swoon over acts like Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Florida Georgia Line at the Shoreline Amphitheater with the Country Megaticket. See eight mega country acts with one ticket starting at $259.
summer fun For the free spirit: May 21, and every full moon: Join in an ancient tradition at the Tibetan Full Moon Chanting Ceremony. Students take part in chanting and meditation at the Berkeley location on Hearst Avenue from 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. every full moon. *June 12: Hang out with the bridge and tunnel crowd and like totally enter a poster contest at the 39th annual Haight-Ashbury Festival
June 21: Celebrate the summer solstice wandering the halls of Oakland’s beautiful Chapel of the Chimes as local musicians play modern classical and experimental tunes. Tickets will be on sale soon. Sept 30 - Oct 2: Catch a free concert in Golden Gate Park and soak up some S.F. sun as you get down at one of the best free live music shows in the Bay at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.
For the sports fanatic: May 27, and every Tuesday: Get out to a game and score a great deal at the same time at $5 game night with the Oakland Athletics. July 30: Who wouldn’t want to get a hug from Buster Posey? The first 20,000 fans will receive a Buster Hugs Mug giveaway with the San Francisco Giants. July 31: It might not as lively as Bay to Breakers but the SF Marathon, half marathon, and 5k will snake through the city during the dog days of summer. Aug 13: Get greeted by a Stormtrooper and even the dark lord himself, Darth Vader, at Oakland’s Star Wars Night, complete with a fireworks spectacular finale.
*=Free!
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a final farewell to Peter Garcia Katharine Hada: You had several years of teaching experience at Los Medanos College before switching over to administrative work there and then ultimately becoming president here at Diablo Valley College. What helped influence that switch from teaching to administrative work to becoming president? Peter Garcia: The one thing I remember from my final interview with the President at the time, Chuck Case, was that he asked me what I was going to be doing in five years. And because I was just starting to teach, and I had never done a final interview of that nature with a college president before, when he asked me that I thought that meant I should be rethinking myself in about five years. So my answer at the time was “I hope to
be a really good teacher, and I hope to still be here teaching and making a difference in student’s lives.” But I think he planted a seed that had me thinking about what the next phase of my career here would be. Interestingly, now as president, I realize you have a certain set of questions you ask, and probably every candidate he hired he asked that same question, but I heard it in a particular way for myself. I would say my other work at that time, as a priest in a religious order and the work I did after, and even while I was at LMC teaching, I was doing jobs in research, I coached football a couple semesters, we did these national issue forums, so I think pretty much from college to that job at LMC, I had had pretty frequent changes or deflections or reorientations in my career, so I think it’s just part of how I manage my career.
By Katharine Hada After 30 years of work with the Contra Costa Community College District, Diablo Valley College President Peter Garcia has announced his retirement. He has held a host of different positions within the CCCCD, including Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, Dean of Economic Development, Dean of Humanistic Studies, faculty researcher, philosophy instructor, and offensive line coach for the Los Medanos football team. I sat down with him April 29 to ask him a few questions about his work within the CCCCD system. KH: And you were lucky enough to find those things and different avenues you were passionate in. PG: Yes. And do it within a of couple organizations. You know, the Contra Costa Community College District allowed me to work two different sites, probably five or six different jobs, and still be an employee in the same organization, which is a great safety net in terms of security, but also then the freedom to really experiment and do some different things. KH: What is the impulse behind your retirement? PG: Internal. I've never been one to think about retirement. I have colleagues that I love who talk about "Oh, I'm going in five years," or "I'm going in three years" and that's just never been the way I've thought about my career. Early at the beginning of the year I started thinking about retirement.
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PG: And not like planning retirement, I mean it was just on my mind. So I actually did some of the things that you do if you're thinking about retiring. And at some point I just said "If I'm thinking about it, and I've looked at these things, it's probably an indication I'm ready to retire." KH: What are you most proud of accomplishing during your time as president of DVC? PG: The relationships with people. We’ve seen a lot of internal folks move, and those are all relationship where you’re looking at someone saying “we want you to do this with us or for us or for your students or for your colleagues.” And then the relationships with the existing folks. Some really good colleagues and friends as a result of that. And the fact that the focus of our relationships were on students. You know, how are we going to make them better on their pathways to whoever they want to be. That’s what I’m proudest of. KH: Was that shift from working with students on an individual level directly in classrooms, to working with them in a much broader spectrum in terms of student interest a difficult switch to make? PG: It was really a change. Probably the biggest was, when you work with students, they’re in real time. You see them in the classroom, you’re spending time with them. For me it was a very nourishing relationship, watching people learn and seeing them redefining themselves. Students in general are really positive, so the feedback and kudos you’d get from your work is really amazing. What I will say is grading student work is something you seldom miss. Grading is a solitary discipline, almost like a self flagellation, you’ve got to kind of grit your teeth and bare it. So that’s not something you miss. You do miss students though. I think staying on a college campus, you run into students in leadership issues, you run into them in governance work, you
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evaluate faculty periodically, and you see students there, you’re there for graduation. You get some of the best moments in student’s lives. You’re there for disciplinary actions too, which are not always fun, but they’re good for the institution. KH: What is one thing you’re sorry you were unable to accomplish during your time as president? PG: The deteriorated state of the PE/ athletic facilities is one of the things I’m glad Measure E will solve. I wish I could have seen it. I will come back and see it though. And then there’s the orange carpet in the PAC. I hate it. It’s vintage 1972 or ‘74. I know that because when they built LMC in 1974, they used that same carpet throughout. There is none of that carpet left at LMC, but it’s still at DVC. I would hope that we would have removed that last vestiges of that remnant, but we haven’t. And I’m hoping that maybe this summer that will change. KH: What do you wish for DVC moving forward without you once you retire? PG: Just incredible student success. I think DVC is at it’s best when it’s focused on student success, by that I mean employees — whether that means faculty or managers or classified — when they’re focused on student success, do an incredible amount of good work. The relationships get defined by doing that work. I think it’s really a marvelous place. And specifically the work that we’ve been trying to do, which is bringing equity to the long history of excellence here at DVC. Making sure that students, whether they’re African American or Latino, reentry veterans or single mothers, graduates of Lamorinda schools or Baypoint schools, they’re all experiencing the same level of success. I think that’s really important. I’d love to see a more integrated relationship between our international students and our domestic students,
so they have lasting relationships that are either business or personal 20 years from now. KH: What do you plan on doing once you retire and what are you looking forward to? PG: I’m looking for a little bit of quiet in terms of some time to reflect on who I want to be. I’ve been laughingly saying “who I want to be when I grow up.” The notion of not necessarily being defined by my work in this next phase, but by my character or interests or what I would call my soul or spirit. What am I about? Who am I? I’m looking forward to working on that.
Peter Garcia's final day as the DVC president will be June 30, 2016. We wish him all the best with the next phase of his life.
Continued online . . . Wesley Russell - imgur.com/a/kBqS9
By Madeline Berry “(My players) become family and it’s what brings me to campus over 350 days a year. Everyone loved Sandra Bullock in the Blindside, but of our 20 scholarships a year, we have 10-12 Blindside type stories every year…I’m just not a millionaire,” said head football coach Mike Darr. Diablo Valley College football players receive more scholarships than the entirety of East Bay high schools combined every year. However, this would not be possible if it was not for Darr. “We have facilitated 193 scholarships in the football program over the nine years I have been the head coach. Only two other schools in Northern California have had half that many during the same time period,” said Darr. “DVC has the most football scholarships offered this year in Northern California, and most likely the state.” Defensive lineman Franklin Uesi is transferring to the University of Texas at San Antonio in May after playing only one year of high school football at College Park. Uesi was inspired by his cousin, Tui Talia, who also played at DVC, to further his football career. After hearing his cousin’s success, he decided to come out to play for Darr. “Coach Darr? Give this man the award as the best coach, father figure, and mentor. Coach Darr helped me achieve good grades by setting up a study program for athletes who need help on their homework. Every day I would be in his office, asking him for help on certain problems I didn’t understand, or assignments I had trouble doing,” said Uesi. Safety Kyle Trego is transferring to Colorado University in Boulder in May, which is also a Division I school. Only spending one year at DVC he had an outstanding freshman season after coming straight from Liberty High School in Brentwood. Even though Trego has spent such a short time playing for DVC he pays immense respect
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GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND FOR STUDENT ATHLETES to Darr. “I’ve had a lot of coaches over the course of my football career and Coach Darr is most definitely one that is dedicated and determined,” said Trego. “Coach Darr has put in a tremendous amount of time and work not only being my football coach but also being my counselor and mentor, to get me in the position I am today and I couldn’t thank him anymore.” Darr makes a point to make himself accessible to all players at all times. Each player has his phone number and he puts in hours on campus nearly everyday. Darr spends a lot of time away from his family,
especially during the season. “Coach Darr literally never takes days off. He’s always in his office, Monday through Sunday, just to help players with their homework or give players advice about life,” said Uesi. Playing a college sport, trying to manage school and home life all at the same time can become a handful. Having a coach that is there for you at all times is above and beyond. Darr plays an important role in many of these athletes’ lives. “Coach Darr wants us athletes to make sure we get the degree we want because football will not last long, but an education
toughest junior college conference in California,” said Trego. Former DVC cornerback Cameron Whyte has transferred to UC Berkley in fall of 2015. Although he has chosen to not further his career in football he spoke kind words about his time with Darr at DVC. “Coach Darr took time out of his busy schedule to ensure that all of his players were on the right track not only on the field, but in the classroom. He went far beyond the Photos courtesy of Wendy Gilfoy call of duty of a head Left, Coach Mike Darr; above, Franklin Uesi. coach,” said Whyte. will. He was also there to help cope with the Transferring to UTSA is an amazing opstruggles I had at home, making sure I’m portunity for Uesi as it is a Division I school well fed before I head to class. I am truly and only five players on the team are from thankful for his existence because these are California. the type of people us athletes need, some“Everything they (Talia and Darr) taught one who’s willing to help us achieve our me, I passed on to young players, who are dreams,” said Uesi. also joining the football team. Hopefully, These scholarship athletes are dedicat- it’s creating a domino effect of success for ed, as summer practices are every Monday players who are willing to take the stand to through Thursday from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., become something great in life,” said Uesi. which includes lifting weights, film, and field “Looking back, as a young kid, I never practice. Coach Darr makes sure he is there thought I would make it this far. It is amazfor these players every practice. ing to be the first in the family to achieve “He would always remind me ‘Listen something so big.” Franklin, all that ladder drills, running DVC sends players to every conference routes, and one on one drills is easy… all the and every level of college football. DVC field work is easy, anyone can run around also has more mid year transfers and more the football field, but school? The class- “1 and done’s”, which are players that reroom? That’s the real hard work that sepa- ceive scholarships after just one season, like rates those who want it from those who kin- Trego. da want it.’ I thank him for that talk because “At an average of $20K per year for two it allowed me to look at the bigger picture,” years, we have enabled our students to resaid Uesi. ceive 7.72 million dollars worth of scholarMost athletes that come to play football ship money,” said Darr. “An average of over for DVC are looking not only for a scholar- 20 a year, we have had the most signings in ship offer, but to be challenged as well. seven of those nine years and are perenni“What made me come to DVC over any ally in the top three in transfers throughout other junior colleges is because of the con- the state.” sistent rate of Division I scholarships handAlthough, only Trego and Uesi are feaed out each year to athletes in the football tured in this article, many players have been program. Also, because they compete in the offered scholarships as well.
“Every opportunity to allow these young men to better their lives is special to me! These guys have to put in so much mental, physical and emotional effort to make the necessary sacrifices for the success they have achieved, I’m honored, blessed and amazed every year,” said Darr. If you are willing to put in all the effort and time, coach Darr is more than willing to work with you. Darr’s highest totals of scholarships have been 26 players his first season as head coach in 2007 and 25 in 2011. “Through our academic monitoring and support, contacts, networking and marketing of our players’ abilities, there are currently seven players in the program that already have scholarship offers in place following next season,” said Darr. DVC could potentially become a better City College of San Francisco, back when Coach George M. Rush was the head coach of their football program for 38 years. For all the efforts Darr has put forth in this program, he could be next in line to have Viking Stadium renamed after him like the great coach Rush.
Kyle Trego.
Photo courtesy of Shane Louis
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by jesse sutterley
RISE OF THE RIGHT
It is baffling to some of us in California a liberal, “forward thinking” state, that Donald Trump is gaining any ground in this year’s presidential race. As of early May, Ted Cruz dropped from the Republican Primary, leaving Trump as the only candidate for the party. With openly racist statements, ignorance, and a complete lack of knowledge of the political system, it is hard to comprehend that Trump is still some how in the running. Unfortunately, Trump isn’t alone in these ideals. If you were to just hop across the pond to Europe, however, you will see that Trump’s ideology is slowly becoming the norm. Anti-government, anti-establishment, anti-immigration, and general mistrust of government officials has lead to a sharp rise in the number of right wing parties in Europe. “Everyone wants their government to provide security and prosperity and these promises are made by the running parties,” said Diablo Valley College sociology Professor Scott MacDougall, “and it’s easier for demagogues to come forward and blame the outsiders, ‘if it weren’t for them we would be prosperous.’” In the United Kingdom Nigel Farage, leader of Britian’s anti-European Union and anti-immigration, the UK Independence Party, has taken the lead to push the U.K. out of the E.U. going against the wishes of David Cameron and Barack Obama. Poland, which hosts a huge right wing ultranationalist rally once a year, is now lead by Andrzej Duda, a man who once was associated with the Law and Justice party, who’s current leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said in parliament, “First, the number of foreigners increase violently. Next they declare they won’t respect our law and our customs. Then they impose their sensitivities and demands on the public sphere, on all spheres of life, violently and aggressively.” It is fascinating that Poland, a nation that lost 16 percent of its population to brown shirted fascists in the 1940’s, is so quick to become a right wing hot bed in Europe during crisis. “How many in Poland today actually experienced the Nazis?” asked MacDougall, “No one under 89, who would have been 18 in 1945, remembers what happened, and people forget easily if it does not happen to them.”
The U.K. and Poland are not the only culprits of the rising right wing, however. In France the National Front, lead by Kevin Bryan, in Hungary Viktor Orbán is prime minister and leader of the Fidesz party, who have not quite built a wall around Hungary, but has constructed a large fence to stop the flow of migrants from Syria and the Middle East. Sweden’s party is ironically called the Sweden Democrats and is lead by Jimmie Åkesson. Germany has its own party, Alternative for Germany, which is run by Frauke Petry and Jörg Meuthen, and strongly opposes Germany’s recent openness towards refugees. Although Ukraine is now run by Petro Poroshenko, the Right Sector, an ultra nationalist party formed from the ashes of the Maidan Revolution, has control over much of eastern Ukraine and claimed Poroshenko will not escape if the country falls into another revolution. Probably the most notable in Europe is Golden Dawn in Greece, a political party that has been connected to organized crime in the country and is lead by Nikolaos G. Michaloliakos. “It’s an interesting development that some European countries that were once communist and humanitarian and looking at the world from a larger picture are the first to shut down the path of refugees,” said DVC Sociology Professor Amer Araim. With Europe being so close to the conflicts in Syria and the Middle East, these parties have been fueled by an ever growing fear towards Muslims. With no clear end in sight to these proxy wars, the migrant crisis will only be getting worse.
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“It’s an interesting development that some European countries that were once communist and humanitarian and looking at the world from a larger picture are the first to shut down the path of refugees.” -Professor Amer Araim
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“There are issues to this influx of people because it is connected also to the fear of terrorists that might infiltrate. This is the countries concern because, particularly, there are troubles in the regions from where these people are coming, be it from Africa or from the Middle East,” said Professor Araim. “This is a legitimate concern, but it should not be dealt with in such a way that it rejects the genuine people fleeing those countries. It is international law in the Geneva Convention that all refugees that genuinely fear for their lives are able to find a safe haven and other countries should receive them.” It is true that with every terrorist attack on European soil, right wing groups gain more ground. This is especially true among the poor and middle class. With EU-28 unemployment around 10 percent, with the highest unemployment rate being Greece, coming in around 25 percent, mixed with the fear of migrants stealing jobs, robbing or committing violent acts, Europe is becoming a breeding ground for right wing nationalism. These attacks have also caused seven countries — Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Norway — to create some type of temporary border control, breaking up the Schengen Area, which may soon be a thing of the past. “The poor sectors of society look at these immigrants as threatening their way of life or their chances to advanced to a better economic future,” said Professor Araim. This trend may not stop any time soon, but we shouldn’t be afraid. “Democratic norms are strong in Europe,” said MacDougall, “much stronger than they were in the 1930’s, and membership of to the E.U. curbs the rise of fascism, but we have to remember that, while Hitler
himself may have been unique, the dynamics that lead to the rise of his power are not unique.” And so we return to the United States and Donald Trump, who has stated, “The impact in terms of crime has been tragic, meanwhile, Mexico continues to make billions on not only our bad trade deals, but also relies heavily on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from illegal immigrants in the United States to Mexico. For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country.” A statement that could be pulled right out of any right wing rhetoric from Europe. Trump’s ideology isn’t as shocking as one might assume after hearing that from other world leaders. Rather, Trump seems to be the American version of Jaroslaw Kaczynski. His brash outlandish statements towards minorities and immigrants echo the cries of the neo-fascists in Europe. Even his slogan, “make America great again,” blatantly means taking America back to the 50’s, essentially saying “make America white again.” The last time ultra nationalists were marching around the globe, people were placed into camps, millions around the world were killed, false science plagued society, and entire nations were destroyed and created. I don’t have the solution, but as long as we let fear control our governments, minds and media, we will never be able to see our fellow man as equals, and will fail to reach out our arms and pull up those who are drowning.
IT IS TIME FO
BY sEAN ROSS
American democracy is broken.
That is not sensationalist raving in an attempt to garner page views — it is empirical fact. Democracy comes from the Greek roots demos and kratos, which roughly translate to “rule of the common people.” The United States is a representative democracy, wherein the public exercises its will indirectly by electing representatives based on their interests to the Legislature. According to Dr. Martin Gilens of Princeton University in his book “Affluence and Influence,” the interests of everyday citizens have little if any statistically significant relation to the content of bills that get passed by Congress.
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The Legislative Branch has been repeatedly and verifiably shown to give more value to the interests of a small cadre of wealthy donors, known pejoratively to some as “the 1 percent.” If the will of the populace, by definition the foundation of democracy, is not being represented, then the system under which the American public is governed does not operate as it is purported to. Yet in spite of all this, and the lowest approval ratings in U.S. history, a career in Congress continues to be one of the most stable avenues of employment in America; according to OpenSecrets.org, the rate of re-election for incumbent Congressmen has never fallen below 80 percent in the past half century, and incumbent Senators have enjoyed similar but less consistent rates of
re-election since 1982. If these representatives continually fail to represent the interests of the common person, why then does the electorate continue to support them? One of the principle reasons behind this entrenched incumbency is the stranglehold of the Democratic and Republican Parties, private and self-interested entities, have over the electoral process. Their vice grip is the result of the “First Past the Post” election system. According to Duverger’s law, a theory of political science first posited by French sociologist Maurice Duverger, plurality electoral systems like First Past the Post have a strong tendency to limit competition for seats in government to two dominant parties. The more candidates that run in an election, the more difficult it is for all candidates to reach a plurality. The result is twofold. First, smaller political organizations are strongly incentivized to coalesce into singular, monolithic parties, in order to get enough electoral support to be adequately represented in government. Secondly, established parties who already claim sizable shares of the electorate crowd out smaller third parties, starving those smaller organizations of necessary support to have any representation on a national level. As a result, the two entrenched parties in the United States have a duopoly on the political process. It is because of this phenomena that the idea of the act of voting for any candidate outside of these two dominant parties is a wasted vote, creating a negative feedback loop of a chronic lack of support for candidates who do not enjoy the institutional advantages of the Democratic and Republican Parties.
OR REFORM Consequently, the parties have undue influence over who gets to run for office, and what platforms may be run on. This is due to the fact that U.S. political parties tend to internally select which candidates to run for which positions on a national level. Presidential Primary elections were not even federally mandated in the U.S. until 1968, when Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic nomination in spite of not being on the ballot until the day of the Convention. Even to this day 29 states hold closed Primary contests, and as of January 2016, 20 states hold closed Congressional contests. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, since the two parties are private entities, and as such do have some level of say over who can and cannot participate in their contests, be it as a candidate or a voter. The issue arises from the fact that due to the two parties being, realistically speaking, the only viable means of reaching an elected office, the parties effectively have control over not just who can run in and vote in their own contests, but by extension who can be a competitive candidate in any election. The 2016 Primary elections have shown perhaps more clearly than any election in decades just how fundamentally broken the U.S.’s partisan electoral system really is. There have repeatedly been reports of tampered or purged voter rolls in multiple states, including Arizona and New York. New York in particular saw entire city blocks of voters deleted from the registry, with Brooklyn alone losing over 120,000 democratic voters.
After receiving over 700 individual complaints, more than four times the number of complaints filed for the 2012 General Election according to PBS, the New York Board of Elections suspended two Board officials without pay. In spite of this, the Board certified the results of the Primary on May 6th, rejecting 91,000 affidavit ballots cast that day. The Arizona, New York, and Massachusetts, and other contests all featured multihour long lines. The causes behind these lines were many and varied. Arizona and New York especially featured significantly reduced numbers at polling places, by as much as three quarters compared to 2012 in some counties, and polling places that opened later than posted. Those polling places that were open were understaffed and undersupplied.
The Daily Beast reported that in New York City, some locations were delivered defective voting machines, while others received as few as half the number of machines that were needed. Massachusetts featured former President Bill Clinton himself arriving at several polling places to make an impromptu stump speech for former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The unexpected appearance of a former president can understandably cause quite a bit of a stir; foot and road traffic surrounding the former President’s location quickly ground to a standstill. There are reports that not only was President Clinton electioneering within 150 feet of multiple polling places, which is a crime in the state of Massachusetts, but the former leader’s Secret Service detail had
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the entrances to some of those polling places roped off from the public; a government entity physically interposed themselves between citizens and their right to vote. These logistical blunders seem to happen with disturbing consistency in each election, and time and again the two parties have shown little interest in doing anything to address the issue other than delivering half-hearted apologies while simultaneously rubber-stamping clearly flawed results. The ideal solution to this entrenched problem would be to reform the electoral process from the ground up, abandoning the current plurality process for a preferential voting system. In such a system, voters rank their choice of candidates in order of preference. If a candidate receives a simple majority of votes, that candidate wins outright. If no candidate attains a majority of votes, the candidate with the least first choice votes is eliminated from the pool, and their votes are awarded to the remaining candidates based on secondary and tertiary choices. This process continues until a candidate achieves a simple majority and is declared the winner. This prevents any
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vote from being “wasted,” removing the long held stigma against voting for third party candidates in U.S. elections. Assuming partisan politics is too entrenched in U.S. culture to be done away with entirely, then the two parties must accept significant changes in order to better serve the interests of the American public. Chiefly, the Democratic and Republican Parties cannot continue to be privately interested organizations. To that end, closed contests must become a relic of the past. Too many independent voters that don’t fully align with the platforms of either monolithic party denied the ability to decide who gets to run for office. These voters often find themselves only able to choose between, in the words of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, “a giant douche and a turd sandwich.” Until such dramatic changes are made, democracy in the United States will continue to ignore the worsening plight of the middle and lower classes, and the gulf between the haves and have-nots will only continue to widen. Perhaps beyond repair.
Water
by Jim Jordan
A LIFE’s LEGacy through teaching by marcel scott
As DR. Marcia Renee Goodman completes her final semester at dvc, she reflects on her 21 years of outstanding teaching
S
hakespearean Literature was a class I felt like I was going to regret taking as soon as I clicked the register button on WebAdvisor — when signing up for Spring 2015 classes. I didn’t particularly enjoy reading Shakespeare, and I was also scared that a teacher might be overly critical of my opinion on the matter, but I had to take the class in order to meet my English major requirements. Dreaded Shakespearean literature had come upon me faster than I could open my Hanukkah presents, and now I was waiting in class for my first day of another grueling 16 weeks. Winter break had gone by and now I was sitting nervously — back at Diablo Valley College for my second semester — in Humanities Room 105. I was still an awkward freshman, so I made the point of not making eye contact with other students, silently waiting for the teacher to come in and start the lecture. Right on the 9:30 mark, Dr. Goodman strolled through the classroom door in a colorful fedora and a garishly colored scarf wrapped around her neck. Her demeanor and calming air settled the class into a lulled silence. Goodman walked up to the board and began writing — taking her time to write out each letter. The class sat silent, anticipating Goodman to speak. Finally, after what felt like 30 minutes of suspense, Goodman turned a cheeky smile toward the class and said, “You’re welcome to keep talking.” The room let out a laugh and continued in a harmonized exchange of side conversations. I stayed silent, but now a little more at ease after the clearly well practiced performance of professor Goodman’s.
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Fast forward to Fall of 2016: I’m sitting in Dr. Goodman’s office crying and telling her about my aunt who had just died of cancer. I’m telling her because I know that she’s the only one who will put me somewhat at ease about the situation, and be able to explain to me that life isn’t fair. I’m telling her because I know she’s shared a common illness with my aunt. I’m telling professor Goodman, because she’s also lost someone when they were too young. Dr. Marcia Renee Goodman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a working-class Jewish family. She grew up reading books before she could barely speak, and often found herself escaping to literature when trying to find some order in her chaotic household. Goodman’s older brother, two years her senior, was as she put it to me, “a troubled kid.” Goodman studied at State University of New York at Stony Brook for her undergraduate, where her obsession of words and human thought motivated her to consider pursuing a degree in psychology. But with her infatuation of artful language, she decided that literature would be a better compromise between her two loves. She continued her studies at University of California Berkeley where she received her Master’s and Doctorate. During this time she fell in love with the Bay Area — but even more with Berkeley — where Goodman still resides today with her husband. While still in her Doctorate program at UC Berkeley, Goodman heard some unfortunate news about her brother. Goodman’s brother, who was having difficulties back in Brooklyn, killed himself when police surrounded him in his parents apartment. Neighbors believed that Goodman’s brother was taking her parents hostage, but contrary to what the neighbors thought, Goodman’s parents were actually staying with their friends in Queens. Police stormed the house, and things escalated from there. This, of course, devastated Goodman, in her final years at Berkeley, and also cast an eerie shadow on her home on the East Coast After school, Dr. Goodman began teaching at UC Davis, where she’d commute from Berkeley every day. Eventually, after six years, the back and forth hour long journey became too much for her, and she resigned from teaching at Davis in 1994.
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Goodman says that, “Students have stayed the same, and seem to be very open about talking about their lives,” and this “talking about lives” part of what has been a huge part of the influence that Goodman has brought to the campus with her heartfelt speeches... A few years later, following advice from an old classmate and good friend, Maureen O’Leary, Goodman applied for a job at DVC. In the Spring semester of 1996, she began teaching English at DVC which began a 21 year career teaching at the community college. As anyone would expect, Goodman has seen a lot of change throughout her time at DVC, but that change hasn’t come in the form of students. Goodman says that, “Students have stayed the same, and seem to be very open about talking about their lives,” and this “talking about lives” part of what has been a huge part of the influence that Goodman has brought to the campus with her heartfelt speeches, which she is capable of giving. It’s also inspiring — she wouldn’t like me using the word inspiring, but it is — that Goodman has been battling ovarian cancer since 1999, but still puts everyone’s needs in front of her own. She deeply cares about her students, and shrugs off the persistent disease in order to keep teaching. Her mood seemingly isn’t influenced by how she feels, but instead how her students feel. Goodman now plans to retire at the end of this spring semester. Her legacy can be seen in the students that have been lucky enough to have learned under her. Speaking for myself, hearing Goodman’s nonfiction story which she read at the teacher reading last spring semester was enough to make me feel happier to be alive — to know that an amazing person, that I had learned under, that I was lucky enough to speak to and have long discussions about life and literature with, has gone through so much, and still has an infectious smile on her face.
Contributing Writers Kari Flickinger: treat Kari crawled out of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in a deevolved quest towards the sea, but she somehow landed in
Sterling Farrance: morning cigarette Sterling is currently enjoying his last semester at DVC. As an English major this of course means reading till his eyes bleed. He’s looking forward to transferring to UC Berkeley where among other things he’ll continue writing about drinking, drugs, and unfulfilling, ill-advised sexual encounters. Naturally, he pens these bad decisions so he doesn’t need to make them in real life. While not yet totally comfortable with adulting and all that comes with it, he gets a little better at it everyday. He aspires to eventually become an educator, where he will help others navigate through that same difficult journey. Sterling is thankful for the professors, administrators, and peers—you know who you are—that helped him get where he is now.
Walnut Creek where she lives with her flat-faced cat, Oscar, and her fiancé, Bill. During her journey, she reclaimed little parts of herself that she believed were lost in her
twenties-including her passion for writing. This growth was cultivated by DVC's academic atmosphere as she earned her English AA. Her poetry has been published
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in Susurrus and Falcon’s Scratch magazines. Her lyrics and music were featured in a documentary. Her next step is attending UC Berkeley this fall.
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