Insider Magazine Spring 2008

theinsider

Carina Crash

The Model and Photographer Speaks Candidly About Living with Disabilities.

Glendale Community College

theinsider

Glendale Community College Magazine Spring 2008

Volume I

Number I

From the Editor

Our New Magazine Welcome to The Insider!

It might surprise readers to learn that this magazine has been 71 years in the making.

The student body of 1927 arrived on campus, a rented wing at Glendale Union High School, to find that the journalism department had already started a newspaper, The Galleon, to keep them apprised of all the goings-on at their school.

Over the years, the campus grew and so did The Galleon, until 1937 when students voted to rename the paper El Vaquero in keeping with the Spanish theme of the new buildings that comprised the site of the campus on the hill.

And so for seven decades, the college community could turn to its newspaper for news. El Vaq, now also available on the Web, has had a long and illustrious history and has won a great number of awards over the years.

But there was no magazine, save for the very fine literary journal the Eclipse.

The Insider was started in response to a specific need, one that could not be accommodated by El Vaquero. Some campus stories just require more: more time, more words, more research than the newspaper format allows.

The world of journalism has changed in ways that could never have been predicted back in 1927. But despite all the brouhaha over new media, we like to think that a good story, well told, is still the essence of journalism.

For several years, Journalism 107, Magazine Writing, has been a class offering of the Language Arts Department. And while many students have gone on to have their work published, there has never been a campus showcase for their talent. Until now.

The premiere issue of this magazine is about the kind of people who make up Glendale and Glendale College. With spring semester drawing to a close, we at The Insider hope that a story or two within these pages provide a pleasurable way to start your summer reading. — Jane Pojawa, editor-in-chief

1 Who We Are:

Since Glendale Community College was founded 71 years ago, both the campus and surrounding community have changed dramatically. An in-depth look into that transformation.

6 Transitions:

Societal trends bring parents and children together at community college. When family life and school coverge, the results may be surprising.

9 Challenges:

Voces del MaĂąana calls for changes in state and federal laws that prevent AB 540 students from recieving financial aid.

15 Entertainment:

X rocks L.A. old school and shows some young punks that they’re not just has-beens.

18 Out and About:

Four scenic hiking locations in easy reach of campus.

22 Sports:

Coach Greg Osbourne has resurrected the golf team after a 23-year hiatus.

Find out about the highs and lows of the first season.

On Our Cover:

Carina Crash is a familiar face around campus. In an Insider exclusive, she dishes about disabilities, Rufus Wainright and being fabulous. Pages 12-14.

insider

the

Glendale Community College Magazine Summer 2008

Volume I

Number I

editor in chief

Jane Pojawa STAFF WRITERS

Tony Alfieri Susan Braunheim Milena Litomisky Edwin Lopez Fabiola Prieto Olga Ramaz

Glendale A Changing Community and a Diverse Campus

­— By Edwin Lopez

faculty adviser

Michael Moreau mmoreau@glendale.edu (818) 551-5214 design adviser

Charles Eastman advertising

Jeff Smith jsmith@glendale.edu (818) 240-1000, ext. 1427

First copy free: additional copies $2 To submit an idea or an article: The insider accepts story ideas in news, features, profiles, sports and entertainment from the public. Send ideas or articles, to the editor at editor@gccinsider.com or (818) 551-5349.

Letters to the Editor: Letters may be reproduced in full or in part and represent only the point of view of the writer, not the opinion of The Insider or Glendale Community College and its district. Letters must be signed and typed and include the full name and address of the writer. The Insider is a First Amendment publication.

Send letters to: 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale, CA 91208 (818) 240-1000 ext. 5349 Send E-mail to: jane_pojawa@gccinsider.com

ILLUSTRATING HER POINT — Shirley Mae Dyson illustrates on a Glendale College blackboard her point that there are four men for every girl on campus and that the school has good reason to add vocational studies to coeds’ curriculum. Listening to her argument and apparently agreeing are Dick Swart, left, and Bob Burnett. This photo and caption originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1948. Forty years later, things are much different; women now outnumber men in higher education.

glendale is no longer a sleepy little suburb of

Los Angeles, nor is it a conservative white enclave immune from the changes of the vast metropolis encircling it. There may be no city of its size in the state that has undergone such a seismic shift in complexion, politics and culture as has the community nestled between the Verdugos and Griffith Park.

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Spring 2008 | the insider

Glendale

a community transformed at 30 square miles, Glendale is currently the city with the third largest population in Los Angeles County (with more than 200,000 residents) and the 17th largest population in the state. The city of Glendale and Glendale College have both experienced major transformations since the ’60s and ’70s, and this can be attributed in large part to the increasingly global population that has moved into the city through the years and which now calls it home.

After incorporating as a city in 1906 the community grew quickly, with the population rising from about 13,000 to almost 63,000 between 1920 and 1930.

Around this time the city was predominantly white Anglo-Saxon protestant. This may partly explain why the clueless American Nazi Party in 1964 decided to locate its headquarters here, perhaps thinking the town reflected its values. But if that and other such racist groups could have predicted what was going to happen in the next few decades, they would have chosen a different location.

The Once Sleepy Suburb During those years, Glendale really was a sleepy suburb. People let their kids run around the streets because they knew all the neighbors. They left their doors unlocked, and Brand Boulevard was mostly little shops

the insider | Spring 2008

and car dealerships.

Lifelong resident Michael DiTratto, 44, has been around to see many of the changes.

His grandparents moved to the city in 1941, and his mother went to high school with Bob Wian of Bob’s Big Boy. He was born at Glendale Memorial, went to Glendale High, and left the city for only six months before moving back.

He remembers when he and his friends spent whole days at shops on Brand riding their bikes through empty lots. It was much more “village-y,” he says. “Generations grew up together; it was a community back then.

You couldn’t get away with anything because mothers called other mothers, neighbors talked to each other. It wasn’t so fast paced. It was like Mayberry.” He says it was called the “Bedroom of L.A.” because people worked in L.A. then returned to Glendale to sleep, “where nothing happened.”

Around the 1970s, many commercial, business, and residential developments changed the composition of the city. The Glendale Galleria was introduced during the ’70s, as were the Ventura (134) and Glendale (2) freeways. There was also a renovation of the Alex Theatre and the addition of many high-rise buildings on and around Brand Boulevard, many of which house corporate headquarters of major companies like Nestle USA and IHOP. With this trend the

city acquired the reputation of being more business-friendly than some of its neighbors.

Boom Times All this led to a somewhat planned, but likely unexpected, boom in the city’s population. From 1970 the population went from 132,000 to more than 139,000 in 1980. Then, between 1980 and 1990, it jumped by almost 41,000 people, bringing the population to more than 180,000. In this surge, the majority of the people moving into Glendale were immigrants and people of other backgrounds, cultures and languages.

Some of the first Hispanics in the city were Mexican-Americans and Cubans. Many Mexican-Americans came in the early ’70s from Eagle Rock and other surrounding areas. Some had immigrated to the country, and although Glendale Police would routinely ask for “green cards” and report people to federal authorities for deportation, second- and third-generation MexicanAmericans had more opportunities. Cubans on the other hand, were mostly exiles or refugees welcomed by the government, and were more readily able to adapt since their country had been more influenced by American culture and many of them were politically conservative. The Porto family, which founded Porto’s Bakery in 1974, was

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one of the families that emigrated from Cuba in the late ’60s after the Cuban revolution.

Growth of Armenian Population A large part of the population moving to Glendale during these years was from the Armenian and Middle Eastern communities.

Like Hispanics, there had been small pockets of Armenians, but in the ’70s Glendale saw a massive influx of Armenian immigrants from many countries. After the 1915 Armenian Genocide left Armenians scattered across the globe, many came to America in search of refuge. Then, after World War II, many were again forced to leave their new homes in countries devastated by the war or where they faced oppression, poverty, and religious or political persecution.

After WWII, the U.S. government implemented a provision to immigration law allowing “displaced persons” to enter the country and become legal residents.

There was a rise in Armenian immigration from Lebanon around this time due to the civil war there. Then in 1979, during the Islamic Revolution in Iran, thousands more immigrated to America, with many coming to the Los Angeles area.

The last few waves of immigrants included many educated, wealthy people with knowledge of multiple languages, which helped them to adapt to the American culture and thrive in business and politics. The governor of California from 1983 to 1991 was George Deukmejian, an Armenian-American from New York. And Larry Zarian, who served four terms at the helm of the city, was considered the first Armenian-American to become mayor of a large city. These political and socio-economic factors may have drawn more Armenians. Also, many Armenians came to the U.S. after the fall of the U.S.S.R. Having family and friends nearby for support may have been the largest draw, something that people who emigrate from other

“it is the role of Community Colleges to provide a place to start on higher education” — Gordon Alexandre countries always look for in a new home.

Glendale now has the largest Armenian population outside Armenia.

There were also many Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and other Asian people who moved into the area during the mid to late ’70s. Many Vietnamese immigrated here as refugees from our war against them.

DiTratto recalls in the ’80s when his parents first received city announcements in both English and Spanish. He remembers that many of the older, right-wing residents were angry at the time and looked down upon the newer, foreign-born residents who couldn’t speak the language. He also recalls how people picked on one of the first Armenian students at Glendale High School, and how the football team and some of the Armenian students started a feud. “People didn’t take to it kindly,” he said. “They felt like ‘this is our town, and if we resist it, it’ll still be Glendale.’ But eventually it wasn’t.”

Around the mid-’80s he started seeing “For Sale” signs going up. The complexion of the city was slowly being altered, and there was a “grudging acceptance” as DiTratto calls it, that “Glendale had become a part of the world.” Many people felt that “it wasn’t the way they wanted to go, so they chose to live somewhere else.” This is when many of the older houses were torn down for upscale condominiums, and more storefront signs started going up in foreign languages.

Glendale was in the process of changing and nobody could stop the momentum.

Glendale College Glendale College recognized the population trend and the need for minority representation. Jose Mercade has been a counselor at Glendale College for 35 years and was only the second person to work at the college with what was called a “Spanish surname.” He translated the first two ballots for Glendale into Spanish. He also translated the financial aid application for Glendale College, which in his words “shows you how desperate they were to find somebody.”

There was some resistance from those who did not agree with the changes. In 1975, Mercade made a presentation to the board of trustees proposing a federal Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOPS) plan which would provide state funds for Glendale’s minority students. “It’s in the public record, I looked for it myself.” he says.

“It’s all in there except for one part.” At the end of his presentation, one of the board members looked at him and asked, “So you mean to tell me that you want to create a program that’s going to try to fit round pegs into square boxes?” Mercade was shocked, took a second, and then responded, “Sir, I thought we were talking about students here, not pieces of wood.” At this point the board member thanked him and the meeting was adjourned. He says, “I thought, ‘for sure they’re going to fire me tomorrow.’”

The college did eventually establish an EOPS program, making Mercade director for the first five years. The program created the Tutorial Center, which is still on campus,

Glendale’s first class, opposite, was composed of 125 students and nine faculty members. The campus has grown exponentially in size — and in ethnic diversity.

Former President/Superintendent John Davitt, next page, has seen many changes in the campus and community over the last 40 years.

Photo by Emmanuel Belviz

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Spring 2008 | the insider

where Glendale

could give some insight into where the country might advance...

Photo by Jane Pojawa

progresses from here and visited nearby high schools to recruit minority students for the college.

Until the late ’70s students needed a permit to attend college outside of their home district, so the majority of students were still local and mostly Anglo.

Former college President Dr. John Davitt says that for a time those home district restrictions “strangled” the college. Students who wanted to come to Glendale couldn’t easily do so if they didn’t meet the residency requirement.

Davitt, who retired in 2006, after 38 years at the college and 21 years as president — a state record, says, “Every year we had to renegotiate our agreement with L.A. as to which areas could go to Glendale and which ones needed a permit. Otherwise, a student had to prove that Glendale had a program that L.A. didn’t have, which was difficult because L.A. had a lot of programs!”

It wasn’t until passage of state ballot Proposition 13, which shifted community college funding from the district to the state, that the permits were abolished.

“Glendale has always been an excellent college with a high transfer rate and good quality teachers. A lot of people wanted to come to GCC and that was finally possible.

A larger diversity was always the aim for us,” the widely respected former president says.

Subsequently, the college went from being majority Anglo-white in the ’70s, down to only 30 percent in the mid ’90s.

A Turning Point The turning point at GCC was from fall 1995, when Anglo-Americans were still the slight majority, to fall 1996, when they were relatively tied with Armenian and Latino students. The Anglo student population then ranged between 3,000 and 3,500 from 1996 to 2001, while the Latino and Armenian populations had both reached 4,000 by fall 2000. There was another divide then as the Armenian headcount jumped from about 4,000 in fall 2000, to well over 5,000 in 2002.

Meanwhile, the Anglo headcount went from 3,500 in 2000, to just 2,500 by 2003. By 2006, Anglos made up only 15 percent of the student population, while Armenians were about a third, Hispanics made up almost a quarter, and Asians were just over 10 percent, which is how it has remained. The percentage of students for whom English was not their first language jumped to 70 percent in 2007, a number which accounts for the increased

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class offerings of English as a second language and remedial English.

The composition of the faculty and administration has also changed to accommodate the changing student population. Professor Gordon Alexandre has taught History and Political Science at Glendale College for the last 25 years and says the faculty is definitely more diverse than when he first started. Recently, three minority women were appointed to positions in the social sciences division and he points out that this “never would have happened 30 years ago.”

Alexandre says, “It adds to the faculty and students, because now people can stand on their merits.” He, like many others, welcomes the inclusiveness. As he puts it, “it is the role of Community Colleges to provide a place to start on higher education,” especially for those with limited opportunities.

“These immigration issues are not new,” he points out. “They have been around a long, long time,” and there have always been what he calls “push-pull factors.” A push factor is what forces someone to leave their homes: poverty, religious persecution, wars, and oppression. Pull factors are what draw immigrants to other countries, specifically the United States. “Immigrants leave what’s familiar to deal with the stress of learning a new language, getting a new job, getting an education, and making new friends.” And across the globe there is the idea that the United States is a place to where they can escape. To the religiously and politically oppressed, we offer the ideals of “Freedom of Religion” and “Freedom of Speech.” To the poor and hungry we offer “economic opportunity,” a place where anyone can “work hard and get ahead.” Alexandre says, “This is the idea pushed by films, the press, the pulpit, and politicians. Unfortunately, though, many find out that the truth is different once they get here.”

The changing dynamic has presented many challenges, and not only at GCC. Some have complained about the city commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

There have been fights between Armenian

and Latino students at local high schools.

And some of the recent immigrants are not able to adapt so readily and can have a hard time getting used to the changes.

Bellina Davoodian was born in Iran in 1981. She moved to Glendale seven years ago because she says “I hated the situation in Iran. So I decided to leave.” She left alone with her family’s knowledge and eventually wound up in Glendale. She got a job with her dentist, but still had trouble fitting in.

She remembers when her classmates teased her for saying “I have computer,” as if it was some sort of disease, or when she cried for two hours because she couldn’t think of a certain word. It took her two years to really feel comfortable, learning English by reading the subtitles on television until one day a co-worker remarked, “Oh my God, you lost your accent!”

She is now a surgical tech at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, but she acknowledges that many have had a harder time, some opting to move back to their homelands.

As Davoodian points out, “Some don’t try to learn the language or get an education.”

Sometimes it may not come as easily, or they may face hardships and resistance. But most do adapt over time, and eventually they make their surroundings more familiar and friendly.

The challenges people feel off campus are reflected on campus. Glendale College has faced many of these challenges, and as Professor Alexandre puts it, “GCC is just a microcosm of Glendale,” which is just a microcosm of California, the United States, and the world. It will be interesting to see how the city progresses over the next few years with the addition of the Americana and other recent changes. The Americana promises to boost Glendale’s economy, but it may also have negative effects on the quality of life. How Glendale progresses from here could give some insight into how the country might advance, and even an idea of how things might change on a more global scale.

After all, Glendale is no longer the “bedroom of L.A.,” but a part of the larger world.

Edwin Lopez is a Los Angeles native in his first semester at Glendale Community College. He is a hip-hop DJ who enjoys reading and writing, playing video games, and hiking in Griffith Park.

Spring 2008 | the insider

Back to School

Returning Students and Their Adult Children

By Susan Braunheim on any given evening you may

be able to hear college students Evangeline Jimenez and Micheal (his spelling) Gilbert discussing their day’s events. The conversation might include club activities, what each did for lunch, ­at went on at school, pretty standard discourse for two Glendale College students who live together, sharing similar majors in advertising art and graphic design.

What makes these students remarkable is that Evangeline is Micheal’s mom.

These two are living a relatively new experience of mothers and children attending college together.

According to a United States Census Bureau survey, the greatest percentage of increase in college attendance is women 30

the insider | Spring 2008

Photos by Jane Pojawa

and over. Mothers particularly are going back to college and graduating in record numbers.

And the college is doing no more than reflecting the general trend in higher education of serving more and more female students, said Edward Karpp, Glendale Community College’s Associate Dean of Institutional Research and Planning. The ratio at GCC has been 60 percent female to 40 percent male since the mid-1990s. In the late 1990s, the ratio was approximately 50/50 for younger students but older students were far more likely to be female.

In 2006, the number of women students between the ages of 30 and 50 was nearly double that of the men.

As the number of women attending

Michael Bernal and Claudia Alvarenga, above, in the Developmental Skills lab at the Garfield campus. “Same campus” doesn’t necessarily mean “same classes,” but some of these families are meeting that challenge.

Opposite, clockwise from left: Micheal Gilbert and Evangeline Jimenez, Claudia Alvarenga and Michael Bernal and Mayra de Alvarez and Milton Alvarez are motherson teams that have made education their top priority.

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college rises, the numbers of mothers and children attending college together has also gone up. These pairs are not only going to school at the same time, but in many cases at the same place, including Glendale College.

This presents an interesting and perhaps inherently uncomfortable situation for both the mother and the child.

“My mom can get kinda dull sometimes, but that’s every parent and you love them, so you get used to them being quirky and embarrassing,” Micheal said.

Charles Eastman, a professional art and creative director, who has taught graphic design and advertising-related courses at the college for the last 10 years has had both Evangeline and Micheal together in several of his classes.

“Evangeline and Micheal sit next to each other but are otherwise indistinguishable from their classmates,” he said. “They are independent thinkers and respond to assignments and project critiques as such.

Evangeline is more verbal and engages in discussions requiring critical thought.

Micheal is more internalized and intuitive, but will offer his special take on a subject when asked. Their diverse viewpoints add uniqueness and color to the class experience.”

Although the pair may be indistinguishable to others, the two must feel a certain sense of accountability to each other in class. Women tend to feel somewhat responsible for their children’s performance throughout their lives. When kids go off to college, mothers have far less input into and influence on their interests and responsibilities. Mothers may feel a sense relief and accomplishment knowing that a college-bound child is at the first stop on the way to success. A mother going to college with her child may not feel she has this luxury of letting go.

Evangeline, 60, is a sweet, enthusiastic woman whose passion and kindness is palpable. Her voice is gentle but energetic and she speaks with a selfassuredness that comes only with age.

Her excitement is evident in everything she does.

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Evangeline has seen her share of difficulties. She is a long-time diabetic and her health has deteriorated in recent years.

She worked as a hairdresser for 40 years but got carpal tunnel syndrome that spread to her shoulders and eventually she had trouble just holding the scissors. She suffers from a heart condition and has developed asthma, neuropathy and mild kidney failure. Her sight is also failing. Through all of this she has managed to raise three boys as a single parent.

“I didn’t like being a hairdresser anymore and my health was failing me where I couldn’t use my hands anymore,” Evangeline said. “I have always wanted to be an artist and didn’t have the opportunity because of choices I made when I was younger.”

“Even though I have all these things going on, I keep myself busy by taking classes and being surrounded with the students who also treat me as a second mom,” Evangeline said. She is active in Delta Sigma Omicron, an organization for able and disabled students, for which she has served as vice president and president for two years. She has also been involved in and is a permanent member of Alpha Gamma Sigma, an honor society club.

It is difficult to overlook Evangeline’s kindness, sincerity and intensity.

“Evangeline is open, willing to exchange ideas, gentle, but can take charge without being demanding,” Eastman said. “She has a heart for volunteering and is always eager to roll up her sleeves and pitch in for some cause. Saying that she is energetic would be an understatement. She seeks to be involved in everything, including clubs, campus activities and art and

writing contests. She enjoys having her creative work on display.”

Because he has seen her struggle though so many projects, and so many classes, Eastman speaks of her with warm familiarity. “Her words are genuine; she is never superficial. I’ve never heard her utter a negative, sarcastic or condescending word. Evangeline is brave, tells the truth, is confident, and is fearless, considering that her blindness is progressing and her diabetes is life-threatening.”

Many women decide to return to school after a change in their domestic situation, perhaps a divorce or separation. A return to education may offer women a chance to develop marketable skills or a means to explore a mid-career change. Others, facing an empty nest, feel they have more time to pursue their own interests, including college. A college education can give a woman an opportunity for a second chance.

School offers mothers a way to reinvent themselves, but with their children still in tow it may also bring about surprising feelings of anxiety. Classes may be intellectually stimulating and present an opportunity for personal growth but mothers may also feel tied to their children.

“There are times that I see Micheal is struggling to finish his projects or just studying,” Evangeline said. “I try to not ‘rag’ on him, but I do get concerned that he could be doing better. He struggles with being lazy and leaving things to the last minute.”

But she is quick to add that “he has shown me lately that he can take things seriously when he wants to. He sometimes feels that he’d rather do things on his own, but I get frustrated when his priorities could be better. He’ll learn…the hard way. That’s OK. I expect too much from him. He just turned 18 in November. The instructors who know both of us remind me of that.”

College can bring about many

Spring 2008 | the insider

“I get to witness how smart my son is and also make sure he is doing his work.”

— Claudia Alvarenga

changes in students. Young adults often use college as a time for experimentation.

People tend to find themselves in college. It may be a complex growing experience for a child but, at the same time, very challenging for a parent to watch up close. If children make poor or even dangerous choices, mothers who also attend school may get a front-row seat to what they may consider disaster. Choosing when to step in and help and when to back off, is tricky when a parent is walking to class with her child.

Such close proximity and shared lifestyles can take a toll on home life as well.

If a child is simply not living up to his or her potential it may create feelings, on both sides, that wouldn’t ordinarily be there if the two weren’t sharing the college experience.

“There are things that I would hope he’d learn by seeing me spend so much time studying and working on my projects, but for him it comes easier because he has sight,” Evangeline said. “I think it’s very difficult for him because this last year he became my aid and there are more responsibilities for him beside work and school. I work on trying to take the bus so that I don’t bother him, but I know when I don’t come home right away he worries even though he doesn’t tell me.

He always calls to find out when I’m coming home and where I am. I love it though.”

In fall of 2007, of the 2,568 women registered in credit courses at Glendale College between the ages of 30 and 50, 1,738 plan to transfer, receive an associate’s degree or get some type of vocational certificate.

Others are there to learn new job skills, for professional development or to receive a high school diploma or GED. Claudia Alvarenga, 36, and her son Michael Bernal, 19, both attend the Developmental Skills Lab at the Glendale College’s Garfield Campus. Claudia is a single parent who raised three children. She had her oldest, now 20, at the age of 15. She currently works as a licensed vocational nurse and wants to attend West Coast University to get a registered nurse degree.

Michael wants to go to the Cordon Bleu to get a degree in culinary arts.

These two have no issues taking classes together. “We have fun while in class,”

the insider | Spring 2008

Claudia said. “Going to school with Michael is one of the best experiences ever. I get to witness how smart my son is and also make sure he is doing his work.”

The Developmental Skills Lab offers a self-paced program for improving basic skills, preparing for the high school equivalency exam completing a high school diploma. There are small group classes led by an instructor, along with computer-aided instruction.

Claudia and Michael were both enrolled in the General Educational Development exam preparation program at the Developmental Skills Lab, located at the Garfield Campus in southeast Glendale. This campus offers continuing and community noncredit education classes in subjects ranging from ESL, citizenship, business education, computer classes, as well as GED preparation and high school diploma completion. Claudia has already taken her exam and is working on advanced nursing courses. Michael is working toward his General Educational Development certificate.

Mayra de Alvarez, 45, and her son Milton Alvarez, 20, emigrated from Guatemala in late 2005. Both attend GCC. Milton, a full-time Computer Engineering/ Science major, will apply to Caltech, UCLA, USC and several other schools. This is Mayra’s first semester. She attends school to improve her English but may continue on to culinary school in the future. She also has a daughter, a junior in high school, who plans to attend Glendale College upon graduation.

Mayra has no problems with letting Milton go.

“My son and I do not meet at college unless it is necessary,” Mayra said. “He is a supplemental instructor in the computer laboratory and he is a cabinet member in the AGS honor society. He shares his time with his friends and he does not need to be pushed to do his work. He is doing well,

and I am very proud of him.”

“If I have problems in my classes I go to her and ask for some advice,” Milton said.

“My mom is just like any mom, she worries about my performance in school but it is not something annoying. On the contrary, it is something that shows me that she and my dad care about me. Basically, I have my mom and my dad as my friends and just like any other friend I always tell them about my performance in school and most of my problems.”

Their family’s dual-student status hasn’t been a hardship at all. The truth is that it has enhanced their relationship.

“Our home life is not affected negatively.

In fact, it has improved because now we can share college life experiences,” Mayra said.

Many of the younger members of these mother/child student pairs don’t find it at all difficult doing their own thing with their moms going to school with them.

Mayra is careful to let her son have his space. “My mom is really cool about letting me enjoy my life” Milton said. “I get together with my friends, we study when we need to, I go to my club activities, basically I do all the things that college students do.”

All-in-all, the kids seem to feel a great sense of pride that their mothers are in school and greatly respect what they are doing. The children really want to see their parents succeed and vice versa.

“It is very awkward sometimes when I’m with a bunch of my friends and I see my mom,” Evangeline’s son, Micheal said.

“At the same time it’s pretty cool to see her, who at her age, is doing something that I’m also doing. It makes me realize I shouldn’t be lazy.”

Some things never change for parents, regardless of their levels of education.

“I know where to find my mom if I am hungry,” Milton said.

Susan Braunheim works at Jet Propulsion Laboratories and has a master’s degree in biological anthropology. The focus of her recent writing has been in observing and recording current sociological trends. www.gccinsider.com

Voces del Mañana Call for Reform

— By Fabiola Prieto

denise garcia stands before the class

of 2008. She proudly wears her cap and gown as she thanks all who have supported her and who have convinced her that she deserves to be there.

She has prepared a speech that comes partly from her passion for writing, and partly from a duty that she undertook to inspire people like herself. She shares some childhood advice from her father: “This land is full of opportunity for those who want something better. So, take that opportunity regardless of what they deny you and you will gain something in the end.”

Garcia truly believes in these words, but she knows that “something” will not be enough. At the end of the ceremony, instead of a diploma, Garcia receives a piece of paper that reads: “Now what?” as does the rest of the class of 2008. This is, after all, a mock graduation. Garcia and her classmates represent some of the estimated 60,000 students nationwide without legal immigration status who graduate from high school every year.

Garcia was brought to the U.S. by her parents at the age of 3. Inspired by her father’s advice and the teachers who helped her develop her writing skills, she hopes to become an English professor and has started on that path by attending Glendale Community College. And although she knows that reaching that goal might cost her much more that it would to “an average American,” she explains that, like many other students in her situation, she is ambitious for a better life. Garcia is an active member of the student organization Voces del Manana.

Spanish for “Voices of Tomorrow,” the name was adopted by a group of students who, after attending a summer conference of students who want to transfer to UCLA, resolved that the only hope they had to achieve that goal was to organize.

“We work for the dream of a bright future of justice and opportunity for all young people who have worked their way through the schools of California to graduate from high school, but who have no residency documents and who wonder if they have a future in the land where they have lived for most of their lives,” they explain in their motto.

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Spring 2008 | the insider

“ let their educational

success be our state success”

Tuition Relief

In 2001, AB 540 (Firebaugh), the bill submitted by state assembly members Marco Antonio Firebaugh, a Democrat, and Abel Maldonado, a Republican, was passed by the legislature in California. This bill allows qualified undocumented students to pay resident tuition in public colleges and universities. At the time, out-of-state tuition was seven times the resident tuition ($147 per unit). The passage of this bill was a big step for immigrant families since many students were left out of higher education and the benefits that come with it.

But that wasn’t the only hurdle to cross.

These same undocumented students are denied state and federal financial aid even though many of them, according to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), are “amongst the most talented: valedictorians, artist and athletes.”

As student counselor Greg Perkins puts it, “These are the disadvantaged first-generation college students.”

Perkins recounts the first time Omar and Aurea (they chose not to give their last names), founders of Voces del Manana, walked into the Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS) office on

—Angelica Salas

campus to ask for assistance in forming the group.

Perkins says, “The purpose of EOPS is to help disadvantaged first-generation college students...Even though we’re not able to claim [AB 540 students] officially as our students, most of the counselors in here have a very open heart to them; so we do whatever we can outside of out roles to help them...I couldn’t say no.”

Now the adviser to Voces del Manana, Perkins has long been an advocate for academic advancement for these students.

With a master’s degree in educational counseling, and a Spanish bilingual educational credential, he is one of the

Photos by Ismael Reyes

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founders of the Glendale Community College’s AB 540 Committee, which was formed at about the same time as the student group. This committee of faculty and staff provides information, educational opportunities, and support to immigrant students.

Some of the services include a book assistance program, a book lending library, and access to some of the nearly 300 privately funded scholarships offered to GCC students. The committee, with support from Voces del Manana, has also created various scholarships, such as the AB 540 Community Service Scholarships, and the Dream Scholarships, which are intended specifically for AB 540 students. They are funded by the student government, faculty and foundations outside campus Despite the good will of those on campus, there are laws that prevent these students from following their career paths once they have managed to obtain their credentials.

And that is the message that Voces Del Manana intended to portray with its mock graduation.

The Big Picture

The big picture, as explained by the speakers invited to this gathering, is that something has to be done for the future of these youths that are being left behind by state and federal policies, and, more importantly, for the welfare of California.

“We need to realize that our baby boomers are starting to retire and that pretty soon we’re going to have a lot of high-paying, highly skilled jobs available; and who’s going to fill them?” asked Alejandra Velasquez, executive director of CHIRLA. What we have been doing, Velasquez said, is “we’ve been importing people from other countries to fill these jobs. So, why not educate out local youth?”

A representative from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Angelica Salas said, “When we help [AB 540] students, we

Voces del Mañana, a advocacy club for AB 540 students, holds a mock graduation and press conference to generate public awareness of financial aid issues faced by the children of immigrants.

help ourselves...from their contribution as teachers, as doctors, as lawyers, as business leaders... Let their educational success be our state success.”

California’s Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez spoke about a bill he had introduced, AB 2083, that would open access to limited state financial aid, including grants, scholarships, work-study and loan programs for undocumented students. “I want the governor to have an opportunity to meet with some of the bright minds who would benefit from this kind of investment in California,” he said.

What emerged as a whisper in the fall of 2005 has now become a shout to Sacramento.

Perkins explains that he thought it would be difficult to recruit members for Voces del Manana. “A lot of the AB 540 students opt to fly under the radar, for obvious reasons: they don’t want to be noticed...At the same time, they have very difficult lives “When [Voces del Manana] was a small group, they were almost like a therapy group where they would sit in a circle and talk about their problems and experiences and support each other,” Perkins remembered.

Although this organization has come a long way and is now part of the California DREAM Network with representatives in Sacramento, there are still many who oppose their cause. Some argue services such as financial aid and the right to work in this country are only for those who obey the laws.

Others think that immigrants should not take the money reserved for California’s citizens.

But according to CHIRLA, these students make a major contribution to state funding for education. An annual report on AB 540 tuition exemptions of 2005-06 shows that more than $6 million was taken from AB 540 student tuition to contribute to the institutional fund set aside for financial aid.

For those who claim that “Mexicans” just want to jump the fence and take over California (a sentiment shared by many anti-immigration blogs), Voces del Manana says that AB 540 students are not only from south of the border. This semester, an Armenian student was awarded one of the AB 540 scholarships.

Among the more than 50 active members in Voces del Manana, are some who are fully documented citizens. “There are those who are friends and others who think it’s an important cause and want to help,” Perkins said.

Fabiola Prieto is 21 years old and lives in Hollywood. Her passion is entertainment and her goal is to reestablish its meaning as: “The agreeable occupation of the mind.” To this end, she is studying mass media and freelancing as a writer, video editor and actress. www.gccinsider.com

Legislation to help AB 540 students with their immigration issues: American DREAM ACT (Federal) This Federal legislation would allow certain immigrant students to adjust their status to that of a legal permanent resident on a conditional basis based on age, academic requirements or service in the U.S. Armed Forces, long term U.S. residence, and good moral character.

AB 2083 (NUNEZ) Sponsored by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez (Democrat) The bill would afford financial assistance offered by California Community Colleges and State Universities, including grants, scholarships, work-study, and loan programs, to AB 540 students.

This provision would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable.

SB 1301 (CEDILLO) Sponsored by California Senator Gilbert Cedillo (Democrat) The bill would afford financial assistance offered by California Community Colleges and State Universities, including grants, scholarships, work-study, and loan programs, to AB 540 students.

This provision would apply to the University of California only if the regents, by appropriate resolution, act to make it applicable.

An amendment made in the Senate on May 6, 2008, excludes the Board of Governor’s Fee Waiver (BOGW), which is financial aid based on lowincome requirements and not on academic achievement.

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Carina Crash... is simply ‘amazing’ carina crash exudes cool.

This Glendale College student is, at 23, a punk pinup girl, photographer and world traveler. She is also facing her 26th surgery — one that, if all goes well, will reduce the intense pain in her right leg and allow her to walk relatively normally.

Carina Crash does not use the word “punk” to describe herself. She finds the label misleading and limiting and, indeed, it does not really go far enough in describing her alternative look. She is very pale, somewhat luminous, with bright peridot eyes and spiky white hair that is somewhere between a Mohawk and that of an anime character.

Her full red lips are accented by a labret piecing and a ring through her nasal septum. Her arched eyebrows and flawless eyeliner are classic Hollywood. She laughs easily and often and has an expressive and enthusiastic conversational style. She has an “amazing” — her favorite superlative

— collection of vintage dresses that she wears for all occasions. She wears a large red locket around her throat. High buckled boots that serve as ankle support complete the look.

And then there’s the name. “Guzman is the name I have to use on paper. I just liked ‘Crash’ — I think it works with my first name.

You have to have something that represents your personality and I think that name does — more so.” There is no persona. “She’s just me with a different name; there’s no mystical story behind it.”

Carina Guzman was born three months prematurely. Emergency surgery fixed a damaged heart; and the many other surgeries that followed have been on her feet and legs.

“I was born with duck feet, and now I have Barbie feet,” she jokes, referring to the builtin arches that give the impression of one permanently stalking on tiptoe. She quickly turns serious. “But they don’t really work and they hurt. I’ve been through a lot, but

— By Jane Pojawa

when things are broken, apparently they can be fixed.”

The most recent set of surgeries resulted in a devastating bone infection that ultimately left her wheelchair-bound for the better part of two years. “My ankle has been deteriorating over the last couple of years,” she says. “I have half a joint in there, and it doesn’t work, so when I step down I hear a horrible grinding, crunching noise. That sound is bone scraping against bone.”

Crash is taking this semester off to find a suitable orthopedic surgeon. “It’s very, very hard,” she says. “I have to find somebody I’m comfortable with. [Doctors] are reluctant to perform the surgery. The site is compromised and there is a very high risk of re-infection.

It’s going to be a really intricate and involved process to find someone who really knows what they’re doing. All this time between spring semester and autumn I could be healing. And then I’ll make my grand

Carina Crash is a budding pin-up model, photographer and a hopeless romantic.

Her back, right, tells a different story— that of someone who has fought for survival and keeps coming back stronger.

Rufus Wainwright, next page, is one of Crash’s favorite subjects. She snapped this photo at a performance at the Wiltern.

Photos by Jane Pojawa

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re-appearance at Glendale Community College — brand-new Barbie!”

Crash talks about her medical issues nonchalantly; she has had these problems since birth, like her cerebral palsy, and they are for her simply a fact of life. “Of course, if I don’t come back [from the surgery] and no one sees me, you’ll know something terrible happened!” she laughs, not taking it seriously at all. It’s unlikely that Carina Crash would simply disappear without a trace.

“I put this off for a very long time because I’ve enjoyed walking around, as much as I can, and after this operation there is a high chance that I might go back into a chair. So I have to weigh the pain versus being out and about. Which one wins? I put it off for a couple of years, but the pain is starting to win so now I need to figure it out.”

None of this has held her back.

Holiday Abroad In 2005, Carina decided to spend her 23rd birthday in London, brushing aside a momentary worry over whether her bad ankle would hold up for three weeks in a foreign country. “I had told myself,” she says, “that once I got better, once I got my ass out of that wheelchair, then I would go and do amazing things. It was one of the first things I did. I stood up and kind of wobbled around.”

But the trip was a success. London, she says, is “amazing. It’s my all-time favorite place. A city I feel very connected to.”

Her favorite memory of the city was her birthday party. “I had a hotel room party in a room that was only big enough for a double bed and a chair. To get to the bathroom you had to crab-walk along the wall. We fit eight people in there; they just piled up on the bed,” she recalled, explaining the logistics of throwing a birthday party in a foreign city on a shoestring budget.

“I have friends all over the world. We communicate online because phone calls are so expensive, and we just set it up. Everyone showed up and it was amazing. It was really, really fun.”

This was not Carina’s first trip to a distant city. She has also been to New York, Paris, Seattle and Vancouver — sometimes bringing friends, sometimes meeting them there.

Meet the Guzmans The Guzman household is one of cheerful chaos. Bright colors, three exuberant dogs and a ferret (Carina is also planning on rebuilding her mouse army) fill their Tujunga home, and Day of the Dead knick-knacks and other reminders of five very interesting people with eclectic musical tastes and personal styles are abundantly evident.

Her parents, Umberto, a high-end

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plumbing contractor, and Cindy, a booking agent for the Greek Theater, encourage their three daughters to be themselves. “It’s completely unavoidable — it’s like you’re just born into looking artsy,” explains Crash. “These two incredible people had some babies — and their babies are walking art pieces, basically. Especially my older sister [Ginny Guzman, who received her photography certificate from Glendale two years ago and now works as a professional photographer]. I was wearing Doc Martins at age three, so it [the signature Carina Crash look] just came to be that way.”

“I love photography — I’ve always loved it. They [her parents] were used to me with these huge ideas at a very young age. I wanted to go to college and study photography when I was 10.” Until last semester she had worked toward a certificate in photography from the college, but, she says “we hit a bump. Certain rules got in the way. Now I’m really behind and the certificate is out of reach. I only had one more class to take then everything went wrong and I’m a year-and-a-half behind. It just got really messed up. But if things start going better — if everything goes according to plan, I’ll return in the autumn refreshed and just go for it. I don’t want to worry about that right now. Health is number one.

I’ve gone to school when I’ve been awful medically — it’s not worth it.”

Rufus Wainwright Carina Crash does not describe herself as a “scenester” — she hates nightclubs — and yet she has gained a certain notoriety for her photo documentation of singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, an artist who has achieved a cult following and critical success for an eclectic repertoire that draws on country, folk, pop standards and opera. His deeply committed fan base includes Carina as one of his prime boosters.

This is how devoted she is to the performer: “Rufus was playing a show some years back and I wasn’t sure I was going to go, but someone online was desperate to sell their ticket, so I told her I would buy it. We were supposed to meet outside of the concert hall to exchange. The person never showed. I spent two hours outside.”

A strange and eventful evening ensued, with a photographer from The Advocate, a nationally distributed gay magazine, getting her inside. She then had the good fortune of being seated next to the best friend of Joan Wasser, the late Jeff Buckley’s former girlfriend. Buckley was, among other things, Rufus’ backup singer. Crash was invited to Cherry Vanilla’s (Andy Warhol protégé and former David Bowie publicist) after-hours party and by the end of the evening she was

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on the fast track to being Rufus Wainwright’s “official” photographer.

“It was just the most amazing experience,” Carina says. “To think that if that girl who stood me up, had shown up with the ticket…

I wouldn’t have met the Advocate photog, never would have sat next to the wonderful woman who gave me the invite, and I never would have met Cherry, and then I never would have been close to her or Rufus for that matter. Life is amazing that way. I think it was meant to be. People were so kind to me that night. It had gone from a really awful experience to the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

Although she makes it sound like she has glided through life on the kindness of others and fortunate circumstances, Carina has herself to thank for what might seem like luck. She came prepared with a small portfolio, her ever-present camera and, most importantly, a humble and appreciative disposition. “Attitude” and “entitlement” are not in her lexicon.

Gary Freeman, 61, a fellow student, met Carina Crash through photography classes.

“I love Carina!” he said before recounting a favorite “Carina story.” “We were drinking martinis in the bar of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood for her 21st birthday. Everyone was there, her whole family, and she was just looking fabulous and holding court — she could barely walk. And then she said ‘Rufus is doing Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall — wanna go?’ I said yes, of course, and she booked the tickets. I guess the oddest part for me was how spontaneous it was.”

Freeman relates how he, partner Nick Macierz and Carina took on Manhattan. “She just sparkles,” says Freeman. “I think she wore a gold lame dress to Carnegie Hall and people kept running up to her saying ‘Carina Crash — I love your work!’ They’ve all seen her photography on the Rufus Wainwright sites. And wherever she goes, she’s turning heads.”

They went to museums and had cocktails on top of the Met. “I know she got tired and her leg hurt, but she never complained,” says Freeman. “She was in a wheelchair at the Met. But she refuses to let mundane things slow her down. She does it all and she does it with style and pizzazz.”

Penguins and Stargazers Through it all, Carina Crash is incurably romantic. Her MySpace page lists penguins, stargazer lilies and ladybugs as some of her favorite things. Why penguins? “Penguins are so regal. There is something about them that is just incredible. The fact that they choose one mate for life — I think that is just so amazing,” she says.

“While girls are worrying about what boyfriend they’re going to take to the prom, penguins are out there and they have it all figured out. It’s their destiny to do that [spend the Antarctic winter trading off raising a chick] and all they want to do is take care of each other. They’re so sweet; they give their lives doing this and it’s dangerous. And I think that’s the perfect world — just to want to take care of each other.”

Jane Pojawa is the editor-in-chief of The Insider. She is the Archivist/ Historian for Cabot’s Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs and is writing a book about the strange and wonderful life of Cabot Yerxa.

www.gccinsider.com

X

Drive by my house late at night, you can see it from the freeway.

No silhouette, but a light left on, burning there for love.

Smoke is rising from the fire, coming out my back door.

I’m inside sound asleep, I see it on the floor, burning there for love. Well, I can still remember a couple of years ago when the smoke and flame from our name was a burning house of love.

That rusty nail outside our door is where I nailed our tears at rain.

I threw that horseshoe in the weeds, and see what love could bring.

Now you’re inside your big diamond lies, on the other side of town.

I think I might take a ride, and burn your love house down, like a burning house of love. —X “Burning House of Love,” 1985.

31 Years of L.A. Punk Rock

— By Olga Ramaz

i stood in line outside of the henry fonda theater in Hollywood on April 11 waiting for the doors to open with a million and one thoughts racing through my head. Among them: “I should have worn a black T-shirt. Pink is so not punk rock!”

Looking at the bodies around me, young and old, tattooed and pierced, I had a rush of excitement over my chance to X, the legendary ensemble that helped shape the Los Angeles punk music scene during the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Photos by Ismael Reyes

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“their music rips its way into your heart and fills it with purpose.”

Those were some crazy times: sex, drugs, alcohol and punk rock ‘n’ roll. I’d give anything to go back in time and experience the scene first hand. The closest I had come to it was watching an old, low-budget film, and that was hard to come by.

When the lights dimmed and the curtain raised, the bullet-fast guitar work of Billy Zoom broke the silence.

The crowd cheered and the young kids in the pit moshed. Suddenly I was taken back to visions of Penelope Spheeris’ “Decline and Fall of Western Civilization” (1981), my only tangible connection to those legendary days.

X dominated the stage that Friday night at the Fonda. Nothing has changed. They remain as vibrant, despite their ages, as they were back when Spheeris’ camera captured them, frame by frame.

“There is no new punk rock band’s that excite me as much as X does,” said Elizabeth Iglar, 41, as we conversed about X, the show and punk rock in general.

Iglar, a student at GCC and former classmate who I was not surprised to run into at the show, listened as I explained how I, a 23-year-old raised on “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along” and cheesy Top 40 radio, became exposed to such a band.

“It’s great that you can be new to the music and still dig it,” she said. “To me, that actually…gives them more validity [in that] their music can still touch people who are newly exposed to them.”

“You’re just a baby,” was another comment I heard from a fan who was surprised to see such a young crowd equally excited about seeing X. Iglar has been a fan of X since the ’80s. While in school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she befriended some kids from New York

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who turned her on to X. “Fights were breaking out,” she said, recalling her first X show back in Madison.

Iglar concedes that though they haven’t lost any of their stage energy they have some “wear and tear on them.”

“I’ve seem them age and they’re still rocking,” she exclaimed.

Exene Cervenka (vocals), 52, still manages to spit out an eerie sound, a mix between a screaming cat and a pre-pubescent schoolgirl. John Doe (bass/vocals), 54, still slaps the strings just as hard as he did way back when. D.J. Bonebrake (drums), 53, beats on the skins with so much intensity one would think time hasn’t passed. Zoom (guitar), 60, with his signature black leather jacket, maintains his ready-foraction stance and benign demeanor on stage.

A Vast Repertoire A live performance from these punk demigods is an exhilarating treat.

Tapping into their vast repertoire, the band opened up the show with “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not,” and followed with such numbers as “Blue Spark,” “Los Angeles,” and “Devil Doll,” among other classics.

Every corner of the Fonda vibrated, thanks in part to the excellent sound system, an upgrade from the primitive equipment used in the early years. No distortion, no feedback, just the clear, crisp sound of punk rock.

The pit was reminiscent of the footage in the documentary.

Right in the middle you could see young kids pogo dancing and gyrating back and forth

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with their arms flailing the air, hardly concerned if they happened to clobber their neighbor in their exuberance.

Suddenly, a ring formed in the pit to the sound of “Devil Doll” and I could see kids falling on the floor and eagerly bouncing up again. But it wasn’t violent. It was raw energy, excitement and passion for the music all rolled into one as the band belted out: “She never wears a dress on Sunday or any Monday afternoon/ devil doll, devil doll/ rags and bones and battered shoes….”

As the night wore on, the energy continued and so did the crowd’s insatiable appetite for more as it cajoled the band into back-to-back encores. I was one of them, cheering at the top of my lungs, begging for another song or two, to round out the night. It’s not everyday that you get the chance to see a group of living legends on stage, playing before a sold-out crowd.

X has survived the ever-changing tide of the music industry as well as the “death” and so-called resurrection of punk rock.

Their current anniversary tour, 13X31, celebrates this as well as several other things, one of them being the obstacles the band encountered during the beginnings of its career.

When the band formed back in 1977, the members never imagined that they would become what Rolling Stone reporter Chris Morris called “the city’s [L.A.] most respected and written-about punk band.”

It was their continuous, non-stop gigging, in and out of L.A., that gained

them limited, mainstream success and placed them among the crème de la crème of the punk rock scene.

X had regular billing at the famed Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset strip, but it wasn’t until Ray Manzarek (keyboardist for The Doors) produced their landmark album “Los Angeles” (1980) that the band’s popularity burst into broader success.

This recording struck such a chord with Angelenos that they earned a city proclamation for contribution to local culture.

One of the Angeleno’s X touched during this time was Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who back in March of 2005, described X as being “the band that I always aspired to be as cool as, but never could.”

The following year, X released “Wild Gift,” with hits like “White Girl” and “Blue Spark.”

Dismissing the dreaded second-album jinx, “Wild Gift” made the top 10 lists of the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

After the release of “Ain’t Love Grand” in 1984, Zoom left the band to pursue other interests. Cervenka and Doe divorced in 1985 but decided to continue to work together (she later married and divorced actor Viggo Mortensen). The chemistry between the two remains until this day. You’d think they were still married.

Eleven records make up the band’s extensive discography.

Back on the Road Staying true to form, X continues to tour across the country through this month, with more shows to be announced in the near future.

Relentless gigging is not something

X has to do now in order to prove themselves because, after all, they already have. The sold-out crowds that they’ve played for, like the one at the Fonda, is a testament to this notion.

“I wish I could be more articulate,” said Iglar, apologizing for why she couldn’t fully describe what she liked about X. I said that for me it could be summed up in one word: genuineness.

Their love for the music and the fans seems to come straight from the heart. They were not some “creation,” assembled by a bunch of record company goons. And beyond that, they talk about things that are still relevant: love or lack thereof, government abuses, drugs and their effects.

Flea said it best: “X has remained, essentially, an L.A. phenomenon…

Their music rips its way into your heart and fills it with purpose.”

Had I not been on assignment, I would have fought my way into the pit and pogo danced my way to the front of the stage to high-five Cervenka and to tell Doe, “I love you, man!”

I would have been that kid wearing the heavy eye makeup, just like Cervenka, flaunting the bloodred lipstick, the dirty Chuck Taylor’s, ripped jeans and a tattered Black Flag shirt. I would have been the kid emulating the youth who came before me, full of angst, despair and up to their elbows with the “f—k the world” attitude.

When the night finally ended, I felt like I’d accomplished a milestone. I was finally able to cross an X concert off my to-do list.

“they epitomize American punk

Exene Cervenka, vocalist, is still a comanding presence after 31 years and 11 albums. X’s enduring legacy may be attributed to their role in shaping the “L.A. sound” of punk rock. Previous page: Exene Cervenka, D.J. Bonebrake and John Doe are wowing crowds as they reprise old favorites.

rock”

— Elizabeth Iglar

Olga Ramaz is a journalism student at Glendale Community College. She plans to attend Cal State Northridge in order to obtain bachelor’s degrees in journalism and literature.

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Spring 2008 | the insider

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Heavenly Hikes Outdoor Adventures in the Angeles National Forest

— By Milena Litomisky

we in Glendale are fortunate to live within a short drive to Angeles National Forest in the heart of the

San Gabriel Mountains, which offers a first-class backcountry experience. These beautiful mountains are a serene refuge from the hectic, crowded, and overpopulated greater Los Angeles.

From the Glendale College campus, one can drive north on Freeway 2, then east on the Foothill Freeway (210) to Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2) in La Canada Flintridge. You will find yourself on a small winding road climbing up into the mountains with a substantial elevation gain (from around 1,500 feet at one end in La Canada, to 7,901 feet at its highest point at Dawson Saddle). As you wind up the road, dramatic scenery opens before your eyes, from wide-ranging mountain views to deep canyons. Several vista points along the way reveal expanses of the San Gabriel mountains and valley. This romantic mountain landscape hides many trails, which are at their best this time of the year because of the lush spring greenery and gushing streams. One of the ways to enjoy this outdoor panorama is to take one of the following easy hikes.

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Switzer Falls The trip to Switzer Falls is a lovely hike down the Arroyo Seco Canyon. The trailhead is about 14 miles from La Canada. Follow the sign for the Switzer’s picnic area and you will arrive at a parking lot at the mouth of the canyon. The trailhead is right next to the parking lot.

The Gabrielino Trail parallels a stream, which is to be crossed several times, so good shoes are a must; however, you do not need waterproof shoes because the rocks provide stepping stones. .

In the spring the water in the stream is high and crystal clear. You will see various wildflowers and blooming brush. The canyon is shaded by mature oaks and alders, which makes the hike pleasant even on hot days.

This trail is attractive for adventurous kids because it involves boulder hopping and fallen-log walking (optional). Unfortunately, one cannot walk to the foot of the waterfall because it is surrounded by high and steep rocky walls on both sides. But you can sit at a rocky pool right above the waterfall and look down into the deep dark-blue swimming hole. You can also continue on the Gabrielino Trail as it edges along the west (right-hand) canyon wall. You’ll get a glimpse of the falls, and a dark pit below them. The distance is

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Photos by Ales Litomisky

about 2½ miles to the waterfall and back. Upon returning to the parking lot you might want to enjoy the picnic area and barbecue pits.

Those who are in good shape and want to challenge themselves a little more can continue down the Gabrielino Trail south to the Gould Mesa Trail campground and then another 2 miles to Pasadena, where the trail emerges from the Arroyo Seco at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Much of the lower portion of

Switzer Falls, above, is a popular destinations for hikers of all ages and experience levels.

Vetter Mountain, below, affords expansive views.

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t he hike follows a sparkling, gurgling stream past groves of live oak, sycamore, Douglas fir and maple trees. Except for the last half mile, the path is almost entirely in the shade. The distance is about 7 miles. Unless you plan on the strenuous hike back up the mountain, you will want to have a second car waiting for you at trail’s end.

Colby Canyon, above right, sparkles with waterfalls in the springtime.

The historic fire lookout tower, below left, on Vetter Mountain.

Colby Canyon About half a mile further into Angeles National Forest on Highway 2, there is a dirt parking area on the left and a trailhead to the Colby Canyon. In spring, streams rushing down the canyon create several waterfalls (up to 15 feet high) and cascades, and the sides of the canyon are endowed with lush greenery. You can follow the trail or, when the trail departs from the stream, you can abandon the trail and explore the canyon upstream while boulder hopping and crisscrossing the stream. This would make a nice canyoneering-for-beginners experience. If you stay on the trail, you will climb up to the Josephine Saddle. You should probably turn back from there.

It is possible to continue on the trail toward the Colby Camp along Big Tujunga Creek. You can also make a side trip and climb the Strawberry Peak. However, this part of the trail is difficult and strenuous and, is recommended for experienced hikers only.

Charlton Flats and Vetter Mountain After about a 40-minute drive on Highway 2 from from La Canada Flintridge, you arrive at Charlton Flats, a picnic area in the forest. Due to extensive overuse and soil erosion, Charlton Flats’ picnic area has been closed to motor vehicles, so use a dirt parking area along the highway.

Charlton Flats, at around 5,500 feet elevation, is where the real forest begins. Several species of pine trees grow here and the air smells of resin. Huge bizarre pinecones, which at a close look resemble claws and are no less sharp, make a great aromatic souvenir. The forest is mostly open, with trees spaced apart, so it is easy to walk out of the trail among the trees. In the spring, the floor is covered with fresh green grass. There are many fallen logs, so one can practice his or her balance through the art of log walking.

A trail toward Vetter Mountain starts by the closed-off portion of the paved road. Later it continues onto a dirt road that rises to 5,908 feet and reaches the historic Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout Tower. From the gallery of the tower, you can enjoy panoramic views of the Angeles Crest and a couple of nearby peaks.

The distance from Charlton Flats to Vetter Mountain and back is 3 miles, and it is an easy hike on a well-maintained trail. After the walk, it might be a good idea to take advantage of one of the many stoves and tables and enjoy a barbecue.

Those who will not be preparing lunch can check out the nature trail, a half-mile self-guided hike. During the spring and early summer, look for the exotic snow plant, which resembles a large, red spear of asparagus. It is rare, so please do not touch. The paved roads, which are closed to motor vehicles, are ideal for children to practice their bicycling skills.

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the insider | Spring 2008

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Chilao The Chilao visitor center is located on Highway 2, 1 mile past Charlton Flats, about 27 miles north of La Canada. Two short selfguided nature trails lead from the building, and many indoor exhibits offer visitors a wealth of information about the history of the San Gabriel Mountains, forest wildlife, and recreational opportunities. As a bonus, this center is an internationally renowned bird-watching site.

Behind the visitor center sits a solitary drab cabin. More than 100 years old, it was the first Forest Service ranger station in the San Gabriel Mountains and only the second in the United States.

There is also a piece of desperado history tied to this part of the forest where a bandit gang would hide between heists in the 19th century. According to one story, Chilao Flats was named for the bandit who guarded the horses while the rest of the band was out doing its nefarious business. One day a grizzly bear attacked the horses and he is said to have killed it with his knife, saving the horses and living to tell about it.

Close to the Visitor Center begins the upper Chilao Campground Road, which takes you to the Chilao campground where you can stay overnight or take a 6-mile hike to Mount Hillyer via Horse Flats. However, this trail does not offer good aerial views. It is exposed to the sun, so take along water and use lots of sunscreen.

The San Gabriel River, below, offers even more opportunities for nearby hikes when the basics have been mastered.

U.S.D.A. Forest Service

General Rules

Parking Regulations

Should you decide to hike some of these trails, remember that you are in the backcountry. Bear in mind that good hiking shoes are necessary because most of the ground is composed of soft, highly eroded rock, making the surface unstable and slippery. For this reason, a hiking pole might be a good idea. Also, the temperature falls as the elevation rises, so a light parka is recommended. Higher elevation also means exposure to a higher intensity of UV rays, so one should use sunscreen routinely. Finally, bring enough water to keep yourself hydrated and a light snack to boost your energy.

Vehicles parked in the parking areas or the campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest are required to display a Forest Adventure Pass. The cost is $5 for a one-day pass or $30 for an annual pass. It can be purchased at major sporting goods outlets (such as Sports Chalet) or at any Forest Service facility. Passes are usually sold on weekends at the Clear Creek Ranger Station, about 14 miles into Angeles National Forest

Highway Closure Even though Angeles Crest Highway runs for 55 miles from La Canada Flintridge to Highway 138 northeast of Wrightwood near the Cajon Pass (the major route to Las Vegas), currently one can drive only 39 miles from La Canada Flintridge and then must turn back. Due to numerous flashfloods and landslides, which had caused structural damage, Highway 2 was closed from Islip Saddle to Vincent Gap in 2004, which made trails within this section inaccessible. The far end of Highway 2 can be accessed via I-210, I-15, and Highway 138 to Wrightwood.

Traffic Regulations Angeles Crest Highway has been designated a “special enforcement zone� by the California Highway Patrol. Daylight headlights are required on the road from just above La Canada all the way to the Clear Creek Ranger Station. This requirement and the speed limits are strictly enforced.

Angeles Crest Highway proves to be a fatal attraction to motor bikers. They flock to it in large numbers on weekends and love to see how fast they can take the twisting curves of the road. They are also involved in many traffic accidents here. So if you want to play it safe, do not speed and imagine a biker crossing the dividing line at every curve.

Milena Litomisky is a psychology major at GCC with an interest in history and women studies. She enjoys hiking and backpacking.

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Spring 2008 | the insider

21

Fore!

Coach Wishes Goodbye and Good Luck to Star Player — By Tony Alfieri

greg osbourne, Glendale College’s

men’s golf coach, gets a phone call from the coach at California Lutheran University. It’s about Ryan Richardson, one of Osborne’s standout players and a potential recruit for his colleague’s program. But there is more on the line than that.

It’s almost as if Glendale’s entire season has culminated in this call. Ringing in Osbourne’s hand is the answer to whether his team’s first year was worth the uphill struggle.

Osbourne, 50, knows Richardson, 22, can compete at any number of schools.

That’s how he trained him. But beyond that Osbourne is determined to solidify his legacy as a “stepping-stone” for players to get to bigger opportunities.

His part-time assistant coach, actor James Caan, understands his passion. More popular as Sonny Corleone in “The Godfather” and, more recently, Will Farrrell’s father in “Elf,” Caan abandoned show business for six years to coach his son in sports.

“People said, ‘Don’t you miss the creative side?’” Caan says. “And I said, ‘Listen, there’s nothing more creative than taking a kid who thinks he can’t do something and proving to him that he can do it. Sometimes you change a kid’s life.”

Caan became Osbourne’s pupil and chum in the ’90s after Osbourne commented that Caan had “the worst swing I’ve ever seen.”

Admittedly, Caan follows a do-as-I-say-notas-I-do approach to golf, but after years of playing together he and Osbourne share a discerning eye. “[Caan’s] knowledge is [Osbourne’s] knowledge,” Richardson says. “When we’re out there on the range it’s like there’s two of Osbourne.”

Richardson was a baseball player at San Francisco State when he read about Caan joining the Glendale team. With a career as a slugger looking unlikely, Richardson left the batter’s box for the teeing green. He cites Caan’s involvement as a factor in choosing Glendale. Plus, Richardson saw the chance to make an immediate impact in a program that had been dormant for 23 years.

Budget cutbacks in the ’80s cost Glendale its original golf team, but it was brought back from the dead when alumni Mike Haney challenged the college during his GCC Athletic Hall of Fame induction in 2006. “We need golf back,” he said.

While funds were raised the school had to look no farther than an old roster to find a pro-caliber instructor to fill the coaching position: Osbourne was a football player and MVP of the golf team at Glendale from ’76 through ’77.

Osbourne moved down from Washington to take the position. At the time, his main resources for recruits, high schools, were already out for the summer. He scrambled to assemble a team, sometimes playing phone tag with prospects for weeks, and even recruited childhood friend Marc McClure — Jimmy Olsen in “Superman,” also the star of “Smallville” — to round out the squad.

“It was a ‘Bad News Bears’ scene,” says McClure. “A bunch of guys signed up for advanced golf, and the next thing they know they’re on the golf team. No one even knew there was a team. One guy learned golf by reading a book. Another guy enrolled in the wrong Glendale College [the one in Arizona].

It was a great mixture.”

To Osbourne, inexperience was irrelevant.

“I told the guys,” he says, “don’t look

at ourselves as a first-year team. Look at ourselves as a successful, championship team and believe it.”

The team had to look no further than their head coach for a role model. Osbourne had so personified the essence of a golfer that Titleist hired him to promote its golf balls in advertisements during the ’80s and ’90s.

Richardson credits Osbourne with shaping his awkward baseball hitter’s swat into a structured and developed golf swing.

“If it wasn’t for [Coach Osbourne],” he says, “I don’t know what I’d be doing.”

Another advantage was the school’s close relationship with Oakmont Country Club.

While other teams scrounged for time on private courses, Glendale had three days a week to indulge in the legendary beauty and rigor of Oakmont’s sprawling grounds.

Combined with DeBell Golf Course in Burbank, where Osbourne is PGA Head Professional, the team had seven days a week access to golf, a privilege McClure describes as “absolutely unheard of.”

McClure reveled in the stares from Oakmont club members as he carried his GCC golf bag during practice. “I could tell they were jealous,” he says.

The season’s first tournament came at the Spring Valley Lake Country Club in Victorville (the scheduled opener in Ventura was rained out) where Glendale looked every bit an established program.

Coaches complimented the players on their attitudes and appearance. Many marveled at how quickly the program came together.

Osbourne himself was overwhelmed with pride seeing his players with the “GC” emblazoned on their uniforms.

But professionalism wasn’t enough to

Golf team star Ryan Richardson, opposite page, has been recruited to play for California Lutheran University. Former GCC athlete James W. Evangelatos, assistant coach James Caan and Vaquero head coach Greg Osbourne, right, at Glendale’s WSC tournament held at the Oakmont Golf Course.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Richardson

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Photo by Fabienne Neiderberger

Spring 2008 | the insider

23

“there’s nothing more creative than

taking a kid who thinks he can’t do something and proving to him that he can do it.

Sometimes you change a kid’s life.”

– James Caan

overcome the competition of an experienced league more familiar with the course.

Ryan Richardson faltered among his opponents. “I felt like a ninth grader going into high school,” he says. “We were like a virgin to the whole league. We didn’t know what to expect.”

Or as Osbourne simply states, “It was a rude awakening.”

A near last-place finish didn’t stop them from staging an extravaganza for their home tournament weeks later. Family, faculty, and foes were treated to a taste of Oakmont’s elegance and barbecued Angus beef sandwiches. The compliments abounded again, and not only from the opposition.

The members of the council responsible for raising the funds and reviving the team were deeply impressed by what their efforts had wrought.

Which made a mid-season slump all the more agonizing.

Maybe it was the strain from consistently finishing at the bottom. Maybe inexperience was catching up to enthusiasm. Whatever the reason, the team had become “stale” and too “comfortable.” The pride that was the basis of the program was buried in the difference between the right to play and the privilege.

A team privacy code prohibits divulging the exact events that led to the spiral of discontent, but in a meeting that player Dave Song can only describe as “emotional” Osbourne clearly voiced what was at stake.

“He put his foot down,” Song says. “He said, ‘Why are we wearing these hats with GC written on them? Why are we wearing these shirts? Why did the council donate money?

We’re either going to end it right now or respect the program for what it is.’”

Osbourne insists, “they got it after that.”

Not only did the meeting instill pride and improve play, but it also created a chemistry that extended beyond the course.

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the insider | Spring 2008

McClure remembers the day his daughter crashed a qualifying tournament.

In desperate need of fatherly support, she hopped the fence, still dressed in her school uniform, and ran crying to the 11th hole where McClure was composing a shot.

He reassured his daughter, and his three teammates kept her spirits up while McClure finished the hole. She shared a hug with all of them afterward.

“It was a priceless moment,” McClure says.

Osbourne is proud of the solidarity spawned by the turbulent season.

“I felt a lot of schools didn’t have the camaraderie we had,” he says. “Knowing that they are a part of an institution, which is something I felt when I played here, is part of the team concept. The fact that you’re going to compete and represent something, not just playing for yourself.”

Song compares each player to a piece of a puzzle. As the final tournament arrived, the puzzle was a cohesive picture of spirit and technique. The team was shooting 10 strokes better as a whole, and the praises once focused on the intangibles now focused on their game.

Ryan Richardson recalls being informed that his tight playing looked like it was sending him to the finals. It put the whole season in perspective.

“I felt inspired,” he says. “I went into second round looking back on our first tournament ever… I felt like a senior instead of a freshman. I knew what I was doing and I was in the right place to go to the finals.”

The team fell short of a championship, but cemented itself as a model of attitude and enthusiasm, and to everyone’s relief, a competitive force on the rise.

McClure vows to return next year to lend his “older guy’s point of view” to his teammates. He predicts his game will improve since his daughter will be in college instead of hopping fences.

Caan plans to spend more time working with the team, too. He may make it full-time “if they can pay me enough to support four wives and five kids,” he says. “Instead of the six bucks Greg pays me, maybe twelve bucks.”

New recruits have committed to Glendale next year and all of this year’s players will return. All, that is, but one.

When Osbourne concludes his phone call it’s hard to tell if he is more excited to get the news or give it. He calls Richardson and tells him he has been recruited to golf at California Lutheran University next fall. (If Richardson accepts, it would coincide with Osbourne’s induction into CLU’s Athletic Hall of Fame.)

“There can’t a better feeling,” Osbourne says, “than talking to a coach and referring someone like Ryan to another program.

When he looks back he will represent this school.”

The old saying is shared that an individual’s achievements are only as good as the team’s achievement. Richardson’s success is success for the entire program.

Tony Alfieri aspires to follow in the footsteps of great journalists like Mark Twain and Fletch.

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Glendale Community College’s Journalism Program...

The Truth Is Out There

101 Introduction To Mass Communications 102 Reporting the News 103 Student Publications Staff 104 Student Publications Editor 106 Introduction to Broadcast Journalism I 107 Magazine Writing 110 Photojournalism 116 Introduction to Broadcast Journalism II