March 8, 2022

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TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

PAGE 2

Fresno African Drumming promotes healing through music

By Jermaine Abraham Reporter

Students on campus passing through the Fresno State Peace Garden were able to see the Fresno African Drumming group host one of its healing drum circles on March 3 at noon.

The group is an African drum ensemble based in Fresno, that aims to share the history and culture of Western Africa through music.

It is also known as Libota Mbonda, which translates to “generation and family of the drum” in a native Congolese dialect.

With these drum circles, participants are encouraged to join the band in the name of musical expression and self-healing.

Whether it is to sit down and play one of the 20 traditional African djembes – drums – available, or to dance in the middle of the circle, the goal of the event is to foster positive energy and celebrate African culture.

The Fresno African Drumming group initiates music and dance circles during their event at the Fresno State Peace Garden on March 3, 2022.

“We love doing our drum circles. Give anyone a drum and they are bound to do something with it,” said Donté McDaniel, founder of Fresno African Drumming and a Fresno State alumnus.

McDaniel explained that the group started because he wanted to see more African culture within the Central Valley.

“I grew up in Selma and it felt like I was never exposed to African culture all my life. I can only imagine how many more African Americans are deprived of their ancestral heritage growing up,” McDaniel said.

“That is why we started this group, and that is something I will never change – the prominence and influence African culture has in our music.”

McDaniel also noted that these drum circles

extend further than just cultural education.

He said this form of personal expression is also meant to help with high levels of stress, anxiety, hypervigilance and depression.

“African drumming circles have been a known tool in psychological healing for over 800 years now, so there definitely is validity behind these beliefs,” McDaniel said.

“It is that synchronization of everyone playing together that creates that space for everyone’s well-being to be promoted.”

Travis Cronin, an assistant professor in social work at Fresno State, said he is conducting a research program to study the benefits of African drum circles.

His study is in collaboration with Fresno African Drumming and Fresno State’s African

Jermaine Abraham • The Collegian

American Student Social Work Association (AASSWA).

Cronin said he believes that participating in African drumming circles is a wellness experience. People who attend it will have an improved overall mental state after it is carried out.

“There is evidence suggesting certain biological experiences take place when creating music through drums, and I will research the social aspect of this ideology,” Cronin said.

As part of his research, Cronin will be interviewing individuals who took part in Thursday’s drum circle to examine if they experienced an influx of serotonin after the event.

McDaniel noted how important the role of the public is in ensuring the success of African

assimilation within Fresno.

“We have recently officially filed as a nonprofit organization,” McDaniel said. This means the group can now receive public donations from people looking to support and sustain African music within the Central Valley.

“Public funding would help us immensely. It would allow us to get our own building, where we can host djembe classes, or even jamming studios. We could buy more equipment and, ultimately, we can pass on this art and knowledge to the next generation,” McDaniel said.

Future events such as the African drum circles will be posted on AASSWA’s social media accounts.

For further inquiries about Fresno African Drumming, students can also visit its website.

Bernadette Muscat announced as chair of Title IX task force

By Manuel Hernandez News Editor

On March 3, Fresno State released an email with updates on Title IX resources, and University President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval announced Bernadette Muscat as the chair of the Title IX task force.

Muscat said she was asked by Jiménez-Sandoval to serve and found out she was chosen to be chair the week of the announcement.

She is currently the dean of undergraduate studies and will continue to be dean when the task force is fully operational.

“It’s definitely a positive step forward. We need to examine what we’ve [at Fresno State] done, where we are now, and we need to make it a better process,” Muscat said.

“We need to make sure that it’s a safe campus.”

Muscat was chosen as chair for her background in victimology, which studies victimization and the psychological effects on victims.

She’s been a professor for almost 24 years, starting off as a “victim advocate,” and was Fresno State’s coordinator for the victimology program before becoming chair.

For Muscat, victimology is something that

was always “dear to [her] heart,” and she said she accepted Jiménez-Sandoval’s offer in order to give back the knowledge she has acquired and help her community.

Information has not yet been disclosed about who else will be in the task force, Muscat said.

It has yet to convene, and the date of the first meeting is still being determined, she said.

The task force will hold open forums separately for faculty, students and staff on March 16 and 24.

The location and time of these forums will be announced at a later date, but Muscat said it

will allow the Fresno State community to speak freely about its perspectives about the campus environment.

Muscat also noted that the general goal of the task force is to investigate current procedures on campus and address Title IX cases.

“What are some of the areas for improvement? What are some areas that we’re doing well?” Muscat said.

“We want to make sure that this is a safe environment — a welcoming environment — and if something should occur that is not any of those things, that we have a mechanism in place to address those issues.”

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • NEWS

PAGE 3

Laureate Lab Visual Wordlist Studio hosts ‘Sudden Experiments’

By Manuel Hernandez News Editor

Hermelinda Hernandez found her love of poetry at Fresno City College when she decided to enroll in a poetry class.

She selected it as merely an elective for her coursework, but Hernandez said her professor motivated her to keep writing, and one of the first practices that intrigued her was journaling.

“I knew I wanted to do something with words. I just didn’t know if it was, you know, something creative in poetry or something creative in nonfiction. I wasn’t sure,” Hernandez said.

She first enrolled in Fresno City College as an English major, but when she transferred to Fresno State in 2019 and saw the option for a creative writing major, she switched her major the same day she heard about it.

For the past year and a half, she has been working and writing in Fresno State’s Laureate Lab Visual Wordlist Studio, pursuing an MFA in creative writing.

On Oct. 15, 2021, the lab announced a $5,000 grant from California Humanities for its project, “Sudden Experiments: A Series of Student-Led Public Workshops on Art/Poetry-Making,” which is a series of free creative art and poetry workshops held virtually.

One of its workshops, “String Stories,” was hosted by Hernandez.

The Feb. 27 Zoom event encouraged participants to critically think and artistically express their feelings about topics on colonization and “the depletion of natural resources within marginalized communities,” she said.

Hernandez said she was honored to be one of the four people chosen to host a workshop.

The first was hosted by Tony Vang in December 2021, followed by Hernandez’s. Gaoyong YangVang and Chevas Clements will be hosting the next two events.

Hernandez and other Laureate Lab members, Antony Cody and Paul Sanchez, came together to organize her “Sudden Experiment” workshop, thinking about what activities to do.

During the creation of “String Stories,” Hernandez said two questions that helped her figure out what it would be about: “Who are you?” and “Where are you from?”

As a result, her workshop is inspired by her background and personal experiences.

Hernandez emigrated from Oaxaca, Mexico, when she was 5 years old in 2000, and she saw a need for poetry and artistic expression in marginalized communities.

She said it has helped her reinvent words,

Courtesy of Anthony Cody

Fresno State’s Laureate Lab Visual Wordlist Studio hosted an art workshop “String Stories” virtually on Feb. 27, 2022 process events in her life and create a “symbol of resistance” against oppressive forces.

“We need this kind of healing, and through these activities I think we can also be more aware of our surroundings, more aware of who we are. Not only who we are in the present, but who our ancestors were in the past and who we want to be and what we want to embody for future generations to come,” Hernandez said.

She is also of Zapotec descent, an indigenous race of people in Oaxaca.

Cody shared his enthusiasm for Hernandez’s work and seeing diversity within the poetry community.

“I’m excited because none of these are old, white cishets [cisgender and heterosexual] dudes of the past,” Cody said.

“These are people of color. These are writers and artists of color that are being able to look and see and ask hard questions.” “[Hernandez is] always someone who will always ask a question that I have never considered, and I think I learned as much from her as I hope people learn from me,” he said.

Cody also noted that Hernandez wanted to learn everything when she came to the Laureate Lab, and said he admired her hunger to learn and the different styles of poetry she uses.

In her workshop, Hernandez had participants use paper, string, scissors and markers to create an art piece symbolizing the elements of fire, water, air and earth.

Participants were asked what these elements meant to them, and which one they related the most and the least to.

Fresno State students at the event expressed their own meanings, some relating to fire as a symbol of passion and others seeing earth as a metaphor for their stability.

Hernandez then showed two videos that also inspired the workshop, one being Yoko Ono’s installation “Cut Piece,” where audience members cut a piece of Ono’s clothing on stage, and another about poet Cecilia Vicuña’s work “Precario,” meaning fragile.

Vicuña used precarios, which were art piec-

es created by a variety of materials, to focus on Earth’s resources.

In the workshop, Hernandez combined both concepts by cutting strings like Ono to symbolize the elements participants felt they lost or were taken away from them and create their own precario with the remaining strings.

Questions were also asked throughout the process to have participants think about why certain elements are important and why people need to protect them.

Cody and Hernandez said they wanted to create a safe environment virtually where people can express their feelings on tough topics and also take a breather from life’s stresses.

“It’s been a really difficult time for everyone.

Just because the Laureate Lab is a very interactive space but it’s also a very tiny space, so the pandemic has made it challenging for us in a way to be able to function,” Cody said.

“What we’ve been doing is trying to do these sudden experiments in a way for folks to still understand and know what the Laureate Lab is doing.”

“One way that I would like to encourage people to do poetry,” Hernandez said.

“If you’re too embarrassed or whatever it is, just to be a kid again. Be a kid at heart and get whatever materials you can and draw around it and write your feelings.”

Students at the event said they felt thankful and grateful for Hernandez’s workshop and in the end, showcased the artwork they created.

Cody said students can contact the Laureate Lab for more information on future events.

Yang-Vang will host the next “Sudden Experiment” on April 7 around 7 p.m. Information on the event hosted by Clements’ will be announced at a later date.

Courtesy of Anthony Cody

Fresno State student, Hermelinda Hernandez, is pursuing an MFA in creative writing and was one of four students selected to host virtual art workshops.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • NEWS

PAGE 4

Ukrainian professor hosts ‘Teach-in’ with information on Russia-Ukraine war

By Edward Lopez

Senior News Reporter Political science professor Nataliia Kasianenko led a teach-in sponsored by the Fresno State College of Social Sciences regarding the war in Ukraine on March 2.

Kasianenko, who was born in Ukraine, presented information on the current situation of the Ukraine-Russia war in a 1 ½-hour long teach-in held in the Henry Madden Library and streamed on Zoom. The teach-in was open to Fresno State community members and the extended local community.

The professor shared with the audience that much of her family remains in eastern Ukraine, where they have been experiencing constant bombardment from Russian forces for days on end.

Slideshows featured information provided by her family and friends sharing first-hand accounts of the war.

The teach-in began with Ukrainian history, with Kasianenko emphasizing how the country gained its independence. She also refuted the Russian government’s claims that the Ukrainian region was always part of the Russian empire.

Ukraine came under various occupations over the course of its history, which Kasianenko attributed to its demographic diversity.

She also noted that, during World War II, some western Ukrainian people allied themselves with Nazi Germany in the hopes of remaining independent from the Soviet Union, which sought to consolidate the region.

This would later be used by President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a justification for the invasion of Ukraine, claiming to be attempting to denazify the Ukrainian government.

Kasianenko explained that Ukraine remains split politically, with much of the Ukrainianborn nationalists residing in western Ukraine and pro-Russian nationalists residing in the

implications with ethnic Russians in Eastern Europe and across the world.

Skitska, 31, said the spread of information has affected the local Ukrainian and Russian com-

vide first-hand accounts of the situation, with many who speak both Ukrainian and Russian.

On Feb. 24, Putin gave a speech in which he claimed that Ukraine was not a sovereign state, with much of its territory belonging to a former Russian leader and making a case that they have the moral obligation to protect the people of Ukraine from the pro-fascist, neo-Nazi government of Ukraine.

Putin claimed that the country of Ukraine was a pawn of the western countries, with ethnic Russians experiencing discrimination by the Ukrainian government, which they seek to overturn.

According to Kasianenko, western media glorified the current war in Ukraine, instilling the idea that Ukrainian people are able to fend off the Russian forces and creating an air of complacency as atrocities are being committed.

Kasianenko noted that, despite the aid being received, the Ukrainian people hoped that the western governments would do more to help prevent atrocities being committed by the Russian government in Ukraine by calling for no-fly zones.

“Putin doesn’t seem like he intends to stop and to pray. So if he engages in war with Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania, that are NATO members at the moment, are we going to also stand by and watch?” Kasianenko said.

Russian troops were also being misled by their own government, as Kasianenko highlighted a moment in which a Russian tank crew attempted to ask for gas from a Ukrainian police department only to be arrested, unaware of why they were being detained.

The confusion seems to be affecting Russian troops as well, with many who believe they are there to protect the Ukrainian people while members of the public yell at them to go away from the country, according to Kasianenko.

Kasianenko hopes that the Russian people

east, with language and culture being the dividing factors.

By the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ukraine politically began to fracture, with the nation splitting as pro-western political figures were elected into office alongside pro-Russian political figures being elected in the east.

Kasianenko noted that, despite the political differences, 77.8% of the Ukrainian people identified as Ukrainian.

The Russian Federation claimed that its current military operation is to protect ethnic Russians and Russian culture in Ukraine.

Kasianenko warned that this stance taken by the Russian Federation doesn’t necessarily end with Ukraine, saying that this has political

“As we talk about this conflict, this is not about Ukraine. This is about the future of Europe, really,” said Kasianenko.

She noted that, with the invasion of Ukraine, the government of Ukraine would be unable to join NATO, as NATO does not allow nations at war to join its alliance.

The Ukrainian government recently applied to be associated with the European Union, with serious talks to join.

Kasianenko argued the recent application to join the EU was purely a symbolic one, which she interprets as the Ukrainian people further splitting away politically from its Russian neighbors.

Ukrainian Fresno State alumnus, Mykhaylo

munities in Fresno, in particular noting the misinformation being spread.

“Both of the communities have been affected by both sides of the media,” Skitska said.

Skitska arrived at the event to show support for and solidarity with Kasianenko, as well as help answer questions people might have about Ukraine to help combat misinformation.

“The most transparent media source has always been the people themselves who are being directly affected by the situation,” Skitska said.

Skitska emphasized that people who are interested in knowing more about the Ukrainian invasion should reach out to members of the Ukrainian and Russian community in Fresno, as they have relatives in Ukraine who can pro-

will develop a collective consciousness as information of the Ukrainian invasion slowly makes its way, as reports of Russian losses appear in Russian news media.

This is slowly beginning to happen as protests against the war made their way to Moscow, according to Kasianenko. She added that these protests are actively being suppressed by the Russian government. Currently, Russian media is prohibited from referring to the Ukrainian war or an invasion, she said.

Kasianenko acknowledged that peace talks have occurred between the two governments.

However, she said they amounted to nothing more than both governments sharing their demands with each other.

Julia Espinoza • The Collegian

Fresno State professor Nataliia Kasianenko answers questions from students about the current situation in Ukraine on March 2, 2022.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • NEWS

PAGE 5

Fresno State community shows support in rally for affordable housing

By Manuel Hernandez & Julia Espinoza News Editor, Reporter

On Friday, March 4, the Fresno community held a rally at Fresno City Hall to advocate for affordable housing for all, addressing the housing crisis within Fresno and demanding anti-displacement policies from the City Council.

Local organizations that came to speak at the rally included the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, Faith in the Valley, We Are Not Invisible and Mujeres Amorosas Poderosas.

The Fresno State community, including students, professors and alumni, also showed its support and demanded change, noting that housing issues have been a long-lasting battle in the city.

Matthew Jendian, Fresno State sociology professor, said he has been advocating to Fresno City Council members for housing changes since 2004.

“We actually hosted a housing tour for [former Fresno] Mayor Alan Autry at the time and City Council members, to show them what the housing situation was in Fresno,” Jendian said.

“We actually took them. We chartered a bus and drove them to different units in Fresno, showing them what people were living in and how much they were paying.”

Jendian, who has been working on housing research for over 20 years, was one of the founding members of Faith in the Valley when it was first called Faith in Community.

During the 2004 housing tour, the organization showed the former mayor and council members that a majority of Fresno residents were unable to afford the average price of housing in the city. They also showed the homes of residents with bathrooms, floors and ceilings tattered and infested with mold, with residents living there because it was what was affordable.

They were also shown affordable places in Fresno that were nice to live in, but action was needed to fulfill the lack of these houses in the city. Jendian said a commission was made to build 10,000 affordable housing units by 2010, but it was never funded, “leaving us in the same mess that we were in back in 2004.”

Friday’s rally started after a report called “Here to Stay,” commissioned by the City of Fresno and requested by the Transform Fresno program and the City’s Housing Element, studied “displacement prevention efforts,” the report said.

The report was authored by the Thrivance Group and it studied the housing conditions of the community, recommending 46 anti-dis-

Julia Espinoza • The Collegian

Fresno community members gathered together for the ‘Housing For All’ rally advocating for affordable housing at Fresno City Hall on March 4, 2022. placement policies to the city.

The report noted Fresno’s history of “harmful land-use practices” against people of color.

“Fresno includes a series of hostile land acquisitions imposed on Indigenous Americans, forced labor exploitation of Black farmers, unjust labor practices toward brown migrants and the socio-economic alienation of Hmong residents,” the report said.

It included this information to justify why policies targeted at aiding people of color in Fresno is necessary and to explain how the neighborhoods that minority groups were forced into are now victims of increased rent and living costs.

Jendian also noted that government action needs to be taken in order to integrate affordable housing within diverse neighborhoods with different economic backgrounds, rather than concentrating low-income housing in one community.

He said it will not harm property values, but create a “racially, ethnically and socioeconomically diverse community.”

“Isn’t that the community that really reflects who we are?” Jendian said. “Instead of having a school, for example Buchanan or Clovis North or Clovis West in Fresno, that only has people from a certain socioeconomic background and certain, very limited, racial and ethnic diversity.”

“I have students who are struggling with affordable housing right now at Fresno State,” he added.

He said research and anecdotal studies, like listening sessions on guaranteed basic income, have found that a majority of students are either facing a housing cost burden — spending 30% of their monthly income on housing — or a severe housing cost burden — spending more than 50%.

Pa Houa Lee, a Fresno State junior majoring in sociology, said she attended the rally because of her family’s difficult experience with housing. Lee said she remembered sharing a small, two-bedroom apartment in Kings County with her parents and six siblings.

She emigrated from Thailand in 2004, and said her family was unaware of resources to help them at the time. Both of her parents also have disabilities that prevent them from working, so they live off Social Security.

“It’s not just me. I know I’m not the only one experiencing it. I’m out here to support those people so they don’t have to go through what my family went through,” Lee said.

Lee also said she knows students struggling to pay for rent, with one friend still paying off the debts for living in the Fresno State dorms.

She noted that students who are struggling aren’t aware of the resources.

“Students are really shy, so you have to

reach out to them,” Lee said.

“There’s students who feel like they’re alone, who feel like they’re the only ones experiencing this housing crisis,” said Alexandra Alvarado, community organizer for Faith in the Valley.

“They’re living out of their car. They’re living with family,” Alvarado said. “They’re trying to live in dorms with their friends. They’re not getting their deposits back and they’re getting pushed aside, taken advantage by their landlords… We can continue to share resources and continue to build power to make sure no students continue to go without housing.”

Alvarado is also a Fresno State alumna and graduated from the sociology department program in 2015.

She also attended the rally on Friday, and said she went because people can make a change when they come together.

“The data, there’s real people behind there.

The numbers, there’s real people behind there.

They want change,” Alvarado said.

“That’s why I’m here: to advocate and use my voice to pressure city hall to do something.

To take action to address the immediate need of the unhoused and the immediate need of the people who are struggling to stay in their homes; to the long-term need of building enough affordable housing in the city of Fresno for people of all income backgrounds,” Jendian said.

A&E

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

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Arte Américas latest exhibit ‘Boom Oaxaca’ honors Oaxacan artists

By Edward Lopez

Senior News Reporter Narsiso Martinez, 43, immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 20 and worked for nine seasons in the fields, raising money to be able to afford to go to college at California State University, Long Beach.

Martinez, pursuing a fine arts major, drew about farm laborers and their working conditions in the industrial agricultural complex while in school, inspired by his experience in the fields and the various farmworkers he met along the way.

While in graduate school, Martinez said he faced difficulty with art critics who didn’t understand the messages he was attempting to convey in his pieces.

Through this frustration came inspiration, as Martinez revisited an old art medium which he enjoyed and eventually became famous for: drawing on cardboard.

“All my critics would focus on the technicality of it and not on the subject on the concept; the idea that I wanted to talk about. It was kind of frustrating. I stopped painting at one point, and I went back to what I liked to do, which was painting and drawing on cardboard,” Martinez said.

“I picked this cardboard box from Costco, and I drew a banana man on this banana box, but this time I didn’t cut the labels. So when I presented that to my class, all my classmates, my committee and professors were agreeing that what I wanted to talk about became more focused, but at the same time universal,” Martinez said.

Martinez’s work, alongside other Oaxacan artists, is now on display at the Arte Américas studios in a celebration of Oaxacan culture through music and art.

Hundreds flocked to Downtown Fresno on March 5 to celebrate Oaxacan culture in full display at Arte Américas’ “Boom Oaxaca” (wuhHAH’-kuh) art exhibition.

“Boom Oaxaca” also featured the works from the Oaxacan art collective Tlacolulokos and artist Hoja Santa.

Tlacolulokos is an art collective of selftaught artists from the Mexico state of Oaxaca.

It was formed during the 2006 Oaxaca uprising, with an emphasis on anarchy and political rebellion.

Hoja Santa is a workshop that produces and features the graphic art of women. It came about due to a need for a space that featured female graphic artists in printmaking, which traditionally lacked women.

The exhibit seeks to bring attention to the

Julia Espinoza • The Collegian

Arte Américas’ “Boom Oaxaca” exhibit features work from Oaxacan artists such as Narsiso Martinez and the art collective Tlacolulokos. The exhibit will run from March 5 through Aug. 14, 2022. indigenous and Oaxacan culture residing in the Central Valley and give a voice to a traditionally underrepresented group of people often described as invisible through the medium art according to curate Lilia Chavez.

The exhibit conveys issues of transnationalism about Oaxacan people in Fresno and in the state of Oaxaca, alongside indigenous sovereignty and the invisibility indigenous Oaxacans feel in Hispanic culture in Mexico and in the U.S. “The exhibition promotes and recognizes a very important segment of our community which is the Oaxacan community who has migrated from Mexico to the United States and over the years who have struggled as farm laborers but also has advanced in its time here,” Chavez said.

“The Oaxacan diaspora is an issue that is rarely recognized and acknowledged, so this is important, but it’s also important because this is a first-voice account of a part of Fresno’s community. It’s about the Latino community,

by Latinos,” Chavez said.

Tlacolulokos art collective developed a unique art style that breaks away from traditional Neo-muralist in Mexico to offer a reflection of local realities, predominantly featuring indigenous Oaxacan people and those who migrated to the U.S. Originally, the Tlacolulokos Los Angeles art exhibition was supposed to be featured in the studio. However, due to the size and quantity of art pieces in the exhibition, the Tlacolulokos commissioned new artworks reflective of the

Oaxacan community in the Central Valley.

“We were going to actually bring that show here, but it’s so massive. Meaning height-wise… it wasn’t going to fit here. So we pivoted to change it and to show a new show. Their show at the LA Museum [was] very LA centric, which is great for the city, but we wanted something kind of reflecting our community,” said creative director Tony Carranza.

Tlacolulokos collaborated with Arte Américas to help produce art pieces for the exhibit following an intensive interview process with the Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities (CBDIO).

Fresno State alum and Arte Américas intern, Jesus Pelayo, 34, was drawn to Martinez’s art, as Pelayo also worked in the fields in his 20s.

He noted how he often drank energy drinks to stay awake while working long hours to make ends meet, a detail featured in Martinez’s art.

“That’s an essential, and it speaks to, like, all the very unhealthy things that farmworkers have to go through to kind of get through the day, because it’s very physical, grueling labor,” Pelayo said.

“Just speaking of myself, I would go through four [energy drinks] just to keep up, and sometimes take little caffeine pills, and just stuff that’s really harmful to get by through the day and didn’t make it to work the next day,” Pelayo said.

Fresno State Chicano Latino Studies major Edwardo De Leon, 25, said he appreciated Martinez’s work as it highlighted the treatment of farm laborers in agribusiness and spoke to the

need for both food and land sovereignty.

“What this showcase is trying to highlight is how industrial agronomy in agriculture actually comes at a cost. It comes at a pretty big cost in terms of our CO2 emissions, greenhouse gas and a lot of the food they can’t sell. They just throw it away because they won’t donate it because they won’t make money on it,” De Leon said.

The idea for a new art exhibition in Arte Américas first began around three years ago, after several brainstorming sessions. It took many different shapes and directions until eventually becoming the exhibit now known as “Boom Oaxaca.”

“We were going to do something around Cuba, or my part was going to be around Cuba.

The project kind of shifted and stuff, and then we ended up kind of getting a new team for it.

You know, myself and then some other folks jumped on board, too,” Carranza said.

Initially, “Boom Oaxaca” was slated to open in the summer of 2021. However, COVID-19 caused Arte Américas to postpone the exhibition until spring 2022.

“The exhibition took three years because of COVID-19. It should have taken four, but we kind of welcomed the extra year because it allowed us to put some flourishes on the exhibition,” Chavez said.

During the March 4 soft opening, the staff of Arte Américas could be seen making final preparations for various art pieces throughout the studio for the public grand opening on March 5.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • A&E

PAGE 7

Fresno native Albee Sanchez reflects on Frida Café’s journey to water tower

By Viviana Hinojos Reporter

Albee Sanchez said he describes himself like many others who grew up in Fresno: someone with dreams to leave and find bigger, better things.

He moved to Los Angeles at 21 years old and lived there for six years before returning to his hometown.

While the big city life took a toll on Sanchez, he credits his time there as a period that taught him to view Fresno in a new light.

“Before, I saw Fresno as an endless quicksand pit; that if you stay too long, you’ll never get out. But when I came back, I didn’t see it as a sandpit. I saw it as a land of opportunity,” Sanchez said.

While in LA, Sanchez worked at a vegan coffee shop called Zia Valentina, which was founded by his sisters Dorit and Naomi Kashi.

This position gave him many opportunities to explore a management role, Sanchez said.

At the time, he knew little about coffee and had no experience with an espresso machine, but that would quickly change.

He soon found out the science and art to

Viviana Hinojos • The Collegian

The water tower is the future location for Albee Sanchez’s Frida Café.

making espresso, both for which he had a deep-rooted love and passion.

Today, Sanchez uses the same machine he learned to use at Zia Valentina at his own business, Frida Café.

Sanchez opened Frida Café on Sept. 12, 2020, in the midst of a pandemic with hopes of improving his hometown through his love for coffee, culture and art. Now, with the business surviving the bulk of the pandemic, his vision is opening doors at a new location at the historic water tower in Downtown Fresno.

Prior to the pandemic and to opening Frida Café, Sanchez was already running a traveling paint-and-sip business. Once shutdowns began, he was no longer able to partner with businesses to host his events indoors, so he decided to use the opportunity to bring life to another dream.

For Sanchez, opening Frida Café during a pandemic didn’t present as many obstacles as one may think.

“To me, it was normal because I didn’t know any different. I didn’t experience what a coffee shop would have been like to own pre-COVID. We did what we had to do,” Sanchez said.

When Frida Café first opened, Sanchez partnered with Los Panchos, a Mexican restaurant on Fulton Street, to run his café out of its bar area. He described it as a permanent pop-up, which was new for the city.

“It worked great. You have this beautiful space that is empty in the morning because it’s a bar, and by the time the lunch crowd was really strong and wanting a beer, we were gone. It was perfect,” Sanchez said.

As time went on, Frida Café kept growing bigger and bigger, attracting more people than Sanchez had imagined.

Over time, customers left limited parking spaces for the restaurant’s customers, and the consequences of running two businesses out of one space became apparent.

“All of the people we were bringing in, although I was thankful for them, it was hindering this business that gave me a helping hand.

It wasn’t fair,” Sanchez said.

He decided to no longer operate out of Los Panchos despite being unsure where he would take his café next.

During its time at Los Panchos, Frida Café had attracted staff from the city for coffee that could also support local businesses in or close to their district.

Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias, who represents District 3, including Downtown Fresno, frequented Frida Café often.

Arias recalled his experiences at the café, highlighting the miniature pan dulce it served

Wyatt Bible • The Collegian

The interior of Fresno’s water tower, the future home of the Frida Café, which was once based out of the Downtown Fresno restaurant Los Panchos. him and his son, as well as the sales pitch that first got their attention.

“It was the first time my son was at a coffee shop that spoke to his own culture and [he] saw something that wasn’t a bagel, which was very significant for him and I,” Arias said.

It was the start of a bond between Sanchez and Arias that eventually brought forth a new opportunity for Sanchez, and a new location for Frida Café.

Arias said that, while the Latinx community has made up the majority of Fresno’s population for decades, the members rarely see themselves represented in local businesses.

“Frida Café was the place where the café con leche, café de olla, the café con canela that we grew up drinking at home could be done in a place that was occupied by the general public.

It represented home in the big urban center,” Arias said.

When Arias found out Frida Café needed a new location to operate, he mentioned that the city was looking for a coffee shop to occupy the water tower.

Sanchez kept this news to himself until it was officially decided that Frida Café would be moving into the water tower, though he said it was hard to keep secret.

Sanchez said he fell in love with his Mexican culture through his relationship with his grandmother, as well as through music and art, which he hopes to share with others at the water tower.

The name of the café comes from famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907-1954). Sanchez said Kahlo’s spirit and essence is the heartbeat of Frida Café, where he wants to welcome all regardless of their culture, ethnicity or sexual orientation. “[Kahlo] was bisexual. She was a very strong person, very strong-willed and she led her life in a way that made her happy. And I’m doing the same, and so can you,” Sanchez said.

“Frida Café will be the perfect symbol of how a Latino millennial can take the culture and the richness of Frida Kahlo’s legacy and make it relevant in today’s environment and to today’s generations,” Arias said.

Sanchez urged other young entrepreneurs to not feel the need to leave Fresno to start a business and to reconsider the possibilities that are here.

“For too long Latinos have been perceived as the help and the workers, not as the intellectual artistic beings that we are in Latin America and in major cities. This will allow that identity of Latinos to resemble and to be projected across the Valley,” Arias said.

While Sanchez isn’t sure when the café will officially be able to open, he’s hosted various events at the water tower for fans. March’s ArtHop featured a live music performance and more at the water tower.

Future events at the location will be announced on social media accounts for Frida Café.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • A&E

PAGE 8

‘Fragility & Endurance’ exhibit features graduate students’ work

Wyatt Bible • The Collegian

Blanca Yanneth Davila. “Diez Mil Voces” 2019 - 2022, Installation: Pit-fired ceramic, dirt and tumbleweeds. It is one of multiple exhibits featured at the “Fragility & Endurance” exhibit, which displays pieces from graduate students Shara Mercado Poole and Davila.

By Adam Ricardo Solis Reporter

Fresno State’s Phebe Conley Gallery opened the M.A. in art graduate project exhibition, “Fragility & Endurance,” on Feb. 24, which will be available to visit through March 17.

The exhibit displayed 2D art and ceramics from graduate students Shara Mercado Poole and Blanca Yanneth Davila. Davila and Poole said the creative freedom allowed them to express their subconscious feelings about society and past experiences of growing up undocumented.

“If I feel a compulsion to make something, I make it, and what I start to see as I work is patterns emerge,” Poole said.

She said she hopes to “create a chaotic, claustrophobic and fragmented space that evokes feelings of both the passing and collapsing of time” through layering and color tension.

Poole gained inspiration from discussions about aging, anxiety and time, emphasizing it in works like “Photo Baptism.”

“The way the colors are functioning and the way the alternating depth and flatness is functioning, I feel is starting to tell a little bit more of my story,” Poole said.

She said that being a part of a generation that lived through major events such as 9/11, the housing bubble burst and the economic collapse, as well as her own personal coming of age story, served as inspiration for her art’s narrative. This is what makes Poole’s art relevant and comprehensible specifically to millennials and the disenchanted, the artist said.

Davila’s art consisted of multiple pieces, including 10,000 ceramic pinch pots to commemorate the lives lost attempting to cross the Mexican border.

Davila said she decided to use her work to honor those who lost their lives trying to give their families the American dream because of the efforts her parents made to bring her to America when she was a child.

“I created [this piece] to honor [the lives lost]. Just to make them a part of everybody’s life. Like you walk in there and you realize it’s

10,000 people that could have been here,” Davila said.

The ritual of making the pinch pots out of clay, using only her hands as tools, allowed Davila to deepen her connection with each individual person who passed, according to her artist statement.

The process of making the pots brought her “back to her roots,” Davila said. It included waking up each morning to start the fire for the pots and continue to layer it with wood for five to six hours after to be able to start a process she described as “physical and intense.”

Davila said her motivation for waking up each morning and reaching her goal of 10,000 pinch pots came from her desire to honor those who died crossing the border.

“They also had dreams and desires and aspirations, and they just couldn’t fulfill them…

Their journey ended there while they were trying to cross, so it was like, I’m here to make the most of it,” Davila said.

Students, staff and community members can visit Poole and Davila’s art through March

17 in the Phebe Conley Gallery on campus. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Wyatt Bible • The Collegian

Shara Mercado Poole. “Preservatives” 2021, mixed media on toned paper.

OPINION

PAGE 9

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

Letter to the Editor: Cultivating trust at Fresno State

By Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval As my late mother taught me: Trust is like a plant; it needs continuous water and care.

After the painful revelations of the past few weeks, we are actively working to earn back the trust that has been eroded at Fresno State.

I have met extensively with students, faculty, staff and community members. I have heard their pain, disappointment and anger. I vow to work tirelessly to promote a safer, more equitable environment built on inclusivity and respect.

I thank you for your courage in entrusting me with your experiences and perspectives.

We are taking immediate action by investing additional resources in supporting students, faculty and staff facing the scourge of sexual misconduct.

This investment will include hiring a second survivor advocate — an individual trained in supporting survivors of sexual assault, regardless of whether they opt to go through a formal grievance process.

We will also hire a deputy coordinator of Discrimination, Retaliation and Harassment, to further expand our ability to conduct workplace climate investigations and stop inappropriate behavior.

Finally, we will hire a full-time deputy Title IX coordinator who will allow us to better manage investigations and reach resolutions for cases going through the Title IX process.

These three key positions are just the beginning of the important work we must do. We must also change elements of our administrative culture that allowed inappropriate behavior to persist.

To that end, we will engage in a series of efforts aimed at measuring, understanding and improving our overall campus climate.

This work will focus on providing analytical tools to measure the prevalence of sexual misconduct, discrimination and bias.

The Collegian is a student-run publication that serves the Fresno State community. Views expressed in The Collegian do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or university.

Courtesy of Lisa Boyles Bell

Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval is president of Fresno State, and was appointed as president of the university in May 2021.

We will chart a clear path to dealing with myriad micro- and macro-aggressions that target our populations so together we can build a culture that is both empowering and respectful of our entire campus community.

Accountability will be expected of everyone: senior administrators, faculty, staff and students.

As I previously announced, we are launching a Title IX Task Force, and today I am excited to be able to share that this task force will be chaired by Dr. Bernadette Muscat – a renowned scholar of victimology and our dean of undergraduate studies.

Comprised of students, faculty, staff and community members, the task force is charged with ensuring that Fresno State learns from these painful lessons to become a leader in preventing and combatting harassment and sexual

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misconduct.

That group will look at current Title IX implementation and levels of misconduct at Fresno State and will develop a plan focusing on prevention, education and more transparent, informative and streamlined processes.

Our task force will provide regular updates in the coming months via their landing page, which I encourage you to visit.

As we communicated recently to the campus community, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure full compliance in reporting sexual misconduct cases.

We recently became aware of two cases that should have been coded differently in our daily crime logs.

While we’ve addressed these matters, we want to reiterate our commitment to transparency and accountability.

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I firmly believe that we must change institutional elements of our university, as our culture becomes codified into our policies and procedures.

Protecting our Bulldog family must begin with deliberate goals based on principles of equity, trust and transparency, bolstered by a willingness to recognize past shortcomings. We must learn to recognize the blind spots or privilege structures that have derailed past efforts.

We want to empower our campus community to speak the truth, and I trust that our efforts will lead us along an illuminated path.

If we take wisdom from the adage that “sunlight is the best disinfectant,” the willingness to be vulnerable and open in our discourse – even in painful circumstances – will help us use our newfound clarity to reinforce and build practices to achieve our shared vision.

Melina Kazanjian Wyatt Bible Lexee Padrick Hannah Hieber Mackenzie Brazier Carli Medina Teagan Riley Brenda Valdez Richard Marshall Kevin Fries Jan Edwards Timothy Drachlis Betsy Hays

The Collegian carries four different ethnic supplements inserted several times throughout each semester into its print publication. Each supplement is produced by its own staff and advisers and is separate from The Collegian.

The news stories or opinions in the supplements do not reflect those of The Collegian.

Each member of the campus community is permitted a copy of The Collegian. Subscriptions are available for $25, on a semester basis. Staff positions at The Collegian are open to students of all majors. All content Copyright © 2022 The Collegian.

Letters to the Editor (collegian@csufresno.edu): All letters submitted to The Collegian should be between 250-500 words in length, must be type-written, and must be accompanied by a full name and phone number to verify content. The Collegian reserves the right to edit all material for length, content, spelling and grammar, as well as the right to refuse publication of any material submitted. All material submitted to The Collegian becomes property of The Collegian.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

COLLEGIAN.CSUFRESNO.EDU

PAGE 10

Diamond ‘Dogs take home second weekend series

By Tyler Van Dyke Reporter

After a 12-5 rout of Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday night, the Diamond ‘Dogs were back at Bob Bennett Stadium to face the Portland Pilots for a three-game weekend series.

The ‘Dogs lost the opener on Friday 7-4, but bounced back to beat the Pilots 1-0 Saturday and hammered them 7-1 on Sunday.

Portland started with a 1-0 lead on Friday.

It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the ‘Dogs got on the scoreboard.

Shortstop Andrew Kachel doubled to start off the inning and came around to score on a Bobby Blandford single. After stealing second, Blandford scored on a Ben Newton single up the middle, making it 2-1 for the Bulldogs after five innings.

Portland tied things up when Tony Boetto singled to left center and scored Jake Holcroft.

The ‘Dogs came right back in the bottom of the seventh. Blandford drew a walk and then Nate Thimjon singled, advancing to second on a throwing error by relief pitcher Joey Gartrell.

Liam Hatakenaka then took over for the Pilots and gave up an RBI single to Vinny Bologna who was pinch hitting for Newton. Blandford scored on the play and gave the Bulldogs a 3-2

lead.

Payton Allen ripped a single to score Thimjon and boost the ‘Dogs lead to 4-2.

Sophomore reliever Zach Statzer was brought in to preserve the two-run lead, but the Pilots struck for five runs on five base hits in the top of the eighth.

The Diamond ‘Dogs were not able to answer, only getting two hits in the final two innings of the loss.

Jake Dixon struck out nine through five innings of work, only allowing one run on five hits Friday night.

Statzer took the loss after the meltdown in the fifth inning, giving up five runs on five hits and a walk.

Newton led the way offensively for the Bulldogs, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Blandford contributed as well, going 1-for-3, scoring two runs and an RBI. In the second game of the series on Saturday night, the ‘Dogs scored their lone run in the third inning started by a single from Matt Ottino.

Southpaw Ixan Henderson dealt for the Diamond ‘Dogs all night. The Fresno native earned the win, striking out nine Pilots and only giving up three hits and three walks through six innings of work.

Melina Kazanjian• The Collegian

Fresno State infielder Josh Lauck at-bat in its game against Portland on March 6, 2022, at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium.

Melina Kazanjian • The Collegian

Fresno State pitcher Tommy Hopfe pitches during the game against Portland on March 6, 2022 at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium. “[Henderson’s] coming. He just keeps getting better and better and better, and as long as he keeps going, we are going to be in good shape,” head coach Mike Batesole said.

Normal Sunday starter Nikoh Mitchell came in to shut it down for the Bulldogs, pitching two innings and striking out four Pilots to earn his first save of the season.

Zach Morgan led the way for the ‘Dogs going 2-for-4 with the only RBI in the win. Designated hitter Mason Grotto went 3-for-4 as well.

In Sunday’s finale, the ‘Dogs’ bats came alive, defeating the Pilots 7-1.

Left fielder Briley Knight got Portland on the scoreboard first with an RBI single to left, scoring Holcroft in the first inning.

The Bulldogs struck right back in the second, Grotto drew a walk, and then Kachel reached on an error by the Pilot’s third baseman Evan Scavotto.

Blake Wink walked to load the bases for Travis Welker. Welker laced a two-run single up the middle, scoring Grotto and Kachel, giving the ‘Dogs a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, after Wink singled and Welker walked, Josh Lauck hit a bomb over the scoreboard in left-center, scoring three runs for the ‘Dogs and making it 5-1.

“To chip in with the bat, too and the threerun home run was probably the biggest hit of the day, I would say. So you know they pitched him tough all weekend. They got some fast balls

by him, and tried to sneak one more by him and he got it,” Batesole said.

Fresno State added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth with Lauck walking and then stealing second.

Morgan then doubled to right center, scoring Lauck and making it 6-1.

After a pitching change for the Pilots, first baseman Ivan Luna hit an RBI single to right, scoring Morgan and making it 7-1.

Lauck led the way in hitting for the ‘Dogs in Sunday’s lopsided victory, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs and scoring two runs, as well.

Morgan was also consistent throughout the series and went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI, also scoring a run in the win on Sunday.

“He’s a veteran. He’s a smart hitter. He’s a good breaking ball hitter. He is outstanding with two strikes. He doesn’t strike out,” Batesole said.

Roman Angelo, who is not a usual starter for the ‘Dogs, got the ball on Sunday and earned the win after giving up a run in the first inning.

Three relievers helped shut it down for the Bulldogs as Tommy Hopfe, Trevor Garcia and Cooper Bergman all pitched lights out in relief, allowing no runs on four hits combined.

After taking two out of three games against the Pilots, the Diamond ‘Dogs will be back at Bob Bennett Stadium to take on the Utah Utes on Tuesday evening.

The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • SPORTS

PAGE 11

Bulldog Divers head to Zone E Championships

Courtesy of Fresno State Athletics

Silvia Alessio (left) diving in her competition and Yuliya Tykha (right) receiving her MW second place on the 1-meter.

By Aidan Garaygordobil Reporter

Yuliya Tykha and Silvia Alessio will represent Fresno State at the NCAA Zone E Diving Championship this week.

The pair of divers are set to compete in their respective events at Northern Arizona University over the next three days. Both will be diving

in the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions set for on Monday and Tuesday.

Tykha will also be competing in the platform event set for Wednesday. The event marks the third consecutive appearance for Tykha, who is coming off of a strong finish at the Mountain West Championship where she finished in the top five for multiple events.

“I just hope to do my best and finish at the best I can, and we’ll see whatever happens at the meet,” Tykha said.

Entering what is now her third regional championship appearance, the senior diver is heading into the meet with years of experience.

At last year’s competition she finished 16th in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, and in the 2019-2020 season she qualified for the NCAA championship meet after a ninth-place finish in the platform event. The 2019-2020 season championships were canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Now wrapping up her final season as a Bulldog, Tykha said she feels she has improved throughout this year’s competitions.

“I’ve been improving from the last few seasons, and I’ve been getting some of my personal best scores this season, which has been very important to me,” Tykha said.

This improvement has led to an impressive performance in the MW Championship, where her 331.70 1-meter score not only earned her a second-place finish in the event, but set a program record. This historic late-season performance has capped off a strong senior season, one in which Tykha has seen more consistency.

Tykha scored 246.10 on the 1-meter and 264.45 on the 3-meter in the finals last season and placed third at the MW Championship on the diving platform with a score of 235.30.

She also took sixth in the 3-meter (276.70) and finished fifth in the 1-meter at the MW Championship (270.30). This historic late-season performance has capped off a strong senior season, one in which Tykha said she has seen more consistency.

“I feel like I’ve been more consistent than the last few seasons and definitely less nervous at the meets,” Tykha said. “And I think that it’s a pretty big accomplishment for me.”

The upcoming NCAA Zone E Championship is potentially Tykha’s last career meet as a Bulldog as the senior is set to graduate this year.

As for Alessio, this appearance will be her first at the event. The Fresno State junior also earned her spot through her standout performance in the MW Championship.

In her last season, she earned All-Mountain West honors, placing seventh at the 3-meter in the MW Championship with a score of 275.10 and taking eighth in the 1-meter at the MW Championship (244.05).

She finished in first place on the 1-meter against UC Davis on Feb. 5 with a score of 247.58 and posted a score of 168.05 in the platform at the MW Championship.

Alessio placed 12th overall in the 1-meter event with a personal best score of 292, and 21st overall in the platform event with a 199.35 at the MW Championships.

TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2022

THE COLLEGIAN • SPORTS

PAGE 12

Two Central Valley natives win Top Rank Boxing matches

Wyatt Bible • The Collegian

Jose Ramirez (left) fights José Pedraza and wins by a unanimous decision and Richard Torrez Jr. (right) knocks out Allen Melson in second round on March 4, 2022 at the Save Mart Center.

By Estela Anahi Jaramillo Sports Editor Central Valley natives Jose Ramirez – Fresno – and Richard Torrez Jr. – Tulare – won their Top Rank boxing matches Friday night at the Save Mart Center (SMC).

Ramirez came back after loss in May 2021 against Josh Taylor by winning by a unanimous 12-0 decision against José Pedraza on Friday.

Ramirez is a former unified light welterweight champion, having held the WBC title from 2018 to May

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2021, and he represented the U.S. at the 2012 London Olympics.

Torrez, 22, won a silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and made his professional debut Friday against Allen Melson, where Torrez quickly beat Melson with a second-round knockout.

For Ramirez, fighting in front of fans at the SMC wasn’t something new to him.

“You heard the crowd, man, when I walked into that ring. You know, it really motivates me to see how much they cheer,” Ramirez said.

“It feels like they really believe in me, you know. It’s like they see me as a champion, and I gotta go out there and perform like their champion. So it’s always an honor showcasing their talent [for] the fans in the Valley,” he said.

But for Torrez, this was something new. During the Olympics, he competed in front of empty arenas.

Now, he was boxing in front of over 8,000 people in the SMC, the largest crowd he has performed in front of.

“To be able to be in front of my home audience is unimaginable. I really can’t believe that that happened. The amount of support that everyone gave me. That’s going to go down in the history books as one of my favorite fights ever,” Torrez said.

“I’m just so thankful to make my debut in Fresno,” Torrez said. “The Central Valley is home, and I am proud to represent my people.”

During the matchup between Melson and Torrez, Melson landed a hit onto Torrez’s face

and left a cut he needed to have attended. With 1:23 left in the second round, Torrez hit another right uppercut to Melson’s face, eventually knocking him out.

After Ramirez’s 2021 loss to Taylor, where Ramirez lost the undisputed junior welterweight championship, Ramirez bounced back in the match against Pedraza Friday. The Fresno native cherished defeating a former WBO lightweight welterweight champion in front of his family.

He said he was tense coming into this fight after his decision loss to Taylor, but adding on the pressure of fighting at home increased the tension.

“I went out there and just boxed, and had fun in there. I played smart and used my jab, and I think I won more than eight rounds,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez threw a total of 554 punches in his match, landing 133. He consistently beat Pedraza to the punch with constant pressure, his left hook causing damage to Pedraza’s midsection and his right eye.

“You know, he’s a true warrior and is an experienced fighter so he pushed it,” Ramirez said of Pedraza.

He said his first fight back in the ring against a quality opponent was just the match he needed, but Ramirez said this is just the beginning of the long road ahead.

“That’s one thing that’s affected me these last couple of years. I’ve trained so many times for a little bit of fights,” Ramirez said.

He said his inactivity and his discouragement in training camps took a toll on him, but

his win over Pedraza showed him he’s ready to stay active and motivated as he continues in the 140-pound titles.

“Now it’s time to continue going back to the gym and putting… my offensive and defensive walking skills together,” Ramirez said. “They’re just becoming better because I know the fights are only going to get better now. There’s a lot of competition.”

In Torrez’s matchup, he said the cut from Melson was frustrating, but didn’t let it ruin the celebration.

“After the cut, I knew I had to get back to basics, and that’s what I did. I made sure to avoid additional head clashes, and I got the job done in the second,” he said.

“There were always some nerves, and I think that means I really cared about it. I really cared about making a good impression in my hometown. I cared about doing something to show off the appreciation that everyone is giving me and, hopefully, I did that tonight,” he said.

He represented his hometown Tulare’s name in big white letters over his black shorts for the fight and noted that he will continue to try to make his hometown proud.

“You guys are my home and my life, and I’ve grown different because of you,” he said.

Comparing his experience fighting before a crowd in the SMC to the crowdless matchups at the Olympics, Torrez said the reality of the win hit him when he arrived home to Tulare.

“How could I not put Tulare on my shorts?

How could I not represent that? I want the world to see me through pro boxing, and to see Tulare too,” Torrez said.