Courier 100th Anniversary Magazine by PCC Courier

Celebrating

100 YEARS

of Pasadena City Collegeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s independent student voice

Letter from the Editors

ver 100 years ago, Shirley W. Owen, Kenneth Fuessle and their staff of high school writers set out to start a student publication that would provide a source of news and information to the school staff and student body. On February 4, 1915, the Pasadena High School Chronicle was born. Fast forward to 2015. Did they know then that they had started a paper that would withstand the test of time? When the editors of this year’s Courier staff came together to start working on this magazine, it wasn’t clear what we would come away with. We only knew that to do a milestone of this magnitude justice, we had to do something more than just a special newspaper edition. After four months of researching and compiling stories, we have put together what we believe to be the best representation of this publication’s history. The Chronicle and Courier has carried on through out some of the most troubling times in American history. We were there during seven wars, withstood the Great Depression and had the privilege of writing about the great Jackie Robinson. Within this magazine, you will read about the history not only about the student newspaper, but also of Pasadena City College and the surrounding area. You will get a glance at what it was like during the changes in society and the extensive history that was covered by this publication. We will tell stories about the greatest moments/stories in the past 100 years and shed light on the darker ones as well. We intend to show that we have made mistakes. Not everything can be perfect in the process of putting a newspaper together, but some of the blunders were very humorous. Furthermore, this magazine helps tell the story of journalism itself. Some things have not and never will change. Other things, such as how the paper is printed and where the business is going are always changing. Remember that this is not the beginning of this story, nor will it be coming to an end with this magazine. This is simply a “Thank You” to all who have picked up our newspaper and read stories that our writers and photographers put a lot of hard work into. The PCC Courier will continue its service of being the best news provider to you, its faithful audience and community.

Special Thanks The Courier would like to thank the following people for their support: Joe Futtner, Associate Dean of Visual Media and Performing Arts. He has always been there for the Courier staff when we have needed him. He has helped us through some tough times in the past. We hope that he will be here to help us through any future troubles. Mane Hakopyan, PCC archives librarian. Thank you for the countless times you helped us during our time in the library archives. We can’t thank you enough. Without you, none of this would be possible. Mikki Bolliger, former Courier adviser of 30plus years. Thank you for all the grand ideas that you gave us when we decided to move forward with this special edition. Your vast knowledge helped us every step of the way. The Courier would also like to thank donors Dr. Robert Bell, Senior Vice President of PCC; the Associated Students and each vice president for donating money from his or her budget; Dr. Robert Miller, Interim President; and Tony Barbone, Athletics Director. Without your contributions, this magazine would not be possible. And to you, reader, for picking up this issue. We do all of this for the community that we serve. We hope that you enjoy the stories within this magazine.

STAFF

04 From the Chronicle to the Courier

EDITORS Philip McCormick ...... Editor-In-Chief Kristen Luna ........... Managing Editor Nagisa Mihara ............... Photo Editor Samantha Molina ........ Design Editor

WRITERS Nataly Chavez Alex Chhuon Justin Clay Keely Damara Mick Donovan

CONTENTS

Daron Grandberry Monique LeBleu Anthony Martinez Neil Protacio

PHOTOGRAPHERS Eric Haynes Erica Hong

Tiffany Yip Max Zeronian

First Years

08 The digital editor’s daily beat A day in the life of an editor-in-chief

09 Home away from home

Former editor’s talk about what it’s like working for the school newspaper

12 Pasadena’s own 4-sport legend A look back at Jackie Robinson’s historic athletic career at PCC

14 Cataloging civil rights

Documenting social change through reporting

DESIGNERS Antonio Gandara Luis Rodriguez

A timeline of a century

Daniel Valencia

ADVERTISEMENTS Daniel Nerio

ADVISERS Nathan McIntire ....... Faculty Adviser Tim Berger .................. Photo Adviser

C rime 8 of the most horrendous and serious crimes at PCC

18 An adviser’s legacy

Courier adviser Mikki Bolliger oversaw 1,036 newspapers in 34 years

21 Print to digital

A transition from one medium to another

All photos in this magazine are from the Chronicle and Courier archives unless otherwise credited. Cover Photo: PHS Chronicle Newsroom from the 1915 Item Annual The Courier Magazine is written and produced as a learning experience for student writers, photographers and editors in the Journalism Department. Editorial Office Courier Magazine Pasadena City College 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. Room CC 208 626.585.7130 © Copyright 2015 Courier. All rights Reserved.

22 Lakers, Lancers, Legends

Michael Cooper, Jerry Tarkanian, and Mack Robinson

FORGIVE

Journalism we have sinned!

26 Rust never sleeps 30

CNN photographer gathers no moss in global news coverage

Behind the Print The process of a student paper

32 A photo story

The Courier through pictures

34 The Chronicle lives!

Behind the scenes of a high school newspaper 3

congratulates the

COURIER

First issue of the Courier.

on its

Recent Courier issue.

100

ANNIVERSARY 5

First Years Story by Philip McCormick

The turbulent beginning of a hundred year legacy

ore than 100 years ago, one student at Pasadena High School had a dream of a student-run newspaper. He began discussing his plans with teachers and students who were interested. Kenneth Fuessle’s dream not only came to life, but it now carries on a 100-year-old legacy. It’s a tale Kenneth lost in time, Fuessle unknown to many students until today’s journalism students finally opened the archives and fought through the cobwebs and dust of the last century. This is the story of the Courier’s predecessor, the Chronicle. It all came about when Fuessle picked up his English teacher’s alma mater newspaper, “The Aegis,” and was inspired to make something better. “With fear and wobbling knees, I took my ideas to the English office…” Fuessle explained in a 1-year anniversary edition of

the Chronicle. “The Aegis was something tangible. It was a prospectus. I borrowed a number of papers from [English teacher] Claire Soule and showed them to my friends…” Fuessle and his friends put together a petition, a petition that would ensure the paper’s birth. He got his teachers to allow him to pass the petition around their classrooms so that his fellow students could sign off on the idea. After the students lent their approval, it was just a matter of ironing out the details of how the paper would be run. Fuessle, with the help of teachers, put together a list of “prospective” staff members. Shirley W. Owen was elected as the first editor-in-chief and Fuessle, who later became the second editor for the signed Shirley Owen paper, on as his managing editor. The reasoning for Owen becoming editor above Fuessle is unclear. But in his last editorial as

editor, Owen made a recommendation to appoint Fuessle as the next editor-in-chief of the paper, stating that it should always fall to the managing editor to become the next leader of the paper. On Feb. 4, 1915, Owen ran down the hall with a bundle of fresh newspapers from the press with excitement. The first paper was distributed to the school and the Pasadena High School Chronicle was born. “A dozen eager staff memHerbert bers met Owen Popenoe at the door of the office and relieved him of sundry copies,” Fuessle described in 1917 in a letter to the editor. “Wild whoops, mutterings, giggles, groans—all these, as different embryo scribes saw their first attempt.” Sophomore journalist and future editor-in-chief Herbert Popenoe also described what it was like. “What I didn’t know about journalism would have undoubtedly have filled several tomes of considerable volume,” Popenoe said about his first year on the staff. “However, I decided to learn in time. So when Fuessle made me a tentative offer of a job, I took

the bait.” Popenoe went on to talk about his first time walking into the Chronicle’s newsroom, describing the staff as “the noble editorial,” also recalling learning the newsroom jargon and his first assignment. He wrote about a school assembly and spent about three hours typing away in the office. He turned it into the copy editor’s desk, as he said, with a bit of pride and a feeling of accomplishment. “And about five minutes later, it flew into the air in about seventeen pieces... I found that it needed rewriting,” he wrote. “I accordingly rewrote it and handed it in. The editor, in despair,

Kenneth Fuessle, left, and He the Chronicle in 1916.

“It was a great life. To sit around the office and tell of your journalistic experiences was unbeatable.” -Herbert ‘Pip’ Popenoe wrote it himself.” Although Popenoe had a terrible introduction into the field, he ended up sticking with journalism and produced articles that got past the “Demon of the Desk.” “I thought I was at last a real newspaper man,” Popenoe said. “It was a great life. To sit around the office and tell of your journalistic experiences was unbeatable. I formed at that time the opinion that there was something to the journalistic

erbert Popenoe working on

profession that kept me interested when nothing else ever had.” Throughout the first year, the Chronicle had financial issues and was constantly printing editorials about how the paper might not live to see the end of the first year. Editorials that placed blame of students for their “lack of student support.” “Subscriptions for the first month have expired and must be renewed before next week. As stated elsewhere, unless every one of them is renewed and a great many more are forthcoming, as well, the Chronicle will cease to publish… We at the Chronicle have done our job and a great many teachers have subscribed, but students haven’t done their part in keeping the paper afloat,” the Chronicle wrote in 1915. But with the help of his staff (and probably the efforts of those pushy editorials), Owen was able to see the Chronicle through the first year of print. “We realize that the paper could have been better,” Owen said in his last editorial as editor-in-chief. “But we have done

Herbert Popenoe, right, sitting at a desk surrounded by his editors in the newsroom in 1917. as well as we could under the circumstances and we hope that students will support paper much better…” How could he resist one last jab at the students, before departing? He also talked about the expectations of each issue that they had worked on that first year and though these words were written over one hundred years ago, they seem to remain true to this day. “We have had to fill nearly 200 inches of space each time, which takes several words to do,” Owen said. “We have all made plenty of mistakes but we saw them just as well as anyone else, so don’t worry.”

His statement could not have been truer. The fact is, this is a student publication, just as it was then. Mistakes happen and the students of this publication have to live with them. But we learn and grow from these mistakes. Shirley Owen, Kenneth Fuessle and Herbert Popenoe held this legacy together for the first three years and made sure it was left in good hands. To the first leader of the paper, the student who had a vision of a student-run newspaper, and to the youngster who had his first story torn into seventeen different pieces: Thank you.

The DIGITAL editor’s daily beat A day in the life of the editor-in-chief Story by Nataly Chavez Photo illustration by Eric Haynes

Lay out newspaper pages with InDesign.

Editing stories in Microsoft Word

Watching the Courier website for accurate updates

eporters will get through any barrier as long as it means getting the story. However, it’s the editor-in-chief who is always one step ahead of the game in order to keep the attention of multi-tasking readers. Being ready for anything would be the one necessity all past editors-in-chief of the Courier can agree on. Since its inception, the purpose of the Courier has been to deliver news to students written by PCC’s next generation of young journalists. Like any clique in college, the journalism bunch can be found in the Courier office, on deadline or not. Nicholas Saul, EIC back in 2012, said a normal day consists of “checking emails, editing stories, making fun of each other, going on smoke breaks and prowling the campus for some scoops.” Yet it’s not all fun and games, especially when section editors and writers are looking to you to make quick decisions, keep everyone in check with deadlines, and find new and exciting ways to draw readers to pick up a newspaper in a digital age. Rest assured, the

New and updated stories are sent via email

pressure is on. “Being editor-in-chief requires a lot of patience, both with yourself and with your staff,” said Sara Medina, the EIC preceding Saul. “Some people take the paper very seriously but you also have to remember that it is a class, and it is a place to learn your craft.” Having experienced objections from “multiple parties across campus” regarding her work, Medina abides by having thick skin.

his biggest challenge when then-adviser Warren Swil was put on administrative leave during an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior. “The paper survived because everyone stepped up,” he said. “All the editors and staff writers really showed that we could produce and publish a genuine student newspaper.” Soon enough, the Courier found itself with a fresh set of eyes and younger blood with

“Rumors and allegations were flying. Protests were taking place on the first day of school. I remember a Board of Trustees meeting practically going down in flames,” - Neil Protacio “One of the biggest drawbacks of being a journalist is definitely the criticism you will receive at some point in your professional career, so being able to learn from your mistakes and not taking it personal is a characteristic that is absolutely imperative.” Not all past EIC’s went into that leadership role with confidence. Saul, for instance, didn’t feel ready and found it difficult “being a boss.” Yet he faced

Nathan McIntire as the new adviser in 2013. After Saul departed, Christine Michaels was elevated to the EIC position. “I was ready when I started. It was a dream,” Michaels said. Neil Protacio faced a similar situation to Saul’s and stepped in during the spring of 2012, a difficult and controversial time in PCC politics. Protacio recalls sources or unsatisfied staff “yelling over

the phone or to his face, no matter how fair and balanced a reporter tries to be.” Cases like this are just another part of job. “My semester was marred with controversy. Rumors and allegations were flying. Protests were taking place on the first day of school. I remember a Board of Trustees meeting practically going down in flames,” Protacio said. What is certain is that every editor-in-chief brought his or her flair and style and left a legacy behind that they will be able to use in the professional journalism field. As a student assistant for the marketing department at Cal State Northridge, Michaels still finds herself using a lot of the skills she learned with the Courier. In order to reach a wider audience, Michaels is one of many saddened to see the dying tradition of newspapers and the need for incessant digital content. “I find it’s vital to go into the new world of digital media, because that’s really where it lives,” she said.

Home away from home Former editors talk about what it’s like working for the student newspaper Story by Neil Protacio

hen I first started writing for the student newspaper back in 2010, I was terrified of my editor, Barbara Beaser. She had the unfiltered mouth of George Carlin, the forwardness of Howard Stern, and the coldness of Anna Wintour without the bob cut or the Oscar de la Renta. Her entire editorial team didn’t even think to smile on the first day either. I managed to dodge interaction with her and her section editors the first time around by writing an opinion story – which, if you’re a nagging blogger, is no problem at all. But when I picked up an actual news story in which I needed some assistance from said intimidating editor, leave it to Beaser to put me at ease. Before I could even tap her on the shoulder, she had just started singing every country’s name to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance. Oh thank God, another weirdo like me. Located on the second floor of the CC Building lies CC208 – a door that can easily be

The Courier news staff of 1973.

Photo courtesty of David Rust

mistaken for a to be with people who would maintenance closet, but actuunderstand trying to balance ally houses the Courier newsstudying for your math test room and the many interesting with finishing your portfolio, personalities that make up its or the frustration of a crappy staff. This is where students interview.” who are eager to get their feet There’s a camaraderie that’s wet in journalism on a very formed by being in the newslocalized level get their start. paper, and It is also the that’s mainly place where “We were an eclectic because we’re journalism bound by the students who bunch of people with, same journo need shelter on the surface, not a problems. from the lot in common other Scheduling despicable interviews than the Courier and and attending Los Angeles air can kick our dreams of becom- events can their feet up with ing a journalist. If we clash and hang class times out. As cliché and editorial were a family, then as it sounds, A we were a very dys- meetings. it’s the home lack of content away from functional one.” forces staff home for the writers and more dedicat- Pia Orense photographers ed students. to stretch their For me, it was talents and resources to take home for five semesters. on more than one assignment. “Everyone was all in the Sifting through interviews and same room,” Beaser said, who extensive research can take is now studying at California days to turn into one coherent State University, Los Angeles. article, especially if there’s “It was where you could go legal jargon involved.

Sometimes bridges are burned with close sources due to scathing pieces about their wrongdoings. Yet interestingly enough, student journalists spend a bulk of their time finding ways to make their stories even just a little bit interesting for students to read. The cherry on top? We get excited for things ordinary students don’t typically care for. “There was an ‘us versus them’ mentality that probably didn’t always get the results we wanted, but it made us feel like an elite group trying to get the truth out,” Beaser said. “Nobody appreciates how much time it takes to develop a story for a newspaper.” And when it comes to the staff’s own writing or photography, the entire staff is critical of their craft. While we’re not bonded by blood, we’re definitely bonded by the red ink that just seeps through our first drafts. “We were an eclectic bunch of people with, on the surface, not a lot in common other than the Courier and our dreams of becoming a journalist,” said

Photos by Neil Protacio

Staff members of the Courier take action during an alleged bribery scandal on June 9, 2012. Pia Orense, lead editor in 1996 and now a public relations associate for Loyola Marymount University. “If we were a family, then we were a very dysfunctional one. But the atmosphere was really awesome because even though we were all so different, every single person in the team was smart, witty, and creative.” Student journalists need a crash landing site for the mere fact that working for the student newspaper is practically working a full-time job. Ask veteran reporters, editors, and even photographers about how much effort they put into the paper and you’ll get a resounding, “I’m only taking one other class other than this.” “I really admired those students who were full-time or who even had a couple of classes on top of the newspaper class because a lot is expected of the journalism students who work on the Courier,” said PCC athletic clerk Sara Medina, also a former editor. “I can’t imagine how difficult it was for all those students who had multiple assignments on top of having to write news stories.” But let’s get one thing straight: it isn’t purely a suit and tie affair in the newsroom. If there’s one thing to remember, we are all students, which means memes, cat videos, and other foolishness galore.

“The newsroom was like a home away from home,” said Janine Shimomura, a research and press aide for Attorney General Kamala D. Harris and the Courier’s editor-in-chief in 2011. “We’d eat lunch there,

know that I am a very shy person. Even opening a door scares me. But as punishment for not showing up to a meeting, Medina assigned me to cover a trial that had basically been delayed for three years.

“People on deadline are either hilarious or awful. People shared food and watched dumb videos online, like that laughing shark or the rainbow toast cat.” - Barbara Beaser gather between classes, and hang out after lectures. There were so many afternoons filled with pure shenanigans and it was really one of the highlights of my PCC career.” “It was fun and sometimes horrifying,” echoed Beaser. “People on deadline are either hilarious or awful. People shared food and watched dumb videos online, like that laughing shark or the rainbow toast cat.” But when push comes to shove, and that breaking news article needs to hit the front page of the website, there definitely is that shift in attitude that pushes student journalists to excel… or ask for help. Case in point: I was assigned to cover the Kitty Litter Murder trial back in late 2011. All those who know me

When I got to the Alhambra Courthouse, I quickly called Beaser, who had to calm me down. “Everything will be fine. Nothing’s going to happen to

you,” she told me. “Just walk in.” What started as just a simple assignment write-up turned into a series of articles that I felt compelled to write. I showed up to that courthouse for weeks, and eventually my coverage of the murder trial got me an award at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges. Shimomura’s editor reign, on the other hand, was filled with all sorts of controversy. The administration was attempting to retrofit the U Building while students were clashing with shared governance due to mysteriously increasing fees. “It was really hard to filter through the noise and try to put out a compelling issue week after week,” she said. When Shimomura first started as a reporter under Beaser, she described the Faculty Association beat – or, the area in which she was assigned to keep a close eye on – as “baptism by fire.” But in the end, it all came together to help her out in the long haul. “You learn what issues matter to the students, the faculty, and the administration and you really get to see how all three interests come into conflict,” Shimomura said. “The newsroom was a great place to talk through whatever story you were working on with the editorial board. Sometimes your editors would provide fresh eyes to your story. It was an incredibly collaborative environment.” Medina had a similar experience. She had to take her eyes

Editors lead a layout workshop for newbies on Jan. 10, 2013

off the athletic department and look at the whole school in general. “I have to say that I am a sports journalist first and foremost, so when I became the Editor-in-Chief and had to cover mostly breaking news stories, it was a bit of a challenge for me,” she said. “Luckily for me, some of my peers had a passion for news and were very helpful.” Medina was more mature and older than her staff, so she had a more serious mindset than other students who were simply there for a grade. But it taught her to be patient. “It was a frustrating time but something I definitely learned from,” she said. “I learned to be more patient and understanding, but many of my peers at the same time had taught me to relax and loosen up.” On a more technical scale, problems can arise on production night when you have no idea where to paste stories and how to make a newspaper look like, well, a newspaper. Such was the case for Beaser. “I’ve always needed help on

headlines and layout,” Beaser said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if Janine Shimomura, my managing editor and the girl who was editor after me, hadn’t been such a layout genius.” Orense’s staff back in 1996 wasn’t afforded the digital luxuries we have now. The staff did their designs on PageMaker, but paste-ups were still required. Photos were processed in the dark room and the page designers would measure specs using the proportion wheel and pica pole. When the boards were finally ready, the adviser would take the whole thing to the printer. “Mrs. Bolliger was a trooper,” Orense said of Mikki Bolliger, the long-time adviser to the Courier who retired in 2006. “She stayed late waiting for us every Wednesday night. I don’t think we made deadline too often. Then Thursday morning was always an early one since we had to deliver the paper.” Ironically, to this day in fact, not a lot of students even know about the student newspaper.

Writers, photographers, and editors take one last selfie with exiting editor-in-chief Neil Protacio on June 12, 2012. The hard work often goes unnoticed. In fact, most of our recognition comes from administration and faculty members. But the prestige and glory of a byline takes a backseat. Christine Michaels, the chief editor who is known for exposing the Board of Trustees’ mishandling of 2014’s commencement speaker debacle, can sum

up the number one reason as to why student journalists are so passionate. “I think I overcame the stress when I finished a story and I could see why it was all worth it in the end,” Michaels said. “Being able to tell the people the truth about something they need to know is rewarding.”

Pasadena’s own sport 4

L egend

A look back at Jackie Robinson’s historic athletic career at PCC Story by Daron Grandberry

efore becoming a pioneer football team, shortstop on the for equality throughbaseball team, and forward on out professional sports the basketball team. He also by breaking baseball’s color competed in track and field barrier in 1947, Jack Roosevelt from 1936 to 1938. The CouriRobinson was a successful four- er, then called the Pasadena sport athlete at what was then Chronicle, closely followed his called Pasadena Junior College. many achievements. Known for his athleticism “Jackie Robinson, kid brothand prowess on the baseball er of Mack, Pasadena’s world diamond, Robinson was also a renowned Olympic star, has prolific scorer on the hardwood been cutting up capers in night while also playing football and games at Brookside Park,” track for the Bulldogs. The Chronicle wrote in a 1938 The youngest of five children, Spring publication. “Jack, regRobinson was preceded at PJC ular shortstop on John Thurby his older brother and Olymman’s varsity nine, has been pic silver medalist Matthew showing as much speed on the ‘Mack’ Robinson. Although the basepaths as his more famous two brothers were competing brother does down the cinderfor the Bulldogs during a difpath.” ficult era in American history, After a successful freshman the outstanding season at PJC, athletes would Robinson go on to become returned to the pioneers at PJC football field and around the on October country. 29, 1937 after “I think his missing the impact on our beginning of society is even the football greater than the season with impact we’ve a foot injury. embraced here In his return, at Pasadena Robinson made City College,” his mark on former minor junior college league baseball Photo from June 16, 1938. football against manager and Cal Tech. PCC athletic director Tony Bar“In football [Robinson] came bone said. “Obviously we claim late in the season after being him as ours and the impact he’s out with a broken foot to steal had on our campus and area the show and to prove the finest campuses has become a marker open field runner in junior colfor all walks of life.” lege circles,” The Chronicle said A graduate of Muir Technical of Robinson on June 4, 1938. in Los Angeles, Jackie followed “His sensational 70 and 80 yard his brother’s footsteps and touchdown runs against Cal enrolled at PJC where he played Tech will long remain as highquarterback and safety on the lights in the annual of Bulldog

The Chronicle followed Robinson’s career from 1937-38. football.” Robinson was an important piece of Pasadena’s success and, along with captain Bill Busik, he led the Bulldogs to a 6-3-1 record. On the basketball court Robinson also excelled, finishing second among the top ten scorers in Southern California with 121 points. With his leaping and scoring ability, Robinson led the Bulldogs to a fourth place finish in the 1938 Western Division. On December 20, 1937 Robinson helped lead PJC to a 41-29 victory over the defending state champion Modesto Pirates. Robinson was instrumental in the Bulldogs’ victory, leading all scores in the contest with 18 points. Less than two weeks later Robinson recorded a game-high 20 points in the Bulldogs 53-49 overtime loss to Sacramento Junior College. Although the

Bulldogs were unable to come away with the victory, Robinson carried PJC with timely baskets. With 20 seconds remaining in regulation it was a Robinson field goal that helped the Bulldogs extend the game. “Jackie Robinson is more than a legend,” men’s basketball head coach Michael Swanegan said. “He’s a pioneer who paved the way for many athletes and coaches like myself. The opportunities we’re given today are because of him. He was a strong and willful athlete who broke barriers so that everyone can have equal opportunities and for that I am beyond thankful.” In 1938 Robinson was named The Most Outstanding AllAround Athlete of the Year by the Chronicle Sports Page and was named the region’s Most Valuable Player in baseball after batting .417 with 43 runs scored and 25 stolen bases

in just 24 games. Robinson was also named to the 1938 All-Southern California baseball team. “The Most Outstanding AllAround Athlete of the Year,” was the title of honor conferred upon Robinson by the Chronicle Sports Page that year. “If the page had been naming the greatest all-around athlete ever to attend PJC, Jackie would have also captured this honor.” Not to be outdone by his older brother Mack, Jackie would go on to excel in track in field as well. Jackie was an important member of the Bulldog’s state championship track team in 1938 and would go on to eclipse his brother’s broad jump record with a then national record of 25-feet-6½-inches. “Jackie Robinson erased another of his brothers marks, in winning the broad jump at

the West Coast Relays with a mark of 24-feet-9-½-inches,” The Chronicle noted in a 1938 publication. “Last week Jackie set a new national jaysee record in the broad jump of 25-feet6-½-inches in the S.C. Jaysee finals,” Not only did Jackie Robinson display a rare athletic talent that helped PJC succeed in numerous sports, the talented Robinson was also pioneer who helped break barriers not only in baseball but all of professional and collegiate sports. “I make it a point to show the Jackie Robinson movie ‘42’ because I think it’s really important for our students to know who Jackie Robinson is,” current women’s head basketball coach Joe Peron said. “For me personally I’m happy and honored just to be associated with the fact that he came here to Pasadena City College...Just

to know that he went here and I played one of the many sports he played is very humbling to me.” After graduating from PJC, Robinson pursued his education at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became the university’s first student-athlete to win varsity letters in four sports. In 1941, Robinson moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he played semi–professional football for the Honolulu Bears. His season with the Bears was cut short when the United States entered into World War II. Before going on to make history with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson began playing professional baseball in the Negro League in 1944. “I don’t think many of us have faced the challenges he faced,” Barbone said. “It was a good educational

Photo from 1938 time for those of us but for me, for years, to go into baseball stadiums as a minor league baseball manager and understand what 42 meant and the energy that it carries now is replicated in his greatness as a person and the retirement of his number on a national basis is more about him and who he is than what he did.”

“The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” — Thomas Jefferson

Congratulations to the Courier for 100 years of commitment to making student’s voices be heard. 13

Cataloging civil rights

Documenting social change through reporting Story by Anthony Martinez

ver the course of a century, the Pasadena High School Chronicle, now the Pasadena City College Courier, has seen multiple social paradigm shifts. As the decades passed, the social attitudes of the general public, and by extension the Chronicle/Courier staff, changed as advancements in civil rights were made, most notably with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which brought an end to segregation and made institutional discrimination illegal. During its formative years in the mid to late 1910s, the Chronicle regularly published cartoons and articles that weren’t in the best taste, at least according to contemporary standards. One cartoon from a 1916 edition crudely depicted a black man, or a white man in black face, tapping away with a cane on stage. It was a condescending look at black culture and a classic example of racial stereotyping. Of course, at this time these depictions were typical as Jim Crow laws were in full effect. In the 1940s, however, a majority of the published articles did not touch upon racial situations or anything that pertained to non-white populations. There was the occasional article that had the word “Negro” in its headline and another, yet non-derogatory headline

mentioned Jackie Robinson, who attended the previously named Pasadena Junior College. By the time the 1960s rolled around, the Courier leaned on the more progressive divide of American thought on racial integration. Much of the articles on race issues were pretty positive, even before the Civil Rights Act passed in ’64. Besides rallying for integration, the staff of this era ran articles displaying the perceived institutional racism. On a local level, the Tournament of Roses was called out during the search for the 1964 Rose Queen since the finalists were all white. The Tournament of Roses issue became much larger than a oneand-done article. Once the local chapter of the NAACP claimed their words were taken out of context by the Tournament officials, the Courier staff was quick to follow the story. Another important piece to this developing story was the fact that the staff ran a few letters to the editor (when the public actually wrote in) discussing the Rose Queen dilemma. Some agreed that racism was an excluding factor, some didn’t. One minor change in the Oct. 14, 1964 edition was the wording of a headline that read “Afro-American Debates Students at YR [Young Republican] Meeting.” The headlines at this time commonly used “Negro” in place of “Afro-American,” and the only reason for the sudden change in this specific headline was due to the person the article talked about. The person in question was Tut Hayes, chairman of the Afro-Americans for Goldwater Association. The Goldwater Association was named after Barry Goldwater, an Arizona senator The 1964 Rose Queen court as who opposed the passage of the Civil Rights Act. they appeared in the Nov. 25, As the headline suggests, 1964 issue of the Courier. Hayes came off argumentative to

A racist cartoon from a 1916 edition of the Chronicle. the student audience. He claimed that most of the problems the black community faced at the time were actually brought upon by themselves. Other claims were that “the black community must do something for itself” and “it is not the white man’s problem to solve the Negro’s problem.” The student response to these claims were very negative, to the point where they began to boo Hayes. The amount of awareness the paper had during this decade was no doubt due to racial tensions coming to a head. In a different vein, the 1940s brought a new change to one of the newspaper’s pages. The Oct. 4 , 1940 issue happily announced the addition of a women’s page, a weekly addition that would cover women’s interests ranging

from fashion to women’s sports, edited by Mary Bacon. According to the article that reported the page’s upcoming debut, this would be the first time since women’s suffrage was recognized in 1920 that a whole page would be devoted to women’s interests. At the time, the Chronicle came out every Tuesday and Thursday, yet the women’s page would only appear in Tuesday editions. Another piece from the Mar. 18, 1964 edition, Vicky Hutchins’ “’Modern Woman’ Must Face Confusing Social Requirements,” pointed out the ways that society expects women to act and the subtle forms of sexism that go along with them. The year 1972 brought a few changes of its own for women in

A question asked to students in the “Students Speak Out” section in a 1984 issue of the Courier. college with the passage of Title IX, part of the Education Amendments of 1972, which outlawed sex-based discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal funding and the programs they hold. Most instances of Title IX in the news are related to sports programs in higher education institutions. In terms of teams, there has to be an equal, or as close to equal, amount of athletic opportunities for both men and women. Where women’s teams previously didn’t exist, they were created. If there were still too many men’s teams, some would unfortunately be dropped. Such was the case for PCC, and the impact of Title IX on campus was recorded in a 1999 article. At the time, the men’s tennis team was a thing of the past while the women’s team still existed (until 2004 when women’s tennis would be cut due to the removal of the courts). In the article, there were strong feelings about men’s teams getting cut in favor of balancing out with the amount of women’s teams. However, it wasn’t just a matter of cutting men’s teams, as the head volleyball coach at the time, Lori Jepsen, questioned the nonexistence of a men’s volleyball team and happily welcomed the thought of one being formed. The most recent and ever-evolving shift in society’s views is the perception of homosexuality, and later, the other components of the LGBTQ community. Jumping back to the 1970s, the Courier’s early mentions of the LGBTQ community, exclusively about gay men, were seen in an article titled “Homosexuality Not

Always Key to Relationships Belished responses to this question, tween Men,” written by Luaine the overall tone of the answers Scheliga. were more accepting of same-sex In her article, Scheliga argued couples compared to a similar that the media at the time tried question from 16 years earlier. to equate deep male relationAlong with a heightened ships as homosexual relationawareness for issues regarding ships in films such as “Butch Cas- gay and lesbian individuals, the sidy and the Sundance Kid” and latest social advancement that “Midnight Cowboy.” She goes on has been documented is the to question why the depictions attention to transgender lives. of these friendships are “unholy” Though transgender individubefore asking if it was possible als put the T in LBGTQ, they have for love to exist in same-sex often been forgotten in the fight relationships “without … reading for equality amongst their lesbisome aberration in it.” an, gay and bisexual peers. And The article ends by stating that while there has been a change the image of such loss is a “powin attitude toward the rest of the erful and lasting memory” since LGBTQ community, transgender it’s a relatable experience, but rights still lag behind the rest. “we don’t have to be homosexual Articles on transgender issues to know it,” which sounds partly started to appear in the late condescending 2000s, specifically and understandin October 2007 ing at the same when the idea of time. gender neutral Skipping ahead restrooms were to 1984, a “Stuproposed by Asdents Speak Out” sociated Students section of the Vice President of Courier asked for Public Relations student opinion Adam Kratt. about whether Kratt proposed Andrew Gomez becoming the idea to give or not same-sex couples should be homecoming king, as a safe space to seen in the Nov. 8, 2007 transgender stuallowed to adopt issue of the Courier. children. dents who faced Five of the harassment and six published responses were the possibility of being arrested against the idea of gay/lesbian for entering restrooms that do couples adopting because it not correspond to their biological would be “immoral” and would sex. confuse the child from distinFollowing the story into guishing who the mother and November, the proposal to father figures were. convert a single restroom in the More recently, as in the year C building moved forward and 2000, the Jan. 27 “In Your Opinonly needed to be approved by ion” section posed the question the Board of Trustees. That was of whether same-sex marriage the last article published about should be legal in California. the proposal, and as evidenced While there were only four pubby the restrooms currently on

campus, the proposal was struck down. During that same month, Andrew Gomez, a transgender student, wanted to run for homecoming king. The homecoming committee initially prevented Gomez from participating, claiming he was denied due to his piercings. The fact that another potential candidate had piercings and was not denied participation like Gomez was led many to believe it was due his transition from female to male. The reporting of these events were done by a single person, Peter Herrero. Within the past year, many LGBTQ-centric articles have appeared in the Courier’s pages ranging from the Chick-Fil-A dilemma surrounding the business’ location near the campus to the 2014 commencement scandal involving the Board of Trustees rescinding their invitation and later re-inviting Dustin Lance Black as the commencement speaker. Of course, these examples are only a slim picking of the expanse of writing dealing with civil rights that was covered over the paper’s century of existence. And while no one can predict what the next major movement will be based upon, it will be a newsworthy change whenever it happens. Whatever the future leads up to, the Courier’s conscience will continue to grow though the paper itself may be just a website. Hopefully when the time comes for another milestone celebration, that generation of writers look back at the expansive history of the Courier and realize how different their society is to ours.

Riots, thefts, and murder: Story by Alex Chhuon

PCC is boring and safe. We go to class, wait for the clock to wind down, then go home and do homework. We fall into a funk, days blur by. It’s the middle of spring and we count the days until summer. Nothing interesting ever seems to happen. Except when it does. Below is a list of 8 of the most interesting crimes that have involved PCC.

Escaping the Riot

Alfredo Santana, a PCC student who immigrated to America from Mexico, thought he wouldn’t make it home that night. Driving to drop off magazines at a 7-11 in Inglewood during the L.A. Riots of 1992, Santana was terrified out of his mind when he was stopped by a group of men in the road. The men proceeded to jam a large metal flag into his wind-

shield, kicked open his rear window, and dragged him out of the car. He was then beaten and stripped of both his pants and wallet. He said the rioters only stopped beating him when he cried, “Yo hablo

Photo from May 7, 1992 issue

espanol.”

Grand Theft Bicycle

Bikes! Bikes! Bikes! In 1974, PCC celebrated the lowered rate in bike thefts thanks to the security guard assigned to the bike rack from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. In 1972, 857 bikes were reported stolen, which were valued at $76,083. In comparison, only eight were reported stolen in the first month in January! However, many cyclists

resorted to locking their bikes up on a ramp since the bicycle racks were overcrowded. After all, there were about 55,000 local cyclists. Bicycle theft today is still a relevant crime regularly reported to the Pasadena City College’s police department.

Shots Fired!

Photo from Mar. 22, 1974 issue

Sticky Crimes On what might have been a chilly October morning in 1991, professors in the C, R, and

On a night in September 1991, hurtful words were not the only dangerous things fired at a school dance hosted at PCC. Unfortunately, shots were literally fired. Entrance

K buildings were rushing to open the doors

to the dance was given to only PCC students

to their rooms only to find that they couldn’t.

Howard Burger/Courier and their guests, and about 200 people were Photo from Sept. 26, 1991 turned away. The crowd loitered, drinking issue

In what was possibly the school prank of the decade, doors were glued shut, tables and chairs were super

beers in the quad and by the campus center.

glued to the floor, and the elevator was out of order.

Campus police promptly confiscated several 40-ounce bottles of beer. However, the

The pranksters weren’t laughing for long, however, as

now-drunk crowd, denied both a dance and booze, rioted. Gun shots rang out, win-

they were caught and charged for up to $5,000 in dam-

dows were smashed, and a piano was rolled down a flight a stairs. Miraculously, no

ages.

significant injuries were sustained.

Serious crimes committed at PCC

Home Sweet Home

For the Sake of Science!

Most students count the minutes until they can leave PCC. However, one man was grateful to

call PCC home. Robert Mares, a homeless man at the time,

crawled through a maze of pipes and beams under the A building, where accounting classes used to be held, to reach the basement. The home didn’t include a key when he moved in, but he only had to leave the door unlocked so he could enter without going through the pipes. The home included

Terry Wood was a man of science. For a psychological study, Wood would blindfold and tie

women to a chair alone in a room.

a blanket, rug, chair, empty wine bottles, and cigarette butts. Mares previously was charged with lewd conduct in a public

Only Wood wasn’t a psychology

place, possessing alcohol on a community college, and being

student. He wasn’t even a student

intoxicated in public. After two months, Mares was evicted and arrested on May 24th, 1983 for “residing on public prop-

for that matter—he just posed as

Photo from June 3, 1983 issue

erty without proper authorization.”

one from various colleges. Wood told the women that he would open the blinds and leave the room to

Kitty Litter Killer

test if somebody would come save

In 2012, PCC student Isaac Campbell was sen-

them. However, according to two

tenced to 11 years in prison for killing his girl-

of the women tricked, they could

friend in a “crime of passion” in 2007. While

see through their blindfold and

Campbell was charged with voluntary man-

Wood never left the room. They also

slaughter, it was what he did to the body of Liya “Jessie”

said that Wood quickly opened the

Lu that was truly disturbing: he decided to stuff Lu’s corpse

blinds only to close them again. On

into a trashcan full of kitty litter. Lu worked at Kaiser Per-

April 26, 1985, Wood was charged

Photo courtesy of William Moo manente six days a week at the time of her disappearance. Photo of Liya “Jessie” Lu from Sept. Her supervisor described her, as “conscientious” and said 6, 2007 issue

that “she never had tardy problems.” So something was

with seven felony counts of false imprisonment and seven misdemeanor counts of battery.

definitely wrong when she didn’t show up to work consecutively. A month after Lu vanished, she was discovered in Arcadia wrapped in plastic trash bags outside the home of Campbell’s friend. The friend sifted through the bags to discover Lu’s body unrecognizable and mummified.

Pigman and BBQ

George Wood Pigman IV, a former student of PCC, was born into a bright future. His father was a well-respected literature professor at Caltech and his mother taught art at PCC. Pigman, known to drink and use drugs, stabbed his girlfriend to death with barbeque tongs in 2007. He left a trail of blood behind him as he climbed a roof a block away in only pants. He then dropped his pants and masturbated while screaming. Pigman, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was found guilty of murder and sentenced to serve his time in a mental hospital.

Courtesy of Kenny Kimura George Pigman as a PCC student

An adviser’s legacy Courier adviser Mikki Bolliger oversaw 1,036 newspapers in 34 years Story by Kristen Luna

he arrived on campus at Pasadena City College during the early morning and had no clue where she was going. No schedule and absolutely no information on hand that could alleviate her anxiousness. To gain some knowledge of where she needed to be, she proceeded nervously into the human resources office. Shortly after being accompanied to her new office, she received a call from the campus print shop asking about the deadline for that week’s paper. Having no retort, she continued onward to meet her first group of students and teach her first lesson. It was 1973 and her first day on the job, a job that would last 34 years. Mikki Bolliger was PCC’s journalism department adviser for those 34 years. When Bolliger walked in that first day, she remembers experiencing nervousness but also finding comfort in students offering to show her around campus. She recalls her first trip to the print shop on that day and believes she was being tested. “There was an error somewhere on the first page, and the print shop guy goes, ‘there’s a problem with this page, tell me what to do,’” Bolliger said. With confidence, she knew exactly what the problem was and had no hesitation pointing it out. Bolliger describes her first year on the Courier as “chaos, chaos, chaos.” She recalls a “smart-alecky” student trying to pull a stunt with his story during the first week. “I went into the print shop and I’m looking at his page and thinking, ‘what?’” Bolliger said. “As I’m

reading down, the kid that wrote this story, counted every single space down the left hand column of his story, and it basically says screw the college president by his name. And I said to the printer, ‘Oh c’mon. You didn’t catch that?’” An average day of production was easily 10 hours of work due to the fact that there were no computers to assist the students with layout. But when the newspaper staff was finally able to acquire a computer, they had a unique student who was able to design a website for the Courier. The Courier was the first college newspaper in California to have a website and it was due to the hard work of a legally blind student who made it possible. “She designed it and learned HTML,” Bolliger said, referring to the coding language. “She was a wiz and so good at it.” When the newspaper staff explained to the Board of Trustees what they had accomplished, the board “couldn’t even grasp the importance of it.” When the newsroom finally attained more than a few computers, they took a trip to Ventura College to learn how to do layout on a computer – a skill that Bolliger and the students were in no way familiar with. At the time it was difficult for the newspaper staff to tear themselves away from the print shop because they had been dependent on it for producing

A photo of Mikki Bolliger used in the July 7, 2007 Flipside edition dedicated to her career. the paper. “Everybody was anxious to learn and be able to do more things themselves,” Bolliger said. “We were totally dependent on the print shop…I wanted to do it and get rid of all the extra steps so [the print shop] thought we would never survive without them but we eventually convinced the administration.” One of the constant issues that has always loomed on campus is the relationship between the newspaper staff, and the administration and faculty. There are always going to be faculty and administration who disagree with certain stories being published, and yet they seem to always forget that at the end

“She came to PCC with a wealth of experience in the newspaper world and shared that with her students. The Courier flourished and was full of interesting stories, interviews, and often times interesting revelations. ” -Haroldine Gardner

of the day, the Courier is a class where students learn all facets of publishing a paper. “A couple of times people came up here to complain about something with the paper,” Bolliger said. “If people on both sides of the issue were mad at us then we knew we did a good job because we must have been fair. The administration has always been supportive of the paper, they have never interfered with the production of the paper, and the board has never interfered. It’s been great. I take it as a compliment for the students and the paper, because I think that means we’re doing a good job and they trust in our judgment.” Haroldine Gardner, an administrative assistant in the purchasing department and a friend to Bolliger, worked on campus with her for many years and remembers her having a big influence. “She came to PCC with a wealth of experience in the newspaper world and shared that with her students,” Gardner

said. “The Courier flourished and was full of interesting stories, interviews, and often times interesting revelations. Occasionally, a school employee would try to avoid providing information about campus projects but they soon were advised that the student reporters were to be treated just like a professional ... the students got their information. The paper looked great; everyone looked forward to the weekly publication.” “Personally, I admire her strength of character, her fearlessness,” Gardner added. “She has always been a friendly outgoing person who makes everyone she meets feel very comfortable.” Bolliger grew up in Burbank with a passion for writing, but it was her work on the school paper in high school that allowed her to recognize her love for journalism. “I’ve always loved writing,” Bolliger said. “I was split between photography and writing so I had to make a choice, and writing won because I really, really love to write. Still do.” After being informed by her counselor about the excellent journalism program at Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC), she went on to work simultaneously as an editor for the school paper as well as the school magazine and describes the decision as being “really dumb” due to the fact that it was a lot to take on all at once. While attending LAVC, Bolliger received the LA Times Scholarship to attend the University of Southern California (USC), in addition to a scholarship to Cal State Northridge (CSUN). She remembers the decision being a difficult one to make because the department chair from CSUN was pushing her to accept their scholarship. “The department chair over there wouldn’t speak to me after I decided to attend USC because he felt that I should go there instead,” Bolliger said. “But my adviser said, ‘Really? Are you that dumb where you wouldn’t choose to go to USC for free?’” Bolliger received her bachelor’s degree from USC and went on to receive her master’s degree from the University of La Verne. After her time at La Verne,

Photos by Tiffany Yip/Courier Mikki Bolliger, former associate professor of journalism and chief adviser to the Courier, stands next to the Intertype type setting machine in the Shatford Library. Bolliger worked at several internships, a small paper and in the public relations department at LAVC. “It was great and fun,” Bolliger said. “I could write every day and get my stuff published.” However, one day when a public relations instructor at LAVC unfortunately experienced a heart attack, the school’s administration asked Bolliger if she would be willing to take over his class. “I didn’t want to do it but they convinced me to do it by saying that it would be easy and it would only be for a couple of weeks,” Bolliger said. “I went in there and taught them everything I knew in an hour and it was a three hour class.” When the administration told Bolliger that the instructor was going to be out for the rest of the semester and they expressed how happy they were that she was going to teach the class, Bolliger remembers not feeling as confident as they appeared to be. “I thought I was going to have a stroke,” Bolliger said. Even though Bolliger was thrown into the position and teaching was not something she had initially planned to do, it was the students’ enthusiasm toward her teaching that made her passionate and confident. “This one kid at the end of the

Bolliger displays the 1,000th edition of the Courier in front of the reflection pool on March 24, 2015. third class said, ‘I get it now!’ and other students were starting to say, ‘yeah, I didn’t really understand it before but now I’m getting it,’” Bolliger said. “Then I was hooked.” As to the reason students were more inclined to understand, Bolliger credits her ability to teach from her experiences rather than out of the textbook. “I was encouraging them to take journalism classes and not just public relations because you have to know how a newspaper works before you can really be successful,” Bolliger said. When Bolliger found out about a job possibility at PCC, she found

herself in another dilemma because she was also offered a summer relief job at the Los Angeles Times. In the end, she followed her heart and decided on PCC. “I really felt inadequate because the instructors had been there for years and years,” Bolliger said. At the time, the Courier was published on four full-sized pages with four advisers—Bolliger, Dorothy Colts, William Butler, and Wilhelm Bleckman, the photo adviser—overseeing their own page. Bolliger was in charge of the front page, design, layout and headlines of the paper.

The job of a journalism adviser is more intimate than a job as an instructor. As a teacher, you show up to class, give your lecture along with your lesson plan, hand out assignments and part ways with your students at the end of class. As an adviser, not only is the instructor teaching a class, but they are also spending time outside of class helping students learn the skills necessary to become successful in the business. They spend a lot of time with students working on the school’s weekly paper, especially Wednesdays when the newspaper staff works roughly 10 hours to put the paper together. The adviser’s office is in the classroom, which also allows them to be available to students’ needs whenever necessary. “I miss the students the most,” Bolliger said. “I can remember them all. Everybody brought something special to the paper … I loved them all. There’s always the slackers, there’s always the people who do twice the work of everybody else, and those who have a million excuses as to why their story didn’t come in ontime; you just have to know how

to deal with it.” In 2013, six years after Bolliger retired, journalism adviser Warren Swil was on administrative leave during an investigation into inappropriate behavior and Bolliger stepped in as interim adviser to help keep the newspaper staff focused and the paper thriving. The news editor at the time, Christine Michaels, remembers what it was like for Bolliger to return to the Courier. “She was very involved in class and she gave us the hardest ethics quiz I ever had to take on libel,” Michaels said. “It was the scariest quiz I ever took … she really challenged me. I’ll always respect her for that, she really pushed the students to think about journalism in different ways then just stylebook guides. She really made you think about what it is to be a journalist in the real world.” Even though Bolliger was interim adviser for just three months, Michaels feels having her in the newsroom was, “a blessing.” “She taught me that even when you think your work is really great, it can always be

improved,” Michaels said. “Being able to learn that humility has carried far for me.” Within those three months, Michaels grew close to Bolliger and was offered the editor-in-chief position for the upcoming year by Bolliger. “She gave me a lot of really good and strong advice about how to be an editor,” Michaels said. “She told me to be honest with the writers and not to make major decisions blindly. Being able to know that she’s always there, that was probably the best thing, to be accessible to those that will probably need you.” “I always looked up to her because she was always so dedicated to the students and to journalism in general,” Michaels added. “Just keeping it alive.” Over 34 years, countless students have had the privilege of having Bolliger as an adviser and have gone on to become successful because of the commitment she brought when teaching her students. “When you ask about Mikki’s relationship with her students, the fact that her students continue to stay in contact with her long after they leave school gives

you the answer,” Gardner said. Michael Rocha at the San Diego Union Tribune as a features design editor, Gary Kline at the LA Times as a sports editor, Mark Langel at the Dodgers as a historian, and David Rust at CNN as a senior photojournalist: these are just a few of her past students’ success stories. “It feels good that maybe I contributed in some way but all these people were talented to begin with, you just steer them the right way,” Bolliger said. “I am always amazed by the stuff that they’re doing. I still keep in touch with a number of my students and different ones will say I can’t believe it took me so long to understand why we had those deadlines.” After overseeing 1,036 issues of the Courier and more than 40 Spotlight magazines, Bolliger retired in 2007. “It’s been a lot of fun,” Bolliger said. “We’ve had a lot of really good stories over the years and that’s what kept me going back. I miss the students the most.”

Print to Digital Story by Mick Donovan

news came out in long strips of paper before being printed. Today the Courier is run out of an office of Macintosh desktops and a local printing press. Although digital is the dominant means of production today, it all started with a process called hot rint is dying. Digital is the future. That is the topic of discusmetal typesetting. sion these days among journalists. Media has come a very The hot metal process involved an operator sitting in front of long way since the first printed word. a unique keyboard with 91 keys: thirty black ones for lower-case What would life be like without smartphones or tablets; how letters, thirty blue ones for punctuation and figures, thirty white would we get our news? But there are still people who remember keys for upper-case letters and one more for the space. Stanley holding a newspaper to catch up on current events. Coutant, one of the college’s oldest typesetters, remarked on The 100th anniversary of the Pasadena City College Courier got how strange the layout would seem in comparison with today’s us thinking. How has the Courier changed? How is the apparent keyboards. digital move going to affect the Courier? “As children we learned the alphabet: ‘ABCDEFG…’ The LinoThe PCC Courier publishes most of its stories online before they type and Intertype keyboards are arranged ETAOINSHRDLUCMFgo to print. This gets the news out to the public in the most timely WYPVBGKQJXZ,” Coutant said. fashion. Online publications are immediate and at everyone’s Today, typing something up is as easy as turning on your comfingertips. As a principle, timeliness has always been a staple puter and starting up a word processing program. Hot metal had of the news industry. So, the jump from print to digital seems a just a few more steps involved. logical one. Eventually the paper moved away from But where did the Courier come from? the print shop to a computer. With the The Courier started out as the Pascomputer, PCC became the first college adena High School Chronicle in 1915. newspaper in California to have it’s very Since then, there have been many ediown website. tors-in-chief and faculty advisers for the Now, staff writers will type up their newspaper. One adviser, Mikki Bolliger stories in Microsoft Word and E-mail was credited with turning the paper their first drafts to their editors. After around and pulling it out of its “dark receiving copyedits, they then submit the ages.” story online. The Courier was a four-page, full-size On the night that the newspapers are paper when Bolliger came in and had produced, the editors will copy the stories three advisers, including her. Over the from online and paste them onto the years, the paper has made its way to an digital version of the page using Adobe eight page layout with news, opinion, InDesign. Everything can now be done features, lifestyle, arts and entertainment with the click of a mouse and without and sports sections. molten hot metal. Every semester, the paper’s staff would There are many more steps to take befluctuate between as few as 12 to 22 stufore a page can be printed, however, and dents. Today the Courier staff is made up a majority of these steps are still the same of two classes: the journalism and phototoday. The process, essentially removes journalism classes. There are currently the typestter as a necessary component 39 staff members on the Courier, includfor a well oiled, functioning newspaper ing 13 editors and two staff advisers. machine. Photo courtesy of Stanley Coutant The biggest change for the paper Although everything is digital now, the Stanley Coutant in 1970 working on a pabesides moving away from hot metal editors are in the office all day long on per on a intertype machine. presses was the addition of the photoWednesdays working on layout design journalism students. Prior to the phofor the eight-page spread. Sometimes we tojournalism class offering photographers for both the school’s don’t call it a night until after midnight. newspaper and magazine, photographers were picked from the After the pages are all designed and saved as PDF files, they are art department. reviewed one final time, compiled and then sent to our printers “They would take pictures of something, and then take the electronically. The next morning, stacks of newspapers arrive on negatives home,” Bolliger said. “When you’re setting a newspaper campus and are distributed by the staff. in hot metal, you can’t just print a picture and scan it, they had to Technology has grown by leaps and bounds in producing new send the picture out to an engraver.” mediums through which news can be delivered. Even today, The Courier didn’t always have an office full of shiny computalthough the Courier prints 1,500 physical copies of the paper, we ers running Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. It used to be comalso create full PDF versions of the weekly publication and post posed of typewriters and a darkroom. Eventually some electric them online through Issuu.com, where they are also available for typewriters were acquired and then talk about computers download. helping with production started buzzing around. But the Courier Digital may very well be the future of news, but for now at didn’t get one of those yet. First, we had punch tape, and all the least, the two co-exist.

A transition from one medium to another

Lakers, Lancers, Legends ‘Coop’

ichael Cooper, former member of the infamous Los Angeles Lakers “Showtime” team, is arguably one of the most successful, talented, humble and determined athletes to have ever represented Pasadena City College. Cooper played under head coach Joe Barnes from 1974 to 1976 and picked up 1,070 points at 20.2 points per game, placing him at No. 7 on the alltime points scoring list for the Lancers. According to Barnes, Cooper not only exuded class on the court with his countless skills, but more importantly his character shone more brightly when he had to swallow sitting out the rest of the 1974-75 season due to being deemed academically ineligible. “A lot of kids would have

Stories by David O’Connor

sulked after that and just quit,” Barnes said, “but he came to every single game after that, sat on the bench and cheered. Not being able to play was a severe price to pay and he was very hurt by it, but I was very proud of the way he took it.” Cooper’s humility was displayed on a daily basis, with his mother confirming that her son was never obnoxious or arrogant about his basketball achievements. “He never brags about what he’s done,” said Cooper’s mother. “When he gets home after a game, you can’t tell whether they’ve won or lost. He never talks about it.” Terry Wood, the assistant sports editor of the Courier when Cooper attended PCC, described Cooper as someone who “emerged as a high-flying Gulliver in the Lancers 92-90 double-overtime win against East LA” in an article published on Jan. 16, 1976. In a game-winning perfor-

As a sophomore, Michael Cooper slam-dunks in a winning double overtime game against ELAC in 1976.

mance and clearly Cooper’s standout display wearing a Lancers uniform, he single-handedly led PCC to victory with 36 points and his last shot sealed the win with a few seconds left in the second overtime period. Wood also described the ever-reliable Pasadena-native as “the remarkable Cooper, as usual.” “The sophomore forward’s amazing mid-air spinning shot 22 feet away gave PCC its second straight Metropolitan Conference victory,” Wood wrote. The headline referring to a picture of Cooper in the Jan. 23, 1976 edition of the Courier read, “Virtually unstoppable—the 6’5 sophomore does not make up the whole team, according to teammate John Legay, ‘just 75%.’” Although Cooper didn’t manage to leave PCC with a conference or state championship, he acquired five NBA championships with the Lakers in his 12 year career that spanned from 1979 to 1990 and he managed to snare the NBA defensive player of the year in 1987 while also making the NBA all-defensive team eight times. Cooper is one of the most successful coaches in the Women’s National Basketball League, with the second-highest winning percentage at 66.3 and he is sixth in career wins (167) and the last coach to win back-to-back titles in 2001 and 2002 for the Los Angeles Sparks. Cooper is in the all-time Top 10 in the following categories for the Lakers: games played (873), minutes played (23,635), steals (1033), blocked shots (523), assists (3666), defensive rebounds (2028) and free-throw percentage (83.3). In 2010, Cooper was inducted into the California Community College Hall of Fame, which shows what impact the PCC guard made in his two years at the JC level which gave him the launching pad to help steer the University of New Mexico Lobos

Cooper at practice in 1974 to win the 1978 Western Athletic Conference title. Cooper is one of the few athletes to come out of PCC and not only make it to the NCAA and professional ranks, but what makes his feats more notable is that he also became a multiple-winning NBA championship player and WNBA coach and he has always kept his character intact in the process.

‘Tark the Shark’

behind San Francisco based on the Junior College Sports wire state cage rating after extending their winning streak erry Tarkanian was into 22 games. ducted into the Naismith “The PCC Lancers, with the Memorial Basketball Hall winningest basketball season of Fame in 2013 for his legendin the history of the college ary NCAA Division 1 coaching nearly wrapped up, currently record of 784-202 over 31 standing at 24-1 and have years, which included coachthe longest winning streak ing the University of Nevada, in the state, seem destined to Las Vegas to the 1990 national hit the top spot before long,” title and taking UNLV to the wrote then-sports editor Karl Final Four four times. His son Ludaver. Danny played on the champiTarkanian introduced varionship winning team and was ous new initiatives to college an All-American point-guard. basketball throughout his Affectionately known as coaching career. “Tark the Shark” for reforming “He made the players more the college game by impleimportant than him. He made menting a pressing defense to the players the show,” said support his team’s dynamic former UNLV assistant coach offense, Tarkanian played Jerry Tarkanian encourages mem- Mark Warkentien. “It was basketball for Pasadena City about the players first.” bers of his state championship College from 1950 to 1951 and Tarkanian was one of the coached the men’s team from team in 1967. first coaches to select an all1966 to 1968, which included black starting lineup and his cy,” PCC Courier staff writer Bill delivering a state championrecruiting practices centered on Seavey wrote in a Sept. 21, 1966 ship in 1967 and a second place selecting players who his fellow article. “To Lancerville, Tarkafinish in 1968 while compiling a coaches rejected while focusing nian has done more than mere67-4 overall record coaching the on picking up junior college ly bring the best of the west, Lancers. stars or players with troubled and east in prep cage talent, Tarkanian revamped a strugpasts and promoting his teams although this is considerable in gling Lancers men’s basketball to play with explicit freedom. itself. Tarkanian has given life program by instilling a winning Tarkanian coached the San to a sport long on death row. culture on and off the court. Antonio Spurs to a 9-11 record PCC students, notorious for That had a profound impact in the NBA in 1992, but was their lack of support of Lancers fired after a disagreement with on the spectators, who came in athletics, are actually attending GM Red McCombs, who didn’t droves to watch the team play basketball games.” think the Spurs needed an after Tarkanian took over. In early Feb. 1967, the Lancexperienced point guard to be “PCC has entered a new era, competitive. Another lowlight the era of basketball supremaers were voted 2nd in the state

in his career related to his enduring battle with the NCAA, which accused him of violations resulting in three of his universities receiving fines. Tarkanian rebuked these claims by suing the NCAA for $2.5 million for harassment over two decades, claiming that the NCAA targeted smaller university programs and took a blind-eye to more established powerhouse programs. This resulted in the case being settled out of court and the NCAA not admitting to any harassment taking place. Tarkanian was inducted into the CCAA State Hall of Fame in 1999 for collecting four consecutive state titles between 1963 and 1967 at Riverside Community College and PCC. There will be many things Tarkanian will remembered for in an illustrious coaching career, but it’s hard to forget the superstitious image of him biting into a towel while coaching on the side of the court when his team needed some good luck. This image will forever be etched in our memories. On Feb. 11, 2015, Tarkanian passed away after battling breathing problems for several days while staying in a Las Vegas hospital. The city of Las Vegas lowered its flags to halfmast at city hall in tribute to the Vegas resident and basketball coaching legend.

‘The other Robinson remembered’

atthew “Mack” Robinson is remembered for winning a silver medal and finishing four tenths of a second behind four-time Olympic gold medalist and the great Jesse Owens in the 200-meter dash at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but his efforts off the track have made a deeper and lasting impact on the city of Pasadena and on the youth of America Above all, however, he’ll be remembered for breaking racial barriers with his younger brother and Baseball Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson. Robinson attended what was then called Pasadena Junior College from 1936 to 1938 and set national junior college records in

the 100-yard dash, 200-yard dash and the broad jump. He also won the NCAA 200yard dash, 220-yard low hurdles and the Amateur Athletic Union championship in 1939 at the University of Oregon and was inducted into the Hall of Fame by PCC, Oregon and the CCAA. The Pasadena-native carried the Olympic flag in the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, led the charge against street crime in Pasadena and his personal mission read, “My desire was to bring about a drastic change in education and the attitudes of America’s youth,” which is engraved on the bronze sculpture of Robinson A collage of Mack Robinson made by the Chronicle in 1937 opposite Pasadena City Hall.

FORGIVE US Journalism, we have sinned! Story by Justin Clay

s the Courier celebrates 100 years of service to the community, it is a time to look back upon the many moments that have shaped the lives of the campus community. Some of those many moments showcase the best things about journalism. But this story isn’t about the best moments. This story is about some of the worst. In a July 2000 issue of the Courier, four pages of coverage dedicated to professional wrestling replaced the entire section where sports are supposed to be. Yes, you read that correctly. The issue included a television schedule of upcoming pro wrestling events, a vocabulary of terms for those wanting to understand the “sport” and articles about different wrestling promotions, most of which aren’t even around anymore. I guess the editors of the Courier felt it would enrich the lives of students and staff by making them more knowledgeable about people getting hit over the head with folding chairs.

The masthead logo from September 18, 2003.

The 2003-2004 school year was a very interesting year in terms of news coverage on campus. There were many issues that captivated the campus community and it was certainly a good time for sensationalism when it came to producing the paper. But before I get into the coverage, I must take the time to talk about the paper’s logo. The logo at the top of the newspaper that year looks like a printer vomited out the words ‘Courier’ with a backwards 3 serving as the E in the word. But aside from the horrible eye sore that was the logo, some of the coverage was memorable because of its sensationalism.

by such hard news. As a volved in an attemptmatter of fact, after ed assault, which reading the artiwas thwarted, cle, I feel like the and police yawning epidemsubsequently ic is beginning to arrested the affect me. offender. Another interNow to be esting find from fair, campus 2004 was a frontsafety is a page story about serious issue how a study found and the coverage the drug use among stuof the incident was dents was below the U.S. June 3, 2004. spot on. No one deaverage. An interesting serves to feel unsafe story for sure, but the photo while walking around campus. illustration that was used on But at what point does the this front-page story, and I coverage of a situation add to kid you not, was a picture of a the fear? student snorting what appears In a later issue there was a to be cocaine off of a mirror cartoon titled “Campus Safety”, using a rolled up scantron which portrayed a scantily sheet. clad young girl leaving the The story even included a women’s bathroom, textbooks survey, which found that PCC in hand, being followed by students favorite drugs were what I can only describe as marijuana, (surprise, surprise) a phantom in a black trench crystal meth, and hallucinocoat with sharp teeth and nails genic mushrooms. creeping out of the shadows to Which makes the picture of follow said girl. the coIf you look back on 2004, between the caine-snorting photo illustrations student even more of a student breakpuzzling. ing into a car to Another talk about parkMay 6, 2004. story from ing safety, the that year coke snorting In the May 6, 2004 issue, centered test taker and there was a feature story with around an the phanthe headline ‘Campus Hit by attempttoms walkYawning Epidemic’, which ed sexual ing around detailed how all it takes is one assault that stalking stuperson yawning to begin a happened in dents, PCC chain reaction causing others one of the must have to yawn in the immediate women’s seemed like vicinity, and how this “epidemrestrooms a very danic” was affecting people on on campus. gerous and campus. A female decadent I wonder how many people student place. on campus were enlightened was inIn 2005 The stalker cartoon from 2004.

The Flipside masthead logo from the October 26, 2006 issue.

A Sexpert column from September 15, 2005. the Courier instituted a new kind of column called Sexpert… Yes, Sexpert. This column involved students writing the paper with questions about sex. I don’t know what made the people answering the questions experts, or Sexperts, but some of the subject matter was ex-

tremely provocative. One entry from Sept. 15, 2005 comes as a he said/she said exchange between two Courier staffers that remained anonymous (I wonder why). The male writer details his displeasure about the unfair treatment of men by the sex toy industry. Just take a moment to let that sink in. He went on to explain that the sex toy industry caters to women more than men and he is very displeased with the unfairness going on to ask the question, “Whatever happened to equal opportunity?” He then goes on to let the male reader know that if a partner buys a sex toy that is “bigger” than they are, that they could “kiss that relationship goodbye.” The female reporter went on to use her time advising the readers about the different kinds of sex toys and how to pick the right one for you. At one point she talks about how the feeling of walking into an adult store is like “Walking into ‘Toys R Us’. Another he versus she exchange from a later issue had both writers discussing the merits of oral sex. I don’t know what exactly made these anonymous writers experts in giving advice on sexual matters, especially when it seemed like they were just pulling things out of thin air. The fact that these writers were giving out sensitive sexual advice, but were too shy about it to include their actual names, says a great deal. It’s not a mystery that a few weeks into the semester there was a message alerting the readers that the Sexpert column was on hiatus “while the editors review concerns expressed about the column’s content and format.” Apparently all of that essential information about purchasing sex toys had some readers questioning the paper’s sense of taste. When the

column returned a few weeks to make a sane person dizzy. later, the content was toned Another issue from 2006 feadown and dealt more with tured a front page story about dating and flirting, rather than the deadly H1N1 virus or Bird intimate issues like sex toy Flu. At the time, the Bird Flu envy. had killed over 100 people and Around 2006, The Courier chose to go in another bold birds were said to be migrating direction. The editors decided toward the U.S., which was a to separate the standard news serious deal. stories from the features and But the photo that was used put them into a section called on the front page was a bit less the Flipside. The Flipside was printed serious. upside down forcing readers to The photo featured a student turn the entire paper over in sitting outside, quietly studyorder to read the stories in the ing, while a pigeon creeps up back half of the paper. (Get it? next to him. As if to say that Flipside). that particular pigeon was From a design standpoint it was strange because it asked a diseased menace that was the reader to do unpreying on the poor defensenecessary work in less student. order to get to Another horrible the back half idea from 2006 was of the paper. It also made a section called ‘Eye it feel like two Candy’ which took a separate pubstudent and pimped lications that them out to the campus. accidentally got There was usually a black stuck together. If a and white photo person “Eye Candy,” November 16, 2006. with the student hapin a “sexy” pose. pened to open the wrong page, The ages as well as a few they would see one page going facts about the student were one way and the opposite page listed, and there were also going another way. It’s enough questions asked by the reporter. It was a mix between a shady Craigslist ad and one of those ads in the back sections of local newspapers about escort services that might or might not be totally legal. All in all, no publication is perfect. And for the most part, The Courier has done a fantastic job of putting together a cohesive and well thought out newspaper. It’s been an amazing century and the hiccups along the way The H1N1 epidemic photo have been as much a part of published on April 27, 2006. the legacy as anything else.

Rust never sleeps CNN photographer gathers no moss in global news coverage Story by Monique LeBleu

n addition to international war coverage, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and interviews with notable diplomats and world leaders for 35 years, PCC Distinguished Alum of 2010 David Rust has also garnered two Emmy Awards, been the subject of book interviews, and has had a CNN exhibit of his own personal collection and archive of memorabilia, artifacts and historical documents gathered during that time. A PCC alum and award-winning CNN cameraman, Rust has been a very busy man since the study of his craft that began with the Courier and PCC in 1973. He’s covered the Los Angeles Olympics, Iran’s defeat of the U.S. in the World Cup, the First Gulf War, the bombings of Baghdad, the truck bomb in Oklahoma City, the plane hijackings on 9/11, the southern squalls of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the eastern slam of hurricane Sandy. Some of his notable interviews include

Fidel Castro, Pope John Paul II, Saddam Hussein, Yasser Arafat, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. While at Kent State in 1971, with an early interest in a military career, while in their ROTC program, Rust became briefly involved with a major event that rocked the U.S. and changed his life. Although not involved in the actual demonstrations and Vietnam War protests, he was curious. After leaving the campus one morning, four Kent State students were killed later on that day on the campus by the National Guard, who were stationed there to keep the peace. Rust’s return to the campus later revealed that the ROTC buildings had been burned down after the killings, resulting in a campus-wide shutdown and a drastic change in the national atmosphere. “I watched how it broke in the news... how it became a national issue that affected a whole lot of people,” Rust said. “The whole business of

David Rust and journalists on board a helicopter during journalist embed training at Fort Benning, Ga., just prior to the 2003 War in Iraq.

Agnes and David Rust at the PCC Courier in 1973. television [became] interesting to me. I watched the way they worked and just thought it might be an interesting thing to do for a living.” His father, also a PCC alum who attended concurrently with baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, thereafter brought the family back to California. It was then that Rust was introduced to Mikki Bolliger, the then-adviser to the Courier. David’s wife, Agnes Rust, was a student from Hong Kong who joined the Courier just prior to David. With her as editor-in-chief and him as managing editor, their very first paper together was an auspicious one. An entire column went unprinted—a void of space in the paper not since duplicated. In addition, Agnes and David’s pictures were switched by the printer in the layout in their respective articles— likely raising many a reader’s eyebrows. On Rust as a writer, Agnes

had a few choice words about her husband’s procrastination. “He could never meet a deadline. He was a chronic procrastinator and it persists to this day,” she laughs. “During those times, you really had to go after him. He had a column. A conservative column at that time.” “Politically he’s a lot more conservative than I am,” she continued. “We argue and I’m always right, so that’s okay,” Agnes laughed. But despite the delays, Rust still finished his stories and had the empathy of his adviser. “You have to remember, considering what he’s doing now, he was just a kid fooling around,” Bolliger said. “They put out papers, they won awards, but he became serious about photography much more than writing while he was taking photography classes.” According to Rust, the PCC campus has changed drastically since. The Shatford Library area was a Bob’s Big Boy

Photos contributed by David Rust restaurant and the Courier was out to be a very good place to Rust’s supervisor occasionally. thick of the widely televised in the C Building for a while. work.” Since then, Rust has won spectacle of U.S. bombings It was later relocated to PCC’s With CNN just reaching its an Emmy for his coverage of that would keep him there for own wooden ROTC bungalows 35th anniversary as a network Sarajevo stories in 1994 and, nearly 40 days—the prelude to near the Aquatic Center. It was this year, Rust figures that he along with his daughter Emily the war in Iraq. there that the Courier’s photog- and about four of his coland CNN correspondent Wolf raphy department was given leagues have remained steadBlitzer, earned another for Initially, he was scuttled off its own darkroom. fast with the major network their coverage of the 2012 pres- through coalition bombers “When I was in a four year since its inception. He spent 13 idential election. to a secret location in order school, and before I started years in the LA. bureau prior And now to tape an interview at PCC, I just didn’t with Saddam Hussein. want to limit myself,” “I was also able to record images of cruise missiles en route Rust said. “One of the to the city center of Baghdad and videotape rescue efforts at an For a live feed on things I learned about air-raid shelter... after two smart bombs penetrated the ten-foot CNN, they hurriedly journalism is that erected an unauthothick reinforced concrete roof.” -- David Rust you could ‘major’ in rized satellite dish to anything. There was broadcast the interview. It was to moving to the CNN headhe loves his work so much that no limit.” quarters in Georgia. he doesn’t even care or know Rust and Agnes married, had at that moment that the air Furthering journalism in how much he gets paid. their first baby, and began a raids began. It was from the Al the family, his oldest daughter “I haven’t written a check in life navigating around Rust’s Rasheed Hotel basement, using Emily became part of the CNN 30 years,” he laughs. “My wife work with a then-fledgling 24only flashlights, that their live team after majoring in journal- takes care of everything. She hour televised news network feed became the single source ism at the University of Geordoes all the hard work.” called CNN—all in 1979. gia. She is now Premiere Units In 1991, Rust got a call at “News was not easy to get in of televised bombings that producer on special projects 4:30 a.m. to cover an event that dominated the airwaves. at that time, especially neton events like the Sundance would change forever how work news. I figured if I got “I was also able to record imFilm Festival, where she and televised war is covered and five years under my belt with ages of cruise missiles en route Rust had the opportunity to further changing his life. The CNN, I might be able to go to a to the city center of Baghdad work together, and presidenassignment was to Baghdad, real news network,” he laughs. “I just never left. It’s turned tial events. She has even been which would put him in the and videotape rescue efforts

Rust amongst the debris of the Juarez Hospital in Mexico City, after an 8.0 earthquake in September of 1985. at an air-raid shelter...after two smart bombs penetrated the ten-foot thick reinforced concrete roof,” Rust said in his bio. “Local residents pulled me inside the shelter while it was still burning.” More than 400 civilians died in the incident. An avid collector, Rust has voluminous archives of memorabilia and mementos from his travels and work. As small as war shrapnel signed by his co-workers and as large at the first microwave transmission truck owned by CNN in 1980 that he keeps stored, his collection has been featured on display at CNN as “The Rust Collection.” One piece in collection comes from a very unique opportunity. In 1995, Rust covered Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Aaron’s visit to Cuba. Dictator Fidel Castro, being an avid baseball fan, was provided by Aaron with a collection of baseball equipment garnered from a World Series game. During a dinner at Castro’s home, he signed a baseball that is now part of the still ev-

er-growing Rust collection. Sheila Weller, author of the book “The News Sorority,” which is on the careers of journalists Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric, and Christiane Aman-

with Amanpour in 1997. “I knew nothing when I went over there, of the politics of it. Who was on what side, how many sides there were, who was doing what to whom? Who

Rust with Christiane Amanpour and local staff in the burned out National Library in Sarajevo in 1997. pour, focuses Rust largely in a section dedicated to Bosnia and Amanpour, with whom he has worked with extensively. Rust got further education on the value of his work and the responsibility as a journalist after nearly 10 months in Croatia and during his stint in Bosnia

were U.S. allies prior to the war?” Rust said. “ … But when you get over there and see everything and start to learn about it…you start to learn what all the sides are, how involved it is, and how crazy the situation was. Once you start to sort things out, you kind of feel

like you have an obligation to be there to go ahead and cover that.” In December of 1992, Rust was injured in an armored car that careened off an icy roadway. On the horrors of the war and some of the atrocities that have been historically reported, Rust was clearly affected by memories but his comments were limited. “You’re working and that’s what you are thinking about when you are there, more than the horrific things that you are seeing,” he said. Other than briefly participating in a research project regarding post-traumatic stress for journalists, the work doesn’t appear to come home with him. In 1995, CNN put in a fresh water system into the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street just so Rust and his team could remain to cover Katrina after that hurricane wiped out the whole lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. During that time, the team trudged through high, polluted waters with reporter John King—not only cover the damage, but to follow the

political delegations surveying the area. A piece of sign debris that narrowly missed Anderson Cooper is naturally now part of the Rust collection, along with Cooper’s famously soaked red CNN slicker worn during his live coverage and a piece of broken levy that King held and referenced. Then Rita hit and moved

have to put yourself into a position to escape from whatever you are doing.” The morning of 9/11, news of the planes hitting the World Trade Center’s twin towers came to him while he was getting blood tests in order to travel on another assignment. Rust got the call. And while covering the First Responders at ground zero,

“The power of nature is so amazing... but you have to put yourself into a position to escape from whatever you are doing.” -- David Rust northward and the team followed. In covering storms, the delicate navigation has to be planned—going right or the left of the “eye”—especially during helicopter shots. “The power of nature is so amazing. There are some things you can’t control whatsoever,” Rust said. “But you have to think about that. You

the Coast Guard offered to take them via helicopter during their survey of the area. The flight provided the unique aerial coverage of the area through four rotation passings. As all air flights were forbidden immediately thereafter, he and his team’s footage ended up being the only aerial footage taken and pooled for the

The David Rust Collection at CNN featuring his personal memorabilia and archives. other networks’ use. With evolving technologies, drone use, and ethical issues in journalism, things are changing drastically in the world of journalism according to Rust, who offered some advice to students considering a future in it. “They want everybody to do everything right now,” he said.

“The more you can learn about the technologies, the more secure you are going to be in getting a job.” “That’s what professional journalists have to offer, in the environment that we are in, is that double sourcing,” he added. “That’s what professionals have to offer over bloggers.”

Rust at a CNN Los Angeles bureau edit bay in 1992.

Behind the

Photos by Erica Hong

Freshly printed issues of the Courier are stocked in the stand in front of the CC Building on March 26.

Paulino Vasquez, a printing employee for 20 years, checks the print quality of the Courier at American/Foothill Publishing Co. Inc. in Tujunga, Calif. on March 26. The publishing company at times has up to four papers printing in the overnight hours.

WHAT IS A BUDGET MEETING? A budget meeting is when reporters are assigned to news, feature and sports stories to be written and photographed for a publication.

Writer Sammy Wu reads the Courier in Faculty Adviser Nathan McIntireâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newspaper production class during a budget meeting in the newsroom on March 17.

Photographer Eric Haynes views his pictures while shooting an assignment in the PCC quad on April 16.

Editor-in-Chief Philip McCormick and photo editor Nagisa Mihara go over the articles, design and editing for the Courier on production day on March 4.

Opinion editor Hannah Gonzales interviews a woman as photographer Eric Haynes takes a picture of her in the PCC quad on April 16 for an article for the Courier.

Design editor Samantha Molina works on the layout for the newspaper on March 8.

News editor Matthew Kiewiet and A&E editor Anthony Martinez look over a story for the Courier in the newsroom on production night on March 4.

Sports editor Daron Grandberry and faculty adviser Nathan McIntire proofread the sports page for the Courier on production night on March 4.

PStory

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The Courier through pictures Story by Keely Damara

he journalism department at Pasadena City College didn’t always include Photo courtesy of David Rust photojournalism classes. Initially, the Previous photojournalism darkroom in 1973. Courier newspaper students relied on art photography students to provide images tory and intermediate photojournalism develop, you have to dry the film and for their stories. classes for the journalism program, which then see what you have. It was just a long When Mikki Bolliger was hired as a facdidn’t go over well with the art photograprocess.” ulty adviser for the student newspaper in phy department. The process didn’t end with a print. 1972, she said that working with students “We actually made enemies with the “When you are setting a newspaper in from a different department was often art department,” Bleckmann said. “They hot metal, you can’t just print a picture trying. thought that Esther Davis took the producand scan it,” Bolliger said. “You had to “They didn’t understand deadlines. tion class away from the art department.” send the picture out to an engraver.“ They’d take pictures of something and In order to make room for the growWhile working at PCC, Bleckmann was then they’d take the negatives home. See ing journalism department, the Courier the director of photography at Society everything was negatives,” Bolliger said. moved out of the basement of the C BuildWest magazine from 1974 to 1980 and cov“You’d have to track them down and you’d ing to a set of bungalows previously inered many events in the Los Angeles area. be lucky if you could find the pictures for habited by nursing students. Bolliger said He said the lessons he learned while in the the paper.” there were little reminders left behind field were invaluable to his students. A photo adviser wasn’t hired until after from the previous inhabitants. “A lot of stuff is not in a textbook. You Dr. Esther Davis was brought on in 1972 to “The cupboards had tags that said ‘bed just have to speak from experience,” help shape the journalism department into pans’ and stuff like that–that they took off– Bleckmann said. a program that would produce working but you could still read on the cabinets,” Many students were enamored with the professionals. Davis Bolliger said. events that Bleckmann had the opportunitaught journalism at Los Having their own ty to shoot—like the Golden Globes—and “A lot of stuff is not Angeles Valley College darkroom and staff dreamed of being able to photograph in a textbook. You just in Van Nuys for 20 years photographers proved themselves one day. until 1969. Bolliger and have to speak from less stressful than “Every semester, I would have a student a young photographer relying on students in who would say, ‘Mr Bleckmann, if I take experience.” named Wilhelm Bleckanother department for your class can I get to be a photographer mann studied under her. photographs. at the L.A. Times?’” Bleckmann said. “Yes, -Wilhelm Bleckmann Davis brought Bleck“We were able to but you have to be very, very, very, very, mann on as the Courier’s print our own pictures very, very good.” first photo adviser in 1973. Both Bolliger and have them ready on time,” Bolliger Blake Sell was not one of the students and Bleckmann credited Davis with makchuckled. “You know, as much as humanly Bleckmann imagined achieving this kind ing the PCC journalism department what it possible with students who don’t like to do of success. Not at first. is today. Bleckmann recalled Davis asking anything on time.” In his first photojournalism class, Sell him to call her by her first name, not Dr. Besides the uncertainty of students was using a camera he borrowed from Davis, after he became her colleague— turning in their photos, Bleckmann said his parents. Unknown to him, the apersomething he had trouble doing as her working with film made tight deadlines ture—the hole inside the lens that can former student. even tighter. be adjusted to let in more or less light to “I never stopped calling her that. I had “These days, you shoot a few pictures capture the proper exposure— was stuck so much admiration for her,” Bleckmann and you can check – do I have the right at f22, the smallest aperture for film camsaid. one?” Bleckmann said. “With film you eras. “Every time I took it out, I came back Bleckmann started teaching introduchave to go back to the lab, you have to to Mr. Bleckmann’s class and my pictures

were horrible,” Sell said. He recalled Bleckmann telling him jokingly, “You’re never going to be a photographer.” Sell went on to be a White House photographer, the senior photo editor at Reuters and eventually the director of Associated Press image products – a position he retired from in August of last year. “I’ve had a pretty good career,” Sell said. “I’ve traveled in 50 countries, I’ve spent 30 years photographing every imaginable news story on the planet.” Sell said that while working as a photographer for the Courier he had the opportunity to shoot with equipment that most working professionals didn’t even have access to at the time. “Most professional photographers in L.A. didn’t have Leica cameras and here we were, PCC students, taking Leica cameras out to shoot things with,” Sell said. While Bleckmann stressed the importance to his students of being technically accurate in their photography, he said knowing if and when you had the shots you needed in the age of film wasn’t an exact science. “Sometimes you shoot a roll of film and you follow your gut feeling and, if it is there, then you got the shot,” Bleckmann said. “Other times you may need to use two to three rolls.”

In addition to technical skills, the photojournalism program also offered students opportunities to work with local photographers from community newspapers like the Pasadena StarNews. Bleckmann invited photojournalists to give presentations to students and share their photos as inspiration. David Rust—another former journalism student and a photojournalist for CNN for the past 35 years—said the program was influenced by what newspapers in the Photo courtesy of Pasdena Digital History Archive community were looking for Wilhelm Bleckmann, photojournalism intructor; in prospective journalists. Mikki Bolliger, journalism instructor; Mary Free“They sort of modeled the man, Avery International rep; Mike Bloebaum, PCC program around what the newspapers were telling Communication Dept. Chairman. them they needed as emPhotographer Kathleen Laraia McLaughlin ployees,” Rust said. “We got some close and L.A. Times photographer Tim Bergrelationships with photographers and er followed as part-time interim photo writers from the local newspapers—it really made for a good program.” advisers, with Berger taking the helm as Bleckmann retired as photo adviser the current photo adviser of the Courier in of the Courier in 2004 and was followed 2013. by Rachel Fermi—the photo adviser who This year the photojournalism departstarted the digital photography courses for both the journalism and art departments. ment celebrates its 42nd year.

The Chronicle L I V E S ! Behind the scenes of a high school newspaper Story by Philip McCormick and Neil Protacio

hen the staff members of Pasadena High School’s student newspaper were notified that the school was closing down its student store earlier this year, they were quick to take action. A writer was assigned to gather the information—the basic who, what, where, when, and why—and in doing so, she discovered the impact of such a closure: a funding source that benefited many students had been severed. “Different clubs and organizations on campus work there during the week, so they could make up to $300 working there,” said Sophia Kownatzi, the editor-in-chief of the Chronicle. “It’s one of the best and easiest fundraisers for clubs on campus, and now that’s gone. And with the water shortage, car washes weren’t allowed either.” The Chronicle is running an ongoing investigation on the

Max Zeronian/Courier Entertainment editor Serenah Truong, left, and editor-in-chief Sophia Kownatzki review their fellow students’ work for the next edition of the PHS Chronicle, April 14, 2015 at Pasadena High School. confusing issue, by researching district legislation and probing higher-ups for their viewpoints. It’s an effort that might go well into May, just a couple months shy of high school graduation. When Kenneth Fuessle, Shirley Owen and the gang first started the PHS Chronicle, they started a legacy. And to think, their biggest concerns at the time were bolstering subscriptions so that their paper would survive to the next issue. Today, the Chronicle at PHS continues the legacy, celebrating its shared 100th anniversary with

The Chronicle’s April edition of its news magazine.

the Courier by providing their school campus with news. “We make sure to cover important events on campus, and do our best to inform students about any major changes that happen,” Kownatzki said. The Chronicle went through various name changes – from PHS Chronicle to PCC Chronicle -- before ultimately landing on simply the Courier, when the school changed its name in the early 50s. The Courier was tasked with covering the college campus’ news, but the high school counterpart, the Chronicle, refused to die. Pasadena High School picked up its name and continued its duties. “PHS’s newspaper, the Chronicle, is a monthly issue published by a group of 10th through 12th grade students at the school,” Kownatzki said. “Basically, each issue comes out approximately every month to about a month and a half. They’re based on themes and seasons. Our favorites include the Valentines Day, April fools and Thanksgiving issues. We as a staff brainstorm article ideas together every other week.” Kownatzki said that this year, the Chronicle has a staff of 20 writers, designers and photographers. She said that they have

six graphic designers, most of whom are part of Graphic Communications Academy (GCA), who compile everything into the magazine format instead of being more of a tabloid or broadsheet-like newspaper. “Our advisor, Mr. Van Leuven—we call him the über editor—goes through the copy to approve before we give it to the GCA to print,” Kownatzki said. “It’s incredibly convenient because the GCA print shop takes care of stapling and printing for us and they’re literally across the halls!” According to Kownatzki, the change from newspaper to magazine was an easy and convenient one, mainly because the GCA print shop was already working with the same paper for their projects. “The magazine format is, at least in my opinion, an interesting way to blend in classic, newspaper-style articles while still allowing entertaining, creative ways to capture our reader’s attention,” she said. “Design-wise, newspapers are more restrictive, whereas magazine style allows for more experimentation. It’s easier to read, convenient to print, and much more enjoyable to design.”

“Our staff consists of dedicated students who come up with authentic ideas for each and every issue.” -Serenah Troung Entertainment section editor Serenah Truong said that most of the students in the program had been working together on the paper since starting at PHS and that made it easy to work with each other. Additionally, many of the Chronicle staff are in a short advisory class every morning, and also have a designated second period class in which they get together. “The atmosphere is very casual, friendly, and lively,” Truong said. “As an editor of the entertainment section, it’s so nice to be able to meet with my section writers and discuss new ideas for the upcoming issue without feeling like I have to assign them a topic they may not want to cover.” According to Kownatzki, the

paper is divided into four basic sections: News/Opinion, Sports, Student Life, Entertainment. She said that the section editors check in with the writers in their sections, do any basic editing needed and then send it to the graphic designers and her for final approval. Truong said that she, like the other section editors at the Chronicle, meet with their writers a few weeks before each issue comes out to discuss ideas for the pending issue. “Thankfully, our staff consists of dedicated students who come up with authentic ideas for each and every issue,” Truong said. “When I meet with my section I usually have a few ideas on what we have to cover and I let my writers choose their topic or

Max Zeronian/Courier Writer Birgeet Magallanes makes final edits to her article for the next edition of the PHS Chronicle, Friday, March 27, 2015. come up with their own.” Kownatzki said that she was optimistic about the future of the Chronicle and that with the help from the adviser and other teachers, the paper would be in good shape. “We have such a strong support group here that not only

helps to put out each issue of The Chronicle, but also teaches the younger staffers the skills they’ll need when they become editors next year,” she said. “It’ll be nice to see what they continue to write about when I’m gone.”