Spotlight - Summer 2015

S POT LI G H T PASADENA CITY COLLEGE - SUMMER 2015

V A N HALEN Music Legends

J

u

m

p

t o Fa m e at P C C

GOLD KILLS C L O T H I N G WITH A MESSAGE

STUDENTS N AV I G AT E HOMELESSNESS

FERGUSON TO PA S A D E N A :

BLACK LIVES MATTER 1

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 02 - Dissection Anatomy: Teresa The Science Gal PAGE 05 - Hands Up! Investigating Police Brutality PAGE 09 - Rink Riot: When Skates Pack A Punch

Letter from the editors In all honesty, during the first stages of producing this magazine, we had

no idea whether we would even have enough content to fill a 26 pages.

This is the first year Spotlight will be published in the spring and due to

the fact that most students were unaware the class was offered, we were

extremely low on enrollment. With each passing week, a few more students would drop and what started as a class of 12 ended as a class of six.

Nevertheless, the work that was done by those who remained committed

PAGE 13 - Van Halen: From Classroom To Hall Of Fame

and present was unprecedented, and with the help of a few in the Courier

PAGE 15 - Space Funk: Out Of This World

dously proud to publish.

PAGE 17 - Gold Kills: Restitching Society Through Fashion PAGE 19 - Homeless With Homework: Studying For A Better Future PAGE 21 - Through The Lens: Seeing Something Out Of Nothing

newspaper staff, we were able to produce a magazine that we feel tremenEach of PCC’s roughly 25,000 students and 1,600 employees walk their

own path. Throughout the next 25 pages, you will read stories of those who

have roamed through the halls here at some point in there life. While each story holds its own uniqueness, PCC is the common thread that binds them all together.

We spotlight instructors who work vigorously to inspire their students

and motivate them to achieve great things for the future, alumni who have moved forward in ways that are extraordinary and authentic to themselves,

PAGE 24 - Steal Away: Instructor Remixes Historical Melody

and students who strive to make their mark on the world. Last but not least,

PAGE 25 - Glitz And Glamour:Winning The Crown

as a whole.

we delve into social issues that are currently influencing students at PCC and individuals around the country inspiring them to revolutionize the nation

This was definitely a labor of love among all of those involved so thank

you for reading.

Fa c u lt y a d v i s e r : N a t h a n M c I n t i r e P h o t o A d v i s e r : Tim Berger

E

N

J

O

D e s i g n e d i t o r : Samantha Molina S ta f f W r i t e r s : Gregory Elmore, Erica Hong, Amber Lipsey, Kylin Offray, Neil Protacio S ta f f P h o t o g r a p h e r s : Mick Donovan, Shaunee Edwards, Michelle Gonzales, Eric Haynes, Erica Hong, Amber Lipsey, Nagisa Mihara, Daniel Valencia S p e c i a l T h a n ks : J u s t i n C l a y , Mick Donovan, H a n n a h G o n z a l e s , Erica Hong, Matthew Kiewiet, Anthony M a r t i n e z , Nagisa Mihara, Neil Protacio, Luis Rodriguez

1

Kristen Luna Editor-in-Chief

Keely Damara Photo Editor

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Front and back cover photo by: Daniel Valencia

Y

TERESA

Smiling around THE GOOD: cadavers, freeing sea urchins, and concerns over college cuts S t o r y by N e i l P ro t a c i o P h o t o s by S h a u n e e E d w a rd s a n d N a g i s a M i h a ra Teresa Trendler, for the most part, is a bubbly professor. In between clever, punny jabs, witty remarks, and chin-rubbing hypothetical questions escaped tiny giggle fits that are a far cry from the serious demeanor that white-coat scientists have been popularly and, as apparent from Trendler’s personality, wrongfully linked to.

So bubbly is Trendler, in fact, that on the way to class, she drew out a bubble gun and released streams of bubbles into the air. It all went with the physiology class’s theme of “flow.” She showed the toy gun to the class before suddenly charging toward the exit.

“I left my balloon outside,” she announced to her “scientists.”

Pasadena City College’s has its own Glinda the Good, and she happens to be a professor of anatomy and physiology.

“When you walk in through that door, you’re in my little Oz,” Trendler said. “I’m Glinda, but sometimes you might think I’m like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

Trendler is known for teaching Anatomy 110, a human dissection course borne after a discus-

sion that ended the traditional feline dissection. A decade ago, anatomy classes worked with cats, which came at a high price for the division because cats needed to be obtained and ultimately destroyed post-dissection due to the hazardous chemicals involved.

It was Trendler and assistant professor Terri Borman who suggested swapping felines for humans, a feat worth noting considering how rare it was for community colleges to have human cadavers for class.

Surprisingly, that dissection class can’t be used for transfer, but it definitely requires maturity, caution, and above all, the seriousness needed if a natural sciences major is where you’re aiming. The big payoff: stories to tell and an impressive résumé description. “(The cadavers) are invaluable,” Trendler told the Courier, on their April 24, 2014 issue.

“I think that the division agrees that it’s a big enough importance for our future. It’s a little dose of reality.”

Of course, low thresholds for death and dissection are just one thing a student is going to struggle through other than exams,

Shaunee Edwards/Spotlight Skeleton model in Teresa Trendler’s Dissection Anatomy class on April 22 at PCC.

2

lab assignments, and homework.

“Most of the students freaked out during the first week before the zipper was even opened,” Trendler said.

“She’s very knowledgeable, she definitely knows her stuff,” said Christina Goodlett, nursing. “She’s hard though.

Yikes.”

The juxtaposition of Trender’s cheery disposition with a class that features cadavers is kind of ironic. One would hardly spend their birthday dissecting a cadaver, but on the first day of the spring semester, that’s exactly what Trendler did. Interestingly enough, inclass discussions can take a trip down a depressing memory lane.

“I don’t wear mascara in this class because every now and then I have to tell (them) things that are real,” Trendler said.

According to Trendler, the 62-yearold woman who donated her body to University of California, Irvine died of bone cancer—the same cancer Trendler’s mother died of. This can put an emotional strain on students.

“There’s no harm in crying because we have the chemicals in our faces,” Trendler said. “You can’t hold your hands up to your face and wipe. I was coaxing them gently that it was all going to be OK.” Regardless, there are other dangers, since the class has students using actual blades to dissect the human body.

“When you walk in through that door, you’re in my little Oz. I’m Glinda, but sometimes you might think I’m like the Wicked Witch of the West.”

- Teresa Trendler 3

Among them, a reverberating saw that Trendler warns can give the impression of a dentist drilling through teeth due to the calcium of the bones.

“The rule is you all get A’s if no one gets hurt,” Trendler said.

Trendler also teaches physiology, which examines the functions of body parts. In mid-April, the class participated in interactive labs like a respiratory race day and a urinalysis lab that she dubbed the “pee-pee party.” Students were told to drink a given beverage upon entering the classroom and were given a three-hour rest period before they released their “data.” Lab assignments can be gross, but they do keep the class interested.

“We started as strangers going into this class, and then three-quarters of the way through physiology, we’re all sitting next to each other with cups of our own urine, comparing our own data right next to each other and helping each other measuring all that,” said Colten Taormino-Tognazzini, also a nursing major. “You get intimate real quick with your classmates. I would say I didn’t expect that, but it’s absolutely true for this class. It’s created memories that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”

“She made the class engaging for the students,” said Goodlett. “It could be very boring, but you still have to learn it. She makes it fun so we remember these things not short term, but long term.”

Trendler is not one to toot her own horn. In fact, a magnet on her refrigerator reads, “Seen it all, done it all, can’t remember a lot of it.” In a nutshell, she’s been an instructor for many colleges, and even ran a big biotech outreach grant for vocational education. She also shared that she’s been a vet’s assistant, a tram driver at the Wild Animal Park, and also a tour guide for Sea World.

“I wanted to be a killer whale trainer,” she said. “I was in school as a freshman biologist and I went home to San Diego on break. I heard that they had an education department.”

Trendler says that the water at Sea World was too cold and she realized

Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight Professor Teresa Trendler explains to her disecction anatomy class how sea urchins reproduce during their break time in Science Village on April 29.

that she would have a better time outside of the tank with a microphone talking about the animals.

The love for biology came at an early age.

“It blossomed from just being nosey as a kid and playing with stuff, to realizing that biology was more fun than English and math,” she said.

Come Friday, April 25, Trendler’s love for biology was most apparent.

She arrived late for her own lecture because she was making arrangements to release a group of sea urchins to the ocean. She had taken 15 of them home overnight on ice since the science department was examining their mating habits.

“After class today, I’m going to pretend my car is an ambulance,” she told her class. “I’m going to be the sea urchin EMT of PCC.” And as Trendler spoke about the sea urchin fiasco, students hung unto her every word. But it’s hard to miss the animated and excited professor. While there’s serious material to cover, the

The cadaver dissection table in Science Village on April 29.

class seems to enjoy class discussions as they laughed and cracked jokes with her. After class, she took the class to a lab to observe the sea urchins and even examine some of their fluids under a microscope.

“She’s bold, she’s one of the most entertaining professors I’ve taken,” said Taormino-Tognazzini. “She’s super energetic, super entertaining. We laugh a lot, and then we get down to business. It’s a good combination.”

A student passed by and declined an interview, but shyly cooed, “I have nothing but nice things to say.”

True to her word, Trendler drove out near Zuma Beach to a marine preserve on Saturday where she met some kids that helped her feed Sparky, the lone surviving sea urchin.

Her care for students doesn’t stop at science. She made plans to stand up for cosmetology classes after PCC had decided to create more room for nursing students in lieu of the program.

Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight

“They washed, colored, and dried my hair for $4.25, and I used to go weekly when I broke my arm,” Trendler wrote in an email. “They deserve all our support. Not every student should be a freakin’ nurse.”

She coined herself a new codename in her pursuit to save the cosmetology program: FFFF-23, which is an abbreviation of Fanci-Full Frivolous Fawn 23, the tint she uses.

On May 4th, Trendler was approved to sit in a variety of different committees in PCC’s Academic Senate, from its Ad Hoc Committee on Hiring Issues and Policies to the Committee of Committees—which discusses the jurisdiction of the Academic Senate’s many committees so that the senate could decide which ones are actually still relevant.

If there’s someone who can tell you about a busy schedule, it’s probably Trendler. Her schedule this spring semester saw her on campus from Mon-

“I really truly care. Way too much about way too much.”

Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight Human fetus specimens in the various stages of prenatal development are displayed in a case in Science Village on April 29.

day through Friday, noon till about 4 p.m. But she’s not necessarily in a rush to leave campus since there’s work to be done. She talked about a certain professor making fun of her.

“Are the students paying you overtime for that?” she mocked. The students laughed.

They were, as a matter of fact, she joked. She said that the students weren’t even asking for their lab reports back. Such warmth and a sense of welcome emanates from Professor Trendler, and although her class can be grueling, students stay put. What’s her secret?

“I really truly care,” she said. “Way too much about way too much.”

4

B L A C K L I V E S M A T T E R Amber Lipsey/Spotlight Protesters stand outside of the Ferguson Police Department on Oct. 11, 2014. Some in attendance wore masks to protect themselves in case of being tear gassed.

Story by Amber Lipsey - Photos by Amber Lipsey + Daniel Valencia

5

When Anya Slaughter went to bed on March 24, 2012, she didn’t know that her 19-year old child was dead. No one ever came to inform her that her son, Kendrec McDade, had been killed by the Pasadena Police.

Slaughter woke up the next morning and read about her son’s death in the morning paper. McDade’s name was not listed in the article, so she didn’t think anything of it until three hours later when his father called her with the news.

“That day I lost my first love,” she said.

“My first love, my first born, my everything.”

Slaughter spoke at the Black Lives Matter event on February 24, 2015, hosted by the Black Student Alliance and Feminist Club of Pasadena City College. Standing in front of the crowd, she clutched the podium to

steady herself. This was the first time she had publicly spoken about her son’s death.

Kendrec McDade was enrolled as a student at Pasadena City College at the time of his death. He died on Sunset Avenue in Pasadena after being shot by Pasadena Police Officers Jeffrey Newlen and Matthew Griffin, according to the incident report.

Slaughter paused to steady her voice. “I cried 29 months straight every day,” she said.

This is one of many stories that are being told around the country every day. According to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement study, every 28 hours, an African-American person is killed by law enforcement or vigilantes in the U.S. This has been an on-going epidemic, but it came to national attention with the shooting death of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014 in Fergu-

son, Mo. A 2014 Wall Street Journal report stated that the FBI statistics on police shootings severely undercounts the actual number of incidents. Due to lack of sufficient record-keeping, it is almost impossible to determine how many people are killed by police each year, and therefore there is no national record of police killings to date.

When Michael Brown was killed and the protests started, many throughout the country were affected. Those effects were certainly felt on the campus at PCC, which has a 4.7 percent black population.

Dr. Jennifer Noble teaches African-American Psychology at PCC. When the Michael Brown shooting happened, she remembers the reactions of her students in class.

“They were very concerned, very disheartened, just kind of incensed like, ‘Why is this still happening?’” she said. “A lot of them were really saddened.”

Noble further recounts a class after 12-year old Tamir Rice was shot in Cleveland. She showed a clip of a CNN report that listed all the names of people who had been shot by police.

“It was a really heavy clip, no music no nothing and a couple of the students in class just started crying,” Noble said.

Noble, one of the speakers at the Black Lives Matter event, went into detail about the psychological and physiological affects of racism on black people.

“We have to be able to realize that repeated acts of violence... the denial of basic human rights have a psychological impact,” Noble said.

Noble stated that stress and racism have the same physical, emotional, mental, and psychological impact on the heart and blood pressure.

“Stress from constant chronic racism basically is wearing our body out,” Noble said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the leading cause of death for African-Americans—higher than homicide.

Noble stated research that shows that even when you control for diet, exercise, diabetes and other health factors, the impact of racism is still seen on the human body.

“This is a human being impacted by our own treatment,” she said.

Another psychological condition that is being attributed to racism is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM5) has just been expanded to include people who have not only experienced but simply witnessed a traumatic event.

Many Ferguson protesters have experienced being tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, had rifles pointed in their faces and been beaten by police. All

across social media, protesters are talking about the fact that they cannot stand to hear loud noises because it reminds them of the sounds of the tear gas cannons and bullets. They talk about having an all-out panic attack when they see a cop car on the road.

Noble recounted her own personal story in college at 20 years old, when she was pulled over with a group of five other black people in her car. The cops who pulled her over demanded to see the college IDs of everyone in the car.

One man in the car did not have his college ID, so the officers made her get out and get in the police car.

“They told me that because one of my friend didn’t have an ID, that if I didn’t want a ticket, I needed to give them $60,” she said.

Noble remembers going back to the car and asking everyone for money to pay them. The group only came up with $40 and the cops took it and let her go.

“I can still feel the fear that went along with that, that whole moment,” she said. “Not just the fear but the powerlessness ... my thoughts are racing but all that’s repeating in my mind is ‘What can I do? This seems unfair.’”

Patrisse Cullors is one of three founders of the National Black Lives Matter movement with 23 chapters nationwide. Cullors started the movement with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

The movement started after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013.

“We were just trying to process out loud on social media, with other black people around, what just happened,” Cullors said.

Cullors said she reached out to Garza on Facebook to thank her and Garza wrote back “Black Lives Matter” and hashtagged it. That’s how it began.

TOP: Protesters stand outside the Central Community Police Station on E. 6th Street during the Death by Cop march that took place in downtown L.A. on April 7, 2015. (Daniel Valencia/Spotlight) BOTTOM: A protester who identified herself as ‘Dragonfly’ holds up a sign at the Moral Monday protest outside the Ferguson Police Department on Oct. 14, 2014. (Amber Lipsey/Spotlight)

6

7

“Black Lives Matter from the jump was never just about the killing of young black boys, but rather it’s a call to action for all black lives,” Cullors said.

“My conversation is always that if all lives matter then we wouldn’t need a hashtag that black lives matter.”

Speaking in front of the PCC crowd at the Black Lives Matter event, Cullors was visibly upset and angry.

“I come here with a significant amount of rage ... with a significant amount of sadness because our stories, our lives and our deaths are happening in real time,” she said. “This is not in MLK’s day, this is not the Jim Crow south ... this is L.A. County in 2015, so I come with an edge today.”

The day of the Black Lives Matter event, the Department of Justice had just released its report stating that they would not be charging George Zimmerman for civil rights violations in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Since then, the Justice Department decided it would not be charging officer Darren Wilson for civil rights violations in the killing of Michael Brown.

In a March report released by the Department of Justice, the DOJ also found that the Ferguson Police Department and the city of Ferguson has been systematically violating the constitutional rights of blacks and using the residents as a revenue stream through excessive ticketing and fines.

Lauren Brinkley, president of the Black Student Alliance on campus, said that police shootings of black people have become so common that she barely feels affected anymore.

“People are still shocked always, but I’m always so numb when the verdicts come down or when the events happen, it doesn’t even faze me,” Brinkley said. “It doesn’t tell me anything that I don’t already know.”

Brinkley says she feels at risk every day when she walks out

Daniel Valencia/Spotlight TOP: Protesters convene on First Street during the Death by Cop march on April 7, 2015 in downtown L.A. BOTTOM: Protesters stand outside the Central Community Police Station on E. 6th Street during the Death by Cop march that took place in downtown L.A. on April 7, 2015. LEFT: A protester holds a sign at a demonstration on St. Louis University campus on Oct. 13, 2014.

of her door.

“Even to this day, people still don’t understand, and everyone is still feeling like it’s our reality,” she said. “Having to explain to their sons and daughters why they’re being followed ... this could be me.”

At the Black Lives Matter event, Slaughter told Brinkley that she was afraid she might not make it through her speech.

“If I can’t make it through, I need you to say the rest for

me,” Brinkley remembers her saying. “I prayed to God that she would make it. Because if the words came from me, they wouldn’t mean anything.”

During her speech, Slaughter recounted a moment at the depositions where she heard a recording of her sons voice after he’d been shot.

“I heard the voice of my son asking the EMT for water and asking why the police shot him,” Slaughter said. “It drove

me insane.”

Almost three years later, and after the city paid Slaughter a $1 million settlement in the shooting death of McDade, Slaughter still struggles to make it through the day.

“I’d just had a baby seven days before my son was killed,” she said. “It’s still hard for me to get up some days and just breathe.”

8

BRUISES, BUMPS

& BEDLAM ON THE

BANKED TRACK

STORY BY

KEELY DAMARA

PHOTOS BY

DANIEL VALENCIA

The squeaking of rolling wheels and the thumps of padded knees reverberate off of un-insulated walls. A whistle blows and Corazon Rios encourages a small group of women to keep their legs moving.

“Keep skating, keep skating— don’t stop skating!” Rios yells.

9

The Derby Dolls scrimmage at the former Doll Factory in Echo Park on March 12.

Some with fatigued, shaking legs and others with more experienced grace skate laps around the not-quite-oval banked track constructed by veteran skaters of the LA Derby Dolls roller derby league. The track reduces the Historic Filipinotown warehouse, affectionately dubbed the Doll Factory because of its past incarnation as an ice cream cone factory, to the size of a dollhouse.

A makeshift first-aid kit—a cart overflowing with bandages, ointments, painkillers and tampons—sits next to a shelf full of donated, gently used equipment for new skaters dubbed “fresh meat” to borrow before they invest in their own gear.

Rios is a certified personal trainer and runs her own outdoor fitness company, but to those who know her as “Cerabedlam,” “Bedlam” for short, she teaches the LA Derby Dolls Derby Por Vida fitness class every week at the Doll Factory. She has been skating with the Derby Dolls since the fall of 2010, getting her first taste of the banked track in the very class she now teaches.

“It was a very clumsy and full of falls process,” Rios said. “But even as soon as I stepped on the track—fell onto the track I should say, because that’s what happened—I just fell in love with it and I’ve been here ever since.”

Rios, a Monrovia native, attended PCC for postgraduate classes after completing her world arts and cultures B.A. at UCLA. She grew up playing contact sports like soccer and is no stranger to endurance training, but when an old roommate told her she should join the local roller derby league, she wasn’t so sure.

It wasn’t until 2010, a couple years after that seed was planted in her head, that she decided to check out the league as a way of cross training for marathons. She also missed the sense of community that team sports engender, something she was lacking in her adult life.

“Having this community of women from different backgrounds, different body types, different ages just coming together for the love of the sport—it was just truly amazing,” Rios said. “Just making our own family and community here on the banked track.”

Megan Costello, or “Belle Scorcho,” met Rios in the “fresh meat”

pool, which is the group of beginning skaters that train to be selected for subpool, with the ultimate goal of being drafted to a Derby Dolls team.

“Our official first friendship moment was our first fresh meat practice after making it in and I brought a banana to practice and I split it with her,” Costello said. “I think she called me the banana fairy.”

They soon discovered they had mutual friends, listened to the same music and had a mutual love for the band Weezer (hence Belle Scorcho). They went as far as to get “derby married” in a ceremony at Roller Con in Las Vegas a few years ago.

Taking a derby wife is a common roller derby tradition, which is basically just acknowledging your closest derby friend and confidant, the person who gets you through thick and thin on and off the track.

“One night at Roller Con they had a night where you could get derby married,” Costello said. “You’re derby married by one of the announcers—he goes by Dump Truck—and I think he was dressed in an Elvis costume and he derby married us.”

Roller derby has been around since the 50s and made a resurgence in the early 2000s as a legitimate sport beyond all the theatrics previously associated with it—costumes, stage names and, at one time, even scripted brawls. The LA Derby Dolls were among the first leagues to bring the sport back to the mainstream in 2004, keeping some of the old novelties of the game like the quirky stage names while pushing it forward athletically.

Banked track roller derby is a fast sport. A game is called a bout. A jam is a one-minute mad race for a jammer from each team to skate by as many blockers of the opposite team as possible, scoring a point for each blocker passed, without being blocked or penalized. The jammer the furthest ahead on the track of each jam is declared the lead jammer and can call off the jam at any point, giving them a huge strategic advantage. On the banked track, they can reach speeds up to six miles an hour faster than on the flat track. A lot can happen in a minute.

10

“There’s nothing like doing a crossover in the turns and feeling that speed pick up and skating,” said Rios. “There really isn’t.”

Roller derby is a very strategic game in addition to being physically exhausting, Rios said.

“Playing offense and defense at the same time—it’s such a mental challenge on top of the physical challenge of being on a sloped surface on eight wheels,” Rios said.

The current track was built in 2011 by a group of volunteer skaters with the help of their “Track Monkeys.” The Track Monkeys are a group of volunteers headed by Disco Tex who primarily consist of set designers, carpenters and handy people who lend their skill-sets to the maintenance of the track.

Just the vibration from skates rolling over the track can cause screws to come loose.

“Before each bout, you will see two people just hunched over looking at every single screw on the track making sure they are all screwed in. They will do that during half time, they will do it after the bout,” Rios said.

“So somebody doesn’t run a risk of catching on them.”

Roller derby banked tracks take a beating.

Skating takes its toll on the track, creating bows and dips in the wood. The current track is the third track for the Derby Dolls. The first track was an original roller derby track from the 1970s and the second track was designed and built by a member that was an architect.

The current track was disassembled in the Doll Factory and moved piece-by-piece to the Derby Doll’s new home, a warehouse on Alhambra Avenue in El Sereno, by skaters and volunteers in the beginning of April.

“I literally bled for that track,” Corazon said. “Blood, sweat and tears.”

The Doll Factory—previously occupied by ice cream cone maker Norse Dairy Systems—was not the first home of the Derby Dolls.

They moved to the warehouse on Temple Street in 200. The Dolls have skated in mall parking lots and on rooftops downtown—

anywhere they could get permission to skate. When locations fell

through, they would resort to skating in parking lots down by the beach.

Stephanie Villa, aka “Amber Alert!,” has been with the league

since the very beginning in 2004. Villa just stepped down as the general manager of the league to pursue other career goals and

said that cleaning out her office brought up a lot of old memories of struggling to find a permanent place to call home.

“When I came in we were always having location problems,”

Villa said. “We were always moving the track,

“I literally bled for that track. Blood, sweat and tears.”

- Corazon Rios

11

we were always just trying to find places to bout.”

For the past year, the Doll Factory has been

dark. No bouts, no workshops, no events. This is because the warehouse that the Dolls have called home for nearly eight years is up for sale.

One morning last year, skaters were greet-

ed with notices posted over all the building’s

entrances that said the warehouse needed to be vacated because

it was going to be demolished. Shortly thereafter they learned the property owner was trying to sell the place.

The uncertainty of the future of the league caused Villa to

cancel any planned bouts and events. The league created a crowd funding campaign in the spring of 2014 to raise funds to move

to a new location. They raised more than the $100,000 that they asked for to get them into a new space. But the money was set aside for the move, not for operating out of the Doll Factory.

She said many of the skaters were going a bit stir crazy without

bouting regularly.

“Skating derby is like a drug for these girls,” Villa said. “Without it they are fiending for the stuff.”

Besides not enough time on their skates, morale was low among many league members because of the uncertainty of their future.

Recently in March, a television show used the factory as a location for a shoot. They painted over the skull and crossbones that graced the front of the building, something the league first objected to. But they eventually acquiesced—almost as a final admission of the end of their days at the Doll Factory.

“The painting over the mural was a really big deal to a lot of people because it symbolized so much,” Rios said. “For a lot of us, this is all we know.”

Costello happens to be a professional architect and spent her lunch breaks over the past year looking at possible new homes for the league. Finding a place that could fit their track was a challenge.

“I would go look at buildings, come home, sketch them up on my computer and drop in our track to see if it would work or not,” Costello said.

They found a new location in El Sereno on Alhambra Avenue and moved into the new space at the beginning of April.

Besides transitioning to a new space, the Derby Dolls are also transitioning to new ownership. The team has been owned by one of the original skaters, Rebecca Ninburg, or “Demolicious,” since the very beginning in 2004. The Dolls are transitioning to a coop model in which the skaters own the league so each member has a voice and it isn’t going to be run as a for-profit business.

“No one person’s vote counts more than another’s,” Rios said.

“We’re going to run this league as a cooperative.”

Now that they are in their new home, the Derby Dolls jumped right into competing in bouts. They held a soft opening on April 25 and already have a schedule drawing out until December.

Overall, the league is looking forward to introducing the community to their new digs.

“This is an exciting new start,” said Rios. “There’s going to be feelings and there’s going to be other feelings. It’s going to happen when you get a hundred alpha females together.”

LEFT/ABOVE/BELOW: The Derby Dolls scrimmage at the former Doll Factory in Echo Park on March 12.

12

Van Halen’s JUMP stardom pcc to

at

Photo Credit: Clay Patrick McBride

13

Van Halen is known around the world as one of the greatest rock bands. Eddie and Alex Van Halen met David Lee Roth while attending Pasadena City College in 1974. During that time, Alex and Eddie had formed Genesis and as a way of repaying Roth for letting them borrow his sound system, they decided to let him join the band as their lead vocalist. Together they produced their self-titled debut record “Van Halen,” which reached No. 19 on the Billboard pop music charts just four years later. The record propelled them into a successful musical career that still continues to this very day. Last month, the band revealed they would be heading on tour this summer to promote their newly released live album, “Tokyo Dome Live In Concert.” In this Q&A, Eddie Van Halen talks about his youth and the early formation of Van Halen.

Interviewed by Kristen Luna How old were you when you moved to the United States?

I was seven-years-old when we moved from the Netherlands to the United States.

when you’re at that age, you’re either serious about pursuing a music career or it just becomes a hobby. Dave, Alex and I were very serious when it came to music being our profession.

What was the reason for your family moving?

As far as I know, it was mainly because my mom didn’t like the cold weather in Holland. We moved to Pasadena because she had some family here and they kept telling us how beautiful the weather was. That convinced my mom and dad to move.

Were there any other members at the time?

Alex and I had a three-piece band called Mammoth that consisted of Alex on drums, me on guitar and Mark Stone on bass.

When Dave joined the band we decided to change the name to Van Halen.

Was classical piano the first instrument you learned as a child?

Classical piano was the first instrument Alex and I both learned to play. I was 6 years old at the time.

What was your experience at PCC like?

Our experience at PCC was rather odd in the respect that we would stumble into class very tired from having played clubs the night before. Other students would make fun of us, calling us musical prostitutes, etc., because we were not, in their mind, being true to whatever it meant to be a musician according to their principles. We were just trying to make a living and PCC helped in a lot of aspects such as learning from Truman Fisher and at the same time the social part of having met Dave.

How was your experience performing in recitals as a child?

Performing in recitals for me was nerve-wracking because you practice one piece of music for a whole year, they put you in a tiny room with three judges. It was a very scary situation to be in when you are only 8 years old.

Tell me about you and your Alex’s band, The Broken Combs.

The Broken Combs was a band my brother and I threw together with two other brothers and another friend who played alto saxophone. I was in fourth grade and played at Hamilton Elementary School during lunch. I played piano and drums, and Alex played tenor saxophone and piano. We actually had a few original songs that we wrote; our hit single was called “Rumpus” and a more traditional selection titled “Boogey Booger.” It was a lot of fun.

"Our experience at PCC was rather odd in the respect that we would stumble into class very tired from having played clubs the night before.”

- Eddie Van Halen

What led you to study at Pasadena City College?

When you graduate high school and can’t afford to go to a university, you go to your local junior college, which happened to be PCC. All I took were music courses; my most memorable was Truman Fisher’s class, scoring and arranging. He was a wonderful teacher.

How did your band Genesis become Van Halen?

Our band Genesis actually became Mammoth. Alex and I went to a record store and realized the name Genesis was already taken. It wasn’t until later that we became Van Halen.

Describe your first encounter with David Lee Roth (DLR). Was there an instant friendship between you two?

My first encounter with DLR was in Truman Fisher’s scoring and arranging class. Dave and I got along from the get go, but from the outside looking in, it might have appeared to be a very odd pairing, as I am just a jeans and tee-shirt guy and Dave was dressed to the “T” like David Bowie—from the hair cut all the way down to the platform shoes.

How did Roth start playing with you and Alex?

We started playing with Dave almost through default because

How long did you attend PCC? I attended PCC for three semesters because playing clubs became too time consuming.

You released your debut album roughly four years after forming the band that would become Van Halen. What do you attribute that early success to?

From 1972 ‘til 1977 when we got signed to Warner Bros., we played almost every night and any nightclub/bar that would have us. It seemed like a lot more than four years, but I attribute our success to all those years of playing clubs.

What was it like for all of you to sign with Warner Bros. Records and record that first album?

It was exciting to sign with Warner Bros. and to record our first album; it was also the beginning of a very long lesson in the music business.

What has been your most memorable experience playing in Van Halen?

My most memorable experience playing in Van Halen was being in the studio and having my father sit in and play clarinet on the track called “Big Bad Bill Is Just Sweet William Now. With recent news of Van Halen going on a tour with David, how do you feel this upcoming tour will go and do you believe it will be different than the last tour?

We are a rock and roll band, we make records, we go on tour, and every tour is different in its own way. It’s hard to tell you in advance how it will be different except that we will be playing some songs we have never played before.

If you never became a famous musician, what do you think you would have done instead?

I would have been a non-famous musician.

14

Space Funk

All Funked Up: Attic Empire pioneers the genre

S

Story by Keely Damara Photos by Nagisa Mihara and Eric Haynes

pace funk. It’s a music genre that blends rhythm-centric funk with an atmospheric tone set by smooth, melodic vocals. As Tyler Connaghan put it, space funk has a new quality to it that old school funk just doesn’t have.

“A lot of that funk has got a dry sound to it—it’s really fun, when I say dry I don’t mean that negatively—there’s just nothing atmospheric about it,” Connaghan said. “You’re hearing what’s right in front of you.”

Mowi Debretsion said that space funk is a fresh take on an old genre.

“A lot of our influences come from funk music,” said Debretsion. “We kind of want to transcend what it use to be and make it more listenable now and modernize it.”

Connaghan lends his voice as the lead singer of Attic Empire, the seven-piece band responsible for forging a new frontier of the self-coined genre. Most of the band met through the jazz and choral programs at John Burroughs High School in Burbank.

The band started out as a modest three-piece band who invited Connaghan to sing vocals for them at a birthday party. Soon after, they collected some horn players from the jazz band including Debretsion, their saxophone player.

Debretsion, who currently attends PCC for computer science, has been playing saxophone for 10 years. He recalled their group coming up with a name for themselves shortly before going on stage for their senior talent show. They wanted a name that would include everyone that would be playing on stage that night and

15

Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight Attic Empire performs on March 13 in North Hollywood.

landed on Attic Empire and All Funked Up. “All Funked Up” referred to the rhythm and horn section.

“It was a mouthful,” Debretsion said.

“We usually tell over the top stories of how we came about it,” Connaghan said. “But the secret is, it was something that just kind of popped into one of our heads and we were like, whelp, that sounds good. We need to play in five minutes.”

Early on, they struggled with what most bands do—finding their sound. With so many members, they brought a lot of different musical influences to the table from Incubus, James Brown, John Coltrane and Led Zeppelin to The Beatles and Reel Big Fish.

Calling their tastes eclectic is an understatement.

“When we were in high school we really didn’t have a focus,” Debretsion said. “We were playing ska songs—we were all over the place.”

After playing the House of Blues Battle of the Bands in 2011, a few line-up changes and losing All Funked Up, Attic Empire released their new EP titled “Astro Getaway” this year.

As their vocalist, Connaghan wrote most of the lyrics for the new EP. But for the most part the band collaborated in writing the new music. Usually, someone would bring in an idea and see how the rest of the band liked it.

“We’d kind of bounce ideas back and forth off of each other,” Debretsion said. “We’d tell the other guys and if they liked it we’d stick with that and if they didn’t we’d kind go back to the lab.”

Their drummer, Robert Conrad, set up a makeshift recording

studio in his garage with all the equipment they could manage to scrounge up. The new EP was entirely produced by the band, through trial and error, in his garage.

“We all worked on this album and gave our own part,” Conrad said. “It took awhile for this to come together and I did all the recording.”

On top of coordinating seven schedules to get everyone into the garage studio, the band found recording to be rather tedious compared to playing for a crowd.

“Playing live is amazing,” said Conrad. “It’s definitely a high that comes through, that’s for sure.”

Gabe Joven, who plays trumpet, said letting loose and playing in the moment just comes naturally to him and Debretsion.

“When you’re in the zone and you just lock in—then we just do weird things,” said Joven. “Me and Mowi don’t even think and we just do whatever.”

The horn section was recently able to afford clip microphones for their instruments, allowing them more versatility on stage.

“You’re kind of free to move your horn around,” said Debretsion. “Free to kind of get into the song and jam out a little more without having to be restricted to having a mic stand.”

Connaghan said a crowd could make or break the experience.

“When you’re playing for a shitty crowd, it’s just like, ‘Ugh, it

hurts!’ It breaks your heart,” said Connaghan. “But when you’re playing for some people that are just digging it and really invested in what you’re playing, then we can really feed off of that.”

Lead guitarist Nick Aguilera said that some people have told them that they’d be more successful as a four-piece band, but he cares more about making music he likes than about making money.

“I was talking to someone earlier and they told me, ‘Have you ever thought of getting rid of the horns?’” and I told him, ‘Why would we do that?’” said Aguilera.

“If we get rid of the horns then we wouldn’t be Attic Empire.”

Attic Empire is excited to promote their new EP as the first recording that they feel truly represents them as a band.

“This EP album, we’re definitely going to try to send it out,” Connaghan said. “We’re planning to send it out to radio stations, labels and really anyone we can and just blast it.”

In the meantime, Conrad said they’re looking toward bigger and better things on the horizon.

“We’re working on being a 20-piece band,” Conrad said jokingly.

The band has scheduled a 2015 tour with a stop in Houston to play the music festival Springboard South in June.

“If we get rid of the horns then we wouldn’t be Attic Empire.” ­ - Nick Aguilera

Correspondent Alan Flores contributed to this story.

ABOVE: Attic Empire after a show on May 7. (Left to Right) Robert Conrad - Drums, Brandon Shulkin - Bass, Gabe Joven - Trumpet, Tyler Connaghan - Vocals, Nick Aguilera - Lead Guitar, Raymond Fong - Trombone, Mowi Debretsion - Sax, Keyboard (Eric Haynes/Spotlight) ABOVE RIGHT: Mowi Debretsion plays sax at a show on March 13. (Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight) BELOW RIGHT: Attic Empire performs on March 13. (Nagisa Mihara/Spotlight)

16

MISFITS N’ ROSES Photo provided by goldkills.com

GOLD KILLS: CLOTHING WITH A MESSAGE Story by Kylin Offray

Two years ago, a 17-year-old boy found himself between a rock businesses herself. Landeros has given presentations about Gold and a hard place, questioning his love for art after getting in trouKills in class and she said that the company has “good potential.” ble for tagging walls with his crew. But he was able to come to “I can tell he’s really hard working and he’s really good at margrips with the fact that he didn’t have to stray away from his love keting,” she said. “It was really fulfilling to have Woodie in my of creating street art, he only had to change his canvas. class.”

Dressed well from his hat to his shoes, the now 19-year old colBetween taking three classes at PCC, Landeros meets with his lege student illustrates what made him go from graffiti to beautiGold Kills team to discuss the new wave of clothes they’re going to fully illustrating his art on his clothing. release and sits down to come up with new designs for his cloth“I realized that I can be doing more with myself than just siting all on his own. ting around,” said Woodie Landeros, a PCC “My motivation comes from seeing how business major. “All I knew how to do was hard my parents work for me,” Landeros said.

“The name Gold Kills make art and nobody is going to buy a piece “My mom always tells me, ‘Gold Kills can of paper. So what’s something that everybody still be making more money. Okay, you’ve represents the way needs? Clothes.” this, now do this. It can still be better.’ that money can destroy done For 365 days a year, Landeros wakes up evSo I always have someone pushing me and ery day not only to go to school but to run his the person inside of you.” helping me.” own business: a clothing line called Gold Kills Growing up, Landeros always felt like he - Woodie Landeros that is very near and dear to his heart. never really fit in. With a rebellious attitude “The name Gold Kills represents the way and a crew of friends who shared the same that money can destroy the person inside of you,” Landeros said. attitude, Landeros first found himself using his talents in all the With passion in his eyes, the young business owner has seen wrong places. Tagging public property didn’t seem like such a bad firsthand how money can change a life for the worse. idea then.

“A few years ago my uncle won the lottery, and once he got all “Around that time I was feeling like school just sucked and I this money he started doing things that he didn’t normally do,” was doing the same old thing over and over again every day,” he Landeros said. “I didn’t like the person he was becoming ... I can said. “And when I got caught for tagging my dad was disappointed tell he wasn’t really happy and once his wife left him he ended up and telling me I shouldn’t be doing these things so I stopped art, committing suicide.” quit doing art completely.”

“Hence the name Gold Kills,” he added. “A person can have all But a year later, in 2011, the high school student picked his pen the jewels and riches but it can kill the person inside of you.” back up and began doing what he loved again: creating art. The Talking to Landeros, it’s apparent that Gold Kills isn’t about only difference was this time around he decided to put his visions making millions. Though he didn’t deny he does want Gold Kills on clothing. to expand. Landeros believes the message it conveys is far more Getting his inspiration from multiple outlets that range from important than his net worth. music to pop culture to something as simple as walking around With most businesses, that way of thinking is unheard of. Landschool and seeing what a person has on, Landeros’s creative motor eros doesn’t mind being different as long as he’s impacting lives. is always running.

Woodie Landeros’ business professor, Ahni Dodge, has spent many “My inspiration just comes from the most random places,” he years teaching college level business courses and owns multiple said. “Even if I say I’m not going to think about it at all, I’ll be

17

Michelle Gonzales/Spotlight

Gold Kills founder Woodie Landeros sits in the screen printing lab with a sample of his clothing line at PCC on March 21. walking down the street and I’ll end up seeing something and being like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to write that down.’”

Landeros distributes his clothes through his own website, goldkills.com, where shirts, beanies, hoodies, sweats and other items can be purchased. Gold Kills recently launched its spring line “Misfits n’ Roses.”

On the website a model with rosy red cheeks and a gleaming smile poses with a crop top on that has a rose positioned on the chest. But a few pictures down, a male model can be seen looking back at the camera dramatically and quite intensely with a jersey that reads “Misfit.” “… A rose is a misfit because of its thorns and it stands out,” he said. “But once you realize you are a rose, it’s a beautiful thing.

Just being able to accept these thorns and be able to say I am a misfit and I am a rose ... It’s just about finding the good things in all the things you thought were bad.”

With expansion and more great art on the horizon for Landeros and Gold Kills, the future looks bright for the up and coming line.

“I don’t care if Gold Kills only sells one sweater as long as I get to tell people what it means. Then I feel good. It’s more about the movement. But I do want to make money of course,” Landeros said with a smile.

If he can have it his way, Gold Kills will be financially successful and he’ll be able to create more art. But, more importantly, he’ll be able to spread the message it represents: fearlessly charging forward into the fashion.

“A lot of people have their own line that they say is better and may sell more than mine, but what’s the story behind theirs?” he said.

He just wants to make a difference while continuing to be different.

Gold Kills team members Jesus Gonzalez and Erin Meyer display Gold Kills merch at the Riverside Artswalk in November 2014. (Photo provided by goldkills.com)

18

Breaking the Silence

Students on homelessness and getting by Every morning Arianna Sterling wakes up in her living area composed of two child-size rooms. She has the luxury of showering in her own personal bathroom, but must eat breakfast with her son in a communal kitchen.

Sterling has her own personal minifridge, but declines to use the shared freezer because her food has been stolen several times. The difference between her and many other PCC students is that she is homeless.

Sterling and her 11-year-old son are currently living in a women’s shelter in Highland Park. Just last year, she was couch surfing with friends, and spent September and October living in a hotel until she could get off the wait list and into the shelter.

“All of my money went to paying for the hotel,” she said. “I got help from social services to pay for two weeks, but that was it. I still wasn’t working.”

While Sterling is grateful to have a place to sleep at night with her son she also feels a great deal of stress with her living situation, due to the strict house rules.

“I worry every day when I get back that I’m going to find I’ve been written up for something inconsequential like leaving a mug in the sink,” she said.

Sterling’s story is one of many in the Pasadena community, and around the country. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated that as of 2014, there were 578,424 homeless people on a given night. HUD estimated that 84,291 of those people were chronically homeless. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, finding solid numbers on homelessness is challenging because of the fact that some situations are temporary, and many people refuse to identify their situations.

The HUD states that for the purposes of their report, “homelessness” or “homeless” refers to an individual as homeless if he or she lives in an emergency shelter, transitional housing program, safe haven, or a place not meant for human habitation, such as a car, abandoned buildings, or on the street.

19

Sterling can clearly remember when everything went wrong for her. She moved from Long Beach to Pasadena in April 2013 while depending on social services. Due to an issue with having her case transferred, her benefits were terminated.

“I had been working on campus and because my case with social services had been terminated, I lost my job here on campus,” she said.

Sterling’s issue with social services was eventually rectified through the appeal process, but by the time that happened, it was too late. She lost her apartment and had no money.

Thinking back to that time, Sterling is visibly flustered and fights back tears.

“I’m really wondering how I made it,” she said. “I don’t know where the money was coming from but somehow I was able at the very last minute to scramble $75 for the hotel that night and still wake up and get to school the next day.”

One avenue of help for homeless students on campus is through financial aid, but with strings attached.

Anthony Smith, financial aid lead coordinator for PCC, said that homeless students are in fact eligible for financial aid.

“The only problem that we have on the financial aid side is trying to get you your check,” he said. “We have to go through our own process because we’re governed by the federal government.”

One roadblock to homeless students getting financial aid is their living situation.

“As long as we have some way of identifying that they are at a group home or some kind of shelter and we have someone to vouch for that, we can go ahead and start the ball rolling,” he said.

Homeless students must show proof that they’re in a shelter to be classified as homeless.

Not all homeless students live in shelters, as is the case for Jericho De La Torre, who currently spends his nights sleeping in an empty office building where he used to work in downtown Los Angeles.

De La Torre, 26, has been homeless for eight years. He went through the foster care system, and at 18 years old, he was

out on his own. He spent two years in a job training program while trying to find work. When he was 20, he lost his job and eventually ended up on Skid Row. He found a job at a local marijuana dispensary, but it was short lived.

“The DEA shut down that dispensary in September 2012 and I’ve just been wandering ever since,” he said.

De La Torre comes to PCC and stays all day. He leaves campus around 9 p.m. and goes to a friend’s house to hang out until midnight in order to wait for other squatters to leave the office building where he stays. He goes back to the building to sleep, and is out again by 7 a.m. the next day.

“I’ve been doing that for two years now,” he said. “I’ve been doing that for too long.”

De La Torre receives $220 a month in general assistance from social services.

He also sells his blood plasma two times a week for extra cash. The downside to selling plasma is that he has constant needle marks on his arm which makes it hard to get a job.

“I totally look like a drug addict and I don’t do drugs,” he said.

According to financial aid rules, Smith said it is still possible for homeless students who don’t live in shelters to receive aid.

Under the rules, the student must have an Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOP&S) counselor working with them. The counselor can write a letter stipulating that the student is homeless, and financial aid can then use that letter for verification. While this is an option, a shelter is easier to verify.

A major issue for students who receive financial aid is the amount of time it takes for aid to be processed and disbursed. This was a challenge for Sterling when she was trying to stay afloat.

“At one point, I broke down and said I’m homeless, I need you guys to do whatever it is and get me this money,” she said. “I’m homeless and I really need it.”

Story by Amber Lipsey Another time, Sterling nearly lost belongings that she had in storage. She appealed to financial aid to allow her to pick up her check in person.

“I told them my things are in storage and they will be auctioned off if I don’t pay so please, don’t mail the check,” she said.

PCC does offer other programs and assistance to homeless students, according to Niki Dixon-Harrison, the acting director of EOP&S/CARE and Foster Youth Programs at PCC. The program provides direct aid to students in the forms of EOP&S and CARE grants. It also provides meal vouchers to students, parking permits, I-TAP cards and certified counselors for additional support.

One other program available to students is the Dreamkeepers project. According to the PCC website, Dreamkeepers is a project of Scholarship America, and is meant to help out in times of unforeseen financial emergencies. Dreamkeepers will cover certain eligible expenses, such as utilities, rent, medical and dental costs, or automobile expenses. It’s a one-time deal, and you can’t use the money for books or tuition-related expenses.

“Students should not feel intimidated to seek out these support services,” Dixon-Harris said. “One of the most important things is to break the silence. You have to break the silence. The only way you can

get help is if you say something.”

For Sterling, one of her main fears as a homeless mother was worrying that her son would be taken away from her.

“There was a moment last summer when I literally didn’t have anywhere to go, I was couch surfing, going to school in the summer and I was fearful of that,” she said.

Sterling was living on a friend’s couch in Santa Clarita and driving to Pasadena every day to take him to school. Due to the

“I hear people talking about bootstraps, but there aren’t any straps to grab.”

- Arianna Sterling distance, her son was tardy a lot.

“His school mailed me and said, ‘Hey, we notice he’s been tardy a lot and if this continues, we’re going to have to get the county involved,’” she said.

Sterling spoke to the principal and explained their living situation. Because her son has been a student since third grade, the school was very understanding and agreed to work with her.

Now that they’re in the shelter and their

situation has stabilized, she doesn’t worry so much about that. But she is worried that they’re going to ask her to transfer him in an LA school, and she doesn’t want to do that.

Sterling still has moments when she remembers how she became homeless and it angers her.

“I don’t know what else I could have done,” she said. “Even if I got a job working minimum wage, there’s no way I could work and go to school.”

Sterling’s goal for herself is simply to do the best she can to stay in school and reach her educational goals.

“I hear people talking about bootstraps, but there aren’t any straps to grab,” she said. “People just don’t know…I don’t think we pay enough attention to what’s happening in our communities.”

Sterling finally has a job again working in the Science Village on campus.

“I just focus on doing the best I can every day because I watch the news a lot and thinking about the future right now is really scary to me,” she said. “I don’t know if I’m gonna make it. I waver between moments of extreme optimism and extreme pessimism.”

Photo Illustration by Nagisa Mihara and Keely Damara

20

Story By Kristen Luna

21

Photo provided by Melanie Willhide / Illustration by Keely Damara

When Pasadena resident Melanie Willhide walked into her house one afternoon in March, the muddy footprints on her white carpet were not the first thing she noticed. Instead, she saw that her office computer was missing along with the backup hard drive.

Filled with rage, she ran through the house and noticed two television sets gone. A gold locket had also been taken.

As a professional fine art photographer and PCC photography instructor, Willhide was working on two projects at that time and her work was stored in the stolen items.

She remembers the situation as being traumatic. Yet she eventually came to recognize the experience as “a blessing in disguise.”

“I’m interested in having stuff, and then, not having stuff,” Willhide said. “It does something really interesting to people psychologically. It’s a real testament to how they handle stress. Initially I was upset and then I experienced a truly unique sense of relief.”

Roughly three weeks after coming home that day, Willhide received a call from the Pasadena Police Department revealing they found her computer.

“It was like winning the lottery, I thought it was a joke,” Willhide said.

At the time, Willhide was having an arduous time editing the two projects together. As soon as she was reunited with her computer, she attempted to recover her work and after 24 hours she was not only successful but had a creative breakthrough as a result. Her colleague Betsy Kenyon, another PCC photography instructor, was with Willhide when she recovered the files.

“Many of the images were corrupt. I remember Betsy coming

over to take a look, and she was quiet, but I know her in such a way that she did not need to speak. Her silence said that the images were better,” Willhide said. “It was the third thing that needed to happen to get these two projects together and it was just a weird moment of magic.”

A year later, Willhide, 40, exhibited her collection of photographs inspired by the corrupted files at shows in Los Angeles and New York.

“Corrupt files have very particular aesthetics,” Willhide said.

“There’s only a couple of ways they can look. With that knowledge I created files that looked like they were corrupted using Photoshop. I used them (corrupt files) as source material … It was a very successful show. It had a really relatable story.”

The two projects Willhide was working on at that time were aimed at representing life during the 1950s. A series of photographs were shot underwater at a number of glamorous locations in Palm Springs, including one set at Steve McQueen’s house.

The other series of photographs are what Willhide describes as “suburban circus pictures.” Both series come together effortlessly through distortion, giving the surreal images an even more surreal and ethereal feel. It’s visually a beautiful balance and look into the ideal 1950s life.

Willhide describes her new style as “psychological portraiture.”

“I think art has a life of its own sometimes,” Willhide said. “If you’re open enough to listening to your work, sometimes it just

Photo provided by Melanie Willhide “This is Not a Painting!” featured in Willhide’s 2014 series “Henbane for Honey Bun.” says to you, ‘I need to go this way.’ Sometimes it’s something we can’t even imagine.”

Growing up in central Connecticut, Willhide trained as a professional ballet dancer for 16 years—a career that started at the age of three and ended at the age of 19 due to a serious injury. During that time, she danced for the ballet in Hartford and had no regrets about ending her 16-year journey.

“It was very informative and I believe it made me very disciplined,” Willhide said.

Willhide’s father was an instructor at her local community college and advised her to take an introductory photography class since she would not have to pay tuition.

“I accidentally fell into photography,” Willhide said.

She credits her first photography teacher, Dorothy Imagire, for inspiring her to become passionate about photography.

“She was feminist and inter-disciplinary,” Willhide said. “Taking her class was similar to dance in that if you weren’t hearing anything then you knew you were doing well. She was very clear about her criticism, and very clear about potential and possibilities, and I just thought it was amazing that she was able to manifest this little world that mixed vampire aesthetic with feminism and the experience of being a Japanese-American. She was such a character.”

Willhide attended Rhode Island School of Design for her undergraduate work and Yale University for her MFA in photography.

Aside from having degrees in photography, she also has a certificate in art history and studied fashion.

As a creative guide for her students, Willhide feels it is necessary for her students who struggle to understand that she once struggled as well.

“When my students come back with a contact sheet that has four frames of 36 that don’t come out, I bring my first roll to show them with no single frame to show for my efforts. I learned from teachers who would say, ‘Here are the directions. Figure it out,’” Willhide said.

Throughout her photography career, Willhide has completed six major bodies of work with each project taking about two and a half to three years to finish. Her most recent project, “Henbane for Honey Bun,” has been shown at the Von Lintel gallery in Los Angeles and she hopes to do one more exhibit.

“This last series I am very deeply connected to. It came full circle to the topics I was talking about when I initially started to create work focusing on the body,” Willhide said. “I am interested in exploring the performance of desire. I often ask, is this thing he/she is doing something they have seen and are mimicking or is it authentic?”

Her photographs feature women and gay men ranging from the ages of 8 to 73.

“They are digitally collaged images. I made photographs of both artificial flowers and women. There is a cultural critique in them,” Willhide said. “Here are these objects that never age, that are fabricated to always look their best composited with images of the female body – which, unlike the flowers is subject to growing old.”

In reference to the gay men in her series, Willhide believes “men are new women” in the way they’re now objectified.

“They are subject to a harsher version of that,” Willhide said.

“It’s really about putting women up against the faux flowers in an obvious and direct way, and, in doing that trying to create a dynamic image. I enjoy art that takes a subject that is commonly objectified and disrupts that process by placing it in proximity to something that creates an obstacle for that objectification. How do you create an image of an attractive woman or man and retain the humanity without making them look freakish and compromising them in a way?”

Photo provided by Melanie Willhide “Grace and Thorns” featured in Willhide’s 2014 series “Henbane for Honey Bun.”

22

Photos provided by Melanie Willhide “Beefcake and Betsy” (above) and “Untitled (Trick #2 and Trick #4 Palm Springs, June)” (left) featured in Willhide’s 2014 series “to Adrian Rodriguez, with love.”

23

As a full-time photography instructor for the last six years and after having taught at four-year institutions such as OTIS College of Art and Design and Cal State Fullerton, Willhide found herself wanting to teach at the community college level since she had such a positive experience while attending Manchester Community College in Connecticut.

“I feel that community colleges are where one can have the most impact in higher education,” Willhide said. “I adore the students, I think that PCC students are interesting, thoughtful, varied and creative. I am very lucky” Willhide currently teaches four photography classes including elementary photography, introduction to digital image editing, portrait photography, and fashion photography. She feels that a person’s daily consumption of the world around them should inspire their creative work.

“We have a lot of conversations about source material or influences,” Willhide said. “The edges of your consumption—are equal to the edges of what your work can be. Understanding that gets students to think about what kinds of ideas they have and where they come from. In turn they understand that their ideas are limited unless they constantly feed themselves creatively.”

Abe Chuang, a former student and teacher’s aide to Willhide, attended PCC from 2007 to 2011 and recently graduated from Arts Center after studying advertising design. He currently works as an executive creative intern in New York at Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Chuang was Willhide’s student during those four years and feels he left with a vast array of skill sets.

“Melanie’s got a great eye and her experiences in the real world were absolutely invaluable,” Chuang said. “My best experiences with Melanie were when I was a T.A. Watching how attentive she is with students and her extensiveness of her knowledge of fine art. And not just fine art, the world of commercial fine art and how she can apply that to her students in teaching them, critiqu-

ing them and showing them how to do better on their projects— that was the best part.”

Former student Sergio Solorzano, 27, attended PCC between 2009 and 2013 and completed two occupational skills certificates in photography.

Solorzano described Willhide’s teaching style as “very tough.”

“She’s tough in the way that she always expects the very best from you,” Solorano said. “She will point out when she feels that you’re not trying your best or when you’re not pushing yourself as an artist.”

Solorzano took three of Willhide’s courses and received a few scholarships from the Roski School of Art at USC that included a merit-based financial aid package.

“Since I had Melanie for three courses, every single one of them was a different experience for me,” Solorzano said. “I walked out of every class with a different set of skills and experience. I learned to be more confident as an artist, which is very important.”

“I don’t think I could thank Melanie enough for what she’s done for me and the other students who have specifically come out of that photo program,” Solorzano added. “She truly cares about us and wants us to have successful careers as artists … All I can hope for, is that I can serve as a model as to what she wants her students to become.”

With a number of her students transferring to prestigious art programs, Willhide stresses, that the sooner one knows himself or herself the sooner you get to the work.

“I hope that they feel empowered to speak a visual language and that they feel like they have a unique point of view,” Willhide said of her students. “Ultimately my goal is to get them in touch with themselves.”

STEAL AWAY

Story by Gregory Elmore - Photo by Mick Donovan

Nineteenth century enslaved people of African descent traveled by ship to America. They were sold into slavery and forced to work against their will. They would sing songs of home while working to help pass the time.

Home was a better place, either a free state or heaven.

Their song was “Steal Away.”

Steven Gates, professor of music at Pasadena City College, has added his musical composition to this text and performed it in the Westerbeck Recital Hall.

The song, from a very poignant moment of time in our history, tells a powerful story.

“It’s a story that must be told,” said Steven Gates. “It’s a beautiful text.”

“Steal Away” was written in the 1800s. It was one of the spirituals sung during a time of great suffering and hardship. Singing spirituals was a form of expression in the midst of a tragic situation. They were encouraged by faith and a hope that God would deliver them to a new home. These songs of freedom were sung in the fields and especially in church on Sundays, the day of worship.

Today the song is counted among the great spirituals for its powerful meaning.

Although they made a joyful noise, the songs represented their sorrows and torment.

“It’s a powerful and enchantress text,” Gates said.

He found inspiration in the now-centuries old song after

searching specifically through spirituals of this period to write his composition to.

Gates speaks with passion and zeal about “Steal Away” and the quest of composing to the text.

“I would spend the summer writing music to this text,” he said. “Every note of every line had to say something.”

Today we might not fully grasp the magnitude of that time and their harsh reality.

At the time of their composition, spirituals sung while in the midst of torment, with the slave having suffered from a life-threatening lashing or the expectation of one that could come at any time depending on the whims of his master.

These songs are sung today to give us hope, not to depress.

Frederick Douglass, a social reformer, wrote of the emotion these songs invoked in him.

“I did not, when a slave, fully understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs,” he wrote. “I was, myself, within the circle, so that I could then neither hear nor see as those without might see and hear. They breathed the prayer and complaint of souls overflowing with the bitterest anguish.”

Some have misinterpreted the joy in the songs as a sign that slaves were comfortable with their plight.

“The remark in the olden time was not infrequently made, that slaves were the

Dr. Steven M. Gates in his office on April 28.

most contented and happy laborers in the world, and their dancing and singing were referred to in proof of this alleged fact; but it was a great mistake to suppose them happy because they sometimes made those joyful noises,” Douglass wrote. “The songs of the slaves represented their sorrows, rather than their joys. Like tears, they were a relief to aching hearts.”

Like modern day conductors of pieces by Bach and Mozart, Gates worked expressly to capture the intent and spirit of the writer, Wallace Willis.

“I set it to piano and my voice,” Gates said. “I would sit at the piano and with my voice and piano come up with melodic lines that I felt convey this text or carry this text.”

His intent was to interpret the song so that it was true to the original form, meaning and emotion of its writer.

“Every note I wrote was in service to this text,” Gates said. “It was never the other way around where I’m trying to write my notes and then fit the text into that. The text was first and my notes would fit that text. It’s a beautiful text.”

Professor Brinegar, head of PCC’s music department, said Gates’s composition was “profoundly well crafted.”

“He writes from the heart and has the skill of the mind to ask if that note is the best expression of the work,” Brinegar said.

Today this song is counted among the great spirituals. Its text has echoed through time to the heart of Gates and to our very own campus.

Brinegar requested the composition for a March performance with the concert choir, chamber singers and madrigals. It was performed again in May. Denney Premkumar, a third year music major and one of Brinegar’s students, sang “Steal Away” for a class performance.

“The trumpets blow, I ain’t got long to stay here,” Premkumar said, reciting the text.

“I got a feeling of comfort from the text.”

It would be simple enough to say that Gates composed to a song. The fact it was “Steal Away” is a testament to the heart and depth of his compositional improvisation and adds an exclamation point to his career.

“Music is a piece of work on paper but music doesn’t really exist until it’s performed,” Gates said. “So I’m just acknowledging the work that these singers have put in to making it come to life.”

24

A CROWNING M O M E N T

Story

and

photos

by

Erica

Hong

LEFT: Alex Davis’ sash and crown rest on the ledge of the mirror pool in April. RIGHT: Alex Davis, 24, winner of the Miss Asia

Woman of Achievement Pageant at the mirror pools in April.

25

She stands stoic yet anxious under the stage lights in her luminous, tangerine gown alongside seasoned pageant contestants. In her heart she believes this is it for her.

It’s early in the ceremony and the young women she is competing with have more experience than her; it’s her first pageant and her group is already up. She looks into the audience at her family and friends with their serious expressions and imagines they are deciding what they will say to ease her loss and disappointment when it’s over.

Suddenly she is overcome with disbelief. Her name is called. She is crowned Miss Asia, Woman of Achievement.

“I don’t even remember my name being called, just the shock afterwards and the audience cheering,” she said.

Her name is Alex Davis and in addition to being a newly crowned pageant winner, she is also a student at Pasadena City College. Davis is a modern day all-American girl with a diverse background that has contributed to the accomplishments she’s made in her young 25 years.

At 24, Davis entered and won her first pageant last June at the urging of her grandmother Jong Ok Bernard. Davis was

scouted at her church, Lifeway L.A., by a pageant CEO. She entered the Woman of Achievement contest, a national pageant with an emphasis on community service and education, in the Korean category and took the overall title of Miss Asia.

The pageant’s motto is “your platform is our passion.” They celebrate women’s achievements collectively: what they accomplish, what they represent and their inner beauty above all else. As Davis says, “it’s less about competing and more about a sisterhood.”

Tricia Tan, her friend since high school, believed Davis could win and supported her through the pageant.

“Not to be biased but with her talent, a very good cause and the way she presented herself, I thought she had a very good chance,” Tan said.

Following her big win, Davis entered another pageant in November 2014—the Miss USA Woman of Achievement pageant—and won a trophy for her work in skin cancer awareness.

Davis’ path into the world of beauty pageants is as unique as she is and sets her apart from most beauty queens.

Growing up with her Korean grandmother, Davis gleaned a

cultural appreciation for beauty and art supported by her grandmother’s fearlessness and tenacity.

Her grandmother married and ran away to the United States with an African-American soldier during the Korean War. She had four daughters whom she taught English, immersed herself in the American culture, and stayed with her husband until he passed.

Her grandmother loved taking her daughters shopping and would often show them how to pose like the mannequins in the store-front windows. Davis recalls she could be vain and blunt but was very loving.

“Once, during a visit I wasn’t wearing makeup, she gave me a 20 dollar bill telling me, ‘Go buy some lipstick, your face looks terrible,’” she said, laughing.

Her grandmother was very excited upon learning of Davis’ invitation to compete in the pageant in February. She passed away shortly after the news. Davis still has the last conversation she had with her recorded on her phone, and it inspired her to compete and give it her very best effort. It gave her family something to look forward to and when she won she felt like her grand-

mother was watching out for her.

Sadly, Davis’ adopted father, John Angione, lost his battle with cancer in August, just six months after losing her grandmother and two months after she was crowned Miss Asia. In honor of her father, she continued on to the next pageant level, Miss USA Woman of Achievement, with her platform of preventing skin cancer.

Although she didn’t get a new crown, she did come away with a trophy for her work, which helped her feel she had some control over something related to his passing and helped her cope.

Davis has really put herself out there and become more adventurous through all of this according to long time friend and former PCC student Ray Lopez. He was there when she was crowned and although he felt she deserved the highest title, he was happy she was crowned.

“I’m impressed with her level of confidence and her experience in trying something challenging and new to her,” Lopez said. “Whatever she puts her mind to, she does whole-heartedly.”

26