Eid Mubarak! Sacred Bonds

The unbreakable bond between women is a difficult image to perfect.

Capturing that reality for women from different countries was a French movie called “Lingui,” which premiered on the third day of Pierce College’s French Film Festival on Wednesday.

“Lingui,” which translates to “sacred bonds,” portrays the rocky relationship between a mother and daughter in Chad, Africa. When the daughter becomes pregnant at 15 years old, her mother finds a way to help her get an abortion. Despite her own beliefs and the country’s laws against it.

The screening was followed by a discussion led by History Professor Sheryl Nomelli.

“It’s beautiful,” Nomelli said., “How she comes around and finds a way to support her daughter and give her daughter the life and future that she couldn't have.”

The discussion after the film covered topics about the laws against abortions in America, and related back to the struggles the women in the film faced. They also discussed how powerful the bonds between the women in the movie are, and how important that is not only in the movie but in their own lives as well.

English Professor Donna Accardo expressed the importance of these depictions in the film, especially during Women’s History Month.

“It shows the power of women,” Accardo said. ”That even in a very oppressive and patriarchal culture, they find ways to protect and support one another.”

This film not only captured the world from a women’s point of view, but it also matched the festival’s theme of French and francophone culture.

Even though the film takes place in Africa, the language and culture is influenced by French and Muslim cultures.

French Professor Denis Pra, one of the organizers for the festival, continuously shared his love for French language and francophone culture, with this being the third year the event has taken place.

“It’s a way to bring French and francophone culture onto campus,” Pra said. “To discover all these things, to open your mind and learn new things.”

Chemical Engineering major Shreef Elbarbary thought the movie was very relatable to his own culture, and that these events are important to have on campus.

“It gets a lot of people together to talk about different perspectives,” Elbarbary said. “It's more activities we can get involved in.” scano.roundupnews@gmail.com

The last movie of the festival, "Gagarine," will be shown on Multicultural Day at 2:30 p.m. in the Multicultural Center, and will host a discussion led by Art Architecture Professor Patricio Gallegos.

Anew season approached as Pierce College celebrated the Persian New Year for the first time in the Multicultural Center Thursday.

Known by the name of Nowruz, which translates directly to “new day,” the event marks the arrival of the Spring Equinox. Those who celebrate the holiday usher in warmth and growth into their lives after a year of hardship.

Nowruz is celebrated not only in Iran, but in various parts of the Middle East and Asia. The holiday is traced back to ancient times and to Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest recorded religions.

Multicultural Center Coordinator and event organizer Tatevik Melkumyan said that it was important to begin celebrating a variety of cultural holidays to help entice campus unity, marking it as a new beginning where culture no longer has to be solely shared within the confines of student’s homes.

“We have a large Persian population not only at the college, but in the community as well,” Melkumyan said. “I just wanted to do something to make the students feel as celebrated on campus, as well as represented at the college. Things that they may experience at home and then connect with here so that it's not completely separated from them at school. So part of the culture and identity is represented.”

Sophomore Aida Ebrahimi was excited to hear about the event after receiving an email announcing it.

“I felt really included and excited because I've never been to a school that celebrates Persian New Year or acknowledges the holiday,” Ebrahimi said. “I find it really nice to know they are playing Persian music, they're serving Persian food and that I have my

Persian community around me.”

Psychology major Luna Von Dahlern said she was excited to reconnect with Persian culture, which she grew up around.

“I work on Tuesday, but today I took off to be here,” said Von Dahlern. “I grew up in Germany and my step siblings are both Persian, so I grew up with a lot of Persian food, which is delicious.”

For Senior Administrative Assistant Sean Khalifzadeh, it was a shock to see the amount of Persian students that attend the college in person, stating that with Iranian heritage of his own, it’s nice to see people unite with events like Nowruz.

“I didn't realize how big of a community there was at Pierce,” Khalifzadeh said “Being half Iranian, it's nice to see people around and what we share in our culture. I hope we have more of this.” khojati.roundupnews@gmail.com

Starting the game off with confidence and high energy, the Pierce College

Men’s Volleyball team won their first game this season.

The Brahmas won against the El Camino Warriors Friday with a final score of 3-0.

Head Coach Joseph Arechiga said this was the team’s first win in over a year, so they felt incredible finally securing a victory.

“This is a team that I knew could beat the first time we played but we just made too many mistakes,” Arechiga said. “I think we showed spurts of that in the third set but the first two were very solid playing so it’s just a great victory.”

In the first set of the game, the teams went back and forth until the Brahmas pulled away in the second half and took a commanding 1-0 lead.

“We've won sets previously this season, but every time we won a set, we've had a huge slump in performance,” Arechiga said.

“We won the first set, which was awesome, but I was like, ‘Guys, let’s not have that slump again, let's keep it hot.’ And then we came out with three to four aces and got a nice lead from there. We changed the pattern and then we pushed through that so I think that was huge.”

With their momentous performance carrying into the second set, the Brahmas played a continuous dominant game that further extended their lead to 2-0.

Assistant Coach Farzad Ramin said the energy throughout the game was consistent since the team worked on having the same mindset to play as a unit.

“The key moment was that we had the same energy from the first set to the last,” Ramin said. “We went down a little on the last set because we have some injuries, but we came back from that with a win.”

While exhaustion played a vital role, the third and final set had the audience on the edge of their seats. Coming to a tie, and then falling behind, the players tempered their emotions and kept their energy up, leading to a long-awaited victory.

Middle Hitter Bryan Ta expressed his excitement about winning their first game this season.

“There were some tough moments in us missing serves,” Ta said. “But we all got back together and supported each other to bounce back. We feel really great and excited to focus on what we need to work on for future games.” nkhait.roundupnews@gmail.com

The next volleyball game is an away game that will take place on March 31 against Antelope Valley at 6:00 p.m.