City Magazine 2015

FALL 2015

ADRIAN NOVOTNY SCARS AND SPIRITUALITY PG.14

ART OF THE LIVING CANVAS PG.4

THE PRICE OF A NAME PG.12

ACCIDENTAL DJ PG.18

EDITOR’S LETTER Dear Readers,

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fter a couple of years of limiting ourselves to stories based directly here at LBCC, we decided to broaden our horizons and branch out into our amazing community. It’s been a long year holding down the position of Editor in Chief, striving to put out the best magazine possible.

Hard to believe that my supreme rule is coming to an end.

As difwcult as this production run has been, it would not have been possible without the new talents and great efforts of our small groups of writers, editors, graphic designers and photographers, and the guidance of our advisers Morgan Barnard, Sean DuFrene and Cindy Frye. My tyrannical predecessor, Katie Cortez, implemented special assignments for the writing class last year, and I liked them so much, I forced my writers to do the same. Do I feel bad about it? Hell no, and the ones who stuck it out are, I think, better writers for it. They pumped out some well-written, interesting, and even some inspirational stories. Thank you all.

Now, our editors had it the worst, hands down.

Being stuck in a classroom with me for three hours at a time, twice a week, is no easy task. At times an overly-aggressive, loud, foul-mouthed dick, might be how they describe me. I agree, mostly, but they put up with me and got through the grueling editing process.

Eliza, what can I say, her editing prowess was second to none and she womanned the hell out of that computer as my copy editor. Angela, fact checker extraordinaire, kept us away from GFEs (gross factual errors). Jon, I really just don’t know what to say … snack king (second to me, of course) and his incessant sarcasm kept us on our toes. Barry, always good for a fresh perspective to offset all of us young whippersnappers. Nicole, those headlines though! Brilliant. Nicholai, always so damn laid-back, even when he disagreed with some edits and made great suggestions himself. Very impressive. Last, but certainly not least, our honorary editor Jacob Rosborough—he didn’t have to be here, but he came almost every day (usually pretty late) because he wanted to learn. If more students had that mentality, well, the world might not be a better place, but teachers would be stoked.

This publication is a solid eight years older than I am. It has been running since 1979, and though next semester brings big changes, I am sure it will be running for many years to come.

I hope the articles you read here open your eyes to the world around you. Interesting stories are everywhere, so get off your damn phone and take them in.

Cheers, Long Beach, Brandon E Richardson, Editor in Chief

MAGAZINE Editor in Chief: Brandon E Richardson Chief Copy Editor: Eliza de la Flor Staff Writers: Arieel Alcaraz Eliza de la Flor Angela Martori Jon Peacock Brandon E Richardson Jacob Rosborough Barry Saks Sylvana Uribe Chris Wedderburn Nicholai Whiticar Editors: Angela Martori Jon Peacock Jacob Rosborough Barry Saks Nicole Ukwu Nicholai Whiticar Photographers: Joseph Carillo Carmen Castro Bria Cole ThereLee E. Fair Ashley Guevara Kathryn Van Kirk Phyllis Miller Jazmine Nevarez Jay Pangan III Brandon E Richardson Darline Rodriguez Ray Shine

Long Beach City College 4901 E. Carson St. Long Beach, CA 90808

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Graphic Design Art Director: Alfonso Pena Assistant Art Directors: Sameun Nhim Roozbeh M Shahbazi Production Manager: Amy Park Photo Coordinator: Gen Aguilar Designers: Gen Aguilar Jeff Babbitt Myles Barksdale Maria Diaz Naomi Ferguson Elizabeth Gonzalez Ashley Guevara Vladimir Herrera Felipe Lira Carolina Mejia Anthony Myers Sameun Nhim Eduardo Oviedo Amy Park Alfonso Pena Deja Ross Edgar Salazar Roozbeh Shahbazi Ray Shine Jerome Yang Advisers: Morgan Barnard Sean DuFrene Cindy Frye Tel 562.938.4111 lbcc.edu

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Pub Crawling the Night Away 11 Bars, 23 Beers, 6 Shots, Oh My! pg.2 The Ink Mystique History Etched in Skin pg.4 6 Tips to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse What your teachers never told you about surviving a zombie apocalypse pg.6 Music With a Mission Max Lo wants to make history pg.8 Yoga Class Bends the Norm LBCC teacher’s progressive class provides grounding and clarity pg.10

The Price of a Name Service club concerned with possible backlash pg.12 Soldier, Sun Dancer, and Scholar Adrian Novtny’s Journey from Vietnam to Native American Spirituality pg.14 Invisible Scars Student veterans living with PTSD pg.16 A Man by Many Other Names LBCC Student Christopher Behrick is DJ Smuckers pg.18

Hair Ties and Heavy Metal LBCC women defy gender roles in male-dominated trade class pg.20 To be or not to be: The Lives of Cosplayers Cosplayers give a glimpse into their experiences pg.22 A Peek into the Past Behind the scenes of Long Beach history pg.24 Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls A Fall Favorite pg.26 Psuedo Connectivity Virtual reality is overtaking people’s Lives pg.28 FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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11

BARS,

23

BEERS,

6

SHOTS, OH MY!

Story by: Jon Peacock Photos by: Brandon E Richardson

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with a group of friends at the V Room on 4th Street. I open the door and the wrst thing I notice are prowling cougars and bikers donning their colors. Tossing back brews at the bar or shooting pool, everyone seems to wt right into place. After wnishing two Heinekens and a friend’s offensively sweet chocolate martini, we head out.

Next comes The Stache Bar, right across from the V Room. The sign nearly unreadable and the door awkwardly offset. With bar seating, tables, and a pool table, it seems like a nice, relaxed hang-out bar. The beer menu is written on a mustache-shaped chalkboard behind the bar, wlled with a unique selection. I opt for an Almanac Sour beer, which, to my surprise, tastes exactly like Sour Patch Kids. My friend, however, describes her drink as dirty pipe water.

We play pool until we decide to head two blocks down to The Red Room.

On our way to The Red Room, we decide on a quick trip to a McDonald’s where we meet a guy who continually badgers us for

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Y JOURNEY BEGINS

weed. We leave him disappointed.

At The Red Room we all sit at the bar.

Jukebox blasting, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, awkwardly-placed pool table, skateboard decks lining the walls, and skateboarding videos on the TVs, create a gnarly vibe.

However, one of my favorite things about it is the $3.50 Pabst Blue Ribbon tall cans.

Continuing up the street to Fern’s, three locals on skateboards start to harass us, yelling at us to “get the fuck out of Long Beach.”

One of the harassers yanks off his shirt and

“Everyone is acting friendly with the biggest of smiles and the highest of Å^M[ º 2WV 8MIKWKS confronts Brandon Richardson, editor in chief of this publication, while Richardson is taking photos. Richardson, being told to get the fuck out of Long Beach again, simply responds, “Dude, I’m from Long Beach.”

Shortly after, a cop car drives by and the harassers scatter down a nearby street,

one of them yelling, “I have a warrant!”

Bit of a buzzkill.

We head into Fern’s and it’s fairly busy and wlled with very intoxicated individuals.

Richardson continues taking pictures, and is once again confronted by a man yelling at him, “If I’m in that picture I’m gonna break your fucking camera!” Yes, he was indeed in the picture, due to his epic photobombing skills—no, he didn’t break his fucking camera.

We leave, but not before Richardson slowly wnishes his beer.

Farther down 4th Street at Ashley’s, a folk band performs, people drink, simple as that.

We cross the street to the last bar of the night, the Pike Restaurant and Bar. The seemingly smaller bar is packed with 20-something-year-old hipsters. Everyone is acting friendly with the biggest of smiles and the highest of wves.

After a couple of beers, I head outside to wait for my ride home. At this point I am 11 beers, wve shots, and half an underwhelming martini deep from the six-bar crawl—I am shitfaced.

Here ends bar crawl number one: the “relaxed” attempt.

I start the next bar crawl where I left off—the Pike Restaurant and Bar—for a pint of PBR. Almost just the way I left it, guys with beards fill about 60 percent of this popular bar.

Next comes Ashley’s and a pint of Stella.

The dive is fairly empty and dead, with the exception of a few very drunk local patrons.

One, nicknamed Cricket, talks to me for 45

“locals-only type place.” Chantal is with a guy called The Prophet, who reads people’s palms.

As I head out, The Prophet burps and says, “You can quote me on that.” So I did.

I arrive at The Stache Bar and notice it’s a bit busier than last time. I look to my left and see The Prophet walk through the door. He starts telling everyone that I am writing an article about bar crawling in Long Beach, so I pound my $4 Michelob Ultra and cross the street to the V Room, where nothing has changed except my sobriety.

I head toward Broadway Street and into a bar called Broadway Cocktail Lounge, wlled with multiple gay couples, people playing pool, and karaoke singers. I notice that it seems to be very gay-friendly; however Patrick, a bartender there, corrects me, saying, “It’s not gay-friendly, but straight-friendly.” He explains parts of Broadway are known as the “gayetto.”

I start my mile-long jog toward Pine Street. I walk into an upscale restaurant and bar called The Federal Bar, which used to be a bank. The bar is wlled with a younger, well-heeled crowd. I drink a beer. I leave.

Next comes Shannon’s, which I immediately notice is a bro bar. So after drinking one beer I leave.

The Dubliner is by far the busiest bar I have been to yet. Live music is blasting and crowds of people are constantly shifting. To get to the bar I need to bob-and-weave through different groups. After one beer, whose name escapes me, I tire of being bumped into so I head next door to the wnal stop—Sgt. Pepper’s.

Sgt. Pepper’s is doing last call when I ap-

Craw l 1: The “Relaxed” Attempt V Room

The Stache Bar

The Red Room

Fern’s

Ashley’s

The Pike Bar

The Pike Bar Ashley’s Fern’s The Red Room The Stache Bar V Room Broadway Cocktail Lounge Federal Bar Shannon’s The Dubliner Sgt. Pepper’s

Craw l 2: The Repeat and Double

minutes about how he “knows what Long Beach is” and how inner-city kids need to go to camp. He almost is as passionate as he is drunk.

Leaving Ashley’s, I arrive back at the scene of the wrst bar crawl’s disturbance—Fern’s.

Now instead of being wlled with drunk people, it is not wlled at all. So, after one Rolling Rock, I head out to The Red Room, where a group of young women sing Toto’s “Africa” loudly in a corner, people crowd the bar, and two pairs play pool.

Chantal, one of the pool players and a bartender at Fern’s, explains the reason for my encounter outside Fern’s is that it’s a

proach, so I quickly buy a beer and down it.

After 11 bars, 14 beers and a shot, I walk northbound toward my ride home. I attempt to piss in an alley (which seemed like a good idea at the time). A passing cop car yashes its lights on me and I hear a quick siren. I stumble hurriedly across the street and wnd my ride home.

Here ends bar crawl number two: the repeat and double.

After being confronted by locals and told to “get the fuck out of Long Beach,” meeting The Prophet, and being informed about the “gayetto,” I can say, no matter where in Downtown Long Beach you drink, you’ll have a memorable experience.

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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MYSTIQUE

History Etched in Skin

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heir elaborate designs often catch our eye.

Many we recognize, such as dragons, Mickey Mouse, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. With others their tales are as old as humanity itself, representing cultures from around the world. No one place can claim the origins of the art of the living canvas, but at Long Beach City College we can travel the world by simply walking through a hallway.

“I embrace my cultural heritage with a Foo Dog, a deity in Chinese culture,” said Clinton Nguyen, 22, a chemical engineering major at LBCC. In some Asian traditions it is known as the companion of Buddha, a protector and defender of the law. “There are many different representations of the creature, but this is the one that best describes me and it keeps me on point just by knowing it’s there with me at all times.”

According to the BBC documentary “Beyond Ink,” tattooing has been practiced for many centuries. For

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Story by: Jacob Rosborough Photos by: Joseph Carrillo and Bria Cole

“The tattoos have become a part of military life.”

- Gus Orozco, LBCC student example, it has been part of Japanese culture since at least the 5th century for beautiwcation, magic, and protection. But, due to British influence, the Japanese government saw tattooing as subversive and outlawed body art in the 1870s, driving the practice underground.

As a result, the Japanese gangster class, the Yakuza, embraced it with elaborate designs showing colorful and exotic depictions of life and death in the most vivid terms.

Edward Zwanziger, 38, a geology major at LBCC, found inspiration in a Bible verse for a tattoo that encompasses his life struggles. “‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ That in itself is the culmination of my years of drug addiction and when I survived those many trials and tribulations of that life and giving in to a new way of thinking,” he said enthusiastically. He went on to explain that the body art depicts that time of his life and “cemented it in my brain and body what I needed to become.”

During the Crusades in the 11th and 12th centuries, warriors and knights would brand their chests with the cross of Jerusalem before or after battle. The brand showed devotion to their faith and allowed them to receive proper Christian burials. “Tattoos are symbolic around the world in many different ways,” said LBCC anthropology professor Dr. Adrian Novotny.

“Some warriors must earn their artwork by proving themselves in battle.”

Moving forward to modern times, “Martin Hildebrandt set up a permanent tattoo shop in New York City in 1846 and began a tradition by tattooing sailors and military servicemen from both sides of the Civil War,” according to pbs.org.

The golden age of tattoo in America was during and after World War II due to many servicemen returning home and adopting patriotic tattoos. According to Chuck Eldridge of the Tattoo Archive founded in Berkeley, Calif. and now in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the trend continues to this day.

“There are so many units, divisions, and groups of friends in the U.S. military. The tattoos have become a part of military life. Many people get them to represent people and places they gained and lost in the course of service,” said LBCC Student Trustee Gus Orozco,

a nine-year veteran of the U.S Army and reserve drill sergeant. He continued to say that the people he served with are like his brothers and sisters, and that is the reason he has so many tattoos to represent them.

“I would not be who I am today without those people I met and still meet on a daily basis.”

“Some warriors must earn their artwork by proving themselves in battle.”

- Dr. Adrian Novotny, anthropology professor at LBCC Despite its acceptance in the military, until recently, the fashion industry would have shunned or even demonized permanent body art.

“It’s all about image and the designer and what they want to portray,” said De Jesus Cordon, a fashion design major and LA Fashion Week coordinator for wve years. “From what I’ve experienced, sometimes they will cover it up with makeup or tell the photographer to edit it out in post, but many still see it as the urban look and they do not want that.” On the other hand, Cordon said, because of magazines and websites that embrace the so-called urban look, industry standards are changing.

With the vast history behind tattooing and its ever-changing social stigma, it will be interesting to see where the ink takes us.

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WHAT YOUR TEACHERS NEVER TAUGHT YOU ABOUT SURVIVING A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Story by: Brandon E Richardson Illustration by: Edgar Salazar and Ashley Guevara rain-hungry, monstrous, walking dead, infected, stupid, inhuman: zombies. Or, as Dianne from “Shaun of the Dead” described them, “Just look at the face: it’s vacant, with a hint of sadness.

Like a drunk who’s lost a bet.”

The idea of zombies in cinema—the walking dead, extreme virus epidemic victims, voodoo curses—has been around since the 1930s. Yet, it never seems to go out of style. Probably because everyone is thinking to themselves, “Holy shit, this could really happen someday ... maybe …”

But what if it does? How would a person survive something like that? Sure, the rich can make a pretty good run at it, assuming they spend their money on making their homes impregnable fortresses, since they won’t be able to outrun the bloodthirsty undead with their classic rich guts. What about people without money? What about the average college student?

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ł

KNOW YOUR AREA

You’ve been told from an early age to have an exit plan from your home in case of wre or earthquake, so why shouldn’t you have one for a zombie apocalypse? Plan it out.

But you must also know your area. Know the vulnerable spots around you to avoid dead-ends, dark alleys, endless welds with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, buildings with ridiculous yoor plans and only one way to escape. The list goes on. If you wnd yourself in places like those, just quit.

“Seriously, steal a fucking houseboat.”

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R Guns and ammo R Blunt and/or sharp objects R Food and water, plus other survival supplies to last R Knowledge of your city R Fitness R Street smarts R Book smarts R MacGyver smarts (Rubber band, toilet-paper roll, paper clip, and duct tape. What do you do?)

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HAVE A PLAN AND

BE MODERATELY FIT

No, you don’t have to do CrossFit every day of the week and post pictures of it on your Instagram hourly, nor do you have to be able to run 10 miles in one hour. But come on, if it comes down to a person who is relatively wt or a total fatty, who do you think is going to get caught by zombies wrst? Colombus said it best in "Zombieland," "Cardio. When the zombie outbreak wrst hit, the wrst to go, for obvious reasons, were the fatties."

GAIN ACCESS TO AS MANY WEAPONS AS POSSIBLE

‘But Brandon, guns are expensive!’ Yeah, I know. Poor college students can still make friends, right? Buddy up to a right-wing gun nut. Politics won’t matter when the world is coming to an end, so put your stupid, hippie ego on the backburner. Baseball bats, large knives, maybe a little Casey Jones action with hockey sticks, cricket bats and golf clubs? All these things can be cheap, or even free, if you know where to look. It won’t matter to the zombies if you are beating them with a top-of-the-line, titanium golf club, or a mini-golf putter.

STEAL A HOUSEBOAT

Seriously, steal a fucking houseboat. Can you think of a safer place to wait this out? The owner is probably already a zombie anyways, so what’s the big deal? And if I had to guess, based on movies, zombies aren’t strong swimmers. Plus, it’s mobile.

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DON’T BE A HORROR-MOVIE CLICHÉ

Watching most horror movies, I wnd myself thinking, “What the hell is wrong with you?

Why are you doing that?!” People, who inevitably will become victims, due to their own stupidity, will run to the second yoor of a house they aren’t familiar with, search dark and “deserted” places, put their weapon down in situations that seem slightly safe, shoot a zombie once and assume that it’s dead … this list can go on forever. Don’t be that person. Don’t be a cliché, dumb-ass.

STOCK UP ON SUPPLIES

When a majority of people are zombies, you can bet your ass that the production of just about everything will stop. Food, clean water, batteries, basically anything that will come in handy will not be in production anymore. Walmart, Costco, Sam’s Club, buying cheap and in bulk is underrated. Non-perishables only—canned or dried goods so it won’t go bad, ya dig?

Come on, we all eat MSG-infused Cup of Noodles and Top Ramen anyways. ‘But Brandon, I still can’t afford it!’ Then when shit goes down, you better be the wrst one looting the local grocery stores. Or just start stealing little by little now—your call.

Also, guess who’s running out of food wrst?

Vegans. Sorry, not sorry, all you supercool and edgy college kids out there, but as

bviously, no plan is perfect. Shit happens.

Things go awry. Mistakes are made in the heat of the moment. Life’s hard. And clearly, there is no guarantee of survival no matter what you do. But, hey, a solid plan never killed anyone, and college students are the future, right? Just remember the words of wisdom from Columbus, “It’s amazing how quickly things can go from ‘bad’ to ‘total shit-storm.

Tallahassee said in “Zombieland,” “Time to nut up or shut up.”

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usic with a mission

Max Lo makes beats in his studio.

Max Lo wants to make history

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is skin is inked with tattooed writings, pictures, and designs, and sometimes he wears a crystal on a chain around his neck, an embodiment of art and creativity. You might think this guy is a little out there, but really, he is down-to-earth.

As a music producer and artist, Maxwell Dayton Lough, or Max Lo in the music world, is on a mission to create music and spread it everywhere he goes.

You can feel his vibes through his music, with sound frequencies that might send a chill up your spine or simply make you want to get down and dance. His vibration also is felt through the positive aura of his person. He has a jolly laugh that goes right along with his warm and engaging personality.

Walking into Max Lo’s home studio is like entering a den of inspiration. Nearly every square inch of the walls is covered by colorful paintings, creating a trippy atmosphere to zone out and unleash his subconscious beat-making skills. Here, he wnds his creative yow and can focus on the task at hand, whether it be cutting a sample, making a bass line, or jamming on his guitar.

The artist describes his style as “a hip-hop, groovy, 8

Story by: Nicholai Whiticar Photos by: Joseph Carrillo reggae-type sound. I want to be versatile, like, where I’m known for my own sound, but you can still come to me for whatever kind of track.”

Max Lo always is trying to keep his music fresh.

“Every time, I’m trying to explore new realms of whatever I’m doing, whether it be tweaking the reverb differently, or adding something new. I’m always searching for new sounds and samples. Like, when I do sampling, I’ll sample the fucking weirdest shit, like, I sampled some 1940s Catholic chant shit the other night, some old Russian orchestra shit, like, French pop music from late ‘70s, early ‘80s.”

Long Beach rapper D-Haze said, “He takes his music so seriously and actually loves it and that’s what really inspired me to work with him and get to know him as a friend.”

From an early age Max Lo was surrounded by the love of music. His uncles played guitar and piano, and everyone in his family was a sort of “music connoisseur.” He was exposed to a wide array of music, from reggae to oldies, and, of course, hip-hop. He saw music as something people enjoyed and he start-

“Sometimes when I’m making beats , chopping a sample or playing drums, I’ll close my eyes and just drift off. It’s like a meditative, spiritual thing.”

- Max Lo ed playing guitar around age 10. Born in Ventura County and raised in Long Beach, the budding musician was influenced by local artists such as reggae-rock band Sublime.

Max Lo moved with his family to Warren in northeastern Ohio. There, he started getting into making beats. “I nonstop fed my mind on that software knowledge for a very long time, like, I kind of locked myself in a room when I was 17, and I really haven’t stopped since then.”

A few years later, Max Lo’s professional career began. Working at a recording studio, as an engineer in Ohio, he honed his beat-making skills and started working with artists from Cleveland. “There’s an artist called Ray Cash and he got on my beat one night at the studio. Ever since then I got that little taste of someone that has been heard by millions of people.”

At 22, Max Lo moved to Texas and picked up a Southern feel in his music. In Austin, he linked up with two rappers and started the hip-hop group Soulfresca.

He said being exposed to so many different cultures nationwide rubbed off, fed his creativity, and continues to do so.

“It’s a freedom thing. It’s a get-in-touch-with-yourself type of thing. It’s dewnitely a freethinking type of thing,” he said. “Sometimes when I’m making beats, chopping a sample or playing drums, I’ll close my eyes and just drift off. It’s like a meditative, spiritual thing.”

Stephanie Elise, Max Lo’s manager in Texas, said, “There’s nothing out there that can compare to such a unique and refreshing sound. Connecting with Max’s music is experiencing history in the present. You can’t help to want to be a part of it.”

Currently, at 27, Max Lo is “working on covering the Cali area.” He said, “I want to touch people everywhere. I’m trying to walk the globe and have people hear my shit everywhere.” He is working in Long Beach with his “homie” and fellow artist named Cadenza, originally from Jamaica. He also keeps in touch with artists all over the country and makes beats for them long distance.

“I’m a people person and I’ll go right up to someone and I can catch someone’s frequency or vibe off them,” Max Lo said. “It’s easy to find the inner-circle of any place you go to and that’s pretty much what I try to do.”

When talking about what he’s most proud of, Max Lo said, “My number one accomplishment is seeing a whole big fucking room of people going insane to my music. That’s the best feeling. Like, money’s cool, but seeing people feeling a groove you made, like, when I zone out and make a beat, then I see people moving to that moment I had here in the studio, you know that’s dope.

“My number one goal is to make history. I don’t wanna make money or anything. I just want that lifelong historical, like Beethoven. He didn’t care, he just fucking played his piano and he’s like an asshole, but you still know about him to this day.”

maxlomakesbeats.com

Max Lo with tools of his trade

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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YO

LBC C st

ud e

CLASS BENDS

nt Ra quel Cordo ba in warr ior 2 pose during yoga class at the Liberal A rts

Story by: Nicholai Whiticar Photos by: Darline Rodriguez and Joseph Carrillo

Campus.

LBCC teacher’s progressive class provides grounding and clarity

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is 6-foot-8-inch, 250-pound muscular frame streaks toward the basket and soars through the air. LeBron James is working on his slam dunks during an early morning practice.

By late afternoon, however, you might catch him upside-down in a headstand or bent over in a downward dog.

According to Men’s Health Magazine, James and many other professional athletes such as NFL quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, and NBA forwards Kevin Love and Kevin Garnett, utilize yoga as a key component of their mental and physical training. These accomplished athletes practice yoga to increase their yexibility and strength, as well as to improve their breathing, balance, and joint health. Yoga also helps to train their minds by developing their body awareness and mental calmness, which can reduce their overall stress.

According to medindia.net, yoga began 26,000 years ago.

The word “yoga” originates from 10

“My main objective is to give my full effort to bring students to connect with their inner-self … and to have fun!”

- Rick Anderson, LBCC yoga instructor India, stemming from the Sanskrit word “yuj,” which means to become one or join together in union. Whether it is connecting the body and mind, becoming one with self through meditation, or strengthening awareness of the present moment, yoga may improve people’s quality of life all over the world.

Little do many students at Long Beach City College know, these benewts also are available to them on campus.

Rick Anderson, a yoga instructor at LBCC, said he

is enthusiastic about creating a unique and effective yoga practice for students of all kinds.

He focuses on implementing core conditioning and Pilates with modern forms of yoga to enhance the athletic aspect, while maintaining the spiritual nature of yoga through teaching meditation and mindfulness.

Anderson wrote his thesis on yoga because, he said, he “loves it so much.” He graduated from the University of Arizona with a master’s in physical education and has been teaching at LBCC for more than a year. He started practicing yoga at age 14 when his mother convinced him

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THE NORM

yo x, center, practices warrior 1 during dent Tranisha Ale u t s C C B L

to try a class. At the time, he was a basketball player and quickly noticed signiwcant improvements with his yexibility, strength, and power. He also started experiencing fewer injuries.

Anderson describes his class, which is his own creation, as “more of a cardio slash power slash yoga sculpt.” He said, “What I’m doing with my students is, I’m trying to build their strength by holding poses for a long time; however, incorporating yow yoga, or Vinyasa Yoga.

Vinyasa Yoga is connecting the breath with the movement.”

Anderson prefers teaching this innovative form because traditional forms of yoga involve less movement and more sitting. In his class, students have to keep their minds engaged because, not only do they have to focus on their breath and the regular yow of Vinyasa, but also integrate various athletic training techniques to strengthen and tone their bodies.

The class at LBCC consists mostly of young females, but ages range from late teens to late 60s. The class meets in the volleyball gym, which provides ample space to move and breathe. Entering the gym, you see an array of differentcolored mats placed in rows across the wooden yoor.

Students dress in tight athletic wear, while Anderson dresses like a typical high school basketball coach—a ball cap, T-shirt and shorts. Holding a clipboard, he walks around the gym instructing the students.

Desiree Todd, 22, a psychology major, said, “I like the openness of the class. The teacher is really nice and he doesn’t pressure you to do all the moves, especially if you’re not ready. And you’re not close together in a really small classroom.”

Anderson’s class is Todd’s wrst yoga experience.

“Yoga is really fun. I didn’t realize I liked it so much.

It’s a good new experience and I would dewnitely

ib the L t a s s a ga cl

eral

Art

. pus m a sC

recommend it to other students,” she said.

Anyone is welcome to sign up for the class, even people with injuries, ailments such as arthritis, and disabilities because, Anderson said, yoga is known to accelerate healing and reduce stress. In his class, he modifies each pose and exercise to each person based on the student’s athletic ability and body type, ranging from a person with disabilities to an athlete. Anderson said the main reason people seem to take yoga at LBCC is to quiet their minds and get away from the fast-paced life of being a student.

“You feel very accomplished after you wnish your yow,” Todd said. “My back doesn’t hurt as much and I have a hip problem and it doesn’t hurt a whole lot

“You feel very accomplished after you finish your flow. And I feel a little more energized.”

- Desiree Todd, LBCC student either anymore. And I feel a little more energized.”

Melissa Sopheap, 20, an international business major, said, “I’ve noticed my back pain has stopped pretty much. And I do get more relaxed, like, afterward you feel really great, and you get a good sweat on.”

At the end of each class, students lie on their backs for a 10-minute meditation called Shavasana, or corpse pose. This gives students the opportunity to reyect and become actively aware of the present moment. Anderson said, “My main objective is to give my full effort to bring students to connect with their inner-self … and to have fun!”

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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THE PRICE OF A NAME Service club concerned with possible backlash

Story by: Angela Martori Photos by: Jazmine Nevarez

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parade of Toyota pick-up trucks accessorized with mounted machine guns.

Black yags with Arabic words in white. Men dressed in black, standing with loaded riyes. Bloodshed follows. Their soundtrack is the steady clicking and popping of bullets traveling thousands of feet per second. Their opponents are killed or captured. Their captives are unsure of their fate. Are they to be beheaded? Will it be a mass execution? Will their stories go viral?

Starting in summer 2014, those stories of execution did go viral, becoming a worldwide image of the word ‘Isis.’ One group started to dominate headlines.

Currently calling themselves the Islamic State, the Sunni jihadist group was once Islamic State of Iraq and Syria—or ISIS as people still say today. As they continue to overtake cities in the Middle East, terror is becoming synonymous with the acronym.

Where does this leave the

unconnected companies and groups identiwed by this unimposing, four-character, two-syllable word? For some it meant keeping their name and apologizing for any confusion people might have. For others it meant a name change.

For example, Isis Wallet, the phone application, became Softcard. The Long Beach City College women’s club Ladies of Isis became Rho Nu Kappa, more commonly known as PNK. Sue Jimenez, 21, said she and fellow PNK members looked up Isis on social media. “When we saw the images, we were like ‘Oh, no.’”

Unconnected to the viral images, PNK is a social club where members do a variety of volunteer work, such as beach clean-ups and fundraising. Members also participate in school events, such as cookoffs and sports competitions.

PNK President Erika Ramirez, 20, a communications major, left a table in the student lounge full of her friends, only to walk through

a door into a nearly empty room and run into three more friends.

“We’re the wolf pack,” Ramirez said, referencing the club’s mascot, a white wolf. “We like to provide a sisterhood.”

Since its start in 2012, the service club has been active in the community. “Even though we’re new, we’ve established our name so far,” Ramirez said, talking about their reputation as Ladies of Isis.

Now that name is gone, through no fault of their own.

“It’s just ironic how we have to change it (the name) again,” said former PNK president Jackie Cossio, 20. She explained that Isis is the goddess of rebirth and renewal and that founding members believed they were remaking the club from scratch as they broke from AKNA, a club still active on campus.

Those involved with the search for a name to replace Isis admit there was concern about the club’s name before Anita Gibbins, director of Student Life and student

“Language is powerful. If one person makes that connection, that’s one person too many.”

- Anita Gibbins, LBCC director of Student Life and student health and psychological services 12

“We’re the wolf pack.

We like to provide a sisterhood.”

- Erika Ramirez, PNK president (pictured at right with gavel)

health and psychological services, suggested a change. Gibbins was concerned with possible scenarios such as a member in a grocery store, wearing a shirt with the word Isis. She said she worried about the safety of club members and questioned if they would have time to explain who they are.

Summer continued, along with the violence. The coverage of the terrorist group’s gruesome acts and explicit threats spread. By the start of fall 2014, a meeting of club members and school staff had been scheduled. It was time to act.

After the discussions of renaming the club, during a 1 a.m. phone call between Ramirez and Cossio, a simple, yet meaningful name was chosen.

“I hate the ‘ladies of,’” Cossio said. “She (Ramirez) came up with the letters P, N, K, because pink and black are our colors. It’s basically pink but without the ‘I.’ The ‘I’ is Isis, so it was taken from us.”

The decision was made. But at what cost?

For the ladies of PNK, it meant school had started and they had limited promotional materials. No iconic, giant pink glittery letters. No banner. No using their brandnew T-shirts.

Gibbins said those involved knew marketing was a main concern. “We already had a plan for it … we found some funds. We were ready to pitch in our own funds but it didn’t come to that,” she said.

Even so, club members, along with Cossio, had a lot to do. “It was stressful. We don’t have that much money to be doing all of this,”

Cossio said. “We made new shirts for Join-a-Club Day. That was my Saturday—my whole Saturday.”

Is the payoff worth it?

“We’re so involved with the school, the community. We want to show them that we’re still here, we’re still a positive thing. That there is no negative afwliation,” Ramirez said.

“Language is powerful,” Gibbins said. “If one person makes that connection,” in this case between the women’s club and ISIS, “that’s one person too many.”

However, in the 2004 article “Political Correctness Threatens American Liberty,” published in “Culture Wars,” John Attarian wrote: “Leftist hypersensitivity has permeated everyday life in the real world.” He said that “sensitivity folly” accomplishes a “sort of leverage over people.”

Columnist Michael Nebab, 26, a political blogger for Everyday Ambassador, said the answer is not so simple. Initially, he started to agree that we are more culturally sensitive now, “Of course we are.”

He stopped, rocked back in his chair and rubbed his hands across his head. “It’s easy in a post-9/11 world to look back and say that the world has gotten so much worse … but how would we really know?”

Around campus there is no sign of Ladies of Isis. On LBCC’s Joina-Club Day, the only link to their former identity was the pink canopy sheltering members as they recruited students. Their transformation into PNK was complete.

The four-letter word has been left to the terrorists.

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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Adrian Novotnys journey from Vietnam to Native American spirituality Story by: Barry Saks

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Photos by: ThereLee E. Fair E Ray Shine

n early 1969, while stationed with the 937th Engineering Group in Pleiku, Vietnam, a 25-year-old Adrian Novotny wore peace signs and high-heeled, brown-suede, Acme cowboy boots, not his Army-issued black boots, as a sign of protest.

Novotny did not resist his military draft after graduating college because he didn’t like his job at General Motors. Although he was being groomed for high management and the job paid well, he didn’t like the lifestyle.

Novotny couldn’t tell his parents he wanted to quit because he thought it would have broken his parents’ hearts. Besides, he wanted to wnd out why the U.S. was wghting in Vietnam. He didn’t accept the explanation of stopping communism. He thought because he had a college degree, he probably wouldn’t be sent to Vietnam.

While in basic training, he was

asked if he wanted to go to Ofwcer Candidate School. He refused.

So, Novotny was in Pleiku.

Shortly after he arrived, Novotny befriended some Vietnamese women, some as young as 14, who worked in the non-commissioned ofwcers club. Novotny said the sergeants responsible for hiring the

about a bet. The bet was one soldier, in a bouncing truck, couldn’t shoot the hat off of a peasant. The soldier shot, missed the hat, but blew off the peasant’s head.

Then, in early 1970, Novotny’s duty was almost completed, and for two weeks he trained his replacement. As part of his duties, he occasionally yew to Qui Nhon, but there was constant risk. If they yew too high, it would be too cold and if they yew too low, they would be vulnerable to attack. Novotny told the helicopter pilot that varying the time they flew would make it more difficult for the enemy to predict their flight patterns.

But he was ignored, after being honorably discharged and a brief return to America, Novotny again left the states. In Germany, a year away from the war, he reconnected with a soldier from his unit.

Novotny was told that shortly after leaving Vietnam, a helicopter was

“While he (Novotny) practices Lakota (teachings) he helps other students find their own path.”

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Marco Sanchez, LBCC student women, lined them up, asked them to turn around, and then hired them by “attractiveness.”

Novotny said the women understood they had to do whatever the sergeants ordered, “either on the yoor or in the backroom.”

Another dehumanizing event that stuck in Novotny’s mind, is when he heard some soldiers joking

downed, killing his replacement along with three others, whom he had befriended.

In 1972, Novotny returned to the U.S. He earned a bachelor’s in anthropology through the G.I. Bill. He moved to California where he received a master’s in anthropology and a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Oregon.

As time passed, Novotny realized he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He had episodes of uncontrollable anger, such as smashing a malfunctioning tape recorder that was “defying” him, or driving on Southern California freeways, frustrated and fantasizing about killing everyone in his way with “50-caliber machine guns mounted on my hood.” He visited the VA Hospital in Long Beach and was diagnosed with 30-percent disability as a result of his PTSD. After a few visits, he didn’t return. He thought it wasn’t helping.

Novotny eventually found help for his PTSD when he delved deeper into his Native American spirituality. He said the wrst necessity of his spirituality is the belief in “a power greater than humans. Let’s go out in a major storm and look at 25-foot-high waves that come at the force of 50 tons. We’ll never be able to throw a switch and stop those waves.

The second necessity is to live your life in harmony with that power. I have to live in a compassionate relationship with nature.”

Novotny’s quest toward spirituality began in high school when he started studying martial arts. It is then that he dewned himself as a warrior. The inyuence of Native American spirituality, particularly the ways of the Lakota, began much later, after getting married.

Later in life, he dewned himself as a sun dancer and piercer. He said he performed sun dances in Arizona—staring at the sun, moving with it, for four days in June. Sun dances are yearly renewal ceremonies. As a piercer, his skin would be cut, a piercing pin of buffalo shinbone placed in it. Then, he would be hung from a tree until his skin tore, showing his willingness to die for the tribe. He stopped piercing in 2009.

“For Lakotas, there are many (ceremonies) whereas, historically there was only one,” said Craig Stone, the American Indian Studies program director at Cal State Long Beach. “So, you see it as a living religion that evolves.” He explained that hanging from hooks usually occurred simultaneously with the sun dances.

Stone emphasized interconnectedness and individual re-

sponsibility to others. He said, “This doesn’t work with a construct of self or the alienated individual from humanity.”

When speaking about Novotny, Stone said, “I’ve known American Indian students who’ve gone to (Long Beach) City College and have been inspired by him. Because of the classes he teaches and his experience, he is able to articulate ideas that have meaning to them and to express the value of the Indian ways.”

Novotny has been teaching anthropology for more than 26 years at LBCC. Recently, his Magic, Witchcraft and Religion class has had a waitlist. Aside from classroom teaching, he also advises the Pagan Club. The club’s past president, philosophy major Marco Sanchez, 21, who wants to teach, said, “While he (Novotny) practices Lakota (teachings) he helps other students wnd their own path.”

Novotny is respected by students and teachers alike. LBCC psychology professor Tricia Alexander said, “He’s intelligent, creative, funny … that makes a winning combination. He champions causes. I think that is admirable.”

Novotny realized he had to respond differently to situations upsetting him. He believes his salvation from the traumas of war lie in responding in a meditative way.

“I have ample evidence to show my impulsive reaction to anxiety is unhealthy. I don’t want to be a role model of anger and conyict.” He wanted to show his children “coping strategies that are educational and enlightening, not destructive and damaging. I see so much of me in them. Fortunately, I don’t see the uncontrollable rage.”

Archive photos courtesy: Adrian Novotny

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INVISIBLE SCARS

Student veterans living with PTSD Story by: Barry Saks

She spoke nervously recounting her rape.

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t was July 1979, about a month after finishing basic training at the Naval Amphibious Base, Little Creek, in Norfolk, Virginia. Sheryl McAdoo, 61, now a veteran and a business management student at Long Beach City College, was raped by a civilian. The rapist (known as John Doe for this story) was the abusive spouse of McAdoo’s friend, who also was serving.

McAdoo’s friend was divorcing John Doe, and whenever she had to see him, she brought a third party, hoping another person’s presence would deter him from further abuse.

However, about a week before her friend’s birthday, John Doe lashed out.

Early in the week he assaulted one of his wife’s friends, sending the male victim to the hospital. Two days later, John Doe followed McAdoo to a bar, waited for her to leave, then jumped her from behind and anally raped her with a gun to her head. By the end of the week, he murdered his wife and attempted to murder another female friend of hers.

“The military swept it (her rape, defined as military sexual trauma or MST) under the rug as if it never happened,” McAdoo said. “I got no treatment for it, and I went on for years and years with drug abuse and using alcohol … trying to drown out all the trauma that I experienced.” Despite her traumatic experience, she served four years, completing her full enlistment.

In 1992, after congressional hearings, the VA was authorized to provide outreach 16

and counseling for women suffering from MST. In 2004, Public Law 108-422 made the VA’s provision of MST services a permanent benefit, according to the December 2007 article “The Veteran Health Administration and Military Sexual Trauma,” in the publication “American Journal of Public Health.”

McAdoo started attending the Renew program at the Veterans Hospital in Long Beach in November 2006, to help with her post-traumatic stress disorder and MST. She still meets with a therapist weekly.

She continues to suffer, 35 years later.

She said she can’t be in crowds because they make her feel insecure. Besides getting support from LBCC Veterans Center, she gets support from her husband of four and a half years. When McAdoo explained how he helps her cope, she said, “The main thing that my husband does is he recognizes what I’m going through … my periods of PTSD or sometimes depression.”

Another veteran suffering from trauma is Michael Negrete, 25, a kinesiology major at LBCC. He served more than 14 months in Afghanistan in two tours as a Navy medic attached to a Marine helicopter squadron. During that time, Negrete spent three weeks in a Scottish-run emergency room at Camp Bastion in Helmut province.

Recounting his experience with his first trauma patient, Negrete said, “The patient was hemorrhaging from his left leg. After that, I could not get the smell of blood out of my senses. I would see it on TV, I could still smell it. It stuck with me for a while.”

“I could not get the smell of blood out of my senses. I would see it on TV, I could still smell it.”

- Michael Negrete, veteran and LBCC student

However, Negrete doesn’t believe his experience with the trauma patient in Afghanistan caused his PTSD, but rather an experience he had while stationed on Oahu, Hawaii. He witnessed the aftermath of a helicopter crash from his lanai in Kaneohe Bay. He quickly discovered the pilot’s identity as someone he knew.

“I couldn’t do anything to save John (the pilot). I remember waiting helplessly on the shore for him to be delivered to us, but he never arrived,” Negrete said. “I had to ‘down’ him from yying while in Afghanistan (revoke his ability to yy due to his not having the correct eyeglasses) because that was within my control. Meanwhile, I wasn’t sure who returned him to yying status, thus my feeling guilty. Clearly it was a physician, but I feel as though had he still been ‘downed’ his death wouldn’t have ever occurred.”

Afterward, Negrete said, “I can recall that I went about two weeks without really communicating with most people.”

During his first year back from active duty, Negrete said he had too much time on his hands and drank too much.

“I didn’t realize it, I thought I was just partying,” Negrete said. “I thought I was just catching up with friends. I got into a relationship and started to realize my actions were not healthy for a relationship. So I saw a psychiatrist from the VA and that is when I realized I was trying to self-medicate.”

He said now he doesn’t drink often at all, and when he does, it’s no more than one or two drinks. He knows now he’s not responsible for John’s death, but said

anxiety in crowds still is an issue. “I feel like the anxiety I feel is attributed to the lack of control in the mob, just like my lack of control in the crash.”

According to the PTSD Foundation of America website, one in three returning service members is diagnosed with PTSD, but less than 40 percent will seek help and, on average, five active-duty service members commit suicide each day.

James Martinez, a wnancial aid specialist at LBCC, helps run the Veterans Center at the college. “A very large percentage of our student population here either suffers from PTSD or TBI (traumatic brain injury),” he said. He went on to explain the VA has said that close to 80 percent of veterans suffer, at the very least, from TBI. Martinez said many veterans don’t realize they suffer from TBI because the symptoms, such as memory loss, are common for many people who don’t suffer from the disorder.

LBCC President Eloy Ortiz Oakley served as a sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division and the U.S. Army Chemical Weapons Command from 1984-88. While Oakley said he feels fortunate not to have seen combat, he said, “Most of the senior-level staff had all been in Vietnam. You could tell there was some trauma that they were trying to deal with. I saw a lot of divorces. I saw a lot of drinking, self-medication. It was accepted as part of the job. Unfortunately, it probably also caused a lot of excuses and reasons why we don’t want to take mental health seriously.”

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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A MAN BY

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weak rise of applause, whoops and whistles struggle up from the crowd waiting for the next drag performer to appear.

The 50 or so patrons are chastised, “Oh no, no, no, that was terrible. That was pathetic. Let’s try that again, folks, and this time make some noise!” The booming voice wlls the darkened room, much like the wgure of DJ Smuckers wlls out his sound booth at Hamburger Mary’s, a restaurant and gay club in downtown Long Beach.

“Smuckers” is the alter ego of 35-year-old Christopher Behrick, a communications major at Long Beach City College with a focus on electronic media and broadcasting. He is a bear of a man at over 6 feet tall with a huge frame, but perhaps the biggest thing about Behrick is his smile, revealing him as more Winnie-the-Pooh than grizzly.

He favors T-shirts bearing Star Wars characters or sayings like, “Sarcastic comment loading in 3...2...1” and colorful shorts. Watching him in the booth, as he sets his loops before a show or adjusts a mix during, he is quiet and serious, occasionally folding his hands across his stomach as he checks a monitor. He laughs often and easily around people and is known for his quick wit, which serves him well when trading quips with the Christopher queens during drag shows.

Smuckers Beneath his very public persona, though, Behrick is a man described over and over by those around him as extremely hard-working, generous, talented and driven.

He began college pursuing a career in business but it was not his passion. Behrick always has had a love of music and performance, but says he became a DJ “almost by accident.”

“My wrst impression of Smuckers was intimidating! But then I realized he was a gentle giant,” said Psycadella Façade, a drag queen who has known Behrick for about 10 years. Behrick started attending a monthly charity event at Ultimate, a non-prowt center in East Los Angeles where Façade performed. The center is an HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention group focused on the

MANY OTHER NAMES LBCC student Behrick is DJ

STORY BY: ELIZA DE LA FLOR PHOTOS BY: BRANDON E RICHARDSON JOSEPH CARRILLO

“A badass. He can line up a show, co-host, DJ, run lighting and even handle financing.”

- Delta Work (renowned drag queen)

LGBT community. Façade noticed Behrick was comfortable with the audio equipment and technical procedures at Ultimate.

Behrick started out dabbling as a DJ in high school when he participated in the color guard and cheer squads. He was on varsity cheer sophomore through senior years and coordinated the mixes for both groups. At that time, all the mixing was still done on tapes.

Façade guffaws recalling the apparently not-so-gentle encouragement when Behrick was prodded into the role of DJ. The event’s original DJ earned the moniker “Skippy” because his donated equipment was so sensitive it would often skip in response to crowd noise. When Behrick was asked to step in, “‘Smuckers’ was thrown up as a joke, a big huge joke,” said Behrick. “There was already DJ Skippy, like peanut butter, so Smuckers plays the jams. It became 18

like my drag name. rick years ago when she Because now nobody started hosting Dreamknows my real name.” girls, a weekly drag Well, not nobody. review at Mary’s. She Angel Zaragoza, 36, described Behrick as “a calls Behrick, “Chris. badass. He can line up Fat. He’s my brother a show, co-host, DJ, run bear. I’m his pain-inlighting and even handle the-ass.” wnancing.” She has seen Although the two him take charge and are not blood-related, shoulder responsibility they call each other at multiple events, often siblings. Fast friends going unthanked and since elementary always with a smile. school, she refers to Behrick said, “I know Behrick’s mother, now how to run a show. This deceased, as her other has all happened mostly mother. Zaragoza was because I’m a show DJ.” the troublemaker, reHowever, he has ferred to by Behrick’s ambitions beyond the mother as a “little booth. He calls himself devil,” and Behrick “a triple threat. I can was the little brother sing, dance and act.” who got her out of Eventually, he would like scrapes. Zaragoza to DJ on satellite radio. hasn’t been able to He likes the freedom see him perform often afforded by radio, where DJ SMUCKERS SMILES AT QUIPS MADE BY BELLA FARROW, THE HOST OF THE as Smuckers, but said, he can have a show and MARGARITA MARY’S EVENT AT HAMBURGER MARY’S IN LONG BEACH. “He’s always been Mr. sing on the air. It also Shining Star.” lends more stability than The other Zaragoza sister, Lea, said that Behrick is a singing career. As he said, “For my mouth, satellite a great dancer. Lea Zaragoza said, “He’s big and tall would be suggested. And I’ve got the body for radio.” but yexible. He’s doing splits and I can’t!” She also He already enjoys a sort of local fame, often called said she and Behrick rarely call each other by name, out as “Smuckers,” not only at Mary’s, but also at instead using profanities like “Fat Bitch” or “Fat Girl.”

LBCC and at his job at Target.

Even her 5-year-old daughter calls him “Uncle Fat.” He recalls a day at Cabrillo Beach on a biology The Zaragoza women and other close friends are class weld trip when a young woman tapped his shoulBehrick’s family. He has no blood relations closer than der timidly and said, “Smuckers?” the East Coast and London. He never knew his father “That was so cute,” Behrick said. “I call it sub-lebrity.” and his mother died in 2000. His voice maintains its easy cadence when he explains that his mother got pregnant in an interracial relationship in the ‘70s and marriage was not an option. His mother told him that his father had been mugged and suffered head trauma before meeting her, and at some point in the pregnancy, Behrick’s father threatened Behrick’s mother with a gun. She left him.

Behrick’s loyal family of friends is impressive.

Ricardo Moya, 34, met Behrick more than 16 years ago when they worked at J.C. Penney Co. Moya was panicking over a transaction as a Christmastime shopping line grew in front of him. Behrick assisted him, explaining that he was also an employee, and the two became instant friends. Moya witnessed Behrick evolve into Smuckers and said the DJ has grown more business-driven. Even on a day off, Moya’s seen Behrick step up to the booth at Mary’s if he feels the vibe isn’t DJ SMUCKERS LAYING DOWN THE TRACKS AT right. Moya calls Behrick “Mother Bear” and said BehHAMBURGER MARY’S NIGHT CLUB IN LONG BEACH CALIF. rick wlls that role to many.

Drag queen Delta Work began working with BehFALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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Story by:

Sylvana Uribe Photos by: Jay Pangan III

LBCC women defy gender roles in male-dominated trade classes While monotone skills that meet the standards of the lectures and American Welding Society. vigorous “There is dewnitely a place note-taking are for women in trades,” said Tim more common Shoemaker, a metal fabrication classroom sounds, instructor at LBCC with more than the screeching of metal sheets being 30 years of experience in the sheet fed to machines has become the metal industry. “Patience is needed noise of choice for Liliana Escatel. for this type of work and with the Escatel, 19, serves as student right mindset, anything is possible.” council vice president and is one Intrigued by the program, of the few women enrolled in a Escatel attended the club meetings nontraditional trade program at regularly. While the majority of Long Beach City College. The the members used club time engineering major was wrst drawn to work on projects, Escatel to the artistic opportunities offered still was learning how the bulky by the metal fabrication program tools and machines functioned. after seeing its booth at Join-a-Club Determined to no longer feel left Day. “I saw all the designs and behind, Escatel committed more projects they had made out of metal to the trade by signing up for the and I thought it was really cool,” semester-long classes.

Escatel said.

Hidden behind The metal pitch-black goggles fabrication and wearing scorched technology gloves that were a program at loose wt for her slim LBCC offers hands, she immersed students herself into working with training in metal. Escatel’s focus sheet metal on executing the tasks and welding, overshadowed her fear - Katie Fajardo, LBCC student of being one of three as well as the opportunity women in the class. to test for an industry-recognized Another metal fabrication certiwcate. Students who complete student, Katie Fajardo, 37, recalled the program leave with entry-level the initial responses she received On some days she picks up a nail polish brush, on other days, a hammer.

after joining the program. “They told me to drop it because there were too many males,” Fajardo said about the reaction from family and friends. Although she joined the program for personal enrichment, she plans to work toward a certiwcate in metal fabrication.

“They told me to drop it because there were too many males.”

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Josie Meugnoit, a metal fabrication student, uses welding equipment to build a mini-motorcycle model from scratch.

Commonly associated with male-dominated trades is the

stigma that women are unable to do the work. Julie Schneider, an instructor in the LBCC welding department, disagrees with this.

Schneider entered the industry in the mid-90s, and at her wrst job site as a welder was the only woman among 450 men.

“Women and welding go really well together,” Schneider said.

“Trades aren’t always heavy, hard, laborious work. It’s a lot of fun.”

Women working in what is considered to be a “man’s job” is nothing new in this country. During World War II, icons like Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to contribute toward the war effort by stepping out of their roles as homemakers and into factories.

Once the war ended, women were thanked for their services and were replaced by former soldiers.

Nontraditional work is dewned by the Women’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor as an occupation in which women account for 25 percent or less of total employment. According to the bureau, 36.84 percent of the women in the labor force were between the ages of 25 and 44 in the 1970s, while in 2012, this wgure stood at 41.9 percent.

Indeed, the presence of women in the workforce has grown, but they continue to be poorly represented in nontraditional industries. Data collected by the Women’s Bureau for 2013 revealed that only 4.6 percent of those employed in the welding industry were women. Similarly, women represented 5.5 percent of those employed in the sheet metal industry.

However, professions in the areas of science, law, and sports have ceased to be categorized as nontraditional as more women enter those previously male-dominated welds.

Regarding the trade industry, the wnancial rewards available are overlooked due to the lack of equal gender representation. However, the Women’s Bureau notes that nontraditional jobs offer higher entry-level wages that typically range from $20 to $30 an hour,

“I was struggling to survive as a young woman, and I started to look around and realized that the jobs men did paid more.”

- Dr. Lynn Shaw, LBCC electrical technology professor

which Lynn Shaw, an electrical technology professor at LBCC, attributed as an inyuential reason for having entered the nontraditional industry. Shaw said, “I was struggling to survive as a young woman, and I started to look around and realized that the jobs men did paid more.”

Shaw has held jobs as a miner, steelworker, longshore worker, and electrician. She was often frustrated with being the only woman on job sites, which is why she founded Women in Nontraditional Employment Roles, or WINTER. “Women don’t think of these careers, no one tells them they can do it,” Shaw said. Her non-prowt organization continues to serve as a support network for women in the nontraditional line of work or for those considering it.

Shaw said that diminishing the emphasis on whether a job is for males or females, or what she has dubbed as “occupational apartheid,” opens up more opportunities for anyone willing and able to work.

As was the case for Escatel, her interest in a trade triumphed over the need to prove herself.

“I tried it because it looked cool, I never considered it as a career path. Taking these trade classes has made me rethink everything,” Escatel said.

As she considers the possibility of pursuing certiwcation in the trade, Escatel continues to wnd comfort in the echoing sounds of metal being cut and the humming of hungry machines.

Instructor Julie Schneider teaches in the LBCC welding department.

“There is definitely a place for women in trades.”

- Tim Shoemaker, LBCC metal fabrication instructor FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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TO BE OR NOT TO BE:

THE LIVES OF COSPLAYERS

Cosplayers give a glimpse into their experiences Story by: Angela Martori Photos by: Jay Pangan III

JILL CLABORNE, A FASHION STUDENT AT LBCC, POSES WEARING A HANDMADE COSPLAY COSTUME.

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ELIZABETH CRUZ POSES AS MS. MARVEL

Since the 1980s, cosplay has become more t begins before you ever step foot inside the building. Waldo, from “Where’s Waldo,” is crossing mainstream with an explosion of nerd culture. “When almost every blockbuster movie or book is sci-w, fanSouth Figueroa Street. Outside the doors, Mario tasy, or geek-related, we (nerds) are no longer the is holding a spray-painted sign and asking if anyminority, we are the majority,” one’s seen a certain princess. said cosplayer and Comikaze Standing above passersby, Ms. panelist Abby Dark-Star. With Marvel is ready to protect the city. the inyux of new fans, cosplayCharacters gravitate in waves er stereotypes are irrelevant. toward the glass doors framed Dressed in a nondescript by a yellow welcome banner.

- Marissa Mobley, LBCC student sweater and pants, bangs twistThe building is overtaken with color, noise, and creativity. ed back into a business-casual style, cosplayer Elizabeth Cruz, 24, has no outward It’s not Halloween—it’s Stan Lee’s annual Comimarkers of being into any fandom. But her room kaze Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center hints at it. A handful of figurines and a comand cosplay always is encouraged. ic-themed bedspread are the only visible fan According to the 2014 Funk & Wagnalls “New merchandise.

World Encyclopedia,” cosplay, a Japanese contraction “‘What, you’re into costumes? Is that weird? You of the English words costume and play, originally dedon’t look weird,’” was a response Cruz has received wned people that dress up and portray anime (Japanese-style animation) characters. It’s expanded. Today, from friends unfamiliar with the hobby.

A receptionist for the Long Beach Convention movies, comics, commercials, novels, and video games are Center, Cruz has been cosplaying for four years and just a few of the mediums cosplayers use for inspiration.

“It’s not as nerdy as you think it is.”

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has worked Anime Expo (A8) for the last two. “It’s one of the wrst things on my Facebook,” she said with a guffaw, implying it isn’t something she can hide. At one point she gestured to a wgurine of Madoka Kaname from the series “PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA,” her favorite character to cosplay. “My favorite thing about it (Madoka)—it’s full of frills, and it’s pink, and it’s in your face.”

Cruz said her authenticity has been challenged by other cosplayers. She has been accused of being a ‘fake geek girl.’ “It’s like prove yourself, that you’re worthy of what you’re wearing, and you’re not just doing it to be sexy.”

For Marissa Mobley, 19, a Long Beach City College student, her ‘non-nerd’ look gets remarked upon at conventions and the “Homestuck” cosplay meets she attends. Mobley has cosplayed the webcomic’s character, Porrim, since 2013. “‘So-and-so wants to talk to you, but they’re really intimidated by you. They think you’re really pretty,’” Mobley recalled. Her words began to run together as she shook her head, bafyed by what she said friends have told her. “I’m like, you see me acting like an idiot over there yelling music, why are you afraid to talk to me? I’m a nerd in a costume.”

Mobley does advise an I-don’tcare attitude. “It’s how you have to go through the cosplay community.” She explains that there are a lot of elitists who will call you out on every detail that’s not true to character. “You just have to be like, OK, and you go on with your day.”

Mobley can be seen around campus with her hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, wearing lipstick, a pullover sweater, skinny jeans, and tall boots, more likely to be perceived as a fashionista rather than a cosplayer. In fact, she began cosplaying the character before reading the comics. “I didn’t even ask what the comic was about.”

Dressing up, hanging out, and eating with friends is what drew her into the culture. “It’s not as nerdy as you think it is.”

She now knows enough about the webcomic to get by, but reading the entire thing is not on her todo list. “It was about 7,000 pages when I started … I don’t have time to read all that.”

Cosplaying Porrim has become an important part of Mobley’s social life. People ask for poses on her Tumblr and she gets recognized at meets as Hot Mama Porrim, a nickname given to her by a friend.

“What’s so awesome about this community is that it means so much to so many different people.

It is what you make it,” said Nick Smith, a prop designer, cosplayer, and panelist at Comikaze.

LBCC fashion design student Jill Claborne, 25, was drawn to the hobby in high school because of the costuming. “I’ve loved just dressing up in a costume,” she said. So when her wrst boyfriend suggested they dress up as characters in their favorite anime, “Full Metal Panic,” she said it didn’t strike her as odd.

After attending A8 in 2005, Claborne got into masquerades and skits. The hobby took off. “I’ll do a character I like and that the design isn’t atrocious.” The fashion designer in her came out when she smirked and admitted to not respecting poorly designed characters.

Summer 2015 marked Claborne’s 10th anniversary of the hobby. When asked if she’d continue, she laughed and gave an emphatic “oh yeah.” Claborne said she plans to continue cosplaying well into her golden years. “I love seeing little old ladies cosplaying someone like Sophie from ‘Howl’s Moving Castle.’ There are a lot of things you can’t cosplay when you’re 25.”

Claborne said a common misconception is the idea that people mainly cosplay to dress scantily because they are attention whores.

“Putting on a wig, putting on a swimsuit you bought at Target and calling that cosplay. It’s dewnitely not,” she said. “That’s so much fun,” she is quick to add, “but the less you have to wear, the more in character you need to be to pull this off.”

Marissa’s Cosplay Advice

DON’T DATE ANYONE IN YOUR FANDOM. IT’S DRAMA.

INTERESTED? JUST ASK. YOU HAVE AT LEAST ONE FRIEND THAT’S GOING TO BE INTO IT.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO GO TO MEETS AND CONS

BY YOURSELF. YOU’LL MAKE FRIENDS.

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TON Y CRAY LINDSE REPARING P IS E FIRST FOR TH ENT. EV FRIDAY

A Peek into the Past

Story by: Sylvana Uribe

T

Photos by: Phyllis Miller

Behind the scenes of Long Beach history

he sun had yet to rise and there we were, navigating through a cemetery. The wet grass stuck to our shoes, but we kept marching. Well, it was more of a stumble considering the uneven, muddy ground. We carried boxes to booths hidden somewhere in the weld of tombstones.

In approximately two hours, tables were set, merchandise was on display, and we dusted the dried dirt from our shoes. Guests poured in through the gates and the Historical Cemetery Tour began.

History never had been something I’d been passionate about.

The stories were interesting, but it always boiled down to taking the tests, passing the course, and moving on. This all changed after taking an American history class at Long Beach City College when I was faced with two options for a semester-long project: a research paper or volunteer 40 hours with the Historical Society of Long Beach. Organizing historical pieces and smiling at gatherings seemed easy enough.

Located on Atlantic Avenue in the heart of Bixby Knolls, the HSLB is a non-prowt organization committed to collecting and preserving the city’s history. The society encourages the community to keep Long Beach’s past alive through its 24

S OTE AT DEV VEZ TEERING A H NC UN BRIA TO VOL EUMS. S TIME RY MU O HIST

exhibits, historical tours, and participation in events like First Fridays.

Gallery coordinator Ashley Franks-McGill stressed that whether tasks are big or small, volunteers are vital to the organization. “We are a staff of four people, so we can coordinate the whole event, but it’s really the volunteers who carry out the event. We really couldn’t do it without them,” she said.

The majority of my internship was spent taking down the “Com-

“I have so much pride for LB and I feel like I have a real connection here.”

- Allison Bretall, HSLB volunteer ing Out in Long Beach” exhibit which celebrated the local LGBT community. Equipped with a hammer and wax scraper, I freed the exhibit items from the walls to eventually be stored in the museum’s dimly lit vault. At wrst, I thought this task would foster a detached feeling from the contents contained within the frames; however, quite the opposite occurred. Taking down each piece, the stories of the smiling faces parading through the city’s streets or those huddling for a group photo came to life. The

historical society is one of the few places where the walls do talk.

Shortly thereafter, the gallery was barren and the required volunteer hours were ofwcially over.

Except, I wasn’t ready for it to be done. So why stop?

The summer days crept in and the need for help with the “See, Sip and Savor” tour drew me back into volunteering. The walking tour allowed guests to enjoy wine and appetizers while viewing homes rich in historical value. Volunteering at the event, I became acquainted with the Gaytonia building, where much of the original 1930s architecture remains preserved. For years I had admired its castle-like towers that grazed the sky, and its neon-green sign which displayed its name. As I rode in its European-style lift elevator in total disbelief of my surroundings, I found myself shaking hands with the building’s owner.

“The perks of being a volunteer is seeing the behind-the-scenes of how things are put together, and the opportunity to get close to people you wouldn’t have met as just a regular event attendant,” volunteer Brian Chavez said. The 20-year-old history major at LBCC said doing something with history outside the classroom has allowed him to become more in touch with his community. His love for the weld

ON ALLIS L, A L A T E BR EER UNT VOL AT THE B HSL

A HSLB DISPLAY AT A FIRST FRIDAY EVENT.

contributed to him becoming the youngest docent at the Drum Barracks Civil War Museum in Wilmington, Calif., where he has been volunteering for wve years.

Chavez began volunteering with the HSLB in April 2014, and said the organization’s events are a fun way of bonding with the city. “I feel a lot closer with my community and being surrounded by people who have similar interests in history and the history of your city is pretty great.”

Whether sitting behind a desk cataloging items or helping with early morning set-ups in a cemetery, working with organizations like the historical society requires someone to become immersed in the lives of a city’s past and to seek to create a historical wngerprint of their own. It doesn’t matter if a person is a lifelong resident or new to the area, a connection is sparked.

Allison Bretall started working with the HSLB as part of an internship she had to fulwll while studying at

“The perks of being a volunteer is seeing the behind-the-scenes of how things are put together.”

- Brian Chavez, LBCC student

Cal State Long Beach. The San Diego native relocated to Long Beach in August 2011, and, despite being alone in a new city, she became acquainted with her surroundings through her assigned tasks.

“I process donations everyday like pictures, postcards, and scrapbooks. Lots of people’s memories and mementos are being donated, and I get to see what somebody else saw in Long Beach,” Bretall said.

Now a regular with the organization, Bretall said she couldn’t imagine herself not volunteering at least twice a week. “I have so much pride for Long Beach and I feel like I have a real connection here. Long Beach is now my home.”

“I have lived in the city all of my life, but didn’t

consider it a home. I always was on the search for something new, and ached to pack all of my belongings and embark on an adventure elsewhere.

It wasn’t until I started volunteering that I could refer to Long Beach as “my city.” It wasn’t until I allowed myself to get lost in the past that I could begin to appreciate the present.

BO LON OKS A G B BOU AN EACH T THE DL ON FIRE D HISTO GB EAC EPART RY OF M HA VIA ENT TIO N

GILL, KS -MC Y FRAN DINATOR ASHLE OR O C Y R GALLE

Historical Society of Long Beach, 4260 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807 (562) 424-2220 hslb.org

LIND SET U SEY CRAYT PAD ISPLA ON, LEFT, Y OF A THE H ND ASHL EY FR ISTOR ANKS IC PA -M CIFIC COAS CGILL T CLU B.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls A Fall Favorite Story by: Sylvana Uribe Photos by: Eliza de la Flor & Phyllis Miller

T

he fall season marks a time of new beginnings as classes start, the leaves change, the temperature cools, and the obsession with pumpkin spice takes over. Whether it be in coffee mixes or sweets, the pumpkin-spice wxation has made terms like PSL (pumpkin spice latte) a norm. College students may have little time and limited funds to create culinary masterpieces. This recipe is ideal for those on a budget and, while simple to make, these cinnamon rolls are complex in yavor and capture the pumpkin-spice craze in every bite.

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls: Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Yields: 8-10 miniature rolls

Ingredients: • • • • •

1 can of crescent roll dough (standard rd eight-roll size) ½ cup pumpkin purée ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice 2 tablespoons of brown sugar ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

Cream cheese frosting: •

• • • •

½ cup of cream cheese 4 tablespoons of butter, softened to room temperature 1 ½ cups of confectioner’s (powdered) sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1-2 tablespoons of whole milk or water

Directions: 1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.

2. In a bowl, combine the pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice, brown sugar, and cinnamon and mix well by hand.

3. Unroll the dough along the vertical seam and pinch perforations together. Spread the pumpkin wlling evenly with spatula or butter knife. Tightly roll up the dough lengthwise into a log. Use a serrated knife to cut into even-sized pieces, and place side-by-side, making sure sides of the rolls are touching, into the greased baking dish.

4. Bake the rolls for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Take out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove to plate to wnish cooling.

5. To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in the sugar, vanilla extract, and milk. If a thinner consistency is preferred, add milk by the tablespoon.

6. Spread frosting over the cinnamon rolls and enjoy!

FALL 2015 CITY MAGAZINE

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PSUEDO CONNECTIVITY Dislike

Rant

Spread

Virtual reality is overtaking people’s lives Story by: Spring 2015 Editors Class Illustrations by: Aaron Wiseman and Eduardo Oviedo

fortable co el com nne e f y cti n a ng “M h social media, g u bu o t thr in person. ” not

D

on’t misunderstand. Our staff loves technology. We are tweeters and Tumblrs and YouTubers. We post pictures of food on Instagram and share stories on SnapChat. However, we recognize the dying art of personal interactions in the physical world and the importance of rejuvenating the signiwcance of face-toface contact.

People have more social media “friends” than days in a calendar year. They are aware of events in their downtowns and places 12 time zones away.

And yet, people make plans, in a yurry of group texts and e-vites, sometimes weeks in advance, only to cancel, without even a phone call, less than an hour before. Many feel comfortable connecting through social media, but not in person.

Couples isolate themselves from each other on wrst dates when they stare at their phones instead of 28

making eye contact across the table and having awkward, yet necessary conversations. Friends gather to watch a movie on the couch, but keep missing plot points while they catch up on the most recent Reddit threads.

Connecting has never seemed so simultaneously achievable and impossible. People have friends they’ve known for years and ones they’ve never met in person, or even heard their voices. But to not connect with everyone leads to a terrifying possibility: missing out.

So again and again people accept almost-anonymous friend requests, say “maybe” to a party invitation in Tokyo even though the semester doesn’t end until June, and they’re scrambling to make rent for this month. A person RSVPs for a friend’s birthday and a gallery opening and a housewarming party and that new band’s wrst local gig and a Tinder date and if the new episode of “Gotham” just posted on Hulu she may just choose that, anyway.

Apps allow you to virtually farm, cook, and go on quests, but are those virtual activities substitutes

for real-life experiences with other people? We know you’re probably not going to start a farm. But maybe you could start a conversation with your parents instead.

Or wnd out your neighbor’s wrst name, whether you’ve lived in your apartment for wve months or wve minutes. Your Instagram followers can’t lend you a cup of sugar.

Don’t be so afraid of missing out on Facebook updates that you miss out on a chance to smile at a stranger. Yes, access to one million inspiring cake photos on Pinterest is impressive. But it’s even better if you attempt to make a cake and have people over to share in your success. (Or, let’s face it, your sarcastic “nailed it” lack of success, because those things are impossible to replicate.)

Yes, share with your online friends, explore new things and cultivate relationships all over the world. That’s amazing! But don’t do that at the expense of interacting with the here and now. Don’t let your Alfredo sauce congeal and your dining companions starve while you take pictures of your meal from 18 different angles. Don’t be so wrapped up in click-responding to international invites that you don’t look up from your screen in time to see a hummingbird dart by. Don’t let the glow from screens and Internet approvals outweigh sunshine and handshakes.

lonelybirthdayboy

Aaron Wiseman

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