My Disneyland was the hospital room
pg. 6
Also inside: Bartenders know your secrets pg. 2 Quidditch comes to life pg. 10
Letter from the editor
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Microsoft Corporation study concluded the attention span of a human is only 8 seconds, a goldfish is 7. Give this issue 8 seconds of your day to hear someone else’s story, I’m sure you’re smarter than a goldfish. With the coming of the new age of technology and detriment of last years presidential election the media has been taking a lot of hits. From fake articles being blasted on social media to major new sources not reporting accurate information the journalism industry’s credibility is declining tremendously. But underneath the shallow surfaces of modern mass-media, the gossip sites and clickbait, is the light of the truth that still wants to shine. There are still reservoirs of human stories that still need to be told. Our blood, sweat, and tears have gone into both the print and online editions to bring forward the truth. Don’t let it be in vain.
Sincerely,
Crystal Adams-King Editor-in-chief
Photo by Erin Asis
Staff Editor-in-chief Crystal Adams-King Copy editors Danny Rivera Melina Paris Managing editor Hayley Hart Designers Hayley Hart Crystal Adams-King Nick Tate Rebecca Vazquez Becky Woods
Long Beach City College 4901 E. Carson St. Long Beach, CA 90808 Telephone 562.938.4111
Staff Dina Azzam Hayley Hart Crystal Adams-King Melina Paris Danny Rivera Nick Tate Rebecca Vazquez Becky Woods Photographers Dina Azzam Hayley Hart Crystal Adams-King Joshua Miller Lissette Mendoza-Tapia Rebecca Vazquez Becky Woods
Email lbcitymagazine@gmail.com Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook and Twitter @LBCityMag
Advisers Walter Hammerwold Chris Viola Contributors Jazmin Aguayo Erin Asis Brandon English Sonny Maboudi Dawn Moses
This issue of City magazine was published by the Long Beach City College journalism program. City is sponsored by the Associated Student Body. Opinions and photographs are not necessarily the views of the LBCC faculty or administration.
Contents
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Tales from the other side
4
Slutwalk questioned
6
Persevering through the prognosis
Stories told by bartenders
A movement’s message lost on its own supporters
My journey with Cerebral Palsy
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Brooms up!
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Endangered creativity
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High-tech fashion
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Reckless driving claims lives
Harry Potter fans bring the game of quidditch to life
With new laws local artists struggle to keep their creative and living spaces
New looks takes shape of the colleges fashion department
Beloved a Viking student remembered
Photo by Dina Azaam
Sean Sincsuk conversing with patrons at Legend’s Sports Bar on 2nd Street in Long Beach.
Tales from
the other side Stories told by bartenders Story by Danny Rivera
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B
ars. Taverns. Lounges. Pubs: Gathering spots for social interaction for hundreds of years. The sacred institutions where courage, wisdom, hilarity and stupidity are issued in ounce-and-a-half allotments. Literary masterpieces were written in some. Revolutions and uprisings were started in others, and chances are, a few of you were conceived in one as well. And like Gabriel bestowing the Word to mortals, bartenders spread the gospel of spirits to the masses. In a sense, bartenders are both the conduit for inspiration and the guardians of over-intoxication. Professionals who spend their weeknights, weekends, and (very) early mornings making sure you’re able to forget about your Monday through Friday grind. While the pay can suck, the hours long, the bosses shady, and the clientele can be obnoxious, most bartenders work their chosen careers for the love of interacting with the public on both a personal and direct basis. But mostly, it’s for the great stories you get from getting people drunk for so long. “Like the time I was trying to close Oliver Stone out and our cheap-ass second-hand (register) wouldn’t work, or the time Johnny Knoxville met Karen O at my bar while he was filming Jackass and showed up in a sailor suit and I couldn’t stop laughing,” said Mike Bouchard, owner of Gasser Lounge in Redondo Beach. Bouchard spent his formative years working at bars and nightclubs in Hollywood before opening the Gasser in 2009. His stories are considered legendary to his friends and customers. But to Bouchard, these seem tame and run-of-the-mill. He starts rattling off snippets of stories like synopsis headers on tweets. “Or the time Keanu Reeves came in and talked exactly like Neo the whole time, or the time Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife (he won’t say which one) came in and ordered a glass of cocaine?” He finally expanded on one legendary story that cracks him up to this day. “One time, the club I worked at wouldn’t let Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy, American Dad and director of the movie Ted) in on their ‘super hip’ night,” he said with significant amounts of sarcasm. “The promoter wouldn’t let him in, so on our next super busy night he had easily a hundred grand in the most incredible, humongous floral arrangements delivered right when we were slammed.” “It was f---ing brilliant,” he said while trying to contain his laughter. “They blocked the sidewalk, the alley, the entrance. Nobody could get in.” But while these Hollywood stories make for great tabloid fodder, the stories about regular folks acting the fool are just as hilarious. “Drunks are the worst pickup artists,” said Patricia Pineda of O’Hearn’s Pub in Harbor City. “But watching them do it still makes me laugh after all these years behind the bar.” Pineda works at a neighborhood bar (sometimes referred to as a “dive” bar), whose customers tend to be more blue-collar and rougher than other drinking establishments. “One time, a very large biker tried to make moves on me in front of his friends,” she said over a beer during one of her shifts. “The look on his face when my fiancé (who was sitting next to the biker) said she was taken was great.” It got even better when the two kissed from across the bar. Still, other bartenders make it a point of pride to teach patrons on how to behave at their establishments. “We would get to know some of the bartenders in town and
Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
Steven Gamble perfects the craft of making a martini at a restaurant in downtown Long Beach.
and hear all the sh---y stories from their day,” said Kyle Ennis, a sixyear bartender at Johnny’s Saloon in Huntington Beach. He and his co-worker James Kutscher started an Instagram page called Behind The Stick to help bartenders laugh at the crappy parts about their job while also educating the public on proper bar etiquette. In their combined 28 years experience, the pair noticed that their tales of intoxicated stupidity seemed to happen to their fellow tenders on a regular basis. “Good bartenders aren’t there to just get people f---ed up,” said Ennis. “We’re there to help you have a good time but know what makes for good drinking.” “And we get good stories out of the s--t they spout off while they’re sitting at the bar,” said Kutscher. “Ha, yeah,” said Ennis, laughing. “Your boyfriend gave you herpes? We heard you tell your friend that.” While Ennis and Kutscher have their customer stories, they both say that the best stories come from working with inexperienced bartenders themselves. “You think these are bad? Try dealing with 21-year-old bartenders,” said Kutscher.
Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
Gamble, local bartender from the Octopus Japanese Restaurant serves his perfected martini.
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Slutwalk
Model Amber Rose gives an emotional speech at the slutwalk in Pershing Square, downtown L.A. on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016.
Story by Crystal Adams-King Photos by Lissette Mendoza-Tapia
questioned
A movement’s message lost on its own supporters “I’ve been told I’m not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized,” said Michael Sanguinetti, a Toronto Police officer, to 10 students at Osgoode Hall Law School on personal safety. Those few words started an international movement. Through outraged posts on social media and comments calling for action, the slutwalk was born as women (and some men) took the streets to voice their opinion. The movement was created initially to provide a platform for women to openly stand against societal norms forced upon them,
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and the reclaiming of the term “slut.” Although the first slutwalk took place in Canada in 2011, the cause has since sprouted movements to take place in prominent areas such as New York, California and Argentina. A girl can be perceived as overtly sexy for many reasons including those that may be out of her control. The way she dresses, her sexual orientation, engaging in premarital sex, even expressing interest in an abortion can cause a victim to criticized just for communicating their individuality. “Just being me doesn’t mean you can have your way with my
“When it comes to the Slutwalk, it’s a lot of hype.” –Katie Heaton-Smith, psychology professor body,” explained Leslie Harris, a founding member of The Confident Queen Project, a women’s empowerment group. “I am a free, sexual being. People just don’t find value in being a human being anymore. Just because I’m drunk does not give you consent to take advantage of me. Have respect.” With so many perceptions of the word slut it’s easy to pin the insult on various victims, primarily women. “Just because I am wearing a short skirt or a tight dress does not mean I’m a slut. Even if my nipples are showing, it’s just me expressing how I’m feeling that day. I’m not asking for sex. The word slut is too easily thrown around. It’s like if you want to make a girl feel bad, grab some friends and call her a slut,” said Harris. One of the more popular slutwalks took place in Los Angeles on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016 and was endorsed by reality-celebrity Amber Rose. Harris attended the event in hopes of raising the awareness of the harsh world of sexual assault. Attendees and vendors filled the streets of Pershing Square. Among the vendors selling wares was Romance and Dance Pole Aerobics, a sexy pole-dancing
gym alternative. Romance and Dance’s owner Phee Manuel stood up for women’s rights, saying the way women are viewed in America is a “double standard and unfair to women across all backgrounds and ages.” Manuel now owns three establishments, including one in which she encourages women to be sexy and be free. On the other hand, the slutwalk received much criticism for the “shallowness” of the event. “When it comes to the slutwalk, it’s a lot of hype,” said Katie Heaton-Smith, a psychology professor at LBCC. “One event hosted by a celebrity is not a movement. People might leave feeling good about themselves but now what? A day long movement isn’t going to erode illogical deep seated prejudice. It’s going to take individual movements and education.” Heaton-Smith explained that it was only 40 years ago in the 1970s that unmarried women were allowed to receive birth control, and that was the beginning of women being accepted as sexual beings. “Talk about the issues more than once a year. Educate through our actions. Be a
crusader and teach the children about appropriate and inappropriate behavior. Don’t neglect how much progress we’ve made so quickly,” Heaton-Smith said. “It’s sad that for one day a year, a girl will take off her clothes and hold up a sign pleading for sexual equality and freedom , but what about the other 364 days?” said Briana Nichols, a 24-year-old resident of Long Beach who also attended the LA Slutwalk. “The slutwalk has become more of a statement for attention rather than a statement for change.” According to the Rape Abuse Incest National Network, the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, “One out of every six American women have been the victim of either an attempted or completed rape. Every 109 seconds there’s another victim of assault.” Acting on sexual perceptions is a learned behavior. Avoiding these learned traits starts with education at home, and parents or guardians stepping up to nurture the child’s self-esteem so that child may grow up respectable towards others differences and tolerable to open sexual freedom.
Protesters come together to sign the Wall of No Shame, a prominent display shown at Amber Rose’s Slutwalk Festival on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016.
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Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
Tate points out a scar going across his torso, a result of his many surgeries.
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Persevering through the prognosis My journey with Cerebral Palsy. Story by Nick Tate
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ickey Mouse made his rounds from bed to bed as sick kids lie weak. Many were unable to move throughout the hospital ward. At the fragile age of 2, when I should be playing with toys, I was hooked up to an IV and other foreign contraptions. It’s a helpless feeling.
While the average person may find this sad and even disturbing, It was a life I had come to know quite well: In and out of the hospital on what felt like a daily basis without ever wondering why. My “Disneyland” was the hospital room. The doctor told my mother that it’s highly likely I wouldn’t cry when I was born. Those words gave my mother a sense of uncertainty before labor. When I was born, a muffled squeaking noise was all that could be heard. At three months premature, two pounds, four ounces, I was considered to be a fighter by many of my doctors. According to estimates from the Center for Disease Control’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, roughly one in 323 children have been identified as having Cerebral Palsy. I am the one in the group of 323. Growing up, I constantly found myself in a new uphill battle. For instance, things other kids took for granted, like tying their shoes, is something I couldn’t (and still can’t) do. Because of my issues, I’ve always worn slip-on shoes; I like Vans the best. While I try to be as self-sufficient as possible, I’m still relying on others more than I’d like. Even though I’m fully aware that it’s not my fault, it’s a weird inner battle at times. I recall having an operation in fourth grade on my left arm and foot. I was pretty much immobile for a few weeks, so my classmates would kindly escort me to the bathroom so I wouldn’t fall down and injure myself further. It’s these kinds of selfless acts of kindness kids with CP really need and depend on. Out of this full deck of adversity came an appreciation and admiration for the simplest things in life. It’s something you don’t realize until the odds are completely stacked against you.
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Tate looks through a family photo album which includes pictures of him as a baby. My parents’ strength was something I felt the most and it was a huge support as I battled every obstacle. Whether it was the fourth grade shunt revision (an operation that keeps my brain from collecting fluid and swelling up), or the sleepless nights they spent next to me at home or in the hospital, their faith in me made me strong. There are a multitude of challenges that children and adults with CP face. Dr. Penny Abad Santos, physician at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center said, “There is an association of a lower IQ in babies who are born prematurely; more so if they are born with a birth weight less than 750 grams (1.6 pounds). When compared to full term babies, the mean IQ score is statistically lower than the pre-term group, the lowest in those born before 25-26 weeks.” I was born at 1031 grams, which is exactly 2.3 pounds. Facing something like cerebral palsy, I need people to have my back at all times. I count on my friends and family to pick me up when I feel low. From one day to the next, you can’t predict what children with CP will face. There also needs to be an instinct to notice when something goes wrong. One time I awoke out of a dead sleep at 2:30 a.m. after a long night at Disneyland. My first instinct was to let out an agonizing scream while I lay motionless on my great aunt’s couch. Both times ended up being shunt complications. Every person must be on his or her toes when dealing with a loved one with CP. I’m now a college sophomore here at LBCC, 5’8, 158 pounds, on my way to completing my long-awaited transfer to Cal State Long Beach as a journalism major. Why is my weight significant, you ask? Well, picture your hand, how big it is and open it up. I once was the size of your palm. I visit my old children’s hospital once a year on my birthday. During one of those visits, my mom and I met a mother and father whose daughter, Sage Amara, was also born premature with a myriad of problems including cerebral palsy.
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Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
At the age of three, she was given a shunt and had other life-saving surgeries performed. She routinely attends occupational and physical therapy through California Children’s Services, a state program that helps children with health problems and their families. “Sage’s biggest challenge at age three is being mobile to interact with her peers. She doesn’t understand her limitations,” said Stacey Boydell, Sage’s mother. Most kids that I’ve met with my condition think that they too can do everything a full term child can do. Speaking from experience, that’s sadly not the case. But as I was growing up, particularly in elementary school, the majority of the children looked at me as though I was just like everyone else. And yes, I received the occasional stare and people asked me about my story (they still do), but that’s where I have to stay true to who I am. I believe I was put on this earth for a purpose, and looking back on all that life has thrown at me now and continues to throw at me, I can’t just sit back and feel sorry for myself. Because actually, I never have. I don’t drive yet and I don’t know when that will happen but it doesn’t stop me from doing the little I can do every day to eventually catch up to everyone else. However, I am driving one thing and that is myself. I continue on an unpredictable journey without an end in sight - but it will probably be just as rewarding and scenic as my first two decades on this earth. SportsCenter anchor Stuart Scott once said in his ESPY Award speech during his courageous fight with cancer “Live. Live and fight like hell.” I’ll never be able to live out the dream I once thought was attainable - Playing in the NFL - because of my shunt. However, children with cerebral palsy like myself can do one thing without limitation throughout their lives, Live.
Photo by Sonny Maboudi
Tate holds up a picture of him as a baby, showing how far he has come
Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
Carol Tate, Nick’s grandmother, reflects on pictures of Tate as an infant.
Tate shows a scar on his left arm from a surgery in 2004.
“Children with cerebral palsy like myself can do one thing without limitation throughout their lives. Live.” -Tate
Photo by Rebecca Vazquez
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Shea Hillinger, a player for the Long Beach Funky Quaffles quidditch team, launches a quaffle through a set of rings during a recent practice.
Brooms up! Nerds take the field
Story and photos by Crystal Adams-King
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erds on brooms. From the pages of the J.K. Rowling “Harry Potter” book series loyal fans have turned the game into reality. While it may sound ridiculous to ardent sports fans, quidditch is quickly becoming a viable alternative to classic stick-and-ball sports. Athletes take the field, ranging from 120 pound females to 250 pound males; and yes there are nerds too. But when it comes to tackling, anything is fair game. “It’s a huge nationwide network of nerdy jocks simultaneously working together to make the sport better as a whole, while competing to beat each other at the same time,” said Sean Hillinger, a Cal State Long Beach alumni and Long Beach Funky Quaffles quidditch team member. “It really is pretty magical.”
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“I’ve gotten injured, but you learn how to take a tackle. There’s no gear.” -Alexia Barnes, beater for the Funky Quaffles
Left: Sam Weisser prepares to launch the quaffle down field. Right: Darrell Miller, a Funky Quaffle player, takes flight while trying to catch the quaffle.
The Long Beach Funky Quaffles quidditch team were formed as a community team by Justin Ryan Madriaga in 2013. As a community team, anyone from surrounding areas can join regardless of college affiliation. The team currently stands with 21 players on its roster. Alexia Barnes, a veteran beater originally from the University of South Florida, has played quidditch for over eleven years, three of them with the gender-integrated Quaffles. “This is full contact, regardless of gender. Rugby style,”Barnes said. “I’ve gotten injured, but you learn how to take a tackle. There’s no gear, we only wear mouth guards,” As a beater, Barnes holds one of the more aggressive positions. The positions on the field almost accurately reflect the positions detailed in the book, minus the flying part. However, they have to run with brooms be-
tween their legs at all times. Three dodge balls are used as bludgers, and the beaters use these to “knock-out” other players. Knock someone off their broom and the victim must run back and touch their team’s hoop to stay in the game. A single volleyball is used as a quaffle. Chasers aim to get the ball through the hoops by either throwing or kicking it. The Keeper acts as a goaltender, and is responsible for defending the hoops. While quidditch sounds like a wild lovechild of soccer and dodge ball (and it kind of is), there’s one oddly unique aspect that separates itself from its more familiar sports, and it comes in the form of a fast runner clad in yellow shorts. In the “Harry Potter” series, the snitch is a winged golden ball that evades the seekers. Unsurprisingly, flying magical objects are hard to come by. So instead, a neutral ath-
lete with a ball in a sock attached to the back of the player’s golden shorts is released after 18 minutes of playing time and can be pursued on and off the field. Players that snag the snitch add 30 points to their team’s score and end the game. “Snitches get to be more creative. They don’t have a broom. I’ve seen some snitches use water guns or throw water balloons just to avoid getting caught,” said Barnes Nearly 12 years after the creation of the game at Middlebury College in Vermont, the sport is now played nationwide under the guidance of US Quidditch, a non-profit organization dedicated to governing the sport of quidditch. Turning nerds into jocks one at a time, quidditch is well on its way to establishing itself as a worldwide recognized sport.
The Long Beach Funky Quaffles quidditch team show off their team spirit during a practice at Whaley Park.
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The workspace of Long Beach artist Eric Almanza.
Photo by Crystal Adams-King
Endangered creativity Story by Melina Paris
Local artists fight to live in their places of work
The Long Beach Arts Council called for a meeting of Open Conversations on Creative Spaces on Monday, February 27, after the tragic Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, Calif., where 36 people died in their makeshift home and artist collective. The Ghost Ship tragedy was followed by the painting over of illustrator Jasper Wong’s historic mural on the Art Exchange building in Long Beach with black paint. Both incidents were blows to the local artist community. Arts Council’s executive director Griselda Suarez conducted the
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town hall-style meeting at the Gina M. Woodruff Gallery in Long Beach. Major topics of discussion drew on how gentrification and permitting issues affect artists and also considered how to create sustainable live-work spaces for local artists. Local artist and meeting attendee Eric Almanza believes Long Beach needs more public art, not less. He spoke about Wong’s mural, saying he was glad several people in the community showed up and voiced outrage over the destruction of the mural. Almanza knows several friends who have lived or are living in
situations similar to the Ghost Ship. “If an artist goes through long periods of time when work doesn’t sell, they need a place that can be affordable,” he said. “Sometimes they surrender security and peace of mind to sustain their art.” Although not zoned for residential occupants, people have lived in the building that houses his studio, Alamanza said. But after Ghost Ship, the city forced the occupants to live elsewhere. “You see [situations] where they got five days to leave,” Almanza said. “They knew beforehand because they were working with the city and knew they were on a clock, but still it’s hard.” According to Almanza, his building manager is struggling with the city’s demands. It’s been almost a year since the property management company started the permitting process for living spaces. Almanza said the manager hopes for a hearing soon, but was upset with how long the process was taking. “The city would tell him he had to do X, Y and Z,” Almanza said. “He would do it, request a hearing then something else would be added onto it. This is a space that could really transform the neighborhood and be a very vocal and visual place for Long Beach and the neighborhood but it’s caught in red tape.” LBCC’s Visual and Media Arts Department Chair Morgan Barnard attended art school in Oakland at California College of the Arts. He said the Ghost Ship tragedy resonated with him. Back when he was in college, there was a strong culture of artists taking over warehouse spaces and established locations with art studios. With a long and sordid history of its own along its waterfront and within its city limits, Long Beach’s history has many parallels to Oakland. “It’s a stimulus for gentrification and a complicated issue. The city really needs to get behind artist spaces and insure that there are safe, affordable live-work spaces for artists,” Barnard said. “These kind of raw spaces are complicated. But I can just picture what Ghost Ship was like. What they were trying to do there was create experiences and create amazing opportunities but something went really wrong.” One big question for Suarez was to find out if it’s possible for the Arts Council to be a mediator between artists and city government to create live-work spaces for artists. This has led her to initiate meetings about creative spaces and hear about thoughts and ideas from artists within the Long Beach community. She’s also looking at other models of this kind cooperation around the country, including in San Francisco and Minneapolis. “These places see artists as not only a springboard for the creative economy, but for the economy in general and for the arts culture of a city,” Suarez said. “Even with the discretion of the public for one percent [of city budget] for art, I often remind representatives I’m meeting with, that this is just one part of the larger arts ecology,” Suarez said. Suarez notes, however, that while it is important to empower the Arts Council, it is also important to empower arts and music collectives to do some of the work themselves.. Creating art projects in haste with zero input from solid community input may give the city an arts and culture identity that does not reflect this community or maybe one that we’re not comfortable with. “There’s a long history of the arts in Long Beach and we should shine a light on it as much as possible.”
Photos by Rebecca Vazquez
Murals decorate Long Beach’s 4th street art district.
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High-tech
fashion by Hayley Hart
The fashion design program at LBCC teaches students how to use their creative talents behind the sewing maching and behind the computer screen. Program director and instructor Pamela Knights has been teaching at LBCC for sixteen years. Prior to instructing at LBCC, Knights worked with fashion design company Ocean Pacific for swimwear and active apparel. Knights teaches the hands on sketching, pattern making and sewing classes, while instructor Chantel Bryant teaches computer applications in the fashion program. Students learn both necessary skills in the modern fashion world to achieve the main goal of the program, which Knights said, is for students to get a job. “We try to expose them to a couple really good university programs that we think very highly of,” Knights said. “A couple weeks ago I took them on a bus to Cal Poly Pomona to learn about the fashion merchandising program there. We try to help them to get a degree or to get a vocational certificate and then go get a job.” Much of the materials used for students’ assignments come from donations from alumni and members of the LBCC community. “We get fabrics from different sources. Often it’s from manufactur-
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ers in the fashion industry and they have ends left or they cleaned out a sample room and they have some amounts of fabric they don’t need or don’t have room for and they donate it to us,” Knights said. One man in particular continually donates to the fashion design program. “One donation was from a man who had a tailoring business at one point. He doesn’t have his business anymore, so he is slowly parting with his beautiful wools and his silks and will bring us a stack every so often.” Knights and her staff do their best to assist students without the financial means to pay for costly fabrics. “We put (the donated materials) in the fabric room, and if the student doesn’t have money for a project, they can go down there and get fabric. And in trade, they give us an hour a week to help organize the room.” The students appreciate this openness to assisting students throughout their education. “Our instructors are very helpful and have so many connections to industry professionals,” said Tavauna Clark, 23, a fashion design major, about her experience thus far in the Fashion Design program. “It’s one of my favorite parts about the program, and the alumni come back and tell us about their experiences.”
Program director and instructor Pamela Knights (left) with student Cierra Nelson, 21, a fashion and art major, asks for detailed help on the beginning sewing assingment.
Bolts of fabric, which have been donated by manufacturers and local tailors are available at steep discounts to fashion students in exchange for one hour a week assistance to maintain the fabric supply room in LBCC’s F Building.
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Cierra Nelson, 21, a fashion and art major (left) and Baiinga Bangura, 19, a film major (right), press parts of the apron assignment during professor Pamela Knights‘ beginning sewing class on Tuesday, March 9, 2017.
Kimberly Ortiz, 27, a fashion design major, works on an assignment during portfolio class taught by professor Chantel Bryant. Other classmates work on finishing the vision board project and digital versions of fashion sketches called croquis.
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Fashion design major Rachel Beay listens to comments on other students vision board project while looking over her own nautical-inspired work on Monday, March 13, 2017. Fashion design majors Javier Luna, 20 and Racquel Roman, 22 listen in too.
Andre Valle, 25, a fashion merchandising major and president of LBCC’s Fashion Network Club, sews a complicated bodice during professor Pamela Knights fashion design class.
Students are shown a step of a complicated bodice by instructional aide Joanna Rudolph during professor Pamela Knights’ fashion design class.
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Reckless driving claims lives
Story by Nick Tate
A Viking student remembered
S
kid marks and metal shrapnel line the street. The feeling of invincibility can only go so far when a person stares death in the face. In a matter of seconds, two people were killed, the scene of a grisly crash. A mother’s worst nightmare is now reality: She must say goodbye to her son. Ruben Perla, the bright, successful college student who was just starting his life was gone. According to Deputy Michael Lennig of the Compton Sheriff’s Department Traffic Division, Perla and his co-worker Robert Carlos Arreola were traveling southbound on Santa Fe Ave. coming home from work on Sunday, October 16, 2016 at around 2:30p.m. Lennig said the two were traveling in Arreola’s 1991 Toyota MR2 in the number one lane at approximately 80 to 90 mph. Arreola lost control of the car and veered into the northbound lane on Santa Fe, where they clipped a 2006 Ford pickup. Both cars spun out of control, leaving the MR2 in the third northbound lane. The fatal blow came to Perla and Arreola when Arreola’s car struck a blue 2005 Dodge Magnum in a head-on collision. The incident, according to Lennig, occurred north of the intersection. “We’ve had a couple fatalities at that intersection. That’s a bad intersection,” Lennig said. Fellow student Allison Mounce-Hampton, 19, an art major, tends to a memorial at the smoking section near D Building constantly, along with her mother, Louise Mounce. The two were close friends with Ruben, spending time together nearly every day. “We had a gathering where you light candles and she (Allison) gathered what was left of the wax and made candles where she gave them to the families of the others who died in the crash,” Louise Mounce said. “He told me that I’ll never be too old to learn,” Mounce said. Mounce came back to school at the age of forty to study Culinary Arts. The void Ruben left is greatly felt in the hearts of his family members and a select few of his friends who he bonded with at the smoking area. Perla’s cousin, Evanny Vapien, said his loss is still really hard to deal with. She and Ruben lived together under the same roof, which she said strengthened their bond. “We were like siblings,” Vapien said. When asked about her family home life now, she said that Perla’s name is always mentioned. “It’s a really tough feeling thinking that he’s not coming home,” Vapien said. “His name is always mentioned.” Vapien also said Perla’s suggestion for her to stay in school had an impact on her. “I’m gonna go back to school because of him. The main message that he gave me was school. He set the perfect example,” Vapien said. Perla’s aunt, Cindy Aguilar, is also trying to remain upbeat. “I’m trying to be kind and helpful like he was.” Aguilar said her nephew always had a joke for those who needed it. “Tia, be happy. Remember, I love you.” This is one thing that will always stick with Aguilar. “His way was always ‘be happy’ and was always trying to make people smile,” Aguilar said. “He was a big teddy bear.”
Photo by Sonny Maboudi
A poster of Ruben Perla at his memorial site at the Long Beach City Colleges central smoking area. Perla’s impact extended far beyond his family, however. Friends were as equally shaken upon hearing the news of his passing. Manny Moreno, a friend of Perla, talked about how he affected his life and how he and his friends were planning on moving forward. “We do it the same way we’ve always done it. We just go drinking with our friends,” Moreno said. Perla’s friendship was very important to Moreno. Just prior to his passing, Moreno gave him a bottle opener ring as a token of their friendship they shared together. In the main smoking area, a laminated poem that Perla’s friend, Alex Rivera, left hanging high on a pole as part of the memorial. “The letter is more or less a poem dedicated to him,” Rivera said. “The meaning behind the poem was explaining how we first met and also how we spent our time together and the memories we shared,” Rivera said. Perla’s final resting place is Rose Hills Memorial Park located in Whittier, Calif. where friends and family can give their respects and say hi to him as they please, without any restriction. Perla was set to graduate in June, and will be posthumously honored at LBCC’s graduation ceremony on June 8, 2017.
Opposite page top photo by Darrell James: Allison Mounce-Hampton, 19, an art major, tends to service candles for LBCC student, Ruben Perla. Opposite page bottom photo by Dina Azzam: Ruben Perla’s grave site at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.
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Joshua Tree National Park puts on a display of colors during a sunrise, Monday, April 3. The national park is known for its unique trees and desert landscape.
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