Mother shows tough love through discipline
Random photos and Afrocentric art plaster the alabaster walls gave the petite home an aura of a close-knit family. While the television played the infamous show “Out of the Box,” a few scattered toys rested on the Maplewood floor and awaited attention. A furry chestnut and ebony Yorkshire terrier barked from the top of the narrow staircase, it sensed...
Breaking the color barrier
Adam Mendelson is no stranger to misconceptions about his race.
Strangers seem to mistake him for everything but what he actually is. The issue doesn’t faze him anymore, but just because Mendelson isn’t affected by people’s thoughts doesn’t mean that he is not aware of the negative connotations that come with having darker skin.
The reactions he receives are magnified...
Tattoos and piercings don’t define father
Head to toe, finger tip to finger tip—there is no missing the tattoos on Edgar Acevedo.
Those tattoos often come with discrimination, stereotypes and prejudices.
Where do these stigma arise?
Jose Martinez, a security officer at the Pierce College Sheriff’s Station, said tattoos were originally used to keep track of slaves in Ancient Greece.
Certainly, things have changed. But Acevedo, 27, a native...
Business thrives within marijuana industry
Her grass green hair is neatly pulled back, ruby red eyeglasses rest mid-bridge, a medallion with bronze leafy fingers rests atop the opening of a tight pink tank top and light snatching stud crystal earrings sparkle energetically as she talks business.
The company is 420 Nurses, a combination of word play off medicinal marijuana and a numerical sequence synonymous...
No funny business in performance industry
At The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, Greg Wilson is slaying the crowd with his infectious mixture of playful jabs at the audience and material that he has compiled and reworked over the years. Like a skilled lock-pick, every phrase he utters is made to pull the little levers in people’s minds. The result is undeniable. People are helplessly amused...
The Big Blue Truck
Story by: Lynn Levitt
The narrow road winds its way through homes, balancing on narrow hillsides. It is easy to get lost. Make a left turn and the road circles to the bottom. Make a right and a big blue truck comes into view. There are no signs on the truck, which indicate construction, handy man, gardener or plumber. If...
3D Printer
Located in the Applied Technology building at Pierce College a 3D printer sits in Assistant Professor Elizabeth Cheung’s room. The lights above the printer give it a glow of attraction.
Cheung, holding a jet-black 8-by-8 plastic tray, pulled open the translucent door and placed the tray in the printer. She pressed Start and the tray began to move back and...
Not Her First Rodeo
From the little wooden sound box, located to the left of the chute, “Austyn Campbell, you are next on deck,” bellows from the speakers. It is 9 a.m., and the sun has barely began to heat up the day. The nervous impatient woman sits atop her eager gelding just waiting for the alarm to sound and for the gate...
Ghostly Encounters
Story By: Jeffrey Gonzalez
No physical evidence of ghosts exists on earth; however, ghosts have been defined as apparitions, translucent shapes, spirits or souls of a dead person or even animals. In Roman history, Pliny the Younger, an author and statesman, recorded one of the first notable ghost stories in the first century A.D.
As the years have gone by the...
Meet the New iSitter
Story By: Alvaro Gomez
The catchy cartoon jingle of “Little Einsteins” is drowned out by the even louder sound of an iPad. Inches away from the SmartGlass screen, fixated on the device held to his face, a toddler perches on his elbows and ignores the world around him while his mother picks up after him.
Gabriela Lopez, the boy’s mother, walks...