Connie’s Creepy Creations
Wearing a retro floral pin-up dress and a silver necklace with a mink vertebrae pendant, both of which she made herself, Connie Lail-Preciado saunters into the room with ladylike charm. A self-described cross between “Leave it to Beaver” and “Elvira,” she fuses classy with creepy. Though dainty in demeanor, she is also tough and tatted up. It looks as...
Welcome to the Cabaret
Hands moving in a fluid like motion and gracefully fluttering fingers displaying a flurry of emotions visually telling a story. American Sign Language Cabaret also known as ASL Cabaret is a variety show produced by Mona Jean Cedar and Jo-Ann Dean.
Mona Jean Cedar said, “ASL Cabaret has already exceeded my expectations. We started three years ago in a...
Creating the Odd
The exterior is painted a dull red color. The outside walls, chipping, are holding large windows together. The building is more window than wall. If one were to walk by the storefront on a regular day, they might think an abandoned building was situated between a coffee shop and a film studio. But on certain days, this dusty storefront...
Silent No More
Swarms of college students blend together, holding their textbooks, coffee cups and laptops, consumed in thought as they hurry to and from class on the University of California, Los Angeles campus. A bright red hat upon a confident young woman’s head makes a statement, standing out among the crowd.
The white capital letters embroidered on the hat read “Make...
Distorted Mirror
A former model tackles the challenges of an eating disorder
Julia Kinports looks in the mirror in Miami on April 12, 2021. Photo by Michael Loizzo.
Stepping into the elevator with a lump in her throat and feeling the urge to throw up, there was...
Killing the track
She wears her team’s uniform with pride as she skates around the flat track with her navy blue jammer helmet that has lime green stars indicating her position.
Dressed ready to compete, 37-year-old Staci Park sports tattoos on her arms and legs, with several of them an ode to the Japanese character Hello Kitty.
Park founded the San Fernando Valley Roller...
Work hard, play harder
Certain characteristics such as height and hair and eye color are determined by a person’s genetic makeup before birth. It has been argued that personality traits like sarcasm or shyness can be passed from parent to child. For BDSM community member Janice Hartz-Pettit, the apple did not fall far from the tree; genetically speaking or not.
Hartz-Pettit and her mother...
Ipods and earbuds
Photo by: Amy Au
The smell of pot wafted in the air of the Saint Rocke club. An enthusiastic and determined group of three men took center stage and the first notes rang out into the atmosphere. Drunken patrons were swaying and unconsciously rocking out to the opening band.
Long before their performance that night bandmembers of Olio sit hypnotized by...
All the rage back home
Drug dealer Rick Bolivia exhales a hit of methamphetamine in his room in the Pacoima area of Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 22, 2015. Photo by Joshua Duarte
The lighter clicks on, the flame burns the glass, the smoke fills the room, it smell like burning plastic. He puts the pipe to his lips and inhales. Two seconds go by...
Fantastic Oddities
Judging a book by its cover, it looks like they are just playing and running around the studio while Ellie Goulding’s “On My Mind” is playing in the background. These children, wearing just their socks, leggings and tank tops, have their hair tied up, regardless if it’s nicely done, or just in a messy bun. Some of them are...