Natalie Yemenidjian
College students understand the morning-after pangs of a night of drunken debauchery. We know the feeling of regret as we yell from the bathroom for our friends to leave us alone while we swing our arms around the toilet seat to puke in isolation.
We broke every rule: We mixed our light and dark liquors, we drank packs of beer and then bottles of Grey Goose and we didn’t eat a thing before we hit the bar.
Everyone has different accounts of what occurred. Did we really jump on the tables and start dancing?
And just like a physical hangover, our economy has had its morning after.
It seems like talking heads, newspaper headlines and steady stream of Twitters have been screaming at us about this “Great Recession.” We indulged in non-prime lending, we slashed federal funds to a record low of 1 percent and we had some bad policies.
Somehow, amid the panic, there are resources at Pierce College that haven’t been used to their full potential. There are programs tailored for students with special needs, teachers with answers, financial aid money drifting to the wayside and scholarships that need applicants.
In this issue of The Bull, we have assembled stories that hopefully not only spark your interest in other humans, but may also reach out to your wallet. The renascent manifesto Abbie Hoffman wrote in the 1971 book entitled “Steal This Book,” to which our cover alludes, was all about taking advantage of what the municipal, state and federal government has made available.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the book was one of the last chapters entitled “F*** Los Angeles,” a guide to free food, clothing, shelter, clinics and more throughout the city. The Bull staff members wanted to present Pierce College students with a magazine that reflected the need to save, scrimp and search for money to ensure their stability in the uncertain economic future.
To start the magazine off with a bang, or a vroom, if you please, is Anibal Ortiz’s easily digestible guide on how to buy a used car that will last. Laura Gonzalez tells the story of an unique Pierce College student and Marine, who is now serving Afghanistan. He is not unlike any other college student. He has dreams, passions, goals but they must be deferred for a war that he has already fought for twice in Iraq. He is concerned about his future, just like any college student in a time of a global economic crisis would be.
The story by Shant Kiraz on struggling actors who dropped out of Pierce illustrates that dreams unrealized don’t always falter. Turn the page and it’s our cover story by Laura Gonzalez on “freeganism,” a politically-infused movement that has taken many forms in the past but is making an imprint on some of Pierce College’s students today. Perhaps the story most congruent with the theme of our magazine, these students have found ways to live off of salvaged goods, the story is also a testament to the tradition of wastefulness in America.
Alejandra Cruz explores the life of two community college students — one from Pierce — who battle a shopping addiction. In an in-depth article on textbooks, Kris Prue-Cook and Darrin Davis explain how to get the best book for your buck. The magazine concludes with a story about Huma, a student who works for the International Students Program to help students who pay Cal State prices to attend a community college. In her story is the struggle not only to readjust people’s image of the country with streets paved with gold, but the struggle to adjust to the American way of life.
After reading these stories and visiting us online at thebullmagazine.net for extra stories, multimedia pieces, blog posts and more, we hope we have supplied you with some comfort in the perils of an economic downturn.
Think of this issue of The Bull as that tall glass of cold water after waking up from a crazy night of partying, or better yet, as the faucet that you stick your face under in a dehydrated desperation.
(Natalie Yemenidjian)
