Pierce College had a deserted feel to the campus early Friday morning as Richard Zamora sat alone in the newsroom.
It’s now a common sight to see “Richie” typing away writing articles for the Roundup newspaper and The Bull magazine, but at 27, this once-California State University, Northridge student has come a long way.
He describes himself as an introvert who was more interested in video games rather than his classes in high school.
The way that people view grades is how Zamora views high scores in games such as “Call of Duty.” He also traded in sports for puzzles a long time ago.
With a full beard, tattoos and gauged ears, Zamora easy to spot on assignment.
He credits journalism with helping him out of his shell. With a set deadline for articles, he puts his shyness to the side and hits the pavement with a recorder in one hand and a notepad in the other.
This semester for his article in The Bull magazine, Zamora originally wanted to tackle the taboo topic of bestiality.
His diving into the deep end of the subject caught the eye of the editor-in-chief from the beginning.
However after some research, too much “red tape” such as sources unwilling to meet in person forced him to rethink this whole concept.
Still in the realm of animals he came across the “Furry” culture in which people are interested in “fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics” and a subculture of “Yiff” that have a more sexual aspect to it.
While the subject is taboo, Zamora hopes to show the passion of his subjects and wants readers to be open-minded and acknowledge that they themselves are passionate about a certain aspect of their lives.
Zamora himself is passionate about words. The way that they look and the way that a language puts definitions to words.
Learn more about Zamora by checking out his blog on thebullmag.com.