Alum’s books help small fish swim in big pond

Share: Chelo Manchego saw his home country El Salvador as “another world”. His family lived in a gated community due to the dangers in his neighborhood, however, he had his own ways of escaping reality. He spent hours in nature with his friends and loved to be outside as much as he could. In El Salvador, there are earthquakes constantly, so he would make a tent outside because he was convinced it was safer than being inside a building. His family was always supportive of …

Mirror Pool Stoners: ‘Don’t hide the weed, divide it’

Share: Names marked with an asterisk were withheld for privacy reasons. Written by Grace Pickering and Mandie Montes In the days since the rain poured over Southern California, the once dead grass on campus has become luscious, providing a haven for students to practice tai-chi, bask in the sun, or hang around the mirror pools – a spot where students regularly consume cannabis. Students are seen often huddled together in various groups scattered around the edges, standing around and smoking a bowl or two while …

‘Ready Player One’: A video game movie done right

Share: Movies based around video games are usually prone to a major ratings and box office flop. With movies like “Need for Speed”, the “Tomb Raider” movies and all of the “Resident Evil” movies, it seems like the genre is cursed, with only a single exception of “Wreck It Ralph.” However, Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One”, based on the book of the same name by Ernest Cline, means to remove that curse and make a great video game movie. And overall, it does. Follow:

Breathing and existing through mindful meditation

Share: On a warm day, atop the grassy patches near the library and C building, sits Samantha Salomon adorned with flowers while sun rays beam off of her. As her portrait is about to be taken, there is a wave of unexpected heat, that is quickly masked by the wind causing the flowers sitting in between her arms to fall nonchalantly into place. Salomon is no stranger to the outdoors, as she enjoys spending her time outside, especially now that spring has rolled around on …

30 Seconds to Mars: ‘America’ fails to capture the story of us

Share: You know that feeling when one of your favorite rock bands goes on a hiatus and you’re forced to spend years listening to mediocre music while you wait for that band to release new music, so that they can finally show the newbies what real rock music is supposed to sound like? Well, after a five-year break and a play upon an extremely over hyped concept, 30 Seconds to Mars debuted their fifth studio album, “AMERICA”, which hit just about every genre of music …