Share: With heavy hearts, the Courier is sad to learn about the passing of former PCC student Michael Watkins that occurred last weekend. Michael was a friend, son, and mentor, and was a shining contribution to the legacy of PCC and the Courier. Being the phenomenal photographer he was, Michael moved from staff writer to photo editor for the Courier quickly in 2018 and produced quality work to a standard that would be remembered for years to come. “He found photojournalism at PCC in 2015 …
Mainstream media must condemn unprecedented reporter deaths in Gaza
Share: As of Dec. 5, 2023, 63 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. The sheer amount of deaths is staggering and unacceptable in a profession that must report the truth about war. The international community, along with journalists around the world, needs to condemn it and demand that it stop. Journalists are supposed to be on the front lines of very intensive conflicts and are expected to assess and weed out the truth in the fog of war. …
Is Disneyland’s magic fading away?
Share: As a child, my family and I would take our annual trip to Disneyland. At a young age, the park filled me with pure bliss as I believed it was what it was promoted to be: magical. But with age and years away from the park, I began to grow skeptical of its legend, especially its well-kept secrets. Many injuries have come out of Disney’s theme park, stemming from ride malfunctions, violence between park-goers, and general accidents like tripping over something. Disney is also …
Dual enrollment soars, but can PCC keep up high numbers?
Share: Amid changing demographics for community colleges, PCC presented new enrollment strategies to the Board of Trustees at the Nov. 15 Board meeting. This comes at a time as California community colleges are experiencing enrollment returning back to pre-pandemic levels, but now with a different demographic. As of this academic year, the under-20 demographic has become the majority of students attending community college, surpassing the 20 to 29 age group for the first time. This is in part to high school students who are taking …
Teachers: Decorate for all holidays or don’t decorate at all
Share: Although we have moved on from saying “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays” in schools to be more inclusive of all celebrations, some teachers still focus on one holiday more than others. Students are still being excluded in their classrooms if they don’t celebrate Christmas, and then little effort is put into fixing that after. One teacher posted a TikTok, surprising her one Jewish student with a plush latke because she had decorated the entire classroom in Christmas decorations and thought this would make up …
New PCC foster youth housing program begins in early 2024
Share: At the November Board of Trustees meeting, the trustees approved a five-year contract to rent out a six-unit housing complex near PCC’s Foothill campus, a first of its kind for the college to support its foster youth who face significant challenges obtaining secure and clean housing while in school. Because foster youth face some of the highest rates of housing insecurity and homelessness at PCC, their needs were prioritized for PCC’s first ever housing project that directly provided free housing to those in need …
Sustainability Club plants a seed for carbon neutral campus
Share: The quad was overflowing with life last week at PCC, as student after student stopped by a small collection of tables containing the necessary ingredients for creating their very own piece of plant life courtesy of the Environmental Sustainability club. A combination of club leaders and members provided students with a variety of different seeds along with the soil, pots, and even a watering can to give their new plant its first taste of hydration. “It’s really just getting your personal self involved, you …
‘May December’ mystifies the melodrama in one of the year’s best movies
Share: Before cancel culture had its torches and pitchforks out for anyone at the center of controversy, there were scandals. Fueled by tabloids and morbid curiosities, nothing made national news quite like an appalling figure that raised uncomfortable questions about what it means to be human. “May December,” the new film directed by Todd Haynes, seeks to scrutinize scandal for all its melodramatic, unholy glory through a pitch-perfect script by Samy Burch. Led by career-best performances from Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, “May December” initially …
‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ has the guts to change the story
Share: Two decades ago in Toronto, Canada Scott Pilgrim was dating a high schooler and it was more problematic than my 16-year-old brain could comprehend. Recently, Netflix has released its anime adaptation ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ and by the end of the first episode the plot literally takes off, leaving the original storyline behind. It is possibly the boldest and smartest move any adaptation has ever done. The 2010 film ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World’ is considered by fans a perfect adaptation of the original …