Share: By Luca Newman I come from an island in the far south—New Zealand. When I moved to the United States in 2019, I never imagined that Los Angeles would have an island of its own. But it does, and it’s called Catalina Island. After years of procrastination, I finally decided to visit and compare it to the island I grew up on. This report documents my weekend trip to Catalina Island with my mother, Kaye Briden. Part One: The Voyage from San Pedro to …
A collection of the Courier’s cool and kooky holiday tunes
Share: We here at the Courier are tired of hearing the same Christmas songs on the radio, year after year. Sure, there are some great classics out there. But there’s a variety of obscure, alternative, or less well-known tracks that are definitely worth bringing into the warm glow of your Christmas lights. The following songs evoke holiday memories that we’re happy to share with you! The Kinks – Father Christmas (1977) Although I have yet to encounter anyone who is familiar with this song, “Father …
The Courier presents: Our favorite entertainment of 2024
Share: Albums: Imaginal Disk – Magdalena Bay The Florida-originated, Los Angeles-based art pop duo may have already released their magnum opus with their sophomore effort “Imaginal Disk”. The entire tracklist oozes rich and creative melodies that utilize a unique palette of influences such as synth-pop, psychedelia, disco, and even genres that may not be easy to catch by the untrained ear, such as shoegaze and new age. The duo plays with an interesting visual aesthetic that could best be described as a mix of Frutiger …
From the Archive: The Dodgers just won it all, but they fell short in ’83
Share: [From the Editor’s Desk, 2024: You saw our World Series watch party, right? With Dodger fever running in our veins, we decided to look through the Courier Archives from the legendary Dodgers 80s. 2024 Freddie Freeman is the new 1988 Kirk Gibson, after all. Well, our 80’s colleagues let us down this time. No Dodgers coverage in ’88, can you believe it? We found this, though, which is still a fun look at MLB coverage in our pages. The Courier sports page in 1983 …
Editorial: When billionaires meddle in media, democracy pays the price
Share: In a time when democracy faces unprecedented threats, the decision by the billionaire owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post to suppress their own editorial boards’ endorsements of Kamala Harris is alarming. This move, framed as a gesture toward journalistic objectivity, reveals a deeper, more troubling erosion of press freedom and accountability. As student journalists, we believe that this silence, enforced by the publications’ billionaire owners, is a far more significant political statement than any endorsement could ever be. This editorial …
From The Archive: Sorry Class of 1960, still no jet powered motor scooters
Share: [Note, 2024: The 1960’s brought the continuation of the space age, a time when the world was fascinated with technological innovation and a vision of what the future would bring. Many imagined that modes of transportation would greatly shift in the next decades, envisioning flying machines such as the “unicopter,” “space cycles” and “jet powered motor scooters” dreamed up in this piece. After the postwar boom of the 1950’s and the approaching space race, the question on everyone’s minds was ‘what will the future …
From the Archives: The Courier covers college’s conception
Share: [Editor’s Desk, 2024: The birth of Pasadena City College in 1947 didn’t just mark the start of a new institution—it also brought about a transition for its student newspaper. With the merging of John Muir College and Pasadena Junior College, the Pasadena Chronicle, which had served as the voice of the student body, was set to evolve into something new: the PCC Courier. Much like the college itself, the newspaper faced the challenge of building an identity from the foundation up. The Pasadena Chronicle …
From the Archives: College concert celebrates the end of WWII
Share: [Editor’s Desk, 2024: At this point in May 1945, Pasadena Junior College had planned an eventful week for the students. Our top story from this edition covered five women from PJC, one of whom would be crowned “queen of the wartime carnival” at the Hawaiian Paradise Ball. But there were other events happening all the way across the world. World War II had begun to come to a close. Germany had surrendered only a few days prior, on May 7. The war engrossed the …
From the Archive: Even in the 30’s, we knew Jackie Robinson was special
Share: [Editor’s Desk, 2024: When we reached the 1930s in this by-the-decade retrospective, we knew we wanted to find a story about Jackie Robinson. The college and city are both rightly proud of Robinson having been from here, but how much of that was obvious hindsight? We were concerned that our past articles might have been part of the racist system that marginalized black athletes. Did our historical peers respect Robinson as they should have? It turns out, the sports writers in our past knew …
From the Archive: Courier covers college’s conception
Share: [Editor’s Desk, 2024: As we celebrate PCC’s centennial by going through the Courier archives, we found the perfect story this week. The Courier was founded in 1915 as the Pasadena High School Chronicle, but PCC itself measures its start from the opening of the Junior College at the high school in 1924. That means we were able to find the story where we covered the opening of the college itself! Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo, the archived copy has suffered some …