Aliens visit earth in ‘Nope,’ Keke Palmer visits PCC to talk about it

Keke Palmer, a well known actor, admitted that even though she wasn’t going to be using the same elaborate language that the students in PCC’s Critical Theory Club used, she was going to tell her story and engage in a meaningful conversation. “I started to reach a point where I said ‘I don’t care about none of this shit, all I care about is what makes me happy and having real conversations with real people.’” She did just that.  The Critical Theory Club is a …

Want to have a hoppy time? Check out The Bunny Museum

Los Angeles is home to a myriad of places to explore in your free time, especially museums. A sight to see with friends and family has to be The Bunny Museum! It is filled with all types of rabbit related items from iconic characters to generic rabbit mementos. There’s several different rabbit-related rooms–including some real-life bunnies. The Bunny Museum is located in Altadena and has been open for 27 years–it holds the largest collection of bunny artifacts up to 45,000. A couple, Candace Frazee and …

‘Planet City’ shows alternate reality where nature subjugates humans

Architect and film director Liam Young created a film presenting a question about climate change, environmental issues and how these issues are affecting the whole world today. It’s set during a time where the wilderness took over to return to stolen lands, recovering the ecosystem. This world is formed around hydrothermal vents to help the ecosystem run better for global change.  Planet City is a film set in an imaginary city that houses about 10 billion people who live in residential mountains constructed from recycled …

Black Family Reunion uses hip hop to amplify black voices on campus

On Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022 PCC hosted their very first annual Black Family Reunion. The purpose of the event was for the black population here at PCC to come out and have fun while supporting the growing community. The event included black owned food trucks, the Pasadena Flea Market, line dancing, raffles, and games. Special performances were included by DJ Millie, QUIN, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter 6lack and rap icon MC Lyte. The Student Services Division was on site to help current students receive all the resources they …

Creating safety in an inherently unsafe space—the skatepark

Every Wednesday night, a group of queer and transgender skaters gather outside of a local skatepark in Glendale. Near handball courts and on flat ground, beginning skaters are allowed a safe space where they can practice balancing on their skateboards, learn to land tricks or meet other queer skaters. This group goes by the name Boos Cruise and describes themselves as “a collective representing queer, BIPOC, non-binary, trans, skaters, and aspiring skaters.” Julian Chavez serves as the community leader of Boos Cruise, and shares that …

The survival of Poo-Bah, Pasadena’s last great record store

Independent record stores are a dying breed. In the age of algorithms, music communities have migrated online. Streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify have replaced ritual crate digging at local shops. Even as music consumption continues to grow, physical album sales account for a shrinking portion of music revenue, causing more and more shops across the country to fold. The only way for stores to survive is to adapt. Poo-Bah Record Shop, currently in its third home, is living proof here in Pasadena. Since …

Emmett Till anti-lynching act sparks conversation about change at PCC

This past week marked the 67th anniversary of Emmett Till’s violent murder. On March 29th President Joe Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act classifying lynching as a Federal hate crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.  The Emmett Till Anti-lynching act is a law that will give prosecuters the opportunity to prosecute a violent act that still takes place to this day. Lynching is usually symbolic of alerting people that they are not welcome in a specific area.  Dr. Fanon Che Wilkins, …

Preparing for launch: PCC prof tests space missions here on Earth

Up in the foothills of Pasadena, Dr. Christopher Matthes and his team begin the procedure to launch a probe to asteroid Psyche. Dr. Matthes does the countdown, and his team members report that Psyche is on its way to the asteroid. Although Matthes and his team did everything required to launch the Psyche probe, in reality, no probe was launched. The probe was never perched on a rocket ship but instead was laid out flat across a tabletop at JPL. The Psyche mission is set …

PCC’s outdoor program inspires students to connect with nature

In Butano State Park near Santa Cruz, artist and former PCC student, Elexis Padrón, works as a Senior Park Aide-Interpreter, guiding hiking tours and facilitating nature-based art workshops. A science illustration class at UC Santa Cruz helped ignite a realization that maybe she hadn’t chosen the right major–although she values her humanities background now, looking back. Shortly after graduating with a degree in art and community studies (a social-justice focused major), Padrón began the UC Naturalist Program at PCC, earning a certificate that set her …

Recovering addicts: Students balance TikTok and productivity

In less than five years, the social networking app TikTok has turned into the most used platform in the digital world. In the first half of 2018 alone, the same year it ditched its previous name, Musical.ly, TikTok was downloaded more than 104 million times on Apple’s app store–surpassing Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.  According to data released by the Chinese-owned company, its one billion users worldwide, 100 million of which live in the United States, spend an average of an hour and 25 minutes on …