Share: Overwhelmed. In Fall of 2007, when Loreal Chanel Palmer first came to Pasadena City College she felt overwhelmed, but excited for her next chapter. She also felt uneasy, so, for moral support, her dad tagged along to purchase her books and to help her find her classes so she wouldn’t get lost. At the time, PCC symbolized a new beginning for Palmer. Her family had moved from Chicago and she hoped to make friends while pursuing her degree. From failing out of PCC in …
How one student became a voice for others and found her own
Share: Darya Derakhshani was walking into a restaurant just off of the Pasadena campus last year when suddenly she encountered a man inside who noticed her race and spoke to her inappropriately. As a Muslim immigrant from Iran, stares were not something Derakhshani was unused to. But in a situation like this in a country where people who look like her are hated on sight, she was unsure of what she could do to escape and not have the encounter end in a violent way. …
Environmental Sustainability club takes stand against Big Oil
Share: “Pasadena is a leader in green energy, education, and democratic politics. Why have we not signed onto the Polluters Pay bill through a resolution?” said Teresa Wong, president of PCC’s Environmental Sustainability Club (ESC), during Pasadena’s council meeting on Monday, Oct. 27. Last week, students gathered on the steps of City Hall to make their demands known. While most of the city’s focus was on baseball, students soaked in the sunset, reviewed their notes and added final details to their signs before entering the …
After losing everything to fire, PCC student is named scholarship semifinalist
Share: When the Eaton Fire tore through Altadena and Pasadena in early January, it left behind a trail of devastation—including the home, belongings, and pets of Pasadena City College student Jose Gadea. Amid the ashes, Gadea, a third-year natural sciences major, continued his studies from a temporary shelter, applying for one of the nation’s most competitive scholarships: the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. Annually, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation awards this prestigious scholarship to a number of high-achieving undergraduate community college students planning to …
Football and soccer teams set records in historic year for PCC athletes
Share: The year is 1938. A young man attending PCC stepped onto the football field and set a record for the most touchdowns and points in a season, which would stand for 63 years. Later, he broke his brother’s national community college record for the longest broad jump in Track and Field, not only making history in PCC’s Football and Track and Field team but as well as the Basketball and Baseball teams. That young man was none other than the legendary Jackie Robinson. Now …
In the age of misinformation, writer-in-residence Lynell George values a reader’s trust
Share: South Los Angeles, 1992. Four LAPD officers were on trial for criminal excessive force, caught on video beating a man named Rodney King. Every Black person in the city was keeping an eye on the trial. Lynell George was a journalist at LA Weekly, working on an unrelated story about the Great Migration and the landscape of Louisiana migrants, which is one of the largest migrant groups to California from the south. “I’m sitting in this Louisiana [style] restaurant with this older woman and …
Plant professor has a passion for parade floats
Share: In less than two months, the 136th annual Rose Parade will commence driving down Colorado Boulevard while bystanders in the stands watch every rose-pedaled-designed float pass by. Every float is handled with the greatest care months before the event on New Year’s morning. Katie Rodriguez has volunteered for three decades for the Rose Parade. She knows firsthand the hard work and stress that goes into every year. “It’s just like an amazing experience to go down that parade route, and if you have the …
How a queer, undocumented poet remains positive in a neglectful society
Share: Before formally introducing himself and delving into his presentation about his life and the opportunities for success in which he took advantage of despite being an undocumented migrant, poet Yosimar Reyes reads a poem of his entitled “Undocumented Joy.” The poem expresses Reyes’ inability to accurately remember the exact moment he crossed the border and the direct impacts of crossing the border at such a young age. The poem set the tone of the presentation, giving some insight on the source of his embracement …
‘A DIY Ethos:’ History prof on studying, skateboarding, and his identical twin
Share: Dr. Bradford Johnston is a history professor at PCC, but in another life he might have been a lawyer. So what stopped him? “I was set to enroll or matriculate in law school with my twin brother, and at the last minute decided not to do so. Perhaps I was having too much fun skateboarding,” Johnston said. Johnston remembers how, at age thirteen, he noticed many neighborhood kids skateboarding, saying, “I instantly thought that it was cool. I was intrigued.” Before this, his exposure …
Incoming director plots new partnerships for Pride Center
Share: Located on the fourth floor of the R Building, the Pride Center is a small, essential space for members of the LGBTQ+ community on campus. But the Pride Center was facing a time of transition after staff turnover. Resource advocates, like Lucy Rokitski and Bryce Simon, had moved on, leaving a vacuum… but also opportunity. Ana Bernal filled that vacuum. A former student of PCC, Bernal has been the new director of the Pride Center for one week. Ana Bernal is staying busy in …