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TTC vs. PCC: Celebrating 75 years

Samantha Navarro
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TTC vs. PCC: Celebrating 75 years

Pacific Coast Campus, PCC, has been the name of LBCC’s smaller campus for 75 years, but this August the campus was re-branded as the Trades, Technology, and Community Learning Campus, TTC, and attendees of the 75th Anniversary have a lot to say about the name change.

Superintendent President Mike Munoz supports the name change because, “Long Beach residents have no idea LBCC offers these programs.”

Therefore, Munoz believes that the rebrand of the name not only communicates these programs held at LBCC to the public, but highlights them at the secondary campus.

Instructional Laboratory Coordinator and alumni, Jasmine Blouin wasn’t too thrilled about the name change at first because she thought it made it seem as though the campus only offered the programs listed in the title of the new name.

Blouin hopes students will recognize that there are many other courses offered other than the Trades, but she has accepted that the name change is beneficial because it highlights these programs offered at TTC.

Assistant professor in LBCC’s culinary arts department, Chris Young preps pastries for students and guests at the 75th Anniversary Block Party on the TTC campus. (Tenoa Stewart)

“We also do class presentations too letting students know we’re from the TTC Multidisciplinary Success Center and even students are like, ‘Wait a minute, when did you change the name?’” Blouin said.

Supervisor of the TTC bookstore, Isaiah Lang hasn’t seen the name change affect too many things yet, as he believes it’s being gradually put in more places. 

Lang doesn’t think the re-brand is a big deal, however he thinks it will take people some time to accept the name change and start saying TTC instead of the former name, PCC.

“I don’t know, I just change what I put on my emails when I send them out, I haven’t done too much other than that,” Lang said.

Student Danny Alvarez Rosales takes most of his classes at the LAC campus, but frequents TTC for the tutoring center and his club that takes place in the QQ Building.

Rosales explained that the name “PCC” was already common knowledge because it’s located on PCH, but TTC sounds more like a school, rather than a location.

“It’s going to take me probably like another three months to adapt to the name change,” Rosales said, “I tell my wife ‘PCC,’ and she’s like ‘What?’ and then I’m like, ‘Oh yeah it’s TTC now!”.

It seems that everyone is adjusting to the name change in their own way, and for some it may be more difficult to remember than others, but overall TTC gives the community a much better understanding of the campus and the programs that LBCC has to offer.

DiPiazza’s gives aspiring local musicians a platform to grow

Samantha Navarro
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DiPiazza’s gives aspiring local musicians a platform to grow

CORRECTION: A previous version of the story misnamed Steve Guillen as Mark Guillen when attributing the quote “The most important thing to me was maintaining the legacy that Mark DiPiazza left behind, he was a mentor of mine and it was important to me to maintain the live entertainment and the pizza.” This has since been corrected.

DiPiazza’s is a venue for musicians of all genres and ages who aspire to grow as an artist, network with other creatives, and find their place in the continuously expanding community of music in Long Beach. 

The retirement of the original owners, Mark and Maralyn Dipiazza, left large shoes to fill for Steve and Melissa Guillen, the current owners of DiPiazza’s as of 2020, yet their goals for the location have not changed.

“The most important thing to me was maintaining the legacy that Mark DiPiazza left behind, he was a mentor of mine and it was important to me to maintain the live entertainment and the pizza,” Steve Guillen said. 

Guillen explained the various opportunities that DiPiazza’s provides for young artists, many of which are students of all ages, including members of LBCC’s jazz department. 

“Working with schools is the most favorable thing for me. We work with several private schools as well such as The Rok, On Stage Music Academy, and more. LBCC jazz class and combos steps this up to another level since these are college kids coming to have their recital like evening in a gig scene,” Guillen said. 

DiPiazza’s allows people the opportunity to play on a real stage with a live sound system, something very different than their typical auditorium recitals and performances. 

“It seems to be a really good community hub for musicians, it’s not locked into one genre. They have rock, metal, and reggae. It’s very community oriented which aligns with our college,” LBCC’s director of Instrumental Jazz Patrick Sheng said. 

Cassidy Fleeman, performing as the lead vocalist for The Anti-Groupies, an all girls punk band from Long Beach. Her raspy yet powerful vocals keeps the crowd intrigued and wanting more. (Samantha Navarro)

DiPiazza’s has been around for 40 years and has helped young musicians find their place in the music scene here in Long Beach, and has partnered with LBCC in order to provide a venue for various jazz combo performances every school year. 

Sheng elaborated on how DiPiazza’s provides a more casual performance filled with friends, family, chatting, and sometimes even screaming, preparing them for real gigs that they may encounter in the future. 

“It helps with stage presence. I remember a kid was bad at stage presence and announcing, but he eventually got so much better after each show,” Sheng said. 

Another experience that these gigs provide are the jam sessions that occur after each show in which the both LBCC and non-LBCC musicians join and play together, which helps to mix with other people and act as a test of improvisation. 

LBCC jazz student, William Su, spoke about what it has been like to play at DiPiazza’s.

“I play guitar, and for my first performance my chord voicing wasn’t the best. It makes you want to get better each performance, and I finally learned how to perform proper jazz voicings,” Su said. 

Performing at this venue has increased the students’ ability to learn new strategies that are necessary to grow as a musician, but can’t always be grasped when strictly playing formal recitals. 

Not only has DiPiazza’s helped LBCC students, but has been an overall help to young local musicians in Long Beach. 

The Anti-Groupies are a band that have been performing at DiPiazza’s consistently this past year and have felt that the venue truly does give growing artists a great place to begin their performance journey. 

“DiPiazza’s pays everyone equally, has an incredibly nice staff, super welcoming, and is an overall positive environment. They let us do what we want and even offered us a residency,” drummer for the Anti-Groupies and LBCC student Kyla Foster said.

Guillen explained how the venue chooses one artist a year to dedicate a residency towards, giving them the chance to self produce a show once a month with their choice of performers for the night. 

“The previous band that had the residency was a band called Speed of Light. They did the same thing and came in very young, and they are now a band that is in huge festivals and opening for huge bands like True Religion,” Guillen said. 

Sydney Moore plays bass for the Anti-Groupies at one of their many shows held at DiPiazza’s due to their 2024 residency with the venue. (Samantha Navarro)

DiPiazza’s is implementing independence and confidence in Long Beach artists and bands, which are critical characteristics that are necessary to reach the next level as a musician. 

“We want to support young musicians. We will always be there to support and are pretty much the only all ages venue in all of Long Beach. It’s not something we take for granted and it’s super important that we give them that platform, rather than being this night time place trying to bring the biggest artist around town,” Guillen said.

Palestinian protestors take over L.A.’s Pershing Square

Isabel Murty
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Palestinian protestors take over L.A.’s Pershing Square

Thousands gathered in Downtown LA’s Pershing Square on Oct. 5 for a rally held as part of an “International Day of Action”, only two days before the one year anniversary of the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict. 

Groups such as the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) worked with other local organizations across different cities both nationally and internationally to set up a series of rallies for this day.

A baby being carried through the thousands of protestors, looks out to the many who surround them. They among the many who arrived at the Palestinian Youth Movement march. (Sam Villa)

The sound of banging drums and chants calling for “intifada,” an Arabic word which means “uprising.”

In this case intifada is used as a call for people to aggressively resist against Israel.

A protestor looks out upon the crowd while holding a drum, one of the various instruments seen across the march. (Sam Villa)

Spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement Nadia Mehanna, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Youth Movement, has been part of the organization for four years helping to organize events and rallies to raise support for Palestininas among Southern Californians. 

“We have a role to play in the active struggle for liberation,” Mehanna said.

A protestor holds just one of plenty posters in the street. They and many others were seen wearing keffiyehs, a traditional Middle-Eastern headdress. (Sam Villa)

Mehanna’s father is Palestinian, and she shared that her family has “lost dozens” in the conflict of the Israel-Gaza region.

“This didn’t begin on October 7,” Mehanna said.

Kids sit on top of a car in the Palestinian Youth Movement march. Many children filled the streets in an act of solidarity. (Sam Villa)

Families with small children, teenagers, and masked activists were among those who marched in a procession that began in front of Pershing Square and snaked along the streets of Downtown L.A.

Ivanska Pagan, a supporter of the Palestinian movement, came to the rally alone, having heard about it through a social media post.

A guardian and child look into each others eyes while at the Palestinian Youth Movement march. (Sam Villa)

“I believe we need more people in one place to make the message clear: this inhumanity must stop,” Pagan said.

There were no counter-protestors in sight for this rally and a distinct lack of police presence, as  PYM members dressed in high visibility vests ran ahead of the procession to block traffic at intersections.

Bill Cunningham, a Boston local who was in the area to visit family, decided to attend the rally out of curiosity, as well as to show his support for victims of the Israel-Hamas war.

“The ridiculousness of slaughtering innocents like we have for years in Israel needs to end,” Cunningham said. 

Nationally, thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters gathered over the weekend in rallies such as these, as well as pro-Israeli rallies as the one year anniversary of Oct. 7 drew closer.

Portraying the college experience through music

Samantha Navarro
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Portraying the college experience through music

Directed by Skye Angulo and Andrew Lee, LBCC dedicated a performance by the Viking Chorale and Viking Singers, titled “Seasons of Love,” to a former choir professor and director. 

The Viking Chorale and Singers choose their favorite songs from musicals to relate to the struggles students face in college. 

The stories told through the performance reflect lived experiences that many college students can relate to. 

Skye Angulo directs the Viking Choral and Choir during rehearsal prior to their performance of “Seasons of Love,” which consisted of songs from multiple musicals. (Alex Toledo)

The songs included familiar pieces from musicals such as “Rent”,  “The Greatest Showman” and “La La Land” among others.

For example, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” tells a story about wanting to get out into the world and build the life you want for yourself. 

Many incoming students from various backgrounds come to LBCC feeling like they don’t belong and often feel lost. 

There are also many students who tend to change majors within their first year of college such as Erick Jimenez, a new member of the Viking Chorale.

Throughout his journey in class, he often found it challenging to take specific notes, time things correctly, and remember certain spots, ultimately making him feel overwhelmed. 

“I was nervous the week of the performance,” Jimenez said. 

Jimenez often pushes himself to do better and takes time to self-reflect and wants to show that he cares about his class and his future. 

“Skye sets the standards high and doesn’t hold back. If she has a goal, she will push us to reach it. I thought our group was satisfying,” said David Hillinger, a member of the Chorale.

These songs remind fellow students that it is okay not to know what you want to do and that LBCC is here to help you navigate your journey. 

“Community college is for everyone, and it benefits everyone,” said Skye Angulo.

Kayla Pizano, an audience member and student at LBCC gave her thoughts on the performance. 

“I enjoyed being here, especially seeing my friend perform,” Pizano said.

Pizano mentioned how the audience wasn’t big and how she wished more people knew about them. 

Angulo expressed the message she wanted to convey to the audience: “You belong here.” 

“We want people to leave feeling uplifted, energized, inspired, and, of course, to enjoy the music,” said Angulo. 

The director mentioned that she played almost no part in conducting; this performance serves as a prequel to an upcoming performance this winter.

Former professor arrested after smashing car of department head with hammer

Destiny Garcia
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Former professor arrested after smashing car of department head with hammer

Former political science professor Donald Douglas was arrested Thursday after using a hammer to smash the car of a political science and history co-department head while wearing a ski mask, according to a Canvas message obtained by the Viking.

The message said Douglas threatened multiple professors, including the family of the message’s author, history professor Sean Dinces.

According to Dinces, Douglas has been harassing multiple of his former colleagues in the history, political science and ethnic studies department for several months. 

The harassment began in June, around the same time Douglas entered retirement, but escalated in the past two weeks, with Douglas also threatening to harm Dinces’ parents.

As of Tuesday, Douglas is still in jail.

Dinces has an individual temporary restraining order against Douglas, which covers both the Liberal Arts and Trade Tech and Community Learning campuses regardless of Dinces’ active presence on either campus.

Douglas will go to court some time in November to dictate whether the order becomes permanent, Dinces said.

Dinces said he wanted to take the utmost caution until the incident comes to a conclusion.

The message also outlined LBCC’s response to this incident, including increased security patrols around the T Building, where the history department is mainly located.

“The college’s response has been both professional and proactive, in particular the campus police have treated it with the necessary urgency,” Dinces said.

According to Dinces, other professors have active restraining orders against Douglas, but he declined to give the name of those individuals.

“It is a credit to campus police that he was only able to do a minimal amount of damage to the faculty member’s car,” Dinces said.

When asked for an interview, the co-department head involved declined to comment via their secretary and requested their name not be printed in the Viking for fear of them and their family’s safety.

According to an email sent to faculty, Douglas was already prohibited from stepping foot on either campus due to previous harassment, and was served a restraining order the same day as his arrest.

The email also states that Douglas was expected to be arraigned and released on Monday, but he is still being held at an inmate reception center as of Tuesday, according to the LA Sheriff’s Department Inmate Information Center website.

When the college was asked for comment, spokeswoman Stacey Toda reached out to the Viking via email.

“As a matter of policy, LBCC does not discuss ongoing personnel issues. We have partnered with LBPD to enhance measures to ensure the safety of our campus community, which is our top priority,” Toda wrote.

The History, Political Science and Ethnic Studies Department offices doors were locked today, and will remain locked until further notice as an extra safety precaution.

Staff trains while students study on Flex Day

Isabel Murty
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Staff trains while students study on Flex Day

Every year, students are told not to come to class on days marked as flex days which are student free days because faculty has to complete training hours.  

Flex day is a day devoted to professors to complete some of the 18 hours of faculty development training ordered by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office per academic year. 

Instructors are given this time to personally develop their skills in the classroom and are offered seminars on proper sleep, wellness, and fitness.  

Donna Coats, the Vice President of the classified union representing the TTC campus helped organize some of the meetings  for the day.  

“We try to touch on the wellness factor and also professional development,” Coats said, “everyone is able to meet their coworkers and interact with people from different campuses.”

Staff and faculty in different departments also held meetings where they discussed plans for the school year and how to tackle curriculum. 

While students were not required to arrive on campus, some still opted to show up to work on group projects or study and finish assignments because they find it harder to study and finish their work at home.

“I find it hard to study at home, so I came here because I knew it was going to be quiet,” Xavier Campbell, one of the few students who decided to show up to campus, said.   

Faculty in the anthropology department held a meeting discussing what anthropology professor Ama Boakyewa described as “expectations set for ourselves last year and if we accomplished those, and then going forward what we want to accomplish for next year.”

Boakyewa hopes that the desire to go to school drives more people to pursue their passion, and the meetings being held in the anthropology department during flex day discuss student enrollment and ways to make the pathway from high school to college more direct. 

Although students showed up to do work on campus for peace and quiet, different faculty departments were busy holding meetings and discussing plans for curriculum and students.

The next flex day will be taking place on March 15th during the Spring 2024 semester at Long Beach City College.

Celebrating college radio day and the late Doug Wood

Darla Perez
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Celebrating college radio day and the late Doug Wood

In celebration of college radio day, Long Beach City College paid tribute to Radio/TV department’s Doug Wood on Monday, Sept.30, 2024 at the FF building of the Trades,Technology and Community Learning Campus (TCC), formerly known as PCC.

Wood recently just passed away in early September of this year and was one of the founding members of LBCC’s radio station who helped instruct and furnish ideas to move the station forward and was a beloved professor and mentor to many students. 

The event included live performances by Slushbox, a local Long Beach band, Riley and the Cosmic Cowboys, and Chad Bishop, who were fellow students that attended LBCC and had the Radio/TV department impact their lives.

College Radio day celebrates the impact that college radio stations have on their students, and  aims to encourage audience members  to tune in and become regular listeners 

A big part of LBCC Radio/TV Department was founding member Doug Wood and his wife Judy Baker who hosted “The Doug & Judy Show” which the radio station was owned by Long Beach Community Television and Media Corporation.

Judy Baker made a special surprise appearance at the event to support LBCC’s Radio/ TV program which made everyone very emotional and delighted to have her presence there after her husband’s recent passing.

Long Beach public radio, better known as KLBP was first launched in 2018 and is now a licensed low power FM station broadcasting at 99.1 FM that offers entertainment, education, and discussions for Long Beach.

During the event each artist that performed was interviewed by LBCC student Sean Quinn who is majoring in broadcast journalism.

Each artist had a meaningful memory with LBCC and especially had a special connection with Doug Wood who influenced their future careers and aspirations. 

Sharon Giarratano and Mark Wheeler, also known as Slushbox, previously attended LBCC and met in a music production class where their teacher divided the class into different genres that students enjoyed, and the two were the only ones that wanted to do rock n roll which is how it all started.

“I remember Doug in the early days of LBCC, he was just always helpful and he was just a great lover of what he was doing and it just came across to me that it wasn’t only a job for him he loved and enjoyed the Radio/TV department and everything that we had to offer,” Wheeler said.

Riley Hodges was part of the work experience program at his family’s business in Downtown Long Beach called “Shannons Corner,” which is where Doug would bring students to film.

“The special thing about Doug is that he kept everyone together happy and calm and I could literally talk to him about anything,” Hodges said.

Bishop was a former LBCC student in 2010 who was part of the music program, and one day his friend asked him to go to a radio show called “Doug and Judy” to submit his music.

“Doug and Judy were there in the very beginning and they gave me the confidence to continue my music career and play original songs and I felt very accepted,” Bishop said.

Camera man broadcasting Chap Bishop while performing. The “College Radio Day” event took place on Sept.30,2024 at building FF at TTC. (Darla Perez)

The importance of college radio has impacted students with developing their confidence, expressing themselves, and building a sense of community.

LBCC Radio and Television are very thankful for Doug and Judy and will continue to honor their legacy by continuing to build and grow the program to aid students and their passions in the field. 

LBCC paints the importance of Latinx culture

Samantha Navarro
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LBCC paints the importance of Latinx culture

LBCC held a sip and paint event to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, inviting students and faculty to paint Aztec masks, enjoy traditional Mexican cuisine, and listen to a playlist of all types of Latinx music. 

Participants were given three options of different Aztecs masks to sketch out and paint to their own satisfaction.

Freshman Steven Coco attended the sip and paint to get involved with all the activities that LBCC has to offer.

“I’m Mexican, so this really resonates with me and this is something new to me, because it’s not something you really learn about everyday,” Coco said.

Coco recommends students to take advantage of all of the events that LBCC offers, because they’re a great way to connect with your peers and learn more about yourself and the world around you.

Administration assistant for Transfer, Counseling, and Student Support Services Department, Bri Pinkerton, partnered up with Student Equity, the group in charge of LBCC’s Cultural Heritage Month Planning and Programming to put on this event. 

Pinkerton’s love of painting alongside her previous attendance of sip and paint events outside of campus inspired her to implement them at LBCC for the past two years. 

LBCC student, Victoria Beltran, paints over an outline and canvas which were provided by the organizers of the Latinx Sip ‘N Paint event. This year the event focused on painting Aztec masks. (Nick Eismann)

“Last year we did the Sugar Skulls, so I wanted to do something slightly different,” Pinkerton said. “So for this year I decided to go the indigenous route and do Aztec masks.”

At the beginning of this event, Pinkerton gave a brief history lesson on the Latinx culture and the Aztec masks that participants sketched out and painted, which made this event both informative and fun.

This event was pushed back a week, so a lot of people who originally RSVP’d weren’t able to make it, but those who did seemed to really enjoy the event.

Student Gabriel Marquez attended the sip and paint because he is really interested in Latinx culture and has done a lot of research on it, including reading the Mayan historical fantasy novel, “Gods of Jade and Shadow” in one of his classes at LBCC.

“No one really knows what it’s supposed to depict, some say it’s a personification of the sun, some say it’s a deification of a ruler, so i’m just sort of drawing to that sort of mystique,” Marques said in regards to the Aztec mask he chose to paint.

Although the event was delayed, multiple students came out to celebrate Latinx Heritage Month, and Pinkerton announced that she will be holding another sip and paint event on  Oct. 30 to celebrate Filipino American History Month and urges anyone interested to join.

Opinion: The writing center needs work 

Cain Carbajal
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Opinion: The writing center needs work 

Correction: This article has been removed due to its misrepresentation of LBCC’s Writing and Reading Success Center. The article failed to meet the Viking’s journalistic standard and fails to reflect the level of journalism the Viking strives for.

Celebrate Filipino history month with a kickoff event

Darla Perez
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Celebrate Filipino history month with a kickoff event

The red, white, blue, and yellow balloons themed after the Filipino flag strongly contrasted the overcast sky at the third annual Filipino American history month kick-off event on Thursday in the A quad in LBCC’s Liberal Arts Campus (LAC).

The sense of Filipino pride and community was strong throughout the event, as students and faculty lined up for adobo and lumpia, two dishes synonymous with Filipino culture.

The event was host to many performances by students, including both traditional and modern Filipino songs and dances.

Pakaraguian Kulintang, a group that performs traditional Filipino music and dances, put on a performance donned in colorful garb and traditional instruments, helping to connect the generations.

Jenelle Macapaz, a new member of the LBCC Asian Pacific Islander Desi (APID) club sang “Your Love” by Juris, and “Huwag Na Huwag Mong Sasabihin” by Kitchie Nadal, two modern Filipino songs that were both featured in popular television shows in the Philippines.

Jenelle Macapaz, a member of the LBCC Asian Pacific Islander Desi club singing a modern Filipino rock song at the Filipino American history month kick-off event at LBCC on Oct. 17, 2024. (AJ Mohammed)

“I chose those songs because they really capture the essence of Filipino rock,” Macapaz said when asked about what they represented to her.

The APID club was responsible for most of the organization of the event, and was present for the whole thing to help run it and put on many of the performances.

A few speakers also gave some words, one of whom was president of the board of trustees Vivian Malauulu, who spoke about her ties to the Filipino community in Long Beach.

“I grew up in Carson, which has the largest Filipino population outside of the Philippines, and my best friend growing up was Filipino,” Malauulu said.

She also went on to mention her role as a trustee member, “I represent west Long Beach, which is known as Little Manila due the approximately 14,000 Filipinos that reside there, so Filipino heritage is something that matters to me,” Malauulu said.

Another performer, Siva Aguilar, brought a guitar on stage to perform “Hanggang Kailan” by Orange & Lemons, a song about longing for a loved one that Aguilar reinterpreted as the longing that Filipino immigrants have for their sense of home.

“I was born and raised in the Philippines and I moved here when I was 14. I didn’t realize until I was older how much I missed it,” Aguilar said.

Helping to comfort that sense of longing, Filipino American history month seeks to celebrate the rich culture that those with ties to the Philippines share, and to bring them together to be able to feel at home again.

Filipino American history month events will run from Oct. 17 to Oct. 30, with more information available on the LBCC website.

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