The city of Long Beach has an obligation to help build communities that have been affected by the War on Drugs. Cannabis education should be part of the city’s Social Equity program, rather than leaving the responsibility of education solely in the hands of the industry.
Long Beach has a history of being progressive toward cannabis and as a result, attracting a booming industry.
According to MJBiz, only 2% of social equity applicants are operating in Long Beach, CA.
Even when the city expanded its social equity program in Oct. 2021, the eight applicants that applied are still awaiting licenses to operate.
For two decades, the Long Beach Collective Association (LBCA) has been a backbone for the industry; an established organization whose primary goal was to help the city council with cannabis regulations.
The LBCA has become more than a legal organization and has ventured into community building, education and cannabis reform.
Although the city attorney is in charge of cannabis oversight, cannabis education falls under the department of public health. A visit to their site will simply lead you to more links that will direct you to places where you can get that education.
In other words, cannabis education is limited, hard to find, and jargon.
Pam Chotiswatdi, MPH is an instructor for the cannabis course at LBCC and a director of Community Education and Executive Administration for the LBCA.
“The illness (of the wars on drugs) is put on the industry,” Chotiswatdi explained.
The government does not like to take the blame for bad policy and the war on drugs.
LBCA has addressed the lack of resources and education by establishing the first cannabis course at LBCC.
However, LBCC is unable to offer financial aid for the course and students interested would have to pay $420 to get this education.
The city should reform its cannabis equity program and offer the course to students at no cost, rather than have the LBCA running for membership dues to help fund the program.
If Long Beach seeks to have an active social equity program, funding cannabis education is necessary.
Daylight saving time is fast approaching, with the loss of an hour starting March 13 for residents of California. Make sure to set back your clocks an hour before you become late to one of your classes and be aware of the possible effects of the time change.
Students can be quite vulnerable to the effects of daylight saving time, such as sleep loss which can cause “a greater risk of mood disturbance, suicide, and being involved in traffic accidents during both bi-annual transition periods,” an article by the Sleep Foundation states.
“Adolescents and high school students are potentially more susceptible to the adverse effects of DST, given their early school hours and a natural tendency to maintain a delayed sleep schedule, which often culminates in a sleep deprived state,” a study by the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine states.
Our sleep is most affected by daylight saving time and is of utmost importance to every individual’s health, with 7-9 hours of daily sleep recommended for adults.
Students interviewed on the Liberal Arts campus of Long Beach City College seemed unaffected by the shift, either neutral on the topic itself or slightly in or out of favor of the concept.
“Other than the initial change of the clocks, it doesn’t really affect me on such an obvious basis,” student Chris Scott said.
Scott did mention that he had accidentally missed a couple classes because of the initial change, but past that had no issues with the change aside from having to adjust the clocks each time.
“The biggest thing is like switching clocks, but at this point I’d just use my phone one,” Scott said.
Student Alexandro Ramirez was favorable of daylight saving time, saying “I believe that the more sun, the more time you’re able to go outside, study for whatever classes you have, and it definitely provides more of a warm environment for everyone who enjoys working and studying out in the sun.”
“Just waking up, yeah, it’s a little harder,” Judianny Argueta said.
The concept for daylight saving time was created in 1784 by Benjamin Franklin in order to better use daylight as the seasons pass.
48 of the 50 states in the country implement daylight saving time, with Hawaii and Arizona being the exceptions.
Daylight saving time for 2022 begins at 2 a.m. on March 13 for California residents, and changes back Nov. 6 at 2 a.m.
Since 1967, the Queen Mary has been permanently docked in Long Beach, California. Over the last 50 years, it has become a staple and is now almost synonymous with the city.
Today, it is destined for demolition, millions of dollars worth of renovations are needed to keep it up and running.
The Queen Mary’s rich history and contribution to the economy of Long Beach is important and merits support for a full renovation.
A $5 million renovation project is underway, but it requires $23 million to be fully operational. The big question is will $5 million suffice or end up in a flopped project?
Since its docking in 1967, the Queen Mary has served as a tourist and local attraction bringing revenue to Southern California. It is a piece of history that many of us are not fully aware of.
The Queen Mary originally comes from Southampton, England and retired in 1967 on the port of Long Beach.
Among many things it is equipped with a swimming pool, small hospital, cocktail bars, restaurants and has had a wide variety of events celebrated such as New Years, Halloween, and weddings.
According to the Long Beach Post, the Queen Mary generated more than $93 million for the local economy in 2019.
One of the most indisputable attractions in Long Beach is the Queen Mary. It is an iconic symbol that has made history all over the world.
It has served as a movie set that continuously gets booked, which adds to the wealth and prominence of Long Beach.
Today if one chooses to visit the city of Long Beach, they are likely to visit the famous Queen Mary.
The Queen Mary adds to the landscape of the Long Beach shore, which would lose its romantic vibe by having it replaced with floating container ships.
The City of Long Beach officials need to fully invest and assure the public that this will be a no-fail mission to get the ship back up and running.
The Los Angeles Times reported that it will cost $175 million to preserve the Queen Mary and maintain it over the next 25 years, but it could cost up to $190 million to abandon the ship, sink it and recycle it.
The Queen Mary is currently closed and will remain closed while it undergoes maintenance to keep it from being demolished.
All that aforementioned evidence, and rich history points towards its importance that the Queen Mary gets fully renovated and kept.
Currently and fortunately, all support channels are in favor of saving the Queen Mary, but it still remains uncertain that key renovations will be made.
Nearly two years after the pandemic forced schools to shut down, students are learning to accept COVID as a part of their daily lives. The course of the pandemic has transitioned from learning the regulations to becoming accustomed to them.
LBCC student Ashley Lopez admits that being back on campus this semester, even with certain regulations still in effect, feels normal.
After speaking with multiple students, it seems that the most significant difference as to what feels “normal” is the change from learning online or learning on campus.
“It feels just regular, being in person now,” Lopez said.
Part of learning to live with COVID in our society consists of us becoming accustomed to social distancing, wearing masks and understanding we won’t return to our pre-pandemic lives.
Students feel that regardless of one’s vaccination status, there are precautions that should be taken to keep us safe, regardless of current pandemic protocols.
Jasmine Martinez, another LBCC student said, “LBCC has put great protrols like having to be cleared to go into any building and there is great organization.”
There are many positive outcomes with returning to in-person instruction. Students and staff say there has been an improvement in motivation in students with attending classes on campus.
The return to in-person instruction has benefited students as well by helping them focus in classes that tend to be harder when you’re in front of a screen at your house.
Another note is that government trust among students has been strained and weakened over the last year. Student Gustavo Rosas said, “I really don’t try to keep up with it honestly because they’ve been all over the place.”
While speaking with Rosas, he referred to the pre-pandemic life as normal. This endemic lifestyle may be in effect, but some student’s mindsets haven’t acclimated and aren’t considering this as the new norm yet.
Other students, however, have not only acclimated ,but have grown from the pandemic. Some have changed the way they see and navigate the world. Pre-pandemic, many people thought of risk in absolutes, but now it’s generally a gray area filled with probability and many other factors to consider.
On a larger scale, steps have begun where our state begins plans to move forward into seeing COVID as endemic and will allow us to learn how to live with the virus.
Long Beach City College offers an eight-week class at LAC to introduce and focus on the cannabis industry. The goal of the course is to educate those interested in the cannabis community and to build a network amongst key players in the industry.
Within the class is an introduction and training for cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, retail, labs, track, trace systems, waste regulation and workforce development.
Due to federal law, federal financial aid does not support the funding of these classes; however, the state regulatory guidelines authorize such training.
The class first started in the fall semester of 2020 and was the first class of this nature ever conducted at LBCC.
Melissa Infusino, director of Workforce Development at LBCC, explained that this program was in great part due to the consolidated efforts of industry partners within the Long Beach Collective Association (LBCA).
The LBCA consists of over 40 industry partners that support and contribute to the cannabis curriculum offered at Long Beach City College.
Nate Winokur, an instructor and member of the LBCA, says the program was created to involve key sectors like manufacturing, cultivation, retail, and distribution, in the cannabis industry to form an enriching curriculum.
The goal of the course is to educate those interested in the cannabis community and to build a network amongst key players in the industry.
One of the supporting industry partners, Chronic Long Beach, which is located at 1501 Santa Fe Ave, Long Beach, California had customers share their experience at the establishment.
Customers Tony Mawyin and his daughter Hanna Mawyin discovered the establishment while visiting Long Beach.
When the two were informed about the training at LBCC, they were surprised.
Tony Mawyin has been a long time supporter of cannabis and stated that “I have been smoking since I was thirteen years old. That’s pretty dope that they are giving classes there.”
Hanna Mawyin stated, “I only smoke for medicinal purposes.”
LBCC currently offers the class in the Spring 2022 semester with the next scheduled classes set to start March 15.
With COVID-19 impacting everyone differently, the Basic Needs Department at Long Beach City College has geared its efforts by helping students with their most pressing day-to-day issues, offering free groceries and bus passes, along with key housing assistance resources.
Located on the Liberal Arts Campus, building E-131, known as the Viking Vault, the Basic Needs Department provides resources to any LBCC student who is experiencing difficulty meeting their basic needs in the areas of food, housing, transportation and more.
“We have a holistic framework of basic needs which is circular. We understand that our basic needs are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, all happening at the same time,” Basic Needs department manager Justin Mendez said.
“COVID helped us, as basic needs practitioners,” Mendez said. “In the past, students weren’t walking around with a sign saying ‘I need support with housing.’ COVID facilitated us as an institution to create tools, like the Emergency Aid application. Outreach tools and access points were increased through COVID.”
Housing aid and rental assistance is a flagship of the Basic Needs Department, with students able to work with a specialist to rapidly rehouse and park in a safe location if they are living in their vehicle or get a one time rent check up to $2000 for past due bills.
“Just this semester we have 800 students asking for housing support. Food requests have just passed housing but probably by the end of the semester that may swap again,” Mendez said.
Nicole Swayne, an outreach and recruitment specialist, explained that “When a student is experiencing housing insecurity or at chronic risk of homelessness, they can email basicneeds@lbcc.edu to tell us their situation to collect information, communicate with the housing partner (program) and then we’re able to connect the two.”
“We have everything from rapid rehousing to bridge housing. Our services can either be immediate, like a hotel voucher, or housing navigation for students who are already working and just need a stable situation,” Swayne said.
There are some requirements for different housing programs, like the number of registered class units, but the outreach specialists can work with students to find the best fit for their needs.
The Viking Vault on LAC and its partner food pantry on the Pacific Coast Campus in QQ-107 gives students with one credit or more the opportunity to grab a bag of whatever groceries are available as often as they may need.
The Viking Vault, located behind the Fishbowl in the E Building, is also the offices of the Basic Needs Program. The basic needs specialists are available to connect students with resources to meet their needs. (Sean Davis)
This includes students like LaJune Elder, who said “I use (Viking Vault) all the time for groceries and things I can’t afford at the regular grocery store. It definitely helps with the grocery bills.”
“I’m very thankful. Very grateful,” Elder said.
Along with access to food and housing assistance, Basic Needs offers things like free bus passes and gas cards to give students the ability to get to and from class or work.
“We have step by step guidance to help students get their bus pass that covers so many public transit agencies, ” Outreach and Recruitment Specialist Brianna Chavez said. “Yeah we might just be a food pantry but students don’t realize ‘Hey, do you need a gas card? Do you need help with transportation?’ so not everyone may know what we truly can offer.”
For the basic needs practitioners of the department, there is always more work that can be done and more students who might be helped by the resources they offer.
“Although we are serving two to three hundred students at least a month, I still believe we are under-utilized,” Mendez argues, “I want our resources to go. We know the need is there. We know a lot of our students are coming from low income families.”
But students do seem to be discovering what opportunities are available in the Basic Needs portfolio.
“We have a good steady flow of students,” Mendez said, “and it feels like every day, if not every week, we have students saying ‘Hey, it’s my first time here.’ ”
The demographics of students seeking help aren’t simply black and white either, with a wide range of people looking for help, including a large number of non-traditional students over 25 years old and parent-students.
Systemic inequality impacting particular segments of the population is clear though. “What research is continuing to prove is that there is a disproportionate basic needs insecurity for students of color, males and South East Asian students, who sometimes are shown to have a higher rate of basic needs insecurity than Latinx students,” Mendez explains.
But the variety of students looking for ways to overcome their basic need shortfalls is a testament to the diversity of LBCC and Long Beach as a whole.
“In our experience, and I attribute this to the diversity of LBCC, we have everybody coming into Basic Needs. It’s a beautiful thing to see the diversity of the population we are serving. On an average day in the Viking Vault, you will see all sorts of people,” Mendez argues.
The Basic Needs Department can be contacted in person at the Viking Vault at LAC or its equivalent location at PCC, through email at basicneeds@lbcc.edu or on the department’s dedicated Basic Needs Canvas page.
March 8 is globally recognized as International Women’s Day, a holiday that commemorates the cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements made by women. This year’s official theme for the holiday is #BreakTheBias.
The women of Long Beach City College are breaking the bias in STEM, which includes fields typically known to be male-dominated like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
“I feel like regardless of how small my stature is this is something I want to do and so I don’t care about the bias. Yeah, it’s a man’s field still but that is changing,” Jules Fugett said, a student worker in metal fabrication.
Jules Fugett is enrolled in the metal fabrication program at LBCC. (Photo by Maisie Vilchis)
According to the United States Census Bureau, only 27% of STEM workers were women in 2019, despite making up nearly half the workforce in the United States.
“Luckily here at LBCC I don’t really feel like there’s much of a bias, I think most of the student workers here are women, from what I’ve seen,” Fugett said.
Julianna Maleki is a second year student here at LBCC and is working on pursuing a career in computer science. As of 2019, only twenty one percent of computer science graduates were women according to a study done by Berkeley University called Changing the Curve: Women in Computing.
Julianna Maleki is a second year student at LBCC who is majoring in computer science. (Photo by Maisie Vilchis)
“I am new to computer science so I have not faced any bias yet personally, but I will say in my class of thirty plus kids there is only me and one other girl,” Maleki said.
“Thankfully having a female teacher makes me feel a lot more confident in the class because if it was just me and the other female student I would feel a lot more out of place. Professor Davis is a really good teacher and she makes me feel like I am capable of doing well,” added Maleki.
Sofia Amores, who originally came to LBCC to obtain her associate’s degree in sociology, saw a poster advertising trades at the college and decided to take up welding.
“I got my associates for sociology first and while I was doing that I saw a sign at the LAC campus saying trades were back, I thought wow that sounds really cool because I saw pictures of the arc being struck and it was bright and interesting and i thought what is that? So I signed up for an intro to welding class and I ended up really liking it ,” explained Amores.
“The only way I am breaking any bias is just by choosing to be myself. It’s cool to be able to express your femininity and still do man’s work,” Amores, a welding and metal fabrication student said.
Darlene Garcia is also a welder at the college and had decided to pursue welding because she did not like how male dominated welding is and wanted to prove women have just as much of a place in welding as men do.
Darlene Garcia stands proudly in front of the welding department. She is one of only a handful of female students who enrolled in the course. (Photo by Eduardo Gomez)
“Just me being short is saying so much because not a lot of people expect women of my size to do this. I feel like I’m setting an example and creating more space for women in the field so that other women will feel more inspired to do this,” Garcia said.
Long Beach City College finished construction of their new $100 million athletic facilities which will officially open on April 1st with the athletes already training and having games on it.
The finalized construction added two new artificial turf soccer fields, a National Collegiate Athletic Association level beach volleyball facility, tennis courts, renovation of the softball field, and a brand new aquatic facility with a 50-meter long pool.
The state-of-the-art pool includes locker rooms and a training facility with many games planned to be played in it.
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For the coaches, athletes, and staff of LBCC, it adds a professional environment and confidence booster.
“Amazing gives the sound of a professional environment with the locker room and training room for the field. Easy access. Super nice surface and amazing what Long Beach can pull off for the program,” men’s soccer coach Jorge Reyes said.
In 2015, Measure LB gave the college nearly $1 billion in construction money with $100 million spent on the athletic facility.
Looking ahead, LBCC will be using the money to upgrade all of its facilities in phases with the recent construction being phase one.
Plans for phase two and phase three will be towards the renovation of Veterans Memorial Stadium and the Hall of Champions gymnasium including the volleyball gym.
“Makes me feel like it’s hope and it hasn’t been made for the baseball field, but in a couple of years I can be a part of that,” baseball player Tyler Bernundo said.
The LBCC athletes training in the facilities are feeling extra motivated and confident for the season. This has brought a vision for the school and athletics creating a facility that showcases the school’s determination in making a division sports program.
“Makes me feel more confident and I feel like since we can get in the weight room we have better practice’s to be able to push ourselves,” women’s water polo player Hayden Bates said.
For the LBCC coaches, they see opportunities in recruitment and the vision the college has for sports and programs to create a division one school. Hosting events such as college tournaments, high school events, and professional team tryouts are opportunities the sports are seeing ahead in years to come.
“Sets the bar and all for junior colleges. Student-athletes, regardless of sport, show it cares and matters,” Jorge Reyes said. “Other colleges need to be set up now and need to have a professional environment.”
“Landing spot but a launching point for players,” women’s soccer coach Eduardo Nunes said in his thoughts about the future of athletics at LBCC.
The school will properly give the facility its ribbon-cutting in April, opening the facility to the public. Once opened, the community will have the ability to reserve the fields, but at the moment only LBCC athletics can use them.
“It’s just amazing and sets motivation for upcoming high school players who heard bad about LBCC but as you can see otherwise,” men’s soccer player Fernando Ramirez said.
Partake Collective is an upcoming project that is meant to provide an attainable and realistic means for those who desire a career in the food industry to grow their business with minimal risk and without massive startup costs.
Construction in downtown Long Beach is nearly complete for Partake collective, a unique concept that owner Adam Carrillo describes as “an entrepreneurial ecosystem for the culinary arts.”
Carrillo’s partner received a report from the Long Beach Economic Development Commission highlighting the main challenges that small restaurant owners and hospitality workers faced before COVID-19, issues that were only exacerbated throughout the pandemic.
Partake was created as a response to combat these challenges and meet the increased desire to order food through delivery apps, and most importantly to provide a space for a community passionate about food.
Ghost Kitchens are professional food facilities that do not have a storefront but offer delivery and occasionally feature take-out options. Partake takes this trend and expands it, introducing a full-scale operation and a dining area.
“There is a pathway to business ownership within our small business ecosystem” Carrillo said, this also provides four different kitchen types to accommodate people in different stages of their business.
Located on the corner of 5th and Elm Street and originally built in 1927, the building that houses Partake stands four stories tall and has a variety of spaces, 21 in total.
This includes areas for commercial kitchens, prep, ghost kitchens, shared kitchens, and an eating area that offers an elevated experience.
The collective allows you to order from these kitchens and eat there. The only way one used to have access to these spots was through third-party delivery apps like DoorDash or Postmates.
Typically, the idea of a brick and mortar presents the challenge of saving a ton of money or taking out a risky loan. Leveraging the spaces offered at Partake Collective, an aspiring business owner can sign a lease and move their appliances in right away.
Even for small businesses outside of the foodservice industry, taking that first step toward a physical location can seem out of reach.
Owner of Verse Collective, Shira Tagle describes their dream of opening a shop in Long Beach as overwhelming and out of reach.
Partake is partnered with Long Beach City College’s culinary program, California State University Long Beach, and hopes to expose budding chefs.
The collective also has a space designated for education and aims to provide an educational experience for students who otherwise might not have an opportunity to view behind the scenes.
LEED certification is a tool used to gauge the level of sustainability for a building. Partake collective ranks Gold in LEED certification.
Partake is WELL certified, meaning the building stresses clean air and water sources. This also means that they maximize natural light within their space.
Partake is expected to open between May and June this year.
Long Beach City College held its first in-person club fair since the campus shutdown due to COVID-19 on Feb. 16. An event that would normally have 50 clubs participating, only had five searching for future members.
The robust social life LBCC once had, now feels like a ghost town. The clubs that survived the campus shutdown claim that the pandemic, virtual meetings, and membership charter guidelines are the only reasons their clubs survived.
When the campus shutdown and everyone had to move to virtual meetings, clubs that were heavily activity oriented were the first to die out.
Clubs that survived the change to virtual meetings were able to stay chartered in Spring 2021.
However, those clubs that lacked members lost their legitimacy as a chartered club.
Kim Hammon, Student Activities Advisor, claims 16 clubs are chartered and additional 5-10 clubs are expected to be added on that list.
According to ASB guidelines in 2020-2021, clubs needed a minimum of 10 members to be charted as a legitimate organization.
Club PNK (Rho Nu Kappa) , a sorority oriented in academics and sisterhood, claimed they were able to stay qualified because they met these requirements.
ASB responded to these grievances and changed the criteria to five members. However, by that time it was too late for clubs like PNK.
“A lot of clubs are in the process of rebuilding.” Angela Blue said, alumnae for PNK ladies.
Clubs like the Fire Fighter Association have been brought back by students who weren’t even members before the pandemic, but found it necessary for this club to exist again.
Blake Yamamoto and Sebastian Guerra, restarted the Fire Fighter Association this semester. They were eagerly looking for new members to keep the torch going.
Social life on campus is steadily moving forward. All the school can offer is more outreach and hope that as pandemic becomes endemic, that more students are able to be comfortable with socializing in-person again.
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