Update: Long Beach City College president Reagan Romali has become one of four candidates to possibly take over as president of Miami Dade College.
On June 19 and 20, the candidates were interviewed via video conference, Miami Dade College’s Presidential Search Committee voted to send four candidates to the Board of Trustees, the final stage of the four-month process.
Romali will meet with the board on July 22 and 23 for in-person interviews, the new president is set to be announced on July 24.
The other three candidates up for the presidency: Paul Broadie of Gateway Community College and Housatonic Community College in Connecticut, Divina Grossman of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, and Lenore Rodicio, MDC’s executive vice president and provost.
Previously: Long Beach City College president Reagan Romali is one of seven candidates to potentially become the president of Miami Dade College, the second-largest college in the United States.
Miami Dade College currently has eight campuses in the Miami area and an enrollment of more than 165,000 students.
Romali’s new candidacy at Miami Dade College comes two years after she became the superintendent-president at LBCC.
Last August, the LBCC board of trustees approved a new four year contract and a 10 percent raise for Romali.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for Reagan, all the amazing work she’s done at LBCC, she could do Miami Dade,” president of the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees Sunny Zia said.
“Unfortunately, this amazing consideration for Regan does create some worry in me. Her amazing talent will no longer be present.”
Romali did not immediately return phone calls or messages on Saturday regarding her candidacy.
Outgoing president of Miami Dade College Eduardo Padron has been the college’s president since 1995 and announced his retirement in Feb.
The 17 presidential selection committee members at MDC gave their picks and then voted to eliminate the three candidates with the fewest votes.
Romali had the most with 16 votes, Carlos Turner Cortez of San Diego Community College District received 12 votes and Beverly Moore-Garcia, the former president of MDC’s Kendall and West campuses, got 11 votes.
Four other candidates were unanimously picked for interviews, Paul Broadie of Gateway Community College and Housatonic Community College in Connecticut, Divina Grossman of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Frank Lamas of California State University, Fresno, and Lenore Rodicio, MDC’s executive vice president and provost and sole internal candidate in that group.
Candidates Carlos Padin Bibiloni of Universidad Metropolitana had seven votes, Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm of The Nature Conservancy received five votes and Bryan Reece of Norco College got two votes, were eliminated.
This announcement comes two days after LBCC Trustee Doug Otto announced his potential move to the Long Beach Unified School Board.
Tied to the bed spread eagle and blindfolded, Megan was brought to the point of ecstasy by a spiked roller.
The first time Megan played with Louann Chin, a transgender dominatrix, she could not even remember how many orgasms she had.
“She liked her breasts being spanked and then she wanted to be ass spanked. I flipped her over, played with her breasts and then I made her orgasm to the point that she doesn’t even remember how many orgasms she had. I think at one point she couldn’t stand up when she tried to stand up she had to sit back down for a minute,” Chin said.
Nov. 2015 is when Chin transitioned fully into a woman, but from the beginning of her life, Chin knew she was different, “I knew I was different but didn’t know why I was different. There were very small clues as time progressed wondering why I felt a little bit more comfortable in like women’s department stores rather than the male,” Chin said.
Transitioning into a woman was mentally enlightening, refreshing, and was something she was searching for throughout her early life.
Being in the BDSM community is something that makes her more than a transgender woman.
BDSM entails kinks, fetish, role-playing, medical play, pony/puppy play, shoe worship, etc. it is everything that is not considered to be ‘normal’ play in the bedroom but in the world of BDSM they display pleasure received through pain.
A common misconception about BDSM is that it just focuses on pain and not pleasure, but according to Chin, that is not the case at all.
Safe, sane, and consensual are the rules that are lived by when playing in the BDSM community but it is different for all who play.
Going into unfamiliar territory can be intimidating for someone and Chin had a no different experience, “I was little, not naive but you know a little nervous, a little frightened because going into that kind of scenario, what you see on the internet or on TV and then to see it in person was like oh my god, it’s intimidating,” Chin said.
Chin attends play parties and conventions like DomCon and uses social media to connect with others to show how people can freely express their fetishes without judgement or shame.
Megan and Ginger are just a couple of friends that Chin has played with but have separate relationships with her.
Chin and Megan have only played with each other once but it was memorable for both.
“She enjoys spanking me with her hand whenever we go out to the parties and events in L.A. but we do not have an official Dom/Sub relationship,” Megan said.
A Dom/Sub relationship is when the Dominant has all power and control over the Submissive, otherwise it is just for personal pleasure and fun time.
Chin believes that spanking someone should go gentle first and then harder, but some people they may like going hard from the beginning, it depends on how they want to be spanked.
“You have to warm up a person. Specifically, let’s say just spanking on the butt you know you have to bring blood to the top and warm it up to get that blood flowing cause if you start out cold it’s going to hurt and you know some people like that. I like to start out with the warm-up because you’re getting in tune with the person you are playing with, you’re getting them familiar with your hand and who you are,” Chin explained.
Aftercare in the BDSM community is affectionate care and attention to that person after play, “You know the hug, the feeling them, and making sure that they’re okay,” Chin said.
Going into the Dominatrix mindset Chin has to think toward that mentality of her role as Empress Louann, “At first I will ask them my name I will ask, ‘So, what’s my name?’ and they will say, ‘Mistress’ I go, ‘No, not Mistress, Empress. I am Empress Louann’ and I’ll ask them again, ‘What’s my name?’, ‘Your, Empress’ and I’ll go ‘Thank you’,” said Chin as she explained her process of getting into her role which ends when they mutually agree that they are done.
Domination is not prostitution, it is professional and there are no penetration or sex acts involved.
“People perceive BDSM has to be sexual, they assume oh you’re into BDSM. Oh there’s going to be intercourse, someone’s dick is going to go into someone’s vagina or someone’s asshole or someone’s going to get a blowjob, but here’s the thing BDSM is not about that; sex is not the same as BDSM, where there is BDSM does not need to be sex,” said Chin.
Chin does not get paid for what she does as a Dominatrix because she does it for fun.
“I would say at the end of it all I am a professional dominatrix in the way that I have the ability to Dom but I do it as a lifestyle because I like to do it for fun, but I don’t think it’s going to take over my life for a profession I just don’t, I don’t see myself doing that as a profession,” said Chin.
In the Los Angeles area, there is a sex dungeon called OC Complex that Chin has gone to a total of three times and is friends with the owner Irene Dom Boss and her husband.
She first met Boss in 2005 at DomCon LA where she was incredibly intimidated, “She intimidated me just the way she presented herself scared me and I guess that’s cool because that’s the way Doms are supposed to, but yeah she scared me, too afraid to ask for a photo with her,” Chin said while laughing.
The OC Complex can be used for BDSM ceremonies, kinky couples, small groups, fetish media producers and photographers, as well as self vetted lifestyles and select professional Dominas.
“I’ve been interested in corporal punishment, I’m interested in paddles, floggers, whips, and canes. I like it done to me as well as I like to do it to others, I’m interested in like boss/secretary, mistress/slave,” Chin shared. “I like to play with people’s bodies and get them excited about being touched.”
There are certain limitations she won’t do, “Top three are needles, blood, and scat (feces/poop). There is a lot of other stuff along with that I’m not licking someone’s ass, I know my limitations, I’m not a painslut I can take my share of pain but by no means am I an actual painslut,” said Chin.
It has to be negotiated between the Dominatrix and Submissive about what weapons/tools are used and what activities are agreed upon to play.
Ginger, another friend that Chin has played with had their first experience together at a club, a BDSM studio for the first time a few weeks ago.
Ginger gives some advice to people who are curious but are hesitant to get involved.
“Well, don’t take it too seriously just know that we were just here to have fun. I think as we get older we realize that nothing about life is actually very serious, except you know when you have to die, that’s serious. But the rest of it is really here for our enjoyment and just coming from an understanding to be light-hearted, open minded, and to not take ourselves and other people too seriously and realize that we are doing these things because we’re interested in having fun and this is one way of play,” Ginger said.
Although being a dominatrix is not her full time profession, Chin wishes the people around her always remain respectful of interest in BDSM as a transgender woman.
“I don’t ask people to sympathize with me or empathize with me I’m just asking them to respect me that’s all and if they get it great, if not you know maybe someday and I didn’t figure out who I was till years later, Chin said.”
Chin believes that the BDSM community allows people to embrace their fetishes, but it also brings together an actual family that loves, respects, and cherishes one another with the enjoyment of spanking some butts.
Long Beach City College celebrated its largest graduating class in the college’s history, with more than 3,000 students to make up the class of 2019.
There was more than 2,200 students who were up for Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degrees, and more than 800 students who were candidates for Certificates of Achievement.
249 students achieved honors by earning a 3.5 – 3.7 grade point average, 139 students achieved high honors 3.75 – 3.9 GPA, and 69 students achieved highest honors, a perfect 4.0 GPA.
According to the college’s December newsletter, approximately 1,300 LBCC students transfer every year to four-year universities and colleges.
Jay Frisher was selected as the 2019 valedictorian, Frisher a New York native, is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and landed at LBCC after tours with the armed forces.
More than 3,000 students made up the class of 2019 at Long Beach City College. Laura Reyes celebrating getting her diploma on June 6. (Abel Reyes)
“It’s crazy to think that not so long ago I was in the armed forces, doing what I thought was the best thing in the world,” Frisher said.
“Hopefully, my future only becomes brighter and brighter because there is so much to do in the world.”
Around $1.2 million in scholarship funds was granted to students at a ceremony on May 23 at the Liberal Arts Campus.
ABC7 reporter Veronica Miracle was this year’s commencement speaker and while up on stage she shared her story about her father who was sent to prison 13 years ago.
“It was so nerve racking when I finally went up to the mic, but once when I was doing it, the nerves went away,” Miracle said.
In 2018, the college celebrated 1,925 graduates who earned an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degrees.
Superintendent-president Reagan Romali has made severe efforts in improving LBCC’s graduation rates.
“When I joined the LBCC family just a couple years ago, the only way was up for graduation rates and it has been and absolute pleasure in seeing those numbers rise every year,” Romali said.
Upwards of 800 students attended the annual commencement ceremony at LBCC’s Veterans Memorial Stadium on June 6.
Last year, Long Beach City College had less than 2,000 student graduate with an Associates degrees. ZaQuita Brown walking into Veterans Stadium, waving to her friends and family. (Abel Reyes)This year, around $1.2 million in scholarships were awarded to students. Don Lopez walks into Veterans Stadiums on June 6. (Abel Reyes)According to the college’s December newsletter, around 1,300 LBCC students transfer every year to four-year universities and colleges. (Abel Reyes)
Despite having received multiple votes of no confidence by state faculty advocacy groups, Eloy Oakley has been appointed the chancellor of California Community Colleges for another four years.
Oakley, who was previously the Superintendent-President of Long Beach City College, was appointed the position of chancellor in late 2016 for a four year contract.
That initial contract was scheduled to end in 2020, but the board decided to grant him another four years early.
The California Community Colleges Board of Governors released a statement about the term renewal citing, “leadership in advancing reforms to improve student outcomes and close equity gaps within the 115-college system that serves 2.1 million students.”
Oakley’s initial term has come under fire by faculty groups citing claims that the chancellor’s office doesn’t take faculty input into account when making policy decisions, specifically the implementation of a statewide online community college system, and a new community college funding formula.
The last photograph taken of Brozyln Lechelle and her late mother hangs next to her bedside as a reminder of the support and love she received growing up.
Her mother, Jolene-Rae K. Kapua-Allison, and stepfather, Christopher R. Kapua-Allison were together for 20 years before he fatally shot his wife and then himself moments later.
Lechelle’s stepfather, who was part of the Hilo Police Department on the island of Hawaii for 11 years, used his own service revolver to commit the murder-suicide.
“I feel like if I would have called the cops, since he was a police officer, it would have only made it worse and it probably would have happened earlier,” Lechelle said, referring to the troubles her parents faced during their marriage. “To go through something for that long, she must have really loved him.”
Lechelle’s mother was always a big supporter of her career as a drag queen and loved watching her daughter when she performed traditional Tahitian dance.
Jolene attended Lechelle’s first running in the Miss Continental Plus Pageant in 2016.
“That one meant a lot to me that she was there because I had won some smaller pageants in Hawaii, but that first one was a huge circus,” said Lechelle as she recalled the motivation she received from her mother throughout her performing career.
For Lechelle’s father, the process of acceptance took longer; however, with some convincing from Lechelle’s grandmother, Judith Leslie, he became one of her biggest supporters.
“I had to explain to him for a long time, that’s how your son is, and he’s gone this far in life, and there’s nothing wrong with it,” Leslie said.
Growing up observing her grandmother, who she lived with for most of her life, was her incentive for applying makeup and sparked her interest in fashion and more feminine trends.
“I would paint my face in the morning, go to work, add some more makeup, and then perform at night. I enjoyed it and the hustle,” said Lechelle.
At the age of 16, Lechelle became close to a local Puerto Rican drag performer, Cookie Jones, who inspired her life of performing after a night of dressing up and dancing around the house.
By the time she was 17, it was time for her first taste of the spotlight.
“It was amazing. I did not think the crowd would be as receptive as they were and from there, I thought yeah this is what I’m supposed to do; I found a place for me,” Lechelle said.
After losing her mother, Lechelle knew that staying in Hawaii would only bring the daunting thoughts of the tragic death of her mother, but was met with overwhelming support from her family when she brought up the idea of moving to West Hollywood.
“My family said if you don’t go now you never will, so go; and after that I left,” Lechelle said explaining her hasty decision to leave her hometown island of Hawaii.
Having that push of support from everyone in her life in Hawaii, and her drag family in Los Angeles, made the transition seamless and expresses how blessed she felt during the short two week move.
After arriving in Los Angeles, and settling in her new apartment she shares with her cousin Sasha Colby, another drag queen performer, Lechelle began to do local performances and has performed at Long Beach’s iconic Hamburger Mary’s alongside her cousin.
Lechelle enjoys performing at these businesses that openly support the LGBTQ community because of the like-minded ideas shared and the non-judgemental environment.
“The people that you come across, you never know what their story is and you have to accept people for who they are,” Lechelle said.
Lechelle’s grandmother, was the one who encouraged and uplifted Lechelle to always remain herself no matter who she wanted to be, took Lechelle to legally change her name when she was 19 from Brock Leslie, to the performer name she uses today.
“People like my grandson, they must already be so afraid, it’s hard. We should not make it harder for them but a lot of people still do not understand and I have always told my grandson life goes on,” said Leslie.
After traveling back home to Hawaii to celebrate the one year passing of her mother, Lechelle is currently preparing for the next Miss Continental Plus held in Chicago. Lechelle still adds elements of traditional Tahitian dance to her performance in memory of her mother.
After moving into a house with a wood-fired oven, Arturo Enciso was instantly inspired to bake homemade bread. Six years later, the Long Beach self-taught baker opens his own bakery in his living room where he also bakes his homemade bread with natural leaven, organic ingredients, and whole grains.
Enciso spent his spare time flipping through recipe books, taking baking classes, and eventually began selling his homemade bread to close friends and family.
Along the way, he decided to take a step forward with his passion and worked for a couple of local bakeries. Nonetheless, working at a bakery was not the perfect fit for him.
Working at a bakery was not the same as baking homemade bread in his wood-fired oven at his home for Enciso—it was too competitive and ego driven.
“I didn’t want to be in a kitchen like that and I wasn’t finding the right bakery for me, so I decided to start Gusto Bread,” Enciso said.
After shortly realizing competitive bakeries were not his ideal environment, Enciso decided to get a Food Cottage Operation permit. The permit allows him to produce his bread in his private home and sell to restaurants and nearby farmers markets.
Gusto Bread is set up at the Long Beach baker’s home on Sunday mornings, where Arturo Enciso also bakes and prepares the bread. (Alyssa Vega)
Enciso turned his living room to a rustic village bakery that is open to the public on Sundays where pre-order is available to avoid their quick sellouts.
The level of creativity and attention to detail is shown in each loaf and pastry at Gusto Bread. The most popular bread is the California loaves, which are naturally leavened and made with hearty red wheat that is stenciled with the historic Bear Flag of California. This popular loaf is served at local businesses in Long Beach such as Wide Eyes Open, Palms Cafe and Rose Parks Roasters.
Aside from the California loaf or the sesame seed bread shaped into a sand dollar, Gusto Bread offers two of the same baguettes. One shaped like a traditional long thin loaf and the other is thoughtfully shaped like a wheat stalk. For those who prefer to eat bits of the loaf, the baguette is perfect to tear by hand. However, the traditional long thin baguette is made to create a sub sandwich.
“I think the traditional methods are really important and not a lot of people approach their bread that way. For instance, baguettes take me 24 to 30 hours to make the dough because I use the old traditional method, but if I used yeast I could make it in five to six hours,” Enciso said. “Not a lot of people know how to learn the old traditional method with baguettes, but I learned it and practiced for a long time. It takes a long time, but I think it’s very rewarding at the end and I have the drive to continue learning those methods.”
The bakery is centered in an old wooden country house that has a pastel blue accent color that outlines the architect of the house. The patio is decorated with rustic outdoor plants, furniture, and a “Bienvenidos” sign that welcomes close neighborhood shoppers.
The living room is set up with a long table with fresh homemade bread that is set out to sell and some samples to taste for new customers. On one corner of the small living room, there is a shelf of recipe books titled “From the Wood-Fired Oven” and “Bread Baking for Beginners” that were used when Enciso sparked his passion for baking bread six years ago.
Gusto Bread was influenced from a song called “Un Puño de Tierra,” by Ramon Ayala. In the song, the Mexican musician sings this lyric “hay que darle gusto al gusto,” which translates to “we must give pleasure to taste.”
“Gusto in Spanish can mean different things. It could translate to taste, joy, or pleasure,” Enciso said. “That lyric made me really like that word ‘gusto’ because it has those meanings because it could mean taste. When I looked that word up I discovered that in English gusto means artistic expression or doing something artfully.”
According to Enciso, some people have lost touch of creativity through food. He shares his recipes to his customers on how to eat his naturally leavened bread.
“When the bread is so fresh like this, it’s a shame to put it in a plastic bag because it makes it moist and loses its crispiness,” Enciso said. “I think we’re so used to keeping bread in the fridge for a long time, but it’s a fresh product and it should be eaten the first couple of days that it is baked. That is how we should be treating bread.”
Gusto Bakery embodies the pure passion and the love of traditional methods of baking. “I’m not a whole sle baker, there’s people who choose that route, but I can only use so much out of this space,” Enciso said. “I offer them this and everyone just seems so happy with it and it’s the perfect bread to work with.”
Customers would agree that Gusto Bread is the type of bread customers wish groceries will sell, but the special experience of Gusto Bread is buying it from an old cottage neighborhood bakery made with artistic expression and passion.
Long Beach baker provides samples of each bread he sells for new customers. (Alyssa Vega)Owner of Gusto Bread sets up at the Marine Stadium Farmer’s Market on Wednesday from 3-7 p.m. (Anna Karkalik)The most popular bread sold at Gusto Bread is the California loaf, which are made with hearty red wheat and is stenciled with flour of the historic Bear Flag of California. The California loaf is also served at local business in Long Beach. (Anna Karkalik)Gusto Bread provides a variety of loaves in his cottage bakery every Sunday. (Alyssa Vega)Arturo Enciso uses his living room to prepare and bake bread. (Alyssa Vega)In his cottage bakery, Arturo Enciso has a shelf of recipe books that he used when he self taught himself. (Alyssa Vega)
Feeling his political voice was not being heard through wordy text glued on colorful cardboard; a political activist sent out to display his message through campy fashion.
Khuong Lam participated in his first political march for the rights of the LGBTQ community in front of the L.A. City Hall with three posters he crafted in his hand. He no longer makes these long winded posters but condenses his ideas in fashionable art.
“That day I felt like we were not there to change people’s minds. I guess we were there to show we’re in solidarity for each other,” Lam said as he recalled the first moments he felt like a political activist after marching alongside his fellow LGBTQ community.
Lam’s persona, Glamda Da Fabulous, was born around the concept of campy fashion – exaggerated, unconventional and sometimes gaudy dresses worn with a political purpose.
Dresses made originally to take a stance against President Trump hang in Lam’s garage alongside his signature bows and pink dress that he wears to rallies. (Fernando Pacheco)
Glamda is a part of Lam, not necessarily his alter ego; however, a confident persona Lam uses to vocalize his once unheard voice. Glamda came to life when Lam felt the government was not listening or supporting minority groups in America, “Who am I? I’m nobody and I’m frustrated, we all are,” Lam said as he explained the purpose of Glamda.
What initiated as a Halloween costume, designed by Lam in 2016, has evolved over the years into loud political dresses with ideas stated in bold hot-glued letters or particular patterns plastered with political references.
“I wanted to make a sign and wanted it to be meaningful, so I made a dress,” Lam said. According to Lam, using a dress to promote a message helps humanize the topic that is sometimes too complex and displays it through creativity rather than a poster which people will just glance over and soon forget. The dress itself embodies not only what he is trying to say, but also who his character is.
“I just see it from a different perspective; it’s just me with a bow on my head. I do come off as trans but my makeup isn’t as drag-ish so I don’t know what people see and I don’t really care,” Lam said.
Lam’s persona name was influenced by Glinda the Good Witch from the Wizard of Oz, with a modern personalized twist added by Lam. She has been spotted in a multitude of events including pride events in San Francisco and San Diego and has marched alongside other like-minded individuals in the Resist March and the Bernie Sanders rally in Los Angeles earlier this year.
For each event that Lam attends as Glamda, he’ll change a particular aspect of the dress which usually is the message. For his upcoming events, he took “Individual 1” and reshifted its original message to change the perspective of the dress, a technique he describes as the dress evolving.
The flowing ruffles and pink tulle spark your attention; however, the real message is the one created by Lam, who works through all his emotions to assemble a creative figure as an outlet for his political voice.
Lam confessions continued as he explained feeling misunderstood by people understanding where Glamda ends and Lam continues. According to Lam, he feels people may be confused by his gender orientation as a gay man or believe he is Glamda full time.
“She’s just a drag character, just me without tits, hair, and pussy. She’s not a woman; she’s Glamda. She’s just more feminine,” Lam said.
One of the events that Glamda attended was the Bernie Sanders rally that was held in Los Angeles at Grand Park. (Fernando Pacheco)
Lam’s inner feminine side, is explored through the evolution of Glamda’s dresses, giving him the confidence to wear these campy dresses in public in the hopes to be politically heard a couple of days out of the year.
Even though Lam’s confidence can be shown through Glamda, he still faces negativity for what he does.
“There’s a huge negative connotation to people that do drag, and there’s a stamp on me already, and that’s the risk I had to take with Glamda,” Lam said as he explained his social responsibilities as Glamda and not wanting to be labeled but in most instances is.
Displaying himself in many different places, while being himself and speaking his voice, is not always easy, “Some people think I’m a clown, fag; it is scary, but I’m glad the places I go to, there are like-minded folks. Everyone welcoming,” Lam said.
Yet even if scared, when Glamda finally steps out of the vehicle people, notice her. Even though shy, Lam is forced to interact and be social with people whenever he is Glamda.
Through exaggerated, unconventional and gaudy concepts, Lam’s persona, Glamda Da Fabulous was born. (Fernando Pacheco)
Tran Lam, Khuong Lam’s sister, explained her brother’s political persona.
Glamda is, “A bold voice that he (Lam) uses in order to express his views and beliefs; a way to scream louder, (with) the colors the boldness of Glamda; you can’t walk past Glamda and not turn twice,” Tran Lam said.
Regardless of what comes after, Lam is enjoying what Glamda is doing now and the impact he is having on his audience.
Optimistic about Glamda’s character development but also about life itself, Lam is letting Glamda evolve from solely being political.
The dress now features an icon Rupaul reference, “Shantay you stay !!!, Shatay away…” positioned on the front and the back of the light pink dress.
In a time where people want to help but don’t know how, Lam found a personalized unconventional way to speak up for himself and hopes others do the same.
“Find your voice, in politics, life, in your creativity. Don’t give up,” Lam said.
Ambitious Ales – 4019 Atlantic Ave, Long Beach, CA 90807
We sat down with co-owner Juan Carrillo at Ambitious Ales to discuss how their microbrewery is more than the beer itself.
Q: How do you stay connected to your local community of Long Beach?
A: It’s not just about drinking. One of the foundations of the business is to be a community asset. One of the ways we do that is engaging with the community and giving back by opening up this space. We have a range of demographics in here, older couples, young couples playing a board game, we have families with their young kids and dogs and so there are different reasons that people connect to a brewery. We want you to enjoy this space without feeling like you have to drink.
Q: What efforts do you make to be environmentally friendly?
A: We recycle our water in our brewing system and recirculate it. We also look at what type of impact we are making and with that excess grain that gets used in the brewing process we donate it to a local farmer that picks up all the grain and uses it for compost and feed.
Q: What is unique about Ambitious Ales compared to other breweries?
Co-owner of Ambitious Ales Jerome De Leon, encourages college students to come in and try their imperial stout brewed with coffee and vanilla bean. (Anna Karkalik)
A: Two things, so first it’s our brand and what we represent. We always want to push ourselves and our name speaks for itself, Ambitious is a value as individuals, and as a business, it’s one of our goals. We are always pushing the boundaries when regarding our beer. If you look at our beer selection it is all very unique. We have a blonde with coffee vanilla, we have a Belgian Table Beer with lavender camel and then we add 600 pounds of fresh strawberries, and we have our Imperial Stout brewed with chilies, coffee, and vanilla beans. It’s all very different but we still have our classic style of beers and we do our own interpretation of them. Secondly as a company, in regards to being a community asset, most people don’t challenge themselves in asking what else they can do to give back, we’re not always looking at it for the money, we’re looking at how do we measure our success in regards to how we give back to the community.
Q: We heard you guys are dog-friendly?
A: Yes we are! That’s our owner’s dog, our other partners had dogs as well. Part of it is why not? Dogs are such a big part in a lot of people’s lives, sometimes they are almost like our babies so we want to make sure people can still go out and enjoy themselves.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the space?
A: One of the biggest things for us is that we wanted to make this place very welcoming. Our aesthetic is very clean, and our brand is very simple with black and white and some pops of color. We love the window and we really wanted to have them big and open, and if you notice there is a long communal table in the center and that was done on purpose to help bridge that gap between people and that ties into being a community asset. Most places don’t have communal tables, everything is separate, we wanted to get away from that so people would be forced to sit next to each other and engage in conversations.
Q: Who had the vision behind Ambitious Ales?
A: It was our whole team. So myself and my four other partners. We have been working on this project for nine years since we have been in our early 20’s and we were homebrewing and then three years later we decided to get more serious and develop a business plan and researched a lot of stuff that took us about a year and a half to two years. We needed to raise money but no bank would give it to us, we had no assets and no collateral, we had to raise the money privately ourselves and that took us another two and a half years. Then we got this building in Sept. 2017 and built it all ourselves. We put a lot of what we call sweat equity, the equity that we put into the company that is just our labor and love for years. It got tough, there were some years where we were like ‘Is this even going to happen? We’ve been talking about it for five years already, six years.’ We all stuck it out and we all proved it to each other that we really wanted this and this is really going to happen, and nine years later here we are.
Q: Why did you want to get into the brewing business?
A: I think everyone had their own reasons, it started off just as homebrewing and it was an excuse to hang out. We were going to brew some beer together, it takes about four or five hours, we were all just hanging out ordering some food, listening to music. We all play soccer so we would go kick the ball around while we waited. It really was an excuse to all hang out together. We did a wedding and someone from the wedding heard about us tasted our beer and after that, we did about four or five weddings and then private events. After that, we knew we had something going on.
Q: Can the customers skip the beer and get some caffeine instead?
A: We have our own
Q: What makes this environment a great place for college students?
Student Nelly Santana displays how microbreweries can be used to get some studying done at Ten Mile Brewing. (Anna Karkalik)
A: It’s a very laid backspace, you can use this space for multiple things. You could come in and pull out your laptop and get to work and handle your stuff, and then right after put your laptop away and engage with people and hang out without the need to get drunk or do anything else. It’s very casual and the lighting is great it’s a nice and welcoming environment where you’re not forced to drink.
I clear the table and wash the dishes every night after dinner in my family’s household. There are certain nights when I’m feeling more rebellious about fulfilling the role of domestic complicity typically expected amongst Mexican women, but other nights I just sigh as I see the towers of plates stained with remnants of the enchiladas that my five brothers devoured that night for dinner and just get to work.
I grew up as the lone sister amongst five older brothers. As typical of patriarchal Mexican American culture, my parents focused most of their attention on my brothers – something I have never resented them for, but it made me quickly learn that any goals and ambitions I had I would have to accomplish independently and through my own sheer grit and determination.
As a first-generation Mexican-American female, there has been more pressure to get a job than to claim an education. Compared to my white peers, the relatively small importance put upon education was limited to how it would affect my career and marriage prospects.
While the older generations of my extended family were not dismissive of education, they were apathetic. The actual benefits of being an educated individual—let alone an articulate women—never occurred to them. This is why I don’t consider my ethnic heritage to be the totality of my culture; my youth and gender have shaped me as much, if not more than it.
My rejection of the role of women in Hispanic culture is spurred by language barriers and influenced by liberal millennial peers in school. These aspects are what encouraged me to pursue higher education.
Even though my Mexican heritage is incredibly important to me because it helped shaped my core beliefs, causing me to place huge importance on my family, there are black spots to the Mexican-American traditions that I rejected, namely the importance of traditional gender roles.
For instance, I would grow frustrated whenever I am unable to concentrate on a homework assignment at the kitchen table My father, would see me pouring over papers, only to interject with trivial questions for attention. The television will play loudly for no audience the washer would be loaded with more clothes, and people would prepare dinner with the radio blaring for no other reason but to do something near me.
Although I appreciated their attempts to connect with me, however, their complete disregard for my studying grew tiresome. For example, they might encourage me to finish my homework, but the enforcement was irregular. I can count the times when my parents were actively supportive, instead of empty words without purpose. A large reason for my sharp divorce from traditional Mexican-American gender roles may have come about from the language barrier that exists between me and old generations of relatives because of my very limited understanding of Spanish.
While my parents were able to largely get rid of their own accents, with common day to day language, they still struggle with longer conversations in English. It was similar to the language barrier I have for Spanish—I can order off a menu or ask for the nearest bathroom, but the conversation can break down very quickly.
They could not communicate with me in a way I desired and the barrier has only increased in college. We all danced around the subject, where we would pretend they knew what I was learning in school to not damage their pride. This impacted me in a way that my parents’ culture did not impart in me. Whereas the first two generations of my family immigrated after growing up in Mexico, I am the first generation to be born in America.
The combination of me not being able to communicate with the older generations in depth, as well as being exposed to other cultures as an American, allowed me to be self-critical of my own culture. This allowed me to differentiated both American and Mexican cultures. While I cherished my upbringing and childhood, even with it flaws, American culture places higher importance on education.
Being isolated from my older generations of my family caused me to embrace my own new generation more than others my age. The children from my family can be divided into two groups: the ones that speak Spanish and the ones that do not. The ones that speak Spanish tend to be closer to the older generations, more conservative and more traditional.
The older generations in my family believed that women should simply graduate high school quickly and get a job to support the family. Alternatively, the ones that do not speak Spanish, like me, are more like the stereotypical “millennials” and are more open-minded.
By utilizing my culture’s traditional focus on providing for my family while eschewing their denial of the equal ability of females, education is not only a stepping stone to a better career but also a way to improve myself.
The limits that have been placed on me and the low expectations of me have frustrated me to the point of it being a motivation in my pursuit of academia. The support of my family has not gone unappreciated, but at a certain point, the pedestal for my femininity has become an island for my capabilities. However, by being a Mexican-American female has brought an influence in the millennial and liberal ideologies to allow me to realize my full potential as equal to my peers.
In a way, I am thankful for having language barriers that allowed me to be open-minded as a slight outsider to my own heritage to take the good out of the bad. However, as a minority, I was able to look at American culture also slightly like an outsider and to decide from myself what parts I wanted to assimilate into. With regards to education, I found that assimilating into both Mexican and American cultures allowed me to pursue higher education.
While I clear the table and wash the dishes every night after dinner in my family’s household, there are certainly nights when I’m feeling more rebellious but then I think of the news articles I read that day. I consider the impact of cultural patriarchal norms very evident in Mexican culture and decide this might make a very compelling personal statement one day.
After battling addiction, depression, and spending time in jail, LBCC student Anthony Yracheta is dedicated to building a better life for himself.
At the age of 12, Yracheta’s had his first interaction with the police after cops saw him and his friends smoking weed and cigarettes while walking around on a school day in Pismo Beach, which is a predominantly white area.
“One side you got like these nice beach homes and the other side it’s all RV park, being brown kind of singled us out in that white community. A cop rolled up on us and through us on the ground. I mean I’ve been stopped by cops before for riding a bicycle without a helmet, but I never had a cop come up to me and physically throw me on the ground and point a gun to the back of my head and scream at us and say you know some pretty racial stuff. I kinda had this negative visual of them from then on.” said Yracheta.
After this initial encounter with law enforcement, Yracheta got into more legal trouble resulting in minor offenses such as driving with excessive tickets and bar fighting. These actions resulted in him being in and out of jail during his late teens and early twenties.
“It was a combination of life issues and I guess a mental state like depression. The town I came from, I don’t know there wasn’t a lot to do I guess, so I gravitated towards people who partied and stuff like that. That gets out of hand, it got out of hand for me,” Yracheta said.
Yracheta was charged with a felony of grand theft after a night out partying with friends.
According to Yracheta, he was accused of stealing items from someone’s car, however, he had none these items with him.
The owner of the property ended up dropping the charges against Yracheta; however, when he got to court he was faced with possible prison time or three years probation.
He served about four months in jail, had to pay an approximated 12 thousand dollar fine, and three years of probation.
“(In jail) you are stripped of everything, It makes you feel like you aren’t a person. You get no rights , you get nothing to do. It’s a pretty dehumanizing experience. The justice system failed me and I left there with a felony on my record for something I really didn’t do,” Yracheta said.
After being released from prison, Yracheta felt motivated to better his circumstances in life; however, finding a job while having a felony on his record made it harder than initially intended.
“I fell into a really deep depression at that point and I turned to alcohol a little bit but mostly drug sales. I ended up becoming a drug dealer and being on the streets and doing whatever was necessary to get by and make things better in my mind and that’s the road I ended up taking. That was the whole deal for like five or six years,” said Yracheta.
During this time, he went back to jail twice for having too many tickets for carrying a large amount of drugs. During his second time in jail, Yracheta was sent away for a month and according to him during that time is when he decided to get serious about taking the steps to build a better life for himself.
“When you are done, you’re done. I gave up and I just didn’t wanna live that life anymore. I’ve known I didn’t want that for a long time but I hadn’t made that conscious effort to just do something about it and trudge through the things I did not want to or didn’t think I could or that were gonna be hard. I didn’t wanna be sober and think about all my problems. I didn’t wanna have to start at the bottom and basically say I didn’t have any job experience. I eventually did though getting clean and finding a job,” Yracheta said.
During his transitional phase, trying to get himself cleaned up, Yracheta realized he could start attending college.
“I wanted to go back to school I just didn’t know how to and I guess my criminal history deterred me from thinking I could. I never really looked into it and I was just like I’m going to work where I work and I met somebody who told me otherwise,” Yracheta said.
Yracheta’s girlfriend, Bridget Cervelli, taught him that he could still get an education regardless of his background and she has since seen a positive change in his outlook on life.
According to Cervelli, Yracheta doesn’t come from a background where he learned much about college.
“I think he has a lot more confidence. He has a lot more goals for the future. I think he sees his future as being a lot more bigger than it was before,” Cervelli said.
After moving to the Long Beach area with Cervelli, Yracheta initially attended LBCC in hopes of becoming a drug and alcohol counselor but later decided to pursue a career in the automotive industry.
At LBCC he is the president for the Justice Scholars, a club on campus aimed to support those who were formerly incarcerated.
Club member Jessica Martinez expressed what the club does for the college campus.
“A big point of the mission of our club is it really establish visibility here on campus . We want to be more engaged in student life and raise an awareness to the issue. We hope to empower and advocate on behalf of the formerly incarcerated and the systems impacted students,” Martinez said.
Yracheta expressed his love for the club and how it has made him feel more comfortable to express his past. He plans to still be president of the club for next semester.
With about one year left at LBCC, Yracheta plans to continue his studies and ultimately hopes to get a job in the automotive industry.
A photo provided by Anthony Yracheta at the age of five. During his childhood, Yracheta wanted to pursue a career in the automotive industry and is now currently doing so after multiple encounters with the law.
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