LBCC Women’s Soccer defeated LA Harbor 9-0 at their home game on Wednesday Oct. 22.
The Vikings started strong, as they scored two goals within five minutes and the next two within 20 minutes of the game.
After the first period, the Vikings were up 5-0.
Head Coach Tino Nunez said that because the girls came out strong and got multiple goals in the beginning, that settled them in for the rest of the game.
Nunez said that it gave them confidence to continue on the rest of the game, but they kept the right approach and still played hard until the end, which got them the result they wanted.
LBCC defender Danika Hunter was really proud of how her team played because they came into the game with a really good mindset and all connected their passes.
“I think we’re all looking forward to next week, which are our two biggest games, we really want to win so we can go to the playoffs,” Hunter said.
LBCC’s midfielder Sydney Trump kicks the ball past her defender during a matchup with LA Harbor on Oct 22 at Long Beach City College. The Vikings won the game 9-0. (Alma Tamara)
A lot of the players on the team are new this semester, so it took some time for them to get used to playing together, but they’ve really shown that their chemistry has significantly improved.
LBCC forward Lorena Moreno is proud of how far her team has come this season and hopes that they’ll be able to make it to the state finals and take home a win.
“We were a bunch of freshmen at the start of the season, so it was hard to learn how to play together, but eventually we got to do that and now we’re winning games,” Moreno said.
After halftime the Vikings scored four more goals that resulted in their definite win.
LBCC midfielder Sydney Trump hopes her team will continue playing as they have been so that they can win their conference, the finals of all the teams in their division, so that they can go to state.
“We played well overall as a team, communicating and moving the ball around, because we’re all really working toward our goal,” Trump said.
The Vikings have had a great season, as they’ve already taken home eight wins out of 13 games, and they plan to add a 9th at Los Angeles City College Oct. 25.
Distinguished civil rights scholar and actor in the “The Matrix” series Cornel West is currently running as an independent candidate for the 2024 presidential election with the help of his wife, LBCC professor Annahita Mahdavi-West.
Mahdavi-West has been a professor at LBCC since 2015 and married West in 2021.
Photo courtesy of Annahita Mahdavi-West.
West announced his presidential run as a People’s Party candidate on June 5, 2023 but switched to run to be the Green Party’s presidential nominee.
He then dropped out of the Green Party nominee race and declared he would run for the presidential election as a completely independent candidate.
As an independent candidate, West faces more challenges than a candidate supported by either the Democratic or Republican Parties or even one of various third parties.
“I can’t complain,” West said. “When you’re an independent candidate fighting a two-party system there are going to be obstacles.”
Mahdavi-West has also been incredibly active in West’s campaign, accompanying him along the campaign trail from state to state.
“This campaign confirmed everything I believe about politicians,” Mahdavi-West said.
It is notoriously difficult for third party, much less unaffiliated independent candidates, to not only raise the funds necessary but also get their name listed on official ballots across the country.
“In this election, I don’t believe a third party or independent candidate could win,” Mahdavi-West said. “The way the Democratic Party has blocked third party candidates makes it difficult.”
However, Mahdavi-West believes that third party candidates – like Cornel West – serve an important role in bringing attention to issues not brought up by either Democratic or Republican candidates.
West is an official write-in candidate in California, but does not have his name on the ballot.
The process of getting an independent candidate’s name on state ballots is arduous, as each state has its own requirements.
Throughout West’s campaign, Mahdavi-West continued to teach full-time at LBCC while still supporting her husband.
“I did not sacrifice either,” Mahdavi-West said. “It just added longer hours to my job.”
West expressed his appreciation of Mahdavi-West’s support, both as his wife and a political advocate like himself.
“Annahita is wonderful,” West said. “I don’t have a language for it.”
West stated that he believes his campaign raises issues that neither of the main parties are willing to speak about, particularly ones that younger voters are concerned with, such as the U.S.’s continued involvement in Israel.
There are no current projections for how many votes West may receive once the election concludes, but third party candidates historically get only a minimal amount.
According to MaristPoll, West and other third party candidates are cumulatively projected to receive less than 1% of the national vote.
The memory of activist Dorothy Pitman Hughes was honored at an LBCC fundraiser for the “Helping Homeless Students” initiative on Thursday.
Hughes had previously spoken at LBCC in 2019, initially only at a two hour event but her trip grew to three days of several more talks.
Money was raised through participants’ purchase of raffle tickets where a variety of prizes were available.
Prizes included three sets of date night tickets, two vouchers for AMC theater, and two In-n-out gift cards were being raffled.
Hughes’ daughter, Patrice Pitman Quinn, was in attendance and offered the importance of such an event in honoring her mother’s legacy.
“I’m very pleased to honor my mother especially with people who have so much interest and real love for her and appreciation of her and are working for other people. Particularly young people, I’m very grateful that this celebration is connected to raising funds for homeless people, students,” Quinn said.
Virginia Baxter made the decision of hosting this year’s event at LBCC and discussed a piece of football memorabilia that was to be auctioned off.
“This stuff was donated, we have very generous people who give prizes… Vince Ferragamo, who was an LA Ram, gave us a signed football that we’re going to auction off,” Baxter said.
The decision of making the raffle admission and providing free refreshments was in hopes of attracting a larger crowd to the event.
The program is all volunteer based, as in they rely on individual donors and businesses to donate money into the program.
Vice President of Helping the Homeless Committee, Robyn Gordon-Peterson did comment that they rely on grants to help secure funds for the program.
“We’ve applied for and received a Ford grant to support this fundraising event and the Josesphine Gumbiner foundation has a system to assist with grants,” Robyn Gordon-Peterson said.
Gordon-Peterson also noted a donor made a significant contribution of 70,000 dollars.
The program also collaborates with the basic needs program on campus when the needs of students exceeds that of which basic needs can provide.
Quinn felt pride in how the fundraising efforts of the raffle further honored her mother’s legacy.
“My mother was a great fundraiser and I think she’s smiling down on this right now,” Quinn said.
Bustling with early voters looking to cast their votes for the upcoming election, LBCC’s early voting center opened Saturday in the T building on the Liberal Arts Campus.
The voting center is accessible to both students and community members who wish to cast their ballots in the 2024 election.
The center features electronic voting booths with options for people to cast their ballot in a different language, allowing those who do not speak English as their primary language to vote.
Latoya Walker, an employee of the city of Los Angeles has worked polling stations for many years, but this was her first time working at the LAC center; she was pleased to be assisting voters and to see centers located on campus.
“It’s good to give students the time and place to vote,” Walker said. “Sometimes people need to take time off work or school to vote so that is more convenient.”
Walker said within the first hour of being open, the center saw around 60 voters.
“In my 12 years of working polling centers, this is the busiest I’ve seen,” Walker said.
While many students were not seen on campus, poll workers expected traffic to pick up during the week when classes are in session.
Many who went to the center during the first few hours of it being open were older individuals and those with families who had the morning free.
Mike Wade, a community member who was amongst the first to utilize the polling center, was thankful for the easy access and technology that was accessible to all.
“It was very helpful and efficient,” said Wade. “The technology is easy to use and simplifies the process.”
Some community members who were not familiar with LAC expressed concern over the minimal signage and directions on how to locate the voting center.
Gerry Scudder and Judy Marshall both found the voting process quick and easy to complete, but struggled to find the LAC voting center compared to centers previous years.
“There was only one little sign,” said Scudder, “and we didn’t know where T-1200 was so we were looking for a bit.”
They eventually found the center and were glad to have cast their ballots in time for the election.
Voters are not required any documentation or registration to show up to the voting center and cast their ballots.
“Just show up and show us who you are.” Walker said.
The voting center opened over the weekend and will remain open each day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until election day on Nov. 5, when it will stay open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Long Beach hosted its first annual local community zine fair presented by BiggestLittleZine on Oct. 12, featuring works about policing, celebrity worship, and more.
The BiggestLittleZineFair event had a successful debut with many zine submissions and support from Long Beach independent bookstore, Page Against the Machine where the event was hosted.
Zines stands for the shortened version of the word magazine and are self published short booklets that are not typically commercially made and can be about anything the author desires.
A sign made at the first annual Zine fair presented by BiggestLittleZIneFest decorates the window of Page Against the Machine, an independent bookstore in Long Beach, CA on Oct. 12. The event featured the work of 47 zine authors covering topics such as celebrity worship, policing, and more. (Destiny Garcia)
One zine titled “What a Psychiatric Hold Taught Me About Prison and Policing” by Treva Flores discussed the author’s personal experience of their time on psychiatric hold during their episode of psychosis and the trauma that they experienced as a result.
“They didn’t treat me like a person while I was experiencing a mental health crisis,” Flores said about her mistreatment by police.
They state that they were being ignored, handcuffed and abused while being transported to a mental ward.
Flores was inspired to make the zine after experiencing their psychotic break so that more people could advocate for prison abolition and against the abuse of mental health patients by mental health ward employees and police.
Zine creator Treva Flores (left) brought friends to the BiggestLittleZIneFair event to bring more attention to the Zine community in Long Beach. The event was hosted at Page Against the Machine in Long Beach CA on Oct. 12. (Destiny Garcia)
Flores’ zine is meant to promote more community care and focus on rebuilding connections rather than “punishing people for being mentally ill,” Flores said.
Several zine creators like Flores have never had their work featured in a public space for anyone to be able to purchase due to reasons like being too shy to put out their work and a lack of resources to make multiple booklets.
Alternatively, some creators were not new to having their work published and able to purchase, like Nancy Lupian who wrote her first zine on a train.
The event featured Lupian’s fourth zine publication called “Musings on the Way” that was inspired by multimedia projects she has done in the past and her previous travels.
Lupian combines several forms of art such as drawings, poetry, and photos to create experimental travel journals.
“I don’t do them in any specific order, just until I have enough to fill 8 pages. This zine is different because I feel like I’m starting to find my style,” said Lupian.
Coordinators of the event invited creatives to submit zines via their Instagram @biggestlittlezinefair and had a better turnout than they expected with over 70 zine submissions.
The organizers of the event also hosted a zine making workshop to provide an opportunity to those who wish to make a zine but don’t know where to start.
One of the organizers of the event, Ra Avis is a formerly incarcerated disabled person of color who sought to give people who don’t have a supportive community, a place where their work could be shared and access to resources for their future creative endeavors.
Avis said that not only do they aim to create a safe space for zine creators, but they also focus on “accessibility for first time zinesters and those who are disabled and can’t attend the event.”
The Biggest Little Zine Fair had a successful debut with many zine submissions and support from Page Against the Machine, an independent bookstore in Long Beach where the event was hosted.
There were a total of 157 zine copies sold, bringing the gross sales to a total of $853 with the top three zine categories being art/photo, poetry and essays.
The next zine fair will be hosted on Dec. 14 at Recreational Coffee on 237 Long Beach Blvd. from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
More information on submitting a zine to be featured at the next zine fair, future zine workshops and zine events can be found on BiggestLittleZineFair’s Instagram page @biggestlittlezinefair or on their website biggestlittlezinefair.com.
LBCC’s on-campus voting station opened on Saturday in the T Building, but the turnout for young first time voters was lower than anticipated.
The voting centers on both LAC and TTC will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until election day on Nov. 5, when they will open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Many of the voters were middle-aged and simply arrived to drop off their already filled out ballots.
By 3 p.m., the voting center had reached 180 ballots, which was far more than they had anticipated, but only a small handful of those were cast by first time voters.
The majority of young voters at the center cast their ballots for the first time in the 2020 presidential election.
Reese Walker, a student at LBBC said that she had voted in the last election, but this was her first time experiencing voting in person.
“I voted in person this time because sometimes they send back mail in votes. It happened to my friend, and I didn’t want that to happen to me,” Walker said.
“I wanted to see a change in the world, and this is a big way to do it. Overall it was a good experience,” said Walker.
The few young voters that did arrive shared similar sentiments of wanting to make a difference in the world and felt that voting in person gave them a sense of security in knowing that their vote will be counted.
“I just like to be involved in the system. I want to be a lawyer and I feel like I should be participating in elections if I want to be in the judicial system,” said Hanna Aviles, another young voter who was casting her ballot for the second time.
“This is also where I voted last time. I came with my grandmother and my mother, and we’re voting together,” said Aviles.
Nearing the closing time of the voting station, Drew Hannon, a student at LBCC who was voting for the first time shared the same sentiment as the other young voters.
“I felt more comfortable voting in person than mailing it in. It felt more real,” Hannon said
“I felt compelled to vote by being a resident of California. I’m 19, part of Gen Z, and they say we’re the future, so I wanted to be a part of that,” said Hannon.
The reason for this low turnout of first time voters is currently unknown, however there are still those that value the reliability of in person voting.
LBCC triumphed over Mt. San Antonio 13-12 on Oct. 16th showcasing both teams’ determination and strength.
The game started when Mt. San Antonio’s attacker Nicolas Lara struck first at five minutes and thirty-three seconds, assisted by attacker Trevor Davis, putting the away team ahead 1-0.
Just a minute later, Mt. Sac’s attacker Nicolas Lara set up teammate utility Nicolas Flores for an impressive goal, extending the lead to 2-0.
Mt Sac’s utility Michael McMillan would then capitalize on the momentum, scoring at two minutes and nineteen seconds with help from utility Nicolas Flores, bringing the score to 3-0.
LBCC’s attacker Colley Ochoa quickly changed the game’s momentum netting three unassisted goals in quick succession, leveling the score to 3-3 by the end of the first period.
As the second quarter unfolded, Mt. San Antonio regained their footing, with attacker Trevor Davis finding the net at three minutes and twenty-three seconds, courtesy of a pass from guard Jack Painton, making it 4-3 Mt. Sac on top.
Mt. Sac found another opportunity just before halftime with attacker Roman Robles scoring from an assist by utility Andres Equihua Sanchez to increase their lead to 5-3.
Long Beach surged back with attacker Sandro Pueyo, who scored three consecutive unassisted goals to give the home team a slight edge of 6-5 as the halftime buzzer sounded.
The intensity continued to rise in the third period.
Mt Sac’s attacker Trevor Davis leveled the game again to 6-6 with an unassisted goal at five minutes and fifty-nine seconds in the 3rd period.
Following this, Mt. Sac’s utility Nicolas Flores found the back of the net twice with assists from attacker Roman Robles and attacker Trevor Davis, pushing Mt. San Antonio ahead 8-6.
LBCC’s attacker Louis Hackett had other plans, responding with back-to-back unassisted goals to tie it again at 8-8.
LBCC’s attacker Louis Hackett and center Andrija Stankovic scored, putting Long Beach in the lead 10-8.
However, Mt. San Antonio struck back fiercely in the fourth quarter. Utility Michael McMillan scored from an assist by attacker Trevor Davis, followed by a quick assist from attacker Roman Robles, bringing the score to 10-10.
The back-and-forth continued as Mt. Sac’s utility Michael McMillan netted another unassisted goal, giving Mt. San Antonio the lead at 11-10.
A pair of goals from LBCC’s center Michael Trujillo and attacker Elijah Molina saw Long Beach rally back, ultimately securing the narrow victory at 13-12.
In a post-game discussion, Molina highlighted a key moment in the match.
“We started hard and slowed down in the second quarter, and that’s what resulted in our win,” Molina said.
Teammate Louis Hackett emphasized the need for consistency in future games.
“Next game we need to work on not taking our foot off the gas and pushing through,” Hackett said.
Director of Aquatics Bradley Adamson also shared his insights, indicating a focus on refining their gameplay as they prepare for upcoming challenges.
“Our boys need to work on controlling the ball a bit more and putting away the opportunities that were presented to them,” Adamson said.
LBCC Men’s water polo now maintains a record of 16-5 with their next game at El Camino on Wednesday.
Middle Blocker Hadassah Odeyale scored the game-winning point as the Vikings shut out L.A. City 3-0 on Friday.
“I love my team, I love this program. Just doing something to help them is really great,” Odeyale said.
In the game, Odeyale had 7 points, 7 kills, and 1 attack error as she played all three sets for the Vikings.
“Our strategy was to focus on ourselves, try to limit our errors, and just prepare for state and postseason,” Odeyale said.
Odeyale wasn’t the only Viking to have a multi-point night with Opposite Hitter Tainea Allen, Cynthia Hinojosa, and Enaya Vaielua all having 7 points each for the Vikings.
In the first set the Vikings were able to strike first L.A. City’s defense missed the ball, something that would happen multiple times throughout the game.
The Vikings took the first set 25-12, as their defense was able to stifle L.A. City’s offense.
The second set started with L.A. City striking first but the Vikings were able to come back as L.A. City made multiple defensive mistakes most of which ended with the ball going out of bounds which allowed the Vikings to take the set 25-11.
The Vikings dominated in the third set as the team offense was able to have a 14 and 18-point lead to take the set 25-7.
Overall the Vikings are 16-1 and 3-1 in the conference and being 10-0 at home, 6-1 away, and now have a two-game winning streak.
“Before games, we always have a pre-game meeting to talk with everybody. It sets the tone for the rest of the night. I feel like we set our intentions for the court, what we want to do, and the goals we want to set and we apply it onto the court,” setter Camille Agrupis said.
The Vikings’ next game is against East L.A. on Oct. 30 at home starting at 6 p.m.
“I think they just need to do better at embracing pressure and not running away from it. It’s something that is a part of sports, something that is definitely a part of life, you have your good seasons and your bad seasons and sometimes we tend to shy away from that,” head coach Tyler Jackson said.
LBCC’s winning streak was broken in an away game against Cerritos with a final score of 3-1 on Wednesday.
The first round set the precedent of a tough game as Cerritos’s strong start kept LBCC’s team on their toes.
26-24, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20 were the final scores for each round with a play that was neck-to-neck.
Playing against a team of equal skill, LBCC and Cerritos frequently called time-outs throughout the match to regroup and strategize.
The Vikings had varying degrees of success, which secured a win in the second round and a string of points in subsequent rounds.
In the third round referees ruled two points in favor of Cerritos over errors, leaving LBCC’s team with a loss.
Coach Tyler Jackson regarded the loss as a minor setback and in her optimistic view it allowed relief from the pressures of maintaining a constant winning streak.
“(The match) kind of exposed our weaknesses but I mean we were 14-0, it can’t get better than that and when you’re undefeated the pressure keeps building. I feel like now in the games we can breathe a little bit,” Jackson said.
A few times Cerritos struggled to control the ball with an intense defense and even sent a team member crashing into the team’s bench.
Vikings No. 4 Hadassah Odeyale, tips the ball over the net in LBCC’s game against Cerritos on October 16, 2024 in Cerritos, California. LBCC Women’s Volleyball team lost their first game this season. Breaking their 14-game winning streak. (Alma Tamara)
Despite the loss, LBCC’s team kept a positive attitude and some players said they felt confident after the match.
“I mean we had such an amazing season, I feel great, we’re not going to be perfect. We’ve had one of our best starters out, so it was a really good night for our girls to really step up and other people to show up,” Jackson said.
Outside Hitter Tainea Allen’s takeaway was that of confidence, especially for their next match against Compton.
“They’re a new team in our conference, I’m excited to play against a new team, for sure mentally we’re going to practice,” Allen said.
Libero Kaylani Moncada was dismayed by the loss but was able to analyze the situation and reinforce the idea that the game was more mentally taxing than physically.
“I think it’s just mental. I think we’re all physically there, we all have the technique down, it’s just all mental,” Moncada said.
LBCC’s women’s volleyball team remained undefeated at 14-0 after a dominant sweep of El Camino College on Oct. 9th.
Sophomore middle blocker Jubilee Allen had an impressive defensive showing with ten blocks and five kills to block El Camino from establishing a lead.
Tainea Allen and Tyreana Allen both showed out offensively with 10 monstrous kills and 3 digs from Tainea and 13 assists and 6 digs from Tyreana.
Sophomore Kaylani Moncada recorded a team-high 13 digs and 4 assists.
“I think we did great. I feel like there’s always room to be better, I don’t I will ever have a perfect game, it’s just all mental,” Moncada said. “It feels great to be the number 2 team in the state but I’m ready to be number 1.”
The Vikings upped their defensive strategy every match to make it harder for El Camino to score. While the Warriors scored 18 points in the first match, they scored only 11 and 9 points, respectively, in the last two matches.
This is now the longest winning streak this team has seen since 2017 when they had a 16-game winning streak from mid-September to early November.
Head coach Tyler Jackson spoke about the pressure on the team because of their undefeated status and how they deal with that on and off the court.
“When you’re undefeated every team wants to beat you so there’s no pressure on their side but a lot of pressure on our side, so really understanding how to deal with that pressure is big for us,” Jackson said.
“We do a lot of mental workshops so before our game we do an hour of mental exercising and positive affirmations. A lot of them struggle with self-doubt, it’s just with this generation, so we talk to them about how to not feed into the negative thoughts and help them get out of it so we focus a lot on our mentality here,” Jackson said.
Sophomore Enaya Vaielua credited the team’s success to the way they look out for each other on and off the court.
“We’re all about sisterhood so it’s like being able to trust each other one-on-one on the court and then being able to know all of our weaknesses together and then trying to better those,” Vaielua said.
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
