Life’s a beach. Or, it was for Californians before social distancing- defined for the first time this month by Merriam’s Webster as “the practice of maintaining a greater than usual physical distance from other people or of avoiding direct contact with people or objects in public places during the outbreak of a contagious disease in order to minimize exposure and reduce the transmission of infection.”

In the wake of the coronavirus, the SMC Music Department was severely affected as the challenge to transition such physical classes was immense. Performances were forced to cancel, along with some music classes. Now, they only meet online as they continue to spread the power of melody but it is not the same.

What does twenty bucks buy in the COVID-19 economy? Well, it can buy 23.8 rolls of toilet paper. While it’s probably smart to stock up on those, another Andrew Jackson can be used to stream one of several major motion pictures - still in theaters - at home.

For over two decades Santa Monica College (SMC) has provided it’s students with an experience known as the Student Sustainability Workshop, hosted by the Sustainable Works program on campus.

An invisible enemy threatens the globe and tests if the world is equipped to confront it. The equation presented in this docuseries: “Detect the case, isolate the case, then stop the chain of transmission.”

Contagion explores how healthcare professionals, government officials, and everyday people handle a global pandemic.

Santa Monica College’s (SMC) fashion department partners with Lucky Brand to prioritize and encourage sustainability among their design students with a “chop shop” where they use recycled fabric scraps to create fashion collections.

Nathan Sawaya, a New York City corporate lawyer turned contemporary artist, transformed over one million LEGO® bricks into more than 100 sculptures in California Science Center's new exhibit "The Art of the Brick" which opened Friday, Feb. 28.

Elizabeth Prevolos, founder of the Parenting Student Network (PSA), is a mother of two children, and a full-time student looking to major in Sociology and Gender Studies. Her goal is to transfer to UCLA, while building up a network that will support parenting students at Santa Monica College (SMC) in the meantime.

A display case of letters written by the famous women’s rights activist, Alice Stone Blackwell, attracted a small crowd of museum visitors on Thursday March 5, during the grand opening of the “All Is Possible: Women’s Suffrage in California” Exhibition at the Santa Monica History Museum. The exhibition is open in tandem with Women’s History Month and will run until June 6.

John Maul is the solo artist of his own sold-out gallery exhibition in Los Angeles (LA). He also happens to be in his mid-sixties and have non-verbal learning disability (NVD). “Well, it’s not that he’s completely non-verbal,” explains Page Wery.

On February 29 was the official opening for the new exhibit Unreality at SMC’s Pete and Susan Barrett Art Gallery. Showcasing works by Lisa Adams and Kelly McLane. The exhibit is free and will be on display until Saturday, March 28.

Streaming giant Netflix has released their most heartbreaking true crime series yet. The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is a limited six-part series that explores the life and death of eight-year old Palmdale boy, Gabriel Fernandez. Fernandez's mother, Pearl Fernandez, tortured and killed him, with the help of her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

In an old building in downtown Los Angeles, California on February 21, 2020 members of the PSL (Party for Socialism and Liberation) gathered together and chattered before the beginning of the black history workshop. There are pictures set up around the room of iconic black figures: Assata Shakur, Claudia Jones, Nina Simone, Audrey Lorde, and Malcolm X.

A collage is used to show the metamorphosis of the late Toni Morrison's physical self, from refined young, striking beauty to gorgeous, giggling gray-haired matriarch. The way her ​collage-like Black Book ​served as a shocking, artfully true compilation of American blackness,​ the documentary The Pieces I Am ​is just as true for the writer's life.

Whoopi Goldberg is bathing in milk right next to late comedian Richard Pryor, the priest. A little to the right is actress Ali Wong as Marie Antoinette. Welcome to Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling – The Stars, the Parties, and the Powerbrokers. Beginning Feb. 8, the photography exhibition is hosted by the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City.

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), was an influential artist during the Italian Renaissance, and a new exhibition at the Getty Center -- "Michelangelo: Mind of the Master" -- brings together over 28 of his drawings, many of which have never been seen outside of Europe.

In 1973, museum curator and art collector Sam Wagstaff moved away from acquiring paintings and sculptures, and began buying photographs. By the early 1980s he'd assembled one of the largest private collections in the world. He'd begun by collecting 19th and early 20th century photographs, and with the help of a young photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe — Wagstaff's protegé and lover — he turned his attention to more contemporary work.

In 1984, the Getty Museum created their Department of Photographs and inaugurated the exhibit with the acquisition of several world-famous private collections, including over 26,000 prints that Sam Wagstaff had assembled. The Getty's dramatic entry into collecting photography immediately established it as a major center for photographic art.

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Film Club members, friends, and family blended together in a pizza-eating, film-loving crowd outside the Center for Media and Design (CMD) campus this past Thursday night. At 7 p.m., the CMD quad turned into a box office lobby for the SMC Film Festival with an auditorium awaiting the audience inside.

As the hosts of the event, Film Club presented a total of nine original productions of both its members and Film 33 students. As the crowd watched the films one by one, Professor Kanin and Professor Flood judged the films for the later presented awards. Film Club has long hosted the SMC Film Festival, but now sees an “all-time high” membership this year with over 150 members, according to club president Carlos Flores Jr.

 It has only been one month since Disney+ started streaming content including original movies and television shows. An immediate success is their new live-action Star Wars series called The Mandalorian, which takes place a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi. The new series involves director, producer and screenwriter Jon Favereau, who is known for directing Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Disney’s live-action The Jungle Book and The Lion King.

Favereau is the creator, head writer, and showrunner, as well as executive producer of The Mandalorian, and although he plans to direct an episode of the second season, he was too busy with the production of The Lion King to direct any of the series' first season.