The room was filled with the sound of ancient televisions, the energetic clack and snap of the controllers, and the creatively varied insults from the mouths of the attending patrons. There was around twenty to thirty people, many of whom had just met in person for the first time, spread across the room huddled around the behemoth TV sets, intently focused on destroying their opponents.

I grew up in the promised land of socialism, Finland, blessed with universal healthcare and quality, free education. And through experiencing the lovely summer breeze of the government taking care of you–with everything practically handed to you–I will proudly say: I’m a socialist.

Dance Synapse

Although 2019 is only three months in, there have been 206 cases of measles in the United States this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those cases, 74 were attributed to the outbreak in Washington and Oregon. The Pacific Northwest region is known for being heavily anti-vaccination, as Washington, Oregon, and Idaho allow both religious exemptions and personal belief exemptions from vaccinations.

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Corsairs (20-11) defeated the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers (20-9) 66-54 Saturday, March 9 at Riverside City College to claim the Regional Finals. SMC started out with a 7-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Kyle Young (#15) was the first to score

With her long purple dress, aqua hair, and strong spirit, Professor Bridgette Robinson walks into Santa Monica College's (SMC) Drescher Hall 212, greets her English 1 class, and begins to read along to Asha Bandele and Patrisse Cullors’ novel “When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir." She easily commands the attention of the room; her students sit on the edge of their seats listening.

The shirts hang, colorful and bright, fluttering in the midday breeze. Sitting at tables, volunteers wait, encouraging smiles on their faces. Most students walk by without a care. Some linger. Others hesitate before moving on. One or two approach the tables and, in quiet voices, ask for a shirt.

The Active Minds Club request a budget at the Associated Students (A.S.) Board meeting on February 25, at the Santa Monica College (SMC) Cayton Center. This is the latest event confirming the need for an A.S. Finance Committee’s initiative to revise fiscal policy

Sitting on at a small table in the middle of Santa Monica College’s Center for Media and Design courtyard, waiting in the midday Santa Monica sun, sits 17-year-old singer-songwriter, activist, and head of the Zero Hour Partnerships team, Arielle Martinez-Cohen.

Corsairs Women's Softball starting line-up from Santa Monica College, Taylor Scott, Emma Soto, Alyssa Moreno, Erika Soto, Ireland Miessau, Nikki Valdez, Chica Sanchez and Jasmine welcome Jasmine Loftin at Santa Monica College and beat the Moorpark Raiders

Active Shooter Drill Held at Santa Monica College , Center For Media and Design campus.

When the eScooter tsunami crashed on the beaches of Santa Monica and Venice last year it seemed like "The Scooter Keepers" were mostly freelancers, people who surfed the bike trail between Santa Monica and Venice collecting scooters for vendors like Lime, Bird, and Spin, and recharging them for $5 a scooter.

Ever since the rise of sex education in the 1960s, debates as to the most appropriate way to implement these programs have existed. On February 19, the group “Informed Parents of California” put on a protest outside of school district offices in Chino, California, in response to the implementation of sex education curriculum under the California Healthy Youth Act (CHYA).

The Associated Students (AS) kick off the spring semester with a town hall meeting at Santa Monica College’s (SMC) Cayton Center, on Wednesday, February 27. The meeting was organized to help encourage students to voice any concern or opinions they may have about the campus. “I think it’s an inspiring idea really taking into consideration what students are feeling, the demands and the needs of the students.

President Donald Trump sparked nationwide outrage when he declared a ‘National Emergency’ along the southern border. Many argue he knowingly exercised an unneeded executive order, by Trump saying, “I don’t need to do this,” before signing the documents making the order official, which would unlock funding to his long-promised border wall.

On Saturday, Feb 23, families, friends and Venice Beach residents dawned glitter, masks and the occasional set of wings to take part in the 17th annual Venice Beach Mardi Gras parade in Los Angeles, California. The Venice boardwalk, though accustomed to its steady flow of unusual occurrences and festivities, seemed overwhelmed by the massive parade, themed “Mystical Magical Tour.”

On the evening of February 27, around 8 p.m., a fire broke out in an abandoned medical building on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and South Westgate Ave. Smoke was billowing off the building as first responders arrived on the scene, “They commenced an aggressive interior fire attack,” stated on scene Chief Legal Officer (CLO)…

On February 24, noon, a group of kids met in an unassuming studio in downtown Los Angeles, ready to change the future of American gun safety and rewrite ancient legislation. The meeting was run by the Los Angeles chapter of March For Our Lives (MFOL), an activist group formed by survivors of the Parkland shooting of February 2018, and was the group’s first general meeting of the year. 

Award-winning filmmaker Nnegest Likke, pronounced Nagace-Lee-Kay, brought her film “Phat Girlz” for a screening at the SMC Theatre Arts Complex. The 2006 production focused on Jazmine Biltmore, a plump African-American woman struggling to find her confidence in a society that glorifies skinny bodies.