Architecture students head to Netherlands

By Erik Luna East Los Angeles College’s Architecture Department will be the first community college program to be featured at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, an exhibit bringing together the brightest minds in the field of architecture, this month at Rotterdam, Netherlands. The department is exhibiting the student project on the industrial city of Vernon, which, due to the factories in the vicinity, has high levels of toxicity making it…

May 21, 2014
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‘Kindred’ reveals story of human spirit

  By Erik Luna Being kindred spirits is more than being best friends. It’s about sharing a bond that goes beyond anything else – even death. Daniel Keleher’s play “Kindred” illustrates the complexity of this theme with wit and emotion through the eyes of two kindred spirits who just happen to be prison inmates. The play, which opened last Friday at East Los Angeles College’s Proscenium Theatre, starts as soon…

May 21, 2014
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Upstairs Theatre triumphs in Chekov one-acts

  By Erik Luna Russian playwright Anton Chekhov may not have thought much of his two farcical one-act plays “The Proposal,” and “The Bear,” going as far as calling them worthless, yet after 126 years they still offer a glimpse into the foolishness that is life. Director Matthew Floyd Miller’s adaptation “The Chekhov Vaudevilles!… Featuring The Proposal and The Bear!,” for East Los Angeles College’s Theatre Arts Department certainly brought…

May 1, 2014
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Students, instructors need motivation

By Erik Luna It’s tough being a good student and it’s even tougher being a good instructor. As difficult as it is, both students and instructors need to put their best efforts into learning the material and teaching it. Every student has had one of those classes that they can’t seem to concentrate in. As soon as class starts, minds start to wander, notebooks become a blank canvas for the…

May 1, 2014
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CRASS to release student-created zine

By Erik Luna   In an attempt to evoke critical thinking, the Collective Revolutionary Association of Students in Solidarity (CRASS) asked people to submit material for their zine in response to the prompt “What is American Culture?” This is the second volume of CRASS’s zine and, according to members, it will be created by using strictly student submissions as opposed to their first volume, which was created using material by…

April 23, 2014
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ELAC theatre student gives back to community portraying Power Ranger

    By Erik Luna Updated on April 25 at 12:11 am It’s a busy day at Boyle Heights’s White Memorial Medical Center and the usual people are roaming the hallways: nurses, doctors, patients and three Power Rangers. East Los Angeles College student and actor of ELAC’s Theater Department, Carlos Castellanos is one of those Power Rangers. Dressed as his favorite Power Ranger, the green ranger from the 1993 hit…

April 23, 2014
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Earthquake: Preparing for a natural disaster

By Erik Luna The magnitude 5.1 earthquake last month should serve as a shaky reminder to be prepared and know what to do during an emergency. The earthquake was reported by the U.S. Geological Survey to have occurred one mile from La Habra, Calif. and although there was no extravagant damages reported, people might not be so fortunate next time. When preparing for a natural disaster, such as a high-magnitude earthquake,…

April 17, 2014
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ELAC aims for smoke-free campus

By Erik Luna Trying to get people to quit smoking cigarettes is hard to do. So, why bring this up? Last Thursday, East Los Angeles College, along with its Respiratory Therapy program, teamed up with Tobacco-Free Kids to promote “No Smoking,” in an annual event called “Kick Butts Day.” My last cigarette was on January 1, 2013. I decided to quit strictly for myself and no one else. Sure, my…

March 26, 2014
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Inebriated Elans disrupt class

  By Erik Luna Students should not attend school under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Obvious as it may be, it definitely needs reiteration. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with the intoxicated at East Los Angeles College. I usually just shrug it off because it really didn’t affect me. This was outside of the classroom, yet when I run into someone that is intoxicated or under the…

March 20, 2014
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“The Grand Budapest Hotel” shines with all-star cast

Photo courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures     By Erik Luna Using his usual cavalcade of stars as a cast, director and screenplay writer Wes Anderson creates a beautiful story of a grand hotel turned upside down by scandal and greed. In its core, “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” is a love story. It’s not just a love story in the traditional sense, but extends into the insight of an honest brotherly…

March 13, 2014
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