The year 2020 was an intense, wild, and upsetting year for athletes and the local basketball community was hit hard. The remainder of the 2019-2020 basketball season was canceled- meaning the championship of the California Junior Colleges and California high school championships were gone. The local community was shocked and felt that all the hard work that we had put in was wasted. Continue Reading
Opinion: Sierra Girls Really are all that Hot
When looking back on the events, it’s easy to be caught up in the controversy. In 2003, Sierra College’s student newspaper, The Outlook, accepted an op-ed titled “One Person’s View: Sierra Girls Aren’t Really All That Hot.” With statements like “I find the majority [of women at Sierra] to be stuck up, bitchy, and self-centered.” The op-ed unsurprisingly earned negative responses from students writing to the editor, national media, and even the California National Organization for Women.
Sierra Clubs on a Hybrid Campus
The transition to a digital campus didn’t just impact classes- college clubs had to find their new footing in a remote world. Now, two years later the clubs of Sierra have experienced functioning remotely, on-ground, and in hybrid forms, and have a sense of what the future of clubs at Sierra holds. Continue Reading
Forever Faithful, Semper Fidelis
Growing up, my absolute favorite brand of toys to play with were G.I. Joes; as innocent as the idea of a toy may be, the constant exposure for my imagination sparked something that led to my decision to enlist in The Marine Corps. They exemplified traits I wanted- things my childhood heroes had. I figured maybe I could try on the uniform and see how it fits.
Yes I Am
Words were screamed across the room
A man was beaten, battered, and tried
Everything comes to a halt
It all comes down to this; who lied?
I watch from the safety of my own home
Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard,
The trial that is being seen across the world
The comfortability and safety of my own life
Sits in the back of mind, rarely coming out to play
For others, their safety is dangling off a tightrope,
A finger away from falling into the depths
One in four women
One in nine men
10 million suffer
10 million too much
After a marriage full of hate, fear, and humiliation
Witnesses are brought to tell the truth as
Everything comes to a halt
It all comes down to this; who lied?
Interruption, objection, hearsay
Years of being silent,
Depp is silenced once again
But now is the time to tell his story
Seeing toxicity since childhood left him bruised
The shadows of trauma followed him to his adulthood,
He didn’t have a voice then, but he has one now
In horror I listen to the audio clip playing at the end of testimony
“Tell them Johnny Depp, I, Johnny Depp, a man,
I’m a victim too of domestic violence”
What did he say?
“Yes I am.”
Written by Jessica Mananquil | Photo by Georgy Rudakov, Unsplash

Unthawed Nightmare
Strolling home from work, careless and free
Headed home to make my bed, clean sheets off the line,
What a shame to do at bedtime.
Entering my home, I notice no one, I see, I hear nothing
Suddenly attacked, impaled throughout my body
In and out, with such malice.
Forcibly violated, and left cold as ice.
Floating in a pool of my lineage as it drained from my veins.
Taken from me my spirit, stolen; my spirit.
What gave you the right to me?
Robbing me of my safety, my life, my future?
Who told you it was ok to play God and decide when?
When my last breath was taken, my last moments with family.
42 years I lay frozen, forever a 20 year old with the world at my feet.
Shattered in a moment of impulse.
42 years until my family would rejoice, “I feel like I can go on with my life now.”
The terror, pain and heartache frozen with me
Unthawed as handcuffs squeeze your wrists.
My soul set free, my nightmare unthawed.
Written by Vontress Ortega | Photo by Manjari, Pexels

The Period of Change
College students spend thousands of dollars on tuition, living expenses, food, gas, etc. but have little room for anything else. What if you had to choose between period products and groceries? This situation occurs more than people may think. A new study found that 14.2% of college students experienced this problem known as Period Poverty in the past year.
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Bends and Banks: Communities, Water, and the American River
Bends and Banks: Communities, Water, and the American River, is a set of five stories produced by a team of journalist fellows in Spring, 2022. The team includes four student journalists: Madalyn Wright, Vontress Ortega, Katelyn Vengersammy, and Aviana Loveall. They were all awarded through the California Humanities “Emerging Journalist” Fellowship with the Journalism program at Sierra College.
Asian American History is American History
After seeing the increase in hate crimes towards Asian Americans during the COVID-19 outbreak, I wondered if one day I would be one of the victims I saw on the news. Working in a grocery store for almost 40 hours a week I was outside in the world for the majority of the time, putting myself at even more risk.
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The Avi Loveall Show: Campus Couture
In this 5-minute video, students on the Rocklin, Sierra College campus describe their style choices to reporter, Aviana Loveall. Fashion is a nonverbal way for students to express themselves and present who they are on campus and to their peers. This video is the second in a series by Loveall. Special thanks to Sierra Theater student, Jacob Spingarn-Sanford, for camera work.

Beyond Meals: The Sierra College Food Pantry
The financial weight of groceries can cause stress for students and their families. The Sierra College Food Pantry was started as a labor of love by the late Student Life Campus Coordinator, Tim Haenny (1957-2017). Today students and staff carry on the legacy to make sure no student goes hungry.
LGBTQ+ Inclusion on College Campuses
Students aged 24 and younger make up 92% of the college-attending population, and approximately 1 in 6 people aged 18-24 as of 2021 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer. (LGBTQ+). Despite the many students who identify in these ways, colleges have struggled to create a safe and inclusive environment for LGBTQ+ students.