Back on the Court? Athletes After COVID

Basketball player Greg Nash dribbling on court with other players and team on sidelines inside

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

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.

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Fast Food Fights Back

The year 2020 redefined the word, “essential.” Home essentials, health essentials, work essentials, but most notably essential workers. Though the Fight for 15 movements began in 2012, the COVD-19 pandemic brought a new wave of unionizing movements to fast-food chains across the nation. After years of unsafe working conditions, low wages, lack of accessible healthcare, sexual assault, sexism, and racism, fast-food workers of the Sacramento area are fighting back.

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Enjoy Life: A Teaspoon Story

Teaspoon business owners, Roseville

In this 5:32 minute video, Enjoy Life: A Teaspoon Story, married couple and owners of Teaspoon Roseville, Asa Yuan and Leo Ji, discuss the successes and challenges they have faced this past year while opening. The couple talks about their inspiration for opening Teaspoon Roseville, how they separate and share responsibilities, the effects of Covid-19 on their timeline, and the biggest struggle they have faced as Asian business owners in America.

 

Author photo, Aviana Loveall, smiling young woman with long wavy hair.
Aviana Loveall is a Communication Studies major at Sierra College from Roseville. Her interest areas include fashion and pop culture news.
  Produced and Reported by Aviana Loveall

Community, Clubs, and Covid

The picture of a student crumpling under the normal pressures of higher education is a worn cliché. Yes, being a college student is difficult in the best of circumstances, but couple the confusion of the freshman experience plus a global lockdown caused by a deadly pandemic and no one would blame a student for caving under the strain. But not Elijah Mendez, a first year history major at Sierra College and an aspiring teacher. He isn’t letting the pressures of COVID-19 overtake him.

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Why Are We Essential? Workers in the Service Industry Express their Feelings on the Title

In this 6:29 minute video, Why are We Essential? Workers in the Service Industry Express their Feelings on the Title, viewers hear from Sierra College student workers: Shyanne Dickinson, Chris Jenkins, and Stefany Guzman on their experience as both students and essential workers during the pandemic.

  Video by Alexander Huddleston 

Alex Huddleston is a Journalism major at Sierra College. He plans to transfer and continue in the field with a focus on sports journalism.

Covid-19 through Older Eyes

In this 15:17 minute podcast, Covid-19 through Older Eyes, three people from the local community: Erny (67), Anna (72), and Judy (70s) share their experience. They explain making changes in their lives to stay safer, working at Walmart and Door-Dash, missing spending time with friends, and care-giving elders themselves through the pandemic.

While to some, the pandemic is an inconvenience or something that others need to worry about,  many over the age of 55 are worried about their heath and have made changes to prevent getting Covid-19. This is why their perspectives and what they are going though is so important. We all have family, friends, neighbors who are older and for some of them, it has been life threatening.

Their perspectives matter. Understanding their experiences can help others feel connected and have a better understanding of what the pandemic has been like for older generations. 

 

Susan Stewart is from a small town in North Dakota. She is a Communication Studies major at Sierra College and plans to earn a Masters degree in the field.

Podcast by Susan Stewart 

 

 

 

California and Gig Companies Disagree

taxi in dark city with neon lights
A battle between the state of California and multinational gig companies happened this fall. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash wanted drivers who worked with them to stay independent contractors, while the State wanted the companies to treat the drivers as employees.

Changes in the economy and technology influenced this situation. The gig economy emerged through rapidly evolving technology and a change to routinized work. This made it possible for individuals to contract their services and potential customers to find them through apps.

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College Ball During COVID-19

baseball on dirt

My friend, Gino Hutchinson plays college baseball and when I asked him about this upcoming season he said, “It’s not going to be the same.” The college sports world has been crazy these past few months in deciding whether or not teams are going to play, especially for bigger sports like football and basketball where most the money comes from. If these were not played this year, colleges would lose millions of dollars.

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Covering Sports During a Pandemic

Empty stadium

March thirteenth, 2020, is the day sports changed forever. Games and tournaments were canceled. Seasons were put on hold. The future of youth, college, and professional sports across the United States was in jeopardy. It threw a curve-ball at people who work in sports and millions of other Americans who lost their jobs due to COVID-19. It has been many long and uncertain months with roadblocks along the way.

The NBA, NHL, NWSL and WNBA just wrapped up their seasons this past month in a bubble format. No positive cases were reported from any of those four bubble environments. And this fall, football is at center stage. There has been a handful of cancellations in both college football and the NFL, but both have not shut down completely, yet, which is a positive sign.

The protocols at all levels have been high but the consequences of the pandemic could have a lasting impact.

I have covered high school sports since 2015. I never could have imagined this. It could be a long time until things in the sports world are back to “normal.”

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