It’s a quiet afternoon on March 16, 2023 and I am sitting on a large, grey couch in the middle of the Basic Needs Center on the Sierra College, Rocklin campus. Chatter comes from behind the front desks that face windows looking out into a small courtyard. Claire Masztakowski, a student employee, turns away from her conversation to face two young students walking through the door. She types their ID numbers into the computer, and the students go peruse the Food Pantry. This is one of many spaces around campus with resources that support students to further equity.
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Queer Pastor Fighting For Equality in Placer County
In this 4:53 video, reporter Alexa Topacio visits the local Loomis Basin Congregational United Church of Christ, the first church established in Loomis, California, currently led by Pastor Casey Tinnin-Martinez. Continue Reading
Sierra College is Empowering Asian Students after Lunar New Year Shootings
Growing up, I forced myself to awkwardly laugh along with the “ching-chong” jokes kids made about my eyes. I shyly answered the rude questions kids would ask about the “weird looking” chicken adobo my mother packed me in my Hello Kitty thermos for lunch.
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Subway Family Brings Rocklin Together One Sandwich at a Time
“What kind of bread? What kind of sandwich? Would you like it toasted? What kind of sauces? Veggies? Salt, pepper, oil, or vinegar?” These are questions you’d typically hear in Subway. However, this isn’t the case when you walk into the 5070 B, Rocklin Rd. Subway. Here it’s easy to become a regular where they know your order and be greeted warmly by the Chauhan family. Continue Reading
Citizen Science: Tracking E. coli in the American River
When the California Humanities Emerging Journalist Fellowship team at Sierra College started researching the role of water in the community and the American River, one group they came across was the Save the American River Association (SARA). Through SARA, journalist fellow, Madalyn Wright discovered local water caretakers, Bob and Mary Beth Metcalf, who spend their Saturday mornings testing the river water for E. coli bacteria. To learn just how accessible this citizen science is, Wright, their 5-year old daughter, Thea, and their partner Ryan Moskun joined the Metcalfs on May 7, 2022, for a morning of pipettes and learning in a parking lot science lab.
Students Take on the Mask Mandate
It has officially been two years since the start of the mask mandate in California and people, including students, still have strong opinions.
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Environmental Justice meets Racial Equity
When you think of rivers, lakes and streams, you picture a euphoric sight. The sun shining, birds chirping and crisp, clean; clear water. The scenery draws you into a magical getaway of peace and solitude. But the harsh reality is that this is not always the case near some of Sacramento’s most prominent bodies of water.
Community and Care: Diving the American River
Born and raised in Sacramento, Steven Bruegeman grew up with National Geographic on all the coffee tables and the kitchen counter. Almost everything in his life has been tied back to California ecology. After going back to school in retirement and getting a degree in Environmental Conservation, Bruegeman found Dolphin Scuba- the Sacramento scuba diving hub. Now a pro, Bruegeman takes on river clean-up dives and teaches kids scuba and Ecology Awareness. I interviewed him on May 11th at Dolphin Scuba. Continue Reading
Water Wisdom with Katelyn Vengersammy
There are many ways to learn more about the earth, as well as how to save it. One way is through community events. In this 5-minute podcast, journalist fellows Katelyn Vengersammy and Aviana Loveall visited the Sierra College, Rocklin campus as they hosted an Earth Day event on April 28, 2022. This event lasted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with vendors, student clubs, small businesses, nonprofits, and others that are local to the Sacramento area. Events ranged from nature walks, a rock-climbing wall, craft-making, and giveaways. Continue Reading
Back on the Court? Athletes After COVID
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
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
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
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