CSULA students Elliot Russell and C.J. Tuttle went to old town Pasadena to ask people’s thoughts on the up coming election. Kimberly Gonzalez feels it is an important election and that a lot is riding on the future. John Rocha was also out on a cool Tuesday night one week before the elections. He agreed with Ms. Gonzalez, and is waiting anxiously for the results. Nonetheless, politics are nothing to stand in the way of a nice night out.

(PASADENA -10Valley) In mid-October of 2012, the first ever off-leash dog park in Los Angeles county opened it’s gates to the public, both two and four legged.  A designated area in Crescenta Valley Park is gated for the dogs of the community.  The park is equipped with two gated sections, one for big dogs and the other for smaller ones, and includes water fountains, benches, and shaded areas for the non-dogs.  One ‘human companion’ at the park on an early Fall morning was Elsa Waters, who has a dark chocolate brown Greyhound named Elk.  She has been bringing him to this park for a couple of weeks and says she likes it because it’s the only place for him to be unleashed.  However, the first time she brought him to the park was not too enjoyable.  An aggressive dog was causing fights with the other dogs.  Waters said, “I have a Greyhound and they’re non-aggressive and they have really thin coats so if another dog gets aggressive he doesn’t have a chance. 

My dog is big and other dogs have an alpha instinct and will try to dominate him and I didn’t want to take the chance.”  That was the only time Waters and Elk had to deal with an aggressive dog.  Overall, Waters is glad that the park is finally open because it provides a place for dogs like Elk to be social and it is an asset to the community.  Elk was not available for comment as he was chasing a ball in another part of the park.

Texas Southern University expelled ten students from the marching band and suspended them from the university for hazing on early October of 2012.  The students may also lose their music scholarships which could be as much as $10,000 a year per student.  The school’s award-winning band, Ocean of Soul, has performed in the Super Bowl among other places but due to this event, a trip to Atlanta was cancelled for a band competition and Thanksgiving parade performance.  The school did not give any details on the specific activities that took place.  Hazing is the practice of initiating a new person or a new group of people into an established group through rituals and activities sometimes involving harassment, humiliation, and abuse.  Many different groups participate in such activities including gangs, fraternities, workplaces, military units, and schools.  A high school soccer team in La Puente is currently being investigated for sexual hazing allegations.  In addition, five years ago two CSULA students drowned at Dockweiler State Beach during a hazing ritual for the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.  Another hazing death occurred at Chico State in 2006.  Matthew Carrington was forced to drink approximately 25 gallons of water while standing on one leg followed by doing pushups on a span of a couple of hours.  Since hazing has lead to many deaths, it has become illegal in 44 states and it is banned on virtually every major campus in the United States, however, because of its secretive nature, it frequently goes unnoticed.  Hazing has a broad definition and can include rites of passage under its umbrella, even though rites of passage, in general, are often considered to be normal.  Bar Mitzvah’s, graduating high school, sweet sixteen, and marriages, to name a few are common rites of passage that do not involve an aspect of danger, pain, or torture such as these hazing activities that have been associated with campus life.

We are always trying to find new ways to use info graphics on our site. Here is a sample of using Google maps ‘mashup’ features to place a map showing the three or four closest gas stations . The possible applications for these ‘Mash Ups’ is practically unlimited. We could develop a map of all restaurants in this area, or just Pho restaurants. We could post night spots, movie theatres, even the homes where our team members live. Then, the coolest part is that it can be then posted right inside the blog entry itself.

View Larger Map

Click on the map to find gas stations close to campus.

It is really worth the effort to learn this technology and use it in your blog entries. All students in the TVF454 class should try their hands at embedding a mashed-up map of their liking in their blog.

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(CSULA- 10Valley) Cal State LA students Keon Semsarha and Kevin Zhou rooted around campus to find out what CSULA students think about the election. Contrary to popular opinion, students really do care about what will happen in one week’s time. At least Cal State LA students do. Kristin would like to see more third parties, because she thinks the existing two aren’t doing that great a job. Ron thought that third parties could be good, but often they are just confusing for the voter. Finally, Eduardo Moran thought the more options, the better. That gives voters something to look forward to rather than being stuck with the two who are offered every four years.

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I had the opportunity to ask a few students here at Cal State Los Angeles about the issues in the following elections that are important to them. I got different answers from each student, because each student is affected differently. These are their comments.

A college student, who is her second year at Cal State Los Angeles, believes that now on days is harder to get a degree in college. Her major is pre-nurse. She is Japanese.

Then, I ask Cal State student Albert Hernandez, a transfer student and Business major, about what issue for the following elections is important to him, and he said that immigration concerns him the most. I asked him, “why?” and he said, “…Because people are being separate from their families and they can’t be together”. I also ask him if he or anyone he knew was affected in some way, but he reply, “…not indirectly.”

When I ask freshman Melissa Hua, who is an Exercise Science mayor, what is the election issues affecting her, she said, “Jobs are important… but because the economy is getting lower… if you succeed in your studies you will succeed.” Melissa believes that with an education, you will succeed and get a job in your career. “Studying is hard” she said, because she believes that education is the key to success. Melissa is currently a full time student and she has is unemployed.

“Getting your degree is more important…” stated Natallie DJansenzian,”… it is hard to buy books and pay for gas.” Currently she is not getting a lot of money from FAFSA. She is currently a freshman and a Biology major here at Cal State Los Angeles.

“The most difficult issue is getting a job, even if we get a degree, is worthless, if we don’t have any jobs that can provide for us and to help support ourselves.” said Moses Georgian. Georgian is Biology major and a freshman student at CSULA. Currently he is working at sizzler on Saturdays only, and he only works five hours. “My boss cut me hours and he is firing workers, I am not sure if I am going to survive one more year here.”

Out of five students and three issues, these results I got. Three students are concern with Education; one is concern with jobs and one with Immigration.

 

Hey Readers:  I just wanted to let you know where things are with “10Valley”.  Since we launched the site a little over a year ago, as a sub-site, inside the “CoolStateLA.com” site at Cal State LA, I’ve been blown away by the thoughtful and compelling stories and posts we’ve received.  We haven’t had a full time reporter/editor to work on the site for a couple of months, but I think that is about to change.

The important thing here is that while we are operating this site out of the Cal State LA University Times Newsroom, we really, really want your input!

If you know of things we should know about, email me personally at jbeaupr (at) exchange.calstatela.edu.

There are so many issues affecting the SGV that don’t get covered, it is our hope that YOU can contribute to content.

We really admire our friends at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, but their budgets have been slashed and they are expected to cover everything from car accidents to high school proms.  The idea for this site has been and will continue to be ‘from the ground up’ – we don’t need to tell you, from our academic pedestal, what is going on in the SGV.  You are living these stories every day.

We want the prom stories.

But we also want to know what is happening with water regulations.

We want to know how freeways affect your life – good and bad.

We want to know about the Vietnamese bakery you have found that serves the perfect Bahn Mi.

We want to know about the crazy-assed band you saw in El Monte last week.

So pile it on!  No spam.  No commercial messages.

Just open your eyes and tell us what you see, hear, smell, and taste!

I’m really eager to hear from you, so send us some stories, story ideas, and leads.  We can help you follow up on important stories in some cases.

I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Jon Beaupre

10 Valley proj. director