Room for Growth

Any decent-sized sports venue offers a variety of concessions and meals- popcorn, soft drinks, beer, pizza, hot dogs, burgers, gyros, churros, cotton candy, etc. The moment you enter through the gates, it’s an eatery Palace of Versailles. Rows and rows filled with burger places, pizza places 1 , popcorn places- you name it, they have it. However good the variety is, the food experience at these venues are collectively horrific; the waves of spectators all crowding a tiny Little Caesars, trying to get a slice before the end of halftime 2 . The average wait time approximately 15-45 minutes depending if the game is close or a blowout 3 . After the exhausting wait to order, you pay $25.32 for a slice of pizza, drink, and popcorn. You pay the ridiculous price because that is the only option for food 4 . After another 30 minutes 5 waiting for your food in the crowded sea of bathroomgoers, you finally get your reheated frozen pizza. Now you go back through the dreaded labyrinth to find...

“In Mormon culture, authority is respected, obedience is revered, and independent thinking is not.” -Terry Tempest Williams, The Clan of One-breasted Women Once upon a time, a clan of pink elephants thrived north of the vast Mojavian lands. These friendly creatures, being the devout Mormons they were, strictly kept the teachings of Jesus Christ. Between their mud-bath bible studies and community missions work, the pink elephants were an isolated, passive breed. Alas, I’m sorry to say these are the only uplifting parts of their lives you’ll hear today. It all started with the newcomers: the mice clan. These peculiar creatures- red-eyed, blue-furred, and white-tailed- immediately seized control. They established a council of mice who wrote, enforced, and judged the newly created laws. The pink elephants were terrified, so they held an emergency service: “Everyone, stay calm, God has told us to be ever obedient, so we must follow the rules of the mice,” One said. “We must ...

Deborah Tannen claims that in the English language, “the female [is] declared by grammarians to be the marked case”- how does Spanish compare? (555).   Spanish is similar to English in its sentence structure, conjugations, and many cognates. The French roots of English make it logical to compare it to Spanish because French and Spanish are both Romance languages. It would be fairer to compare English to French or German but alas, I only know Spanish. As Tannen describes it in her essay, English adds linguistic participles like -ette or -ess to portray women. However, this is only to some professions such as a waitress or a stewardess. In Spanish, all nouns are masculine or feminine in nature. “La flor” will always be a feminine word, “the flower.” “El cuchillo” will always be the masculine word, “the knife.” This is not all: every adjective has to agree in gender also. To say “the beautiful flower” and “the beautiful knife,” it is “la flor hermosa” and “el cuchillo hermos...

In the midst of the gray, concrete L.A. overpasses stands the “Great Wall” mural. This masterpiece designed by Professor Judith Baca and painted by over 400 students tells the history of Los Angeles. Staring all the way from prehistoric times, the mural encases the mixed cultures and roots of Los Angeles. The “Great Wall” stretches about a half mile along the banks of a flooding channel. Before Baca decided to embark on her grand project, the channel was a dull eyesore. The giant concrete ditch blended into the routine life of L.A. The channel only served its practical purpose; it was nothing special. Thankfully, Judith Baca decided to do something about seeing that gray wall everyday out of her window. Through her dedication, the wall is now a tourist attraction and pride of the historic city. The boring eyesore turned into something to appreciate as people drove to work. Not only does the mural improve the general attitude of Los Angeles, but it also brings th...