Gunshots rang at UC Santa Barbara on the night of May 23. A broken man, a former student, a recluse in the midst of a vibrant student life decided to take the lives of his fellow students. Revenge was the motive, for a perceived slight by society at large, but especially women. The cries were heard through all of media,...

Running across campus carrying handmade picket signs, Associated Students presidency candidate Courtney King turns heads with her unconventional appearance. With her trademark blue hair, Marino ram horns made out of Marino wool, and alternating accessories, King is banking on people remembering her name once they meet her. “I love campaigning, this is the best part,” says King. “I’ve been on...

With $100,000 out of their own budget, the Santa Monica College Associated Students have created the Student Success Award. With those funds they plan to give out monetary awards to students ranging between $1,500 and $5,000. 35 students will be selected to receive the award, but it's still unclear as to how the money will be divided. The only requirements...

The Associated Students made changes to their constitution and bylaws, which regulate the rules and procedures of their organization, during their Board meeting on Monday. Last week's action item on funding for the SMC Everywhere event was moved up on this week's agenda after a motion by Matthew Nicholson, the director of activities, due to the AS board's concern over...

A heated debate over the funding of free food for students and AS visibility highlight a meeting that was already unusual. The Wednesday meeting, which was moved from its regular schedule due to the board's involvement in the March in March in Sacramento, was marked by the board's third confirmed vacancy this semester, Director of Student Advocacy, held by Okky...

The ocean air rose through the planks of the pier as OK Go singer Damian Kulash made his way off of the stage and into the middle of a crowd of fans. "I want you guys to imagine I'm really hot," Kulash told the audience as he strapped on his acoustic guitar. "I mean, not like sweaty and sticky hot,"...

Strong Latina role models are found in the likes of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, philanthropist and singer-songwriter Shakira, activist Dolores Huerta, and according to the event held on the quad by the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), our mothers. The event was meant to highlight and celebrate strong Latina women however, many of the speakers and coordinators ended...

Wir sind alle freaks. That is what we were told in the early promos of “American Horror Story: Freakshow.” We are all freaks. Though the “freak” term and aesthetic have been reappropriated in recent decades, the term “freak” had nothing but negative connotations before the likes of Chic and Rick James came along to flip it through pop culture. As...

With sitcoms these days, network TV is stuck on formulas with as little variation as possible. Shows that wildly differ from typical formulas such as "Community" usually don't survive the ratings wars. I hate to show the slightest inkling of my age, but when I was a very young child in the late 1980s, the edgiest show on network TV...

The Fourth of July, Independence Day, what better way to celebrate than blowing up the White House? No, not in the sense of a Bakuninist fever dream, but in the sense of extraterrestrials doing the unthinkable. This was the wondrous special effects-laden takeaway provided by the initial teaser trailer for Roland Emmerich’s quintessential popcorn flick “Independence Day.”When “Independence Day” dropped...