Juan Lopez

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Worked on 364 assignments, created 24, named on 50 bylines for The Corsair.

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 2 min read

AS presidential candidate Joel Goldszer seeking to set "Gold" standard between AS and students

Orchestrating Homecoming Week is no easy feat for an Associated Students director, which is why the board took notice when an energetic commissioner stepped up to take the lead amid a director’s absence last year. AS presidential candidate Joel Goldszer began participating in AS as commissioner for then Director of Student Outreach Robert Espinoza, eventually becoming the board’s ideal replacement...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 2 min read

Student vet Jesse Randel reaches for AS presidency on book and Wi-Fi platform

After six and a half years in the United States Air Force, traveling the world in service including distant locales such as Okinawa, Qatar, and Afghanistan, veteran Jesse Randel decided to become a student vet and enrolled at SMC. Here he found the Veterans Resource Center undersized and under-resourced for the over 600 vets on campus. After encouraging from some...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 2 min read

Generation of the Future founder Trae Smith seeks AS presidency

Last week Trae Smith was unable to make the initial candidate meeting to officially run for AS president. Instead he was at Washington D. C., speaking at the liberal pro-Israel J Street National Conference about his vision for his club Generation of the Future. Yet for those who know him, it was obvious Smith carried in him a desire to...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 5 min read

#BlackLivesMatter aims in the wrong direction

There comes a time in journalism in which you end up ruffling feathers over accurate reporting of the truth. For me the time came when I began to receive backlash over an article entitled, “Black Lives Matter Takes Stage in Santa Monica.”The article covers a grassroots #BlackLivesMatter group that performed a theater arts piece to bring attention to the continued...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 6 min read

Black Collegians host "Fruitvale Station" screening at SMC, continue police brutality discussion

Police brutality has surfaced and resurfaced itself as a major social issue of our time. It is a problem that despite all previous protests and social change movements, keeps rearing its ugly head every few years. Ryan Coogler's film "Fruitvale Station" came out in 2013, just a year before a chain of police brutality cases around the country that have...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 4 others for The Corsair - 3 min read

Bump, Set, Spike, Win, Repeat.

The Santa Monica College Corsairs men’s volleyball team is just three weeks away from playoffs, with a chance to win the California Community College Athletics Association Championship. Though SMC begins to transition into playoff mode, they still have three remaining games in the regular season, two being away. With a win on Wednesday vs Long Beach City College, the Corsairs...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 5 min read

"White God" director on politics, cinema and directing canines

Like a ferocious guerrilla army, a pack of unchained dogs overrun Budapest in Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo's "White God." The movie, one of the year's best foreign films, opens at The Nuart in Santa Monica this Friday. A wild parable that feels like "Watership Down" meets Franz Kafka, the film is a dark and moving tale seen completely through the...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 4 others for The Corsair - 3 min read

Citrus stings SMC, adding to string of losses

As the palm-sized neon yellow softball connected with the bat of another Citrus College player, the ball zipped down the third base line, drilled Santa Monica College Corsair's third baseman Gabriela Robles on her left foot, and soared up in the air which gave shortstop, Chae Persinger, an opportunity to gather underneath the ball to make the catch. Even a...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 3 others for The Corsair - 4 min read

SMC Media Studies professor Lynn Dickinson becomes a published author and sets her sights on the big screen

With lofty goals of making a movie and having a successful Hollywood career, Santa Monica College professor Lynn Dickinson wrote a screenplay with ambitions of one day seeing it on the big screen. Jeff Gordon (President of Writers Boot camp) told her, "The fastest way to get a movie made in this town is to write the book." But with...

By (Juan as digital editor) + 4 others for The Corsair - 2 min read

SMC men's volleyball beats Trade-Tech 3-0, remain undefeated in conference play

The Santa Monica College Corsairs men’s volleyball set their season into cruise control as they defeated Los Angeles Trade - Technical College Beavers 3-0, Friday night. SMC sent out a different line up, according to Coach Mayer, with many reserve players getting more time on the court. “I think it’s challenging when you haven't played all year and you have...