On Sept. 12, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the Voyager 1 probe had left the boundary of our solar system. The probe has traveled over 12 billion miles since it was launched in 1977 and on Aug. 25, sensors detected a marked change in the density of ionized gas surrounding the probe, a signal that it...

The minimum wage in California is now the highest in the nation at $10 an hour. While many argue this increase will hurt jobs and the economy, raising the minimum wage will improve standards of living for many workers and set a precedent for other governments, both state and federal, to follow. And while the new $10 per hour wage...

Occidental students know the script well: “Occidental? No, it’s not a dental school— it’s a small, liberal arts college in Los Angeles. Actually, President Obama went to school there.” Then the inevitable, uncomfortable question: “I thought he graduated from Columbia?” to which “Yeah, he transferred," is the typically accepted response. Even The Los Angeles Times hinted at the awkwardness of...

The California State Senate fell three votes short to enact Plastic Bag Bill SB405 on Sept. 3. The "bag ban" would have banned single-use plastic bags at retailer locations, including grocery stores and shopping malls. Senator Kevin de Leon, a Democrat who represents Los Angeles County's 22nd senatorial district, which includes Eagle Rock, Downtown L. A. and East Hollywood, voted...

I recently spent a day on a romantic mission: poking around used bookstores. At each store, I moved up and down aisle after aisle of slightly disheveled shelves, my eyes scanning every spine. I pulled down countless books to peruse author bios, blurbs on dust jackets and occasionally sample the first few pages. These were books that I wanted to...

The Airliner Bar is transformed every Wednesday night into an eclectic musical madhouse called Low End Theory. A $10 cover fee grants access to the Lincoln Heights venue. The ambiance is entirely authentic with limited space, a low-set stage and a powerful sound system encourage a unique face-to-face, dance hall climate. Many Los Angeles greats, such as Flying Lotus, Glitch...

A blacktop dance floor burns under the midday sun. Oversized speakers, the bass cranked to its decibel max, blast noise across crowds of people dressed in colorful, minimal clothing – bedazzled bras and flowered head wraps, glitter and rhinestones, tie dyed booty shorts. On Saturday, Sept. 14, this year’s Mad Decent block party landed in Los Angeles with a splash...

Imagine a world where fire, water, earth and air can be manipulated by those gifted with the power of bending, and the avatar can control all four elements. Years ago Nickelodeon introduced all this and more in "Avatar: the Last Airbender." In "Avatar: the Last Airbender," avatar Aang brought peace to the four elemental nations. "Legend of Korra," the brilliant...

The old man shuffling down York Blvd. is comically overdressed. Even under the oppressive Los Angeles heat, he wears long pants and a sports coat. Today he moseys down a swept sidewalk, past a glittering “micro park” reminiscent of Gaudi’s Park Guell in what was recently just another parking space. “Was that here last time?” he wonders to himself. He...

Dean Jorge Gonzalez visited Professor Derek Shearer's Diplomacy and World Affairs (DWA) 284: Sports and Diplomacy in a Globalized World last Tuesday. He spoke excitedly about his six trips to the World Cup and one trip to the Olympic Games in London. His talk alluded to larger themes of sports as soft power and the diplomatic abilities of major sporting...