Acknowledgements Voices of Compton Compton Literary / Arts Journal Dr. Keith Curry, CEO Ms. Barbara Perez, Vice President Mr. Robert Butler, Student Life Office Mr. Cleveland Palmer, Contributor of Student Artwork Ms. Chelvi Subramaniam, Humanities Chair Dr. Ruth Roach, Publication Coordinator & English Faculty Mr. Jose Bernaudo, Reader & English Faculty Mr. David Maruyama, Reader & English Faculty Ms. Toni Wasserberger, Reader & English Faculty Mr. Patrick McLaughlin, First Year Experience & English Faculty Ms. Amber Gillis, Advisory Team Member and Faculty Member Associated Student Body & Humanities Division Faculty Cover Artwork: Jennifer Deese, Dalia Cornejo, Tyler Sims, Luis Mota, Amy Huerta Cruz, Violeta Martinez, Adriana Sanchez, Marysol Ortiz 2011-2012 Publisher: Southern California Graphics® ©Copyright 2012 All rights reserved. 1 2 Table of Contents |30| Poem about My Own People (Poem) by Lonnie Manuel UPTOWN |31| Man-child: My |40| Emergency Room Pages [13] My Sense of Identity Experience (Essay) (Essay) [4] A Father’s Love (Poem) (Essay) by David Richardson by Jaime Yoshida by Stephanie Bentley by Desiree Lavea |32| Poverty: My Experience |43| “Underdog” (Poem) [4] Self Portrait (Sketch) [15] Love Is (Poem) (Essay) by Carlos Ornelas by Tony McGee by Erica Monique Greer by Rodney Bunkley |43| The Joker (Painting) [5] Untitled (Sketch) [16] Love Confessions |34| Depression from by Ricardo Villeda (Guest) by Tony McGee by Danny Westbrook Oppression (Essay) |44| Children of the Universe [5] Rikki (Poem) [16] Have You Seen the by Jachin Wallace (Poem) by Stephanie Bentley Peaceful Side of America? |35| Untitled (Painting) by Carlos Ornelas [6] Bitter Noodle Soup (Essay) by Bryan Ortega |45| Felix (Painting) (Essay) by Jasmin Espejo |36| In Them Grande by Daniel Felix by Lucina Jasper [18] Sophia (Painting) Apartments (Poem) |45| “Good-looking” (Poem) [9] American Dream (Essay) by Jonathan Palencia by Shante Harrell by Carlos Ornelas by Willie Villanueva [18] Of Gardens and Such |36| Little Mary Jones |46| Poem: Poor Thing [10] My Salvation (Essay) (Poem) (Poem) (Poem) By Kevin Brown by Vonice Berry by Geraldine Hernandez by Daranisha Perry [12] Jesus (Sketch) [18] Embracing My Culture |37| Defeated (Poem) |46| Poverty (Essay) by Jennifer Deese (Essay) by Shonte Hobson by Keauna Howlett [13] The After Effects of a by Melissa Ramos |38|Lady with a Dragon Skull |48, 49| Untitled (Painting) Sunday Dinner (Poem) [20, 22] Herminia (Painting) by Jose Madrid by Luciano Duran by Michawn Browning by Nancy Silva |38| Rage (Poem) |48| As for the poems I write [20] Joy (Poem) by Heather Ceja (Poem) by Carrie McClain |39| Life (Poem) by Carrie McClain DOWNTOWN by Cintia Tostado |49| Society (Poem) |21| Poverty in Downtown Los Angeles (Essay) |40| Women (Poem) by Monica Johnson by Paul Nganga by Cynthia Horton |50| We the People (Essay) |23| Los Angeles: Imminent Eradication (Essay) |40| DD (Painting) by Cara Tyler by Michael Ridgeway by Alicia Gonzalez |24| Los Angeles: Skid Row (Essay) ALL AROUND TOWN by Racquel Staine-Willis (52) Untitled (55) International Waters |26| When Anger Erupts (Essay) by Vonice Berry (Poem) by Chiquita Wright (52) African Dance Circle by Naty Requena |28| Compton: The Perspective (Essay) (Short Essay) (55) Bruce Lee Portrait by Raymond Ventura by Stephanie Bentley (Painting) |29| Half Life (Poem) (54) Poem (Poem) by Joshua Scott by Ellizabeth Weissmann by Ifeoma Okongwu (56) The Importance of |30| Marilyn Monroe (Painting) (54) Expressions through Family (Essay) by Luis Mota Poem (Poem) by Timothy Parker by Tremain Shelton 3 4 (57) Jim Morrison (Painting) (67) Culture (Poem) by Alejandra Chavez (Guest) by Monica Johnson A Father’s Love (58) Immigration: Broken (68) Is Compton Really All By Stephanie Bentley Borders, Broken Lives That Bad? (Essay) (Essay) by Aaron Williams My dad made things happen at the age of twenty-one by Jackie Delouche (70) Black on Both Sides, When he asked for mom’s hand in marriage because he (62) The Benefit of Plus Brown: Portrait of Mos knew she was the one. Immigration (Essay) Def (Painting) by Rodolfo Siordia by Tyler Sims He manned up at a very young age (66) For All the Haters (70) What We Are (Poem) Thinking only of himself, he missed that stage. (Poem) by Cara Tyler By Demeris Wycoff The two of them had children, they had four Life then with young ones was never a bore. Both worked hard to provide for their kids Prefatory Note They were a happy family rarely livid. The theme for this edition, suggested by the abstractions on the cover, We had everything from designer clothes to delicious food is uptown, downtown, and all around town. In a way it is kind of And we were all nice children, well mannered and good. indeterminate which shapes represent “downtown”—the squat square which resembles the box houses of suburbia or the tall almost rectangular cone which resembles the tall high rises or skyscrapers of Sometimes as siblings do, we fought “downtown” or the converse, that the squat square represents the But it never lasted, it was always stopped. “downtown” feel of those low in the hierarchy while the tall cone represents the high rise lofts of downtown afforded only by the wealthy. My dad was always there through the thick and the thin The ambiguity reflects the differences of perspective like the fact that He could have left us and not have seen him again the same shapes take different forms depending on the artist. It seems the sphere represents “all around town,” all around the world of the But he didn’t walk out he showed us all love town. Indeed, this volume explores these aspects of urbanity or the And for that I thank God up above. world from the urban perspective. From this vantage point, students explore what is elevated, what is low, and what fills the environs of our world—and the paradoxes and ironies of these places. [Note: Dialect is sometimes preserved in the art.] Self Portrait by Tony McGee 5 6 Bitter Noodle Soup By Lucina Jasper In Audre Lorde's essay, "The Fourth of July,” she discusses two very different tones. The first one being in awe and excitement for visiting Washington, D.C. for first time and, secondly, her shattering Untitled experience with American racism against African Americans in the 1940's. Being of mixed ethnic background, I experienced a similar kind by Tony McGee of racism in the 21st century as Lorde did in the summer of 1947 with her family. As a child, I never paid attention to being of a different ethnic background, even though I was always referred to as "la chinita," the Chinese girl--because of the shape of my eyes, even though I am Japanese and Mexican. I was born to my Mexican mother, who is a small, dark-skinned woman with curly hair and a very warm and infectious laugh. My father was a tall Japanese man who was very simple and kind. They fell in love, and their union was looked down upon, especially from his family's side. My mother was never accepted as his wife. Not too long after marrying, my father was killed in an accident. After the tragedy, my mother, a young, heartbroken widow, found out that she was carrying a baby in her womb. She was happy but sad at the same time because my father never knew that I was to be. She told my father's family about her pregnancy, and they still Rikki refused to accept her and acknowledge me, even after my birth. That was my first experience of being treated differently because of my By Stephanie Bentley mixed ethnic background. My daughter, my child, my only one In "The Fourth of July," Lorde describes how she encounters We had good times, bad, boring and fun racism for the very first time for being African American. She discusses her family's first trip to Washington D.C. and before she can fully grasp I remember taking you in the morning to school the open segregation they experienced, she writes about her parents’ And you giving me a kiss even if it didn’t look cool. protective nature. She states, "my mother and father believed that they could best protect their children from the realities of race in america I remember us riding in the neighborhood on bikes and the fact of american racism and never giving them name, much And us doing things together that we liked. less discussing their nature” (sic). As she discusses her parents’ behavior, it reminds me of the way my mother was towards me when I was a child. She was just extra careful and trying to cushion any hard It seems like it was just yesterday, times goes so fast blows of differentiation. Even though as a child I was too innocent to Now you’re grown a young lady at last. notice, not knowing my fathers’ side of the family has always been a difficult thing. As Lorde described her family’s experience in the ice cream shop and being denied service only because of the color of their skin, it struck a nerve with me. It brought back memories of my experience with my own ethnically diverse family at a local Japanese noodle house 7 8 on a warm August afternoon. That day, we were all walking around When our food was finally brought out, our appetites had town, just like Lorde had described her family in Washington D.C., “we disappeared. I tried the soup, and it had a bitter taste of racism. I didn't were a proper caravan, mother bright and father brown, the three of us like it at all.