Moderator: I’maiya Milan Wright
Producer: Bridgette Creamer
Associate Producer: Veronica Barriga
Anchor: Ethan Hanson
Social Media Editor: Esteban Reynoso
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Bridgette Creamer, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume and I’maiya Milan Wright
Soka Gakkai International-USA (SGI-USA) is a Buddhist practice known throughout the world.
SGI was created in 1975, and now has members in 192 countries including the United States. SGI members follow the Lotus Sutra and Nichiren Buddhism as the center of their practice. The goal is to teach members that they have the courage, wisdom, and compassion to overcome and conquer the obstacles they face in life.
Soka Gakkai, also known as society for the creation of value, originated in Japan in 1930 under the leadership of Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. Makiguchi believed this practice would be the greatest way for people to spread the Buddhist ideals of equality. One of the major goals was for members to spread respect for all of life.
“It is not a name but a title,” CSUN Religious Studies Professor Randal Cummings said. “It comes from the yogi concept of Bodhi, which means to be awake. Buddha gains enlightenment; somebody sees his glow, and they ask ‘what are you?’. ‘I am awake’.” Followers explain that being awake is an act of being present, and not only thinking about oneself, but rather about others. It is control over the actions that humans take.
As part of the practice members participate daily at home and in discussion meetings.
“The point of it is to have an open dialogue with a group of people,” SGI Vice Chapter Leader Cassie Colby said, “to share your experience, and what is going on in your life.”
SGI focuses on empowerment through the individual self, and on promoting peace, culture, and education. The practice fights to abolish nuclear weapons, and strives to keep human rights and educate others on sustainable living.
The 50K Lions of Justice festival is “focused on leading our change in injustice in society,” Ryan Ainsworth SGI District Leader said.
This festival follows the SGI Nichiren Buddhist practice. One goal is to inspire people to change the world. 50k Lions of Justice Instagram is available to see experiences of people who follow SGI-USA.
Nam-myho-renge-kyo is a chant from the Mystic Law that is a principle part of SGI. Members use this chant as an expression to embrace their own Buddha nature. It is a practice for oneself, and also for others, to capture happiness.
“It’s a spiritual workout,” SGI District Leader Mark Horton said. “You can’t see it, but you can feel it. Each person experiences something different; polishing the inside shines outside.”
Moderator: Tory Isaac
Producer: Leonard Tesher
Associate Producer: Tory Isaac
Anchor: Samantha Rodriguez
Social Media Editor: Andrea Tanchez
Reporters: Brandon Benitez, Tory Isaac, Nicholas Logan, Samantha Rodriguez, Andrea Tanchez and Leonard Tesher
A reliance on social media may have a prolonged effect on young people, in part by creating false role models, and in part by encouraging ‘FOMO’, or ‘Fear of Missing Out’. But many young children start using social media at a young age.
“One of the things I see parents doing is using screen time to keep their kids entertained while they’re doing something else,” said Dr. Joannie Busillo-Aguayo, CSUN associate professor of Educational Psychology and Counseling. “My oldest granddaughter is 16 years old and social media is her life. If she’s not able to do what her friends are doing, it affects her life.”
The Royal Society for Public Health and the Young Health Movement published a report ranking Instagram as the worst social media platform, in term of its impact on the mental health of young people. YouTube was ranked as the most positive social media platform. Snapchat was also ranked as among the most negative.
According to the Pew Research Center, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular platforms among teens. Forty-five percent of teens said they’re online almost constantly.
The RSPH report recommends three possible solutions: the introduction of a pop-up heavy usage warning on social media, platforms identifying users with possible mental health problems based on their posts, and platforms alerting users when photos of people have been digitally manipulated.
Social media remains popular among young people, who say they want to do everything their peers are doing. A new iPhone update tells users how long they’ve been on their phones, and on social media specifically.
“The other day I went on my Instagram, and I look [at the update], and it says [I’ve] been on this for four hours,” photographer Nathan Zielke said. “It was six o’clock in the morning.”
Zielke and recording artist JR Jones said they use social media to connect with people.
“I think that [social media] is literally my number one tool,” Jones said. “It has helped me build a really strong fan base, and it’s real people you can connect with, that don’t have to be in your local area. I’m reaching out to Canada, to Spain, to Portugal… it gives me a platform to share my music, and allow my music to go further than it would if I was just a local artist with no social media at all.”
Zielke has more than 29,000 followers on Instagram, and Jones has almost 34,000 followers. But Jones and Zielke, who have worked together, said they believe social media should be more about showing everyone who you really are, rather than showing people who you are trying to be. They said they’re aware of the potential for a negative impact.
“I feel like it gives me [the platform] to be a real model, instead of a role model,” Jones said. “I curse; I show the negatives; I show the down moments; I show me at my weakest moments… I think social media’s problem is it gives people an illusion that everything is great. You see the vacation… [and] you just see the picture of the sunset and the beach and stuff.”
“That’s the biggest fight with social media,” Zielke said. “I call it ‘fake flexing’. There are a lot of people out there who fake flex, and find ways to portray themselves as always being happy, always doing something…. they’ll be at home and [they’ll] post a vacation picture to make it look like they are somewhere else.”
Wrestler Sammy Guevara has about 15,000 Instagram followers. He said he does make choices about what to post.
“No one really wants to see the bad stuff,” Guevara said. “I get messages from people who get inspired from my videos. These videos aren’t solely about me. It’s a bigger picture thing… I wouldn’t call it fake energy or whatever, but some stuff is not meant for the camera and some stuff is.”
“I think it’s more important for [posts] to send a real message, and not a fake message,” Jones said. “I think it’s bad for kids to have this cookie cutter image of how life should be. You see this guy and he says all the right things, does all the right moves, with the most beautiful women, always happy… the minute the kid isn’t living [up to the fantasy], [he’ll think] ‘I’m a failure because I’m not like him’.”
Moderator: Tammera Magaña
Producers: Manuel Fuentes and Natalia Vivino
Anchor: Natalie Vivino
Social Media Editor: Mario Saucedo
Reporters: Ahmad Akkaoui, Sandy Chavez, Manuel Fuentes, Tammera Magaña, Mario Saucedo and Natalia Vivino
Moderator: Veronica Barriga
Producer: Jasper Harris
Associate Producers: Veronica Barriga, Ethan Hanson, Esteban Reynoso
Anchor: Bridgette Creamer
Social Media Editor: I’maiya Milan Wright
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Bridgette Creamer, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume and I’maiya Milan Wright
Climate change is a problem affecting the entire planet, but not everyone is educated on the subject.
A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said the world has approximately a decade to get its act together before catastrophic climate changes begin to happen.
“It is the biggest story of our time, without question,” CSUN Physics, Mathematics and Sustainability Professor Loraine Lundquist said. “The reason media don’t cover it, is because it doesn’t get good ratings.”
Many people, including some powerful ones, seem oblivious to the global warming issue. Websites like End Climate Silence promote a healthy discussion on the topic, and also provide links and other information on minimal changes people can incorporate into their everyday lives.
“As dire as the IPCC report was, what it is basically saying is, we do have a very narrow window now to get a handle on climate change,” said Sean Carlin, environmental activist and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps program.
California State University, Northridge was one of the first universities to partner with DC Solar to install 39 solar panel mobiles around campus. The goal was to educate and empower the community by promoting solar energy. The university established a recycling program in 1991, offering opportunities for students to volunteer. The Sustainability Center does community clean ups, and promotes the use of recycling bins and water-bottle refill stations on campus. They also suggest eating less meat for the good of the environment, by providing their Instagram followers with vegan recipes to try.
Animal agriculture is the one of the leading causes of greenhouse gases. The American diet is heavily meat-based. Shifting 320 million Americans to a more plant-based diet could save 91 million acres of land currently used for livestock cultivation. Raising livestock for food is also one of the leading causes of global deforestation. Nearly a third of biodiversity loss is linked to animal agriculture. Many CSUN students say they have started cutting down on their meat intake. They say they have not gone completely vegan, but are committed to buying more plant-based foods.
“I think that these small stories about single-use plastics, plant-based eating and innovation around that, electrification of vehicles, Tesla, Elon Musk, [make a difference],” artist and Valley Green conservationist Miles Lewis said. “People [like Musk] end up being on the news, and they all implicate climate change as sort of the larger topic, so hopefully that gets people identified with a way of being, and a change in industry.”
Moderator: Leonard Tesher
Producer: Andrea Tanchez
Associate Producer: Samantha Rodriguez
Anchor: Nicholas Logan
Social Media Editor: Tory Isaac
Reporters: Brandon Benitez, Tory Isaac, Nicholas Logan, Samantha Rodriguez, Andrea Tanchez and Leonard Tesher
November’s midterm elections are fast approaching, and young voters are being urged to make their voices heard. Voter registration is at an all-time high, and 19 million people are registered to vote, but young voter turnout rates are still low.
The Pew Research Center has reported that less than a quarter of eligible millennials voted during the last midterm election. Older voting populations had ten-percent higher turnout rates.
As the baby boomer population decreases, the results for the upcoming election on November 6th will depend primarily upon young voters.
CSUN Political Science Professor Tyler Hughes said encouraging younger generations to vote should start at their homes and on campus.
“If you talk more politics at home, you’re more likely to be active,” he said. “We should at least be giving students the tools to participate, instead of just telling them to participate.”
CSUN Associated Students Chair of Community and Government Relations Tracy Johnson said a combination of institutional and psychological barriers may be discouraging young people to vote.
“The psychological barriers are efficacy;” he said, “believing that this matters, and that it’s going to make a difference; the voter’s education; the knowledge; the trust in government; these things are barriers that can discourage young voters.”
Young people have been more likely to engage in activism in 2016, but the main concern is whether or not that activism will make it to the polls.
Hughes said the older someone gets, the more likely they are to vote.
Johnson said he dislikes blaming older generations for societal barriers.
“We need to all come together,” he said. “Three or four generations together will change things. One generation isn’t going to do it, in my opinion.”
The last day to register to vote in California is October 22nd, but anyone who misses that deadline can still register to vote conditionally.
Moderator: Ahmad Akkaoui
Executive Producer: Mario Saucedo
Associate Producer: Natalia Vivino
Anchor: Sandy Chavez
Social Media Editor: Tammera Magana
Reporters: Ahmad Akkaoui, Sandy Chavez, Manuel Fuentes, Tammera Magana, Mario Saucedo & Natalia Vivino
Los Angeles has long been known as the entertainment capital of the nation, but in recent years, it’s also becoming known as the homeless capital. Places like downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Venice Beach, the Los Angeles River bed, and even the sidewalks around City Hall, have become home for many people. According to the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, more than 60,000 people in Los Angeles are homeless. All over the county, homeless people are struggling to live, struggling to stay clean, and struggling to get back on their feet — and all of them have stories to tell. But for journalists, covering these stories can present particular challenges.
CSUN Photojournalism Professor David Blumenkrantz has been documenting the lives of homeless people for years, and he said he tries not to show the ugliness of homelessness, but rather tries to show the beauty in the struggle. “We [need to] know them as people, not as a species,” he said. Blumenkrantz said he uses his photography to portray homeless individuals’ struggles.
But journalists and reporters have ethical standards, and Blumenkrantz said he must try to walk the line between what’s right and what’s wrong in his photography.
“[There can be a problem with] how [homeless people are] used, and how they’re presented,” he said. “It depends on their situation, but you try to put a human face to the crisis.”
“[I try to] remove the stigma,” Blumenkrantz said. “We have enough pictures of people in pain and suffering.”
Laura Rathbone is an activist for the homeless, and co-founder of Sisters on the Streets and the Hygiene Campaign, serving homeless people in the San Fernando Valley.
“I remember the first time [I helped a homeless person],” Rathbone said. “I got them connected. [I thought] ‘they’re gonna be off the streets’. But it wasn’t that easy. [It] took them eight months before they finally got off the streets.”
Those months on the street can be especially difficult for women. “Sometimes [homeless women] have to choose between a meal or female hygiene,” Rathbone said. “It’s not right. [Help for women] is needed.” The Hygiene Campaign has opened shower stations and provided soaps, hand sanitizers, and other hygiene products to homeless people, especially women. “And if you see a homeless girl,” Rathbone said, “give her a tampon!”
Blumenkrantz’s work has been exhibited at the Los Angeles Museum of Social Justice. He received the CSUN Exceptional Creative Accomplishments Award last spring for his work covering the homeless community.
Moderator: Londy Sagastume
Executive Producer: Ethan Hanson
Associate Producers: Veronica Barriga, Jasper Harris & Esteban Reynoso
Anchor: I’maiya Milan Wright
Social Media Editor: Bridgette Creamer
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume, I’maiya Milan Wright
Moderator: Brandon Benitez
Executive Producer: Tory Isaac
Associate Producer: Andrea Tanchez
Anchor: Andrea Tanchez
Social Media Editor: Samantha Rodriguez
Reporters: Brandon Benitez, Tory Isaac, Nick Logan, Samantha Rodriguez, Andrea Tanchez and Leonard Tesher
College students in California may not have access to abortion pills at public universities, now that Governor Brown has vetoed California bill SB-320. The bill would have provided UC and CSU’s students free access to medically induced abortion pills at college health centers by the year 2022.
Brown said the bill is not necessary and [abortion] services are available to students at clinics off-campus .
“It’s really unfortunate that abortion has such a stigma,” said Shira Brown, Director of Women’s Research and Resource Center at Cal State Northridge, “Women should have the right to do what they wish with their own body.”
UC Berkeley students started campaigning for the bill after noticing the campus offered only contraceptives, and no form of abortion alternatives.
“Students have been the ones showing up to hearings, doing the work necessary to have this bill come to Governor Jerry Brown’s front desk” said Adiba Khan, campus organizer for the Women’s Foundation of California. “It is a student led movement.”
Despite the veto, students can find alternatives.
“Planned Parenthood helps women access abortion and contraceptives, health care and screenings for cancer,” Brown said .
Moderator: Natalia Vivino
Producers: Mario Saucedo and Natalia Vivino
Anchor: Tammera Magana
Social Media Editor: Sandy Chavez
Reporters: Ahmad Akkaoui, Sandy Chavez, Manuel Fuentes, Tammera Magana, Mario Saucedo and Natalia Vivino
CSUN athletics are on the rise, due in part to the success of the women’s basketball team, who won the Big West title last year. But this and other achievements often go unnoticed. Campuses like USC and UCLA have a reputation of bringing in tons of support from students and alumni at their games, but CSUN sports does not.
“I do believe there’s lack of school spirit on CSUN’s campus,” one CSUN student said. “Not everybody gets involved with what sports activity are going on. I personally don’t know when the volleyball season is or anything, so there’s no way for me to attend the games. I just feel there needs to be more advertisement for it.”
While UCLA may be defeating CSUN when it comes to attendance at games, the Matadors men’s soccer team defeated the #10 ranked Bruins on the soccer field this season. CSUN Athletic department officials say they hope the huge win might lead to a boost in attendance.
“I think students should be excited about anything that has the school name associated with it,” CSUN’s Women Basketball Coach Jason Flowers said. “We talk with our kids all the time about not only representing themselves well, but representing our University, every time they step on the floor and compete.”
Flowers said it is important for the athletes to build relationships with students on campus in order to see more fans in the stands. To build these connections, the women’s basketball team invited students to join them at a pool party where fans and students were able to meet players and staff. The Athletic Department is hoping to create a welcoming environment for students to attend games.
“We need to focus inwardly on who we are,” said CSUN Athletic Director Michael Izzi, “and where we can best create opportunities to be significant, and significant within our conference, as well as owning the area that we live in, and that’s the Valley.”
Flowers said he likes the new ideas Izzi is bringing to CSUN. Izzi spent the last 20 years at UC Irvine in the same position. “He has a clear plan of what he wants [CSUN Athletics Department] to be, what he wants it to look like, and what he wants it to do. Obviously with his history, with given time, we will get those things done,” Flowers said.
The women’s basketball coach says the athletic program is moving in the right direction.
“There are a lot of good things going on in our department,” he said. “I would like to see continued growth, and [I’d like to see us] continuing to shed light on the things going on at this University, whether it be academic research, or beautifully-run productions by students on campus. Hopefully we continue to grow and get better, and when people think of CSUN, they think excellence and a high level of performance.”
Moderator: Ethan Hanson
Producers: Veronica Barriga and Ethan Hanson
Anchor: Esteban Reynoso
Social Media Editor: Londy Sagastume
Reporters: Veronica Barriga, Bridgette Creamer, Ethan Hanson, Jasper Harris, Esteban Reynoso, Londy Sagastume and I’maiya Milan Wright
