About

Maria Fernanda started her journey when she decided to leave her friends, family, and life back in her native country Peru. She moved from Lima, Peru to the USA.Specifically to California in the Bay Area. Maria Fernanda wants to become a journalist, so she decided to start in college and then transfer to a four-year university. Currently she is in her second year of college, and hopefully next fall she will transfer to get her bachelor’s degree in journalism. Maria Fernanda is still trying to decide what kind of journalism she will pursue, but currently she is passionate about opinion writing. She also likes telling stories and interviewing people. Maria Fernanda would like to travel around the world and get to those remote places where so much help is needed and injustices are committed.

Ethan was born in Can Tho Vietnam but was adopted at birth and grew up in Oakland. After struggling through much of high school he took a hiatus from academics and worked for years in the restaurant industry. A sports junkie with an ever increasing interest in politics, Ethan enrolled at Laney College to follow his passion for journalism and aspires to be a sports reporter. He is excited to return to school and hone his skills as a writer and communicator. In his free time Ethan loves to hike, throw a baseball or casually shoot hoops with his friends.

Ivan Chairez is a 21 year old man simply trying to navigate the enigma of the world. He was born and raised in El Paso, Texas but moved out to the bay in 2015 — more specifically, Alameda. Ivan appreciates the simple things in life such as listening to good music, hiking, drinking coffee, and his passion — photography. Photography is very important to Ivan because it allows him to express his feelings and channel his creativity, capturing a single frame in time with the goal of evoking emotion through his photographs. Ivan also runs an independent online magazine called Artistic Bonez Magazine, where he interviews other photographers in an attempt to share their stories and unique photos. Like many other college students, Ivan picked a random major until he figured out what he enjoyed and wanted to study. Originally on paper as an art history major, he later realized he was more intrigued by documenting, interviewing and understanding different perspectives as a way of understanding the world around him. After two years of indecisiveness, Ivan came to the realization that journalism is what he sees himself doing. He is beginning his journey to an Associate of Arts transfer degree in journalism at Laney, hoping to ultimately transfer to a UC. Which UC, you ask? He’s not quite sure yet.

After a 40 year career in advertising, David is considering journalism as his “second act” and preparing himself for that new profession by taking classes at Laney. During his days in advertising, Rowe headed up the media departments for a number of leading ad agencies in San Francisco and Salt Lake City. In this capacity, he was responsible for the planning and placement of tens of millions of dollars of paid media. A high point of his career was placing Intel’s first Super Bowl TV ad in 1997. Rowe has a lifelong interest in journalism dating back to high school in San Jose where he started an underground newspaper called, appropriately enough, The Del Mar Free Press. The school administration threatened to suspend him, so Rowe, with the help of his attorney father, sued the school district in Federal Court and won and injunction. Ultimately, the case was decided in his favor and California state law regarding the rights of high school students was re-written as a result. Rowe is a political junkie who enjoys watching all the Sunday morning news programs and is actively involved in the Joe Biden presidential campaign this year.

This is Pamela Rudd’s forth semester at Laney College and her third as a staff writer for The Citizen. Pam was born in San Francisco and grew up in Contra Costa County when cattle roamed the hills and life had yet to cross from rural to suburban. She attended college directly after high school and received a doctorate from the University of Nevada, Reno in psychology. As a Bay Area native she witnessed the the Vietnam War, the Free Speech and Black Panther movements, the AIDS crisis, and the birth of Silicon Valley. Pamela is always amazed by the resiliency of the human spirit and the repetitiveness of history. She is excited to be back in school and to be part of The Citizen’s newsroom. For Pam, journalism was the path not taken..

Born and raised in Oakland, Calif. Ulysses’ father is of Scots-Irish and Danish descent and his Mother is African-American. As a child his dad would take him on bike rides to protests, concerts, sporting events and sometimes even bars across the Bay Area, which developed his fascination for  culture. 

 Ulysses’ mother is a dedicated public servant and has worked for the public library system for over twenty years. When she was still with Oakland Public Library she had access to free tickets at A’s games and his dad would take him out of school to see them play. They’d end up getting box seats but would sneak down the stands to be next to the real action and developed his lifelong fascination with sports. He played baseball and basketball off and on throughout grade school, coached in his summers and got a chance to  play for state but got knocked out of the division 5 playoffs after the first round. 

A lifetime addicted to music and gardening as well; he’s been playing the guitar since the age of 7 and later learned the basics of music production, bass guitar, banjo and his instrument of choice the drums. He got a green thumb from his father, a horticulture major, and Ed Rosenthal, the godfather of homegrow. To this day no matter what season he has at least two plants growing. 

He graduated from Realm Charter High School In July 2017 and enrolled in Laney Community College by Fall 2017. His High School eventually ceased operations and was permanently closed in Fall 2019. During his time at Laney he has worked as a private English tutor, a teacher’s aide for the C.I.S. department and as a sports reporter here at the Peralta Citizen.

Crashing into the Journalism scene late last year, Derek Sylvester throws his charisma into any project he touches. Whether it be a detailed article on the intricacies of our ever changing society, or a video about his favorite type of bread (Artisano Wheat), you can always expect to be thrown out of the box when consuming his content.

Zach Thompson was born and raised in Oakland, Ca. After graduating high school in 2018, he began taking classes at Laney while also working jobs in the Security field. While Zach knew he wanted to be educated and longed to graduate college, he struggled to find a particular subject he was interested in. He eventually took a few Journalism courses and immediately understood this was route he should go. His unique writing style and passion for debate made the choice seamless. Enthusiastic about sports, politics and current events, he hopes to write professionally about all of these in the future. 

Joseph Woods III, a self-proclaimed Solutionist and mathemagician, is a third-generation native of Parchester Village, USA. A life-long learner and educator, Joseph, (aka Mr. 3^rd), has returned to Laney College, once again, where he is now striving to complete a hybrid Sociology/Journalism curriculum. While here at Laney, Joseph plans to attain an AA-T in Sociology in order to transfer into USC’s Social Work graduate program and enroll in their Military Social Work track. Joseph believes that his preparation here at Laney will help to certify him as an individual who is qualified to provide solutions for the diverse socioeconomic issues faced by veterans, as well as active military members, and their families.

Gretchen Zimmerman settled in Vallejo, CA in 2002 after spending a couple of decades bouncing around the inner San Francisco Bay area. Before her move to Vallejo, she had lived for no more than couple of years in one place. Her recent stability has facilitated a greater involvement in her community. She became active in local arts groups first, volunteering with Vallejo Open Studios and Vallejo Art Walk. As she got to know more people and their circumstances, her interests broadened into local politics. She started attending City Council meetings, writing to the local paper, and engaging in serious debates on social media. That wasn’t enough for her. Gretchen decided to get serious about writing and study journalism so that she can delve into meaningful investigative work.

Editor-in-Chief Isis Piccillo was born and raised in the Bay Area. An avid reader and lover of libraries, Piccillo knows reading has been key to developing their writing voice. They are invested in covering and amplifying the voices of marginalized and underrepresented groups, especially in the areas of health and science. When not frantically copyediting or furiously writing, Isis can be found on the soccer field, or with food.

Ryan B. is an Oakland native who is following his passion of writing. It has led to his desire to expand his knowledge and insight in this profession by learning and sharing with others. Ryan attended primary and secondary schools in Oakland and has ties to various community outreach programs throughout the East Bay. Indebted to the teachers that have supported him throughout his scholarly journey, Ryan desires to pursue a career that will allow him to positively impact the world around him.