Former spectator Titawny Cook died under mysterious circumstances overseas while working on spreading awareness about what was going on in Ukraine.

Titawny Cook, served a tour of duty in Iraq as a U.S. Marine, doing combat logistics and security forces operating as a Cpl of the Guard and fire team leader . He later studied journalism at Chabot College and is remembered fondly by everyone who knew him.

In Titawny’s own words, “I always wanted to come to Ukraine, it’s been a goal of mine to come to this country in this time of war.” Ukraine is a war-torn country bombarded by bombings and power outages since the invasion of Russia in February 2022, where Titawny was covering the impact of Russia’s invasion and crime. Cook moved to Kyiv, Ukraine over a year ago, to start his career as a freelance journalist and was not working for any news agencies.

“Titawny believed that the story of suffering, devastation, and broken families should be reported and recognized. “I was shocked he went to a country where he didn’t know anybody, nobody, not a soul, and he was able to make friends quickly,” said Christine Cook, Titawny’s mother. As his mother, I was happy that he had decided to follow his dream, even though I was fearful, said, Christine in an interview with NBC Bay Area.

Although he was warned to not move to Ukraine nothing could waver his passion and dedication to uncovering the truth. Cook had dreamed of becoming a war correspondent and documenting the suffering in Ukraine. In a quote to KTVU Fox former Classmate and friend Diana Osaulenko said,” He was fearless. He had a brave spirit. He had a profound dedication to his work.”After serving in Iraq, Cook wanted to use his experience and expertise to document the conflict in Ukraine despite knowing it would be dangerous.

Once he’d settled in Kyiv, Cook found an apartment, made friends and began filing stories. He started learning to speak Ukrainian, fully immersing himself in a city where people adjusted to nightly curfews, sirens constantly wailed and outages frequently left the landscape pitch black. Titawny Cook had to convince faculty and administrators at Chabot, the community college he attended in Hayward, to sponsor the trip so that he could secure a press pass.

It was not long before trouble rose in the weeks prior to the passing of Cook, Christine said, her son somehow roused the suspicions of people in his circle. She didn’t know how the tension flared up, but she said Titawny was unable to navigate it due to the language barrier.

Christine said leading up to Titawny’s death she was receiving troubling calls and messages from him where he said people questioned if he was a journalist.

When she last spoke with him on July 25, he said he believed someone was inside his fifth-floor apartment with a gun. He gave her the name and phone number of another friend to call for help. Cook’s mother told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I called, told (the friend) my son was in danger and to check on him.” She called Titawny back, but he didn’t answer.

Later, she received a call from a woman who had found her son’s phone on the street. Then, on the morning of July 26, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv called, saying that police had found her son lying unconscious. They transported him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. The location and circumstances of his death were not clear.

Titawny’s death is considered suspicious. Many of his personal belongings are missing and unaccounted for such as his dog tags, laptop and cellphone.

Cook did not stray from delving into the dangerous street life in Ukraine.

Osaulenko told KTVU Fox, ”The last stories he was working on involved prostitution and drugs in Ukraine,” and she believes Cook got caught up with the wrong people. Around the time of Cook’s death he was afraid to stay home.”He was afraid to stay at home the last night,” said Osaulenko to KTVU Fox. Cook’s mother, Christine says her son’s death is considered suspicious.

A U.S. Travel Advisory is in effect for Ukraine, warning Americans not to go there, due to the active conflict.

Rest In Peace Titawny Branden Lee Cook.

The iconic film “The Silence of the Lambs,” is worth the watch. Loosely based on serial murderers Ted Bundy, dubbed the “Lady Killer” and Gary Michael Heidnik also known as the “House of Horrors Killer,” whose crimes only affected women. We get to see how a woman in charge navigates in a male-dominated industry while also trying to catch a serial killer.

Jodie Foster starred as Clarice Starling, a student top of her class at the FBI’s training academy. Jack Crawford portrayed by Scott Glenn sent Clarice to interview Dr. Hannibal Lecter, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, a cunning psychiatrist who is serving a life sentence behind bars for cannibalism and murders. They believed that Lecter could help them unravel a series of murders in the Buffalo Bill case and that Clarice may be the one to gain information from the former psychiatrist. Clarice, is a disadvantaged orphaned country girl who has worked hard to get where she is and has low self-confidence due to her upbringing.

Clarice tells Lecter about a traumatic childhood incident where she was unable to save lambs from being slaughtered in a barn on her uncle’s farm and how she can still hear the screams. One of the victims’ bodies was found to have a death head moth native to Asia lodged in her throat. The Death’s Head Moths in The Silence of the Lambs symbolize symbolic of death or change. Jame Gumb’s perverted desire to transform himself into a woman via a horrifically violent path. Jame Gumb—also known as Buffalo Bill—is a serial killer who murders women and makes a “woman suit” out of the victims’ skin.

The title “The Silence of the Lambs” refers to the idea that the killer’s victims are silenced forever and that the only way to stop their suffering is to bring their killer to justice. The lambs represent innocent murder victims, and the silence refers to their lack of screams because they are dead or have yet to be saved. Lambs are often associated with religious connotations, particularly in Christianity, where they symbolize the embodiment of Christ’s innocence and the sacrificial lamb offering redemption and atonement for humanity’s sins. Lambs conventionally symbolize innocence and purity, and in the film, they represent the innocent victims of Buffalo Bill’s crimes. Their screams represent the extreme violence they are subjected to.

The film is filled with witty moments, one of the most notable quotes from the cannibal was “I’m having an old friend for dinner.” At the end after Lecter escapes prison, he makes a phone call to her and says, “Well, Clarice, have the lambs stopped screaming?” The Silence of the Lambs remains one of just six horror movies nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. In 1991 Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins won Oscars for Best Actress and Actor (the movie also won for Best Picture, Best /director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jonathan Demme’s direction and Ted Talley’s screenplay, it was also nominated for editing and sound.

The film was a critical and box office success, winning all five of the “Big Five” Academy Awards.

If you want to watch a film that is thrilling from beginning to end this is the movie to watch. The suspense and complex characters makes it a must-see for any thriller enthusiast.

Gladiators enjoyed an exciting night of painting, music, and fun! In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, the annual paint night was held on Oct. 10, 2024, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the event center building 700.

Every year El Centro a bilingual resource center is dedicated to Chicanx/Latinx and low-income student success holds this annual paint night event where students paint a picture of an influential Latinx person to honor Latin and Hispanic Heritage Month. This year people painted The Queen of Salsa music Celia Cruz, a Latinx singer from Havana, Cuba who is one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname “La Guarachera de Cuba”.

As soon as entering the building there were several tables prepared with paints and reference photos of Celia Cruz while people who rsvp’d checked in. The social event provided pizza, chips, and sodas. People ate while everyone mingled waiting for others to arrive.

Once the event began people were able to customize their color palette to their preference. Some chose bright and bold colors while others chose muted soft tones to paint Celia. Nonetheless, everyone was excited to allow their creativity to flourish.

Event coordinator and guest artist Angie Munoz gave a step by step tutorial on how to paint Celia on screen while salsa music from Celia played.

Periodically throughout the night, facts about Celia’s life were presented as people painted on. Some facts mentioned were the most popular phase coined by Celia herself “Azucar” translating to sugar! This trademark cry is one of the most recognizable symbols of salsa music. Celia used it in every recording and performance until her death. Celia used this word to express joy and honor her African ancestors and affirm her Afro-Cuban background. According to Celia, the phrase originated when a waiter asked her if she wanted sugar in her coffee at a restaurant in Miami, Florida. She responded “Azucar!” Because she obviously could not drink Cuban coffee without it. The trademark developed a deeper meaning in remembrance of those who were enslaved on Cuban sugar plantations.

Student Kelly H. said,” I came here to relax and paint, it sounded fun so I decided to come here with my friend after class.”

Some learned facts were that Celia was also a symbolic political figure who was exiled from her home country Cuba in 1961 for publicly scrutinizing Fidel Castro’s communist regime forcing her to move to New York. In 1962 Celia requested permission to return to Cuba but she was denied entry and famously said,” If I cannot return to bury my mother I will never return.” In 1990 30 years after her exiled Celia returned to Cuba to perform Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and took a handful of soil from the island that is buried with her.

At the end of the event,a celebratory group photo was taken that showed everyone’s unique artwork. Each attendee painted their own souvenir, reminding them of Celia Cruz’s life and their creative experience.

Chabot Gladiators celebrated “The Black to School Cookout Event” on Wednesday, Sep. 4, 2024, from 12 – 2 p.m. near the football field in the grass area. The event was hosted by the BEA and Umoja.

The event hosted by The Black Education Association and Umoja. Lakeisha Stewart the coordinator of the event said,” I wanted to just have an event for our students to just dig into the idea of family. So I was like, you know what, a nice cookout at the grass, a nice family picnic was my reason behind having this event.

The celebration began with people signing up for a meal ticket and raffle ticket to win a prize at the end of the event. The food line was wrapped around the field fo the macaroni, links, burgers, watermelon, and salads.

DJ Kai played music from the 90s up to popular current songs. He even hosted a dance battle for those in attendance. DJ Kai said, “Well, it is an event for all the black students. Being African American myself, I feel like that was the perfect opportunity for me and I’m a DJ. So to be able to contribute in any way, I was already looking for that. Before the school year even started, this had been in the works for a while.”

Two of the dance battle contestants Gio and Quincy hilariously battled it out and ultimately the winner was Gio. Gio said, “I feel like I could have did better in the dance battle but it was good. It was fun.” Quincy added , “It was amazing, but you know, if I did take some dance classes, I’m pretty sure I would have won . But, I give it to the other two because they were meant to dance, you know.”

Towards the end of the event, there was a trivia competition called “Black card Revoked” where contestants would answer black trivia questions to win a Target gift card. Contestant Jasmine said, “I was really nervous about getting my black card revoked I got my black part revoked for one of the questions and I redeemed myself at the end so I was just happy about that part, but I was happy that I participated Being someone who is an introvert. I’m happy that I’m putting myself out there more and just to participate and to be involved in more activities on campus.”

The event was a huge success the students had a lot of fun. It brought people together and created an enjoyable experience for all.

Chabot Gladiators welcomed the start of the 2024 fall semester with The Student and Family Open House on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. The event was held outside of building 700

The event aimed to inform students and their families about what Chabot has to offer and where they could learn about the different career pathways and programs.

The celebration began with tables for different departments around the school and clubs showing students what they could expect. There were also special programs in attendance, like the Extended Opportunity Program Services (EOPS), a program that haswith benefits like Early/Priority Registration, Book Vouchers, and free tutoring.

One of the many academic and career pathways was the environment pathway which includes science, technology, and mathematics for students interested in careers like computer science and artificial intelligence. Another choice for students is the media pathway, which includes communications, language arts, and design, which would appeal to students interested in the arts.

El Centro, another special program is a bilingual resource center dedicated to Chicanx/Latinx and low-income students. That provides academic, career, and personal counseling, as well as financial aid advising.

The event had live music from a DJ, along with games and prizes. Many students, new and returning, showed up to explore their interests. Reggie, a student at the event said,” I’m a machine tool technology major so I am here because I hope to graduate and find a career with machine tools since I like to work with my hands.”

Students were given a campus tour that ended at admissions and records. The final stop was for help with admissions applications, registration, and financial aid.