6 LIFESTYLE
SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015
ART
Art students painted murals to
honor four artists for the Noche de
Altares celebration at Second and
Broadway streets in Downtown
Santa Ana Nov. 7.
Design and art students chose to
remember the lives of artists influential to their field.
“Our mural altars will honor four
different mural/street artists who
have passed on,” Darren Hostetter,
an assistant professor of studio art
who teaches mural painting said.
The artists honored are: Diego
Rivera, a Mexican muralist; Emigdio
Vasquez, a former student and professor at Santa Ana College known
as the godfather of Chicano art;
Keith Haring, a graffiti artist and social activist; and Margaret Kilgallen,
a street artist.
About 15 students, with the help of
volunteers, participated in the 13th
annual Noche de Altares celebration, painting portable mural panels
to display along the streets of downtown. / GRACIA SANCHEZ
Edgar Ornelas / el Don
In Memory
DETOX / While networking apps are valuable for staying in touch with people far away, they can also lead to neglecting real-life relationships.
TECH BREAK / BY JOHN OLIVARES
TWO WEEKS WITHOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
W
ithin four hours of my social media exile, I began freaking out. I don’t exist without social media. My life only
seems real when all of my followers know about it. For
two weeks I made the decision to stay away.
Those 14 days were life-changing. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr were blacklisted.
I became a digital-native zombie. Creating more value in my
life, reducing information hoarding, focusing on school and
appreciating the time spent with friends and family were my
motivations for giving up social media.
The first couple of days were full of
withdrawal symptoms.
I kept trying to open one of my social
media apps. My mind was corrupted 32
times that first day and 105 times in two
weeks, according to my personal tallies.
On the first day I began feeling good
but my mood started to change around
noon. Anger and isolation lead me to
snap at people. My room, the kitchen and
bathroom were cleaned within two hours
to keep my mind busy.
I slowly began to miss it less as the days
went on.
It came up during conversations, which
was when I needed it the most.
People I talked to consistently checked
their phones.
Being left in the dark was agitating.
The constant check of family and
friends on social media gives me a sense
of comfort. Not being able to made me
an outsider to my own life.
But then I sat down to talk to my mom.
She had a deep conversation with me and
I learned that my brother scored four of
the six goals at his opening soccer game.
Nothing meant more to me that day.
My old morning routine consisted
of waking up, checking Instagram and
checking Snapchat.
With those voids, there was time to
cook an omelette and watch the news.
By the second week, it was clear my life
had become less about