Subculture Music Club
Tastemakers
In November 2023, Cal State Fullerton student Jedrek Tran posted on Reddit: “Who wants to start a hyperpop club with me?” Within a semester, that idea evolved into CSUF’s newest social club where music lovers could share interests, meet like-minded people and bond over their niche tastes.
Now, Subculture Music Club is bringing the sound of underground genres to campus, drawing bigger crowds with every event they put on. Since the start of Discoverfest, an involvement event at CSUF, SMC has seen consistent turn outs at every meeting and event since. Their growth has expanded since their first semester in Spring 2024.
Since their founding, SMC has hosted several free music events open to the public—including a “Boiler Room”-inspired rave at the Titan Student Union, a house show featuring local bands and a renegade-style rave in Fullerton, inspired by the underground L.A. scene.
Now, one of their goals is to receive more funding to raise the scale of their events even higher. “Once we do receive funding and more connections, we really want to push this scene not just on campus, but in the city of Fullerton,” says Tran, SMC’s president.
Whether you’re deep into underground subcultures or Taylor Swift is your top artist on Spotify Wrapped, SMC welcomes all who have a love for music—not just CSUF students. It’s less about what’s on your playlist and more about wanting to add to it. To stay in the know on events and more, follow them on Instagram: @csuf_smc.
Getzemany Bayardo
Local Icon
Simply put, Getz is a Fullerton College icon. You’ve likely seen them at art gallery openings, theater performances and book club meetings in their distinct fashion of brown overalls, a striped tee and colorful hair clips. Originating from the Yaqui Valley in Mexico, Getz started at FC in 2017 after graduating high school as a political science major. Soon, they discovered that their real passion lay in theater, where their love for literature and performance intersected and shined through.
Since then, Getz has worked behind the curtains as an assistant director for the department’s performances, with the ultimate dream of becoming a playwright or director. In 2023, their talent and artistry showed when their $20 painting at the FC Art Gallery sold for $100. They were also selected to perform an original poem about navigating transnationalism at the Libro Mobile Literary Arts Festival held at the Fullerton Museum Center in March 2024. On their Instagram, they share their portfolio of professional portrait photography, further establishing their presence across many sectors of the visual arts.
Getz is an intellectual, multi-faceted artist who has become a vital part of the vibrant campus culture at Fullerton. While the fall marks their last semester at FC, Fullerton is lucky to continue to have Getz just down the street at Cal State Fullerton. Whatever’s next for Getz, you’ll want to bet it’ll leave a lasting mark.
Heathyr Lawrence
Fashionista
If you’re a punk or goth girl from the ’90s, then you’ve heard of the works of fashion designer Heathyr Lawrence. Own a pair of Demonias? Or maybe an “Our Pussys Our Choice” tee from Mantrap 1989? With an extensive portfolio in the fashion industry, Lawrence has been making clothes for all the cool alt kids for over 35 years. Her fashion label, Mantrap 1989, has been fabulously worn by Dita Von Teese and Charli xcx in editorials. The brat herself most recently wore the “Pussy Scented” shirt in a photoshoot for Re-Edition Magazine. The coolest part? She’s the newest fashion professor at Fullerton College.
Inspired by the works of Betsey Johnson and Jean Paul Gaultier, Heathyr always imagined a life for herself in fashion. She learned to sew at age nine and began making her own clothing after graduating from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in 1983. Post FIDM, Heathyr was hand-picked to be one of six students from all over the country to design a garment for a runway show in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Now, she’s being recognized by FIDM once again, this time to be in their “Fashion Statements” exhibition, featuring leaders and influencers in fashion based in Los Angeles.
After a 2012 stint working on Avril Lavigne’s clothing line, Abbey Dawn, Heathyr got the call from Demonia, the widely known alternative footwear brand, which fully immersed her into the world of shoe design. “It really wasn’t until then that I learned the terminology—uppers, bottoms,” she says. “I work on 250 different bottoms at any given time, depending on what they need.” Her most popular shoe, the Shaker 52, is an edgy ankle-high platform boot designed to make a bold statement. It’s a classic for any goth or girl with an edge. But at first, Demonia wasn’t buying it. “They were like, it’s kind of plain. I’m like, yeah, but you need a baby goth, you know? You need that beginner, right?” With consistently high ratings across shopping platforms, the Shaker 52 turned out to be a huge success.
After a teaching opportunity opened for a fashion class, her friend and fellow fashion professor Rachel Nevarez gave her the tip and encouraged her to apply. While being nervous the first two weeks, unsure at first if it was for her, she eventually discovered her teaching style by just letting her experience do the talking. “It came really natural, because that’s what I’ve been doing for 40 years—just exactly these steps,” she says.
Breaking into the fashion industry can be a difficult challenge to overcome for aspiring creatives, but having professors like Heathyr by your side to teach you how to get to the top is a great way to accomplish it. As a fashion professor, she hopes to uplift upcoming designers by inspiring them and making the course as enjoyable as possible.
funsleep
Dream-Pop Soundmaker
If you love Cage the Elephant, GROUPLOVE, or The 1975—then you will easily be a fan of funsleep. Nicholas Pigeon, otherwise known as funsleep, is a local musician in Fullerton feeding nostalgia to your eardrums. “SEROTONIN,” his latest musical release, features soothing, ethereal vocals over a beat-driven soundscape, combining synths with organic instrumentation. The song has a nostalgic, dreamlike feel, and builds onto the bedroom pop world he’s creating with his music. The music video, shot with his friends in front of his grandpa’s house in Anaheim, feels like a coming-of-age Gregg Araki film and gives the song the feel of a never-ending summer anthem.
Nicholas began playing in bands his freshman year of high school and quickly found his footing in the Orange County music scene. Although this music wasn’t the sound he was trying to create, it gave him the experience he needed to jumpstart his solo project. The vision for funsleep began in eighth grade, when he cooked up a stage name from one of his catch phrases. Instead of saying goodnight, he began saying “have a fun sleep”—thus, his stage name was born.
Playing his first show as funsleep at The Juicebox in Long Beach in August 2024, Nicholas felt refreshed to finally be able to play the songs true to his sound. Still, playing his electronic-based music live posed a challenge alone, since his music is so electronic based. Although this time his performance felt true to his sound, playing electronic music based solo posed a challenge. The energy needed a live band to truly brings the songs to life. With help from his network, he was able to make it happen. “I didn’t want to play solo, because I feel like a band is so much more powerful and dynamic,” he says. “So, I was really able to curate that with my really good friends.”
As funsleep’s sound evolves, he continues to blend indie nostalgia with fresh, introspective energy. Whether it’s the quiet solitude of a late-night drive or the warmth of a carefree afternoon, funsleep’s tracks capture the mood of the moment. Keep your ears open for funsleep and you’ll be transported to a nostalgic place you know all too well.
Cynthia Guardado
Poet of Resistance
Cynthia Guardado is a poet, activist and Fullerton College English professor whose work has made a profound impact on both the literary world and her local community. Her upbringing as a child of Salvadoran immigrants inspired her two poetry collections, “Cenizas” (2018), and “Endeavor” (2022). “Cenizas” explores migration, trauma and generational memory, which reflects the experiences of the Salvadoran diaspora. Her second collection, “Endeavor,” delves further into these themes, while also celebrating resilience, survival and social justice.
She’s currently translating her poetry collection to Spanish. She kept the Spanish rights from her publisher because she didn’t want the book to be published in El Salvador with an expensive international price tag. “Nobody in El Salvador is gonna pay $20 for a book,” she says. With the help of her Salvadoran poet friend, she’s translating the books into the conversational Salvadoran dialect so she can publish it there and anywhere else that people speak Spanish.
Coming out of grad school with a Master of Fine Arts emphasis in poetry, Cynthia wasn’t sure if teaching was the right path for her. But after working as an adjunct professor at a four-year college, she realized soon after that she resonated most with community college students. “We’re talking about working students. We’re talking about students who work because maybe they have to provide at home, it’s just complicated,” she says. “But I felt more connected with community college students than I did even at my own four-year.” In and out of the classroom, she’s committed to social change.
Before beginning her career as an educator, Cynthia received her B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a major in creative writing. While doing her coursework, she found it difficult to connect with the texts she was reading, which seemed far removed from her personal and cultural experiences.
Since starting at Fullerton College in 2017, Cynthia has worked as adviser and editor-in-chief of LiveWire magazine, the college’s digital literary magazine. She mentors an editorial team of students who review submissions while gaining real-world experience in editing and digital publishing. She’s hoping to introduce these students to the type of literature she wished she had been assigned when she was in school and empower them to create writing that is true to their experiences.
“What I have realized now as an adult is that I had this really deep-rooted love for literature because I taught myself to love it,” says Cynthia.
Clovis Hung
Whiz Kid
In 2023, 12-year-old Clovis Hung made international headlines as the youngest person to graduate from Fullerton College with an astonishing five degrees. After enrolling in Fullerton College’s Special Admit program at age 9, Clovis challenged himself to beat 13-year-old Jack Rico’s record, who formerly held the title of youngest graduate in 2020.
Now 13, Clovis is a student at the University of California, Irvine, but continues to take STEM classes at FC. He’s currently in a program called Civil Air Patrol that teaches youth about aviation, and he’s on track to accomplish his dream of becoming a pilot by age 17. But the dreaming doesn’t stop there. (The sky isn’t the limit for Hung.)
He is also in the archery club at UCI and aspires to one day be on the USA Olympic archery team. Beyond shooting arrows and flying planes, he also potentially sees himself in the engineering or medical field. With five degrees in different disciplines—it’s fair he’s keeping his options open. But the question everyone wants the answer to is: where does he get the motivation to do so much, so young?
“It’s just my curiosity. As a child I was interested in various subjects. I just wanted to keep going, I don’t want it to stop,” says Clovis. His curiosity in learning isn’t leaving anytime soon. With dreams as big as the sky and a track record to prove he can reach them, Clovis is more than just a prodigy, he’s an academic weapon—the embodiment of limitless potential.
Taken from the Winter 2024 print issue of Inside Fullerton. Read it here.
