The Brief

Champion bodybuilder. Hollywood superstar. Governor of California.

Not a bad resume.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has achieved more than most of us could ever hope to. And he's sharing some of his secrets to success in his new book Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life.

Morning Edition host A Martinez spoke with Schwarzenegger about his latest project.

A Martinez: When did becoming useful become something that you thought was important?

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Well, I think that ever since my father stressed when I was a kid to be useful. I think it had an impact on me, and it stayed with me as a method, so much so that I always wanted to perform and do more. It became such a big part of my life that even when I sleep in - sometimes past 6:00 in the morning - I feel guilty because I hear my father's voice saying, "Arnold, that's not how this country was built, by sleeping in. Be useful, do something. What are you doing today?" And so, you know, I think that it just stayed with me.

AM: But even at that young of an age, you understood what that meant. You understood a deeper meaning of what being useful meant.

AS: Well, let's assume for a second I didn't know what it meant. My father would make sure that I knew. Just to give you an example, I was studying bodybuilding at the age of 15, and my father would say, "Why are you lifting these dumbbells and barbells? Don't you think it would be better to just go out and chop some wood and shovel some coals for some poor people that don't have anyone?" It was common in those days: neighbor kids would go and do that kind of chore for older people so that when the fall comes, they have it for the winter.

I looked up to this famous boxer by the name of Laszlo Papp. He's a Hungarian boxer, European champion, and he trains by chopping wood. And so, "Why couldn't YOU chop wood? And then therefore, you would get muscles, you get strong, get great energy, you will look great. But at the same time, you're doing something useful. You're doing something for somebody rather than just for yourself and looking in the mirror." So he would make sure that you knew what being useful meant.

What it means

AM: Is being useful the same as not being useless?

AS: Well, it's more proactive. I mean, being useful is not just hanging back and making mistakes. It's going out and using your energy and your time for something good, which means for yourself but also and always to think about other people. I think that we have to be aware of the fact that we are creations by a lot of people. We are not self-made. I hate when someone says, "Oh, Schwarzenegger is the perfect example of a self-made man" because I'm not. I'm a creation of my parents. I'm a creation of my coaches, my teachers. I have been helped by my training partners, by my friends. Especially when I think about coming to America, it was Joe Wheeler that helped me to come over here, got me the airline ticket, helped me get the apartment and the car. The people of California voted for me to be governor of California. So I didn't become governor because I'm self-made; I became governor because people voted for me.

AM: But it was a compliment. I mean, I think people meant it as a compliment that you were able to motivate yourself to accomplish these things.

AS: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it is a compliment, but it is very important to let people know: I really appreciate you saying that, but I'm a creation of all of this help.

I would not have done Twins if it wouldn't have been for Ivan Reitman. I would not have been able to do Conan the Barbarian if it wouldn't have been for John Milius. So there's so many people that helped me. And the reason why that is important, that we recognize that we are creations of people's help, is because that makes us then understand that we are responsible for going out and helping other people, that it is not a one-way street. You know, people help us to get to be where we are today, and therefore I now have the responsibility to go out and help other people to become successful.

The scope of usefulness

AM: Well, just how wide of a scope, then, does being useful need to be? Because I can imagine for you, I think you probably have to feel useful to a lot [more] people than I would. I mean, if I feel useful to my grandkids or to my wife, I feel pretty good about the day.

AS: I think that it really depends on you how far you want to go with that. One thing we know for sure: the majority of people really don't feel like they're useful enough or they are successful enough. And this is what this book is all about: Be Useful is to give people the tools. How can they go and become more useful? How can they become more successful? How can they become happier with their lives, their jobs and everything that they are doing?

You have to understand that no matter what we do, there's someone there that can help you with that. If I want to go and learn how to ski, I take ski lessons. If I want to learn about bodybuilding, I'll go and get a fitness instructor. But there's really no one that provides usually the tools to success. I think what this book does is basically just say, look, here are some tools that I've used in my life. And the reason why I've become so successful in so many different areas is because I follow those rules and I applied those rules.

AM: So, for example, last year when you put out that video calling out Russia's misinformation campaign — and also telling Russia to stop the war in Ukraine — were you just expressing an opinion or were you trying to be useful?

AM: Both. Both to let the Russian soldiers and the Russian people know that this is an unjust war that is not provoked. There was no one there challenging Russia. This was a peaceful country, Ukraine, and they were minding their own business. All of a sudden, they're getting attacked. So that is not right. I think that we have to speak out because something's wrong, to help them to understand it — and at the same time to let people know around the world how I feel about it. It was just my opinion and also trying to be useful at the same time.

But, you know, this is not what this book is about. It's just really helping people to go to the next level when it comes to success. What I wanted to do is just let people know you don't have to have a job that you hate. If you take some time and create a vision for yourself and create a goal for yourself — and then chase that goal no matter how difficult it may be — life becomes kind of fun. Because to me, my life was always a lot of fun, even though I struggled a lot and I was battling it out, losing a lot of the battles and then winning some. It was always interesting and spicy and exciting because I knew what I was chasing all the time — to become Mr. Universe, or becoming the greatest bodybuilder in the world, or coming to America, or getting into movies and becoming a leading man, or running for governor. It doesn't matter what it is. It was always a fun chase.

Losing some battles

AM: You mentioned losing some battles. Which battles did you lose? I think when people think of your life, they think that almost anything you've tried, you've been a success.

AS: Well, maybe it was successful in the end, but to get there... One of the things I talk about is to not be afraid of failure. Because you're going to fail. When I was 19 years old, I was competing in the Mr. Universe contest and I lost. I came second. It was no big drama because I was hoping to be in the top six, but I came second so it was terrific. When I came to America, I lost the Mr. Olympia competition against Sergio Oliva. I lost one of the Mr. Universe contests in America against Frank Zane. I remember I lost power-lifting championships, weightlifting championships. I had movies that went in the toilet. I had policy issues and referendums that went in front of the people that I lost. There was a lot of things.

And of course, in my personal life, you know, my marriage is a big loss and this is a big failure. So there's a lot of losses and failures that I've had in the past in my life. And I think that it is important that we recognize that. But no matter what it is, I always had an exciting life and always chased something, and that made the whole thing worth it.

So many people — young people especially — when you ask them what do you want to do in life, they look at you kind of like the deer in the headlights and just don't know what to say. To me, that is a big problem, because I always felt that I was enriched by the fact that I always knew where I was going.

And then there were some things that were unexpected, like running for governor. That was something that kind of unfolded only because there was a recall election in California.

AM: You had the opportunity.

AS: All of a sudden, I had this vision: me being governor. And so I chased that vision. Going from promoting Terminator 3 and being this huge hit to all of a sudden going the other direction and saying, "I want to be a public servant." It was fun to chase that. I had this exact vision. I knew exactly what to say to the people and how to sell that idea, how to market myself, how to promote myself. I think this is the important thing: there's so many people that think small. They set a goal for themselves — a small goal because they're afraid to fail. And I tell people, don't be afraid to fail.

Setting goals

AM: Wait a second, YOU can have big goals. I think most people have to be happy with small goals in their lives. I don't think they can aspire to the things you can aspire to.

AS: No, because remember: when I was 15 years old, I was this ordinary Austrian boy, just like everyone else. I always had this dream that I want to be another Reg Park — a Mr. Universe who then did Hercules movies. So he became my idol. I wanted to win, like him, Mr. Universe several times and then be discovered in Hollywood. He was a fellow from England, from Leeds, from a factory town. I come from a factory down. Why could I not do that?

So I right away had a big vision to be like Reg Park (or to be Steve Reeves, an American version of Hercules). So, friends of mine wanted to be Mr. Austria; I right away thought of Mr. Universe, winning the world championship.

I remember when I was getting into movies, they said to me, maybe we can get you a job to play, maybe with your German accent, the Nazi officer. Or a bouncer or something like that. I mean, that's not what I wanted to do. I said I want to be a leading man. I right away shot for the big goal. And yes, it was riskier. It's very hard to climb the ladder. I said, forget about climbing the ladder — I'm going to create my own ladder and I'm going to climb that.

Now I'm going to show people how to do it.

Clear vision

AM: When it comes to having a clear vision, that's the first rule in your in your book, Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life. How do you get rid of the clutter to be able to have that clear vision? Because so much clutters up our lives.

AS: That's the key thing. You cannot go create a vision if your face is in the iPhone or iPad or the computer. That is not what creates a vision. That maybe makes you copy someone else, but it doesn't create a vision of something that you're really in touch with, that you feel like, I need to do this. I'm born to be this artist. I'm born to be a mechanic. I'm born to create my own garage and build muscle cars or whatever it may be. Everyone has something in them that makes them really want to go all out on something. You just need to apply those rules. Don't shoot for something small, shoot for something big. Don't be afraid of failure.

The key thing is: You work your ass off. One of the things that I know now being 76 years old: everything is directly related to work. The more you work your ass off, the further you're going to go. If you look for shortcuts, it's not going to happen. I've seen people in bodybuilding try to look for shortcuts. They never made it. I've seen it in acting. They have not made it. Everyone that was willing to work hard was able to make it and to become successful.

Selling yourself, selling your ideas, selling your vision is another very important part of this whole success formula. You have to convince people. You have to kind of communicate well. I mean, imagine when I was Governor of California and I said we have to reduce our greenhouse gases by 25% by the year 2020. Well, it was a great idea, but I now have to go and convince 40 million people in California that this is very important, that pollution kills people. We've got to have more renewable energy in California. We got to get rid of fossil fuels. We got to keep our nuclear reactors and nuclear power and blah, blah, blah, noise. And the people went along. The people went along because I sold the thing while I promoted it well, I marketed it well, I was communicating well. All of this is important in order to be successful.

The other one that I always tell people: let's do less talking and more listening. I have a chapter that says, shut your mouth and open your mind. It's very important because I think that if you always just talk, talk, talk, talk, you're not going to learn anything. The way you learn is if you just shut your mouth and listen to other people talk. Yes, you have to talk and yes, you have to communicate. But be aware that listening is really what makes you smart.

When I went into the capitol in Sacramento, I did a lot of listening because I had to learn very quickly about the various different policies, the various different issues. I mean, you go from one minute about prison guards' overtime, then you talk about the firefighters and talk about law enforcement. They talk about the nurses, the teachers. They talk about the crime. You're dealing with so many different subjects that from morning to night, it's better if you listen. Then if you sit down by yourself, without having the computers and the iPhone/iPads, that's how you get to be successful.

Breaking mirrors

AM: The last tool in your book is called Break Your Mirrors. What does that mean, break your mirrors?

AS: This is a saying that comes from my father-in-law [Sargent Shriver]. My father-in-law gave a speech at Yale University, a commencement speech, and there he said to the students: Break that mirror that makes you always look at yourself. And you will be able to look beyond that mirror and you will see the millions and millions of people that need your help.

My father-in-law was one of my idols. He created the Job Corps and the Peace Corps, legal aid to the poor and all of these various different organizations. And he was always out there trying to find something to help the less fortunate. He was also the chairman of the Special Olympics, and his wife Eunice Kennedy Shriver created the Special Olympics. They always worked on helping the people that needed help. So to me, that saying said it all: we should not be consumed about ourselves. Yes, you have to deal with yourself. You have to build itself. But don't ever think that this is the only responsibility you have. You have the responsibility to break the mirror and to look beyond yourself and see the millions of people that need your help. And to go out and help, giving back to the community, giving back the city, to your state, your country is the ultimate that you have to do. And everyone has the ability to give back something. If you have no money, you can give your time to the kids — in reading or in English or to collect clothes so that homeless people can go to job interviews. There's so many simple things that we can do to help the community.

I got addicted to it because I started working with Special Olympics and helping Special Olympians, you know, train with weights and then go into powerlifting. It felt so good to be able to help kids that normally are not included, not getting equal rights. Then I started getting caught up with the President's Council of Physical Fitness for President Bush. [I] travelled through all 50 states to promote health and fitness and exercising in the schools. And it just one thing led to the next, and eventually I ran for governor.

It just feels so good to give something back. I think that this is without any doubt the greatest country in the world. And I always want to tell people that, you know, to me, giving something back was absolutely a necessity because of everything that I have ever achieved was because of America. And so to me, to give back to America is the greatest kind of honor and pleasure.

California water regulators have approved a new plan overhauling how farms and cities take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and rivers that feed it, setting up the next fight over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to balance water supplies with the needs of a struggling ecosystem.

The plan gives water agencies a choice: agree to forgo some water and restore habitats, or fall under the regulatory backup — a set of mandatory rules for how much water must remain in rivers and streams to flow through the Delta.

But the compromise the Newsom administration reached four years ago with the state’s most powerful water suppliers now faces opposition from unexpected quarters.

Powerful water agencies that once backed it say Newsom’s voluntary agreements have become too restrictive. The Trump administration has threatened to withdraw support and several hundred million dollars in funding. And environmental advocates, tribes, and fishing groups warn that the deal and its regulatory backup gut protections for an ecosystem already in crisis.

Opening this week’s final hearings, E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said he was struck by the opposing criticism. He called water agencies’ narrative that the plan has strayed from Newsom’ original deal “convenient theater.”

"Some agencies say we kept too much oversight,” Esquivel said. On the other hand, tribes and environmental groups say “we kept too little. They are pointing at the same provisions from opposite directions. That doesn't make the plan perfect. It does tell me the plan sits where a regulator should.”

The question is how California’s water regulators will move forward without the buy-in of major water users these agreements had aimed to bring on board, and whether the regulatory backup will hold if they don’t.

“That creates a world of confusion and dysfunction,” Gary Bobker, program director at Friends of the River, said at a briefing Tuesday. “And I think the board recognizes that they're going to be handed an incredible morass.”

Supporters say the deal has changed

The Delta is the heart of California’s water delivery system, where state and federal pumps export Northern California river water to Central and Southern California. It’s also the center of California’s water wars, and in the throes of collapse.

State officials have been warning for years that existing rules aren’t enough to stop the precipitous decline of native species like the state’s iconic salmon as they lose freshwater to cities and farms. Crashing populations forced the recent cancellation of salmon fishing for three unprecedented years in a row.

But the state last overhauled the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, a keystone document governing water quality and flows, in 1995.

Late Thursday night, after two days of public comments raising concerns with the plan and several hours deliberating last-minute changes, the State Water Resources Control Board approved an update centering Newsom’s voluntary agreements.

Only one board member, civil engineer Nichole Morgan, voted against the update. Among the yes votes was Newsom’s former secretary for environmental protection Jared Blumenfeld, a signatory to the original deal.

California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot told a quiet room Thursday that he knew this path forward was uncomfortable for everyone.

“We heard yesterday a lot of groups, including tribal governments, that continue to believe that this is not sufficient, and this is the wrong approach,” Crowfoot said. “We have water agencies that aren't comfortable with the way that their proposal — our proposal — has materialized … That’s natural. This is a paradigm shift.”

Officially known as the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Program and backed by $2.9 billion of mostly state as well as federal and water supplier money, the Newsom administration touted these agreements as a way to forestall legal fights while balancing competing demands on the Delta.

But after years of regulatory processes, public comment and environmental review, the original signatories are balking. Water users, including Westlands Water District, a power player in the state’s $60 billion agricultural economy, say the current plan is not what they signed up for.

“It's unrecognizable,” said Jennifer Pierre, general manager for the State Water Contractors, which represents public water agencies serving 750,000 acres of farmland and 27 million people.

Pierre called the latest version a “complete system of micromanagement” that centers too much decision-making with the state water board’s executive director, and retains too little flexibility.

“I think everyone's reviewing it to see, okay, we've all acknowledged this is not what we proposed, but is it workable?” she said.

A second front opens up

In a major blow to the voluntary agreements, the federal government — which pumps Delta water to millions of acres of Central Valley farmland — is threatening to jump ship. If it does, it would take hundreds of millions of federal dollars with it.

State water regulators clarify that no one has yet officially withdrawn from the deal. But the threat hits harder than those from other water users, said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst for the Golden State Salmon Association.

“They're the largest water project in the Central Valley. They have more storage than anyone else in the state of California. And they jointly operate the Delta with the state,” Nelson said at a briefing for reporters.

Aubrey J.D. Bettencourt, principal deputy commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates California’s federal water delivery system, wrote to the water board in September to express the Trump administration’s “serious concern” with the near-final draft.

Bettencourt said it “reflects more of what has come to be expected from the State Board – executive and regulatory overreach, questionable legal authority, and continued downward pressure on water users throughout the state,” referring to reduced water supplies.

These concerns include a new provision requiring that if state or federal managers make substantial changes to water deliveries that decrease flows through the Delta, they must submit a plan to make up for the loss.

The addition comes after the Trump administration’s unilateral move last December to allow more federal exports from the Delta to Central Valley farms. California officials, who typically coordinate with federal water managers, warned at the time this risked leaving less for other water users and the environment.

Bettencourt wrote that if the board fails to address the Trump administration’s concerns, federal water managers will pull out and stop funding a plan she said “threatens reliability of water supplies that support … the entire fabric of California’s agricultural economy, rural communities, urban centers, and natural vitality.”

War among the water users

State water regulators say the plan can still succeed without federal participation or money, which was originally anticipated to reach $740 million.

“We're still committed to making the (voluntary agreements) pathway work for the other participants. It does complicate things, and we'll have to work through that,” said Eric Oppenheimer, the state water board’s executive director.

The money is part of the voluntary agreements’ $2.9 billion price tag intended to pay for habitat restoration and water purchases.

Oppenheimer said that if the Trump administration pulls out, federal water managers at the bureau instead would be bound by the backup plan.

But he added the board’s modeling shows it’s in the Trump administration’s best interest to stick with the voluntary agreements because it will allow them to export more water.

“It has a reduced water supply impact for Reclamation and its contractors, and we also think that the voluntary agreement itself is a benefit for the ecosystem,” Oppenheimer said. “But we can't make them volunteer.”

Environmental advocates and the fishing industry are skeptical about many things, including that state regulators will truly hold the federal government to the regulatory backup. They point to increased federal releases from Lake Shasta to send water to Central Valley farms this past summer, despite state objections that this would sap cold water necessary for imperiled salmon.

Those who fought voluntary agreements from the outset for failing to protect the Delta and all who depend on it say it’s ironic that water users are now fighting the deal, too.

“There actually might be a war among water users,” Bobker said. “That's kind of what you're seeing here: people who think the (voluntary agreements) are a weak-enough gutting of the regulations, and those who think actually no, they don't go far enough.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday rejected the Justice Department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election.

The panel’s 2-1 ruling is the latest setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to assert control over state-run elections.

Read the decision

The administration has alleged California sent ballots to some 20,000 people who may not be U.S. citizens. It wants the state to set those ballots aside and not count them until citizenship can be verified. California officials say the list is highly unreliable and likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.

A district court judge already forcefully denied that request and warned that the Justice Department’s demands could disenfranchise citizens.

“As the district court found — and we discern no clear error — there is no feasible way to identify and segregate the ballots of specific individuals without potentially catastrophic effects on the entire system,” the appeals court wrote.

The ruling is the latest in an expansive legal battle between the federal government and the state before Election Day in the midterms Tuesday. Millions of people in California have already voted.

The majority opinion was authored by Judge Mark J. Bennett, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed. Elections officials have said that processed votes are completely anonymized and can’t be matched back to the voters who submitted them.

The ruling comes during broader federal scrutiny of local elections, with the Trump administration issuing a raft of subpoenas in Alaska in a spoiler-candidate controversy. The Justice Department has also provided a list of alleged noncitizen voters to officials in Washington state.

Outside groups sued for access to the disputed list

Earlier on Friday, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to share the disputed list of names with lawyers for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. They want the list so they can examine who is on the list and assess its impact on eligible voters.

It will be the first time that a nongovernment organization will have the opportunity to evaluate the merits of the list of some 20,000 names.

Prosecutors with the Trump administration have argued that there is just as much to lose from noncitizens illegally voting, arguing that to tally those votes would dilute the voice of citizens.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra is an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project.

The two groups sued the Homeland Security Department in early October to prevent it from using federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit cited examples in other states where the federal government’s data has been proven to mistakenly include thousands of citizens. It argued that the data-matching methods risk disenfranchising or deterring citizens from voting. On top of that, plaintiffs argued, the lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens who are legally entitled to vote.

Another suit seeks to defend election workers

A coalition of unions on Friday also joined the growing list of groups challenging the federal government’s efforts.

The unions, including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, are asking a federal judge to temporarily block the Justice Department from demanding that local officials stop counting ballots and to drop threats to criminally prosecute officials who do not comply with their demands.

The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, Bill Essayli, has warned that “any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy.”

On Thursday the Associated Press obtained subpoenas issued to election officials in Los Angeles County. The subpoenas request any documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October by federal officials to state election officials outlining the allegations about noncitizen voters. They also seek any information about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted. At least three L.A. County election officials have been asked to appear before a grand jury on Nov. 4, the day after the election.

The lawsuit accuses the Justice Department of issuing threats against election officials that could interfere with their ability to process votes.

It is unclear whether the Justice Department intends to bring criminal charges against anyone. The department does not typically subpoena people whom it regards as targets of a criminal investigation to appear before a grand jury.

The Boulevard, Pasadena’s last gay bar that has stood witness to the worst years of the AIDS crisis and so much more, is closing after 45 years on Saturday with a farewell bash of drag and karaoke.

“We’ve had weddings. We’ve had funerals. We’ve had college graduations,” said Steven Terradot, owner of The Boulevard, who’s retiring and has put the bar up for sale.

“You always feel welcome,” said David Imai, who first came to the bar in 2012. “This place has a reputation of being the gay Cheers for a reason.”

Come November, what Pasadena loses isn't just a cozy watering hole, but a keeper of its LGBTQ+ past.

“We were more than just a place that sold drinks — or more than a party,” Terradot, 69, said. “I like to think that we had a conscience here, you know?”

Fridays are drag nights at the bar.

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The Boulevard in Pasadena.

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How The Boulevard survived the AIDS crisis

The Boulevard, Terradot said, opened in 1981, when original owners Randy Biggs and partner Carl got a liquor license after buying its predecessor, The Office, a gay beer-and-wine bar.

At the time, Pasadena had a cluster of queer night spots, Terradot said. Among them: The Vermie’s on Foothill Boulevard; Nardi’s, which became Copa; and The Whistle Stop, near The Office when it was on Colorado Boulevard.

Terradot first set foot inside the newly opened Boulevard in his mid-20s. “I looked both ways to see if anybody saw me come in, because there was a shame and a guilt in those days about who you were,” he said.

The place was packed, filled with people seeking belonging, sex, friendship — even as the AIDS epidemic was becoming full blown. He became a regular, eventually moonlighting as a bartender.

The Boulevard bartender Jamal Glasglow (left) and owner Steven Terradot (right).

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The Boulevard on Foothill Boulevard.

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The Boulevard felt the devastation of HIV.

“I saw it as a young man here,” Terradot said.

The daytime crowd of mostly older gay men, Terradot said, “started dropping like flies and it was scary, it was sad, and you couldn't do anything.”

Funerals were commonplace at The Boulevard and bar regulars started a fund for those in need.

“All we could do was try to get money for medicine or food or rent because people would get fired, they'd lose their health insurance,” he said.

Why he bought a struggling bar in 1999 

In 1999, Terradot bought The Boulevard, three years after the introduction of the so-called “AIDS cocktail,” which turned HIV into a manageable chronic condition.

At the time, business was slow. The internet was making it easy for LGBTQ+ folks to find each other. And his regulars were going to West Hollywood and Silver Lake to meet new people.

“The first Friday night I owned this bar, we did $200 on the register,” Terradot said.

But he saw it as a calling of sorts.

“I lost 11 friends during the AIDS epidemic,” he said. “I wanted to do something.”

A new generation finds community 

Honey B. Hive hosts Tuesday trans nights at The Boulevard.

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To give the bar a jolt, Terradot started its now-signature karaoke nights. He then made drag a weekly night.

In recent years, The Boulevard has become a place for trans folks to build community, adding trans nights on Tuesdays.

“For a long time I would come to The Boulevard in drag, and I would just pick up a lot of the queens' tips, and that was my way of paying my dues,” said Honey B. Hive, a drag performer.

Before long, she was anchoring Tuesday trans nights.

“A lot of the San Gabriel Valley comes for Tuesdays,” she said. “People have been coming ever since it started. It feels very familial.”

One last rush, and hope for a buyer 

On its final Sunday, after the leather social and before karaoke, Terradot was pitching in behind the bar.

David Imai is a Boulevard regular.

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Business has more than tripled, he said, as old-timers and newcomers flood in after hearing about the closure.

“It does feel like we are losing a resource and a local hangout for those of us living in the San Gabriel Valley,” Imai, the longtime regular, said.

A buyer could still reopen The Boulevard. Terradot said he’s holding out until mid-November for an offer before packing it all up and walking into the sunset.

He hopes someone out there sees the importance of a neighborhood gay bar.

“You still have kids that are lost that come in here, OK? You need to stick a hand out to them,” Terradot said. “So that is the role of the gay bar.”

Isabella La Rocca has been waiting for her financial aid refund for more than a month.

Santa Rosa Junior College’s financial aid office told the 21-year-old she could expect her disbursement via the BankMobile app by Sept. 16 — a date that came and went, she said.

“When I logged into the account after updating and doing the new verification, there was nothing there waiting for me,” La Rocca said.

La Rocca is among the thousands of California college students who have been affected by a breach of the BankMobile app used by roughly 60 community college districts to issue school and federal financial aid and scholarships. Some universities also use the mobile banking system.

According to BankMobile communications with California community college officials, approximately 65,000 student accounts were impacted by data changes, roughly 1,000 accounts were accessed and about 400 accounts had financial aid funds stolen.

The financial aid disruption has set off a wave of desperation among community college students from Santa Rosa to Los Angeles who rely on the funds for school supplies and basic needs. Some students are rationing gas, forgoing textbook purchases or skipping meals as they wait for their disbursements, which may never come for the 400 accounts from which funds were taken.

BankMobile breach

Once school costs are taken care of, college students in California typically receive refund checks from their financial aid, scholarships or student loans during the first few weeks of a semester, depending on the type of assistance.

That’s around the time “unauthorized individuals” gained access to a “significant number of BankMobile student accounts,” according to a letter from Los Rios Community College obtained by EdSource.

BankMobile first changed its account verification process in July, leading to a vulnerability exploited to hijack and modify account information for student accounts, state community college officials said.

Some college districts, such as Los Rios, issued paper checks and directed students to file a claim with BankMobile.

In October, after being alerted of the security breach, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office advised its college districts, including the Riverside and Foothill De Anza districts, to halt electronic payments through BankMobile.

Butte College officials said they didn’t know if compromised accounts belonged to students, but issued paper checks for its Oct. 8 disbursements, Action News reported.

Long Beach Community College distributed paper checks in person and by mail as well, The Viking News student newspaper reported.

Riverside Community College District switched to paper checks on Oct. 8 to make financial aid payments to about 3,400 students who normally receive payments via direct deposit, said John Geraghty, the district’s controller.

The district has since reverted to its standard process of direct deposit. Geraghty said the district was comfortable returning to direct deposit after BankMobile officials “disclosed information to us about security protocols that they’ve enhanced.”

Riverside students received their latest disbursement Wednesday, but students at other campuses are still waiting for their financial aid.

Los Rios, however, announced Monday it will transition from BankMobile to Nelnet for student disbursements and refunds. The district said it may continue issuing paper checks until “Nelnet is fully operational, and the process is working effectively and securely.”

In the meantime, Los Rios Community College directed its students to the college’s Basic Needs Center for support with food, housing, transportation or other essentials if there’s a continued delay.

Widespread impact across different campuses: food, gas, or books?

La Rocca at Santa Rosa Junior College said her financial aid pays for her tuition, transportation costs and school materials, while her part-time job covers her car payment, insurance and rent.

The delay has impacted her ability to pay bills, and is especially difficult given rising gas prices.

“I do rely on that money for transportation and books that I need,” La Rocca said. “I’ve had to come out of pocket for everything so far this semester.”

Julia Ramirez, an American Sign Language major at Los Angeles Pierce College, is on campus nine hours from Monday to Thursday. Without her financial aid, she said she’s weighed whether to buy basic necessities throughout the day, such as water and food.

“Now, I’m thinking about, ‘Is it worth buying this meal versus a textbook?’ ” Ramirez, 27, said. “I have to figure out what I’m spending my money on.”

Since the beginning of the semester, Ramirez has avoided buying her textbooks, which start at $64.

If and when students get their funds

Some students say they’ve been left in the dark about when, and if, they will receive their financial aid.

At Los Angeles Pierce College, some students say they have not received communication from the college’s financial aid office about the delays beyond an undated announcement that disbursements had been temporarily paused “due to unforeseen technical difficulties.”

Ramirez said she reached out to the financial aid office three times regarding the issue and was instructed to check back in two weeks. When she inquired two weeks later, she was told to check back in another week.

“They just have you going in circles, and I guess they don’t have answers either,” Ramirez said.

Although La Rocca’s refund is more than a month late, she has also not heard from her campus financial office at Santa Rosa Junior College. She said she intends to ask for a physical check, but it’s difficult with her work and class schedule. She attends classes four times a week at the Petaluma campus, 30 minutes away from the main campus where the financial aid office is located.

She said that the first thing she’ll do when she gets her check is fill up her gas tank.

And when her aid finally arrives, Ramirez said she is going to use it to buy textbooks and food.

“It’s a little sad that I have to pick between food or a textbook,” Ramirez said. “I feel like going to school is already stressful enough for students, and having to worry about eating on top of that is really stressful.”

EdSource reporter Michael Burke contributed to this report.

Sathya Chaib, a journalism student at California State University, Fullerton, and Emily Garcia, a journalism student at California State University, Northridge, are members of the EdSource California Student Journalism Corps.