So take a moment to yourself and indulge a little after surviving all of those lectures, professors and all-nighters. After all, how does that famous saying go? There’s always room for dessert.

These cupcakes are my favorite to take to parties. They’re guaranteed to make your friends or family smile. The chocolate flavor is strong and delightful, partly thanks to the sprinkling of ground instant coffee that goes in. I’ve learned from the past (and many a Food Network show) that coffee helps bring out the chocolate flavor in baked goods, producing a more pronounced flavor that is of course even more delicious.

The recipe makes two dozen cupcakes but is very easy to double, a perfect amount if you’re making them for a large gathering or a surprise birthday party like I did. Make sure to cool them properly —- I usually make cakes a day before I have to frost them —- they’re easier to frost this way.

The great thing about cupcakes is you don’t have to limit yourself to one kind of frosting or toppings the way you would with a giant cake all on it’s own. You can go crazy or fancy, or maybe even go versatile like I did with these babies. One batch was topped with my favorite peanut butter frosting and crushed Nutter Butter cookies. The other batch was topped with chocolate mocha frosting and crushed Oreos.

Have fun with this. After all, the semester’s over and you deserve it. Enjoy.

Devil’s food cupcakes
Adapted from www.chockylit.blogspot.com
(Yields 24 cupcakes)

2 cups of flour
2 cups of suga
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) of melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of ground instant coffee granules
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with liners and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Mix all the ingredients except the eggs with a mixer. Beat on high for two minutes. Add eggs and beat on high for another two minutes.

3. Scoop the batter into the pan using an ice-cream scoop. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut butter frosting
From CrepesofWrath.net

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 creamy peanut butter
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of buttermilk, plus 1 to 2 more if needed
Crushed Nutter Butter cookies for garnish (optional)

1. Cream the butter in a mixing bowl for about three minutes. Then add the peanut butter and cream that with the butter for another minute or so.

2. Add in the powdered sugar and beat together using the lowest speed. (I used a handheld mixer, it worked fine.) Mix until incorporated.

3. Add in the powdered sugar and beat together until incorporated.

4. Add in the vanilla, then the buttermilk, one tablespoon at a time, until desire consistency has been reached. Beat together until light and fluffy. Top cupcakes with frosting and crushed if cookies.

Mocha chocolate frosting
From CrepesofWrath.net

6 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temeperature
1 extra large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
2 teaspoons water

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan or pot of simmering water. This acts as your double boiler. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature. (If it’s not cooled, you’ll end up with chocolate scrambled eggs.)

2. In a bowl, use an electric mixer (or a handheld one) and beat the butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for three minutes.

3. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the powdered sugar, then beat medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy.

4. Dissolve the coffee powder in two teaspoons of hot tap water. Add the chocolate and coffee into the butter mixture and mix until blended, being careful not to over whip. Spread immediately on cooled cupcakes and top with crushed Oreos.

“It’s a very cultural day. I appreciate it when people come out, dress up and show society the culture,” said Raquel Lopez, 21, who is studying humanistic psychology at City College

“It’s lovely for people to come together for a day and celebrate Earth and life, and have peace in the community and put worries to the side.” said City College student Jaquelin Lopez, 24, studying urban agriculture.

Aztec Dancer

by J. Rae Chipera, City Times.

Daniel Guevara, a traditional Aztec dancer from Mexico City, models his traditional Aztec traje throughout Chicano Park Day. He performs dances that were created by his ancestors and are taught from generation to generation.

“They come from a long way,” Guevara said.

Traditional Aztec traje’s are usually made from leather and Earth materials, but Guevara made his traje with materials that were available to him. His pectoral is significant because the ancient symbols represent the journey and struggles of life.

Low Rider

by J. Rae Chipera, City Times.

Ruben Ramirez is one of the 17 members of the San Diego Oldies Car Club.

“It’s in my nature. I’ve done it since I was a kid.” Ramirez said, referring to restoring cars.

He restored the 1949 Chevrolet pickup that he built for his grandson who is currently 8-years-old. Ramirez and his son, Ruben Roberto, both did the wood work and railing on the pickup, and paint job done by Marlo’s Paint in National City.

“It’s a passion. It brings everything back to life.” Ramirez said.

Ramirez was born and raised in Logan Heights and has been living in San Diego his whole life.

Mexican Traditional dress

by J. Rae Chipera, City Times

City’s Spanish Club member, Carolina C. Yepiz, wore a traditional Mexican dress from Jalisco, Michoacán. The Spanish Club promotes the traditions of Spanish culture and assists students in learning the Spanish language and culture as well.

Mexican Traditional dance

by J. Rae Chipera, City Times

Cythia Reyes and Cecilia Ramirez, two members of the Nanahvatzin Ballet Folklorico, perform a traditional Mexican dance in the Kiosko.

City’s athletic director, Kathy McGinnis, takes pride in the job as she has guided her student athletes throughout the year.

“This year, as with every year that I have been Athletic Director, we have excelled both on the field and in the classroom,” McGinnis shared through an email interview.

“Supporting approximately 160 student athletes is very rewarding. From my viewpoint I don’t focus on the bumps in the road but more on our continued commitment to the quality experience we provide for our student athletes,” McGinnis said.

While the athletes competed during the 2012-13 season, achieving successes both on and off the field, McGinnis talked about the achievements made throughout the year.

“Many of our Sophomores will move on to 4 year institutions. Our female Athlete of the Year (Tessa Butterfield) has accepted a full ride to Univ. of Alaska for Volleyball. Softball’s Jonna Kalstrom was named to the Academic All-American team as a catcher,” McGinnis said.

Some of the coaches also took home some conference trophies during the spring season.

“Women’s Cross Country Coach Kylie Edwards and Badminton coach Son Nguyen were chosen as Coach of the Year by the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference (PCAC),” McGinnis said.

The coaches not only performed for City College on the field but have also been heavily involved in the community.

“The coaches are also big advocates of community service with their teams,” McGinnis said.

Highlights include participation in the “Making Strides” breast cancer walk (which raised over $1,000), the annual food pantry challenge (collecting more than 1,500 cans of food) and the “Shop with a Jock” holiday trip, where ten children from families receiving CalWorks each got a $100 shopping trip to a local Target (funded in part by the American Federation of Teachers).

One of the yearly fundraisers for the athletics department was the annual Harry West Golf Tournament, held on May 2, providing funds for the Harry West scholarship fund and adding funds to the co-curricular program budget.

As for the outlook for the 2013-14, McGinnis is not certain but she does have some plans in the works.

She explained “As for next year, the coaches are already recruiting, as this is a year round necessity. There is no way of predicting the outcome of our season.”

“Our conference has accepted a petition from Mt San Jacinto college to join the PCAC, taking our conference to 10 teams beginning with the 2013/14 seasons,” McGinnis said.

“This is good news as it improves the quality of teams that we face throughout the year. Also, Women’s Sand Volleyball is being considered as a sanctioned community college program by our State Association (California Community College Athletic Association). Dede Bodnar, head womens volleyball coach ran a club team on the sand this spring and was very successful,” McGinnis said.

San Diego City College will hold its 99th commencement ceremonies at the Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on Friday, May 24. The ceremony begins at 5 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m.

Before graduation day, all graduates must attend a mandatory at the Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park on Thursday, May 23, at 3:30 p.m.

The first several rows are reserved for graduates and other seats will be available to guests in the unmarked rows. Special accommodation seating is available on the west side of the seating area.

Photography is permitted. However, friends and family who want to take pictures are asked to be respectful by keeping the aisles clear. A designated photo area will be provided. Videographer information will be posted at www.sdcity.edu/graduation.

Balloons, beach balls, blow horns and lawn chairs are prohibited.

If it rains the ceremony will be moved to the City College Harry West Gymnasium on Park Boulevard (across from San Diego High School).

Graduation is a big deal. Everything that the graduates have worked for will finally pay off. It’s time to celebrate accomplishments, all-nighters, struggles, finished workloads, and passing. Congratulations graduates and best of luck!

For more information about graduation and directions, visit www.sdcity.edu/Portals/0/About/OfficesAndAdministration/Graduation/2013/3190_Graduation_Information_2013.pdf

These nutlike seeds have gained quite a reputation as being contenders for being a superfood. Almonds are not only tasty but have many benefits to secure your health, these benefits are and not limited to according to WebMD:

Lowering Cholesterol

Eating almonds as part of your regular diet helps raise “good” cholesterol levels while reducing “bad” cholesterol levels.

Regulate Blood Pressure

High blood pressure often goes hand in hand with diets that are high in sodium and deficient in calcium and potassium. Almonds are high in potassium and low in sodium, both factors that help to regulate blood pressure.

Prevents Cancer

The fiber in almonds has a detoxifying effect. This fiber allows food to move through the digestive system more efficiently, cleansing the system and preventing colon cancer. The National Cancer Institute recently released a study linking high-fiber diets to a lower risk of colon cancer.

Protect Against Diabetes

Almonds also have a stabilizing effect on sugar and insulin levels after meals, offering protection from diabetes.

Boosts Your Energy

Almonds are rich in manganese, riboflavin, and copper, all of which aid in energy production. If you are always on the go, try making your own almond based energy bar, and take your energy with you.

Reduces the Risk of Heart Disease

Almonds contain a high level on monounsaturated fat, the same heart-healthy fat as olive oil. Vitamin E, also found in almonds, is an antioxidant that is very effective in reducing the risk of heart disease. Almonds are also high in magnesium, which improves blood flow and the movement of oxygen and nutrients throughout the body.

Provides Healthy Fats and Aids in Weight Loss

Although nuts are high in fat, frequent nuts eaters are “thinner on average than those who almost never consume nuts” as recorded in the Data from the Nurse’s Health Study. Those who ate nuts at least two times per week were 31 percent less likely to gain weight than were those who never or seldom ate them in a study involving 8865 adults.

Improve Brainpower

And as if this superfood couldn’t get any better, almonds also contain phenylalanine, a brain-boosting chemical that aids healthy development of our cognitive functions.

So forget all of the voices in your head that are saying that nuts are bad for you, and add almonds to your daily routine.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Pacific Southwest chapter has nominated James L. Smith II, Alice Kim and Alex Miler Pastore for the Student Production, General Assignment award for three projects.

“Perez Captured,” the piece by Smith and Kim was a news piece that took place across the border. The piece follows the capture and extradition of Armando Perez, who has been accused of killing his estranged wife, Diana Gonzales, on City’s campus in 2010.

“It was an adventure, we went to Tijuana and had an interview with the chief of police,” said Smith, recalling the work that went into the piece.

“Covering the Diana Gonzales story was very difficult for students,” said Laura Castañeda, chair of the communications department at City and advisor of Newscene.

“It’s been challenging because it was in our backyard. It was a hard lesson to learn,” Castañeda said about Newscene’s coverage of the event.

One of Pastore’s two nominated pieces is also about the Diana Gonzales story. “One Year Later –— A Mother Continues to Cope with her Loss” is about the one year anniversary of Gonzales’ death and how her family is dealing with their tragedy.

Pastore and Smith have not only been nominated, but have also won in the past.

Last year Pastore took home the student Emmy for Student Production —- General News Assignment for his piece “San Diego Marks the End of D.A.D.T,” a piece he worked on with another student about the repealing of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

Pastore explained that every student entry costs $40 to submit, so usually he just submits his best work. This year his best work included a piece titled “Election Indicators” that looked at unconventional ways that different people try to predict election results, including asking third grade students and buying certain cups from 7-11.

“I didn’t think it would place,” said Pastore of his election piece, “But it did.”

The student awards for the Pacific Southwest chapter of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences are held annually in June. This year the awards will be held in Las Vegas on June 15.

The spunky little girl stands in the middle of a toy store as she turns to the camera. Frustration is written in the adorable little creases on her face and she sort of even stamps her foot as she exclaims, “Why do the little girls have to buy princesses?”

“Some girls like superheroes,” she says. “Some boys like superheroes. Some boys like princesses. Why do all the girls have to buy pink stuff? And why do all the boys have to buy different colored stuff?”

And the argument, the spectacle made over the gender neutral toy ads in Sweden seems so small when seen through a child’s eyes.

We encourage our kids. We tell them that they can be whatever they want to be, but deliberately and immediately turn our backs on that mantra by trying to fit them into boxes and forcing them to adhere to labels.

“You’re a girl,” we say as we hand them a dream house and a Barbie.

“You’re a boy,” we tell them and hand them Hot Wheels and toy guns.

Childhood is a wonderful, imaginative time. Why must we hand out specifics and guidelines?

Many of us look at younger generations, kids and maybe even teenagers alike, and want to tell them to take things slower and remember not to grow up too fast. It’s a time to be whatever it is you want to be and play with whatever doll or Nerf gun you want.

Childhood is once in a lifetime, we all have the rest of our lives to be adults. Leave the labels —- and the boxes —- for later.

In this day and age, most people are familiar with issues of sexuality, be it lesbian, transgender, gay, bisexual, or anything else. So we acknowledge that we all come in different shapes or forms but our publicity, our culture, even the way we go about buying and selling is still not a reflection of this.

Last year, the organization Millions of Moms sparked uproar when it protested against JCPenney after the department store included an ad featuring two moms for Mother’s Day. How did the store react after this?

They released an ad featuring two dads the following month for Father’s Day.

How many of us have played with jeeps or cars or guns as young children? How many boys maybe decided to color outside of the lines so to speak, and dared play house with the girls or were curious about those giant kitchen sets?

The point is that childhood is exactly that, a time to let your imagination run wild and to color outside of the lines.

Our ads should be a reflection of this, a way to encourage our children to be what they want to be right here, right now.

Advertisements that show these crossed gender norms seem like a good thing, they tear down the constraints of gender, equality for all. But everybody needs to focus on ripping down these ideas of man and woman and work on us all as people.

Gender divides are a big problem for America, after all it took 144 years for women to get to vote in this country.

Many professions have huge divides in the pay scale for men and women. In porn, women get paid close to four times what men do and in the medical industry where men make thousands of dollars more than women each year.

Gender is out there.

Our constructions of gender are vast, we enforce our gendered society every moment of every day. Every time we look down aghast at a man crying, or a woman being assertive. When we tell men “don’t hit a lady” and tell women to cook, clean and raise the kids, and you ought to get a part time job while you’re at it.

Our society is gendered.

These issues are important, we need to deal with them, right? Well … Yes we do.

Our country’s national debt increases by $4 billion a day according to Representative Kevin Brady of Texas in a report by ABC News.

Is it important to remove gender from our society? Yeah it is, however there are so many more important things to do, like repairing our national economy, switching our nation to renewable energy sources, ending our international conflict and refocusing our national spending on the homefront.

They are on the list of things our nation needs to address, but we have much bigger problems at hand, ones that corporations don’t want us to look at, because national defense is a $3.8 trillion industry.

So next time you see these ads, recognize that we need to do something about it, much like we all need to travel to Europe, but it’s a luxury and we need to take care of business with our economy first.