Santa Monica College Film Club members, Andrs Loera, 22, (in the McKain mask-left) and Kevin Kerr, 24, (in the Obama mask-right) sell red and blue cotton candy during Club Row on Thursday, October 30, 2008. The annual event is designed for many clubs at SMC to recruit members and raise funds. Club participants set up colorful booths across the Library Walkway, where they discussed their activities to prospective members and attract a multitude of students with promises of food and prizes. The event turned out new club devotees and at least a spark of interest in many others.

The Austrian folk group Knopferlstreich sing and dance at the Third Street Promenade on Saturday, October 25, 2008

(top) Visitors imagine what its like to be a refugee during Doctors Without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frontiers' outdoor educational exhibit, 'A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City,' at Santa Monica Beach on Sunday, November 2, 2008. (above) Pediatrician Dr. Sachin Desai, explains that Refugees are allotted just 5 gallons of water a day for all their drinking, cooking and washing needs as compared to Americans who averages about 100gallons a day. The display was set up to educate Santa Monicans on what life is like for the worlds 42 million refugees: the 26 million people who have been uprooted by war in their homelands and the 16 million who have fled across borders and are forced to call a relief tent home. Guided by MSF aid workers, visitors are asked to imagine that they are among the millions of people fleeing violence and persecution in, for example, Somalia, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or Sudan. The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its emergency medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, health clinic, vaccination tent, therapeutic feeding center, and a cholera treatment center. Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization created by doctors and journalists in France in 1971. Today, MSF provides aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters. MSF provides independent, impartial assistance to those most in need. MSF reserves the right to speak out to bring attention to neglected crises, to challenge inadequacies or abuse of the aid system, and to advocate for improved medical treatments and protocols. In 1999, MSF received the Nobel Peace Prize.

(1) Chock, 36, performs a sacred prayer dance, "The Old One," at Santa Monica High School's Roberts Art Gallery during the 'Dia de los Muertos,' (Day of the Dead) art opening on Thursday, October 30, 2008, 2008. On the drums is Erick Kidd, 32. (2) Artists (left to right) Tinia Fischer, Luis "Wicho" Brizuela and Jose Lopez discuss the altar during the opening. Students' calaveras, retablos, and other traditional images and projects were displayed. Day of the Dead is a Mexican holiday celebrating and honoring the lives of the deceased, and celebrating the continuation of life; the belief is not that death is the end, but rather the beginning of a new stage in life. Día de los Muertos dates back 3000 years.

Santa Monica College Anthropology club members Alex Silvia, 18, dresses a skelaton  during Club Row on Thursday, October 30, 2008. The annual event is designed for many clubs at SMC to recruit members and raise funds. Club participants set up colorful booths across the Library Walkway, where they discussed their activities to prospective members and attract a multitude of students with promises of food and prizes. The event turned out new club devotees and at least a spark of interest in many others.

Mauricio Hernandez, 19, and Ashley Woods, 18, try to get adopted at the Third Street Promenade during Halloween on Friday, October 31, 2008.

(1) Police Activity League (PAL) Kid, Lily Reynaldo, 8, decorates a cookies at PAL on Thursday, October 30, 2008. (2) Lily Reynaldo, 8, (left) and Amy Albuera, 13 (right) decorate their cookies. (3) Min Jung Kwon, 6 and her brother Min Sang Kwon, 5, decorate their cookies at PAL. (4) Eli Bonilla, 13, decorates his cookie on Thursday. The cookie decorating class at PAL was generously sponsored by The Cake Collection.