The Runner 9-19-22

California State University, Bakersfield

A ROWDY TRADITION

Sept. 19, 2022 | Vol. 48, No. 1 | therunneronline.com

Photo by Alea Gaona Freshman students run across the soccer field at the 10th annual Rowdy Run during the first home soccer game on Sept. 1.

NEWS

CSUB students face registration issues due to holds

| NEWS | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com

By Teresa Balmori Perez News Reporter

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California State University, Bakersfield has been dealing with registration issues among students due to COVID-19 and immunization holds.

According to Dr. Vernon Harper, provost, and vice president for Academic Affairs, CSUB dealt with a COVID-19 incident during orientation. As a result, the event was pushed back and registration was compressed.

“Because it was compressed, we had to make some changes to our advising structure and the holds so that students can get into their classes,” Harper said.

One of the two main holds that students have been facing are COVID-19 and immunization holds. However, Harper stated that CSUB made some modifications to ensure that if a student had a COVID-19 or immunization hold, they were going to fully address those students and allow them to register.

According to Harper, the main reason why this issue is occurred this semester is due to the ongoing issue of COVID-19. The Office of the Chancellor also made changes

to the immunization requirements, which caused some difficulties.

As mentioned by Harper, CSUB is working through these issues by making adjustments.

“We modified the immunization holds (in the first two weeks) and we will continue to make modifications to orientation, as well as to focus on our COVID holds,” Harper said.

When asked about how this has impacted faculty, Harper stated, “I don’t think they are affected greatly. We were able to make some adjustments to the course schedule to make sure that faculty and their classes are populated.”

Despite all of this, Harper said that enrollment should be similar to last year. He mentioned that CSUB is always observing how the institution has changed due to the pandemic.

“About 80 percent of our courses are going to be face-toface or hybrid and the faculty has done a marvelous job of selecting the best modality for their students.”

Nevertheless, John Harte, a communication professor at CSUB, has stated that his course had been impacted due

CSUB students walking around campus and sitting at tables.

to low registrations. “Unfortunately, my journalism class this semester was canceled due to low enrollment,” Harte said.

Because of this, he will not be teaching at CSUB this current semester.

“I wasn’t surprised at the cancellation, but I was surprised how severely the overall numbers dropped because I started teaching here in 2015, and I’ve had either full classes or classes with enough enrollment, wasn’t a consideration,” Harte stated.

Some students have also had problems with registering for classes.

Morgan Dunshee, a prehealth major at CSUB, said that she had a COVID-19 hold due to not having the booster shot. She also mentioned that she had an advising hold and needed to attend an advising

The Runner Staff FACULTY ADVISOR Jennifer Burger jburger1@csub.edu

COPY EDITORS Jaira Arcano, Jennifer Fain, Elizabeth Lackey, Guadalupe Leon

CO-EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Vada Hepner vunderwood2@csub.edu Ellice Richman erichman@csub.edu

REPORTERS/WRITERS Lila Arambula, Teresa Balmori Perez, Jaylene Collins, Rebekah Corral, Ashleah Flores, Cosme Garcia, Joselyn Green, Hailey Hernandez, Kaitlyn Milam, Priscilia Mugwa, Alexis Robinson, Susan Rodriguez, Amyyah Rogers, Baylie Ruiz, Adriana Ruvalcaba

SECTION EDITORS Haydee Barahona, Ernesto Leon, Frankie Nadal, Faith Okoli, Kiara Zabala

SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM Alyssa Cantu, Isiah Santana MULTIMEDIA TEAM Julia Cervantes, Maya Inosencia Morales, Jennifer Serrano ARTISTS/PHOTOGRAPHERS Silvia Catarino, Alea Gaona, Alexis Lynde, Elise Mayer, Courtney Park MARKETING TEAM Julisa Muñoz

Photo by Courtney Park / The Runner

session.

Dunshee resolved these issues once she received her booster shot. As for the advising hold, it took a while to get cleared because there were many students making appointments.

Another student shared her experience as well.

Julissa Vargas, a computer science major at CSUB, stated, “it was just a little bit complicated because we’re all, like, new to the system. We didn’t know how to work things around.”

She mentioned that in high school she had advisors who helped her enroll into her classes, but when she arrived at CSUB, she had a tough time learning how to navigate everything by herself. However, Vargas resolved this issue by making an appointment with THE RUNNER California State University, Bakersfield 9001 Stockdale Highway Bakersfield, CA 93311-1099 ABOUT US The Runner is a laboratory newspaper published daily online with a monthly printed edition and PDF e-edition, in conjunction with the Department of Communications at CSU Bakersfield.

CONTACT US Send corrections requests, letters to the editor, op-ed submissions and press releases to runner@csub.edu.

Send advertising inquiries to jburger1@csub.edu.

her advisor. After this, everything was easier for her.

When asked about how academic advisors are helping students with registration, Arts and Humanities advisor, Christina Ramirez, said, “when a student comes to me with enrollment issues, I make sure they review all holds and to-do list items on their MyCSUB.” She also said that one of the main reasons why students have trouble registering for classes is due to COVID-19 and immunization holds.

Ramirez advises all students to check their MyCSUB portal for any holds or to-do list items and their CSUB email accounts daily in order to relieve some stress for students.

Contact Teresa Balmori Perez at tbalmori-perez@csub.edu

DISCLAIMERS Views and opinions expressed in The Runner are not necessarily those of the editors, staff or the Department of Communications. The staff of The Runner reserve the right to refuse or omit any advertising or material which advocates illegal activity, or which may be considered libelous, irresponsible or tasteless.

COPYRIGHT Copyright belongs to the Department of Communications at CSU Bakersfield.

NEWS

Yellow lawns for a green future

| NEWS | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com

Story and photos by Julisa Munoz Marketing Manager

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California State University, Bakersfield has decided to stop watering non-functional grass lawns on campus as a response to California’s ongoing drought. This is in compliance with the governor-mandated statewide water conservation, as announced in email sent by Paula Bray, Director of Facilities Services Management Administration.

According to the email sent out by Bray on Aug. 17, 2022, CSUB will no longer water the lawn by parking lot K3, the lawn between Science III and Student Health Services, and the lawn behind the University Police building, as well as other small grass areas near the science buildings.

Unaffected areas include trees, shrubs, and the surrounding grass areas. Other areas that will go unaffected are recreational and sports fields and lawns that are reservable for events, according to a fact sheet from three years ago sent out by Bray.

Dr. Robert Crewdson, geology and hydrogeology lecturer at CSUB, explained the importance of the changes to irrigation at CSUB. “We are living in a time where water is a scarce commodity. When any commodity is scarce, when there is not enough to go around for everybody then we need to find ways to make water or any commodity to go as far as possible and to meet the most important needs of our community first,” said Crewdson.

CSUB Capital & Facilities Management Services faculty Joseph Hedges and Jennifer Sanchez Biedermann wrote an informational fact sheet that explained how CSUB is working to manage its 373 acres of land.

Prior to the irrigation changes made on Aug. 17, CSUB had made efforts to reduce

the campus water usage by installing turf in grass areas near sidewalks and planting drought-tolerant plants.

Drought-tolerant landscaping has also been added near the new construction campus in areas like Student Housing East, the Humanities office and classroom buildings, as well as the Visual Arts building.

The work isn’t stopping there.

The CSUB Capital & Facilities Management Services have also included drought-tolerant landscape in future renovation projects.

“CSUB has an ongoing program where we remove grass and lawn from small areas where it is not being used for recreation and replace it with inert ground covers,” said Hedges and Sanchez.

The university believes that the greenspaces on campus are very important to the student’s well-being and mental health.

That is why the students were kept in mind while making the irrigation changes.

Jennifer Sanchez Biedermann, energy and sustainability specialist, said, “When students congregate at greenspaces on campus, we observe that they use specific areas specifically areas that are shaded by trees.”

Jennifer Sanchez Biedermann said, “At CSUB, a goal is to produce globally aware citizens. So, as an educational campaign, we believe that it’s very important for students to be aware of the importance of conservation and what’s happening on their campus.”

Crewdson said that CSUB needs to be seen as doing water conservation right and effectively, as well as being seen as a good advocate for water conservation. According to Crewdson a water management plan must be in place not only for the campus but also in everyone else’s lives for real change to happen.

Affected area behind University Police building on Sept. 7.

CSUB water use in centum cubic feet “A water management plan takes inventory of all of the water consumption that you’re responsible for, [which allows us] to look at ways that maximize our sustainability,” said Dr. Crewdson.

All CSU campuses have made the commitment to reduce water usage by 10 percent by 2030. CSUB water use goal by 2030 is 157,182 centum cubic feet, which we are ontrack to meeting, according to the factsheet by Hedges and Sanchez. The water conservation efforts that are in place are estimated to reduce water use by approximately 5 percent, which is 10,000 centum cubic feet of water per year.

Sanchez wants to make students aware that if they are to see water waste, specifically on campus, they can report

Data provided by Jennifer Self

Unaffected area near Student Health Services on Sept. 7.

it on CSUB Service Now by submitting photos of any the broken irrigation or leaks that they come across.

To report water waste on campus, go to the ‘Facilities

Serious Catalog’ on https:// csub.service-now.com or to water@csub.edu.

Contact Julisa Munoz at jmunoz29@csub.edu

FEATURES Harry Styles brings fans home with “Harry’s House”

By Kiara Zabala Opinion Editor

anything but predictable.

“Late Night Talking” is the second song on this album.

Although fans already knew the lyrics to this song since Styles performed it prior to the album release, listeners were still beyond thrilled to hear a clear version of this song. This song in question has a happy musical sense to it, but upon listening to the lyrics, listeners will see that this song is not as happy as the melody. This is far from one of his sad songs on this album; however the feeling of longing hidden within the lyrics is there.

Styles sings, “But I’d follow you to any place,” clearly not caring if he must chase this person to the ends of the Earth. We also get a very similar vibe of a happy song with a longing undertone in his single from the album, “As It Was”.

As I stated prior, Styles does

Screenshot from “Late Night Talking” music video.

have sad songs on the album.

Songs such as “Little Freak”, “Matilda”, “Boyfriends”, and “Love of My Life” all had me reaching up to wipe the tears from my eyes when I first listened to them.

“Little Freak” is a song where, once again, we see Styles longing for a person. Only this time, it seems he is longing for the wrong person. With my favorite line as follows, “You never saw my birthmark,” he writes of a person who never took the time to learn something as simple as a birthmark. Something so permanent, yet this person he clearly cares for never took the time to

get to really know him.

Styles really tore out fans hearts with track 7, “Matilda”.

This song is about not feeling as if the family you were raised in truly cared for you. Styles sings, “You don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up,” which is a beautiful sentiment of not feeling bad about outgrowing your family. One thing I feel that people do not understand is that it is okay to outgrow people, even if they are your own family, but family is not always blood.

He backs up my point with the lyrics, “You can start a family who will always show you love.”

All 13 songs were very well

crafted. You can tell that with every album this man releases, every single one becomes more vulnerable than the last. “Harry’s House” was by far the most hard-hitting of all his albums to date. I would love to go into a five page essay on each song, but I suggest you go listen to the album yourself and form your own thoughts on Styles’ third album.

After hearing all these songs, I now will count down the days until I get to listen to them live in October as Harry Styles performs “Harry’s House” and brings us all home with open arms.

Contact Kiara Zabala at kzabala1@csub.edu

What happened at Midnight

By Jennifer Fain Copy Editor

On August 28, 2022, Taylor Swift attended the Video Music Award’s, where she won Video of the Year. During her acceptance speech, Swift announced her new album. She did not give the album’s name but asked her fans to watch for an announcement at midnight.

There have been theories about what Swift’s next release would be. Many thought we would get a re-recorded version of one of her older albums. Others thought Reputation would be the next re-release. This theory was further cemented when Swift showed up to the VMAs in a dress that is very reminiscent of the dress she wore

13 years ago.

It was at this 2009 VMA that Kanye West stormed the stage to rip the microphone from Swift’s hands. However, the feud with Kanye did not stop there; it has been rumored that the Reputation album was written about her feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.

Swift announced the name of the album at midnight via her Instagram, which is appropriately named “Midnights”. She included in her Instagram announcement a short message about her new album, “Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October

21. Meet me at midnight.” The album release date also happens to be Kim Kardashian’s birthday, so maybe Swift did this as a nod to her fans’ theories regarding the Reputation album.

The reaction to the “Midnights” album announcement from fans has been excitement mixed with shock and, of course, speculation.

Swift is well known for leaving easter eggs for her fans. The easter eggs can be found from interviews, music videos, or Instagram posts.

One favorite fan theory is that of the “Lover House.” In Swift’s music video for “Lover”, she introduces a doll house that is trapped within a snow globe. Each room in

Photo provided by Entertainment Weekly West as he stormed the stage during Swifts acceptacne speech at the 2009 VMA awards.

the house is rumored to represent a different era of Swift from her previous nine albums from “Taylor Swift” to “Evermore”.

The theory is that the release of “Midnights” will complete the “Lover House” as it is the midnight sky that surrounds the house.

Some fans worry that with the

completion of Lover House, Swift might be signaling to her fans that she is ready to step away from music for a while.

On behalf of all Taylor Swift fans, I hope this is one theory that never comes true.

Contact Jennifer Fain at jfain@csub.edu

FEATURES | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com |

With the teasing Harry Styles gave his fans leading up to the release of his third solo studio album, the world was anxiously awaiting for what would come from the British pop star. On May 20, people all around the globe bolted to their phones as they woke up or some, like myself, stayed up until midnight to be one of the first to hear the album we had all been waiting for what seemed like forever for.

“Harry’s House” starts off with “Music For a Sushi Restaurant”, which is the typically upbeat song one can expect from Styles. When listening to this song, it gives the listener an impression that the entirety of the album after this song will be the same. However, this is not the case as he tends to take a step away from the stereotypical pop sound we usually can expect from pop stars. Harry Styles is

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| OPINION | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com

OPINION

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Cracker Barrel sampler platter with ham, meatloaf and chicken n’ dumplings.

Cracker Barrel serves up friendliness with a side of salt Story and photos by Rebekah Corral Opinion Writer

Bakersfield welcomed its newest restaurant located just off Highway 99. Cracker Barrel Country Store serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Along with an open restaurant plan, the restaurant contains a small store offering items such as candy, prepackaged food, and various knick-knacks. I also saw some adorable Christmas and Halloween décor.

When I arrived at 4:30 p.m. with my fellow foodie Carol Sue Perez, people were sitting outside in chairs spanning the entire building.

I prepared myself to be handed a long wait time but was pleasantly surprised when they said it was 20 minutes or less to be seated. While wait-

ing for our table, it was nice to enjoy the different décor and old-fashioned candy, and it did pass the time.

I must applaud all the workers there; considering this was such a busy day, multiple people came around to ensure we had everything we needed.

I have been to this restaurant at its Utah location before, which caused me to be curious about how the food at this new location stacked up.

I chose a sampler meal so I could try a little of everything.

Carol Sue had the chicken fried steak and hash brown casserole.

The hash browns stole the show on her plate since the generous amounts of gravy weren’t to her liking.

The highlight of the evening would have to be the bacon macaroni and cheese and the broccoli cheddar casserole.

The bacon macaroni and cheese had bacon, small breadcrumbs, and green onions. I am not a fan of onions on my macaroni and cheese, but they knew what they were doing.

The mix of flavors tasted great; both dishes were cheesy comfort food at their best.

I love sweet potatoes, so I was thrilled to see the menu included baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon butter.

It just tastes like the holidays to me.

One surprise star was the peach tea that Carol Sue labeled “to die for.”

However, the restaurant

missed the mark with its heavily salted ham and bland chicken and dumplings.

The chain usually knocks it out of the park with these items, so opening day could be why some things didn’t make the cut.

I commend the server for quickly replacing the overly salted ham with a more edible version.

The meatloaf was pretty good, but nothing I would order again.

The menu items were varied and had some particularly yummy-looking breakfast options.

Overall, I would recommend trying it. I give them a 6 out of 10 for their lunch options.

In customer service, Cracker

This is the candy section of the Cracker Barrel Store connected to the restaurant.

Barrel gets a 10 out of 10. I never had my drink go more than half empty; I received excellent, friendly and attentive service.

Contact Rebekah Corral at rcorral@csub.edu

OPINION

Tumblr era returns a decade later

By Jennifer Serrano Ramirez Multimedia Producer

everyone could be their authentic selves and discover new things.

In the article, “Move over Y2K: Why I celebrate the return of Tumblr, ‘Twee’, and the new era of ‘Indie Sleaze’ dressing” Doris Daga explains how the return of the Tumblr Era is going to become a way for our generation to reminisce on those good times.

Now that we are beginning to move forward from the pandemic, we are seeking things that brought us joy before the world shut down.

Hence, the return of the 90s, early 2000s, and now Tumblr!

Besides the TikTok and Tumblr similarities, we can also see early signs of this Era coming back through celebrities.

The Arctic Monkeys and Lana Del Rey were two popular artists during the Tumblr Era, those of which are working on new releases.

Taylor Swift fans believe that her new album “Midnight” will also be reminiscent of the iconic era. Whic is

due to the color palette of the album cover and the picture clues being released.

If you scroll through Instagram, you might also notice that celebrities’ pictures seem more casual.

You will notice a slight blur to the picture or a flash that uncovers minor flaws.

As time passes, clothes will go from minimalistic nude to dark grungy colors.

Makeup will follow this same pattern, going natural on the face but heavy and dark on the eyes and lips.

Slowly but surely, the Tumblr trends will make their way back.

The Tumblr Era was well known for the great music and sense of style, but it was also awfully known for the toxic body negativity.

Some may fear that with all the good things Tumblr came with, so will the bad.

The app was known for hating on people who did not have the slim figure everyone wanted at the time.

My hope is that we’ve moved forward from that negativity and that, hopefully

Illustration by Faith Okoli all the current movements we have seen about body positivity will still apply.

Although I’m ecstatic about the era coming back, I started going into a spiral about how others might feel.

Patty Martinez, a third year student says, “Especially with all the Y2k fashion at the moment. It’s like a blend of the early 2000s and then 2010s.

In a sense, it is a culmination of my generation.”

She seemed to have a similar opinion as Doris Daga, who was previously men-

tioned for her Vogue article on the same topic.

Although it can be a bit scary an old era may bring back some toxic traits, our generation does a great job at preventing most of it from happening.

It’s nice to see us bringing back trends that are core memories of somebody else’s life or even ours. *Cue “Do I Wanna Know”

by The Arctic Monkeys* Contact Jennifer Serrano Ramirez at jserrano24@csub.edu

OPINION | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com |

Let’s go back to a time we all remember; chokers, kneehigh socks, thick eyeliner, and some of the best music (aka the Tumblr era).

With the 90s and Y2k trends falling as quickly as they rose, some may ask themselves, “Which era is next?”.

With my (non-professional) trend forecasting experience (and lots of TikTok scrolling), I can confidently say that the iconic Tumblr era is coming back!

Our music, clothes, makeup, and social media will rapidly mimic the same trends we saw a few years ago.

Tiktok is now what Tumblr was to many.

With the rise of the “Instagram Baddie” in 2016, everyone seemed to be held to a standard of perfection.

Since the pandemic started in 2020, Instagram was out and no longer captivated our attention during those long weeks of quarantine.

Instead, Tiktok was gaining more and more popularity.

Just like Tumblr, TikTok became a safe space where

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SPORTS

CSUB men’s soccer takes on GCU for a 2-1 win

| SPORTS | THE RUNNER | Sept. 19, 2022 | therunneronline.com

By Susan Rodriguez Sports Reporter

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The 103-degree heat added to the intensity of the evening on September 1.

The crowd, the players, and a stampede of freshmen CSUB students who took to the soccer field during half time in the annual Rowdy Run added to the rush while the men’s soccer team prepared to take on Grand Canyon University.

Following two away losses for the CSUB men’s soccer team, the team beat GCU 2-1.

The men played strong defense, only letting Grand Canyon University score one goal throughout the night.

There was action and true teamwork that was visible from the stands as CSUB defensively forced an offside against GCU in the first 9 minutes.

This kept the momentum up and allowed for CSUB to move up the field quickly.

CSUB blocked not one but two corner shots from GCU within the first 15 minutes of the game.

Junior defender Juan Pablo Alvarez (4) barely missed his opportunity with the corner shot. GCU’s goalie was able to tip it and allowed for a quick defeat of the shot.

As the crowd watched the game with silent intensity, CSUB was able to score the first goal of the night.

Within the 18th minute mark sophomore forward Rene Cortez (9) scored with an assist

from Alvarez. Their continued rush up and down the field with quick movements allowed for the score.

As for half time, the Rowdy Runners who are made up of the freshmen class were invited to sprint across the field to show their support for the team.

This is an ongoing tradition for opening night soccer games at. CSUB. This year marks 10 years.

The intensity of this first scoring play of the night was something Head Coach Ritchie Grant emphasized that the team worked on throughout the whole game.

Coach Grant also talked about the importance of the environment, “It was the opening night at home, the men tend to step up.”

This did not fall far from short as the next goal was scored by senior Carlos Armendariz (10) with an assist by Cortez (9).

Teamwork is what helped ensure the night’s win.

After the game, Cortez (9) said, “As the season has progressed, we’ve come a long way. Before we came in individually trying to win games, but that didn’t really work.

These past few games coming in playing as a team and finding our special players that we look for in the box has really helped.”

In addition to coming out on

Photos by Alea Gaona Shammai Camara, defender, tackling GCU to retrieve the ball on CSUB Main Soccer Field on Sept. 1, 2022.

top with a win of 2-1, Coach Grant reiterates the importance of moving forward of not allowing simple goals being made and the progression the team is heading toward, “Changing formation and energy levels”.

Increased competitiveness is something the fans should look forward to in future games, such as their game Sunday.

Freshman midfielder Cristian Moran (16), who was ecstatic for his first win at CSUB, said it “Feels good, there was intensity from the start of the game.”

Contact Susan Rodriguez at srodriguez55@csub.edu

Bilal Mihoubi (14), defender, jumps to head the ball during the game on Sept. 1, 2022.