March 7, 2024

ASUCD hosts Planet Her week from Feb. 26 to March 1

Events included a self-defense class, crafting and performances by UC Davis students

BY SYDNEY AMESTOY campus@theaggie.org

Planet Her, an ASUCDsponsored event created by ASUCD Senator Dani Antonio to celebrate the empowerment of women, had numerous events in the week of Feb. 26 through March 1. The week was held in collaboration with Students for Reproductive Freedom at UC Davis (SRF), the ASUCD Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC), the ASUCD Gender and Sexuality Commission (GASC) and the ASUCD Sexual Assault Awareness Advocacy Committee (SAAAC).

Antonio initially created Planet Her to celebrate women’s empowerment on campus, where the concept was first implemented through a one-day event on Oct. 20, 2024. After the night’s success, Antonio created an entire week dedicated to celebrating women on campus. The week’s headliner event was held in the Coffee House (CoHo) on March 1 to kick off Women’s History Month. “When I ran [for ASUCD Senate], and I got elected, there were 12 senators on the table and only two of us were women,” Antonio said. “That was a big discrepancy between

the men and women on the table, and it felt like we weren’t fully represented. My goal was to make an event that offered exposure to what ASUCD does and offer leadership opportunities and enrollment opportunities for girls on campus and just a place for everyone to get to know each other, interact and have a safe space, especially in our sexuality and gender.” The main event, held from 7 to 9 p.m. in the CoHo, saw multiple ASUCD committees, UC Davis resource centers and local, women-

Whole Earth Festival set for May 10 to 12 with the theme, ‘Can You Dig It?’

As the event approaches, student representatives discuss the relation of the theme to sustainability and opportunities for volunteers

BY AALIYAH ESPAÑOL-RIVAS campus@theaggie.org

The Whole Earth Festival (WEF) is scheduled for May 10 to 12 at the UC Davis Quad. Composed of student art, education, food booths and live music, the free event aims to teach attendees about sustainability. The festival is open to both UC Davis students and the public.

According to the official website for WEF, the festival started as a small art class project that taught visitors about activism, wellness and environmental sustainability. Since the establishment of Earth Day in 1970, the project has evolved into a fully student-led event hosted during Mother’s Day Weekend.

This year’s theme is, “Can You Dig It?” — a theme chosen to call people toward the event’s message: sustainability, according to Katherine Krinsky, a third-year English major and logistics coordinator for WEF.

“When we were deciding the theme, we talked about how it’s calling people to be inclusive,” Krinsky said. “It’s like, can you get with the messages and core values of the festival, which at its core is sustainability.”

The event itself is zero-waste, with a team of student volunteers to help with the various sustainable practices that the event upholds. According to Alex Ikuma, a third-year physics major and chaos control coordinator for WEF, there are many different groups students can volunteer in to help during the festival.

“We have the Whole Earth Reusable Cooperative [WERC], where students help transport our reusable dishware to a dining common to wash,” Ikuma said. “Students can participate in the Compost and Recycling [CNR], helping sort the compost and recycling during the

event.”

In addition to WERC and CNR, students can help watch booths for vendors, manage the flow of vendors coming in and out of the event or volunteer to help at a student booth. Sarah Glick, a third-year political science major and coordinator for the kids’ space at WEF, wants to provide a fun educational experience for children at her booth.

“Festivals usually have a lack of child-friendly environments,” Glick said. “I want to take an educational route to teach kids about sustainable actions and caring about the earth.”

Glick hopes to achieve this by having the Davis Library promote library cards and bringing the local non-profit, Farm to Fork, to teach about healthy eating. Additionally, Glick plans to host crafts and activities for both children and families to enjoy.

While the festival is still underway as plans are finalized, coordinators are excited for the Davis community to experience the event.

“I’m excited to see it all come together for the community,” Krinsky said. “It’s magical to watch it all happen so well and quickly; one day, you’re in the quad, and two days later, you’re in a festival.”

Looking towards the future, students interested in volunteering can check out the WEF Instagram (@ wholeearthfestival) for updates and interest forms. Although students may be intimidated by the commitment of volunteering, Ikuma hopes students will see the opportunity with optimism.

“I think it scares students when they hear they have to commit and volunteer; they think it will be intensive work,” Ikuma said. “But we hope those who volunteer see the opportunity as rewarding, seeing the festival happen and knowing you directly contributed to it.”

owned businesses tabling. The event also featured performances from several women-led dance groups such as the NKOH Polynesian dance group and the Davis De Heere Bhangra dance group. The headliner performance was from local drag queen Ellis D. Raffles. Planet Her also consisted of four other events on the days leading up to March 1. On Feb. 26, the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) held a self-defense class. Feb. 27 and 28 saw different crafting nights at the Memorial Union. On Feb. 29, an event in which

students were able to compare resumes was held. One of the major ASUCD committees that helped Antonio with the planning of Planet Her was the Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC).

Julia Miller, the SHAWC Chair, spoke on how Planet Her is an event that aligns with many of the goals SHAWC tries to achieve on campus. “It’s such a great option for people to do on a Friday night that isn’t revolving around drinking or drugs,” Miller said.

“This is a great alternative where people can find a community right here.”

This was the second Planet Her event held since its inception last quarter, which was to celebrate International Women’s Day. According to Antonio, the goal is to establish Planet Her as a unit within ASUCD.

“The hope for Planet Her is that it becomes its own committee or unit after this year so that there’s some longevity,” Antonio said. “I’m hoping it becomes a quarterly thing, and that [it’s] run by its own committee so that I don’t have to transfer it to another senator who gets elected, because that doesn’t have any permanence.”

As for more short-term goals for Planet Her, the shirts given to event volunteers are going to be available for purchase next quarter after heavy demand at the last Planet Her event, according to Antonio.

“There were a lot of people who attended the last [Planet Her] that asked if we were selling shirts and we weren’t, but this time around, we’re planning to sell shirts in the spring,” Antonio said. “We’re planning to donate all profit to The Pantry for menstrual equity and central reproductive health.”

Graduate School of Management hosts Women in Leadership conference

The conference brought local and state politicians, CEOs and other women in leadership positions to provide insight into the world of management

BY RIVERS STOUT campus@theaggie.org

On March 3, the UC Davis Graduate School of Management hosted the annual Women in Leadership conference. The event saw a variety of speakers and had its largest audience to date. This year marked the first time the event had sold out, as well as the first time CEOs, politicians and executive leaders appeared, all coming from the greater Sacramento area.

Speakers for part one of the conference included Christy Serrato, CEO and founder of PairAnything, a startup that seeks to pair wine with any cuisine, and Rachel Zillner, CEO and co-founder of Clutch, a consulting and management firm.

“I see a tree,” Serrato said when speaking about leading a company. “I’m the trunk, and there’s all these branches. I’m here to support everyone’s dreams, we’re gonna realize it, manifest it and I’m here for you [...] I strive to be the best work experience [employees have] ever had.”

Speakers were then asked to share tough decisions they have had to make in their careers.

“I think something we take for granted is security,” Zillner said. “When you’re building a start-up, people don’t feel secure. In November of last year, we did our first round of layoffs — we laid off 12 employees — that was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life. If I didn’t, I’d probably have to close the doors a year from now on more people; that’s a risk that I was not comfortable with.”

Part two of the event featured Davis City Council members Donna

Neville and Gloria

Partida.

Partida spoke on her involvement with Mothers of East Los Angeles, an activist group of women dedicated to stopping threats to their neighborhood’s environment.

“It affirmed for me that you can make things happen,” Partida said. “No matter how big or insurmountable [difficulties] seem, you can change the course of the world around you.”

A member of the audience asked the pair how they build support systems in an unsupportive environment.

“Find supporters [and] allies who are going to work with you,” Neville said. “A lot of it is just building yourself up [and] working on your own confidence. I’d go on walks with my headphones on with loud music, the whole time just envisioning it. I don’t know if it got me into law school, but it gave me this sense of ‘I can do this.’’

Part three of the conference highlighted Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, California state representative for the 4th Assembly District, and Gina Saenz, executive director at BeckmanCoulter.

“I went and found something to change the world, and I got into politics,” Aguiar-Curry said after sharing her experience of being in a room where men only doubted her. “In Winters, I was a councilwoman [and] a mayor. I did anything possible to learn more — I was on the Yolo County Water Agency, Yolo County Housing Authority [and] the Sacramento Council of Government. I knew that my calling, where my heart was, was in public service [...] as far as I’m concerned, I’m not a politician, I’m a public servant.”

Speakers were asked to share their

thoughts on the future of women in the workforce.

“I feel so passionate about promoting women, supporting women — actually, all diverse groups,” Saenz said. “I just really want to see industries in the world being more diverse. Be brave, speak up for injustice.”

Event Co-Host Inga Langford summarized the importance of the speakers’ words and takeaways.

“Find your sponsors, your advocates,” Langford said. “Say thank you to those who tell you no because it saved you a lot of time. Don’t let anybody ever tell you no — you can go focus on those that have a yes.”

The event was finished with a fireside chat with LinkedIn influencer Morgan Young. She spoke on the importance of seeking good role models who’ll help your career and are willing to stand up for you against a male-dominated world.

Students gather in the Memorial Union CoHo on March 1 for Planet Her. (Courtesy / Dani Antonio)

Various speakers answer questions from the audience at the Women in Leadership conference. (Courtesy / Rivers Stout)

Held at the Memorial Union quad, the Davis community enjoys food, music, and crafts at the Whole Earth festival. (Shanna Punzalan / Aggie)

Davis City Council recognizes February as Black History Month at recent meeting

The city council officially recognized and held a ceremonial presentation for Black History Month

BY HANNAH SCHRADER city@theaggie.org

On Feb. 20, Davis City Council held their second meeting of the month and officially recognized February as Black History Month.

Mayor Josh Chapman started the council meeting by recognizing the importance of Black history.

“Each year, Black History Month has a theme, and for 2024, it is ‘African Americans in the Arts,’” Chapman said. “Exploring the influences African Americans have in the fields of visual and performing arts, literature, fashion, folklore, language, film,

music, architecture and other forms of cultural expression. Whereas art is a powerful motivator, a storyteller of people and their experiences, cementing their legacy in history and their local communities in the United States, and whereas today and every day is a time to honor the influences and legacies of African Americans.” Chapman then made the official proclamation recognizing February as Black History Month.

“Therefore we, the Davis City Council, on behalf of the citizens of Davis, do hereby recognize and acknowledge the significant contributions made by African American people to our community

and proclaim February 2024 to be recognized as Black History Month,” Chapman said. Camica Edwards, the president of the Black Student Union at Davis Junior High, then accepted the recognition.

“It is my honor and privilege to be here with you today to accept this Black History Month proclamation from the city of Davis,” Edwards said. “Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying, ‘Understanding the history of Black Americans is a way of understanding the strength of our nation’ so thank you to all of you who in this place, like me, believe Black history is American

history and deserves just as much attention and focus.” Edwards then thanked the city council as well as the Davis community at large for their contributions to uplifting members of the Black community. “Thank you to Davis City Council for recognizing the significance of this month and for continuing to implement city policies that build up the Black community so we can continue to make contributions to our city,” Edwards said. Edwards then recited the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” written by James Weldon Johnson.

“Lift every voice and sing, till heaven and earth ring. Ring with the harmonies of liberty, let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies. Let it resound as loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us, sing a song of hope that the present has brought us,” Edwards recited.

To end Edwards’ acceptance of the proclamation, she reiterated her support for uplifting the community.

“I encourage all of you to continue listening to, learning from and loving on each other this Black History Month and every day,” Edwards said.

City of Davis hosts movie viewing in remembrance of Executive Order 9066

“And Then They Came For Us” discusses Japanese American Internment during World War II

BY ALMA CULVERWELL city@theaggie.org

On Feb. 26, the city of Davis hosted a community viewing session of the film “And Then They Came For Us’’ in recognition of Executive Order 9066 at the Veterans Memorial Theater. Executive Order 9066 was the bill that led to Japanese American internment during World War II. The event was free for the public to attend and co-sponsored by Davis Asians for Racial Equity, Davis Phoenix Coalition, UC Davis Asian American Studies and the city of Davis’ Human Relations Commission. The doors for the event opened at 5:30 p.m. with the film viewing starting at 6 p.m., followed by presentations and a Q&A session directly after. An estimated 275 people attended the event.

Pattie Fong, lead organizer of the event, commented on the goals she had when planning. She originally came up with the idea to hold the event in January and began outreach in her local volunteer newspaper, Currents.

“The goal of this event is to have more people knowledgeable about the impact of Executive Order 9066 because the hysteria of WWII against Japanese Americans is repeating in our contemporary lives,” Fong said. “Muslim bans, refugees at the southern border being called criminals, teachers/librarians who sponsor LGBTQ+ events being called perverts and molesters, etc. The fake news is all around us and the politicians are fueling the hate.”

“And Then They Came For Us” is a 2017 documentary directed by Abby Ginzberg and

Amtrak, city of Davis discuss station improvements at outreach sessions

The city of Davis is collaborating with Amtrak to present upcoming improvement project developments to meet ADA standards

BY OLIVIA HOKR city@theaggie.org

On March 6,

greet with Amtrak and city staff to learn how the project may impact nearby communities.

For years, Amtrak has been working on plans to bring all train stations into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In 2022, Amtrak began developing the plan to bring the Davis station up to standard. Amtrak and Union Pacific are working together to improve the accessibility of boarding the train along with other advancements.

In an April 2023 staff report, Davis City Director of Public Works, Engineering and Transportation Dianna Jensen and City Engineer Ryan Chapman wrote about the overall goals of the project.

“The overall project goals […] are: increase ridership of commuter rail along the Capitol Corridor, improve multimodal accessibility to the station, enhance safety at the train station [and] comply with ADA standards,” the staff report reads.

The city has outlined several plans for potential station improvements.

“Upgrades at the station may include: new center platform to be accessed either by tunnel or bridge for safer access; new platform lighting and signage; track improvements to support service efficiencies; and new connection from the Amtrak station to Olive Drive,” the city of Davis’ website states. Jensen shared that the main objective of this Amtrak-led project is to positively impact members of the community who need access to the historic train station.

“The community will benefit from the project, both from the increased access for those using wheelchairs or other mobility-assisted devices and the access to Olive Drive, especially [because of] the opening of the new bike and pedestrian ramp that connects Olive Drive to the Pole Line overcrossing for access to South Davis,” Jensen said. Construction is anticipated to run from 2025 until 2027 without disrupting daily service to riders. The Davis Amtrak station is one of the busiest stations in the region. The satisfaction of the Davis community and train passengers is important to the city and Amtrak staff. All wereinvited to attend the outreach sessions to give feedback and ask questions regarding the plans for the Davis Amtrak Improvement Project.

“The outreach sessions [helped] residents and train riders to see the potential changes,” Director of Community Engagement Jenny Tan said. “There [were] large maps available [...] at both sessions [for] to better visualize the changes to come. The sessions also [allowed] residents and train riders to ask questions [to] the subject matter experts themselves and the organizations.”

Ken Schneider. The film retells the history of Japanese American internment during World War II and follows current-day Japanese American activists speaking out against the Muslim registry and travel ban.

Dawn Yackzan, a community member who attended the viewing, described her feelings about the event.

“Pattie Fong’s Japanese Remembrance Event at the Veteran’s Memorial was wonderful,” Yackzan said. “I learned important history and new details of the traumatic events forced upon Japanese Americans. I teared up when listening to some speakers. I loved the side comments from the audience members, some of whom were historians, giving context and personal details.”

Yackzan went on to describe some of the logistics of the event.

“[Fong] had a comprehensive PowerPoint running in the background with decades of photographs and publications from 1942 to the Feb. 2024 Koramatsu ribbon cutting with paintings done by Toni Rizzo and community [members],” Yackzan said. “Fong’s Japanese Remembrance program was as moving as it was important.”

Fong noted her extensive background research and interest in the Woodland and Yolo County archives surrounding Executive Order 9066.

“I [spent] many days and hours reviewing microfiche of historic Davis Enterprise and Woodland Democrat newspapers, [which are] available at the public libraries,” Fong said. “The Yolo County Archives [were] also helpful with research on the Winters Express newspaper, WWII records [...] and Yolo County government records.”

Fong emphasized the importance of familiarizing the community with Executive Order 9066 and raising awareness of ongoing current-day events. She added that she would love to assist with future similar events moving forward. “This conversation is also a learning

opportunity for the entire community to acknowledge [that] institutionalized hate is a prime example of critical race theory and [to] recognize that the hateful speech against southern border refugees, Muslims, Asian American Pacific Islanders [and the] LGBTQ+ [community] is the same hate articulated by a verbal minority who directly or indirectly urge harm and violence against specific groups in our community,” Fong said. “We need to recognize hate, feel empowered to denounce it and be good bystanders to stand with those being targeted, even today.”

Davis City Council begins general plan update process

As the council starts to update its general plan, the Davis community shares thoughts

BY ZOE SMITH city@theaggie.org

On Feb. 20, the Davis City Council began its general plan update process. The need to update the city’s general plan was brought to the city council’s attention by the Davis League of Women of Voters (LWVDA) who put together a General Plan and Community Vision Committee Report called “A Vision of Our Future in Davis: Ideas and Thoughts from the Community.”

This report was initially released to the public on Nov. 6, 2023, after being sent to the city council for review on Sep. 28 of last year. The LWVDA were invited to do a presentation on their report on Feb. 6 at the Davis City Council Chambers.

Mary Jo Bryan, past LWVDA president and chair of the General Plan and Community Vision Committee, gave the report to the city council alongside Michele Famula, the current president of the LWVDA and member of the Davis league board.

“We just felt that the report was valuable, that it said to the city council [that] there are a lot of people out there that want to be a part of the process,” Bryan said. “They want to know what’s going on.”

The original plan was last amended in 2007 and has needed updating for years due to the city’s growth. A general plan articulates a community’s vision for long-term development and serves as a basis for decision-making. Ruth Coleman is a LWVDA member and was involved in some of the focus groups for the Vision of Our Future in Davis report.

“The experience was very rewarding because there was this real hunger and a real enjoyment that all the people that we met with had an opportunity to meet, serve across disciplines, across interests and start sharing their ideas of imagining what data could be,” Coleman said.

The state of California mandates that each city’s general plan addresses the elements of land use, circulation (i.e. roads and transportation), housing, conservation, open space, noise, safety and environmental justice. The LWVDA report surveyed over 900 Davis locals on the importance of each item and addressed what the community wanted the city council to update.

“I’m really optimistic that this general plan is going to bear good fruit,” Coleman said. “I happen to have a daughter who can’t afford to live in Davis, so I’m very hopeful that we can start to find ways to broaden the inclusivity of the city.” Sherri Metzker, community development director for the city council, surveyed cities in the greater Sacramento area. She found that it took between one to two million dollars to update their plans, which is the average cost for a big project like this.

“The current general plan was adopted in 2001,” Metzker said. “That took about seven years to create. From my experience, that’s about average. I know it sounds horrendously long, but it, unfortunately, is a very complicated document and sometimes requires a great deal of discussion.”

The city council has discussed updating its general plan for over two years. The council’s next step is to find a consulting firm that can assist them in developing a request for a general plan update proposal.

The council is also taking the steps to form two committees when updating the general plan — one for community engagement and another for solicitation and staff input.

“The council wants to be very involved in the evolution and progression of this particular general

plan to update,” Metzker said. “What this will do is allow for the council to comment on things and make changes to the plan as it moves through the process.”

At the city council meeting on Feb. 20, public commenters were concerned if the general plan update would create any affordable housing to support the large population of UC Davis students who are unable to find apartments on and off campus.

“We want to incorporate as many opinions and get as much feedback as we can from various members of the community,” Metzker said. “That’s an important part of the implementation and development of the general plan itself.”

UC Davis professor Catherine Brinkley was a public commenter at the meeting. Brinkley teaches her undergrad students how to do a general plan revision for class. Brinkley suggested creating small grants for local agencies to do workshops and outreach around the general plan update process so that student representation is involved in the updated plan since it wasn’t involved in the downtown plan. “It’s important to get everybody’s opinion,” Metzker said. “It’s important to come up with a process where that can happen in the most expeditious way possible.”

Davis Phoenix Coalition offered a free screening of award winning documentary: “And Then They Came for Us,” featuring a multitude of interviews and old film tapes. (Jersain Medina / Aggie)

Past articles related to Japanese American Internment are hung for attendees of the Davis Phoneix Coalition Day of Remembrance to view. (Jersain Medina /Aggie)

ASUCD Senate reviews several bills, including one addressing doxxing, at Feb. 29 meeting

While SB #64 was tabled, the bill plans to tackle the harassment of marginalized groups through educational trainings on doxxing

BY RODRIGO VILLEGAS campus@theaggie.org

The Feb. 29 Senate meeting saw the confirmation of a new justice for the Judicial Council and the passing of SB #61 and CA #89, concluding with several exchanges among Senate members during the open forum.

Senator Trinity Chow called the meeting to order at 6:13 p.m. and read the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement shortly after.

Following the Land Acknowledgement, Iman Tariq, a justice who was confirmed earlier this quarter, read the Oath of Office and was sworn into the Judicial Council.

The Senate then heard quarterly reports from the Judicial Council, Aggie Reuse, the Student Advocate Office, the Housing and Transportation Advocacy Committee and Entertainment Council — with each group providing updates, recent accomplishments, challenges, Spring Quarter goals and how the Senate can support their goals.

Next, the meeting transitioned into public comments.

The first comment by Zachary Boggeln, the Internal Affairs Commission (IAC) vice chairperson, criticized SB #63 — a bill that seeks to “remove the Internal Affairs Commission from the Elections Committee” because of their unethical intrusions in Election Committee business.

“Senate Bill #63 is remarkably foolish, blatantly unconstitutional and unapologetically unprofessional,” Boggeln said. “The unfounded, speculative and personal attacks on the [IAC] Chairperson’s and my own character unduly damage our reputations on a public document. No

claims made in the entirety of the bill are substantiated by any modicum of evidence.”

The second public comment supported SB #64, a bill that aims to prohibit harassment directed at marginalized individuals in historically targeted groups, specifically addressing harassment via doxxing through educational programs and campaigns.

Afterward, Controller Allyson Francisco chimed in to voice concerns toward the Senate regarding the state of the Senate Reserves.

“[The Senate has] spent 79.57% of your budget,” Francisco said. “You are not allowed to go over 80% of your budget by the end of this quarter.”

Several minutes of discussion later, Senator Chow ordered a break to give Controller Francisco time to reconfirm numbers. During the break, she found her statement to be incorrect, with slightly lower numbers. However, the Senate did not discuss this further during the meeting. Once reconvened after the break, the Senate moved on to consider old legislation.

SB #61, a bill aimed at restructuring the interviewing committee of Club Finance Council (CFC) members to correspond with CFC Statutes and Procedures, passed with a 13-0-1 vote (yes, no, abstain).

Next, they considered SB #58, a bill to allocate funds to The Pantry. Originally, the bill asked for $13,055; however, the Senate lowered it to $8,055 after much discussion. Ultimately, they tabled the bill for next week.

Following SB #58, the Senate reviewed SB #64, the previously mentioned bill regarding doxxing, authored by Senator Katia Bouali.

“[Student safety and doxxing] is something that I have been particularly

Five bands compete at Battle of the Bands for performance spot at upcoming Whole Earth Festival

The event was hosted by KDVS and ASUCD Entertainment Council on Feb. 24, where the audience chose Sacramentobased band Granada to win

BY VINCE BASADA campus@theaggie.org

KDVS and the ASUCD Entertainment Council (EC) hosted a Battle of the Bands event on Feb. 24, showcasing five local bands who competed for a chance to perform at the Whole Earth Festival (WEF). The free event, which was held in the CoHo, was attended by an estimated 200 people.

The winning band, Granada, is a Sacramento-based progressive and alternative group. They took the win after an energetic closing performance that drew the audience into a mosh pit and ended with much applause. Its members include bassist Michelle, guitarist and vocalist Breezy and drummer Cameron. The Battle of the Bands was their third show, having formed six months ago.

“We all have good confidence, so I think we thought we were going to shoot high and we did,” Cameron said.

“The crowd was amazing and I feel like that gave me a lot of confidence too,” Michelle added. All three members said that music has been longtime passions for them, and expressed gratitude for the audience and Davis for showing out.

Guitarist Breezy said, “I’ve been doing music for about 15 years, but guitar is a more recent development and doing something in a group like this is really new.”

The bands in order of performance were: Illbie, Fire Trial, In Ether, Star Vista, and Granada. Originally, KDVS and EC advertised that eight bands would perform, however due to varying mitigating circumstances, only five were able to come to the event.

Near the venue’s entrance, representatives from KDVS, EC, and the Whole Earth Festival tabled with information on upcoming events and opportunities.

Highlights from the night, aside from Granada’s closing act, include In Ether, who had formed just three weeks before the show. Their performance

worried about,” Bouali said. “This year, I have been followed, I’ve had my pictures taken in class [and] I’ve had my personal information published online before. I think nobody should go through that.”

Senator Yara Kaadan went on to discuss the impact words can have.

“My hope is that through these trainings, people have a better understanding of what their words can incite, especially when it comes to the systematic oppression and harassment of Palestinian students and their allies,” Kaadan said.

After a long discussion, the meeting paused for a break.

Once the meeting resumed, Senator Bouali proposed tabling SB #64, and the Senate sent it back to the External Affairs Commission and the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission.

The meeting then transitioned into a discussion of CA #89, which moves to make the ASUCD Priorities Resolution by the ASUCD President an obligatory responsibility, alluding to the incident with President Ojeda earlier this year. Previously, the wording in the ASUCD Constitution did not explicitly make the ASUCD Priorities Resolution a compulsory requirement.

Senator Binh Do expressed his opposition to the bill.

“It feels very reactionary to what transpired under the [Ojeda] administration,” Do said. “From what I’ve gathered from office hours and public comments, this is not what the students see as a proper solution within this form of a Constitutional Amendment.”

Eventually, CA #89 passed with a 9-1-4 vote.

Lastly, the Senate reviewed SB #50, a bill that allocates $751.54 to

the Office of Senator Nur Ambaw to purchase athletic gear for the Memorial Union, which was sent back to the Environmental Policy and Planning Commission.

Afterward, the Senate heard a quarterly report from the Office of the Transfer Student Representative.

The meeting proceeded to an open forum, where Senator Ambaw opened with a comment regarding members leaving the meeting early. By the last hour of the meeting, about eight members of the Senate remained.

“If we can’t handle it, we have to make some serious decisions then,” Ambaw said. “I think we should emphasize more of an environment where we have to stay here. Yes, we are tired, but this is our job.” Senator Curtis Chen echoed a similar sentiment.

“If you have assignments to catch up on, that’s not a valid reason to not do your job,” Chen said. “If it’s a health [issue], that’s different. I don’t think it’s fair to say, ‘Oh, I’m behind on work this week,’ because you knew you had a Senate meeting [to attend] the whole week.”

Following that discussion, Senator Jonathan Ng shifted the conversation to comment on SB #63 and respond to Boggeln’s public comment earlier in the meeting.

“I appreciate the concern about [SB #63],” Ng said. “I admit the bill was very hastily written, so I will be withdrawing the bill. [But], I would like to point out that when I was at IAC and we were editing CA #89, [Boggeln] voted to put the words ‘be respectful,’ [yet] he called [SB #63] ‘moronic.”

Ng continued.

“I just want to point out that hypocritical aspect. If the IAC Vice Chair is so concerned about upholding

respect, then [he should] not call something ‘moronic.’”

IAC Chairperson ThuyAnh Truong responded.

“I want to acknowledge that [Boggeln]’s use of the word ‘moronic’ is not appropriate,” Truong said. “I think where he is coming from is that this bill in general is highly inflammatory and, quite frankly, derogatory to me and to [Boggeln]. In this, there are unsubstantiated claims about our impartiality, our professionalism and who we are as people.”

A “defensive back-and-forth” (as Kaadan later described it) ensued between Ng and Truong; however, other members eventually intervened in an attempt to de-escalate the situation.

“I think we should respect each other’s writing, even though I do think we need to work on writing things by each other before we put this on public documents,” Chow said. “It’s kind of upsetting that we’re all supposed to be working together to serve students and [are playing] [...] childish games.”

External Affairs Commission Chairperson Daniel Mojica chimed in.

“When you’re not respecting one commission chair, you’re disrespecting all commission chairs, so please don’t forget who you’re talking to when you come to us with your bills,” Mojica said. “Our commission meetings are not your legislation writing workshops. Please be respectful of my time, my commission’s time and each other. Sounds good?”

Senator Ng withdrew SB #63.

The meeting adjourned at 12:58 a.m.

Unitrans celebrates 100 million riders, 56th anniversary

One student was gifted a “Golden Ticket” valid for a lifetime of free Unitrans rides, among other prizes

included an acoustic guitar solo, and proved popular among the crowd. Attendees voted by marbles after the performances had ended. The results were announced soon after, with Granada narrowly taking the win with 89 votes to In Ether’s 85 votes.

Aside from a performing slot at the Whole Earth Festival, the winners received a cash prize of $200.

Siya Pun, third-year cognitive science major and EC Unit Director, said that planning for the event began over a month prior, and presented an opportunity for interunit cooperation.

KDVS and EC had hosted a similar event in the past, and both groups expressed interest in pursuing future collaborations.

“Working alongside different units was a huge goal of ours, [and we had] a lot of our own staff members work with other units and their staff and strengthen unit efforts,” Pun said. “I’d love to see more collaborations happen in the future with WEF and KDVS.”

KDVS Events Directors Ani Bagmanian and Scala Reyes said that over 20 bands submitted performances for consideration after opening the event application, many of them based locally.

“We really wanted to showcase local artists and this has been an event that was done a few years ago with [EC] and we’re excited to bring it back,” Reyes said. “We wanted to be able to platform a lot of bands that maybe have not been [highlighted] in Davis to bring some fresh faces to the scene.”

Bagmanian noted that no one is turned away at KDVS paid events for lack of funds, but added that the show’s free entry helped to make it more accessible to students.

While only the winning band received payment for the show, Reyes expressed her appreciation for all the performers who came out to showcase their work and passion.

“You know, they were donating their time to come out here and perform,” Reyes said. “We’re really grateful that they were all willing to do so.”

BY VINCE BASADA campus@theaggie.org

Unitrans celebrated both its 100 millionth rider and its 56th anniversary on Feb. 28 with much fanfare, choosing one rider to be gifted a “Golden Ticket” and giving away goodie bags and souvenirs to commemorate the milestone.

The lucky 100 millionth rider, Gabriela Jimenez, a third-year political science major on her commute to class, was one of approximately nine people on the randomly selected Q Line bus. Each rider was given a small gift basket, with Jimenez receiving a large Willy Wonka-esque golden ticket that read “100 Millionth Rider.”

She exited the bus, which had just pulled into the station, with rounds of applause from onlookers, live music and local media documenting her historic ride.

Alongside the ticket, Jimenez was given a larger gift bag, including gift cards, merchandise, a pizza party for eight from Woodstock’s and Unitransthemed accessories valued over $200 — not to mention that Jimenez’s

golden ticket grants free Unitrans rides for life. Jimenez, who spoke with The Aggie as she walked to her fastapproaching class, expressed shock at her good fortune.

“The odds of this happening are so low, and then it happened, and I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s crazy,’” Jimenez said. She said that she takes Unitrans daily but was not originally planning to take the winning bus. “I was originally going to take the W in the morning, but then I ran late and [...] ended up taking the Q instead,” Jimenez said. “Lucky choice.”

Stacy Clark, a local Davis resident who was on the same bus as Jimenez, said that she saw the initial announcements for the festivities and predicted that the Q line would be the winning bus, given its scheduled stop time at the station.

“Everyone was just kind of numb, but I got all weird and was like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re all going to win something,’” Clark said. “There’s, like, me and eight students on the bus, and the girl behind me was the winner.”

The celebration began shortly

before noon at the Memorial Union bus terminal. The UC Davis marching band performed as dozens of students lined up for merchandise and light refreshments served by Unitrans workers.

Unitrans, which serves as the primary public transport service for not only UC Davis students but also members of the Davis community, began service in 1968 with two vintage double-decker buses. Unitrans services three million riders annually and projects that approximately 20,000 people will ride its buses each weekday this academic year. The service employs 225 student workers who run 18 routes throughout Davis.

Unitrans Director Jeff Flynn said that Unitrans has been logging riders since its founding and has projected it would pass the 100 million mark this year, eventually crossing to commemorate it on the same day as its 56th anniversary.

“We are really grateful for our riders who ride [with] us every single day,” Flynn said. “We know it’s been a rough year with very crowded buses, but we’re hiring drivers.”

Decorations form Unitrans’ celebration of 56 years of service and 100 million riders. (Courtesy / Vince Basada)

Several bands compete for their spot to perform at the Whole Earth Festival at Battle of the Bands. (Courtesy / Vince Basada)

Is ‘plant-based’ really for the planet?

How much of a difference is your oat milk really making?

BY MOLLY THOMPSON mmtthompson@ucdavis.edu

20 years ago, you would have never been able to walk out of an ice cream parlor with a scoop of vegan, oat milk “frozen dessert” on your cone. But nowadays, it is almost expected for any given California culinary establishment to offer plant-based options. Alternatives to animal products are more trendy than they have ever been. A lot of that can be attributed to recent research suggesting that products derived from plants are significantly less harmful to the environment than conventional equivalents. While this may very well be true, it isn’t always the case.

In any situation, a blanket statement is not always going to be applicable. A multivitamin won’t cure every deficiency, you shouldn’t always listen to your parents and losing weight isn’t always healthy — one size doesn’t fit all. Our world is just too complicated

for anything to have a true panacea. In the case of sustainable eating, there are too many contributing factors to take into consideration for any rules to be universally germane. We are told that livestock require more land and water to care for than plants and that bovine animals produce high levels of methane and carbon dioxide. Though this is generally true, it doesn’t mean that vegetarian or vegan foods always have less of an environmental impact than animal products.

A large portion of the carbon footprint of groceries comes from emissions during production and transportation.

The process of getting a product from farms to fridges involves many steps of processing, packaging and inspection. Each step takes energy and resources that come from fossil fuels and release greenhouse gasses.

EVILVEGAN on 8

Everything that you think is real is a lie

Plato’s metaphysics are really weird

BY MALCOLM LANGE mslange@ucdavis.edu

When one hears the term “philosopher,” it is very common to think of the traditional Western or Greek philosophers. Plato — one of the most well-known philosophers — was the student of Socrates and a great thinker in Ancient Greece, writing many philosophical books in the form of Socratic dialogues. But he was also so much more — by the end of this article, you will find that Plato is really just a silly little fella.

A Socratic dialogue is where the main character is Socrates and, surprisingly enough, is in the form of a dialogue, following a first-person perspective of Socrates. Is this weird?

Sort of. I mean, if I were to write a philosophical book, I probably wouldn’t make the main character any of my professors (sorry professors), but it is less egotistical than having the main character be himself, I guess. Socrates, also a predominant philosophical thinker of his time, was sentenced to exile or death for “corrupting the minds of the youth” by, essentially, asking them to think critically, especially before going to war. There might be more nuance to it, but as this is not a lecture, and I am not a professor, get off my back. Anyway, Plato, appearing to have not taken the death of his teacher very well — as in later books, such as “The Republic” — blames the idiocracy of democracies and claims that those who sentenced him to his death are simply unknowledgeable of what good truly is.

In Plato’s “The Republic,” he offers many critiques of democracy and gives an interesting claim to what is now called Platonic Metaphysics. His metaphysics are strange, to say the least, but I will try to do it justice for the argument of this article. In my opinion, his metaphysics seem like a lame excuse to explain away Socrates’ death sentence by shifting the blame to the people of Athens.

In the name of simplification, we will first look at Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.” In this allegory, we are to imagine that there are prisoners in a dark cave who are only able to look straight ahead; on the wall of this cave exist shadows of objects and people. Behind the prisoners is a fire and people controlling the shadows. To the prisoners, who have been down there their entire life, the shadows are their complete world. Eventually, a prisoner breaks free of his chains and moves through the cave to

Miss Americana and the baseless conspiracy theories

Taylor Swift may be a mastermind, but she’s not plotting to steal the 2024 election

BY CLAIRE SCHAD cfschad@ucdavis.edu

When Taylor Swift speaks, people listen.

Last September, Swift posted on Instagram encouraging her 272 million followers to register to vote. Unsurprisingly, her fans obliged, and after her post, more than 35,000 people registered on Vote.org, a non-partisan voter registration website.

While Swift steered away from politics in the early part of her career, in recent years she has become outspoken about her support for Democratic officials. Ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, Swift took to social media to publicly endorse two Tennessee Democratic candidates for Congress. Similarly, in October 2020, the music icon endorsed then-presidential candidate Joe Biden by posting a photo on Instagram holding a plate of cookies with “Biden Harris 2020” written on them.

Swift has made her political leanings clear, so some people got nervous when she successfully helped register 35,000 people to vote. This unease, mostly among conservatives, was amplified this fall when dating rumors surrounding Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce started flying.

The coupling of a talented, pretty woman and a tall, attractive football player fits many of the requirements for the “perfect” couple that much of American society has shown us for years. But despite their talent and attractiveness, this conventionally ideal couple seems to miss the mark for many conservatives. Swift’s public support for Democratic principles and Kelce’s endorsement of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines and Bud Light — the latter of which received pushback for their partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney — have spun many Republicans into a frenzy.

For some conservatives, this union means the world’s biggest pop star and one of the National Football League’s (NFL) biggest personalities have teamed up to create a Democrat propaganda campaign. Many are certain it will end in an endorsement for Biden sometime before this year’s presidential election.

It all adds up — the vaccine-loving, transgender-supporting NFL boyfriend plus powerful Democratic-endorsing, Grammy-winning girlfriend are the couple that will redefine democracy as we know it.

This seems like a totally logical evaluation of the situation, right? I mean, why else would the cameras be on Swift at multiple NFL games? It must all be part of the plot to steal the 2024 election, and the camera operators are in on it.

In an apparent effort to remain relevant, former President Trump felt inclined to touch on the issue, claiming

that any endorsement of Biden would be “disloyal” of Swift since he was the one who signed the Music Modernization Act while in office.

Trump’s comment on the popular conservative social media site Truth Social added gasoline to the already erupting fire of Swift-related conspiracy theories.

All jokes aside, there are people who actually believe these outlandish theories. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and proTrump broadcaster Mike Crispi even went so far as to insinuate that the Super Bowl would be rigged in the Chief’s favor to spread “Democratic propaganda.”

To me, this train of thought seems completely absurd. However, to my surprise, a recent poll found that one in three Republicans and one in five Americans believe that Swift is indeed involved in a government plot to help Biden win the 2024 election.

So why Swift? The recent fixation among conservatives can be attributed to her position as a powerful woman, which historically scares people. People

recognize the influence she has on Gen Z, a generation with the potential to upend American politics, and this worries them. Swift has a platform and uses it, just as musicians have been doing for years. The list of artists who have used their voices to promote change is long. Think

John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, to name a few. This ever-present “threat” of powerful women is something we must get over. Swift is simply encouraging people to vote, which is something that we all should be in favor of. After all, don’t we all want a more representative democracy? So, while it seems no illicit affairs are occurring between Swift and the government, we as young people must turn out to vote this year to ensure that those spreading these rumors are not elected. There are a lot of people in positions of power working to tear strong women down, and we must speak now and continue fighting for what’s right.

see the fire — its light burning his eyes as it is brighter than anything he had ever seen before.

This escaped prisoner, let’s call him Bufford (not for any specific reason), realizes that his whole life is essentially wrong; the shadows are, in fact, mere images of what is real — in this case, the objects casting the shadows. Like the fire, the prisoner was blinded by the light of the sun as he reached the exit of the cave, only able to look straight to the ground and view the shadows of objects. After some time, Bufford is able to train himself to look at physical objects and then even, with enough strength, the sun itself.

His whole world is shaken by the revelation of all that exists in the upper world. Bufford feels an obligation to the other prisoners and sets to return to the cave and reveal his findings. However, his eyes are no longer used to the darkness. The prisoners fear this “loss of sight” and deem the upper world dangerous — they would even go as far as killing him or anyone else who would try to remove them from the cave.

This weird allegory symbolizes the different stages of knowledge: those who only see shadows in the cave are at the lowest form of knowledge — “ignorance” — primarily knowing nothing real. Those who make it to the fire know a little more, what is perceived as “opinion” by Plato. Those who can make it out of the cave enter the intelligible world, which is closer to the truth, and have “true opinion.” They might understand mathematics or science but are still only able to look at the shadows of the real truth.

When Bufford looked at the sun, that was the highest form of knowledge: looking upon the “good” and where everything good stems from. Plato claims that most people live their lives stuck at the ignorant stage, with few having the ability to ever make it to full wisdom. I am sure that an astute Plato fanatic would be able to point out mistakes in this summary, but as I have a page limit — and a personal, mental limit — this is the best I can do.

One of the weird claims that Platonic Metaphysics makes is that everything we see, touch and interact with is not real. They are just corrupted versions of the real things, only able to be perceived by looking at the “good.” The intelligible world is the one that holds everything real, while the physical world (down in the cave) holds mere reflections or poor creations of what is real.

Of

the ‘big six’ romantic poets, who would your perfect romantic match be?

Caution: the standards are low

BY MIAH JORDANE mjcampos@ucdavis.edu

There are a plethora of perioddrama pieces within cinema, theater and literature: “Pride and Prejudice,” “Bridgerton,” “Hamilton,” “Little Women’’ –– the list goes on. Despite the problematic aspects of the eras these pieces take place in, there’s a fixation with romanticizing and fantasizing about life during older times. The Romantic Period was particularly interested in the romanticization of life through art and literature; we can specifically see this within the “big six” romantic poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Their poetry highlights their romantic perspectives on life, but how would they actually carry themselves within their romantic lives? Here’s my opinion on if the “big six” would actually be as “romantic” as their poetry makes them sound, or if they would even treat you well at all…

William Wordsworth: Sadly, we are off to a rough start. Wordsworth wouldn’t be obsessed with you because he’s too busy being obsessed with himself. Confidence can make someone attractive, but narcissism kind of does the opposite. Unlike the other poets, if you were to date him, you wouldn’t even get some decent poems written about you out of the experience because they’d all be about how romantic of a partner he is instead.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge : To put it simply, Coleridge would not be emotionally available for a relationship. He definitely has some daddy issues he has yet to confront, and, let’s be real, he might be a romantic but he’d likely not be romantic for you… He’s rumored to be in love with William Wordsworth. This isn’t an issue, in fact, we are all rooting for him. However, you’d most likely never be number one in Coleridge’s heart if you were to date him. If you’re okay with that, though,

then at least you would have some nice poetry written about you.

Lord Byron : The archetype of history’s classic, bad-boy poet of the nineteenth century. This relationship would be a toxic mess, but I wouldn’t necessarily blame you for giving it a shot. As a founding father to vampire literature, a political activist and a man with adventurously fluid sexuality, Lord Byron seems to have been quite charming and appealing during his times. Perhaps his bad-boy charm would work on you, too.

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Oh, Shelley. Hopping from wife to wife –– even marrying a sixteen-year-old girl to supposedly save her from suicide, only to get annoyed with her and leave her for another woman. Shelley has a history of not being loyal. If you engaged in a relationship with Shelley, I bet it would be quite invigorating as he’s a charming romantic poet, but it would also be short-lived –– like his ex. Sorry.

John Keats: Last but not least, John Keats: the moody, broody, mysteriously passionate soul who died too young. Keats infamously fell in love with the girl next door, therefore ending the list as the most wholesome of the six romantic poets. Though he never married, in this imaginary world where you are in fact dating Keats, I’m sure he would be true to the romantic poet title and would have a cute, wholesome romance.

In retrospect, this list isn’t super promising. But who is shocked that the romantic poets also had pretty chaotic, realistic romantic lives? No one.

Disclaimer: (This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.)

At the most recent MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift was spotted in a Versace dress, with most her style of late involving mostly black or dark outfits. (Courtesy of iHeartRadioCA / Creative Commons, CC BY 3.0)

In the gardens of the Academy of Athens is a statue of Plato, created by Greek scuplor Leonidas Drosis. (Courtesy / George E. Koronaios / Creative Commons, CC BY 1.0)

NOVA MAI / AGGIE

HEIDI TEJEDA / AGGIE

EDITORIAL

February is over, but Black History and Futures are still important

The Editorial Board joins campus organizations in recognizing the origins of Black History Month and celebrating the Black community at UC Davis

WRITTEN BY THE

EDITORIAL BOARD

February marks the United States’ annual observance of Black History Month. This month, which is a dedicated time to recognize the triumphs and struggles of Black Americans, has come to an end, education and advocacy for Black people should extend beyond Feb. 29.

As members of The Aggie, which is meant to represent the campus, we feel it is important to acknowledge and celebrate the historical resilience of Black people, but we would like to acknowledge that no one on the Editorial Board is Black. We are in no way trying to speak for anyone or cover the entirety of the history for Black History Month.

Black History Month is a time to look back at where our country has been, and to recognize the changemakers who have played an important role in the history of Black Americans. Starting in 1926, the first example of Black History Month was created by historian and writer Carter G. Woodson He dedicated a week in February to bringing forward more African American stories and honor the contributions of Black

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Americans, which was extended into a month-long national celebration in 1976. Woodson chose the month of February for Black History Month because of the birthdays of two very important figures who had a hand in Black history: President Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass.

Recently, Black History Month has been renamed by some as Black Futures Month, which focuses on optimistic futures of the Black community and takes a more “visionary, forwardlooking” approach to celebrating Black history. Black Futures Month, first coined in 2015 by Movement for Black Lives, is not meant to replace or change Black History Month, but rather, to work collectively with it in honoring the past and future of the Black community.

As one of the first universities to shift to Black Futures Month, UC Davis commemorated the month of February with a wide range of events led by the Center for African Diaspora Student Success including a community park clean up and a master class on Black Freedom & Love.

“It’s a time to recognize the future of the Black community and honor our diversity,” Chancellor Gary May said in a UC Davis promo video for Black Futures Month. “It also means remembering the historic contributions of African Americans and learning from our country’s struggles and triumphs, and how much more we need to do in the name of equity.”

The UC Davis Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program also held some of their own events celebrating Black History Month in collaboration with different clubs and organizations on campus including a Black History Month game night, a UC Davis Law racial justice presentation and more. Events meant to celebrate the Black community on campus also extend beyond the month of February — this May 4, the Cross Cultural Center at UC Davis will be hosting its annual Black Family Day. A day

designed for students and families to assemble on the quad and celebrate all forms of Blackness and Black culture while eating good food, enjoying festive music and celebrating with a community. Any and all are welcome to attend the event.

Black History Month is a great time to draw attention to the lack of diversity in newsrooms. Black journalists have long faced discrimination and racism from colleagues and editors. Since the Civil Rights Movement, more Black voices have been heard but the African American community remains underrepresented in the creation and distribution of news.

The impact Black journalists have on the news is irreplaceable with their ability to bring an important perspective to topics that would have otherwise been misrepresented. In a time where trust in the American media is low, everyone deserves to have a trusted source of journalism that acknowledges their experience. We celebrate every Black journalist who has sought to inform the public with quality, nuanced reporting. If you are interested in getting involved in journalism, check out the numerous internships offered by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and start bringing your own creative ideas to the field.

The Editorial Board invites you to check out the Third World Forum newspaper, a publication written by marginalized students at UC Davis, focusing on anti-racism and social justice. An exhibition on the newspaper is on display at Shields Library until Apr. 22, 2024. While the Third World Forum is no longer active, if this sounds like an opportunity you wish you could take part in, we encourage you to apply for The California Aggie when we open positions in the spring. Our ability to represent the Davis community is greatly strengthened by each and every perspective.

Girlwalking back into the 1950s

Hey, sometimes girl math is just math

BY GEETIKA MAHAJAN giamahajan@ucdavis.edu

Being a girl is easier than ever these days; instead of working out, you can go on a “girl walk.” Instead of budgeting, you can just justify your expenses with “girl math.” Over the past few years, the internet has been building a virtual “girl world”: there are categories for what “type” of girl you can be, from a “clean girl” to a “mob wife,” and norms that attempt to define femininity.

Online, these trends may seem harmless — empowering, even — as content creators advocate embracing these supposed “celebrations” of girlhood to challenge the idea that success requires abandoning feminine qualities. But the widespread acceptance of these trends, when

examined on a deeper level, only serves to reify gender binaries and is counterintuitive to the empowerment of women and progressive thinking in general. We can make the blanket statement that society rewards masculine traits while deeming seemingly feminine traits as “inferior.” The problem has a very simple solution: display feminine traits while succeeding in a masculine world — patriarchy destroyed. The equation becomes a little more complicated when you begin to think about what is considered ‘feminine’ in society, who constructed these ideas and how much ‘femininity’ is just conflated with conventional attractiveness and ascribing to gender stereotypes.

The concepts of femininity and masculinity have complex cultural and historical backgrounds, and ignoring

how deeply these ideas are tied to the construction of gendered roles can result in “feminist” movements that feel good but don’t really change anything. Dovetailing femininity with feminism can provide some illusion of empowerment — but at the end of the day, it is still just an illusion.

At the center of any discussion of “masculine” and “feminine” traits is the underlying assumption of gender essentialism, or the belief that there are certain characteristics that are unique to women and men. Whether this takes the form of “girl math” or “embracing the divine feminine,” it contributes a reification of gender roles that is, at best, not empowering and, at worst, actively anti-feminist. There’s no actual inherent property that makes girls unable to comprehend basic finances. These categories and conditions for girlhood

Crafting coffee at home

The basics of four brewing methods

BY MAYA KORNYEYEVA mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu

Tired of spending half of your paycheck on coffee every month? Eager to learn about some home brewing methods sure to save you some money in the long run?

Look no further. Below, I have outlined some of the most reliable and affordable at-home coffee brewing methods, as well as some reasons why you should experiment with them to get a great-tasting cup of coffee all from the comfort of your dorm room or apartment.

Pour Over: The first and most common method of brewing coffee at

home is a pour-over, which requires only a few technical materials: a plastic or glass cone and a paper filter. Simply find your favorite coffee beans, make sure to grind them at the paper filter setting (or medium coarse) and measure out your coffee-to-water ratio.

“Coffee-to-water ratio? You didn’t tell me I had to do math…” Don’t worry, it’s very simple. Through my own research and experimentation, I have found that the best ratio is 1:16. So, if you are brewing a standard 12-ounce mug of coffee, you would need about 24 to 25 grams of coffee grounds.

The next steps are as follows: first, set up your filter and run some hot water through it. This will remove

aren’t based on anything “real”— but they reinforce the idea that there is some ontological property that separates men and women. Essentially, TikTok has girlmath-ed its way back to “pink is for girls and blue is for boys.” These ideas about the divine masculine and feminine claim to make life easier by teaching women to live in states of “flow” and “receiving.” Guides

the “paper” flavor that we don’t want to taste in our coffee. Then, add all your coffee grounds and pour just enough hot — not boiling — water to cover all the grounds. Wait for about a minute to allow the coffee to “bloom,” absorbing the initial water and imbuing it with flavor.

Finally, pour the rest of your hot water in a circular motion on top of the coffee — and voila! Once everything has run through your coffee filter you can discard the grounds and enjoy a fresh, beautifully aromatic cup of joe.

French Press: All you need for this coffee brewing method is — you guessed it — a French press. A French press is a cylindrical device with a spout and a removable filter plunger, and you can usually find a good one for about $15 to $20. This is my alltime favorite brewing method because the resulting coffee is immensely flavorful, and the process is mostly hands-off.

French press requires a very coarse grind (as opposed to a ‘fine’ grind, which is used for espresso). The coffeeto-water ratio remains the same across the charts (1:16). The first step is to remove the filter, add your coffee grounds to the bottom of the French press and pour hot water over the grounds to let the coffee bloom — just like in the pour-over step. After about 45 seconds to a minute, pour in the

rest of the hot water and put the filter on top like a lid (without pushing it all the way down).

Give your coffee around four to five minutes to brew and push the filter all the way down to separate the grounds from the water, and there you have it! Now you can pour your French press coffee and serve.

Cold Brew: Cold brew is very similar to French press, specifically in the coarse grind level and coffeeto-water ratio. However, making cold brew is a much longer process — about 12 to 20 hours for the water to extract everything from the coffee grounds. I love cold brew because all you really need to do is measure out the coffeeto-water ratio in a glass mason jar, lid it, give it a shake and stick it in the fridge overnight. After straining your fresh cold brew in the morning, you will get an intense and deep cup of coffee, perfect with ice, cream and vanilla. You can experiment with different infusions as well: different types of tea, fruit, spices and other ingredients (such as chocolate) can be infused with the coffee to create a unique flavor palette.

Instant Coffee: The easiest (yet not always the most reliable) way to make coffee at home is instant coffee, which is pre-prepared in large containers, usually meant to “instantly” dissolve

on attaining a “clean” or “it” girl lifestyle are supposedly encouraging women to become their best selves. But portrayals of femininity require nuance — otherwise, they fall back into perpetuating outdated stereotypes and infantilization. Women who possess traits deemed more “feminine” should not be seen as weaker or less capable than those who don’t — but the solution is not to glorify these traits and cement them as part of the “female experience.” This only serves to further emphasize the idea that there are feminine and masculine personality traits that are inherent within men and women. A truly productive solution would require examining how and why these ideas of “masculine” and “feminine” traits have been constructed — a conversation that may be too complex for a 15-second TikTok video.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

in hot water. The issue with instant coffee is the taste and quality: most of the instant coffee on the market has gone through a lot of processing, thereby losing the fresh, rich flavor. Finding high-quality instant coffee is almost like looking for a needle in a haystack: therefore, proper research is crucial before choosing a brand off the shelf. The upside is that instant coffee is incredibly versatile. It is easy to make it hot, cold, whipped or shaken. One of my favorite recipes for instant coffee is shaking the coffee with ice, cinnamon and brown sugar, then topping it off with cream or a soft top.

These four methods are just a few ways in which coffee can be prepared at home. Each brewing method is relatively cheap and simple and can be artfully perfected to bring out the most complex and interesting flavors. In the process, you are also saving the environment by eliminating single-use cups and straws. Coffee is centered in the craft or the art of creativity — rewarded with your morning boost of caffeine.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

ARTS & CULTURE

Four fan-favorite sitcoms to keep you laughing for the rest of the quarter

Each pick follows a unique cast of characters as they undergo life’s daily struggles and odd situations

BY SAVANNAH ANNO arts@theaggie.org

The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for music, movies and more

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL arts@theaggie.org

Book: “Almost Invisible” by Mark Strand (2012)

Sometimes, all you need is a TV show that can provide you with simple entertainment. There’s no murder plot, no mind games or big mystery; sitcoms are easy and enjoyable.

A sitcom, or situational comedy, is defined as a television series that follows a consistent cast of characters that experience funny, everyday situations and problems within a realistic setting. “The Office,” for example — one of the most popular sitcoms of all time — follows a cast of coworkers as they navigate their jobs, relationships and an unprofessional boss.

In an interview with Sean Evans on “Hot Ones,” sitcom writer and comedian Quinta Brunson weighed in on why she thinks sitcoms are so special.

“It doesn’t take up your emotional energy,” Brunson said. “Some of my favorite shows emotionally drain me, but my favorite comedies don’t do that. I just had a ball with [“New Girl” characters] Nick and Jess and Schmidt.

We just had fun, and we went on our little adventures.”

With accessible humor and relatable settings, sitcoms invite viewers into the story and include them in the lighthearted chaos. If you’re looking to take your mind off of more serious matters, try watching any one of these four sitcoms.

“New Girl” (2011)

When 29-year-old Jessica Day catches her long-term boyfriend cheating on her, she quickly leaves and moves in with three random guys. Becoming the “New Girl,” the show follows Jess as she navigates her new friendships with her roommates: the overly dramatic Schmidt, big-hearted Winston and the grumpy but loyal Nick.

As the seven-season series continues, the unlikely group of friends becomes closer and closer as they experience career changes, heartbreak, new romances and more. Their apartment, referred to as “the loft,” becomes the center of the series as the characters rely on each other for support through each conflict and strange scenario. Hilarious and heartwarming, “New Girl” is the perfect watch for a group of roommates, Taylor Swift fans (she does, in fact, make a cameo) or anyone who enjoys the friends-to-lovers trope.

“Abbott Elementary” (2021)

Currently airing its third season, “Abbott Elementary” has gained popularity not just on streaming services like Hulu but also on network television. With an average of eight million viewers each episode, “Abbott Elementary” has brought new life to network comedy.

Starring the show’s own writer and creator Quinta Brunson as elementary school teacher Janine Teagues, the series highlights the struggles of both teaching and learning in an underfunded, predominantly Black public school in Philadelphia. The cast of teachers — all with different backgrounds and education methods — solve student problems and deal with the difficult school district and challenges of their personal lives.

“Abbott Elementary” shows the love and joy within the community as they tackle each aspect together. If you’re an education major or remember loving Tyler James Williams in childhood Disney movies like “Let it Shine,” be sure to tune in weekly on ABC or search for the series on Hulu.

“How I Met Your Mother” (2005)

Feeding nostalgia for the early 2000s, “How I Met Your Mother” is the sitcom to watch for anyone who feels like they are living in the wrong decade. Spanning nine seasons, the show focuses on Ted Mosby, as the entire series revolves around his retelling of the years that led up to him meeting his eventual wife and mother of his children.

Along with his four best friends, Ted goes on dates all across New York City in order to find “the one.” The ensemble cast features break-out actors like Neil Patrick Harris and Jason Segel, as well as a handful of notable guest stars like Britney Spears and Katy Perry. Similar to “New Girl,” the cast goes through adulthood together: attending weddings, going out to bars and finding themselves in hilarious situations that test the strength of their friendship. With great outfits from best friends Robin and Lily and a noteworthy soundtrack featuring Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Vampire Weekend and more, “How I Met Your Mother” is a quintessential sitcom of its time.

“Oh,” said my friend after reading this book. “I didn’t realize poetry could be enjoyable.” If that glowing review doesn’t have you rushing to the nearest library, I don’t know what will. Mark Strand’s strand of poetry marks (hah!) a deviation from what you may have thought of poetry in high school: a deadbut-beaten horse oscillating between tortuous Middle English blather and soulless Instagram axioms. That’s not this. Clocking in at about 70 pages, each poem from “Almost Invisible” is a tight, affecting riddle, ranging in topic from the mythical to domestic satire. And if you already love poetry, including the Middle English blather, this is still a wonderful read by a literary star: Strand won the title of Poet Laureate and a Pulitzer for his contribution to the American poetry scene. So that’s fun.

Album: “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” by Chappell Roan (2023)

True Midwest princess Chappell Roan occasions the only time I will ever use “fantastic” and “Missouri” in the same sentence (no offense to the “Show Me!” state). Roan captures the angsty-teenage-bedroom-pop vibe in a way that’s especially familiar to queer kids and anyone with a dream of moving far, far away. Just a few weeks ago, an impressive late-night debut cemented her instantcult-classic quality: campy visuals, Stevie Nicks vocals, the works (YouTube it!). You may have heard songs like “California” or “Casual” bouncing around the internet for the past few years before finding a home on this album, but also check out “Red Wine Supernova” and “Picture You” — my current favorites. Catch her on the upswing so you can say to your friends that classic remark of taste: “I knew them before SNL!”

Movie: “In the Mood for Love” dir. by Wong Kar-wai (2000)

To me, this is the perfect rainy-day flick: intensely personal, patient but not slow and visually gorgeous. For people who are into film, this is an obvious choice, but I had never heard of this movie until I stumbled upon it midpandemic. Even with my limited understanding of cinematography, I thought it was brilliantly enjoyable. Primarily in Cantonese and Shanghainese and set in 1962, this film embodies an era-defining aesthetic while speaking to universal themes of longing and beauty. I’ll say it’s 50-50 if you cry or throw something at the screen. If nothing else, you can finally be one of those annoying art bros who talks about Wong Kar-wai at house parties.

TV Show: “Supernatural” (2005 to 2020)

“Community” (2009)

If you’re new here: welcome to the worst TV show that has ever had several master’s thesis projects written about it. If you’re not new, so sorry to see you here again. Here’s the deal: two brothers fight monsters on the greatest American road trip ever broadcasted by the CW. Everyone is hot, violent and suffering from daddy issues of biblical proportions (literally, biblical). This show is where a lot of the ex-“The X Files” crew ended up and it shows — it’s actually pretty gruesome. But more than that, it’s hilarious, stupid, emotionally devastating, gay, homophobic, a modern-day “Inferno,” meta, Jensen Ackles shedding a single tear, cringe-worthy, timeless and a decade-and-a-half-long fever dream. One of the great joys of “Supernatural” is that the canon content only makes up about 30 percent of the experience of being a fan; the show has produced a robust internet community (remember SuperWhoLock? No, me neither.) with high levels of interaction from the cast and creators, to the extent that major plot points started out as internet speculation. So if you’re the person googling “cast” or “bloopers” the second the movie is over, this one’s for you. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll be astonished they renewed this for 15 years.

“One of the most inventive shows in TV history,” according to Vox, “Community” follows lawyer Jeff Winger who is forced to earn a college degree after his law firm discovers he lied about graduating from Columbia University. Interested in one of his classmates, he once again decides to lie and tells her he runs a Spanish study group. When he finds other community college students who want to join the study group, he is forced to keep up with the meetings.

The group quickly becomes close,

and the sitcom follows their journey through Greendale Community College as the episodes become progressively imaginative. The series features a stop-motion Christmas episode, futuristic and action-packed concepts, giant pillow forts and a thousand other pop culture references. Each episode is named after a madeup college course, adding an element of humor specific to university students and life. “Community” is also a necessary watch for any Donald Glover/Childish Gambino fans who got one of his first jobs as Troy in the

cult-classic series.

With these four suggestions, you’re ready to begin your journey into the world of sitcoms. As the quarter comes to an end and finals start popping up, remember to take breaks and enjoy things that make you happy. A lighthearted, 20-minute episode of TV while you eat a snack or unwind after class may be just what you need to keep going.

What is concert etiquette and why is it dying out?

Students and experts share their thoughts about social norms and rules for live shows

BY SABRINA FIGUEROA features@theaggie.org

After the COVID-19 pandemic shut concerts down, live music has finally made its full comeback with several major artists including Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Harry Styles touring the world again. However, people are beginning to notice that something about concerts has changed.

In the past year, fans at concerts have been throwing objects — or “gifts” — on the stage, sometimes hitting the performers. For example, singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha was hit in the head by a phone last July and had to be rushed off stage to the hospital. Other times, these alleged “gifts” simply overstep the boundaries the artists have with their supporters, such as when a fan at Pink’s concert threw their mother’s ashes on stage. The odd behavior doesn’t stop there. Sources have reported excessive shoving inside and outside pit areas,

people constantly obstructing others’ views by trying to film the artists and repeated disrespectful shouting at the performers. Most recently, this phenomenon was seen at multiple Mitski concerts where fans yelled the phrase, “Mother is mothering,” even after the singer expressed discomfort with it.

Mallory Erickson, a thirdyear English major, shared another incident she experienced with other concertgoers.

“I went to a concert back in November that was in Oakland, and I just remember getting weird looks for singing along to the songs and dancing,” Erickson said. “I was so caught up in trying not to be so loud or distracting that it made [the concert experience] kind of unrewarding. It felt so competitive when it’s not supposed to be.” People are beginning to mark these shifts in behaviors as the “death of concert etiquette.” Concert etiquette is a set of unwritten rules and norms

that are expected of people attending musical performances to ensure a safe and comfortable environment.

Frequent concertgoers and experts have tried to explain the etiquette’s decline, suggesting that it may have been due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jessica Preciado, a first-year evolution, ecology and biodiversity major, offered her experiences at postpandemic concerts.

“[After the pandemic], something I have noticed — and not just at concerts but at, like, grocery stores too — is that people don’t really mind for the space of others or they feel entitled to things,” Preciado said. “It’s like we forgot how to socialize with people we don’t know.”

Lucy Bennett, a lecturer at Cardiff University with expertise in the relationships between musicians and fans, explained that the pandemic shutdowns deprived younger audiences of properly learning the “correct” way to act at concerts.

“It seems that, for some individuals,

the notion of being there at a gig equates with physical participation, whether that is throwing something or screaming or engaging in a ‘stampede’ in a crowd,” Bennett said. “There is a strong re-centering here of a live, physical event — an almost frantic grasping of a live moment by a crowd that has not been able to attend live gigs due to lockdown.”

It is also possible that the decline of concert etiquette may be a result of the overuse of social media, such as TikTok. Young audiences have grown accustomed to seeing videos of spectacles reach a massive like count or following simply for the content being funny or entertaining, and now they want to do the same thing.

“People always say, ‘You can get famous on TikTok for anything, it’s so easy to get views and followers!’ and I feel like people try to do and record the craziest or funniest things at concerts to get the attention of others and go viral; especially since now you can become an influencer and get paid

to post on social media,” Preciado said. Bennett expressed the same sentiment and added that it has to do with both social media and parasocial relationships between the artists and their fanbases. These relationships are one-sided, where closeness is falsely believed to exist between a fan and a celebrity.

“Some fans experience a parasocial relationship — a sense of knowing their favorite musicians — even when they are one amongst potentially millions that follow the artist. This is then where a live concert can play a strong role,” Bennett said. “The artist is physically there in front of the audience, and there is a visible chance for a fan to be noticed, to attempt to make themselves more distinct in a sea of other fans, if only for a moment — yet a moment that can be immortalized on social media and shared with many fans online.”

New Girl stars Zooey Deschanelas Jess, who is navigating life post breakup in an apartment loft with three other bachelors. The show wrapped it’s 8th and final season in 2018. (Courtesy of FOX / fair use)

An introduction to the language of flowers

Floriography, the study of flowers as symbols, is a unique and seasonally relevant way to express your thoughts about your loved ones

BY NATALIE SALTER arts@theaggie.org

With spring arriving soon, the change of season beckons new opportunities to celebrate your loved ones and the planet we share. Gardening, going for picnics or reading in the shade of a blossoming tree — after the restricting weather of winter, the pleasant days and fresh natural life

enjoy. (Cruz Martinez / Aggie)

that come with spring are perfect for engaging in countless seasonal activities. Likewise, the beautiful sights and smells of the Earth blooming again are a breath of fresh air after months of bitter storms.

One of the loveliest parts of spring is the rejuvenation of nature, and this goes hand-in-hand with the arrival of hundreds of flowers in every variety. On their own, flowers are beautiful but can be an even more gorgeous

centerpiece on one’s table or perched on a windowsill. Gifting flowers to a loved one, whether in a romantic or platonic context, is a thoughtful way to express your happiness to be a part of their life.

Floriography is the study of flowers in their individual meanings and can be utilized to send certain messages through carefully curated bouquets. As a distinctly beautiful form of cryptological

communication, floriography is a useful skill to learn if you are interested in expressing your feelings about a person in a unique and unconventional way. Furthermore, floriography has been employed by artists and authors alike to symbolically convey certain emotions and add nuance to their works.

The gifting of flowers has often been employed in a romantic context, and if you’re looking to express your love, the most straightforward and commonly understood means of doing so is to give your lover a bouquet of roses. Pure red roses historically have been known to symbolize deep romantic love and devotion. If unwavering affection is a bit too strong a statement for your relationship, pink roses carry a lighter connotation: flirtation rather than romance, indicating a more playful and youthful love one may carry for their significant other. Primrose is another good choice to send a romantic message, as it represents devoted love.

Spring is a time of new beginnings in our daily lives just as in nature. Daisies are a popular flower that represent playfulness and youthful exuberance. If you happen to know a new mother, however, daisies hold a special significance, as they are also known to represent the joy of new motherhood and life. Symbolically, baby’s breath and lilac are also indicative of youthfulness and purity and when put together may convey to the recipient that you enjoy the lightness they bring to your life, and you wish them the best in their new adventures.

Though some of your loved ones

may be experiencing new joys, others may be facing trouble, and you can use floriography to express your condolences. Sage represents protection and wishes for good health, which might be a thoughtful choice for an individual who is dealing with health problems. Poppies represent strength and respect and are also associated with sleep and dreams. If you know someone who has been working very hard, give them some poppies to express your respect, but also to remind them to get rest and look after themselves. For those dealing with loss or missed opportunities, sunflowers and lavender are associated with hope and optimistic thought and can assure the recipient that there is hope to be found even when all else seems dire.

This just scratches the surface of floriography, which can be used in more than just gift-giving. In art and literature, the intentional usage of a certain flower in a scene may further indicate the theme that the creator wishes to convey. If you learn flowers and their meanings more seriously, you might notice some of your favorite art pieces have a deeper symbolism than meets the eye. If you like creating art of your own, clever usage of floriography can enhance your work and take it to the next level of creative depth.

Floriography is a fascinating and unique study and will deepen your understanding of and appreciation for the world of flowers more than ever before — so if you are looking for a new subject to learn this spring, look no further than the season’s prettiest natural occurrence.

UC Davis Internship and Career Center: an essential resource for senior job hunting

The ICC offers seniors tips on how to get a job by providing career workshops, advising and more

BY ELIZABETH WOODALL arts@theaggie.org

Taking your job search one step at a time can be incredibly beneficial when you’re already dealing with various assignments and responsibilities as a student. If you’re graduating in a few months, finding a job might be an incredibly daunting subject. Luckily, the Internship and Career Center (ICC) offers several in-person and online resources to facilitate the job search and make your application material stand out.

Once you’ve begun your job search, the ICC suggests researching the job market and having your application material ready. This job research can entail attending career fairs at UC Davis and joining Handshake, a platform specialized for students, employers and alumni to find internship and job opportunities. Additionally, the ICC has provided an extensive list of what students should do while researching careers.

One key resource that UC Davis offers to anyone is career-oriented advising. Resume Review+ allows students to send over their resumes, CVs and cover letters and receive feedback. The ICC also offers 15-minute and 30-minute advising appointments on their website, allowing students to ask several questions regarding their career path, necessary resources for a strong

application, revising cover letters and resume, salary and benefits negotiations. It can be overwhelming trying to get your application materials — like a resume and cover letter — ready to go. In preparation for this, students can identify their transferable skills inventory and look at the ICC’s verb list that can strengthen their report of work experience. While working towards a solid resume, the ICC outlines three steps for how to get started: brainstorm and collect experiences/ skills, tailor, format and submit. For tailoring and formatting the resume, students have the opportunity to look at various resumes that align with their own work experience. Information on how to structure a cover letter is also provided alongside samples.

Workshops are a great way for students to learn more about jobrelated topics, refine their resume and improve their networking skills. Core workshops also offer students a chance to practice their interviewing skills as well as resume and cover letter writing — most of which can be found online on the Internship and Career Center website. The ICC also offers resources on what to expect when you get a callback. This highlights the proceeding steps after an interview, like how to respond by accepting or denying the job offer, but can also include how to prepare for the interview itself.

If you want to become aware of the events and workshops the ICC is hosting, you can sign up for the newsletter they offer for different departments. The employers who were

California’s creepiest cryptids

Six mysterious creatures you may meet in the Golden State

BY SAVANNAH BURGER

arts@theaggie.org

Note: This article is written for the purpose of entertainment, and while there are believers in these and other legendary cryptids, these claims are largely unsubstantiated.

Across the country, there have been numerous reports of mysterious animals, creatures and human-like entities stalking around both rural and urban areas. Some of these sightings date back hundreds of years, with creatures matching accounts of old Indigenous stories still being reported to this day. A number of the most obscure and iconic of these cryptids can be found in our beloved state, California. California has witnessed the sight of many creatures that have scared the wits out of its inhabitants. While some cryptids have been sighted more than others, no one can deny that each one would be horrifying to see in person. Whether they creep around forests, neighborhoods or even lurk in the depths of lakes, it seems that

the quintessential behemoth himself:

Bigfoot. While Bigfoot creatures have been featured in various stories and visual depictions for hundreds of years in multiple countries, there has been an especially dense record of spotting this big guy in the Pacific Northwest — and especially so in California.

Bigfoot was popularized following the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin footage of a bi-pedal creature (thought to be Bigfoot) walking across a clearing in a forest located in Willow Creek, California. Although there is major discourse over the validity of the film, it is still unclear whether the mysterious film is a hoax or not.

As Bigfoot has been majorly popularized and used in marketing in the last 50-or-so years, it’s more than likely that a lot of reported sightings are hoaxes. However, there are many people who swear by their accounts, fear Bigfoot with their lives and go so far as to suggest that there are actually

Nightcrawlers. First spotted in 2007 on a CCTV camera monitoring a Fresno resident’s home, the Fresno Nightcrawlers are depicted as tall, white, disembodied pairs of legs that come down to a singular point; no feet.

In the footage, they slowly and silently walk across the field in front of the security camera. Nobody has debunked this video yet, and the nightcrawlers were spotted again on camera in 2011 in Yosemite National Forest. Are they aliens? Inter-dimensional beings? Nobody has figured it out yet.

On the scarier side of things, not many have heard of the California Dark Watchers. Lurking around the Santa Lucia Mountains that run through Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, the dark watchers are pitchblack, humanoid figures dressed in cloaks and wide-brimmed hats. They appear between the late afternoon and sometimes even twilight. Known to stay stationary on mountaintops, they also

present at the winter career fair can be found on Handshake. The employers expected to be present at the Spring career fair can also be found on Handshake. Although finding a job

black, serpentine creature since the 1950s, with some sources claiming that lumberjacks recounted seeing the beast in the early logging days of California during the 1800s. Many suspect Tessie lives in an underwater tunnel beneath Cave Rock.

Although many still believe in the slippery serpent, the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center insists that the serpent is not real. Charles R. Goldman, professor of limnology and zoology who founded the university’s Tahoe Research Group, determined that the creature could very well be something like a 1,500 pound sturgeon, or simply the effects of pareidolia, the tendency to perceive something meaningful from abstract visual patterns. The possibility of Tessie’s existence still isn’t zero, though. Driving through Southern California at night? You may want to be cognizant of what could be prowling along the road. The Riverside Monster

can be incredibly overwhelming, there are many resources available on campus to help you get ahead of the stress and succeed as a graduate.

Riverside police. Although there haven’t been many other sightings since, some theorize that the Riverside Monster is either an undiscovered species, an alien or simply a vulture that was wildly misconstrued.

Finally, the west coast’s take on the famous Jersey Devil. The Lone Pine Mountain Devil, presumably located in the eastern Sierras, is a winged, bat-like flesh-eater that was allegedly first seen in the late 1800s by a group of Spanish settlers.

According to their story, there were multiple devils that flew around and brutally attacked the group. This flying creature is believed by some to be a guardian of the area, targeting those who disrespect nature or trespass on their territory. Truth or hoax, it’s still a scary thought for those traversing the Sierras. Whether it be frightful true stories or tall tales, the urban legends of California cryptids are quite intriguing, at the very least. Whether you take people’s accounts seriously, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities that something science has not identified yet

The Arboretum hosts a plethora of flowers for people and pollinators to

The Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles is said to be haunted by Peg Entwistle, an actress whose dreams of fame ended tragically. The “Lady in White” now lingers around the sign and nearby hiking trails. (Courtesy of Martin Jernberg / fair use)

AGGIE FILE

SCIENCE AND TECH

New UC Davis research center combines biology, engineering to study bird flight

The center captures data on bird flight dynamics and maneuvers

BY KRYSZEL BACTAD science@theaggie.org

UC Davis is establishing a new research facility to study bird flight and rehabilitation. The facility was brought to fruition by the main lead Christina Harvey, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis, and Michelle Hawkins, the director of the California Raptor Center and a professor at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

This new bird flight research facility aims to advance the understanding of biological flight to inform the development of uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the conservation efforts of the Raptor Center.

The flight hall of the facility is equipped with infrared motion capture cameras and high-speed, highresolution cameras to capture data on the flight dynamics and maneuvers of birds flying through the hall.

“What we can do is track [the birds] with the motion capture pieces, but also use the high-speed and the high-resolution imaging to create this complete 3D shape of the bird,” Harvey said. “We can build up models of how we think the animals are responding to their environments so we can build up a control system model.”

These models and data on bird flight act as a framework for the optimization of UAVs. This bioinformed approach seeks to explain how birds fly and how UAVs can be adjusted to emulate highly

EVILVEGAN

FROM PAGE 4

Most conventional groceries originate thousands of miles from where they are sold to consumers — transportation accounts for nearly onefifth of all carbon emissions within the food industry. Ingredients are shipped back and forth for different stages of production, resulting in massive additional environmental costs. This is true of all foods, not just animal products. The only reason we can buy pineapples at Trader Joe’s in February is because they are flown in from China or Thailand.

So naturally, the best solution to this problem is to buy locally sourced foods. That’s why we are always told that we should buy produce “in season” — because it is more likely to be locally grown. While this is good advice in theory, we can’t all get the foods we need from producers within a few zip codes. So, we take what we can get, and we sometimes buy tofu instead of pork to ease our consciences.

As someone who has been through a “vegan for the environment” phase and has come out the other side regularly buying yogurt and ice cream, here is my conclusion: not all groceries are created equal (No duh, Molly, tell me something I don’t know). What I mean by that is an Impossible Burger doesn’t always have less of a carbon footprint than your standard burger patty. If your conventional burger has a turkey patty that comes from a local restaurant or a small, independent farm, it will be a more sustainable choice than a massmarket veggie patty made from soybeans grown on a factory farm in Brazil or Argentina.

Ducks can often be found swimming

adaptable and maneuverable dynamics in complex environments.

“What we’re looking at is to identify the useful bits,” Harvey said. “And then with those useful bits, we’ll send the

If your only options are beef or tofu from Safeway, then yes, tofu is going to be the more environmentally friendly choice. Granted that soybeans take a lot of water to grow, cattle require insurmountably more. (As an aside, beef is, by a longshot, the food with the largest environmental impact. It produces, on average, 10 times the amount of greenhouse gasses per unit than chicken or fish and more than 30 times that of tofu.)

But if you’re choosing between tofu from Safeway and chicken from an independent, local grocery store, then it’s winner-winner chicken for dinner. Cow’s milk requires more water to produce than almond milk, but if you can get Straus milk in a glass bottle that can be returned and reused, then that is going to be better than almond milk from a factory farm in a plastic carton that will end in the landfill. (Another aside: oats are much less resourceintensive than most other alternative milk sources, so you can feel good about yourself when you buy an overpriced oat milk latte — it’s for the planet, I don’t make the rules).

I know we are all just baby adults doing our best to survive out in the vast, predator-filled expanse that is this societal landscape. I don’t expect myself (or anyone else) to be out here buying $17 eggs that were pooped out of a gluten-free chicken in someone’s backyard next door. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about making small choices when we can.

If you are walking down E Street for ice cream, go for Davis Creamery over Baskin Robbins. But if you have a BOGO coupon for Baskin Robbins, see if they have a dairy-free flavor. Just like nothing is always true, nothing is make-or-break. It’s true that our choices impact our world, and it’s important to

engineers in and they can write true optimization codes that optimize for an objective function.”

Hawkins said the bird flight hall is also a win for the Raptor Center, as the

be aware of that, but what’s bona fide and realistic is not what we are always told.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

SILLYPLATO

FROM PAGE 4

Another weird aspect of these metaphysics is that after explaining the cave allegory, he goes on to say that someone who looks at the sun and goes into a dark room will temporarily be blind; the same is true for looking at the “good” and then coming back down to false reality. Their senses might be slightly dulled as they adjust, and it would be unfair to compel them to courts before they have the time to acclimate to the change.

How could you force them to debate on the mere shadows of justice and human evils after having spent so much time in the intelligible world looking upon true justice and goodness? And to try to debate these certain subjects with people who only know the one false way that justice is?

This is clearly a reference to his teacher Socrates and an explanation as to why he lost in court and was sentenced to death or exile. It is hard to tell, at least from “The Republic” alone, if Plato truly believes in his metaphysics or if it is just a way of explaining wisdom. If he truly believed in his writing, it would imply that Plato himself has seen the “good” to some extent. However, especially paired with the allegory of the cave, it appears to be

facility also doubles as a rehabilitation center for injured birds that come into the Raptor Center.

“We hope that the knowledge that we learn about healthy normal flight in

created in the attempts to give a reason for Socrates’ death, claiming that he was still just adjusting to the darkness of the physical world and had to argue with, essentially, idiots who did not know the true meaning of justice. The latter could be excused enough, with no need for the metaphysics, by claiming that everyone is simply too dull to understand true wisdom and that democracy is at fault for allowing dull people to dictate society. In conclusion, Plato’s metaphysics are strange and, quite frankly, could only have been written by a silly little fella, thus proving that Plato is indeed a silly little fella.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

CONCERTETIQUETTE

FROM PAGE 6

Erickson also shared some unwritten rules she follows at concerts and thinks others should, too.

“To be honest, I would say to just be nice to the people around you and also follow basic hygiene routines,” Erickson said. “It’ll make you and others enjoy the experience so much more.”

Preciado listed other examples of concert etiquette “For one, I think people should be more conscious about shoving because it could create a dangerous situation,” Preciado said. “I also think people should be careful about smoking in indoor venues just because you never know who could be in the crowd [such as] immunocompromised people or

some birds will help us to evaluate the flight of birds that are in rehabilitation so that we can be as confident as possible that they are ready to go when we’re ready to release them,” Hawkins said.

The imaging data from the flight facility would provide Hawkins and the Raptor Center with more insight on how healthy birds fly, from data on birds’ range of motion and joint movement to energy levels. This data set would provide a reference point for birds that have been rehabilitated to a healthy normal state.

“My goal is to watch these birds fly away from here and be successful going back out into their lives in the world, and any tool that I can add to that toolbox — that’s gonna help us to get those birds back [to the wild],” Hawkins said.

Current methods for evaluating the health and readiness of these birds rely mainly on expert opinion, so providing any type of quantifiable data would enhance the success of the Raptor Center’s conservation efforts.

Combining biology and engineering also opens doors to future developments in both conservation and engineering.

“There isn’t anything like creating that environment for people that just gives you a way to go from being a pure mathematician or physics engineer to someone that can contribute to conservation, can contribute to understanding the natural world around us,” Harvey said. “It feels bigger than what I thought engineering was when I started.”

asthmatics.”

Regardless of whether you agree or not, concert etiquette has been found to be an important part of fan culture and creating an enjoyable environment at a live show. It can help foster a sense of community between fans and help with safety.

“[Recently], it’s been brought to light how a lot of people will faint or fall down because of how rough people are in the pits, ending up with them getting trampled and even dying,” Erickson said. “I think we need these rules to remind us to be careful and mindful of others.”

PSYCHSTUDYTIPS

FROM PAGE 11

“Other than [the previous tip], making sure that I’m taking care of my needs [is important],” Arnott said. “So, getting enough sleep, taking breaks, making sure that I’m eating well, exercising; doing all of that is like fuel for your brain. You can’t expect to do a good job if you’re not taken care of.”

If you are struggling to find study habits that work for you, try adapting one of the methods discussed by members of the psychology department. When we factor in the innate way our minds process information, we find it easier to remember what the entire course spent trying to teach us. Implementing some of these tactics may be the cure-all method to ace your finals this quarter.

at Lake Spafford, UC Davis Arboretum. (Summer Sueki / Aggie)

Sudoku

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row, column and 3x3 square must contain each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Answer to previous puzzle 02/29/24

Crossword

HUMOR

There’s tension in the Unitrans driver community

In other words: bus beef

BY ALLISON KELEHER email@theaggie.org

If you have ever ridden on a Unitrans bus line, you have probably noticed the friendly disposition of the drivers. I have seen the drivers chatting with each other before their buses depart and overall having an admiral little community. Once on the road, the drivers will wave at each other in passing. Sometimes, having such an amazing public transport system running on undergraduate student labor feels surreal.

However, one of my extremely reliable sources informed me of a “black sheep” within the Unitrans community.

“I waved at him at the stop sign downtown, and he ignored me!” my source said in complaint. This seemed pretty dramatic, so I confirmed with other sources about the meaning behind an ignored wave. Apparently, it’s very offensive to ignore a fellow Unitrans bus driver.

“One time, I almost crashed the bus trying to wave!” another bus driver confirmed. “But it’s essential.”

Anyway, the current rebel in the Unitrans driver community has consistently forgotten to wave at every fellow bus driver who passes by. This has created serious tension between the drivers, because the majority of the Unitrans drivers need that friendly validation to enjoy their otherwise terrifying and tiring job. To mitigate the problem, a driver staff meeting was called to discuss the joys of getting students to class on time, but secretly the meeting was orchestrated to corner the rogue driver at the end of the meeting and get

answers. Once the meeting adjourned, three Unitrans drivers circled the culprit and asked, “Why do you hate us? What did we do to you? Who do you think you are?”

The accused driver was extremely confused and started getting increasingly anxious.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” he said.

“You know what you did!”

“What?” The driver was holding back tears at this point.

“You never wave to us!” they finally clarified once they saw the tears streaming down his face.

Apparently, this driver never got the memo that you had to wave since he had just become a driver two weeks ago. Suffice it to say, the drivers felt pretty bad for the confrontation and devised a plan to apologize. The driver was scheduled for the W route the next morning, so they planned to set up his bus to say “W driver” on the little screen on the front and shower him with gifts and praise. However, they never got the chance because the driver quit the next day. When asked for a statement, all he said was a combination of many curse words I don’t wish to repeat.

Well, Unitrans is hiring, so if you’re interested, practice your waves for the interview.

Disclaimer: (This article is humor and/or satire, and its content is purely fictional. The story and the names of “sources” are fictionalized.)

Fire University arrives at E Street Plaza

The group hosts weekly sessions for fire artists to practice and express their craft

BY MATTHEW MCELDOWNEY city@theaggie.org

On Feb. 22 at E Street Plaza, members of Fire University gathered to perform fire and spin dance performances.

Fire University, founded in 2006, is a collective of impassioned practitioners who gather weekly on Thursdays. By refining their skills, they provide a mesmerizing experience for the city of Davis.

Complete with bass music and fire performances, the group welcomes fire artists of all levels of experience, whether they have made their professional debuts or only recently started dabbling in the craft. Fire University encourages public participation and aims to provide a safe learning environment for all.

A performer at the show, who asked to stay anonymous, has been with the group for over a decade. When detailing the storied history of the group’s first public performance in Davis, they also shared that the group

“worked closely with the Davis Police and Fire Department.” The performer explained how they learned ways to safely practice their art in Davis. With the prioritization of fire safety, the group at Fire University has reported no incident throughout their 18 years of operation.

“It’s just art,” they said. “We’re out here to just do it. I’ve performed in big venues, large crowds, all that, but for me, I wanted to be able to learn [and] make mistakes. I can let loose that way.”

As an artist, the performer said they took inspiration from various martial arts movies they watched when they were younger. These influences were put on full display for the crowd as this performance blended the innate frenetic energy of the crackling flames with a kasarifundō chain ball that whipped through the air.

Spectators watched as these performers put their passion and creativity on full display. Mileyna Soo, a third-year student at UC Davis, had nothing but praise for their

performances.

“I was just so in awe; it was really mesmerizing,” Soo said. Specifically, Soo mentioned a dancer whose hula hoop erupted into fire as it swirled around them and a performer who shot fire into the air from their prop. She is excited to watch more performances at the Plaza, especially the aforementioned artist.

Shasun Sular, a graduate law student, saw the Fire University’s performances for the first time on Feb. 22 and was captivated by their craft.

“Everyone is just so talented,” Sular said.

During the show, Sular explained the cultural connection he felt while watching. He talked about the significance of fire to his Indian culture and found a sense of familiarity with the group and the street performers.

For the most up-to-date information on Fire University’s future events, find them on their Facebook page. As of March. 7, they will continue to host public performances at E Street Plaza every Thursday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Yolo County Animal Services

Shelter hosts ‘Clear the Shelter’ event

Volunteers

at the shelter care for nearly 100 animals up for adoption

BY ZOE SMITH city@theaggie.org

Community Corrections Partnership seeks programs to offer mental health services, address systemic racism

This Yolo County agency is offering funding of up to $250,000 to deserving community organizations

BY EMMA CONDIT city@theaggie.org

The Yolo County Community Corrections Partnership (CCP) is seeking applications from communitybased organizations that may receive up to $250,000 over the next two years. Funding applications will be reviewed on April 8, 2024.

The goal of this funding is to support programs that provide necessary resources in the realm of substance abuse recovery, mental health and restorative justice. This funding is meant to fill gaps in the community and decrease imprisonment. CCP proposals seek to “prevent or remediate the impacts of systemic racism and/or disparities will be given highest consideration,” as stated in its press release.

Each year, counties in California develop a CCP plan as a result of AB109. Yolo CCP Chair and Head of Probations Dan Fruteneicht described the origin of the CCP plans.

“Realignment was in response to state prison overcrowding and high incarceration costs,” Fruteneicht said. “It also recognized that at the county level, we could be a little more [nimble].”

discussed the challenges brought up by this system.

“County jails were never really built or created to house folks over a very long term,” Jakowski said. “Our local jail has done quite a bit in terms of trying to add treatment services.”

Jakowski shared the important work that the CCP has done for mental health programs.

“Our goals are through the lens of how to address individuals’ behavioral health needs,” Jakowki said. “[So] that they can be rehabilitated, be successfully reintegrated and to reduce recidivism.”

Currently, the CCP funds 21 programs, such as mental health diversion programs, mobile crisis response, medicationassistance treatment and improved communication between agencies. The vast majority of services facilitated by the CCP are carried out through external organizations with guidance and funding from the CCP.

Applications for funding should align with the agency’s model of care, which focuses on rehabilitation in addition to accountability. Public Defender Tracie Olson explained this idea further.

offer welfare checks to animals owners and coordinate emergency transport for animals.

“We have a lot of dogs that need

to find homes, and so this is why we’re trying to promote our dogs,” Hilliard said. “Then we also have the donation station where they have a lot of donations come in. We help a lot of the folks that need it in between paychecks. Unhoused people come in and we help them to keep their pets.”

The shelter is currently working on transitioning from being a part of the Sheriff’s Department to being a part of the Department of Community Services. The shelter is also working on opening a spay and neuter clinic.

“We’re no longer going to be part of the Sheriff’s Department,” Hilliard said. “I think that’s going to be a good thing, a breath of fresh air with servicing.”

Radio station New Country KNCI 105.1 collaborated with Yolo County Animal Services Shelter to bring attention and support to all of the work that the shelter is doing.

Pat Tamika, morning show cohost of KNCI for the past 32 years, stated that the station has a mantra — “Be the good” — where they try to benefit the community through good acts. KNCI started Pet Food February about two months ago, aiming to fill shelter pantries with pet food for people in need.

“The pantry is for people who might be on the margins where being able to get free dog or cat food might mean the difference between keeping their pet or not,” Tamika said. “We

know how overcrowded our shelters are.”

Tamika and others from KNCI were at various animal shelters in the area every Saturday this February promoting adoptions and donation events and encouraging listeners to donate.

“We talked with several different shelters, including Yolo County Animal Services,” Tamika said. “And every single one of them told us, yes, there’s a huge need to replenish our pet food pantries. Supplies are low. They’re chronically low. So this has been our effort.”

Maddy Morris, a graduate student in the soils and biochemistry program, has been a volunteer at Yolo County Animal Services Shelter since last fall.

“I help with pretty much all the dogs and try to help with staff too because Lord knows they need it,” Morris said. “I mean, it’s selfless to volunteer for the dogs, but I’m here because I like the dogs. So it’s for me, too.”

Yolo County Animal Services has around 100 pets up for adoption that need good homes. Volunteers work tirelessly to clean kennels, sanitize bowls, launder beds and walk dogs.

“Everyone who works here and volunteers is here because of the love that they have for the animals,” Morris said. “There’s more room for funding and financial support […] But we do take really good care of our animals.”

This program was developed in 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court mandated the state of California to reduce its extreme prison overpopulation from 190 percent to 137 percent capacity. Today, California prisons operate at 96.5 percent capacity, and many responsibilities have been shifted to the county level.

Karleen Jakowski, the head of CCP’s mental health division and assistant director of the Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency,

“CCP partners share an understanding,” Olson said. “We have deep recognition that the thing that helps achieve public safety is treating the problem versus punishing the person.”

Since its creation, the goals of Yolo CCP have not changed much: to support victims, improve public safety, hold accountability and aid community reintegration. In the last four years, the agency has also had a special focus on cultural competency and addressing the impacts of systemic racism.

Davis Phoenix Coalition offered a free screening of award winning documentary: “And Then They Came for Us,” featuring a multitude of interviews and old film tapes. (Jersain Medina / Aggie)

Orion, a 1-year-old pit bull terrier, struts down the runway with a Friends of Yolo County Animal Services volunteer. The event raised funds and helped the animals get adopted. (Jenna Lee / Aggie)

CARE promotes ‘open and honest conversations’ about sexual violence on campus

Through education and advocacy, CARE supports survivors and informs students on safety issues

BY LAILA AZHAR

features@theaggie.org

In 1979, the UC Davis Rape Prevention Program was established as a resource for students and community members who had experienced sexual violence.

In 2015, it was renamed the Center for Advocacy, Resources & Education (CARE) and moved from the oversight of the UC Davis Police Department to the Office of the Provost. To this day, the program remains an important group on campus.

CARE advocates welcome students to engage in conversations around harassment and gender-based violence, including crisis counseling,

safety planning and discussions about survivors’ rights and options.

The program also provides support for academic, work and housing accommodations and offers accompaniment to evidentiary exams or legal processes.

As a confidential resource, accessing the program’s services doesn’t require survivors to report an incident to law enforcement, and advocates won’t report information shared by clients unless explicitly asked to.

Along with their resources for survivors, CARE creates educational content for the broader UC Davis community.

Their Instagram, @ucdcare, includes posts detailing warning

signs that someone is experiencing potential stalking behavior and tips for having a positive impact on youth in the community, among many other informational resources.

“Using social media to spread awareness about these topics is a great way to reach college students,” Brandon Nguyen, a first-year managerial economics major, said. “Their content is really informative.”

Sexual assault on college campuses is a pressing issue. Resources such as CARE are essential to promoting safety within our community.

“13% of all students experience rape or sexual assault through physical force, violence or incapacitation,” according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest

Why are we more productive when we work in coffee shops?

UC Davis students discuss the “coffee shop phenomenon”

ALLISON VO / AGGIE

BY ZOEY MORTAZAVI features@theaggie.org

Picture yourself in your ideal studying environment: you’re in a workflow; your headphones are on; your devices are charged and nothing can stop you. No matter where you are picturing yourself, it is no secret that everyone has a preferred place to get their work done, whether it’s their room, in the library or in a bustling coffee shop.

For many UC Davis students, coffee shops are central to our studying environment. The ASUCD has two units based around coffee — the Coffee House (CoHo) in the Memorial Union and the CoHo South Cafe in the Student Community Center. UC Davis also features six Peet’s Coffee shops throughout campus, which are popular study spots for students. Downtown Davis is also home to a variety of coffee shops, including places like Mishka’s and Philz.

The question must be asked: what draws so many people to the busy atmosphere of a coffee shop as opposed to somewhere less populated or quieter?

Coffee is a worldwide phenomenon in itself, with coffee shops providing a space to gather since their inception in the 16th century. Coffee is universal and has been celebrated in places where

phenomenon.”

This theory hinges on the idea that productivity flourishes within a coffee shop atmosphere. Whether it’s the wafting aroma of coffee beans, the noise of an espresso machine or the sound of other people working around us when we sit down to lock in, many students at UC Davis have reported that studying in coffee shops boosts their productivity.

“I think that studying and doing work in a coffee shop has helped me be able to be more productive, but I think it’s also important to find one that fits your vibe,” Annaliese Dobbins, firstyear biochemistry major, said. “Like for me — I like going to coffee shops that have comfy seats and that aren’t too hectic. I’m not as productive in a lively coffee shop like the CoHo as I tend to be in a smaller and quieter one. Having other people around [who] are also doing work helps me stay focused.”

Studies, such as one published in the Journal of Consumer Research in 2012, show that productivity can increase when a certain level of background noise is present. Coffee shops tend to have an amount of background noise that’s beneficial for a working environment.

“Coffee shops seem to offer the

perfect dose of noise (not too high, not too low) which studies have shown can help improve performance on creative tasks,” Steve Fitz wrote in an article for Medium’s Writing Cooperative. “Noise that isn’t overwhelming seems to enhance cognitive flexibility — the ability to think divergently or ‘out of the box.’ This is important for generating new ideas and linking concepts together when writing.” Students at UC Davis felt that while the coffee shop atmosphere can boost their productivity levels, it can also be a distracting environment when others aren’t focused on academics.

“I feel like I can be more productive in a coffee shop, especially if other people are studying around me,” Tajinder Cheema, a first-year psychology major, said. “It makes me feel more pressured to study and work, but if people are talking and having fun, it could be hard to focus in a place like that [...] and maybe [you can] even create a community with other people that are doing the same thing.”

Research, including a study conducted by the Harvard Business Review, cites that many adults can work productively in a noisy coffee shop but not in their own office — even if the noise level is the same. The ideal environment for creative and active work has at least some background noise.

Charlotte de Roulhac, a firstyear undeclared social sciences major, discussed her thoughts on this phenomenon and agreed with its benefits.

“I find it helpful to work with people, and with noise around, I tend to get easily distracted and lost in my own head, especially if there is no background noise for me to tune out,” de Roulhac said. “The hustle and bustle of a cafe is ideal for focus and enjoyment. Also, it has the plus of a tasty beverage.” No matter their ideal location for studying or working, everyone is wired differently. A study location that may work for you and help bring out your most productive self might not be the same as your peers.

If you are looking for a new place to study, consider working in a coffee shop — science shows they can be productive environments. When it comes to getting your work done, try studying in many different types of environments and see what works best for you.

National Network (RAINN).

Lea Harlev, a training and education specialist with CARE, is passionate about sexual violence and harassment prevention.

“[I joined the program] with the goal of creating a culture change to encourage open and honest conversations about these topics,” Harlev said.

Harlev cites working with students as a highlight of her experience with CARE.

“I’m very inspired whenever I meet with the students involved at CARE and get to see their diverse skills and talents, and hear their important ideas,” Harlev said. Along with CARE, UC Davis hosts

additional resources for survivors and students looking to get involved with advocacy.

The Women’s Resources and Research Center and Students for Reproductive Freedom are groups that share similar missions of promoting equality and preventing gender-based violence. CARE, along with these other campus groups, play an important role in helping UC Davis students feel safe.

“Knowing that there are people who spend all this time volunteering and working in order to put together resources to protect and educate students is so valuable,” Reena Panikar, a first-year political science major, said.

Study tips from the psychology department

Studying for finals can be difficult, but testing study methods used in Memory and Cognitive Development classes may help you feel more confident

BY LORENA ALVAREZ arts@theaggie.org

The quarter system is known for being more fast-paced than the semester system, leaving students with one assignment after another. As finals approach, students may begin to feel the pressure and anxiety ramping up. The good news is that there are many ways to enhance memory recollection and learning that can help students feel more prepared. The following are study tips from a cognitive psychology (PSC 100Y) lecturer and two psychology majors.

When asked what the best way to study for exams is, in his opinion, Brett Bahle, a postdoctoral scholar and part-time lecturer for the Department of Psychology, noted a good way to improve retention when studying for multiple exams.

“Say you have a final on Monday, Wednesday and Friday,” Bahle said. “Don’t study for one final on Sunday and then the next final on Tuesday and the next one on Thursday — you should be spacing out [your studying]. So do some studying for one final and then some studying for the other final all on the same day. Then, space that out across different days. That’s very well-established in [...] educational psychology literature as improving retention.”

He went on to comment on the methods he uses as a lecturer and scholar.

“Try to quiz yourself on the material or test yourself,” Bahle said. “In a course like [PSC 100Y], we offer review quizzes where you can take questions that are related to the topics that we’ll test you on […] How I would have studied in undergrad is making flashcards for the terms that I need to know. When I’m studying, I’m pulling up a term and saying, ‘How much can I recall about, say, what working memory is.’ And then I can use the back of the flashcard as the answer key.” In his final tip, Bahle noted a type of memory processing discussed in PSC 100Y. “Try to draw connections across topics that are covered in the course,” Bahle said. “This is kind of related to

the last unit, on memory, [that] we talked about [in lecture] — the idea that memories are better remembered if they are processed deeply. The basic idea is, the more you can make connections between different memories that you have, the stronger each of them becomes.”

Emily Ye, a third-year psychology major currently taking Bahle’s class, advised students to seek help when they are confused.

“Go to office hours every time you feel confused about theories or concepts, and go over questions you missed in previous exams with your teacher assistants,” Ye said. “It is also helpful to make study groups with other students in your class.”

Ye went on to speak on the importance of allocating your undivided attention toward studying the material.

“Don’t go to a coffee [shop], find a quiet place, and channel your mind, really focus on studying,” Ye said. “I used to FaceTime my boyfriend and study online, but I later realized it’s not a very good study method because I easily get distracted.” Similarly, Allison Arnott, a thirdyear psychology major, commented on her go-to study method.

“I find that staying up to date on the material throughout the quarter is kind of the best thing because then when it gets to time for finals, it’s just review, rather than cramming and trying to learn everything at once,” Arnott said. Arnott advises students to become engaged with the material to foster learning and memory.

“Some of the best things that you can do is engage actively with the material,” Arnott said. “Don’t just read through your notes or watch the lecture but rephrase it in a way that you are explaining it to somebody [...] Find ways to be curious about it, [ask yourself] how it’s interesting to you, rather than just studying to memorize it. Tying it back to stuff that you already know, really helps solidify the memory.” Arnott went on to remind students of the benefits of taking care of yourself.

PSYCHSTUDYTIPS

Making friends in college requires time, effort

Students share their experiences forming friendships at UC Davis

BY JULIANA MARQUEZ ARAUJO features@theaggie.org

When students think about the difficulties of college, the social aspect can often be overlooked or misconstrued. Each individual has their own experience coming into a new environment, and while one person may consider the task of forming friendships to be effortless, another person may find it daunting.

However, making true friends is a process that comes with time and patience.

For example, Isabella Lejano, a third-year psychology major, said that it took a while for her to start socializing with people outside of her immediate circle.

“I really started socializing with people and making friends, like, the spring quarter of my second year,” Lejano said. “I think for the first year or so, I took time to just get comfortable with school work and the workload, and then I was like ‘Oh, I can manage this, let’s go out.’”

Before she felt comfortable enough to broaden her friendships, Lejano formed bonds through on-campus housing.

“If you choose the right dorm — for example, I was in a health sciences and all-female building — it can be really easy to bond with people. That’s how I made a lot of my friends during my first year,” Lejano said.

For most people, the act of being sociable and building connections is familiar, but making friends beyond high school can be a very different experience from what they’re used to.

“I was in a lot of extracurriculars throughout high school so it was easy to make friends,” Lejano said. “But once I got here, I realized that I actually had to branch out; I couldn’t just stay in my little bubble. So, I guess I didn’t really know what to expect, but once I got the hang of it — figuring out how to talk to people and how to approach people — it became a lot easier.”

Finding a community in college can affect one’s experience just as much as the educational aspect, especially for students who are away from home or struggle with socializing.

For students like these, college can become very isolating without community, but it doesn’t have to be.

Jaqueline Moron, a second-year Spanish major, provided a positive mindset on forming bonds while having an introverted personality.

“I came to college knowing that everyone was going to kind of be in their own little world, and since I like keeping to myself, I don’t really put myself out there. I see it like this: if I meet someone, then I meet someone,” Moron said.

Even if students don’t like to participate in social events, they shouldn’t be discouraged if they haven’t found their community yet. Rianna Asuncion, a third-year psychology

major, shared how intimidating it was for her to form new friendships.

“I came into Davis with my two friends from high school, so we kind of went through freshman year together, but we also branched off and made different friends,” Asuncion said. “I was intimidated at first because I came from a really small high school, so I was scared of being able to make friends here, but I was surprised that everyone was really nice. We’re all in the same boat, just trying to get through classes.”

As lonely as it can feel to navigate college, many other students struggle with making friends too. Students assume that finding deep connections in college is easy, but it takes real effort.

In Lejano’s case, she wished she had explored more opportunities to form bonds with fellow students. She even shared some slight regrets in her friendmaking journey.

“I’m pretty okay with how my [journey] ended up because I’m happy with the friends I have, but if I could change something, I would’ve said yes to more things,” Lejano said. “For example, when freshman orientation groups asked to hang out, I should have said yes because that was an opportunity to meet more cool people within my major and classes that I’m taking.”

Asuncion shared a similar sentiment.

“If I could do something different, I would have joined more clubs. I wasn’t really familiar with what we offered for clubs until last year, so I think that would have been cool to start from

said. It’s

SPORTS

TRACK &

UC Davis women’s track and field takes home third in MPSF Championship

The win brought about many new Aggie medals and personal bests

BY CAROLYN (CARI) FENN sports@theaggie.org

The UC Davis Women’s Indoor Track and Field team recently traveled to Spokane, Washington to compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship. After the extensive two-day competition, the Aggies ended in third place, falling just behind Long Beach State and the University of Hawaii with 108.33 points.

One of the strongest performances for the Aggies came from Brianna Weidler, a third-year animal science major, in the 3000m and 5000m runs. In the 5000m, she placed first, recording a time of 16:21.38, with the next person coming in 10 seconds later with a time of 16:31.81. While Weidler didn’t get her personal best in the 5000m, she still finished strong with a first-place finish. Weidler also dominated the 3000m with Madison Kackley, fellow Aggie teammate and second-year undeclared major, coming in right behind her. Weidler set a new personal record in the 3000m, finishing with a time of 9:21.00, which beats her previous 9:34.27 time. Weidler came out with another first-place finish, and Kackley received the second-place title with a time of 9:40.83.

Weidler’s performance this weekend comes as no surprise as she has been setting new records throughout her time in Davis on both the cross-country and track-and-field teams. At the Husky Classic in Seattle, just a few weeks prior, Weidler achieved a personal record and set a new school record in the 5000m. Previous to the Husky Classic, Weidler beat the record for the 5000m in December 2023 at the Sharon ColyearDanville Season Opener.

Although Weidler gave a strong performance at the tournament, she wasn’t the only one of her Aggie teammates to reach the podium. In the other running events, Kackley won

first in the women’s mile with a time of 4:52.30. The Aggies also placed third overall in the 4x400-meter relay with a seasonbest time of 3:46.66. The relay team consisted of Cierra Kinsey, a first-year cell biology major, Alexys Ford, a fifth-year psychology major, Janae Oneal, a fourth-year sociology and organizational studies major and Maya Shinnick, a secondyear undeclared major.

In the field events, many Aggies reached the podium. Jayme Hendrickson, a third-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, placed first and set a new season best in the indoor pentathlon high jump with a 1.68m jump. The difference between a pentathlon high jump and a normal high jump is that the athletes have to partake in four other events during that same day: the pentathlon 60m hurdles, 800m, long jump and shot put.

While Hendrickson didn’t place as high in the other events, her performance in the high jump is an impressive feat with the schedule she had that day.

In the standard women’s high jump event, Elizabeth Churchill, a secondyear human development major, placed second with a new season-best record at a height of 1.68m.

Like Churchill, Kerrington Smith, a fourth-year pharmaceutical chemistry major, also placed second in her event, the triple jump, with an impressive distance of 11.88m. Additionally, Kylee Davis, a second-year African American studies major, placed third in the long jump with a jump of 5.82m.

In the weight throw, Ashpreet Kler, a third-year molecular and medical microbiology major, claimed the firstplace title with an 18.72m throw.

The second-place thrower didn’t come close to Kler’s score, with a distance of 17.76m, giving Kler a secure

0.96m lead. While not every one of the Aggies medaled in their events, some of them achieved new personal or season bests. Even though Oriana Jalal, a fourthyear NPB major, did not medal in the 800m — placing 10th in the race — she accomplished a season-best record of 2:16.81. This also occurred with Chloe Arriaga, a fifth-year NPB major, who recieved 10th place in the women’s mile, achieving a record of 5:03.04, which is less than half of the average woman’s mile time of 10:37. The last runner to achieve a new personal best was Hope Bergmark, a third-year undeclared major, who finished in fourth place in the 5000m. She completed the event with a time of 16:48.64 and a new season-best record.

Looking now at the field events, three other Aggies achieved new personal or season bests. In the high jump, Lauren Spellman, a third-year

UC Davis women’s lacrosse dominates in exhilarating 13-12 win

The Aggies keep their winning streak alive

BY MEGAN JOSEPH sports@theaggie.org

As the season starts to ramp up, the UC Davis women’s lacrosse team pulled out a thrilling win against the Lindenwood University Lions on Feb. 25. The game proved to be one of the hardest matches this season for the Aggies with the Lions’ undefeated record. However, it wasn’t enough to deter the Aggies away from their third consecutive win of the season.

Starting the match off strong, the Aggies recorded their first goal within the first 10 seconds of the first quarter. Second-year sustainable agriculture and food systems major Rhea Cosand had a strong play when she faked out the Lindenwood offense and sent a powerful top-corner shot straight into the goal for the Aggies’ first goal of the game.

The Aggies maintained an early lead over the Lions for the rest of the first quarter: Lindenwood scored one goal, while the Aggies scored three more. Third-year economics major Alannah Scott had two major plays in the first quarter, scoring two goals at 9:42 minutes and 13:08 minutes. Scott has had a strong season thus far, typically playing in the attacking position with her ability to outmaneuver the other team’s defense.

Following Scott’s lead, third-year political science and history double major Ella Brislin made a powerful play to the Lions’ goal and scored yet another goal for the Aggies in the 12th minute of the game.

Going into the second quarter of the game, the Aggies looked strong holding a 4-1 lead over the Lions. However, the Lions came back hard, scoring a

total of three goals in the span of four minutes with attacker Reese Krieger spearheading the charge.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t enough to phase the Aggies as they continued to score many of their own goals in the second quarter. In the fourth minute of the game, Brisbin came back for her second goal against Lindenwood as she lofted the ball into the top corner of the net. Additionally, fifth-year civil engineering major Claire Moats and first-year undeclared major Cami Johnson both found their way to the goal in the eighth minute and fourteenth minute of the second quarter, putting the Aggies in a 7-4 lead at the end of the second quarter.

In the second half of the game, the third quarter proved to be the most challenging for the Aggies. Following halftime, Lindenwood came back strong and eager to keep their perfect seasonal record. In the second and third minutes of the third quarter, the Lions managed to outplay the Aggies and score three consecutive goals. With fast and hard shots into the net, Lindenwood’s Emily Mowbray, Krieger and Alissa Digiacinto brought the score to an astonishing 7-7 tie.

Trying to put themselves back in the lead, the Aggies’ very own thirdyear design major Grace Gerbhardt made a counterattack against the Lions, bringing the score to 8-7. However, two minutes after the Aggies’ goal, Lindenwood veteran Krieger made a goal of her own into the back of the Aggie net, bringing the score back to a tie at 8-8.

The Aggies, not willing to give up their lead so easily, made a total of four other goals in the last six minutes of the third quarter. With goals by Brislin in the ninth minute, Moats

environmental science and management major, achieved a new season-best record with a 1.63m jump, taking home fifth place in the event. Aiza Sarwar, a second-year NPB major, took home a season-best record in the triple jump event. Sarwar finished in 12th place with an 11.24m jump, beating out her previous 11.17m season-best record.

The last stellar performance of the meet came from Hailey Hernandez, a second-year sustainable agriculture and ecology major, who set a new personal record in the weight throw. She finished fifth in the event but threw a distance of 17.34m, beating her previous personal best of 17.25m.

By the end of the tournament, three Aggies appeared on the MVP report. Weidler was tied for second overall (meaning of all men and women who competed) with three others from the tournament. She also achieved second place in females overall and first place for females in the track event. In both of her second-place finishes, she was behind Long Beach State third-year Hailey Fune, who had competed in more events than Weidler and, as a result, claimed the top spot.

The two other Aggies that placed in the MVP report were Kackley who placed second overall in the female track list and Kler, who tied for second with five others in the female field list.

Next, the Aggies will compete in the NCAA Championships in Boston, Massachusetts on March 8 and 9. While the indoor track-and-field season will be coming to an end after this upcoming tournament, the Aggies will be immediately jumping into their outdoor track-and-field season. Although it’s hard to predict how the Aggies will perform in the outdoor season, if the indoor season has shown anything, there are some stars to keep an eye on.

in the eleventh minute, Johnson in the fourteenth minute and third-year genetics and genomics major Natalie Markman in the fourteenth minute.

Although Lindenwood also made two more goals in the third quarter, it wasn’t enough to tie the score again.

Going into the fourth and final quarter of the match, the Aggies had a three-point lead with a score of 129. The Aggies scored their thirteenth and final goal in the eighth minute of

the quarter when Johnson collected the ball from a mistaken ball drop by the Lindenwood goalie. Even though Lindenwood scored a total of three goals, it wasn’t enough to take the lead from the Aggies. In the final fourteenth minute of the fourth quarter, Lindenwood’s Breylin Bright scored the Lions’ twelfth and final goal of the match, securing the 13-12 final score. Although the Lions had significantly more shots on goal and gained more

possession off of draws, the Aggies dominated turnover and total possession throughout the game. Davis had a total of seven caused turnovers and 11 regular turnovers that gave them the upper hand over Lindenwood.

As the season is just starting to ramp up for the Aggies, hopefully they can keep their winning streak alive when they face other tough Pack12 competition and bring home a championship title for Davis.

Member’s of the UC Davis track and field team at the 2023 Big West Conference Championships. (Courtesy / UC Davis Athletics)

UC Davis Women’s Lacrosse player Grace Gebhardt(#12) and her teammate fighting for control over the ball behind Lindenwood’s goal. (Andrew Huang / Aggie)

WOMENS LACROSSE