November 12, 2020

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VOLUME 139, ISSUE 6 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

UC DAVIS ACTIVITIES AND RECREATION CENTER OPENED NOV. 2 ARC weekday hours limited to afternoons, evenings

Photo info. (Name /Aggie)

BY HANNAH BLOME campus@theaggie.org The UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) officially opened to students on Nov. 2. Andy Ramirez, the associate director of Campus Recreation, outlined the procedures students should be aware of prior to their workout at the ARC. “All patrons are required to complete a symptom survey before entering, wear a face covering everywhere in the building and stay a minimum of six feet apart at all times,” Ramirez said.

Students can reserve a gym time at rec.ucdavis. edu and are advised to download the UC Davis

Recreation app to speed up the line by using the app’s QR code to check in.

An employee for Living Well at Campus Recreation said that the app offers both the ability to complete a symptom survey and the convenience of holding students’ reservations.

“We are told not to take ID’s to lower the risk of transmission,” the employee said.

While students can verbally tell the attendant their student ID number, this slows down the process and infringes on students’ hour-long time slot at the ARC. To make a reservation on the app, select “reservation,” log in with a Kerberos password and select a day and time. The ARC is open MondayFriday from 5:00-10:30 p.m. and on weekends from 1:00-6:30 p.m. The ARC’s evening

operations are attributed to accommodating popular lecture times, according to the employee.

The ARC has implemented measures to ensure COVID-19 precautions are respected.

All equipment has been placed six feet apart and mechanical machines have been taken offline.

“Currently, we are limiting our capacity to 150 students in ‘reservation blocks’ throughout the day,” Ramirez said. “Students will need to reserve a time online prior to visiting the ARC. That number of patrons is below 10% of ARC capacity and helps patrons follow physical distancing guidelines.”

Ramirez said that student campus recreation staff is tasked with cleaning the entire building between each reservation block.

“We wear these backpacks that are filled with

disinfectant cleaner,” the employee said. “When the ARC shuts down, we go to every single piece of equipment, every rack, every area in the ARC and use that disinfectant sprayer.”

“Protective plexiglass has been installed at all point-of-sale stations for employee safety,” Ramirez said. “Also, we are scheduling student employees so they can work a safe distance from each other. Employees have access to all the appropriate PPE for their job and cleaning duties.

Hand sanitizer has been placed at the front desk for both employee and patron access.”

The employee explained the difficulty surrounding scheduling outdoor classes. Factors such as weather, air quality index and wind play into scheduling decisions. She also applauded the student campus recreation workers’ diligence in their planning.

“The student workers built a plan from scratch for group exercise classes to be outdoors,” the employee said. “I feel that a lot of the student campus recreation workers don’t get enough credit for what [they] do.”

So far, the employee and Ramirez observed that campus recreation is doing the best they can under the circumstances provided.

“I was really impressed with the compliance of our students and our campus community regarding the new county health guidelines,” Ramirez said. “People just wanted a place to experience wellness after being sheltered in place.

Wellness and exercise is really important during these times, and our number one priority is student safety.”

Yolo County, although currently classified as being in the red “substantial” level of COVID-19, is trending back towards being in the purple “widespread” level, according to data from the county’s health and human services website. The percentage of positive cases has been on the rise, and if it continues, the county will be forced to adhere to the more restrictive measures of those in the purple tier around the state, which may include the re-closure of the ARC. “To help keep our Aggie community healthy, we ask that students follow university guidelines and protocol when visiting our facilities,” Ramirez said. “These are challenging times, but Aggies have always been at the forefront of solving the world’s problems, and our campus community will make it through these hard times.”

YOLO COUNTY ANNOUNCES GATHERING GUIDELINES: 16 PEOPLE FROM UP TO THREE HOUSEHOLDS ALLOWED

FREE COVID-19 TESTING AVAILABLE TO YOLO COUNTY RESIDENTS FOR MONTH OF NOVEMBER

Gatherings must be held outdoors for maximum two hours, important to slow virus’s spread

Widespread COVID-19 testing vital during holiday travel season

KATHERINE HUNG / AGGIE

BY SHRADDHA JHINGAN city@theaggie.org In a press release published on Oct. 21, Yolo County announced local gathering guidelines “with recommendations and conditions on how residents and family can more safely gather to protect” everyone’s health while reducing the transmission of COVID-19.

In an effort to help stop Yolo County from moving back into the Purple Tier, the press release describes that Yolo County “updated the amendment to the local order” to limit gatherings to three households, with at most 16 people. These gatherings must only be held outdoors and can happen for a maximum of two hours.

The recommendation also applies to business social gatherings, according to the press release.

“These restrictions also apply to business social gatherings, such as holiday parties,” the press release reads. “Industries that manage gatherings as part of their operations, such as wedding venues, restaurants, and religious services should continue to follow state and local guidance for their specific industry.”

Chair of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors Gary Sandy explained in the press release the importance of continuing to be safe and follow guidelines, especially during the

holiday season.

“Gatherings have proven to be one of our most pressing challenges in containing the spread of the virus,” Sandy said in the press release.

“With the holidays just around the corner it will be necessary for everyone to keep them small in size and among immediate family and close friends only. It is everyone’s responsibility to do what they can to stop the spread of the virus and in so doing protect our community’s health and safeguard the continuing operation of local businesses.”

Dr. Larissa May, a professor of emergency medicine and former interim health officer of Yolo County, further described the importance of the restrictions on gatherings.

“In terms of Yolo County, the state had some concerns, I think about equity, and therefore didn’t put a cap on the number of people that can be present at a gathering,” May said. “However, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as we know that in Yolo County most of our cases and outbreaks are coming either from social gatherings, essential workers or long-term care and skilled nursing facilities.”

For this reason, May explained that Yolo County decided to place a limit on the number of people allowed in gatherings.

PARTYRULES on 11

BY YAN YAN HUSTIS HAYES city@theaggie.org Yolo County is offering free COVID-19 tests beginning Nov. 2 and ending Nov. 30, according to a press release. Testing is being offered at multiple locations throughout the county, including the Davis Senior Center.

Testing at the Davis Senior Center will be offered on Nov. 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 from 3-7 p.m. at 646 A St. Testing is also available in West Sacramento, Madison, Knights Landing and Clarksburg.

In addition to the testing sites offered by Yolo County, OptumServe, the federal health services business of Optum and UnitedHealth Group, will provide residents with additional testing sites in Woodland from Nov. 3-28.

Testing at OptumServe is also free and available to all California residents by appointment only.

The press release explains that individuals who wish to get tested must be a Yolo County resident and need to bring proof of residency.

“Participants of these testing sites must be residents of Yolo County and will need to bring a document displaying their address, such as a driver’s license, ID card, utility bill, or piece of mail,” the press release reads.

Although it is not required, participants are encouraged to register in order to expedite the process. Registration, however, does not

CATHY TANG / AGGIE

guarantee a test, and time slots will not be available for selection.

Participants must wear a mask and maintain physical distancing at all test locations. There is no age restriction for tests and Spanish translations will be provided at most locations.

Yolo County Public Information Officer Jenny Tan explained that testing is especially important as the holiday season approaches.

“It is important as we move into the holiday season that we continue to provide testing,” Tan said. “We are trying to tell people that [they] should not gather, but we understand that there will be people that gather anyway. Get tested and quarantine in addition to physical distance and face covering.”

The website for the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provides general guidelines for COVID-19 testing, recommends that people who have had symptoms of COVID-19, people who have been recommended by a doctor and people who have had close contact (defined as within six feet for a total of 15 minutes or more) with someone who has COVID-19 should consider getting tested.

YOLOTESTING on 11

2 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

unit director for undergraduate housing advising, external affairs commissioner confirmed at oct. 29 senate meeting Senate Bill #4 tabled among other action items completed

By AARYA GUPTA campus@theaggie.org The ASUCD senate meeting on Oct. 29, was called to order at 6:10 p.m. by Vice President Emily Barneond.

Following ex-officio and elected officer reports, Citlali Plaza, a third-year community and regional development major, was confirmed as the unit director of the Housing Advising for Undergraduate Students.

“We’ve been putting out the application for this position for months,” said ASUCD President Kyle Krueger. “[Plaza] was incredibly qualified and passionate about the position and is going to do a great job synthesizing our housing resources across the association to make sure that students have one of the most essential basic needs.”

When asked about Plaza’s upcoming plans

AGGIE FILE

Members of Jewish student community discuss history of antisemitism on campus An insight into the Jewish student experience at UC Davis

By HANNAH BLOME campus@theaggie.org Amid the discussion of Senate Resolution #25 at the Oct. 15 ASUCD Senate meeting, members of the UC Davis Jewish student community expressed concerns about recurring anti-Semitic acts on the UC Davis campus and ASUCD’s involvement in international conflicts.

ASUCD Senator Samantha Boudaie addressed recent anti-Semitic events that occurred during her time at UC Davis, including rocks being thrown at the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) house and anti-Semitic political flyers displayed on campus. Boudaie also described an incident in 2001, when the UC Davis Hillel house was set on fire.

“A pool ball was thrown through our [AEPi house] window in the middle of the night,” said Justin Weiner, a fourth-year neurobiology physiology and behavior major and member of AEPi. “When I was running for ASUCD, I had people direct messaging me anti-Semitic slurs and telling me they would never vote for a Jew. As a Jewish student, I’ve often felt unsafe and that I had to hide who I am for that reason. I know a lot of my friends and people in my community have felt the same.”

Weiner also described an incident in 2015,

when swastikas were spray-painted on the AEPi house.

“In the past four years, our campus has seen multiple instances of swastika vandalizations and Nazi flyer postings all around the MU,” said Danielle Younai, a fourth-year political science major and the president of Aggies for Israel.

“These instances of outright hate speech and hate crimes have made me and other Jewish students feel afraid for our safety on campus.

Unfortunately, the administration is not very responsive. Every time a student goes to [the] administration asking them to show support or protect them in a meaningful way, the student is simply gaslit into believing anti-Semitism isn’t a problem in Davis. It 100% is.”

Weiner described incidents of Jewish students going to certain members of administration about concerns like anti-Semitic death threats and having them dismissed as “a joke or unlikely to happen.”

“I think certain people in the administration have done a good job [condemning antiSemitism],” Weiner said. “The Chancellor’s statement after the anti-Semitic flyers were posted was nice. But, there are other people in this administration who have had a history of dismissing racism and anti-Semitism.”

“UC Davis stands with our community

by Senator Annoushqa Bobde, Plaza responded that in addition to familiarizing herself with the position, her goals include launching a website to increase accessibility to housing-related resources.

“I truly understand the importance and need of affordable housing here in Davis, and I recognize the need for a more centralized unit [...] so that we can better serve all of classmates in the UC Davis community,” Plaza said.

Following Plaza’s confirmation, Cary Chen, a third-year international relations and economics double major, was confirmed as a commissioner to the External Affairs Commission, despite chairperson Shelby Salyer’s absence at the meeting.

“I don’t know who can provide a recommendation, but let me do a bylaws check to confirm [Chen] anyways,” Barneond said.

Despite only attending one External Affairs Commission’s meeting, Chen said that she hopes to use social media accounts to increase ASUCD’s visibility and reach new students.

“I applied for this position because I hope to serve the UC Davis community by finding new ways to support our students and promoting equity for all students to ensure that all students at Davis are able to succeed,” Chen said.

Senator Amanjot Gandhoke motioned to postpone the Judicial Council Chairperson confirmation and Barneond pushed the table

into the next agenda item.

“From the looks of it, ASUCD personnel somehow misplaced the applications and the supplemental questions and the resumes of two candidates that had applied for the position,” Gandhoke said. “There [were] apparently two people that applied for this position specifically, and did not receive an interview, nor were their applications reviewed, which is a violation of our bylaws.”

No new legislation was introduced.

ASCUD Senate Bill #4 was tabled.

ASUCD Senate Bill #4, written by President Krueger and introduced by Senator Malik, is “an ASUCD Senate Bill to further delineate how members of an interviewing committee are chosen,” according to the bill.

This bill addresses “a need to randomize selection of members of an interview committee” to ensure objectivity, according to the bill.

“I tried to create an unbiased method which would encourage participation amongst everyone,” Kruerger said. “It is a challenging piece of legislation to write.”

Vice President Barneond adjourned the meeting at 8:36 p.m.

against anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination,” wrote Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Pablo Reguerín via email.

“Our Principles of Community express our community’s dedication to mutual respect, understanding, compassion and caring for everyone, regardless of their religious affiliation, culture, ethnicity or gender. Student Affairs is working across communities and we offer our support to individuals and organizations, providing resources and opportunities to promote inclusivity. We are working to support student expression free of intimidation and to ensure all students have equal access and time to express themselves.”

Younai described personal encounters with anti-Semitism within the first few weeks of her experience living in the freshman dorms.

“I distinctly remember being made fun of in the dorms for mentioning that I was fasting

during Yom Kippur,” Younai said. “Then, later, upon finding out that I was Jewish, a student at the time joked about how he was going to throw pennies at me and other jokes related to the Holocaust.”

In a data report collected and prepared by Boudaie, the findings of 50 Jewish students who were surveyed over a six-month research span are presented.

“A whopping 73.5% of Jewish Aggies have seen something on campus that made them feel uncomfortable as a Jewish student at UCD,” the report reads. “[Nearly 47%] of Jewish students personally experienced or witnessed any antiSemitic incident(s) on campus [and] 36% of Jewish students do/did not feel welcome everywhere on campus.”

ANTISEMITISM on 11

CATHY TANG / AGGIE

woodland nursing home experinces second outbreak, rising case counts threaten to move yolo county back into purple tier Yolo County supervisor urges people to comply with health guidelines, prevent winter outbreak

By RACHEL SHEY city@theaggie.org Over the past two weeks, Yolo County has experienced a rise in COVID-19 cases. Although the county is still in the Red Tier of the state’s reopening plan, the adjusted daily new case rate as of Nov. 5 stands at 7.3 per 100,000 residents, up from 5.4 the week of Oct. 26.

If the daily new case rate reaches 7 per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks, the county will return to the Purple Tier.

District 4 Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza explained that the rise in case count is driven by several factors. He referred to the Woodland Alderson Convalescent Hospital, which is now experiencing a second outbreak after mitigating their first outbreak in early July.

“One of the biggest increases in cases was in a nursing home that had previously had an outbreak,” Provenza said. “I don’t think the nursing home is doing a good enough job of preventing outbreaks, and I think we need to have stricter enforcement with them and any other nursing home that isn’t doing its job.”

Provenza emphasized the need for the

nursing home to use protective equipment and also suggested daily testing.

“There’s really no excuse for a second outbreak in such a short period of time,” Provenza said.

As of Nov. 4, the total case count at Alderson Convalescent Hospital has risen to 97, with 11 deaths.

The age demographic of the new cases in Davis spikes at 18-24, suggesting that these new cases could be UC Davis students. Despite this data, Provenza explained that college students are not the primary driver of the rising case count.

“It doesn’t seem like UC Davis is a particular problem now,” Provenza said. “They’ve taken a lot of steps to regulate behavior and compliance.”

Provenza added that the impending holiday season poses a larger challenge than the beginning of instruction.

“If people over the holidays, have indoor gatherings with people who aren’t in their household, and they’re together for extended periods of time, that could definitely result in more cases,” Provenza said. “We need to make sure that the community understands that it needs to continue to comply with the rules about not having large gatherings, wearing face masks and maintaining social distance.”

CASESUP on 11

KATHERINE HUNG / AGGIE

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 | 3

BULOSAN CENTER FOR FILIPINO STUDIES CONTINUES TO GROW DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC The Bulosan Center expands its research and internship program this fall, driven by its community-centered approach to studying the Filipinx-American community.

BY LIANA MAE ATIZADO features@theaggie.org Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations and institutions have had to navigate shifting to an online environment. The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at UC Davis has been able to expand their research and their internship program, propelled forward by its goal to support the needs of the FilipinxAmerican community.

Established in 2018 under the leadership of Robyn Rodriguez, a UC Davis professor and Asian American studies department chair, the Bulosan Center is the first collegiate center for Filipino studies in the U.S. While the center started as a grassroots organization, it received $1 million in state funding last year. This support from the state enabled it to continue

striving toward its goals in research, advocacy and education.

This funding has allowed the Bulosan Center to expand its research projects, most notably its Filipinx/ Filipinx-American Health and WellBeing Survey. Led by RJ Taggueg, a graduate student in the UC Davis department of sociology and director of research at the Bulosan Center, this survey aims to collect data on the health, well-being and ultimately the needs of the Filipinx-American community.

“Very few folks actually do this kind of work, providing disaggregated data on [the Filipinx-American] community in and of itself,” Taggueg said. “As a center that focuses on the Filipinx experience, we want to make sure that we collect information on our community, information that our community needs, so that we can

Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies at Hart Hall at UC Davis recently recieved $1 million in funding from the state. (Photo by Justin Han / Aggie) provide people with tools.”

After the rapid spread of COVID-19 early this year, the survey shifted its focus to the general state of the community during the pandemic.

Significant findings from this study include the impact of COVID-19 on Filipinx-American healthcare workers.

Over 40% of the 800 FilipinxAmericans who filled out the survey reported being healthcare workers or having household members in the health field. Only about 5% have been tested for COVID-19, and over 40% stated that they did not know where to find the nearest testing facility. Many healthcare workers also reported a lack of adequate protective equipment, sometimes having to reuse a single mask for up to an entire week.

“These folks who are in the healthcare system, as a whole, are not accessing all the resources that should theoretically be at their fingertips,” Taggueg said. “So now, part of [our research] is trying to find out what’s preventing folks from getting the same access as everybody else.”

A significant amount of FilipinxAmericans also reported high levels of anxiety which they attribute to the pandemic. Many experience a growing sense of loneliness and difficulty with establishing a support system while in quarantine.

One way that the Bulosan Center strives to foster a sense of community during this difficult time is through their internship program. Wayne Jopanda, a graduate student in the

UC Davis Department of Cultural Studies and the associate director at the Bulosan Center, has created a space for students to learn more about Filipinx-American history and current events, to carry out research projects and to become familiar with outside resources.

While COVID-19 was an obstacle to this program at first, the shift to online learning allowed the Bulosan Center to open its (virtual) doors to interns across the globe. What started in winter 2019 as a quarterly program that included about 15 UC Davis students has now grown into a yearlong program that has accepted over 150 students from around the world.

“During quarantine, there was a need from folks to find a sense of community,” Jopanda said. “A lot of folks are living away from family and may feel isolated. We had folks who experienced family loss due to COVID or other issues, and they just needed a space. So I decided to open [the internship program] up to build larger circles of mentorship and support for our interns, no matter where they’re at.”

Annelle Garcia, a second-year transfer student with a major in sociology and a minor in Asian American studies, is now entering their second year as a Bulosan Center intern as part of the associate director’s team.

“One of the best things about the [shift to] work online [...] is that we’re getting so many more perspectives, so many more voices and so many more talents,” Garcia said.

BULOSAN on 11

DAVIS DOWNTOWN BUSINESS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHED 7 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN AND BEYOND INITIATIVE TO SAVE HALLOWEEN Safe Halloween alternative during COVID-19, supported local businesses

KAITLYN PANG / AGGIE

BY JELENA LAPUZ city@theaggie.org In previous years, the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA) hosted an annual Trick-orTreat Trail to celebrate Halloween. In order to comply with social distancing regulations due to COVID-19, the

DDBA came up with a new way for folks to enjoy fun Halloween activities while staying safe. This new event was called the 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond.

The official website described the full agenda for the 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond.

“Bring your family and friends

FIVE COURSES TO ADD TO YOUR WINTER QUARTER SCHEDULE

to visit your favorite downtown businesses to enjoy our 7 Days of Halloween from Oct 25–31st,” the website reads. “Experience downtown like never before while also supporting small businesses during this pandemic year.”

Aaron Wedra, the marketing coordinator for DDBA, reflected on how he hoped the initiative would help to bring more business to downtown Davis.

“We were most excited about the 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond as a way for the public to support small businesses,” Wedra said. “With the 7 Days of Halloween, we actually set it up in ways that people are spending multiple days downtown doing the scavenger hunt and other activities.”

Davis Creamery Owner Jennifer Schmidt explained that her experience with the 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond was great overall, although business remained constant.

“I don’t think it brought us more business, but it was fun,” Schmidt said. “I think we got a lot more out of that than anything, so I’m really glad we did that because I think people really enjoyed it.”

The website also listed the various activities that would be included in 7 Days of Halloween &

Beyond. These activities included, but were not limited to, a downtown scavenger hunt, a candy giveaway, a storefront-decorating contest, a cookie-decorating contest and window displays to honor the Day of the Dead.

Schmidt reflected on her experience with the cookie-decorating contest that her business hosted.

“We had a good participation with the cookie-decorating contest, which I really liked,” Schmidt said. “I think we might do it again for the holiday season.”

Yelena Ivashchenko, Bohème Used Clothing & Gifts owner, chair for DDBA marketing committee and member of the board of directors for the DDBA, explained how the idea for 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond was developed.

“We tried to come up with some sort of alternative where people could still have fun, but in a safer manner,” Ivashchenko said. “We also wanted to support businesses.”

Wedra further described the inspiration behind holding activities over a week-long period.

“The inspiration behind 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond was to save Halloween during the COVID year,” Wedra said. “We wanted to save Halloween by spreading our activities

CATHY TANG / AGGIE AGGIE FILE

You’d better not carry that keg another step!

October 22 “Four wheels taken from truck overnight by unknown subject.”

October 23 “Electric guitar and loud bass.”

“Two minors asking customers to buy them restricted items.”

Through these classes, students can gain knowledge on current political and environmental issues

BY KATIE DEBENEDETTI features@theaggie.org 2020 has been a year full of calls for social change including more holistic education, such as ethnic studies. With Winter Quarter pass times coming out, students have the opportunity to sign up for a class that could provide valuable social knowledge, not just textbook knowledge. As students undoubtedly scramble to find that extra general education class for their schedule or meet their unit cap, here are five courses taught by professors that aim to teach lessons that go far beyond the classroom.

ESP 10: Current Climate Issues ESP 10 is a course offered yearly at UC Davis that teaches the science of the climate issues we are facing as a nation and a world today. Professor Steven Sadro, who will be teaching the course, said that it always covers climate change, but the students also have a say in what topics they are most interested

in. Issues he foresees covering this year are forest management and wildfires, agricultural issues and waste generation.

“In that sense I think there’s an immense value in taking the course because we deal with a lot of issues that are very topical to people, whether you’re just a citizen of California, or a citizen of the world,” Sadro said.

POL 163: Group Politics Professor Rachel Bernhard, who teaches this class, explained that she uses the frame of group politics to focus on identity and discrimination within groups in society.

“We’ll be thinking about different kinds of groups, both historical and modern, in the US, and how both that group’s sense of themselves [...] has evolved over time and also how those groups have been marginalized and countered that marginalization in politics over time,” Bernhard said.

She expects to focus specifically on racial and ethnic groups, sexual

out over seven days.”

Ivashchenko further explained how 7 Days of Halloween & Beyond was partially inspired by a clever play on the 7 Days of Christmas, but adapted for Halloween-themed activities.

Schmidt also reflected on the help of the DDBA in drawing customers to downtown Davis despite the ongoing economic hardships.

“I think that [DDBA has] done a really good job at trying to get the community to come downtown more,” Schmidt said. “I think that it’s definitely helped for sure because if it wasn’t for the community coming out and supporting small businesses like ours, we wouldn’t be able to make it through this tough time.”

Ivashchenko added that patrons can still shop and walk around downtown, but reminded everyone to do so safely.

“We want to encourage people to come out to downtown,” Ivashchenko said. “Spread out, stay healthy and have fun.”

orientation and religious identity.

She also teaches a separate course on women in politics (POL166), generally available in the fall. “[The class is] a forum to educate ourselves and to have a space to learn and talk about it that is not just the social media sphere, nor is it just a history class that’s in the past and doesn’t really connect to what’s going on right now,” Bernhard said.

WMS 50: Introduction to Gender Studies This course is a lower division class that focuses on feminist and LGBTQ history and activism, as well as all of the ways that these topics intersect. Isabel Alvarez, a fourth-year art history and gender, sexuality and women’s studies double major, recalled thinking that this was a course that students in many different majors would benefit from.

“I remember being in the class and thinking that students who are pre-med should take classes on gender studies and race studies because a lot

of STEM majors are not required to take classes that look at how what they study is influenced by things like racism and patriarchy,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez also believes that this course provides important baseline education for students socially, apart from their degrees.

“For folks who are not marginalized in certain ways, it can be hard to understand why some people feel the way they feel about government policies, incarceration,” Alvarez said.

“Through the readings, through the lectures, through the queer and feminist activism, [the course] helps to explain how other peoples’ lives are lived and have been lived throughout history. It makes it a little bit easier for other people to understand where people who are involved in a lot of different activism are coming from.”

COURSES on 11

October 24 “Subject ‘aggressively’ trying to sit with customers/subjects in area and making everyone uncomfortable.”

October 31 “Parade blocking roadway.”

“Unknown subject threw red stuff on vehicle.”

“Trespassing in the pool and making lots of noise—pool is closed.”

November 1 “Noticed several vehicles parked near the residence and two people carrying in a keg. Respondent is worried they are going to have a party.”

“Male walking around dribbling basketball.”

4 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

The potential impacts of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation UC Davis professors and the Davis College Democrats and Republicans unpack Barrett’s confirmation as a Supreme Court justice and her possible stances on court cases

BY FARRAH BALLOU features@theaggie.org On Oct. 26, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, was confirmed to be the next Supreme Court justice, filling former Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat. This confirmation has brought controversy as Americans debate her confirmation and its possible impact on previous cases.

Many have discussed her confirmation process in the context of the 2016 Supreme Court nomination, where Senator Mitch McConnell denounced Merrick Garland’s nomination by former President Obama under Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution, stating that the Senate is allowed to withhold consent. McConnell refuted the nomination due to the upcoming election in November and a difference in parties between the Senate majority and the President. This year, the precedent of delaying a judge’s confirmation due to an election year was not upheld with Barrett’s confirmation.

Ashutosh Bhagwat, a UC Davis professor of law specializing in constitutional law and the Supreme Court, clarified the legality of this situation.

“Mitch McConnell had no legal obligation to confirm Judge Garland in 2016,” Bhagwat said.

Ethically, according to Bhagwat, the deliberate attempts to ignore past precedent for party gains is questionable, yet it is in the Senate’s legal right to do so.

With Barrett’s confirmation, the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative supermajority.

This new direction could allow for past cases to

be overturned, and for tighter restrictions on previously set laws.

Brian Soucek, a UC Davis professor of law specializing in constitutional law, gender identity and sexual orientation, explained that though past cases often hold significance in court, if the Supreme Court finds them unlawful, they can be easily overturned with a 5-4 vote.

“There is doctrine and there is tradition and there are norms, and if you’re going to overturn a prior decision you need a better reason to do that, to go that direction, than you would need if you were deciding something for the first time,” Soucek said.

In terms of abortion, both Soucek and Bhagwat stated that the reversal of Roe v. Wade and the criminalization of abortion is a possibility.

Soucek, however, argued that there is a greater likelihood that the Supreme Court will focus on chipping away at abortion rights and granting states the power to dictate abortion laws.

Even if Roe v. Wade is overturned, that does not equate with abortion being illegal. Rather, Bhagwat explained, this action would place the ultimate decision about abortion rights on individual states. California, for example, would be unaffected since its comprehensive abortion laws would permit unobstructed access, while conservative states are more likely to ban or severely restrict abortion and contraceptives.

As abortion rights are expected to become more restricted, Lisa Materson, a UC Davis women’s and gender history professor, explained this moment as part of a broader, ever-changing political movement. According to Materson, the introduction of Roe v. Wade influenced the New

Right movement—formed out of opposition toward abortion rights. Barrett’s confirmation, she said, is not a trend but rather a continuation of this movement.

“If we were to go back every decade prior to now after Roe v. Wade, there would be lots of different examples,” Materson said, referring to moments in history where female rights were constrained.

It is also possible that Barrett’s confirmation will lead to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). If the Supreme Court finds the ACA unconstitutional with the recent no tax mandate, then Congress will have to pass a new bipartisan health care bill as a replacement.

The removal of this act, according to Bhagwat, could bring serious consequences, as it limits the coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.

It also may cause 18-year-olds to need to find separate healthcare plans and could limit access to contraceptives.

“Striking down [the] Affordable Care Act would severely undermine women’s access to insurance that pays for birth control,” Bhagwat said.

Similar to abortion, Soucek mentioned that the Supreme Court is less likely to overturn past cases regarding LGBTQ rights like Obergefell v.

Hodges, but it may vote in favor of future cases that restrict these rights.

“The almost certain path is that the 6-3 court will greatly expand religious exemptions and accomodations for people that have religious objections to same-sex marriage and related LGBTQ issues” said Soucek.

In the case that the Supreme Court decides

KAITLYN PANG / AGGIE

to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, Soucek said it would be more impactful on California constituents than overturning Roe v. Wade. “[If] Obergefell gets overturned, California goes back to Prop 8 which says marriage is between one man and one woman,” Soucek said.

With this new direction in court, Americans have formulated varying opinions toward Barrett and her potential impact on our country.

Karan Brar, the chairman of the Davis College Republicans (DCR), stated that the entire nomination process by the Senate in 2016 should have been controlled differently.

“We do wish that in 2016 they would have at least voted on the nomination, just to not have set this precedent that we have to go back on,” Brar said.

Though DCR is mostly in favor of the nomination, Brar stated that the organization’s largest rejection of Barrett is her probable stance against same-sex marriage.

“All of us are absolutely against repealing same-sex marriage, but we also don’t think it will go up through the court,” Brar said. “We don’t think we are going to have an issue where a state tries to ban gay marriage.”

The Davis College Democrats (DCD), according to President Aurora Schünemann, oppose the confirmation of Barrett and her overarching ideals. Schünemann and Executive Director Evan Cragin both shared the same message that the confirmation of a new judge should have followed the 2016 precedent and been postponed until after the election.

Regardless of that decision, they disagree with Barrett’s probable stances on anti-abortion legislation, restrictions on same-sex marriage as well as the possible overturn of the ACA. “Part of the conversation that has been lost about the ACA was that it was always supposed to be a stepping stone,” Schünemann said.

Schünemann and Cragin emphasized that President Obama introduced the ACA as an initial bill that would encourage citizens to obtain healthcare and pivot towards a publicized system.

Though little can be done if the legislation that they support is overturned, both hope that more bills being passed in the House and the possible flipping of the Senate in 2022 would ensure stability within the courts as the concept of additional judges might become more realistic.

As Barrett adjusts to her new position, many have already retaliated by threatening to initiate impeachment. Bhagwat, however, clarified that the impeachment of a Supreme Court Justice has only occurred once in the history of the U.S. “The standard for impeachment is high crime or misdemeanor,” Bhagwat said. “How you vote in specific cases is not a grounds for impeachment. [The] Supreme Court is supposed to be independent of the political process.”

Though it’s possible that Barrett might opt in favor of overturning past cases, it is more probable that she will play a role in curbing the influence of these cases to limit abortion and same-sex marriages. Despite her potential impact, Barrett has not confirmed her stance on many issues that could turn into Supreme Court cases; only time will tell.

Claudia Rankine: “There is no justice, there’s ‘just us’” Poet Claudia Rankine presented her latest work, “Just Us: An American Conversation,” at UC Davis

BY MARIAH VIKTORIA CANDELARIA arts@theaggie.org Using a compilation of poetry, essays and images, Claudia Rankine’s newest book, “Just Us: An American Conversation,” tackles the issue of systemic racism’s persistence in American culture, specifically through the presence of white supremacy and the failures of the U.S. justice system in providing an equal opportunity to all Americans.

Rankine’s book features a series of difficult conversations held with friends and colleagues to demonstrate deeply embedded “white denial” in even the most well-meaning people and how to address and combat it effectively and with unity.

The poet gave a presentation on Nov. 4 through UC Davis’ Manetti Shrem Museum. Her event began with an explanation of how the title of the book, “Just Us,” comes from a Richard Pryor joke regarding the injustices Black people are often subjected to by the police.

“You go down there looking for justice and that’s what you find, just us,” Pryor’s famous quote goes. While it was originally told in the ‘70s, the joke’s message still alarmingly resonates with how Black folks are treated by the U.S. justice system.

The poignancy of the quote allows readers of the book and audience members of her lecture to get straight to the point of the importance of her work: directly addressing the racial inequalities that manifest, from small instances of implicit biases to larger, violent acts of aggression supported by the American government.

Her lecture, similar to her book, employed several types of media to engage her audience.

She drew from videos to further emphasize the juxtaposition of “Blackness” and “whiteness” in America, like Richard Pryor’s performance, to the more severe depictions of Black bodies being violated and unlawfully harmed by the police.

“Blackness and racism does not exist without the concept of ‘whiteness’” Rankine said. Rankine illustrated how the two coexist in devastatingly different lights and how it furthers the divide between the American people.

During her lecture, she also explained the process of how the book was written and how she was able to navigate the conversations she describes in her book. Some conversations are more controversial than others, but Rankine describes how “white denial” is rooted in the ignorance of all their statements.

She detailed the process of heavy revision and fact-checking after a conversation before it was sent back to Rankine’s original conversation partner.

In the case that her colleague took issue with how a certain statement is interpreted (often claiming “I didn’t mean it like that”), she would note that discrepancy in her book. The discrepancies further exemplify the implicit harmfulness embedded in these conversations, bringing Rankine’s point to a full circle.

“Just Us: An American Conversation” is wellworth looking into, especially given the current social and political climate. It allows for people of all ethnic backgrounds to engage in a more comprehensive examination of the different ways implicit biases and racial injustices prevail.

Photo of author Claudia Rankine (Courtesy)

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 | 5

OPINION THE

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ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SABRINA HABCHI Campus News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD City News Editor CALVIN COFFEE Opinion Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MADELEINE PAYNE Science & Tech Editor

SIERRA JIMENEZ New Media Manager JUSTIN HAN Photo Director KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director KAITLIN ARAGHI Copy Chief ALEX WEINSTEIN Copy Chief KESHAV AGRAWAL Website Manager BEN CHENG Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

Students deserve more from universityprovided mental health resources COVID-19 and remote learning have increased the demand for mental health services, due to rise in student loneliness, stress and anxiety Any student can schedule individual counselling sessions with the Student Health and Wellness Center by calling 1(530)752-0871. The phone number for the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1(800)273-8255 or text RELATE to 74174 to confidentially chat with a Crisis Counselor. Speak with a trained counselor, available 24/7, through The Trevor Project at 1(866)4887386. Yolo County’s 24-hour crisis line is 1(530)756-5000.

There is no doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the already unstable mental health of college students. Not just UC Davis students, but across the world, students struggle with mental health—and the COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened these issues. With classes at UC Davis being held almost entirely online, it is all too easy for students to feel anxious, stressed and isolated right now.

A Texas A&M University study researching the effects of COVID-19 on college students’ mental health found increased levels of stress, anxiety and depressive thoughts among students. Of the 195 students under study, 71% indicated increased stress and anxiety due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Of those surveyed, 91% reported fear and worry about their own health and of their loved ones, 86% reported disruptions to sleeping patterns and 82% reported increased concerns on academic performance.

A report released last August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) studying COVID-19’s effect on mental health found that among 18-to 24-year-olds, about one-quarter of those surveyed had “seriously considered suicide” in the last 30 days.

These studies clearly illustrate an urgent need for universities to develop new strategies addressing student mental health. While the Editorial Board acknowledges that UC Davis has recognized the increasing demand for mental health resources, and has adapted their existing resources to the COVID-19 pandemic, more action needs to be taken. UC Davis must learn to mitigate long appointment wait times and understaffing of their resources—problems felt by universities across the U.S. In accordance with CDC guidelines, Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) has moved all in-person services, including individual counseling, to secure video conferencing and telephone consultation. Yet, only students currently located in California at the time of the appointment may access these specific resources due to legal constraints.

When writing this editorial on Nov. 10, a member of the Editorial Board attempted to schedule a session for individual brief counseling—which is typically a set of 3-5 therapy sessions—yet, the first available appointment was Dec. 1.

A member of the Editorial Board also tried to set up a one time visit—which is scheduled on the same day or for the next day. No appointments were available.

SHCS is widely known to be understaffed, resulting in long wait times for appointments. Despite the increasing need for meetings with counselors, leadership within SHCS recently furloughed 37

Strict diets can deprive us of our happiness and health

employees within the department resulting in “decreased availability for students.” Counseling through SHCS, however, is the only option for many students who may not have the financial means to use a private counselor. Students should not have to wait around three weeks before they can meet with a counselor, even if they are not in a crisis situation.

Crisis consultation services are still available for students who call (530) 752-0871. Drop-in consultation services have been suspended due to the pandemic, however, as of June 30, access to LiveHealth Online is only free for those on the UC Student Health Insurance Plan. While one-time appointments, in theory, allow students to meet with a counselor at a moment of crisis, in reality these resources are not always available when students need them. Students may also find one meeting is not sufficient at providing the help they need.

Due to the online nature of these appointments, unreliable internet connection and issues of privacy also create difficulties for students. The possibility of family members or housemates listening into private counseling meetings may scare some students away from accessing these resources, even if they really need help.

UC Davis has provided resources to help students cope with the unique challenges posed by COVID-19. For the 2020-2021 school year the Campus Community Book Project is focusing on mental health by featuring the graphic memoir “Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me” by Ellen Forney. Podcasts and “You Got This” workshops are also available for students.

Students who are already overwhelmed may not be looking to read more books, watch more lectures or attend more classes on top of their schoolwork. These resources are not sufficient replacements for conversations with mental health professionals—which are what students really need during times of crisis.

While it is clear that students deserve more from universityprovided mental health resources, it is not only the job of administrators to solve these challenges. Students, faculty and staff can help by openly discussing mental health. Students should increase their conversations with peers about mental health; oftentimes hearing that others are also struggling with anxiety, depression or stress makes others feel less alone. Professors should check in with students, be flexible with assignments and do whatever they can to decrease stress in class.

Regarding UC Davis administrators—more work needs to be done to ensure every student is aware of their “mental health tool kit,” or the resources the university provides to students. These resources should be easier for all students to access and understand.

All students should have equal access to SHCS and should be able to make an appointment within a day or two of their request.

Drop-in counseling appointments should be reinstated through Zoom to ensure all students can speak with a counselor in a moment of crisis. More counselors should be hired to meet the increasing demands for appointments.

Changes must be made so all students can access the mental health resources that they deserve.

CATHY TANG / AGGIE

We need to focus on loving and listening to our bodies when it comes to our diet

BY KACEY CAIN klcain@ucdavis.edu In the U.S., diet culture began in the early 1900s and has since accumulated an exhaustive list of different dieting fads for people to attempt––cleanses, low-carb, ketogenic, paleo, etc. Companies like Atkins and Weight Watchers have made a profit by supporting the narrative that people need to lose weight in order to love themselves and to be considered healthy. Although these programs are not as popular as they once were, new diet trends that engender the same narrative have taken their place.

A-list celebrities, popular magazines and social media influencers are at the top of the list for promoting these diet trends. By just posting pictures of their meals or grocery hauls, they influence thousands of people to start a diet they know nothing about. I, myself, have fallen into this trap before, just to quickly find out that I do not have the resources nor the education to be making these decisions about the food I eat.

More importantly, what works for one person,

doesn’t always work for everyone else. All bodies are different and therefore require different foods and methods for losing weight. Consequently, most diets aren’t tailored to individual needs––a potential reason why some people see progress and others do not while on the same diet.

Generally, people aren’t quick to share the negative outcomes or hardships we experience day-to-day. Instead, we tend to use social media to highlight the favorable and positive aspects of our lives. In regards to dieting, it’s more pleasing to show the successful results rather than the struggles and lack of progress. Sadly, this generates the idea that certain diets are easy and accessible for everyone.

Self-control and deprivation are the two pillars of dieting. Diets require you to exercise self-control in order to deprive yourself of certain foods, and thereby satisfaction, depending on the rules of your diet. In reality, not all days can be good ones, and a quick mood fixing solution is the comfort food that tends to exist outside the bounds of our diet. Thus, the purpose of a “cheat day.” The name itself, however, carries a negative connotation that’s intended to make us feel guilty for defying

the rules of our diet. It’s inherently dangerous to not only deprive ourselves of the foods we may actually need, but also to deprive ourselves of something that may bring us happiness.

Although weight loss goals originally intended to motivate us to stay on track with our diet, setting them poses a threat to our well-being.

Setting unrealistic and unattainable goals leads to disappointment and, more dangerously, unhealthy eating habits. Losing weight does not happen overnight, making it hard to stay inspired. As a consequence, people may lose hope and develop disordered eating habits.

This does not mean dieting is always ineffective and bad. In fact, many people have success stories.

But it’s important to note that dieting and depriving yourself of certain foods is not the only way to become healthy. Listening to your body,

tuning in to your emotions and being rational about the food you eat is a much more substantial way to live. Intuitive eating is not a diet plan, rather it pushes you to reject the diet mentality altogether.

For far too long, diet culture has convinced us that our bodies aren’t good enough or that we need to change ourselves to appease society’s unrealistic standards. Rather than measuring our self-worth against the superficial wellness represented in movies, television and on social media, the focus needs to be switched from losing weight to loving and listening to our bodies.

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.

Last wolverine in California denied federal protection As one of the rarest mammals in the U.S., the legal status of wolverines has long been contested by the government and environmentalists

BY JOE SWEENEY jmsweeney@ucdavis.edu Just outside of Yosemite National Park on a crisp February morning in 1922, prospector Albert Gardisky was checking his traps outside of his home in Mono County. Gardisky had been all over the West Coast before settling down in Mono County next to a lake that would later bear his name. On this particular cold winter day, Gardisky would discover a wolverine in one of his traps a few miles away. What might have seemed like an ordinary day to him was history—this was the

last recorded wolverine in California for nearly a hundred years.

As solitary creatures, wolverine populations are notoriously difficult to estimate, but it’s widely accepted that they were historically found across the Sierra Nevadas and some of the northern parts of California. Today, there is likely only one wolverine in the entire state of California. His name is Buddy, he’s from Idaho and he is adorable.

Buddy will likely live his whole life in solitude, as female wolverines tend to travel shorter distances than males, so it’s unlikely that he will find a mate. Adding insult to injury, wolverines are not protected under any federal laws, despite having

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE only an estimated 300 individuals in the U.S. today.

After nearly a three-decade-long battle, the federal government has reaffirmed its intention to not grant wolverines protection under the Endangered Species Act.

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.

WOLVERINE on 11

6 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

HUMOR

HOW REDEFINING ‘POLLUTED WATER’ AS ‘HOLY WATER’ COULD AFFECT BARRETT ON WATER LAW CASES Clues to how Amy Coney Barrett might decide cases involving the Clean Water Act

BY BENJAMIN PORTER bbporter@ucdavis.edu There has been much discussion of how new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s deep Catholic faith and membership of the Charismatic Christian group “People of Praise” could affect how she might rule on cases involving abortion access and LGBT rights. But there’s another area of law in which her deep religious and moralistic convictions could smuggle their way into her otherwise brilliant legal mind—an area of law that people aren’t talking about as much as they should right now: water law.

The website for “People of Praise” explicitly states that their movement began with beliefs in “charismatic gifts such as speaking in tongues and physical healing, as described in the New Testament book of Acts.” This means that they literally believe that blathering like blatherskites in incomprehensible, unintelligible, meaningless gibberish allows them to talk to God and that faith healing actually can work as a viable alternative to science and medicine. Cool!

But this poses some interesting questions on laws and regulations regarding water pollution. And they all hinge on the legal definition of terms like “toxic pollutant” and what it actually means for water to be “polluted” or “impaired.”

Under the Clean Water Act, the term “toxic pollutant” is currently defined as “those pollutants, or combinations of pollutants, including disease-causing agents, which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the basis of information available to the Administrator, cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities,

cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in such organisms or their offspring.”

In short, “toxic pollutants” are scientifically proven to be harmful to one’s health. It follows that drinking or swimming in “polluted water” would also be harmful to one’s health.

But what if, just what if, through the power of faith, we could transform polluted water into holy water? Or if the “toxicity” and “holiness” of any waterway or source of drinking water could exist simultaneously? Well, if any of this is true, I think we’d have to take a real hard look at whether we actually need the Clean Water Act or the Safe Drinking Water Act at all!

Say that a factory discharges harmful toxic chemicals into a river that supplies drinking water and is a favorite place for locals to swim. Using the doctrines and logic of the “People of Praise,” we could easily just have a priest bless the water to make it holy. Problem solved! At least, if you have faith. Or perhaps we’re wrong to even think that the act of polluting water is the negative externality that science has always told us it is—what if discharging toxic sludge into a river or polluting groundwater with fracking chemicals is actually a positive externality, a beautiful sign of industry, corporatism and capitalism as benign forces of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit against the Godless wickedness of secularism, socialism and communism?!

By subscribing to this premise, we can easily claim that polluted water is holy water, by definition. And from there, it only makes sense that we should use this water as part of the practice of faith healing. Why shouldn’t people drink or bathe in polluted water if their faith tells them it just might heal them? If people believe

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

that it can heal them, then it would clearly be morally wrong to use the science-prejudiced pretext of “protecting people’s health from harmful pollutants” in order to justify the enforcement of pollution regulations that outright deny people the opportunity to put their faith in the polluted water’s potential healing capabilities, nonexistent as they might be.

Using this faith-based reasoning, it becomes obvious that it’s a MUCH WORSE offense to prevent people from doing something they believe to have positive impacts (despite lacking evidence) than it is to help people avoid something that is scientifically proven to have negative impacts.

WATER on 11

VOTER FRAUD, SHMOTER SHMAUD! YOUR BALLOT IS BEING COUNTED BY THE CHUCK E. CHEESE TICKET MUNCHER Prizes include the presidency and the future of our democracy KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

BY ISABELLA CHUECOS ifchuecos@ucdavis.edu The following is an anonymous letter believed to be written by notorious supervillain, Mr. Munch. Written on Nov. 5, the letter seems to be an attempted plan by Munch to “stop the count.”

There’s been a lot of fancy politics talk recently. Election this, democracy that. Fraud.

Suppression. Cheeto. Sleepy. It feels like I’m in my seventh grade civics class again, except now I’m not snickering through my braces about “pigeonholing the filibuster on your mom.”

So, with all of the kerfuffle going on with this

totally real and totally scary U.S. election, it feels like nothing is going right. Instead of picking the senile old dude to rule the country by a landslide, we’ve decided to make this a “nail-biter,” which is sort of an understatement considering there’s definitely much more at stake than our nail beds.

The whole issue with this election lies with the mail-in ballots. Maybe we should’ve defunded the USPS after all, those dirty rotten slowpokes.

There are two problems here: (1) ballots are being counted or (2) ballots aren’t being counted. I feel like there’s one right answer here, but I digress.

There doesn’t seem to be a specific time period for when all of these ballots are going to be counted, and the country is waiting with bated breath to hear the results.

You might be thinking, dear reader: “What the HELL are we gonna do about this counting issue?!” I’m asking the same thing. But listen: between you and me, there’s this guy I know in Clark County, Nevada. This one dude has been keeping me calm through all of this. His name?

Charles Entertainment Cheese AKA Chuck E. Cheese. I doubt many of you forgot about the rat king of our childhood, and I assure you there is no one more equipped to take care of this ballot issue.

Chuck told me a bunch of stuff about how they’re taking care of the ballots not only in Nevada, but in all of the other battleground

states, but there’s one thing that’s really going to make a difference: the Ticket Muncher. I know, I know. It sounds improbable and highly stupid.

But honestly, what hasn’t been in this election?

Here’s why the Ticket Muncher is going to save our precariously-positioned democracy.

First of all, he’s so fast. Like, unbelievably fast.

He is a fast little muncher. It doesn’t even matter who you voted for. All ballots are equal under the eyes of the Muncher. He will eat up your ballot so fast, you won’t even have the time to say, “Scoobidybop! Ballot selfie time!”

Secondly, the Ticket Muncher is unbiased.

Between eating your ballots and making balloteating sounds, the Ticket Muncher can’t even choose between Coke or Pepsi, let alone who should be the President of the U.S. At the end of the day, with the Ticket Muncher at the helm of this sinking ship, we can be assured of one thing: this whole nightmare will be over in a few days. Besides, we can’t look back on this trainwreck of an election if all the results have been digested.

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

STAND-UP COMEDIAN JUST ANOTHER TESTS MATERIAL OUT ZOOM LECTURE AGAINST THE TOUGHEST AUDIENCE: A ZOOM BREAKOUT ROOM

BY RUSHI TAWADE rntawade@ucdavis.edu

He just wanted to make someone laugh

BY RENEE WANG reswang@ucdavis.edu Laughter is truly the best medicine. That is why Arian Reeves became a stand-up comedian. Hearing the laughter of an audience is a magical feeling, and Reeves hoped to experience making someone laugh one day.

Jumping into a breakout room for his accounting

KAITLYN PANG / AGGIE

class, the lull between conversation had passed and awkward staring ensued. Noticing the new material he had written in his notebook, then looking at the desolate faces on his screen, Reeves had an epiphany.

“You know what, guys?” Reeves said. “I think I’m going to make your day. I’m going to test out my new stand-up material with you guys. Let me know what you think, and don’t go easy on me, OK?” “Do you know what every Among Us player has in common that I don’t?” Reeves began. “At least 10 friends to play with.”

No response.

“I’m glad more people are using social media as a platform for activism,” Reeves tried again. “It’s much easier to slide into someone’s DMs and bond over voter suppression than a filtered selfie.”

On his left, Layla Ward’s camera remained off.

Below him, Scott Gonzalez was typing furiously. Across from him, Krystal Ho was doing her makeup.

“Hey guys, is my mic like off?” Reeves asked. “I don’t know if you guys are hearing me.”

BREAKOUT on 11

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 | 7

AGGIES SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES AS ACTIVISTS ON INSTAGRAM Students explain their inspirations and goals with social activism KAITLYN PANG / AGGIE

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE

BY NORA FARAH D E L features@theaggie.org In a world full of instant posts and strong opinions, many have explored social activism on a variety of platforms in order to fight for change and share their beliefs with others.

Some UC Davis students are among the social activists of the world who use Instagram to create accounts through which they share their activism with the public.

Mariah Padilla, a second-year community and regional development major, first created her activist account @colorsofclimate on Instagram as a final project for a seminar class she

took last year. Called “Climate Change in the Small,” the class ultimately led Padilla to continue using the account even after the quarter concluded.

“We discussed climate change in the context of race, gender, inequity, art and so much more,” Padilla said via email. “This class inspired me to explore the intersectionality of environmentalism and propelled me to share this newfound knowledge with others.”

Padilla’s account covers a wide range of social justice issues but mainly focuses on environmental issues.

“I am an intersectional environmentalist, meaning that my environmentalism focuses on centering the experiences of the Earth’s most

marginalized communities and is rooted in the belief that climate justice is social justice,” Padilla said via email.

“These core values of mine are the driving force behind the content that I create.”

Going forward, Padilla hopes to create a free newsletter that would inform her readers about environmental topics and shed light on those issues to make a broader impact.

“I have a strong belief in the power of social media, I think that social media platforms are a powerful and effective way to share information with a large array of people,” Padilla said via email. “Social media also is not limited by geography, allowing me to reach people from all over the world.”

Camille Ty, a second-year psychology major, participates in social activism through her personal Instagram account. She began to use her account as a form of social activism in high school but increased her activity due to the political climate this year.

“I definitely posted a lot about social activism before, but it’s definitely heightened over the last year,” Ty said.

“I think that it’s just really important for me to show where I stand and to help inform people because not a lot of people have access to resources.

Sometimes a simple graphic or another Instagram post might let someone learn something that they didn’t know before.”

Ty’s posts cover a number of social justice topics, such as Black

A PEEK INTO A UC DAVIS STUDENTS ‘REDBUBBLE BUSINESS’ Kathleen David’s advice to aspiring artists and Redbubble sellers is to trust their art

KAITLYN PANG / AGGIE

BY ITZ E LT H G A M B OA arts@theaggie.org It’s a rite of passage for most UC Davis students to own a Hydro Flask and slap stickers on their cup. I remember very clearly my first year at Davis when I asked a girl where her stickers were from and exploded when I saw the wide variety on Redbubble.

That day, I along with my roommates, who were just as surprised, ordered stickers and a laptop case. Redbubble has a special place in every student’s heart so I set out to find a student who is behind some of the UC Davis stickers we have pasted on our computers.

Kathleen David, a second-year biological sciences major, found that the best way to sell her art was through a Redbubble shop, kathdvd, where she can sit back and focus on school work, all while building up a passive income.

“The great thing about Redbubble is that all artists have to do is upload their art,” David said via email. “There is no need to stress about financing, marketing, production, shipping and everything else involved in a typical business like one on Etsy. Sales come in every now and then—sometimes during times where I’m busy with school—so when they do pop up, I don’t have to worry about anything.”

In addition to David’s egghead stickers that represent our beloved sculptures, she has a total of 79 different designs.

“My shop is all over the place in terms of a niche,” David said via email.

“I’d like to think that my designs revolve around the things I enjoy most such as animals, music, gaming, and Netflix shows. I’m focused on expanding my shop. I feel that I can build my shop as if it were an art portfolio and eventually find my true aesthetic as an artist.”

The only thing needed to sell art on Redbubble is a free account and a bank account for direct deposit, but the account can be accepted in multiple ways including Paypal. According to Redbubble, payments occur on the 15th of every month but creators won’t receive any money until they reach a payment threshold of $20.

“I was absolutely ecstatic when I woke up to find that I got my first sale,” David said via email. “There was something so satisfying in seeing that all my hard work had finally paid off.”

After artists upload their design, Redbubble creates an abundance of merchandise. This includes stickers, art prints, tote bags and even bed sheets.

Redbubble created a post on what to think about before uploading a design in order to maximize all of the products on which they print the art.

“I recently just had a couple of sales that made me laugh only because you can never tell what someone might be interested in buying,” David said via email. “On that same day, two different people from two different states bought bedsheets of two different designs, both of which I never expected anyone to purchase. It’s kind of unreal to know that someone is out there sleeping with bedsheets of a design I doubted.”

Buyers from all over the country appreciate David’s unique designs just as much as UC Davis students love finding their egghead stickers.

“I had only found out about Kathleen’s shop a few months ago through a Phoenix Suns subreddit post she had made to display her artwork and I reached out willing to purchase it,” said Alex Thompson, a customer of David’s Redbubble shop. “Looking at the website now, it has grown quite nicely and I like how there are products for everybody with her many collections.”

David’s best selling products are based off of a role-playing video game where players enter a farming stimulation and restore a shambled community center.

“As an artist, I’ve been discovering new art styles while trying to find one for myself,” David said via email. “On Redbubble, the most successful shops have a niche that caters to a specific audience. While in quarantine, I began to play a popular video game called ‘Stardew Valley.’ After a few days of playing while putting my shop on hold, I realized that this game has a lot of potential for attracting a huge audience. I used my laptop to download sprite sheets of the characters from the game and got to creating what is now my best-selling collection.”

With over 70 designs in her shop, David is able to see the development of her work overtime. But her love for art started as a young child doodling on random pieces of paper.

“I have never taken an art class to develop my techniques,” David said via email. “My mom has kept an album full of my doodles dating back to when I was only three years old. Throughout middle school and high school, I joined an annual drawing contest hosted by Kaiser Permanente’s anti-smoking program called ‘Don’t Buy The Lie’ and won as a school-site winner every time.”

David’s idea of opening up a Redbubble shop—which takes less than five minutes—started with a Youtube video.

“I wanted to test out the Youtube video’s claim of passive income so I only uploaded a couple of designs,” David said via email. “I doubted myself the first few days of uploading my art on Redbubble and often questioned myself if my art wasn’t good enough.

When I got my first sale, that’s when I felt motivated enough to upload a few more. I remember thinking to myself,

‘Oh wow, I just started up a small business.’”

Opening up a Redbubble shop meant David had to try new things with her artwork.

“I’ve never really had the time to experiment with digital art before starting my Redbubble business,” David said via email. “It was more of a learning experience to somehow convert my usual techniques onto the digital format. I don’t use anything fancy. I only use Paint 3D, a digital art program that came with my HP laptop.”

Like many small student business owners, David’s biggest supporter is her mother who has been an advocate for David’s art long before her first sale.

“My mom has supported me ever since the day I told her about uploading my first design on Redbubble,” David said via email. “We would celebrate every time I got a sale and check where the sale is coming from and what item/ design the person has purchased.”

As she gets to track each purchase, David admits that like her mom, her family and friends have been immensely supportive of her art selling on Redbubble.

“When my sales started to shoot up, my family was very supportive and persistent in buying my designs to wear in public,” David said via email. “My aunt bought three designs of mine on t-shirts, and my dad specifically asked for an NBA design that he wears around the house.”

David’s Redbubble is organized to include the different types of art she sells. Her featured products include monochrome and animal designs.

The small store consists of something for everyone, but her main source of inspiration comes from Andy Warhol, the American artist, film director and producer. Warhol even has a museum in Pennsylvania dedicated to him and the work he did throughout his career.

“I look up to Andy Warhol and his concept of pop art,” David said via email. “My monochrome designs are inspired by his iconic colorful prints of celebrities, including Marilyn Monroe and Mohammed Ali. I’ve done a similar approach that focuses on one color scheme per celebrity. I’ve illustrated several members of the world’s biggest boyband BTS and the actors from the Netflix series ‘The Umbrella Academy’ using very vibrant colors as Warhol once did.”

David’s advice for aspiring artists and Redbubble sellers is to trust their art. David’s own sales have led her to realize that there will be someone out there that could potentially love the art you doubt.

“If you have an idea about something, you shouldn’t doubt yourself, but you should go for it instead,” David said via email. “Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”

Lives Matter, mental health, COVID protocols and the presidential election.

In addition, on her Instagram account and story, she shares her opinions through her posts and reposts.

To interact with her followers, Ty incorporates polls to gauge opinions on certain issues and occasionally reposts information her followers share as well. For Ty, it’s important to keep her account active and continue speaking about topics that are meaningful to her.

“I make sure my account continually posts about these movements and doesn’t stop after the trend starts to go down, and after my [feed] is ‘back to normal,’” Ty said.

“I wanted to keep people informed because these issues are still happening, and ignoring the problem isn’t going to solve anything. Pointing out the flaws in systems and in the country is what’s going to [...] promote change and make people want to fix things.”

Sofia Saraj, a first-year linguistics major, co-founded a social activism Instagram account, @degreeintea, with her two friends from high school last May. The account was first created as an extension of a podcast, called Degree in Tea, which speaks on academic advice and social activism.

With this account, Saraj hopes to spread awareness about ideas and issues inside and outside her community.

She shared the importance of staying educated during this time and the platform’s ability to keep her

accountable.

“With the political environment that we’re in, and everything that our generation has lived through, it’s either you choose to be educated, or you choose to be ignorant,” Saraj said. “I didn’t really want to be on the wrong side of history, and doing this is just my way of educating myself.”

The account was first run by three people—Saraj and two other co-founders—but quickly expanded to a 15-person team. These volunteerbased positions involve researchers and graphic designers who help create posts for the account. The account posts information about a number of social justice issues such as racism and homophobia, while also incorporating different series of posts; for example, sharing the anonymous stories of students from local high schools who have faced injustices.

While the team is working on creating a website, Saraj’s biggest goal for Degree in Tea is to inspire others to educate themselves and gain a greater understanding of the world around them.

“If we can help people have those uncomfortable conversations about activism and help to change some people’s opinions and help them understand the world in a broader sense [...] I think that’s our biggest goal,” Saraj said.

A PERFECTLY SPLENDID REVIEW OF ‘THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR’ Things don’t have to terrify us to haunt us for a long time

BY MUHAMMAD TARIQ arts@theaggie.org At least once in an individual’s life, the thought of fleeing to a new country might have crossed their mind, maybe to escape the difficulties of everyday life.

In Mike Flanagan’s highly anticipated follow-up to the incredibly enthralling “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor’s” main heroine Dani does just that.

Set in the 1980s, the show follows Dani (Victoria Pedretti) leaving America to run from the trauma of her past and become an au pair in England, subsequently landing a job taking care of two orphans in a vast, beautiful estate in the English countryside.

Her employer, the seemingly incredibly wealthy Lord Wingrave (Henry Thomas) explains that the manor comes along with a cook, housekeeper and gardener. Dani’s only job is to take care of the children.

Maybe it was a suspiciously sweet deal by itself—it would be natural to throw in a couple hauntings here and there. Otherwise, the job would be like hitting the jackpot—no cleaning, no cooking, simply taking care of children.

While “The Haunting of Hill House” was based off of Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, “The Haunting of Bly Manor” was inspired by Henry James’ 1898, “The Turn of the Screw.” Yet Flanagan swaps corsets and Victorian wear for highwaisted jeans and suspenders by setting the story up in the ‘80s.

In a Netflix behind-the-scenes clip Flanagan explains that, “Hill House is about a very tight family, and Bly Manor is about strangers, a family that is created.”

To no one’s surprise, it turns out that things are not as picture perfect as they seem. We get a sense of the creepiness that follows the moment we meet the orphans.

Miles (Benjamin Evan AInsworth)

and Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) are too posh, even for upper-class English children, and Flora’s frequent repeating of the phrase “perfectly splendid” leaves the viewer with a sense of discomfort.

We cannot forget about the mention of the children’s previous au pair Rebecca (Tahirah Sharif) who died on the grounds six months prior to Dani’s arrival. The question of what happens to her looms in the air, contributing to the mysteries hidden in Bly Manor.

There are many narratives that Flanagan juggles throughout the nine episodes, and many different threads that he ties together by the end of it. We see the trope of a found family among the Bly workers play out nicely in the nine-hour Netflix original series.

There is the housekeeper Hannah (T’Nia Miller), who is thoughtful and melancholic. We see Owen (Rahul Kohli), a chef training in France brought back to his hometown to take care of his mother, always ready to make eye-roll inducing puns and would gladly let you taste test his meals. The heartfelt gardener Jamie (Amelia Eve), though slightly distant at first, becomes increasingly important to Dani as the story goes on.

When discussing Bly Manor, Flanagan stated that he wanted to use “Ghosts as expressions of emotional wounds that we do carry around.”

Without any spoilers, this sentiment is addressed beautifully in the show.

“The Haunting of Bly Manor” nails the nature and purpose of grief, and shows how it shifts and changes people from the inside out. Yet it does it in such a way that the audience is left with a sense of satisfaction, and maybe even a little sadness.

Although “The Haunting of Bly Manor” isn’t as scary as “The Haunting of Hill House”—there are less jumpscares and not as many ghosts and ghouls lurking in the shadows— the emotions felt by the characters showcased throughout the episodes are what gives the show its haunting nature.

It is the way people let grief overcome them or be consumed by the playback of their traumas that is the truly scary part. We see how the characters are trapped in their own lives, and cannot escape the gravity of their traumas and memories.

Flanagan does an excellent job conveying the struggle of letting go, through means of absolution, acceptance and forgiveness.

Even though “The Haunting of Bly Manor” might not be as scary, the tale and lessons learned lodge themselves in one’s mind, making them hard to forget. It personifies emotions through ghosts and reminds us that stories, like people, do not have to terrify us to haunt us for a long time.

8 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

CULTURE CORNER The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for movies, books, music, television shows

BY LIVVY MULLEN arts@theaggie.org

Book: “Factory Girls: From Village to City in Changing China” by Leslie T. Chang I went in with low expectations. “Factory Girls” was part of my required reading and I predicted boring numbers and facts. I had no idea it would become one of my favorite books ever. The novel follows author Leslie T. Chang’s time spent in China, researching her own family tree and studying the effects of the country’s unprecedented economic growth in the early 1990’s on migrant workers from poor rural families. She tells the story of Dongguan, one of China’s largest manufacturing cities, and the stories of the migrant workers who make up its population. She depicts their lives as an adventure replete with villains and heartbreak. She portrays the objectively dismal living conditions, but also highlights the pockets of joy: “If it was an ugly world, at least it was their own.” The novel is consuming, entertaining, heartfelt and well written. If you’re looking for an easy read where you’ll learn something, go with “Factory Girls.”

Movie: “Magic Mike” (2009) dir. by Steven Soderbergh As I sat in front of a newsfeed on the evening of Nov. 3, 2020, I was struck by an all-consuming thought: I should watch “Magic Mike” right now.

What better way to spend your election night than indulging in this timeless 2009 classic. This was my first time watching and let me tell you, I was blown away. The saturated yellow color of Tampa in contrast with the purple atmosphere of an all male strip club cements this movie in the color grading hall of fame. Channing Tatum proves himself as the charismatic lead. He’s also really good at dancing and does a backflip (Hello?

Academy?). I think we need more actors like him, the kind of men you look at and instantly think, “that man is very dumb.” “Magic Mike” doesn’t come near the emotional depth of fellow stripping film “Hustlers,” but it’s a good time. Honestly, the stripping parts were kind of eh, but the plot was riveting. What can I say? I like an underdog story.

TV Show: “Sharp Objects” Books adapted into miniseries nation, we win again. Author of “Gone Girl” Gillian Flynn’s debut novel adaptation follows a reporter (Amy Adams) as she returns to her small town to investigate the murders of two young girls. The eight episodes explore her twisted family dynamic through atmospheric and disorienting visuals until we reach the stunning conclusion. I can’t believe I didn’t watch it sooner. It has always been on my mind (mostly because Beth from “Little Women” is in it and I wanted to see what she’s up to). I finished it in two days, utterly consumed by the haunting gothic overtones. Directed by the same director as “Big Little Lies,” the series takes a much darker and more gothic approach to storytelling.

The ending is so shocking it stayed with me for days. Please do not watch if you’re scared of blonde people.

Album: “Brol La Suite” by Angéle If you are a fan of pop and/or feminism, you’ve probably heard about the recent collab between Dua Lipa and Angéle. “Fever” marks the long awaited international debut of one of France’s biggest pop stars and it’s a perfect chance to immerse yourself in her body of work. The Belgian-born artist’s first album “Brol La Suite” is an hour of some of the best pop music released in the last decade. I don’t understand a word, but good electronic pop transcends language. Her style is very unique; most songs sound low-fi and semimuted, but are still dance tracks. The production paired with her versatile soft vocals has a hypnotic quality. The standout tracks are the more upbeat ones, like “Flemme” and “Oui ou non,” but the slower songs like “Insomnies” and “La thune” are similarly captivating. Unfortunately, in terms of albums, “Brol La Suite” is all we’ve got right now.

But keep your head up Angéntourage, there’s more incredible music on the horizon.

Borat isn’t just ‘Very Nice!’ anymore Taking crude commentary, social criticism to new heights

Promotional poster of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. (Amazon)

BY CAMERON PERRY arts@theaggie.org “What is more dangerous, this virus or the Democrats?” asks Borat Sagdiyev to his American hosts, Jerry Holleman and Jim Russell. “The Democrats,” they quickly answered. Sascha Baron

Cohen spent five days in “quarantine” with the two conservative QAnon believers that let him stay in their home, in character, as Borat. During that time, the foreign reporter could be seen killing the virus with a frying pan, sporting a strap-on of sorts while exercising and ordering the wrong kind of flashlight. Holleman and Russell had assumed and remained under the impression that Cohen was just a confused foreign reporter who didn’t know what was going on at the start of the pandemic.

As you may remember, Baron Cohen introduced this character in his 2006 mockdocumentary style film “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” In the guise of a foreign reporter visiting the U.S., Baron Cohen was able to deliver numerous social criticisms while maintaining a level of absurdity through an offensive, often vile character. Borat’s misogyny goes widely unnoticed and only does so in part of the natural anti-Semitic beliefs that he displays throughout the film.

While the film was well received in both the U.S. and the UK, numerous Arab countries banned the film, including the “Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” where the film was certainly not as well received, all things considered. At the box office, the film grossed over $262 million worldwide with a budget of $18 million.

What sets “Borat” aside from other comedies is Baron Cohen’s impeccable ability to blend slapstick antics with social satire in a way that looks and feels almost seamless. Yes, it’s uncomfortable at times. Yes, there is some really messed up stuff in the film. The allusions, however,made in the film yield much more weight than what is deemed offensive to the reasonable viewer.

Baron Cohen achieves this in a way that certainly leans on stereotypes as he’s done in the past with characters like Ali G, Brüno Gehard and Admiral General Aladeen. Each of these characters depend on stereotypes they project, but smartly and methodically. Boundaries of what is socially acceptable in some scenarios are pushed, while navigating those scenes sheds light on either the bigotry of those in question or just putting their problematic nature under a scope. Ali G even gave a commencement speech at Harvard in 2004.

Nearly 15 years later, Baron Cohen has brought back one of Kazakhstan’s most beloved journalists in an effort to bring glory back to his home country. “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” (2020) is as timely as it is brilliant, critical and hysterical.

The sequel begins far away from the small village of Glod, Borat Sagdiyev’s hometown.

We are met by a raggedy and bearded prisoner laboring in “the gulag” or simply a labor camp that he is bound to for the disgrace that came with the reception of his debut film in Kazakhstan.

Soon enough, Borat is released and charged with a mission to return to America and deliver Johnny the monkey, No. 1 celebrity in all of Kazakhstan to Vice President Michael Pence, or as Mr. Sagdiyev describes him: “The Vice pussy-grabber.”

Unfortunately for Johnny, he is eaten by Borat’s daughter who stowed with the monkey on his voyage to the states. Rather than face certain execution upon return to his home country, Borat suggests that his stowaway daughter Tutar is given to Pence in place of the “less alive” Johnny the

monkey.

The subsequent film takes a similar approach to its 2006 predecessor, including the mockdocumentary style, genuine and unlikely interactions and unmatched social satire. Just one small difference—Borat is widely recognized, so much so that he is chased in the streets by Americans calling his name and demanding photos. In light of this, Sagdiyev must wear disguises in order to avoid any unnecessary attention that would compromise his mission.

This is one of many aspects of the film that makes it truly something unique, even for Baron Cohen. Still under the cameo of Borat, other disguises are made in order to avoid unwanted attention in common situations and in others with higher stakes. One primary example of this is at a Washington gun rights rally. Baron Cohen attended in the guise of “Country Steve,” which is the actor dressed as Borat, who is then dressed as this new cameo. After some time and singing a song that Borat and his conservative quarantine buddies wrote, someone in the crowd recognized Baron Cohen. Many were enraged enough to charge the stage, chasing the actor until he escaped into an ambulance, repeatedly trying to break in as he held the door shut.

It is importantto note that the very misogynistic character Borat is stuck with his daughter, which of course leads to some very awkward and crude encounters at an anti-abortion clinic, a professional babysitter’s home, a ball and more.

READ THE FULL STORY ONLINE

‘Super Mario Bros.’ is a retrograde

corporate nightmare

Take a look into the desperate death of an era of movie production

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.org When “Super Mario Bros.,” directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, was first released in 1993, it was regarded as a monstrosity. Film critic Janet Maslin, writing for the New York Times shortly after the film’s release, called it “barely comprehensible” (this was one of the more charitable reviews), and audiences didn’t exactly connect with it either—to the tune of a minimum $12 million loss at the box office and more than a few utterly disgraced careers.

And who, exactly, can blame the children for not begging their parents to see it again and again when the movie is such a bizarre mess? I’m talking fungus neural networks, wildly inappropriate religious imagery, near fetish-level body horror and not a single concept actually reminiscent of the classic game the movie is supposedly based on.

Yet a sentiment that grows stronger the more time passes since its release is even though it’s a pointless, overproduced spectacle, the movie is actually great.

The key to this change lies in the film’s very conception: delusional executive millionaires—seeing a new-fangled trend among the children of the day—seek to profit off a cultural moment that they don’t understand. Not a pretty picture. As the few morsels I’ve provided about the content of the movie might suggest, this situation made its way from the page, to the set, editing room and ultimately into what children and unlucky adults saw on-screen for the first time in 1993. The veneer of creative interests subjugating financial realities—the principle myth of big-budget movie making—was peeled away in a dramatic fashion. There is no love here.

Nobody at any stage of production seemed to get the source material’s appeal. This was a movie about a video game, financed by people who had likely never held a controller in their lives. For them, trying to capture the popularity of “video games” was less translatory and more a femur-shattering exercise in futility—not even the color of the characters’ outfits are right. (Mario is green and Luigi is red.

Chilling.) The final product is a screaming, frantic attempt to find something, anything, to bridge the apparent cultural gap.

At the time of release, this came across simply as an incompetent boardroom of fifty-somethings with no grasp of the market they

wanted to capitalize on throwing around crazy film budgets like a child screaming for their mother—disgusting and offensive maybe, but nothing more than that. Now that time has more clearly illuminated the cultural circumstances of the film and highlighted every contour of its failures like a fine greek statue, the image has turned from sad to downright comedic.

A dark, gritty Mario movie? Dennis Hopper playing a lizard man with gelled hair? Hilarious.

This thing is almost 30 years old. It can’t hurt anyone anymore.

What was once an ugly symptom of a struggle between generations is now an engine of morbid fascination. An answer to the question of what happens when every single decision made in the production of a film is wrong. Not just interesting, but entertaining, both as a testament to the eternal battle between generations and as just about the worst imaginable way to go about making a movie based on “Super Mario Bros.”

Not to mention the aspects of the movie that have been revealed to be charming, and to some degree, actually good. They are engaging and genuinely imaginative in a malformed way, the performances are fairly solid despite the ridiculous script and the movie is fun while also managing to simulate the experience of driving an aluminum baseball bat into the frontal lobe for 104 consecutive minutes.

You won’t be bored watching this. About the worst you can expect is developing some kind of mild psychosis from wincing in disbelief too often. Further highlights include: Goombas being the product of horrifically painful genetic engineering, Luigi being juiced by his girlfriend’s father—being the previously mentioned fungus neural network depicted by nauseating practical effects, 51-year-old Bob Hoskins as Mario seducing a dinosaur assassin, a cut scene in which Mario and Luigi visit an actual-no-joke strip club and Dennis Hopper saying “Bob-omb.”

Among the career casualties of “Super Mario Bros.” are Hopper, Morton and Jankel. The latter two, who directed the film, are especially tragic as it seems by all accounts that the final film was the product of executive meddling, to the degree that Morton was locked out of the editing room during post-production.

The end result of this more complete understanding we have of the film today is a fascinating Disneyland tour into the minds of an older generation of movie financiers collapsing in on themselves in response to the approaching cultural horizon of the twenty-first

century. It made clear in standard definition the incommunicable differences between the old and young, laid bare on dusty VHS tape.

Worth a watch.

Theatrical release poster of Super Mario Bros by Steven Chorney.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 | 9

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

Answer to previous puzzle 11/5/20

Crossword Answer to previous puzzle 11/5/20

10| THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SCIENCE & TECH UC DAVIS PARTNERS WITH GOVERNMENT AGENCY TO TREAT ANIMALS INJURED BY WILDFIRES The Wildlife Defense Network combines academic expertise and government resources in a coordinated wildlife rescue effort

BY SIMRAN KALKAT science@theaggie.org During the devastating and premature wildfire season this summer, one group of fire victims often went overlooked—wildlife mammals. One organization, The Wildlife Disaster Network, is using veterinary expertise and other resources to address the medical concerns of wildlife impacted by fires.

The Wildlife Disaster Network—a partnership between the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW)—has a design similar to another partnership between CDFW and the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine: the Oiled Wildlife Care Network. Both of these partnerships combine the resources of the state government as well as the expertise of veterinarians and academics to aid animals in need. The CDFW provides resources including a physical facility in Rancho Cordova to hold large animals during an extended treatment, a wide network of employees throughout the state of California to respond to emergency calls and the legal authority to collect, hold and provide treatment to the animals.

Prior to the founding of the Wildlife Disaster Network, the CDFW had largely been able to deal with most wildlife victims of fire on a per-case basis. There were few cases of burned animals being taken in, such as Tahoe’s L’il Smokey in 2008. It soon became clear, however, that these cases weren’t going to be quite as infrequent anymore. Kirsten Macintyre, the communications manager for CDFW, explained how the CDFW entered into the partnership with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

“It became evident that these cases were no longer ‘one-off’ situations, and a formal,

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE

coordinated response would be necessary if we were going to be able to manage the continuing trend of having more than one injured bear or mountain lion in our care at once,” Macintyre said via email.

The UC Davis side of the partnership is led by Dr. Jamie Peyton, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service with the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. In 2017, Peyton worked on an innovative burn treatment for wildlife animals—a fish scale biological bandage. The fish scales are a sustainable byproduct: safe for animals to eat should they take it off, while also providing pain relief and protection for burn wounds.

With wildfires becoming more frequent in California, the Wildlife Disaster Network has

been taking steps to refine response protocol. The network has worked with first responders to set up a Wildlife Disaster Hotline for reporting injured animals. Through this hotline, they’ve been able to gather information on the impact of disasters on species and their habitats and provide burn protocol to wildlife rehabilitation centers such as the Oakland Zoo on how to assist the network when an emergency arises.

“We’ve been working with biologists throughout the state to prepare them for the possibility of deployment to seek out and retrieve injured wildlife, if and when we receive a report of an injured animal,” Macintyre said via email.

There are still many challenges for the network to sort out and work through, such as making sure

that the public is aware of the Wildlife Disaster Network and the work they do. Additionally, because the network also works in disaster areas, once the network gets word of an injured animal, it can be challenging to track and find these animals.

“Finally, one of the most challenging issues for wildlife in disasters is finding the best habitat to release them since large areas are often destroyed in wildfires,” Peyton said via email. “Together as a team with veterinarians, biologists, wildlife carers and the public, we can help ensure that our wildlife has a chance to survive these disasters.”

The work that the veterinarians, biologists and wildlife experts do in these disaster zones is grueling, but rewarding. During the North Complex Fire this summer, the Wildlife Disaster network received a call from their hotline from a passerby about an injured bear cub. A team of veterinarians and a CDFW biologist drove to the area where the cub was sighted. Following the bear tracks, they found the cub with severe burns to his face and unable to walk.

“Seeing his severe injuries, I was so proud that we were able to find him and help him as part of the WDN,” Peyton said via email. “He was an example of why this network is so important and the vital need to include our wildlife in disaster planning to ensure they do not suffer.”

The Wildlife Disaster Network is focused on expanding and growing so that they can serve as a resource for all wildlife in need, especially in disaster areas. The program is largely funded through donations from the public as it continues education and training programs across the state and works to develop treatment for the animals.

“The assistance of UC Davis staff – Dr. Jamie Peyton and her team, in particular – has been, and continues to be, key in making the Wildlife Disaster Network work,” Macintyre said via email.

“Neither CDFW nor UC Davis has the staff or resources to provide treatment to these animals alone, but combined, this team of professionals is phenomenal.”

RUSSIA’S UNFROZEN LAPTEV SEA IS NOT THE ONLY WARNING SIGN OF CLIMATE CHANGE Graduate students at UC Davis get a firsthand look at climate change through their research

BY FRANCHESKA TORRES science@theaggie.org Experts find it alarming that a body of water as big as the Laptev Sea in Russia is no longer freezing at its general rate. The sheet of ice on the Laptev Sea is nonexistent this year in comparison to past years. A growing quantity of greenhouse gases is to blame for the increase in ocean temperature, record breaking heat waves and the sea ice melting quicker—all factors contributing to the current lack of ice.

Climate change is also causing warm Atlantic currents to get pushed into the Arctic, which disrupts the stratification of warm waters at depth and cold waters at the surface, making it harder for ice to form. The ice that was supposed to form in the Laptev Sea normally drifts to the Fram Strait, carrying nutrients to the Arctic plankton. Since the ice is either not forming or just melting quicker, there will be less ice drifting and less nutrients for the plankton. This results in a dangerous cycle: the plankton is not able to retrieve carbon dioxide from the environment due to lack of energy from low nutrients available for consumption. As a result, the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases.

The Laptev Sea not freezing is a global headline, and while it is important, there are other aspects of the ocean being affected by climate change, evident in the work being done by graduate students at UC Davis. Their research shows the biological side of climate change and how marine organisms are affected by the changes occurring in the ocean.

Helen Killeen, a Ph.D. candidate in ecology at UC Davis, connects the physical side of the ocean to biology and ecology. Her research focuses on understanding how larval fish move throughout the coast to better conserve fish populations within marine-protected areas. The fish studied move about predominantly by currents, and research has shown that patterns in the California current system are likely to change due to climate change.

Furthermore, research has shown that the northwesterly winds will get stronger, leading to more upwelling—vertical motion in the ocean where deep waters come up to the surface— according to Killeen. Although there are contradictory studies claiming that the winds will not be affected by climate change, Killeen noted that understanding the impact of wind patterns on animals now will help us determine the impact of climate change in the future.

“If climate has an impact on wind and current

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE

patterns on the California coast, then we better understand how winds and currents are important for animals so we can make predictions about how climate is likely to impact marine populations,” Killeen said.

Killeen is not the only graduate student whose work is affected by climate change. Priya Shukla, a Ph.D. student at Bodega Marine Lab at UC Davis, is studying how warming is affecting

oyster farming in California by working with the Hog Island Oyster Company in Tomales Bay, an estuary one hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“I would say climate change is driving my research questions,” Shukla said.

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The Empathy Paradox: valuable yet not considered a ‘universal good’ UC Davis study shows empathy may not always be perceived as a merit

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

BY MICHELLE WONG science@theaggie.org

Empathy often has the connotation of being a universal good, but is this truly how society perceives it? A recent UC Davis study led by Y.

Andre Wang, a Ph.D. candidate in psychology, revealed that empathy may not always be seen as a virtue.

“Empathy in the public discourse has become a stand-in for ‘desirable personal qualities,’” Wang said via email. “We have this idea that someone with empathy is by default a good person. But empathy can be biased.”

Chris Hopwood, a professor in the department of psychology, stated that the psychological definition of empathy is feeling and thinking the same way another person feels and thinks. In his experience as an instructor and therapy supervisor, many people who think they are empathetic may be mistaking their feelings of sympathy for empathy.

“Empathy is quite different [from] sympathy, in which a psychological distance remains—in sympathy, you feel or think about someone in an unfortunate circumstance, usually with a kind of benevolent judgment,” Hopwood said via email.

“In empathy, you are right there with them.”

In the experiment conducted by Wang’s team, they showed participants various scenarios where an individual was sharing a personal experience, either positive or negative, with another individual who expressed either neutrality or empathy toward the statement. The participants would then rate their impression of how the latter individual responded, along with how warm they perceived this individual to be. Another important

component of this experiment was whether the individual sharing their experience was portrayed either negatively or positively. Wang explained that in some cases the individual was a white nationalist, whereas in others, the individual would be a healthcare worker at a children’s hospital.

“What we found is that this portrayal mattered for their impressions of the empathizer,” Wang said.

“Participants liked and respected the empathizer, but only when the character receiving empathy was liked as well. When the character was disliked (as a White nationalist or an “anti-vaxxer”), participants did not like and respect the empathizer as much, even though they still viewed the empathizer as warm and caring.”

Wang also stated that in some cases, participants would rather have the individual condemned than empathize with them. These results parallel Wang’s initial motivation for conducting this study. Wang explained that he came across a profile by The New York Times, where he noticed that the author was receiving a lot of criticism for taking an empathetic approach in understanding a white nationalist’s point of view. A controversy ensued when some readers wanted the journalist to condemn the individual, while others praised him for his humanity, leading Wang to look deeper into the subject.

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PARTYRULES

WINTERCOURSES

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “We really wanted to put a number on it to prevent very large gatherings from happening that involve multiple households, and really more for enforcement in cases where these gatherings were larger than they really should be for safety,” May said.

May also noted that while cases in the county have been in a plateau, cases around the country and world are “surging,” so it is possible that in a few weeks Yolo County will also experience a rise in cases.

If cases continue increasing in the next week, Yolo County could move into the Purple Tier, according to another press release published by Yolo County on Nov. 4 about the week ending on Oct. 24.

“Yolo County’s metrics increased to meet the more restrictive purple, or widespread, tier in the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy (Blueprint) though the County is still classified to be the red, or substantial, tier,” the press release reads.

May also noted that guidelines for holiday gatherings will be released.

“We’ve already released guidance for agritourism, Halloween and handing out candy safely,” May said. “We know that the biggest risk with this virus is the transmission tends to occur in large groups, which we call superspreading events—where there’s someone who’s infectious, who may be mildly symptomatic or not be symptomatic yet or be even asymptomatic—and spread it to multiple other members of the group who then spread it to the people they’re in contact

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 with.”

May explained that smaller gatherings are the safest, and people must wear face masks and physically distance.

“The activities that are safer are those that occur outdoors, those that are distanced where people are physically separate at least six feet from each other, and importantly also the use of face coverings—particularly when you can’t separate yourself,” May said.

May also highlighted that while the potential of mass testing asymptomatic members of the Davis community and students may occur, it’s important to continue to be cautious and not have false reassurance.

Important precautions to follow include wearing face coverings, avoiding large gatherings or parties (especially those with multiple households and indoors), minimizing gatherings and holding them outdoors.

A full list of precautionary measures and the local guidance can be found in the local gathering guidance from Yolo County.

May added that although lockdown has been long and draining, everyone must continue to adhere to safety guidelines in order to slow the spread of the virus.

“We understand that we’re all tired of this pandemic, but unfortunately the virus doesn’t care how we feel, and so we need to continue to be vigilant and continue to gather safely and continue to protect our vulnerable populations,” May said.

YOLOTESTING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 In October, Yolo County provided 3,300 COVID-19 tests, 740 of which were administered in Davis. The Davis site has a capacity of about 400 tests and averages about 200 per week. Tan emphasized that while getting a test is important, it does not guarantee immunity and should be used in conjunction with other preventative measures.

“We definitely have the capacity to test a lot of people in Yolo County, and we want people to take advantage of that,” Tan said. “We are definitely trying to stress upon students especially that getting tested negative once doesn’t mean that you can’t get it or that you don’t need to wear a face covering.”

Crystal Tran, a third-year neurobiology, biology and behavior major, stressed the importance of testing for students who might not consider it a necessity.

“We might think that we are more immune

because we’re younger but it’s still important,” Tran said. “Especially because it is the holiday season and people are traveling. Some people even have to leave because the dorms are closing [for winter break].”

Tran, whose job as an Aggie Public Health Ambassador requires regular testing, explained that while she was not aware that Yolo county was providing tests, it’s a great opportunity for Yolo County residents.

“I didn’t know that it was free for everyone, but it’s great that they are providing these tests,” Tran said.

According to Yolo County’s Health and Human Services website, which publishes daily updates on COVID-19, as of Nov. 4, Yolo county is still in the state’s Red Tier, or substantial tier; however, a recent rise in cases threatens a move back up to the purple, or widespread tier as soon as Nov. 10.

ANTISEMITISM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 Considering UC Davis’ experience with antiSemitism and the cancellation of an ASUCD Anti Defamation League (ADL) workshop last year, the Jewish student community has called for more effort to combat anti-Semitism on campus. The ADL workshop ignited student disagreement and debate over the Israel and Palestine international conflict, which ended with the university making the swift decision to cancel future workshops.

“The Jewish student body is very resilient,” Boudaie said. “We do our best no matter what.

No matter what we encounter, Jewish students and Jewish people in general have always done

everything possible to push through. It’s nothing new that we’ve faced very vicious anti-Semitism our entire lives. Persecution, anti-Semitism, is very familiar to a lot of us.”

Younai echoed these sentiments of perseverance and the presence of UC Davis’ Jewish community.

“Being a member of the Jewish community on campus has been one of the best parts of my college career,” Younai said. “We’re small, but we’re strong. My Jewish friends, faculty and staff at UC Davis have been my greatest support system.”

CASESUP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 Yolo County Public Information Officer Jenny Tan explained via email that Yolo County is at risk of moving back into the purple tier over the holidays if people don’t follow health guidelines.

“The possibility is very real that Yolo County could move backwards especially in the winter, when people tend to gather and it’s the holidays,” Tan said via email. “We hope to prevent a slide backwards with our gathering guidance and for residents to continue to physical distance, wear a face covering and limit gatherings. Either our efforts will move us forward (to orange) or our

lack of efforts will move us backward (to purple).”

Maya Martinez, a third-year UC Davis student and biological sciences major, described the temptation of attending large gatherings during the holiday season, starting over Halloween weekend.

Martinez succinctly warned her fellow students to continue following guidelines in order to prevent an outbreak.

“Stay home and do your school work,” Martinez said. “The third wave is coming, and it’s already here.”

ENL 165: Topics in Poetry This Winter Quarter, the special topics in this poetry course will focus specifically on environmental poetry. This course aims to educate students about the climate crises going on in our world today through the subgenre of ecopoetics, including work by Craig Santos Perez, Rita Wong and Kathy Jitnil-Kijiner.

These authors generally write about activist movements and the impact of climate change in their lives and their experience as activists.

Professor Margaret Ronda, who will be teaching the course, has specialized in environmental literature, and she expressed that her choice to focus the class on the environment this year was extremely important.

“It feels more and more urgent to talk about these issues with students and to think about the ways that [...] poetry offers a means of thinking about and responding to global ecological crisis,” Ronda said. “Poetry might help us have more ethical relationships to our environments and [...] a poem might actually show us something that we can’t see in a news story. So many of us are

aware now of climate issues [...] and yet there’s still a desire for poetry to show us something that empirical knowledge can’t provide.”

SOC 5: Global Social Change This course, taught by Professor David McCourt, focuses on showing the connection between economics and social change over time across the world. McCourt said that throughout the course, students gain a better understanding of the “world system” and how the interaction between countries affects the patterns and pace of social change within their system. McCourt emphasized the relevance of this course for all people, not just sociology majors.

“When it comes to engaged citizenship and just people who are trying to get a better sense of our world, I think it’s a really fantastic course because it shows you how [...] you can’t just look at American politics, you have to look at the whole global system,” McCourt said. “[This course is for] anyone wanting to understand American life, American politics, American economics.”

WATER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 By reducing faith-based reasoning down to this simple theory, we can clearly see that this is the same genius logic behind the Republican approach to the coronavirus pandemic. And to climate change.

In fact, using this faith-based reasoning to justify ignoring the scientific evidence that supports wearing masks, practicing social distancing and avoiding large crowds—or to justify ignoring the overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change—is perfectly analogous to using faith-based reasoning used to promote “faith healing” over medicine (or as the “People of Praise” like to call it, “physical healing,” which certainly sounds a lot more credible, scientific and less totally f**king bats**t crazy than “faith healing”).

It’s also perfectly analogous to having faith

that it’s actually okay to allow big, beautiful, God-fearing corporations to pollute the air and water when there’s scientific evidence that drinking lead-poisoned water for “physical healing” purposes is harmful to human health.

Hmm, is “lead-poisoned” the right word? No, how about something like “lead-infused,” or maybe something more neutral and politically correct like “lead-containing”? Or perhaps something with an even more propagandistic, positive and welcoming connotation, like “leadhospitable”? Yesssss, “lead-hospitable water” it is.

It can’t be bad if it’s hospitable, right? Of course not! Just like the church. And this is exactly why Americans should have no problem whatsoever with trusting Barrett to make decisions for them that affect their physical health.

BREAKOUT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 A chat popped up to everyone that read: “The second-hand embarrassment is strong omg.”

“Are you guys like … talking about me?”

Reeves probed. “I know I said don’t go easy, but let’s just loosen the reins here.”

Reeves tried again.

“So … we’re in unprecedented times right?

Everything is closed, you can’t see anybody. I didn’t get how lonely I truly was until I realized that the only boost of serotonin I get is when someone replies to my Canvas discussion posts.

Like they’re required to do it, but it meant so much to me I sent them a thank you email,”

Reeves finished.

Everyone turned their cameras off.

“Please guys?” Reeves prompted. “I’ll take any Zoom reaction. A thumbs up? You could just flash your cameras on and off really quickly?

Just blink once at me? Anything in the chat? I’ll Venmo you for some feedback!”

The Zoom breakout room closes in 10 seconds.

“You know what? You guys suck. If this was real life I’d have at least gotten a pity applause or a grimace!”

HOTRUSSIA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Every summer, a high mortality of oysters is normal and expected because of the higher temperatures of the season. But in Tomales Bay, there is another factor that increases oyster mortality in the species Crassostrea gigas, the Pacific Oyster—the Oyster Herpes Virus.

This virus, also labeled as OsHV-1, becomes more infectious with higher water temperatures which are becoming more common—again due to climate change. Water at 60 degrees Celsius can cause an outbreak, followed by a high rate of oyster mortality. Thus, global temperature rise may make this virus more prone to spreading and will hurt the oyster population. Although the virus is deadly in oysters, humans cannot get the virus from eating an infected oyster.

Another organism that is affected by warming ocean temperatures is kelp. Kristen Elsmore, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis, researches kelp forests and aquatic vegetation in coastal waters. Kelp forests are important because they are a live habitat-forming species and their presence influences the currents and

waves heading toward shore. Kelp is vulnerable to warmer waters as higher temperatures lead to more kelp populations dying. This has a dramatic effect on the whole ecosystem, according to Elsmore.

“If we see these warmer waters and we lose kelp in [these] areas, then these massive structures and big habitats that support hundreds of species [...] will also go away, and those species that rely on the kelp and the structure of the kelp will also disappear from our nearshore waters,” Elsmore said.

Commenting on the Laptev Sea phenomenon, Killeen said, “Scientists knew that these things would happen eventually, but the speed at which they are occurring and the scale at which they are happening is surprising scientists even now.”

From what she is witnessing through her research, Elsmore emphasized that the effects of climate change are real and tangible.

“This is a problem that we can identify, see and quantify right now,” Elsmore said.

WOLVERINE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

BULOSANCENTER CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 “We’re able to diversify the work that we do, and we’re not just coming from a UC Davis undergraduate standpoint.”

Garcia was offered the opportunity to become an undergraduate team lead for this year’s internship program. As a strong advocate for transnational activism, they decided to direct their team’s attention to important issues in the Philippines. Their team has since been able to create educational resources about mental health in the U.S. and the Philippines, the Anti-Terror Law and COVID-related policies that impact the Filipinx-American community.

“For me, it was super important that we not only do work that connects our efforts back to the homeland, but it was also important that I make sure my interns get the same sense of recognition, attention and care that I received when I first came into the Center,” Garcia said.

Chloe Azurin, a second-year transfer student majoring in anthropology with a sociocultural emphasis, was a Summer 2020 intern for the Education Retention and Mental Health team, where she continues her internship today.

“I was already feeling like I ran out of time, as a transfer student, to get to know and have a place at Davis, but coming to the Bulosan Center was my way of finding a family,” Azurin said. “No one’s expected to be perfect in our internship. Everybody just puts out ideas and we all learn and grow with each other.”

Azurin was able to conduct research on the mental health of first-generation FilipinxAmerican immigrants while also learning about issues that are important to the Filipinx community. Over the summer, the Bulosan Center hosted weekly workshops with guest speakers to facilitate discussions about these topics.

“Having people who came before us in the field and inspiring us to go forward and showing us actual steps to help was really important because we all want to care, but nobody really knows where to start,” Azurin said.

While the Bulosan Center is no longer accepting interns for the 2020-2021 school year, the faculty still strongly encourages interested students and community members to reach out to them.

“We want to provide opportunities for our students to step up, take on leadership roles, to lead projects and visions that they are passionate about and to collaborate together,” Jopanda said.

They emphasized their desire to break away from the common hierarchical structure of internships and instead focus on building a supportive community.

“The goal of the Bulosan Center is to serve not just our students at UC Davis, and not just the Filipinx community at large, but everybody who is hoping to build together collaboratively,” Jopanda said.

When protection was first proposed in the nineties, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) claimed that there was not enough data on human impact on the species. This policy was repeatedly contested by conservation groups until 2013 when the service finally proposed listing the species due to the possible threat of climate change. A year later, this proposal was withdrawn resulting in a lawsuit from several environmental organizations which led to court mandated re-evaluation of the proposal by the USFWS, only to be withdrawn again last month.

“It’s a continued pattern of wanting to stick their heads in the sand about climate change and not do anything about the impacts that greenhouse gas emissions will have on species,” said Brad Smith, of the Idaho Conservation League, to The Guardian last month. “With the current administration, there’s been a rollback of many protections for the environment and for listed or proposed species.”

The USFWS have even admitted that recent studies have shown that snow cover, which wolverines rely on for dens for their young, will be substantially impacted by climate change.

Despite this, they maintain that this will have little impact on the survival of the species in the contiguous United States, citing a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and University of Colorado. The study found that the upper elevations which wolverines den in will maintain their springtime snowpack while the lower will experience significant snow loss over the next 50 years. I don’t know about you, but my definition of population stability is not possibly losing 50% of viable snowpack.

This is just one of many studies.

Previous studies have painted even bleaker

outcomes. For instance, a 2011 study identified increasingly hot August days as a major threat to wolverine survival, while another study found that wolverine populations will become genetically isolated and decrease in size as snowpack disappears. Now, I’m not saying that the study the USFWS is basing their decision on isn’t good science. I am saying that using exclusively that study, and ignoring all other facts that do not fit their narrative is the definition of confirmation bias.

It is incredibly easy to ignore relatively antisocial species, even the iconic wolverine, with the kind of “out of sight out of mind” mindset that has already perpetrated the extinction of hundreds of species in my lifetime. In the Montana District Court’s 2016 ruling, Judge Christensen concluded, “If there is one thing required of the Service under the ESA, it is to take action at the earliest possible, defensible point in time to protect against the loss of biodiversity within our reach as a nation.

For the wolverine, that time is now.”

To support Wolverine Reintroduction efforts in California, you can donate to the Institute for Wildlife Studies’ ongoing proposal to reestablish wolverines in the Sierra Nevada Range. Many other species have been successfully reintroduced across the U.S., from lynx in Colorado to wolves in Yellowstone, and you could be part of making history. The symbol of California, the California grizzly bear, was driven to extinction by greed and development.

Don’t let wolverines just be a comic book character––you could be their hero.

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.

12 | THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SPORTS The Aggie takes a look at this year's unusual NBA Draft After an unprecedented season, NBA teams prepare for a unique NBA draft

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org After being pushed back several times, the NBA draft is scheduled on Nov. 18 at the ESPN Headquarters in Connecticut. Because the COVID-19 pandemic sent sports and the rest of the real world into a whirlwind, the main priority of the league was centered on making the Orlando bubble work. As they began to get settled in, they revealed their plans for this year’s selection event, and as we get closer to the date, the process of choosing players this year will be nothing like any of the teams have ever seen.

In a regular year, the NBA holds its combine in Chicago where collegiate athletes display their skills to NBA teams in a variety of drills, strength training and interviews. This gives prospects the opportunity to showcase their abilities and improve their stock. It is an event that previously involved a lot of interaction, with teams often identifying players they liked. This year, however, has been anything but regular.

After finally settling on the Nov. 18 date, the NBA announced their plan for the pre-draft process. Beginning on Sept. 28, players began a process that included interviews with the league and with teams over video conference calls. The only differences between these interviews and those held at the combine was that they would take place virtually, but the content would be the same. In place of the combine itself, players had to report to the closest NBA facility and undergo medical testing, measurements, strength and agility testing and shooting drills, among other things. Players created their own workout video of up to 45 minutes that was sent to all teams and served as their showcase of skills. These videos could be live or edited, giving the player the chance to improve their case even more.

Beginning on Oct. 16, the NBA allowed teams to workout players in-person up to two times per player. The maximum number of players a team could workout was 10, but they were not allowed to have more than one player in the building at a time. In a normal NBA Draft Combine, teams could have up to six players in the building at a time, often making them run 3-on-3 drills that gave them a chance to see how they matched up against their peers. But with this year blocking their ability to do that, NBA teams have had to get creative to figure out if that player was what they were looking for. The unique pre-

draft process, coupled with the uncertainty of who’s available this year, will create an interesting NBA Draft.

As opposed to last year’s draft, there are no clear-cut players at the top. By draft time last year, the world knew that Zion Williamson would go number one overall and Ja Morant would follow.

This year, the draft prospects are anything but sure.

The Minnesota Timberwolves hold this year’s first pick after winning the NBA draft Lottery back in August. Having added former all-star D’Angelo Russell at the trade deadline in February to pair with their star Karl AnthonyTowns, the Wolves are looking to improve in the tough Western Conference. Having one playoff appearance in 16 years, the team is hoping another budding star can increase their chances of being a formidable opponent in the conference.

The thing about this particular draft is that many players have high ceilings, but also have a good chance of not living up to expectations. This makes the decision at the first pick even harder, as the Timberwolves have to decide what route they want to take.

The player many believe has the highest potential is 6’8” point guard LaMelo Ball. Ball played last season overseas in Australia where he wowed with his ability to score in a variety of ways and with his passing ability. Coupled with his size and athleticism, Ball is the most intriguing prospect in this year’s draft. But maturity questions and defensive concerns have many teams contemplating whether he is worth a top three selection. At 19, there is still plenty of time for him to grow, but his struggles with predraft interviews have many teams preparing for the chance he falls in the draft.

Another option to become the first selection is the Georgia Bulldogs’ shooting guard, Anthony Edwards. His athleticism, strength and scoring ability have many believing he could become a star in the league. The areas of concern when it comes to Edwards are his shot-selection and struggles at both the free-throw and three-point line. No one can question his build, but whether or not he improves his decision making will be key for potential success in his professional career.

Before the season began, many believed that James Wiseman would be the consensus number one selection. But an NCAA suspension led to him finishing his college career with only three games played. At 7-1, his potential is through

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE the roof and is exactly what the NBA is looking for: an athletic big man who can do more than just be a defensive presence. As much as an intriguing prospect he is, the lack of play has teams questioning whether or not to take him. He is known to be prone to mistakes, his motor has been questioned, and with such little tape of him being out there, it would not come as a surprise if he falls outside of the top five.

There are many more prospects in the top half of the draft that are interesting but have just as many questions. Deni Avdija, Onyeka Okongwu, Obi Toppin and Killian Hayes among many more are names that will likely be called in the top 10, but in contrast to other years, where they will go changes depending on who you ask. So, the Wolves’ choice will depend on what their front office prioritizes and, for the Golden State Warriors who hold the second pick, there’s a good chance their pick will depend on who Minnesota doesn’t take.

The Warriors had an off year after injuries to their stars Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

Expected to be back and fully healthy, the Warriors have an opportunity to add fresh talent to a veteran team. They have been linked with several prospects, but no one has a clear indication on who they will go with. Along with the Wolves, the Warriors might be looking to trade the pick for pieces that can help them compete for a championship this season. The lack of “sure-

things” in this draft, however, puts into question how much value these picks have compared to other years. With the Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers rounding out the top five, it is not likely that anyone will make a major trade to get to the top of the draft unless there is a prospect a team is dying to get their hands on.

Blame it on the set up of this draft or because the prospects simply aren’t up to last years’ standards, but it will surely be an interesting draft to follow regardless. With little certainty about anything, it could turn out to be one of the more entertaining drafts in recent memory.

But something to keep in mind is that the time surrounding any professional leagues’ draft is one where fans must travel with a bit of skepticism.

There are almost certainly always false rumors and smokescreens that are meant to pressure other teams, so trying to keep up with the daily flipflopping can be a confusing and sometimes useless task.

Whether your team is picking at the top of the order or down at the bottom, the lack of assurance in this draft will separate the NBA’s elite organizations from the rest.

College football enters a dangerous era With COVID-19 cases increasing, the NCAA must be cautious

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org There was always doubt that the NCAA could even start a college football season amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Adamant to hold a season in the fall, conferences like the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Big 12 tried everything in their power to proceed normally. Being that they are home to some of the biggest college football teams in the country, the losses they would endure proved to be enough to try to have a season at all costs.

With many universities across the country cutting sports programs due to the major financial losses, missing a football season could have doomed a lot of the NCAA schools as the sport serves as the majority of athletic revenue. So, they gave a green light to schools to hold their college football season as normal.

Rather than implement strict guidelines to follow throughout the season, the NCAA stated that testing had to be done once a week among other general rules. Their lack of protocols to combat the virus, however, allowed conferences to dictate what rules the programs needed to follow.

Initially, conferences like the SEC tested three days before the day of their game, but soon after, they followed the ACC and Big 12 who began testing three times a week. The Big Ten and Pac12, who returned after initially cancelling their fall season, began to conduct daily testing. These decisions could influence the other conferences to follow suit as well, as many schools across the country have begun to feel the effects of the pandemic.

With some schools having as many as 110 student-athletes on the football team, it is clear why it has become so difficult to return to play.

With everyone being in such close proximity to each other, it has been difficult to fully secure the health and safety of the student-athletes. Even with less travel, the risk is still there for everyone and there is only so much a program can do to stop it. It is impossible to hold an NBA-type bubble for collegiate sports because of the high number of teams and players involved. All the NCAA can do is hope for the best.

As of Oct. 16, there were already 47 games cancelled or postponed because of COVID-19, and in the 10th week since games resumed, there were 10 games postponed. Right off the bat, highprofile teams were having to move around their scheduling because of positive tests. Teams like Virginia, LSU, Virginia Tech, FAU and many others have suffered massive outbreaks among their program that has put their activities on pause for at least a week. The Pac-12 and Big Ten had some difficulties with their returns as Arizona, Utah, Purdue and Wisconsin all had

to postpone games in the early weeks of their conference play. Alabama head coach Nick Saban contracted the virus in October, and the team was forced to pause their activities for a couple of days. Projected No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NFL Draft, Trevor Lawrence, also contracted the virus and was forced to sit out two games while he recovered. There have been countless examples, but with so much to lose, the show must go on one way or another.

An aspect that has become an apparent issue in certain schools is something that not only affects the team, but the university as well. With many schools allowing a percentage of fans to attend the games, there have been massive upticks in positive cases within their college communities. Georgia University was under fire back in early October because it had appeared that there were a lot of fans packed into the stadium, many of whom were not socially distanced or wearing masks. It is mandatory that fans both wear masks and socially distance, but with upwards of 20,000 people in attendance, it is extremely difficult to keep track of every single person to make sure they follow the rules.

Communities where these universities are located have also been affected by these games.

The CDC reported that out of the eight states with the highest infection rates, seven of them KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

are home to SEC schools who allow a number of fans to be in attendance. In the majority of those communities classified as college towns, there has been a massive, uncontrollable spread of COVID-19. The lack of rule-following continues to affect a growing number of people. Still, some head coaches like Florida’s Dan Mullen are dismissive of the pandemic that has killed over 237,000 people in the U.S. With Florida having the ability to hold 20% capacity, Mullen believed that it was time for more.

“I know our governor passed that rule, so certainly, hopefully the university administration decides to let us pack the Swamp against LSU,” Mullen said in October. “I certainly hope our university administration follows the governor.

The governor has passed a rule that we’re allowed to pack the Swamp and have 90,000 in the Swamp to give us the home-field advantage.”

In reference to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis allowing for stadiums to be at full capacity, Mullen believed that regardless of the pandemic, it was more important to hold homefield advantage since it was now allowed than to continue taking certain precautions. Later that same week, the University of Florida paused all football-related activities as Mullen and 20 other members of the program tested positive for the virus.

Part of the profit that schools make from football comes from fans, so having even some in attendance seems to be a priority. Nonetheless, schools fail to realize the effect it is having on their community as a whole.

“It’s really dangerous,” Thomas Huard, chief clinical laboratory advisor at the Texas-based Campus Health Project told Sports Illustrated.

“It’s going to create spread. People don’t social distance even though the seats are spread apart.

You go to the bathroom, hot dog stand, beer stand. I think it’s a disaster.”

The NCAA is hoping that nothing devastating happens to all of their programs, but they fail to see how disastrous it really is for the communities that have more leeway. Even with protocols in place, programs are finding out that it is impossible to try to control the thousands of people involved in the weekly games. As cases continue to rise and financial implications loom, not only this year, but possibly until 2023, the NCAA and colleges across the country are trying to find ways to survive and finish the season strong. The question is, at what cost?