February 18, 2021

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VOLUME 139, ISSUE 16 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

NEWLY OPENED VACCINE CLINIC AT ARC SERVES DAVIS COMMUNITY The clinic is currently serving individuals in Phase 1B, Tier 1. Student EMTs have been granted opportunities to administer the vaccine

BY MADDIE DULEY campus@theaggie.org UC Davis continues to prioritize student well-being and campus safety with the opening of a COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC).

The clinic opened its doors on Feb. 1 and has been administering approximately 144 vaccines per day to eligible members of the community, according to Dr. Cindy Schorzman, the medical director of Student Health and Counseling Services.

“The clinic is a joint effort between occupational health and student health, determining vaccine eligibility according to the tiered system as established by Yolo County Public Health and CDPH [The California Department of Public Health],” Schorzman said.

The clinic is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and aims to make this location as robust as necessary to accommodate the community and vaccine availability, according to Schorzman.

Currently in Phase 1B, Tier 1, the clinic is serving employees of any age who are at risk of exposure. This includes in-person professors,

faculty, teaching assistants, police officers, firefighters, child-care employees and dining staff.

People who come to the clinic for the vaccine begin the process by filling out a consent form.

“When they fill out that form, they consult with a nurse on site to go through more information about that and see if they are a good candidate for the vaccine,” Schrozman said.

“Most people are.”

If they are a good candidate for the vaccine, they are vaccinated. Then they must rest in the clinic for 15 minutes so that they can be monitored for any reaction their body may have to the vaccine.

The vaccine clinic is also offering student Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) the opportunity to administer vaccines. Brittney Novak, a fifth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and senior student EMT, was one of the student EMTs administering the vaccine.

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The Student Health & Wellness Center at UC Davis. (Quinn Spooner / Aggie)

YOLO COUNTY FOLLOWS GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM’S ORDER TO VACCINATE SENIORS 65 AND OLDER Yolo County officials and volunteers work for hours to distribute COVID-19 vaccines

BY ELLIE LEE city@theaggie.org

CATHY TANG / AGGIE

Healthcare providers in California are now following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order to transition to age-based vaccine eligibility.

Residents who are 65 and older are now eligible to be vaccinated in Yolo County.

Yolo County Public Information Officer Jenny Tan explained why seniors have received vaccine priority. Data has shown that the majority of the people in Yolo County who have passed away due to COVID-19 complications were 75 and older, therefore elderly people were given vaccine priority, according to Tan. While Tan understands that many residents may feel like they should be higher up on the list depending on their health concerns or age, she noted that Yolo County receives only 1,000 to 2,000 doses a week although there are 220,000 residents in total.

“When everyone is a priority, no one is a priority,” Tan said. “Even if we add more categories and more priorities, it doesn’t fix the supply issue.”

Healthcare providers receive their own limited doses, so seniors are able to check for vaccine availability at their regular institution.

Furthermore, seniors may receive vaccinations from Yolo County by signing the vaccine notification form, which includes the individual’s age, place of work, city of residence and underlying health conditions. Once an individual meets the tier requirements, the county will send them an email that shows the available facilities and how one can sign up.

Patients may also visit Yolo County’s vaccine information website, and they will be notified which clinics are eligible for registration. Tan and other Yolo County employees work with various partners, such as senior homes, Meals on Wheels and food banks to help their clients sign up when clinics are offering vaccines.

Tan mentioned that there are several ways seniors may hear about vaccine updates, even if they struggle with technology. She explained that Yolo County has been active in media interviews, so residents can find information online, on the radio, television or even through word of mouth.

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UC DAVIS, SACRAMENTO CITY COLLEGE RECEIVE $27,500 EQUITY TRANSFER INITIATIVE GRANT FOR WORK WITH TRANSFER STUDENTS Though undergraduate enrollment has decreased nationwide, UC Davis has seen a surge in applications and in applicant diversity, according to the grant

BY REBECCA BIHN-WALLACE campus@theaggie.org The American Association of Community Colleges Equity Transfer Initiative awarded UC Davis and Sacramento City College (SCC) a twoyear, $27,500 grant to “increase transfer rates among African American, Hispanic, and first-gen students.”

Dutton Hall at UC Davis. (Timothy Li / Aggie)

UC Davis and SCC are one of only two teams in California to be chosen for the grant, which requires that at least 100 students be placed on the transfer student trajectories outlined in the initiative by the end of the first year. Three hundred or more students are required to be on

these pathways by the end of the grant’s second year.

In the U.S. at large, undergraduate enrollment—which includes transfer student enrollment—decreased this year, possibly due to the challenges students have experienced during COVID-19, suggested a CNBC article.

The article cited a study by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which noted that only 76% of American colleges had reported their enrollment-related data. Still, the study posited that community colleges were the hardest hit by the overall decline in applications.

The Equity Transfer Initiative grant comes amid a surge in freshman and transfer student applications for UC Davis during the pandemic: The undergraduate application rate for the university increased by 11.7% this year. The applications also revealed a significant increase in undergraduate applicant diversity at UC Davis.

There was a 20.6% increase in applications from African American students, an 11.8% increase from Chicano and Latinx applicants, a 22% increase from Pacific Islander applicants and a 7.9% increase from Native American applicants. “[The grant provides] such an opportunity to support students who come from historically underrepresented communities,” said Hope Medina, the director of transfer and veteran services at UC Davis. “We’re creating a successful pathway for African American students, Hispanic students, Chicano and Latino students, first-

generation students.”

Medina noted the struggles first-generation college students potentially face in “blazing that trail” and fighting for resources.

“This grant goes a long way towards taking that pressure off of students and providing that space and opportunity for them to learn together and find success together,” Medina said.

The grant will provide funding to improve transfer outcomes for these underrepresented students at SCC and UC Davis, according to Don Hunt, the associate vice chancellor for enrollment management at UC Davis.

“We are looking to increase the support services, communications, and engagement models to support students as soon as they enter community college,” Hunt said in an email.

These services could include providing students with access to counselors and transfer representatives while attending community college, rather than after they arrive at the university. The grant could also help SCC students learn about pathways to the UC system and may also aid in tracking their progress from the beginning of their community college experience onward.

“We are still in the planning stages, so there is a lot to be developed in terms of a specific plan,” Hunt said via email.

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COVID-19 vaccines available to individuals in phase 1A and phase 1B, tier 1 It is unclear when students and employees in phase 2 will be able to access the vaccine

BY AARYA GUPTA campus@theaggie.org UC Davis laid out a tiered system of eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine through the Campus Ready COVID-19 Vaccine Program. While some students and staff have already gained access as part of the first wave, it is unknown when Phase 2 will begin.

“We can truly make a difference in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Davis by working together and by advocating for all of our community members,” said Cindy Schorzman, medical director of the Student Health and Counseling Services, via email.

According to Schorzman, both phase 1A and phase 1B, Tier 1 are currently open for appointments.

Phase 1A consists of Aggie Public Health Ambassadors, CARE Advocacy staff, UC Davis healthcare workers and employees who work directly with COVID-19 exposed patients such as: COVID-19 researchers, student and occupational health employees and Housing and Dining workers in the campus quarantine and isolation unit.

Sarika Sethi, a second-year biotechnology major, was recently vaccinated through the program. Sethi is a housing employee at the Tercero Service Desk and qualified as part of phase 1A. “Once we got the notification that our tier was eligible for the vaccine our staff made appointments through Health-e-Messaging and were vaccinated at the ARC,” Sethi said.

Sethi said her side effects were mild and suggests if anyone has a chance to receive the vaccine, to take it.

“I have received the first dose of the Moderna vaccine, and I had a sore arm and felt a little tired, but overall the experience was very manageable,” Sethi said. “I decided to get vaccinated because, although I am in a population where the chance of adverse health risks for me are very low, I also know that I could accidentally spread [it] to other more at risk populations if I were to contract the virus.”

Phase 1B, Tier 1 includes employees and students over the age of 65 and individuals who can be exposed to COVID-19 due to their job

KATHERINE HUNG / AGGIE

requirements.

An Pham, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and biology major said she likes the way UC Davis was handling the situation. “it puts me at ease to see that they are providing COVID-19 testing and access to vaccinations,” Pham said.

The next stage, Phase 1C, involves providing vaccinations for individuals between the ages of 16 to 64 years old who have underlying health conditions that make them more vulnerable to severe symptoms of COVID-19. This group includes workers in water, waste, energy, chemical, hazardous materials, communications, IT and financial services workers, administrators on campus and individuals partaking in contact tracing and COVID-19 case investigation according to the Campus Ready website.

After all three phases of Tier 1 are complete, UC Davis will extend students and employees as permitted by local and state public health officials and the California Office of the President

(UCOP), according to the UC Davis rollout plan on their website.

“We do not have an anticipated timeline of when additional tiers will become eligible as it depends on the amount of vaccine that we receive,” Schorzman said.

Pham said that and that she looks forward to seeing how they will be distributing the vaccination in the near future.

“Getting vaccinated for COVID-19 is one of my top priorities,” Pham said. “I’m glad that UC Davis has this option for me, to ensure that we stop the spread of the virus.”

The first doses of the COVID-19 vaccines were administered on Feb. 1, the same day the campus vaccine clinic started. Receiving the vaccine is free for employees and students “Our goals are to use every dose that we receive to help protect our UC Davis community, to continue to advocate for increased vaccine supply for our campus community and to continue to expand our delivery system as increased doses

become available,” Schorzman said.

With the help of the UCOP Office of Emergency Management, UC Davis receives its vaccine from the California Department of Health.

Schorzman said frequent updating of their website helps to prevent the spread of misinformation related to the vaccination process.

“Students are sent weekly updates via text messaging,” Schorzman said. “Our Aggie Public Health Ambassadors do an outstanding job of delivering updated information about COVID-19 and current public health measures.”

At this time, it is strongly encouraged, but not required for employees to receive the vaccine. If an employee declines, for any reason—whether it be religious or medical—they must wear protective equipment.

“The hard work and collaboration by a group of individuals who never would have otherwise come together has made a real and measurable difference, and has made me so proud to be an Aggie,” Schorzman said.

ASUCD Senate unanimously passes housing crisis resolution The emergency resolution SR #7 recommends the City of Davis remove the housing density restrictions put in place in 2008

BY WM. SCHROEDTER KINMAN wskinman@ucdavis.edu The ASUCD Feb. 4 meeting was called to order by Vice President Emily Barneond at 7 p.m.

The senate unanimously passed Emergency resolution SR#7, which is intended to encourage more affordable housing in Davis. The resolution includes five proposals that will go to the Davis Housing Element Committee for approval and ultimately to the Davis City Council in the coming weeks.

The resolution aims to combat the housing crisis in Davis that has left 7% of students homeless and 18% experiencing housing insecurity, according to a 2018 survey by the ASUCD-GSA Housing Affordability Task Force.

“There is not adequate discussion of it outside of students circles,” said Allie O’Brien, the ASUCD chief of staff and author of the resolution.

“Students having to find housing are acutely aware of the housing crisis, but a lot of folks in the City

of Davis still deny that it exists for students.”

If approved, the bill would remove a 1% growth cap on new housing in Davis, a restriction that has been in place since 2008.

“This sort of resolution is incredibly important,” said ASUCD President Kyle Krueger.

“We’re representing student needs and making sure [the proposals] are going forward because it’s an area where what we say really matters.”

Senators hope that this resolution will begin a new era of cooperation between ASUCD and City Council.

“I think that this is a first step showing that we also know what we’re talking about, we have the research done,” said senator Maahum Shahab.

“We can show up and speak for ourselves just as well as anybody else.”

Senator Amanjot Gandhoke said he agreed that the resolution may help sway the City Council.

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Supporters and protestors of the Central Park Gandhi statue clash during event Incident followed vandalism of Gandhi statue as city officials decide whether to re-erect after investigation

BY JELENA LAPUZ city@theaggie.org On Jan. 31, an event was held in Davis’ Central Park to support the park’s Mohandas K. Gandhi statue after its recent vandalism. The statue has been controversial since its installation in 2016, when some community members expressed discomfort with Gandhi’s personal history, including his racist remarks and his sleeping naked beside female relatives.

City of Davis Councilmember Dan Carson explained that the current status of the investigation regarding the vandalism is ongoing.

“At our City Council meeting [on Feb. 2nd], our police chief indicated that the investigation is continuing,” Carson said. “He made it very clear that we’re not investigating any particular ethnic group of people or anything like that. That’s not something that we do.”

Easan Katir, the California advocacy director of the Hindu American Foundation attended the event and explained that a car rally was arranged, in which about fifty cars drove down B Street and

ended at Central Park. Various leaders from the Indian community and Katir himself were set to speak at the event.

Carson further explained the City of Davis Mayor Gloria Partida, Vice Mayor Lucas Frerichs and the City Council were invited to speak at the event to reinforce that they don’t endorse the vandalism.

“We condemn the vandalism that destroyed the statue,” Carson said. “We don’t support actions that preclude the destruction of property.”

Katir said that protestors of the statue stood next to the stage and chanted with bullhorns while the speakers were still presenting.

“It was actually very chilling and intimidating,” Katir said. “I don’t think it was quite right to go on, but that’s what happened.”

Katir noted his personal sadness at seeing the statue vandalized and potentially destroyed.

“Gandhi is accepted and world-renowned as the symbol of the peaceful, nonviolent resolution to problems and with that simple principle, he freed nations,” Katir said.

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People protest following the vandalization of the Gandhi statue in Central Park in Davis, CA. (Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

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THURSDAY, FEBUARY 18, 2021 | 3

Students reflect on power outages experienced during midterm season Faculty worked to accommodate students in the recent power outages, although some students felt unsupported by their professors and the university

BY REBECCA GARDNER campus@theaggie.org Many students and residents in Davis and surrounding areas experienced power outages starting on Tuesday, Jan. 26 and lasting until Jan. 30.

When their power went out, first-year molecular and medical microbiology major Isabelle Smith and her roommate checked into the Residence Inn by Marriott only a couple of miles away from their West Davis apartment.

Smith said that all of her midterms were pushed back and her professors were accommodating.

“We had no food,” Smith said. “All of our devices were dead and we still needed to study. If it happened again, I’d probably just go back to the hotel again. It was $120 for two people, so we split that in half.”

Other students weren’t so fortunate. Erika Lambert, a fourth-year linguistics major, lost power for 20 hours and the following day her internet went down, all while she was recovering from COVID-19. She sat in her car to charge her phone and send emails to her professors.

“I had pretty bad symptoms,” Lamber said. “I didn’t have to go to the hospital, but there were a few times where I thought I might have to.”

Lambert falsely assumed that all of her lectures would be recorded and, as a result, missed a handful of classes. One professor expressed discomfort being recorded, explaining that he would have to change the way that he acts.

“He’s in the Midwest area right now and does Zoom from over there,” Lambert said. “He basically just made fun of the storm. He was like ‘30 miles an hour is nothing and you guys are so overdramatic.’”

Megan McFarland, a spokesperson for PG&E, said in an email that the storm was actually highly uncommon for this area.

“Based on 30 years of weather data, PG&E meteorologists described the late January winter storms as the strongest since 2011 and say that it caused the highest two-day and three-day outage totals since 2010,” McFarland said. “From Tuesday, Jan. 26, through that Saturday morning, more than 935,000 PG&E customers lost power due to heavy wind, rain and snow.”

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

Lambert reached out to the linguistics department chair and the Office of Undergraduate Education to discuss her situation and request that lectures be recorded in the future. When she was sick, she notified two of her professors who were both understanding. She didn’t request special accommodations, such as extensions for assignment or exam deadlines, besides lectures being recorded.

“I think it’s definitely nice for professors to record [lectures], but I guess it is somewhat like an in-person class where if you miss it, that’s it,” Lambert said. “But I think this school year is definitely a lot different than when we had inperson in that people have a lot of stuff going on. I think just not recording during the power outage is a big deal, because more than half of the class wasn’t there.”

Lambert said she doesn’t feel supported by the university during this unprecedented time.

“We’re expected to just continue on with school as if nothing is happening,” Lambert said.

“As if there is not a pandemic and a new president and an insurrection and a power outage and a storm. They’re like, ‘Okay, well go to class.’ I think the school underestimates how much we’re going

through right now, some more than others, but still I think it’s a lot for everybody.”

Dr. Wolf-Dietrich Heyer, the chair of the department of microbiology and molecular genetics, said that he didn’t receive any complaints from students and was surprised by this silence.

“There was a lot of sympathy with the situation,” Heyer said. “I think everybody was extremely accommodating to mitigate the circumstances. Of course, it hit right at the time where exams were up, so deadlines had to be extended. It added a lot of stress to students and to faculty, on top of the stress we already work under with the pandemic.”

Heyer said that faculty have become crisis management experts.

“From my vantage point, I think we managed the crisis well,” Heyer said. “We are becoming overly good at managing crises because of all the experience of the last 10 months. It is not a good status quo. I do hope we get back to normal in the fall with face-to-face instruction. It will be much more enjoyable for everybody involved.”

Being from Germany, power outages are a new phenomenon for Heyer.

“I’m from Germany, an equally as developed

country as the U.S.,” Heyer said. “In all of my life in Germany, I cannot remember experiencing a power outage. In my time in Davis, it’s a common event. I think there is a lack of investment in vital infrastructure. There is an incredible need to improve this.”

If the power goes off on campus, on-campus generators switch on immediately, protecting sensitive samples and years of work collected by researchers. On-campus power outages are extremely rare, compared to outages in the city; Heyer said he could count with one hand the number of on-campus outages that have occurred in his 20 years at UC Davis.

Dr. Rena Zieve, the department chair of physics and astronomy, was grateful for the more robust power infrastructure on-campus as opposed to the less reliable surrounding Yolo County infrastructure.

If power was lost, it could be detrimental and researchers would lose years of work.

“We have some things that particularly are kept under vacuum,” Zieve said. “There are samples that basically will be destroyed [if power is lost]. Not physically destroyed, but they’ll lose the special properties that we’re trying to study if they’re exposed to air.”

Zieve said she was concerned about the students who lost power and may not have known to request accommodations.

“I offered the students in my class spots to work in the physics building if they needed a place where there was power,” Zieve said. “On Saturday, there were a couple of students who came. Some of the students were very proactive about trying to get help, other students didn’t really believe that anyone would help them. The message I’d really like to get out is that if you need help you should ask for it.”

Heyer said that he trusts when students are asking for help, they need it.

“We’re all in the same boat,” Heyer said. “We better all row in the same direction, otherwise we’re not moving forward. These are real problems. They take time. If we all have some understanding towards each other, we can help ourselves through these problems. Luckily, they’re always only temporary.”

Local businesses negatively impacted by storms, power outages Power outages led to lost revenue, spoiled food and damaged infrastructure for Davis businesses

BY SHRADDHA JHINGAN city@theaggie.org Many businesses and operations were affected by the storms that happened Jan. 26-29 in the Northern California region which caused power outages and damaged infrastructure.

PG&E spokesperson Megan McFarland explained that these were the strongest storms since 2011 and led to the number of two and three-day outage totals being the highest they’ve ever been since 2010.

McFarland described the impact the storm had on customers.

“Since midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 26, through that Saturday morning, more than 935,000 PG&E customers lost power due to heavy wind, rain and snow,” McFarland said via email. “More than 90% of customers were restored within 12 hours after the start of the outage.”

In addition to power outages, there were more than 1,330 cases of “damaged infrastructure where equipment needed to be replaced or repaired, including 365 broken poles and 1,417 spans of wire,” McFarland said.

Some Davis businesses went without power for one to three days, and could not or chose not to resume business operations, resulting in a loss of revenue, according to the Marketing Coordinator for Davis Downtown Aaron Wedra.

Wedra explained via email that the storm caused physical damage to businesses.

“The storm itself damaged many outdoor patios or otherwise caused disarray to outdoor accommodations,” Wedra said. “Canopies were thrown by the wind and some were ripped or otherwise damaged. Downtown banners and light pole flags were tangled and torn.”

One such business that was affected was Cloud Forest Cafe. In addition to throwing away a plethora of products and spending large amounts of money on dry ice to keep food cool, the cafe was unable to operate for three days and thus earned no revenue for one-tenth of the month, according to the Manager of Cloud Forest Cafe T. H. Fang.

Once it was safe, 475 electrical workers and 477-plus crews, plus thousands of PG&E employees, began restoration and assessment work, according to McFarland.

City of Davis Vice Mayor Lucas Frerichs stated via email that this storm was one of the biggest he’s seen since living in Davis for 25 years and described the damage it caused.

“I live in the central part of the city, where there are many big trees and numerous overhead power lines, there were many instances where the downed trees were tangled up with the power lines and/or utility poles,” Frerichs said.

Fang expressed gratitude for technicians who worked to restore power quickly so Cloud Forest Cafe could recommence business operations.

The city also undertook some actions to help residents, according to Frerichs, including opening two charging locations.

“Many parts of Davis were without power,

West Village during a blackout as severe winds during late January’s storm took down power lines in Davis, CA. (Justin Han / Aggie) in some cases, for up to three full days, after the storm,” Frerichs said. “The city opened up two publicly accessible charging locations—one for medical devices and one for other items, such as cell phones and laptops, etc.”

Residents who went “[…] without power for more than 48 hours due to a severe event […]” could be eligible for Storm Inconvenience Payments as part of the Safety Net Program,

according to McFarland.

Despite the damage caused to the businesses, Wedra explained that there was no permanent damage.

“I do not believe there was any irreparable damage,” Wedra said. “Business owners seemed to take the storm and electrical outage in stride with the rest of 2020 and now 2021. ‘We will rebuild’ seems to have been the sentiment.”

ASUCD Pantry provides food aid to students during power outages The Pantry adapts its services to continue combating food insecurity and supply basic necessities to students

BY LIANA MAE ATIZADO features@theaggie.org

The Pantry at Memorial Union during Winter Quarter 2020. (Justin Han / Aggie)

The conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have had a negative impact on many facing food insecurity, including UC Davis students. Many students have been left unemployed or have had reduced work hours, causing financial strain. These effects can be further exacerbated by natural disasters, such as the storm on Jan. 26 that caused power outages throughout Davis for several days.

In response to the power outages, the ASUCD Pantry provided short-term emergency food aid while maintaining its food distribution program.

The Pantry continues to provide food and

hygiene products to UC Davis students as part of their mission to ensure that no student has to go without basic necessities due to financial reasons.

According to Ryan Choi, the director of the ASUCD Pantry, a widespread power outage like the one the Davis community faced after the storm can cause spoilage of perishable food, can impact food preparation activities such as microwaving ready-to-eat foods and can put financial strain on individuals who are unable to obtain new groceries in a timely manner. To help combat this, the Pantry supplied the Aggie Compass Basic Needs Center with dry foods from its inventory to distribute to UC Davis students.

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Students invest after Gamestop stock surge UC Davis’ stock market club and a professor of finance weigh in on the phenomenon

KATHERINE HUNG / AGGIE

BY KATHLEEN QUINN campus@theaggie.org As video game retailer Gamestop’s stock rose following a Wall Street attempt to short it, students flocked to easy-to-use brokerage apps like Robinhood, entering into the stock market in record numbers.

In late January, the Reddit group r/wallstreetbets sent out a call to buy Gamestop stock despite the hopes of Wall Street traders who bet that the video game retail outlet’s stock would fall. Many of the investors inspired by the Reddit group used brokerage apps like Robinhood, and some UC Davis students joined in.

Mihir Wadekar is a third-year computer science and engineering major who recently began investing using Robinhood and purchased some of the shorted stocks like Nokia and Blackberry.

“I started investing right after we got our stimulus checks,” Wadekar said. “This is pretty much money I haven’t earned.”

Dong Yeon Lee, a third-year psychology major and president of the UC Davis stock market club, has been investing since he was 18 years old.

“More people are investing now,” Lee said. “I see that as a good thing.”

Dr. Brad Barber, a professor of finance at UC Davis co-wrote a paper that showed hype-chasing investors will often buy stocks because they see a company favorably depicted in the news, artificially driving the price up for a short time.

“This is an attractive play for short sellers because they can see the retail herd going in and it’s a generally good bet to bet against it,” Barber said.

After the hype dies down, people sell off shares in large numbers and the price of the stock overall plummets; this is when short sellers buy back the shares at low rates, pocketing the difference in price per share. As a result, hype-chasing investors lose an average of 5% of their earnings around a month later as the frenzy dies down.

“We basically found that the top about 10 stocks purchased by Robinhood users each day go on to earn poor returns,” Barber said.

However, in the case of Gamestop, things played out differently than short sellers anticipated. Gamestop reached a height of approximately $380, driven largely by calls from Redditors to jump on the stock.

“It’s really retail investors using Reddit as a forum to coordinate their attacks on short sellers,” Barber said. “Really what it reveals is a general resentment of Wall Street.”

Unlike his genuine belief in the legitimacy of Gamestop’s longterm goals, Lee said his reasoning for purchasing AMC was different.

“If I had more money I would buy more because I really don’t

like hedge funds,” Lee said.

For the hedge fund Melvin Capital, this meant having to buy back the stocks at a higher price because they feared losing even more money if they held on.

“What was unusual about it is that retail investors in that episode decided to fight back, if you will, against the short-sellers,” Barber said. “That fight back is interesting because it made it very risky for short-sellers.”

Wadekar said that the move was to send a message to short sellers that Redditors could collectively make them lose considerable amounts of money just because they wanted to.

“I feel the movement was a symbol telling Wall Street that retail investors are not stupid like they presume,” Wadekar said.

After shares in shorted stocks skyrocketed following the wave of media attention, Robinhood started to limit buying highly volatile stocks. Wadekar, who bought Nokia and Blackberry stocks during the spike, said this drove the price back down sharply.

“I bought them on Robinhood and the next morning Robinhood decided to shut off the ‘buy’ option so people could only sell,” Wadekar said. “And because of that, people panicked.”

There have been calls on both sides that hedge funds, as well as Redditors, have engaged in market manipulation by artificially driving the price of the stock up or down, respectively.

“Was it market manipulation? Maybe,” Wadekar said. “But it’s also market manipulation when you’re shorting a stock 84%.”

Lee, who invested in Gamestop before the spike when it was between $17 to $20, said he has been holding it through its rise because he believes in the company’s ability to succeed and not because he planned on jumping ship once the stock rose.

“I think if the beliefs are being shared and are sincerely held, then it’s not really market manipulation,” Barber said.

Wadekar said he hopes investors will now have increased control over their finances.

“This episode has just proven that hedge funds can make mistakes,” Wadekar said. “Why would you want to trust someone like that? If they are losing billions of dollars and they went bankrupt, they will take your portfolio with them.”

Barber said that one of the reasons he encourages new investors to buy index funds, a much slower moving but safer investment option, is that they are cheap comparatively and the majority of the returned funds go to the investor and not to Wall Street.

“In other words, index funds are a good way of making sure the gains from the Stock Market go to Main Street rather than Wall Street,” Barber said.

Wadekar said that Gen Z and Millennials have shown that the way the stock market traditionally operates needs to change.

“I feel we’d be more inclined to trust ourselves then the hedge funds because of what happened two weeks ago, what happened in 2008 and what has been happening in Wall Street,” Wadekar said.

UC Davis research shows ‘shadow pandemic’ is disproportionately hurting women and girls UC Davis students and staff discuss COVID-19’s disproportionate effects on women, especially women of color

BY KATIE DEBENEDETTI features@theaggie.org The COVID-19 pandemic has had effects that stretch far beyond public health and economic sectors, including its disproportionate effects on women. The adverse effects of COVID-19 on women has been called a “shadow pandemic” by many scholars, which Anna Ward—the grants and program manager at the Feminist Research Institute at UC Davis—described as the sometimes easy-to-miss, overlooked effects associated with the pandemic.

“So there’s a pandemic itself: the virus and the impact on people’s health, and then there’s consequences that flow from the measures that we [...] take to combat it,” Ward said. “So [there are] social distancing lockdowns and the economic impact of that, of course. And the question is, who does that impact the most? Not surprisingly, it’s already marginalized populations that tend to be impacted the most, in this case, women and girls.”

The Feminist Research Institute at UC Davis is an organization working on intersectional, inclusive, justice-oriented and transformative feminist research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they have conducted a lot of research regarding the implications of the pandemic on women.

Student-run clubs on campus, like She’s the First and Girl Up, have also been looking into the topic and discussed it at their recent joint Zoom meeting on Feb. 3. Ward’s research and the women in these organizations’ experiences carried similar themes. One of the topics of the Zoom discussion was the rising rate of domestic violence during the pandemic. According to Girl Up, one in five women worldwide have experienced some form of domestic abuse in the past year.

Catherine Rodriguez, a third-year microbiology major and the vice president of She’s the First, explained why researchers think that these rates are rising as a result of the pandemic.

“When you are around abusive people like that, they’re more likely to monitor what you’re doing, watch what you’re saying, so it becomes really hard,” Rodriguez said. “Even if you’re on Zoom, or maybe you’re in a closed room, and you’re talking to people or messaging them privately, there’s a great risk that you cannot say anything. [This] is leading to a lot more people becoming more severe victims of domestic violence.”

Ward shared a similar sentiment, calling the situation in the U.S. a “worst case scenario” for victims of domestic abuse.

“You have a highly stressful situation, with increased levels of social isolation, limitations on services, transportation,” Ward said.

“So you take, for example, a home environment that was already volatile, where violence was already part of the picture, and now you have a circumstance in which people are stuck at home together, perhaps isolated from extended family members and friends.”

Another issue that was brought up in the discussion was the rising number of women and girls leaving the workforce and schools to take on greater roles at home. Twenty million girls worldwide have left school during the past year and are assumed not to return when the COVID-19 pandemic ends, according to She’s the First.

Tanya Sanexa, a third-year biological sciences major, explained why this has profound negative implications moving forward.

“When women get educated, it’s more likely that they are [going] to educate their children, and other women as well, and lift other women up,” Sanexa said. “So women not getting that education or lacking the access or the support they need to do that is actually pretty disheartening because they won’t get to move forward in their lives

Logo for She’s the First at UC Davis, an organization that combats gender inequality and works to support girls who will be first generation high school graduates. (She’s the First at UC Davis / Courtesy) in that way, especially in [...] third-world and developing countries where women’s education is not given much importance anyway.

For a girl to lose that opportunity, it kind of limits her chances.”

As for the workforce, CBS This Morning has found that one in four women is considering scaling back or leaving the workforce as a result of the pandemic. According to Ward, this trend has disproportionately impacted women of color in industries that already have lower workforce participation rates of Black and Latina women.

“The implications are particularly disturbing in the U.S. context,” Ward said. “Because if you look at the women who have dropped out of the workforce so far, and who are considering dropping out of the workforce, it’s not just women, it’s almost exclusively Black and [Latina] women. If you look at the rates for white women, not much has changed. So it’s a very racialized issue.”

Many women have left the workforce because of the additional housework that the pandemic has created. Ward explained that among people working from home and essential workers, women are taking on the responsibility of homeschooling and caretaking at much higher rates.

“Every colleague I know, including myself, that has kids is just barely hanging on,” Ward said. “Women just tend to be more of the caregivers and kind of hold that responsibility more, so if you’re trying to work with your kids at home because schools are closed,

that’s not fun. But also, when we talk about essential workers, a lot of those workers are women. You’ve got women that are having to continue to go to work without childcare support and having to come up with all sorts of ways around that.”

Sanexa shared that during the discussion on Feb. 3, a lot of attendees noticed this trend of women taking on more responsibilities in their own households.

“When we were talking about if we had seen any pressures being placed on our moms during these quarantine times, a lot of girls resonated with that,” Sanexa said. “I also spoke a little bit about [...] how most of the time you look to your mom for taking care of the house, and when you’re living at home during quarantine. Between the girls that was a common narrative.”

Ward hopes that if anything positive is to come from this disparity, it will be an understanding that these caretaking and home responsibilities have fallen on women for generations and are only being exasperated during COVID-19.

“People need to be treated as whole people,” Ward said. “We need to build policy accordingly. There’s a sociologist by the name of Jess Calarco that had a great line about this recently, where she said, ‘Other countries have social safety nets, the U.S. has women.’

My hope is that COVID-19 kind of forces us to get serious about recognizing that and changing that and really taking into account how much we rely on the labor of not just women, but girls as well.”

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 | 5

OPINION THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

E DI TOR I AL B OAR D

ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SABRINA HABCHI Campus News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD City News Editor

A comprehensive understanding of our country’s history is the only way to fix present inequities

CALVIN COFFEE Opinion Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MADELEINE PAYNE Science & Tech Editor

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

The Editorial Board recognizes the importance and significance of Black History Month In 2021, Black History Month has come at a time when Black Americans are dying of COVID-19 at three times the rate of white Americans, and after a year in which Black Americans faced countless instances of continued police brutality and injustice. But this year, Black History Month also comes after a year when the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement became the largest in U.S. history, and has become what many hope is a turning point in this country’s attitude toward racial justice.

Black History Month brings with it the best intentions to honor and remember important Black figures in history and their role in shaping this country, but one month is not enough to address the glaring inequities that continue from a history of injustice.

Originating in 1915, Charles G. Woodson and Jesse E. Moorland founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an association dedicated to the research and promotion of achievements

by Black Americans. It wasn’t until 1976 when former President Gerald Ford officially recognized February as Black History Month that it became the tradition we’ve come to know today.

In more general terms, Black History Month is just that: a month about actually acknowledging and celebrating Black history and its heroes, and a month that should remind us how unjustly Black people have been treated in America for so long. But it’s not just the wrongdoings of slavery or the Jim Crow era, it’s the continued environmental, individual, systemic and legal racism that are prevalent today that we should acknowledge in our hearts, not just in our captions. Because that is why history is so important and is intended to teach us about our present; to answer the question: “Why are things the way they are today?” The racial inequities we see today can only be understood by their deep-rooted history. Why did Colin Kaepernick take a knee? Why did Rosa Parks sit in the front of

the bus? Why did Frederick Douglas write a book?

Our education system is failing students if it does not provide an accurate understanding of our country’s past—racial bias training and quizzes can only do so much. And unfortunately for most students, our history classes before college failed in providing a realistic depiction of Black history. There needs to be educational reforms from K-12 to college in how we tell history to ensure we all have a comprehensive understanding of American history.

We hope to see UC Davis address this considering they’re already a worldwide leader when it comes to certain aspects of “diversity and internationalization,” according to the 2020 QS World University Rankings. UC Davis consistently ranks near the top in diversity, yet Black students only made up 4% of the university’s undergraduates in 2019. More broadly, according to a study by the Urban Institute, Black students are severely underrepresented at “more selective colleges” across the country and state.

Hopefully indicative of a change, Dr. Michael Drake became the first Black president in UC history. Most recently, as the president of The Ohio State University, Drake successfully reversed a 20-year trend of decreasing Black enrollment. Previously, Drake spent years in the UC system working to improve minority representation and increase access to college for low-income students, students of color and first-generation students. We expect to see these accomplishments continue across a UC system that has severely low Black student enrollment—only 2% of the total undergraduate population in 2019.

History is about knowing and learning from the past so that we can understand the meaning of today. To achieve a more equitable future, we must acknowledge and analyze the wrongs of our past so that we can help uplift those who have been burdened by injustice.

Anti-vaccination activists’ tenacity in spreading misinformation threatens to further health and medical inequities Separating anti-vaccination rhetoric from vaccine hesitancy by rightfully skeptical communities of color

BY RENEE WANG reswang@ucdavis.edu As misinformation chipped (and continues to chip) away at the faultline between public trust and science, the Trump administration wasted no time in causing more divisive fractures by promoting uncertainty around the effectiveness of mask-wearing and loose enforcement of stay-at-home orders. Former President Donald Trump’s reach was so expansive that out of 1.1 million Englishlanguage articles analyzed in five months, 38% of articles featured or referenced one of his misleading claims.

As the U.S. gears up for its largest vaccination campaign in history, anti-vaccination activists are re-weaponizing the same uncertainty fueled by the Trump administration to deliver the final blow: breaking trust in science by undermining the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a left-leaning anti-vaccine activist was recently banned from Instagram for sharing debunked claims about COVID-19 and vaccines. Kennedy implied a link between the deaths of two people in Denmark after being vaccinated to the COVID-19 vaccine, despite medical authorities attributing it to old age and chronic lung disease. Anti-vaccine groups have gone even further by fabricating deaths. Users on social media manipulated a video of a Tennessee nurse fainting to make it appear as though she dropped dead after receiving her vaccination, in addition to circulating her fake death certificates and obituary.

Medical experts are urging for a national communications strategy to counter misleading information, as anti-vaccination rhetoric spreads both online and in real life.

Weaponizing the pandemic to fuel the anti-vaccine movement opens the realm of ill-intention to public health and exploits the hesitations towards vaccines in communities of color.

A recent poll of New York residents shows that 78% of white residents report that they would take the vaccine immediately compared to only 39% of Black residents, 54% of Hispanic residents and 54% of Asian residents.

The persistent stereotype of anti-vaxers as “white, collegeeducated, ‘Whole Foods moms’” and the shift in anti-vax conversations to that of “parental rights,” and now “medical freedom” in popular culture poses substantial consequences in addressing inequities during the pandemic. This dominant narrative takes attention away from how we can better reach communities who are hesitant to receive the vaccination, in particular Black Americans who have faced a long history of injustice from the medical community.

From the Tuskegee Syphilis study’s experimentation to the theft of Henrietta Lacks’ immortal cells without her consent, the medical community shows a systematically racist legacy in its devaluation of Black bodies. These are not just relics of the past but recurring injustices, such as the false notion that Black people have “thicker skin” or “less sensitive nerve endings,” thus leading to treatment disparities in Black patients due to inadequate prescription of pain medication.

Anti-vaccination rhetoric exacerbates inequities that have continued during the pandemic by dissuading Americans from receiving the vaccine. Black Americans in particular have been

As the U.S. gears up for its largest vaccination campaign in history, anti-vaccination activists are recycling Trump rhetoric. (Getty Images) disproportionately affected during the pandemic, being three times more likely than white Americans to contract COVID-19. Black Americans also face additional barriers in receiving the vaccine, such as being more likely to live in vaccine deserts.

Autonomy, rights, freedom and 475,000 COVID-19 deaths and counting. The pandemic has not only exposed inequities, but also the privilege of those like Trump and Kennedy Jr. and the willingness of anti-vaccination groups to spread misinformation in the hopes of advancing their political agendas amidst rising death tolls.

During a public health crisis, a collective consensus is essential to eliminate conflicting information and build public trust in science.

But more needs to be done than just giving out information.

Debra Furr-Holden, an epidemiologist and health equity scholar, proposes that in building Black communities’ trust around the vaccine, more needs to be done than “pointing to the few Black scientists involved in vaccine development, or making a spectacle of prominent African-Americans receiving the vaccine.” Furr-Holden points to shifting the narrative to a truth-telling one, in addition to giving minority and women-owned business contracts to distribute

vaccines to communities.

On a recent viral Twitter thread, Dr. Brittani James proposes something similar: empowering people of color who are academics, grassroots organizers and church leaders by giving them the platform, resources and money to address vaccine hesitancy in communities directly.

In portraying the vaccine hesitancy of communities of color justly, it cannot be conflated with anti-vaccination rhetoric. The danger of this conflation is that it minimizes the history of medical discrimination in favor of situating this distrust around science due to a lack of knowledge or awareness. This places the burden on the individual instead of holding longstanding institutions accountable for their role in shaping deep fear and distrust.

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.

6 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

HUMOR Your post-valentine's day reminders and remedies The only difference between you and a calendar is that the calendar had a date for Valentine’s Day

BY MACY LEE mcslee@ucavis.edu I’ll be honest with you. The past few weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day were emotionally harrowing. Why are there Valentine’s Day sections in literally every business enterprise? Target?

Even Trader Joe’s, are you kidding? Call me John because I honestly ain’t Cena thing.

Without further ado, here are my post-Valentine’s Day reminders.

Keep these at the back of your mind at all times. There are many fish out there who literally swim all year round. Real swimmers’ seasons don’t stop; they go all out every fall, winter, spring and summer.

1. YOU ARE NOT A BOARD GAME. Remember your worth—you are not a board game, so no one has the right to play you. This goes out to everyone as a general reminder.

2. Sometimes when they make you a playlist, it honestly just means they’re in your played list. This goes out to all my indie music lovers out there. Make sure your indie boyfriends do more than just

play the same Tame Impala songs for you. Also, if they only play you Tame Impala songs, that’s a red flag—add some variety.

AGGIE FILE

3. Roses are red, violets are blue. Just because they’re investing in GameStop doesn’t mean they’ll ever invest in you. Even economics nerds know that love is the riskiest investment of all. This is me telling you now that you are worth every investment.

4. Sometimes they’re in our lives so that we can meet their pals and get better vibes. Remember, you meet their homies for a reason: expanding your options (for friends and such, of course).

5. If you ask for their phone number and they freak, just know that they belong to the streets.

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

New super coronaviruses discovered Technically they’re mutants, but that didn’t sound as cool

BY EAN KIMURA etkimura@ucavis.edu

Each year, a new disaster spawns

BY KE LIN keylin@ucavis.edu

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, many mutations of the virus have arisen. Last week, however, researchers that I fabricated in my brain discovered some very strange mutant variants of the coronavirus.

While observing some of the viruses under the microscope, Dr. Stanley Trask noticed that certain viruses had developed special abilities. “I was checking out the spike proteins on the outside of some of the viruses, and one literally had metal claws.” Trask has nicknamed this one, “the angry badger.”

This, however, wasn’t the only mutation that was discovered.

Other researchers in the lab quickly discovered more strange mutations: the ability to control metal, shapeshifting into other viruses and “this one was just bald in a wheelchair.”

Another researcher, Dr. Jacoby McCoy, found something interesting about some of these mutations. “Some of these mutant viruses would go around killing the regular coronaviruses, but then

other mutant viruses fight those mutant viruses and would save the regular coronaviruses. It would make for a really good plot for a comic book series that possibly could be an action film franchise.

But who am I kidding, I’m just a doctor.”

According to researchers, the effectiveness of vaccines is unknown against these mutant variants. Strangely, however, most agree that if “they made a movie about the origin story for the virus with metal claws, it probably wouldn’t be worth watching.”

Currently, more research is needed, so just don’t worry about it.

Just stay home, and maybe watch a good movie or two. Disney+ has many movies from the X-Men film franchise. If you bundle it with Hulu and ESPN+ it’s a pretty good value because the “Deadpool” movies are on Hulu. What? Did you think this was a real article?

Written By: Ean Kimura (who is not paid by Disney) — etkimura@ucdavis.edu Wait then why did he even write this? This is not even selling out. It’s just kind of sad, not even funny and just weird. What’s his deal? Oh deahe even did a post-credit scene.

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

Wait… no, it’s over.

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

Religious nuts

BY RUSHI TAWADE rntawade@ucavis.edu

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

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

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 | 7

Farm workers in India ARE protesting to RETAIN control of produce and sales A look into how the controversy began and escalated

BY MARIAH VIKTORIA CANDELARIA arts@theaggie.org For the past few months, farm workers in India have been protesting against three pieces of legislation that threaten the livelihoods of farmers and exploit their labor.

In general, what these laws do is transfer farmers’ powers into the hands of corporatized or private buyers by compelling farmers into the free market rather than continuing to assure floor prices through government-run wholesale markets.

Some arguments in favor of the bills suggest that they allow these farmers to become “independent”—rather than go through an intermediary to sell their produce, they can deal directly with the buyer and procure a bigger share of the profit. Another argument is that the assured floor prices offered through the wholesale markets have only benefited a handful of farmers.

The government-run wholesale markets, or mandis, are run by committees of farmers who act as the middlemen for sales, storage, transport and brokering of deals on behalf of the individual farmer.

Under this system, farmers already had the option to sell to private agricultural businesses, supermarkets or online grocers, but farmers are concerned that the new laws will put an end to mandis and force them to work with private businesses that can exploit them.

The reason why many find the legislation so concerning is because this impacts smaller, more marginalized farmers that will not stand a chance against corporations. Although the government has promised to continue the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and the mandi system, farmers understand the harsh reality of what these bills will do: squash out the smaller farmers and leave their land up for grabs.

Many of the protestors are wary of the government because of the way in which the legislation was passed, the historic injustices that have occurred regarding land and the mistreatment of farmers. What protestors need from the government is legislation that will ensure that both the MSP and the mandi system will not be withdrawn.

On Jan. 26, a day meant to celebrate India’s establishment as a republic, the protests turned for the worse, with a violent showdown between the protestors and the government in New Delhi.

Because of this escalation, the country’s Supreme Court has implemented a suspension of the new legislation in an attempt to allow the government and the protestors to find some middle ground

Farmers marching to Delhi during the 2020 Indian farmers’ protest. (Randeep Maddoke / Wikipedia Commons) without inciting more violence. However, this did not appease the protestors who are now calling for a full-on repeal of the laws.

The government, under direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has also begun censoring many of the protestors by unlawfully arresting citizens, cutting the internet in areas where protests are high and suspending accounts on social media. This has led to Indian nationalists, including beloved Bollywood celebrities, to declare these protestors as national terrorists.

When the strikes caught the attention of big names like Rihanna and activist Greta Thunberg, Modi condemned them for sensationalizing the issue without being educated enough to make a real assessment of what is happening.

This led counter-protestors to burn images of the two women, claiming that they were planning attacks against India based on a toolkit that Thunberg posted on how to support these farm workers.

While these events may seem removed from what is going on in our own country, many Indians and Indian-Americans follow the news in dismay and anxiety. Yuba City’s “Mini Punjab” has one of the largest concentrations of Punjabi Indians and Sikh farmers in the U.S. As rallies and protests for these farm workers increase in the U.S., the support around the world shows that people will continue to watch what India’s government will do as farmers fight to maintain control over their livelihoods.

UC Davis Sacramento Area Youth Speaks poet to compete for the title of National Youth Poet Laureate Youth Poet Laureate Western Regional Ambassador Alexandra Huynh details her ambitions, and SAYS director discusses how the program elevates underserved students

BY LYRA FARRELL features@theaggie.org Sacramento Area Youth Speaks (SAYS), founded at and sponsored by UC Davis, is a “social justice movement,” as stated on their website, concerned with providing modes of expression to underserved high school students and helping create pathways to higher education. Through spoken word poetry, the goal of SAYS is to help students articulate narratives andto explore their own identities.

Patrice Hill, the director of SAYS, believes that self-expression is vital for students to gain an understanding of themselves.

“If we’re not given the opportunity and the space to speak up and break our chains, then how do we ever fully realize our full potential? How do we ever truly articulate who we are?” Hill said.

Alexandra Huynh, a recent high school graduate who joined SAYS in her junior year, has earned the title of Youth Poet Laureate Western Regional Ambassador and will progress as one of four finalists in the National Youth Poet Laureate competition. This is the same competition that Amanda Gorman, who recited a poem at Joe Biden’s inauguration, entered and won in 2017.

“I’ve always loved performing even though I was a pretty shy kid,” Huynh said. “I had a brief stint on the speech team in my sophomore year, and I was in drama in middle school, but I don’t think I ever had such a strong platform to be able to perform.”

Huynh recounted her memories of the first organized annual slam poetry competition she attended at the Brickhouse Art Gallery in Downtown Sacramento.

“I remember the semifinals was [the time] when I really felt like, ‘Wow, this is a thing that I can continue doing,’” Huynh said.

“I just remember the rows of seats really packed together and the single microphone at the front center of the art gallery, which was our stage. It felt very intimate but also very open at the same time.

Everyone was just listening to whatever you had to say.”

Huynh acknowledges that nerves are a common part of the experience of performing, but shared that her sense of stability on the stage comes from a feeling of confidence in the words she’s written.

“One thing that really helps me is knowing that I wrote the words that I’m about to speak because they came from my soul,” Huynh said. “I guess [that] sounds kind of cliche, but I don’t think I could ever forget something that I wrote because it’s how I feel.”

While many of Huynh’s poems are centered around personal identity issues she faces as a Vietnemese-American, some carry broader themes about the Sacramento community, such as homelessness and environmental justice. To Huynh, spoken word is a unique medium of expression with particular artistic value.

“I think the beautiful thing about spoken word and poetry in general is that you can really express yourself in whichever way you want, so you can play with memory, you can use incorrect grammar to prove your point, you can mix languages,” Huynh said.

Huynh said that most of her expression during her performances isn’t rehearsed ahead of time.

“When I’m performing, I kind of like to imagine it’s the last time I’m ever going to perform a piece, and to not just to perform, but really live inside of it,” Huynh said. “I can’t ever really predict how my voice is going to change or how my face is going to look when I’m performing.”

Although In Huynh has’s experience, she’s contemplated watching recordings of herself delivering a poem to perfect her delivery, she but has largely decided against it.

“To some extent, it would probably be useful to me to look back on my performances to see if there are certain things I could change to make them more impactful, but is that my goal at the end of the day, to really refine it?, oOr is my job as a poet to just be the most authentic version of myself that day when delivering?” Huynh said.

If Huynh won the title of National Youth Poet Laureate, she would hope to use the achievement to improve education and elevate youth’s voices.

Alexandra Huynh performs spoken word poetry at the UC Davis SAYS Summit in 2019. (Sacramento Area Youth Speaks / Courtesy)

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How to de-stress without breaking the bank Three ways to relax during midterm season

BY ITZELTH GAMBOA arts@theaggie.org As the storm of the first midterm season comes to an end and I start to prepare for my next round of tests, I’ve noticed that I am not doing anything to settle myself down. Last quarter, I had four midterms in one week, so I just poured myself into my work instead of taking time to relax. But as a fourth year, I’ve grown to see the faults in how I deal with stress. For example, I typically avoid all stress relievers, and instead allow my stress to consume me until I have rashes all over my arms—which isn’t necessarily the best way to deal with the ongoing dread of tests. Therefore, I have created a random list (which is also one of my favorite ways to de-stress) of ways to handle stress on a budget.

Make a mood board

I love Pinterest for so many reasons, but mostly because it has everything I love about media without the social part in it. I don’t really care who follows me; there’s no pressure to maintain a certain image and it’s just cute photos pertaining to what you already have saved on your boards. Creating something for your friends is wholesome; I love it when someone goes up to me and says, “This reminded me of you,” and that’s essentially what a mood board is: a

whole picturesque vibe of what reminds you of your friends. Instead of focusing on whatever is currently weighing you down with your own stress, pick a friend and find random pictures on Pinterest that you think describe them. If you want to get even more creative, download the photos and turn them into an aesthetic collage.

If you want to use this spare time to focus on yourself, then create a mood board about you. Use this stress-free time to focus on what you love most about yourself or the things you love and create MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE

a fun mood board that allows you to reset your motivation and focus on something other than your stress without spending any money.

Make a playlist Something similar to a mood board is creating a playlist. It might be my complete Type A personality, but I love organizing things and making sure they match and fit well. Creating a playlist could be as simple as going through all of my liked songs and sorting them depending on the vibe they bring or listening to random recommended searches on YouTube and sorting them by whatever theme they bring to mind. My new favorite playlist topics are ones that remind me of book characters; having to focus on the lyrics meshing with the background music gives me a small exit from the normal frantics of school stress. Focusing specifically on one thing can often pull me away from whatever is currently stressing me out, and stepping into the mind of a book character or the plot of a story gives me a break from my problems.

Maybe you’re stressed because of school work or maybe it’s a certain person in your life that gives you a difficult time—whatever it may be, creating a playlist for how you feel is cathartic. Releasing those emotions into songs when you don’t have the right words to create them yourself can be freeing.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

COMMENTARY: IT DOESN’T MATTER IF ASTROLOGY IS FAKE Let’s start letting the things enjoyed and popularized by girls exist

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org Mercury is in retrograde, and does that really mean anything? Who knows, but sometimes it is reassuring to think everyone else might be going through a weird time simultaneously, and that the stars are affecting it. Whether you know each detail of every placement in your zodiac chart or you just like when websites say you’re “fiery, bold, and spontaneous” based on your birthday, like me, astrology offers a small bit of fun for anyone.

Yet for some reason, this entirely harmless practice is consistently made fun of and discredited primarily by straight cis-gendered men. This partially has to do with the fact that far less men believe in astrology than women— as a 2017 study by Pew Research Center shows, 37 percent of American women believe in astrology, while only 20 percent of men do. The often-elusive deeper reason behind this mockery is rooted in misogyny, as astrology is most predominantly enjoyed by and marketed towards women.

Anytime there is something predominantly enjoyed by young girls or deemed a “feminine” interest, there are troves of people creating countless reasons to criticize or belittle it. In one article asking readers why they hate astrology, author Hannah Krieg provides some examples of this: “makeup is vain, deceitful, and lame; candles are frivolous and lame; boy bands are lame; astrology is lame,” (Krieg, 2019). While this can be applied to innumerable hobbies, interests and trends, the one I’d like to focus on is astrology.

More often than not, the moment that star signs, zodiac or horoscopes are mentioned by a

girl she is met with three kinds of people—those who enjoy astrology, those who are entirely neutral on the subject and last but definitely not least, those who despise astrology and for some reason always have to tell her something along the lines of “you know that’s all made up, right?

It doesn’t mean anything.” My primary rebuttal to this is who cares? Why let things like “fantasy football” and “the stock market” slide, but draw the line at harmless personality types correlated with the stars and planets?

I won’t actually get into whether astrology is real, because, as I previously stated—who cares? Who’s to say if the time of year someone is born, and the alignment of the stars at that time doesn’t have any impact on your personality or disposition? Definitely not the frat boy majoring in econ who laughs at girls for asking when his birthday is—he was probably a Taurus anyways.

In all honesty, astrology is just so fun. It’s fun to look through one of those zodiac meme accounts (check out @glossy_zodiac if this interests you), to find yours and send them to all your friends. It’s fun adding someone new on the app Co-Star to see your platonic or romantic compatibility. While a lot of these memes and horoscopes we see are highly susceptible to the phenomenon called confirmation bias—the tendency for people to only seek out and pay attention to information that supports what they already wanted to believe—it’s still entirely harmless and an incredibly fun way to connect with friends, or to reflect on yourself. It’s also a great way to find out if you’re emotionally, sexually or platonically compatible with someone you’ll never meet, like that one celebrity crush you just can’t get over.

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE I strongly advise us all to use astrology as the first stepping stone to letting people enjoy things.

For example, I don’t understand the stock market (I don’t want to) and with the recent GameStop stock debacle, it’s been made pretty clear that the stock market is not an entirely logical setup, but I personally let people enjoy it (it’s just not something for me). You can be skeptical of the validity of astrology, or even outright not believe in it, but putting people down—especially young girls—is unnecessary.

I personally can’t think of one popular thing among teenage girls that hasn’t been ruthlessly

ridiculed—take a minute to think of one, and if there’s something I missed please let me know. Once we all take note of this pattern, the obvious next step is to take action to fix it—for some, letting astrology be enjoyed, and holding back the urge to “disprove” it can be a great first step. Next, maybe we could even move onto admitting that music that young women like is actually good, or the dances they do on a particular video sharing app are cool and fun—these are just some suggestions I’m putting out there.

REDDIT VS. WALL STREET GameStop used as a blunt-force weapon against hedge funds

BY SABRINA HABCHI arts@theaggie.org Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Movie: “Someone Great” dir. by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson I have been known to not have a particularly informed taste in movies, and I’m usually not the one who picks what we’re watching on a movie night, so I think I will surprise absolutely no one when I say “Someone Great” is more than worth the watch. Although the movie starts just like so many others with a close-up of heterosexual couple Jenny and Nate on a night out, it is one of the few movies I can quickly name that passes the Bechdel test—it has two named women who talk to each other about something other than a man. “Someone Great” is beautifully directed and produced, with seamless transitions between the past and present that take you through the ups and downs of Jenny and Nate’s relationship and then bring you back to the present to see how Jenny’s best friends Erin and Blair help her through the heartwrenching breakup. In terms of life lessons, this movie shows its viewers the power of female friendships, and that even an immensely strong love is not always enough. More importantly, it is an incredible show of diversity: Jenny and Erin are women of color, Erin has a girlfriend, Nate is Black, and themes of race and gender are constantly being brought up throughout the movie. The movie manages to break your heart while reminding you that with pain comes growth.

TV Show: “Firefly Lane” Again, it should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am picking what sounds like a very cheesy TV series, but I am determined to make my case. Female friendship is once again at the forefront of this piece, but it is so much more complicated than the ones in “Someone Great.” The transitions between the past and present are just as seamless, as we watch Tully and Kate grow up into two incredible women, but their relationship is not without its faults. Tully is the star—literally, she has her own TV show—and Kate is the stay-at-home mom who gave up so much for her family, only to get a divorce from the love of her life. Tully gets and has always gotten all the attention, and Kate struggles with feeling like she’s second-best; her soon-to-be ex-husband hooked up with Tully before they got together even though Kate had feelings for him for years, and her parents and brother seem to have closer relationships with Tully than Kate. Despite all the trials of their relationship, they are so much more than best friends—they are each other’s family, and they provide such gracious examples of forgiving one another’s faults.

Album: “Air Fàir en Là” by Niteworks Finally! It is my time to shine in a selection that will hopefully redeem me in the eyes of those who viewed my prior two as basic and cheesy. I would best describe Niteworks’ music as Scottish house music. Normally, I’m not the biggest fan of house music, but the band’s modern twist on classic Scottish music is truly remarkable. All the lyrics in the album are in Gaelic, and the angelic voice of lead singer Innes Strachan has the power to transport you to the Scottish countryside—even if you have not been there yourself—especially in “Air Fàir en Là.” The bagpipes in “Iain McGee’s” bring the classic house music style alive, and the entire album serves as the perfect study music if you like to have something on in the background but get too distracted when you know the lyrics to the songs playing.

Book: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien This is perhaps the most impactful book I have ever read. It follows the author himself, Tim O’Brien, who is an American soldier during the Vietnam War. You read about the physical items the soldiers carried but also the emotional burdens they possessed. Then, the characters start to die. For those of us who only read about the turmoil and national strife during the Vietnam War, it is a rude awakening into the horrors faced by the soldiers drafted. Five years after my initial reading of this book, I still remember the tragedy of the honorable soldier who was killed in a sewage field and was left to rot in human feces.

Although we cannot reverse this injustice and the many others that occurred during this time, O’Brien reminds us of the power of stories. We are reminded that death does not have to be an end and that it is up to the living to celebrate the loved ones we used to hold on so tightly to in order to bring them back to life.

KATHERINE HUNG / AGGIE

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.org Between Jan. 20 and Jan. 27, stock for GameStop (GME) rose from $39.12 to $347.51, an 888% increase. In a matter of days, hedge funds like D1 Capital Partners and Melvin Capital, which had short sold GameStop and AMC (which saw a similar rise) to a nearly obscene degree, found themselves grappling with heavy losses.

Melvin Capital had lost 53% of its value, requiring a lifeline of $2.7 billion from Citadel LLC and Point72 Asset Management to stabilize itself in the midst of GME’s insane rally.

The responsible party is Reddit’s r/ wallstreetbets community, a subreddit of day traders who pride themselves on incredibly risky bets and use homophobic slurs as sentence fillers. Included in the more notable financial escapades to spread beyond the site itself, is the story of a user known as “fscomeau,” who put $200,000 in puts against Apple and, over the course of a two-hour livestream (in which he wore a rubber wolf mask), lost everything and found himself in insurmountable debt.

While fscomeau was eventually outed for faking the whole thing, r/wallstreetbets has no shortage of real monetary losses—“loss porn,” or screencaps of trading accounts with losses sometimes well into six digits, remains the most commonly gilded posts in the community. Unlike fscomeau’s downfall, r/wallstreetbets’ instigation of one of the largest short squeezes in history, too, is very real.

The first sign of trouble came when a r/wallstreetbets user (whose name The California Aggie cannot, in good conscience, print here) pointed out that the ailing GameStop, which found itself grappling with a double-sided onslaught from the pandemic and the games industry’s shift towards digital ownership, was being short sold an astounding 140% of its public float. From there, it was only a matter of organization and, for r/wallstreetbets, of getting the “tendies” in order.

Hedge fund manager of “The Big Short” fame Michael Burry was one of the few to see the writing on the wall; Last spring, he purchased 5.3% of GameStop at between $2 and $4.20 a share. While he likely didn’t see a short squeeze of this magnitude in the cards, there’s no doubt that early warning signs were present for this sort of dramatic event.

After the damage became clear, the narrative, at least among the internetminded, seemed to be that holding GameStop was an act of vengeance against Wall Street—which at first, it very well may have been—but the narrative shifted. Melvin Capital was way out after its initial staggering losses and before the hype machine started chugging along. Hedge funds, in sum, are risk averse and, as a result, not likely to stay in on securities that swing in value by the hundreds daily.

Though this narrative of lucrative activism was dubious at best after the initial squeeze, it was apparently enough to get a substantial number of Americans to pump their hard-earned money into meme stocks, at least partially under the guise of righteous warfare against the 1%.

This, like many popular internet narratives, was easy to spread and a wellevolved falsehood. GameStop, as of Feb. 11, is sitting at $51.10—just a fraction of its 51week high of 13 days prior. As it turns out, those who knew what they were doing were in and out before pop culture got a true hold on the situation, and the ones who paid were those late to the party. (Imagine following the Twitter hype and buying GameStop at like $300, only to have to sell at $50. Geez.)

After the horror of 2008, the steady rises in deaths of despair since the ‘90s and an ever-decreasing labor force participation rate among young people, a narrative like this was far from a difficult sell—put $500 of stimulus money into a dying company, and I can watch Wall Street get all nonplussed?

(And make a pretty penny?) Sounds like a good deal. But of course, when this much cash is involved, there’s bound to be a plague of opacity when it comes to what’s really true and what’s not. It’s easy to forget that nobody is more learned and capable than Wall Street when it comes to profiting off the illusions of the middle class.

There are real ways to attack America’s woodchipper-like financial infrastructure without losing your life savings on nebulous hype waves, but unfortunately, investing in whatever stock people happen to be talking about at a given moment is not one of them.

Hedge funds were hurt, laughs were had and a lot of people made and lost a lot of money. Only time will tell whether this style of digitally-organized market terrorism is replicable, or even tenable in the first place, but some will be watching Wall Street squirm all the same.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 | 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 2/11/201

Crossword Answer to previous puzzle 2/11/21

10 | THURSDAY, FEBUARY 18, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SCIENCE & TECH Reduced cancer screenings due to COVID-19 fears may result in serious health outcomes Health professionals remind public about the importance of early diagnoses and treatments to mitigate cancer threats

BY MICHELLE WONG science@theaggie.org

CATHY TANG / AGGIE

With many people believing that stepping into a hospital will heighten their risk of contracting COVID-19, some may be waiting to get their annual check-ups until the pandemic is over. Predictions by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) illustrate the potential fatal consequences of these delays—10,000 excess deaths could occur in the next 10 years from breast and colorectal cancers alone due to pandemic-related delays in cancer screenings and treatments. In an open letter signed by 76 cancer organizations nationwide, health professionals urged the public to resume regularly scheduled cancer screenings and treatments to reduce further repercussions.

“The fact that so many leading groups were eager to sign our letter shows how important and universal this issue is to the entire oncology community,” said Robert Carlson, CEO of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), via email.

According to statistics provided by the NCCN, one-third of adults in the U.S. failed to receive their recommended cancer screening during the course of the pandemic. Approximately 22 million cancer screenings were canceled or missed between March and June of last year. As the estimated 10,000 excess deaths only account for breast and colorectal cancers, the actual number of deaths may be much higher.

Carlson explained that once it became clear that reductions in cancer screening and treatment were threatening lives, the NCCN and American Cancer Society (ACS) decided to come together and send a message to the public. Both organizations actively reached out to NCCN Member Institutions, NCI-designated cancer centers and other cancer organizations to spread the word to more patients. One of these organizations was the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“With the identification of new variants of COVID, the health care community remains uncertain when the pandemic will end, and further delays in cancer screening may worsen cancer outcomes,” said Richard Bold, physician-in-chief for the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, via email.

Bold said that cancer screenings try to identify the earliest development of cancer before symptoms, when the chance of spreading to other sites of the body is the lowest and the chance to cure the disease is the highest.

“For the most part, once a cancer has spread to other sites of the body, it is typically incurable, so the goal of earlier diagnosis is to treat the cancer before any spread to other organs has happened and offer the patient a chance at cure,” Bold said.

Helen Chew, director of the Clinical Breast Cancer Program at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, explained that breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women by far. She elaborated that 90% of breast cancers are caught in its early stage, when it is only present in the breast and possibly the lymph nodes

under the arm.

If there is a delay in detecting these growths, the cancer could disseminate and become metastatic, meaning that it will spread to a different part of the body. If detected early on, the patient may only need surgery to remove the tumor, whereas more advanced cancers may need chemotherapy, surgery and radiation. With reliable and effective screening methods such as mammograms, Chew expressed that these screenings could save lives.

“If you have [an] early-stage disease, the goal is to cure,” Chew said. “We’re going to do everything possible to lower the risk that the cancer will ever return in the future. But if you already have the disease escaped, then really, the goal is to control it as much as possible. We know that we can’t generally remove it completely.”

Carlson emphasized that with long delays in cancer screenings and treatments, the risk of leaving a potentially fatal cancer undetected is greater than the risk of experiencing a negative outcome from COVID-19. He stated that there has been nearly zero reported

COVID-19 transmissions during cancer treatment at NCCN cancer centers. Although precautions are still necessary during the ongoing pandemic, Carlson hopes that people will continue to address other important health concerns during this time.

Although Chew understands how the uncertainty and confusion surrounding the pandemic a year ago may have warranted an aversion to regularly scheduled visits, she hopes to reassure people that they should not continue to delay seeking treatment. At UC Davis, she is confident in the precautionary measures being taken such as personal protective equipment (PPE), symptoms screening and masking.

“With the rapid availability of healthcare visits by video, patients should discuss cancer screening with their primary care physician,” Bold said. “But the current safety of the healthcare environment makes the risk of catching COVID quite small, and far less significant than the impact of a delay in cancer diagnosis and potential reduction in the chance for cure.”

UC Davis Mind Institute develops maternal biomarkers test for early detection and potential early intervention of autism The test uses machine learning to recognize autoantibody patterns in mother’s plasma that are highly associated with autism

BY BRANDON NGUYEN science@theaggie.org In a recent study conducted by the UC Davis MIND Institute, researchers discovered specific associations between maternal autoantibody patterns and increased risk of a child developing maternal autoantibody-related autism spectrum disorder (MAR ASD). By using these recurring patterns as potential biomarkers as inputs for machine learning, clinicians and doctors can test any mother’s plasma to observe whether the same patterns are present and make an early prediction of the chances that their child will develop ASD, even before a mother’s pregnancy.

MARIO RODRIGUEZ / AGGIE

Judy Van de Water—a professor at UC Davis Internal Medicine, Associate Director of UC Davis MIND Institute and lead author of the study—explained the impact this test could have on autism diagnosis.

“Right now, the average time for diagnosis is really three and a half to four years old, but by then the plasticity of the brain—to change how the brain is developing—is already complete,” Van de Water said. “But if we can diagnose really early, we can have a greater impact with earlier interventions.”

At a young age, brain development in children can be greatly impacted by their environment and interactions, an idea known as brain plasticity.

Thus, being able to diagnose and intervene early

has huge implications, including lessening the impacts of autism, according to Van de Water.

The research team worked to achieve early diagnosis by first comparing autoantibodies present in a mother whose child developed MAR ASD to those of a mother whose child developed normally. Alexandra Ramirez, a graduate student in UC Davis’ Graduate Immunology Group working in Van de Water’s research team and the first author of the paper, explained the process in which autoantibodies can attack fetal brains.

“We all have autoantibodies to some degree, but during pregnancy they can cross the mother’s placenta and the baby’s blood-brain barrier and attack certain targets in the fetal brain,” Ramirez said.

Autoantibodies are a type of immune response that attacks an individual’s own cells or proteins, and if a mother’s autoantibodies can target components of the fetal brain, alterations in neural development are inevitable.

Van de Water’s research team retrieved plasma samples from mothers of affected children and mothers of unaffected children from a comprehensive CHARGE study, which had accumulated a large sample of enrolled mothers and collected mass amounts of data on various environmental factors and risk exposures that could affect their child’s development. The team then identified through machine learning which autoantibody combinations and patterns were observed at high frequencies in mothers of children with ASD. The researchers then built and validated a test of 100% accuracy that could recognize these autoantibody patterns that can alter fetal brain development in different mothers with ASD children. Irva Hertz-Picciotto, a principal investigator of the CHARGE study who previously collaborated with Van de Water, described the emotional stress parents may experience while learning of their child’s risk for autism.

“I remember talking to one family,” Hertz-

Picciotto said. “They were thinking about getting pregnant and having another child and there’s an elevated risk of having a child [with ASD].

The father asked, ‘Well, how much?’ and I said, ‘Somewhere around 20%.’ The father was shocked, expecting it to be between 3 to 5% [chance of the child developing ASD]. It can be very devastating and draining for the family providing a child with intensive care.”

Ramirez explained that autism affects individuals in nearly every community throughout the U.S., highlighting that people with autism still face prejudice in communities where stigma is predominant.

“Autism is a disorder that affects 1 in 59 children in the U.S.,” said Ramirez. “And the tendency is still on the rise. We really do not know much about autism. In the more underrepresented communities, there is a lot of stigma on mental health, so just talking about it—this is a biological process—we need to educate ourselves and the community about how this is something that is real that we don’t really understand much about.”

Not only is academic discourse around this diverse and heterogeneous disorder of autism necessary, but so is a humane discussion of how we can better support families who oftentimes are left devastated thinking their child is different from the rest.

Though it will be a long time before this maternal biomarkers test can enter the market, both Ramierez and Van de Water note that it is a big step forward and a promising result, laying the foundation for further refinement and testing— as well as a much earlier diagnosis—that could change the whole process of ASD intervention and benefit families in the long run.

“As we move toward early risk detection as something more commonly administered, we can reduce the impact that autism has on both the family and the individual, so that life might be more comfortable for everyone as the early interventions can greatly lessen the severity of autism in the child,” Van de Water said.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 | 11

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Although everyone’s response to the vaccine is different, Schorzman confirmed the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) findings that serious side effects of the vaccine are rare.

“With the first dose, there tends to be mostly arm soreness. With the second dose, a fair number of people have more side effects,” Schorzman said. “[They] feel flu-like side effects, including potential muscle aches and low-grade fevers.”

Student health ambassadors who check daily symptom surveys at the entrance of UC Davis buildings were able to start receiving the vaccine this week. Jessica Weisman, a first-year political science major and student health ambassador, is among those students. Weisman was able to receive the vaccine due to her job’s potential virus exposure.

“Physically, the next day my arm was a little bit sore,” Weisman said. “[I felt] a little tired, slight headache. But it was nothing that was unbearable or unmanageable.”

Despite slightly uncomfortable side effects, the response of Davis residents toward vaccine access has been positive, according to Schorzman.

“People want to get their pictures taken, some people are so excited that they’re crying

a little bit,” Schorzman said. “This has been an amazing effort to have the opportunity to be a part of and to be able to start to help people take some control back.”

In addition to rolling out the vaccine, Schorzman said the UC Davis medical team emphasizes conservation to ensure no amount of vaccine goes to waste.

“The Moderna vaccine comes in a vial [and] has either 10 or sometimes 11 [doses],” Schorzman said. “We have a waitlist of people who qualify in the current tier but were unable to get into those scheduled appointments, but they guarantee they can be there in 30 minutes or less once we call them. At the end of the day, we have zero doses remaining.”

Davis remains at the forefront of COVID-19 prevention protocol and efficient efforts to keep the campus and community safe—efforts that were recently featured in an article by The New York Times.

“I think we’re super lucky that UC Davis in general has been a bit of a trailblazer for other universities,” Weisman said. “The sooner everyone gets vaccinated and gets their two doses, the sooner we can go back to whatever normal is on the other side of this.”

VACCINEELIGIBLE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Tan urges Yolo County residents to stay patient because hours of hard work are being spent behind the scenes, like ordering doses, figuring out how many to distribute to each institution and doing outreach.

Yolo County uses a database to request a number of doses from the state, but they do not always receive that amount. In the week of Feb. 7, 1,975 doses of Moderna and Pfizer were directly sent to Yolo County, according to Tan. Tan explained that when Yolo County is notified of the number of doses they will receive, they work on locating the clinics, deciding which hospitals will receive vaccines and how many to give out to each area. If they decide to organize a drive-thru, the county will need volunteers.

Volunteers must complete paperwork, and the county sets a schedule to unfreeze the vials.

In a typical drive-thru clinic, five to 10 staff members prepare and set up data entry, which takes about 10 hours, according to Tan. Another five to 10 staff members require a few hours to load supplies into trucks. A total of 100 volunteers and staff members would work for six to seven hours to vaccinate the clients who come in. Afterwards, 50 to 100 hours are dedicated to data entry, as forms must be entered in the system for their second dose.

“For you, it’s 30 minutes, but on the back end, it’s hundreds of hours for us to do that,” Tan said.

Kaiser Permanente, a hospital that receives doses from Yolo County, has been vaccinating individuals 75 and older. They reach out to the community when appointments are available, and members who are contacted by Kaiser can schedule an appointment online.

Kaiser Permanente Public Relations and Media Relations worker Chyresse Hill shared via email that Kaiser prioritizes patients “who are at an increased risk of mortality or other severe disease, as well as those who reside in vulnerable communities.”

Tan has also received the vaccine, and she believes that it is safe since studies have been done and millions have already received it. She had a sore arm and described the feeling as a “flu shot,” but it soon healed. If people are worried, she recommends that they do careful research at legitimate sources, including the Centers For Disease Control (CDC), rather than listening to someone who may provide false information.

Until the majority of the population is vaccinated, Tan explains that everyone has a responsibility to continue wearing masks and practice social distancing. She was hopeful that life can return to normal once vaccinations are widespread.

“If more people get vaccinated, then we will be able to open up more businesses and have some sort of normal life,” Tan said.

SENATE15 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 “City Council, they do listen to us when the entire student body can come together around one issue,” Grandhoke said.

Included in the proposals is a call to reduce parking minimums for new developments.

When new housing units are built, a certain number of parking spaces must be built with them, and each space costs between thirty and fifty thousand dollars a piece.

The resolution would also allow properties that were originally zoned for single families to be converted into multi-unit dwellings.

“There’s a history of particularly wealthy white folks being very attached to single family zoning, and to some people it feels like a really radical idea to eliminate it,” O’Brien said. “Even though you’ll still have massive single family neighborhoods, there will just be the occasional duplex, triplex or four-plex.”

Among the recommendations, the city is encouraged to create a list of recommended zoning requirements for future projects so developers have a clear idea of what the city wants from their development.

“It essentially will speed up the process of

allowing developments to get approved,” said O’Brien. “It often takes years for developments to get approved in the City of Davis, and that is probably one of the main causes of the housing crisis.”

Lastly, if approved, SR #7 would change city fees for new developments. The new fees would be based on square-footage or the number of units as opposed to the current flat fee, making it less expensive for smaller developments to get approved.

O’Brien says there is support for the resolution on City Council, but success is not guaranteed and the city process is complex. She said the best things for students to do is to stay involved.

“I would really encourage the City Council to consider these policies,” O’Brien said. “And I would definitely encourage any students who are interested in this kind of thing to reach out to me.”

Before adjourning, the senate unanimously passed SB #54, which allows future legislation in the senate be named instead of referred to by its bill or resolution number.

GAHNDI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 “[My friends and I] were very sad to see it destroyed.”

Sacramento community organizer, resident and third-year student at UC San Diego Harkomal Nijjer had an opposing viewpoint regarding the statue. She noted that protests against the Gandhi statue have been ongoing.

“There has been a lot of community work for the Mahatma Gandhi statue to be removed before,” Nijjer said. “I’m relieved that my community and all the communities surrounding Davis don’t have to see him glorified into a hero.”

Nijjer further commented on the issue.

“I think people are rightfully angry that the city is choosing to instead listen to [political action committees] that are demanding for that statue to be reinstated,” Nijjer said. “[The community] has been telling them for years that they don’t want that statue there anymore because it does not represent peace.”

Katir said that he considers the statue of Gandhi as a representation of peaceful resolutions to problems.

“That’s why we want Gandhi there,” Katir said. “It’s because he stands for nonviolent resolutions to problems, which I think is a very important thing in the world.”

Nijjer noted the importance of listening to members of the community from where a controversial figure is coming from.

“I think it’s important when we’re regarding figures of different societies that we understand

the context and perspective of people from that community that that figure is from,” Nijjer said.

“It’s not fair to take this figure and put him on a pedestal.”

Carson noted that the state of the statue is still unknown, so it won’t return to Central Park in the near future, regardless of what is decided.

“No one has assessed the condition of the statue to know whether it’s repairable or not, and right now it’s a piece of evidence in a crime investigation,” Carson said. “It’s going to take some time for that investigation to occur.”

Carson further noted that the City of Davis plans to discuss the topic with the community before reaching a final decision.

“We’ll be having discussions with folks in the community one-on-one and in other ways to understand what the people would want to happen,” Carson said. “At this point, those conversations need to occur.”

Carson emphasized the importance of understanding differences of opinion on controversial topics.

“We understand that we’ve got a community with a range of views and values, but our expectation is that everyone will be respected in person and in shared spaces like a community park,” Carson said. “We want Davis to be a place where everyone feels safe, and the violence that occurred with the destruction of the statue we believe shatters this sense of safety.”

The Pantry also maintained its daily Grabn-Go food distribution program which enables students to order up to 40 food items online and pick them up on campus. The Pantry handled a 138.8% surge in food and basic necessity orders for pick up on Thursday, Jan. 28, and Friday, Jan. 29, in comparison to previous Thursdays and Fridays that month.

“Every student facing food insecurity has a unique experience,” Choi said via email.

“The current conditions of the pandemic have exacerbated the detrimental effects of food insecurity for many students, leading some who may not have felt the need to access the Pantry to begin utilizing our services. We are here to welcome anyone in need and to ensure that no Aggie goes hungry.”

The Pantry has altered its food distribution model during the pandemic in order to better fit the needs of students. Before the pandemic, it served up to 1,050 students every day and utilized an equality-based model with a limit of five items for each student per day. Now, it utilizes an equity-based model where any student, regardless of income or citizenship status, can order up to 40 items in advance via their website.

“We were able to make this shift because strengthened collaborations with our campus and community partners make donating to the Pantry an incredible investment: every $10 donated provides 30 meals worth of food through the Pantry,” Choi said via email. “90% of our funding comes from community support and we are trying to raise $100,000 in preparation for a return to in-person learning in fall 2021.”

Choi stated that the Pantry needs help spreading the word that they are open and ready to serve anyone who would like fresh groceries and basic necessities. More information about how to contribute can be found on their website and social media pages.

The Pantry receives additional assistance from the ASUCD senators who have chosen the Pantry as their adopted unit. Laura Elizalde, a fourth-year political science major, has been one of the Pantry’s adopted Senators for the past three quarters.

“I decided to adopt the Pantry as one of my units because I am passionate about basic needs and felt I had much to learn regarding food insecurity,” Elizalde said. “I’ve consciously chosen to continue working with them because I’m inspired by the hard work put in by the entire

team to ensure students are assisted, beyond just access to food. Students should not have to face hunger or worry about when they might receive their next meal, and that is exactly what the Pantry helps prevent.”

Elizalde has worked with other ASUCD senators to put out a survey to better understand the impact of the power outages on the student population.

“From a personal experience and from conversations with close friends, the outages impacted students both academically and with regards to basic needs,” Elizalde said. “I’m hopeful that once our survey is complete we’ll have a more comprehensive list of ways students were impacted to prevent these situations moving forward.”

Michael Navarro, a first-year political science-public service major, is another one of the Pantry’s adopted ASUCD senators. Navarro continues to volunteer with the Pantry two hours a week, as well as meet with leaders of the Pantry and Aggie Compass, to discuss students’ basic needs. Despite the distance that must be observed because of COVID-19 guidelines, Navarro stated that the connection between volunteers and students remains.

“You get to see the students being thankful for what they get,” Navarro said. “It’s a nice demonstration, in my opinion, of how the Pantry works. Even though we’re in this pandemic, the level of gratefulness hasn’t decreased.”

Navarro also highlighted the Pantry’s ongoing projects. He stated that Ryan Choi advocated for volunteers and staff members to be eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. The Pantry is also currently working on renovations allowing them to have a larger space. Lastly, although they are closed for the time being, the ASUCD Coffee House has allowed the Pantry to use their refrigerators, enabling the Pantry to expand their supply lists to include cold products.

“The Pantry is a big supporter within the community in terms of wanting to directly help the students,” Navarro said.”They’re trying to have that one-on-one connection with the students; they want to see the students thrive, and they want to make sure that students have everything they need. They don’t want them to carry any other burdens that’s not education or academic related. The Pantry is important because they help students lift some weight off their shoulders.”

SAYS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 “One thing I would really focus on is working to make sure young people are accepted as whole people in every system that affects us,” Huynh said. “So [with] education, I think we need to work on diversifying our curriculum and making sure that kids see themselves in the narratives that are being presented to them and that they believe that they can be main characters.”

Huynh is currently taking a gap year before attending Stanford University in fall 2021 and she’s using her time to intern at UC Davis’ Environment, Land and Food Systems Lab. She’s particularly interested in creative writing, chemical engineering and civic engagement, passions that she hopes to merge in a future career.

“Everyone deserves access to clean water, clean energy, food that is nutritious, but also

that takes into account the fact that peoples’ livelihoods are not just physical, they’re emotional, they’re social,” Huynh said. “And I think part of that means bringing in art and giving people, especially young people, access to opportunities where they feel like they can express themselves.”

Hill believes Huynh’s achievements speak to the value SAYS contributes to youth.

“One, it’s so exciting. Two, it’s an honor; we’re just so proud of [Huynh],” Hill said. “I think it’s just a testament to the type of work we do where we consistently invest in young people and we believe wholeheartedly in their stories and their truth, and we know that young people have the tenacity, the power and the ability to transform us.”

DESTRESS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Reading Reading truly does have a bad reputation amongst Gen Zers. So many of my friends complain that they would love to read, but they just can’t—they don’t have enough time or it bores them. However, I believe there’s a book out there for all of us; we just need to find it.

This is why I recommend reading a book to calm the stress. Think about what types of movies you like and find a book in that same genre. There is a book about everything, and they are so much more beautiful than movies because they have more detail.

What’s best about reading is that it gives you the same sort of escapism that movies do but better. With movies, we are thrown into a new world for two hours where we are given an outsider’s perspective. However, with books, we get to visit a new world and immerse ourselves in it, ultimately forgetting about our problems for a good length of time.

While going to small bookstores are half the fun of reading, continuously spending $10 on every paperback adds up. That is why I suggest second hand online bookshops. Websites like Book Outlet or Thriftbooks offer books for half

of the cost, and some are good as new. You might receive the occasional dent or crooked spine, but the energy of a story remains the same. The Friends of the Davis Public Library also often have their own book sales. During the first Friday of every month, the Friends of the Davis Public Library set up their shop, and the public is open to browse their books, some as cheap as $1. While their shop is currently closed due to COVID-19, they plan on opening up the first week of March for outside browsing.

I recommend reading 30 minutes before bed.

As a Class A worrier, there have been countless nights where I stay up because I’m stressing about all of the work I have to do. I’ve found that spending time away from my phone or my schoolwork before bed helps me fall asleep faster and sleep through the night.

Everything on this list is an alternative to focusing on our problems. Focusing on a friend, a book character or music allows us to step back and look at our stress from a different point of view, so we can get things done and take the breath of fresh air that we desperately need.

TRANSFERGRANT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Medina highlighted the importance of building a community for students transferring to UC Davis, who have spoken about their difficulties in meetings with advisors and other officials at the Transfer and Reentry Center.

Lacking a four-year experience at the university, they may struggle to adjust to their new surroundings, according to Medina.

“Students who are here for only two years feel like they have to hit the ground running, and it’s hard for them to build community,” Medina said. “Creating small cohorts [of students] [...] is very impactful to how they transition over and how comfortable they feel.”

12 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SPORTS 2021 Olympic Games are in limbo With no detailed plan and time ticking fast, Olympic organizers must decide what they want to do for this years’ planned games—if it even happens

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org As COVID-19 continues to hit many places hard, many hope that the vaccine will help resume some sense of normalcy back into our lives like they were pre-pandemic. With questions surrounding availability and rollouts, it seems as though that may take some time to figure out. Time that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the country of Japan simply do not have.

Scheduled for a start date of July 23, the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo are now again in a limbo.

The games were originally going to take place in the summer of 2020, but COVID-19 put a halt to their plans, as it did for everything else At the time of the rescheduling, the IOC and Japan had hoped for more clarity and a normal Olympics, as COVID-19 would be a thing of the past. But as we know even with the vaccine now being available, it seems like that will not be a viable option.

In mid-January, the City of Tokyo and its surrounding areas underwent a state of emergency due to a high number of COVID-19 cases, as was the case with many other countries as well. Because of this, rumors began to swirl that these games would be canceled altogether, but as it seems, the IOC will fight it as long as they can.

“We have at this moment, no reason whatsoever to believe that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will not open on the 23rd of July in the Olympic stadium in Tokyo,” said IOC chief Thomas Bach. “This is why there is no plan B and this is why we are fully committed to make these games safe and successful.”

The question remains whether this is even salvageable, as there are many factors to keep in mind as they remain adamant in their stance to hold these games. The first would be the protocols set in place for the athletes and countries coming in. Would athletes have to quarantine? How often would they have to take tests? What measures will be in place to ensure the safety of at least 10,000 athletes? Not to mention, many countries currently have strict immigration and travel restrictions that might interfere with traveling to the Olympics. The logistics and complex plan has yet to be seen, but the playbook the IOC has set out gives people hope—or at least something to keep them busy.

In a 32 page outline of the preliminary plan, the IOC, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and Tokyo 2020 released what is expected of everyone in order to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Although it does not have many details, it is the first major piece of news released other than assurances that the games will happen.

The IOC stated that neither the athletes nor attendees will have to be vaccinated or quarantined upon arriving in Japan for the games. They will, however, enforce strict guidelines to follow on how much contact they have with others and how much they go out. Masks will be worn at all times except eating, drinking and sleeping and temperature checks will be administered before entering buildings.

There was a mention about spectators, but whether there will be people in attendance remains to be seen. That answer is expected to be known in the spring, as they have the option of full, limited or no attendance.

Aside from that news, there was no new or important information in the playbook. The very vague outline brought the IOC much criticism, but it seems like they are trying to do the best they can to hold these games. They will have to do much more than just that, as public support has seen a drastic drop.

A poll taken of Japanese citizens shows that 61% of them are against holding these games, calling for the Olympics to be postponed or canceled altogether, as they see it as not important enough to go through the trouble.

“I do not understand why they want to have the Olympics,” said Mari Miyamoto, a Tokyo resident.

“We are constantly being told that we cannot meet up with other people or see friends and family, that we have to always sanitize our hands and be careful whenever we go out. But now they insist that it’s perfectly safe to hold an event that is going to bring thousands of people together in a confined space. To me, that makes no sense.”

The IOC and Japan are working closely together to try and make this happen. As it is well-known, the Olympics have never been a profitable event. The losses by these host cities are massive, but most are willing to take the risk for a potential future boom. This, however, has flipped Japan upside down. With the massive losses already taken by postponing it, Statista predicts losses of 4.5 trillion Japanese yen, which is equivalent to over $42 billion U.S. dollars, if the event is canceled altogether. The IOC has already said that if it is not held this summer, it will be canceled as there is not a possibility for rescheduling, so it is now or never.

“We are holding the Olympics and Paralympics this summer,” said Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. “I am determined to achieve the games as a proof of human victory against the pandemic, a symbol of global solidarity and to give hope and courage around the world.”

With less than five months remaining until the games are scheduled to start, time is moving fast for the organizers of the event. In this current era, nothing about the future can be assured, creating an almost impossible scenario where the Olympic Games are a smooth sailing. If it is canceled, it will be the first canceled since World War II, which will make it the most unprecedented Olympics in history, which says a lot considering the amount of major events that have happened in past games. The organizers are set on completing these games, but there is a good chance the pandemic will not allow it. A lot of work is left to be done, but time is running out quickly with no sure answer in sight.

An Olympic rings display on the shore of the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo. (Kazuhiro Nogi / AFP)

Pickleball: The rising sport The pandemic has brought to light one of the fastest growing sports in the country

BY KATHERIN RAYGOZA sports@theaggie.org Nowadays, it’s hard to play the regular sports to which people are accustomed. With the pandemic still being a major factor, people have looked for alternative ways to stay active. But oftentimes, doing activities alone can get lonesome, which is why pickleball has become a popular alternative to compete against others while staying safe at the same time.

Pickleball has become a household name in recent years due to it’s fun nature. The rules are simple to follow and it’s a great way to involve friends or even family members from all age groups. Today, it is played all over the world, and during the pandemic it has served as a simple way to stay active while socially distancing.

The origin of the game dates all the way back to 1965 when it was founded by Washington State congressmen Joel Pritchard and Bill Bell. There was a badminton court on Pritchard’s property, but he didn’t have badminton equipment, so Bell and Pritchard improvised with a set of ping pong paddles and a wiffle ball. Shortly after, they created rules to the game and used it as a way to keep their families active.

By 1990, all 50 states in the U.S. were playing pickleball. Today, pickleball is a formal sport that doesn’t require much equipment—only a court, net, paddle and ball are needed to play. Although it may sound like tennis, Morgan Hall, a beginner in pickleball and a third-year anthropology major, finds a difference when it comes to these two sports.

“Tennis is a lot harder because there’s more running since the court is bigger,” Hall said. “Even though it looks like a tennis court, the court for pickleball is smaller.”

The standard pickleball court is 20 feet wide by 40 feet long, and it’s net is 34 inches tall and separates the court in two. Four courts can fit into one standard tennis court. Normally two or four people are on the court and people can play as singles or doubles.

“There are designated pickleball courts around that you can book, but really you can play almost anywhere with concrete,” said Katie Nelson, a fourth-year biotechnology major who has played pickleball for a couple of years. “Oftentimes my friends and I will chalk out a court on our local cul-de-sac and play for hours.”

Over the past decade more than three million Americans have participated in pickleball, whether competitive or recreational. In fact, it is currently considered the fastest growing sport in the U.S. because

People enjoying a a game of pickleball. (Freddie Nadarisay / Courtesy)

it’s simple rules make it easy for beginners to pick up quickly.

“It was easy to pick up,” Hall said. “I’m not very athletic and I was struggling at the beginning, but after a couple practice rounds I was able to get a rally going.”

Since pickleball’s popularity is expanding, thousands of new courts are being built across the country.

Many public parks that contain tennis courts are being repurposed into pickleball courts.

“Pickleball appeals to everyone. You don’t have to be super athletic and a certain age to play,” Nelson said.

With the ongoing pandemic, many people struggle to find ways to stay fit and maintain proper social distancing protocols.

“These days it’s more important than ever to stay active and social to keep up with mental and physical health during these tough times,” Nelson said. “That being said, it’s often hard to motivate yourself to work out and unless you live with friends/family, it’s hard to stay safely social. Pickleball helps with both—it’s a great work out as well as being socially distanced.”

Even when times are difficult during COVID-19, pickleball is compatible with social distancing. It’s commonly played in doubles where people are closer to one another, but the good thing is that pickleball requires no physical contact.

“Compared to other sports where you have a lot of contact with each other, [in] pickleball you’re very rarely getting close to each other,” said Laura Gainor, a USA Pickleball representative. “You see everyone keeps a safe distance on the court, so you’re for the most part keeping that six-feet of separation.”

Measures that are being taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are changing exercise routines for many Americans. Exercising is especially important during times like this because it boosts the immune system, reduces stress and prevents future health risks. Now that gyms are closed in many areas and many sport events are being canceled, people have found an alternative way to stay active by playing pickleball, while also following precautions.

Pickleball is an easy game to understand and has become a mainstream sport. Even after the pandemic, there is enough to believe that the sport of pickleball will only continue to grow with people across all ages.