February 10, 2022

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UC DAVIS STUDENT GRANTED POLITICAL ASYLUM AFTER A 20-YEAR WAIT If she had not received asylum, the student would have had to pay over $12,000 in tuition

BY CAROLINE VAN ZANT campus@theaggie.org

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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 16 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022

UC DAVIS RECEIVES $1.5 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR PATHWAYS TO CLIMATESMART AGRICULTURE UC Davis is among six programs that have been given a total of $9 million by the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture to help the agricultural community in California

Farmlands on UC Davis Property. UC Davis is participating in a smart climate program that aims to achieve net zero emissions in agriculture. (Claire Dipenbrock / Aggie)

BY JENNIFER MA campus@theaggie.org

Third-year political science major, Shugufa, in a field near Delta Shores, October 2020. (Shugufa / Courtesy) On Jan. 21, a UC Davis student and her family were granted asylum in the U.S., bringing an end to a 20-year struggle which put her family in immigration limbo and left her education uncertain. According to third-year political science major Shugufa, who requested that her last name be omitted due to the threat her family faces from the Taliban, if she had not been granted asylum, she would have been ineligible for financial aid and would have had to pay over $12,000 in tuition.

Shugufa arrived in the U.S. in August 2001 when she was two years old. According to her, she and her family were forced to leave Afghanistan because her parents spoke out against the Taliban’s regime.

“My parents always stood up against injustices that they would see,” Shugufa said.

Eventually, staying in Afghanistan became too risky for her family, and they had to leave the country.

“At some point, when you’re in a backward country like that when the majority is not educated in regards to Islam and the rules of Islam, it’s kind of hard to [… ] try to get them to see things in a more humane way because they’re just set in their ways,” Shugufa said.

In the U.S., the family’s lack of an official immigration status prevented them from doing everyday things: Shugufa noted that she could not acquire a driver’s license, open a bank account or join a gym.

“It felt like I couldn’t truly be a part of society,” Shugufa said.

Shugufa also could not receive financial aid from UC Davis without asylum. As a junior, she transferred from Sacramento City College, where her tuition was covered by a Pell Grant, and found out in November that she did not qualify for aid.

“I didn’t know whether to focus on my studies or come up with the $12,000, almost $13,000, by Dec. 15,” Shugufa said.

Her professor helped her get in touch with administrators who set up a $7,000 emergency fund for her and extended her payment date to January after considering her circumstances.

“At that point, if we hadn’t gotten asylum, I would’ve had to drop out of winter quarter,” Shugufa said.

With her status as an asylee, Shugufa will now be eligible for financial aid from the school. Her family will be given permanent resident cards, or green cards, in one year.

“I can’t even begin to describe how much of a relief it is; it feels like this huge weight got lifted off my chest,” Shugufa said.

According to Bradford Jones, a UC Davis professor of political science and an expert on immigration policy in the U.S., though 20 years may seem like an extraordinarily long time to wait for a decision regarding asylum, it is not unusual.

“The immigration system is so heavily backlogged, so that kind of waiting time does not come as a surprise to me,” Jones said.

There are almost 1.6 million people like Shugufa waiting for their cases to be heard by U.S. courts. Waiting times are often longer for people from Mexico and other Central and Latin American countries from which the U.S. receives many immigrants.

Professor Gabriel Chin of the UC Davis School of Law focuses his research heavily on immigration law. According to Chin, although immigration law has ceased to be “explicitly political,” the immigration system at large is affected by who is in the White House.

“It still makes a great deal of difference who administers the law,” Chin said. “The officers who apply it can be instructed to apply it leniently or stringently.”

According to Chin, the U.S.’ ties to a particular country can influence whether a person from that country is granted asylum, regardless of whether they meet the legal standards.

Now that she no longer has to worry about her immigration status, Shugufa can focus on the future. She plans to go to medical school after she finishes her undergraduate degree.

“I’m really passionate about becoming a radiologist,” Shugufa said. “I also want to change healthcare policies because I feel like some of them are just so unfair and they put so many communities at a disadvantage.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Jan. 12. that UC Davis is one of six programs to receive a combined total of $9 million in funding that will go toward climate research and solutions. This funding comes from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), which is the leading grants program for agricultural sciences in the nation.

The remaining five $1.5 million grants have been awarded to Pennsylvania State University, Montana State University, Ohio State University, Desert Research Institute Native Climate and USDA Caribbean Climate Hub. All six programs will work towards net-zero emissions in agriculture and working lands and training a workforce to consider the environmental impacts in management decisions.

According to a press release by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, California has the largest and the most diverse agricultural economy in the nation with a revenue of over $50 billion — larger than the revenues of the other ten Western states combined.

“Despite its size, the state is highly vulnerable to climate change,” the statement reads.

To combat this vulnerability, UC Davis will specifically work towards the previously mentioned goals by assessing stakeholder needs, offering climate-smart agriculture training for technical service providers, workshops for farmers and ranchers and student education with UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) servicelearning opportunities.

These workshops will prioritize socially-disadvantaged producers, such as new and first-generation farmers and ranchers.

Content includes a broad range of topics from local impacts of climate change trends to drought planning strategies.

Additionally, due to the large size and diversity of agriculture in California, there will not be a one-size approach. Workshops for farmers and ranchers will be region specific and five county-based UCCE academics will serve as regional leads for these workshops.

UCCE rangeland management specialist at UC Davis Leslie Roche expressed that there are both benefits and challenges to having so many people involved in the program.

“There’s a lot of moving parts,” Roche said. “We were putting this together and we have maybe 40 plus different partners and organizations. And it’s awesome. We have so many folks interested in working together on this but also, it’s gonna be a big challenge to figure out how all these parts are going to fit together.”

For the student education aspect of this project, college students will be able to take classes and also gain practical experience related to climate and agriculture. This pathway includes the UC Merced Summer Institute on Climate and Agriculture certificate course, the UC Davis course “Science and Society: Climate Change and Agriculture” and a certificate course for community college students.

“The education focus for me is really about broadening both public and student understanding about climate change and agriculture, but then taking what I know, what others know, what the agricultural producers in the state know and making that available to community college and undergraduate students in California,” Assistant Professor in Community and Regional Development Mark Cooper said.

CHEF MARTIN YAN DONATES LEGACY ARCHIVE TO UC DAVIS The renowned chef donated thousands of cookbooks, photographs and videos from his food and travel television show to the university

BY KAYA DO-KHANH campus@theaggie.org Celebrity Chef and International Food Ambassador Martin Yan recently donated to the UC Davis Library an archive which, when finalized, will consist of his collection of thousands of cookbooks and various photographs and videos from his international food and travel shows to create the Chef Martin Yan Legacy Archive.

“Hopefully this particular archive will not only give people more understanding about the history, the culture, the lifestyle, the food and geography of each Asian country and different parts of China, but also it will hopefully bring people closer together,” Yan said.

Yan earned a bachelor’s degree in 1973 and a master’s in 1977, both in food science at UC Davis. During his time at the university, he taught cooking classes to students at the CoHo on campus.

Since graduating, he has returned to UC Davis to collaborate with the Food Science Department and to host live special events. He has also given a commencement speech and served as the Grand Marshall for Picnic Day in 2008.

“UC Davis gave me a very warm feeling and also a lot of great memories. [...] When I graduated, I still felt connected to Davis,” Yan said. “Instead of having this in my own library, I decided to donate this to my beloved alma mater, UC Davis. I chose UC Davis because it is my home. My family — my wife and my kids — also went to UC Davis.”

Yan’s contribution to the library includes a $20,000 donation to digitize the archive in order to give access to as many people as possible.

“When I was a food science student, [...] I remember there was no high-tech digitization… You had to come in and check microfilm,” Yan said.

The UC Davis Library will host a public event in early May 2022 to celebrate the archive.

“Join us for a conversation with world-renowned chef Martin Yan ‘73, M.S. ’77, and his wife, Susan ’75, at their alma mater UC Davis,” the sign-up form to be notified of registration by the library states. “The event will include a cooking demonstration and book signing by Martin Yan.” The library already has an extensive food and wine collection, but Yan’s donated archive is an important resource that adds to the collections, according to Kevin Miller, the head of archives and special collections at the library.

“It fills a really important gap in our food and wine collections that focuses on East Asian cuisine and its impact on cuisine in the U.S.,” Miller said. “It’s also just a really unique resource because he got into so many places around the world that people have never heard of or are hard to access, [...] but, because of his connections and his obvious passion, he was able to get into these small kitchens and corners of the world where these rare and, in some cases, dying culinary traditions were happening.”

Chef Martin Yan cooking in his studio kitchen in the mid 1980s.

(Martin Yan / Courtesy)

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

UC DAVIS TO OFFER $10,000 FOR STUDENTS WHO COMPLETE 450 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE UC Davis is among 45 California universities and colleges participating in the new CaliforniansForAll College Corps program, which allows students to earn a stipend while volunteering in their communities

BY JENNIFER MA campus@theaggie.org On Jan. 18, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the launch of CaliforniansForAll College Corps, a program that rewards students with $10,000 for 450 hours of community service in an academic year. UC Davis is leading the Sacramento Valley consortium, which also includes Sacramento State, Sacramento City College and Woodland Community College.

This consortium is not only working toward matching 1,000 students with internships at community organizations but also offering a twocredit experiential learning course, professional development support and financial literacy workshops. UC Davis and Sacramento State will split 750 out of the 1,000 slots available while each community college will offer 125.

The process to apply will be announced in mid-March with the program starting in fall of 2022. It already has been stated that lower-income applicants and AB540-eligible DREAMers are prioritized, in an effort to combat the barriers they typically face. Additionally, for the first time in a state service program, DREAMers are included with 230 slots among the thousand reserved specifically for them.

Chancellor Gary May provided a comment on the importance of this program.

“The living stipend and focus on serving low-income and undocumented students will broaden opportunities and make higher education more affordable,” May said via

email. “We commend California Volunteers for developing an innovative program that supports and strengthens student success and equity through positive contributions with community organizations.”

The three focus areas in the College Corps program include working or interning to improve K-12 education, climate action and food insecurity.

“We are appreciative of the Governor’s investment in the College Corps program. Our hope is that college students – especially students of color – will utilize the program to explore potential careers in K-12 education,” Anthony Volkar, the public information officer for the Yolo County Office of Education, said via email.

According to Art Pimentel, the president of Woodland Community College, even those that are not chosen to be a part of the program will benefit greatly.

“It’s all around a huge benefit not just to our students but to the community, to the potential organizations that they may be serving,” Pimentel said.

Although the current program has only been funded to last for two years, Newsom stated in a press release that he believes that if the program is successful, it could be expanded beyond those two years and also include more students while having the possibility to be replicated outside of California.

Memorial Union Quad on Jan. 3 at noon. Students walking on the Centennial Walk. (Kayla Bruckman / Aggie) Communications and Public Information Officer of Sacramento City College Kaitlyn Collignon shared her hopes for the program.

“Sometimes our students, to help pay for college, are working jobs and they may not be

in an area of interest,” Collignon said. “We’re hoping that this is an opportunity for [students] to really get some hands-on experience, help pay for college and also have the benefit of serving the community at the same time.”

TEMPORARY WINTER SHELTER AT DAVIS MIGRANT CENTER SHUT DOWN DUE TO LOGISTICAL CONCERNS The Yolo County Housing authority and City of Davis are planning to attempt the project again next year with more preparation

BY LEVI GOLDSTEIN city@theaggie.org The City of Davis, in partnership with the non-profit organization HEART of Davis, opened a temporary shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness at the Davis Migrant Center on Nov. 29, 2021, but it was closed three weeks later due to operational failures.

The Davis Migrant Center, jointly owned by the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development Office of Migrant Services (OMS) and the Yolo County Housing authority, is one of many affordable housing units that specifically houses seasonal agricultural workers and their families during the harvest season, according to Interim Executive Director of Yolo County Housing Sandra Sigrist.

The Interfaith Rotating Winter Shelter, a congregate emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness, has not been able to operate due to COVID-19 safety concerns, according to Kelly Stachowitz, Assistant City Manager. The Davis Migrant Center, which has individual units and is not occupied during the winter months, was an ideal location for an alternative pop-up shelter project.

Additional shelter for people experiencing homelessness is imperative during the winter, according to Sigrist.

“In the winter it gets cold and it gets down to freezing at night,” Sigrist said. “It is dangerous and unsafe for individuals to be outside[…] We need a way in particular in the winter months to facilitate indoor opportunities.”

With this in mind, Sigrist reached out to the California Department of Housing and Community Development and the City of Davis, and ultimately, the city was given permission by the state to begin the project.

Davis City Offices in Downtown Davis. The Yolo County Housing authority and City of Davis are planning to relaunch the Davis Migrant Center program. (Quinn Spooner / Aggie) Yolo County Housing and HEART of Davis staff helped the city install heating in the Migrant Center homes to make them habitable during the cold weather. Medical professionals were also employed to provide medical check-ins and other services, according to Stachowitz.

The temporary shelter was only meant to house low-risk individuals overnight, according to Stachowitz. “​​This program [...] brought individuals from downtown Davis to the site each evening and then took them back to Davis every morning,” Sigrist said. “It wasn’t a 24/7 shelter.”

According to Sigrist, individuals who experience homelessness for longer periods of time and have high support needs or medical issues requiring intensive care are housed in more permanent shelter programs.

Despite its limitations, the shelter was helpful for a number of people experiencing homelessness. However, logistical concerns caused the city to shut down the program early before it was set to be closed at the end of winter.

One issue was the lack of staffing, according to Stachowitz.

“HEART of Davis only had a matter of

weeks to try to [...] put everything together,” Stachowitz said. “Trying to find folks who want to work on this kind of a project on short notice, onboard them, train them, proved to be more difficult than they realized. […] They didn’t have a full complement of staff to be able to manage the program.”

Another complication was the rural location.

“Folks who were participating in the shelter, sometimes they have needs or issues that necessitate a call for service, so a public safety call,” Stachowitz said. “Our police, our firefighters, having to go out to that site multiple times every day, every night, is a drain on resources.”

Sigrist said that the project was not a total failure.

“There was a lot of learning in this first-go round about additional structure and supports that are needed in a program of this intensity and this rural in nature,” Sigrist said. “Everyone’s good intentions have built a model that will keep this program as a potential next year.”

Yolo County Housing and the state are encouraging the City of Davis to attempt the program again.

“Our hope is that if we have ample time to really work with a nonprofit partner, and make sure that we have the staffing in place, welltrained, really good protocols and rules in place so that its very clear what needs to happen and how it needs to happen, that we will be able to have a program in place that serves its purpose,” Stachowitz said.

According to Stachowitz, the grant money that would have been used for the shelter is currently being spent on local hotel costs for emergency beds, where people experiencing homelessness are spending the night and receiving the same medical care they would have at the Migrant Center.

STUDENT PROMOTES ‘MOOVEMENT’ TO CHANGE MASCOT TO COW DURING PUBLIC DISCUSSION ASUCD members confirmed new commissioners, provided weekly reports and passed SB #44

BY ISABELLA KRZESNIAK campus@theaggie.org

AGGIE FILE

Internal Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez called the meeting to order at 6:16 p.m. on Feb. 3 and recited the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.

Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission Chair Jared Lopez recommended a candidate for ECAC commissioner, whose name has been omitted upon Lopez’s request due to safety concerns. Senator Sergio Bocardo-Aguilar moved to confirm her and this was seconded by Senator Celeste Palmer.

Jaidyn Alvarez-Brigance, the general manager of KDVS, provided a quarterly report for the station. She noted four top priorities: repairing radio fuses and transmitters, finalizing a plan for a spring fundraiser, overhauling the KDVS

website and hiring new core staff for the 20222023 school year.

External Affairs Commission (EAC) Chair Maahum Shahab recommended Harleen Kaur, Sumeet Bains, Daniel Egziabher and Daniel Mojica for EAC. These confirmations were approved.

Martinez Hernandez recommended Jacob Brunell for the position of associate vice president of internal communications. Internal Affairs Commission Chair Kabir Sahni moved to confirm him, and Palmer seconded.

Elected officers provided reports on their work over the past week and then moved into Public Announcements. Among the announcements was the upcoming ASUCD Town Hall and the need for volunteers for the Whole Earth Festival.

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 | 3

DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH, THE AGGIE RECOGNIZES BLACK ALUMNI Alumni Lois and Darryl Goss share their UC Davis experience and motivation to support the Department of African American and African Studies

BY MAYA SHYDLOWSKI features@theaggie.org This article is the second in a four-part series in honor of Black History Month in which The California Aggie interviews a few of the many distinguished African American UC Davis alumni.

These alumni discuss their achievements, share how they’re uplifting underrepresented communities and offer their wisdom to Davis students Lois and Darryl Goss, both UC Davis alumni, just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in August 2021. They met on campus and got married while they were students. Darryl graduated in 1983 with a degree in African American and African studies (AAAS). Lois graduated in 1985 with a sociology degree and a minor in history.

Both attribute their education at Davis to changing the trajectory of their lives. Darryl, who played football for Davis, started college wanting to be a computer programmer but instead found his passion with AAAS after his first encounter with a different perspective on history.

“I was first exposed to Native American studies [at Davis], and it was really quite interesting to understand the contributions of other groups on society,” Darryl said. “It was eye-opening at a late age, a sophomore or junior in college, just starting to learn about the contributions of African Americans on not just American society, but worldwide.”

Both Lois and Darryl found support from the AAAS department. Lois remembered the encouraging professors, graduate students and administrators who motivated students to keep going, especially when there came negative sentiments from outside the department. Lois said that both she and Darryl came into UC Davis under affirmative action, a strategy to increase diversity and equity in education and employment, but they sometimes felt unwelcome due to people’s opposition to affirmative action.

“People didn’t just say it, but it was an attitude that you were wrong here,” Lois said.

“The discouraging thing was that even when you had so many people telling you that you have just as much right to be there as anybody else,

it only takes one negative encounter to tear all of that down. Now, I’m more mature, and I’ve realized that I allowed a lot of that to affect me in a negative way. If I knew then what I know now, it would have been different, but we had so many people who were encouraging, and that’s what kept me going.”

Luckily, the AAAS department provided both Lois and Darryl with support that helped them confront these attitudes and succeed academically. Darryl said that the department gave him a realistic perspective on what he was going to face after graduating. He said that his knowledge of how people stereotype different ethnic and racial groups gave him an advantage after graduation so that he was able to face these conflicts realistically. The Department of African American and African Studies, as well as the Native American and Chicano studies departments, do not get enough recognition, he said.

To acknowledge and aid the work of AAAS, Lois and Darryl Goss recently made a donation to the department. Their donation helped establish a presidential chair, the first in the department.

The Austin and Arutha Goss Presidential Chair is named after Darryl’s parents. They hope that this investment will support the contributions of research and teach others a more expansive and inclusive history.

“I think it goes back to how eye-opening it was to learn about the legitimate contributions of Africans and African Americans to society, and we want people to be more aware of those contributions,” Darryl said. “What better way to build upon that than to invest in the department whose responsibility it is to share that and to modernize it. It’s not just about what happened

UC Davis alumna Lois Goss’s favorite photo of her and Darryl Goss, who met as students at UC Davis and have now been married for 40 years. They was interviewed for a profile series celebrating Davis’s many distinguished African American alumni during Black History Month. (Lois Goss / Courtesy) 200 years ago.”

They financially support multiple undergraduate scholarships for UC Davis students, but the Gosses also provide more than just financial support to the university. Although they live in Texas, the Gosses have been active alumni for the last 15 years. Lois is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Letters and Sciences, in addition to being a member of the Women & Philanthropy group at UC Davis. Every year, the couple hosts a football tailgate where they bring together other alumni, friends and family to celebrate the positive impact Davis has had on their lives and to see

how it has changed since their time as students.

Darryl said that UC Davis has come a long way, but it still has a long way to go.

“Probably the most disappointing things are that students are dealing with some of the same challenges that we dealt with — food insecurity, support, those kinds of things,” Darryl said.

“The university has made great strides around diversity. Look at women in STEM and the Chicano, Latino and Asian American [student] populations, but the African and African American student populations are the same as when I was a student. It’s only up 3%.”

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NEW MOSAIC BENCH BUILT TO COMMEMORATE BOB BOWEN The bench is positioned at G Street Plaza: the historic starting point of Davis

BY RACHEL SHEY city@theaggie.org

Bob Bowen who is the Davis citizen of the year honored with a bench on G Street. (Quinn Spooner / Aggie)

Local sculptor Wes Horn has created a new mosaic bench at G Street Plaza to honor Citizen of the Year Bob Bowen. The bench depicts Bowen riding a high wheel bicycle as well as some iconic Davis sights like red double-decker Unitrans buses and scads of bicyclists zooming by on a road.

Horn has worked on such projects before and mentioned that he aimed to bring a story to life visually through his mosaic work.

“I’ve done a number of pieces memorializing

some members of Davis and others around the state, and that’s really rewarding when you have a person to base a piece of art off of and a life of contributions to the town in Bob’s case,” Horn said. “Generally, my goal in a project like this is to both memorialize but also tell some kind of story about that person.”

Bowen has his fingerprints on so many parts of Davis, so it was no challenge for Horn to think of appropriate images to put on the many sides of the bench.

“Because he had such an impact around town, it was really easy for people who knew [Bob] around town to bring me a list of images, like the city flower and the light trees that Bob

headed up every holiday,” Horn said.

The bench is “upcycled,” according to Horn, as the base was originally made out of bricks and was part of another structure that has since been removed. It is now fully covered and resurfaced.

“The bench was originally the base foundation of what was the Davis Ace Hardware sign,” Horn said. “That was a brick foundation with signage advertising Davis Ace Hardware. We took off the top steel signage part and reutilized the brick foundation and built a frame and cast concrete to construct the backrest and raise it up to a comfortable sitting height.”

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‘52: A YEARLONG READING JOURNEY’: YOLO COUNTY’S 52-WEEK READING PROGRAM The program is aimed at encouraging participation in reading, which has numerous benefits

BY SHRADDHA JHINGAN city@theaggie.org Recently, the Yolo County Library launched a program called “52: A Yearlong Reading Journey.” This program encourages people to read more and offers a space for people to get book recommendations and to connect with other readers.

According to the website, “52 is different from other reading programs: It lasts all year long, offers loads of reading suggestions through prompts, and provides a space for you to share favorite books with your community.”

Steve Klein, the library assistant II for the Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch, explained how the idea for the program originated.

“The program is really a successor to our Winter Reading Program,” Klein said via email.

“While we were brainstorming we got really excited about the idea of a yearlong program, like GoodReads or Bookriot. ‘52: A Yearlong Reading Journey’ came about from an examination of our goals, and this program is all about reading for the love of reading.”

To participate in the program, people can pick up a reading journal at their local Yolo County Library branch.

“You can pick one [reading journal] up at any of our Yolo County Library Branches,” Klein said via email. “We noticed an immediate interest in the journals sitting on the front desk. You can write down prompts (new prompts are revealed at the beginning of each month), log your books, rate them, and give a short description, all in one place. We’re happy to see so many book suggestions the community has shared on 52 displays.”

Alternatively, instead of picking up a reading journal at one of the preceding Yolo County Library branches, participants can also use the app Beanstack, the link for which can be found on the program’s website.

The objective of the program is to “read as many books as you can in 2022” by using the weekly prompts or by reading books of the participants’ own choice. In order to get

Books in Mary L. Stephens Davis Library on Jan. 28 in Davis, CA. The library is participating in a new year-long reading city program. (Kayla Bruckman / Aggie) monthly prompts, participants can email yolocountylibrary@gmail.com “with the subject heading: 52.”

Klein explained that rather than meeting a “concrete goal,” the program is designed to be a personal experience for each reader.

“We’ve created weekly prompts, which range from as simple as ‘Read a comic book’ to prompts that tie in with our existing programming,” Klein said via email. “But 52 is personal for each[...] reader. It’s your journey. You can follow our prompts, suggest your own, or just do your own thing. While the goal of the program is to read 52 books a year, you also have the option to throw that goal entirely.”

After books have been read, they can be logged in the Beanstack app or in the reading journal. On the app, readers can choose to do the prompts or not and to share if they did something different. Participants can also share their “favorite books’’ with others by posting the

titles at any of the libraries’ displays.

The Yolo County Library also holds other reading programs throughout the year. One of these is the summer reading program, which is held from June to August every year and is open to people of all ages. Participants can track what they read and can earn prizes.

“Research indicates that summer reading programs help children and teens retain and enhance their reading skills over the summer, provide a haven for community readers, and develop reading enthusiasm,” the program’s description reads.

In 2021, 2,668 people participated in the Summer Reading Program. A total of 22,008 books were read for a total of 15,517 hours.

Such programs help to encourage participation in reading for children and adults alike, which has numerous benefits.

Klein explained that such a program mostly gets attention from parents who want to help

their children read more, which he said can be obtained by modeling “the reading habits you want your children to have, as you are their first role model, and children naturally want to mock what their parents are doing.”

Melissa Hossteter, a seventh-grade language arts teacher in Springfield, IL and a graduate student at the University of Illinois Springfield, highlighted in a TED Talk the importance of reading and discussed new and more efficient ways to teach children to read effectively.

“Yes, children need to read in order to learn, but adults need to read in order to live, to participate in society, to be a citizen,” Hossteter said.

Similarly, in another TED Talk, Lisa Wu explained how, when she was unable to pursue her first career choice, books helped her access a myriad of other information.

“I turned to books,” Wu said in the TED Talk.

“I satisfied my hunger for parental advice[...], I found my role model of an independent woman[...] and I learned to be efficient.”

Ultimately, such reading programs help children and adults alike become more invested in reading and explore the benefits of reading that Wu and Hossteter discussed.

In addition, Klein explained that recently there has been a discussion about “reading and equity.”

“Having the ability, mental capacity, and time to read a print book is a privilege,” Klein said via email. “How is reading important to a struggling parent whose priority is doing all that they can to put food on the table? That parent is looking at their child to have that ability for them to live and be accepted and have a better future.”

However, Klein clarified that storytelling is not only limited to print books but can also be experienced through talking and listening.

“There is a rich history of oral storytelling that many cultures value as a way to share knowledge, and because it is connected to tradition and brings people closer to their heritage, it could be better to change the way we think about what counts as reading,” Klein said via email.

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AGGIE HOUSE SERVES STUDENTS FACING HOUSING INSECURITY The organization creates a network of staff, volunteers and students working to provide housing for Davis students

BY ANNE SALTEL features@theaggie.org Housing insecurity as a systemic problem impacts all communities — including the UC Davis community. Aggie House, a student-led shelter that provides housing for students experiencing homelessness, is working to combat this problem.

Aggie House provides residents with resources using a fourpronged approach; they offer shelter, food, case management and community. Students at Aggie House get a place to sleep, have breakfast and dinner, receive aid in finding long-term housing and other targeted assistance — and a community within the house.

Amrit Chauhan, a fourth-year psychology major and the publicity director of Aggie House, said that helping fulfill these community needs is essential and empowering.

“Right now, almost one in five UC Davis students are experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness, or they [will have] at one point in their time at UC Davis,” Chauhan said.

“It’s crazy to think about how students have to go through that on top of academic stress or maybe stress from their family and a pandemic. I think this was a perfect time to remind people that [...] there’s opportunities at Davis where you can get help.”

Aggie House’s staff is made up of student volunteers and a student-led board of directors. The board oversees the organization while volunteers spend time in the house keeping the space clean, cooking dinner for residents and hanging out with them. Fourthyear human biology major and Aggie House staff manager Hannah Jenevein explained that these activities are crucial to the residents’

safety and success.

“There’s an aspect to running a safe space and making sure that all of the members in the house as well as volunteers are keeping this basic level of mutual respect,” Jenevein said. “The volunteers sort of act as the third-party mediator if there is roommate disagreement in any way.”

Because of the crucial role volunteers play in running the physical house and creating a welcoming environment, volunteers must be trained in mediation, CPR and diversity training. Fifthyear neurobiology, physiology and behavior major Cesar Trejo said that strong personal values and humility are also essential when hiring Aggie House volunteers.

“We really seek passionate people,” Trejo said. “[...] We do our best to screen people who hold this kind of savior complex, [because] we need people to understand that we are no better than the residents we are serving. The thing is, any student, any individual can easily fall under housing insecurities if a medical emergency were to happen. A lot of students, while they may not be facing housing insecurities, are living paycheck to paycheck.”

Because Aggie House was founded in May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the development process happened remotely, and most of the back-end administrative work is still remote. Despite this physical barrier, which can make it challenging to form a community, Trejo still feels a connection and mutual passion among the volunteers and staff.

“A lot of us share very similar goals and ambitions in terms of [fighting] housing insecurities or wanting to serve a marginalized community,” Trejo said.

Aggie House is partnered with Students 4 Students, a nonprofit

KELLIE LU / AGGIE that works with multiple other similar organizations on college campuses, like the Bruin Shelter at UCLA and the Trojan Shelter at the University of Southern California. Trejo hopes that Aggie House’s steps to serve students facing housing insecurity will create a community in which this issue is less widespread among students.

“We strive to hopefully impact the systemic issue of housing insecurity in Davis and at the national level as well,” Trejo said.

“That’s not something that we can really tackle by ourselves or right now because we’re just starting off, but we hope to be an evolving organization that can tackle this systemic issue with not only the people from Davis but people from anywhere around the country.”

SHAGUFTA FATEMA ON THE STRUGGLES, TRIUMPHS OF IMMIGRATING TO THE U.S. The UC Davis lecturer discusses the effects of Trump-era politics and COVID-19 on her work and life in California

BY ADAM KIRCHOFF features@theaggie.org Taking out the trash — an unappealing, albeit necessary job for virtually all of us. We’re forced to complete the chore without much attention, other than perhaps the thought of the garbage stench that often floods our olfactory system while doing so.

But for UC Davis professor Shagufta Fatema, this menial task represents major strides in her independence.

Professor Fatema, a UC Davis lecturer in Middle East & South Asian Studies, traveled to the U.S. from India to pursue the aspiration of an established career and family in the Western world.

When she arrived in 2011 as a young Muslim woman, Fatema found herself having the freedom, and need, to be self-reliant, which she had previously only associated with men in her native society. “[Women] often don’t go to the markets, we don’t drive, even if I have to go to my school, my father or brother will drop me off,” Fatema said. “So taking out the trash for the first time [...] it was a hectic job for me. I remember I clicked a picture of it and sent it to my mom, saying ‘look what I’m doing.’”

While she did have a lot of new freedom, Fatema encountered obstacles in American culture — not only concerning standard societal disparities, but also ones brought on both by discriminatory Trump-era policies and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There was a culture shock,” Fatema said. “But it made me realize that you have to be dependent on yourself.”

When she first arrived at UC Davis in 2011, where she’d accepted a position as a teaching assistant in the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, Fatema remembers feeling welcomed by American life. After teaching for just two quarters at UC Davis, she said that she embraced Northern California as her second home.

In Davis, Fatema felt like she could express her cultural identity — in some ways even more so than she could back home in India.

By getting involved with the Muslim Student Association and International House Davis, she bonded with a cohort of diverse individuals with similar experiences. She felt as if — for the first

Shagufta Fatema with her Hindu/Urdu students. (Shagufta Fatema / Courtesy) time — the way she practiced her faith was driven entirely by her own volition.

However, despite the comfort she felt in her new hometown, Fatema felt alienated by the U.S. federal government’s executive leadership.

In June of 2020, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order that froze access to new H-1B visas — which are temporary employment-based visas that permitted Fatema and many other foreign national professionals to reside in the U.S. while working. Trump’s administration justified the order as a necessary response to high unemployment rates during the pandemic, which reached 14.7% in April 2020, a level not seen since the Great Depression.

Although the order could be interpreted as a prioritization of American workers, it also carried xenophobic connotations, given the administration’s inflammatory history with immigration policy.

Notoriously, former President Trump cemented his political legacy around anti-immigrant sentiment and 2016 campaign promises that ostracized people of Muslim faith.

“It was injustice,” Fatema said. “I learned from my [Human Resources Department] that our visas could not be processed.

The universities had no choices. Even if the university wanted us, [Trump] was stopping us.”

Fatema continued teaching her Hindi/Urdu courses from across the world via Zoom. This carried its own distinct set of challenges — including a nearly 14-hour time difference between her and her students.

The block on these visas has since been lifted, since President Joe Biden opted to not renew the ban after taking office in early 2021. Although Fatema’s chances of reuniting with California seemed increasingly promising in the wake of this policy shift, her home life took a tragic turn last summer as the catastrophic COVID-19 Delta variant surged through India.

In June, Fatema lost her mother to COVID-19 complications.

Without her mother, Fatema explained that though she still values and loves her family, she no longer feels the same strong connection to her first home. Without feeling as anchored to her hometown and amidst this devastating loss, Fatema decided to leave India and settle overseas more permanently.

“He is excited for our travels tomorrow,” Fatema said over the phone of her young son Zohan, as he squealed in the background with pure excitement. In preparation for teaching in person again in spring 2022, Fatema is journeying back to the U.S. with her son — and her husband — for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I wanted my son to be educated here in the States, so he is not dependent like many of us [in India],” Fatema said. “I am preparing this for my nuclear family, so I do want some distance [from home].”

Fatema is looking forward to reuniting with her students in person, which she said allows her to maximize the liveliness and energy of her courses. From holding class meetings in coffee shops to organizing picnics and basketball games for her students, fostering a dynamic learning environment is Professor Fatema’s “unique selling proposition.”

“Language cannot be learned in isolation, that is the one rule,” Fatema said. “My classes are energetic when I organize these things. When my students are involved completely, they love it.”

UC DAVIS STUDENTS SHARE HOW COLLEGE HAS CHANGED THEIR MAJOR, POSTGRADUATE PLANS Students develop unexpected passions and career plans since arriving at Davis

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

BY JALAN TEHRANIFAR features@theaggie.org When applying to colleges, many students don’t yet know what they want to do after graduation, so choosing a major and courses to prepare for their unknown post-grad plans can be very difficult. There are many different majors to choose from and many different career paths that those majors can lead to. A degree in a specific field can open up many career options, and many career paths can be accomplished through different majors. UC Davis students discussed how they are choosing their areas of study and what they hope to use — or not use — them for in the future.

Daniela Ocampo, a first-year biological sciences major, said she has a passion for science but doesn’t have a set career path yet.

“I’m still contemplating whether I want to go through a premed track or a pre-vet track,” Ocampo said. “I came here with the intent of eventually applying to medical school, but in my heart I love animals and would love to work to save their lives. I was considering changing my major to animal science and eventually apply to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, but I decided not to, for now, in case I change my mind about what I want to do with my future.”

While Ocampo is still deciding which career she wants to

pursue after college, she is on a major track that could take her down either path.

“My current major is very versatile,” Ocampo said. “I can apply to both vet school and med school with a degree in biology, but, with an animal science [degree], it wouldn’t make sense applying to medical school.”

Other students know exactly what they want to do at the very start of their college experience. One such student is Ruby Nahem, a first-year environmental policy analysis and planning (EPAP) major.

“I’m planning on going into environmental law after I graduate,” Nahem said. “The planet is dying, and I want to help fix it. I want to prevent major corporations from killing the earth.”

Nahem said that she has always had a passion for protecting the Earth and ensuring that future generations are able to enjoy and experience it as she does, and she believes she can help accomplish this as an environmental lawyer.

Unlike Ocampo and Nahem, some students enter college without any idea what they want to study. Natasha Replogle is a first-year student who has yet to declare a major. She said she potentially wants to pursue psychology, but she didn’t come into school with career plans and wants to see what she’s passionate about as she goes.

Many college students’ goals and plans change after attending college for a few quarters. Huyen Lee, a first-year Asain American studies major, believed that she wanted to study Asian American studies in high school but isn’t pleased with her current major.

“I [might] want to change my major to something STEMrelated,” Lee said. “What I want to do in my future is work on becoming a teacher for middle school.”

College is about figuring out what interests you and what doesn’t. Students take lower-division classes in part to decide what they enjoy learning about and what they don’t.

Emily Garcia, a first-year neurobiology, physiology, and behavior (NPB) major, said she enjoys science but isn’t passionate about the focus of her current major.

College can sometimes be challenging and overwhelming, leading to many feelings of wanting to give up or to choose a different path. Jannet Vasquez, a first-year animal science major, is struggling with choosing a career because of the pressures of her major. She said that, though she originally planned to complete a

pre-vet school track and eventually apply to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, the time and intensity of her major was too much. Even though she no longer plans to be a veterinarian, she said she’s exploring other courses to see what she does want to pursue.

Amina Alkadie, a first-year NPB major, loves being a STEM student and plans on becoming an oncologist nurse, but she said the demanding major doesn’t allow her to pursue other interests in non-scientific subjects.

Lots of students show interest in multiple areas of study, and some declare a second major. Zoupal Lor, a fifth-year psychology and theater and dance double major, is pursuing two majors that are not closely related but that she enjoys equally.

“After I graduate, I plan to go to graduate school for psychology — maybe clinical psychology or art therapy,” Lor said. “I also want to do some freelance art projects, maybe dance, photography or filming and stuff. Those are my goals.”

Because she chose to major in both areas, Lor has allowed herself career paths that relate to either major.

Some students, such as Joey Wu, a fourth-year cinema and digital media major, pursue and earn a degree and then decide not to use it for their future profession.

“My plan after graduation is to go home and finish my military service, since I am a Taiwanese citizen, and hopefully find a job here and acquire a visa,” Wu said. “If not, I’m happy just to explore the world for a couple years.”

Although Wu’s postgraduate plans are unrelated to cinema and digital media, he is happy to learn about the subject and to earn a degree as preparation for a career in the entertainment industry if he later decides to go down that path.

“I am learning how to apply the filming skills to personal projects and professional settings,” Wu said.

Along the way, it’s easy to have doubts about the major one has chosen and the line of work they see themselves in, but, hopefully, with careful thought and consideration, students will find what they are looking for in a profession.

“It’s tough at times, and I find myself contemplating whether I should change my major to something less rigorous, but I know deep down that I won’t because I love being a part of the STEM department and being academically challenged in the science field,” Ocampo said.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 | 5

OPINION TO COMBAT HEALTH DISPARITIES EXPERIENCED

BY BLACK INDIVIDUALS, INCREASED DIVERSITY IN HEALTHCARE IS NECESSARY This Black History Month, the Editorial Board commends the many Black physicians leading more equitable healthcare The theme of Black History Month this year is “Black Health and Wellness,” which invites us to recognize and celebrate the many distinguished Black physicians, scholars and leaders in the healthcare and wellness industries — but also to recognize and begin to redress the many ways in which the U.S. health system still fails Black populations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to face health disparities, and studies show that unconscious racial biases are linked to lower quality medical care. This can be seen especially clearly in pre and postnatal care. Black women are less likely to be recommended treatments and medical advice for prenatal symptoms, and they are more likely to develop prenatal hypertension disorders, theoretically in part due to “unmeasured comorbidities” that could be a result of poorer health care.

Black women are almost four times more likely to die during childbirth than white women, a stark disparity that has not decreased in over a decade. According to the BBC, this can be attributed in part to healthcare providers making microaggressions against and disregarding concerns of Black patients, as well as higher percentages of Black patients feeling unsafe and being denied pain relief while receiving prenatal care. We recognize that not all people who give birth identify as women, but it is unclear whether people who do not identify as women were included in the above studies.

Racial bias is also seen in medical training and research.

Graphics in medical textbooks often show predominantly lighter skin tones and underrepresent darker skin tones. A 2018 study of four major human anatomy textbooks found that only 4.5% of images showed dark skin tones, based on tone parameters coded by the researchers. When healthcare professionals are trained based on these textbooks, they might recognize certain physical symptoms only on specific skin tones, leading to racial bias when treating patients. Additionally, certain physical symptoms that signal the need for further workup or diagnosis manifest differently across skin tones. Since most of the images showed lighter skin tones, patients with darker skin tones might be put at higher risk for late diagnosis and poor outcomes, specifically in colon, breast, skin and cervical cancers.

Lack of race-related health research and diversity in clinical trial participants might also contribute to the disproportionate rate of health disparities between Black and white populations in the U.S. UC Davis just completed a study on the differences in gut microbiomes of white and Black women and how those differences can be linked to differing rates of diabetes — the first of its kind.

Such knowledge about how race can impact health is important, as it helps healthcare professionals better understand what issues might be more prevalent in their patients and adjust their care accordingly. Especially because of the existing disparity between quality of healthcare services that white and Black populations receive, more studies like this, which assess the ways race intersects with likelihood of certain medical conditions, are imperative to better treatment for Black patients.

Both more targeted trials that might help identify differing rates of health disparities between Black and white individuals, like the UC Davis study mentioned above, and more diverse representation in all clinical trials, are crucial to improve healthcare for Black people. The combination of systemic racial bias in the medical field and a lack of diversity in training materials and clinical trial representation needs to be addressed further.

While UC Davis researchers are making strides to improve these issues through their research and course offerings — like SPH 113 (Health Disparities in the U.S.) — a lot more work is needed. More courses should discuss equity and care disparities in the medical field, more diverse textbooks need to be created and utilized and more research needs to prioritize proportional representation.

It is necessary to take time during Black History Month to examine where we are still falling short, but it is also vital to recognize Black excellence and the massive strides that Black communities have made in medicine. As of this January, the rate of Black first-year medical students is up 21% from 2020 levels, a record increase. Additionally, many Black physicians are leading important fields of research and study, like UC Davis Health’s Dr. David Cooke, whose research focuses on diversity and representation in cardiothoracic care, and Dr. Candace Price, whose most recent work identified the differences in Black and white womens’ gut microbiome.

THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

EDITO RIA L B OA RD ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Campus News Editor MADELEINE PAYNE City News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD Opinion Editor KATIE DEBENEDETTI Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MICHELLE WONG Science & Tech Editor

KATHLEEN QUINN New Media Manager BENJAMIN CHENG Photo Director KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director ANNE THISELTON-DYER Copy Chief SABINE LLOYD Copy Chief DARSHAN SHIVAKUMAR Website Manager ANTHONY NGUYEN Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager JENNA HEATH Marketing Manager JELENA LAPUZ Outreach Director LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

WRITTEN BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

DO ALTERNATIVE SLEEP CYCLES ACTUALLY WORK? The science behind alternative sleep cycles

BY ALEX MOTAWI almotawi@ucdavis.edu

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

Welcome to college and the real world. As growing humans with growing responsibilities, the days suddenly get a lot shorter. Getting adequate sleep used to feel inevitable, and boy, is that different now. Now sleep is at a premium, making the required eight hours for functioning at full capacity feel like a dream. Instead of just choosing to live life in a constant state of sleep deprivation (like one-third of the world), is there a way to get eight hours worth of sleep in less than eight hours? Are the stories of famous sleepers from times past myths or realities? There is only one way to find out.

First, a crash course on sleep: Sleep is divided into five cycles. The first four are called NREM (non-REM cycles), while the last is called REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. The body fluctuates between these four stages throughout the night, following what is around a 90-minute cycle.

Sleep experts place non-REM stages three and four and REM sleep as the most important of the stages. (You go through one and two in the process of falling asleep.)

Non-REM stages three and four are deep sleep and are responsible for muscle recovery and general growth. REM sleep (light sleep along with non-REM stages one and two) is accepted

as when your brain commits activities to memory and refreshes itself; REM sleep is also the stage in which we experience dreams. In theory, REM sleep takes up 20 to 25% of the night, with the goal being to experience 90 to 120 minutes of REM sleep every evening. We spend little time in non-REM stages one and two while the remainder is deep sleep.

To simplify, our body wants two hours of REM sleep so the brain can handle responsibilities that come with being a brain, and then our body dedicates all the remaining possible sleep time to non-REM stages three and four in order to heal for the next day of activities. The foundation of these alternative sleep cycles is finding a way to achieve 90 to 120 minutes of REM sleep while minimizing the other stages. This is done by taking naps throughout the day in exchange for less sleep at night.

The most talked-about alternatives are called the Uberman and the Everyman. They are polyphasic cycles, meaning that they revolve around lots of napping. The Uberman requires six naps of 30 minutes each day, while the Everyman consists of a three-hour “sleep” and three 20-minute naps. In theory, these cycles train your body to jump into REM sleep almost

instantly, allowing you to get adequate REM sleep through mostly napping. These are the cycles that random celebrities swear by, but they are extremely strict. Because of how little sleep they consist of, the naps have to be timed immaculately, and missing just one can ruin a whole day or two of wakefulness. These are the glorious dreams of “would-be” sleep hackers, but in reality, they don’t work for most humans.

Current studies show they offer no benefit, so I would avoid these ones unless science changes its mind as we learn more over the next few years.

The other common alternative sleep cycle is a bi-phasic cycle called the Siesta sleep cycle.

It consists of sleeping for five hours and then taking a 90-minute “siesta” in the afternoon and is theoretically just as effective as sleeping for 8 hours. This cycle is the norm in many countries like Italy and Spain. If you want to try a new sleep schedule, this is the one. It works. The 90-minute nap follows natural sleep cycles, allowing the body a quality break, and the five-hour sleep cycle gives enough time for recovery. Like the others, however, the cycle does require keeping consistent hours of sleep (really all sleep should be consistent) to be effective. If you can find time for a daily nap in the early afternoon, this

is a good way to save time and still stay awake.

However, finding a gap in the day to nap isn’t that easy; countries like Spain and Italy culturally acknowledge their “siesta” or “riposo,” making it easier there than it is here.

One more thing to consider — naps are incredible. Whatever sleep you currently get, tossing in a nap during the day could be beneficial. Naps under 15 minutes will be easy to wake from and will keep you more alert for one to three hours. Naps over 30 minutes require a bit of a wake-up period but often keep you more alert into the evening. Studies also say the more you nap, the easier it is to benefit from them — so have at it!

Overall, these alternative sleep cycles preach quality over quantity, but in reality, we need both. There is no magic life hack to beat the need for sleep, but if you want to experiment, trying the Siesta method for a few weeks may leave you with some extra time in the day. Happy napping!

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 10, 2022

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

OPINION EATING DATES GIVES ME SUPER POWERS A column on why you should start loving dates

BY NADIA ANEES nsanees@ucdavis.edu

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

Dates, a superfood that have grown in popularity amongst the food and wellness community within the last year or two, are a food I have been well-acquainted with since my youth. Every year during the holy month of Ramadan, the Medjool date and I would reunite every day at sunset during Iftar, the time at which my family and I would break our fasts. I did not understand how my parents could happily break their fast with a date and water when I’d much rather have broken mine with a giant rainbow sprinkle donut. Dates just did not taste or sound appealing to me.

Yet, my parents would teach me about the sacredness of the date and the significance it holds in my faith. Until I was about 17, I still couldn’t get myself to find joy and fulfillment in them – I hadn’t quite felt their powers yet.

In high school, I joined the cross country

team and I noticed my energy levels dropping very low during and after practices. At the time I noticed health and superfood trends surfacing on social media and on ads in my favorite grocery stores. I was being “influenced” to be healthier and choose the more “whole” options with food.

Then one day I got the idea to transform the dates my parents would always have in our kitchen into mini energy balls. Finally, I had a method to benefit from these powerhouses of energy and nutrition. The energy balls worked out perfectly. I would bring a few energy balls with me to track meets and practices and they kept me feeling energized and ready to go throughout the day. Eventually I readied myself to try whole dates again, and I’m not sure what changed in me but I found a liking for dates!

Medjool dates are a popular variety of dates and are tender and naturally sweet, slightly

resembling caramel in texture and flavor – for this reason these dried fruits have been deemed “nature’s candy.” They are high in fiber, potassium and antioxidants, providing you with many essential nutrients while you indulge in them. For those who are trying to steer away from desserts with a high sugar content, they’re a perfect addition to your food palette. Personally, I like the freedom of being able to choose between gorgeous Tillamook Mudslide ice cream or plant-based candy (a.k.a the Medjool date).

They’re certainly not for everyone, but I highly recommend giving these versatile, wholesome and energy-providing fruits a try.

Eating dates changed my life and bestowed upon me the superpowers I needed to fulfill my role as a decently hard-working college student.

Today you can find me throwing a handful of dates in a container before I rush off to class,

stuffing one or two with peanut butter and dark chocolate for my nightly treat or using them to add sweetness to my baked goods. They’re my ready-to-go fuel when I’m feeling depleted from class and work, sweet-tooth satisfier and rich baking ingredient!

Throughout the years, I’ve tried and tasted hundreds of different date brands. My favorite are the Medjool dates fresh from Coachella Valley by Nature’s Anthem. Give them a try, and let me know if you can also feel their magic.

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.

HUMOR

FIVE TYPES OF DRUNK PEOPLE YOU MEET AT YOUR FRIEND’S BOYFRIEND’S FRAT PARTY POV: You’re getting hit on by an econ major in wine-stained chinos

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

School has opened up, but you probably should hold off from attending a massive gathering in the poorly-ventilated, pathogenicmold-breeding hellscape that is a frat house.

Here’s a walk-through of what it’s like to hold you over: Enter. There’s a girl in the doorway. Eighty percent of her body weight is being held up by two friends, and the other 20% is on a pair of heels that are as structurally sound as a card tower. She “loooooovvveeesss” your hair,

which is really nice until you realize she’s been complimenting everyone’s hair with the same reverent enthusiasm.

Move through micro-atmospheres of weed smoke, Bath & Body Works perfume and vomit fumes. Pass a horde of applied chemistry majors seriously discussing how they could take a bear in a fight. They all think they could.

Make it to the drinks table, which is about eight miles away from the front door. If you drink, take a cup of what scientists would typically term

“​​virulent,” “polluting” and “gross af.”

Venture onto the dance floor with your friends. Someone in the crowd has a computer and is typing an essay over their head. Everything is sticky. Pretend not to notice the guy from your engineering class. Have some fun.

Now you will meet five different types of drunks in relatively quick succession. The order may vary, but you will not be granted escape until you have defeated them all.

One. The girl who predicts the date and

method of your death with 100% confidence.

Try not to let it get to your head next time you take the bus. Use a laugh/back away combo.

Two. Guy who is clearly a grad student trying to blend in. The full beard and correct use of Latin locutions are giving you away, dude. Put down the off-brand White Claw and go write your thesis. Cheat code: mention that you were born in 2001 and he’ll find a reason to leave.

Three. The DJ. Yeah, they got an aspiring DJ, and he’s just taking a break to get a drink.

He’ll offer you his vape, which is Rainbow Marshmello Key Lime Pie flavor. He’s the cousin of a friend of someone in the frat. He’s drenched in sweat. Which is crazy because all he did was put his Spotify on shuffle. He doesn’t even have Premium. Every four minutes or so the crowd has to vibe to a commercial for Popeyes. He can only be appeased with a fake Snapchat exchange.

Four. The guy who clearly has never been to a frat party in his life. Be excited for him.

He’s living out some high school fantasy, and his ghastly hangover will be something akin to a religious experience that will convince him to switch his major to art history and finally be happy.

Five. Someone who is dressed exactly like you. You two turn to look at each other at the same time and sheepishly smile. You step right to pass them, but they step left at the same time.

You both try to speak at the same time, but neither of you can hear the other. It’ll be about 40 more seconds before you realize you’re talking to a mirror in the hallway.

Have your friend group decide to leave and then stay for another hour. Repeat twice.

Oh, and you should probably say goodbye to the guy who invited you. Try an apathetic wave into the palpitating mass of arms and legs. That’ll do. Your Uber will be $40.

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

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

ARTS & CULTURE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022 | 7

IN MITSKI’S ‘LAUREL HELL,’ WE ARE BURNING ALONG WITH HER A track-by-track analysis of Mitski’s latest album, “Laurel Hell,” an emotional exploration of our most nuanced emotions, backed by a deeply 80s sound It has been over three years since the world was blessed with a new album from the highly elusive and profound indie-rock artist, Mitski. Since her last album, “Be the Cowboy” (2018), we have gone through not only life’s usual changes and milestones but also some of the hardest things we’ve ever had to face (i.e. a global pandemic, late-stage capitalism, the climate crisis, Zoom university, etc.). Mitski fans (myself included) have been surviving off of crumbs for the past few years — delicious crumbs albeit — and with the Feb. 4 release of Mitski’s sixth studio album, “Laurel Hell,” we feasted.

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org

“Valentine, Texas” Kicking things right off, we enter a dark and synthy ‘80s melodrama. As the opener of the album, and in true Mitski fashion, this song eases us into the deep feelings of the whole album. Just barely going over 2 minutes and 30 seconds, she essentially gives listeners an opening poem steeped in existential dread, asking “Who will I be tonight? Who will I become tonight?” As we continue through the 11 songs of “Laurel Hell,” we are able to hear and feel Mitski’s pain, yearning and deep anguish.

Laurel Hell by the artist Mitski. (Dead Oceans / Courtesy)

“Working for the Knife” I personally already know this song like a close friend, as it was released as the first single off the album way back in October 2021, but it still hits just as hard with every listen. The song has a rough industrial feel to it from the first second, just as the song revolves around facing the bleak reality of adult life. Over the course of the track, you are confronted with the loss of a dream to create and achieve things as a child by the reality of working simply to make a living for the rest of your life. There is no discussion of a Mitski

song without its accompanying music video, and this first visual introduction into Mitski’s album did not disappoint. While it is perhaps the most paired-down video of the album, it is still filled with symbolism, her signature form of interpretive dance and an entirely cinematic feel.

“Stay Soft” This song is pure poetry, plain and simple — except it’s actually full of depth and nuance, just like everything Mitski produces. This is one of her songs that is a beautiful and melodic experience from the beginning, but the darker meaning might not be revealed until a few listens later. “Stay Soft” possesses a perfect balance of tragedy and eroticism (as many Mitski songs do), painting a picture of the harmful cycle of hurt people searching for connection just to get hurt again, and subsequently hurt others. Yet again, the music video for this song cannot go unnoticed, as it is a work of art in every way, from the eerie and beautifully constructed narrative to the wholly visually appealing set design and costumes.

“Everyone” Admittedly, this song did not stand out alongside all the powerful ballads of the rest of the album, but that in no way means it is not good. With a simple, steady beat backing Mitski’s slow-paced lyrics, the song does sort of function as a little resting point within the album. Considering it’s the longest song on the whole album, there are astonishingly few lyrics (with no chorus or bridges), almost making you impatient for the next song to start — perhaps this was intentional?

LAURELHELL on 9

REVIEW: ‘TOO HOT TO HANDLE’ IS JUST ABSURD ENOUGH TO BE A HIT The show may not be the most deep, but it is undeniably entertaining

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org This article contains spoilers for season three of “Too Hot To Handle.”

“Too Hot to Handle,” the crossover between “Love Island” and “Big Brother” that nobody asked for, has returned for a third season. I’ll admit, reality TV isn’t exactly the pinnacle of human development, but this show is definitely a guilty pleasure that’ll keep you entertained from start to finish.

The premise is fairly straightforward. A group of conventionally attractive people in their twenties are essentially lured onto the show under the impression that they’ll be participating in a free-for-all, expenses paid dating show for the summer. However, at the end of the first episode, the hosts reveal the actual reason they have been invited to Turks and Caicos.

The singles are told that there is to be no physical intimacy of any sort, including kissing, heavy petting, sex and “self-gratificiation.” Every time a rule is broken, money will be deducted from a $100,000 prize fund meant to be allocated

to the cast member that has benefited the most from the retreat.

These rules are laid down and enforced by Lana, a talking cone that acts as co-host of the show, along with narration by real-life human Desiree Burch. Lana also has the responsibility of determining the finalists who she feels grew the most in their time on the island, one of which then gets voted as the winner by their fellow retreat guests.

It’s hard to keep a show this simple entertaining for multiple seasons in a row. No matter how charming the British slang and surprisingly progressive workshops are, the series wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is without the pure, unhinged oddity of its cast.

From Patrick, the super-buff Hawaiian that unsuccessfully attempts to serenade the girl of his dreams, to Brianna, the California girl whose late arrival onto the island caused quite a stir, there would be little reason for viewers to tune in if it weren’t for the personalities of the cast.

Toward the end of the season, the prize fund hits zero for the first time in “Too Hot to Handle” history after a brief stint where Lana pretends to be offline as a test of the guests’ progress. Naturally, as soon as they assume that

the omnipotent cone is no longer watching, they proceed to spend the funds still left over in the pot in a single night.

This attests to the ultimate question at the heart of the show — are the stars actually gaining anything from this besides notoriety and a chance at their 15 minutes of fame? Is it possible that “Too Hot to Handle” has ascended beyond trashy reality TV into a program that actually will better a small part of society?

The answer is more than likely no, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to watch. With only eight episodes, the series is easily palatable and enjoyable in a “What am I watching right now?” kind of way. Some of the more absurd one-offs and the tacky editing style made me laugh so much that I don’t think it could be considered ironic.

It is interesting, though, to see a visual representation of the phrase “sex sells” being displayed so prominently on the screen. I’m not sure what exactly the show’s success says about society, but there’s no time to think too deeply about it when you’re fixated on the fallout from the latest love triangle.

Too Hot To Handle Season 3 series poster. The show is a rising Netflix hit. (Netflix / Courtesy)

is a “Disneyfied” version of Star Wars, I still find myself staying up until midnight on Tuesday nights, when the show is released on Disney+. With classic scenes of the speeder races, the bar and the spice trade, Disney accurately captures much of the magic of the Star Wars universe. With more episodes to come, I am looking forward to seeing how the rest of this series pans out.

BY MARGO ROSENBAUM arts@theaggie.org Movie: “The French Dispatch” dir. by Wes Anderson (2021) I love Wes Anderson movies for their odd, artful style and color.

“The French Dispatch” is one of Anderon’s best, but I am biased — it is a journalism movie. Many journalism movies glorify the lives of reporters and follow a sensationalized adventure as the writers uncover a hot story, but this film focuses on the beauty of the stories themselves and provides an honest representation of the lives of journalists. Structured as a series of vignettes, the movie details the closure of a fictional American magazine set in a 20th century French city, bringing to life the narratives of the magazine’s final articles: an obituary for the editor-in-chief, a brief travel guide and three feature articles. The audience is engulfed in the distinct world of each vignette: French neighborhoods, a prison, a college student revolution and the kitchen of a prized chef. Seemingly content in their thrilling but lonely jobs, the journalists appear as genuine representations of the artful, crafty people in the profession, who are dedicated to capturing the lives of others through photography or even just words on a page. The reporters themselves are beautifully ordinary people who are beautifully unordinary storytellers, as illustrated by the detail and imagery of the narration unfolding on the screen. “The French Dispatch” is a magnificent movie full of thrilling storytelling.

TV Show: “The Book of Boba Fett” As a big fan of Star Wars, I have high expectations for any new additions to the epic franchise. The show features Boba Fett: the feared crime lord and former bounty hunter. Set after the events of “Return of the Jedi,” the show follows Fett’s recent rise to power in Tatooine, which was once controlled by Jabba the Hutt. Featuring new characters in addition to those already introduced in the Star Wars universe, “The Book of Boba Fett” even features some beloved oldies from the earliest movies — played by body doubles with CGI-ed faces (hopefully, not too much of spoiler). While I enjoy watching anything related to the Star Wars universe, so far I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of “The Book of Boba Fett.”

While true Star Wars fans (including myself ) might say “I have a bad feeling about this’’ and could pick apart how much of this show

Album: “Jubilee” by Japanese Breakfast (2021) Michelle Zauner, better known as Japanese Breakfast, has created some of her best work with the release of her third album, “Jubilee.”

True to Zauner’s classically bright and bold style, the songs on this album are absolutely mystifying and transfer listeners to a place of insight and imagination. With her honest, authentic lyrics, she said the songs are about youthful optimism and the constant struggles to feel like ourselves. As she puts it, the album is about “fighting to feel.”

Released in the midst of the pandemic, this album brought me joy when I was at my lowest over the last year. Anyone who listens to her music finds that each song holds a distinctive story and sound: Some are bold and bouncy, while others are soft and meditative. No matter how different each song may appear, the album is held together by Zauner’s strong, poetic voice, which shines through on each track.

My favorites on this album include “Savage Good Boy,” “Tactics,” “Slide Tackle” and “Kokomo, In.” After following Zauner’s music for years, I saw her band perform at Ace of Spades last fall. Such energy and warmth showed through in her performance, as she boogied up against her bandmate’s back (who happens to be her husband) under the mirrors and lights of the stage.

Podcast: “Ologies with Alie Ward” I have written about Ologies in the past for The California Aggie, but my love for this podcast bears repeating. Ologies is the perfect podcast for shameless nerds — like me — to learn about 120 minutes worth of information on a typically very random but absolutely awesome topic. Who knew I needed to learn about crow funerals, hagfish and space junk? Each week, “Ologies” listeners are treated to a new “ology,” a subject of study. The podcast covers classic science topics like wildlife ecology and mycology, as well as those that are not always thought of in a scientific manner, such as decluttering (oikology) and gratitude (awesomeology). Alie Ward, or “pod dad,” as she calls herself, covers science in a comical yet accurate manner that all audiences can enjoy. As an aspiring science writer and communicator, I look up to Ward and her ability to have insightful conversations that are relevant and conscious of topics and struggles in the world today. Ward hosts a variety of amazing scientists and experts on the show and makes an effort to showcase diverse voices in the field of science. Even science celebrities have made appearances on certain podcast episodes, such as those on science communication (pedagogology) with Bill Nye the Science Guy and TikTok (tiktokology) with Hank Green, a man who helped me and many others through biology classes. While it was hard to narrow down my favorite episodes, eating wild plants (foraging ecology), sharks (selachimorphology), trees (dendrology) and UFOs (ufology) have been some of my favorites. Combining humor with excellent interviewing skills, Ward’s delectable podcast equips listeners with a portfolio of facts on anything from “dancing spiders” to “very cool worms” (kinetic salticidology and planariology, respectively).

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LAURELHELL

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 During Public Discussion, Mick Hashimoto, a third-year economics major, presented a petition to change the UC Davis mascot from a mustang to a cow. Hashimoto said that the movement has gained traction, citing public support on social media. He said that he feels that UC Davis needs a unique identity that resonates with students.

Although many ASUCD representatives voiced their support for the change, Palmer said her support of Gunrock as a mascot.

“It’s important to remember the actual history of this mascot,” Palmer said. “Gunrock was an actual horse who lived at UC Davis. He was a thoroughbred, not a mustang, and he was

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 brought by the U.S. cavalry to breed at UC Davis. This is an interesting story that actually makes it very unique.”

Senator Owen Krauss provided a counterargument to keeping the mascot. “[Gunrock being a thoroughbred] sounds kind of elitist,” Krauss said. “[Cows] are incredibly important to the greater community.”

Martinez Hernandez invited consideration of old legislation, SB #44, which clarifies the roles, responsibilities and selection process for ASUCD members. After review, Krauss moved to approve it, which Palmer seconded.

Martinez Hernandez adjourned the meeting at 9:10 p.m.

BHM2 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 Lois is concerned that African American students remain underrepresented compared to the larger student population. According to a 2020 University of California publication on diversity, only 3.68% of undergraduates and 3% of graduate students at all UC campuses identify as Black and just 1.8% of lecturers identify as Black. Another publication on admissions data across UC campuses showed that in 2021, 4% of all freshmen admitted to UC Davis were African American, compared to the UC average of 5%. That same year, 5% of all transfer students admitted to UC Davis were African American, which matches the UC average. Although the percentage of African American admitted students is 7% or less for all UC schools, UC Davis remains one of the campuses with the lowest percentage admitted. And although the school admits 4% and 5% of first-year and transfer students respectively, the percentage of African American undergraduate students attending UC Davis remains around 3%, compared to UCLA’s 5% and UC Merced’s 4.2%. “[African American students] get admitted, but something [at Davis] isn’t quite as welcoming that convinces them to stay,” Lois said. “They’ll come and, in such a short period of time, realize that Davis isn’t for them and they’re off to other places. This is who we are and what we are here for. We aren’t going to complain about things that we’re not willing to get into and make a change.

So we’re not saying this as a complaint, but we’re

saying this because we’re willing to do the work.”

While encouraging these topics of conversations at Davis, the couple also finds it important to engage in these discussions themselves. Darryl talked about how he tries to be open and approachable for people to ask him about his experiences. Being able to talk about sensitive topics like microaggressions allows him to share his perspective, which helps other people gain a better understanding of situations than just what they read or see in the media, he said. These are important conversations to be had, especially at a university level, which is partly why Darryl decided to major in AAAS. When asked what advice she would give students in underrepresented groups at Davis and other institutions of higher education, Lois said to follow your heart like Darryl did when he chose his area of study.

Lois and Darryl attribute their success to all the help they’ve had, and they hope that their contributions will help support African American students thrive at UC Davis.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Darryl said as advice to students of color. Both Lois and Darryl also emphasized the importance of asking for and accepting help.

“You have the resources there on campus to be successful,” Lois said. “That’s the thing about Davis — it lifts you up and tries to show you not who you really are but who you can be.”

“Love Me More” Even though this song was written before the COVID-19 pandemic even started, Mitski made a song eerily akin to what so many have felt over the past two years. “Love Me More” deals with feelings of isolation and complete disconnect from the world around her, longing for someone or something to fulfill and even distract her. The music video adds new layers to the song, with eerie themes of voyeurism, showing Mitski watch a toy version of herself and anxiously attempt to match images of herself. Much like “Working for the Knife,” this song reflects her conflicting feelings about being an artist and the industry she works for, which leaves her feeling empty but she keeps going back — much like any unhealthy relationship.

“Should’ve Been Me” I am simply unable to do an unbiased review of this song; it is easily one of the best songs from the whole album. From the first four seconds you should feel an overwhelming urge to get up and walk along a dark road and snap your fingers to the beat like the Jets (yes, the gang from “West Side Story”). While the song might be about witnessing yourself slipping away from someone you love, feelings of utter loneliness and mourning of what once was, it is an absolutely bumpin’ track. There’s not much else to say about this one, it really transcends any one description — go listen to it.

“I Guess” This song is one of Mitski’s ethereal-sounding yet extraordinary melancholic songs about identity and connection. Yet again, it has an incredibly low number of lyrics (just two verses), but she still manages to really hit where it hurts in those two minutes. In the first verse she laments on the end of a relationship, saying “Without you, I don’t yet know quite how to live,” saying what many feel yet are often too afraid to admit when they lose someone that was their everything.

“That’s Our Lamp” Even though this song might be slightly overshadowed by ones that come before it in monumentality, this nostalgic track is the perfect way to close out the album. Yet again, the sound is light and airy, with ‘80s undertones all around, while the subject matter is oh-so bleak. Unlike other Mitski songs, this one seems to tell an almost anecdotal short story; a lover fades out of love, the fighting builds up, but they can’t seem to admit it’s the end, and Mitski clings onto a memory of their real love.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 play are now seeing their grandkids in the play, according to Bowen.

“Now all these years later, it’s still going,” Bowen marveled. “The fact that it’s had an impact on several generations of kids, it’s probably the event that I’ve become most closely identified with over the years, and it’s probably impacted the lives of thousands of families over the years.”

City Councilman Dan Carson commented that Bowen was a great contributor to the city of Davis during his 43-year career as city event planner.

“Bob Bowen greatly deserves this recognition,” Carson said. “He was a jack-of-all-trades for our city government, helping to coordinate important celebrations like the Fourth of July in Community Park and endlessly volunteering for tasks like researching and sharing Davis’ history in full costume for our centennial celebration. He really is our Citizen of the Year.”

Even though Bowen has retired, Carson expects to see him around quite a bit more in the future. ​​“I would say we will miss him, but I ran into him recently helping out at a charity food distribution event and fully expect to see him around on a regular basis,” Carson said.

Bowen plans on remaining active in the community, still volunteering at the Bicycling Hall of Fame. He will also be riding a high wheel bike on Picnic Day.

GUTBACTERIA CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 Price detailed how this study was the first to look at race and sex differences in the gut microbiome, specifically focusing on insulin sensitivity. She hopes that delving into racial and sex differences can help shed light on health disparities in the development of diseases in the population.

“There has been an enormous amount of research conducted about the gut microbiome, but the focus of the research is usually not very diverse in terms of race, sex and socioeconomic factors,” Johnathan Eisen, a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology and the Department of Medical Microbiology and

“The Only Heartbreaker” Here is a perfect song for power walking, passionate lip-syncing and spinning around alone in your room. Yet another amazing single from this album that came out last year, with a beautiful yet sorrowful horror-inspired music video. While seemingly slightly contradictory yet resonating with so many, Mitski embraces being at the end of a relationship. In the opening line she admits, “If you would just make one mistake, What a relief that would be,” but then goes on to accept her inevitable role of “heartbreaker” due to the unbalance of passion in the relationship — something all too easy to relate to whether it be from platonic or romantic relationships. Once we’ve made it to this point, what else can we do but fully embrace the role assigned, and the sound of this song does just that.

“There’s Nothing Left Here for You” This song definitely feels like a mixture of “Everyone” (in terms of tempo) and “Love Me More” (in terms of themes). Admittedly, this is also not one of the top tracks of the album, but still possesses that perfect “Mitskian” existentialist melancholy and sincerity. Whether this one is about having nothing left for herself in relation to her job, a past lover or life in general, the feeling is real and fairly gut-wrenching.

FOG

BOWEN Bowen came to Davis in high school and thoroughly enjoyed the town, contributing to it ever since. When he first arrived in Davis, it was a much smaller town, with far fewer houses and a smaller population.

“I was going to high school in Fresno, and my dad, who was involved in retail, was transferred to become a district or regional manager for a retail chain,” Bowen said. “We moved from Fresno to Davis in 1968, and the reason we ended up in Davis, thank goodness, was that my mom was doing doctorate-level work in Spanish Literature.”

Bowen eventually attended UC Davis and was in charge of organizing Picnic Day, beginning his long career in event planning. Organizing parties for thousands of people was one of his special skills. One of Bowen’s favorite events was the Children’s Nutcracker, which he started in 1977.

“The event that provided the most satisfaction is creating what is now called the Davis Children’s Nutcracker,” Bowen said. “I thought maybe we could do something to get involved in community theater, and we had the Veterans Memorial Theater that was underused in December, and we had recreation staff that worked in the traditional summer program. We adapted a draft of a classroom play based on the Nutcracker and put anyone who showed up in the show.”

The Nutcracker continues to this day. Some of the children who first participated in the

“Heat Lightning” When this song (and music video) was released in December 2021, so was the announcement and entire tracklist of the album, only adding fire to the bright, burning excitement that came with listening to it. Even though this song is relatively subdued as you listen to it, this does not make it any less cathartic to passionately sing along to. Some have felt the song is about relinquishing your power to insomnia, while others see it as a surrender to forgiveness directed at either a lover or oneself. Either way you hear it, there is no denying the anxious and despondent abandonment of control.

Immunology, and a co-author on this study, said.

Eisen said how this study highlights how some groups tend to be more studied than others and how that focus ignores the possible needs of understudied populations. Possible explanations for the differences in health need to be studied through extensive conditions, including a study of the diet, historical health conditions and other controls.

Dr. Price will be discussing this study as a part of Black History Month at UC Davis Health on Feb. 10 at 1 p.m. For information on how to join, search UC Davis Health’s Black History Month events.

“If you go to the fundamentals, it’s the same process, which is the cooling of humid air,” Zhang said. “In the summertime in the coastal areas, you have this body of water that has lower temperatures, and you have this warm air that goes above the cooler surface. Then, it depends on the humidity of that air and the temperature difference between the warm air and the cool surface. This can lead to the temperature inside the air mass to approach the dew point, leading to the formation of fog.”

Yet one of the more distinctive features of coastal fog is the large-scale processes which create the proper conditions for fog formation, including oceanic movements and the Earth’s rotation, according to Faloona.

“The ocean water is particularly cold because of a process called upwelling, where the wind blows on the ocean which moves the ocean southward and that’s what’s called the California Current,” Faloona said. “As that current is moving towards Baja and equatorward, because the earth is rotating, it gets pulled to its right and therefore offshore.”

This shift of water away from the coast opens a void by the coast that the deeper, colder waters move upward to fill, according to Faloona.

Thus, the colder water can interact with the warmer air to produce fog. Besides creating cool, humid conditions on the coast, this upwelling is important for stimulating phytoplankton growth

and for supporting the food web, while the fog from the upwelling can also have crucial climate implications, Faloona explained.

“It’s usually associated with these giant shields of low cloud over the ocean which are called stratocumulus,” Faloona said. “It turns out these clouds are very important and have been studied tremendously because they reflect so much sunlight. [...] The difference between that cloud being there and not being there actually has very strong fulcrum on our climate. These are very important centers of climate cooling.”

Besides the role it plays in food webs and global climate change, fog has also become a cultural symbol within California communities.

In San Francisco, the coastal fog has even been given a name, “Karl the Fog,” to describe the low clouds that thread through the hilly city streets.

After a two-year hiatus on Twitter, Karl the Fog posted on Jan. 20 to share a recent update since the start of the pandemic — marking the triumphant return of a beloved Bay Area persona to the public sphere.

“Oh, hey down there,” the fog wrote. “I know it’s been awhile, so hope you still recognize me [Crossed fingers emoji] (I put on a few metric tons over the last two years). Moved in with my parents in Point Reyes at the start of the pandemic. The free rent was great, but nothing beats hanging 6ft away from you.”

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SCIENCE AND TECH DECLINING NUMBER OF ANNUAL TULE FOG DAYS LINKED TO EMISSION TRENDS Radiation fog, a common wintertime feature of the Central Valley, has distinct formation processes compared to California’s coastal fog

UC Davis Aggies against the Eastern Washingtton Eagles in Novevber 2021. During the second half of the game, a dense fog descended over the UC Davis Health Stadium. (Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

BY MADELEINE PAYNE science@theaggie.org Winter in Davis often means chilly bike rides to class, sunsets that start as early as 5 p.m. and the occasional presence of a dense, motionless fog known as tule fog. In the Central Valley, this weather phenomenon is known for causing limited visibility and for posing dangerous conditions for travelers. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, tule fog is the

leading cause of weather-related traffic accidents in California.

Yet, according to a study published in 2019, the annual number of winter tule fog days is declining. From 1980 to 2016, tule fog in the Central Valley decreased by 76% — a stark contrast from the trends present in 1930 to 1970, when fog days increased by 85%.

A UC Berkeley research team, led by doctoral student Ellyn Gray, conducted the study and analyzed several factors that could explain the decrease in fog, including temperature, wind speed, dew point depression, ​​precipitation and

air pollutant levels. They found that emission trends and the NOx concentration, or the abundance of oxides of nitrogen in the air, were longer-term drivers in the changing number of days of tule fog.

Allen Goldstein, the senior author of the study and distinguished professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management and Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, explained how the formation of fog, which is essentially a cloud at ground level, is affected by the number of available particles in the air.

“Fog droplets, just like cloud droplets, typically start by water condensing onto a small particle we often refer to as a cloud condensation nuclei,” Goldstein said. “When you get more of these small particles in the air, particularly if they’re hygroscopic, or if they want to absorb water, then you’re more likely to condense the water that’s in the air on these particles rather than, say, dew forming on the ground.”

The study discussed how tule fog in the Central Valley exhibits a north-south trend, with southern regions averaging more days of tule fog than northern regions. This is similar to trends in emission pollution, with higher rates of NOx concentration occupying the southernmost part of the valley. Researchers found that climate fluctuations drove the short-term annual changes in fog frequency and that dew point depression, the difference in degrees between the air temperature and the dew point, played a crucial role. Emission trends were responsible for the longer-term temporal and spatial changes across the Central Valley.

Tule fog, also known as radiation fog, has some distinct features when compared to fog found in coastal areas of California. Ian Faloona, a professor in the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources at UC Davis, elaborated on the physical processes that make tule fog unique.

“At night, the ground radiates in the infrared out into space,” Faloona said. “Some of the atmosphere absorbs some of that radiation and also radiates it back to the ground, but [it’s] not nearly as much as the ground radiates up. It’s constantly cooling overnight, and, when there’s enough water vapor in the air, it cools down to the dew point, and then you create the fog.”

In reference to the large-scale geographic factors that affect tule fog formation, the Central Valley is a perfect mix of low elevation with protection in the east from the Sierra Nevadas, according to Faloona. This helps create the right conditions for relatively unmoving air, a key component to the still, lifeless quality of radiation fog.

“If you have enough wind coming in, that will mix in enough dry air to eliminate any kind of fog formation,” Faloona said. “One of the key ingredients [to radiation fog] is having stagnant winds.”

Fog by the shoreline of California often takes on a more mobile form, rolling in and out of coastal areas accompanied by a breeze. While the coastal fog formation is spurred by wind, the physical processes of formation for coastal fog and tule fog are fairly similar, according to Qi Zhang, a professor in the Department of Environmental Toxicology at UC Davis.

FOG on 9

UC DAVIS HEALTH DEVELOPS FRAGILITY FRACTURE PROGRAM TO IDENTIFY AND CARE FOR PATIENTS AT RISK OF OSTEOPOROSIS A fragility fracture, which can result from a fall from standing height, can be indicative of weakened, brittle bones and even osteoporosis

CHRISTINA LIU/ AGGIE

BY BRANDON NGUYEN science@theaggie.org The National Osteoporosis Foundation finds that roughly half of all women and up to a quarter of men will suffer a fragility fracture in their lifetime. As individuals grow older, the time needed to recover from a broken bone is prolonged and may be an indicator of a more serious health concern.

Dr. Hai Le, an orthopedic surgeon at the UC Davis Medical Center, provided a medical definition of a fragility fracture.

“A fragility fracture is a fracture of the spine or long bone with minimal energy and with minimal trauma,” Le said. “This usually results from a fall from standing height or lower and

can indicate that the bone density is very poor.

It happens quite frequently, especially among postmenopausal women or women above the age of 50 with poor bone density, as well as men above the age of 65.”

Fragility fractures are most common in the hip or spine and can suggest that the bones of an individual have weakened or have become brittle, a condition known as osteoporosis.

A recent study conducted by Le and his team found that patients who have had a fragility fracture are more likely to experience another one in the future. The study also brought to light the lack of follow-up care to prevent these patients from potentially suffering another fragility fracture and to treat cases of osteoporosis earlier on in the medical process.

“We found that among most of these [fragility fracture] patients, only 20% of these patients are receiving post-fracture chronic care, and that indicates the undertreatment of the patient population, leading to an increased risk for recurrent falls and recorded fractures,” Le said. “The other important aspect is that fragility fracture patients have a very high mortality risk, so, within one year, [27%] of patients will pass away because these fractures can severely affect their mobility and quality of life.”

Because of the lack of attention to care for these types of patients and the associated high mortality rate, UC Davis has developed the Fragility Fracture Program, an interdisciplinary collaboration of departments at the UC Davis Medical Center organized in order to quickly

identify those who have suffered from a fragility fracture and to provide comprehensive treatment to reduce risk of future fractures.

Dr. Polly Teng, an endocrinologist at the UC Davis Medical Center, described her role in the Fragility Fracture Program.

“Many hormones govern our bone health, so in normal bone remodeling, breakdown of old bone occurs in order to form a new bone, a risk factor that may put people at higher risk for osteoporosis and fragility fractures,” Teng said. “My role as an endocrinologist includes diagnosing osteoporosis, and to determine if they have risk factors that put them at risk for osteoporosis. Common risk factors can include vitamin D deficiency, inadequate calcium intake or absorption of other things that could be underlying endocrine disorders, such as people who are hyperthyroid, or have too much thyroid hormone production.”

Fragility fractures are just one indicator of osteoporosis, and Teng’s role in diagnosing osteoporosis includes conducting a complete laboratory screening of potential risk factors from a hormonal standpoint. Diagnosis, rheumatology and endocrinology specialists like Teng may prescribe pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic lifestyle modifications depending on the patient’s needs, including vitamin D or calcium supplements as well as referrals to physical therapists.

The Fragility Fracture Program has grown to better cater to its patients by including more in-patient therapies for those with hip fractures,

for example. This is immediately followed by a referral to the mobility clinic — part of the Healthy Aging Center — at UC Davis Health to work on treatments for these patients.

More than 53 million individuals in the U.S. either already have osteoporosis or are at high risk of fragility fractures due to low bone density, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Providing care among Medicare beneficiaries, including direct medical care as well as indirect costs from productivity lost and informal caregiving, has been estimated at $57 billion in 2018 and is projected to increase to over $95 billion by 2040. As both Teng and Le emphasized, preventative treatment early on in a person’s experience with fragility fractures can have a major impact on public health.

Dr. Barton Wise, a rheumatologist at the UC Davis Medical Center, explained how the Fragility Fracture Program could not have been initiated without the interdisciplinary collaboration among the various health departments.

“This is a collaborative process among many different groups, including orthopedics, the emergency room, the Healthy Aging Center for the mobility clinic, endocrinology, rheumatology and so forth,” Wise said. “There are two points: one, to coordinate the care for the patients, and number two, to have a research component of it, so we can understand what is working, what is not working, so we can provide more comprehensive care to our fragility fracture patients.”

UC DAVIS RESEARCHERS BECOME THE FIRST TO LINK INSULIN SENSITIVITY IN BLACK AND WHITE WOMEN TO DIFFERENCES IN THE GUT MICROBIOME This study was the first to focus on the racial and sex differences in the gut microbiome, highlighting the possible effects of various environmental and socioeconomic factors on gut health

BY MONICA MANMADKAR science@theaggie.org A study led by UC Davis researchers showed significant differences in insulin sensitivity between Black and white women. This study is the first to conduct research on insulin sensitivity in premenopausal women.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insulin is a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels and allows cells to use sugars as energy. The hormone also signals the liver to store extra sugar for later use.

Accordingly, insulin sensitivity describes how cells may become resistant to insulin over time, which can be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

The study showed that insulin sensitivity is more widespread in Black women than white women. Hence, type 2 diabetes is disproportionately more common in Black women than white women.

The study examined a dataset detailing the difference in the gut microbiomes of Black and white women. The gut microbiome refers to the set of microorganisms that live in the intestinal tract.

“By looking at the data set, [the researchers] were able to look into the differences between Black and white women’s profiles and how racial differences continue in insulin sensitivity,” Dr. Candice Price, an assistant adjunct professor and cardiometabolic researcher at the Department of Molecular Biosciences in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the lead author on the study, said.

The study was able to find differences in the microbial communities in the different sexes and racial populations. Thirty percent of white women had insulin resistance compared to almost half of the Black women in the study.

Firmicutes and Bacteriodetes are the most present bacterial types in the gut which make up about 90% of the total bacteria in all of the

samples. However, the study did not find any notable differences in the ratio of these types of bacteria between the races. The study did find that Black women have a greater abundance of Actinobacteria, which is related to elevated inflammation and reduced insulin sensitivity. “[Actinobacteria] being more abundant in Black women was one of the key findings of our study, and we may believe that insulin resistance may be more dominant in Black women due to this greater proportion of Actinobacteria,” Price said.

Price also described how differences in the gut microbiome may have a possible effect on cardiovascular metabolism in Black women, hence showing the effects of the environment and social circumstances.

GUTBACTERIA on 9

UC Davis study delves into the gut microbiome differences between Black and white women, which helps to highlight health disparities.

(National Institutes of Health (NIH) / Creative Commons)

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBURARY 10, 2022 | 11

THE EVOLUTION OF MALE-DOMINATED SPORTS Opportunities in male-dominated sports continue to expand — but there is a lot more work to be done

Mace Ranch Community Park in Davis. (Aggie File)

BY KATHERIN RAYGOZA sports@theaggie.org The ability to drive gender equality can lead to defying gender stereotypes and social norms. As of recently, women have made great strides in male-dominated athletics. They are allowed to referee professional male sports even in other countries, they are getting interviewed for general manager positions for the National Football League (NFL) and are progressively reaching higher positions.

On Jan.18, Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga became the first woman referee to officiate an Africa Cup of Nations game for men in the game between Zimbabwe and Guinea. This was a monumental step, one that inspired and even had some members of Rwanda’s Kigali women’s soccer team in Rwanda gathered around to watch as Mukansanga made history.

Being a referee has historically been a male-dominate position, and there has been sexism in regards to a lack of opportunities for female referees. Spectators have negative stereotypes of these referees and there are many other obstacles that create a hostile environment for any woman trying to become a referee.

Mukansanga has also officiated at the Olympics, Women’s World Cup, Africa Women Cup of Nations and the CAF Women’s Champions League. She is more than qualified for this position and her latest achievement of becoming a referee in one of Africa’s

most prestigious soccer tournaments is a milestone for women refereeing globally.

“It’s a privilege. It’s a pleasure to me, to the rest of African women referees,” Mukansanga said at a press conference by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). “It’s [an] opportunity to open the door and to show that all African [women] are capable.

They can reach that stage.”

More transgender referees are becoming prevalent in men’s sports as well. Sapir Berman, 26, in 2021, became the first transgender referee to officiate a men’s soccer match in Israel. Many of the fans that attended supported Berman.

“Finally, I decided to come out, to show [the world] who I am,” Berman said to the New York Daily News. “First for myself, for my own well-being, but also for my loved ones, so they wouldn’t see me suffering.”

Before Berman, in 2018, Lucy Clark became the first ever transgender referee in all of profesional soccer history. She faced some verbal abuse from fans and other sport authorities and although she described some as intimidating, those instances have been minimal.

“There’s been the off time that people have got my gender wrong and things like that, but I can understand that and I’m not someone who will be precocious about it as no-one has done it maliciously,” Clark said. “But once the game is on, there have been no issues from any of the fans, managers or players apart from the normal stuff that you get as a referee which I’ve had for the last 20

years.”

Given the environment that both Berman and Clark have been in, these are noteworthy achievements that are important to recognize as other countries might begin to do the same thing.

On April 29, 2021, the Denver Broncos hired Kelly Kleine as their executive director of football operations, and special advisor to the general manager. Ten days later, the Philadelphia Eagles promoted Catherine Raîche to be vice president of football operations, making her the highest-ranking woman to ever work in an NFL front office. Then, in mid Jan. 2022, the Vikings asked Raîche to interview for their General Manager position after firing Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer.

“We’re at the 50-yard line,” Marnie Schneider, daughter of Susan Tose Spencer, the first female general manager in the history of the NFL, said. “It’s up to the new generation of owners to embrace women in football. If they don’t — it’s going to be a rough road ahead. We need to keep riding the history of amazing women in football and the amazing things they’ve done, so we need to continue to move the ball down the field. We’re only halfway there.”

The National Basketball Association (NBA) has never had a female head coach. The league has come a long way since Lisa Boyer became the first-ever female assistant coach for the 200102 season. After her single-season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, no women were hired as assistant coaches in the NBA for over a decade. Heading into the 2021-22 NBA season, there are seven women on the coaching staff. Becky Hammon, Jenny Boucek, Kristi Toliver, Lindsey Harding, Teresa Weatherspoon, Sonia Raman, Edniesha Curry.

Women are one step away from becoming a head coach in the NBA. Rumors long swirled about Becky Hammon, the San Antonio Spurs assistant, being a potential candidate for the head coach position because she had spent the last seven seasons serving as an assistant to Gregg Popovich, one of the greatest coaches in NBA history. Popovich believes that Hammon has the skill and dedication of something special and is constantly praising her.

Back in 2020, when the Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich was ejected after arguing with a referee in the second quarter of a game with the Los Angeles Lakers in San Antonio, he turned to Becky Hammon, one of his assistant coaches, and indicated that she should take over the team. This was the first time in NBA history that a woman was leading a team.

“He officially pointed at me,” Hammon said. “That was it.

Said, ‘You’ve got them.’ Obviously, it’s a big deal. It’s a substantial moment.”

Although Hammon recently took a head coaching job with the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA, her resume and experience speaks for herself and with more women assistants in the NBA, it feels like only a matter of time before someone gets a head coaching job.

When someone plays a major role in male dominant sports, they are teaching others around the world that it is possible to be affiliated in men’s professional sports. With these opportunities continuing to become available to women and transgender individuals, the hope is that everyone will soon have the equal opportunity to collaborate with new ideas that can lead to winning big games.

WILL FIGHTING GAMES SURVIVE COVID-19?

One of gaming’s most fascinating communities has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.org Of the many social scenes to be hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fighting game community is rather uncomparable.

Despite more or less every fighting game released for over a decade offering online play, the spaces in which the games are played “for real” — according to most of the community — remain massive offline tournaments, usually featuring a double-elimination bracket for each game as well as unlimited casual play, art sales, performances, lotteries and numberless other attractions that make bigger tournaments closer in scope to conventions than simple meetups.

For the fighting game community (FGC), playing online isn’t an authentic experience; there are two main reasons for this. Firstly, fighting games are too fast for the internet. Even with solid rollback netcode that many large developers have been slow to adopt, the presence of four or five frames of delay (one-sixtieth of a second each) can be disastrous when advanced techniques and difficult combos can often be frame perfect, requiring hours of training to perform reliably even without that added variable. The fixed speed of light ensures that it is not possible for fighting games to be played online without some amount of delay, and thus offline play will always be preferable for skilled players.

Secondly, there’s tradition: The FGC has been around since the genre’s formalization in the early ‘90s when arcades ruled the scene — longer than most competitive gaming scenes of similar size. The lack of any requisite fixed cost (viz., a home console) meant that no economic barriers existed to restrict who could play, and consequently, the scene that has persisted to today is much more demographically varied than, for instance, competitive “Starcraft.” The scene’s arcade origins also immutably dictate that the community be oriented socially: something that lends itself to the immediate, communal nature of in-person play rather than that of distant, monitored online play. To the FGC, tournaments are inalienable.

So what, then, happens when this core component of the community is suddenly removed?

The imposition of the pandemic, of course, made in-person tournaments impossible. While the community has continued to exist online, it wasn’t until recently that in-person tournaments

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began to crop up again — with the requisite safety requirements.

Big tournaments such as Combo Breaker and EVO have been either forced online or canceled for almost two years, and while those larger organizations were prepared to deal with the costs of a forgone event, smaller tournaments such as Michigan Masters were forced to rely on community assistance to avoid financial ruin. But these are just the yearly events. Locals, which are the weekly or monthly smaller events that form the community’s spine, have no such visibility, and in many cases it hasn’t been clear whether some of them will come back at all. Locals are what keeps the constituent areas of the fighting game community intact, and as a reddit user put it, “If [locals] start to disappear, it’s the end of the FGC.” The community’s largest local tournament near Davis, the monthly Capitol Fight District in Sacramento, has been on hiatus (minus one event) since the beginning of 2020 — it’s now been almost two years.

With COVID-19 restrictions appearing to ramp down and certain major events, like CEO, managing to return to in-person play, the future of the community doesn’t look quite as bleak as it did before. If things continue to improve, it’s possible the community might return at an even larger scale, as serious fighting game releases like “Guilty Gear Strive” appear to be pushing up common indicators of popularity like the Steam Charts. Things could actually be better after the pandemic.

So in the interest of optimism, let the rest of this article then be a little valentine for the FGC. When you walk into a tournament, there’s always a distinct

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electricity about. Before the bracket starts, players huddle in threes and fours in front of monitors. Lively conversations clutter the air and are burst by the occasional cry of defeat or victory or (usually from an observer near one of the anime games) an articulate shout of something like, “He’s free!” or “Put ‘em in the blender!” The average fighting game player seems to be now in their thirties, and it’s not uncommon to see a kid under 10 running around the tables and ogling the sometimes ostentatious arcade sticks.

Hundreds of people can be cramped into the same room, eagerly staring over the shoulders of players in unflappable states of focus. And when the bracket starts, the stations are cleared and someone calls over the crowd for the silliest usernames you’ve ever heard to play at station eight.

There’s little else that’s like it, and with the amount of fun everyone seems to be having, it’s no stupid question why fighting games remain a somewhat niche genre relative to first-person shooters and the other titans of modern gaming.

But of course there’s a reason: the separation between idly knowing that it’s possible to press down and then forward plus a punch button to throw a fireball and knowing that “236956K” is the numpad-notation translation of the input for Baiken’s “Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2” Kire Tatami Gaeshi rather than my bank account’s PIN code can feel insuperable to a new player. This is especially true when the community has often done a somewhat poor job of consolidating the information actually necessary to progress from clueless rube to fighting-game literate. The barrier to entry is high, so only those with a real drive to understand what it’s all about will usually get past the genre’s first learning stages.

Once those travails are done, however, the world opens up; the limitless intricacies and considerations present in high-level play become observable. Knowledge of what’s actually happening on the screen serves to separate fighting-game players from the rest of the world. This barrier is what makes membership inside the FGC unique, and it’s possible even that a desire to preserve that uniqueness dissuades some players from making the information necessary to join the community readily available.

If fighting games come back bigger than ever, that would be a great thing. Fans have often been defiant in their insistence that it’s the greatest genre of video game — if nothing else, it’s managed to catalyze the creation of one of the most singular hobbyist communities around today, one strong enough to weather the temporary destruction of the thing often said to be its very center.

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THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SPORTS

UC RIVERSIDE OUTLASTS UC DAVIS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL DOWN TO THE STRETCH The Aggies fall at home against the Highlanders for the first time in six years

UC Davis Guard Sydney Burns playing offence in game against UC Riverside at University Union Credit Center on Feb. 1. The Aggies lost to the Highlanders 61-59. (Benjamin Cheng / Aggie)

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.com The Aggies lived by the three and died by the three falling 5961 at home against UC Riverside in a thrilling Big West showdown.

The UC Davis women’s basketball team started the game cold, missing their first five shot attempts and going scoreless for the first three minutes to start the game. They also missed five straight threes from beyond the arc.

During the opening quarter, the Aggies looked to be aggressive from long range getting wide open looks from multiple players.

The Highlanders played up tempo basketball, forcing the Aggie defense to play at a much faster pace than they’re used to.

“We were getting really good looks in the first quarter,” Jennifer Gross, the UC Davis head coach, said. “I felt like we’re lacking a little bit of energy to start.”

UC Davis’ reigning defensive player of the year Sage Stobbart missed her first eight shot attempts in the opening quarter.

Stobbart went 0-5 from the field and 0-3 from three point range; however, she made her presence known on defense with a block and two rebounds.

UC Riverside third-year guard Jada Holland was outstanding during the first quarter. She controlled the tempo and took advantage of the screens off the pick and roll, scoring 11 points in the quarter. Holland shot 4-5 from the field and an outstanding 3-3 from the three.

Riverside went into the second quarter extending their lead 2412. However, UC Davis looked very much like the team that won five straight conference championships, going on a 15-0 run and

scoring 17 points in the quarter with eight of those points coming off the bench. The Aggie defense played one of its better quarters of the season allowing five points. The Highlanders shot 2-15 from the field and 1-6 from the three-point line.

First-year Mazatlan Harris, the San Diego native who sports the #33 for the Aggies, was pivotal in jump starting the offense.

Harris immediately scored a long jumper followed by UC Riverside’s second-year guard Ryanne Walters answering back with a three pointer. A few plays later, Harris swished a three from 30 feet sending the home crowd into a frenzy.

Second-year guard Evanne Turner and star forward Cierra Hall contributed to the comeback, combining for nine points in the second quarter. They both made plays at the right time as Hall stole the ball and assisted Turner on a fast break three pointer to put up UC Davis 25-24.

At that point in the game, the crowd was on their feet chanting “Defense!” The momentum swung in favor of the home team cultivating two defensive stops. With 10 seconds left in the second quarter, Hall had the ball in her hands quickly passed to Turner outside the key, Turner passed it back to Hall who was guarded by Holland. Hall accepted the challenge putting a move on Holland making her fall back with a stepback jumper scoring at the buzzer to end the half. The Aggies were in full control taking the lead 27-24.

“We just talked about how in the second quarter we took control and that’s what we needed to do during the second half,” Gross said. “I thought we had the right mentality coming out of halftime where we took a nice lead.”

Stobbart had a fantastic third quarter, posting up against

defenders in the paint. She was efficient with her shot selection going 4-5 from the field and 1-1 from the arc, good enough for nine points.

UC Davis led by as many as eight in the third quarter until UC Riverside’s Keilanei Cooper, a fourth-year guard, made her presence felt, scoring nine points. Holland contributed with six points and three assists, helping the Highlanders even the score at 47-47.

Stobbart’s dominance followed into the fourth quarter, scoring five points in 16 seconds off of two attempts within the first two minutes to open the quarter. That was the last time the Aggies fed Stobbart the ball.

“We were just kind of looking at different matchups,” Gross said. “We went to her a little bit. We saw [Cierra Hall] had a good match up so we were trying to post her up a little bit too, our offense is about picking up offensive advantages and so that’s what we were looking at.”

The home team spent the majority of the quarter in command, leading by as much as six. Finally, with 5:31 left in regulation the Highlanders took the lead, 56-55.

Down the stretch, Turner bulldozed her way into the paint and scored an easy basket to cut the deficit to one.

With 1:57 remaining, Hall, with her experience, looked to be the closer taking over ball duties scoring a fade away jumper inside the paint to put the defending champions up by one.

“She’s a tremendous player, she’s a threat from really everywhere on the floor,” Gross said of Hall. “She gets us going outside and inside and she’s a great play maker too. She’s a fun person to coach and she’s a tough match up.”

The Aggies led 59-58 with 1:26 left on the clock when Turner passed the ball out from the post to Hall who was outside the key 30 feet away from the basket. Hall took advantage of the one on one matchup against UC Riversides’ guard Mele Finau, dribbling past her down the lane as she mishandled the ball in the paint. Hall managed to recover the ball passing it to Turner with five seconds left on the shot clock. Turner with a hand on her face shot the three pointer as the clock expired and missed with the ball bouncing on the edge of the rim.

Forward Daphne Gnago grabbed the rebound and immediately passed to Holland who dribbled past the Aggie logo passing the rock to Keilanei Cooper. Cooper drove into the paint with Hall on the defensive end; however, Cooper pump faked drawing in Stobbart and Kayla Konrad. Holland was left wide open at the top of the key proving to be lethal from beyond the arc, splashing a three pointer that seemed to be in the air for what seemed like an eternity. The University Union Credit Center was silenced as the Highlanders pulled away 61-59, earning their first road win in Davis since 2016.

Stobbart finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two steals. While Turner finished with 16 and Hall finished with 13 points and eight assists.

“Give Riverside credit, they came back and started making plays, and we just fell a little bit short at the end,” Gross said.

After the game UC Davis immediately boarded a plane en route to Hawaii. The Aggies lost to Hawaii 50-57 on Feb. 3. Their record stands at 9-9, 3-5 in conference play. UC Davis will host UC San Diego on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m.

SUPER BOWL LVI PREVIEW A recap of the championship round and a preview of the biggest matchups to look for in this year’s Super Bowl

BY GABRIEL CARABALLO sports@theaggie.org After an epic few weeks of NFL playoffs, it’s finally time for the Super Bowl. This year’s playoffs showed just how competitive these teams were. It was a divisional round unlike any other, in which all games ending regulation on a field goal attempt gave high hopes to football fans for the upcoming conference championships. They delivered with two spectacular playoff games.

Starting off Conference Championship Sunday were the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game. It seemed as though the Chiefs had control of the game, leading 21-13. Until late in the third quarter, the Bengals defense stepped up and forced a crucial interception. The Bengals’ pass rush was too much for the Chiefs’ star quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes threw the interception to defensive tackle B.J. Hill — Mahomes’ first pick in an AFC Championship Game.

Unfortunately, it was a turnover that eventually led the Bengals to the end zone. After a successful two-point conversion, the Bengals tied up the contest at 21-21. By the end of regulation, it was tied 24-24, where only overtime would settle this match. The Chiefs won the coin toss and the Bengals felt a wave of despair.

“Yeah, I mean, usually when you lose a coin flip to those guys, you’re going home,” Joe Burrow, the Bengals quarterback, said in a postgame interview.

However when confronting an animal, never put it in a corner.

The Bengals were able to lock up the Chiefs’ offense and secure another interception almost immediately after overtime began.

Cincinnati won the game 27-24 with a field goal and secured their place in the Super Bowl — their first appearance since 1989.

Following this emotionally swaying event was the NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. A close game throughout the entire contest, the 49ers led late into the second half but were only able to score once more against the Rams’ tough defense, making the score 17-7.

The Rams added veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions almost immediately after their season ended last year. The Rams needed him to pull off a comeback to make their second trip to the Super Bowl in four years. He did just that, by moving the chains and passing for a touchdown, making the score 17-14. The 49ers were unable to score for the remainder of the game, courtesy of the Rams’ defense forcing punts. Stafford got the Rams to get in field goal position twice and were able to capitalize on the moment, making both attempts as the Rams now led 2017.

In a last-ditch effort to win the game, 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took a snap and was immediately swarmed by blue uniforms. Rams star defensive end Aaron Donald almost came up with a sack but Garoppolo was able to get rid of it. However, he threw it to the wrong side as the ball was thrown to Rams linebacker Trayvon Howard, sealing the game for the Rams and sending them to the promised land.

“Long time coming, you know? Spent a lot of years in this league and I’ve loved every minute of it,” Stafford said after the game. Solemn words for someone who’s spent the last 12 seasons playing for the Detroit Lions. An experience he’s been chasing since he was first drafted into the league now became a reality.

With both conference championship games done and both

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

won by one possession, they are set and anchored with some of the best players in the sport. For starters, each team’s starting quarterback is a former first overall pick. The Bengals with secondyear quarterback Joe Burrow, who threw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns during the regular season. Burrow seems to be immune to the sophomore slump and has played well throughout the playoffs, gallantly leading his team from the wild card round to the Super Bowl.

Their opposition, the Rams, have a different story with Matthew Stafford. A veteran in the league and one-time pro bowler, he threw for 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns this past year. Stafford has remained consistent throughout his career and is finally in a winning position. These two quarterbacks should showcase an offensive battle like a cage match between wild animals, especially with their weapons on the offensive side.

Each team has a star wide receiver running routes for them: the Bengals with rookie sensation Ja’Marr Chase and the Rams with the league’s best receiver Cooper Kupp. Chase grabbed 13 touchdown passes and racked up 1,455 yards. These are great stats especially for a rookie. Kupp on the other hand snagged 16 touchdowns and received for 1,947 yards — almost breaking the single season record. These two receiving giants are the main weapons for their respective quarterbacks.

Although offense is quite prevalent in today’s game, defense is what wins championships. The Rams’ defense is stacked with the likes of defensive end Aaron Donald, cornerback Jalen Ramsey and veteran safety Eric Weddle, who came back to the NFL after being retired for two years and provided a spark at safety — all of which make their presence known on the field.

The Rams’ pass rush is one of the best in the league and the

Bengals’ offensive line has struggled to keep Burrow protected, even giving up nine sacks in their playoff game against the Titans.

The Rams’ defense brought down opposing quarterbacks 50 times during the regular season. With pressure like that and a shaky offensive line, the Rams’ strength will surely be a key factor in the overall outcome.

Then even if the Bengals can control the pass rush, there’s still the passing defense. With stars like Jalen Ramsey and Eric Weddle patrolling the lines, it can be tough to find open receivers, so the Bengals’ second and third best receivers might be key here.

It seems like the Bengals have the worst of it, but the Rams aren’t out of the woods yet. The Bengals may not have household names on their defense, but they’re made up of some key players.

Veteran safeties Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell have been great this year, with good cornerbacks Eli Apple and Tre Flowers also defending the passing zones. Then with a pass rush of B.J. Hill and Trey Hendrickson, who have been playing great this postseason to add consistent pressure on Stafford, the Bengals have a defense that has rocked the playoffs by forcing the most turnovers.

As it stands now, the Vegas Insider’s Super Bowl odds have the Rams favored at roughly -200 and the Bengals at +165. It seems Vegas is counting the Bengals out after probably making a lot off them post-conference championship. The Rams will have home field advantage since the Super Bowl is being hosted at SoFi Stadium. Either way, football is an unpredictable sport in which anything can happen. Especially when the biggest game is a cage match between two beastly clubs, this one is setting up to be a great matchup.