03.29.23

The Lumberjack

COACH TAE NORWOOD ACCUSED OF VERBAL ABUSE, FALSE PROMISES

Disclaimer: A reporter for The Lumberjack sat down with 8 men’s basketball players for a group interview. All of the quotes featured in this article are from this group of players.

The Cal Poly Humboldt men’s basketball team coach Tae Norwood and athletic department have come under scrutiny following allegations of abuse by players on the team.

Several current players spoke to The Lumberjack on the condition of anonymity. Their allegations range from emotional abuse and false promises to misappropriated funds and faked COVID test results.

College basketball coaches often push their players to the limit, but the accusations coming from Humboldt’s men’s basketball team suggest an overwhelmingly toxic culture promoted by Norwood.

“This is not college basketball,” one player said. “This is not how individuals should be treated on a daily basis.”

The Eureka Times-Standard reported on March 25 that recently resigned athletic director Cooper Jones was made aware of the allegations in January, but did not appear to respond to concerned parents’ emails. The players corroborate this.

“He knew we didn’t appreciate the way he was talking to us off the court and he told us, ‘Go ahead and tell the AD [athletic director], I don’t give a fuck, he ain’t gonna do nothing anyways,’” a player recounted. “And that was a big thing for us, because we felt helpless.”

Jones’ late February resigna-

tion seems conveniently timed to the players.

“He [Norwood] was in cahoots with the AD, and the AD is gone now,” another player said. “It’s all adding up.”

Norwood would accuse players of faking injuries during intense days of practice, endangering them.

“Last year a few of us got sick with COVID before San Marcos and he told us to fake our COVID tests,” one player said.

He regularly verbally abused players, using phrases like, “Fuck y’all,”

player said. “It’s not like an injury the trainers can help you with.”

“He’s not getting the best out of us by abusing us, he’s just abusing us,” another player said.

Some players allege that Norwood used funds to fly first class, and would restrict their daily budget for food while on trips. He also made empty promises to players regarding their housing, the program’s funding, and the team’s status.

“He told my mom my housing was paid for,” one player claims. The player then had to pay over $1000 for a single dorm.

Another player recalled a different recruiting effort that Norwood used to get him to play for Humboldt.

“Basically, he told us the school is aiming to go Division 1 in a couple years,” he said. “That he [Norwood] would be out at dinner and boosters would come up to him and write him checks for $10,000, $30,000, and $50,000 and he would just keep talking [about the money].”

and, “Mind your fucking business.” Some players recalled Norwood cursing at minimum wage workers while on a trip.

“He told us that if we have a problem with what he says and try to speak back to him about it, we would be suspended indefinitely,” another player said.

“Sometimes he’d use us as his personal punching bag or stress ball,” said one player. “The way he’s treating us is making us fall out of love with the game.”

“When you dedicate your life to something and you’re in love with the sport, and then you have a guy in charge who has no interest in your well being and he has a vendetta against you, it takes a huge toll on you,” one

According to the players, Norwood would say that the program had a lot of money because there is no longer a football program, and two teams are not co mpeting for the same amount of funds.

Among the empty promises Norwood made while recruiting was the prospect of getting compensated.

“He told us we would get a NIL deal and we would all get $2000 each,” one player said. NIL stands for “name, image, and likeness” where student athletes can get financial compensation through their own personal brand as an athlete. The players never saw that money.

“What he is saying and what he is doing is just not adding up, and it’s not good,” said a player.

Holi celebration on the Quad welcomes spring with color and joy

by Alex Anderson

Photo courtesy of Elliott Portillo | Tae Norwood stands at the home game against Chico State on Feb. 4, 2023

“He’s not getting the best out of us by abusing us, he’s just abusing us”

Cal Poly Humboldt student Nishaant Sinha shares a colorful exchange with a fellow Holi attendee. Holi brings people together in celebration of love, spring and new beginnings. “It reminds me of home,” Sinha said.

The Lumberjack

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:

AUGUST LINTON

MANAGING EDITORS:

ANGEL BARKER

CAMILLE DELANY

NEWS EDITOR:

DEZMOND REMINGTON

LIFE & ARTS EDITOR:

NINA HUFMAN

SCIENCE EDITOR:

HARRISON SMITH

SPORTS EDITOR:

JAKE KNOELLER

OPINION EDITOR:

CAMILLE DELANY

PHOTO EDITOR:

ALEX ANDERSON

COPY EDITOR:

JASMIN SHIRIAZIAN

LAYOUT EDITORS:

AUGUST LINTON

ANGEL BARKER

CAMILLE DELANY

DEZMOND REMINGTON

HARRISON SMITH

WEB EDITOR:

ANGEL BARKER

DELIVERY DRIVER:

JASMYN LEMUS

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER:

AUGUST LINTON

FACULTY ADVISER:

DEIDRE PIKE

CONTRIBUTORS:

ALEX ANDERSON

ALANA HACKMAN

JAKE KNOELLER

DEZMOND REMINGTON

JASMIN SHIRAZIAN

AUGUST LINTON

CAMILLE DELANY

BRAD BUTTERFIELD

HARRISON SMITH

LIDIA GRANDE-RUIZ

VALEN LAMBERT

ANGEL BARKER

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Limited university housing almost full

by Dezmond Remington

Every morning the sun rises, every evening it sets, and about a quarter of the way through every spring semester, the housing website crashes when a couple thousand desperate students all attempt to turn in their applications for the next year. It’s a pattern that never fails, and this last go-round was no different.

Student Kristin Tran was one of many affected by the crash. They had to wait two hours when the application opened to get it turned in, missing class in the process to make absolutely sure it went through when it could.

“It was definitely really crazy and super chaotic,” Tran said. “I am registered with SDRC too, so I have accommodations, but because of the shortages, they said they’ve also had to be super selective about who gets certain accommodations now, because they simply don’t have enough room for everyone…it’s just kind of scary.”

Nabbing a university-sponsored spot is not easy. According to Housing Assignments Coordinator Carly Strand and Executive Director for Auxiliary Operations Stephen St. Onge, it’s entirely firstcome first-served, although it isn’t just one long list. Applicants are sorted into gendered lists. If they’re comfortable with co-ed housing, that is also taken into consideration.

As of March 22, 2,335 students had applied for the 2,406 beds in university housing, which includes all on-campus housing and all of the “bridge” hotel housing. However, St. Onge and Strand said they were working on getting more housing, although from where specifically they couldn’t say.

There were 1,500 applications for university housing from returning students, who are all competing for 911 beds. They will find out on March 29 if they got a spot. They’ll find out where that spot is

later in the spring. Strand advised returning students to avoid panicking about housing in the meantime.

Incoming freshmen will learn if they

got housing in June. As of March 22, about 700-800 freshmen had applied for the roughly 1,500 beds on campus mainly reserved for them in Canyon, Cypress, and the Hill. The number will rise as the Fall 2023 semester draws nearer.

St. Onge said that in a typical year about 25% of the applications are canceled. The application is free to submit, and some applicants may end up attending a different school. However, St. Onge also said that the freshmen cancellation rate this year may be closer to about 20% because the campus’ new polytechnic status has made it more desirable.

Setting up student housing in local motels has been tough. According to St. Onge, it takes about six to eight months to scout a location and lock down a deal with the owners. It costs the school $100 a day to house students there, although the residents are charged about $20 a day—the lowest rate of any university-provided option aside from three-person dorm rooms.

“The university is subsidizing housing for students because it is committed,” St. Onge said. “It is committed to providing safe and affordable housing for students.”

Tran doesn’t feel that the university’s first-come first-served policy reflects that mission well.

“They want to double enrollment,” Tran said. “It’s going to get a lot worse until they deal with it and deal with the fact that their growth is kind of unsustainable right now.”

LIFE AND ARTS

Students talk: dealing with burnout

story

John Ellsworth - botany major-

What’s on your mind? - I was making plans to see the new D&D movie with some friends. It releases today and we’re going up to Mill Creek in McKinleyville because it’s $5 on Tuesdays. Any strategies moving forward to get you through the rest of the semester? - Me and my friends get together and watch liveplay D&D shows, so just kind of getting together with friends and watching other people play liveplay roleplay games.

What’s on your mind? - I was thinking about playing the song we were playing because usually when we play it, I play piano so I was thinking about what I’d be doing if there was a piano here.

Any strategies moving forward to get you through the rest of the semester? - Just Looking forward to exciting things has been helpful in terms of, I need to do all my stuff and keep my grades up and get through the rest of school so I can enjoy the things I have planned.

Aiden Mahl - environment science

What’s on your mind? - I was thinking about this song, and how we’re going to perform it Thursday at Blondie’s at the open mic, so I was just imagining being up on stage and performing it for everyone.

Any strategies moving forward to get you through the rest of the semester? - Definitely playing music a lot, and just being outside when it’s sunny and getting the sun on my skin. Definitely exercise as well. Playing sports. All that good stuff.

Mica

What’s on your mind? - Chilling in between classes, it’s nice outside so just enjoying the sun.

Any strategies moving forward to get you through the rest of the semester? - Definitely focusing on getting things done on time and getting outside. I’m an athlete for the school so it helps a lot being outside having an outlet. When I’m not doing that, just staying on top of my work.

Kelly

What’s on your mind? - Well, today was a really busy day and finally I’m calming down and just taking a moment to myself and kind of sitting back. I never really sit here so it’s interesting to just take a minute and wind down. It’s really important during a busy day as a student.

Any strategies moving forward to get you through the rest of the semester? - I use a planner. I write out everything I need to do and it really helps me stay on track, keep my mind focused. I’m a list person! I don’t want to forget to take some time for mental health and have fun when it’s possible and not get bogged down because it’s the end of my senior year. It’s important to remember to have fun.

Photo by Brad Butterfield | Students watch the housing protest in the U.C. quad on Feb. 8.

Photo by Alexander Anderson | Protestors speaking out against the new housing policy during the Cal Poly Homeless protest on Feb 8.

by Valen Lambert, photos by Alexander Anderson

Faith Byington - psychology

Mills - wildlife management

Korciron - environmental science management

John Ellsworth enjoying some lunch.

Faith Byington listening to Aiden Mahl play guitar. Mica Mills enjoys the sun.

Kelly Corciron taking a moment and sitting back.

Radium Girls spins gold out of straw

by Alana Hackman

When I discovered that the spring play would be Radium Girls. I was ecstatic. I had previous historical knowledge of the event and the TV show but was unaware there was a play. The play was a hearty one lasting nearly three hours but had impressive delivery by the all student cast for such an emotionally charged story.

I feel that the Theatre Department put on quite a well organized performance considering the main cast was only eight people. Each character aside from the main protagonist, Grace, (played by Sophia Escudero) were playing up to four characters each.

One could look at the small cast, lack of props, and scene changes as a dealbreaker for the production but it only impressed me more. Cast members being involved in all of the moving parts is what really made Radium girls so charming and applaudable. Majority of the scene changes were led by the cast

members immediately after delivering lines.

There were no closed curtains and very few techies were spotted on the wings and stage throughout the show. The lack of props on the stage during most of the scenes really forced the audience to focus their attention on the actors’ performance. It seemed to me the cast and crew were able to work with what they had and still deliver a killer performance.

Krystie Obiso and Izzy Waring stood out to me the most with their performances. Obiso playing all the parts of Irene, Miss Wiley, Board Member #2 , and Mrs. Michaels. Obiso puts a firecracker spirit into every character she portrays. From her impressive transatlantic accents and strong emotional outbursts she really had an enchanting stage presence even when playing side characters.

Waring also played a handful of

characters including Mrs. Roeder, Madame Curie. Customer, and Board Member #3. Her performance as Mrs. Roeder is what wowed me the most. Waring’s ability to deliver such emotional anguish and distress of a wife discovering her husband’s negligence following the truth of radium’s negative health effects was not something I expected to see in a college play.

Obiso and Waring’s delivery really set the emotional ambiance of each scene and of Radium Girls as a whole. They really pushed the theme of women’s pain and truth being overlooked throughout history.

The set design was also very professional and clean looking. It had a lot of technical parts to really get an emotional reaction out of the audience but was still simple. From the city skyline physically “closing in” to symbolize the truth about radium as well as the white screen used as screen to play with light and impose the feeling of “time running out” throughout the show.

I will say the one critique I did notice during my time as an audience member in this play was the lack of microphones. I wasn’t able to tell if any of the actors were wearing mic packs and had a hard time hearing some of the dialogue. Especially during what seemed to be vital conversations within the storyline like the scenes between Grace and her mother. Same with stage blocking, sometimes a cast member would turn their back and be completely muffled out from the audience. This made following some of the intense dialogue on stage a bit harder, especially when accents came into play. When it comes to such a detailed and long play I do wish the actors were mic’d up to make it a bit easier to follow. I can assume that the cast and crew were working with a tighter budget for this production but it didn’t stop them from executing a successful opening night.

Everyone’s getting into the swing of it

by Jasmin Shirazian

Monday nights come to life for swing dancers at Redwood Raks World Dance Collective. After finding out Cal Poly Humboldt offers swing dancing as a class this semester, it became a goal for me to find out about the community here. From 6 P.M. to 7:50 P.M., Professor Phillip Nicklas teaches swing to students in the kinesiology building. Afterwards, he rushes to Redwoods Raks, where he can be found at the weekly Monday night6. He recently mentioned this to his class, leading a few students to join in on the ever-growing swing nightlife.

Swing dancing began in Harlem, New York during the 1920s. Most dances came from Black communities, coming in many styles and forms, such as the Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing,

and so on. Luckily, the art continues to thrive, including in Humboldt.

I watched as people were asked to dance, being swept up off the floor and twirled in fervent circles. I even found myself on the floor after a wonderful man named Tony asked for my hand. He quickly showed me how to do the Charleston and I tried my best to follow. Professor Nickolas was there to keep the spirits up as he DJed through the whole night.

Growing up here, Nicklas has been dancing since 1996, 2 years after graduating high school; his first Lindy Hop lesson was actually at Redwood Raks. He began teaching in 1997 after joining the military and finding out he was the only one with knowledge of the dance.

“I love teaching swing dancing,” says

Nicklas. “I notice I’m just in a great mood after I teach.”

Many of the students who take his class agree that they can feel his love and passion for the art. Somerset Miles Dwyer, a first time swing dancer, has been taking Nicklas’ class this past semester.

“I used to dance a lot when I was younger, and I wanted the opportunity to learn how to dance with a partner,” says Dwyer. “[This class] is a fun way of getting to dance with a lot of different people, and finding someone you like dancing with. People have a lot different styles, and that can teach you a lot more.”

Other students, such as Kaya Knutzon, struggle with the time that the class is at, and thus prefer going to Monday

night swing at Redwood Raks.

“I joined swing dancing due to pressure from my roommates, but I just thought it would be a really cool skill to have,” says Knutzon. “I’ve definitely learned a lot with the amount of times I have gone, there’s a surprising amount of moves you don’t realize are going on. I don’t think I’ll take the class next semester, but I’ll definitely be going to the out-of-school activities.”

All in all, it seems like swing dancing is alive and well in the Humboldt community. It was really refreshing to see such an array of skill, and it felt nice to not be judged due to my lack of talents. It’s nice to know that if there’s nothing to do on a Monday night, swing dancing is always an option.

Photo courtesy of the CPH Department of Theatre, Music, and Dance. | Harve Criqui as Tom, Sophia Escudero as Grace Fryer, and Ben Wimer as Roeder.

Photo courtesy of the CPH Department of Theatre, Music, and Dance. | Grace, Tom, Madame Curie, and Mr. and Mrs. Roeder

Library exhibit features figurative teapots

by Camille Delany

An oversized wooden key juts from the ace of hearts; a red bandaid struggles to contain blood spilling over orange glaze; a cheerful dolphin’s head peers from beneath a knobbled purple, red, and green lid topped by a serene yellow duck. All these surreal characters and more sprout from a single teapot, the work of Li Jacobson, on display in the li brary.

show on exhibit through Apr. 2 in the library display cases to the left of the main en trance.

pieces are from Car ly Slade’s Fall 2023 low-fire class. A

few pieces were produced for Portfolio BFA and high fire classes. They all vary widely in design and functionality.

“For this teapot I wanted to include a lot of sculpture aspects. I looked into abstract surrealism, and I wanted to include a bunch of

ally disorienting,” Jacobson said. “I just had a lot of fun playing around with shapes and different glazes and colors, because in low-fire we can actually play with colorful glazes, so I just really wanted to delve into that.”

Riley Coyote’s teapot is a fully-functional vessel that she made to trade with a friend for a hand-knit -

“My piece is soda and salt glazed, which left a greenish residue,” Coyote said. “The piece was all raw clay, and it was entirely glazed by the interior of the kiln.”

Working on the teapot gave Coyote a chance to expand her artistic practice and try new meth -

“I left it unglazed and we fired it in the soda kiln, which is an atmospheric firing method that I’m interested in,” Coyote said.

Chayslin Johnson’s piece, “The Pot-tea,” is a playful homage to childhood and potty humor.

“Ceramics for me is a medium to just be goofy and silly and have fun, and that was definitely the main focus of this, just to play on a lot of different kinds of humor,” Johnson said.

“Ceramics for me is about connecting with my inner child and healing my inner child,” Johnson said.

“I’ve been pursuing a career working with children in school psychology,” Johnson said. “I think as adults we don’t get to play and be silly enough, and I think that hinders our ability to be creative and to problem

“I didn’t want it to be a teapot that looks like a toilet; it’s a toilet and you drink tea out -

Above: Photo by Alex Anderson | Dakari Tate, a Cal Poly Humboldt wildlife major has face completely covered in flourescent yellow powder for this year’s Holi festival in celebration of spring outside the Gutswurrak SAC on Mar 24.

Top: Photo by Alex Anderson | Cal Poly Humboldt wildlife major Ava Barela (right) sits down for a henna tattoo at this year’s Holi Festival.

Bottom: Photo by Alex Anderson | Multiple colors of flourescent powder being thrown in the air by students at the Holi festival.

Teapot and cups by Li Jacobsen

Teapot by Jolie Chaidez

Teapot and cups by Chayslin Johnson

Teapot and cups by Melodie Sidhu

Teapot by Riley Coyote

Shoestring mushrooms on a shoestring budget

by Brad Butterfield

I set out on my grand mushroom grow with the premise that if Miss Mother Nature can grow mushrooms on a soggy log in the forest, then surely I (harnessing the power of google) can fruit some shrooms while living in the back of a van on a top-ramen budget, right?

I bought both Lions Mane and King Blue Oyster liquid cultures for $40 from Lost Coast Fungi.

The next step was painful for me as a person because it required shopping –an activity I hate from multiple angles. To begin the grow I needed:

pressure cooker

• tin foil

• mason jars

rye berries

cotton balls

I got the rye berries from Wildberries for a couple bucks. So, I ended up buying everything at Walmart and will soon find out their return policy on ‘unopened’ pressure cookers.

The following day I used a sharp knife to create holes in the mason jar lids to allow for gas exchange while mycelium feeds on the rye berries. I made the holes different sizes for fun and also for science.

Next, I soaked the rye grain in water for a full day. After filling the mason jars with the soggy rye berries, I covered the lids with tin foil. Ideally, inoculation would be done using a laminar flow hood to create a sterilized flow of clean air but I didn’t want to fork out any extra money. So, I’m going to just stick the damn syringe through the tin foil and hope the tip finds a hole. Anyway, theoretically, the air between the foil and the top of the lid will be sterilized in the pressure cooker. Obviously the foil is not air tight and microorganisms still may contaminate during any stage of the process. But, I’m often lucky, so I’m going to rely on that as my secondary anti-contamination method. My total cost for this first stage of the process was about sixty dollars. I’m not including the pressure cooker in that as I plan on returning it at Walmart (hopefully).

Having prepared the grain spawn and sterilized it, I could finally get going on the fun stuff. Unfortunately, I got so busy with classes that my mushroom project kept getting pushed back. Late one night I just said -hell with itand inoculated in my van. I wiped the syringe needle tip down with rubbing alcohol and torched it with my crack lighter before injecting into the jars.

It occurred to me after I inoculated that the van gets far too cold at night

for the mycelium to populate the grain spawn. Of course, mushrooms are badass, and most likely would still grow in the thirty-five degree nighttime temperature of my van-home. Eventually, I found that the kinesiology building rents out lockers for ten dollars a semester. The locker room stays about seventy degrees, which was more or less perfect for the young mushrooms to begin feeding on the rye berries.

Remarkably, within one week, a couple of the grain spawn jars had been completely populated by mycelium. I had to get moving on gathering materials for the next step.

I ordered the plastic bags that the bulk substrate will go into from Amazon for about ten bucks. The only things left to gather were:

• hardwood sawdust

• wheat bran

I have been annoyingly short on time as the spring semester wears on here at Cal Poly. I had an hour between classes on Monday morning though and went foraging. From a previous -mushroom unrelated- adventure with Big D, I knew that there was a massive pile of hardwood sawdust at an abandoned sawmill out on the marsh. I stuffed as much sawdust into my backpack as I could fit and then went to Wildberries to buy the wheat bran.

I didn’t measure out the wheat bran, nor the sawdust before putting it into the grow bags. I’m winging it! I also added some water, then shook the bag up a little bit.

The most annoying aspect of mushroom growing is -without doubt- the sterilization process. I got into a bit of trouble while sterilizing the substrate jars. I had picked a poor location and got found out…(I think I shouldn’t tell that story publicly for now)… I needed a different spot for sterilizing the substrate bags which would take about two hours. For the first bag (I could only do one bag at a time) I went to the Bret Harte house. I explained to Professor Kirby what I planned to do and he gave me the green light. Well, about a half an hour into pressure cooking in the small building, the cooker began purging out a soggy wood smell. Perhaps I should have foreseen that coming, but I didn’t. Personally, the smell didn’t bother me. But I can’t say the same for my comrades in the building.

After telling a friend my tribulations pressure cooking on campus, she offered to sneak me into her dorm building -the dorms are key card access only. We found an empty conference room and let the cooker do its thing without

I sterilized a third

in the athletic building early one morning.

Currently, four out of the six substrate bags are sitting in my locker with mycelium slowly populating the sterilized sawdust. Unfortunately I’ve

already had to throw away two of the substrate bags due to obvious contamination. From here, it will be a few more weeks until the bags are completely populated by mycelium. Then, it will be time for fruiting!

Photo by Brad Butterfield | A grain jar fully populated by white, fibrous mycelium. A cotton ball covers the holes in the lid to prevent contamination by microorganisms.

Photo by Brad Butterfield | Injecting the spore solution into the substrate jars. With some luck, the spores will spread throughout the wheat-sawdust substrate.

being bothered.

bag

Delivery diplomacy: practices in pizza

by Harrison Smith

Every job gives you a unique perspective on humanity and the days that we all share. Bakers wake up early and see tired, hungry people come into their shop for coffee and donuts. Gas station cashiers see people only fleetingly as they fuel up on the way to nowhere in particular. Plumbers only come by when your day’s been fucked up by a broken pipe. Pizza drivers spend our time driving in circles and communing diplomatically with the eating public.

It’s nice to drive around, though. Nice to have your own little sepulcher of music and heated air in which to take refuge from the constant buzz and motion of the shop.

Driving around Arcata like I do makes me feel like Ralph Waldo Emerson’s transparent eyeball; I see a lot and am mostly ignored by the other cars on the road. We all try to ignore one another just enough to avoid crashing into each other.

This is my fourth delivery of the night and I’m ready to take my break.

The pizza in the passenger seat is literally steaming out of the bag. It smells so good that it’s unfair. I’m so fucking hungry dude. After this delivery, I’m pulling over for a second to hit my vape and check my phone.

And that’s when I hear the freight train coming up, back and to my left. Car parked, I turn in my seat to see the single headlight of the most fucked up Chevy Tahoe you’ve ever seen- and that’s saying a lot, judging from every other Chevy Tahoe. The front passenger side of the car was bent inwards as if by a blow from a giant’s mace. It limps along, half-blinded, screeching as the frame scrapes the mangled wheel.

I stared in awe. This car was undrivably fucked, and I wondered if I was witnessing someone fleeing from a hit-and-run. I could not then, and still cannot think of another scenario of how this car was on the road. I didn’t know whether to feel blessed or cursed. As the Tahoe slumped away down the street, screeching its metallic screech,

I felt like I had just turned over some obscure automotive tarot, an omen of the road. The Fucked Tahoe.

Driving on the highway so often also gives me a unique window into the nascent drag racing culture of Arcata. People love to race down 101. Usually it’s trucks or dragsters. It’s pretty fucking funny to watch an F150 racing a Miata. Two men competing to see whose dick is smaller.

Usually it’s an honor to be a guest, even briefly, at someone’s house. The minute or so I spend waiting for the customer to come to the door is a chance for me to envy their patio setup or their garden boxes. A mound of cigarette butts heaped in a crusty ashtray, a yard scattered with children’s toys. It’s an interesting peek into the lives of our customers. I try not to be a voyeur.

As pizza drivers, we are diplomats. Our job is to negotiate with the hungry masses, whose reactions to us range from uncomfortably sweet to frothing at the mouth. It always seems to be old-

City girl goes backpacking

by Lidia Grande-Ruiz

This past week for spring break, I participated in the ‘Forests for All’ backpacking trip with the national parks, hosted by center activities. The trip consisted of two days and one night of backpacking the Redwood National & State Park with the rangers to visit the coastal bluffs.

This was a unique and memorable opportunity to go backpacking with national and state park rangers. Not only did they share their expertise in the area and teach us basic backpacking skills and how to use equipment, I got to see another side of myself I didn’t know existed.

On Monday, March 13th, we had a pre-trip meeting with the guides and the rangers to explain the full details of the trip. We were going to take the Miner’s Ridge Trail to the coast campground, hiking about 4.5 miles per day and carrying an average 20 lb backpack.

I was concerned about my medication, since I have a history of twisting both ankles. I need my medicine with me in case I need it administered to control any internal bleeding. After talking with my doctors, center activ -

ities and the rangers, I was okay to go.

My boyfriend let me borrow his backpack, first aid kit, anything he thought I was going to need. We went grocery shopping for any food he thought would come in handy.

Early Thursday morning, we met up, gathered everyone up in the vans and we headed out. Once we arrived at the park, we were greeted by the rangers. They allowed us to rent stuff like trekking poles, rain cover for our backpacks, etc. They gave us the low down for the agenda for the day ahead. Once we got everything, we hit the trail.

Walking through the woods brought me a blanket of comfort. I mostly stayed behind, taking my time, making sure I didn’t twist my ankle. The forest was a sight to take in.

I am from the city, and on top of that I don’t have a license or my own car, so backpacking is not often a leisure activity I can explore. I often hear my boyfriend talking about his adventures and it has always piqued my curiosity. When center activities sent out the email and said it was free for students, I jumped in and I don’t

regret it not one bit.

I have gone camping before so I knew it was going to be cold. I brought my warmest clothes, layered up for the night and I slept like a baby. Being by the beach at sunset was breathtaking. We met people from all walks of life at the campsite. We even saw a golden eagle and a gray fox.

Hearing our critter neighbors through the woods was a nice reminder to me that this is their home as well, just as much as it is ours. Everytime I go outside and wrap myself in blankets of the natural world, it fuels me up with the light that I search for in dark times. Being out there with no service… it’s like the outside world did not exist. My mental health was struggling just overthinking about the future, so being out there made me feel like nothing else matters.

Will I ever do it again? Absolutely! After coming back to Humboldt, I haven’t stopped talking about it and remembering it. I cannot wait to take on backpacking, not just by myself but with everyone I care about and love. It’s not just a memory, it’s another adventure that’s calling for me.

er customers who find me a good target for their frustrations, which I honestly find entertaining. Last week, I was a few minutes late to a delivery because my maps app directed me to a house down the street from the customer’s house. I was treated to a three minute rant when I arrived about how every delivery driver goes to her neighbor’s house instead, how she’d called before about this, and how I needed to listen to her instead of some little app on my phone.

Sometimes the job is pretty sweet, though. I’ve been tipped in weed more than once; twice, actually, but still pretty cool. My favorite thing about delivery driving is the small, unexpected moment of peace that I find as I walk back to my car after dropping off a pizza. The chorus of frogs grows louder on nights with light rain, and everytime I deliver to the labyrinth of apartments at Hilfiker and Alliance, I get a nice long chance to listen to their song.

How would you get revenge if your partner cheated on you with your best-friend-turned-bully?

My dear friend, you have landed yourself in a wonderful situation: you have been terribly wronged. There is never a better opportunity to play victim than when you are actually the victim. Now is the time to gather every little piece of information and release it to all your mutuals; collect every screenshot you have that could make them look bad, try and remember any controversial opinion they have and make sure every one of your mutual friends finds out about it. If you’re close with your best friend’s parents, text them about what they did to you. Text your partner’s parents and tell them about the unfaithful rat they raised.

I’m sure it’s crossed your mind, but you’re better than property damage. You want to maintain focus on all the legal emotional damage you can cause. Ruin their relationships the way they ruined yours. If you’ve never had the chance to be evil before, this is your opportunity. At the end of the day, you’ll heal no matter what, and I think inducing a little bit of emotional upheaval will help you in your recovery. Best of luck.

Photo by Lidia Grande-Ruiz | The author in Redwood National Park. Adventure is out there!

Hi Jasmin,