Humboldt Triathlon team debuts
Arcata Community Garden rallies after repeated attacks by Carlos Pedraza
Cal Poly Humboldt’s campus has a vertebrate museum, dedicated to skulls, skeletons, skins, and tissue from various mam mals and vertebrates, such as rats, mice, and sea mammals native to Humboldt coun ty. This Previously,tionmuseumstudent-runhasabout15,000specimens,9,000ofwhichareavailableforviewing.Themuseumisnowallowingallstudentsapeekintotheircollections,whichincluderodents,otters,seals,andtaxidermiedelk.Studentsarealsoabletoviewtheanatomicalstudyprocessessuchasdissecandlabeling.thecol
Humboldt Vertebrate Museum opens to the public
Humboldt
HancockbyPhotoOllie | skeletonHarborArticulatedPorpoiseondisplay in the Vertebrate Museum Lab.
A community safety meeting was held on Saturday Aug. 27, where orga nizers from Del Centro and the Hum boldt Co-op discussed the recent at tacks. The first one was hate speech written on the garden stop sign, the second a week later when anti-Semitic flyers were left in the garden. The most recent attack was when someone cut down corn stalks growing in the gar den, grown from seeds brought from Mexico by Adan Cervantes, an immi grant and the head gardener. The organizers have spoken to Ar cata police, who told them of a person of interest with connection to neo-Na zi groups in the area. According to Del Centro organizers, the police have also promised to send an extra patrol to check the garden during the night. The police offered a donation of sur veillance cameras for the garden but were“Werefused.wanted to have control over the surveillance, not the police to have control over the surveillance,” said Jas mine Segura, the Volunteer Coordina tor of Centro del Pueblo. “Also, we don’t want surveillance during the day.”
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A grueling, painful, death march. Triathlon, in the minds of many peo ple, can typically be summed up with adjectives like these. In this sport made up of three endurance events already immensely challenging on their own, competitors race in a 750 meter swim, a 20 kilometer bike ride, and a five kilo meter run. The words “fun,” “support ive,” and “enjoyable” do not often come up. However, Head Cal Poly Humboldt Women’s Triathlon Coach Kinsey Laine hopes to build a team which embodies that positive energy. “My main goal for all of my ath letes is that they enjoy their experi ence,” Laine said. “The way that they’re going to ultimately improve in the sport is by being excited to come to practice.” Laine has experience fostering these environments with her athletes. Before coming to Humboldt, Laine was a tri athlon coach at Colorado Mesa Univer sity in Grand Junction, Colorado, and before that she was the swim coach at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. While at Colorado Mesa in 2021, her team placed fourth at the National Championships in Tempe, Arizona, and had three All-American finishers. Laine has also raced long-course tri athlon professionally, but that ended when the pandemic started and she started coaching at Colorado Mesa. This prior experience has prepared her to coach athletes like junior Eliza beth Odell and sophomore Emily Cates, who like triathlon as a way to avoid in jury and seek new challenges.
Photo by Ollie Hancock Elizabeth Odell races in the grueling hours of race
Photo by Ollie Hancock | Field mice donated to the Humboldt Vertebrate Museum by a Humboldt resident.
One of 40 institutions to offer the new NCAA sport
by Alina Ferguson
SEE GARDEN ● PAGE 3
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 | VOL. 121 NO. 3The Lumberjack STUDENTS SERVING THE CAL POLY HUMBOLDT CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY SINCE 1929 FREE SignStolenLetters NewFacultyArts Cop-limentsScrewIndex School spends $16,000 replacing stolen sign letters Welcome Cal Poly Humboldt’s newest UPD solicits “praise coupons” from students News................... 3 L&A...................... 4 Science... 5 Sports................ 6 Opinion............... 8 Page 3 Page 4 Page 8
lection was only accessible to students within the wildlife major. The students would look through the collection and study the specimens, testing their abil ity to identify them. Now, for the first time since the museum was established in 1969, the museum is open to all stu dents during their open hours on Mon day from 11am to 4pm, and Tuesdays through Fridays 12pm to 5pm. Shea Daly, a senior who works in the lab and does most of the preparations, extended an open invitation to all stu dents.“On the last Friday of the month, we are going to have open labs and live dissections, so come in and ask ques tions,” Daly said. “We are also trying to start up scientific drawing classes.” Daly added that students from all majors are welcome to come in and watch the process of dissecting and skinning the animals. “The students are very hands-on. They can do preps, they can do skele tonizing, which is the process of dip ping the bones into an ammonia bath to make them whiter,” Daly said. In the past, the staff would forage and scrounge for their own specimens. According to Collections Intern Ezra Alberts, now they get most of their specimens from donations, people finding roadkill on the highway, and the marine mammal training program.
on Aug. 26
Photo by Ollie Hancock | Community members attend a vigil after the intital incident on July 21.
by Dezmond Remington
“we are going to have open labs and live dissections, so come in and ask questions,” - Shea Daly
SEE TRI ● PAGE 6
SEE MUSEUM ● PAGE 5
Wednesday September 7, 2022 THE LUMBERJACKPAGE 2 Do you want to purchase an ad with the Lumberjack? Contact us: Email: lumberjack.ads2@gmail.com Or visit our website for more info. The Mission of this newspaper is to fairly inform and share the stories of the Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community. We strive to report with accuracy and honesty. We hold ourselves accountable for errors in our reporting. We invite all readers to participate. Views and contents of The Lumberjack are those of the author and not those of Cal Poly Humboldt. Unsigned editorials appearing in the Opinion section reflect a majority opinion of the editorial staff. Advertising material is for informational purposes and is not an expressed or implied endorsement of such commercial ventures of The Lumberjack, Associated Students or Cal Poly Humboldt. The Lumberjack JASMINJACKALINACARLOSDEZMONDODENELISEOLLIEALANNAANGELCAMILLECONTRIBUTORS:KIRBYFACULTYALANASOCIALOLLIEDELIVERYLIDIAVIDEOANGELWEBSOPHIANINACARLOSANGELJACKAUGUSTOLLIELAYOUTCASHJASMINSOPHIACOPYJACKPHOTOCAMILLEOPINIONDEZMONSPORTSAUGUSTSCIENCENINALIFECARLOSNEWSAUGUSTMANAGINGOLLIEEDITOR-IN-CHIEF:HANCOCKEDITOR:LINTONEDITOR:PEDRAZA&ARTSEDITOR:HUFMANEDITOR:LINTONEDITOR:REMINGTONEDITOR:DELANYEDITOR:HALLINANEDITORS:ESCUDEROSHIRAZIANRIONEDITORS:HANCOCKLINTONHALLINANBARKERPEDRAZAHUFMANESCUDEROEDITOR:BARKEREDITOR:GRANDE-RUIZDRIVER:HANCOCKMEDIAMANAGER:HACKMANADVISER:MOSSDELANYBARKERHACKMANHANCOCKFEROTAYLORREMINGTONPEDRAZAFERGUSONHALLINANSHIRAZIAN Mission Statement CONTACT US: 707-826-3271HUMBOLDT.EDUCONTACTTHELUMBERJACK@ 11 am - 11pm 11 am - midnight
Segura believes the police do have good intentions but she describes working with them as a double edged sword, since the garden is considered a safe space and is used by the unhoused. The majority of the meeting was dis cussing fundraising $5,000 to fund the cost of setting up cameras. Humboldt students and locals came together to pitch ideas: from a silent auction, to food trucks, and legal concerns like food permits. There was a general sense of cooperation with students and locals all volunteering to look into food per mits and to speak to artists and busi nesses asking for donations.
Humboldt resident and member of the Peace and Freedom party Han nah Deshais decided to volunteer after hearing about the attacks. “I feel hopeful this has started some thing beautiful from something hate ful,” Deshais said. Deshais stated she would continue to support the garden through volun teering and pushing her party to be moreAfterinvolved.themeeting, a few people, in cluding children, stayed behind to do work in the plots, digging out weeds and attending to the vegetation.
The signs read like a game of hang man: “C_L PO_Y HUMBO_ _ _” one week and “_AL _OLY _UM_O_ _ _” the next. Replacing the sign letters isn’t an easy process either. It requires one member of maintenance staff to place the letters on the facade while another climbs inside the sign to tighten them. An anonymous source, one of the van dals, explained that pulling them out was much simpler. “It was easy,” the anonymous indi vidual said. “They popped right off.” When asked why they pulled the let ters down, the vandal explained that they were dissatisfied with the school.
“I think that the school is wrong for bringing in more cops to solve the problem,” the anonymous source said. “Why spend so much time and money fixing it when you could do something to show legitimate sup port for the community instead? They seem more worried about the signs than their students.”
“[UPD has] increased patrols, and we will pursue the maximum penalty when the people responsible for the vandalism are caught,” Scott-Goforth said.For the last weeks of summer, the signs sat blank. Facilities Management was able to re-letter most of the signs by the start of the semester, so families and new students could identify the campus. Two signs still remain empty on the intersections of 14th and Union St., and 14th and B St. In addition to the increased patrols and surveillance, the University is con sidering replacing the current sign let ters with harder-to-remove metal let tering.
Graphic by August Linton
Photo by Carlos Pedraza | Jasmine Segura, Xochitl Cabra Sanchez, and other organizers attend the meeting.
Wednesday September 7, 2022NEWSTHE LUMBERJACK PAGE 3
Over the summer break, the iconic signs brandishing the school’s name lost their letters again and again. Van dals would rip the acrylic letters from the wall over the course of a few nights before they were replaced. The sign might stay intact for a few days, then the cycle would start again. The signs had only recently been changed to read “Cal Poly Humboldt” with the new polytechnic designation.
Comfortable at the Comfort Inn Students really like not sharing a bath room with an entire floor by Angel Barker
Cal Poly Humboldt spends nearly $16,000 on stolen sign letters by Ollie Hancock Photo courtesy of Gabriela Mendez | Sarah and Gabriela’s community white board on their door.
Photo by Carlos Pedraza | Cal Poly Humboldt student Hannah Deshais speaks on up coming community events
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There were a total of 54 acrylic let ters stolen or broken over the course of the summer. UPD is actively inves tigating these incidents as repeated acts of “Unfortunately,vandalism. signage is expen sive and it’s costing the University thousands–nearly $16,000–to cover the amount of stolen lettering, re placement letters, and labor,” said Cal Poly Humboldt spokesperson Grant Scott-Goforth. “If we need to change all the signs to metal letters, it will cost the University at least an additional $12,000.”
Dorm life is an important part of the college experience, but what happens when your university does not have adequate housing for its population? They turn a hotel into a residence hall. The Comfort Inn in Arcata, located in the Valley West area, is now home to almost 100 upperclassmen students. The housing shortage is nothing new in Arcata. For students like Gabri ela Mendez, a transfer student major ing in psychology, finding off-campus housing was unsuccessful. “I was hoping to find last minute housing off campus,” Mendez said, “but there was nothing.” Mendez has a roommate in the ho tel, as all rooms are double occupancy. Each is supplied with two beds, desks, andWhendressers.asked her opinion about what it is like living in a hotel, Mendez said, “People can say ‘you don’t get the full college experience,’ and like, the col lege experience might be cool because I am a transfer student, but I am just grateful to have housing.” Osiel Palomino, a returning sopho more majoring in environmental stud ies and management, had the same re action.“Ifit wasn’t for that room, I would have held off on going back to school for another semester,” Palomino said. Palomino lived on campus his fresh man year in 2019-2020 right before the COVID-19 pandemic, and moved home and took a break from school un til classes were back in person. Sarah Neumann, a business admin istration exchange student from Ger many, is Mendez’s roommate. “We made a good situation,” Neu mann said. “I like it because I think we have more space and privacy, especial ly with our own bathroom.” “One thing that I really love is each room has their own shower and bath room. You don’t have to share one bathroom with the whole halfway, you avoid those problems,” Palomino said. In addition to each room having their own bathroom, they also have free amenities like linens, a minifridge, a microwave, TV with cable, house keeping services, continental breakfast everyday, Wi-Fi, and pool and gym ac cess.Compared to living in a freshman dorm on campus, Palomino said that living in the hotel still feels relatively the“Yousame.still feel the college experience because everyone living there is stu dents,” Palomino said. “You still feel like you’re on campus even though you’re not.” A large banner welcoming Cal Poly Humboldt students and the friendly front desk staff also help with that feel ing. Staying connected can be difficult, but the RAs and the Office of Housing and Residence Life are hard at work to help the students feel included in cam pus“Thelife. RAs have little events, to make it feel like the real dorm college experi ence,” Mendez said. Neumann and Mendez even bought a whiteboard for the outside of their door.“People can just write anything, so we can still communicate with others when we don’t always see them,” Men dez said. Overall, students are satisfied with the University and the Comfort Inn solution to the housing shortage.
They faced backlash over the anony mous chat app Yik Yak, where users complained that their actions would increase surveillance and police pres ence in the community. This appears to have been borne out, as cameras were installed on light poles facing some of the signs over the summer.
Photo by Oden Taylor | Portia Herger, psychology major, tackles a challenging problem, at Far North Climb in Arcata, during Queer Climb Night on Aug. 31 Photo by Oden Taylor | Rosemary Kelly, general biology major, reaches for a large hold, at Far North Climb in Arcata, during Queer Climb Night on Aug. 31.
Be gay do climb
Photo by Jasmin Shirazian | Sarah Lasley, true to her character, goofs around on Cal Poly Humboldt’s art quad grass on Sept. 1.
“Just never quit… going into an in dustry like film, you’re going to have so much burnout because there are big pockets of long hours,” Lasley said. “You can burn out fast, but what you can’t do is let go of making your own work and your own side proj ects.”Lasley currently has two upcom ing screenings for her new film, “Welcome to the Enclave,” a contem porary think-piece on the different reactions received by the Black Lives Matter movement. The showings will be held at the Burb Contemporary in Sacramento, California and The MAC in Dallas, Texas.
Photo by Oden Taylor | Cal Poly Humboldt students and members of the Humboldt community gather together for Queer Climb Night at Far North Climb in Arcata on Aug. 31.
“I had just moved alone, at the age of 38, to a city where I knew no one, away from everyone, as a single wom an,” Lasley said. “I was like, I guess this is it. This is it for me, I’m going to just focus on being alone, and I was feeling down on myself, so I put on Dirty Dancing. I thought, ‘You know what would be so funny?’ To remove the 16 year old who’s romancing the 30 year old, and put like a 40 year old in Lasley,there.” who has been in the arts for over a decade, knows the struggles of being a student trying to get their foot in the door of the industry.
New arts faculty hit the scene
“A month into the painting pro gram, I stopped painting and I picked up a video camera,” Lasley said. “Growing up, I had a VHS camcorder, and I would make stop motion anima tions with my Barbie dolls, so motion had always been in my groove.”
Far Climbing Gym hosts queer climb night
Wednesday September 7, 2022 LIFE & ARTS THE LUMBERJACKPAGE 4
Photo by Oden Taylor| Cal Poly Humboldt students and members of the Humboldt community gather together for Queer Climb Night at Far North Climb in Arcata on Aug. 31. by Oden Taylor
Justin Maxon and Sarah Lasley among new arts staff by Jack Hallinan and Jazmin Shirazian With the recent upgrade to a Cali fornia Polytechnic, many changes have been occurring on campus. Among these changes is the addition of new arts faculty members Justin Maxon and Sarah Lasley. Justin Maxon is a photographer and educator who grew up on the Hoopa Reservation and in Eureka. He moved to Santa Cruz to attend Cabrillo College, where he had his first experi ence with photography in an academic setting.“Iwanted to do environmental sci ence, and then I took a darkroom class and I was just like, ‘this is it,’” Maxon said. “I already loved photography, but I didn’t actually think that I could do it, then as soon as I took that class, I was like, ‘this is what I have to do.’” As an artist, Maxon’s focus lies in community based work that has an impact. Although he has a background as a journalist, he considers himself a documentary photographer who pre fers to work on long term projects. Maxon’s recent work “A Field Guide to a Crisis” is an ongoing project in collaboration with people residing in sober living homes in Eureka. The work focuses on flipping the narrative of those dealing with substance abuse disorders by “repositioning them as experts in how to survive crisis.” Max on brings this philosophy of communi ty-based work to the classroom when he teaches his Professional Practices class.“A lot of the folks in the program are like, ‘I wanna work in a specific communal context...’ Well, that can be your art form,” Maxon said. “How you collaborate with people, and the aes thetics of that collaboration and how that is visualized [can be art].” This semester Maxon is teaching Darkroom Photography I, Digital Pho tography I, and Professional Practices in Art.Sarah Lasley, an award winning filmmaker, has joined Cal Poly Hum boldt’s film department. Lasley previ ously taught at the Yale School of Art for over a decade, and later at the Uni versity of Texas San Antonio. Lasley is now a part of the Lumberjack family, teaching FILM 378, a digital produc tion workshop showing students the ropes of video and film editing. Lasley has had her work featured in several film festivals, including the world-renowned AVIFF Cannes FIlm Festival in France. Lasley has been creating art of all mediums from a very young age, though she began her filmmaking journey in 2006 during her time at Yale School of Art, where she was at tending school for painting.
Lasley’s most well known film, “How I Choose to Spend the Remain der of my Birthing Years,” is a solo film she created during the COVID-19 quarantine lockdown, in which she re places Baby in “Dirty Dancing.”
North
Photo by Ollie Hancock |
Vertebrate Museum 1
Silvia Pavan, the faculty advisor and grant funding organizer to the muse um, explained that they typically only need to work with the skull of the an imal, as it provides the most informa tion. The rest of the bones are disposed of in a biohazard bin if there is no room for them in the lab or the museum. Opening a freezer full of numbered vials of tissue samples, Pavan explained the process of tagging each animal and the importance of it. Once an animal has been skinned and deboned, each corresponding part must be labeled and numbered. This track ing lets them trace where the tissue samples came from, the food samples of the animal, and the genealogy of the species. The museum has a second room, the bug room, where they process the bones that have any remaining flesh or tissue still attached. The bones are placed into a container, where dermes tid beetles eat away at everything but bone. Depending on the animal, the carcass may be there for a few days or a few weeks. A large portion of the work the mu seum does is tissue sampling, genetics, and CT scanning. This work helps the scientists determine what it ate, where it came from, and ultimately,killedwhatit.
FROM PAGE
Top left, Shea Daly examines a juvenile harbor seal skull. Top right, Sam Talley and Ezra Alberts examine musk rat remains. Bottom left, the skull and fur remains of a river otter on display. Bottom right, beetles clean a beaver skull.
Ins: Belly FlashingWritingKissingLawnShowerComfortHazingbuttonsInnshoeschaironaunicycleSyphilisTrans-ingyourgenderthehomiesgoodnightallofyouressaysbyhandTERFBangs5-inchplatformsLittlerabbitswhohaveasecretRaincoatsthewholecampusinaminiskirtKateBushLARPingHairybacks Outs: Belly buttons Having a moral code On-campus housing Raises for admins Foot TheBeingKnowingNotParkingfunguspassesgettingsyphilishowtodriveafraidofplatonicintimacytheschoolwifiThewindTellinganyoneyourrealheightBeRealNewYorkertotebagsWearingpantsArtsdept.budget,apparentlyThegiftofprophecy The high council of burnt out journalism students have determined these trends to be in and/or out. If you disagree, go whisper it to a worm, or something.
Wednesday September 7, 2022SCIENCETHE LUMBERJACK PAGE 5
Photo by Morgan Hancock | Triathlon athlete Elizabeth Odell competes in “8 hours of Humboldt” a mountain bike endurance race that took place in the Community Forest on Aug 27. When Odell first heard about the nascent triathlon team, she wasn’t too interested. However, the lower risk of crashing appealed to her, and she started learning how to swim and run this past spring. Though difficult, Odell said the process of picking up two new sports has been enjoyable. “It’s been a good change. I’m not al ways comparing my times to how fast I was a year ago or something,” Odell said. “It’s just completely new. So all I’m seeing are gains and it’s just all pretty much getting better.” Getting away from the stress of in juries was also a motivating factor for Cates when she joined the triathlon team. From a running background, Cates had dealt with a spate of over use injuries that had left her stressed and frustrated. Training for triathlon, where two out of the three disciplines are zero-impact, was attractive. “I realized that running, just run ning, was not going to be sustainable for me,” Cates said. “And it’s a great opportunity to cross-train, and if I’m going to be cross-training that much on my own, I might as well race it and have another team atmosphere.” Cates has not quit running entire ly; she is also on the cross country and track teams at Cal Poly Humboldt. Be ing a dual-sport athlete does have its challenges, Cates said, as it’s often tir ing to train for two sports at once. Re cently, she went straight from a swim workout directly to a mile repeat work out for cross country. Hosting this unique sport puts CPH in a unique position– it is the only Di vision II school on the west coast to of fer a women’s triathlon team. Only two other NCAA affiliated schools on the west coast have a team. Laine sees this fresh start as a great opportunity. “I think in three to four years this team is going to be competitive at the national level for DII,” Laine said. “There are teams that have been around five or six seasons, but there is instability in those teams, so we’re not five to six years behind. I think we can come in, and then in a few short years be competitive against those schools. Women’s triathlon in the NCAA is a new sport – the NCAA classified it as an “emerging sport” for women in 2014, and currently there are only 17 Division II schools that host triathlon. Triathlon is only available as a women’s sport in theTheNCAA.largest challenge facing the fledgling team is the late start– Laine was hired on a fairly short notice, and as such, there are only four races the team is scheduled for this season. Recruiting is mainly coming from current students with a background in running or swimming or both. A few of the prospective athletes do have a past racing triathlon. The roster will be kept small, with the eventual goal of 9-12 athletes on the team. “[I want] a small, focused group of people that are very supportive of one another…but also really passion ate about the sport,” Laine said. “As a coach, you can’t make them want to be better at triathlon–they have to pro vide that passion.” Odell agrees. She has a background in mountain biking, but when a bicy cle crash in January fractured her neck and gave her a severe concussion, she had to re-evaluate how she wanted to compete. She had to drop out of most of her classes and move home, and could barely walk for two months. “About two and a half months in, I was able to go for a two mile walk, and that was so exciting for me,” Odell said. “Just walking around the block my head would start pounding. It took me like five months to become a functional human being again.” The late start and injury-riddled pasts of many triathletes has not made getting the team off the ground easy. However, Cates said she couldn’t wait to race and see what her teammates can“I’mdo. excited to know them, to get to travel with them,” said Cates. “They seem like really awesome, dedicated people, and I think we’re going to make an awesome team this year.”
Wednesday September 7, 2022 SPORTSPAGE 6 THE LUMBERJACK FROMTRIPAGE 1
A few weeks ago, I accompanied a friend to the University Police Depart ment after her wallet went missing during the Durand Jones and the Indi cationsWhileconcert.inhopeful pursuit of her wal let, I was quickly reminded of the dys topian nightmare we live in when I came face to face with a neatly stacked pile of yellow “PRAISE COUPONS” prominently displayed atop the UPD information desk. “When one of our of ficers or staff members treats you in an exceptional way, please let us know!”, the coupons exclaim in a migraine-in ducing font combination of Papyrus and Comic Sans. There are also blank lines left for comments and the name of the officer or staff you wish to praise. Good to know our Cal Poly windfall went to these babies. Who would’ve thought University police would need “good job” stars to get their jobs done?
of two holidays in the US: Labor Day, on the first Monday in September, and Loyalty Day (also known as American ization Day) on May 1. I hadn’t heard of that last one, either, but it turns out that while the rest of the world is rallying for workers’ rights and celebrating the ac complishments of laborers on the anni versary of the Haymarket Incident, US presidents give an annual proclamation extolling loyalty to America. Loyalty Day was proposed during the Red Scare of the 1920s and adopted officially in the ‘50s with 36 U.S. Code § 115, which designates it as, “a special day for the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.” The holiday’s raison d’etre is obvious: to counter any demonstration of solidarity with workers of the world on May Day. Nevertheless, this past weekend we celebrated the American worker with parades, camping trips, and retail dis counts. In fact, the latter seems to be the most prevalent angle in press cov erage of this Labor Day; the majority of headlines claim to aggregate “Labor Day Sales” from big box stores or online re tailers. Fittingly, the contemporary lega cy of the September Labor Day does not honor production or labor. On this day conceived to quash solidarity between American workers and the internation al organized labor movement, we cele brate the consump tion of goods.
OPINIONOPINION
Someone tell me why this is fair!
Wednesday September 7, 2022PAGE 8 THE LUMBERJACK
I always imagined college to be the best years of my life, but the pandem ic forced us all into silence, into being more antisocial than many of us were to begin with. It’s not as if I didn’t get to have some classic experiences. Even after hav ing COVID-19 during my first week of freshman year, I still found myself on the Lumberjack newspaper staff. During that semester we created a fam ily inside the department, even though we only knew each other through a screen. I have since changed my major mul tiple times, but the journalism program was my savior when the world shut down. For that I am eternally grateful. Now an environmental studies ma jor, I still work for the Lumberjack. I am also starting to meet people in my new major in-person– just like the freshmen are. My jealousy is a bit extreme, I must admit. These new students are getting the experience I dreamed of. They can go to events without fear. They can dance through the halls of their dorms laughing and talking with other people. They can meet people! My gosh, they can meet people. What an advantage they have, which I didn’t get until this year.It was hard to make friends and I of ten felt very alone. I remember the only times we saw our friends in those early days were when we snuck into the for est to say hello with our masks on. How scandalous!I’msohappy for the freshmen, I tru ly am. They get the experience they de serve. And while they lost some of high school, I still think they’re getting the better end of this deal. I wish I missed parts of high school instead! I mean, I hated high school. I know so many people who met the love of their life in college, a hope I al ways had as a kid. How could I do that while fully online? I just have to believe everything happens for a reason. The freshmen? They have endless oppor tunities for friends and love and joy in college social life. I wish I had that, too. Let me express my gratitude as well. My freshman and sophomore years were still beautiful experiences that I wouldn’t trade for the world. But for those upperclassmen feeling jealous as you watch freshmen embark on their college journey, you aren’t alone. I promise, you aren’t alone.
is fraught with political baggage AgainstCop-limentsCampus by
Upperclassmen, your jealousy is warranted by Elise Fero
I then began to wonder what the reason would be for an officer to receive these praise coupons. Refraining from use of excessive force? Oh, I know, maybe we actually got someone to stay in the position of police chief for longer than a Thenyear?ithit me. It was right in front of my face the whole time. Praise kink. I realized that maybe all of the UPD officers might just have a little bit of a praise kink. Hey, I’m not judging you! This is the only plausible answer to why you have “PRAISE COUPONS” strewn about your department. I mean, you even give people the opportunity to mail the coupons to you if they slap a stamp on them. At least you’ve made it easier for the sender by pre-addressing them to the Chief of Police on the back of each card. It comes off as a little des perate to me, but I’m not here to yuck your yum. I may have judged you too soon, UPD, when you’re just trying to find some pleasure in your work—literal ly. I wouldn’t say incorporating others into your fantasies is the most humane choice, but you’ve gotten away with far worse human rights violations. For real though, students: show some appreciation for university staff that help you with your daily dilemmas without needing a PRAISE COUPON. Cal Poly Humboldt would crumble without their behind-the-scenes work. Remember kids, validate your local cop’s praise kink, because we don’t kink shame!
Maybe I’m being ridiculous. People died in this pandemic and it affected other lives way more than mine, but I know plenty of others who feel just like I do. Our incredibly expensive educa tion that we spent in our dorm rooms didn’t give us the classic “college expe rience” that others received before us (and after us.)
Labor Day 2022 by Camille Delany
Photo by Julie Fero Elise Fero (she/they) moves into a triple dorm room, alone, at the start of freshman year in August, 2020.
The three day weekend Alana Hackman
America is nearly unique in our cel ebration of Labor Day in September. We’re joined on the first Monday in September by Canada alone, while over 80 nations across the world hold their equivalent celebrations on May 1. The distinctive origins of the day were nev er, to my memory, discussed over the course of my public school education or during the hometown parades I’d at tended as a child, leaving me surprised to learn the complicated history of La bor Day. If you enjoy weekends, a largely la bor-free childhood, or having any free time to speak of, you owe a debt of grat itude to labor organizers of centuries past. Throughout the 1800s, the work day was typically dawn-til-dusk—in trials dating to around the turn of the 19th century, manufacturing laborers were found to be working as many as 18 hours in a day. Early unions focused on raising wages for laborers as well as reducing hours and defending workers’ right to organize. By the close of the cen tury, the international labor movement had coalesced around the fight for the 8-hour workday. To this end, labor and trade unions across the nation went on strike on May 1, 1886. No city was more active in the movement than industrialized Chica go, where masses of laborers laid down their tools and exited their workplaces. However, their act of civil disobedience was met with brutal backlash from bosses, who in the days following the May 1 strike joined forces with the po lice to violently disband peacefully pro testing workers. In the ensuing clashes, which came to be known as the Haymar ket Incident, at least four civilians were shot to death by police and many others were injured. Police also suffered casualties, and in a trial that would later be considered a miscarriage of justice, seven union leaders were sentenced to death for a bombing that took place during the fallout, even though only two of those charged had even been present. Four were executed the following year; two had their sen tence commuted to life in prison; one died in jail. In 1893, the governor of Il linois would conclude that the trial was not fair, and pardon the surviving de fendants.TheHaymarket Incident was one reason for celebrating International Workers’ Day on May 1, which remains the Labor Day for most of the world. It would also result in the declaration
Although the pile did look pretty un touched the last time I saw it. After this experience, I pondered the reason for these praise coupons’ existence. I wondered why UPD officers are the only ones with access to these praise coupons. Why can’t I give one to the nice lady at the housing desk? Or the groundskeepers who wake up at 5 a.m. to beautify our campus? Why isn’t there a pretty little stack of coupons at every help desk on campus to show some love to our staff? Sure, I could make my own coupons to show my appreciation, but how come the UPD gets the fancy ones on cardstock?
Our lives took place inside empty dark rooms in the dorms, where sitting in the halls and talking was prohibited. Masks were to be on everywhere. Even the volleyball court outside the build ing couldn’t be used. We couldn’t be social. The only life we saw on campus wasThisdeer.was my experience of freshman year during 2020-2021. Living in a tiny dorm with two bunk beds but no one to fill them; just my emotional support cat Winnie Fig and I, away from home for the first time in a new state. On line classes left the campus complete ly dead. No one played guitars in the music quad, no one rushed to class on their skateboard, and no one ate in the Depot.Now it’s the Fall of 2022 and here come the incoming freshmen, ready to go to classes in person, to meet new people who aren’t hidden behind masks. What a different experience than my own freshman year. I can’t help but feel as if I have been cheated out of an exponential time in my life.