Mustang News January 17, 2024

C AL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO ’S NE WS SOURCE

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CAL POLY STUDENT IMPACTS PARENTS THROUGH COLLEGE

PREVENTATIVE BURNS ARE FIGHTING SLO FIRES

MEET SAM HUARD, CP QUARTERBACK

JANUARY 16, 2024

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IN THIS ISSUE

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LEADERSHIP

Emma Robertson

Ari Lopez

Editor in Chief

Claire Lorimor Creative Director

Sarina Grossi

Chloe Lovejoy

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VIDEO

Lauren Emo Editor Leila Touati Assistant Editor Allison Raisner Abby Gorman Caroline Ohlandt Naomi Baron Matthew Muren Owen Lavine Jessa Rosenthal Ashley Bolter Marcela Bonet Lauren Yoon Kathryn Clark

Ari Lopez Video Manager Cassandra Garcia Mckenna Rodriguez Madison Vernon Natalie Levesque Izzy Romero Samuel Hronek RJ Pollock

OPINION Zoie Denton Editor Eden-Rose Baker Erin Yarwood Claudia Muñoz Liz Nancett Joshua Rodriguez Neta Horesh-Bar Caroline Kelleher

SPORTS

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2023

Matthew Ho Editor Jonathan Sze Noah Greenblatt Lano Somotun Sergio Romero Kylie Hastings Elizabeth Boland Jordan Singh Ty Soria Dylan Allen

UPFRONT

Managing Editor

ARTS & STUDENT LIFE Riya Parekh Editor Carly Heltzel Katherine Lu Makayla Khan Liv Mehran Maya Ziv Arabel Meyer Vinithra Seshan Bailee Isackson Teah Swartzon Krithi Sankar

DESIGN Claire Lorimor Creative Director Ariel Sherman Angel Gaytan Deanna Nguyen Alejandro Rearte Liz Ridley Brandon Schwartz Rain Mazumder Tayler Kang

PHOTO Lily Tenner Editor Shae Ashamalla Bobby Groth Owen Roberts Ashley Spinoglio Annabelle Fagans Mia-Isobel Craig Brandon Bomberger Maura Shernisky Visruth Srimath Kandali Juliete Seo Alice Sukhostavskiy

SOCIAL MEDIA Jessa Rosenthal Social Media Manager Angela Passaquala Josie Wall Sophia Pattison Lily Rivas Tori Gordon Tayler Baldwin Maddie Gorsage Avery Smigel

DATA & INVESTIGATIONS Elizabeth Wilson Editor Archana Pisupati Cole Pressler Krithi Sankar Amelia Wu Naomi Vanderlip Jeremy Garza Masato Nandate Brandon Kim Tejasree Kandibanda

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MNTV News Director

CAL POLY STUDENT BUILDS PROJECT SUPPORTING YOUNG MOTHERS THROUGH COLLEGE

Digital Director

KCPR NEWS

STORY BY Kaitlyn Knopf DESIGNED BY Ariel Sherman

Jordan Triebel Director Emmy Burrus Assistant Director Sarina Grossi Trevor Baumgardner Natalie Levesque Aidan Dillon Layla Shuman Izzy Romero Mckenna Rodriguez Jazmyn Chavez Jada Griffith Emma Montalbano Fiona Hastings Kat Orozco Jessica Carp Cole Pressler Sergio Romero Nate Mills Mark Robinson Riley Sullivan Ryan Giacomini

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ON THE KILLING FLOOR: WATCHING A COW SLAUGHTER FOR THE FIRST TIME STORY BY Cole Pressler DESIGNED BY Angel Gaytan

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FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE: THE PREVENTATIVE NATURE OF PRESCRIBED BURNS IN SLO COUNTY

KCPR.ORG Emily Tobiason Content Director Amelia Nored Editorial Assistant Fiona Hastings Angie Stevens Kat Orozco

STORY BY Sarina Grossi DESIGNED BY Claire Lorimor

MMG BUSINESS

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ADVERTISING & PR

Matthew Ho & Yuka Shindo Advertising Team Managers Trevor Baumgardner Special Sections Editor Katharine Smith Marketing and Public Relations Director Adrienne Liang Advertising Design Manager McKenna Hauteman OnCampus Events Coordinator Mackenzie Ryseff Marketing/PR Researcher

BUILDING SUCCESS FROM THE GROUND UP: SAM HUARD’S EFFECT AT CAL POLY STORY BY Matthew Ho DESIGNED BY Liz Ridley

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ADVERTISING DESIGNERS

KCPR

Tristan Naoe Amanda Wahl Jenna Yost

Cindy Nguyen Art Director Cayley O’Brien Programming/ Music Director David Aronson Marketing Director Sam Kohn Podcast Manager Reilly Yuen Social Media Manager

Ruby Beye Ella Brees Emma James Alexander Poroy Juliet Sasaura Amanda Tahi

COMING SOON: PLATYPUS CAFE NEW AUSTRALIAN-STYLE CAFE BY SKIPPER ’S BREW OWNERS OFFERS SPACE FOR QUEER JOY

LEADERSHIP Emily Tobiason Content Director ADVERTISING ACCOUNT Jordan Triebel KCPR News EXECUTIVES Director

SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITERS Xiomara Lopez Tori Gordon

Cal Poly is in tiłhini, the Place of the Full Moon. We gratefully acknowledge, respect, and thank yakʔityu tityu yak tiłhini, Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region, in whose homelands we are guests.

STORY BY Natasha Malinovsky DESIGNED BY Tayler Kang

ADVISERS

Jon Schlitt General Manager Pat Howe Editorial Adviser Kim Bisheff Digital Adviser Patti Piburn KCPR Adviser Brady Teufel Department Chair Richard Gearhart MNTV Adviser

Cal Poly trio brings new life to vintage Zippo lighters

BY ABBY GORMAN

We’re doing something to eliminate singleuse lighters that are being thrown away all the time. These are lighters that can be endlessly refilled and reused and repaired and potentially can last indefinitely.

Running a business while being a full-time student is no menial task, according to Milner-Hansen.

“It’s hard to dedicate enough time and energy to the lighter repairs at times,” he said. “But, we realized that we all really enjoy doing it and we need to stick with it.”

Despite their differing career paths, the founders of 27 Trinkets recognize the benefits of learning to run a business and apply their practical skills.

“I like that we just took our interests and built something around that. It’s a perfect project for us right now to perpetuate our interests and have fun while making a little bit of money on the side,” Brown said.

The business’ Instagram @27trinkets provides regular updates for those interested in learning more and finding opportunities to purchase their products.

LIAM BROWN Materials Engineering Sophomore

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Poly and gone through their events, and we’ve also had a couple times where we just sold independently on Dexter Lawn,” Milner-Hansen said.

“But, we’re excited to sort of branch out into other clubs on campus that host these kinds of events.”

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

In a quaint North Mountain dorm, three freshmen discovered an unexpected passion last winter: restoring vintage lighters. What started as a casual interest became the full-fledged venture known as 27 Trinkets — a nod to the very room where their business began.

For 27 Trinkets, it is not just about restoring relics. Art and design sophomore Theo Milner-Hansen said he values their business model’s promotion of sustainability.

“In the era of rampant consumerism, I think it’s important to enjoy taking care of your stuff,” Milner-Hansen said.

At the start, all operations occurred in a cramped dorm room with limited space and equipment. Although an enjoyable bonding experience, materials engineering sophomore Liam Brown said their practices have become more efficient in the last few months.

“It made a lot more sense for us to be buying lighters separately, sharing materials and collaborating on the repair because then we all kind of have our own little niche of lighters,” Brown said.

The business’s main focuses include cleaning, replacing wicks and packing new cotton into old lighters – issues that those unfamiliar with the mechanics might not know are fixable.

“We’re doing something to eliminate single-use lighters that are being thrown away all the time,” Brown said. “These are lighters that

can be endlessly refilled and reused and repaired and potentially can last indefinitely.”

Once the repairs and cleaning are complete, 27 Trinkets will set up a booth on campus to meet new potential customers.

“We’ve worked through Thrift Cal

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STUDENT LIFE

THEO MILNER-HANSEN | COURTESY

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Meet the Cal Poly student helping young parents through college

BY KAITLYN KNOPF

STUDENT LIFE

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

As a single mom, Cal Poly transfer student Tayla Easterla understood the challenging obstacles that come with being a young parent enrolled in college. Interested in helping other young moms, she is now part of the “IMPACT” Project: Invincible Mamas Pushing For Change Together.

One of the first advocacy things I remember doing was marching against sex trafficking in my own city.

TAYLA EASTERLA Cal Poly transfer student, IMPACT steering committee member

The IMPACT Project, organized under the Justice and Joy National Collaborative, focuses on abolishing barriers to student-parent success within institutions and assisting young mothers through creating policy recommendations on local, state and federal levels.

“I found drive to just really connect and to help other women that were in the same situations I was in because there were many barriers,” she said. “There’s such a huge lack of resources in our nation.”

Easterla first joined the project in March of 2023 after a friend at the Justice and Joy National Collaborative mentioned an open position as a steering committee member for the IMPACT Project.

“I’ve been an advocate since I was a young girl,” she said. “I was raised in Sacramento, California, which is an extremely diverse city. It’s a metropolitan area. And one of the first advocacy things I remember doing was marching against sex trafficking in my own city.”

The steering committee for the IMPACT Project focuses on allocating funds. As lead for the steering committee, Easterla facilitates meetings and creates recommendations for what direction to take. Additional heads of the steering committee include the social media lead and the alliance lead.

“I’m in charge of all the members that are in the steering committee, so I make sure that they’re kind of just doing what they are supposed to be doing, getting their tasks done and making sure that we’re meeting our deliverables,” she said.

IMPACT social media lead Kristen Powell focuses on running their Instagram account, their Facebook group for national alliance members and expanding their overall community outreach.

ALICE SUKHOSTAVSKIY MUSTANG NEWS Tayla Easterla outside of The Orfalea College of Business .

I found drive to just really connect and to help other women that were in the same situations I was in because there were many barriers. There’s such a huge lack of resources in our nation.

TAYLA EASTERLA Cal Poly transfer student, IMPACT steering committee member

“We were able to launch our Instagram account in January of this year,” Powell said.

With the goal of gaining 1,000 followers by the end of 2023, as of January 2024, @invinciblemamas has 1,013 followers on Instagram.

Alliance lead Tyler Azure focuses

on growing the IMPACT national advocacy alliance.

“Women that were younger mothers can just come together when it comes to policy work, being able to change things,” Azure said.

According to Azure, creating a community for single mothers can help abolish their feelings of isolation.

Together, Easterla, Powell and Azure dedicate their time to strengthening the structure of the IMPACT Project.

“Each of us has a role within the steering committee to kind of take the lead and take the charge on those three areas of work…so now that we have that structure, we’ve been getting a lot more done,” Powell said.

Recently, the IMPACT Project leaders had the opportunity to have its first congressional briefing in Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill.

Together, they were able to communicate to Congress the common challenges young mothers face today and policy recommendations to help solve them.

“I went in front of Congress and I just created policy recommendations

based off of my own lived experience,” Easterla said. “With the more voices we collect, the more data we have to create recommendations.”

The IMPACT Project’s current goal is to spread awareness that many young mothers enrolled in full time school need inclusivity in order to thrive, according to Easterla.

Women that were younger mothers can just come together when it comes to policy work, being able to change things.

TYLER AZURE Alliance lead

The science cartoonist: One Cal Poly professor’s journey to get into The New Yorker

BY JESSICA CARP

Ed Himelblau has worked as a professor in the biological sciences department of Cal Poly for nineteen years.

In grad school, he started drawing cartoons regularly to fit some art into days that were filled with science.

Himelblau has now been a successful cartoonist for over twenty five years, selling his work to science magazines and other publications.

“Most weeks end on Friday with my batch of cartoons getting rejected,” Himelblau said. “Then most of my weeks start on Monday by me looking and being like ‘Oh, nothing in the magazine this week,’ so it’s sort of like I get to bookend my week with little bits of disappointment.”

Himelblau sold his first cartoon to The New Yorker in 2020, a publication that has inspired him since he was a kid. He finds drawing cartoons to be a fun challenge as an artist. His passion for drawing has kept him submitting cartoons to The New Yorker despite sometimes facing rejection.

“The humor and the writing and the drawing all got to work, each one is a little puzzle to solve,” he said.

Himelblau also takes inspiration from his daily work in the lab. Many of his cartoons feature depictions of animals, classrooms and scientists.

He’s found that many skills can be useful in both science and art.

“Good biologists are really good at noticing things like somebody who’s going to be a really good geneticist, they’ll look at a table full of plants or something and they’ll be like ‘that one looks a little bit different,’” he said. “That’s probably something that helps with art also.”

Through his work he hopes to showcase the diversity of scientists and humanize them through the portrayal of their mistakes and imperfections. He also wants to give the public a realistic look at life in the lab, a place that is not always accessible to everyone.

Himelblau has yet to sell a sciencebased cartoon to the New Yorker, something that is one of his goals.

“If I had a mission statement for

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those cartoons it would be that science and scientists could be portrayed with humor and authenticity,” Himelblau said.

To see more of Professor Himelblau’s work you can find him on Instagram @himelblog or visit www.himelblau.com to subscribe to his newsletter.

SCAN TO WATCH

ED HIMELBL AU | COURTESY

How the ADHD medication shortage is affecting SLO medication,” Ennen said.

Ennen said she did not give away any of her supply because she was running low herself. Sharing prescribed medications, including stimulants like Adderall, is illegal and poses many potential health and safety risks.

The main drugs used to treat ADHD are categorized as controlled substances, which require patients to visit their psychiatrist or doctors every six months to get a refill, often in person. According to the FDA,

stimulants carry a high potential for abuse, leading to addiction and overdose.

Donahue expressed concerns that the shortage will continue to present challenges for students with ADHD. “I definitely think if like someone’s experiencing issues filling their medication, just put on your Sherlock Holmes hat and like get to work,” she said. “You kind of have to advocate for yourself and ask all the questions. . .right now, you have to get real crafty.”

CL AIRE LORIMOR | MUSTANG NEWS

NEWS

Poly students.

Many people do not receive an ADHD diagnosis until symptoms accentuate with the transition to college, according to Aponte.

“Now you’re also on this accelerated quarter system, you’re grappling with emerging adulthood issues living on your own, working on your own, social issues with roommates,” Aponte said. “You can see problems that may have been there for years, but were masked, are suddenly unmasked.”

Sociology senior Kalia Ennen first noticed how ADHD symptoms affect her academic success in college.

“I start a task. . .I think about another and I kind of never complete a task and then I just kind of get really overwhelmed,” Ennen said.

Ennen said she has not been personally affected by the shortage but knows many fellow students who have.

“I do know other friends who have ADHD and have prescriptions who were actually coming to me because they knew I was able to get

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Cal Poly alumna and current university employee Sheri Donahue used a telehealth service to receive an ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) diagnosis in 2021. However, when pandemic regulations for virtual prescriptions ended, she struggled to get her next refill.

“It’s like a big game of cat and mouse,” Donahue said.

Donahue is one of many Americans who sought an ADHD diagnosis during the pandemic– her symptoms of forgetfulness, inability to focus and hyperactivity were only accentuated with work from home.

So when pharmacists informed Donahue that her prescription was on backorder, she was concerned for the future of her treatment plan. “[The pharmacists] told me, we don’t know if there’s an end in sight,” Donahue said.

The ADHD medication shortage, which began in August 2022, affects

several medications often prescribed to those diagnosed with the disorder, including Adderall, Vyvanse and Ritalin.

A joint letter from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Administration in August 2023 considered manufacturing delays and increased demand due to a spike in diagnoses as the main causes of the shortage.

Rebecca Aponte, a psychologist at Central Coast Evaluations Services, said ADHD medication always has a limited threshold of production, but noticed the accentuation by the recent increase in prescriptions.

“The amount that is allowed to be produced and prescribed does not automatically fluctuate with the size of our population or with the number of people who have this diagnosis,” Aponte said.

According to a 2022 study from the National Institutes of Health, about 6% of college students are diagnosed with ADHD. Patients at Aponte’s practice range from ages 15 to 25, many being Cal

MUSTANG NEWS

BY ABBY GORMAN AND SARINA GROSSI

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On the killing floor: Watching a cow slaughter for the first time In the agricultural industry, death is a part of life.

BY COLE PRESSLER

THE BUTCHER

Cole Pressler is a journalism junior and reporter for The Hill. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang News.

On a chilly morning in a meat market parking lot, I met Mike and his two apprentices, Sadie and Tom. Those weren’t quite their names, but I wouldn’t like Mike to get in trouble for firing a gun inside city limits.

Mike is a freelance harvester, kind of an agricultural mercenary. Each morning he travels around Central California slaughtering livestock at families’ homes.

He had a full 80s rocker mullet, a goatee around his beakish mouth, thin-framed tinted glasses and a black wool Patagonia vest that looked as old as me.

He’s a second-generation butcher— his dad was in the business.

“They called me ‘gut boy’ when I was 6 or 7,” he said cheerfully.

He was 16 when he harvested his first animal solo and he’s slit more throats than he can remember.

“Thousands and thousands,” he said. “You lose count. You just wanna get the job done.”

While we talked, Mike pulled single Starbursts from his vest pocket and offered me one.

“You know the only time happiness is perfected?” He unwrapped another with a wicked grin. “When it’s shared.”

I followed him to Atascadero behind his Chevy truck, which had several metal beams mounted in the bed to string up carcasses.

The family owns a one-story beige house and a few acres at the end of a cracking, potholed road off El Camino Real. Their wide-open dirt driveway slopes upwards towards the house and down to some trees and dumpsters. This was the killing floor.

Mike greeted the mom with a hug. “Always hug your

OPINION

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

This story contains descriptive language of animal slaughter that some readers may find unsettling.

The idea came to me on a September day in my kitchen. I was about to toss some ground beef into a tofu stir fry.

Suddenly, the beef felt like a foreign substance in my hands, almost alien.

I had recently been critically exploring my relationship with food. Rather than going through the motions of eating, I wanted to be in tune with what I ate, where it came from and how it made me feel.

And I had never witnessed death with my own eyes before.

So I promised myself that by the year’s end, I would observe a cattle “harvest”—the agricultural term for slaughter.

Cal Poly’s Animal Science department said no (it’s policy; they’ve had protestors before). But they reached out to a local harvester who invited me to watch him slaughter a family’s cow at their home.

Leaving it up to my conscience was the easy way out of my dilemma. If the harvest ruined meat for me, so be it. Shouldn’t a consumer have to see an animal die before reaping the benefits of its flesh?

The week before, I went on a night run through Cal Poly’s agriculture fields. Just past Stenner Creek, a cow stared at me through the blackness from behind a fence.

I stopped and walked up to it. Do you know? I asked silently.

It reared its head away when I reached out with my hand.

butcher and your baker,” he joked.

The harvesters tied on aprons, pulled latex gloves over their left hands and strapped on belts laden with carving knives. Sadie screeched a blade across a sharpening rod.

A minute later the cow arrived.

He was a 1-year-old auburn- and cream-colored Hereford, about five feet tall and eight feet long, with a rope around his head.

Mackenzie, the 19-year-old daughter, won several awards last year showing him at competitions around the county. His meat will fetch around $2,000 — slightly less than what they paid for him.

She spent time nearly every day with him in the cattle pen.

“He’d lay down, I’d sit on him,” Mackenzie remembered.

“Sometimes he’d lick me. He was the nicest one.”

The animal resisted her grip. He flailed his head. With some difficulty, she tugged him over to a metal pen and tethered him in place.

He knew, didn’t he?

I asked Mackenzie’s mom.

“He knows,” she replied with a kind smile.

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Mike reached into his backseat and pulled out a long black .22 Magnum rifle.

First, you need to deliver a traumatic blow to the brain with a bolt gun or actual gun, incapacitating the animal to slit its throat. This is considered the humane way to end its life.

No bolt gun today, but a clean rifle shot between the ear and eye would do the trick.

The cow looked over. He seemed calm now.

I felt my heart beating. I wondered if the cow could feel his own heart.

Mike lined up about ten feet from its side and aimed.

THE HARVEST

I knew he was gonna die. But that’s life.

MACKENZIE CRAWFORD

THE MEAT

Once it lost its eyes, it was no longer an animal. It was no longer alive or dead. It was simply meat, two half-bodies worth $1,000 each.

This was a fundamental truth of agriculture, maybe the most fundamental truth, and everyone else watching that morning had understood that truth long before I did.

I experienced nothing revolutionary; around 8,000 cows are killed each day in the U.S. For Mike, who made nearly $400 from this job, death is his livelihood.

“If you’re gonna eat meat, there’s gotta be a process,” he said.

They lowered the pieces of meat into Mike’s Chevy. We shook hands and said goodbye. Driving away, I watched Mackenzie rake dust over the blood. I pictured the cow staring at the clouds.

I expected visceral disgust from seeing an animal get stripped for parts. But I couldn’t possibly have

been disgusted over something done with such respect.

Few of us grocery store consumers know exactly how our food gets to our plates. Many are too disgusted to think about it. Humans naturally find comfort in oblivion.

But is it better to not understand the process?

As you pictured that cow getting shot, slit, skinned, hung and chopped up, did you lose some of your oblivion? If you can’t handle watching something die, maybe you shouldn’t be eating it.

Seven days later I ordered a steak at a restaurant. I saw the auburn-andcream Hereford on my plate and ate with a new mindfulness. I appreciated every bite.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

Sadie dug around with her knife and yanked out the esophagus, tossing it with other byproducts into the bucket of a nearby excavator.

All the while, Mike chatted, identifying each foul-smelling digestive liquid that gurgled out. The original pool of throat blood had congealed into a brilliant red layer over the dust.

It shook like Jell-O when I poked it with a piece of hay.

Cows had always looked so lifeless to me, just thousands of nameless speckled bodies on the sides of roads. This one only seemed so full of life once I saw it torn open and all its colors spilled out.

Sadie and Tom sliced meat hooks through the thighs and strung it back up, raising the legs higher every few minutes to make different cuts.

Mackenzie stared with a frown.

With the whir of machinery, the body ascended, twirling upside down above the dirt.

Then the harvesters tore the belly open and the guts and innards fell out in a big heap. There was little that resembled a cow. They snatched the purpled organs, the liver, the spleen, tossing them between their hands like pizza dough.

The smell knocked me backwards.

The guts sat in a tangled mass of white tubes.

One bloated intestine pulsated, contracting slowly, caked in dirt, like slow-moving mud flowing through a river delta.

Within 45 minutes, the carcass was hollowed out and hosed down.

Tom revved a chainsaw and sliced down the spine. Vertebrae popped apart one-by-one; the frame shook and fell away to either side in a V-shape.

I imagined it as a pile of ground beef in my kitchen.

The last piece of work was the head.

The skin, ears, mouth and snout peeled off easily. The marble eyes stayed open.

Tom slid a bone saw through the back of the neck. The head dangled by a few stretched-out sinews.

He wrapped his arms around it for support, cutting off the final attachments. With difficulty, he shuffled over and triumphantly plopped it on the truck bed like a trophy cup.

Sadie pulled the tongue out about a foot and stuck a hose into the mouth.

A blood-water mouthwash frothed out.

Ten feet away, a small black cow marked “#7” watched the entire operation from behind the bars of her pen with what I assumed was an expression of shock.

She knew, didn’t she?

Eventually, she returned to ambling around and munching on hay.

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One quick trigger pull — a thunderclap — and the animal collapsed with a powerful thump, its front legs tucked underneath like it was lying down to sleep.

The brain was dead but the body shuddered. The fat on its back jiggled.

For a split second after it hit the ground, everyone paused.

Then the harvesters began their work.

Sadie rolled the body over and sawed the throat until there was a six-inch gap between the chin and chest.

A crimson river gushed onto the dirt, steaming with heat.

Even with the throat wide open, its limbs convulsed. It mooed and grunted.

I asked if it was conscious.

Mackenzie said no—the noises were “pretty much the body’s way of figuring out [it’s] dying.”

A front hoof splashed into the blood puddle flowing out in all directions. I could see the body reflected in the glassy liquid.

The cow’s blue eyes were bigger than marbles. They stared blankly into the sky.

Once enough blood had collected, they tied the legs to a chain from the truck bed and dragged the body across the ground. Its chin slid through the blood. The tongue hung limp out of its mouth.

After a few feet of dragging, it was released onto its back. Each hoof was cut off—Tom on the hind legs with an electric razor saw and Sadie at the front using a knife that looked far too small.

Over the next half-hour, they scraped off the hide with clean downstrokes.

The skin fell away effortlessly to

reveal a white layer of fat and muscle.

Beautifully peeled, like an orange. Or like Mike unwrapping his Starbursts.

The auburn-and-cream hide transformed into a mess of white and streaky red. Under the skin, random muscles twitched with no rhyme or reason. Movement gave the appearance of life, but in reality, it showed nothing more than the nerves’ final electrical messages.

The harvesters were deliberate with their cuts. They were artists, using their knives as paintbrushes on a bloody canvas. There wasn’t a speck of force exerted more than necessary. The body was not disrespected.

They split the sternum apart next.

Occasional streams of blood poured from the open chest cavity.

OPINION

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Fighting fire with fire:

The preventative nature of prescribed burns in SLO County

KCPR

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

BY SARINA GROSSI

In the past few years, the California state legislature increased funding for wildfire prevention and mitigation. This includes Governor Gavin Newsom signing bills such as SB 332 in 2021, focusing on conducting prescribed burns. According to the U.S. Forest Service, a prescribed burn is a fire that is set in a controlled environment by a team of fire experts.

According to San Luis Obispo Fire Department Public Information Officer James Blattler, a large goal of prescribed burns is to reduce chances of destructive wildfires. This is done by burning away fuels like grasses, shrubs and small trees that can intensify fires.

“If you are taking out a lot of the fuel which our prescribed burn can do, what that’s going to do, it’s going to lead to firefighters having a much better chance at extinguishing a fire in the surrounding area and because there’s less fuel to burn,” Blattler said. “So the fire is not going to be as big, it’s not going to be spreading as rapidly.”

Prescribed burns are a regular occurrence in San Luis Obispo County, with Cal Fire and other local agencies planning burns in collaboration with the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District.

According to Cal Poly Wildland Fire and Fuels Management Professor Chris Dicus, prescribed burns are very different compared to unpredictable wildfires. There is deliberate and detailed planning behind the prescribed burns.

“The stars have to align in terms of personnel, wind speeds, fuel moistures, all these things before the match is ever lit,” Dicus said.

Meghan Field, the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District Public Information Officer, says at the beginning of every year, all air control agencies in the state meet and plan burns for the year. Later, the districts approve smoke management plans for up to 24 hours before the scheduled burns. The right fire at the right time in the right place is the goal of a prescribed burn. Agencies must determine if weather conditions are appropriate before final approval is given.

“They’ll wait until all the factors line up on the weather to make sure

that one, it’s not too wet, like if it’s gonna be raining, because you want it to be able to actively burn the vegetation,” Blattler said. “But you also don’t want to do it when it’s too dry and the wind is going to be picking up because that might lead to what they call, like, an escaped burn or an escape fire.”

If there is anything off about the weather, like rain or high wind speeds, the burn is either rescheduled or canceled. According to Blattler, agencies typically conduct burns early in the morning to early in the afternoon, prioritizing ideal weather conditions.

The stars have to align in terms of personnel, wind speeds, fuel moistures, all these things before the match is ever lit.

CHRIS DICUS Cal Poly Wildland Fire and Fuels Management Professor

Though some citizens might be wary of potential smoke, Field said that the smoke impact on prescribed burn days is minimal compared to the possible smoke coming from a wildfire.

“We have a monitoring network across our county,” Field said. She also said that the APCD has not seen an increase in “particulate matter levels” due to the fires being conducted correctly. This contrasts with wildfires, when monitors “ping up into the unhealthy range,” indicating people can experience symptoms of smoke inhalation.

In addition to wildfire prevention, the prescribed burns work as a reset button forthe natural environment.

According to Dicus, burning the land sets the landscape back to an earlier

stage. This makes plant life healthier and stronger.

“What looks like blackened earth, all of a sudden it sprouts back up… afterward and it’s the same exact plants, but now they’re younger and there’s less dead stuff and sort of more vibrant,” Dicus said. “It’s important to have these blocks of different age classes because that helps with ecosystem resiliency.”

The Nature Conservancy said that fire helps plant life thrive by heating the soil and decreasing the yearly buildup of leaf litter, enabling sunlight to reach the ground. The increase in plant life also gives local wildlife grasslands and benefits local food chains and habitats. Both the reduction of fuels and the increased variety in plant life help the land become more resilient to fires.

Dave Erickson, a forester for the SLO unit of Cal Fire, said that the organization tries to recreate natural fire while working in the environment.

“The mimicry of natural fire in our projects is essential for increasing biodiversity, sequestering carbon, protecting firefighters and community as well as creating wildfire-resilient landscapes and ecosystems,” Erickson said.

Despite the preventative nature of prescribed burns, fear around possible wildfires hasn’t gone away.

Erickson said that community reaction and educating the public is a big hurdle for prescribed burns.

“We try to get ahead of that through education and educating those communities and the public and the politicians to help them understand what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, why we’re doing it,” Erickson said.

“And a lot of why we’re doing that is to protect those communities – not only residential, but also natural communities – from wildfires and the aftermath of wildfires.”

According to Field, the SLO County APCD and Cal Fire are currently working to make information about ongoing and prescribed burns more accessible to the public.

The SLO County APCD regularly updates their website with scheduled burns. The California Air Resources Board also has an app called California Smoke Spotter that allows people to keep track of burns nearby.

9

New Year, New Ways To Ponder Existence LIZ RIDELY | MUSTANG NEWS

BY ZOIE DENTON

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

but I am asking you to examine where the urge to set these goals comes from, and ask yourself: what would really make me happy? What do you want to change and why?

Personally, I don’t want to reinvent myself and in this society, with all of the ways capitalism benefits from selling self improvement, this mindset can lead to some beautifully radical thinking. In each moment I want to attempt to remind myself that slowing down allows an awareness that is consistently misplaced.

We often find ourselves focusing on less important things, yet we continue this cycle anyway in the name of productivity. We still rush, ignore, buy, sell, yell, attempt perfection. We think we know how to live when all evidence points otherwise.

Just comparing New Year’s celebrations from the 90s to this year, it seems obvious that we’ve lost some of our joy, and understandably so.

We always think we are missing something, but I’m asking you to think harder about your happiness.

So make resolutions, or don’t, or do and break them. Get comfortable with less, it’s kinder than more.

MUSTANG NEWS

Welcome, 2024! In a general sense, I’m getting increasingly terrified about the future for a whole slew of reasons. But I’m not writing to cover the socioeconomic or political state of the world going into the new year, I simply do not have the bandwidth or omniscience to get into it. I am writing to you and your New Year’s resolutions.

As the years progress , my illusion of the control I have over change and the extent to which I can apply it to my life diminishes. I have changed immensely year after year, and funnily enough, a ball dropping in New York has never been a catalyst in my life. So, as I was shouting “3, 2, 1,” looking at lips raised at the corners, catching reflections of smiling eyes through reflections of a garland of plastic stars, and ringing in the new year in a bar full of many strangers, I began to think about the concept of resolutions.

I definitely didn’t find myself forming any resolutions for the coming year. Cutting out alcohol, eating less sugar, getting a hobby… nothing resonated—then I realized that I definitely do have a resolution, just

not one that can be measured or checked off.

I like to think of resolutions, instead, as reminders of how to live life the way we really want to, adding an additional attentiveness to our easily distracted minds. So this year, here’s mine: to do less.

More accurately, I want to be less efficient in order to do things slower and find the enjoyment in them. I want to fold laundry slowly with no distractions. I want to be less impressive to people who are fully entrenched in the capitalist definition of the world. I want to prove less. I want to want less—in fact, I want to redefine my relationship with the idea of ownership.

While a silly concept if applied too generally, focusing on less allows me to acknowledge how incredibly abundant my life already is, and I’m guessing it’d help you too.

Especially as Americans, we are often so focused on progress. Of course we are, we live in a hugely influential capitalism-driven country, allowing the goal of profit to seep into our every credence. We want more, or at the very least different, constantly.

I’m not telling you not to set goals,

OPINION

10

Love hard, play hard: Meet Cal Poly Women’s Basketball’s head coach

BY ANTHONY MOLLESON

A FIGHTING SPIRIT

Stires didn’t hit the ground running when starting basketball in her youth. Her playing career began with her being cut from the school team in both 8th and 9th grade.

“Basketball did not come easily to me,” Stires said. “But it taught me a lot about resilience.”

She would lace up for Cloud Community College in her first year after high school before transferring to Kansas State, where she would go on to have a rewarding career.

As a 5-foot-11 forward, Stires found success by earning a reputation as a scrappy, hardnose player.

She shows us how to love hard, how to play hard, how to be great people every single day.

SIERRA LICHTIE Business sophomore

“I wasn’t deterred by the fact that coaches didn’t think I was good enough,” Stires said. “That includes

junior high, high school, the college level and even the pro level.”

She scored over 1,344 points in her Kansas State career and, after graduation, earned a spot in the now-defunct American Basketball League with the Columbus Quest. She then spent three years in the WNBA with the Minnesota Lynx and played overseas in Greece, Portugal and Sweden.

CAREER POST-PLAYING DAYS

As her professional playing days came to a close, she began to wonder what life would look like after basketball.

Stires started working at a bakery in Minnesota to learn the ins and outs of business entrepreneurship.

During this period, she wondered if this was the path she was meant to follow.

But it felt like something was missing.

“When I envisioned life without

basketball, I thought I wanted to try coaching before I exit,” she said.

She began to pursue a career in coaching and eventually an opportunity presented itself to work as an assistant coach at Ohio State University.

“I fell in love with it immediately,” Stires said.

It was during her time at Ohio University that Stires would meet Samba Johnson, the team’s recruiting coordinator and current assistant coach at Cal Poly.

“The first couple months between us were rocky,” Johnson laughed.

“We would argue like brother and sister.”

As time went on, the two developed a strong relationship and eventually established an unbreakable bond that still persists today.

During their time at Ohio University, Johnson’s mother passed away. It was Stires who drove him over three hours through a

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

As the morning sun began to ascend, dribbling basketballs and shoe squeaks echoed around Mott Athletic Center. Players talked amongst themselves as they stretched and laced their shoes.

At about 6:45 a.m., the gym doors swung open, while a booming “Let’s Go!” erupted from a hooded figure strolling in. The team joined in with yells of their own and practice was underway.

The hooded figure is Cal Poly Women’s Basketball Head Coach Shanele Stires, who sports a sweatshirt reading “They Sleep, We Hoop,” which is fitting for the time of day.

After playing professionally in the WNBA and coaching stops at institutions all over the country, such as the University of San Francisco, the University of Nebraska-Omaha and most recently, Cal State East Bay, Stires finds herself on the Central

Coast and at the heart of a surging women’s basketball program at Cal Poly.

“She shows us how to love hard, how to play hard, how to be great people every single day,” sophomore forward Sierra Lichtie said. “She brings that heat and fire every day no matter what’s going on outside of basketball.”

SPORTS

FIRST L AST | MUSTANG NEWS Photo caption.

ANTHONY MOLLESON MUSTANG NEWS Stires Celebrates with Annika Shah after a drawn charge in defensive drills.

ANTHONY MOLLESON MUSTANG NEWS Stires outlines expectations for the day’s practice to her team.

11

past Shah, but another player beat her to the ball.

Stires raced up the court, blowing her whistle, “Annika! You got to get the ball!”

A minimal protest came from Shah before responding, “Yes, coach”.

Shah would make up for her lack of effort, not even a full five minutes later, by throwing her body in front of a player driving to the rim. This time, there were screams of joy coming from Stires as she ran over to highfive Shah for drawing the charge.

It’s this type of play that symbolizes the emerging culture within the team, and Stires is building the foundation. snowstorm to take him back home.

With a relationship forged, Stires and Johnson came to an agreement.

“Whichever one of us gets a head division one job, the other one is coming as second in command,” Johnson recalled.

Almost 20 years later, Stires accepted the job at Cal Poly. She first called her father. The next person she called was Johnson, telling him, “We’re going to Cal Poly.”

SETTING THE FRAMEWORK

Stires has a unique coaching perspective: she’s played every role

on a team and coached at almost every level of basketball.

According to the team’s leading scorer Annika Shah, her constant energy became contagious.

When there’s a lapse in focus in practice, Stires will suddenly burst out with an exclamation, “I ain’t got no eligibility left!”

Stires’ goal is to fill the team with players who think alike and reflect the program’s core values: humble, hungry and smart.

The emerging culture of the program can be compared to a developing language in which the team is all learning to speak together.

“If you’re speaking French, and you’re speaking German, and neither of you speak English – you can still figure some stuff out, but more than likely it’s gonna take you guys a while,” Stires said in an interview on The Gallop podcast in November 2023.

By finding players who embody the core values, she hopes these athletes will be able to become fluent on the court.

“That’s what that language does for us, it allows for us to really have great team chemistry because we’re all operating on the same level,” Stires said.

With nine newcomers, the returners were tasked with taking on leadership roles and representing this teamwide culture.

“I’ve really been able to rely on them,” Stires said about the returners. “They’ve led the way in terms of building a player-led culture, which is really what we want. We feel like the best teams are ones where the players work with the coaches.’’

SCAN TO WATCH

ESTABLISHING AN IDENTITY

Everyone in the gym heard a smack as a player lost the ball, but no whistle was blown. The ball slowly dribbled

MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

WELCOME BACK, MUSTANGS! -PRESIDENT JEFF ARMSTRONG

SPORTS

12

Building Success from the Ground Up:

Sam Huard’s Effect at Cal Poly

BY MATTHEW HO

Every offseason, Sam Herder of Hero Sports compiles a list of Division I football transfers from the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). When making the list, Herder will come across the occasional former four-star recruits who moved to the FCS level, but he couldn’t recall a former five-star transfer like Sam Huard.

of a team Cal Poly is, the Mustangs looked to take steps forward to becoming a more competitive team in a rigorous Big Sky Conference.

For years, Cal Poly Football was in the wilderness, looking to build some semblance of culture and identity. The team hasn’t had a winning season since 2016 and has seen three head coaches since 2018, according to GoPoly.com.

But after Huard’s first season, along with new head coach Paul Wulff and Offensive Coordinator Sheldon Cross, there’s now belief a winning program can be built in San Luis Obispo.

A RECORD BROKEN

SPORTS

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

I just remember Coach Cross telling me, ‘You can go to [Eastside Catholic] and go to a great program or you can come here and you can build something special.

SAM HUARD Communications sophomore

BR ANDON BOMBERGER | MUSTANG NEWS Sam Huard (7) completed 31 of 39 passes, the highest number of completions by a Cal Poly player in 23 years, in a win over Northern Colorado on Oct. 21, 2023.

When the news broke on GoPoly. com Huard was transferring from the University of Washington to Cal Poly, Herder didn’t put too much stock in it.

“I shared the news on [X, formerly known as Twitter] that he was transferring there, but I didn’t make too much of a fuss about it,” Herder wrote to Mustang News. “I’ve seen teams bring in like 15 FBS transfers and their record actually gets worse.”

In the case of Huard’s arrival at Cal Poly, there wasn’t an immediate injection of wins into the program in the 2023 season, but that was never the expectation. With how young

BURIEN, WA — Coming into a home game against Kentwood on March 27, 2021, Huard was 341 yards short of the Washington state career-passing record of 13,044 yards, which was held at the time by NFL quarterback Brett Rypien.

In the waning seconds of the first half, Kennedy Catholic’s athletic director went up to Cross and let him know Huard had broken the record.

Huard, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his high school class, had eclipsed 341 yards in one half and now held the all-time state career passing yard record. Huard had reached the peak of high school success at Kennedy.

Growing up, Sam played in the youth football program for Eastside Catholic, one of the strongest high school football programs in Washington, who were coming off multiple state championships.

Sam’s uncle Luke Huard, a close friend of Cross dating back to high school, convinced him to take a visit to a little-known school about 30 minutes south of where Sam lived called Kennedy Catholic. Cross was the head coach of the football team.

“I decided to take a visit down there and when I met with [Cross] he was showing me the Air Raid offense,” Huard said on The Gallop podcast in April of 2023. “I just remember

Coach Cross telling me, ‘You can go to [Eastside Catholic] and go to a great program or you can come here and you can build something special.’”

Right away, as a 150-pound freshman, Cross started Huard at quarterback. But success didn’t come right away. Kennedy Catholic went 6-4 and finished fifth in their district in Huard’s first year.

However, in Huard’s third season under center, the team took off and finished the regular season 11-0.

Kennedy Catholic was the No. 1 team in the state of Washington and was ranked 25th in the country.

In just three years, Kennedy Catholic went from a middle-of-thepack team in their district to one of the best in the country as Huard became the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his high school class.

HO W HUA RD A ND CROSS HELPED CHANGE THE CULTURE AT KENNEDY CATHOLIC

Endure Dinish was the defensive line coach under Cross at Kennedy Catholic when Huard attended. He’s now the associate head coach at Kennedy.

“It was Cross’s second year when Sam arrived,” Dinish said. “We all grew up together and changed the culture together. The cohesiveness of it all just couldn’t have been more perfect.”

To start off Huard’s junior season, Kennedy Catholic played their first game at CenturyLink Field, the home of the Seattle Seahawks, in a nationally televised game on ESPN. Coming into the game, Huard was the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in his class. Power 5 offers and national attention started to pour in.

But even with Huard blowing up on the national stage, Dinish saw Huard lead with his actions.

“When you have a kid that gets recognized and decorated with all these accolades and awards, but you see him working hard as everybody else, that makes everybody else have

Sam Huard (7) hands the ball off to running back Mark Biggins (4) in a 24-17 win over Northern Colorado on Oct. 21, 2023.

SPORTS

Sam Huard (7) walks into a huddle in a win over Northern Colorado on Oct. 21, 2023.

In terms of Huard’s development, Cross sees a lot of similarities between his time at Kennedy Catholic and Cal Poly.

“I think it’s very similar that timeline,” Cross said. “You’re a redshirt sophomore and this team has a bunch of young dudes, and you can see that guys are starting to make plays and get more confident. You can see that buzz starting to happen.”

During Huard’s first season, who has two more years of eligibility, he finished with 2,247 passing yards — the sixth-highest total in program history. He also added 184

13

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

PARALLELS BET WEEN KENNEDY CATHOLIC AND CAL POLY

completions, which ranks fifth in single-season history, and 18 passing touchdowns.

Huard also agrees there are a lot of similarities.

“Everyone’s really excited about building something special,” Huard said. “I had a great experience with that in high school, going in there with a group of guys around me and a team that was focused on building something. For me and Coach Cross to be able to do that in high school and then now have an opportunity to do it here, it’s really great.”

The Mustangs only added one extra win compared to the season prior but showed in numerous games they had the talent to compete with some of the best in the Big Sky, which featured numerous top 25 FCS programs and four teams that clinched an FCS playoff birth.

One game where the Mustangs looked to have taken a step In the right direction was in a 41-30 loss to No.9 Sacramento State on Nov. 11. Huard broke the school’s singlegame completion record with 37 completed passes for 483 passing yards, which figures for the secondmost yards in a game since 2000.

The Mustangs’ total offense of 539 was the highest amount in a single game since 2019.

Huard was able to accomplish this in his first season as a full-time starter in college.

“There’s definitely I’m learning every single week, and the most learning you can have as a quarterback is by getting those game repetitions and being in these situations,” Huard said.

Even with blowout losses in Big Sky play, Huard felt that the team stayed together.

“We’ve had some tough losses, but at the same, it’s like every single game, we’re getting better,” Huard said. “We can feel that. The energy is getting better, and the belief is getting better.”

When Huard stepped off the field for the last time at Kennedy Catholic, Cross thought that was the last day coaching him. But when Head Coach Paul Wulff brought him on to the coaching staff, he had a feeling it could work out.

“When Sam decided to enter the portal, I felt as good as anyone he wanted to come here,” Cross said.

“He just needed to see how awesome it is here.”

With Huard in the fold along with a strong incoming recruiting class, Cross believes in Cal Poly taking off.

Just like how he believed in building something at Kennedy, he’s now bringing that belief to Cal Poly.

“I can see this thing taking off, Cross said. “And I know Coach Wulff can. This is an exciting time to be here.”

MUSTANG NEWS

Sam Huard (7) stands in the shotgun formation in a 24-17 win over Northern Colorado on Oct. 21, 2023.

to follow,” Dinish said.

In a lot of ways, what happened at Kennedy parallels what’s happening at Cal Poly. “[Huard] entered high school with expectations like you could see he’s going to be really good, but it wasn’t like when he got to high school he wasn’t ready to just win all the time,” Cross said. “We had to work to get better.”

As Huard started to improve year after year, so did Kennedy.

“As he got better, the team got better,” Cross said. “That’s when we became a championship program.”

It seemed like destiny that Huard would commit to the University of Washington. As a freshman, Huard was named an All-American.

According to Cross, in the following year, he threw for the most yards in the whole country.

Once Washington offered him a scholarship, Huard shut down his recruitment, and he committed on Dec. 16, 2020.

Huard played at Washington for two seasons. But Chris Peterson, the coach who recruited Huard, was eventually replaced by Kalen DeBoer. DeBoer lured Michael Penix Jr. to Washington to be his starting quarterback.

Across two seasons, Huard played five games and threw 44 total passes.

Huard doesn’t feel disappointed that his time at the University of Washington didn’t end up working out.

“I know that God always has a plan, and I know everything happens for a reason,” Huard said. “I’m thankful for my time there, but at the same time, I felt really led to go and take a new step in my life and go on a different path.”

Dinish would try to see if Huard would express frustration about the Washington situation, but Huard wouldn’t budge.

“It was always just ‘Coach, no. I’m just going to stay read. Next man up.’

That was just his mindset every time,” Dinish said. “Clearly, he wants to play, but he’s not selfish. He understands there’s a bigger purpose in the future for him.”

Coming Soon:

14

Platypus Café

New Australian-style cafe by Skipper’s Brew owners offers space for queer joy

KCPR

MUSTANG NEWS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

BY NATASHA MALINOVSKY

Skipper’s Brew owners Shari Rubino and Karen Pike are taking on a new endeavor: an Australian-style cafe close to downtown San Luis Obispo.

Scheduled to open in early 2024, The Platypus will offer a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, with an assortment of coffee and international cuisine.

“Obviously we are a queer safe space, but it’s meant for everybody to be themselves and be safe no matter who you identify as,” Pike said. “It’s about having a space where everyone — families with little kids, queer youth, everyone — can just gather and feel safe.”

The Australian-style cafe is built to allow customers to enjoy coffee and food during the day and socialize over a beer at night. According to Pike, The Platypus’ quaint, homey feel is fitting for being a neighborhood cafe, much like the ones Pike speaks fondly of from her home country of Australia.

Customers can expect Australian-focused pastries with local ingredients and specialty espresso sourced from family-owned Australian roasting company Vittoria.

“It is amazing if you like true Italian-style darker roasted espresso that’s not bitter,” Pike said. “It usually has chocolatey notes to it.”

The Platypus’ flavor profiles will differ substantially from Skipper’s, honing in on the Australian flavor pallet, which includes macadamia nut, butterscotch, Turkish delight and eucalyptus rose.

Although the couple is well known in the local community for coffee, Rubino and Pike said expanding to alcoholic beverages was always their intention when looking to start a business

together.

“For all different reasons, it didn’t work out that way in the beginning,” Pike said. “So we were like, ‘Let’s start with coffee and then maybe down the road introduce beer and wine.’”

The previous owners of the location shut down their business, The Giant Grinder, in July and reached out to Pike and Rubino, providing the couple with an opportunity to honor their original concept.

In order to make this new location a welcoming space for all, Rubino and Pike plan to offer a wide variety of menu items, including creative non-alcoholic drinks.

Obviously we are a queer safe space, but it’s meant for everybody to be themselves and be safe no matter who you identify as KAREN PIKE Skipper’s Brew Owner

“We want to honor the sober community that wants to go out with their friends and offer both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and give everyone a great, fun vibe to hang out in without any of the issues of being at a bar,” Rubino said.

Rubino noted that while food on the menu may be limited during the first few opening days, coffee and other beverages will be up and running.

“Obviously there’s going to be some learning curves, but there’s going to be some crazy fun energy,” Rubino said.

Looking toward the future, Rubino and Pike said they want to host acoustic music on weekends, intimate drag shows, drag brunches and other activities to bring people together.

“We are excited to have a space that will allow us to operate longer hours and do all that kind of fun stuff,” Rubino said.

Gala Pride and Diversity Center’s content curator Lola White-Sanborn said it’s important for SLO to have a designated safe space for queer people. White-Sanborn said that while Gala is a safe space and resource for the queer community to vent and discuss hard topics, it is also valuable to have places to simply have fun.

“Ultimately, any time we get a place for queer joy it’s a big deal,” she said. “I think having a space that is focused on queer people having a good time is going to help make it so that the community can be built without it necessarily needing to focus on our trauma.”

W h i t e -S a n b o r n said a lot of San Luis Obispo’s nightlife is based around bars and drinking, which can alienate those who are looking for social spaces that do not involve alcohol.

“The cafe helps give a space for people who are maybe interested in the culture but not necessarily interested i n

drinking,” she said. “When you’re dealing with a vulnerable population, there are a lot of negative coping mechanisms a person can gain. The fact that [alcohol] isn’t all they’re serving is a good sign for making sure this place remains a space that is positive for people.”

Rubino and Pike said they place importance on making The Platypus an all-ages space, providing room for queer youth to socialize and be themselves.

“It cannot be overstated that for as many good intentions as there are in this area, the queer community is very, very at risk here,” WhiteSanborn said. “So any time that we can find a new place for us to congregate and have a bit more control over who else is coming in and not allowing bigotry, I cannot express how important that is.”

TAYLER K ANG | MUSTANG NEWS

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MIA CR AIG | MUSTANG NEWS Shari Rubino, co-owner MUSTANG NEWS TUESDAY, JANUARY 16, 2024

KCPR

MIA CR AIG | MUSTANG NEWS