Multiple collaborating grassroots and government organizations teamed up with hundreds of volunteers to pick up trash at Columbus Park and Guadalupe Gardens in San José on Saturday.
One of the volunteers was Mayor Matt Mahan, whose policy platform has centered on reducing homelessness in San José and to “end the era of encampments,” according to a statement on the Mayor’s office website.
“We’re working together with about 200 members of our homeless community who are out here rolling up their sleeves, working to beautify a city park, connecting with supportive services and having a chance to feel a little bit of community and dignity,” Mahan said. “(It) means a lot to people who have had tough lives and often feel isolated and hopeless.”
The mayor visited two adjacent cleanup events, one hosted by Neighborhood Hands at Guadalupe Gardens and one co-hosted by The Trash Punx at Columbus Park.
Neighborhood Hands is a local nonprofit public benefit corporation which organizes a community cleanup and resource fair at Guadalupe Gardens every other Saturday, according to the Neighborhood Hands “Current Program” web page.
The Trash Punx is a local volunteer environmentalist organization which hosts trash pickups, recycling events and free junk markets throughout San José, according to The Trash Punx website.
Unhoused residents were awarded a stipend for volunteering to clean up the trash in the area as
well as manage the booths providing resources such as free food, clothes and transportation to the community at Guadalupe Gardens and Columbus Park.
Laurie Stewart is the volunteer coordinator for Neighborhood Hands, which on average mobilizes almost 100 unhoused volunteers per cleanup, according to the corporation’s 2023 annual report.
“The point is to connect neighbors with neighbors, housed neighbors with unhoused neighbors and provide people with some meaningful interactions through cleaning the park (and) cleaning our community,” Stewart said.
Maria Jaime has been unhoused at Columbus Park for eight months. Being able to volunteer for Neighborhood Hands has been an ideal scenario for her in improving her living situation.
“I've seen a lot of people on drugs, people in prostitution and they're abandoned,” Jaime said. “They need help, they need resources, they need a little push for getting out of that world.”
After the cleanup at Guadalupe Gardens ended, multiple unhoused community members lined up to speak with Mahan directly about their personal experiences and issues.
“I really appreciated the opportunity to just have conversations, one on one, with individual homeless neighbors of ours… and hear their feedback about the effectiveness of current programs that the city, county and state offer,” Mahan said.
In previous encampment abatements, makeshift dwellings and vehicles that park residents lived in were towed or destroyed by city officials, according to a Sept. 5 San José Spotlight article.
Batman of San José, a local unhoused community advocate who does his work under the superhero alias, witnessed many of these sweeps and how it sets community members back to square one in acquiring a safer living environment.
“They will tear up tents, belongings, (it) doesn't matter what it is, it will go in a dumpster and then they will move on,” Batman said.
When individuals have their only shelter taken away during these sweeps, there often aren't enough alternatives available in the city for them to turn to, according to the previous San José Spotlight article.
Stewart said she believes in a housing-first approach when addressing encampments, and believes that the city’s repeated encampment sweeps have been ineffective in curbing homelessness.
“I think that if they want to genuinely work with people in these encampments, they need to start by
actually communicating to people without the guarantee of taking all their belongings in a couple of weeks,” Batman said.
Volunteers picking up trash at Columbus Park were instructed by organizers to ask unhoused residents what to throw away when picking up near any dwellings.
The community cleanup there was co-hosted by multiple organizations, including the mayor’s office.
Emily Lansing is the community events director for the Office of Mayor Matt Mahan and organizes beautifying events in the city every Saturday.
“If you actually go there, you'll see that we're working hand in hand with the unhoused members who are living here,” Lansing said.
“We're working hand in hand with them, and we're not throwing away anything that could be someone's belongings.”
Lansing also said the environmental and community health were motivating factors for
hosting the beautification event at Columbus Park.
Vanessa Rogier is the conservation manager for The Trash Punx and has been involved with environmental conservation in the Bay Area for 25 years.
“We have people coming out from all walks of life, from all different areas that want to be part of this, that want to clean up the environment,” Rogier said. “To help the folks here too, that are living on the waterways as well.”
Batman said he is doubtful mayor Mahan will cooperate with the community in a productive way.
“There's all of this discussion of, ‘Let's get community members involved, let’s work with people,’ and then (in) the same breath, choosing not to do that and instead just go around and sweep people,” Batman said.
City Hall talks traffic safety, permits
By Anfisa Pitchkhadze STAFF WRITER
San José hosted a meeting at City Hall on Monday with city councilmembers and the committee staff to discuss transportation and environmental ideas to help the city of San José and the Bay Area.
The members discussed finalizing the 2025 Vision Zero Action Plan that ties into solutions to improve the city of San José such as traffic safety improvements.
David Cohen, San José District 4 councilmember, went over the objectives of the plan that will help bring the message of safety to the community.
“The number of traffic fatalities peaked in 2022 at 65,” Cohen said. “Last year in 2023, there was a 25% reduction to 49 – that drop occurred across all modes of road users.”
Cohen also included plans about the Walk Safe San José pedestrian safety plan, which focuses on making improvements for vulnerable road visitors.
“Our data work includes newer areas like boost project evaluations to understand how newly redesigned streets perform and reducing injuries, improving and updating public facing data dashboards,” Cohen said. Cohen said road users include people experiencing
homelessness and older adults, as well as pedestrians and cyclists who are overrepresented in the traffic fatalities.
“There are also new initiatives like daylighting, which was recently passed by the State Assembly, and means removing parking spots near crosswalks in order to increase vehicle visibility of people crossing or waiting to cross the street,” he said.
Key projects include quickbuild street redesigns, $100 million in grant funding and the implementation of speed cameras.
The plan is set to be finalized and presented to the City Council in February 2025.
The meeting also discussed coordinating efforts between city departments and PG&E to support electrification and electric vehicle infrastructure projects in downtown areas.
Peter Ortiz, a councilmember and a District 5 representative, emphasized on the Regional Wastewater Facility clean water act permits and nutrient permits.
“The new nutrient regulations for the regional wastewater facility require a $200 million upgrade to meet nitrogen reduction targets, with potential additional costs of $11 billion for all treatment plants,” Ortiz said. “It's the largest tertiary wastewater treatment facility in the West, and there are certainly larger facilities in Southern California, but they do not treat their most large in the same high standards for cheese,” Ortiz said.
Ortiz said the facility serves approximately 1.5 million people and over 17,000 businesses spread across the cities and undergraduate portions of Santa Clara County.
These permits are reissued and updated every five years to reflect changes in operations and changes in regulatory requirements.
Councilmember Dev Davis, a councilmember for District 6, said it is important to maintain stable regulatory targets and proactive engagement.
“For perspective, compared to other large urban OS estuaries, the nitrogen levels in the Bay are in the top 98 percentile,” David said. “It's worth noting that many of these other estuaries have nitrogen and energy requirements imposed upon them.”
Davis said the San Francisco Bay Area has not had these same requirements until very recently.
She also said the Bay has been intensively studied for decades, including tracking nutrient levels and environmental responses to nutrients.
Davis said there are environmental benefits of an advanced treatment process that can impact water quality.
She also said clean water has an important role in sustaining local ecosystems.
“Freshwater inputs certain ecosystem functions in the lower South Bay that's critical to healthy estuaries, and they support environment communities of fish, birds, seals and beneficial algae that
reside there,” Davis said. Councilmembers had discussions on the health and environmental impact of gas leaf blowers.
Kayla Boardman, a public information representative from San José Clean Energy, went over steps on how to improve conditions.
Boardman said the last criteria to implement a program like a trading voucher is to address upfront cost barriers and guarantee that the electric blowers are used in San José . She said she believes that the education and engagement campaign would be necessary to teach landscapers about the economic and health benefits and to get them comfortable with trading in their gas blowers.
“It could enable homeowners to experience the benefits of electricity and potentially expand benefits to their landscapers so it is listed so as to lessen the burden on small businesses to buy the equipment,” Boardman said.
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
Volunteers at Trash Punx help pick up trash near one encampment spot at Columbus Park on Saturday.
Follow Saturn on Instagram @saturn.sjsu
ANFISA PITCHKHADZE | SPARTAN DAILY Councilmembers at City Hall discuss the 2025-2029 Vision Zero Action Plan on Monday.
Disabled students need alternatives
By Alejandra Gallo STAFF WRITER
About 21% of college students in the United States reported having a disability in 2020, according to a July 9 article from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Sudha Krishnan, assistant professor in the department of Special Education, said she believes the school needs to do more to support stud ents w it h intell ec tu al and physical disabilities.
“When we approach students with disabilities, we believe that because they are different and they learn differently, they are somehow less,” Krishnan said.
In di vi du al s with learning di sa bili ti es are frequently stigmatized because their disability labels them as different, according to a research article published in Sage Journals on April 30, 2022.
“It’s the stereotypical assumption that if people are different, they are deficient,” Krishnan said. “It is confusing difference with deficit, when actually we are all different (and) we all learn differently.”
strengths, interests and needs,” Madigan said.
the muscles, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web page. She meets with
not all of them have a button to open them.”
said she and a group of other professors from both the departments San José State offers to students with disabilities are vast, but stigma and other issues that prevent students from succeeding are still prevalent on campus.
The resources that Jennifer Madigan,
articl e. Madigan said that our society is neurodiverse, meaning that there are natural variations in human brain functioning and behavi or People with disabilities begin to believe the negative assumptions about them and selfstigmatize which can be even more detrimental, according to a July 2022 re se arch art icle f rom the Disability and Health Journal.
Roughly 44 million Americans re po rted having a disability in 2022, according to a Un it ed S ta te s Ce ns us Bureau report.
“It emphasizes that neurological differences such as autism , ADHD, dyslexia an d ot he r conditions, are part of human diversity rather than deficits or disorders,” Madigan sa id “T he neurodiversity movement advocates for acceptance and inclusion of neurodivergent individuals in society, highlighting their unique strengths and perspectives.”
physical and intellectual disabilities, such as dining accommodations, assistive technology and training, note taking services testing accommodations and more, according to their web page.
“If the professors can modify the curriculum a little bit by using universal design or providing alternative assignments for students, it will help out a lot,” Krishnan said.
The Higher Education
lecturer in the department of Spe cial Education, said she believes stigma toward people with disabilities is prevalent on campus.
“It’idttht
“It’s a mindset that needs to be addressed,” Madigan said.
The Universal Design teaching approach that aims to ad apt curriculum and material taught in class to meet the needs of all students, according to bpfCll
Krishnan said. The Accessible Education Center at SJSU offers services for students with according to a CAST web
Opportunity Act of 2008 was the first legislation to acknowledge the benefits of implementing UDL in higher education and the potential benefits of preparing teachers and staff to use this method, page.
Universal Design for Learning provides a variety of ways for students to interact with course material and their peers, as well as providing them with different formats to access assignments, whether that be with audio or text options, according to a University of Rochester web page.
Madigan said all
professors at SJSU are required to use universal design in their syllabi.
her counselor once a month and requests accommodations she might need from them.
“Anything about what can be d one ab out exte nd ed time, presentation accommodations and things like that I do there,” Agrawal said.
of Kinesiology and Special Education also started the Successful Postsecondary Access and Related Transition Activities for Ne ur od iv er se S tu de nt s Occupational Career Life Studies (SPARTANS OCLS).
Universal design demonstrate
also allows students to
Agrawal said she is mostly happy with the resources the school offers, but she is sti ll f ru st rate d because of SJSU’s lack of transparency over repairments.
One of the most common problems that students with di sa bi li ti es f ac e on campus is the need for
“Our program is based on p eer mentor s upport so we have hired peer mentors to go with them to these classes and help them navigate,” Krishnan said.
The program hopes to provide inclusive supp ort for students who did not meet the original admissions requirement at SJSU in their academic, professional and social life, according to a SJSU web page.
Krishnan said she believes students are benefiting from this program because it is providing additional academic and emotional support for them.
their understanding in different ways, such as flexibility in how students communicate and participate, according to the same web page.
a web page from Cornell University.
“The biggest thing we can do as an institution is train our faculty on different disabilities,”
In the United States, 18% of the people who report having disabilities and are 25 or older have a college degree, according to a Postsecondary National Policy Institute article. for Learning (UDL) is a
Madigan said implementing universal design would benefit professors and students bti
by creating a means of engagement, representation, action and expression.
“This helps accommodate various
year political science student, said she is thankful for the resources that the Accessible Education Center offers.
“It is a really great
resource for students on campus and I feel like it does a lot,” Agrawal said.
Agrawal was born with cerebral palsy, a disorder that affects people’s ability to move because of weakness in
accommodations, according to a Disability Rights California article published on Feb. 1, 2023.
Institutions in California are required to provide modifications for students with disabilities who are having trouble with things such as entering into a room or elevator, according to the same article.
“It’s hard to navigate ihib
in my chair because sometimes hallways are narrow, elevators are small and my chair is so big,” Agrawal said. “Doors are a big hassle because
“They learn career they can do something wi th t he ir lives t hat is productive,” she said. St ud ents w ho r ec ei ve likely to succeed in the classroom, have a positive learning environment and encourage teamwork versus those who do not, according to a web page from the Princeton
Krishnan said she believes it’s important to empo wer students with disabilities.
“Encouraging in di vi du al s wi th disabilities to speak up, like by having a disability pride club so that people hold it as a badge of honor, that ‘Yes I am different but I am proudly different,’ ” she said
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALEJANDRA GALLO
Krishnan
Diya Agrawal, third-
Tyler, the Creator is as vibrant as ever
By Charity Spicer STAFF WRITER
On Oct. 28, Tyler, The Creator released his eighth studio album
“CHROMAKOPIA” just a few days after teasing it on social media. Comprised of 14 tracks featuring some of hip-hop’s hottest rappers, Tyler, The Creator explores relationship dilemmas, coming to terms with sexuality and paranoia.
In 2024, some of the music industry’s biggest stars have released their latest albums with marketing centralized around the color green; notably, Charli xcx’s “BRAT” album and Clairo’s “Charm.” Tyler, The Creator, has also followed the extension of this trend with the promotion of “CHROMAKOPIA” and subtly nodding to his signature Golf green-colored hats from over a decade ago.
While it might seem like Tyler is just following the atypical habits of artists this year, “CHROMAKOPIA” is just as culturally resetting as past albums and shows a new Tyler that fans have never seen.
“CHROMAKOPIA” begins with “St. Chroma” featuring vocals from Daniel Caesar, a song that was originally shared as a promoter for the album.
“You are the light / It’s not on you, it’s in you / Don’t you ever in your motherf*****g life dim your light for nobody,” Tyler’s mother states in the beginning of the track, similar
blips of her voice are featured throughout the album.
The second track on the album, “Rah Tah Tah,” creates an eerie feeling for the listener with its melody accompanied by hard-hitting beats and an analog style featuring Tyler rapping in a more angsty and chaotic voice.
“St. Chroma” discusses the metaphor of light inside of Tyler—which embodies the alias Saint Chroma seen in the music video. Referring to his creative journey, where Caesar croons’s “Can you feel the light inside? / Can you feel that fire?” in the chorus.
The second track on the album, “Rah Tah Tah,” ” creates an eerie feeling for the listener with its melody accompanied by hard-hitting beats and an analog style featuring Tyler rapping in a more angsty and chaotic voice.
In the outro of “Rah Tah Tah,”, Tyler repeats the stanza “I’m paranoid now ’cause n****s weird and really bums,” which creates a seamless transition to the Oct. 2 single “Noid.”
The third track, “Noid,” features has Tyler reflecting on moments of being “paranoid” within stardom and feeling threatened. When initially listening to this single, it felt a bit underwhelming but also like it was just a piece of the puzzle of “CHROMAKOPIA” that only fit when listening to the album as a whole.
Tyler specifically laments about his social anxiety
album review
“CHROMAKOPIA”
Rating:
Artist: Tyler, The Creator Release Date: Oct. 28, 2024
Genre: hip hop, r&b
when meeting fans and the overwhelming paparazzi.
Tyler, The Creator has been known to not interact with fans as much as other celebrities and advocates for personal boundaries with artists, according to Rolling Stone.
The following track, “Darling, I” featuring Teezo Touchdown, Tyler samples the beat from Snoop Dogg’s 2004 song “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and discusses his frustration with monogamous relationships and the mixed feelings of wanting love but also sexual freedom.
On the second verse, Tyler raps, “See, monogamy, that shit is not for me (Nah) / One option for everybody? Don’t you lie to me (Don’t you lie) / Too many rules, I’m too curious to try to be / Hidin’ things, feelin’ shame build inside of me.”
“Hey Jane” sees Tyler reflecting on his anxiety over an unwanted pregnancy and he addresses his alleged partner throughout the lyrics, while “I Killed You” talks about the complicated relationship Tyler has with his Black identity and hair.
One of the more memorable tracks on the album, “Judge Judy” has a buttery smooth sound that highlights Tyler’s vocal abilities while he protests against “slut-shaming,” which refers to the societal judgment women often face from their sexual experiences.
“Sticky” literally flips the album halfway to a hardcore dance cut that features “stepping,” a form of Black art featuring clapping, stomping and spoken word primarily performed by AfricanAmerican fraternities and sororities, according to Step Afrika.
Tyler collaborates with Glorilla, Sexyy Red and Lil Wayne on this track where they embrace self-worth and layers of multiple meanings in the lyrics.
Surprisingly, Tyler unapologetically raps “N***a, give a f**k ’bout pronouns, I’m that n***a and that b***h” which further complicates notions about queerness and gender identities leading to the next track.
My personal favorite song on the album is the ninth track, “Take Your Mask Off,” where Tyler shares multiple
perspectives of hiding one’s queerness.
Interestingly, the character of “CHROMAKOPIA,” Saint Chroma, wears a mask all throughout the visual teasers and on the album cover artwork but Tyler urges listeners to avoid hiding their true identities.
In the first verse, Tyler describes a middle-class, academic young person who turned to gang violence to avoid being perceived as a “b***h.”
The second verse features Tyler rapping about a closeted gay preacher who attempts to “rebuke his sin” by living an ultra religious life which in the end, doesn’t help him.
“Had you thinkin’ God would hate you so you covered it up / Gotta hide how you live, what you really enjoy / So got a wife, got a kid, but you be f*****' them boys / Sick of all the shame, sick of all the pain that’s within,” Tyler raps.
Between these verses, Daniel Caesar sings “And I hope you find yourself / And I hope you take your mask off.”
Tyler references a woman who is questioning her sexuality after being married,
having children living her ideal life and seemingly talks to himself in the last verse.
In the closing track “I Hope You Find Your Way Home,” Tyler concludes the album with a long-form track on finding yourself similar to the themes of “Take Your Mask Off.”
Tyler, The Creator has made quite the career for himself over the past decade exploring different genres of music, his own sexuality, redefining fashion and being true to himself.
Creative albums like “IGOR” or “GOBLIN” have always taken a while to grow on me as a Tyler, The Creator fan.
“CHROMAKOPIA” is not just another album or era for Tyler, The Creator; it’s a new lens that listeners are able to see him through in sound and lyric that surpasses all preconceived notions. In other words, his mask is now off.
Significant others’ effect on music
By Anahi Villanueva Herrera STAFF WRITER
Lana Del Rey’s new husband may influence her upcoming tenth studio album, “Lasso,” to a wild side we have not seen from previous albums.
The indie pop singer teased the name of her album at the Billboard x NMPA Songwriter Awards, according to a Feb. 1 Billboard article.
Lizbeht Perez Rodriguez, a second-year digital media art student, said she heard about Del Rey’s marriage through TikTok.
“I wouldn't call myself a long-term fan, but when the news broke out it was all that was showing up on my for you page,” said Perez Rodriguez.
Elizabeth Wooldridge Grant is originally from Lake Placid, N.Y., and began releasing music under the name Lizzy Grant in 2008, according to Biography.
Four years later, Grant rebranded to Lana Del Rey and released the album “Born to Die” which landed a No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200, according to the Billboard webpage.
Billboard 200 is a list of albums that are ranked in chronological order based on sales and streams, according to an Oct. 13 Billboard webpage.
Rodriguez says her change is also noticeable throughout the years from her voice to the beat of her music turning into a more mellow tune.
“I think her music is still her style but I think now, she's learning who she is and having more fun,” Rodriguez said.
Before her current husband Jeremy Dufrane, an alligator boat tour guide from Louisiana, Del Rey has been speculated in the past for using previous romantic relationships to inspire her music.
One of the tracks, “13 Beaches,” from Del Rey’s studio album No. 5 “Lust for Life,” is rumored to be about former partner Francesco Carrozzini who directed a previous music video for her, according to Bustle.
In the song, Del Rey alludes to wanting something real which opened speculation of her wanting a committed relationship with Carrozzini that he was not ready for.
Another instance that pushed fans to believe her music is sometimes inspired by her previous relationships is when she changed some of the lyrics from "Chemtrails
Erik Rodriguez, a fourthyear business analytics student who has been a frequent listener of Del Rey since her “Born to Die” album, believes Del Rey is in a different place in her life since she is now in a formal relationship versus heartbreak.
Over the Country Line" during her concert at London's BST Hyde Park.
Prior to the release of her seventh studio album where this song is from, Del Rey was dating Sean Larkin, a Live Police Department documentary star.
Once this relationship came to an end and this album was released, fans noticed the original lyrics were “You’re born in December and I’m born in June” as Larkin was born on December 7, according to an Entertainment article.
At this concert, Del Rey changed the lyrics to, “He’s born in December and he got married when we were still together,” according to the same article.
Other artists have found success writing about their exes, such as Adele or Taylor Swift, who are known to also draw inspiration from their previous partners.
With the seemingly suddenness of Del Rey’s marriage, fans were unsure of how to take in the news of her marriage.
Guadalupe Garcia, a thirdyear business administration student, felt that the decision to marry Dufrene was an on-brand move for Del Rey.
“I think using exes is a good source material to make popular songs. At the end of the day, if a regular person is making them happy that's all that should happen,” Perez Rodriguez said.
Other artists have found success writing about their exes, such as Adele or Taylor Swift, who are known to also draw inspiration from their previous partners.
Although Del Rey has used exes in the past unlike some fans feel like it may not be the best move moving forward.
“It can get kinda messy and it feels like they're dragging (Dufrene’s) personal stuff into the spotlight when that person maybe didn't ask for it,” Garcia said.
Originally scheduled to be released in September, “Lasso” has been pushed back with no clear indication of its release. Del Rey said she doesn’t know either but she is proud of the songs she made, according to an Oct. 25th Billboard article.
Between the release of “Lasso” and her previous official album “Did You Know There’s a Tunnel under Ocean Blvd,” Del Rey released a single “Tough” featuring Quavo who is an American rapper who is said to have begun the releases of “Lasso”, according to Genius.
With her recent marriage, a shift from using her relationships as a lyrical muse to shifting into different topics.
“I think (Del Rey’s) at a happier place in her life than she has previously expressed that she is in before,” Rodriguez said. “I think her music will move onto other topics beyond love that other people can relate to.”
On Sept. 26, Lana Del Rey and Jeremy Dufrene tied the knot at a private ceremony
in Louisiana just three days after obtaining her marriage license, according to a Cosmopolitan article.
Del Rey and Dufrene met in March 2019 when she decided to go to Louisiana for a swamp boat tour, according to the same Cosmopolitan article.
“I kinda love it, it’s so her. Like, here’s this big music star with her dreamy vintage vibes, totally going for a guy who’s out there just vibing in the swamps giving tours,” Garcia said.
“It’s refreshing to see her with someone who isn't a Hollywood type.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR
A
displays “NOW
Crumbl Cookies rolls into Almaden
By Israel Archie STAFF WRITER
The franchised bakery Crumbl Cookies held a sweet grand opening at their new store in Almaden on Friday.
They welcomed customers with classic options including the Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunk and seasonal ones such as the Pumpkin Cake Cookie.
The Almaden location is painted with bubblegum pink and cloud white walls, with the smell of sugar cookie dough festering in the building.
Crumbl Cookies was founded in 2017 in Logan, Utah, according to the company’s web page.
It now has accumulated over 1,000 locations across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, according to the same web page.
Betty Rogel, a store manager for Crumbl Cookies Almaden, said she is excited to be a part of the grand opening of the store even though it’s something she already has experienced before at previous locations.
“It’s nothing new to me,
but it is a new atmosphere so it’s exciting,” Rogel said.
The store is open six days a week Monday through Saturday, opens from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Crumbl Cookies that she has opened, leaving the last one behind in Saratoga.
The new Almaden store is currently the third Crumbl store
Adriano Carias said he had a different definition for what could look like a busy day.
“I definitely thought it was going to be 10 times (busier),” Carias said. “But
The Blue Monster cookie, a chocolate chip cookie with blue frosting topped with a mini Chips Ahoy! cookie.
People who are eager to find out the flavors of the
We’re going to grow. I know it has its potential and we already see it from day one, it is going to be an amazing store and it’s going to run for a long time.
Betty
each day and closes at midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, according to the Crumbl Cookies store web page.
Rogel said she didn’t expect it to be as busy compared to an average day at the Crumbl Store located on Saratoga.
This is the fourth
location open in San José, according to the store web page.
“It was not that big, so we were kind of bummed out with Saratoga,” Rogel said. “But with Alamaden, I feel like it’s getting there.”
Among the Crumbl Cookies employees,
busy, but I hope for more people because it’s always nice to talk to people,” Diaz said.
The store started a deal on Sunday where customers can get a free chocolate chip cookie in-store until Dec. 3 by entering a promo code on the Crumbl Cookies app, according to a press release sent to the Spartan Daily. The app can be used to place orders for pickup and delivery in addition to Doordash and Uber Eats, according to the same source.
Rogel Store manager, Crumbl Cookies
I think that was just my own excitement getting to my day.”
The menu rotates weekly offering new flavors like the Dirt Cake cookie, a chocolate cookie with chocolate frosting topped with a gummy worm.
The menu also includes
Almaden
“We’re going to grow,” Rogel said. “I know it has its potential and we already see it from day one, it is going to be an amazing store and it’s going to run for a long time.”
week can look for them on all of Crumbl Cookies’ social media accounts every Monday, according to its official website.
Employee Miles Diaz hopes to see more people come and experience the new store.
“I like the amount of people because it does get
ISRAEL ARCHIE | SPARTAN DAILY
large banner
OPEN!” above the front doors of 5353 Almaden Expy Suite N64, the third Crumbl Cookies bakery location in San José, on Friday evening.
English needs an ancient upgrade
English is a stupid language and consists of numerous rules and contradictions that don’t make any sense.
However, the letter Þ, pronounced thorn, is one fix to a sea of problems.
The introduction of the 27th letter in the English alphabet, Þ, thorn, would
make the same sound as T and H, according to a Feb. 1, 2021 Dictionary.com article.
Instead of using T and H, we can use thorn, so instead of spelling “the” as “T-H-E,” we could spell it “Þe” making it only two letters.
Thorn is sadly only used in the modern day for Icelandic, but it has a history of being used in Old English, according to the same Dictionary.com article.
The letter was later replaced with Y, which is how the expression “ye olde” came about, which just means “the old”, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary.
English can be a confusing language for people who are learning it because
of these ridiculous rules, and using thorn is one thing we can do to prevent confusion.
To name a few stupid contradictions, September and October aren’t the seventh and eighth month. Bomb, tomb and comb are all pronounced differently.
The sentence “The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert,” irks me and don’t even get me started on Richard and Dick.
Homophones, homographs (words that are spelled the same but aren’t pronounced the same), contronyms (words that have two opposite meanings) and even
synonyms are all examples of rules in English that are really dumb.
Another one of English’s ridiculous rules that doesn’t make any sense is the “T-H” sound.
The letter T makes the sound heard in the word “take,” and the letter H makes the sound heard in the word “happy.”
What were the creators of English thinking? I would like to introduce a solution to this confusing problem.
We already have the problem of T and H not always making the sound it’s supposed to make.
This can be seen in the example of Thomas and Thailand, making this another issue that thorn’s introduction would solve by removing any confusion in pronouncing T and H when combined.
The biggest component of thorn’s departure from English was the invention of the printing press. Because the press wasn’t
invented in England, there was no need to include the letter, according to Þe Þorn page from Northern Arizona University.
Some might think it would be difficult to implement thorn because it’s no longer a letter we use, but because Iceland still uses the letter it’s not completely lost.
This means that we have the technology to implement it into our alphabet relatively seamlessly.
For example, thorn can be typed on an iPhone by simply holding down on the letter T and selecting it. Or on Windows by holding down the alt key and typing “0222” on the keypad (with Num Lock on).
Yes, it will take some getting used to, but it’s a small price to pay to make English a clear language.
The combination of T and H is what creates a digraph, a combination of two letters to create a sound (such as T-H or P-H), according to Merriam Webster.
This is an outdated way to do things, especially because we live in an age where people want things done as quickly as possible.
The letters T and H already have a lot going on – and so does the language as a whole – so maybe it’s to put them to rest.
English is a confusing language so when there’s an opportunity to make it an easier language, it should be taken.
