May 4, 2023

Davis

the life of

BY CHRIS PONCE city@theaggie.org

On Sunday, April 30, less than a week after the homicide in Central Park, the Davis community came together to hold a vigil for respected member of the community, David Henry Breaux. The event, which featured city council members, county supervisors, friends and family of Breaux alike, was hosted by the Davis Phoenix Coalition. The vigil had a large turnout, candles were handed to those in attendance, and dozens of flowers were placed at the “Compassion Bench.”

The “Compassion Bench,” which is located at the corner of 3rd and C Street, is the area where Breaux for the last decade sat asking anyone who came his way what compassion meant to them. Breaux, who is well known as the “Compassion Guy,” was a 50 year old Stanford University graduate. He also wrote a book titled “Compassion Davis, CA: A Compilation of Concepts on Compassion,” which contained interviews of people’s definitions of compassion. Many lives were touched by Breux, as people at the event spoke about compassion, forgiveness and what Breux represents in Davis.

Councilmember Gloria Partida, an organizer with the Davis Phoenix Coalition, spoke first at the event. She talked about the

vigil and how much the Davis community cares for one another.

“Even though this is a horrible tragedy, and today we know that we are marking two deaths in the city, it still gives me strength to look out to your faces and to see that we are here for each other,” Partida said. “I know that right now there is a great deal of anxiety in the community and so many questions and so many need of answers. And we will get to your answers, and we will answer your questions and we will take care of each other, because that is what we do.”

Mayor Will Arnold also spoke, talking about homicide victim, UC Davis student Karim Abou Najm, and expressing the distress the city has been in over the last few days.

“This has been an absolutely devastating few days for our community,” Arnold said. “No more so than for the loved ones, friends and family of David and Karim. And on behalf of the city of Davis, I extend our deepest condolences. These are two people with so much more life to live, so much more wisdom to share, so much more love to give. These are two horrendous acts,

Three stabbings in Davis this week leave two dead, one in critical condition

The search for a suspect or suspects is ongoing as FBI and neighboring police departments join in

BY KATIE DEBENEDETTI city@theaggie.org

Since Thursday April 28, three stabbings, including two fatal ones, have occurred in the city of Davis. The search for a suspect or suspects is ongoing as of Tuesday evening.

Though the events have not been definitively linked at this time, the Davis Police Department has said that the suspects in both of the two most recent attacks, which took place on Saturday and Monday nights, bore a resemblance. They have described him as a “light-complected male,” and he is thought to be thin and between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-9. He was last seen shortly after midnight on Tuesday running westbound on 3rd Street from L Street wearing “a black or blue sweatshirt, black Adidas pants with white stripes, black shoes carrying a brown backpack.”

According to Lt. Dan Beckwith, it is too early to tell if these crimes are related.

“I can say that the description is similar to what was provided to us in the most recent homicide, however, it’s still very, very early on,” Beckwith said.

First homicide in Davis since 2019 takes place in Central Park

On Thursday, April 28, around 11:20 a.m., David Henry Breaux, commonly known as the “Compassion

Guy,” was found dead on a bench in Central Park with multiple stab wounds. Breaux has stood on the corner of 3rd and C Streets in downtown Davis for many years, well-known for his compassion mission. He began collecting community members’ answers to the question “What is compassion?” in 2009 and released a book called “Compassion Davis, CA: A Compilation of Concepts on Compassion” in early 2010 that contained many of the interpretations he had gathered.

The California Aggie’s arts desk wrote an article about Breaux in 2011, when he hosted a speaking event to talk about his compassion project. Since then, he traveled to 12 other cities around the country to talk to people about their own definitions of compassion and spearheaded the creation of the “Compassion Bench,” a functional art structure in Davis in 2013.

Second fatal stabbing reported in Sycamore Park

On Saturday night around 9:15 p.m., a second fatal stabbing took place at Sycamore Park. According to a statement made to the police, a resident reported hearing a disturbance at the park on Sycamore Lane near Colby Drive. The resident went to investigate and found two men in an altercation, one of whom had multiple stab wounds.

When the resident asked if everything was okay, one of the men stood up and took off on a white bike with straight handlebars. The resident described him as “a light-skinned male, possibly Hispanic, 5’-7” to 5’-8” tall, 19-23 years of age, with long curly loose hair,” wearing a light-colored T-shirt with a button-up shirt over it and a white hat.

The victim of the second fatal shooting was 20-year-old, fourth-year computer science major Karim Abou Najm. Najm has been described as loving and intelligent by his father, and he enjoyed playing Dungeons & Dragons with the DRAGON club at UC Davis.

Third stabbing event occurs Monday night

On Monday night, around 11:47 p.m., a third stabbing took place at a homeless encampment on 2nd and L Streets. As of Tuesday night, the female victim is in critical condition after being stabbed multiple times through a tent.

The Davis Police Department and UC Davis

thorough search of the area.

According to the Davis Enterprise, Isaac Chessman and Christine Berrios, an unhoused couple that resides in the encampment, said that they awoke to the woman yelling for help. The couple said that their friend, Kim, yelled “He’s on me! Help! Get off me! The guy with the curly hair!” Chessman also reported that believes he saw the suspect about two hours earlier on Monday night and called police, but received no response.

The search for the suspect is ongoing

As of Tuesday night, one or multiple suspects remain at large. Last night’s search brought in Yolo and Sacramento County sheriff departments as well as drone and K-9 units to conduct yardto-yard searches in the downtown area. The FBI has also been called in to assist with the investigation.

Though the shelter-in-place order has been lifted, Davis PD spokesperson Jean Lyon said that heavy patrol will continue in the downtown area as the search for the suspect continues.

At a media conference on Tuesday, UC Davis announced that for the foreseeable future, all courses that take place or end after 6 p.m. will be held online, and the school has expanded the “Safe Ride” program to provide earlier rides to off-campus housing. Additionally, it is recommended that all events held after 6 p.m. be moved online or canceled. The UC Davis Police Department has also requested support from the UCSF and UC Berkeley Police Departments, which will take over oncampus patrol while the UC Davis PD assists the city in the search.

According to Lt. Dan Beckwith, it is too early to tell if these crimes are related.

“I can say that the description is similar to what was provided to us in the most recent homicide, however, it’s still very, very early on,” Beckwith said.

Police have warned the community to be vigilant and take precautions at this time. They recommend not traveling at night, and if necessary, doing so in groups. If anyone has information about any of the incidents or has seen anyone matching the suspect description or acting suspiciously, contact Davis PD immediately.

The Davis Police Department can be reached at 530-747-5400 or via email at policeweb@cityofdavis.org. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can call at 530-747-5460. If you are experiencing an emergency, call 911.

Breaux’s work extends across the nation. While Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry couldn’t be in attendance, Frerichs said that the state assembly will be meeting in Breaux’s memory. He also shared that the “Compassion Bench” was constructed 10 years ago on April 28, 2013.

Frerichs welcomed UC Davis Alumni Brennan Bird, who helped create the “Compassion Bench.” Bird talked about how moved he was by Breaux and how even though Breaux was unhoused, he had love from the community.

acts of violence that befell two peaceful, loving members of our community for absolutely no conceivable reason. These are two of our shared gathering spaces, where I love to let my own children run free, that are now the sights of two of the most heinous acts our city has ever witnessed.”

Yolo County Supervisors Lucas Frerichs and Jim Provenza were also at the vigil and talked about Breaux’s mission of understanding compassion. Frerichs said that Breaux would be humbled to see the turnout for the vigil, and the impact of

“David may not have had a house here in Davis, but he had a home. He had a home in everybody’s heart,” Bird said. “And so David, we love you so much, thank you for inspiring me to be a more compassionate human. [...] As I was thinking how is David’s legacy going to continue into my own life, I have never met anyone who has so devoted themself to a cause and David you’ve really inspired me to dig in deeper and to really just further devote my life to fighting for the earth, fighting for a more compassionate earth.”

Bill Pride, the director of Davis Community Meals, talked about his experience with Breaux. Pride said that no one had a perspective like Breaux, and that even though he was unhoused, he only thought about others.

ASUCD to host first ever Asian American and Pacific Islander night market

The free market will be held at the CoHo on May 19

BY KAYA DO-KHANH campus@theaggie.org

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On Friday, May 19, ASUCD is hosting the first-ever ASUCD 530 Market: AAPI Community Health and Culture Fair at the CoHo from 7-10 p.m. The market is meant to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) identities during AAPI heritage month, as well as create a community care space and provide mental health and other basic needs resources to students. Inspired by the 626 Night Markets hosted in Southern California, the market will include a variety of student-group performers, a fashion show, local food vendors and resource booths. All undergraduate students are welcome to attend and are encouraged to wear cultural clothes. Entry is free, and students only need a registration form and student ID.

While planning this event, ASUCD has been working to facilitate outreach and ensure events like this one are welcoming to underrepresented groups within UC Davis’s AAPI community such as transfer, international, undocumented and LGBTQIA+ students.

Fourth-year environmental policy analysis and planning major and ASUCD Senator Priya Talreja proposed the event to the Division of Student Affairs and was awarded $5,000 through the Equity in Student Mental Health Grant. Talreja said that she is especially excited about the basic needs resource booths that are going to table at the event, such as Student Health Counseling Services, the Love Lab, Aggie Compass and the Pantry.

“I want students to have access to and know about free health resources they have on campus,” Talreja said. “I want to help us work towards increasing mental health equity for the AAPI community.”

In order to reach diverse parts of the community, ASUCD is partnering with the ASUCD Office of International Affairs Student Representative, Office of the Transfer Student Representative and

the DREAM Committee for outreach efforts.

“One of the big things is we want students and staff to celebrate our identities and realize that the AAPI community is not a monolith and that there are varied educational experiences across different groups within the community,” Talreja said. “The event will really showcase the diversity that we have because the AAPI community is culturally, economically and socially diverse in a lot of ways.”

Fourth-year cognitive science and statistics double major and ASUCD Senator Stephen Fujimoto coordinated the event’s performances. The six studentgroup performers are Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan, Jhankaar, EKHO, Raasleela, MK Modern and Sunatya.

Fujimoto said that regardless of whether students identify as Asian American or not, they should come to enjoy the performances and free food.

One of the group performers, Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan, is a student-run Japanese cultural drumming group that has performed during other events on campus including the Picnic Day parade and the fall welcome rally.

“I hope that people recognize the wide diaspora of Asian American identities and art forms,” co-president of the group Madeline Do said. “The taiko that we play isn’t emulating the taiko from Japan but instead represents the political consciousness and community-building efforts of Japanese Americans and Asian Americans in North America. I would like people to share their energy as we do and continue to learn with open hearts.”

The headliner performance of the AAPI night market is Rudy Kalma, a Filipino American musician and rapper. Kalma is an alumnus of UC Davis who graduated with a degree in English in 2016.

community gathers together to hold vigil honoring

David Henry Breaux, the ‘Compassion Guy’

Following the homicide in Central Park, people gathered together at the “Compassion Bench” to share how their lives were touched by Breaux

Davis Threshold Choir members sing at vigil. (Chris Ponce / Aggie)

The Coho will host the market to celebrate the AAPI heritage month. (Aggie File)

City of Davis renovates N Street Park for first time in more than 20 years

City of Davis and Davis Manor Community collaborate to renovate local park for residents

BY ALMA CULVERWELL city@theaggie.org

On April 23, the city of Davis unveiled the recently renovated N Street Mini Park, located at the south end of N Street. The park was built in 1960 and was renovated after the Davis Manor community reached out to the city. Prior to the recent construction, the park had not been renovated since 1996.

“The changes selected were [chosen for] a combination of versatility and accessibility for all users of the park and cost,” said Diana Jensen, the city’s director of public works engineering and transportation.

The idea to renovate the park was originally proposed by the residents of Davis Manor; they had hoped to make the park a more visible and engaging space to spend time in. The city conducted a survey in the fall of 2020 to get a sense of the residents’ preferences, and after holding several community outreach meetings the construction project’s details, along with final renderings, were presented to the Recreation and Park Commission in October 2020.

The city of Davis and the neighborhood planning committee collaborated on the vision for the upgraded park and the creative action team held over 30 meetings to create and review the final design.

“One of the neighbor proponents worked with a design group from UCD and the proposed design was a senior

class project to develop some concepts for the neighborhood to discuss,” Jensen said.

The changes included replacing the old play structure, installing additional seating and lighting and replanting grass. More amenities were also added, including a small performance stage, picnic tables, a water fountain, a more efficient irrigation system and droughttolerant landscaping.

“This park renovation is definitely an improved asset for this local neighborhood and for any other residents who wish to come and utilize the amenities,” Jensen said. “There will be a small stage and an art installation coming in the next few months that will also add to the project.”

Lorenzo Kristov, a Davis Manor Neighborhood Council board member, explained what he hopes will be the result of the construction.

“We will now have something that’s really beautiful to go to and we will have play structures that will be a lot more interesting for people that want to bring their young kids to go there, and we’ll use it as a meeting site for community events,” Kristov said.

The changes were made possible due to funding from Park Impact Fees, Prop 68 Per Capita grant funds, Cannery Community Funds, the Municipal Arts Fund (Fund 165) and the General Fund. N Street Park has reopened in Davis for the public. (Alexis Perez / Aggie)

Student organizations host events during Mental Health Awareness Month

Several on-campus events will be held to highlight mental health intersectionality, wellness and resources for students

BY LILY FREEMAN campus@theaggie.org

City council discusses allocation of CDBG and HOME funds, adopts Climate Action and Adaptation Plan at April 18 meeting

The final draft of the plan aims to reach carbon neutrality in the city of Davis by 2040

BY MADELEINE YOUNG city@theaggie.org

On April 18, the Davis City Council held its last meeting of the month to cover the allocation of funds for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment (HOME) funds for the fiscal year of 2023-2024 and adopt the final draft of the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).

Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP).

Diana Jensen, the director of public works engineering and transportation and CAAP project director, took the floor to present the final CAAP report, which has been slightly changed since the draft presented in December.

The plan contains 28 action items that will help achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. It also addresses climate risk. The CAAP states that the implementation will prioritize community outreach and regional collaboration and work with city partners and proactive interdepartmental staff.

The month of May is “Mental Health Awareness Month” and several student organizations will be hosting events and activities to promote both mental wellness and the resources available for students on campus.

The Mental Health Initiative (MHI), a student organization dedicated to mental health advocacy, has planned several events and spaces to cultivate conversations surrounding mental wellness this May.

Astha Soni, a fourth-year psychology and human development double major and the director of MHI, explained the importance of Mental Health Awareness Month to the organization.

“May is the month when we rely on advocacy and connecting with our community,” Soni said. “We are going to do more advocacy projects in terms of outreach, research and collaboration while also creating a space for the entire month for students to just look at different intersections within mental health.”

Soni said that MHI will be hosting two to four events every week during May, each discussing different intersections within mental health.

“One of our weeks will focus on the intersection of the queer community and mental health,” Soni said. “We are also going to be talking about more niche and not-as-well-talked-about intersections such as the undocumented and incarcerated communities and their mental health overlap.”

Natalie Bruch, a fourth-year biological psychology major and the publicity coordinator of MHI, also discussed the activities that the organization has in store and how they plan to handle conversations that MHI members might not be experts in.

“There are also going to be a lot of collaborations with other clubs and organizations around campus because we aren’t qualified to talk about all of these things, but still want to touch on these topics because they’re important,” Bruch said.

MHI will be hosting a yoga event on the Quad and a menstrual health activity with Davis Period. The organization will also be giving out flowers and affirmation mirrors on campus.

Bruch said that a complete list of events for the month will be posted on the MHI Instagram so that students can be in the know about when and where they can participate.

ASUCD also plans to recognize Mental Health Awareness Month. Senator Priya Talreja said that she and others in ASUCD Senate want to be intentional throughout the month.

“One of my goals this year as a senator is to work towards addressing the need for more racially diverse and

AGGIE FILE

culturally competent mental health support on campus,” Talreja said.

Talreja has specifically been working toward the creation of more South Asianspecific mental health programs and advocating for the creation of a South Asian support group.

“This group is meant to be a culturally mindful space to help students navigate the intersection between their experiences on campus and their South Asian identity,” Talreja said. “I hope that this group will serve as a starting point for the expansion of identity-based support groups on campus.”

Talreja also talked about the South Asian Mental Health Coalition, which she created this year to bring together campus partners and studentgovernment members to discuss South Asian mental health.

“The goal of this group is to build community and support collaboration between mental health advocates on campus in a way that centers the lived experiences of our students,” Talreja said.

ASUCD President Radhika Gawde highlighted other ways that ASUCD is planning to use this month to promote mental health advocacy.

“College is hard, and students face a number of mental health challenges throughout their time at UC Davis,” Gawde said. “ASUCD is planning to partner with Student Affairs to explore innovative ways to ensure that Aggies have better access to counseling and to foster the growth of ASUCD’s Mental Health Initiative Conference and ASUCD’s other mental health resources.”

Bruch explained why having a dedicated time of year to recognize mental health challenges is important to many.

“It’s important to create spaces to talk about these things, and I feel like it’s easier to do when you recognize that this is a dedicated time to start searching into that for yourself,” Bruch said. “It’s going to be a very positive time around campus because I know that there are a lot of awareness clubs around campus, and everybody has their own plan. I would expect that there’s going to be events happening almost every single day. Everybody can find a space that resonates with them, [...] and they feel like this is personal to them and like they can feel safe in these spaces.”

While Mental Health Awareness Month only lasts through May, students always have mental health resources available to them at UC Davis. Soni said that to help students navigate all of the resources that UC Davis offers, MHI created an on-campus resource guide for students to decide which services would be best for them. This guide can be found on MHI’s Instagram @ucdmentalhealthinitiative.

Item 5 on the agenda covered the preliminary funding recommendations and annual action plan for the CDBG and HOME funds given to the city this fiscal year. These are federal funds that the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocates to assist low-income households and remove barriers in public facilities.

Kelly Stachowicz, the assistant city manager, brought before the council the preliminary funding recommendations during the required public hearing.

“This particular [20]23-[20]24 program year, we have not received our final allocations from HUD yet, but we are estimating that we will receive approximately $780,000 in CDBG funds and $460,000 in HOME funds,” Stachowicz said. “We have gone through all the processes necessary for the public outreach and input, we have received applications and gone to the social services commission to get their input as well”.

The council will spend a majority of the CDBG funds on public services, allocating extensive funds for programs such as Davis Community Meals, Empower Yolo and more to help with food insecurity and other needs, according to Stachowicz.

“The reason this is difficult is because this is limited to 15% of the overall funds available to us and the need is much, much greater,” Stachowicz said.

The bulk of the CDBG funds is spent on public facilities, specifically Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant projects such as annual Flatwork and improvements to Playfields Park. The remaining 20% is put towards fair housing and city administration. The city will put $414,000 of the funds toward the Mercy Housing Project, which is creating senior housing in the Bretton Woods development. The remaining funds will be given to the city administration. Moving onto Item 6, the council discussed the final 2020-2040 Climate

COMPASSIONVIGIL FROM THE COVER

Becky Margio, program supervisor and case manager with Davis Community Meals, spoke about their relationship with Breaux. Margio said that Breaux would sing and write songs. Many at the event, Margio included, described Breaux as “peaceful.” Margio shared that recently, Breaux had talked to her about moving into Paul’s Place.

“Just about a month ago he had called and he had talked to us about moving into Paul’s Place, and we were really excited about that, and we had hoped that could happen,” Margio said. “We had a really

Jensen explained that the city council’s goal in updating the CAAP and integrating the plan into city policy is to reach their March 2019 resolution of attaining community carbon neutrality by 2040.

Kerry Loux, the city’s sustainability coordinator and the project manager for CAAP, presented the final report to the council. The CAAP was intended to implement the community vision adopted by the city council and serve as a planning document with recommendations for actions, based on an initial greenhouse gas inventory and vulnerability assessment.

“The actions in the plan are in five categories which are color-coded in the plan and the goal was to make them implementable and measurable,” Loux said. “We wanted to be able to say ‘This is what the action we want to do is and here’s how we are going to measure success and know what we are attaining with those goals.’”

Josh Lathan, the architecture, engineering, construction, operations and management (AECOM) technical lead, then gave an update on the 2030 greenhouse gas reduction scenario, which estimated that the 2030 minimum target gap would be around 17,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

“The city has been working on the development of a ‘CAAP dashboard’ that will allow transparent tracking of CAAP implementation progress; the dashboard layout right now will show a high-level overview of greenhouse gas emission metrics,” Lathan said. “The dashboard would include some details about implementation for each of those 28 prioritized CAAP actions, things like projected milestone dates for those, a visualization that shows progress, some sample tracking metrics and an indication with icons of what the different co-benefits of those actions are.”

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

good conversation and I’ll remember that forever.”

One of the final speakers was Maria Breaux, David Breaux’s sister, who talked about her brother and his love for compassion. She said that he was always compassionate, and no matter how tall he was, he’d always be her little brother. She shared a story about how he was being bullied when they were kids and she asked him if he was going to fight back.

“He started crying and he said, ‘I can’t, I can’t hurt them, I don’t want to hurt them,’” Maria Breaux said. “And he wept, he wept for these two kids who were teasing him and from a very young age, extended an act of compassion.”

Maria Breaux said that her brother was committed to restorative justice and

his mission of compassion. She shared that when she was going through old messages with Breaux that on Sept. 23, 2016, he sent a message about forgiving those who harm him.

“If I’m ever harmed, and unable to speak for myself, forgive the perpetrator and help others forgive that person,” Breaux messaged his sister. “Today while at the bench in Davis, I experienced someone who seemed to want to hurt me. I’m noticing incidents here in the town of people actively opposed to who I am and what I do, forgive.”

Maria Breaux shared her response.

“I wrote back, I’ll forgive and encourage others to do the same,” Breaux said. “Hope you’re okay, I love you. So my last words, my last word really, tonight, is forgive.”

UC Davis’s South Asian A cappella team harmonizes Western and South Asian music and identities to create a musical diaspora of South Asian students

Jhankaar A Cappella creates a sense of belonging through Western-South Asian fusion

BY INDRANIL BASU features@theaggie.org

Jhankaar, UC Davis’s only South Asian A cappella team, fuses traditional South Asian and Western music genres to present a unique blend of music. Founded in the 2009 to 2010 school year by three former students, Jhankaar has become a family for South Asian students and a place for belonging on campus within their South Asian diaspora in the U.S. Jhankaar brings together different South Asian cultural heritages of members through their common passion for music.

According to Co-Captain Sanjana

Aithal, who graduated from UC Davis fall 2022, Jhankaar is one of the many South Asian and Western Fusion Desi Acapella teams across the country and is part of the Association of South Asian A Capella (ASA) competitive collegiate circuit. They have won numerous awards at various ASA competitions, such as multiple Best South Asian/Western Soloist awards, Best Visual Performance at Mehfil 2020, third place overall at Jeena 2017 and Jeena 2022 at Austin, TX, as well as Best Vocal Percussionist and Best Arrangement at Awaazein, Dallas, TX, 2023. Their most recent performances have been at Anahat in Berkeley, CA and Hellacappella hosted by The Spokes at UC Davis last month.

“Our overarching goal [is] bringing together two distinct musical traditions — South Asian and Western — and creating a unique sound by combining them in A Cappella arrangements,” Aithal said. “In our eyes, this fusion allows for creative reinterpretations of popular songs and traditional music from both cultures and results in a fresh and exciting sound that we enjoy innovating every year.”

The team is a gender-inclusive Registered Student Organization (RSO) with a total of 18 members, who all sing and assume various officer roles within the team. Nine of them are elected board members.

According to the board, Jhankaar unites all kinds of people and music, and their fusion diversifies and broadens people’s exposure to music. They are

proud to showcase their South Asian music and culture to a wider audience.

“At Hellacappella, members of the audience were amazed at the South Asian culture that we just presented, and that is the biggest moment of pride for us,” Aithal said. “People are amazed and exposed to this whole new world of music because of our fusion, even within a 10 [minute] performance. Opening their eyes to how incredible South Asian music is, to people that would not have seen it otherwise — we take pride in that.”

Jhankaar also plays an instrumental role in helping South Asian students who were born and brought up here reconnect with their heritage through music, as well as find cultural belonging with other South Asian students, according to Rithik Sachdeva, the team’s PR officer and fourth-year electrical engineering and computer engineering double major.

“I grew up [somewhat] whitewashed, so I wouldn’t say that I had a lot of experience with the Indian side of everything,” Sachdeva said. “My mom and dad tried really hard to get me to, but I’d be like, ‘I’m American; please let me play with my friends.’ [Jhankaar] brought me greater appreciation [of my Indian heritage] by being proud of the fact that we come from this dual identity, and that we can stay so as well and show that to the world.”

Fifth-year biomedical engineering and music double major and Lead Music Director Savita Pereira also resonates with this, saying that she grew up “very westernized.”

“Jhankaar is like our own diaspora […] where I finally felt like I belong; this is what I’m doing for my culture,” Pereira said.

Pereira, who was also captain of the team last year, adds, “members here are so supportive and inclusive.”

The newest members, such as Rayan Narayanaswamy, a first-year mechanical engineering major, also attest to how Jhankaar has helped them find a place on campus, and has become like a family to them.

“Jhankaar had a huge impact on who I was as a person, and it really helped me assimilate to UC Davis’s culture and find my place here,” Narayanaswamy said.

Davis blooms at the 2023 Cherry Blossom Festival

The Davis Cherry Blossom Festival is a celebration of spring, culture and community

BY FAITH DEMEULENAERE features@theaggie.org

“Jhankaar gave me a purpose. It made me feel like I was doing something that benefited our campus in some way. We’re all making music together, but aside from that, we’re all still friends and […] we’re a huge family.”

Narayanaswamy adds that Jhankaar has expanded his music taste and revealed how “creative and beautiful” South Indian culture is.

Along with singers, like many A capella groups, some of Jhankaar’s members are beatboxers, who provide rhythm for their music.

“It was very interesting to tackle the challenge of how to beatbox for South Asian music just because it’s so different rhythmically, or on a percussive sound level from any Western music,” said Immanuel Victor, a third-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major and first-year member of Jhankaar. “So it really challenged me to kind of find those sounds and deliver a different type of beatbox. And I think it really did help me to reconnect with my roots.”

Victor is the vocal percussionist for Jhankaar, who, like Narayanaswamy, also has South Indian heritage and grew up in the U.S.

“Growing up, I didn’t have a huge Indian culture around me,” Victor said. “So it was nice to find a group of people like me who I could relate to and sort of connect back to my culture with. I’ve learned a lot about my culture along the way, from mundane things like food to music. I didn’t have a background in Carnatic or Hindustani [North Indian classical] music when I joined. And so even in this year, I’ve learned a lot about that as well.”

Pranav Padture, a third-year biochemistry major who has been with Jhankaar since his freshman year and is currently their co-music director, said that the team is very innovative as they work on a relatively new and unique genre.

“We’re the only South Asian A cappella team in UC Davis. So I feel like it’s very cool that our team showcases Indian culture within A cappella, which started off as a very Western genre. And so to have Indian music, but in a Western style, is something very unique. With Jhankaar, one of the biggest things we have always tried to do is innovate, and even within our niche genre, we’ve always tried to mess around with different styles, genres, adding different easter eggs in arrangements and our singing.”

He resonates with the same sense of belonging that Jhankaar offers.

“As a South Asian person who was born here, I kind of grew up in American culture, but at the same time, there was kind of that feeling for me to hold on to my roots and really try to find out and learn as much as I could about my own culture,” Padture said. “I feel like that was one of the driving forces for many of the members on this team — just being able to connect and know more about your culture.”

The Davis Cherry Blossom Festival is a two-day event celebrating Asian American culture that occurs annually in April, presented by the club Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan at UC Davis. Visitors can enjoy live performances by local bands, participate in workshops on origami, calligraphy and other Japanese arts and taste a variety of delicious Asian dishes from local restaurants such as The Dumpling House.

According to the Davis Cherry Blossom website, “Cherry Blossom draws from hanami (“flower viewing”), the Japanese seasonal observance of the coming of Spring marked by brilliant displays of cherry blossoms, as well as hanamatsuri (“flower festival”), the celebration of Shakyamuni Buddha’s (Siddhartha Gautama) birthday, usually celebrated on April 8th.”

The website also states that hanamatsuri festivals, such as the Davis Cherry Blossom Festival, honor the tradition of Japanese American communities that have been in the United States since the late 19th century and celebrate their legacies.

One of the highlights of the festival is the Taiko drumming performances, a traditional Japanese art form that combines rhythm, movement and energy to create an unforgettable experience.

“It’s a way to bring a community together, people across the Asian diaspora and beyond,” said Sophia Loo, a fourth-year geology major and the publicity manager of the festival. “For example, I like to extend that to how we gather to listen to music. It shows how we engage with other people while we listen to the music, so it definitely brings people together.”

The Davis Cherry Blossom Festival is also an opportunity for the community to come together and celebrate its diversity and unity. The festival is organized by volunteers from different cultural backgrounds who work tirelessly to create a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere. According to Loo, the festival had twice as many food vendors and performers as last year and “almost 180 volunteers, which is

the highest number since the festival [began].”

The festival carries meaning for students and members of the Davis community alike. Gloria Kum, a UC Davis alumna, said she has been part of the festival since it began eight years ago. Kum designed the 2023 Cherry Blossom Festival’s official mascot, a pink Shishi lion named Hanamin, according to her Instagram account, @glo.shrimp.

“It really helped me get to where I am today in my career,” Kum said. “[Being a volunteer] really helped me grow in leadership skills, communication skills and my creativity overall. [...] It is so inspiring to see how the festival has grown year by year, seeing how far my team has come in bringing the Davis community together. For students, it is just a space to have fun and learn about Japanese culture.”

The festival also showcases contemporary Japanese art, including paintings, sculptures and installations by local artists. Vendors, of whom a majority were Asian American community members, sold crochet plushies, clothes, prints, stickers, crystals, jewelry and more.

“Just last year, we only had about 10-12 art vendors, and this year, we have about 50,” Kum said, “which is a huge jump and is absolutely amazing.”

This year, the festival was held at the Sudwerk Brewing Co. restaurant.

Trent Yackzan, a Sudwerk employee since 2009, said the brewery has been preparing for the festival all year.

“‘Sudwerk’ is a German word, a slang term for ‘community brewing,’” Yackzan said. “It’s part of our ethos to represent that, and this festival is the ultimate representation of showcasing different cultures and people of all parts of life coming together […] It hits all the boxes of what we stand for.”

Volunteers, attendees, vendors and community members agree that the Davis Cherry Blossom Festival is a vibrant and memorable celebration that captures the essence of the city of Davis and its commitment to promoting cultural awareness and unity.

Sanrio, the home of Hello Kitty: why the brand is appealing in a boring, adult world

Students share their perspectives on the Japanese character brand

BY KACEY CHAN features@theaggie.org

Sanrio is one of the most wellknown brands out there. Its most iconic character, Hello Kitty, is worth an estimated $7 billion alone. There are over 50,000 Hello Kitty product lines available in more than 130 countries, and Sanrio’s peak revenue in 2022 was $575.3 million. The “Hello Kitty Girl,” a term coined on TikTok, refers to a typically younger woman who is a fan of Sanrio and often styles herself in accordance with the brand.

There are numerous reasons for the popularity of Sanrio and specifically why the brand has been able to maintain its appeal for so long.

Sanrio is a Japanese brand that primarily creates a line of simple, animated characters. While Hello Kitty is it is most well-known, the brand features other popular characters such as Cinammonroll and Kuromi, who each have their own signature personalities and symbols. Since the creation of Hello Kitty in 1974, people all over the world can instantly recognize the character upon seeing the figure’s iconic red or pink bow. Sanrio’s line of cutely designed, minimalist characters with their own color palettes and backgrounds has influenced students on a deep level.

Leah Tahmassian, a third-year political science major at UC Davis and member of the Davis Anime Club, attests to the popularity of the brand.

“When I was little, one of the first characters I found out about was Hello

Kitty simply due to seeing her around school when other girls wore her shirts and had her backpacks,” Tahmassian said via direct message. Sara Lindstrom, a second-year design major, also became interested in Sanrio when they were younger and has continued to be a loyal fan into adulthood.

“I’ve stayed loving Sanrio over the years because it reminds me of being a kid,” Lindstrom said in an Instagram direct message. “I get excited to have special Sanrio backpacks, clothing, stickers, etc.”

Indeed, this youthful aspect of the brand seems to be its draw for students and young people in general. Unlike other children’s brands, which may lose their target audience over time as fans age, Sanrio has ensured their brand remains childlike but not childish.

“The creator, Yuko Shimizu, and her company have done an exceptional job at marketing and curating a world with characters that people of all ages can enjoy,” Lindstrom said. “They keep the childlike wonder alive by not taking things too seriously in the Sanrio world.”

A particular example, and perhaps an endearingly eccentric one, is that Hello Kitty’s size is exclusively measured in apples.

“She’s five apples tall and three apples heavy,” Lindstrom wrote.

The company also seems to inject a simple happiness in a world that rather lacks it. A study conducted by Medium magazine which examines Hello Kitty as a symbol determined that Sanrio has successfully “created a product that emotionalizes and humanizes everyday

human world through embodied charm.”

Cassandra Brown, a small business owner from Georgia selling beaded jewelry online, has noticed Sanrio items tend to sell more quickly than nonSanrio items.

“I think Sanrio is so popular because there’s a lot of variety,” Brown said in an Instagram direct message. “People can find [a character] that fits them and their aesthetic the best.”

It is also this universality which has led to the brand’s cult following online.

“I love the diversity of the characters because it feels like there’s one for everyone with all their many different styles and colours and personalities,” wrote Adele Newcomb, a second-year biological sciences major, in a direct message. Newcomb points to the increasing popularity of niches on social media which users often strongly identify with.

“With the rise of different aesthetics such as the ‘clean girl,’ the ‘it girl,’ etc., I think Sanrio seems to be a more flexible aesthetic than many others,” Newcomb said.

Clarissa Gutierrez, a third-year cinema and digital media major and small business owner, confirms the establishment of the brand as its own niche.

“Whenever I think of Sanrio, I think of cute characters, soft colors and very girly things,” Gutierrez said in a direct message. “Even online, there are such things [labeled] as ‘Sanriocore.’”

A key attraction of the brand is its various types or sub-aesthetics. Almost functioning as a cuter version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality

test, each character has its own colors, themes and even personality traits.

Kuromi, a white dwarf rabbit who often wears a black jester’s hat, has a darker theme identifiable by the colors black and pink. My Melody has a “light” theme, as opposed to Hello Kitty and Keroppi, who have more “bright” themes.

With the rise of other East Asian cultural trends like K-Pop and anime in the U.S. over the past few years, it is perhaps not surprising that Sanrio would be a part of this wave as well.

Tahmassian, for example, mentioned that her preference for a particular Sanrio character — Little Twin Stars — led her to watch an anime called “Sanrio Danshi,” which centers on a group of

JOANNE SUN / AGGIE

boys all obsessed with different Sanrio characters.

Sanrio may be a children’s brand on the surface, but it is clear that the brand has maintained a strong following and fan base of adults. Sanrio, and Hello Kitty, have curated their image to such a degree that it lacks a specific, target age.

“I know of many older adults who have and love Sanrio things, like people my parents’ age,” Newcomb said in a direct message. Lindstrom has become such a fan of the brand, they have Hello Kitty tattooed on their hand.

“Sanrio fits into my personal style really well,” Lindstrom said in a direct message, “so much so, that I have Hello Kitty on me forever.”

The 2023 Cherry Blossom Festival was held at Sudwerk Brewing Co. (Shanna Punzalan / Aggie)

SOUTHASIANCHOIR on 7

Jhankaar performs live in costume. (Rithik Sachdeva / Courtesy)

Secrets to college success

Apps and websites that will help you ace those midterms, maintain your health and get more sleep

BY EMILIE BROWN emrbrown@ucdavis.edu

We all know college life — especially during midterms season — can be overwhelming, stressful and exhausting. But fear not, fellow Aggies. I have compiled this list of the best apps and websites to help you take care of your mental and physical health, boost your productivity and get some muchdeserved rest.

Forest: Having trouble staying focused?

Easily distracted by text messages and social media? This productivity app can help you stay on task while having fun.

Whenever you struggle with focusing you plant a virtual tree on the app. If you leave the app before the tree is fully grown, it dies. But if you stay focused, you’ll grow a beautiful digital forest.

Headspace: This app offers guided meditations, sleep sounds and mindfulness exercises to help you destress and improve your mental health. It makes it easy to unwind and relax.

Fabulous: This app is like having a personal coach for your most important daily habits. It offers personalized plans to help you improve your physical health and become more productive through meditation sessions, meal plans, workout routines and habit trackers. Plus, it has cute animations and fun challenges that make it a joy to use.

Sleepytime: We all know getting enough sleep is crucial for success academically, but few of us are actually able to do it. This website can help you feel more awake and refreshed when you wake up by helping you calculate the best time to go to bed based on your sleep cycles.

Poser alert: UC Davis freshman claims to like IPAs

He keeps commenting on the “loaminess.” Is that even a thing?

BY OWEN RUDERMAN opinion@theaggie.org

Last night at my party, Brandon Flynn, a freshman in the Davis Brewing program, showed up and started telling everyone who would listen that he “actually really likes IPAs.” I don’t know who invited him, but it definitely wasn’t me.

at one point and, upon seeing that she was drinking a seltzer, swatted it out of her hand, yelling, “It’s bitter or nothing! It’s bitter or nothing!” as loud as he could.

ALLISON VO / AGGIE

Seven: This app gives you personalized workout routines you can do in seven minutes without any equipment. It makes it easy to stay physically healthy by creating fast and effective guided workouts.

Zombies, Run!: If you run but get bored of it easily, or just want a change of pace while running, this is the perfect app for you! This app simulates a zombie attack for you to outrun for more motivation while working out. It combines your chosen music with its video-game-like storytelling to create a unique experience for every user.

Brain.fm: Studying for midterms can be a daunting task, but this app and website can help you focus by playing music tracks that are scientifically designed to boost productivity. It uses AI to generate songs that can enhance your focus and

HUMOR

help you stay on task.

Studious: Keeping track of deadlines, assignments, class schedules and tests can be overwhelming and complicated. This free app can help. Studious allows you to input all of your course information and receive reminders for upcoming assignments and exams on your smartphone. It also has a “mute” feature I love that automatically silences your phone during class time.

Happy studying and remember to take care of yourself!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

What this one of these says about you

Your choice reveals characteristics about you!

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu

Option 1: Bleh. Boo! This is the worst one of these. Everyone agrees. Nobody likes this one, so you must be a bad, not good, person.

Option 2: You’re okay. You picked the safe option, which is how I know you’re not interesting, intrinsically. Maybe you didn’t wait to hear the rest of the options.

Option 3: This one is my favorite! I like it because I think it’s good. If you like it, it’s probably because you think it’s good.

Option 4: I think it was pretty obvious what this option would lead to. I think you knew exactly what would result from picking this option, and you picked it because you wanted to be special and better at interacting in social situations. I don’t respect you for picking this one. I’m going to throw up into your open hands.

Option 5: Are you serious? No one even thinks of this one as an option — which is why earlier I said that Option 1 was the worst option. I hadn’t even considered that you would choose this option, although I did offer it as an option for some reason. This makes you

a terrible person morally and in terms of physical attractiveness. Pick the best option next time instead of such a bad option.

Option 6: I can tell from the fact that you picked this one that you will die in exactly six years. Probably noon-ish. Mark your Google Calendar.

Dog therapy

BY SANDHYA PFILE sbpfile@ucdavis.edu

Option 7: This is the option that means that everyone wants you carnally. You may have picked this one on purpose so that people will want you carnally, but it only works if the decision comes from the heart.

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

Flynn is 18. Now, I don’t have anything against 18-year-olds. Yes, they kind of suck, but that isn’t really their fault. Unless they’re Brandon Flynn. Then it’s definitely their fault.

What I’m trying to say is, Flynn is completely full of it. The beer-drinking rule book clearly states that you have to be at least 30 before you can enjoy an IPA. Flynn should be at the point where a Bud Light tastes too alcoholic, and yet there he was, ruining the vibe of my party with his “freakishly developed palate.”

At one point, Flynn even came up to me and started telling me that “IPAs are the beer-drinkers’ beer to drink beer beer drink” and “you can’t be a real Californian if you’re not hooked on that pale goodness.” I also noticed he was holding some absurd can in his hand that said “Hazy Frontal Lobe Decimator 5000” on the front. I have no idea where he got it, but Google isn’t turning up any results. He even approached my friend Bella

And then there was the whole Brent Callaghan debacle. Brent, the infamous alcohol extraordinaire, tried Flynn’s drink, but immediately spit it out. He was gagging and spitting for what seemed like an hour before he finally passed out in my kitchen.

After a while, a small riot formed and attempted to kick Flynn out, but it didn’t work. The bitterness must have enhanced him in some way because even the strength of 15 people wasn’t enough to bring him down.

Long story short, the cops showed up because of the noise of the riot and arrested both of us. We’re sitting in a cell together right now, and he still won’t shut up about the IPAs. I have no idea how he did it, but he got a can of that “Frontal Lobe Decimator 5000” inside the big house. Please, someone, bail me out of here before he makes me taste it.

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

Who I’d beat in a fight: UCD edition

Not literally, just metaphysically

BY CARMEL RAVIV craviv@ucdavis.edu

To be honest, I’ve been hitting the gym a lot lately and just PR’d on bench press (35 lbs), so I feel confident in my ability to take out my frustrations and show off my two months of Krav Maga practice. I’ve been eating a lot of butternut squash tacos at the DC too, and my protein intake is the highest it’s ever been. Therefore, I’ve made a list of people I feel confident I could take on in a fight in the University of California, Davis vicinity.

The Egghead in front of the library

15 squirrels (at once)

• ChatGPT (verbal argument)

• A frat brother working security (they have a 20% blood alcohol level)

Two turkeys (at once) My RA

JOANNE SUN / AGGIE

• David Dobrik (he has no affiliation with UC Davis, he just has a stupid face)

• Any electric scooter owner

• Anyone from Cuarto

• The people working the desk at the ARC (they seem low energy so I’d offer them a slurp of my Celsius but they’d get mad and post my ID on the UC Davis Snapchat story)

• A computer science and engineering (CSE) major (too depressed to fight back) Those lazy freeloaders in the hammocks on the Quad

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

is] where it all began for me as an artist.”

He also performed at Lawntopia in 2015 and at an earlier version of what is now Sunset Fest. He said that he is happy that these events have expanded, taken on new forms and are still relevant to current students.

The local food vendors that will be present are Roline’s Uniquely Filipino, Dumpling House and Yeti Restaurant.

“As someone who is also Asian American, to have all of these different diverse parts of the Asian American culture come together and be able to celebrate our unique and diverse cultures and also be able to learn about different mental health resources is important,” Fujimoto said.

NATALIE CHENG / AGGIE

AGGIE FILE

Remembering Karim Abou Najm and David Henry Breaux

The Editorial Board grieves with the community after recent stabbing incidents, including two homicides

It has been a distressing week as Davis residents grieve the unexpected deaths of Karim Abou Najm and David Henry Breaux. At the time this article was written, a third stabbing victim was in critical condition. The Editorial Board would like to take this time to acknowledge who Najm and Breaux were and how important they were to the Davis community. As more news continues to develop, it’s understandable to be caught up in the uncertainty, but as you read headlines, it’s important to remember that the victims were real people with real lives. We need to help support one another in the community as we experience these tragedies.

Najm was a 20 year-old, fourth-year computer science major set to graduate from UC Davis this quarter. He was a hard-working student and member of the University Honors Program. Throughout his time at Davis, he contributed to research that helps the community of undergraduate students.

In his second year at Davis, Najm had helped develop Cornische, a student startup network for undergraduate researchers. Cornische functions to help student researchers receive fair pay and incentives for their work. In 2022, the startup won the $500 People’s Choice Award that was sponsored by Blackstone LaundPad. Najm’s accomplishments were the result of his hard work, and his contributions to UC Davis will forever be remembered.

According to the Davis Enterprise, Najm had recently received an award for his software project that would aid people with auditory deficiencies. He has been described as loving and intelligent by his father, and he enjoyed playing Dungeons & Dragons with the DRAGON club at UC Davis.

The community is also mourning the death of Breaux, who was affectionately known as the “Compassion Guy.”

Breaux was a 50-year-old Stanford graduate who spent his time asking people what compassion meant to them. He dedicated his life to answering this question, even publishing a book of his interviews. Maybe not everyone in Davis knew the name David Henry Breaux, but if you were to ask someone, “Who is the Compassion Guy?” there would be plenty of responses.

Breaux is often recognized for his work on the “Compassion Bench” near the farmers market; he’d welcome people to speak with him or just sit and rest on the bench. Through these regular interactions with residents and students, he touched many lives.

It’s also worth mentioning that Breaux and the third stabbing victim were unhoused people. These crimes serve as a reminder of the responsibility we have to protect and support unhoused people in our city.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help provide pepper spray and whistles for unhoused people in the area that we encourage you to donate to if you can.

In honor of Breux and the other victims of the recent crimes, the Editorial Board wanted to take the time to share what compassion means to us:

Sophie Dewees — Editor-in-Chief

The dictionary definition of compassion is “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others,” but my personal definition is quite different. Compassion, to me, is unrelated to misfortune or suffering; it is a practice that we can use to better the world around us. We demonstrate compassion by acknowledging that everyone has had different life experiences and that our understanding of the world may be different from others’, respecting others’ opinions and valuing their contributions and, above all, caring for all living things, from the

fluffy ducklings in the Arboretum to the poppies blooming by the side of the road to people, even if they’re strangers.

Katie DeBenedetti — Managing Editor

To me, compassion is being aware of what someone else might be going through and doing what you can, when you can, to help.

Sonora Slater — Campus News Editor

On Monday morning, with fears about the second homicide in less than a week swirling around my mind, I ordered a chocolate croissant at the CoHo. The girl working the cashier (who I didn’t know) went to the display case, picked one up, set it down, and picked up another before putting it in a bag. Handing it to me, she conspiratorially whispered, “I made sure to give you the best one.” This sort of small kindness, springing not from any obligation, but only from the desire to make a stranger smile on a hard day, is the definition of compassion for me.

Chris Ponce — City News Editor

There are many right answers to this question, but to me, the act of compassion is authentically and attentively listening to someone.

Owen Ruderman — Opinion Editor I see compassion as synonymous with empathy and human connection. Compassionate people have the ability to accept and help those around them — they understand that we are all in this together.

Levi Goldstein — Features Editor

Compassion is extending kindness and understanding to everyone, even if they are different from you, and especially those whom society deems outcasts. They are human, too, and in a world that rarely shows them any empathy, they need compassion the most.

Clara Fischer — Arts & Culture Editor

The most critical component of compassion is being kind to and patient with people, even if you don’t necessarily understand them.

Marlon Rolon — Sports Editor

Compassion is helping others who are in need, and that can be in many ways.

Brandon Ngyuen — Science & Tech Editor

Compassion is the ability to recognize someone who is hurting or going through a tough time, and to take action to help them, even if it means just listening and being there for them.

WRITTEN BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

How taking care of plants helps college students’ mental health

Written

by a college student, 10 baby plants later

BY MAYA KORNYEYEVA mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu

This year, I opted to live in one of the residents halls on the UC Davis campus. As I got to know the students in the building, one pattern became increasingly clear: almost every single room contained a plant. A succulent, a bouquet of flowers, a tiny sprout, you name it. When I asked why, most residents gazed back at me with thoughtful expressions before replying with something along the lines of: “I like taking care of it,” or “It brightens the room.” Intrigued, I bought a $5 succulent from Trader Joe’s a few weeks after moving in. Turns out, it takes quite a bit of effort to keep a plant alive, like remembering to water it, giving it enough sunlight and keeping the soil healthy. As time progressed, I got better at maintaining it. Now it sits on my windowsill, adding a dash of color to the muted browns and beiges of the walls and furniture.

With that being said, I am willing to bet that there was a deeper effect on my living space than just the added aesthetic appeal of the plant. In fact, there is actually a bit of psychology behind this. For one, research shows that bringing a little bit of the natural world into our indoor environment promotes better quality of life and minimizes stress and mental fatigue — especially among university students. Being within a selfcreated “green space,” whether it’s on a grassy lawn or inside your overgrown apartment, can encourage creativity and actually boost academic performance.

I can’t help but agree with these findings, as I am often drawn to the Arboretum for a morning stroll before midterms, and find myself feeling significantly calmer afterward. I love sitting under a tree on the Quad doing homework, and I’ve recently taken a

LU

AARON POTTER

The hijab is not a symbol of oppression

How we can learn from the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan

BY YASMEEN O’BRIEN yjobrien@ucdavis.edu

Two weeks ago, Muslims around the globe celebrated Eid al-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. After celebrating this year, a friend asked me what Eid signified and why we celebrate it. He also asked me, with quite a puzzled look, why I don’t wear a hijab if I’m Muslim. I have gotten this question countless times. People often question my faith because my mixed ethnicity and displayed hair are not what they visualize when they think of a Muslim woman.

Questions like these always make me think about how the world sees Muslims, especially Muslim women, and all of the misconceptions there are about us. When I think about this, what comes first to my mind is the veil — which is an overall statement that refers to head and body coverings worn by some Muslim women, such as the hijab, burqa, niqab or abaya. Because these coverings are visual, the Western world analyzes and assigns meaning to them. Often, this meaning is their own. One example of this was America’s presence in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, which included the Afghanistan War from 2001 to 2014. One of the main responses to this war was seeking knowledge about and protecting “women of cover,” as then President George Bush called them in a 2001 News Conference. At first glance, protecting women seems like a positive thing. But it became an excuse for American occupation in Afghanistan, as well as widespread misconceptions about what the veil symbolized for women of the Islamic faith. It gave the false impression that the reason they were there was to protect these “poor women.”

by “saving” them from their veilings

is a belief that comes from exclusively looking at the Taliban’s presence in Afghanistan through the Western lens. A lack of understanding surrounding cultural differences makes America’s “valiant” involvement in Afghanistan almost meaningless.

In Abu-Lughod’s work, she talks about America’s antagonization of the veil — which is rooted in Islamophobia — and that much of the Western world sees it solely as a symbol of oppression and imprisonment when this is not always true. It is also an empowering cultural and religious practice. AbuLughod says that for many Muslim women, veiling makes them feel safe and respected. It is a form of devotion to their faith that is their decision.

While it is true that not all Afghan women desire to wear the burqa, the choice should be theirs and theirs alone. When the U.S. intervened in Afghanistan in the name of helping liberate women, they did not give the freedom of choice back to the women — which would have been truly liberating. Instead, the power over Afghan women merely transferred from the Taliban to the U.S.

And while this is an example that may feel far away, I believe it contains important sentiments that we should all apply to our daily lives. When we claim to celebrate women and call ourselves feminists, we really need to be asking ourselves if veiled women are being taken into account. Just because what’s empowering for them may not be what empowers us, doesn’t mean they are being oppressed.

liking to keeping a fresh vase of flowers on my desk. Not only are they beautiful, but they are also a daily reminder to go outside and enjoy a bit of natural scenery.

Additionally, raising a plant and taking on the responsibility of caring for it is proven to be associated with feelings of satisfaction and improved mood, as “contact with plants is an intuitive and nonverbal activity that can provide psychological stability and comfort.” It can also create a routine, which is beneficial for staying organized and avoiding feeling overwhelmed. The life of a college student can be immensely busy; taking those five minutes out of the day to water your plant and tilt it toward the sun can keep you feeling grounded.

In this way, there is, in fact, rhyme and reason for the common occurrence of houseplants in university students’ living spaces, and the homes of most people for that matter. The culminating

motif is that we have a natural affinity for life, and living and growing alongside it has a wide array of both physiological and psychological benefits. I am happy to say that my succulent is still alive and doing well and I’ve added nine other new plants to our leafy family — although they are comparatively less prosperous than the expansive assortment of plant species in the dorm of the horticulture and agronomy major two suites down from mine. No matter your gardening experience, I highly recommend becoming a proud parent of a baby plant and taking it upon yourself to maintain it and help it grow. Mine is named Stevie… What about yours?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

After reading “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” — the work of American anthropologist, Lila AbuLughod — I was struck by the extent to which America was concerned with Muslim women in this war, mostly due to the fact that they wear coverings. This desire to “liberate” Muslim women

Seeking understanding is the first step. As college students, we are the future, and including all women in the fight for equality matters.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by individual columnists belong to the columnists alone and do not necessarily indicate the views and opinions held by The California Aggie.

MARY ANN LEM

KELLIE

The Compassion Bench at the vigil for David Henry Breux on April 30. (Chris Ponce / Aggie)

MAYA KORNYEYEVA / AGGIE

‘Discovering Academia’ gives students an inside look at the world of scholarly research

Founders Brent Valentine and Keller Kramer discuss the creation of the podcast

BY ANA BACH arts@theaggie.org

“Discovering Academia” is a student-run podcast that explores the seemingly endless research opportunities here at UC Davis. Brent Valentine, a second-year managerial economics and neurobiology, physiology and behavior double major and Keller Kramer, a second-year international relations and agricultural and environmental technology double major, take students through the passions and projects that professors are working on outside of the classroom.

“The initial point for [creating the podcast] was that I needed a letter of recommendation,” Kramer said. “I started to reach out to different people and try to learn more about what they are doing.”

Kramer’s first conversation prior to the start of the podcast was with a political science professor who discussed her training in engineering and how she applied those principles towards political science at a higher level.

“I hadn’t really considered how each of these professors could be interdisciplinary within their own field,” Kramer said. “I had always wanted to do some kind of podcasting, and Brent and I first connected because we listened to the same podcast. It kinda just made sense to do it together.”

The process for producing an episode of “Discovering Academia” starts with Kramer and Valentine reaching out to professors via email. They typically reach out to anywhere from fifty to seventy professors and then accumulate a list of topics to log any ideas that may spark interest.

“After we email them, we will gauge their interest and see if they want to do the podcast. If they are interested, we have a link to send them where they can sign up for a quick intro meeting,” Kramer said.

The introduction meetings consist of a general outline and fleshed-out plan for how the episode will flow.

“We will explain what the point of the podcast is and what we are hoping to get out of it,” Kramer said. “We talk to them about their current research and primarily focus on that work because a lot of the databases where the research is recorded haven’t been updated in a while.”

Many professors’ websites aren’t easily navigable by those who aren’t

experts in their respective fields. The aim of “Discovering Academia” is to change this by manipulating complex content within research into a digestible conversation that the majority can understand.

“We will then send the questions over to the professor. They have the freedom to edit what they want to keep in and take out. We want them to know the general flow we are trying to go for,” Valentine said.

Following the format of an episode, the bulk of the conversation centers around a professor’s experience within their specified field. The podcast closes by drawing attention to opportunities for student involvement, advice the professors may have or anything not directly related to the topic that listeners may find relevant.

The two push forward with this platform and business venture amidst all the chaos of being an undergraduate student.

“My GPA definitely took a hit, and

Review: ‘Beef’ brings together ‘car-crossed haters’

The dark comedy unpacks the universal yet complex emotion of anger

BY BRANDON NGUYEN arts@theaggie.org

“That’s what’s wrong with the world today, man. They want you to feel like you have no control,” Danny Cho, played by Steven Yeun, says in the first episode of Netflix’s new dark comedy series “Beef.”

His experience is, no doubt, relatable; be it blaming your bad day on your parents for not seeing eye-toeye with you because of a “generational gap,” on capitalism for making the rich richer or on the pandemic for trapping you in your house for months on end. For Cho, his cynicism becomes more apparent upon a road-rage encounter instigated by Amy Lau, played by Ali Wong, setting the tone for the remainder of the show.

While “Beef” opens with an arguably commonplace incident, it offroads dismally (though comedically for the viewer) towards a vengeful feud as the two characters attempt to make the other’s life as terrible as possible in the following episodes.

spend more time with her husband George (played by Joseph Lee) and her daughter June (played by Remi Holt). They are both close to their breaking points and following their near fenderbender incident, they become each other’s last straws.

The dark, thriller comedy could have easily followed the cliché class-war story: Cho, the less fortunate financially of the two, comes out on top with a new house and his family reunited while Lau deservedly loses everything due to an inability to sell her business and her marriage has a fallout upon deflection of her stresses onto her husband and daughter. Lee Sung Jin, however, puts a spin on this chaotic feud storyline with the idea that the biggest jerk you meet may be fighting battles you know nothing about.

that was just something that we were comfortable with because we knew we needed to get it done. We both thought that it was more important than grades. As long as we still understand what we are learning, and we are still trying, that’s all we can ask for,” Kramer said. “Staying organized is so critical,” Valentine said. “When you start to lose that, it falls apart completely.”

The motivation behind “Discovering Academia” is for students to have more creativity on their own academic paths rather than studying what they believe will put them on the most linear path to success.

“Especially at Davis, there is so much out there and so much freedom,” Kramer said. “There is a ton of funding and a lot of people who would want to help you move forth on that idea.”

The podcast gives students the encouragement, tools and network to truly dive deep into their own curiosities about the academic systems they interact with everyday.

Commentary: What having a dog has taught me about my mental health

Why investing in an emotional support animal will almost always pay off

BY CORALIE LOON arts@theaggie.org

Everyone knows a dog is a man’s best prevention method for heart disease, right?

Maybe the fact that dog owners are at a lower risk for elevated blood pressure and heart disease than non-dog owners is not common knowledge, but most people are not new to the idea that dogs (and other pets) provide emotional and mental health support.

According to one study, 85% of dog owners self-reported their pets helping their mental health during the pandemic compared to 75% of cat owners.

Other than this being clear evidence that dogs are superior pets (okay, I won’t go that far), I never quite understood the significance of these statistics until I had my own dog.

When I picked her up from a nonprofit animal shelter in Richmond, CA, I knew my life would never be the same. For the next 15 or so years, I

MIRANDA LEE / AGGIE

would have to feed her and walk her multiple times a day, give her baths and head scratches and pay veterinary bills that would never be covered by my insurance. I adopted a dog for two reasons: I love dogs and I thought it would help my mental health and anxiety. But as soon as I took her home for the first time and let her hop around the apartment for her first sniff, I was struck with panic at the responsibility that now lay on my shoulders. I would have to put work and energy into this small being and take care of her. Anything that happened to her would be my fault.

A few weeks later, the panic began to wear off. Giving her a scoop of morning kibble and taking her outside to pee became routine, and I started to realize that, while I was doing it for her, I was also doing it for myself.

I was spending time outside and

getting light exercise more consistently than ever before, using the time to listen to music, call a friend or just think and self-reflect. Every day, my dog reminds me that nature and exercise are two things that hugely support mental and emotional well-being.

She also gently reminds me to talk to other people. When we pass fellow dogs and dog owners, she can’t help but say hi (in dog, of course), and I have no choice but to go along. The brief conversations I have with other pedestrians on the street always leave me feeling warm and remind me of the opportunities for connection that are always around, just under the surface. One of her greatest reminders, though, is to find joy in simple pleasures. There’s nothing she likes better than lying in the sun and doing nothing. In between the commotion of everyday life, one of the best things I’ve ever invested in is the art of doing nothing.

It’s a beautiful reminder, but in reality, I can’t just sit and sleep in the sun all day. Besides the need to go to class and pay rent, my little friend relies on me, and it does take effort and energy to give her what she needs.

What has unfolded during my brief time as a dog owner is a bigger metaphor. It takes time and energy to keep my dog happy and healthy, and while during the moment it can feel cumbersome, overall I find myself happier and more selfsecure than before I had her. I think of all the times I shied away from going to therapy, meditating or telling a person how I really felt because it required too much effort. As much as we’d all love a quick fix to all our problems, the routes for improving mental health in the long term always require a certain amount of stamina. Now, I know I would never trade being a dog owner for anything in the world. In exchange for a few walks and field trips to Petco, my dog gives me love, company, cuddles and plenty of daily reminders to be a better person. I would say that’s a pretty good deal.

What makes “Beef,” created and written by director Lee Sung Jin and produced by A24, one of the more insightful, reinvigorating and compelling shows of the year so far is its exploration of a universal yet uniquely complex emotion: anger. Every unhappy character is unhappy for different personal reasons; how they each cope and channel this unhappiness reveals that there is much more to the high-speed, middle-finger-flipping chase of life than meets the eye.

Cho is a struggling handyman and contractor scrambling to accumulate enough money to build a house in Los Angeles for his parents who were forced to return to Korea. Lau, who married into art money, is an entrepreneur desperately trying to sell her small houseplant business to relieve years of stress and putting up a facade in hopes of finally being able to stay home and

The show’s title is also intentional in name, playing on the word “beef.” Colloquially, beef means a feud or dispute you have with someone — a fitting description of Cho and Lau’s relationship. Lee Sung Jin also plays with its symbolic meaning, exploring the layers of the word, with how anger — even superficial, petty anger — can be liberating and provide some semblance of control (at least temporarily).

The end of the first episode reveals a nuance to the emotion after Cho tracks down Lau’s license plate and her address to ask her to “use the guest bathroom” before making a run for it (you can guess what he does out of childish pettiness). It’s the first time you see both of their faces light up. Their beef will become the worst thing that has happened to either of them, but in this scene, it is also the best. They fight not just out of pride, but also out of the steadfast belief that their rage might somehow make everything right.

Release poster for the Netflix show BEEF. (Courtesy of Netflix / fair use)

Cover image of “Discovering Academia” podcast. (Courtesy of discoveringacademia.com)

Lawntopia 2023 delivered good music, dancing and quality time to the UC Davis community

ASUCD Entertainment Council’s annual spring quarter event garnered an impressive turnout

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org

The Arts Desk’s weekly picks for music, movies and more

BY RUMA POUDEL arts@theaggie.org

Movie: “Pretty Woman” dir. by Garry Marshall (1990)

In this classic rom-com, Julia Roberts plays a sex worker who crosses paths with a wealthy businessman played by Richard Gere — specifically, a businessman who “screws” people, albeit for money. The two spend a week together and, unsurprisingly, they fall in love. I thought the way the movie portrayed Roberts’ character wasn’t the greatest due to an overdone air of ditziness and the plot is a bit predictable. However, there are plenty of funny and entertaining moments that make up for this, making “Pretty Woman” worth the watch.

Song: “SWAMP” by BROCKHAMPTON (2017)

In 2017, former boy band BROCKHAMPTON spontaneously released multiple albums within the time frame of about 5 months and made music for 6 years total. Despite the fact that they were around for some time, I only discovered them recently through the recommendation of a friend — but I already have a feeling that they’re going to be my top artist on Spotify Wrapped for 2023. Their dynamic lyrics, the contrast between each member’s voices and the overall unique music production on the band’s songs have left an impact on me. “SWAMP” has been one of my favorites recently, as some of the lyrics touch on the fact that you need to love yourself — which is a basic message — but that message is sent in an impactful way.

On Friday, April 28, the ASUCD Entertainment Council (EC) held Lawntopia at Dairy Field. The highly anticipated event, featuring notable American rap and hip-hop artist Isaiah Rashad as headliner, saw a sizable and energetic turnout from the student body. EC hosts several events similar to Lawntopia throughout the year, including Sunset Fest in fall quarter and Brainfreeze in winter quarter. These performances usually feature various openers, typically local musicians, and one main, more well-known headliner. This past weekend, Rashad stepped into that role.

Rashad is one of the most notorious musicians EC has managed to bring to Davis in recent years (especially compared to further back, when artists such as Drake, Florence the Machine, Tiësto and more made stops on campus), with more than 4 million listeners on Spotify, collaborations with other mainstream artists like SZA and Kendrick Lamar and multiple Grammy nominations.

Third-year political science major Angelica Martinez expressed her excitement about the headliner, stating that the thing she was most looking

forward to for the night was “definitely

Isaiah Rashad, obviously.”

The crowd at Lawntopia appeared to appreciate Rashad’s performance, with plenty of head-bobbing, jumping, cheering and moshing. Some in the audience seemed to know the rapper’s discography by heart, singing along word-for-word, and those that didn’t still brought ample energy.

Even for those who weren’t superfans of Rashad, EC had something to offer. Lawntopia featured performances by smaller artists, including Byemilo, DJ Mellax, Ladies First DJ Club and more, as well as local art vendors and information booths for various organizations.

One of the vendors selling art at the event was local artist and Sacramento State student Kendall Kennedy, who stated their excitement about seeing the opening acts perform.

“I’m excited to hear the openers,” Kennedy said. “I’m excited to hear the local bands.”

Roxy, a second-year environment and management major, has previously collaborated with Kennedy as a vendor at the Davis Art Market. She was given the opportunity to participate in Lawntopia through her previous work

with Kennedy, playfully stating that she “got dragged in here with them.”

This year marked the first time Lawntopia was held at Dairy Field; previous shows were held at the Quad. The larger venue allowed for an increased number of attendees, but also caused lengthy lines to get into the grounds. Students were lined up around the block from when the doors opened to when they closed, and there was some confusion about which line was the correct one for students to wait in.

Overall, this year’s Lawntopia was an exciting way to usher in the (much needed) warm weather of spring quarter. The minor kinks in the organization of the event only served to remind concertgoers of the possibility of an even better experience next year, and were ultimately outweighed by the positive energy shared by the performers and the crowd.

“From last year to this year, it’s the perfect shift,” Martinez said. Her sentiment echoes the feelings radiating from the crowd at the event — students were, more than anything, happy to be spending time together to mark the start of the (arguably) best quarter of the year.

Upcoming Events in May

Concerts, research events, art exhibitions and more to check out this month

BY SARAH HAN arts@theaggie.org

“Lara Downes & John McWhorter” (Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, 7:30-9:30 p.m. on May 5) Pianist Lara Downes and author and commentator John McWhorter will perform pieces by Scott Joplin, a classically trained composer dubbed the “King of Ragtime” due to his revolutionary musical ambitions. Downes and McWhorter will play, tell Joplin’s story and legacy, and discuss the lineage of Black music in America. Those interested can find more information, including how to obtain tickets, on the Mondavi Center’s website.

UC Davis Symphony Orchestra:

“Brazil & Jazz” (Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, 7:00-8:30 p.m. on May 6)

Starring guest conductor Evandro Matté, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra will perform Alberto Nepomuceno’s “Batuque from Série Brasileira,” George Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” and Heitor VillaLobos’s “Chôros No. 6.” The concert will also feature Sacramento’s own Natsuki Fukasawa as the Gershwin piano soloist.

2nd Annual Research Symposium

— Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine (International Center, 12:00-7:30 p.m. on May 9)

Held at the International Center, the 2nd Annual Research Symposium of the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine brings neuro-engineering faculty, physician-scientists, clinicians, students and postdocs from engineering, medicine and neuroscience together to share research and network with other researchers. Faculty, graduate students and distinguished professor Viktor Jirsa, Ph.D. will speak at the event.

UC Davis Research Expo (Conference Center and Welcome Center, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on May 16)

If you want to see the latest insights, resources and tools of research, visit the UC Davis Research Expo to learn more. The event will display presentations, workshops and exhibits for students to learn more about research opportunities. Those interested can check out the UC

Davis Office of Research’s website.

Curtis Symphony Orchestra (Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, 2:00-4:00 p.m. on May 21) The Curtis Institute of Music is one of the finest music conservatories in the world, producing world-renowned musicians like violinists Hilary Hahn and Ray Chen, conductor Leonard Bernstein and pianist Lang Lang. On May 21, internationally renowned conductor Osmo Vänskä will lead the Curtis Symphony Orchestra through renditions of Dai Wei’s “New Work,”

Béla Bartók’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Sz. 95” and Nikolai RimskyKorsakov’s “Scheherazade, Op. 35.” The performance will also feature Grammywinning soloist Yefim Bronfman in Bartók’s “Piano Concerto No. 2.” Those who would like to attend the event can

refer to the Mondavi Center’s website for more information.

“Mike Henderson: Before the Fire, 1965-1985” (Manetti Shrem Museum, 11:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. every day through June 15) Join UC Davis Professor Emeritus Mike Henderson in his first solo U.S. museum exhibition in 20 years. The exhibit opened at the Manetti Shrem Museum on Jan. 29, and has recently been extended for display through June 15. Henderson highlights his contributions to the history of contemporary painting, filmmaking, radical Black politics and California art. The exhibition displays paintings and films about Afro-futurism, surrealism, anti-Black violence and utopian visions.

Anime: “Erased” by Tomohiko Ito and Taku Kishimoto (2016)

Fed up with my recommendations about love? This is a mystery/thriller anime that details the story of a man who can time travel and is set on using this power to prevent a murder. I watched this way back when it came out in 2016 and I have fond memories of watching it on Crunchyroll with friends. I didn’t have premium Crunchyroll, so there would be a KFC ad that felt like it played five times in a row about every 10 minutes, but hopefully, when you watch it, you don’t experience the same thing. If you do, I promise it’ll still be worth it because the plot is amazing and will leave you in suspense, in tears and in laughter at various points.

Book: “Sincerely” by F.S. Yousaf (2018)

This book of poetry will leave your heart full. In “Sincerely,” Yousaf proposes to his partner through a series of poems that spell out “Will you marry me?” He details stories of their love and what his soon-to-be wife means to him. Poetry can be tough to read and comprehend sometimes, but this was an easy read that still had great meaning. For the hopeless romantics out there, grab this book and clutch onto it till your own worshiper crosses your path — it’ll leave you hopeful that it is bound to happen.

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Padture said Jhankaar’s unique style is also “rather symbolic” for the way they fuse Western and South Asian music.

“It shows that music from two completely different cultures can still be mashed up together and sound good together because I feel like music is a very universal language,” Padture said. “And that’s at the core of what we kind of aim to show, that music really has no barriers, has no borders. Music is music, and different cultures have their own music. But at the end of the day, there’s something that everybody can appreciate.”

The majority of Jhankaar’s funding comes from fundraisers at UC Davis events, gigs at weddings that they can be hired for and grants for competitions, according to Sachdeva. Competitions often charge Jhankaar for registration fees and entail travel and lodging, which they generally have to pay out-of-pocket twice a year. Recording, mixing and mastering music, as well as costumes, also have significant costs, according to Avani Klinder, a fifth-year cognitive neuroscience major and co-captain of the team.

“We typically fundraise with the goal of putting a little dent in the price of plane tickets as those are our biggest expense if the competitions are far, but the majority of us are paying personally

because we want to go,” Klinder said.

Padture said Jhankaar is worth the extensive time members put into rehearsing and competing.

“I can say I’ve put a lot of hours especially during [competitive] season into the team,” Padture said. “But it is very rewarding, especially when we’ve won awards, as it really shows that the time and effort that we’ve put into preparing for this is appreciated, and it really pushes us to really strive to be better, put more creativity and just to keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

Jhankaar is currently working on a more interwoven alumni network and is in the midst of creating a website and Wiki page, according to Klinder. They currently have one to three thousand streams on Spotify and up to 3.5K views on YouTube, though they have only been putting videos out for the past two years. The team is working on ideas for more music videos and content. One of their main goals at the moment is more outreach to the community and the A cappella community in particular.

To learn more about Jhankaar or hire them for gigs, follow @jhankaaracappella on Instagram or Jhankaar on Facebook. You can find their music videos on their Youtube channel and listen to their music on Spotify and Apple Music.

Isaiah Rashad headlining Lawntopia 2023. (Natalie DiMeglio / Courtesy)

Julia Mouat is named winner of the UC Davis Grad Slam competition

The winner and runner up share the inspirations for their research presentations

BY JADE BELL campus@theaggie.org

The semi-final round of the UC Davis Grad Slam competition was held on Thursday, April 6. Participants presented their graduate research to a diverse audience and panel of judges in just three minutes, competing for a chance to win $2,500.

Teresa Dillinger, Ph.D., the director of GradPathways Institute for Professional Development in Graduate Studies, shared that Grad Slam is one of many professional development opportunities during which graduate students can improve their presentation and communication skills.

“Our mission is to prepare all graduate students for success both here at UC Davis and in their chosen career paths,” Dillinger said via email. “To prepare them, we provide programs based on 8 core competencies and one of these is Presentation Skills. We all need to learn to effectively communicate what we do – but for graduate students who spend hundreds of hours on their research, Grad Slam is a challenge because they have to communicate the highlights in just 3 minutes! And they are required to present their research in a way that is compelling and accessible to all audiences.”

Julia Mouat, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate studying integrative genetics and genomics, did just that with her winning presentation “Grandmas, Ghosts, and Genes.” Mouat shared that her research was an attempt to understand what factors increase the likelihood of autism spectrum disorders.

“Research has shown that grandparental social factors and environmental exposures may increase the risk for autism spectrum disorders in the grandchild,” Mouat said. “[In] particular, grandmaternal cigarette smoking. So, my research is trying to look at the mechanism of how this is happening.”

Mouat’s choice of topic was inspired by why she came to grad school — to integrate genetics with environmental health sciences.

“I have been thinking a lot just about this multigenerational risk and resilience that communities and families go through,” Mouat said. “Families and communities are exposed to high levels of pollution because they live near a power plant or something like that. Or face social factors that increase stress levels or whatever it may beI’. m just really interested in trying to incorporate those factors with biology and how those together interact and influence risk for disease.”

Nalina Aiempichitkijkarn, a fifthyear Ph.D. student studying animal behavior and the second-place winner of the competition, was also interested in the links between disease and animal behavior.

“I am interested in primate social behavior, how they interact among themselves,” Aiempichitkijkarn said. “They live in a big group and they have a social hierarchy. They have friends and some that they don’t like. Sometimes they fight a lot. I want to bring that [and] connect that with infection status because the pilot study shows that 10% of this group have tuberculosis or TB, but we don’t know who are those [that do]. We try to look at their social behavior [and] try to link [that] with the infection status – who are those [that are] infectious.”

Aiempichitkijkarn said that she chose this topic due to her love for animals.

“My first project about animal behavior happened to be monkeys,” Aiempichitkijkarn said. “Since then, I’ve just been into the monkey field. I’m more interested in the social behavior of monkeys and it’s cool when you can link [it] with an aspect that gets some

Senators raise concerns about election bias at April 27 meeting

interest from the general public, like an infectious disease diagnosis.”

Both contestants shared that the main challenge they faced during the Grad Slam competition was speaking in terms that the general public can understand while retaining their interest in the presented research.

“It’s a new experience for me to talk to a general audience because I normally talk in my lab group or in an academic setting,” Aiempichitkijkarn said. “So I need to be careful with the word choice I use. With [the] general public it’s a bit different, I try to be correct but in the same way [also] be understandable without any jargon.”

Both participants said that despite the challenges, they enjoyed the competition as well, whether it was chatting with other contestants or learning about each others’ research.

“I really enjoyed meeting all the other contestants,” Mouat said. “Everyone was just friendly, even the photographer, camera people and lights people — they all helped us that day…I thought that the other contestants were there just to have fun and do their best. It didn’t feel like a competitive or toxic environment. It felt really positive and supportive.”

Beyond Grad Slam, Dillinger wants graduate students to know that they are not alone and can receive guidance on their professional and career development concerns.

“We hope that graduate students and postdocs know that the GradPathways Institute in Graduate Studies is here for them to support their professional and career development needs,” Dillinger said via email. “The GradPathways Institute partners with units from across campus to offer hundreds of workshops, consultations, and trainings throughout the year – all in support of grad student and postdoc success.”

Davis professors share tips they wish they knew before becoming educators

Several professors gathered for an informal panel discussion to discuss lab funding, impressing employers and the importance of self-advocacy

Following several confirmations, quarterly reports and legislation deliberations, senators discuss their concerns regarding election biases during the ASUCD spring elections

BY LILY FREEMAN campus@theaggie.org

Vice President JT Eden called the April 27 Senate meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. After roll call, he read the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.

Next, the Sustainability and Career Fair Committee confirmed Jordyn Kosai, a third-year sustainable and environmental design major, as the new committee chair. Jonathan Ng, a firstyear political science major, Angelina Chen, a second-year communication major, and Eliana Avalos, a second-year psychology and Chicana and Chicano studies double major, were then confirmed as committee members to the Aggie Mentors Committee.

Following these confirmations, Picnic Day Director Jesse Goodman, a third-year economics major, and Vice Chair Bradford Martin, a second-year economics and psychology double major, presented their quarterly report.

“Picnic Day 109 was a huge success,” Martin said. “We had high attendance, with around 60,000 people all over campus, hundreds of events and hundreds of volunteers.”

Goodman said that the unit’s ideas to improve Picnic Day moving forward are increasing the number of bathrooms available to the public to reduce lines and minimizing the rising costs of events on campus for every community member to enjoy.

Next, The California Aggie presented its quarterly report. Sophie Dewees, a fourth-year economics major and the editor-in-chief of The California Aggie, and Katie DeBenedetti, a fourthyear political science major and the managing editor of The California Aggie, gave the report.

Dewees outlined the publication’s recent accomplishments, such as the increase in the publication’s social media presence, which includes the creation of a humor Instagram page and a new weekly podcast, “The Aggie’s Weekly Roundup,” where top headlines from a given week will be discussed. Additionally, Dewees highlighted that The California Aggie now publishes Spanish translations of some articles in collaboration with a Spanish class on campus. The External Affairs Commission (EAC) then went on to provide its quarterly report. Daniel Mojica, the chair of the commission, explained what the commission has accomplished this quarter.

Mojica said that recent accomplishments of the EAC include pursuing city council and local school connections, partnering with the Student Advocate Office and increasing social media activity. The EAC is currently working toward its Advocacy Week, an event mainly composed of tabling on campus throughout the first week of May, with each day focusing on a different aspect of advocacy.

Following quarterly reports, the Senate moved on to consider legislation.

SB #95, which establishes the ASUCD Pride Festival as an ASUCD unit, passed unanimously.

WEF Chaos Control Foods line item, passed unanimously. SB #96, which establishes a new unit called the ASUCD Innovation and Research Lab, passed unanimously.

Senators approved past meeting minutes and moved into open forum. Senator Jacob Klein voiced his concerns about potential acts of bias during the ASUCD spring elections.

“The elections officer has clear ties with specific candidates, which is in violation of our bylaws,” Klein said. “The elections officer disclosed details about an email regarding a campaign with the opposing ticket. To share confidential information with the opposing ticket is incredibly concerning. Additionally, the elections officer shared confidential information about a slate prematurely with only one specific group of candidates, rather than all of the candidates. Ultimately, an explanation is owed to not only the affected candidates and members of our institution, but our voters. We deserve to have fair elections.”

Klein deferred to Senator Eustacio Alamilla, who affirmed these concerns. After no comments from other senators directly followed, and the table instead began discussion regarding other topics, Klein brought these concerns up again.

Senator Shrey Gupta responded. “I do not think that this is the right place for us to talk about this,” Gupta said. “I hear you guys and your concerns, but just think about the power that the table has on this. I think you need to go in front of the Elections Committee and the elections officer. The people on this table are also candidates. Before you speak, think about who you are speaking to. This is a waste of my time and a waste of the rest of our time. We’re essentially spending student fees of every single person here to just rant about how some people are getting unfair treatment, and none of us can change that.”

Eden responded.

“I am recognizing my bias, but I do think that a special sight hearing on the whole Elections Committee could be kind of sketch given how many candidates are on this table, including myself,” Eden said. “I don’t think it’s right to drag the people in charge of the administration of elections before the people who are seeking election for oversight.”

Senator Stephen Fujimoto followed.

“I also want to note that just knowing the elections officer, I don’t think this was intentional or malicious,” Fujimoto said. “I don’t know what I can do to uphold the legitimacy or what can be done. If the people bringing these concerns feel that strongly that our elections are being compromised, then I encourage you to explore a closed session. I just don’t feel like I can do much as a senator, that’s not my role.”

Klein then said that he did not want any election results to be published until these concerns were addressed.

BY MIA BALTIERRA features@theaggie.org

At a research institution like UC Davis, most instructors are performing research while teaching classes. The path to these positions can take on many forms, but almost all of them include attending graduate school, completing a Ph.D. and potentially holding a postdoc research position.

On April 20, several UC Davis professors came together for a discussion at the Graduate Center to answer questions about their careers in higher education, as well as logistical aspects of their careers that they wished they had known how to navigate earlier on.

In particular, the educators emphasized the idea that there are many career paths that can lead to the same destination. Not every experience is the same, and students should not be afraid to explore and pursue unique interests after attaining their bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree.

Christine Diepenbrock, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, gained hands-on experience in research before she returned to academia as a professor.

“In the industry, I was working on a very computational team,” Diepenbrock said during the panel. “[I learned] this idea of working across functional teams and what it takes to communicate across these teams.”

Colleen Bronner, Ph.D., an associate professor of teaching in civil and environmental engineering, also gained social skills from her time outside a university.

“I worked at a psychiatric hospital for a while,” Bronner said during the

panel. “It teaches you to communicate with diverse folks and how to calm down folks who are overwhelmed. Most of our students are overwhelmed. Interpersonal skills are really important, and I don’t think we practice that as much as we could in academia.”

The professors also shared their experiences receiving a “start-up package” — the first set of financial and material supplies given when starting a faculty position, which includes a starting salary, job benefits, equipment, money to fund graduate students in a lab and more.

The panelists expressed how important this package is to starting the first year as a professor in an institution. They said that employees should discuss with the school what items they will need to thrive.

“You are fully expected to negotiate,” said Randy Carney, Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

For those who aren’t familiar with the process, the panelists explained that it is easy to simply take what is offered. However, not acquiring all the necessary funding can make the first year extremely challenging for a new faculty member.

“I didn’t ask for anything more, and I regretted it a little,” Bronner said during the panel. Self-advocacy was a central theme in the discussion, and the speakers said that having a support system as a new faculty member — something that is not always given — is extremely important.

“Be productive; don’t assume the support you need will find you,” Bronner said. “Have lunch with a colleague; ask for mentorship. We see

too many faculty of color leaving

academia because the mentorship isn’t there, and they end up feeling like they don’t belong.”

The daily tasks of a professor can be taxing on a newcomer, and Carney suggested that for the first year, “it might be incumbent to ask for a teaching release,” or a release from a heavy teaching load, so that there is time to adjust to the new environment.

The panelists each gave their opinions of what a board of employers at a school will be looking for in potential candidates. According to Bronner, employees search for those who have made good use of opportunities and demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Another necessary skill for someone looking to become a professor is time management. As an educator, teaching, researching and writing will take up a lot of time, according to the panelists.

Panelist JoAnne Engebrecht, Ph.D., a professor of molecular and cellular biology, said that when you do land a position, or a few, it is important to weigh each job opportunity carefully.

“Don’t say yes right away,” Engebrecht said. “Particularly early on in your career, have mentors to talk to. I would strongly recommend that for anyone who has a problem saying no.”

Engebrecht encouraged prospective professors to advocate for themselves when they do take a job.

“One thing I wish I had done more of [is] be willing to take chances,” Engebrecht said. “If you have a really good idea, go for it. Maybe don’t be so hesitant. [If] you don’t have this linear path, every off-road [experience] brings something to your position. Perseverance counts for a lot in this field.”

SB #101, which is emergency legislation to authorize a transfer of $3,000 from the Whole Earth Festival (WEF) equipment rentals line item to the WEF equipment purchases line item, and $2,000 from the WEF SecurityAggieHost line item to the

After further discussion on the topic of election bias, with various senators suggesting limiting the communication and the number of meetings between candidates and ASUCD leaders during elections, Gupta moved to adjourn the meeting.

With no objections, Eden adjourned the meeting at 10:02 p.m.

BEEF FROM PAGE 6

Playing on the title in another way, one of the motifs that Lee Sung Jin weaves through “Beef” is hunger. Cho has an addiction to Burger King — he eats like it’s his job, straining and puffing in that hillside scene in the first episode — while Lau has a sweet tooth, a legacy of her dark childhood as we come to learn that she has passed the trait on to her daughter, who loves Skittles. Despite

their differences, they are more alike than it seems, united by the hateful relationship they have.

Lee Sung Jin’s “Beef” is worth the watch, broadly highlighting how anger can also, for some people, be meat. It fills an emptiness, it sustains, it temporarily satisfies — even if, in excess, it’s terrible for your heart.

AGGIE FILE

JOANNE SUN / AGGIE

Sudoku

Enter digits from 1 to 9 into the blank spaces. Every row, column and 3x3 square must contain each digit. Each Sudoku has a unique solution that can be reached logically without guessing.

Crossword

Use your five senses to ground your busy mind in the present moment.

5 look Look around for five things you can see. Notice the colors, shapes and textures.

4 feel Pay attention to your body, and notice four things you can feel.

3 listen Listen for three sounds. Some sounds might be close by or more distant.

2 smell Shift your attention to notice two smells in your environment. Sometimes closing your eyes can help sharpen your attention.

1 taste Focus and think of one thing you can taste right now.

New UC project aims to lower cows’ methane emissions by editing the genome of their gut microbiomes

CRISPR, a powerful gene-editing tool, can be used to improve environmental and human health

BY LILLY ACKERMAN science@theaggie.org

Researchers at UC Davis, in collaboration with others at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, have been granted $70 million for a project that aims to reduce methane emissions from cows via Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) genome editing of their gut microbes.

The funding comes from donors through the TED Audacious Project, an initiative that supports projects with potentially huge global impacts by taking them from ideas to actionable multi-year plans with donor support.

Microbes, or microscopic organisms ranging from bacteria to fungi to viruses, have a much larger impact than their size would suggest. They live pretty much everywhere, including the insides and outsides of our own bodies, and play a major role in the function and health of the system they inhabit.

The new project has two main focuses for microbial genome editing: improving human health by relieving childhood asthma and reducing methane emissions from cows, which are a significant contributor to climate change.

Cows are ruminants, which means that they have specialized digestive systems that use microbes to ferment the food they eat. This process produces methane and other byproducts. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gasses, and with around 1.7 million dairy cows in California alone, transforming their microbes to produce less methane would make a huge difference.

The actual genome-editing portion of the project will be undertaken through the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley by Dr. Jennifer Doudna, who earned a nobel prize for the development of CRISPR technology in 2020, and Dr.

KINGSVSWARRIORS

FROM PAGE 12

With the Warriors leading the series 3-2, the competition headed back to the Bay Area for a possible seasonending game for the Sacramento Kings.

Game 6

The Warriors hosted the Kings for a possible end to round one of the playoffs, with the hosts leading 3-2. The Kings were hungry for a win; after 16 years, they weren’t ready for their Cinderella story to come to an end.

At the end of the first quarter, the Warriors led by one point, but soon after, the Kings gained momentum and took the lead for the remainder of the game. The Kings won the game 118-99, staying alive in the series and forcing the Warriors into game seven, hosted in Sacramento.

Fox carried out yet another strong game with 26 points, four rebounds and 11 assists. Monk could have been the player of the night with 28 points, taking the team lead. The Kings shot 37.8% from three while the Warriors shot 31.3%, which is very unlikely for a team like the Warriors.

The Warriors took a hard loss at home, which was crucial to move on to the second round of the playoffs. Curry was not cooking on this particular night with his three-point game, but he still managed to score 29 points. Thompson looked promising in the second half with some consistent three-point shots; he contributed 22 points to his total.

The Warriors’ free-throw attempts

Jill Banfield. The two UC Berkeley researchers will work closely with Dr. Matthias Hess, an associate professor of animal science at UC Davis who studies how microbial systems interact with their environments. Hess will test the edited microbes in a laboratory setting.

“We will basically be developing tools that will not only allow us to hopefully solve the problem of methane emissions from livestock but really allow us to reverse-engineer microbes in the environment,” Hess said.

Dr. Ermias Kebreab is a professor of animal science, World Food Center director and associate dean for global engagement in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. After testing in the Hess lab, the tools developed by the project will be tested in live calves by Kebreab.

“Once we have a community of microbes that have the desired effect that we want, […] we are going to use that and take it into the field,” Kebreab said. “So that’s where I come in to do the in vivo work.”

were statistically low for their team with only 25/35 being made. In game six, the Kings held on and tied this back-and-forth series yet again at 3-3.

Game 7 The Sacramento Kings staved off elimination and forced a game seven at the Golden 1 Center, with the series tied at 3-3, the Kings had home court advantage. However, for being such a young team the Kings lacked playoff experience against a team that was crowned NBA Champions last season and winners of four championships in the last eight years in the Warriors. The Warriors experience was the deciding factor in which Curry produced a 50 point performance en route leading the Warriors past the Kings, 120-100. Although the Kings’ season is over they kept the game close in the early going.

At the end of the first quarter, Sacramento led 31-30 and outscored the Warriors in the second quarter to lead by two points, 58-56. However, everything changed in the third quarter, the Warriors presence on the boards swung the momentum as they grabbed 23 rebounds to the Kings nine.

This gave Golden State opportunities for Curry and Thompson to shoot lights out, the splash bros did what they’re accustomed too, splash the ball through the net. At the end of the third quarter, the Warriors led 91-81. Sacramento would not recover as they could not contain Curry who scored the most points in a game seven in NBA history. Wiggins poured in 17 points along with Thompson’s 16. Meanwhile, Sabonis scored 22 and Fox, who played through his injury, scored 16 points. The Warriors proved to be too much and ended Sacramento’s season.

CHENG / AGGIE

The goal is to be able to implement the new microbes into cows when they are young and while their rumens, or the parts of their stomachs where fermentation occurs, are still developing, according to Kebreab.

“There is some evidence that earlyage introduction of microbes gives an advantage to those microbes to become settled in and become the majority once the rumen develops,” Kebreab said. “So we are hoping to see, one, a substantial reduction in emissions and two, a better feed efficiency as well.”

The other sector of the project hopes to use microbes to directly improve human health. At UC San Francisco, Dr. Sue Lynch will also be working with Doudna and Banfield to apply CRISPR to children’s microbiomes in hopes of relieving childhood asthma.

“It will be this whole interconnection between tool development, animal health, human health and ecosystem health,” Hess said. “So really it’s a great project in many different dimensions.”

UCDBASEBALL

FROM PAGE 12

Carrion had been one of the Aggies’ best pitchers with a 2.55 ERA entering this game. Still, the Highlanders added another run after third-year infielder Dominic Martinez hit a single to right field. Shortly after, a passed ball would allow another Highlander to score. The score was now 9-6, and the Highlanders had a runner on third. Yet, Carrion managed to get out of the jam by striking out the next batter and forcing the following batter to hit a pop-up.

At the bottom of the fifth inning, the Highlanders brought right-handed third-year pitcher Tucker Juline out of the bullpen. He held the Aggies scoreless that inning, but Carrion responded with a scoreless inning of his own at the top of the sixth.

The back-and-forth pitching duel continued as Juline held the Aggies scoreless again at the bottom of the sixth inning, followed by Carrion at the top of the seventh inning.

The Aggies finally got to Juline at the bottom of the seventh inning as the first four hitters all got on base. This included third-year catcher Jack Gallagher getting his third hit and second extra-base hit of the day and third-year utility player Nick Iverson hitting a single that drove in a run. With the bases loaded and Highlanders’ right-handed redshirt second-year Corbin Barker pitching, Stone hit a sac fly that gave the Aggies an 11-6 lead.

The Aggies held this lead to the very end. Aggies’ right-handed redshirt third-year Kaden Hogan pitched the final two innings and held the Highlanders scoreless for an Aggie victory. With this win, the

UCDSBSEASONREVIEW FROM PAGE 12

While the Aggies have had some low points during the season, such as losing in extra innings against both

Aggies improved their record to 14-21 overall and 5-10 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Highlanders fell to 7-29 overall and 1-14 in conference play.

After the game, UC Davis Head Coach Tommy Nicholson spoke about what this series’ victory means to the team.

“It’s building our confidence. Our guys have been working hard for it all year long,” Nicholson said. “It’s something that we wanted to do. We didn’t win a whole lot of series last year, and it’s one of our goals to win as many series as we can.”

Nicholson reiterated that winning series is important for building the team’s confidence.

While the offensive downpour and standout performances from players like Gallagher, Iverson and Gouveia were important, Carrion’s efforts on the mound were crucial to maintaining the Aggies’ lead.

“We went into that inning with a 9-2 lead, and it got a little dicey there with some runners on base,” Nicholson said. “But [Carrion] is our best guy, and we wanted to go right to him to stop any momentum that they were building.” Nicholson added that Carrion did a great job pitching two more innings and holding the Highlanders to no runs before the Aggies could add to their lead.

The Aggies still have another month before the season is over, leaving plenty of time for the team to build momentum and add wins to their record.

After defeating UC Riverside, UC Davis hosted the University of Pacific on April 25 but lost by a score of 5-6 in a non-conference game. The Aggies will look to regroup as they travel to Southern California on April 28 to face UC Santa Barbara, who are 2512 overall and 10-5 in conference play.

UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, they have also had many highs — setting program records and climbing the Big West rankings. It will not be a surprise if UC Davis ends up finishing higher than fourth in the conference and making it far in the NCAA tournament at the end of the season.

Identification of genes associated with stroke can improve efficiency of diagnoses

Gene expression has been found to correlate with the severity of strokes and can be used as biomarkers for diagnosis and

treatment

BY KATIE HELLMAN science@theaggie.org

According to a recent UC Davis study published in the journal BMC Medicine, analyzing an individual’s genes following a stroke may improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment.

“Dissecting the temporal dynamics of gene expression after IS (ischemic stroke) improves our understanding of immune and clotting responses at the molecular and cellular level that are involved in acute brain injury and may assist with time-targeted, cell-specific therapy,” the study reads.

Strokes can be classified as hemorrhagic, which means that they are caused by bleeding in the brain, or ischemic, which means they are caused by blood clots forming near blocked arteries. Without immediate treatment, parts of the brain become damaged or die as a result of brain swelling. Strokes are the second-leading cause of death worldwide.

Bodie Knepp, co-author of the study and assistant specialist in the Department of Neurology at UC Davis Health, explained what happens to the body during a stroke.

“During an ischemic stroke, a clot blocks a vessel and stops blood flow to a region of the brain,” Knepp said via

get enough oxygen and damages brain cells in the primary injury.”

Paulina Carmona-Mora, a research scientist in the Department of Neurology at UC Davis Health, commented on the importance of the relationship between strokes and gene expression.

“After a stroke, we observe changes in gene expression,” Carmona-Mora said. “Blood is a nice proxy for us to understand what’s going on in the site of the injury in the brain. Stroke diagnosis has to be within a critical time window; for example, within the first couple of hours, you can have a therapy that can break the clots that block blood flow in the brain.” The current protocol for stroke treatment includes the timely administration of medication and advanced brain imaging, but many hospitals aren’t equipped with the appropriate technology. This is especially true of medical facilities in rural areas and countries that lack sufficient resources to purchase and maintain advanced clinical equipment.

Researchers at UC Davis Health have been developing treatments designed for certain genes in stroke patients. With the help of her team, CarmonaMora examined blood samples from 38 patients admitted to the emergency department for ischemic strokes and 18

patients admitted for other reasons.

The researchers were able to identify differentially expressed genes, which show how a cell responds to its changing environment, by isolating the blood cell samples and specific biomarkers. The gene expression profiles of the stroke patients were then compared to those of the non-stroke patients. Many genes were associated with the severity of a stroke, depending on whether the gene expression was identified as more abundant, less abundant or absent compared to the data gathered from the non-stroke patients.

“There are genes that peak in the first 24 hours [after a stroke] and then decrease, which are nice for biomarkers and for diagnosis,” Carmona-Mora said. “There are genes that steadily increase their expression within the first 24 hours and then peak over 48 hours, and there are others that decrease constantly — so we see these genes in the controls and they decrease as the time after the stroke progresses.”

The results of the study provide a foundation for more efficient treatments to be administered to stroke patients, which could substantially decrease the risk of death and paralysis.

“It is likely that most diseases are accompanied by changes in gene expression, either due to the disease itself or the body’s response to that disease,” Knepp said. “If these changes are distinct enough, and if they are unique compared to other diseases, the gene expression changes have great potential to aid in

NATALIE

SPORTS

UC Davis Baseball wins series against UC Riverside after 11-6 victory

Multiple Aggies shine in high-scoring game against the Highlanders

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Curry’s 50 point night ends the Kings season in a game seven thriller

After a 16-year playoff drought, the Kings tested the defending champions in a closely contested series but could not close the series at home

BY PATRICK FIGUEROA sports@theaggie.org

On April 24, the UC Davis Aggies faced the UC Riverside Highlanders in the final game of their three-game series. The Aggies won the first game 13-11 but lost the following one 7-5. In order for the Aggies to win their second series of conference play, they needed to defeat the Highlanders in the third matchup of the series.

Right-handed second-year Carter Delaney was the starting pitcher for the Aggies in game three. Delaney had a respectable 4.00 earned run average (ERA) in 27 innings but was yet to receive a win this season going into the game. The Highlanders’ starting pitcher was right-handed redshirt third-year Blake Burzell, who has struggled this season with a 14.36 ERA in 15.2 innings.

Following a 1-2-3 top of the inning from Delaney, the Aggies’

SOFTBALL

batters ambushed Burzell. After the first two batters, third-year outfielder Damian Stone and second-year outfielder Mark Wolbert, were walked, third-year infielder Alex Gouveia hit a single to right field that drove in the first run. The Highlanders immediately removed Burzell from the game for right-handed first-year pitcher Cameron Tracy. Then, the Aggies’ second-year infielder Nick Leehey hit a sacrifice (sac) fly to score a second run. After one inning, the Aggies were up 2-0. Highlanders’ third-year infielder Anthony McFarland earned a walk at the top of the second inning. Secondyear outfielder Jacob Badawi came up to the plate and put the ball in play. Delaney fielded it but made an errant throw to first base that allowed the runners to advance to second and third bases. Two sac flies would drive in both runners and tie the game 2-2.

The Aggies’ offense quickly made up for the error at the bottom of the

second inning though. The team’s first five batters all got on base and were able to score two runs to regain the lead. With Highlanders’ left-handed fourth-year Jack Weeks now pitching, Gouveia hit a sac fly that scored another run. The Aggies would add on yet another run before the inning ended, giving them a 6-2 lead.

The Aggies extended their lead to 9-2 after a three-run fourth inning. However, at the top of the fifth, the Highlanders began mounting a comeback. After back-to-back hits by third-year utility player Tyler Weaver and third-year outfielder Marcellus Pearson, redshirt fourth-year catcher Jacob Shanks smacked a single to center field that drove in Weaver. An Aggie defensive error allowed another runner to score. After 71 pitches, Delaney’s day was over, and third-year Danny Carrion entered the game.

UCDBASEBALL on 11

Mid-season update: UC Davis softball

Head Coach Erin Thorpe has created a winning program full of talent

the Conference, being first in doubles, third in on-base percentage, third in total hits and third in runs scored. The impressive growth Dethelfson has displayed this season is one of the reasons why the Aggies are succeeding offensively.

Because of this, t is no surprise that Dethelfson was recently named UC Davis’s female student-athlete of the week after achieving a 0.400 batting average, four stolen bases, three runs and two doubles during their series against UC San Diego.

When it comes to pitching, the Aggies had the best pitcher on the mound in the 2022 Big West Conference in third-year Kennedi Brown. While she has dropped from the No. 1 ranking, she is still one of the top pitchers in the conference, currently ranking third.

BY ELOISE ENGS sports@theaggie.org

On April 15, the No. 3-seeded Sacramento Kings opened game one of a seven game series in the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the 2022 defending champions, the No. 6-seeded Golden State Warriors. The series has been highly competitive with both teams going back and forth forcing a game seven which took place on April 30 at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The Golden State Warriors ultimately won the series in the seventh game.

Game One The Kings hosted the Warriors for the first game of the series at the Golden 1 Center. Kings’ fans brought the energy for game one as it was Sacramento’s first playoff game since 2006. After a 16-year playoff drought, spectators gathered outside the arena hours before the game to support the team that had been at the bottom half of the standing for so many years. For a rare playoff appearance, the fans would not miss out on the opportunity to cheer for the purple and black, especially against a team like the Warriors, who have won four NBA championships in the past eight years.

The Kings prevailed in game one, winning by a margin of three points (126-123). The Kings’ point guard De’Aaron Fox led the team with 36 points on night one. Other standouts included shooting guard Malik Monk, who totaled 32 points and made the team’s last two free throws with 2.9 seconds left on the clock to put them ahead of the Warriors. Power forward Domantas Sabonis was also a force in the game, grabbing 16 rebounds.

the altercation with Sabonis during game two. If the Warriors wanted to extend their season, they would need all the energy they could get from their supporters. Typically, it is improbable for a team to come back in a playoff series being down 0-3. Curry was a major standout in game three as he totaled 36 points in 37 minutes. The Warriors were more aggressive on the court than in games one and two, especially when Curry was on the bench. Wiggins also came to play, scoring 20 points and totaling a team high of nine assists for that game. The Warriors had double the amount of steals as the Kings had with 12 steals compared to the Kings six steals.

Fox, once again, was a standout for the Kings as he had 26 points, 9 assists and 9 rebounds. Sabonis collected the most rebounds in the game between both teams with a total of 16. Nobody else on the Kings really stood out that night, which would have been a crucial opportunity for them to steal a win on the road without Green playing.

BY CAROLYN (CARI) FENN sports@theaggie.org

While the UC Davis women’s softball team still has six games left in the 2023 season, they have already shown great improvement compared to their 2022 season. Despite having highs and lows in a 49-game season, the Aggies have had an overall impressive performance so far, currently placing fifth in the Big West Conference. While it is possible that their placement could change as a result of the next few games, the Aggies have already guaranteed a better conference placement than in the 2022 season, when they placed eighth in the Big West. When comparing UC Davis’s record and statistics from the last two seasons, it is clear just how much improvement the players have made — both as a team and as individuals.

The most obvious difference is the number of wins against Big West Conference opponents the team has had. Last season, the Aggies had an 11-16 conference record and an overall record of 23-29. This season, they have a current conference record of 12-8 and an overall record of 26-16.

As a team overall, their statistics in every criterion have also improved. For instance, the team’s hitting average ranked eighth overall in the Big West last season, with a batting average

of 0.242 seconds. This season, the Aggies’ hitting average is ranked third at 0.271 seconds. UC Davis’s pitching dropped from first to second in the rankings, but the team’s overall earned run average (ERA) went from 2.68 in 2022 to 2.24 this season. While their standing did decrease in the Big West Conference, it is important to note that their current ERA is currently better so far compared to last year. Lastly, for fielding, they went from being ranked ninth to being ranked fifth.

All of their improvements as a team have contributed to their winning percentile, which has jumped from 0.442 to 0.619 overall and from 0.442 to 0.605 in conference play. It is obvious that their growth as a team has benefited them greatly throughout the 2023 season.

While the team as a whole has shown statistical improvement, their success wouldn’t have been possible without the individual improvements of many of the UC Davis players.

In 2022, no Aggie was named in the top 10 batters in the Big West. Yet this season, the Aggies have third-year outfielder Anna Dethelfson breaking through the top 10, going from being ranked 17th with a batting average of 0.328 seconds to being ranked second with a batting average of 0.405.

Dethelfson is also ranked first in stolen bases with an impressive 36 total this season. Additionally, she tops many of the other lists of hitting leaders in

Statistically, Brown has performed incredibly this year. Her ERA is currently 1.77 and she has had a career-high of 14 wins and 127 strikeouts this season. In 2023, Brown has thrown a shutout, been named Big West Pitcher of the week twice, threw her second career no-hitter, been named to the Big West Softball Preseason Coaches Team and most impressively, broke the school record for most strikeouts thrown in UC Davis’s programs history. UC Davis also has third-year pitchers Taylor Fitzgerald and Sarah Reineman who have had impressive pitching performances this season. Fitzgerald is ranked eighth with a 2.24 ERA and Reineman is ranked 13th with a 2.70 ERA. Fitzgerald was previously ranked 11th and Reimeman was not ranked at all prior to this season. Having two pitchers rank in the top 10 and three pitchers in the top 15 is a great example of just how much the Aggies’ pitching rotation has grown over the past year. While UC Davis as a team didn’t reach as high in the fielding rankings as they did in the hitting and pitching rankings, they still have shown growth in the area compared to the 2022 season. Specifically, Fourth-year infielder Sommer Kisling and thirdyear first baseman Sarah Starks have both stepped up their fielding this year. In 2022, Kisling was ranked 33rd in fielding, but this season she has risen to the fifth spot. Starks ranked 15th last season and is currently ranked ninth. Kisling is also ranked third in fielding percentage at 0.994.

Star point guard Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 30 points, closely followed by shooting guard Klay Thompson with 21 points and small forward Andrew Wiggins and shooting guard Jordan Poole, who both tallied 18 points. Curry had an opportunity to tie the game following Monk’s free throws, but he missed the three-point shot and the Kings won their first playoff game in 16 years.

Game 2

The Kings again hosted the second game of the series on April 17 after defeating the Warriors two days prior. The Kings won their second firstround playoff game at home with a score of 114-106, putting them ahead 2-0 in the best-of-seven-games contest.

Fox and Sabonis both scored 24 points and were closely followed by Monk, who had 18 points. Fox’s threepoint shot made the score 107-101 with 2:17 to play in the fourth quarter, and the Kings took off from there.

The Warriors were led by Curry with 28 points, who shockingly only made three out of 13 three-point shots throughout the game. Wiggins followed Curry with 22 points.

Game two took a turn when power forward Draymond Green was ejected from the game for a flagrant foul against Sabonis. Green was ejected for stepping on Sabonis’s chest when he was on the ground after a missed shot. The Kings’ fans went wild, which only fed Green’s actions on the court, so he started holding his hand to his ear, prompting loud boos in response from the fans. His actions led to him being suspended for game three, which would be held in San Francisco.

Game 3

The Warriors hosted the Kings on April 20 at the Chase Center. The Kings were up 2-0 in the series, but they were going into a tough game three for their first away game in the first round. “Dub Nation” is the moniker of Golden State’s fans, and they brought the energy that night, especially because Green was suspended due to

However, the Warriors took their first win at home with a final score of 114-97. During the first two games of this series, the Kings were able to develop momentum one play after another, but with Curry performing the way he was in bursts on and off the bench, the Kings could not contain one of the greatest shooters of all time. Game 4 The closest final score of this series was in game four with the Warriors winning by one point, 126-125, which tied the series at 2-2. With 42 seconds remaining in the game, the Warriors looked confident that they would take home the win for game four, but Curry attempted to call a timeout when the team had no timeouts remaining, which earned him a technical foul. Monk made the free throw following the foul, and the Kings remained in possession of the ball. Fox got a hold of the ball and made a crucial three-point shot, making it 125-126. The Warriors got a hold of the ball and passed it to their most reliable player, Curry, and he missed a jumper, giving the King’s another chance. The Kings did not have a lot of time to put up a shot, and the time expired right after Fox, who could not put up a shot, passed to small forward Harrison Barnes who missed. With the series tied at 2-2, the teams travelled back to the Golden 1 Center.

Game 5

Game five in Sacramento was a nail biter for both teams. The Kings led in the first quarter by three points, but from there, the Warriors had a promising lead throughout the game. In the fourth quarter, the Kings took advantage of defensive foul calls on the Warriors and held on until the very end. With 29.4 seconds remaining, it was only a five point game — until Curry made a clutch three-point shot to put the Warriors ahead by eight points. At this point, the game was over with a final score of 123-116. Just like that, the Kings who held a firm 2-0 lead in the series were down 3-2 and on the brink of elimination.

Standouts for the Warriors included Curry, once again, with 31 points, Thompson with 25 points and Wiggins closely following with 20. Forward Kevon Looney was the player to watch in game five, as he had 22 rebounds and seven assists.

The Kings fought until the end, especially Fox, who he was playing with a broken index finger on his shooting hand. He totaled 24 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, making it a great game five for the point guard. Monk stood out yet again with 21 points and carried out great defensive skills against their opponents.

Bryan Green pitches part of the game against UC Riverside. (Jersain Medina / Aggie)

Aggie Softball game from the team’s 2021-2022 season. (Aggie File)

KELLIE LU / AGGIE