December 1, 2022

UAW 5810 REACHES A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT WITH UC

BY RACHEL GAUER campus@theaggie.org

On Nov. 28 at 11:31 p.m.,

The two remaining units, academic student employees and student researchers, still must come to an agreement with the UC in order for the

strike to cease. Although the members of UAW 5810 have tentatively accepted the UC’s proposal, they have chosen to continue to strike in solidarity with the remaining units until they both reach agreements as well.

A press release from UAW 5810 on the morning of Nov. 29 outlined the coming steps needed to reach a final agreement for all units.

“We expect [the UC] will start

KDVS IS BACK ON AIR AFTER SEVEN-WEEK HIATUS

The radio station spent several weeks off of the air due to a broadcast tower malfunction

BY RACHEL GAUER campus@theaggie.org

As of Nov. 7, UC Davis’ studentrun radio station KDVS is back on air after a seven-week hiatus caused by technical difficulties. The station was forced to pause its FM radio broadcast during this time due to a broadcast tower malfunction, but its online stream continued broadcasting throughout the entirety of the maintenance period.

The outage lasted from midSeptember through early November, according to fourth-year sociology

major and KDVS General Manager Cate Hatcher. The malfunction itself was caused by an outage of one of the tower’s RF power modules, which Hatcher explained is a core function that amplifies the frequency of the radio broadcast.

Hatcher went on to say that the process of repair was prolonged by the long shipping time to and from the part’s repair office in Maine, as well as by an unpaid invoice to the company.

“The invoice was from March of this year, and it sat unpaid for six or seven months,” Hatcher said. “It’s not something that I [could] take care of on my end. We had to wait an extra week because the company wouldn’t accept a new job from us until we settled the old payment.”

Though KDVS continued to stream online, the FM broadcast is the primary way listeners tune into the station, according to Hatcher — which is why the radio outage was so significant to the group’s operations.

“Usually for shows, we always get callers and people letting us know about our show and obviously we were not getting as many callers,” Hatcher said. “It was kind of like just putting music out into a void.”

Jacob Ikuna, a fourth-year sociology and cinema and digital media double major, serves as the assistant general manager at KDVS. Ikuna explained that some listeners solely have access to the FM broadcast and were unable to listen during the hiatus.

making substantial offers to Academic Student Employees and Student Researchers,” the release read.

Additionally, the membership of UAW 5810 must still vote to ratify the agreement, which will remain tentative until its ratification.

If the proposal is ratified, academic researchers will receive, on average, a 29% salary increase over the course of their contracts, and postdoctoral

students will receive, on average, a 20-23% salary increase by Oct. 2023.

Once ratified, the new contracts will be effective through Sept. 30, 2027.

Additionally, the proposal offers both academic workers and postdoctoral students eight weeks of parental and family leave at 100% pay, as well as more protections for workers with disabilities and free transit passes for transportation.

In the press release, Neil Sweeney, the president of UAW 5810, urged the UC to propose an agreement to the two remaining units on strike.

“It is now time for UC to make serious proposals to Academic Student Employees and Student Researchers and to reach fair agreements that recognize the contributions these workers make,” Sweeney wrote in the statement.

INTERNATIONAL HOUSE HOLDS EVENT DISCUSSING LOCAL

GUN

VIOLENCE AND HATEFUL IDEOLOGIES

Department and the university organized the talk

BY LA RISSA VASQUEZ city@theaggie.org

On Nov. 16, the International House, which has been a space for cultural learning for more than 40 years, hosted an event at which Dr. Garen Wintemute, professor of emergency medicine and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at UC Davis, educated the Davis community about gun violence and hateful ideologies.

Gloria Partida, a Davis City Council member and chair of the Davis Phoenix Coalition, organized the event with the UC Davis Director of Campus and Community Engagement Vickie Gomez. Partida spoke, opening the event.

“Our organization does a lot of work around diversity and inclusion, and we do a lot of awareness raising for vulnerable populations,” Partida said. “And vulnerable populations are often the targets of violence and so our mission is to prevent hate-motivated violence, [and] in promoting this event, to have this conversation before rather than after.”

Gomez said that Davis isn’t exempt from violence and hateful ideologies.

“Understanding that because Davis is a college town that it’s not immune to extreme thinking [and] extreme views, and we are grateful that it hasn’t exploded into violence and gun violence,” Gomez said. “But I think it’s really critical for people to understand what that is and what that

looks like.”

The Davis City Council took a step towards proactive gun safety this year by enacting the Safe Storage of Firearms Ordinance on Aug. 30. Davis Police Department (PD) Lieutenant John Evans spoke about the gun safety ordinance at the event and gave out gun locks, provided to the Davis PD by Project Child Safe.

“If there is a firearm of any type left unattended or stored in a home or a vehicle, it has to be locked up in a container, like a safe or a strong box of some sort, or it has to have a fire safety device on it like a gun lock or trigger lock with the idea being that the firearm cannot be accessed by a child or someone else who is not allowed access to firearms for some reason,” Evans said. “We have partnered with Moms Demand Action and we’ve been to several different community events to educate people about the ordinance, pass out gunlocks and basically promote firearm safety.”

Evans encouraged people to visit the Davis City Police Department on Mondays through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to pick up free gun locks.

Davis PD organizes public awareness campaigns with Moms Demand Action, a national grassroots movement advocating for gun safety and reform at all legislative levels.

co-lead for Moms Demand Action from the Yolo County Chapter, talked about the current unrest in the Davis community.

“As you probably know, we are not immune to extremism in Davis and Yolo County,” Ault said. “We have had members of Proud Boys show up to Davis [Board of Education] meetings and harass parents and students. We have had [Proud Boy] members show up at events on the UC Davis campus and cause havoc. There is nothing more deadly than hate armed with a gun.”

During his presentation, Dr. Wintemute described the deadly dynamic of hate equipped with firearms.

“Here is the research question we’re all set up to answer,” Wintemute said. “What happens when you take a society that is fearful of its future, mistrustful of its institutions, polarized, angry at itself and you throw a bunch of guns in the mix?”

Partida said that the Davis community can fight gun violence and extremism by staying involved.

We can donate to programs that provide intervention and lobby for gun policies,” Partida said. “We can support youth and programs that target creating safe inclusive spaces. I hope people can see that the root of all violence starts in intolerance.”

Davis Phoenix Coalition, Moms Demand Action, Davis Police

Emily Ault, California state legislative

Elijah Pepper and Christian Anigwe

KDVS is the student-run radio station at UC Davis, which is now back on-theair after technological difficulties forced a temporary hiatus. (Cate Hatcher / Courtesy)

The 48,0000 academic workers will continue to strike until an agreement is reached for academic student employees and student researchers

the University of California (UC) and UAW 5810, the union representing two of the striking units, academic researchers and postdoctoral students, reached a tentative agreement on contracts for the two parties.

Academic workers’ strike marches through UC Davis campus. (David Kwon / Courtesy)

VALLEJO BUS STOP REDESIGNED BY UC DAVIS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS

BY LILY FREEMAN campus@theaggie.org

A bus stop in Vallejo located at Magazine Street and Gary Circle was recently transformed into a community space by fourth-year landscape architecture students Ashley Gear and Katie Wong, according to an Instagram post by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis from Nov. 17.

From the original design to the unveiling celebration on Oct. 22, Wong spoke about how the pair’s opportunity to give this bus stop a makeover came about.

“It started in our ‘Plants in the City’ class last winter quarter under Assistant Professor Haven Kiers,” Wong said. “Everyone in the class had the opportunity to design for the project, and the professors chose the design that they thought best matched the community space. Ashley and I had separate projects, and they ended up choosing my path design and Ashley’s plants design.”

Following the selection of their individual designs, the construction process took place throughout this summer, according to Gear. She went on to detail the inspiration and motives behind her plant design.

“As far as the plant selection, I wanted to choose plants that would allow the bus stop to bloom all throughout the year,” Gear said. “I

chose types that would bloom in the fall, winter, spring and summer so that the bus stop would be bright, colorful and blooming all year round.”

Gear listed the following as some of the selected plants for the bus stop: western redbuds, valley violets, wooly bluecurls, white sage, silver lupine, purple needlegrass and lavender. These plants all vary in color and blooming seasons, but according to Gear, they are mostly native California plants that are drought-tolerant.

Wong explained her path design for the bus stop, saying that she wanted to focus on making the bus stop accessible and safe.

“The bus stop is on a triangular island in the middle of a three-way street, so it is a really awkward place to have a bus stop,” Wong said. “I wanted to make the stop more inviting [by adding] a path that would curve and connect one end of the island to where the bus stop is safely.”

Another aspect of the design that Wong said she is especially excited about is the free community library at the stop.

“Elements such as the free library make the bus stop a community space,” Wong said. “[I planned] to put both books and plant seeds in it, so that these things could be exchanged throughout the community and shared with one another.”

Additional seating has also been added, Wong said, via benches

Ella

“The stop is a really cool display of what

at UC Davis stand for and value,” Swadley said. “I stopped at it once on my way home from the bay and I was amazed. The plants and little library were so inviting and a great way of turning something basic and not always nice-looking into something that is aesthetically pleasing and for

the good of the environment.”

Swadley said that she takes pride in seeing what her peers have accomplished as a fellow landscape architecture student.

As two fourth-year students who will soon be graduating from UC Davis, Gear and Wong discussed what they are looking forward to as far as the future of the bus stop.

“This place is really special to me,” Gear said. “When I went to the ribbon cutting, the people in the community were thanking me for designing a space meant for them. I am so excited to see how they add to the space over time and make it their own.”

Though they will no longer necessarily have a hand in further designing the space, Wong said that she is looking forward to the community’s contributions.

“The community library, specifically, is something that will be facilitated and grown through community involvement,” Wong said. “With people adding more seeds and books to the space, and conversing with all of the added seating, the area will become more of a community space over just a bus stop. Now, you can take a little part of the community space and bus stop with you wherever you go.”

DECREASE IN ARRESTS AND JAIL STAYS ACROSS YOLO COUNTY ATTRIBUTED TO PUBLIC PROGRAMS

BY MADELEINE YOUNG city@theaggie.org

On Nov. 4, Yolo County Health and Human Resources released the 2021-2022 Addiction Intervention (AIC) and Mental Health Court (MHC) outcome report data, which suggests significant reductions in arrests, jail bed days, hospital bed days and disproportionate share hospital (DSH) stays due to the programs.

These two programs are a group effort between Yolo County’s Criminal Justice partners: the Probation Department, the Heath and Human Services Agency, Yolo County Superior Court, the public defender and the district attorney. These groups joined together with the intent to “decriminalize those with mental

illness and substance abuse disorders, who often find themselves mired in the criminal justice system after committing crimes driven by their illness,” according to the Yolo District Attorney’s official website.

The report suggests that in the MHC program, participants have reduced arrest rates by 87.4%, reduced jail bed days by 92.8%, reduced DSH bed stays by 100% and a 70.6% decrease in local hospital bed days while in the program. Similarly, the AIC program demonstrated a reduction in arrests by 78.4% and a decrease in jail bed days by 90.2%.

Yolo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven discussed how the MHC and AIC programs have helped to solve ongoing problems in the criminal justice system.

“Everyone has

well and helping

getting

person become a productive member of society,” Raven said. “I like to say that unfortunately in the traditional prosecution it is a ‘zero-sum game,’ there are winners and losers. In MHC and AIC, it’s a ‘non-zero-sum game,’ everyone’s a winner. Team members like each band trust each other. We don’t always agree but in the vast majority of cases we are all on the same page.”

The MHC and AIC each have treatment programs, which are modeled to take 18 months and include five phases: plan development, early recovery, active recovery, sustained recovery, graduation and finally, the MHC/AIC Alumni Program.

“Each phase is very intensive,” Raven said. “There’s no timeline to finish each phase. Most often, the program takes two years, not 18 months. We expect missteps and participants most often are not treated punitively for missteps”

Professor Steven Belenko, Ph.D., who is an expert on substance abuse treatment and a professor in the Criminal Justice and Public Health department at Temple University, talked about the impact public programs have on the criminal justice system.

“Implementing public health programs into prisons for addicts would decrease recidivism rates and return to prison,” Belenko said. “A majority of people in prisons have substance abuse or mental health problems, so if you don’t deal with

those underlying problems from a public health perspective, then those problems will remain.”

Raven said that the end goal of these programs is to break the cycle of crime.

“If we can change the way we think, and not simply use the traditional prosecution route, we can help them get better,” Raven said. “If they get better they won’t commit more crimes. They will spend less time in jail, be arrested less, [for those with mental illness, they will] spend less time in local and state hospitals. That’s exactly what the data shows. We support them, we provide wraparound services, we encourage them, we treat them well and with respect. We sympathize with their plight.”

Ashley Gear and Katie Wong sought to make the bus stop more community-oriented, inviting and environmentally friendly

New data comes from Yolo County outcome report of mental health and addiction intervention courts

The Vallejo bus stop before the renovation. (Katie Wong / Courtesy)

The Vallejo bus stop after the renovation. (Katie Wong / Courtesy)

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

the goal of decriminalizing the behavior,

the person

that

and several boulders placed by the bus stop, with the goal of bringing community members together to sit and chat regardless of whether they are riding the bus.

Swadley, a second-year landscape architecture student, described her experience after stopping at the remodeled bus stop.

students

KDVS PROVIDES A CREATIVE HUB FOR MUSIC LOVERS AND STUDENTS WITH AN AFFINITY FOR MUSIC PRODUCTION

The student-run radio station’s student DJs, producers and radio hosts create a diverse variety of shows to listen to on the air

BY REBEKA ZELJKO features@theaggie.org

The biggest public music and media collection west of the Mississippi is right here in Davis, California. KDVS is a student-run and student-operated radio show that has been around since the 1960s, according to the KDVS website.

What started as a small broadcast station in a laundry room of the all male Becket Hall eventually became what it is today: “a laboratory for learning broadcast, production and managerial skills, [providing] its listening audience with diverse, challenging, noncommercial, freeform radio.”

Andy Carson, a fourth-year music composition major, is one of the many student DJs that work for KDVS. He’s been DJing for over a year and is also involved in training new DJs at the station.

“I got involved with KDVS last year when a couple DJs who were in my ethnomusicology class told me I should check out the station,” Carson said. “The community at KDVS is what makes it unique. Everyone there is so amazing, and they all just love music and want to share their tastes.”

KDVS brings together students with a shared interest in music of any genre with any level of experience. Positions are open to anyone.

“I chose KDVS because they provide a safe place for people like myself,” Colacion said. “We have a zero hate tolerance policy and welcome people of all backgrounds.”

Embracing different music tastes and genres to promote creativity is a key

component of the way KDVS operates.

“No one is judgemental or anything; everyone just uplifts each other through music,” Carson said. “It’s a really oneof-a kind place.”

KDVS catches the attention of students who simply have a knack for music, like Carson, whether they are into DJing, producing or even just cataloging their large collection of media. Sabrina Colacion, a third-year plant biology major, initially joined KDVS because of her shared affinity with a fellow UC Davis student.

“I got involved with KDVS because of a random UC Davis student I met online,” Colcacion said. “I bought Dead Kennedey’s tickets off of him and we became friends over our similar music taste.”

KDVS also advertises their broadcast by hosting live shows for students and community members to attend. Basira Dadajan, a fourth-year psychology and sociology major, was initially exposed to KDVS through these live shows hosted by fellow staff members.

“I got involved in my winter quarter of my third year and I joined with my best friend … after going to a KDVS house show,” Dadajan said. “I love being on the scene, and it’s just a community I feel I could be myself and feel safe.”

The shared musical interest held by all staff and volunteers also makes for a diverse selection of shows to tune in to. With tens of thousands of vinyls and CDs to choose from, students are given the opportunity to air any and

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CURIOSITY-DRIVEN DISCOVERIES AND RESEARCH

Learn about the latest UC Davis research through human perspectives and stories

every type of music available.

“My favorite part would just have to be the opportunity to share my musical tastes through the music at KDVS to listeners,” Carson said. “I just hope that they like what I have to share.”

Over the decades, KDVS has been home to thousands of students, all with unique tastes in music. The station is reflective of this great variety in taste. Posters, art and stickers plaster the walls surrounding the stacks of media, commending the hundreds of students and shows that were there before them.

“The selection of physical media and music is literally world-class,” Carson said. “You could spend multiple lifetimes trying to listen to everything in the stacks, and I personally play a lot of jazz records, some of which are close to 50 years old, all kept in immaculate condition.”

KDVS has been operating for decades, and so the collection of CDs, vinyls and media is also decades in the making. Located in the basement of the MU, over 100,000 vinyls and CDs fill the neverending shelves, color coded by genre.

“The best part of KDVS is getting to consistently contribute to history myself,” Colacion said. “We’ve been active since the ‘60s and have never stopped since then. Because I am one of the people responsible for training new DJs, I feel like I’m constantly increasing the longevity of our station’s history.”

CHANCELLOR GIVES PRESENTATION TO SENATE, PUBLIC AT NOV. 21 MEETING

BY SONORA SLATER campus@theaggie.org

Vice President JT Eden called the Nov. 21 meeting to order at 6:01 p.m., before calling roll and reciting the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement. The meeting was held on a Monday rather than a Thursday due to the scheduling conflict of Thanksgiving break.

Next, UC Davis Chancellor Gary May presented to the Senate table and the approximately 20 members of the public who attended the meeting. He first gave a short introductory speech before taking alternating questions from senators and members of the public for the next half hour.

Joshua Mason, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology and a teaching assistant, asked May if he would be willing to make a more direct statement in support of the ongoing academic workers strike, as compared to the statement he released on Nov. 18.

“I love what I do,” Mason said.

research for the university and starting a family.

“I [contribute] a ton to this university, and I would like to continue doing that,” Gooding said. “But I am 36 weeks pregnant. We came to Davis because it was sold to us as a wonderful place to start a family, but the realities of the current costs of childcare and the general cost of living are making it potentially impossible.”

In response to Gooding, and as a general statement, May said that he hears the concerns of the student workers, but that he doesn’t have much power in negotiations.

“I wish I was a little more empowered to make a decision,” May said. “But I’m not. I’m really the middleman in this situation.”

To close out the presentation, May encouraged students to reach out to him with other concerns or questions they might have.

showing up to the picket line for the duration of the strike. President Radhika Gawde said that she has been in talks with the Academic Senate about adjusting undergraduate course formats and requirements in response to the strike.

The Senate table next moved into hearing quarterly reports. Third-year political science major and Chairperson Mehalet Shibre gave the quarterly report for the Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission (ECAC) and the DREAM Committee.

This quarter, ECAC has been focused on hiring commissioners, according to Shibre, as well as holding a decompression painting event. In the future, ECAC is planning to post a vacancy for a DREAM Committee Chairperson soon and work toward bringing an Ethnic Studies course requirement to campus.

BY MARIA MARTINEZ CASTRO features@theaggie.org

“Unfold,” a UC Davis podcast, explores the university’s research on unique and varying subjects. UC Davis students and the public can listen to “Unfold” to learn about anything from the treatment of spina bifida in human beings and bulldog puppies to the science behind why we cannot seem to get certain songs out of our heads. Now in its fourth season, “Unfold” has covered climate change, food and health-advancing technologies.

Hosts Amy Quinton, the UC Davis news and media relations specialist and podcast manager, and Marianne Russ Sharp, the news editor, podcast editor and senior public information officer for UC Davis Health, meticulously “unfold” the latest research in each episode.

A single season of “Unfold” can have up to 45 hours of interviews with additional scripting, writing and audio editing for every episode. As co-hosts and podcast curators, Quinton and Sharp have the freedom to present knowledge to audiences in new and exciting ways.

“The great thing about podcasts and, actually, one of the reasons they are so freeing is that there’s no set timetable,” Quinton said. “You don’t have to have a three-and-a-half-minute story, which you do for NPR. You can go 20 minutes, you can go 10, you can go three, you can go an hour.”

Both Quinton and Sharp expressed their appreciation and excitement for learning about new discoveries and having the opportunity to speak to audiences in a way that is both engaging and creative.

“It was exciting to have the opportunity to highlight the leadingedge innovations taking place […] as well as the people behind them,” Sharp said. “Amy and I are former public radio colleagues so we both really enjoy working with audio and writing for the ear.”

Quinton emphasized that the show is an opportunity to share not only knowledge but also the stories of real-life people.

“I think the best aspect is just the amount of information that I learned,” Quinton said. “I feel like I’m getting an education every time I talk to one of our researchers or one of our faculty. That’s probably the best thing because I’m a lifelong learner, so I love that. And the creativeness that it provides, like how can I tell this story in a different way? I’ve always loved audio storytelling, so it gives me a creative outlet.”

Beyond focusing on new discoveries at UC Davis, “Unfold” tells stories about the people affected by that research.

“It’s storytelling for the ear,” Quinton said. “We try to paint a picture in someone’s mind of someone doing this great work and [think about] how can you tell that story best. It’s almost like — I hate to keep saying unfold — but you unfold the story. There’s a beginning, there’s a middle, there’s an end. A great story has characters, it has plot, it has conflict.”

Quinton said “Unfold” differs from other podcasts and auditory news and entertainment outlets.

“Every day, I get the chance to teach students the things that I find truly important and that I think make people better. But unfortunately, I don’t like my pay. I was kind of disappointed [that] I didn’t see a substantive statement on where you stand as a public official on the strike.”

May said that he stands by the statement that he made previously and recognizes the right of UC workers to strike, but that he believes making a more biased statement as a leader on campus “could interfere with or undermine the negotiations that are ongoing.”

Sarah Gooding, a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience and a graduate student researcher, referenced her current condition as a pregnant woman and asked May to consider the difficulty of simultaneously doing

“We don’t have to wait for opportunities like this to have conversations,” May said.

At 6:44 p.m. the questioning period ended, and the Senate took a break.

Eden called the meeting to order again at 7:04 p.m. and called roll. Next on the agenda was the confirmation of a new member of the Judicial Council, but as of the meeting time, the role had not been filled.

There were applicants for the position, but interviews had not yet taken place, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Gaius Ilupeju. Ilupeju went on to say that the seat would be filled by the next Senate meeting on Nov. 31.

The Senate then moved into public comments.

The Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC) quarterly report was next on the agenda, but as the presenter for SHAWC was not there yet, the Senate instead heard the Housing Advising for Undergraduate Students (HAUS) quarterly report, given by second-year gender, sexuality and women’s studies major Annette Gutierrez.

HAUS completed several interviews this quarter to help grow their team, according to Gutierrez, and met with Davis property managers about the 2023 Housing Fair, which will take place on Feb. 8. The committee’s main goals for next quarter are to successfully plan and run the Housing Fair, Gutierrez said, as well as work on a storage unit project that would offer space to students to store their belongings temporarily while they move.

The KDVS UC Davis student radio station is located in Lower Freeborn on campus. (Shanna Punzalan / Aggie)

Gary May responded to several questions from members of the public about the ongoing academic workers strike

Unfold podcast logo.

(Amy Quinton / Courtesy)

Senator Stephen Fujimoto encouraged the Senate table to continue

EXPAND YOUR WORLDVIEW BY WATCHING FOREIGN FILMS

International cinema can allow you to experience other cultures through media

BY MAYA KORNYEYEVA mkornyeyeva@ucdavis.edu

Foreign cinema is a unique way to experience another culture through a distinctly human lens. You can immerse yourself in the language and customs of another country virtually — no plane ticket required.

In fact, foreign films involve an active process of deciphering nonverbal communication clues while also reading subtitles; and admittedly, this is no easy feat. Imagine your usual dinner routine, which for me at least involves turning on a show in the background while preparing a meal. You watch your ramen noodles spin in the microwave, listening to the clear and comforting English audio coming from the television. You don’t really need to watch the scenes on the screen to understand what is going on, you can hear and understand everything just fine.

However, watching a movie in a foreign language is not as casual of a viewing experience. Although it does involve a bit more effort, like reading the subtitles while simultaneously keeping an eye on the screen, watching these films, in my opinion, is crucial to expanding one’s worldview and perception of the world.

From French filmmaker François Truffaut to Swedish Ingmar Bergman to Federico Fellini in Italy, each country and filmmaker has an original approach to designing a motion picture. Stepping out of the “Hollywood comfort-zone” and diving into the realm of new landscapes, cuisine, music, art and interaction can spark the imagination, and be a truly educational experience.

This is not to say that Hollywood does not produce spectacular movies — it does — but they are often predictable. The beauty of foreign films is that many dive deep into existential issues that American blockbuster movies tend to gloss over. Foreign cinema offers a fresh and unique perspective on life, and lets the viewer experience the unfamiliar and sometimes rare aspects of being human. For example, “Parasite” by Korean Filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho deals

with class issues and capitalism in a way that I’ve never seen in a Hollywood blockbuster.

But the fostering of unique perspectives isn’t the only benefit to watching foreign media. There is now increasing evidence that language learners can improve their comprehension skills, pronunciation and grammar through watching TV. Hearing the language used in an informal and interpersonal context, rather than a strictly educational setting, can improve conversational communication in that language.

In my experience, I practiced my first language, Russian, by watching Russian and Ukrainian films on a regular basis, with the goal of reconnecting with

my Eastern European roots. Through this method, I was not only regularly exposed to the language, but I was also able to learn about the areas where the films were set and the customs of the people native to those regions. Even though the plot line was often not based on real events, the movies still drew inspiration directly from the culture of the surrounding area.

During my sophomore year of high school, in Spanish 3 Honors, my teacher assigned a similar project; watch one episode of a Spanish telenovela each week and write about what you understood each time. Initially the process was difficult, and I began with Spanish audio and English subtitles. But a few weeks later, I felt comfortable

THE CONNECTING POWER OF MUSIC THE CONNECTING POWER OF MUSIC

BY YASMEEN O’BRIEN yjobrien@ucdavis.edu

One Thursday evening a couple months ago, I biked past Central Park in Davis and couldn’t control the smile that came to my face at the sight of it. It was full of people — families, friends, couples and individuals, some sitting on blankets, some standing and watching a performance and some dancing in front of a stage. Although it was blocked from my vision, the sounds of live music drifted over, compelling me to get off my bike and see what was going on.

I was pleasantly surprised to find people of all ages enjoying the music. Young children danced barefoot in circles in front of me, their parents a few feet away dancing as well. College students sat in the grass laughing with their friends, and local vendors sold their goods. I talked to several fellow Davis residents that night, trying to find out more about the event. I learned bits and pieces, but many of the participants didn’t even know what it was and were just there enjoying themselves.

A quick Google search, however, told me everything I needed to know. This was a recurring event called “Thursdays in the Davisphere” put on by the Davis Downtown Business Association. I learned it was open to

the public, free of charge. They brought live music, food, drinks, local retail, arts and crafts and more to the Davis community every Thursday from 5 to 9:30 p.m. While the event series has ended for 2022, it will be returning in Spring 2023, as it runs from May through October every year.

I didn’t realize until recently how large of a role live music plays in Davis culture, something that wasn’t possible for the community for a long time due to the pandemic. I felt lucky that I was able to witness the pure joy that came from people of all ages who were able to share the music together.

The Davis community’s love for music doesn’t stop at this event. There are a variety of other live music events that local businesses put on throughout the year, including in-store performances at Armadillo Music, small shows performed by various bands at the E St. Plaza, performances at Ruhstaller Farm in Dixon and student band performances.

Something that I love about the music scene in Davis is that it’s open to everyone. This speaks to the community’s genuine love for music and the connection that music provides. You

can also meet new people and discover new parts of your community at live performances. I have met some of my closest friends through student shows over the years I have spent in Davis.

Not only do music shows connect the local community, they also connect our community to other communities. People from all over come to music events — I know I have definitely ventured outside my local area for them. Furthermore, I have met and befriended students from all over California at local shows hosted by other UC Davis students or organizations like KDVS, our local student-run radio station. Events like these make me feel like we are one step closer to connecting the world.

All of this is to say going to see a show is bound to be a worthwhile experience. Music is a powerful tool for connection, and you never know what you might learn about yourself in the process.

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.

moving to Spanish audio and subtitles and then finally to only audio.

Additionally, many foreign films contain beautiful cinematic moments.

From the distinct animation style in Japan to the moving dialogue captured in many French films, there are so many surreal moments that can change your world view.

Some unmissable foregin films include the “Mad Max” (1979) quadrilogy from Australian filmmaker George Miller, “Amour” (2012) by French director Michael Haneke and “Seven Samurai” (1954) by legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. “Seven Samurai” in particular has been greatly influential to many modern films around the world, with similar motifs

seen in “Avengers: Endgame” and “Dirty Dozen.”

Whether you are learning a new language, practicing one that you already know, or simply interested in the wide range of cinematic elements world film has to offer, you can only benefit from immersing yourself in the many cultures that exist on our planet. With winter break rapidly approaching, now is a great time to think about renting a movie or streaming a show in another language.

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.

WHY I’LL MISS UC DAVIS

BY JENA TUFAIL jjtufail@ucdavis.edu

When starting undergrad at UC Davis last year, I wasn’t that excited. On the contrary: I was kind of stressed out. I felt like I had changed so much over the course of the pandemic and lost my “people skills,” making me even more anxious for my first year of in-person instruction and at a public university.

Not only was it hard to adjust to having to attend class again, it also took a while for me to get assimilated to Davis’s culture. Everyone I knew or met over the span of the year were either living on campus or in apartments nearby, which gave them a bit of an advantage when it came to making friends and getting adjusted to campus life. Compare that to me, who only came to campus two-to-three times a week, primarily for classes. While others had the ability to experience the nightlife and hang out with friends in the evening, I was driving home every night instead.

It definitely was an adjustment period at the beginning of college: I had to learn how the campus ran, the biking rules on campus and so on. But over time, I really came to love my time at Davis.

This year, Davis has come to feel like my home away from home. Even though I’m a commuter, I’ve found that I have the ability to explore something new in the area surrounding campus every day.

The beauty of the campus — all its nature, trails and animals — are the

things I enjoyed most over the last year. But it isn’t just the campus that I love, I am fortunate to be able to say that the people in my major have made my time worthwhile as well. I felt welcomed on campus and was able to build strong bonds within my community.

Knowing that I’ll be graduating soon, I decided to start a bucket list of everything I want to do in Davis before I graduate. For starters, I have yet to visit the Arboretum, however I plan to go by the end of this quarter. I also hope to visit the Davis Creamery sometime in spring or summer with friends. I haven’t been able to experience the culture in downtown Davis as much as I would have liked over the last year, but from what I have heard from friends, it sounds like a lot of fun. I hope to also visit the Davis farmers market as well.

Overall, my experience at Davis has been full of ups and downs, but I have highly enjoyed my time here so far. I believe that UC Davis was the best choice for my undergraduate degree, and I’m so thankful I decided to enroll here a year and a half ago. If you’re like me, try to make the most of your time here before you leave. I guarantee that you won’t regret it.

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.

MAYA KORNYEYEVA / AGGIE

Make the most of your time here — it doesn’t last forever

MIRANDA LEE / AGGIE JOANNE

THE EDITORIAL BOARD MEETS WITH CHANCELLOR GARY MAY, UC DAVIS ADMINISTRATORS

May and administrators discuss the UC academic workers’ strike, plans for graduation, law school rankings and more

The California Aggie’s Editorial Board met with Chancellor Gary May, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan, Associate Chancellor and Chief of Staff Karl Engelbach, Vice Chancellor for Finance, Operations and Administration Clare Shinnerl, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Renetta Tull, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Dana Topousis, Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu, Faculty Advisor to the Chancellor and Provost Ari Kelman and Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Life, Campus Community and Retention Services Sheri Atkinson on Nov. 22.

Below is a transcript of the meeting that has been edited for length and clarity. This interview took place over Zoom the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Q: The strike that began Nov. 14 is just the most recent graduate student strikes for higher wages to support rising costs of living. Is UC Davis or the UC planning to make any changes long term in order to decrease the number of strikes and ensure that graduate students are compensated fairly for their work?

May: Our campus administration certainly recognizes the right of students and other union members that are employees to strike, and we agree that the cost of living in Northern California is high. And so it’s a real concern. We hope that the union negotiators and negotiators in the office of the UC president will agree on a contract that makes it possible for the members of that union — for those four bargaining units of the union — to live here and thrive and be successful in the graduate programs. It’s important to note that the negotiation does not occur on the campus level. The negotiation occurs at the Office of the President with a team of negotiators. Income inequality is a concern. And it’s not just a concern here; it’s also a concern nationwide.

The university will do what it can to address the issue with those resources that are not unlimited. So we have to figure out an appropriate compromise so that the university can continue and the students and postdocs can have a successful livelihood and career.

Croughan: We want to clarify that this is a strike of the union that they are allowed to have. If they take a vote and declare that they’re going to take a strike, that is the circumstance we’re under now. When you’re saying there have been multiple strikes in the past, the last strike that occurred was

a “wildcat strike.” That was a strike that was called by the members and not allowed by the union, because they were still under contract. But that’s a very different thing.

May: A lot of it had to do with labor laws that you may or may not be familiar with. So when you do say “multiple strikes,” it really only has been this one strike that was authorized.

Q: Some Jewish students have expressed that due to recent events on campus and in Davis, they do not feel like UC Davis is a safe place for them. How would you respond to this, and what is the administration doing to address this issue?

May: First, let me just say, unequivocally, that we stand in strong support of the Jewish community — that includes our students, faculty and staff. And we understand the toll that some of these recent events have taken on that community. We are working proactively with the Jewish community now, both on and off campus, to raise awareness to combat antisemitism. We’ve been doing this since I’ve been here, for five years. The Jewish Student Life Advisory Council was established in 2020 and activated in 2021 during the pandemic. It was created per my recommendation in cooperation with Hillel at Davis and includes Jewish student leaders, Hillel board members, Davis faculty, leadership and community representatives. In fall of 2021, we had educational sessions on antisemitism for all members of UC Davis Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors. The session was on Zoom and was facilitated by staff from the Academic Engagement Network, which is a Washington D.C. nonprofit that promotes campus free expression. We continue to meet with our Jewish colleagues, students, faculty and staff to show our support and talk through solutions. We invite the community to learn more on our addressing antisemitism webpage, which is hosted on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion website. But in terms of other things we’re doing, we’re in the very early stages of a program we’re calling “Hate Free Together,” modeled loosely after “Healthy Davis Together.” But the idea is now that the virus is hate, and we’re trying to combat hate in collaboration with the city of Davis and Yolo County. We’ll be having some news occur very soon where we have a resolution that will adopt some other activities — like programming, some promotional activities and raising public awareness — to really redouble our efforts to make this community free of antisemitism and all forms of hate.

Tull: We’ve been paying a lot of attention to the uptick of antisemitism. We’ve been very disturbed by that. Last year, I did participate in the Academic Engagement Network that Chancellor May talked about and went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and worked with a lot of leaders from around the U.S. to see what can we do on our campuses to have more awareness about antisemitism and to increase our resources. And so with that launch of the addressing antisemitism page this year, one of the things that we also did was to work with Rob Davis and the Center for Student Involvement part of Student Affairs to meet with members of Jewish student groups to look at our antisemitism page to offer resources so that we could have

something that was co-constructed. And about a week and a half ago, members of my team went over to Hillel to have a meeting with the Hillel Student Board Chair [and others] to not only talk about our page, but to also get information related to case studies to find out what some of the students are experiencing here and to be able to put that into some of the training that we’re doing through Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. [Our office is] putting it into the modules for DEI training that students take when they come into UC Davis — the new students and the transfer students. In addition to that, one of our other colleagues, who’s in charge of our harassment and discrimination assistance and prevention program (HDAPP), hosted a training that was led by the AntiDefamation League (ADL) for leaders on campus about a week ago. So we had an opportunity to see things that were tropes, to ask a lot of questions, so that we could obviously do a stronger job as we’re working with not only our staff, but also planning resources for students, faculty and others on the campus.

Q: After the Turning Point USA event and protests earlier this quarter, there has been a lot of discussion about ensuring people have a safe way to protest on campus. What solutions has the administration come up with to ensure future protests are safer?

May: Campus safety is a primary concern — a high priority for me all the time. When people ask me, “what keeps you up at night,” that’s probably the one thing that keeps me awake at night, worrying about this community being safe and every definition of that word. So these controversial events really raised the level of concern. We’re going to work closely with Student Affairs, as well as the fire and police department, as we plan these events. We try to develop operational plans prior to the events taking place, and we always do an after-action meeting with a discussion of what happened, what went right and what went wrong. Our solutions to ensuring the safety of future events are trained quarterly — the leadership team trains and discusses these things regularly to listen carefully to the community. Just had a meeting with UCD leadership last night where this was discussed, and we’re talking with you now and absolutely listen to the community and try to express what we think is the right approach to our student community. And to be very clear on a couple of things: One, I probably don’t agree with anything Turning Point USA espouses except for their right to espouse it. So, and I don’t, we don’t condone any violence of any kind, that includes property damage, as well as physical violence and vandalism. We try to confront and reject discrimination whenever we face it, and we have our principles of community that we use as a model and as a guide.

Atkinson: What the Chancellor said was right on point again. Student safety is one of the things that I think about a lot. Oftentimes, supporting student strikes, rights and protests can come off in a lot of ways that they don’t really want to. So with Student Affairs, our work is to work with students, empower them, help educate and support what they want to do to have their voices heard.

THE LOW ON CANVAS

BY LIDYA SHCHERBAKOVA lvshcherbakova@ucdavis.edu

RULES OF KAPPA

BETA GAMMA PHI

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu

Kappa Phi Sigma Beta Gamma Phi is UC Davis’ fraternity, but it’s much more than a social club. Members of the frat, conveniently abbreviated as “Cap-fi-sig-bee-gam-fi” to those in the know, has prepared members for impressive roles outside of college such as: perpetually-high assistant manager of local burger joint, the entrepreneur of a company that “is to complicated to get into right now” and guy-whograduated-six-years-ago-but-stillattends-college-parties.

Obviously, as a registered student organization, KPSBGP would never engage in anything that could be construed as “hazing” (those pledges collectively decided they wanted to blindfold themselves on the side of a highway), but it’s no secret that the frat occasionally engages in drinking activities — most famously, beer pong.

The sport is not to be confused with beer bong, the invention that frat President Bryce Hunter believes “shows a lot of promise.” Also not to be confused

with spear pong (where upperclassmen throw long sticks at freshman) or queer pong, which I was unable to discover more details about. Hunter assures me it is “not gay, technically, okay? Yeah. Not gay in that situation. Anyway. Back to the beer bong.”

The Kap Phi Siggys are famously sticklers about their beer pong rules. So, finally, for all the world to see, here is a comprehensive list of the lesser known rules and regulations of beer pong.

1. Which team goes first is decided by “Eyes,” where a player from each team shoots the ball while maintaining eye contact with their opponent. However, spectators may distract the players with water guns, by kicking them lightly in the shins or by setting their shoes on fire.

2. If you sink a shot into someone’s beer while they are drinking it, they have to take their shirt off and roll around on the sidewalk outside for a little bit.

3. Blowing the ball out of cups is allowed only on Tuesdays and your birthday.

4. If you and your teammate both air

ball on the same turn you must trade cars. The trade stays in effect after the game.

5. Along with classic re-racks like the zipper, flatline and traffic light, you can also request the cups be arranged in the snake, the pentagram, the Devil’s triangle (not gay) and the Troy “T-Bone” Cummings, named after a pledge who broke both his legs doing a flip off the roof.

6. If you call a specific cup and then score in that cup, an opposing player must call their mother and say, “Hi Mommy, it’s me, your tiny baby bitch boy. I still blame myself for you and Dad’s divorce.”

7. If you put your elbow over the table, you will be brought to the backyard and shot.

8. At any time during the game, the frat president can yell “Hit the deck!” and all players must lie on the floor as quickly as possible. During this time, the president will pick one cup and replace the beer with gasoline.

9. On your final shot, you may request for a pledge to give you a good luck kiss on the lips. This is also NOT gay.

Scan to read our editorial about the Club Q shooting.

SEE ONLINE

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

ARTS & CULTURE

REVIEW: “THE MENU” IS A CUNNING SOCIAL COMMENTARY WITH RAZORSHARP FINESSE

BY VIVI KIM arts@theaggie.org

“The Menu,” starring Ralph Fiennes as an intimidating high-profile chef and Anya Taylor-Joy as his unimpressed customer, is a playfully dark commentary on class and restaurant culture.

A majority of the film takes place in a lavish restaurant on the madeup island of Hawthorn, where twelve customers are taken for an exclusive dining experience. Chef Julian Slowik, the host of this upscale event, is an acclaimed chef who takes his craft very seriously. He introduces each course on his carefully constructed menu with a speech detailing its creative significance and a piercing stare over his guests. Whether it’s due to the dramatic visual composition of the film itself or the evidently threatening remarks made by the kitchen staff, there is a heightening sense of catastrophe and

doom that blankets this movie. Yet, most of the characters are so comically pretentious that it’s hard to sympathize with their all-too-predictable fate.

Among them is Tyler, a devout Julian Slowik fanatic, his unenthusiastic date Margot, a haughty food critic, a movie star and a trio of obnoxious tech bros.

Each of these guests has paid $1,200 to get a taste of Chef Slowik’s prized menu, only to become increasingly disappointed with their dining experience. From a bread plate with no bread to a dish with portions smaller than the rock it’s served on, the food itself appears as a mere decoration compared to the overly-abstract descriptions served with it.

BY ADHITHI ANJALI arts@theaggie.org

Book: “Vita Nostra: A Novel” by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko, trans. Julia Meitov Hersey (2007)

The Dyachenkos, a pair of married authors from Ukraine, warp conceptions of time and space by sending readers through the unsettling study at the Institute of Special Technologies, which remains a mystery until you are enlisted to go. The protagonist, Sasha, is tested by a looming patron, a man whose ethics and power remain shrouded in secrecy while pushing the limits of body and mind to achieve success in her college. “Vita Nostra,” a title which references the Latin phrase “Vita nostra brevis est, Brevi finietur” (“Our life is brief, it will shortly end”), envelops you in an academic slaughterhouse — a place of uncanny horror. Sasha and her peers enter with no indication of what they are studying, only that they must pore over impossible geometric scenarios and unintelligible grammar until they make sense. The Dyachenkos and Hersey craft a wondrously abstract yet visceral mystery of language and perception that questions the place of audience and character. (Content warning: body horror)

Song: “DOWNTOWN” by Deva Rani (2022)

The only constant in my life so far has been that I discover the most fun songs through friends. Playing Deva Rani’s 2022 single on a night drive across long stretches of dark road really heightened the electronic bounce of the song, and through the car speakers, it feels like the song even moves around you. Rani departs from the more blissful, summery sound heard in her 2018 single “Blue Raspberry,” and crafts a soundboard portrait of a city night with sparse lyrics and popping synths. “DOWNTOWN” sounds like a fishbowl has been placed over your head; as if you can feel your steps rhythmically reverberate through your body, but the world outside of you is bouncing off the glass walls. It’s a strange yet exciting experiment for a new artist that promises much to come should she decide to release an album.

Movie: “Plague Dogs” dir. by Martin Rosen (1982) There was a tiny era, between the 1954 release of the animated adaptation of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and the 90s, that saw the creation of 2D animated solemn and tragic films about small animals. Examples include “Felidae” (1994), “Watership Down” (1978), “The Animals of Farthing Wood” (1993-1995) and “Plague Dogs” (1982). Rosen’s film truly takes advantage of the medium, allowing the low budget and awkward 2D stills to make you feel anxious and unsettled. The premise is a little unstable, following two dogs, Rowf and Snitter (Did I mention this is a British film?), who are being hunted down by all forms of government agencies, from local police to the military. They escape from a research and testing facility which housed the Black Plague and, still suffering from the trauma inflicted on them, they try to navigate a new, wild life as the human world encroaches on them. Adams’ novel is firmly meant to be read as an condemnation of animal testing in all forms, truly accentuating its most extreme possibilities, but the film appears very invested in concepts of helplessness and imprisonment through the use of animals. You can make your own judgment on the matter, but Rosen’s adaptation applies a signature take on dystopia through the eyes of animals. (Content warning: animal cruelty)

TV Show: “The Bear” (2022)

A perfect show for the folks who loved “Catcher in the Rye,” this Hulu original brings us to a struggling Chicago deli, left to Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto after the death of his brother. Through performances by a stellar cast, we see their world inhabited by noise and action, bodies moving, eating, yelling and leaving. Left with debt and grief, Carmy’s world is saturated with a rainbow of repressed emotion, incredible creativity and community. When we aren’t focused on Carmy, we see the other chefs break down under pressure, yet cement their place at “The Original Beef of Chicagoland” (Chicagoans, right?). Though, be warned: The Atlantic and Rolling Stone both label it firstly as an exercise in stress-inducing television — even I had to pause to cool off while watching.

AN INSIGHT INTO SOME OF THE DRUMS OF SOUTH ASIA

How the instruments play an important role in community-building

BY RUMA POUDELL arts@theaggie.org

In Western culture, drums are often connoted for their use in bands and other musical organizations. But within many South Asian communities, various drums play a much more intimate role, often responsible for bringing people together in different ways.

To start, there are the tabla, dhol and nadal. These drums all belong to the regions of Nepal and Punjab.

The tabla is a hand-drum played in pairs using the pressure of palms to produce different notes. The smaller section of the drum, also known as tabla or dayan, is used to produce treble and tonal sounds. The larger section, known as dagga or baya, is the bass.

Tarnpreet Singh, a professional Punjabi dhol and tabla player from Sacramento, explained the historical significance of tabla in the Punjabi region.

“The word tabla is originally an Arabic word and instrument,” Singh said. “It entered India through Islamic invaders, and over time, it was taken over entirely by the Indian and Punjabi regions.”

Throughout the invasions, tabla was used as a way to take power back from the invaders and empower South Asian people as they used it to connect with religious beliefs for the purpose of hope.

“In our community, music is

attached to religion, as we sing the praises of God,” Singh said. “We call it kirtan — the main attraction for our holiest temples and a pathway to be acculturated to God.”

These traditions have lasted to this day; Singh himself learned to play tabla at the age of four, and similarly, many others are raised surrounded by kirtan. Even in communities formed by immigrants outside of Punjab and broader South Asia, the tradition of playing tabla and kirtan has been kept up. According to Singh, playing one of the instruments is considered to be very prestigious, and “parents want their kids to learn kirtan and tabla.”

The dhol is a single, larger, doublesided drum played using the power of your wrists and two sticks. The sticks are called dagga (bass) and tilli (treble). It is worn with a strap over your neck or shoulders and can be played while standing.

South Asian weddings are known for being extravagant, and the dhol is one of the many reasons why the function is so lively. When the bride and groom enter, a line of dhol players is typically playing to welcome the couple. Later on in the reception, different beats, such as chaal, are played.

“You know it’ll get everyone to dance,” Singh said of the beats. “Dhol

is the way you get everyone’s attention.”

Even in formal settings, “if there is an announcement to be made, in India that was the way to do it. You have four to five dhol players playing, everyone would hear from far away, and then they would come gather around,” Singh said.

Then, branching out of India and Punjab and into Nepal, there is the madal.

The madal, like the dhol, is a double-sided drum, but it is much smaller and often played while sitting. Like the tabla, the player uses their hands, but instead of just palms doing the drumming, it involves the whole hand and fingers.

The madal is used casually in gatherings to sing folk songs. It is also a staple in the religious and traditional events of Dashain and Tihar, where you play games such as Dhusure (a game of forming songs).

Dinesh Pokhrel, a Nepali doctor and madal player in the Sacramento Nepali community, has been familiar with the instrument since he was a young boy.

“I randomly learned without any coach or books,” Pokhrel said. “I watched other older people play and learned that way.”

In his life, “the madal has been a source of great fun and entertainment

with family. It always brings harmony to the community as we gather for these folk songs and beats.”

The ways that the madal, dhol and tabla are used show the different roles music can play in our lives — from delivering hope to war-torn

communities, bringing the hype at an event and calling for everyone’s attention to having some good old karaoke sessions with your family — these drums showcase a wealth of tradition in South Asia.

Snobbish characters, disarmingly bold satire and endless culinary humor: Mark Mylod’s recipe for the perfect dark horror-comedy

THEMENU on 8

Theatrical release poster of The Menu. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures / fair use)

CHRISTINA QUARLES AT THE MANETTI SHREM: A GLIMPSE THROUGH THE LENS OF AN ARTIST

A deep dive into one of many incredible resources of the UC Davis Arts Department

BY ANA BACH arts@theaggie.org

On Nov. 17, I had the opportunity to check out one installation of the recurring Visiting Artist Lecture Series at the Manetti Shrem Museum.

The lecture was given by Christina Quarles, an artist based out of Chicago who now works in Los Angeles. Her work consists of abstract paintings that center around queerness, sexual identity and gender. She has hosted an exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and graduated from the Yale School of Art with a Master’s in Fine Arts.

Quarles began the lecture by going in depth about the medium she finds herself the most comfortable using: acrylic paint on canvas. Her creative process begins with looking for inspiration from informal elements such as cartoons and media. After she has an idea of what she wants to create, she proceeds with painting creative amorphous structures that have no particular format, structure or approach related to the end concept.

“Make work through the

problem,” Quarles said as she described her artistic process.

She stressed that oftentimes people suggest working around “problems,” treating them as obstacles that inhibit us from achieving our goals. Quarles rebukes this, treating the “problems” she has with her paintings as a catalyst for change that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.

Once she has a general idea of what shape the painting will take, she uses other applications, such as Adobe Illustrator, to plan out the spacing for the rest of the work and to add complementary details.

Another method Quarles has adapted into her repertoire is gesture painting. This technique is practiced when an artist uses extensive gestures, sometimes even contorting their body to reach certain spots so that the overall movement of the limb is emphasized in the work. She said that she typically works on larger canvases to accommodate this practice.

Quarles closed the lecture by

sharing the topics that surround her work and how they relate to a broad audience. One of the biggest themes she plays on is intimacy, specifically as a mode of self-expression. This can be seen through her use of figures that blend with one another, some of which reflect entanglement with another person, while others offer a platform to contemplate our relationships with ourselves.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing how Quarles interacted with the audience, creating a comfortable environment throughout the lecture. The lecture’s casual nature encouraged audience members to look deeper into how the themes presented in her art aid exploration within our own lives.

These lectures take place regularly at the Manetti Shrem and are available for free to any member of the student body. I would highly suggest checking one of them out, whether you are already interested in the arts program or you just want to broaden your creative horizons.

HOW TO VIEW ART

COMMENTARY: COLLEEN HOOVER JUST ISN’T THAT GOOD OF A WRITER

BY ANA BACH arts@theaggie.org

If you have talked to any of your friends about their favorite summer reads or made your way over to their Goodreads account, you will find that most of them have explored some number of Colleen Hoover’s vast repertoire of novels.

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to indulge, Hoover’s writing falls in the romance and young adult fiction categories, channeling more of a contemporary take on the difficult yet passionate road to romance.

An article by Grace Seymour, a writer for The Daily Campus, assists curious readers looking to experiment with Hoover’s work. Seymour writes that a unique quality of hers is “that her modern twists on storylines draw readers in for an authentic and raw experience.”

Seymour also expands on Hoover’s knack for creating characters that are simultaneously loved and hated by audience members. The back-andforth decision-making that guides the characters leaves the audience enthralled in the drama. They find themselves constantly questioning what will happen next because of the unreliable nature of the characters in addition to the overall plot.

This is similar to the infatuation that many young people have with celebrities and television shows characters that are controversial. As consumers of media, we are often gripped by the consistent desire to feel an extreme like or dislike for celebrities. We obsess over the need to share some sort of involvement in their lives by critiquing and offering our opinions on how they should live them. This is often fueled by tabloids and ongoing gossip that takes precedence in our everyday conversations. However, I don’t discredit Hoover’s ability to provide an escape for people who want to divert attention away from their own lives and invest themselves in something that brings them joy. The cheesiness of a good, predictable

A step-by-step guide for making the most of your art-viewing experience

BY SARAH HAN arts@theaggie.org

Whether it is a sculpture or a painting, visual art comes in various forms. Regardless of the medium, many viewers overlook the specific and elusive parts of art; therefore, a step-by-step guide on how to view art may be a helpful tool for your next visit to the museum.

Begin by choosing only a few pieces of art to look at. Oftentimes, the museum can be quite overwhelming at first, with sculptures, paintings and canvases scattered everywhere. Thus, select a few pieces that catch your eye — or just look at the ones in the front.

Once you have selected a few pieces, I suggest leaving your phone behind. Although photos are great for preserving memories, looking at the art first might help you remember details that a mere photo can’t even capture.

While viewing the art, focus on the colors, tone, style, theme and size. Also, ask yourself what message the artist is trying to convey. But keep in mind that art can have multiple messages; in fact, some artists even leave the message up to the viewer’s interpretation. Therefore, feel free to use what you notice to create any messages you think the art is trying to convey.

But how exactly should you focus on all of these artistic components? For color, note the use of bright and muted tones and the color palette. You don’t necessarily need to know much about color theory to observe their effect on artwork; for a lack of better words, simply see how the colors speak to you.

As for tone, divide up the artwork into sections, and see how each section’s color palette complements the other. Asking yourself if the colors are warm (red, orange and yellow), cool (blue, green and purple) or neutral (brown, white, black and gray) can help determine what the overall tone of the art is.

Style may not be the most obvious for viewers. Every painting can be categorized into a certain time period in art history, which determines the style of art. Some may be realistic, baroque, abstract, avant-garde or something else entirely.

This leads to a step that requires a bit more effort: do outside research prior to your visit. If you really want to understand the works as best as you can, doing a little background research

on a specific piece, or even just art in general, can give you an advantage before going to the museum.

I personally recommend researching art history, since it can help determine style as well as the different colors and techniques used in each time period. In other words,

knowing the different art movements in history can help you orient yourself with respect to the details of the piece. Finally, always keep an open mind. Art is undeniably diverse: some pieces can be crowded and complex while others can be simple and minimalistic. Regardless of how the art is, be open to

all types — you may even find a new favorite piece of work.

Beyond these steps, my best advice for truly appreciating a work of art is to view it in a way that does the artist justice. Artists put so much time and effort into their works that it’s important to fully take in their

book can offer a certain comfort that groundbreaking theoretical ones can’t deliver. A good book should stimulate and captivate the reader in a way that brings joy throughout consuming it. This assessment of whether the book is well written should not be associated with the level of fulfillment it brings.

That being said, I personally do not find myself satisfied with these novels. The writing seems to cater to those who are often fascinated with these dramatized plotlines and sexual details that fulfill their own fantasies. I think because of the overdone plotlines that are saturated in hypersexuality, it is difficult for me to reflect and relate to any of the characters because I find myself struggling to believe any of it is realistic.

Hopefully, others feel the same way. For those who struggle to understand the hype around Hoover’s books, don’t worry — you’re not alone. However, the good thing about literature is that there’s a genre out there for just about everyone, and if this is your cup of tea, more power to you.

meanings as intended. Combining the steps outlined above with this respect of the artistic intent is one of the best ways to express your appreciation for the work of art.

NATALIE CHENG / AGGIE

An honest critique on the author that everyone and their mother can’t seem to stop raving about

“It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover (Clara Fischer / Aggie)

The Manetti Shrem Museum of Art. (Aggie File)

“There is one listener in particular who calls in very regularly to our shows, and he talks about how he doesn’t have a TV,” Ikuna said. “His radio is his main source of entertainment. We also get a lot of truckers who listen as they drive through the region.”

Ikuna explained that because the signal power is so strong, KDVS is typically able to reach a large number of communities and individuals within the general region. Among the regular listeners who tune into the FM station are incarcerated individuals at Folsom State Prison, which is located over 30 miles from the station’s transmitter.

Though the outage impacted regular listenership, Hatcher said that they felt like it also revealed the significance of the station to its fans.

“I will say, while we were down we got over probably a couple hundred phone calls, emails and social media messages from listeners asking, ‘Where are you guys? What happened?’” Hatcher said. “[The situation] was frustrating, [but] it was good to know that so many people were looking for KDVS. It was really reassuring.”

“There are a handful of shows that have dedicated fans that are people who are incarcerated, ” Ikuna said.

“For a lot of those regular listeners, they just basically lost access to KDVS for that period of time, which was very unfortunate, [and] it definitely was damaging to a lot of our listener base.”

KDVS

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The progression of bands and musicians that have contributed to KDVS create a rich history and culture. The layers of posters and photos of performers and show hosts engulf every surface at the station, including the ceilings.

“Our history and how we formed KDVS is what makes us stand out,” Dadajan said.

The history of KDVS has amassed the station an impressive media collection and a long-standing reputation.

“KDVS is unique because we have the largest broadcasting range of any college radio station,” Colacion siad.

UNFOLD CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

“Our stories are, in fact, stories,” Quinton said. “They’re not just one interview, which is typical [of] podcasts. Ours are more like documentaries or NPR stories, right? So we try to unfold [stories]. It was kind of how we came up with the name.”

Season four of “Unfold” tells the stories of people affected by the development of new prosthetic technologies and advances made in the treatment of spina bifida. The episodes help listeners understand the implications of UC Davis research and the impact it can have on people.

“It’s hard to say which one was my favorite,” Quinton said. “But I think the story on spina bifida was really compelling. I think when you see humans have to go through that sort of stress and turmoil and to see a turnout in such a wonderful way is just

SENATE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3

The Senate table then moved into elected officer reports, where they were given the option to either give a report or simply pass due to the modified meeting schedule, as only two work days had passed since the previous meeting.

Fourth-year economics major and Chairperson Hibah Shafi then gave the SHAWC quarterly report. According to Shafi, the committee has been working on several projects throughout this quarter, including getting safer sex product dispensers installed in the MU, working with the mayor of Davis to write an ordinance updating the definition of stalking to make airtagging

Max Bahena, a third-year animal science major who serves as one of the community coordinators at KDVS, notes the impact the outage had on the overall ambiance within the station.

“We usually have the radio station playing in our lounge, but because of the tower issue it was always pretty dead and quiet,” Bahena said. “Now that it’s up and running, it feels nice. “It feels like we are KDVS again.”

Topousis: I’ll just add that I know there’s continued concern about the Proud Boys who turned up on campus. Things quickly escalated as soon as they arrived when things were already escalating at that location. But I think there’s some people out there who think we should be able to predict and stop people from coming to campus like that. But there was no way for us to know; they don’t tell us in advance that they’re coming to our campus. And I am guessing that most of them are not UC Davis students, faculty or staff, and that they’re probably not from our community. And so we just have to, in real time, deal with that when that happens and do our best. We do a lot of planning to make sure that we’re prepared as much as we can be, to keep that area safe and to keep things in as much control as we can. In that case, we were surprised that they showed up and they were looking for activity and helped create it.

ensure that the ceremonies are able to take place as scheduled?

May: We do have some news to share. You have already seen the announcement last Friday, in the chancellor email about spring commencement being held at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. That was after a student survey that was created by a planning committee, made up of half students and half administrators. They put the survey together and have been discussing the planning for commencement. So we don’t expect any more heat events because we’ll be inside and we have a facility that’s well accustomed to having such events. You might know that Sac State has their commencement at the Golden 1. We’re looking forward to a much smoother and more celebratory event than we were able to have this past June.

about who we should invite, how we should invite them and how we can get our students engaged in helping us invite the fabulous speakers that they have in mind. And together, we’ll figure out how to make that work.

Q: Many top law schools including UC Berkeley have decided to remove themselves from rankings such as U.S. News due to equity concerns. Will UC Davis follow suit?

However, the only one consistently displeased with their meal is Margot, whose skepticism and disdain for the whole experience is clear from the beginning. Her unapologetic distaste for the food, the chef and her fellow diners is the perfect ingredient to spoil an elaborate evening.

The film succeeds at creating suspenseful tension between Slowik and Margot, showing the frightening dynamic between a reputable chef and his solely unsatisfiable customer.

In addition to his stiff and meticulous demeanor, Slowik exercises complete authority in the kitchen. With a single deafening clap, his devoted team of chefs is immediately called to attention, responding with loud cries of “Yes, Chef.” This unwavering devotion

CITY

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Vice Mayor Will Arnold was directing the response from the city council on behalf of Mayor Lucas Frerichs, who was not present during the beginning of the meeting. Arnold talked about collaboration between the council and commission.

“There appears to be a broad agreement among our bodies about the importance of continuing to build a community that is welcoming and inviting to folks and that we address and we recognize that a housing crisis exists, and we recognize our role in being a part of addressing it,” Arnold said. “That is not a universally shared viewpoint, I

“I’m pretty proud of this. We are a completely student-run radio station, so all of our core staff members are currently at UC Davis. We are also home to the largest public physical media collection west of the Mississippi, which is primarily made of music community members and record labels [that] have donated to us.”

Tune in to KDVS at 90.3 FM, and enjoy the decades of history, thousands of selections and hours of work each student dedicates to keep the station alive. If you are interested in working or volunteering for KDVS, refer to the KDVS website.

May: As you know, we don’t have a fence or gate around our campus. So the entire community has access in a public situation like that. This was difficult to control as people can just come and go. We’re at a disadvantage when someone wants to do something like that.

Q: Last spring, commencement ceremonies were cut short due to excessive heat. How will this year’s ceremonies be different from last years and what changes are being made to

UCDMBBVSAC

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Both teams traded baskets and the Hornets tied up the game. However, Pepper and Anigwe used their pickand-roll to get Anigwe an open three to retake the lead 67-64.

“We’ve been working on that pickand-roll all three years, and I knew I’d get those wide-open jump shots,” Anigwe said.

Engelbach: The Commencement Advisory Committee will be meeting again in December. The next issue that’s on the docket is to discuss exactly whether students want to continue to walk with their major when they graduate, or if they want to be able to select which ceremony they attend based on their own schedule and their family’s schedule and availability. So that’ll be the next issue we tackle. And then after that, we’re going to go to speakers. We’ve received feedback about what’s not the highest priority for our students. So we’re going to keep having a discussion

five more points to finish regulation. The final score was 82-71.

The Aggies came back from a 12-point deficit to beat Sacramento State and secure the Causeway Cup.

“It’s really big for us because of our rivalry with Sac State. We lost pretty badly last year and wanted to come out here with fire,” Anigwe said.

amazing. And the clinical trial that we’re doing right now for spina bifida is one of those really sort of hopeful health stories that we like to see.”

“Unfold” is more than a podcast on UC Davis research; it is an example of centering human lives in creating and spreading knowledge.

“Every single episode has something unique to offer,” Sharp said. “I’m being honest when I say that they all moved me in some way. Amy was masterful in her approach to telling these stories, and it was a real honor to be trusted to edit them. The episodes not only cover leading-edge technology, innovation and research, [but] they also focus on the real human experiences that accompany it all. I may or may not have shed a few tears when editing some episodes.”

After retaking the lead, the Aggies maintained it for the rest of the game. With under five minutes left, and after a converted hook shot from Pepper, the Aggies were up by five points. The Hornets made a crucial turnover and allowed UC Davis to secure the game. Milling took up that opportunity, pulled up for a three-pointer and — swish — hit the shot. Up 74-66 with under two minutes left, Sacramento State’s only option was to foul. UC Davis went to the line for seven more points and the Hornets would score

UC Davis came out with that fire in the pivotal second half. The Aggies outscored the Hornets 49 to 31, outrebounded Sacramento State 18 to 12 and caused nine turnovers in the second half.

“I can’t tell you exactly, but I thought we were cool and soft on defense. I challenged them to ramp up their aggressiveness together,” Les said about his half-time pep talk.

Pepper scored 19 points in the second half and led the game in total points with 24. Anigwe had 22 points

UCDFOOTBALLSEASONREVIEW

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a crime and working within Greek Life to promote consent.

Due to a vacancy on the Judicial Council persisting for more than four weeks, the Senate had no previous legislation to review and did not vote on any legislation.

After approving past meeting minutes, the Senate moved into open forum, where Fujimoto encouraged Senators to be more involved with supporting their respective adopted committees.

Eden adjourned the meeting at 8:21 p.m.

Despite being on the road, the Aggies got off to a strong start in the first quarter as fourth-year star running back Ulonzo Gilliam Jr., sprinted for 38 yards into the endzone, putting Davis up 7-0. UC Davis led 10-7 after the first quarter, but never led again, as the Bobcats roared back to win the game 41-24. Gilliam Jr.’s stellar performance was the bright spot in the game, as he rushed for 140 yards and scored a touchdown. The Aggies fell to 1-4, and their playoff hopes dwindled.

The team looked like a far cry from the team that got off to an 8-1 start last season. With six games remaining, UC Davis needed to win all of its games to make the playoffs. By losing four of the first five games they played, that seemed like an unlikely feat. Regardless, Hawkins remained optimistic about his team’s chances.

“It’s time to get on a roll,” Hawkins said in a post-game press conference after his team’s loss to Montana State.

becomes progressively more terrifying as Chef Slowik’s demands become increasingly unnerving.

Fiennes does an incredible job of portraying this slow-burning intensity and a chef whose love for food has become lost in artistic vision. As a result, it is enjoyable to watch Slowik unveil his disturbed and vindictive character motivations as the film progresses.

Although its over-the-top deliverance may arguably subtract from the film’s substance, its purpose is to poke fun at snobby upper-class foodies, which it does effectively. Just like the menu dishes that it portrays, “The Menu” proves that a movie doesn’t have to come packaged with profound insight in order to satisfy its audience.

UC Davis did just that, beginning with a 56-27 win over Northern Arizona. The team’s offense was rolling with Hastings at the helm; he threw for 328 yards and had two touchdowns. Gilliam Jr. was also running the ball well, gaining 152 yards and scoring two touchdowns.

“It’s really impressive how they all stuck together to get a win like this. We got a bunch of guys into the game, and that was great, and we were able to score in a number of different ways,” Hawkins said. “Now, we just have to keep dialing it up and get ready for the next game.” UC Davis built momentum one game at a time. They traveled to Colorado and defeated Northern Colorado, 58-10, improving their season record to 3-4. Once again, the team’s offense was fluid and certainly looked more like a playoff team.

“Our guys are getting some momentum, and a win like this helps

build confidence,” Hawkins said.

For the third straight game, the Aggies would score above the 50-point mark to beat Cal Poly 59-17. With each week, Hastings looked more comfortable in the pocket as he posted 425 yards along with four touchdowns. A strong run game is another reason the offense was starting to get on a roll. Gilliam Jr. rushed for 139 yards and two touchdowns, and his longest run of the day was a 59-yard rush. The offensive line’s dynamic was causing teams trouble and was the perfect recipe for UC Davis’s team, who was seeking a chance to sneak into the postseason.

“Our offense has found its groove,” Hawkins said. “We’re cooking in the pass game and in the run game. And the defense is getting turnovers and setting the offense up with great field position.”

The Aggies continued their win streak, defeating Idaho State and improving their record to 5-4. Davis’s defense was hot in this contest, allowing Idaho only three points for a final score of 43-3.

The offense turned up yet again this time against the Idaho Vandals on the road and UC Davis extended their win streak to five straight games, defeating the Vandals 44-26. The run game was a major factor in the win; Gilliam Jr. rushed for a staggering 164 yards and three touchdowns. This game was special for Gilliam Jr., who broke the school rushing touchdown record of 40 that was held by Preston Jackson since the early 1990s.

“We’ve been on a five-game playoff run with one more to go, so we have to win it to stay in it,” Hawkins said after defeating Idaho. “But it’s not really so much about winning as it is about playing well, and that’s what we did tonight. We were very efficient on offense, and we didn’t turn the ball over. Any time you can do that, you’re going to be successful.”

for the Aggies, Milling had 14 and second-year Ty Johnson had 11. Four players scoring double digits against Sacramento State speaks to the Aggies’ depth as a team.

“It’s a strength of our team; it doesn’t necessarily peep its head in the first half or the first 10 minutes of the second half. But those last 10 minutes and the collective effort of being able to play 10 guys will wear you down,” Les said.

After the Causeway Cup victory, the Aggies headed to Milwaukee for the Cream City Classic, a four-team tournament with the UC Davis Aggies, Milwaukee Panthers, Boston University Terriers and Southern Eastern Missouri State University Redhawks. In the first game of the tournament, UC Davis fell to the Panthers, 85-87. The Aggies will return home on Dec. 1 to play the University of Pacific Tigers.

The win moved the Aggies to 6-4 on the season, and with five straight wins, UC Davis earned a ranking of No. 24 in the country for the FCS. With their impressive win streak, maybe this was the best team in Aggie history — Hawkins’ statement didn’t seem so farfetched.

UC Davis had to win one more game to reach the postseason, but it was going to be on the road against their undefeated rosstown rivals who were ranked No. 2 in the country: Sacramento State.

In a back-and-forth contest, UC Davis’s offense kept up with the Hornets’ offense the entire game. Going into the fourth quarter, the Aggies trailed 13-17, but Sac State’s fourthyear quarterback Asher O’Hara flipped into the endzone for what seemed to be a game-winning touchdown. However, Aggies second-year tight end Josh Gale caught a pass from Hastings and ran it into the endzone for 75 yards. UC Davis then converted on the two-point conversion, shrinking Sac State’s lead, 21-24.

Croughan: We had been talking about it when Yale was the first to remove themselves from the U.S. News and World Report rankings. I approached Kevin Johnson, our Dean of the Law School, and said, “Would you consider this for UC Davis?” because Kevin is very much an equity-minded dean. He’s a civil rights lawyer and immigration expert, and he has worked harder than any other dean of a law school to diversify the student body. So two things are happening right now. One is people pulling out of the U.S. News and World Report rankings. The second is potential elimination of the LSAT, and the LSAT has been shown to specifically disadvantage African American students. So Kevin and I, just yesterday, had further conversation. We’re looking at both of those. I only wish we had been the first UC to remove ourselves from U.S. News, but we were beat out by Berkeley. But anyway, we are considering it strongly. I’ll put it that way. THEMENU CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

However, the Hornets held on to the win. The final score was 21-27, and the Aggies’ season came to an end in dramatic fashion in the final seconds of regulation.

“I told our guys afterward I love them. I love them a lot,” Hawkins said after the game. “But most games and most seasons are made by a few plays that decide which side of the ledger you’ll end up on.”

UC Davis came to a touchdown away from winning the game and extending their season into the playoffs. Despite having the toughest schedule in program history, they managed to end the season with a winning record (6-5). They overcame a 1-4 start and proved that maybe this really was one of the best teams in program history.

would say, in our community if I can put it lightly, and so that baseline level of common understanding, I think, is a critical starting point to the work that we do together.”

Davis City Council meetings are scheduled for the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The schedule for upcoming meetings and the agendas for each meeting can be located on the City Council page of the City of Davis website. The council can be contacted via email at citycouncilmembers@ cityofdavis.org.

DAVIS CITY COUNCIL, PLANNING COMMISSION COMPLETE REMAINING DISCUSSIONS AT SECOND JOINT SESSION

After their first joint session on June 28, the latest meeting offers resolutions on remaining commission concerns

DAVIS JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, DAVIS CITY COUNCIL CONSIDER HOUSING CONCERNS

LEE / AGGIE

BY ANTHONY W. ZAMMIKIEL city@theaggie.org

On Nov. 15, members of the Davis City Council and the Planning Commission attended a second joint discussion session to resolve the commission’s remaining questions on how to best align with council priorities. The joint session comes less than five months after the first joint session was held on June 28, where the Planning Commission first approached the council with recommendations about how the commission could best act to advance city council agenda items in a timely manner.

“The City Council held a Joint Discussion with the Planning Commission at the Council meeting on June 28, 2022. This meeting is a continuation of that discussion,” the staff report written by Community Development Director Sherri Metzker reads. “Joint discussions are a chance for the City Council to provide direction to the Commission and share with the Commission thoughts about potential projects/advice the Council wants or needs from the Commission.”

The staff report included two attachments, with the first outlining the Planning Commission’s ongoing challenges with determining how to be as productive as possible in following through with the city council’s recommendations. The second attachment outlines the current status of the planning documents that both

the commission and the council use.

According to the report, topics to discuss included affordable housing, trees, transportation and plans for Downtown Davis.

“What are Council’s priorities among these items, and how do you envision advancing these items to get them completed and provide guidance to the Planning Commission in a timely fashion?” the report asks.

“Until these items are completed, how should the Planning Commission be proceeding with our work evaluating projects in the absence of updated policy guidance on these topics?”

Greg Rowe, the chairman of the Planning Commission, first spoke to the attending city council members about the issues he wanted to address.

“The presentation given in June really summarizes the challenges the Planning Commission has had in providing recommendations to the council because of a number of outdated policies and plans, including the General Plan, and things like the Housing Element, Circulation Element, Affordable Housing Ordinance,” Rowe said in his opening statement to the council. “In our view, this forced the Planning Commission to look at projects on a one-by-one basis and make judgment calls on projects in isolation from any kind of overarching context in many cases.”

New

construction and potential housing projects discussed at recent City Council and DJUSD 2x2 meeting

BY JILLIAN MARCH city@theaggie.org

On Nov. 16, members from the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) and Davis City Council met for their monthly 2x2 meeting on Zoom to discuss ongoing city and district projects. Davis Vice Mayor Will Arnold opened the meeting at 5:15 p.m. and introduced the participants in attendance, which included Tom Adams for his final city/ district 2x2 as a DJUSD School Board Trustee.

The first discussion item included the various ongoing site projects. DJUSD Superintendent Matt Best reported on the projects the district has recently completed or is in the process of completing. One of the spotlighted projects was the newly unveiled Tech Hub at Da Vinci High School, which is dedicated to beloved long-time educator and founding principal, Pamela Mari.

Alain Contreras, the DJUSD facilities project manager, discussed plans for new pathways to be added to the Career Technical Education (CTE) center, which included transportation, agriculture and engineering for Davis Senior High School. These projects are set to be completed by February 2024.

As for the city, Assistant City Manager Kelly Stachowicz updated the committee on several ongoing projects, the largest being crossing improvements on Tulip and Ponteverde. These changes include

newly-added midblock crossing zones, flashing beacons for visibility and new striping and speed bumps, which should slow down vehicles as they approach the intersection.

Following construction updates, the meeting proceeded to the second discussion item, housing. Best first addressed this item by introducing the concept of workforce housing. DJUSD Trustee Joe DiNunzio followed up and discussed the importance of the district undergoing a project of this nature.

“This is something we’ve looked at historically, even in just the four years that I’ve been on the board,” DiNunzio said. “Districts that have tried to do it, there have been some struggles. I am eager to get an expert on board to help us with this. At the end, it has a real opportunity to provide housing for our workforce and in a way that especially teachers that are earlier in their careers or other educators may not be able to access.”

During the prior school board meeting on Nov. 3, teachers, parents and other community members emphasized that housing for educators within the city was one of the biggest challenges that the DJUSD was facing. Workforce housing is being presented by the DJUSD as a potential solution to this issue.

“This is rapidly becoming a community issue,” Adams said while

recounting a recent high school classroom visit during which students were asked to propose solutions to community issues. According to Adams, many of the students he spoke with believed housing was a large issue for the city.

Council member Josh Chapman also commented on the concern for affordable housing in Davis, claiming that there are members of the public safety staff in Davis who do not live within the community because of the cost of living. Chapman explained that the city is looking into available properties and discussing potential routes a project like this could take.

“It’s great to hear that those discussions are happening,” Chapman said. “[It’s important] for us to step back and look at properties that we own and the ways that we can create affordable housing options for folks in our community. It’s one of the ways that we, as two separate bodies that govern separately and have totally different interests, can work together on this issue.”

No official plans have been proposed in terms of workforce housing; however, there are no current objections to the onboarding of an expert to assist in the design and planning of a potential housing project.

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS

HOUSING JUSTICE

AUTHOR LEAH ROTHSTEIN

BY JACQUELYN OPALACH city@theaggie.org

On Nov. 17, members of the Davis community gathered at Congregation Bet Haverim for “Redlined,” a talk by Leah Rothstein, whose upcoming book “Just Action” outlines how local communities can create inclusive housing and undo decades of government-instituted racial neighborhood segregation.

With a background in housing policy, Rothstein co-authored the book with her dad, Richard Rothstein, whose 2017 book “The Color of Law” explains how intentional racial segregation developed in the United States. Rothstein said that following the publication of her father’s book, acceptance of de facto segregation has declined. But what can be done about it? “Just Action” attempts to answer that question.

“We argue that what we’ll need [...] is to build a new activated civil rights movement that takes on segregation that begins locally in our own communities,” Rothstein said. “We understand that to get the change we want to see, we’ll need federal policy change eventually, but we also understand that there isn’t the political will on the federal level right now for the massive interventions and investments needed to really change this system.”

Rothstein talked about how her book describes two distinct ways for people to help, place-based and

“[Mobility strategies] are concerned with opening up exclusive, expensive white neighborhoods to diverse residents through strategies like zoning reforms,” Rothstein said.

In Davis, steps have been made to push efforts like these forward.

“The

Interfaith

“Interfaith

Leah Rothstein’s visit came a few days into the strike authorized by unions representing 48,000 academic workers across the University of

California, who are demanding fair compensation and cost-of-living adjustments. Davis Mayor Lucas Frerichs, who was in attendance at the “Redlined” event, addressed the strike, noting the high cost of living in Davis and other UC towns and encouraging the community to support the strikers.

“This also plays into the exact issues why we’re seeing, you know, in part, the grad students striking on campus right now,” Frerichs said. “I’ll be there tomorrow in solidarity on the picket lines with the students. [...] I urge you, anyone who is inclined, to come on out and be with the students, the grad students, who are on strike, and all those who are there in solidarity with them.”

Rothstein wanted those in attendance to take action against the housing crisis and racial segregation. Rothstein encouraged those in attendance not to be overwhelmed and talked about how communities can start to address redlining.

“I’m hoping if you take anything away from this, it’s that there’s not nothing we can do about this,” Rothstein said. “There might not be one big fix-it strategy for every community to take that will suddenly integrate and make all of our communities equitable and fair. But there are a lot of small things we can do along the way that will add up and will really make a difference.”

MIRANDA

Leah Rothstein shares how local

League of Women Voters Davis along with the city host a conversation discussing the housing crisis at the Congregation Bet Haverim. (Isabella Smithsuvan / Aggie)

mobility strategies. Place-based strategies include anti-displacement efforts, inclusionary zoning policies and the creation of land trusts. Rothstein talked about the efforts of mobility strategies.

The free event generated $3,000 in donations that will go toward a local housing trust fund. In 2018, Richard Rothstein visited Davis to talk about

Color of Law,” which inspired the creation of Interfaith Housing Justice Davis, an organization that hosted the Nov. 17 event in partnership with the League of Women Voters Davis Area.

Housing Justice meets monthly to develop stances on affordable housing advocacy issues for circulation to local media and the

Davis City Council. Ellen Kolarik, a founding member of the group, talked about their advocacy.

Housing Justice was born, a loose alliance of members of faith groups in Davis who recognized that affordable housing is essential to our community’s well-being,” Kolarik said.

AN INTERNATIONAL STUDY CONDUCTED BY UC DAVIS, OTHER RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS SHEDS LIGHT ON GENETIC HISTORY OF EELGRASS

provided further insight into the migration of eelgrass.

“The ancient legacy of this Pleistocene migration and bottleneck of eelgrass [or decrease in its population size] into the Atlantic has had consequences for the structure of the ecosystem 10,000 years later,” Duffy said.

The researchers were concerned about this sudden disappearance of eelgrass and its health. Therefore, they created a global network called Zostera Experimental Network, or ZEN, which comes from the eelgrass’ scientific name Zostera Marina. With this network, the researchers hoped to unite scientists worldwide who study eelgrass to develop a clearer global picture of the species’ health.

Studying the eelgrass community at 50 different sites across the Atlantic and Pacific, the researchers conducted 20 sample plots per site and came up with 1,000 total eelgrass plots to make inferences. The team collected data including the species’ sizes and the nutrition available to them.

The most common difference observed in the two regional species of eelgrass was a difference in height. The Pacific coast variant presented like an underwater forest that was three to six feet tall. On the other hand, the Atlantic species were more like meadows that rarely reached the height of three feet.

BY YASH RATHI science@theaggie.org

On Aug. 1, a new collaborative study between UC Davis and other research institutions was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS).

Researchers worked with a community of species called eelgrass, which is a marine plant at the bottom of many coastal food webs specifically found on the North Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

According to the study, eelgrass is commonly found in shallow water and in the tropical regions of Baja California, reaching as far as Alaska. This species not only provides food and shelter to marine organisms found in that area but also provides a plethora of services to humans, which include

absorbing carbon from the water, protecting coastlines from storms and reducing harmful bacteria in the oceans.

“Here, we explore how the growth form and associated community of the coastal foundation species eelgrass (Zostera marina) are shaped by current environmental conditions and a complex history of evolution and dispersal,” the study reads. “Eelgrass inhabits shallow marine waters across the Northern Hemisphere, from warm temperate regions to the Arctic in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.”

However, researchers have seen a sudden disappearance of eelgrass from many areas due to the rising temperatures in oceans. A very recent example is seen in Portugal’s southern region, where the eelgrass is moving toward the north to colder water. The Atlantic species has less genetic diversity

than the Pacific species, which makes it more difficult to adapt to this sudden change in the temperature of the water.

Jay Stachowicz, Ph.D. is a coauthor on the study and a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis. He highlighted the importance of the diversity that is evidently lost in the Atlantic species.

“Diversity is like having different tools in your tool belt,” Stachowicz said. “And if all you’ve got is a hammer, you can put in nails, but that’s about it. But if you have a full complement of tools, each tool can be used to do different jobs more efficiently.”

Through analysis of genetic data, Stachowicz and his collaborators discovered eelgrass’s ancient genetic history, which helped them to determine its size, placement, structure and potential organisms that lived among

them in the past. Specifically, the genetic data pointed out how eelgrass survived multiple periods of climate change.

About half a million years ago, eelgrass started its journey to the Atlantic from the Pacific. However, not even half of the organisms could make it to the Atlantic. Further, due to the Pleistocene Epoch, a time during which multiple ice ages occurred, not even 20% of the plant species survived.

The surviving eelgrass population found in that region has some signatures left in its DNA due to this long-lasting struggle during its migration. One of these differences is a vivid genetic difference in the grasses in the Pacific and Atlantic, according to researchers.

Emmett Duffy, Ph.D., who is the lead author of the study and a marine biologist from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center,

Further, while only genetics played a very important role in the Pacific species’ survival and growth, the Atlantic species’ was influenced by both environmental and genetic factors.

Jeanine Olsen, Ph.D., is a co-author on the study and an emeritus professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. She talked about the sudden decrease in eelgrass population from rising pollution over the past decade.

“I don’t think that we’re going to lose [eelgrass] in the sense of an extinction,” Olsen said. “It’s not going to be like that. It’s got lots of tricks up its sleeve. Climate warming by itself is probably not the primary threat to eelgrass. Pollution from cities and farms, which can cloud the water and lead to harmful algal blooms, also endangers seagrasses. That said, the vast array of environments eelgrass can survive in testifies to its hardiness.”

NEW PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN UC DAVIS, BARNSTORM FOUNDRY AIMS TO DISCOVER INNOVATIVE FOOD TECHNOLOGY MARKETS, ENHANCE FOOD ACCESS AND SUSTAINABILITY

UC Davis graduate students help identify markets for sustainable and healthful foods into the future

BY LILLY ACKERMAN science@theaggie.org

A new partnership between UC Davis’s Graduate School of Management, the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health and venture capital firm Barnstorm Foundry has been formed to identify market spaces for new food products and ingredients that can support a growing world.

Barnstorm Foundry is a venture firm headed by managing partner Aryeh Ganz, a UC Davis alum, that combines entrepreneurship and science. The firm is trying to identify new market spaces with the help of UC Davis’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) students.

The market spaces this partnership is looking to emphasize improved nutrition in food products, find ways to adapt ingredients for a changing

climate and increase food access for those in need, according to Dean of the Graduate School of Management (GSM) H. Rao Unnava. Solutions like these are becoming more crucial with continued human population growth.

“With the climate changes, with the population growth, with sustainability issues, with water shortages, all these things put together, [in the future] we may not be eating like we are eating today,” Unnava said. “The same vegetables [will not] grow. We cannot continue to eat meat in the quantity that we are eating [it today].”

Unnava gave an example of this type of innovation: a savory snack currently being worked on that would cost about as much as a bag of potato chips. Unlike potato chips, this snack has much less sodium and much more dietary fiber and protein, making it an inexpensive and sustainable — but still nutritious — option.

Not only is the program a major

step in innovation for increased food security in the future, but it also gives the UC Davis MBA program a unique emphasis on food and agriculture science, setting it apart from other programs. According to Unnava, the GSM has been aiming to incorporate these specific elements for several years to highlight UC Davis’s strengths.

“We have been working on the concept of the MBA program that we have representing UC Davis somehow,” Unnava said. “Is it just one more MBA, or is there something about UC Davis that we can reflect in our MBA program?”

Lucas Haskins, an MBA student at the GSM and one of the members of the first cohort of graduate students to join this market research program, chose UC Davis for his MBA because of its opportunities in food and agriculture. He blogged about his experience working under this new partnership, in which he worked on white papers,

or reports to inform and guide readers, identifying market spaces for new food products.

“The collaboration has opened the opportunity for UC Davis MBA students to critically evaluate several macro-food-industry trends and publish a series of white papers on the market potential within each of them—with the ultimate goal of launching new food products,” Haskins wrote in his blog. “It’s just one of the many extracurriculars and elective courses

that are part of the GSM’s Food & Ag Industry Immersion experience.”

Ultimately, this collaboration aims to enhance UC Davis’s MBA program and the university’s potential for innovation in food tech, especially in areas of high need, like sustainability, affordability and nutrition. According to Haskins’ blog, graduate students have already worked on white papers for plant-based milk and ketogenic diet markets, with more to come as the program grows.

The health of eelgrass communities, a marine plant forest

in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, are of

concern due to the changing global climate

KELLIE LU / AGGIE

UC DAVIS RALLIES BACK TO DEFEAT SACRAMENTO STATE

Elijah Pepper and Christian Anigwe combine for 46 points in an impressive performance

BY GABRIEL CARABALLO sports@theaggie.org

The Causeway Cup is a yearly rivalry game between the UC Davis Aggies and Sacramento State Hornets basketball teams. In men’s basketball, Sacramento State holds the lead in overall victories, 8-6. This year, UC Davis hosted Sacramento State at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Nov. 22. After a competitive match, UC Davis cut Sacramento State’s overall lead to one game.

The referee tossed the ball in the center of the Sacramento Kings’ crowned-purple logo and the Hornets claimed the tip-off. With one pass from Hornets fourth-year center Callum McRae, fourth-year guard Zach Chappell took the first shot of the game. Chappell hit a long three-pointer and gave Sacramento State an early 3-0 lead. He would go on to lead the Hornets in scoring with 19 points by the end of the game.

Shortly after Chappell’s three, on defense, the Aggies caused a shot-clock turnover. Then, third-year guard Elijah Pepper drove down the court, pulled up from mid-range and hit a shot for the Aggies’ first bucket of the game.

As each team swapped shot for shot, the Hornets took control of the first half. The Hornets quickly started to expand their lead, with second-year guard Austin Patterson hitting a second three-pointer with about 13 minutes left in the half, putting the Hornets up 15-11. Then, after a missed layup for the Aggies, the Hornets hit another three to go up 18-11. This was their fourth in six attempts from beyond the arc, in part due to UC Davis’s lackadaisical perimeter defense, and an onslaught from deep by Sacramento State was the result.

The Hornets shot 70% from threepoint range, backed by precise shooting from Patterson, who shot 4-4 from beyond the line in the first half, and third-year forward Akol Mawein, who tallied 11 points. With three minutes left in the half, 39-27, UC Davis took charge.

Following an emphatic offensive

rebound by the fourth-year forward, Christian Anigwe laid the ball in for his 13th point. The Aggies started to chip away at the Hornets’ lead, drawing fouls to get to the free-throw line twice before the end of the half. By halftime, Sacramento State’s lead was cut to seven points at 40-33.

Anigwe led both teams in points in the first half with 13 and helped the Aggies stay in contention. Meanwhile, Patterson led Sacramento State with 12 points. The Hornets shot 52% from the field, while the Aggies shot 40%.

But when the second half started, the Aggies looked like a new team.

Pepper carried over the momentum from the end of the first half and hit an incredulous three-point shot. However, Sacramento State kept drawing fouls and getting easy buckets in the paint. A few minutes into the second half, UC Davis found themselves back down by double digits.

With 14 minutes left in the game, the Aggies changed their game plan.

UC Davis Head Coach Jim Les decided to pull out the full-court press, which caused a five-turnover stretch for the Hornets.

“It ramped up our intensity and aggressiveness and shortened the clock for them,” Les said.

With chemistry developed over the past three years, Pepper and Anigwe began to play “two-on-two,” as Les would say.

The pair used a seemingly unstoppable pick-and-roll to score two straight buckets and cut the lead to six. Then, the team went on a seven-point run. Third-year guard Kane Milling scored five of those points and hit the go-ahead three to give UC Davis their first lead of the game at 54-53.

Sacramento State reclaimed the lead with foul shots and a lay-up from McRae to go up 56-57 but Milling would answer back with another deep three-pointer, which gave the Aggies a 59-57 lead.

FOOTBALL DESPITE SLOW START, UC DAVIS FOOTBALL FINISHES SEASON WITH WINNING RECORD

The Aggies miss the playoffs in the final game of the season against Sacramento State

FOOTBALL

BIGGEST SURPRISES OF THE 2022 NFL SEASON SO FAR

Upsets, injuries and bad starts through 11 weeks of the regular season

BY PATRICK FIGUEROA sports@theaggie.org

While the 2022 NFL season has been as expected in some ways, like the Kansas City Chiefs being one of the best teams in the AFC, there have been many other things that fans likely did not expect. In fact, the 2022 NFL season has arguably had more surprises than previous seasons.

Two anticipated NFC contenders likely to miss the playoffs

One of the most surprising revelations during this season is that the Green Bay Packers and Los Angeles Rams are having unsuccessful seasons so far.

of the best teams in their conference during the 2022 season. However, through 11 weeks, the Packers currently have four wins and seven losses. Football Outsiders projects them to have a 8.6% chance of making the playoffs. The 2022 season has definitely been a disappointment for reigning back-toback MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.

Many surprising teams likely to make the playoffs

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org

Before the season started in a media press conference, UC Davis Head Coach Dan Hawkins claimed that this was the best football team in Aggie history.

With that statement, all eyes were on UC Davis as they faced Cal in the season opener in Berkeley. Hawkins’ team looked promising in the game’s opening minutes, with the offense marching down the field to score a touchdown. It wasn’t just the offense that looked good though; Aggie defense took to the field, almost immediately stopping the Berkeley offense with an interception. Despite leading 7-0 in the first quarter, Cal beat UC Davis 34-13 in the contest.

Then, the Aggies traveled to Brookings, South Dakota to face South Dakota State. UC Davis got off to a slow start and trailed the Jackrabbits 1710 heading into the fourth quarter. The Aggies’ second-year quarterback Miles

Hastings was throwing dimes, including a 68-yard pass to second-year running back Lan Larison. UC Davis outscored the Jackrabbits in the fourth quarter 12-7 but ultimately fell short (22-24) as the clock expired. A strong performance against a team that makes the postseason year in and year out proved that the Aggies had a strong unit, but the team’s record fell further to 0-2.

In game No. 3, UC Davis claimed their first victory of the season. The Aggies played their first game at home against UC San Diego (UCSD) and gave the home crowd something to cheer about, beating UCSD 43-13. The win provided relief as the Aggies prepared to begin their Big Sky Conference schedule.

UC Davis then hosted Weber State. The Wildcats reached the 2022 FCS postseason and defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in the first round in a close game that came

down to the final play. The Aggies’ offense struggled against the Wildcats’ defense, which held UC Davis without a touchdown until the third quarter, in which Hastings attempted to go for a failed two-point conversion. Despite this, UC Davis still had an opportunity to win the game in the final drive on Weber State’s 15-yard line; however, the defense held up and Hastings failed to throw the winning pass into the endzone. The Aggies fell to 1-3; those three losses were against a Pac-12 team and two teams in the FCS who are top contenders.

With one of the most difficult scheduled opponents in the FCS, things didn’t get easier for the Aggies. The Montana State Bobcats, their next opponents, were 4-1 before they played UC Davis.

Last season, the Rams won Super Bowl 56 after a good regular season in which they had 12 wins and five losses. This season, the Rams currently have three wins and seven losses through 11 weeks. Football Outsiders projects the Rams to have a 1% chance of making the playoffs this year. For believers of the Super Bowl hangover — a curse that says that teams who appear in the Super Bowl will have an unsuccessful following season — the Rams serve as confirmation.

Meanwhile, the Packers had the best record during the 2021 NFL season, with 13 wins and four losses. Despite losing in the divisional round of the 2021 playoffs and trading away star wide receiver Davante Adams, the Packers were still expected to be one

There are also teams exceeding their preseason expectations and are likely to make the playoffs in their respective conferences. These teams include the Seattle Seahawks, Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans.

The Seahawks were expected to be one of the worst teams coming into the 2022 NFL season. However, they have six wins and four losses through 11 weeks, giving them a 85.4% chance of making the playoffs, according to Football Outsiders. A large reason for their success has been quarterback Geno Smith’s performance. Despite being a backup for most of his career, Smith has thrown for 2,472 yards, 17 touchdowns and only four interceptions, putting his name into the MVP and Comeback Player of the Year conversations.

Elijah Pepper attempts a lay up against Sacramento State for the Causeway Cup at the Golden 1 Center. (Alexis Perez / Aggie)

Aggie Ty Johnson helps defeat Sacramento State at the Golden 1 Center. (Claire Diepenbrock / Aggie)

Christian Anigwe takes a shot against Sacramento State for the Causeway Cup at the Golden 1 Center. (Alexis Perez / Aggie)

The Aggies finish off their 2022 football season. (Kayla Bruckman / Aggie)