February 17, 2022

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UC DAVIS LAUNCHES LECTURE CAPTURE STUDENT ASSISTANT PROGRAM The program allows students to record in-person lectures for those who cannot attend class

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VOLUME 140, ISSUE 17 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

SB #46, #47, #49 PASS UNANIMOUSLY AT FEB. 10 ASUCD SENATE MEETING Senators debated SB #47 and SB #49 which proposed establishing and funding a committee to provide vouchers for community needs

AGGIE FILE

BY CAROLINE VAN ZANT campus@theaggie.org

Lecture hall at UC Davis, photographed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lecturers can request lecture capture assistants. (Aggie File)

BY ISABELLA KRZESNIAK campus@theaggie.org In response to requests from students and faculty, several units of the campus administration are working to implement the Lecture Capture Student Assistant (LCSA) program, which hires student employees to record lectures for instructors. The program was first briefly mentioned in Chancellor Gary May’s email to students about returning to in-person instruction on Jan. 24. Onehundred-seventy lecturers have requested lecture capture assistants, and an employment survey has been sent to over 13,000 students, as of Feb. 1.

Fourth-year animal biology major Kimberly Aguirre applied for the job after seeing a survey for one of her classes.

“I wanted to do it because I thought it would be a good way to make a little more money,” Aguirre said. “I’m going to be starting grad school in the fall, so I won’t be able to work as much as I am able to right now.”

Students are expected to attend class, record lectures and upload their recordings at an hourly rate of $15.25.

Gabriela Tsudik, the chair of the Academic Affairs Commission, feels that implementing the program is a critical action item for ASUCD. “If professors catch [COVID-19 or] students miss class […] and there’s no option for lecture recording, that can be up to two weeks of them not having access to lectures,” Tsudik said. “It’s definitely going to be a problem.”

Tsudik discussed lecture capture with the Academic Senate.

“Basically, we’re under-resourced, and we can’t require professors to record lectures even if they do have lecture capture available in the classroom,” Tsudik said.

After completing a short training course, students can start working. Since Aguirre applied, she said she has received little information on the work she will be doing.

“They were lagging a bit in getting back to us in terms of when onboarding was going to start and what to expect,” Aguirre said.

“The expectations are a bit vague in general, which I didn’t really like.”

Physics professor Erfan Nourbakhsh opted in to the program but has yet to work with any student assistants to record lectures.

“I actually started recording everything myself because I didn’t have access to that program,” Nourbakhsh said. “Someone who can take care of this separately would be very helpful.”

According to Jason Stewart, the assistant director of Budget and Institutional Analysis for UC Davis, LCSA has been a collaborative effort.

“Many people in multiple offices are working as quickly as possible to get this new program up and running,” Stewart said.

Tsudik said she believes that, ideally, lecture capture would be mandatory for all instructors.

“I think [...] the general student population does wish it was required,” Tsudik said. “Obviously it’s not feasible if lecture capture is not available, [or] professors catch [COVID-19], it’s going to be difficult. I think students are realizing this is a big issue.”

Internal Vice President Juliana Martinez Hernandez called the meeting to order at 6:18 p.m. Following roll call, she recited the UC Davis Land Acknowledgement.

Four members of various ASUCD commissions were randomly selected for service on the Elections Committee.

Vice Chancellor of Finance, Operations and Administration Kelly Ratliff presented an overview of UC Davis’ budget and income. Her presentation was followed by a debate about whether students should have more say in the campus budget.

“From buildings, to infrastructure, whatever you want to say […] every single dollar affects us,” Senator Sergio Bocardo-Aguilar said.

Next, the STEM Committee provided its quarterly report, focusing on transparency in grade curving.

“We are working on a resolution to address the toxic environment created by curving,” Committee Co-Chair Aaron Wright said.

Omar Flores was confirmed as the chairperson of the DREAM Committee. Flores is a fourth-year political science major with experience working with on-campus organizations such as La Familia. Alice Deloise Atiegar, a fourth-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, was confirmed as a member of the DREAM Committee.

Following a short break, the Entertainment Council presented its quarterly report, focusing on adapting to COVID-19 with outdoor events and its goals regarding advertising and investment in new equipment.

Each official gave an overview of the work they did over the past week during elected officer and ex-officio reports.

During Public Announcements, Jackson Gould, the CALPIRG pledge captain, spoke about the organization’s campaign to end plastic use and its goal to get 1,000 signatures on its petition by the end of the week. International Student Representative Keven Zhou announced the Global Learning Conference on April 2.

Next, the table moved into Public Discussion. ASUCD President Ryan Manriquez brought up the news that Yolo Country plans to end its mask mandate on Feb. 15. While no legislation was passed, senators were in agreement that UC Davis must keep its mandate in place until positivity rates decrease. Senator Celeste Palmer argued for a more stringent mask mandate.

“If you want to have a truly effective mask mandate you need to start insisting on either surgical masks or N95s,” Palmer said.

SENATE on 9

UC DAVIS PROGRAM FOR STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES COMPLETES FIRST QUARTER The Redwood SEED (Supported Education to Elevate Diversity) Scholars Program, launched in the fall of 2021, is a four-year inclusive college program for students with intellectual disabilities

BY KAYA DO-KHANH campus@theaggie.org The UC Davis Redwood SEED (Supported Education to Elevate Diversity) Scholars Program is the first four-year inclusive college program with a residential area for students with intellectual disabilities in California. Beth Foraker, an instructor for the School of Education, and Leonard Abbeduto, the director of the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (MIND) Institute, are co-directors of the program. “[The purpose of the program is] to provide a full college experience that leads to competitive integrated employment for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” Abbeduto said via email. “This is important since so few people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have the opportunity for post-secondary education and the personal growth that it promotes and few end up with jobs that pay a living wage and are in inclusive environments.”

Since the 1960s, there have been programs for students with intellectual disabilities from preschool through 12th grade in the Davis area, according to Foraker. The addition of the Redwood SEED Scholars Program makes Davis the first city in the state with preschool to four-year college inclusion.

“We have data from other places, and we know that if you finish our program, a four-year program, you have between a 65-80% chance of getting a living wage at graduation,” Foraker said. “We know that building these skills — independent living, employment skills, communication skills and academic skills — will launch them into a real chance at living in their community on their terms and having a job that pays them enough to pursue their hopes and dreams.”

The program welcomed their first group of 12 students in the fall of 2021. Nine of these students continued with the program for the year and engaged in on-campus dormitory living, college courses, social activities and internship opportunities.

“We had 23 that we thought would be a good fit for our program, and of those 23, two-thirds of those people had never even spent one night away from home,” Foraker said. “The nine were very successful, and they grew so much. Their emotional growth, communication skills, ability to deal with complex problems and sticking with the classes that they were taking — all of it has been really beautiful.”

This year, the students are taking their first college course, NUT 10: Discoveries and Concepts in Nutrition, which is a popular course among UC Davis students.

“It is amazing the ripple effect it has, not only for our scholars

AMY YU / AGGIE

and their mentors, but for typical UC Davis students all around who are getting to see, ‘Oh, look, there’s somebody here that looks a little different from me, but they are part of this campus community.’ That is a very important aspect,” Sarah Barnes, the program’s academic director, said.

The Redwood SEED Scholars Program has access to mentors who assist the students with residential living, academics, health and wellness and social inclusion. There are a total of 50 mentors, and a majority of them are volunteers.

“What happens when you make it a volunteer position is you get people who are very interested in this,” Foraker said. “They just really care about this effort, and it becomes an effort of the heart instead of an effort of the checkbook.”

The SEED Scholars Program is facilitated by campus-wide collaboration and support. UC Davis Continuing and Professional

Education has aided in the creation and management of the program, UC Davis Health has helped in finding internships for the SEED scholars and the MIND Institute has shared its research and skill sets to launch the program.

“I think the program is rather unique nationally because it is embedded in a campus-wide unit — the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion — rather than being the responsibility of a single college or school or center,” Abbeduto said.

Abbeduto expressed hopes of expansion and increased exposure for the future of the program.

“The program will expand in terms of [the] number of students [that will] interact with, get to know, and learn from the SEED scholars,” Abbeduto said. “I also want the program to serve as a model for the other UC campuses and we look forward to working with other campuses to create their programs.”

2 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

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STUDENTS USING CHEGG SPARKS DISCUSSION WITHIN THE COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT Computer science faculty have expressed irritation about students using Chegg and other related sites to cheat on coding homework and exams

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

BY JENNIFER MA campus@theaggie.org With the shift to online learning during the pandemic, hundreds of reports of academic dishonesty have been made by faculty to the Office of Student Support and Judicial Affairs (OSSJA) each quarter, according to director of OSSJA Stacy Vander Velde.

Although academic misconduct occurs in

every major and department, the computer science faculty have stated that they have been especially irritated by instances of cheating and have had intense discussions about homeworkhelp websites.

“Being computer science, I think we find more of [academic misconduct],” Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science Christopher Nitta said. “I don’t think that we’re necessarily worse than any of the other disciplines but just I think we have better tools

of detecting it.”

According to most faculty in the Department of Computer Science and Vander Velde, this academic dishonesty does not only stem from the switch to virtual instruction. Vander Velde said that there are a variety of reasons that students engage in academic misconduct.

“Some of these reasons include pressure (selfimposed or from others) to get a good grade, fear of failing, poor time management, and misunderstanding about types of actions that

constitute academic misconduct,” Vander Velde said via email. “Additionally, they may struggle to understand the course material and think it’s unlikely that they’ll get caught. Students often tell us how hard they worked to understand the material and they just couldn’t get it.”

Chegg, an online academic help company worth $12 billion, is a commonly used site to cheat, particularly for science and math courses.

Computer science instructor Dale Fletter explained specifically the takedown process for questions on Chegg.

“I take down one [question and answer]; a student searches for the question,” Fletter said.

“They don’t find it. They submit it and ask for an answer and then within 24 hours, another answer is up. So you see that it’s a whack-a-mole problem.”

However, Chegg refutes the idea of the company being a mass-spreader of cheating.

“We take any attempts to misuse our platform extremely seriously, and we also cooperate fully with official university investigations into allegations of cheating,” a Chegg spokesperson said via email. “We also launched Honor Shield which allows professors to confidentially, and without charge, pre-submit exam or test questions, preventing them from being answered on the Chegg platform during a time-specified exam period.”

Instead of cheating on homework and exams, Matthew Butner, a continuing lecturer in computer science, encourages reaching out to instructors for assistance.

“As your instructors, we want to see you succeed; we want to see you learn,” Butner said.

“And it is very frustrating when we put all the effort to try to teach you and you decide for whatever reason to still cheat because it’s not benefiting you, even if it makes your GPA higher.

When you’re struggling as a student, the priority is kind of on you to reach out for help if you need it. Because if you do it early, we have a lot more tools at our disposal to assist you.”

JOE BIKES BECOMING PREVALENT AROUND CAMPUS Subscription bike service provides alternate method of transportation for Davis students and community members

BY RACHEL SHEY city@theaggie.org Green and white Joe Bikes are becoming an increasingly common sight around campus, but some wonder if they are a good option for UC Davis students looking to start biking around campus. Joe Bike founder Jesper Wahlberg said that Joe Bikes are a unique new subscription service.

“Joe Bike, a first in North America, is launching a Bike Subscription Service,” Wahlberg said via email. “For $24 a month students can subscribe to our service and get their very own bike 24:7.”

In a press release, Wahlberg mentioned that he founded the company to fill a hole he saw among college students in the bike market.

“The commuter bike is having a moment in the US and we felt the time was now to launch a similar service, primarily targeting university students, in the US,” the press release reads.

After visiting college campuses across the U.S. and talking to students, founders of the company learned that “bike repairs and theft is a real hassle” and “a reason many students opt not to have a bike,” according to the press release.

“By removing those two barriers and providing a service at a great value, we think we have created a really compelling mobility solution for students,” the press release reads.

Bike Campaign and Bike Garage Founder Maria Contreras Tebbutt supports the idea of buying your own bike. The Bike Campaign has the goal of decreasing the number of car trips and encouraging more people to ride bikes. She suggested that Joe Bike was actually more work than owning a used bicycle and taking it to be repaired yourself.

“Let’s say you’ve got a flat tire and you now have to arrange for someone to come and fix your flat tire,” Tebbutt said. “The shop itself is only open 6 to 8 hours a week. It’s more complicated than owning your own bike. If you get a flat tire you can fix it yourself or take it over to a bike mechanic. You can change things on your bike, you can modify it to fit your life.”

While a usual bike repair costs a fee, Joe Bike repairs its bikes for free. They provide insurance in case the bike is stolen as well, according to Wahlberg.

“The Joe Bike service includes free repairs and theft replacement,” Wahlberg said. “That’s right. if a student get’s their Joe Bike stolen, Joe Bike replaces it at no cost.”

The terms of service on Joe Bike’s website state that if a police report is not produced in the case of a theft, Joe Bike will charge the subscriber a $600 fee. This fee is far more than the actual cost of the bike, but as long as the subscriber cares for the bike, it shouldn’t be difficult to avoid the fee.

“In the event of theft and a police report is not produced, Joe Bike reserves the right to charge you a one-time replacement charge of $600 USD; equivalent to the value of the Joe Bike,” the website reads.

The bikes are “upcycled,” Wahlberg stated.

Subscribers are provided a used bicycle, which will serve many students over its lifetime. This decreases the carbon footprint of the company and reduces the number of bikes which end up abandoned or in landfills.

Tebbutt doubted that Joe Bike would take away business from existing bike shops. The old “Jump Bicycles,” which could be picked up at any place where they were found and only needed an app to activate, may have had more of an impact. But Tebbutt noted that people who

Joe Bike Rental Store. (Quinn Spooner / Aggie) want to buy a bike generally won’t settle for a subscription service.

“Bike shops sell bikes, new bikes,” Tebbutt said. “It is not taking business away from a bike shop. I would say that when Davis had Jump bicycles, that had more of an impact. Joe Bikes are getting a segment of the market that wouldn’t buy a bike.”

Joe Bikes also have the potential to contribute to the problem with abandoned bikes that plagues Davis, Tebbutt said. The fees involved with abandoning the bike and not returning it

properly may further discourage the irresponsible practice.

“We’ve received calls from locations where bikes have been abandoned,” Tebbutt said.

“Somebody signed up for the service and maybe they left town for the holidays and didn’t come back. Wherever they left the bike, that bike is now sitting there, months later, rusting away.

Abandoned bikes, which are a problem in Davis, attract thieves. It looks bad, we don’t want them there.”

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THURSDAY, FEBURARY 17, 2022 | 3

POLAR PEDAL PROGRAM ENCOURAGES DAVIS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO WALK, BIKE Through the program, students can earn points toward adopting a polar bear for their school

Children test out bikes during the Davis Pedalfest on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2019 at Veterans Memorial Center Theater in Davis, Calif. The Davis Pedalfest is a film and bike celebration, where people can test out bikes, watch movies and listen to music. (Aggie File)

BY SHRADDHA JHINGAN city@theaggie.org On Jan. 28, the City of Davis announced in a news release that the Polar Pedal program organized each year by the Safe Routes to School program will be starting for 2022. Throughout the month of February, elementary school students in the Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) will be able to earn points for their school that will go towards adopting a polar bear by walking or biking to school.

The goal is ultimately to amass enough points to be able to adopt 20 polar bears. This will be done through Polar Bear International, an organization that helps protect polar bears. One polar bear will be adopted when 500 walking or biking trips are made. In total, the program is aiming to reach 10,000 trips by biking or walking in February.

Safe Routes to School Coordinator Daniela Tavares said that biking or walking reduces the amount of traffic near schools. In order to promote these efforts, there is a group of parents helping out.

“As the Safe Routes to School Coordinator I am fortunate to have an amazing group of Parent Volunteers at all 8 DJUSD Elementary schools that encourage and support students to walk/ bike/roll / even get dropped off a block away and walk to school [...], allowing the City of Davis to have less car congestion and traffic in front of each school in the morning,” Tavares said via email.

To participate in the program, students have to “scan in” upon reaching school using the Active4me program, which they can register for online. The program was developed and donated to schools in Davis by Tim Starback, a resident of the City of Davis, Tavares said.

Tavares also said that when students reach school and scan in, parents get notified on their devices that their students have

safely reached school. The scan can also keep track of mileage, trip quantity and carbon offsets.

“This program is active at each elementary school site and used to record rack counts at secondary schools,” Tavares said.

The program is a collaboration between various members and organizations in the local community: A Kaiser Permanente grant partly funded the initiative, Tim Starback developed Active4me and Tara Parker-Essig, who attended UC Davis, designed promotional items for the program such as stickers, pledges, banners and the goal chart for the program.

Parker-Essig explained that the designs for the program were inspired by sketches from Loretta Moore’s son. Moore is the Street Smarts/Safe Routes to School Program Coordinator for the City of Davis.

Parker-Essig said that the sketches from Moore’s son were incorporated into simplified designs that allow “a way to track students’ progress in adopting polar bears.”

Parker-Essig also used to be a bike mechanic, and thus there were accurate depictions of bikes in the designs, as well as reflective stickers.

Jeffrey Bruchez, the bicycle program coordinator in the Department of Transportation Services, said that there are various benefits to biking in Davis, such as the fact that the city is flat, only around six miles wide and dry for specific seasons.

“Davis is a wonderful place to bicycle for a multitude of reasons, but the single most influential reason is likely that the city (and campus too) was very clever with bike-forward policies which insured that the city was built to be incredibly friendly to bicycling (see the 1977 Bike Plan),” Bruchez said via email.

The main benefit, however, is being able to enjoy local environments and sceneries from a bike, which can only be matched by being a pedestrian, Bruchez said. Having a bike allows individuals to access nature and other sites that may not be accessible by motorized vehicles.

“A bike affords you access to the numerous greenbelts, quick

convenient transportation, and a vehicle which is impervious to road congestion,” Bruchez said. “Yes, we have bike traffic on campus, but on average the slow down you experience in bike congestion only changes the entire journey by seconds, not minutes or hours like you can be delayed in a car. From a car, or a bus, you can’t smell the flowers, watch the birds, and enjoy things like the Arboretum.”

The Polar Pedal program also helps reduce the amount of fossil fuels, Tavares said. By biking or walking instead of driving, students are doing their part to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“The link to polar bears is direct, because most vehicles burn fossil fuels, which create CO2,” Tavares said. “And the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the warmer the Earth will be. Students help by biking and speaking up for a bike friendly community.”

Bruchez said there is a course called CyclingSavvy on Canvas to get people used to biking alongside traffic. Bruchez also noted that many cyclists have been following the things that were taught in the education platform at Aggie Orientation, such as yielding to pedestrians and signaling. In addition to ensuring bikes are properly maintained, having working brakes (which the Bike Barn has been helping with) and locking up bikes correctly, Bruchez said it is important to get bikes registered. He said that registered bikes are more likely to be returned, and though thousands of bikes are stolen every year, only a few hundred are reported.

Ultimately, Tavares said that the Polar Pedal program received such positive recognition that it was showcased on Polar Bear International (PBI)’s website.

The idea for the program and resources were shared with Safe Routes to School partners in the area. North Natomas also created their own, inspired by the one in Davis, Tavares said.

“We are proud to continue to find innovative solutions to support student health and wellness goals, and to empower students and their families to support global environmental health and sustainability,” Tavares said.

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YOLO COUNTY SPONSORS WEEKLY VIRTUAL DISCUSSIONS, SCREENINGS OF DOCUMENTARY ‘THE COST OF DARKNESS’ HOSTED BY ACTIVIST SANDY HOLMAN Yolo County Library has hosted several events for Black History Month

The Mary L. Stephens Davis Library taken on Jan. 28. During Black History Month, the library hosts a virtual documentary showing and discussion. (Kayla Bruckman / Aggie)

BY LEVI GOLDSTEIN city@theaggie.org

During the month of February, which is Black History Month, Friends of the Davis Public Library, Yolo County Library and the Yolo County Health & Human Services Agency are jointly sponsoring a series of virtual discussions and viewings of ”The Cost of Darkness,” a documentary that reveals the depths of white supremacy and systemic racism in America. The series, hosted Wednesday evenings from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., was announced in a Yolo County press release published on Jan. 26.

“The Cost of Darkness” was created by the organization The Culture C.O.-O.P. to “envision strategies for interventions and impact from a holistic and systemic perspective,” according to their website.

The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s founder and host of the discussions, Sandy Holman, is an activist, educator and author. She also founded The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s sister organization, United in Unity.

Holman is faithful that “The Cost of Darkness” will play an important role in the fight for racial justice.

“The documentary is part of a paradigm for transforming individuals, communities, systems and beyond,” Holman said. “The goal is ultimately to create a mindshare among people so they understand root causes and historical happenings and structures that have built what we’re seeing today.”

The discussion series is serving as a training.

Employees of the Health & Human Services Agency and other organizations are receiving professional development credit for attending, according to Katrina Laws-Ewald, a Youth Services Librarian of the Mary L. Stephens Branch of the Yolo County Library. However, the series is open to the public as well, and Holman believes that it is valuable for all.

“When individuals are exposed to the true information and the root causes of what we’re experiencing in each of our institutions, they’re often more likely to come up with better interventions and strategies,” Holman said.

Holman intends for the film to be just one part of the education that The Culture C.O.-

O.P. provides and prepares citizens to advocate for systemic change.

“It may be tough, [...] but it’s the foundation of being able to be more strategic in our policy making, our interventions, our strategies,” Holman said.

Yolo County Library, eager to host these events, is fully invested in acting as a center for cultural education.

“I’m part of the Black History Month work group,” Laws-Ewald said. “The Black History Month group is basically creating content or activities or advertising to celebrate that heritage.”

The non-profit organization Friends of the Davis Public Library, one sponsor of the program, is also highly involved. According to their website, they “make substantial donations to the library [...] [to] ​ develop the Library’s book collection, encourage reading programs for children, and to promote the Library as a cultural center for the city of Davis.”

“It creates a unity within the community,” Rory Osborne, president of the organization, said. “It provides a place where people come together and have dialogue. [...] You have opportunities for kids to come together to learn

about things they have no experience in prior to that, and in doing so they integrate with other children from around the community.”

Funding for donations comes from regular book sales events and Logos Books, a non-profit bookstore in downtown Davis, according to Osborne.

The Yolo County Library also published a list of books with Black authors and stories representing Black youth, according to LawsEwald. The Library has chosen the book “We All Have A Heritage” written by Holman as this month’s Dial-A-Story reading. Families with young children can call (530) 298-9990 to listen to an audio recording of the story in Spanish, read by Ruby Buentello, the outreach and programming librarian, or in English, read

by Tessa Smith, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator with Yolo County.

Smith and Buentello both attend the discussion series as facilitators. Those who are interested in attending can find the Zoom links in the press release, on the Yolo County Library’s website or on The Culture C.O.-O.P.’s website.

DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH, THE AGGIE RECOGNIZES BLACK ALUMNI Tiana Williams discusses having a platform in filmmaking and uplifting communities of color

Tiana Williams, a 2020 graduate from UC Davis. The story is part of the features series for Black History Month. Williams told The California Aggie about her filmmaking career, integrating social activism and advice for people who don’t see themselves represented in the field they hope to go into yet. (Tiana Williams / Courtesy)

BY MAYA SHYDLOWSKI features@theaggie.org This article is the third in a four-part series in honor of Black History Month in which The California Aggie interviews a few of the many distinguished African American UC Davis alumni.

These alumni discuss their achievements, how they’re uplifting underrepresented communities and offer their wisdom to Davis students.

The first line of Tiana Williams’ short film “Alexis Brown: Taking the Knee,” which she produced as an undergraduate at UC Davis, features Aggie gymnast Alexis Brown saying, “I take a knee because I have the platform of gymnastics.” Williams explained that similarly, she has found that her platform — documentary production — allows her to highlight the struggles of underrepresented communities and has become a forum for her own social justice activism.

Williams graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with degrees in cinema and digital media (CDM) and African American and African (AAAS) studies. She is now pursuing a master’s degree in cinema and media studies at the University

of Southern California (USC) and works as an archival production assistant for Campfire Studios in Los Angeles.

Throughout her time at UC Davis, Williams pursued her interests in filmmaking and African American studies, and found that the two could be woven together. At Davis, Williams was part of the McNair Scholars Program, which supports undergraduates from typically underrepresented groups in their areas of study pursue research opportunities and apply to graduate schools. In the McNair Program, scholars produce a final research paper in their area of study; Williams’ focused on the history and current status of the prisoners’ rights movement. She said that while the movement, which began in the 1970s, led to some positive changes, it also produced more systemic repression that continues to impact the criminal justice and prison systems today.

While working on this research, Williams used her experience from working at KDVS, the student-run radio station at UC Davis, to conduct interviews and tell stories. She also volunteered at the Solano State Prison to get more acquainted with the community she was writing about, and ended up working with the Uncuffed project while conducting her research.

“I transitioned to having a connection

working in Solano State Prison in Vacaville, for a program called Uncuffed, which is a podcast made by men on the inside,” Williams said.

“Because of my experience in digital storytelling courses at UC Davis, it was a really good fit for me. I have experience working in different communities and asking questions like ‘What’s your story? How can we find your story?’”

Williams said that her McNair mentor, Jesse Drew, helped her get more comfortable applying for fellowships and grants for her research, and using different research methods, both of which have allowed her to elevate her filmmaking.

“I see myself as a filmmaker, and I also see myself as an archivist because of some of the work I was doing with Jesse Drew on this project about the prison movement,” Williams said. “[The project] dealt very heavily with unearthing and uncovering hidden histories within the archive, digitizing them, and getting [the stories] out as part of my research.”

Although she sees herself as a filmmaker today, Williams began college with the vision of pursuing journalism, which led her to the cinema and digital media major. After finding that major at Davis, Williams began taking a broader range of classes and discovered an interest in African American and African studies, which she said benefitted both her personally and in her work.

“I was also taking African American studies classes, and that was very integral to my time at UC Davis in terms of just having a sense of self,” Williams said. “I was in all these general education classes and these film classes where everyone didn’t necessarily look like me, but then I would go to the African American and African Studies Department and take classes, [and] it was really just heartwarming to be around so many people that looked like me, studying topics that were of interest to all of us and that related to all of us in a more experiential type of way.”

She took multiple interdisciplinary classes in the AAAS department in which she was able to use her film experience. In a course on digital storytelling, she said that she learned to look at the film production process differently — specifically keeping in mind how creating a film affects the community it centers. In a course called Black California, Williams learned about the Great Migration, which inspired her film about her own family’s history and experience in California.

Classes she took in the CDM department also inspired Williams to bring her interest in social justice into her work. In a documentary production class, Williams produced the short film on Alexis Brown, the UC Davis gymnast who knelt during the National Anthem in a statement against police brutality. She recalls being surprised to find that Brown received a lot of backlash for her choice to take a knee and

wanted to bring attention to Brown’s story and intention.

Williams said this piece was her favorite film to produce to date. She said that the hardest part was cutting all of the footage and information down to a 60-second film, but learning how to convey a story in under a minute helped her grow as a storyteller. “Alexis Brown: Taking the Knee” was accepted into the 2018 UC Davis Film Festival, which Williams said also helped her gain confidence in her abilities.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is something I care about, and I created it in a way that other people care about it as well,’” Williams said.

“From that, I was more grounded, affirmed and confident, knowing that I can make films about social justice issues and people will listen.”

Williams has had a very successful career thus far, but she said that in getting to this point, she has also experienced struggles that helped her grow. She remembers having a hard time balancing her busy schedule when she first got to college and finding her footing in her career. “[My dad said,] ‘You have to be so good that they can’t deny you,’” Williams said. “That translates to what a lot of other people of color have been told, which is that you just have to be twice as good.”

Williams thought about this during her time in the McNair Scholars Program, which she said was a lot of work on top of being a student. She said these words stuck with her through her time as an undergraduate, and that she continues to remind herself of the message today as she strives to make a place for herself — and others like herself — in film production.

“If I’m not there, it’s going to be twice as difficult for the person that’s a few years below me because they’re not going to hear about the struggles I went through,” Williams said. “They’re not going to see a face in that institution doing the type of work that I’m doing.”

When asked what advice she would give to students who have been typically underrepresented both in higher education and film production, Williams said to not be afraid to step into new spaces even if no one else there looks like you — you can be that stepping stone for someone else to feel comfortable stepping into that space too.

“You have to be thinking about who’s going to be here when you’re gone, and who’s going to be telling your story,” Williams said. “I try to constantly remind myself of that: [...I’m] here for a reason. It’s not just about you at the end of the day. I think ultimately that’s what Black History Month is about — that there’s so many people who have come before me, and if they stopped, I wouldn’t be here either.”

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 5

OPINION THE

C ALIFORNIA A GGIE

ED ITOR I A L B OA R D ANJINI VENUGOPAL Editor-in-Chief

WORRIED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE? WE ARE TOO. Make the environmentally friendly decisions you can, and don’t shame yourself or others for what is not feasible

MARGO ROSENBAUM Managing Editor SOPHIE DEWEES Campus News Editor MADELEINE PAYNE City News Editor EDEN WINNIFORD Opinion Editor KATIE DEBENEDETTI Features Editor ALLIE BAILEY Arts & Culture Editor OMAR NAVARRO Sports Editor MICHELLE WONG Science & Tech Editor

KATHLEEN QUINN New Media Manager BENJAMIN CHENG Photo Director KATHERINE FRANKS Design Director JOELLE TAHTA Layout Director ANNE THISELTON-DYER Copy Chief SABINE LLOYD Copy Chief DARSHAN SHIVAKUMAR Website Manager ANTHONY NGUYEN Social Media Manager JOSHUA GAZZANIGA Distribution Manager JENNA HEATH Marketing Manager JELENA LAPUZ Outreach Director LAURIE PEDERSON Business Development Manager

Davis has seen some pretty idyllic days in the past few weeks — it’s been perfect weather to go for a walk in the Arboretum, get some work done in the Kemper Courtyard or take a nap on the Quad. But for many, including the members of the Editorial Board, this unseasonable pleasantness has been accompanied by a consistently increasing anxiousness about what our future and the future of our planet will look like.

We see and react to information about climate change all the time. And our reactions are not limited to anxiety, according to a Pew Research Center survey from 2021. The survey indicated that social media users who are millennials or Gen Z are not only more likely to engage with content about climate change but are also more likely to express anger in addition to anxiousness. There was a higher percentage of both millennials and Gen Z motivated to learn than any of the three categories of older generations, but a higher percentage of people from younger generations are anxious about the future than are motivated to learn more about climate change issues.

The time has come (it in fact came a while ago) for there to be significant action at national and global levels. Despite COP26 being deemed the “last best hope for the world to get its act together” by the U.S.’ climate envoy, the climate conference frustrated many, including the Editorial Board. A Nature article even led with the headline, “‘COP26 hasn’t solved the problem’: scientists react to UN climate deal.”

With such news along with recent weather, a longer fire season in California and the heat waves and extreme floods last summer, it is no surprise that young people are anxious and angry about inaction. The climate change narrative has evolved in recent years to identify the culpability of corporations and large institutions, but we recall our elementary education focusing on individual action like “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

Nihilistic outlooks about climate change are on the rise — this isn’t surprising, according to climate writer Mary Annaïse Heglar, because individual actions can feel meaningless against the emissions from corporations. Living through COVID-19 hasn’t helped either; due to the pandemic, young people reported significant degrees of stress surrounding academic or career goals, dating and even “having fun.”

Climate change is scary, and we all have every right to be terrified. But along with that, we need to recognize that though systemic change is the only way to guarantee a livable future, there are actions we can take.

Individual actions such as minimizing meat consumption (even if it’s just on certain days), choosing public transit over driving and opting out of fast fashion can also help; some action is better than no action, and doing what you can within your means is an excellent starting point. These actions can also help people feel more in control through overwhelming circumstances, and that is not an insignificant benefit. Judging yourself and others harshly for not committing to impractical change, however, helps no one and is counterproductive to finding lasting solutions.

At this point, many of us are fully aware of the outsized role corporations play in emissions — we cannot and should not ignore that. That being said, it’s not just the individual versus the corporation. It seems like there’s a lot we can’t do, but for some peace of mind what we can do is help educate others about sustainable habits and support community efforts to foster an attitude of environmental consciousness. Experts recommend community support to help push for long-term solutions while allowing people to share the burden of climate-related despair.

Donating to local mutual aid organizations in the form of time or money, organizing within one’s community, attending marches for climate activism and participating in “Buy Nothing” groups (in which people exchange goods and services for free) are a few other ways to build and strengthen community while advocating for sorely needed change.

In processing the assorted emotions that come with climate change, it’s also important to consider how climate change disproportionately impacts (and will continue to disproportionately impact) those already facing socioeconomic inequalities. Organizations such as the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program exist to address harmful practices that exacerbate environmental injustice.

The idea of consumer-driven sustainability is inherently flawed, but where we can, we should try to make changes with regard to companies we support. Voters should make their voices heard at the ballot. There are ways for us to push for the institutional change the planet desperately needs.

As we make our way through these stressful times, it’s critical that we take care of ourselves and those around us — we can’t push for an upheaval of climate-destroying institutions if we are burnt out. The members of the Editorial Board are trying, and we encourage you to as well.

WRITTEN BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

THE PROBLEMS WITH LAST NAMES Why last names are outdated

BY ALEX MOTAWI almotawi@ucdavis.edu

to. While knowing a person’s roots is valuable, it’s dangerous to think just a last name offers the full story. Other than cultural roots, we use last names as a to identify each other in formal settings like school and work because they tend to be more varied than first names in the U.S. While this is helpful, many cultures manage identification by issuing numbers to people (Social Security Numbers, for example) rather than first and last names alone. In essence, last names in our society have devolved into more of an interesting distinction than something modern that reflect progressive values.

The largest reason behind last name conventions being obsolete in the U.S. is their inherently sexist nature. The traditional ideal of the wife choosing to adopt the last name of the husband and then naming the kids after the husband’s surname is something that wouldn’t be tolerated if it was first brought up today. The

practice is sexist by design, assuming that the male is the dominant person and better name in the household as well as the most important person in the family. Ideas like that just don’t fly today, with good reason, so why do we still follow this convention with last names? Not to mention that this surname “tradition” doesn’t leave room for same-sex marriage.

What use does the last name have as a cultural marker if it only represents one side of the family? Does U.S. society only care about the ancestors of one half of the couple?

Solving an issue like this is something that needs to be tackled by a multitude of educated experts and government policymakers. Changing the conventions of something that’s been entrenched in the U.S. since its founding is going to require some true ingenuity and an ability to engage the masses, but I feel that it’s necessary.

Equality with last names is something that’s

Last names first entered the limelight across many cultures thousands of years ago. Through the ages, they have developed to encompass most of the world and follow many different conventions. The evolution of last names as we get into the current age is fascinating, but as we look forward, adjustments need to happen CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE for them to fit the U.S.’s ever-changing society.

While last names tell us great amounts about the going to be spoken a lot about over the next few past, they are quickly becoming outdated and years — let’s be at the forefront. could soon be obsolete in their current form if Last names are a large part of U.S. society, we ignore their conventions. but not without some glaring issues that need to A quick glance at a last name can tell you a be addressed. If we want to carry the tradition lot about a person. Because of the U.S.’s cultural into the future, the concept is going to need diversity, along with last names often adhering to some modernization to keep up with changing the roots of a group of people, the last name can U.S. society. first indicate where a person’s ancestors trace back 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.

VIRTUAL REALITY ISN’T JUST FOR GAMING Virtual and augmented reality are the future of interacting with technology

BY OWEN RUDERMAN opruderman@ucdavis.edu

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

When many people think of virtual reality (VR), they think of someone with a toaster strapped to their head running into a wall or punching a hole in their television. For augmented reality (AR), it’s Pokémon GO. At first glance, it seems like VR and AR are just fun gimmicks — new ways to play video games that

will surely fade away. But that viewpoint couldn’t be farther from the truth.

In fact, before VR and AR entered the consciousness of the mainstream, it was already being used as early as the 1970s for things such as flight simulations and military training. Now, with the huge advancements to the technology in recent years, VR and AR’s list of potential uses is growing. For example, since 2017, impressive strides have been made in VR-enhanced mental health treatments.

I must admit, however, that the technology is still in its infancy. Despite efforts from Meta with the Oculus, when it comes to affordability and ease of use, VR headsets are still falling flat for the everyday consumer. Additionally, aside from Snapchat and Instagram filters, it seems like AR is a ways away from becoming useful. But once more advancements come, the potential for this technology is scarily limitless.

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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.

HUMOR

WHAT YOUR MAJOR SAYS ABOUT THE CRIMES YOU’LL COMMIT TO PAY OFF STUDENT LOANS Human rights minors, I’m watching you very carefully

BY ANNABEL MARSHALL almarshall@ucdavis.edu

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

• •

• • • •

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

• •

Animal Science: Animal gravedigging.

Applied Physics: First of all, what is applied physics? I apply physics every time I push someone on an electric skateboard into the street — no one has offered me a bachelor’s yet.

Art Studio: Forgery.

Art History: Historical forgery.

Atmospheric Science: Broadcast meteorologist who becomes drunk on fame and attacks an intern with a cloud-shaped prop live on television.

Biomedical Engineering: Scary robot crimes.

Chemistry: Illegal fireworks operations.

Cinema and Digital Media: Creative espionage.

• • • • • • • • •

Civil Engineering: Failure to apply erosion control on active construction sites.

Computer Science and Engineering: Who am I kidding? Congrats on financial security, bro.

Genetics and Genomics: “Jurassic Park” stuff. Jeff Goldblum was right.

Entomology: I don’t know, but I’m scared.

Environmental Horticulture and Urban Forestry: Illegally growing weed in your apartment.

Food Science: Cooking the books, fudging ​​ the numbers, etc.

French: Publicly annoying me via excessive use of vowels. G’et ooute ouf mye fàcé.

International Relations: World War III. Managerial Economics: Embezzlement.

• • • • • • • • • •

Marine and Coastal Science: Training dolphins to commit “Ocean’s Eleven”-style heists.

Pharmaceutical Chemistry: Drugs, duh.

Philosophy: Premeditated murder.

Political Science: Public corruption, but in a fun way.

Religious Studies: Starting a cult, which isn’t technically a crime, so good for you.

Psychology: Also starting a cult, but this one involves crime.

Theatre and Dance: Treason.

Undeclared: Credit card fraud, general.

Viticulture and Enology: Rebottling wine from Trader Joe’s and selling it for $900 a pop. Honestly, you did nothing wrong.

Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology: Oyster piracy.

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UNVEILING THE SCIENCE BEHIND RELATIONSHIPS, ROMANCE UC Davis professors explain the science behind romantic relationships in humans and other monogamous animal relationships

BY MONICA MANMADKAR science@theaggie.org With the weather warming up and spring on the horizon, stores are filled with candy hearts and life-sized teddy bears. On Feb. 10, UC Davis psychology professors Paul Eastwick and Karen Bales talked about the science behind falling for someone, both physically and emotionally, on UC Davis LIVE, an ongoing series showcasing the intersections between research and current events.

Eastwick runs the Attraction and Relationships Research Laboratory and studies romantic relationships and the psychology of commitment and long-term happiness.

Bales investigates the neurobiology of pairbonding and biparental care in prairie voles and titi monkeys, who commit to long-lasting monogamous relationships. She also leads the Neuroscience and Behavior Unit at the California National Primate Research Center.

Science plays an important role in determining the strongest predictors of the quality of a relationship, Eastwick explained.

Within a speed-dating study, it is easy to see who the popular people will be. However, as people get to know each other over time, apart from the initial attraction, the popularity begins to wear off.

“Popularity is like a drug, which matters less and less over time, as you begin to form a deeper connection with the other person,” Eastwick said. “Desirability changes over time and is based more on compatibility, so if you are a desirable person, then use your 15 minutes of fame to amaze that person.”

While addressing a question about whether there is a magic formula for long-term committed relationships, he said that all couples have to go

KELLIE LU / AGGIE through the same process to get to the stability that they want. Oftentimes, couples go through fights and disagreements to get to that desired endpoint and build that needed compatibility.

“There are average styles of conflicts or support that will be more likely in people who will be better fitted for a committed relationship than others; however, figuring out the structure of your relationship and daily life is what everyone needs to go through together,” Eastwick said.

When comparing humans’ successful relationships to titi monkeys, Bales found many analogues. For example, in relationship

models that were set up similar to a speed dating paradigm, animals who were given three choices versus none tended to interact better with their partner over time. This experiment helped the researchers look into certain variables that affect the relationship between the two monkeys. “[These experiments] allow us to look at the pair-bonds with controlled variables and allow us to bring in certain independent variables like changing hormones and other invasive procedures,” Bales said.

By looking at the differences between hormones and other variables, researchers like

Bales can better understand the influences of evolution on romantic relationships and look into why humans approach romance the way they do.

While addressing an audience question, Bales and Eastwick both explained how valid the ‘one true love’ concept is for both humans and animals. While Eastwick said that there is not one true love, Bales said that once a mammal has formed a pair-bond with another animal, it is unlikely that they’ll ever form that bond again.

“You may not hit it off with your one true love at a certain time in your life versus another time,” Eastwick said. “[You need to] take into consideration the situational factors that help you build a good relationship.”

Eastwick also described the idea of settling in romantic relationships. He said that most people stop looking when they are captivated by their significant other. They begin to degrade the alternatives and, although to other people it may seem like settling, it doesn’t to the person in love, Eastwick said.

Bales said that in pair-bond formation, animals and people tend to be so invested in each other that everything else begins to look really dull and uninteresting.

“I found the presentation really interesting and was able to debunk many of the myths that I had about romantic relationships,” Ruhaan Juyal, a first-year computer science major, said.

Although Valentine’s Day may be a reminder to some people of something that is missing in their lives, Eastwick and Bales assure everyone that with due time, romance blooms and lightens up lives.

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ARTS & CULTURE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 7

REVIEW: ‘AND JUST LIKE THAT…’ PROVES NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS RESUSCITATION A critique of the forced diversity and unnecessary existence of the new “Sex and the City” reboot

BY ANGIE CUMMINGS arts@theaggie.org Watching all 10 episodes of “And Just Like That…” Season One was perhaps the most intense form of investigative journalism — it really was that bad. As happened for most people, headlines about the show piled so high right from the beginning that it was easy to avoid watching it, as almost everything that occurred on the show was torn to shreds by media outlets and everyone on the internet. Be warned, the show itself is far worse than just the numerous forced and inconsistent storylines everyone has heard about; it is entirely unenjoyable.

The easiest way to understand why “And Just Like That…” was so bad is to remember

why “Sex and the City” (SATC) was good in the first place. Premiering over 20 years ago, SATC was regarded as a part of the “golden age of TV” and a huge step in the right direction for the representation of both close female friendship and the portrayal of sex on TV. Now, the show is not so much regarded as a revolutionary feminist representation of sexuality and friendship, but as an enjoyable (and equally problematic) show about four rich white women having fun in their upper-class bubble of New York City.

Rewatching the original show, you are confronted with tokenistic characters of almost every marginalized group, offensive remarks by all of the leading ladies and a general lack of awareness of the real world. The issues with SATC are as clear as day, and are exactly what showrunners are slowly learning from.

The bottom line is that a reboot trying to fix all the issues of the original show was never going to work. Not to mention, a reboot without Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall), arguably the backbone of the show’s entertainment value, already set it up for failure. In the process of “woke-washing” the show, the creators lost sight of really the only redeemable aspects of the original — an accurate presentation of friendship and a light-hearted, fantastical display of the world around the characters.

From the first five minutes it was clear the writers searched for trending topics from the last three years and jammed them into the script.

Everything felt wrong, from the cringeworthy fake post-COVID jokes to Carrie’s logic-defying podcast. In all honesty, there were scenes in which the show felt like a training video for old people

Title screen from the first episode of Just Like That (Courtesy of HBO Max) on how to not be offensive in public, made complete by Charlotte’s education in pronouns, Carrie’s introduction to cultural appropriation vs. appreciation and Miranda’s “white-savior” education.

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JAZZ IS HERE TO STAY The genre revels in rhythm and social CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE

BY CLARA FISCHER arts@theaggie.org Chances are, you’ve heard of jazz. Whether it’s through an appreciation for the music or a United Airlines commercial, most people have heard at least a couple songs from the wideranging genre.

Jazz has a rich and varied background. With roots in the blues and a shifting focus on big

band, bebop, crooning and countless sounds in between, this musical style is a true chameleon.

On top of its diversity in terms of melodic and rhythmic styles, a key component of jazz is its roots in BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) culture.

The music style originated in New Orleans as a form of resistance music in the era after Emancipation. Scholars have claimed that “... the music we know as jazz is Black American music, and its very soul is tied to the Black resistance to injustice…” — it’s clear that the influence Black culture has had on the genre cannot be understated.

One of the most well-known vocal jazz musicians is Ella Fitzgerald. Dubbed “The First Lady of Song,” Fitzgerald has one of the most distinctive sounds in vocal history. She rose from humble beginnings after being discovered at an amateur night hosted by a local concert hall, and from there quickly became a master of her craft. Fitzgerald had the opportunity to perform with countless other legendary musicians such as

Louis Armstrong (the duo has been lauded as a “perfect partnership”), Billie Holiday, The Ink Spots and Duke Ellington.

More than just a stunning voice, however, Fitzgerald also played a very important role in social issues of the time.

Her endearing nature and velvety vocals allowed her to be well-liked by a largely diverse crowd of people. Armed with the love of the public, she was able to create momentum in the desegregation efforts of the American Civil Rights Movement by playing at many venues and shows that previously did not allow Black performers. Her undeniable success and adoring fans spoke volumes, even at such a hostile time in history.

As to be expected with a music style so deeply rooted in cultural origins, there are many more examples of jazz artists who played an important role in such social reform.

Louis Armstrong famously penned a letter to former president Dwight Eisenhower following the politician’s initial response to the Little Rock

Crisis. Billie Holiday’s cover of “Strange Fruit” has been cited as one of the most important connections between popular music and political messaging, with its groundbreakingly jarring lyricism and unapologetic performances by Holiday and other artists.

“That is about the ugliest song I have ever heard… ugly in the sense that it is violent and tears at the gut of what white people have done to my people in this country,” Nina Simone once remarked about “Strange Fruit.” The song has always been incredibly powerful, so it makes sense that it is to this day used as an unmistakable hallmark of protest songs, providing yet another example of the impact jazz music has on the cultural landscape it occupies.

Though jazz is an incredibly diverse genre with clear significance pertaining to various social issues, many worry that the genre has peaked, with trumpeter Nicholas Payton even declaring that it was “... cold, like necrophilia.”

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MEATLESS MEAT OPTIONS IN DOWNTOWN DAVIS Descriptions and reviews of various local food joints that offer vegan meat options

BY SIERRA JIMENEZ arts@theaggie.org The rise of meat substitutes in the food industry has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years with options on many menus and shelved in most grocery stores. Stanford University Professor Dr. Patrick O. Brown, who founded the Impossible Food phenomenon, “wanted to make the global food system sustainable by recreating meat, fish and dairy foods, from plants, with a much lower carbon footprint than their animal counterparts,” as stated on the Impossible Foods website.

Animal meat production uses about half of the world’s land resources, creates at least 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions and uses 25% of the world’s freshwater supply. By making meat out of plants, the use of the land, water and energy is reduced “so people can keep eating the foods they love, without harming the planet they love,” according to the Impossible website.

In Davis, there are a variety of meatless meat options for those non-meat eaters out there who don’t want to miss out on the fun. I have tried an assortment of options available in the Downtown Davis area in hopes to help non-meat eaters (and meat eaters!) to pick their new favorite food spot.

Ike’s Love and Sandwiches Notorious for its eccentric choice of combinations to stuff in between two pieces of bread, Ike’s seems to never fail in popularityor taste. Limiting myself to the “Sometimes I’m a Vegetarian” on a Dutch Crunch roll, I was hesitant to dip my toes into new territory from the overwhelming menu. How many odd combinations could Ike come up with? Over 500 sandwich combinations apparently! I played it safe with the “Meatless Mike,” which People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) considers the “best vegan meatballs in America.” I must admit, I am not well-acquainted with vegan meatballs (for it is quite the niche food category), but I can attest that these meatless meatballs exceeded my expectations. Compared to other meatless meats I have consumed, these meatballs actually looked like meat. They were fluffy and, well, meaty looking! Thick and texturous, these meatballs not only looked like they had substance but tasted the part as well. Although a little bland, the seasoning of fennel added a peppery spice to the beefy-looking vegan meatballs.

Picking out the meat to taste it on its own, the texture ripped apart like real meat would. It had the gristley texture but with the satisfaction that it was not actually animal cartilage. In the completeness of the sandwich, the pepper-jack and banana peppers added to the spicy moistness of vegan meat. I would not only recommend these meatballs for those meat-less meat-eaters out there, but also the whole sandwich (I would hope that you’d go to Ike’s for the sandwich and not solely a meatball!)

Burgers and Brew Parents weekend? Date night? Burgers and Brew is a hot spot to take the ‘rents or go out

BY CORALIE LOON arts@theaggie.org

CHRISTINA LIU / AGGIE for a nice night out in Downtown. One of the more high-end food joints in Davis, their burgers may be a little pricey, but trust me, it’s worth it for their impossible burger. A “1/3lb vegan patty with roasted garlic and olive oil, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, and vegan mayo on a sesame bun” — they sold me with the description. The moist, meat-y volume and substance, taste and texture is incredibly similar to a meat patty. It has the grainy, gristley texture red meat has, and has the dark grilled look of a barbequed patty. There are remnants of a smokey flavor and juicy tender deliciousness with every bite. This may be the best impossible burger I have ever tried. I had an extremely hard time finding critiques for this burger because of its remarkable resemblance to a real meat burger, so I would recommend it for those non-meat eaters who still miss the delicacy of meat.

Burger Patch Allegedly, Burger Patch is known for being a vegan spin on classic fast-food joints with its “nostalgic taste,” and that description could not fit better. The Patch Burger looks like a classic McDonalds happy meal with its plastic-ey cheese and iceberg lettuce, but vegan! The signature Patch Sauce seeps into the sweet grilled onions, tomato, lettuce and patty making it messy and fun like good ol’ road trip fast food. The patty itself has a mushroom-ey taste with slight hints of smokeyness from a grill and slightly spicy undertones. The patty is obviously fake meat just from looking at it, but it does have a similar texture to real meat. It does not taste like a garden burger, but more so like they wanted to make sure the consumer knew they weren’t eating meat.

Not the best beyond burger I have ever had, but I think that is the point- fast n’ easy to go food.

I also sampled the non-GMO Beyond Chicken tenders which surprised me to the fullest. They were golden brown crispy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside. They remind me of the Trader Joe’s Chicken Drumellas, which I’m sure many meat-eating Davis folk have had at least once in their lifetime. The Beyond Chicken tenders left crumbs of breaded chicken stuck to my fingers to lick off like I did as a child. I also dabbled with a bac’n strip. Its appearance follows the suit of the fake burger meat and definitely does not resemble real bacon. It’s floppy and has a rubbery, oily texture, but has a nice hint of barbeque to cover the beyond meat blandness.

While the bac’n did not exceed my expectations, the chicken was by far my favorite item on the menu.

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Movie: “Harold and Maude” dir. by Hal Ashby (1971) This little film, which first presents itself as a dark comedy, transforms into a soulful and unconventional romance that has earned its spot as one of my favorite films. Maybe it’s the joy of its soundtrack, made up entirely of Cat Stevens songs, or the lovability of Maude, an eccentric old lady who reminds me of the person I hope to be when I age. The simplicity of its plot and excessive onthe-nose-ness of its dichotomy between pessimism and optimism have drawn complaints from critics. However, the movie doesn’t claim to be big, flashy or structurally complex. It luxuriates in its smallness and its conviction to portray the capabilities (and limits) of human connection in a way that struck me as incredibly real.

After watching this film, it’s hard not to feel inspired to live your best life. After all, Cat Stevens said it best: “If you want to sing out, sing out.”

Book: “After Dark” by Haruki Murakami (2004) This is a lurid, dreamlike and eerie novel that slowly explores an array of characters in Tokyo, each who brings their own layers of darkness into the picture. As someone who was disappointed by how Murakami handled issues of sexual violence and misogyny in his 2002 novel “Kafka on the Shore,” “After Dark” felt like a welcome redemption. While many of the same themes are as clear and glaring as ever, Murakami embraces and acknowledges this darkness rather than glossing over it, sweeping the reader into a world that is purposefully chilling and leaves as much said as unsaid. While not his most popular piece of fiction, “After Dark” displays Murakami’s talent at bending reality and creating an atmosphere that is equal parts poetic and sensational.

Album: “Songs from the Sunroom” by Field Medic (2017) Field Medic, the pseudonym for solo artist Kevin Sullivan, released his album “Songs from the Sunroom” in 2017. Since then, he has released two more albums, including his latest “Floral Prince,” which explores sobriety and self-healing, a contrast to the slightly darker themes of his earlier music. His songs, composed of a guitar base and unharmonized vocals, are a hybrid between folk and bedroom-pop, or perhaps “bedroom-folk.” The soft and muffled sound of acoustic guitar (and the occasional electric beat) invites a sense of nostalgia and solitude that complements the vulnerability of his lyrics. They are painfully honest poems that ruminate on loneliness, drug use and the spaces between desires and reality. Some songs, such as “do a little dope,” invite the audience to laugh and brush off the tediousness of life, while others dive deeper into his pain. “me, my gibberish, & the moon” is one such song with a powerful ending: “I stalk the streets alone now / just me, my gibberish and the moon / for I speak a different language / if I cannot speak with you.”

TV Show: “The Righteous Gemstones” (2019) This unique dark comedy follows the lives of a wealthy family of “televangelists,” the Gemstones, who are famous for their over-thetop church service broadcasts. Filled with crime, spunk, excessive family drama and lots of love for Jesus, “The Righteous Gemstones” is a fresh and fun show that has captivated me and kept me on my (metaphorical) toes. Adam DeVine, Danny McBride and others deliver forceful performances as members of a family whose lives behind the scenes are not as glorious as they may seem. The show is currently in its second season and is available on HBO Max.

8 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

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

Answer to previous puzzle 2/10/2022

CROSSWORD Answer to previous puzzle 2/10/2022

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SR #23, SB #45 and SB #48 were introduced through regular parliamentary procedure. SR #23 is a resolution in support of the movement to make the UC Davis mascot a cow, SB #45 is a proposal to create an exploratory committee for an ASUCD gala and SB #48 would allocate around $2000 for marketing materials in support of the movement for a cow mascot. SB #47, SB #49 and SB #51 were considered as emergency legislation. SB #47 and its partner bill SB #49 would set up and fund an exploratory committee to provide vouchers based on needs that arise within the UC Davis community, while SB #51 would raise the pay of ASUCD commission

chairs. SB #46 was also considered. SB #46, SB #47 and SB #49 all passed unanimously.

There was considerable debate surround SB #47 and SB #49. Bocardo-Aguilar took issue with the bills because of the potential for overlap with services already provided by units like the ASUCD Pantry, though Senator Rashita Chaudan noted that food insecurity was only one need the vouchers could address.

Meeting minutes from Jan. 27 and Feb. 3 were approved.

The meeting ran almost over an hour and a half overtime. The meeting was adjourned by Martinez Hernandez at 11:49 p.m.

VR CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 And more advancements will come, especially as the industry grows. Demand has shot up in recent years, mostly due to the COVID-19 pandemic — global spending on AR and VR technology rose to $12 billion in 2020, up 50% from 2019.

Some of the potential of VR and AR is easy to imagine. If the price goes down and the quality goes up, it’s highly possible that these technologies will dominate the gaming market.

I’ll never forget the first time I booted up my Oculus Quest 2 and hopped into a multiplayer game, where I met a British kid who offered to show me how to use the sniper rifle. It’s a magical gaming experience, and everyone should be able to get their hands on it. As the technology improves and becomes more easily available, and as more games are developed, VR will eclipse all other forms of play. You just can’t beat the level of immersion that VR provides. But gaming isn’t the only entertainment industry that will shift to VR. Imagine movies in VR: Instead of sitting in a theater watching a screen, you would quite literally be in the middle of the action as it unfolds. The monster in horror films could actually sneak up behind you, or you could skydive out of a plane with Captain America. But let’s not stop there.

What about VR music videos, VR interviews

and more? Imagine attending an art exhibit that consisted entirely of immersive, VR art pieces. At some point in the not-so-distant future, I predict VR will be the method by which we view almost all entertainment.

AR has even more potential. The Google Glass was quite a flop (wearers of Google Glass were branded “Glassholes”), but as humans and machines start to become more entwined, seeing the world through a veil of technology is going to become more and more common — just look at Neuralink, Elon Musk’s new brain chip company. It’s secretive about its research, but one of its goals is to use brain chips to allow paralyzed people to control technological devices. Once AR technology becomes sufficiently advanced, users will be able to instantly translate foreign text or voice, physical advertisements will be tailored to each viewer and text messages will appear in your peripheral view. The list of practical applications for AR is even longer than for VR. I know a lot of this sounds “Black Mirror”esque, but it’s the way of the future. The line between humans and computers will continue to blur, and I could even see it disappearing entirely.

The future of interacting with technology and entertainment is VR and AR. All that’s left for us to do is wait.

SATCREBOOT

The plan is to eventually release these genetically modified mosquitoes into natural populations of mosquitoes, and allow the new genes to be passed down into the natural mosquito population. However, according to Lanzaro, having a malaria-proof mosquito isn’t enough to make this happen — they also need to develop a “gene drive.”

“The gene drive basically alters the way that our beneficial genes are inherited, so that they will very rapidly move through the natural population,” Lanzaro said.

According to Lanzaro, the necessary gene drive was developed at UC San Diego. Now that the science is ready, the UC Davis component of the project, which the grant was awarded for, has begun — to move the technology from the laboratory to the field.

“There’s basically two big components to that,” Lanzaro said. “There’s the biology, and there’s the social science aspect. For the biology, the idea is that we want to do trials, and see if this will work.”

Lanzaro said that the team spent a year looking at potential places to attempt a release before eventually selecting two small islands off the coast of Africa, São Tomé and Príncipe, for their initial trials. This decision was based partly on the convenience of the islands being “isolated contained systems.”

“Once we’ve selected the site, we have to study the ecology of the mosquitoes at the site, the genetics of the mosquitoes at that site, we have to look at the environment, we have to look at non-target organisms, all in preparation,” Lanzaro said. “All before we would ever think about doing a release.”

Ana Kormos, an engagement program manager at VGL, said that the decision to use these two islands as potential trial sites was made through direct involvement and discussion with the country’s government and communities.

“The model that we’re using puts our collaborators in the driver’s seat,” Kormos said.

“That was really important to us [...], that they are the ones who are actively participating in and making the decisions about what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, how we’re taking it to the next step. We are developing the strategy, developing the plan so we aren’t walking in with any preconceived ideas; we aren’t forcing an agenda. It’s really being directed by the end user.”

Kormos elaborated that apart from making

the final decision about whether or not to release the transgenic mosquitoes, locals have also driven communication and informational efforts surrounding the project.

“We have hired local engagement professionals and community educators and local leaders to develop that strategy with their communities and then implement it,” Kormos said. “They are implementing a strategy that’s been designed and developed by them. They know their community, they understand what the education level looks like, how people prefer to receive information and how people feel the most comfortable sharing information back about what they think and feel about a particular subject.”

Lanzaro said that the team will spend the next three years assembling all the information they can on the genetics and biology of the mosquitoes, at which point they will present the data, potential benefits and potential risks to the authorities of São Tomé and Príncipe. The regulatory authorities will then make a decision about whether or not they’ll allow the release of the mosquitoes.

He explained another potential benefit of this project, aside from the hopeful elimination of malaria from Africa.

“In the old days people described malaria as a disease of poverty, but more contemporary analyses have shown that malaria actually creates poverty,” Lanzaro said. “And it does that by keeping such a high proportion of the population ill that they’re unable to show up for work, they’re unable to take care of their crops, they’re unable to attend schools. [...] It also has an economic impact on tourism.”

Lanzaro concluded with another reason why this solution is structurally different from others proposed and implemented in the past.

“The thing that we really like about our program is that it’s sustainable and it’s costeffective,” Lanzaro said. “Diseases that impose the heaviest burden on economically less developed countries is that you might get a country or an agency to put a bunch of money in to pay for nets, and insecticides, and it’s fine, it’s great, it works, but when the money dries up, malaria comes back. Our program is not only cost effective, they really only need to be released once and it’s done — the mosquitoes do the work themselves, really.”

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Perhaps the only actually open-minded aspect of “And Just Like That…” was having a non-binary character, Che Diaz — but they’re entirely unlikable, showing that anyone can be annoying, regardless of their sexuality or gender expression. Che, played by the incredibly talented Sara Ramirez, is an unfunny stand-up comedian that Miranda Hobbes falls head-over-heels for after having about two-and-a-half conversations with them.

While sapphic representation is something that should always be fought for in Hollywood, this particular relationship maybe isn’t worth the effort. Not only did the show completely change Miranda’s character — with the only explanation being “people change!” — but it also made her a horrible friend (and wife, sorry Steve).

One consistency in this show was Charlotte’s borderline conservative outlook on the world, which is shaken to its core by her first close Black friend (there are multiple scenes where this causes

her some serious strife) and her child coming out as gender non-conforming.

Perhaps a show about extremely wealthy, privileged and late-middle-aged white women is not the one to deal with these serious, deeply rooted socio-political issues surrounding race and identity — of which these women are essentially just spectators. Oftentimes, it felt as if the showrunners were playing some twisted game of diversity bingo. Despite creating pockets of space for underrepresented groups within this show, they failed to correct (or even show how they have learned from) the wrongs of the past.

I’m no expert, but I do feel that the solution to the issue of representation and diversity of experience in TV is to create a completely different show starring those who have been excluded from narratives all these years, not to simply stick them alongside the old white women who have been in the spotlight all along.

VEGANMEAT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 The Hotdogger For those vegetarians and vegans out there, maybe you’ve seen them at the Davis Farmers Market Saturday mornings or Wednesday evenings but were dissuaded because of the meat heavy content of a typical hotdog. But, do not fret. The Hotdogger partakes in popular culture and offers a Veggie Tofu Dog for those non meat eaters. Not to mention all of their buns are made vegan! The Veggie Tofu Dog can be as extravagant or minimal as you like with a variety of delicious toppings and condiment options (I personally added the Hawaiian Pineapple mustard and *chefs kiss*). The hot dog itself took me back to baseball games in my childhood, waving down

the hot dog vendors in the stands for the simple deliciousness of sports food. The Veggie Tofu Dog has the illusion of a classic Oscar Mayer weiner we all know and love. The plastic-ey look and simple yet extremely satisfying taste paired with the classic combination of ketchup, mustard, relish, onions and tomatoes hide the tofu part of the tofu dog. By itself, it was not that different from a regular hotdog! If I were to not have known it was a tofu dog, I would have a hard time telling the difference from a regular meaty hotdog. The nostalgic tastiness of this Veggie Tofu Dog will send vegetarians and meat lovers alike into shock at the flavor of this hotdog.

JAZZMUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 One well-known representation of this pessimistic perception of jazz is displayed in the 2016 Oscar-winning film “La La Land.” In the film, one of the lead characters laments the loss of love for traditional jazz.

However, “La La Land” has been critiqued for its lack of nuance when it comes to the wellbeing of modern jazz, as well as its disregard for the important influence of BIPOC on the genre.

While jazz as a style has definitely evolved,

its characteristic spontaneity gives it longevity; Musicians are able to adapt to rhythmic changes on the spot. Why should the music style be any less adaptable?

There are so many remarkable artists, past and present, who represent their craft in a way that words on paper never could. Take a listen, and explore the genre that enthralls fans with its dizzying intricacy and soulful harmonies.

GENOMIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 “The library is going to be open-access, and open-access usually means free,” Sherkow said. “But we also have to make sure that we’re compensating countries for their work sequencing genomes. What we’ve learned in the last 20 years is that the value of genetic data is improved the more that it’s shared, [...] so even though it’s a very complex and difficult issue, it’s worth solving, and I believe that the EBP will find a solution to allow open-access.”

Carolyn Hogg, the science lead for the Threatened Species Initiative in Australia and the lead author of the EBP paper investigating how genomic resources can empower conservation action, described how the genomic work they’re doing is especially important when it comes to endangered species.

“Some of our animals are technically extinct in the wild, they’re only found in captivity,” Hogg said. “So the value of those samples is exceedingly high. And the sequencing guys have one chance to get it right. If somebody makes a misstep, there’s no other opportunity to get more samples.”

Katherine Belov, a professor of comparative genomics at the University of Sydney and one of the co-authors of the same paper, elaborated on the value of gaining genomic information on endangered species.

“In the worst case – the project will provide us with a blueprint of the genetic diversity that existed in species that are now extinct,” Belov said via email. “I hope it won’t come to that.

In the best case, we will find ways to use the EBP genomes to better lobby for conservation of species that are at risk of extinction. Having their genome sequence won’t save them – only preservation of habitats will. But genomes provide information [that can] directly inform economically sound management decisions using scarce conservation dollars.”

This kind of translation from information to action is being incorporated into the goals of the EBP, as they build partnerships between academia and those who work in policy and management spaces, according to Belov.

“The critical step that cannot be forgotten is the importance of empowering conservation managers to be able to use this data to manage animals on the ground,” Belov said via email.

“Otherwise, the data just sits in the cloud and gathers dust.”

The benefits of the EBP aren’t only given to those species being sequenced for the first time.

There are also direct benefits to humans, as it relates to agriculture, human health, renewable

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The transoral method is key to the “scarless” thyroidectomy, as no visible scar is left on the patient. Many of the steps of a traditional thyroidectomy — which involves a direct incision through the neck to access the thyroid gland — are retained. According to Graves, the success rate of the transoral method is largely the same as the traditional method.

“From the data that we have so far, the risks of the surgery are similar and the benefit is avoiding having the scar in the visible spot, which can be really bothersome to patients,” Graves said. “And it’s also things we don’t necessarily think about, like it’s not attractive to have a scar there, and if you have a patient that had thyroid cancer, they now have this scar that they’re looking at every day in the mirror. It’s a reminder of the event that they went through, which can be triggering to

them and an invasion of privacy, so I think more than just being cosmetically pleasing, it has other effects as well.”

Dr. Michael Campbell, an endocrine surgeon at the UC Davis Medical Center, says that although this procedure is revolutionizing, not all institutions will offer the “scarless” thyroidectomy as an option, and it will not overtake the traditional method of incision at the neck.

“This [scarless thyroidectomy] is really a procedure that is really only done by highvolume thyroid surgeons at high-volume centers,” Campbell said. “It will continue to grow at high-volume centers but will likely not take over the traditional surgery just because there is a very small group of surgeons that possess the skill set to be able to do this.”

“When you talk to all these people, you realize, ‘Now I know why this guy’s done what he’s done.’ You can see why. There’s a competitiveness, there’s a spirit about them,” Brady said in a 2002 interview that is now a part of history following his first Super Bowl win. “John Elway makes people feel like that. And he made his teammates feel like that, and his coaches. Everyone else

energy technologies in the form of biofuels and more, according to Hogg.

“Genomes are an exceedingly powerful tool,” Hogg said. “If you think about human medicine, we published the human genome back in 2001.

Think about the changes in human medicine back in 2001 versus now — we can do targeted cancer therapy, work against Alzheimers.”

Hogg said that the foundation of most pharmaceuticals — such as Advil — is found in nature, from plants with medicinal qualities or the venom of certain animals, before they’re synthesized and made more active. Additionally, the productivity and the type of food available in supermarkets is also dependent on biodiversity.

“People [need] to understand that losing biodiversity is not just losing the nice stuff in the forests,” Hogg said. “It’s all interrelated. It’s not just a bunch of scientists trying to shoot for the moon.”

Elaborating on the moon analogy, Hogg referenced a photograph called “Earthrise” taken in 1968 by Bill Anders from Apollo 8.

“It’s been declared as one of the most environmentally significant photos of all time, because it was the first time we saw our planet from space,” Hogg said. “So part of what Harris and the people who set up Earth BioGenome wanted to do is a ‘moonshot.’ This is the next greatest moonshot.”

Lewin offered some final thoughts on what the impact of this moonshot could be.

“This is going to be the basis of advances in agriculture, in human health, in animal health, in environmental health and how climate change influences biodiversity,” Lewin said. “Having this knowledge is going to give us the fundamental scientific knowledge to make further advances and decisions and develop policies that are going to be effective in dealing with the major problems that are facing the world today.”

EBP has been built on collaboration, with work being done in 22 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Hogg explained how essential she believes this is to the project’s hopeful success.

“I think the global challenges we face today are unsolvable by any one person, or any one research group, or any one university,” Hogg said. “I think we will only be able to address the challenges that we face as a species and that the planet faces by working collaboratively and cooperatively. So I think that EBP really is a testament to what can be achieved when everyone comes to the table with the same mindset of what is for the greater good.”

believed in him, and everyone else was like, ‘Hey man, if I’m on your side, we’re gonna win.’ When you’re around people like that, you just kind of feel like, you know, man, I’m sitting next to the man.”

“I got a lot of years to catch up to those guys,” he said.

That, you did, Tom Brady. That, you did.

10 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

ARTS & CULTURE

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

STUDIO GHIBLI DEPICTS DESTRUCTION TO PROMOTE PEACE Though not explicitly anti-war, the studio’s more harrowing films advocate for hope and nonviolence when highlighting the devastation of human conflict

BY SUN YIE arts@theaggie.org

Animation plays a pivotal role both in shaping people’s experiences and in delivering deeper and more thought-provoking messages where other forms of media fall flat in comparison. Studio Ghibli’s “Grave of the Fireflies” (1988), directed by Isao Takahata, is an example of a successful animation film that explores scenes of hardship, war and loss under the setting of World War II, denoting the company’s broader anti-war sentiments that are also present in their films “Castle in the Sky” (1986) and “Princess Mononoke” (1997).

“Grave of the Fireflies” follows two Japanese siblings who struggle to survive in the midst of a war; although this alone is harrowing enough, the opening scene of the film depicts a dying Seita, who elaborates upon their story in the structure of episodic flashbacks. “Castle in the Sky” positions itself against the introduction of atomic power, as the film also occurs in the historical context of World War II and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while “Princess Mononoke” explores the shifting role of nature in relation to human settlement and innovation.

“Princess Mononoke” possesses rather meticulous, nuanced ideas about war and is more a critical analysis about the boundaries between nature and human exploitation and destruction.

Contrastingly, both “Grave of the Fireflies” and “Castle in the Sky” adopt a more translucent position against war through the lens of their characters.

Takahata explained he doesn’t consider “Grave of the Fireflies” to be an “anti-war film,” because he felt it didn’t incentivize people against war or contribute to world peace. However, it can be said that the film’s depiction of the impact war has on innocent

civilians, such as the scene where fishermen are forced to watch the city of Kobe be consumed by flames, is impactful enough for people to adopt a more humanistic and empathetic perspective — which leads them away from violent pursuits. In fact, Takahata leaves room for hope in the face of hopeless loss and devastation through his poignant use of fireflies, which can be recognized as symbols of both the fire bombs that have destroyed the civilians’ homes and human perserverance.

In its production of “Grave of the Fireflies” and “Castle in the Sky,” Studio Ghibli juxtaposes the conventional use of animation — often associated with children and thus considered to be more lighthearted — with heavier tones. In doing so, Studio Ghibli exhibits mastery over the art form of animation entirely, as it demonstrates the capacity to appeal to children through its more joyful films, like “My Neighbor Totoro” (1988), and yet address more haunting topics like war, violence and exploitation to audiences of all ages in “Grave of Fireflies” and “Castle in the Sky.”

Grave of the Fireflies Studio. (Ghibli Wikimedia Commons / Courtesy)

‘JACKASS FOREVER’ DAZZLES AND NAUSEATES The newest film in the series is among the best

BY JACOB ANDERSON arts@theaggie.org

The fame of the first few “Jackass” movies seems quaint now.

Besides presenting theatrical audiences with a smattering of events dangerous, crude and extraordinary, the films have strangely prefigured the type of content that would eventually prove to dominate large parts of the internet: gregarious personalities smashing one another in the nuts, electrocuting themselves or ambushing their portly parents with live alligators. Stuff of that sort. The antics that go around in a “Jackass” film resemble the type of thing that — in a less produced, organized form — might sit comfortably on YouTube alongside a view count in the singledigit millions.

It’s somewhat anachronistic to see one of these movies in theaters, then, two decades after their invention, in a world where its content has already borne another generation of itself online.

It’s like seeing adult films in theaters well after the dawn of home video. And like vintage adult films, the primary difference between it and its internet children is that the former has a professional pretense: an opening scene to introduce the characters, a coherent logic of assembly, professional (or at least semi-professional) lighting, editing and directing. But in spite of that pretense, largely what people are coming to see is the “meat” — the intimate, embarrassing bodily interactions of performers willing to denude themselves for the world.

This comparison shouldn’t be misconstrued to suggest that “Jackass Forever” is pornographic. It’s (mostly) not, but there is something sort of instinctual or libidinal about how it’s enjoyed.

When a cast member lets a wild animal bite their penis, the audience seizes in belly laughter that originates in parts of the brain that the conscious mind has no power over. That’s what it feels like, at least.

This type of humor, which may as well be called “body humor,” bears little resemblance to the type of comedy one expects to see Jackass Forever Movie Poster. (Paramount Pictures / Courtesy)

at a commercial theater and tends to elude intelligent discussion.

After all, it’s difficult to sound smart when discussing the appeal of watching strangers drink glasses of pig semen. Whether it can be made intellectual or not, the appeal is indisputable: Few other movies come to mind after which, when leaving the theater, one hears complaints of facial soreness from laughing too much.

One ingredient that places “Jackass” in a position above the viral videos that share its core appeal is the fact that, despite its violent, often revolting nature, the series manages to pretty much avoid feeling mean-spirited. “Jackass Forever” in particular — despite some of the most heinous pranks and probably the worst on-screen injury in the series’ lifetime — makes every pointless danger and mutilation feel like a triumph and a celebration of the joy brought by the series hitherto. Helping to create this impression is the clear reverence with which the new cast members treat “Jackass,” brandishing tattoos of the iconic skull and crossed crutches and being heard just out of frame chatting about how excited they are to injure themselves for the film. One might be uneasy at hearing the news that younger faces have joined the crew (despite how justified the move is — just look at Johnny Knoxville’s completely white, wizard-like hair), but all the new additions prove worthy of the mantle.

And anyway, it’s not just the new cast members. The film itself is saturated with an almost religious energy. Everyone’s at the peak of their game; the stunts are more intense than ever before, despite all the returning stars hovering around 50 years of age — a dubious stage of one’s life to be getting hit in the nuts as a profession. The new film is no worse for the cast’s age, and in fact, this may be the best “Jackass” yet, with the possible exception of the second film.

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022 | 11

SCIENCE AND TECH UC DAVIS ENDOCRINE SURGEONS ARE THE FIRST TO PERFORM A ‘SCARLESS’ THYROIDECTOMY IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY REGION “Scarless” thyroidectomy is a promising alternative that leaves no visible scar on the patient’s neck

BY BRANDON NGUYEN science@theaggie.org UC Davis Medical Center became the first institution in California Central Valley to perform a “scarless” thyroidectomy, a surgical procedure that removes the thyroid gland. The procedure is performed through a technique called transoral thyroidectomy, which was first pioneered by recognized surgeons in Thailand.

Thailand’s leading international hospital, Samitivej Hospital, provided the foundation for many surgeons around the world to offer the choice of a scarless thyroidectomy to their patients.

“The scar-free thyroid surgery technique through the mouth has dramatically improved the quality of life and increased the confidence of patients with thyroid conditions,” their website reads. “People are now becoming more health conscious and if the detected mass is not too large, it can be removed more safely and easily with no visible scar using this technique.”

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck area that produces thyroid hormones, which affect bodily functions including metabolism, heart rate and sensation.

Dr. Claire Elizabeth Graves, an endocrine surgeon at the UC Davis Medical Center, gave an example of when a scarless thyroidectomy may be performed.

“Thyroid nodules are very common, so if we were to stick an ultrasound probe on everyone walking around, about half of the people we test would actually have some thyroid nodule,” Graves said. “But it’s actually rare for the nodules to indicate thyroid cancer, as the vast majority are benign; over 90% of nodules are benign. Nodules are common in cancer, and thyroid cancer is rising in frequency, being within the top 12 most common cancers in the U.S. right now.”

In addition to the growth of thyroid nodules, overproduction of hormones from the thyroid gland as well as abnormally large thyroid glands are two other reasons for performing a scarless thyroidectomy.

“When we say transoral, our access sites are going to be on the inside of the lower lip, where we make our little incisions so we can stay close to the skin and sort of come up and under the jaw and then get down to the thyroid that way,” Graves said.

“And we can either do it with usually three incisions: one incision for our camera, two incisions for our hands to control the long instruments to be doing things.”

SCARLESS on 9 Dr. Elizabeth Graves performing transoral thyroidectomy on patient in operating room. (UC Davis Health / Courtesy)

A UC MALARIA INITIATIVE PROGRAM RECEIVES GRANT FOR WORK RESEARCHING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED MOSQUITOES The $10.2 million grant, awarded by Open Philanthropy, will go toward research aiming to find a way to eliminate malaria from Africa

BY SONORA SLATER science@theaggie.org Malaria, a mosquito-borne infectious disease, was discovered in 1880, and has remained widespread in tropical regions around the equator including parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, resulting in thousands of deaths and a significant blow to economic development in these regions.

Many of the attempted strategies to eliminate malaria in the past have planned to do so by eliminating mosquitoes entirely — but according to a recent press release, the Vector Genetics Laboratory (VGL) at UC Davis, in collaboration with a UC malaria initiative program that originally started at UC Irvine, and with the financial support of a $10.2 million grant from Open Philanthropy, is taking a different approach.

“Mosquitoes are a part of the ecosystem,” Greg Lanzaro, project principal investigator and director at VGL, said. “Our

strategy does not eliminate mosquitoes. The mosquitoes will still be there, they’ll just be incapable of transmitting malaria. In every sense these mosquitoes are normal mosquitoes, except for the fact that they can’t transmit malaria.”

The idea is called a “population modification strategy,” Lanzaro said, explaining that groups at UC Irvine and Johns Hopkins University genetically engineered mosquitoes that are incapable of transmitting the malaria parasite.

“The way that malaria is transmitted is that the mosquito bites a person who has malaria and it picks up the parasite in the blood that it feeds on,” Lanzaro said. “Then the parasite develops in the mosquito so that when the mosquito bites the next person, they spread the parasite. Our mosquitoes have been engineered with a couple of genes that kill the parasite inside of the mosquito, so they’re not able to transmit.”

GENETICS on 9

Community health educators at a UC Malaria Institute workshop.

(Ana Kormos / Courtesy)

EARTH BIOGENOME PROJECT PLANS TO SEQUENCE GENOME OF EVERY KNOWN EUKARYOTIC ORGANISM The project’s administrative office is located at the UC Davis Genome Center, and it will seek to sequence the genomes of 1.8 million species over the course of 10 years

BY SONORA SLATER science@theaggie.org It took 13 years and three billion dollars to sequence the human genome — but over the next 10 years, the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP) plans to sequence the genome of every other known eukaryotic organism on earth for a fraction of the comparative cost.

EBP was launched in November 2018, and is now entering a new phase, as it shifts from “pilot projects” to beginning the fullscale sequencing of the 1.8 million named plants, animals and fungi that make up Earth’s eukaryotes, according to a recent press release. The information will then be made available in the form of an open-access digital library.

The project’s administrative office is located at the UC Davis Genome Center, and Harris Lewin, a distinguished professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at UC Davis, acts as the chair of the EBP Working Group. Lewin also co-authored four papers that were included in a 10-part special feature published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Jan. 17 that

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE

describe the project’s goals, challenges and future plans.

“This set of papers, the special feature, represents sort of a series of milestones of where we are, or even where we were one year ago when we started putting these papers together,” Lewin said. “It is

a representation of the work that includes 43 institutions around the world.”

The papers include information about why the project matters, ethical, social and legal challenges that the project has faced, how the genome library will contribute to the conservation of endangered species and reflection on how credit will be attributed, according to Lewin.

“There [are] a lot of ethical issues around [...] how the benefits accrue,” Lewin said. “Let’s say there’s Indigenous knowledge about the medicinal properties of a plant. [...] how would the benefits be shared with those peoples who might have shared the basic information pointing toward the medicinal qualities of the plant?”

Jacob Sherkow, a professor of law at the University of Illinois, is the lead author of a paper for the special feature that detailed ethical, legal and social issues in the Earth BioGenome Project. He talked about one of the challenges detailed in the paper.

GENOMIC on 9

12 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

THE CALIFORNIA AGGIE

SPORTS

UC DAVIS SOFTBALL 2022 SEASON PREVIEW The Aggies throw out the first pitch of the season with big goals in mind

UC Davis Softball Field. (Kazim Jafri / Aggie).

BY MARLON ROLON sports@theaggie.org For the first time in two years, fans were in attendance at La Rue Field to cheer for the UC Davis softball team. The season opener didn’t go as planned, as the Aggies fell 3-0 to Santa Clara, but it has been a long journey to get here.

“We have fans in the stands which didn’t happen for us last year. So we’re just very excited,” UC Davis Softball head coach Erin Thorpe said.

Standout second-year pitcher Kenedi Brown started the game for the Aggies. Brown, who was named to the Big West Conference first team and first team all conference during her freshman year, started the game well, striking out three batters and did not allow a hit until the third inning.

The home team’s offense did not do Brown any favors, going hitless until the fourth inning.

UC Davis was battered with ground outs, pop flies and strikeouts for the majority of the game.

Trouble started in the sixth inning for the Aggies with Brown allowing three hits and three runs.

On top of that, three errors committed by UC Davis extended Santa Clara’s inning.

UC Davis remained scoreless throughout seven innings with their bright spot at bat coming from second-years Leah Polson and Tatum Wentworth, combining for two hits.

Rising prospect Brown finished the game with a loss earned and allowed three runs and seven hits with four strikeouts.

Although the Aggies looked out of sync, this can be expected after a long offseason, as it has

been nine months since their last game.

“We’re very young; we only have seven offensive players who played on last year’s team on this [current] team,’’ Thorpe said. “We’re going to have some growing pains. But we’re all super excited to get started with it and start building on those things because it’s a long season.”

New generation of players The softball program has revamped their roster this season, composed of seven first-years, 10 second-years, two third-years and three fourth-years. Typically, like most young teams, they will go through growing pains. The trials and tribulations of a season will garner experience that can only benefit this unit.

“We have so many new people on the roster feeling what this means, what D1 softball means, how it works and how we play because our prep travel teams are very different from what they’re going to experience here at the collegiate level,” Thorpe said. “A lot of it is just kind of getting the feeling and how they can be the most beneficial to help the team win.”

This young team is led by seniors Claudia Kim, Delaney Diaz and Sierra Hillman. One of the best prospects of the team is Kenedi Brown, who last season as a freshman made an impact on the mound. She started 24 games in 29 appearances going 13-11 posting 2.69 ERA. “I have actually been working on two new pitches because there’s a lot of film out there that people watch, and people see your tendencies so if you can come up with something every season it makes you unpredictable it makes you really

good,” Brown said.

Like Brown, great players take the extra step to better their craft. Brown said she worked on her strength in the weight room over the summer.

She said it’s not a requirement to do so but took the extra step to improve her game. Sometimes it’s the little things that create separation from the good players and the great players.

“I’ve learned to connect with my defense and the hitters, and I feel like when we’re all connected, when we’re all talking together, it allows us to feel like one team like I’m not out there by myself,” Brown said. “I have so many people behind me so it’s just really supportive.”

First-years Reese Mattley, Grace Kilday, Grace Tangen, Sophia Eftekhari, Mia Hildebrand, Bella Holtz and Ale Mota will look to cement their place within the program.

“It’s going to be a lot of learning curves and we’re already seeing some really good things and we’re seeing some things that we know that we want to be better for tomorrow,” Thorpe said.

“We’re expecting to come in and be ready to go by conference and really excited to bring it to the Big West.”

The new generation of players and second year prospects brings excitement to the program’s culture. The UC Davis softball program has high standards embedded within their culture and playing for a prestigious university can maximize the new prospects’ potential.

“I think our energy is awesome, we love being out here, everyone loves each other and we push each other. It’s a really healthy environment to grow and build as a team,” Brown said.

A look ahead UC Davis finished the 2021 season with 19 wins and 24 losses and went 13-11 in conference play. A turbulent season in the midst of COVID-19 and no fans in attendance affected the team’s performance.

This season will feature a full 53-game schedule as it stands. The Aggies will participate in the NorCal Kickoff and Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic tournament, in addition to their conference play in the Big West.

On Feb. 12, the Aggies will host Saint Mary’s and Montana. On Feb. 13, Davis will host Saint Mary’s again. UC Davis will travel to Fresno to play Fresno State in a three-game series between Feb. 19-20. The Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic tournament will be held in Cathedral City, between Feb. 24-26. The Aggies will face great teams from around the nation like Tennessee, San Diego State, Arizona, Utah and California

Baptist.

UC Davis returns home on Mar. 1 to face Northern California rival Stanford. On March 5, they will host Dixie State and rivals Sacramento State back to back. On March 6, they will travel to Sacramento to play Sacramento State and Dixie State.

The Aggies will then travel to Santa Clara on March 11 to play two back to back games against Utah State and Santa Clara. On March 12, the Aggies will travel to San Jose to play Utah State and San Jose State on the same day. Then, on March 13, UC Davis will play Idaho State.

From March 19-20, Davis will host Cal State Fullerton in a three game series to start Big West play. Boise State comes into town on March 23 to play the Aggies.

Long Beach State will host UC Davis on March 26-27 in a three game series. On March 29, the Aggies will travel to Stockton to play University of the Pacific. On April 2-3, UC Davis will host CSU Bakersfield. The Aggies will travel to Riverside on April 8-9 for a three game series. Then, on April 15-16, CSU Northridge will travel to Davis for a three game series. April 19 will feature UC Davis vs. UC Berkeley.

The Aggies will travel to San Diego on April 22-23 to play UC San Diego in a three game series. On April 29-30 the Aggies will host UC Santa Barbara in a three game series.

As the season winds down, the Aggies will travel to San Luis Obispo from May 6-7 for a three game series against Cal Poly. Lastly, UC Davis will close the season, May 13-14, hosting Hawaii in a three game series.

UC Davis has a long season ahead but the team is confident that they can collectively put the pieces together to make a run at a conference championship, a feat that has not been accomplished since 2010. Although the roster is composed of mostly first-years and second-years, they are well coached by Erin Thorpe who led the Aggies to their first ever winning season in 2018 since the merger to Division 1. The program has a rising star in the making, Kenedi Brown, who in her second season is the team’s starting pitcher and their best player. If the Aggies can get past the growing pains throughout the rigorous season then they could really make some noise in the postseason.

“Our common goal as a unit is, we all want to be Big West champs,” Brown said. “I think this year, seeing what we had last year and seeing what we have now, I think it’s really, really achievable.”

TOM BRADY: THE STORY WITH MANY PERSPECTIVES The unbelievable journey of the sixth round quarterback has come to an end after 22 years — forever changing football in the process

BY OMAR NAVARRO sports@theaggie.org By now, the story has been told countless times. But this story has been the story of the NFL for the last 22 years.

“Poor build, skinny, lacks great physical stature and strength, and gets knocked down easily,” a scouting report of a quarterback’s combine performance after the 2000 NFL Draft reads.

How did this unimpressive, lightly regarded quarterback prospect go from 6th round pick and 4th string quarterback of the New England Patriots to the greatest quarterback of all time?

The career of Tom Brady never seizes to amaze not only football fans but fans across all sports.

After 22 seasons in the NFL, Brady officially announced his retirement from football. A ride that seemed endless, came to an end in a decision that was somewhat unexpected.

“This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention,” Brady said in his Instagram announcement. “I’ve done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions. And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it’s best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.”

A 15x Pro-Bowler, 3x MVP, the player with the most touchdown passes, regular and postseason wins, passing yards, Super Bowl appearances and most importantly, the most Super Bowls (7) in NFL history, the accolades throughout Brady’s career can stretch across multiple pages. He single-handedly rewrote the NFL record book in 22 years — while also becoming the NFL’s all-time biggest villain.

Sports thrive the most when there is a “bad guy” or a villain. A person everyone loves to hate.

You either love him and his team or you hate them and hope they lose. It happens to every great player across all sports but for some reason, this felt different. For Brady, his time, controversy and winning with the Patriots produced one of the greatest, if not the greatest, evil empire in sports. Just like in movies, almost everyone wants to see the bad guy lose. The problem with that is, in this situation, it seemed like the villain always won.

“What do we do about the haters? We love ‘em,” Brady said prior to Super Bowl LIII. “We love ‘em back. Because we don’t hate back.”

Whether it was Brady and his dynasty Patriots beating basically everyone in front of them or the cheating scandals they were involved in (and yes those will never be forgotten), everyone who disliked Brady felt they had a reason to do so.

The hate didn’t stay in New England though, it just followed him to Tampa Bay as he joined the Buccaneers. According to a social media

KATHERINE FRANKS / AGGIE study done by BetOnline in 2021, Brady was the most disliked player in the NFL in 36 of the 50 states in the country.

Throughout his career, Brady continued to break through even when he wasn’t supposed to. Even being drafted in the 6th round, he had little to no expectations on his NFL career. In his rookie season, the late-round pick made his way up to #2 on the depth chart behind Patriots’ starting quarterback at the time, Drew Bledsoe. In Brady’s second year, a hit occurred that changed the NFL as we know it. While scrambling for a first down, Bledsoe was hit hard by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis and suffered a lung injury that would keep him out a month. That meant the second-year QB would take the reins — and he never looked back.

Brady and the Patriots went 11-3 the rest of the regular season after he took over and rode it all the way to the Super Bowl (after the infamous “Tuck Rule” game), where they were 14-point underdogs to a high powered and all time offense of the St. Louis Rams. After over 58 minutes of gameplay, it came down to one drive. Tied at 17, and despite not having impressive offensive numbers, Brady led a game-winning field goal drive with 1:30 left in the game — the start of something we would see for years on end.

Brady and the Patriots would miss the playoffs the following year after their Super Bowl win but come back to win two straight, back to back, in 2003 and 2004 — the last team to ever do that. The Patriots would not see the Super Bowl again until the 2007 season, where Brady won his first MVP; they went a perfect 16-0 in the regular season and looked to cement themselves as the only team to never lose a game in a 16 game season. New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, though, had other ideas. After a circus catch labeled the “Helmet Catch” extended the game for the Giants, Manning led a touchdown drive to bury the Patriots, end the dream of a

perfect season and deny Brady a perfect Super Bowl record.

In 2008, Brady suffered a season-ending ACL injury that almost entirely bashed New England’s Super Bowl hopes. Although they went 115, they missed the playoffs entirely. His return in 2009 saw him throw for almost 4400 yards and 28 touchdowns — but suffer a first round playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens. In 2010, Brady won his second MVP award, throwing 36 touchdowns and just four interceptions and leading the Patriots to the #1 seed in the AFC. But again, Brady would go on to lose the first playoff game against the New York Jets.

2011 saw another dominant season and a familiar foe in the Super Bowl — Eli Manning and the Giants. Not only was the result similar, the way it happened was identical as Manning did it to them again. After 2012 and 2013 ended with no Super Bowl once again and Brady now 36, everyone thought we might never see him win another again. Like he always did, he broke through.

In one of the most criticized play calls in NFL history, the Seahawks decided to throw the ball near the goal line with 26 seconds left.

This moment in history gave Brady his 4th Super Bowl — and the floodgates opened. He would go on to win his 5th in 2016 — with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history that saw his team be down by a score of 28-3 — and his 6th in 2018 with another MVP sandwiched in 2017.

He now had more Super Bowl titles than all but one team.

His 20-year tenure came to an end in 2020, as the quarterback signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — a franchise that holds the worst winning percentage in NFL history. That didn’t matter, as he won a record-breaking 7th Super Bowl with Tampa Bay, and as a player held more titles than any other team in the NFL. In 2021, what would be his last year, he put up another

MVP-caliber season at age 44, but fell in what would be the final game of his career to the Los Angeles Rams. He always talked about playing until age 45, but he ended it one year short.

“I had an equipment manager in college — he had been at Michigan for 25 years or so — he’s got so many Big Ten rings, he doesn’t have enough fingers for all the rings he’s got,” Brady said in a voiceover of a video prior to the 2015 season. “He said, ‘You know what, Tom? You know what my favorite ring is?’ I said, ‘Which one’s that?’ He goes, ‘The next one.’ And that’s what I think: ‘The next one.’”

Brady always looked toward the next one. It’s what drove him to play 22 years in a brutal sport like football and what gave him the motivation to continue to get better and put in the time and work into the age of 44.

The thing is, this wasn’t supposed to happen.

The NFL is set up in a way where parity is the standard and given the violent nature of the sport, almost no one will be physically capable of staying long enough while playing at a high level.

Even if they were, the little things that have to break a team’s way every year are not guaranteed.

He broke all of that. Brady dominated a sport and league that isn’t supposed to be like that. He changed football forever.

For the first time since 2000, the NFL will start a season without Brady on a roster. Teams no longer have to worry about the guy wearing #12 on the other side or have to worry about having to get through him to compete for a Super Bowl. It is the beginning of a new era.

The league is still in great shape. There are a multitude of young quarterbacks around the league that will continue to push the NFL forward. But, the most intriguing part of Brady’s retirement is that he went out with all of us still thinking he could still play. Brady didn’t go out on a decline, he went out still playing at an MVP level at age 44. We have never and maybe will never see that again. That is only one of the many things that we took for granted throughout his illustrious career. We will likely never see a Tom Brady ever again. Arguably the NFL’s greatest quarterback of all time — and the greatest villain of all time.

It’s hard to imagine football without Brady. Those who loved him or most who hated him now sit back and realize what they just witnessed. This type of greatness is not something that comes around often — it’s rare.

In hindsight, getting to 10 Super Bowls and winning seven is absurd, but it happened. From the start to the finish, it’s been a marvelous ride no matter what side you were on. Even though in the future we and other generations might look back at what happened and be in awe, we’re all just lucky to have experienced it in real time.

From his rise to becoming a starter, the thrilling wins and losses to the spectacular individual performances, that’s the story of his career — unbelievable.

TOMBRADY on 9