A timeline of us: A poem

Madeline Kim/Courtesy

1972

South Korea. Black hair and almond eyes and parted lips; impatience intertwined with red blood. It is quiet and you are crying: a baby swaddled in fragmented memories and a mother’s tears. The air is smoky, sweet, sea-foam blue and pearly pink. An attempt to speak leads to a wail; there you are, you are here, you are everywhere. Your hands grasp for — what? God. Your hands grasp for God. Right now is all you know. 

1980

Sunscreen is slathered on your yellow skin, turning it white. You think, if only I could stay like that. Bitterness is a medicine, and you know it well, have hid it between your ribs like an emotional receipt. The total cost is scratched out. You are young and watch your father take out the best bills for Sunday offering: crisp, clean, careful. The world sees you as yellow, but right now, you see green.

1988

Sweet 16. This is an American thing. It is like buttercream frosting and ripped skater jeans and red white and blue. Your hair is black, not blonde. The language of Korea flows in your blood, but there is English, too, the other half of algebra. You eat canned tomato soup with pasta shaped like letters in hopes that you will digest knowledge that looks like success. It is bland and salty at once: the taste of freedom. Kimchi tastes better.

1991

So this is college: late nights and organic chemistry and tears that stain your paper with inky spiders. Tiny tank tops and longer skirts and thin cardigans; fingertips stained with invisible acrylic from that art school you never went to. Close-cropped bangs and a pretty Honda prelude, nothing like the teenage movies. The sky is blue, and the grass is hot, and your grin is quicksilver. Is it what you expected? Do you miss the possibility of more? What are dreams but false realities? 

1993

You have grown into your beauty. There is a boy sitting next to you. Green shirt and beat-up sneakers with untied laces and bar soap. A big smile — butter and sugar and team USA: just stars, no stripes. He gives you a knife to cut apples, and the skin falls into your lap in a long, unbroken spiral; the world is condensed into conversations in libraries, words trapped in a book, the strings of a guitar for worship. You watch his black sunglasses dip down the bridge of his nose and think I could love you if I let myself.

2000

You have always wanted to wear a white coat — this is what you wrote in your opening line for pharmacy school. A lie, but a convincing one. I wish you could have been a painter, that you would create portraits sitting in our home office, all blushing color and tentative brush strokes that should have held more confidence. Unknowingly, you sacrificed so that I would not have to, a healed blister, a shattered vision now swept up in the arms of time. April 1. You are marrying my father. The night is chaos and tradition and love stretched to the max. Towering vanilla cakes with edible pearls tucked inside raspberries. Tablecloths hang off of the edge like your dress brushes the floor. You are in a white gown, not a lab coat. You are radiant. Beautiful. 

2003

The story shifts March 10. It is no longer the two of you — no more quiet mornings. No more two mugs on the counter and can you put the toilet seat down please and I’ll take-my eggs sunny-side up. You bring home your newborn daughter and look at her eyebrows. I stare back at you, this woman with velvet lipstick and a scar on her stomach: pink, fresh, a reminder of femininity, a miracle. You smell like the hospital and detergent and love. So much love that it spills and it spills, and I can never grasp it all. I am still trying.

2004

August is sweltering. You are ready this time, the calendar marked with a red circle on the last day of the month. Sweat lines your forehead like tiny diamonds and sparkles under fluorescent lights as you slip into unconsciousness. The sunlight pours in through the window; oak trees and sycamore and Maryland maple humidity wrapped up in a dewy present. I hold my baby brother by his small fingers: your two children, side by side, twins in everything but age. Tender skin and baby oil, unsteady limbs and unfilled scrapbooks. You want time to slow down, but it speeds up. It is cruel, in a way.

2010

Snow angels and sledding down the hill and cups of watery hot chocolate made out of the packet. There is too much snow on our lawn; you watch as we dive head-first, innocence filling our mittens instead of ice. You have said I’m sorry more times than you would like to admit; motherhood is a precarious road you are driving on without headlights, and it seems that you are breaking the speed limit. I cry when you veer off of the side of the curb. The thing is: It is OK. Did you think I could ever stop loving you less? Don’t be ridiculous.

2015

Books. Books and books and books. Overfilled shelves, trips to the library, fingertips skimming over colorful spines. Dewey Decimal System inside of my head as you watch and feed me more language until I am full of it, until I feel as if I can eat the dictionary raw. This is good. You never want me to run out of words: Even though you have two languages, phrases escape you. But not me. Good.

2018

Family vacations in Mexico, an infinity pool and sand between our toes. The sound of classical piano from the driveway. Between the years lie massive arguments and a cycle of getting hurt and then recovering. You do not know what to say. I am quiet, and you are trying to understand, but I cry inside my closet because I know it will hurt you if you hear. Motherhood is your identity — you look in the mirror and wonder how fast everything has passed: your daughter 15, your son close behind. You ask God for guidance, and He gives you patience instead. Mothers hurt, too. I am sorry it took me so long to notice. You are a well I will never reach the bottom of.

2020

A pandemic leads to 2 a.m. IHOP runs. My pancakes are sticky with syrup; you cut off a piece and swallow the food along with a golden memory. Unfinished Korean dramas with tiny subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Our throats are lined in lemon juice and honey and laughter. You look at your family and wonder what it would be like to make it last forever. Flickering street lights and empty highways and setting sunsets; red minivans with mysterious stains and ugly Thanksgiving sweater vests. I think of you every time I think of love. I think of you every time I think of — everything. I think of you.

2021

To me, you are unbreakable. You are titanium. You are — there are no words. You are. That is enough.

2022

We spend half the year apart: Berkeley and Laurel. I send letters in hopes of spreading a smile across your face. You send random pictures over text and hope I can feel how much you miss me despite the miles between us. I do. To my mother: a woman who feels too much and whose honesty can hurt. A woman who will love you until freshwater runs out. A woman who teaches me how to be brave. A woman who is tea tree oil and perfume and the wildness of the ocean. A woman who will cut persimmons and offer them to everyone before eating the bruised portion. A woman who loves me. A woman I love back, even if it will never be enough. 

Now

You are my favorite everything. I love you with everything I know about love. Thank you for teaching me.

Contact Madeline Kim at madelinekim@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

A history of pubic hair (or lack thereof)

Cynthia Shi/File

There are few things as mundane as pubic hair. Everyone has it, and nearly everyone deals with it on a daily basis. Yet, unlike other mundane facets of our lives — laundry, grocery shopping, the sidewalk — pubic hair takes on an unusually meaningful role, for female-identifying people especially.

But has pubic hair — or lack thereof — ever actually been a neutral decision? Or have pubes always been the subject of public scrutiny?

At the start of each new year, people all over the world — egged on by strangers on the internet — stop shaving to let their hair coalesce into its natural form. It’s a body-positive, hair-positive movement that juxtaposes the silky skin, hairless ideal that proliferates the digital world. But 2020’s Januhairy event never ended for me. When February rolled around, I simply didn’t shave. Other than the time I (unsuccessfully) tried to dye my armpit hair purple, I leave my pubes to their own devices.

This simple choice can be interpreted in a myriad of ways — a protest against the patriarchy, a defiant political statement, environmental activism against plastic pollution or even a lack of personal hygiene.

But if you ask me, it’s none of the above. 

Although I am under no obligation to explain, my reasons for not shaving are quite simple. I don’t like the look of  bare, slightly razor burned skin; and by not shaving, I have one less thing to worry about. I might have long pubes, but pubes have an even longer history.

Ancient times 

It should be no surprise that, as one of the first ancient civilizations to develop makeup, the Egyptians also pioneered the development of hair removal tools such as tweezers and razors. While they got the job done, sharp pumice stones might not have been as pleasant a shave as we enjoy today. 

It was a similar story in Ancient Greece and Rome. Hair (or a lack thereof) was a symbol of status and heavily idealized in art and culture.

Middle Ages

Hair removal was slightly less common in the Middle Ages, as pestilence and plague took center stage. In some regions, a fresh shave even became a symbol of prostitution, prompting women of higher classes to leave their hair natural.

Renaissance

The Renaissance era refocused the Western world on class and status, and there began to be greater consensus that women’s pubic hair must go. One popular hair technique involved boiling arsenic and quicklime and applying it to the hair. Women had to be careful to remove the solution not only after the hair had been burned away but before the flesh was burned, too. 

Women who opted to keep their hair were viewed as overly masculine, and in some cases, filthy. Art and greater society had yet to shy away from the nude form, so quite personal choices became publicly scrutinized. 

The 1800s 

In the 1800s, “ideal femininity” was a lot of things — cinched waists, long dresses, submission. But it was not necessarily hairless. While some women of wealthier classes shaved their armpits, most opted out. Against a backdrop of harsh religious movements, people generally avoided conversations and attention toward anything of a sexual nature. 

There were some exceptions, however. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, lovers would occasionally present locks of their pubic hair as souvenirs. 

1910s-’20s

While, in the 19th century, hair removal was generally reserved for wealthier classes, the turn of the century marked a paradigm shift for pubic hair. The sleeveless dress came into style, and Gillete’s razor marketed for women followed closely behind. By the end of the 1910s, women were facing increasingly harsh expectations pushed by hair removal advertisements, most of which focused on armpit hair removal. 

Marketing, however, proved to be a challenging endeavor; and gender, once again, became a confounding factor. Because razors were typically viewed as “masculine,” companies such as Gillette used manipulative rhetoric to appeal to a feminine audience. Slogans such as “the underarm must be as smooth as the face” or  “classy ladies ALL shave their armpits!” proliferated the media. 

Armpit hair went from relatively neutral and inoffensive to a marker of masculinity, and for women, unkemptness. By 1930, the razor industry had nearly doubled its clientele.

1960s

Amidst the “hippie” and “peace” movements of the 1960s, many people opted for a more natural look. In some cases, armpit hair became a hallmark of activism and support for the Civil Rights and the antiwar movements. 

1990s

The 1970s brought electrolysis, an electric hair removal technique, and by the mid-1990s, any remnants of pubic hair positivity from the ’60s had all but been erased. Going hair-free was an unwavering expectation.

2022

Modern day is generally more friendly to feminine folks who choose to grow out their armpits — but in a very cornered way. Trends such as Januhairy and body-hair positive online influencers are shifting the narrative. 

But still, rather than being seen as a relatively neutral decision, such as wearing a blue T-shirt or cutting bangs, many people perceive armpit hair as a quirky novelty or the marker of a “free spirit.” This makes sense — after all, not shaving does run contrary to mainstream beauty standards. Armpit hair is still being used to fit people into socially constructed categories in the present day. 

Since this history of pubic hair focuses on the Western world, it barely scratches the surface of how pubes have come to take on undue meaning across cultures, geography and time.

While hair choices are banal in every sense of the word, they are crucial in constructing gender. As long the myth of gender persists, pubic hair will continue to be woven into arbitrary, constructed meanings. 

The next step in liberating pubic hair might be seeing pubes for nothing more than what they are — a mundane, biological reality.

Contact Sarah Siegel at ssiegel@dailycal.org

The Daily Californian

Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar

Many people are finding that working nine hours a day, five days a week is not a fulfilling life to live. When working nine to five, people are living to work, not working to live. There needs to be a reconstruction of America’s working hours that reflects the shift in employees’ needs. 

People have already been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic. Despite this massive change, the hours at one’s job have stayed the same. 

Working long hours contributes to stress, inadequate sleep and lower productivity. Working as many hours as a nine to five job requires does not allow sufficient flexibility. This forces employees to prioritize work over free time or risk losing their jobs.

“I don’t like (the nine to five workday),” said public relations freshman Alexia Aguilar. “I feel like there should be more flexibility with the workday as it causes a lot of issues.” 

Many people, especially young people like Aguilar, are realizing they do not want to spend their lives working for a job that limits their freedom and has more control over their lives than they do. 

During the pandemic, people were able to work from home, but many employees had to deal with managers looking over them to make sure they were getting the work done. In fact, there was an 87 percent increase in the creation of monitoring apps like ActivTrak, Hubstaff and Interguard, which all have varying degrees of surveillance techniques like taking snapshots of employees’ screens and saving search history.

The micro-managing of employees is not helpful to their productivity nor does it make them enjoy their work. It does the exact opposite. About 70-85 percent of workers have said their job performance and morale were negatively affected by micromanagement. 

On the other hand, a small project called STAR was created by the company Results-Only Work Environment to test how well employees performed with little to no interference from management. This includes choosing where, when and how their employees decided to work. It led to amazing results.

After six months, the employees were happier with their work, experienced less burnout and their production skyrocketed. 

With that in mind, employees thrive when they are allowed to make decisions over different aspects of their work that are traditionally decided by their managers. The freedom employees get when they decide when to get their work done also allows them to have time to do other things that make them happy.

Once employees no longer have to sacrifice living life for their work, the working culture in America can no longer be deemed one of the most stressful in the world. It’s time to change the nine to five workday. 

Cindy Rivas Alfaro is a journalism freshman who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

—
“Nine to five work culture needs to end” was originally posted on The Cougar

4 day week! Today on East to West we cover sexual assault accusations against Christopher Cavalieri, BU recording the highest number of COVID-19 cases since January, the MBTA and Logan Airport lifting the mask mandate and more. Click here to stream this episode of “East to West” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or the streaming platform of your choice. FEATURING: Nellie Maloney, Veronica Thompson WRITTEN BY: Nellie Maloney, Jit Ping Lee, Veronica Thompson EDITED BY: Jit Ping Lee BASED ON DFP PIECES BY: Walker Armstrong, Jesús Marrero Suárez, Hailey Pitcher, Jit Ping Lee MUSIC: Acid Trumpet by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3340-acid-trumpet […]

Walk the lonely road

However long you spend as a college student at UC Berkeley, the time is never enough.

There is simply too much to do and the days get away from you; before you know it, you’re sitting on campus thinking about how graduation is only a few weeks away.

As I sit and write this, there is less than one month until I’m walking the stage at commencement and concluding my time here. I’ve made so many great memories with even greater people, people whom I am fortunate enough to call my friends.

Even with all of the good things that have happened, I can’t help but think about the things that never did. From the intramural sports I never played to the events I never attended, these were all opportunities that I will probably never be able to experience.

As a freshman, I did occasionally test my boundaries, trying out a cycling class or joining clubs by myself. I am proud of the things younger me did solo. Had I not done the latter, I wouldn’t be a senior staffer at this paper, nor would I have gained the experiences and friends I now have. I needed to step away from my friends and go my own way.

Despite all of this, however, hindsight now lets me know that I let my fear of loneliness drive me away from doing many other things of interest.

Though I can attribute the time lost here to the pandemic and graduating early, I ultimately stood in my own way as I was too afraid of doing the things I wanted to do with only myself.

So often, being alone is conflated with being lonely, but this does not have to be true. Learning how to comfortably spend time by myself has been one of the best lessons I have ever taken away.

Much of my ability to be on my lonesome probably came from the stay-at-home orders put in place over the last couple of years. The rest has definitely been prompted by the knowledge that these are my last few months here. Regardless of the origin, my ability to not only be on my own but to do so publicly has allowed me to do so many things this past academic year.

Even the smallest things, such as having paint nights alone, has drastically increased my personal happiness and helped me deal with the all-too-familiar awareness that time is running out.

Just this semester, I went to watch a movie I had been waiting months to see and checked out that one view in the city I had always wanted to explore — and all by myself. Previously, I had always waited for someone to come on the adventure with me.

When you first begin college as a newly legal, wide-eyed adult, the possibilities seem endless. Despite having experienced four years of high school — most of which passed in the blink of an eye — you can’t help but feel like you have forever when you begin this new chapter of your life. Sorry to burst everyone’s bubble, but you don’t. Time is precious and fleeting. Sooner or later, you will find yourself reflecting and wondering: “Where has the time gone?”

Enjoying your own company is a great life skill. While it is never too late to learn how to be by yourself, the sooner you do, the better you’ll be able to capitalize on your time here as a student on campus.

We have so many campus events that are unique to UC Berkeley, and even cooler local businesses. It is truly a tragedy to not explore and branch out.

How are you going to attend this school but not try one of the thousands of boba places; have a picnic on Memorial Glade; eat at Artichoke Basille’s Pizza in the wee morning hours; or go to a concert at the Greek Theatre?

Of course, there is the common struggle of balancing your responsibilities as a student and the demands of your social life, but you should never sacrifice your personal interests and what is fulfilling to you. As monstrous as it may sound, you won’t be a student forever, and some of your college friends won’t be around after graduation.

Yes: Put in the work academically and foster relationships with those who bring you joy, but if the only constant is yourself, why put that second?

From one student to another, do not miss out on opportunities just because your friends don’t want to do them with you. Doing things alone is scary, but I urge you to lean into that fear. The discomfort is where you truly begin to find yourself. You’ll find new prospects and meet new people you otherwise might not have.

Contact Amber Soto at asoto@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $783 billion. This accounts for slightly over 39%of the $2 trillion cryptocurrency market. When people talk of cryptocurrency, they almost always mean bitcoin. Of course, there are many other cryptocurrencies out there, some having more fascinating use cases than others.

If you’ve always wanted to begin trading cryptocurrencies but aren’t sure where or how to begin, this article will help you get started. However, one aspect worth pointing out from the onset is that you don’t have to invest thousands of your cash to own crypto. When trading Bitcoin with leverage, you can trade Bitcoin worth thousands of dollars at a fraction of the total investment. Read on to learn more about this and other invaluable insights into bitcoin investing.

Understanding Bitcoin Price Movements

The price action of bitcoin is the most watched in the cryptocurrency space. As with any currency or asset, the price of bitcoin can either go up or down, at times significantly. To appreciate the price action of bitcoin, you must understand the following price drivers.

Bitcoin supply: Currently, bitcoin supply is at 19.01 million and it has a 21 million cap. As demand rises and supply remains capped at a maximum of 21 million, there is bound to be an upward pressure in the coin’s pricing over time.

Publicity: Whether good or bad, publicity can affect traders’ perception of the future of an asset including bitcoin. For instance, too much press on regulation or doubt on the value of bitcoin can dampen the asset’s demand and price. On the other hand, positive publicity such as increased acceptance of bitcoin in commercial transactions can push prices up.

 Integration: As bitcoin gets integrated in payment systems, its popularity and use cases rise and so is its price.

Decide How You Want to Trade

Having understood the key price drivers of bitcoin, you should now proceed to choose how you want to trade. There are several strategies and styles of trading bitcoin. Here are the common ones you’ll likely encounter.

Day Trading

This strategy involves a trader opening a position and closing it within a day. Your exposure won’t extend to overnight holding hence you’ll not have to pay overnight funding charges. If you choose day trading as your strategy, your profit will depend on the small intraday price movements bitcoin makes.

Trend Trading

There are two pronounced trends in bitcoin trading-bullish and bearish. If the trend is bullish (prices going up) you go long. This means, you buy bitcoin at a lower price and hope to sell it at a higher price later. On the other hand, if the trend is bearish, you go short. Here, you open your position by selling bitcoin and wait for the prices to fall so you can buy.

As a trend trader, you must be watchful. When the trend begins to slow down or reverse, you must close your position, take profit, and prepare to open a new position when the new trend emerges.

Bitcoin Hedging

To minimize losses due to unfavorable price action, you can hedge. Bitcoin hedging involves taking an additional position opposite your current open position. For instance, if you have a long position, you can hedge by taking a short position. If the price of bitcoin falls, your short position will record a gain that will offset the losses on your long position. 

Buy and Hold (HODL)

You can buy bitcoin and HODL or hold for the long-term. The assumption here is that the longer you hold the higher the prospects that you will benefit from substantial prices increase over time. Adding a stop loss as part of your HODL strategy can help minimize losses in case your long-term projections go the other way and you want to close your position.

Choose How You Want to Get Exposure

You can get bitcoin exposure in a couple of ways. For instance, you can trade through an exchange or via bitcoin derivatives.

Trading Through an Exchange

If you want to buy and hold bitcoin, trading through an exchange is the best approach. This will give you direct ownership of bitcoin. However, when buying from an exchange, check its regulation status, the responsiveness of its support team, fees and the limits for funding and withdrawal transactions.

Exposure Through Bitcoin Derivatives

Using a contract for differences (CFD), you can trade bitcoin without owning it outrightly. CFDs allow you to take a short or long position depending on your assessment of the price action. 

Established trading platforms such as PrimeXBT give you a unique advantage of trading CFDs with leverage. This means, you’ll only need to put down a certain percentage of the total trade -known as margin-and the platform will take care of the rest to give you the maximum exposure. Margin trading can potentially amplify your profits but can also deepen your losses. As a beginner, you must first understand CFDs and margin trading before diving in.

Conclusion

Trading bitcoin is not difficult if you take time to understand the ropes. Ensure you get a good grasp of what bitcoin is and the factors that influence its pricing before choosing a trading strategy. Depending on your preferences, you may want to get exposure through an exchange or bitcoin derivatives. Whichever the case, ensure you monitor your positions carefully and exit to take profit or cut a loss. Do not hold on to a losing position if you have the option to exit.

The post What it Takes to Trade Bitcoin Like a Pro appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

UC Berkeley to close RSF testing facility, sunset COVID-19 measures

Nora Povejsil/Staff

The Recreational Sports Facility, or RSF, will no longer provide its surveillance testing services as of May 6, according to a campuswide Response & Recovery email released April 22.

While the site is slated to shut down May 6 at 12:00 p.m., students will still have access to limited surveillance testing at the Tang Center through the summer as well as clinical and close contact testing through University Health Services, or UHS. Campus will also continue to sell rapid antigen tests at the UHS Pharmacy.

“We see a reduction in public health mandates and requirements — but clearly, that doesn’t mean the virus has vanished,” said assistant vice chancellor for UHS Guy Nicolette in the email.“Deploying the public health tools in different settings, especially the knowledge we’ve gained over the past two years, is critical to this next stage.”

In addition to closing the RSF testing facility, campus will no longer require students to complete the Daily Symptom Screener as of May 6 — at which point the Campus Access Badge will also be unavailable. Instead of using these tools, students will be expected to monitor their own symptoms on a daily basis before entering campus, the email states.

Campus has also eliminated the pre-travel approval requirement for those entering a Level 3-4 country, as determined by the CDC. As of May 3, students will only have to seek pre-approval from campus if participating in university-related travel, such as a study abroad program, according to the email.

Additionally, campus will deactivate its Recovery Management Team along with the majority of its committees. The Response & Recovery email will also be released less frequently.

“The campus is committed to using the pandemic as a learning opportunity and weaving lessons learned into ongoing operations,” the email reads.

Mallika Seshadri is the managing editor. Contact her at managing@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter at @SeshadriMallika.

The Daily Californian

People who menstruate are familiar with stigmas and stereotypes surrounding periods. We use about 5,000 different euphemisms to refer to periods, to avoid being explicit about this entirely non-explicit topic. Former President Donald Trump said Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever,” after the 2015 Republican presidential debate, simply because he didn’t like her attitude.

“Menstrual taboos are so widespread, they’re almost a cultural universal,” said Beverly Strassman, an evolutionary anthropologist, to NPR. The way we tiptoe around or outright discourage discussion of menstruation is dangerous for children’s psychological development. It’s time to bring the period discussion into the mainstream, through culture and education.

Psychological Impact

Girls typically reach puberty between the ages of eight and 13. This is an impressionable time when social development can impact a child for better or for worse. Children who hit puberty earlier than their peers are more likely to develop depression and struggle with substance abuse. This isn’t a biological response, but a psychological one. It isn’t caused by early puberty itself, but by the way society responds to puberty.

“If you’re a girl who lives in a single-parent family with your dad, you could be too embarrassed to ask about your period or for sanitary products,” said Claire Best, a volunteer for The Red Box Project, to BBC News. Boys at school might poke fun at hygiene products and girls that haven’t had their first period might think it’s gross. People who don’t experience periods are raised to think it’s gross, and those who menstruate are indoctrinated with shame. When a child’s peers poke fun at physical changes that they can’t control, it takes a psychological toll.

If children aren’t explicitly told that menstruation doesn’t make them dirty, and a period doesn’t rob a girl of her childhood, then there is nothing to prevent them from believing these social stigmas. The ramifications of period stigmas aren’t invisible. “Girls feel embarrassed to talk about their periods … and they can suffer health implications as a consequence,” said Lucy Russell of Plan International UK to the BBC. Period stigma causes women to endure menstrual-related pain instead of seeking medical help. Women may not know how much pain is abnormal or may not know cramps can be medicated. Exposing children to the realities of puberty before they go through it themselves is exactly what society needs.

Bringing Periods Into Mainstream Culture

Kids may be more understanding of their bodies’ changes if their social spheres encourage discussion of puberty and periods. Pixar’s “Turning Red” provides a comical yet accurate depiction of a child’s first period. When the protagonist’s mother suspects her daughter had her first period, she rushes to the bathroom with hygiene products, pain medication and heating pads. It doesn’t dance around the topic with euphemisms or implications. It shouldn’t, because it is a very real part of growing up that many must deal with.

“Turning Red” should be celebrated for nonchalantly expressing such taboo topics, but it has been criticized. Disturbingly, many of the negative reviews left for this movie are from parents, citing its discussion of mature topics as being inappropriate for children. To change a child’s mindset, we first need to change adults’. Current and prospective parents should thoughtfully consider the way they discuss menstruation with their children.

Puberty Education

Many fifth-graders participate in “Maturation Day,” where two separate assemblies discuss their sex’s respective puberties. Maturation education is lacking in Utah, especially after parents criticized it for being “pornographic.” It is vital for adults to separate puberty from sex. Some children have already started going through these changes, possibly for years. Those who aren’t taught about menstruation until after their first period may experience shame and embarrassment. Labeling maturation education as pornographic only reinforces the harmful stigma of menstruation.

Boys may not be formally taught about periods until high school health class after they have already developed assumptions and fears based on social stigma. It would be beneficial for parents and schools to talk about menstruation with their children as early as possible. It isn’t explicit, dangerous or inappropriate. It is a regular part of life.

Before we can tackle issues of gender equality like period poverty, we must talk about it. Destigmatizing periods allows us to talk about period poverty with cis-male legislators who have the same built-in biases against menstruation as the rest of us. We are making progress — Utah lawmakers passed a bill to put free period products in school bathrooms as one in eight women in Utah between ages 12 and 44 live below the federal poverty line. This is a huge stride towards gender equality and rejecting menstruation as a taboo topic. Without a willingness to discuss these topics, we risk leaving behind half of our population.

With conclusive evidence that social stigmas surrounding periods lead to depression and substance abuse, we should rethink the way we discuss periods. People with periods should stop using codewords and leave behind the shame we’ve associated with our bodies since we were kids. Future generations won’t be embarrassed by their bodies if we don’t teach them to be.

m.bringhurst@dailyutahchronicle.com

@maggie_bring

The post Bringhurst: Talk to Children About Periods appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Welcome to Minnesota — the state where within two weeks we can be snowed on, rained on and get tornado warnings in multiple counties. What makes it worth it? Those rare one-or-two days of warmth, sun and 60 degree weather. Luckily enough, we have a few of those days heading our way this weekend with lots of events happening across the metro to get you out and about in the warmth.

Some venues in the Twin Cities require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of the event. Events allow all ages unless otherwise noted.

Earth Day at Franconia

What better way to celebrate our Mother Earth than to spend the day outside surrounded by sun, plants and art? Franconia Sculpture Park is hosting a volunteer event focused on weeding the park, spreading trap rock and repairing any damage to the sculptures from the winter. The event will include lunch and drinks for all volunteers, as well as a guided tour of the park. This event is free but does require registration. Free, 9:00 a.m., April 22.

Dante Powell at Comedy Corner Underground

After reaching No. 1 on iTunes and Amazon Comedy with his album “The Squirrels Get Fat,” Dante Powell will be performing two hour-and-a-half live stand-up comedy sets this weekend at Comedy Corner Underground in Minneapolis. $12, 8:00 p.m., April 22-23.

Hippo Campus at the Armory

The Twin Cities-based indie sensation, Hippo Campus, will be making the last stop of their “LP3” tour at the Armory on Saturday night. The band is one of only two Minnesota-based musicians to ever play the over 8,000-seat venue — the other artist being Lizzo in 2019. $37, 7:30 p.m., April 23.

Twin Cities Vintage Fest

The holy grail of vintage concert T-shirts, corduroy overalls and lovingly-worn Chuck Taylors is returning to the Convention Center this weekend. With over 100 vendors devoted to bringing back the looks of the ‘80s and ‘90s, Twin Cities Vintage Fest is returning fully equipped with a vintage video game arcade, a throw-back photo booth and more clothing than any thrifter could ever dream of. $5-25, 8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., April 23.

Cat Power at the Varsity

With her sultry hits, loveable covers and acoustic dream-like melodies, Cat Power will be performing on the Varsity’s stage on Saturday night. $45, 7:00 p.m., April 23.

Houseplant Pop-up and Swap

Celebrating all things “planty,” this event is being held at Wagners Garden Center and will include community planting workshops throughout the day, an all-things-plant-themed mini market, and a plant swap – think “bring a plant, take a plant.” This event is free but requires registration. 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., April 23.

Earth Day Clothing Swap

In honor of Earth Day, the second annual Earth Day Clothing Swap is taking place in Saint Paul. By bringing your gently used clothing items to trade with other visitors, you fight fast fashion, a leading environmental pollutant. This is a free event, but it does require registration. 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., April 23.

Urban Jungle Flea Market

Teaming up with over 50 vendors, Urban Jungle is returning with their 2022 flea market located in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. Spanning vintage clothing, hype gear, art and food, this one-day event offers a little spring shopping for everyone. Free, 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., April 24.

Dirty Laundry – A MN Fashion Week Show and Dance Party

April 24 marks the first day of Minnesota Fashion Week and Hook and Ladder Theater is hosting a locals-only fashion show highlighting Twin Cities-based designers through modeling and dance. 21-plus, $20-50, 7:00 p.m., April 24.

Power Rager Sundays

For those looking to turn their Sunday-funday into a Sunday-fun-night, Icehouse in Minneapolis is the perfect destination. Power Rager Sunday’s are the venue’s weekly hip-hop dance party curated by local musicians Mike The Martyr and Sophia Eris, and have weekly performances from up-and-coming musicians around the cities. 21-plus, $7-10, 10:00 p.m., April 24.

The Public Safety Team just notified the Colorado State University community of extreme fire danger expected Friday, April 22.

Fires have burned in Colorado throughout April, and Friday’s storm is expected to produce even more danger because of high winds expected to get up to 60 miles per hour as well as dry conditions.

According to the email from the PST, “The National Weather Service also advises to avoid travel east of Denver Friday afternoon, beginning at 2 p.m., if possible, through the evening due to the potential of blowing dust causing low visibility.”

The most important thing to do is avoid activities that could cause or spread a fire. The PST says to not drive over or park on grassy areas. Exhaust from vehicles is extremely hot and the heat as well as sparks from vehicle exhaust has the potential to start a fire. The PST also recommends not burning trash or leaves, setting off fireworks or mowing or trimming grass. Use caution when using equipment that creates sparks like a chainsaw.

Further, if you see a fire, call 911 and make sure it is reported immediately.

Reach Katrina Leibee at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @katrinaleibee.