Bear Necessities: Coffee at Cal

Who doesn’t like to go to cafes that feel like home? Developing friendships, meeting new people, thinking of home and even for a simple break from studying, join Muskaan as she talks to some people about their most amazing memories at different Berkeley cafes.

The Daily Californian

BU raised the rates of its traditional-style residences 3.86% this year, the largest increase since at least 2016.

Colorado State University is commemorating Latinx/e Activism Week. This week recognizes influential activists and leaders who took part in the farmworkers’ rights movements.

In previous years, CSU has celebrated Cesar Chavez Day on March 31 every year to recognize and honor his service fighting for the rights of farmworkers. This year, Dora Frias, director of El Centro at CSU, decided to extend this celebration to last a week.

“As important as it is to recognize achievements from activists in the past, we should also acknowledge the work being done by contemporary Latinx/e activists,” Frias said. “We decided to start Latinx/e Activism Week so we could recognize important figures from the past and present.”

Partnering with several CSU campus facilities, including the Morgan Library and the Lory Student Center, El Centro is working to celebrate historical and present activists fighting for civil and workers’ rights.

“It’s important to encourage our Latinx students here that they are capable of making a change,” Frias said. “We have multiple speakers coming into connect with students and people in our community.”

One of these speakers is Mónica Ramírez. Ramírez is an author, civil rights attorney and a civil and workers’ rights activist specifically fighting for the rights of immigrant women, farmworkers and the Latinx/e community.

Ramirez was born into a family of farmworkers and was a part of the first generation of her family that didn’t migrate for work. She was the keynote speaker March 29 at the Lory Student Center.

Wanting to confront the negative connotations that is associated with the word “activism,” Ramírez began by giving her own definition of the word.

“It’s being active,” Ramírez said. “That’s it — to look inside your heart, find something you care about and work to improve it.”

Ramírez has spent her life fighting for underrepresented farmworkers. She spoke about the pandemic and the toll it had on farmworkers.

“The pandemic exacerbated a lot of issues that were already there,” Ramírez said. “The need for more food, more protective gear and more mental health care. We have issues now that can’t be fixed with legislation alone. We need community care.”

Although her fight is an uphill battle, Ramírez has hope she can improve the representation and life of her community. She stressed the power of storytelling and used the #MeToo movement as an example.

“We saw the power of storytelling,” Ramírez said. “Millions of people shared their story, and because of that, the world will change forever.”

Ramírez explained how storytelling is the basis of change.

“During Congress meetings and debates, there are people who testify,” Ramírez said. “People who share their stories —stories that can have effect on legislation.”

Through her work, Ramírez strives to provide a platform for people to share their stories in order to make the world a better place.

“Stories drive activism; activism drives change,” Ramírez said.

Reach Jack Miller at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @millerjack02.

Even elite female athletes struggle to shake the stigma of ‘playing like a girl.’ (Athletes pictured, from left: Sarah Fuller, Allyson Felix and Mo’ne Davis) (Ha-tien Nguyen/Photo Editor)

This is the final piece of a series of articles for Women’s History Month spotlighting female empowerment through sports. 

“You throw like a girl!”

When I was younger, I learned to anticipate this banter from the boys in my life. I grew up with many uncles and cousins who were former high school and collegiate athletes, and the girls were always expected to keep up with the boys. My dad prioritized teaching me how to catch a football, dribble a basketball and hit a baseball as soon as I was physically capable. My younger brother and I constantly competed in athletic contests, and were evenly matched in all of them.

At family gatherings, it was tradition to organize backyard wiffle ball games. Inevitably, the boys would nonchalantly catch my pop flies and easily beat my throws to first base, at which point one of them would remind me of my inadequacy: “You play like a girl!”

“But I am a girl!” I’d scream back, confused and frustrated by the impossibility of matching the boys’ athleticism. Each passing year only exacerbated the hopelessness I felt as I watched my brothers, cousins and male peers become exponentially taller, stronger and faster than me.

In high school, I played basketball games in nearly empty gymnasiums. The crowds only began to trickle in during the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, hoping to secure their seats before the boys’ game began. At home I would scroll through the TV channels in search of broadcasts of women’s college games and rarely found one. “Playing like a girl” had once seemed like a trifling insult, but it proved to be a prophetic warning: female athletes cease to be interesting when they can no longer keep up with the boys. 

When Mo’ne Davis burst onto the Little League World Series scene in 2014, I was in awe of her confidence and ability to hold her own in the boys’ club that is baseball. Although I looked up to her, I recognized that following in her footsteps would lead me to a dead end. I knew that the time would come when the athletic gap between Davis and her male teammates would be insurmountable. Eventually, biology would push even a player of her caliber out of baseball and, consequently, she would no longer be noteworthy. 

Davis, who now plays softball at Hampton University (Va.), once appeared to be an exception to the rule. But at no fault of her own she succumbed to a phenomenon common among young female athletes: when you are a girl, you will never be good enough to exist in the male-dominated sports world.

The incessant bombardment of male-dominated primetime television broadcasts, merchandise and commercials teach girls that athletic excellence is unattainable. ESPN’s list of the Top 20 Athletes from 1995-2015 featured just two women, with Serena Williams, the only woman of color, claiming the higher spot at No. 6. When women are excluded from conversations about the greatest athletes of all time, young girls with dreams of athletic renown feel that the most they can hope to achieve is second-rate status. 

There is little infrastructure for women to play professional sports in the United States, which means that the highest competition they can aspire to reach is the collegiate level. Unfortunately, the NCAA has repeatedly treated its female athletes like afterthoughts. Perhaps the most embarrassing display of disrespect is the stark difference between the amenities provided at the College World Series (CWS) and the Women’s College World Series (WCWS). Baseball players receive complementary golf outings, massages and banquets on their off days. Softball players must weather doubleheaders and play in stadiums without bathrooms or showers.

These disparities persist even though the 2021 WCWS garnered an average of 1.2 million viewers per game compared to the 2021 CWS average of 755,000. Despite evidence to the contrary, the inequitable treatment of female athletes brands women’s sports as inherently lesser to men’s.

Additionally, female athletes who attempt to place their personal desires above their athletic performance risk losing financial support. When seven-time Olympian gold medalist Allyson Felix revealed the pay discrimination she faced during her pregnancy, companies only revised their maternity policies due to immense public outcry. The swift and unforgiving pay cuts Felix and other Nike-sponsored athletes, many of whom were women of color, received upon becoming mothers unambiguously proclaimed that when female athletes prioritize their womanhood, their worth decreases. Meanwhile, nonbinary and transgender athletes can struggle to find their place in an industry that seeks to definitively place athletes into one of two gender categories.

Female athletes face an impossible catch-22: their displays of speed and strength aren’t masculine enough to warrant intrigue and media coverage, yet they aren’t allowed to fully explore their femininity. Even when their playing days are behind them, they face undue criticism and scrutiny over how they present themselves, especially women of color. Texas A&M University assistant women’s basketball coach Sydney Carter was branded “unprofessional” for donning pink pants and heels during a game; meanwhile, nobody bats an eye when male coaches pace the sidelines sporting sweatpants.

Being a female athlete can also be degrading and sometimes outright dangerous. Former Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) goalkeeper Sarah Fuller was lampooned online, mostly by men diminishing her accomplishment, after she became the first woman to score in a Power 5 college football game. Male authority figures can abuse young female athletes for years without facing consequences. The sports community praised NBA forward Kevin Love, a white man, for coming forward about his mental health struggles, but professional tennis player Naomi Osaka, a Hatian and Japanese woman, faced ridicule and disparagement. 

Although male athletes have the upper hand when it comes to physical strength, the emotional and mental fortitude female athletes possess is far more impressive. To constantly be defending your right to equal recognition and protection is an exhausting burden, and it doesn’t get any easier in the male-dominated sports arena. I am continuously disappointed to see the female athletes I idolize not only be relegated to back-page news stories and secondary sports channels, but also dismissed as inherently mediocre. 

Certainly, women’s sports are far more visible and celebrated today than they were when I was growing up. More and more female athletes are proving they can be global icons who transcend athletics, achieve a work-life balance and do what was formerly impossible. 

I want my little sister and all young girls to see that female athletes can be more than just successful: they can be the standard, regardless of gender. I want them to see that playing sports as a girl does not deserve ridicule or mockery — it is something worthy of praise. I want them to know that their perseverance in the face of opposition defines their worth, not their ability to keep up with the boys.

After all, of course female athletes throw, hit, run, shoot and play like a girl. That is all that should be asked of them, because that is more than enough.

The post The casual cruelty of the phrase ‘throw like a girl’ appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

Old Dominion comes back for a home weekend series with the Charlotte Niners.  This is their second in the conference series and will be  talent packed  with both teams being ranked in the top-25 teams in the nation last year. Old Dominion comes into series 17-2 and 2-1 in C-USA play while Charlotte enters 14-6 and 2-1 in C-USA play respectively. 

The first game of the series commenced on Friday March 26 at 6pm. Senior Lefty Tommy Gertner toed the rubber ODU as their starter. Charlotte jumped out to an early lead when they tacked on five runs in their half of the first inning. The Monarchs cut into the Niner lead in the first with a solo homerun from senior Tommy Bell making it 5-1 through one. Charlotte continued their push as they steadily tacked on runs including two in the ninth inning. Old Dominion had solid performers including home runs from four different Monarchs (Trice, Garriola, Bell and Petracci), but all of these came as solo home runs and caused the Monarchs to fall 11-4 on Friday. 

When asked about the game Coach Finwood commented, “It was just one of those nights,” ODU coach Chris Finwood said. “They deserved to win. They certainly outplayed us. They outplayed us in every phase of the game.” On a more positive note, when asked about the pitching of his relievers, Finwood stated “If you get behind by that much on Friday, it’s tough because you don’t want to burn up your bullpen. You don’t want to use the guys you need when you’re winning, because you have two more games to play.”

The second game of the series occurred on Saturday March 26 at 3pm. The Monarchs started Righty Redshirt senior Nick Pantos. The Monarch offense was hot early as sophomore Carter Trice flew out to bring in senior Tommy Bell for a score in the first. Senior Matt Coutney then homered in his next at-bat to give ODU a 3-0 lead at the end of the second inning. The Charlotte offense scored once in the fourth before Pantos got out of a first and third jam. The Niners expanded their lead in the fifth, sixth and seventh ballooning their lead to 13-4. The Monarchs however were done yet and still had some fight left in them. In the bottom of the eighth, Coutney added to his dominant day as he saw another ball leave the park and brought the score to 13-5. The Monarchs would continue their push down to the last out as they put up three runs in the bottom of the ninth off a double by sophomore Kenny Levari and a single by Garriola. Sadly, this would be where the offense would stop as the game would end with a score of 13-8 in favor of Charlotte. 

When asked about the second game of their home stand, Monarch’s head coach stated: “We swung the bats a little better today than we did Friday,” Finwood said. “We just need to get more timely hits.” Finwood was also critical of the Monarch pitching staff after giving up 12 walks and he commented, “You’re not going to win games when you give good teams 12 free baserunners like we did today.”

The third game of the series was a must win game to avoid a sweep of the series by Charlotte and the Monarchs rose to the challenge. The Monarchs gave the nod to sophomore Sam Armstrong to start the Sunday afternoon game. The ODU offense made their name and intentions known early as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead through three innings thanks to a double by sophomore Robbie Petracci and homers by Coutney and senior outfielder Thomas Wheeler. Charlotte cut into the Monarch lead with a two run homer making the score 5-2. ODU finally found some rhythm and began to get the bats going as they brought in four more runs to make the game 9-2. The Monarch pitching staff continued their struggles in the fifth as the Niners scored ten straight runs in the inning bringing them back into the game with the score now coming to 12-9. The Monarchs however did not back down o and scored in the fifth and eighth tying the score at 12 going into the ninth inning. At this point in the game, the monarchs leaned on their flame throwing lefty Noah Dean to hold the Niners and keep the Monarchs in the game. Dean did not disappoint as he pitched 31/3 scoreless innings giving way to one hit and sitting down six by strikeout. With the score still tied at 12 going into the bottom of the tenth heavy hitter Garriola stepped into the box and sent Monarch fans home happy as he scorched a ball over the right field wall  which would be enough as the Monarchs would take the third game to avoid the Charlotte sweep. 

The Monarchs continued their home stint as they hosted the Campbell Camels on Tuesday evening. They were up on the Camels till the later innings when Campbell brought in late runs to take the lead in the 8th inning. The Monarchs could not retaliate and wound up losing 8-6 against Campbell. Next up for ODU is another conference series as this weekend series will be against Florida International University in sunny Miami, FL on April 1-3. To look later into the month, Old Dominion will face East Carolina, a team who they bested on a game-ending walk, on their home turf in Greenville North Carolina on Tuesday, April 5. The Monarchs also will travel to Charlottesville, VA to duel with nationally ranked Virginia on April 12. 

When people ask how I identify politically, it’s a tough question to answer. I have multiple identities. I’m an advocate for universal healthcare, expanding public education to include preschool, eradicating (or at least cutting) child poverty and implementing bold climate change policy. Call me what you want.

I don’t identify as a Democrat — a member of the Democratic Party — because I have too many issues with the party today, but I do identify as a small “d” democrat. I have faith in democracy. Because of this, it should be no surprise that I have doubts and worries about the future of our democracy. I’m not alone, either; recent NPR/Ipsos polling indicates that 64% of Americans think American democracy is “in crisis and at risk of failing.”

Research indicates that 31% of Americans want a “strong incumbent leader who does not have to bother with Congress and elections.” So this begs the question: why should we even care if American democracy is at risk?

I could go on and on about why we should value and desire democracy. I’ll just give a few reasons why we should, otherwise this column would be too long.

1. War is bad. We should avoid war— at home and abroad— if at all possible. A great way to do this is by championing democracy; research shows that democracies, quite simply, don’t go to war with each other.
2. Though authoritarian leaders will falsely claim otherwise, history shows that democracies have higher rates of economic growth than other countries.
3. The most basic way to determine how successful a country and their government has been is by how long their people live. If a country is successful, their people will live long, healthy lives. Research shows that citizens of democratic countries live longer than citizens of other countries.
4. I believe that all are created equal, so all should have power in their government by voting and making their voices heard. Just on principle alone, the people as a whole — not just a dictator or the wealthy — should have a say in the laws that govern their country.

So, if democracy is as peachy as I claim it to be, why do almost a third of Americans basically want to scrap our current system for a dictatorship? In short, they don’t approve of our current system because it isn’t a democracy. If I were to use a term to classify our political system, I would call it a representative democracy. Still, the United States’ democracy is lacking in some areas as well. The Senate and Electoral College are intentionally not democratic. Studies have shown that legislation that passes through Congress is correlated with the preferences of the wealthy, not the average American. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has long argued that the United States is on the verge of being an oligarchy; I agree. There is a bit of a paradox here; for those of us that value democracy, we need to build a better one before we lose what we have right now to autocracy or oligarchy.

That’s right — my headline and subhead were written for right here at home, not some country halfway around the world.

A few side notes before I get to my main proposals for fixing our democracy:

1. I’ve already written columns on the benefits of ranked-choice voting and abolishing the filibuster, so I won’t spend too much time on those proposals, but they would do a lot of good as far as making our democracy more representative and responsive.
2. Bolstering journalism and public education (two proposals I’ve also discussed previously) would make our electorate more educated, which would be great for our democracy.
3. Many on the left propose abolishing the Electoral College and the Senate altogether. Not to say I’m opposed to these proposals, I just think they aren’t worthwhile discussions; they would require constitutional amendments that would need small states to vote against their own self-interests.

So, what steps can we take to build our democracy before we lose our democracy?

We should make drastic changes to the House. Many discuss the anti-democratic nature of the Senate, but fail to discuss that the House isn’t very democratic, either. Instead of the voters choosing their House representatives, gerrymandering has made it so politicians are choosing their voters. At the very least, we need to ban partisan gerrymandering through the Freedom to Vote Act. More drastic proposals like multi-member districts and proportional representation should be considered, too. We could and should expand the House to 930 seats so individual districts have closer to equal representation.

1. We should pass a constitutional amendment that would overturn the disastrous Citizens United v. FEC decision that allows corporations to pour unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns. This has allowed our democracy (rule by the people) to increasingly look like an oligarchy (rule by the wealthy).
2. If a constitutional amendment is unattainable, a bill that gives each American $100 to donate to candidates — dubbed “Democracy Dollars” by Andrew Yang — would go a long way towards making our democracy more democratic. If money is speech, as Citizens United says, Democracy Dollars would give everyone a voice.

I know this was a long column. Nothing is important if we lose our democracy, and I wanted to make sure I got this column right. It has a lot of links that might seem boring to read, but I encourage everyone to read them. They’re written by people who are much smarter than I am (though that doesn’t say much). As I said in my column “A republic, if we can keep it,” our democracy can be preserved if 1) we want it to be and 2) we do everything we can to ensure it is preserved.

Though the policies I propose both in other columns and here are good, they are far from exhaustive. Most importantly, though, we need to do something before it is too late. Americans are losing faith in our democracy in part because they don’t think it is working well for them. In short — they’re right. It isn’t working well for them because we don’t live in a democracy — yet. If we build one through some of my pro-democracy measures, then our democracy will be here to stay.

What if I told you that the power of a supercomputer may actually lie within the machine with which you’re reading this article?

Lauren Durham, print editor-in-chief, Flyer News Dayton, Ohio London fashion designer Jessica Horwell debuted her grungy, eclectic Fall/Winter 2022 collection at New York Fashion Week on Feb. 12. Pieces included form-fitting dresses, flattering knits with shape-enhancing accents from balloon sleeves to fur cuffs, and a leather bomber jacket embroidered with the words “Fearless, “Grateful,” and […]

SALT Contemporary Dance closed their 2021-22 season in the Mid-Valley Performing Arts Center with concert “Spring 9,” featuring new works from Artistic Director Joni McDonald and choreographers Micaela Taylor and Olivier Wevers. Their performances on Friday March 25 and Saturday March 26 consisted of three individual pieces – “The Quality Of,” “Feathers” and “The Right Time to Let Go.” The show was soulful, skillful and evoked that “start-of-spring” feeling we’ve all latched on to as the weather has gotten warmer. 

“The Quality Of”

McDonald expertly opened the evening with a piece that subverted expectations — the overture of Strauss’ most recognizable composition and the bohemian-meets-Regency dresses felt like they had been pulled from a ballet. While the implications of the music were classical, McDonald’s movement was fluid and connected in contemporary fashion. Dancers fell in and out of unison, creating ripples into backlit vignettes, even utilizing one of the most shocking techniques in dance: pure stillness. In the vibrancy of pastel blues and burnt oranges, “The Quality Of” oozed spring in all its changes, melancholy and ease. 

“Feathers”

The second piece of the night featured only five dancers from the company, executing Taylor’s bird-inspired movements and rapid, isolated shifts from their compact “W” formation on the stage. The piece felt unified without needing sharp precision, allowing the dancers an individuality within the almost industrial and dystopian quality of the staging. At times, dancers moved under the neon lights, designed by James Larsen, to spoken word alone, with nothing but internal rhythms and vocal outbursts to keep them in sync. One of the most interesting elements was Taylor having company members run across the stage, creating this exposed pedestrian quality surrounding the flocking movement. 

“The Right Time to Let Go”

Closing the night was Wevers’ choreography in a soulful company piece. Opening on a empty stage, save an upstage microphone facing away from the audience, exposed by the removal of the curtain wings, the dancers began in an amorphous clump and each broke free to grab a pair of chartreuse stilettos from a pile and take their place at the mic. With their shadows large against the back wall, they told personal and moving stories of identity, depression, burnout, competition, self-esteem and hope. 

Wevers’ direction with the shoes was breath-taking — the heels acted as percussive instruments, architecture on the stage, props and extensions of the dancers’ bodies. As they were stripped of shoes and blazers, dancers Myles Tracy and Aubry Mason closed the piece, underscored by Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese.” It was raw, soft and strong — a call to, in Oliver’s words, “Let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”

As a unit, “Spring 9” was a feat, moving from a fresh take on classical sounds to exposing the playing space to gradually unifying the dancers in movement and in dress. I’m never not impressed with SALT Dance’s programming, and their gorgeous presentation of new works in “Spring 9” is a sign that contemporary dance is alive and well despite the pandemic, flourishing like spring itself.

h.keating@dailyutahchronicle.com

@keating_hm

The post SALT Dance’s ‘Spring 9’ Evokes the Season with Three New and Distinctive Works appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

In honor of International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV), ODU is hosting a testimonial-based celebration on Thursday afternoon.

TDoV is an internationally celebrated awareness day, dedicated to the accomplishments of the global transgender community and the acknowledgement of the work that has yet to be done. Held each year on Mar. 31, TDoV was originally established 12 years ago by Rachel Crandall, a trans advocate who sought to push media coverage of trans people away from just violence and transphobia. 

According to GLAAD, in 2021 only 20 percent of Americans claimed they personally knew a transgender person, implying that the vast majority of U.S. citizens learn about the trans community via media coverage. In 2010, Crandall urged news outlets to celebrate and empower trans people rather than report solely on their rejection from society. 

Notably, a large portion of TDoV is still dedicated to acknowledging the lasting effects of discrimination against members of the trans community and offering resources for those afflicted.

“We celebrate because we have been repressed and are not allowed to be free,” says Julius Clark, senior at ODU and As(t*)erisk board member. “[We] hold celebrations of visibility because… there is a belief that we are not significant enough to be valued; a belief that we are not worthy of the effort because we have gone against certain expectations.”

“Trans is Beautiful, Trans is Human: A Testimony to the Trans Experience in Defense of Trans Rights,” will be presented by the Tidewater Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Virginia Beach Coalition and ODU’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA). The event is set to feature the personal testimonies of trans individuals across campus as an opportunity to elevate their voices and declare their value. 

“What we know we can do is speak,” Clark continues. “We will talk about trans lives, our experience, our pain, our happiness and ensure the members of the [ODU] community hear us… We are proud and supportive of our community in a way that cannot be repressed.”

“Trans is Beautiful, Trans is Human” will be hosted at the Roseann Runte Quad in front of the Student Rec Center on Thursday, Mar. 31 from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

Testimonials can be written and submitted here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpGL4WLJZQhtqc_r7YksMfggjp-JI2HTJ1oq82T4szxQGHqw/viewform