This recent month, June, celebrates pride all around the world. Many children and young teens can be confused on what this month means, or how they are a part of it. Numerous authors have written books for all ages on what LGBTQ+ can mean to you. Here are a few top selling books for children of all ages to read, and get started on their Pride month journey.

I am Jazz: Jessica Herthel
A biography of teen advocate Jazz Jennings, that supports her story and role and as a young Transgender girl. Transitioning at 14 and leading through her real-life experiences on how she became a role model for young children everywhere.

Worm loves Worm: J. J. Austrian
A short story of how two worms fall in love, to be interjected by a cricket. All the worm’s friends swarm with questions on who will be the bride and who will be the groom. Many more problems threaten the worm’s wedding, with an end showing love is love.

Unico Como Yo/ One of a kind, Like Me: Laurin Mayeno
In a race to find the perfect costume for his school parade Danny has planned the perfect costume. The store closes soon, the question is can he find the perfect princess costume before the parade?

A Family Is a Family: Sara O’Leary
In this book, a young student is scared to share her family as all the other kids share different dynamics. As each student shares how different their families are she is more confident in her family being different, rather than scared.

From Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea: Kai Cheng Thom and Kai Yun Ching
This book is a colorful book that gives a fairytale setting as a child and mother guide each other through a world of differences. Throughout the tale, they face challenges of gender, race, and even stereotypes side-by-side.

The University will drop nearly all pandemic-related restrictions by the fall semester or sooner, assuming near-universal vaccination rates on campus, Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy Russell Carey ’91 MA ’06 wrote in a Wednesday email to the University community. 

Several COVID-19-related precautions that have defined the past year of pandemic schooling will no longer be required for vaccinated students, including masking, routine asymptomatic testing and any gathering limits. 

The announcement by Carey adds specifics to President Christina Paxson P’19’s assertion in April that “Fall 2021 at Brown will look and feel much more like Fall 2019 than Fall 2020,” and expands on the changes the University made in May to its COVID-19 guidelines, including reduced routine testing requirements, loosened masking rules and a lift on travel restrictions. Taken as a whole, the new guidance outlined by Carey paints a picture of a semester with normal academic and recreational life.

The normalcy of the upcoming fall semester hinges on a student and employee vaccination rate of 90 percent or above, as well as community COVID-19 cases remaining low, Carey wrote. But because the group of students and employees currently on campus are “on track to achieve the target vaccination rate for the community by early July,” he added, the University expects the new guidance outlined in the email to become effective next month.

In July and August, the University plans to remove fully vaccinated people from the routine testing program, though unvaccinated community members will still have to be tested once per week. By the end of August, the University will dissolve the routine asymptomatic testing program, Carey wrote. He added that symptomatic testing will be available through University Health Services, and that the University is exploring “smaller-scale … asymptomatic testing to assess the effectiveness of vaccines and protect against possible variants of COVID-19.”

Once the University has reached its vaccination threshold, vaccinated individuals will not be required to wear a mask indoors or outdoors, except while riding campus shuttles or visiting health services and COVID-19 testing sites. 

Community members who are not yet fully vaccinated or who have opted out of vaccination for health or religious reasons will still have to wear masks indoors when around others and outdoors when unable to social distance, Carey wrote.

Carey implored community members not to ask others about their vaccination status or why they are wearing a mask. “While it’s natural to wonder if a colleague has been vaccinated, issues of health are private,” Carey wrote. 

There will be no restrictions on class sizes, and libraries, laboratories and other academic settings will return to pre-pandemic capacity limits with no reservations required.

Athletics will resume to the extent allowable by sports conference rules. “The University is prepared to host competitions without limitations or restrictions, including normal attendance by spectators, in the fall season,” Carey wrote.

Access to athletic and recreational facilities will continue to increase during the summer semester, Carey wrote. These facilities will return to pre-pandemic capacity by the beginning of the fall semester.

After Aug. 15, “there will be no restrictions on events of any type, gatherings or performances, including no limits on attendance/audience (other than fire code and other non-pandemic related restrictions), and no limitations on event visitors and guests,” Carey wrote.

The University will allow visitors and guests on campus after Aug. 15 without specific permissions, though different lengths of visits will be governed by different rules. Long-term (staying for a semester or more) and short-term (four full days over the course of a month or more) visitors will have to be vaccinated and exemptions will not be considered, Carey wrote.

Limited-duration visitors (visits of three days per month or less) will not be required to show evidence of vaccination under most circumstances, but unvaccinated visitors will be required to wear masks at all times. Limited-duration visitors include prospective students and attendees of lectures or performances.

Juana Garcia/ The Cougar

Just like during the pandemic, UH Dining should continue to allow students to get their food to go next semester. 

Many things are going back to normal for the fall semester at UH with event capacities growing and masks going away. It was recently announced Moody Towers Dining Commons will open again next semester.

However, one thing that should go back to the way it was during the pandemic is the dining hall’s takeout policy. 

Normally, the University’s dining halls only allow students to eat in the building. Students can’t bring their own containers to put their food in, nor does UH Dining provide containers. This all changed during the pandemic. In order to lessen the number of people in the building at once, the dining halls provided students with the option of to-go containers.  

This may change back for the upcoming semester but it really shouldn’t.

UH Dining Services should allow students the choice of staying in or eating wherever they want. Even if the dining hall doesn’t want to provide takeout containers, it should allow students to take their own. 

Students are often busy, taking lots of classes and working jobs at the same time. Sometimes they don’t have time to have a sit-down meal.

Because students in a hurry and on the go they will often turn to fast food alternatives at the Student Centers for their quick dinners. This can cost money and eating at the dining hall is free to students with meal plans.

Students should be able to go to the dining hall while also getting their food in a hurry. This will save students money.

Another major reason the dining halls should allow students to take their food to go is the dining hall can be overstimulating at times. The dining halls have bright lights and are often loud with the clamor of silverware, plates and chatter. 

“The dining hall can be really loud at times and sometimes I just want to go to my dorm to eat in peace and quiet,” said civil engineering graduate Gilbert Badillo. “I lived on campus during the pandemic and before and I preferred having the choice to eat wherever I wanted. It made me want to use the dining hall more rather than just get fast food.” 

Students don’t just want to eat in their dorms, but elsewhere. UH has a beautiful campus and during nice weather, it can be nice to have a meal at a picnic table. But that’s not normally possible if the meal came from the dining hall. In order to encourage students to enjoy the outdoors, the dining hall should allow food to go.

In order to let students get meals in a hurry, save money and eat wherever they want, the dining halls should allow students to get their food to go next semester. 

Anna Baker is an English senior who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

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“UH Dining should continue to-go option next semester” was originally posted on The Cougar

Pride month is upon us. The time of year where members of the LGBTQQIP2SAA (LGBTQ+ for short) demonstrate their pride in who they are. Now, those are a lot of letters, and you might be wondering what they all mean. Each letter represents a group of people who stand with the others in order to celebrate pride month, strengthen their communities, and raise awareness. One way to raise awareness and show support would be to educate yourself in what each of the letters in the acronym mean.

L – Lesbian

A Lesbian is a woman who is attracted to other women, either sexually, emotionally, or both.

G – Gay

Originally, “gay” was used to describe a man who was sexually and/or emotionally attracted to other men. In modern times, the term is used to describe homosexuality as a whole. It refers to both men and women who are attracted to the same sex. Some women also prefer “gay” to “lesbian.”

B – Bisexual

Those who identify as bisexual are attracted to more than one gender identity. Originally it referred only to those who were attracted to men and women, but as gender identities grew more varied, the term expanded to include any who were attracted to two or more.

T – Transgender

Transgender, or “trans” for short, refers to a person whose gender identity differs from the one assigned to them at birth. In contrast, the term “cisgender” is used to refer to people who do identify as the gender they were assigned at birth. Those among the transgender communtiy have transitioned from the gender identity assigned at birth to the gender identity they now identify as. They prefer to be referred to by their preferred pronouns. Do note that some among the transgender community prefer to be referred to by the gender they identify as rather than as “trans.”

Q – Queer

The word “Queer” is an umbrella term for anyone who is not straight or cisgender. It was formerly used as a derogatory slur for members of the community, but has since been adopted by members of the LGBTQ+ community as a term of pride.

Q – Questioning

Questioning, or “curious” if you prefer, refers to anyone who is unsure of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Members of this group go on to identify as one of the other groups later, or decide that they are straight/cisgender. All the same they are considered members of this community.

I – Intersex

Intersex people are born with traits that prevent them from fitting the traditional gender molds of male and female. These traits can be biological, hormonal, genetic, or anatomical in nature. Not every intersex person is different in the same way, the term is an umbrella for all those who don’t fit the traditional gender definitions.

P – Pansexual

Pansexual people are sexually and/or emtionally attracted to all gender identities. They do not discriminate by one’s sex, gender, or identity. While it is similar to bisexual, the key difference is that bisexuals are attracted to two or more gender identities, while pansexuals are attracted to all of them.

2s – Two-Spirit

“Two-Spirit” is an umbrella term used to describe members of Native American cultures who fulfill a traditional third gender or other variants in a ceremonial or social role. The exact nature of these variants differs for each tribe, and the term was created to refer to them collectively.

A – Androgynous

“Androgynous” refers to someone who either presents or identifies as neither masculine nor feminine. Instead they are a mix or indeterminate gender.

A – Asexual

Asexual people lack any sexual attraction to other people, no matter the identity. Asexual people may feel romantic affection for others but they do not have the desire to act on that desire in a sexual manner. Asexual is differs from abstinence and celibacy, as instead of rejecting the desire, there is no desire to reject.

+

The plus sign, found at the end of LGBTQ+, is used to refer to any who feel they are not represented by any of the above. The pride movement prioritizes inclusivity and thus establishes spaces for those who don’t necessarily fit in. So remember to be kind and inclusive this pride month.

Hawaiian food: Hodgepodge of Asian, Native Hawaiian culture

Erica Jean/Staff

When I visited Oahu last month, I couldn’t help but notice that traditional Hawaiian cuisine had influence from Asian as well as American culture, making it distinct from the foods most commonly associated with the mainland.  Here are some of my favorite fusion dishes that combine the best of both worlds!

Poke

While I’ve had various types of poke in Southern California before, the local, authentic one from Hawaii tops it all. Thanks to the relative location of the islands to the ocean, seafood is an important part of Hawaiian cuisine. This lent its benefits to the dish as the seafood tasted fresh and had a sweetness to it. Combined with the citrus dressing, salty limu (Hawaiian seaweed), sour and spicy raw onions, white rice and crunchy edamame, Hawaiian poke was an explosion of flavors as well as textures. 

Loco moco

Erica Jean/Staff

Though simple, Loco moco is one of the most famous Hawaiian comfort foods, and the reason is not surprising. Warm rice (a staple in Asian cuisine) is first topped with a beef patty (common in Western cooking) before it is coated with a creamy brown gravy made from beef stock, soy sauce and various other Asian flavorings. Last but not the least, a fried egg cooked to your liking is added. This dish is extremely flavorful (especially when the runny yolk is mixed with the gravy) and suitable no matter the time of the day. 

Saimin

A twist on Japanese ramen, saimin is another famous Hawaiian comfort food that is a must try! In the bowl, thin (“sai” in Chinese) egg noodles (“min” in Chinese) are topped with sliced scrambled eggs, char siu (Chinese braised meat), kamaboko (fish cake), spinach and green onions before it is ladled with a warm, savory broth made from ingredients such as kombu (a type of seaweed), bonito flakes, dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. 

Shaved ice

Erica Jean/Staff

A popular dessert, Hawaiian shaved ice is great for any season as the weather never drops below 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Though many cultures serve shaved ice (from Japan’s kakigori, the Philippines’ halo-halo, to Korea’s pat bing soo), Hawaii’s take on the cold dessert is unique because of the fine texture of the ice base. Instead of being crushed, the ice is finely shaved, resulting in a powdery, snowlike consistency that allows the syrup to be absorbed more easily. Popular flavors of the sweet icy dessert include ume (apricot), li hing mui (plum powder), and lilikoi (passion fruit)!

If you ever have the chance to visit Hawaii, remember to try these dishes, reminiscent of both Asian and American flavors!

Contact Erica Jean at ejean@dailycal.org.

The Daily Californian

Lightning struck a chimney on the Benevolent Street side of Everett-Poland House during a thunderstorm Tuesday afternoon, according to an email from the Office of Residential Life. 

All students living in the vicinity of the damage were relocated from their dorm rooms as the building undergoes repairs. Facilities estimated that repairs would take approximately 48 hours, according to the email. 

Will Kubzansky

Siri Pierce ’24 was wrapping up a class in her room when the lightning struck directly outside her window.

“I saw a flash in my peripheral vision, but I honestly probably saw the flash second and just heard the noise first, because it was so loud. You felt it more in the body than in your ear,” Pierce said. “Immediately following that, I saw bricks crumble from the chimney onto the cement sidewalks.”

Pierce said that after the strike, the area surrounding the debris in Keeney Quadrangle was blocked off.

“There were a bunch of students gathering on the side of it, people grabbing bricks and things like that,” Pierce said. “After that a facilities van came and then they closed the gate and put up barriers around it.”

Kate Salguero Lizarraga ’24 lives in Everett-Poland just below where the lightning struck and had to move out of her room to allow for repairs. When she returned to her room, she encountered facilities staff who told her she would have to evacuate the room for the night given her proximity to the damage, “which definitely caught me off guard,” she said. 

Will Kubzansky

Salguero Lizarraga said that before she received the email from ResLife, it was not immediately clear to her how long she would be evacuated for.

“When I was talking to the people in the hallway who were trying to get things under control, they said to pack an overnight bag just for the one night and that once I left my room, I couldn’t go back in,” she said. 

It was also not immediately clear where she would be relocated, Salguero Lizarraga said. The University eventually offered Salguero Lizarraga temporary housing in Graduate Center D, but by that time she had already made alternate arrangements to stay with a friend in Hegeman Hall.  

Facilities “had told me that I couldn’t stay there around 4:00, and then at 5:38 is when I got my temporary housing,” she said. “For an hour and a half, I just had no idea where I was going to stay for the night.”

Baihe Sun ’24, who lives down the hall from Salguero Lizarraga and was relocated to Grad Center D, said that she was initially told she would not have to move out, but received an email later telling her she would have to evacuate for 48 hours.

Will Kubzansky

“I understand that the repairs definitely have to be done immediately, but it was a bit worrisome that I had to move out so rapidly,” Sun said. “I was still in class at the time, so it was a bit difficult to manage trying to pack while I still had academic things to do.”

Students not directly affected by the repairs did not receive communication from the University about the lightning strike, said Pierce, who did not have to move.

“It would’ve been nice to just have received some confirmation that they were aware of what happened and that they were working to fix the chimney,” she said.

Once the initial shock of the strike passed, many students found levity in the stormy situation.

“I was FaceTiming people and showing them the bricks, and people were taking photos of it, taking videos posing with it, calling other people,” Salguero Lizarraga said. “Once we realized everyone was physically safe, we decided to have a little fun with it.”

This story is developing. Check back for updates. 

Gophers athletics announced Tuesday morning that it plans to have full capacity for sporting events when teams return to campus next fall for the 2021-22 season.

“We are excited to safely welcome fans back into our venues,” Gophers Director of Athletics Mark Coyle said in the email announcement. “We will follow all University, local and state guidelines, and we are looking forward to our fans once again providing a tremendous advantage for our Gopher student-athletes when they compete on campus. We are so thankful for our fans, donors and sponsors who helped provide necessary resources for our student-athletes last season, but we missed seeing and hearing them at games.”

The first ticketed Gophers sports planning to have a full capacity starting next fall are football, soccer and volleyball.

Gophers football and volleyball have set schedules for the upcoming season, while soccer has a conference schedule set but is still establishing nonconference matchups.

“We cannot wait to welcome everyone back to campus in a few months while still providing our fans with a safe and enjoyable experience,” Coyle said in the email.

Gophers football opens the 2021 season against Ohio State University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 2 at TCF Bank Stadium. Gophers volleyball kicks off the 2021 fall season against Baylor University in the Big 10/Big 12 Challenge on Friday, Aug. 27 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Since starting college, every job I’ve had has paid anywhere from two to four dollars more per hour than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. But I still struggle to afford my bills, and I need my parents to help with some expenses. I‘ve felt some shame because of that lack of financial independence, but I’m not alone.

Now, as most Americans live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to afford living expenses, 62% of American adults support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. While this may sound like a great idea, simply increasing the minimum wage to a living wage won’t solve our wage problem in the long term. Instead, our government should periodically review and adjust our minimum wage to ensure fair wages over time.

In the U.S., the federal minimum wage can only change when Congress passes a bill to do so. This is because the minimum wage was originally set by statute in 1938, with no requirements for how and when to adjust it. This system drastically differs from most other countries with a minimum wage, many of which have laws that require periodic evaluation and adjustment of the minimum wage.

France’s minimum wage, for example, automatically raises each year based on inflation and the average salary. In Australia, the Fair Work Australia Commission annually reviews the minimum wage and adjusts it based on economic factors such as inflation. These practices result in better wage stability in those countries compared to the U.S. Rather than seeing a gradual increase in our minimum wage, we see periods of stagnation and then steep increases all at once.

This pattern has massive consequences for Americans. The federal minimum wage has not increased since 2009, while inflation and the cost of living continues rising. This makes it nearly impossible for Americans to afford their bills. In fact, since 2000, wages have only risen 10.4% while the cost of housing has increased by 31.5%, healthcare by 55.7% and college by 57.3%.

Fellow writer for The Daily Utah Chronicle, Will Shadley, calculated that a full-time minimum wage worker in Salt Lake City would only have $105 left at the end of each month after paying for rent, bills and groceries if they lived in the cheapest apartment with the cheapest phone plan and transportation. That is $105 for healthcare, clothes, entertainment, savings and any unexpected expenses. Any unexpected expense would put a minimum wage worker over the financial edge. They can’t even afford to have a health condition, let alone a replacement phone if their current one happens to break.

Nearly half of Americans work for low wages, earning minimum wage or close to it. Surprisingly, this figure isn’t comprised of teenagers and young adults just entering the workforce, as one might expect. Rather, this counts mostly adults in their prime working years. Leaving minimum wage increases in the hands of our Congressmen has left millions of Americans, even adults with families to provide for, vulnerable to the rising costs of living.

Wage stagnation can also have grave effect on employers. In Colorado, where the minimum wage already increases slightly each year, business owners face hard decisions concerning where to cut costs as the cost of labor rises. Those decisions become even harder when wages increase drastically over a short period of time. Because the federal minimum wage has not changed in 11 years, nearly doubling it now to a living wage would force employers, especially small business owners, to potentially cut employee benefits or hours, raise prices, or worsen product quality. The unpredictability of the U.S. minimum wage makes it difficult for business owners to plan for it.

We need to demand not only that our Congress gives us a living wage, but that this living wage will be reviewed and adjusted to stay fair. The “fight for $15” is important. No one should work full time and not be able to pay their bills. However, raising the minimum wage without changing the way we review and adjust it is a recipe for disaster. The American Dream is about being able to work hard and make something of ourselves. But until we are guaranteed a fair wage for our work, that dream may never be attainable for most.

k.cushman@dailyutahchronicle.com

@kcellenc

The post Cushman: A $15 Minimum Wage Won’t Solve Much appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

The CSU tennis team gathers around after the doubles match to prep talk and get ready for the singles matches that are about to begin. (Josh Contreras | The Collegian) The leadership of the Colorado State University women’s tennis team will look different come the start of next season after CSU Athletic Director Joe Parker […]

Berkeley man arrested following alleged assault of CA Gov. Gavin Newsom

Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons

Photo by Gage Skidmore under CC BY-SA 2.0

During a visit to the city of Oakland on Thursday, a 54-year-old Berkeley resident allegedly assaulted California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he sought to promote small businesses in light of the state’s recent reopening.

Serge Emanuel Benoit Chaumette Jr. was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a public official and resisting an officer, according to an article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Chaumette was held at Santa Rita Jail following his arrest with bail set at $35,000.

According to Custodio Lopez, a California Highway Patrol officer, the alleged assault took place at 10:46 a.m., although details regarding the nature of the event are unconfirmed.

At the time of the alleged encounter, Newsom had been walking to Graffiti Pizza in Old Oakland when Chaumette first approached him in an “aggressive” manner, according to an article by the East Bay Times. Following his removal from the scene, Newsom was later described as being uninjured and undisturbed.

“‘[Chaumette was] just a gentlemen who wanted to say hello,’” Newsom said in the article by the San Francisco Chronicle. “‘And we all have our different ways of expressing ourselves. And he certainly made an impact.’”

Chaumette’s arraignment hearing was scheduled for Monday at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin, the East Bay Times article noted.

Check back for updates.

Samantha Lim is a deputy news editor. Contact her at slim@dailycal.org, and follow her on Twitter at @sssamanthalim.

The Daily Californian