The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Opinion

  • OPINION: Nationalism disguised as morality

    OPINION: Nationalism disguised as morality

    Double V for Victory, “Victory at home and Victory away,” is a statement with a connotation that is still prevalent today. The rhythm of this sentence represents the almost theatre like performance of how some veterans and politicians in the United States claim civil activism against the idea of the American flag is “Un-American.”

    We see people like Donald Trump whining about the un-patriotic protesters of the flag like Colin Kaepernick and others in the NFL and yet when I see his rhetoric on such, it reminds me of his own denial of patriotic action.

    What would the deceased Senator Daniel Inouye say if he saw politicians saying protesting the flag was “Un-American” and anti-Veteran? He wasn’t even considered American as he was both fighting for his country and the lives of himself and those around him. But still, Japanese-Americans like himself were illegally detained under the guise of a presidential order that seemed to change what was American and wasn’t overnight.

    Nationalism and nation building might have been controlled by the military and the US government, but in the 20th and 21st century our country has been embraced by the warm and comforting feeling of civil and legislative action that attacks these pillars of U.S nationalism. We as an American people might be brandished by the toxic scorns of racism, xenophobia, misogyny and white-ethno nationalism but that does not mean that’s what defines us.

    The constitution is a living document, so why does nationalism seem to be the equivalent of beating a dead, racist horse. I call out these things because as we look at the American political landscape, we may see a prevalent theme of ignorance formed around what can be protested and what cannot. So far, many conservative leaning politicians, citizens and business persons find protesting the flag more repugnant protesting a woman’s right to choose the fate of their own bodies.

    The U.S flag is not some stationary object that represents America in a positive light. It stands for all of America and when we generalize someone’s protest against the flag, we start to ignore the reasons why they are protesting.

    I respect Colin Kaepernick. I take that back. I want to strive to be like Kaepernick because he represents the ultimate purveyor of freedom of speech. He puts the rights of his own culture and background before his own financial and societal stability.

    This is something I see represented in athletes of antiquity, like Muhammad Ali, who’s famous words on the Vietnam war still echo in the American consciousness today.

    “I got nothing against no Viet Cong,” Ali said. “No Vietnamese ever called me a n****r.”

    This quote shows us why it’s important to understand that the protest against the policy and actions of some Americans and governmental entities does not mean the wholesale denial and disrespect to a nation, but rather against specific problems one takes with a nations actions.

    This generalization is an action taken by government infrastructure to ensure that national rhetoric on a subject that breaches the ideas of what some consider U.S nationalism, becomes associated with something ‘unpatriotic.’

    This is where the fallacy and mythos of nationalism becomes involved because as we stride closer and closer to a world where people live in diverse communities of all religions, ethnicities and cultures, we will begin to understand Nationalism as the barrier it is rather than the culture and history it supposedly represents.

    So as Colin Kaepernick becomes the pariah of all supposedly patriotic citizens, he also becomes the hero of all those who are deemed not.

  • OPINION: Left-handed, left out

    OPINION: Left-handed, left out

    On the first day of class here at Humboldt State University, two individuals walked into my class.

    “There are no left-handed desks,” said one of the students.

    From the moment they step foot into the classroom they already faced a challenge other than months of constant stress and anxiety.

    As I looked around, I noticed that out of the twenty or so students in the class there were only two students that where left handed. We live in a predominant world were right handedness is the norm. For right handed students, sitting down and writing is as easy as counting to three, yet for left handed students, writing in a right-handed desk is just the beginning to the struggles of being left handed.

    In a world that deems to be predominant right handed, left handedness can be considered almost taboo. For some right-handed people, their left hand is as useful as trying to cut a brick with a butter knife, the thought of it is just inconceivable. Whereas left-handed people are forced to adapt and work in a right-handed world. Senior Michelle Galindo, a dominant left-handed psychology major explained when she started to notice challenges being left handed to me.

    “Since I was small, around that time of being in kindergarten. I can remember being challenged as a left-handed person whenever I would use the scissors. Whenever I would try to cut with my left hand, it would not be as easy as it would be if a right-handed kid where to do it.” Galindo said.

    Terilynn Diggs, a senior and kinesiology major, also dominant with her left-handed said her memories started around kindergarten also.

    “It started just before kindergarten. My father is left handed, and whenever I would use a pencil or a marker with my right hand, he would switch it over to my left.” Diggs said.

    Labor and delivery and surgical technician at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro in Los Angeles, Tracy Strivers, is also ambidextrous. A w

    Ambidexterity is the ability to be able to use the right and left hands with ease. She said that she too learned at the age of preschool that she was different than all the other kids.

    “My best friend and I at the time would always eat together during lunch. We started to notice that we did not eat like all the other kids, and from the point on we thought we were different,” Strivers said .

    Knowing what a left-handed person goes through, is not conceivable unless trying to go a whole day with out using your right hand. From middle school to high school Galindo had to constantly deal with the smudging of lead from writing. Diggs still to this day has challenges in the kitchen when trying to prepare a meal or use a can opener.

    Strivers, being a surgical technologist must constantly battle the fact that she can use both of her hands, but it can lead to confusion in her work space.

    “Being in the operating room is very stressful when you have a mother screaming and giving birth to a baby. It can become easily confusing when I’m using both my hands to retract the uterus, then go back to using one hand when handling instruments,” Strivers said.

    Why continue to face the constant challenges of being a left-handed individual? Why not be just like everyone else and use your right hand? To these individuals using their left hand is “cool,” and “special,” and in a way makes them different than many of the people around them.

    “I wish sometimes I was right handed. I feel right handed people have better hand writing,” said Diggs.

    According to Galindo she had a friend who started to write as a lefty but was converted to write with his right by his mother. Galindo’s friend was bashed by his mother for having to use his left hand and as a scare tactic was told that left handed people are touched by the devil.

    I can not speak on the behalf of Galindo’s friend being touched by the devil, yet there remains to be an extended list of influential left-handed people ranging from: Barrack Obama, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Michelangelo, Larry Bird, Helen Keller, Queen Victoria of England, and Julius Caesar. All of which are left-handed people who have or went on to have lustrous life impacting lives.

    For right handed people, the challenges that left-handed people must face might not ever fully be understood by someone that is right handed. Maybe a day will come when the world becomes predominant left, and right-handed people will finally know the struggle.

  • OPINION: What the helmet is going on?

    OPINION: What the helmet is going on?

    NFL implements disliked new helmet rule

    Football is a violent sport. This aspect of the game is sometimes attracts people to it and it’s all about to change thanks to the NFL’s new helmet rule being implemented.

    The new rule states “it is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”

    The problem with this new rule is that it’s anatomically and physically impossible to lower your shoulder without lowering your head and making incidental contact.

    The penalty is primarily called on defensive players and their heads are spinning. Four-time All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman took to Twitter and called the rule “idiotic.”

    He’s right.

    Sherman, who also called for the rule to be “dismissed immediately,” isn’t the only one pissed off about it. Halfway through the preseason, we’ve seen over 50 flags in 32 games for “helmet-rule” penalties, and several calls have left people shaking their heads in disbelief.

    Indianapolis Colts’ veteran safety Shamarko Thomas, who got ejected from the preseason opener for an illegal helmet hit, was fined $26,739, the minimum for a first offense, and then cut by the Colts two days later. That’s a hefty price to pay just for tackling a guy.

    Supporters of the rule will say there used to be no helmets and it was changed. There used to be no facemasks and it was changed. Next they will be saying there used to be defense played and it was changed.

    Rules like these have noble reasons for being made. Player safety is the NFL’s top priority nowadays due to impending lawsuits from former players and ownership is reacting to the segment of the public that believes the game is not safe enough and too barbaric.

    The NFL is forcing players to think instead of react the way they’ve played football all their lives. When the regular season begins with much more to play for, we could see the NFL creating a more dangerous environment in the name of safety.

    The league needs to trash this rule immediately. Go back to letting football players play football. It’s insane that the NFL thinks it can make football safer. The foundation of the game is blocking and tackling. Collisions are the essence of the game. A routine tackle cannot be a penalty.

    I am not advocating that players should get hurt. Rather, I am advocating that the NFL does their due diligence and thinks before they act. Don’t let your billion dollar company’s fate be decided by lame rules made up by lame people who don’t know anything about football, just to cover your own butts.

     

     

     

  • EDITORIAL: Replace or mediate

    EDITORIAL: Replace or mediate

    Administration must take KSHU advisory board and community demands seriously

    Listeners, staff and volunteers of community of the non-commercial public radio station KHSU have spoken.

    They demand a replacement for the Humboldt State University appointed general manager Peter Fretwell and a change in character of his supervisor, University Advancement Vice President, Craig Wruck.

    HSU should adhere to their concerns and demands immediately, or at least take active measures to find some middle ground.

    After the sudden firing of KHSU’s program operations manager Katie Whiteside, KHSU has been vocal about what feels to them like a “hostile takeover.” A little over a month after Fretwell fired Whiteside, the KHSU advisory board submitted a letter to administration in which they present a vote of no confidence against Fretwell, respectfully asking him to step down.

    Soon after, Wruck attended the July advisory board meeting to face feedback and questions from the community. Fretwell, however, was not present per Wruck’s request.

    After over two hours of back and forth over several issues between the community, the station and Wruck, he confirmed that Fretwell’s position is not in danger.

    “At this point Peter is meeting my expectations and his job is not in jeopardy,” Wruck said.

    This is a blatant disregard of community voice and of the people the radio station is meant to serve. HSU has done nothing

    According to the KHSU website, “HSU provides approximately 20 percent of KHSU’s cash revenue… HSU also provides facilities and other significant administrative in-kind support for station operations.”

    This means that HSU serves as a sort of a glorified landlord that deals with some management of operations and staffing. The history and relationship of KHSU and the university is more closely tied than just landlord and tenant, however the station was created primarily to serve the community.

    Now it receives the majority of its funding from the community instead of depending solely on HSU to run smoothly.

    “Contributions from listeners, businesses and local organizations account for the remaining 64 percent of the station’s annual operating budget,” their website said.

    This station is the blood, sweat and tears of minimal staff, mostly volunteers, dedicated listeners and strong and unyielding community. A lot of those who currently work for or worked for KHSU are Humboldt State alum. They want transparency from the university and a sign that their voices are being heard and most of all they want action.

    Tensions between KHSU and the university have only grown worse since Whiteside’s firing. At the July 27 KHSU advisory board meeting, community members called out the university for its lack of transparency and lack of response to their concerns.

    Between the firing of Whiteside and the last advisory board meeting, allegations of abusive behavior and a hostile work environment have surfaced from staff at KHSU against both Fretwell and Wruck.

    Though letters have been sent to Humboldt State University President Lisa Rossbacher, not much as been done in the way of addressing the fighting between Wruck, Fretwell and KHSU.

    Feedback against the way business is being handled at KHSU has grown even more tense with the added allegations of aggressive behavior in addition to a requested audit of the station, a suggested change to the mission statement and values and a transition toward new technology.

    It is not immediately clear if Wruck and Fretwell will pause, take a step back and begin to listen and respond with empathy. Both men remain in their positions and are still responsible for running a station that is losing or has already lost faith in them.

    Before relations between the university and KHSU staff, volunteers, sponsors and listeners worsen, HSU needs to make some changes or take active measures to mediate issues between their chosen leadership and the community.

  • Letter to the Editor

    Letter to the Editor

    I recently read the article “40-day anti-abortion protest begins in Eureka” by Abigail LeForge. I found the article to be biased and lacking in investigative journalism. Though it is generally lacking in perspective, my main contention is with two points at the end of the article.

    The first is the section about the press release for the event wherein LeForge wrote, “the press release…boasts the success of these campaigns, claiming they have saved 14,000 children.”

    There is no further elaboration on how this number was achieved. What is their measure for saving a life? Are these 14,000 abortions post-eight weeks, 12, 14? There is a huge difference in what a woman goes to go through depending on whether or not it’s post-eight weeks.

    Also, it states that “children” are saved, which is a term predominantly understood to be based on age; post-birth, pre-pubescent. Using the term “children” in reference to the beginnings of a fetus is an emotionally provocative inaccurate and inaccurate.

    My second problem with the article is the use of the term “abortion facility.” It was a quote from an interviewee and LaForge missed an opportunity by not clarifying for readers that our Eureka Planned Parenthood isn’t an “abortion facility.” It supplies woman, myself included for the last 17 years of my life, with mammograms, Pap smears, STD and STI testing, birth control, cancer exams for both men and women etc…you get the picture.

    Lastly, to end this article on a note about the closure of abortion facilities is frightening. Who is recording the closure of abortion fascilities? Is this county wide, state wide or nation wide? Were all these closures based on the successful campaigns of anti-abortion protesters? A new bill being passed? The merging of fascilities into one? Again, more questions are raised then answered.

    At the end of t day, the misinformation by exclusion of a balance of views within this article hinders the progress for women’s right to their bodily autonomy.

    If you made it here, thank you for taking the time to read through. This article seriously has me considering picking up journalism again. I guess that’s a good thing.

    Have a wonderful day and thank you

    Annie Bond

    Student

  • Kimchi trend is hard to swallow

    Kimchi trend is hard to swallow

    Many Koreans who grew up in the U.S. probably understand why the recent kimchi trend is a little irritating. Korean Americans know full well the shame they had to endure by their non-Korean friends who expressed disgust of the pungent smell and taste of kimchi. That sense of shame is then heightened by alienation, making them feel as if Korean culture isn’t normal.

    “I see a lot of white guys making Korean food ,and I’ll be honest, it pisses the shit out of me,” David Chang, renowned Korean American chef, said. “It’s everywhere now. Kimchi this, kimchi that. You weren’t like, ostracized in elementary school because everyone thought when they visited your house that it smelled like garbage. They didn’t have to endure emotional hardship. And now it’s cool.”

    Kimchi is a staple Korean food made from various vegetables, most commonly with napa cabbage and radishes. It contains an assortment of spices, including seafood sauce, red pepper paste, garlic and ginger. It has a sour taste, a crunchy texture and a fishy smell that is packed with probiotics, vitamins and minerals.

    “Kimchi is a traditional Korean food manufactured by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria,” the Journal of Medicinal Food wrote. “Accordingly, kimchi can be considered a vegetable probiotic food that contributes health benefits in a similar manner as yogurt as a dairy probiotic food.”

    Nowadays, you can find kimchi in supermarket chains, taco trucks and on hot dogs. What used to ostracize Korean Americans has now become trendy, which is annoying in some ways, but exciting that the western world is finally appreciating Korean food.

    Popularization is a foolish way to appreciate ethnic foods. Waiting for celebrity chefs and publications to tell us what cuisine is worthy of attention is a small-minded way of enjoying foods outside of your comfort zone.

    “Declaring an entire ‘ethnic’ cuisine a trend is inherently dismissive,” Khushbu Shah, Thrillist’s senior food features editor, said. “Filipino food, for example, is the main source of sustenance for more than 100 million people around the world today and has been eaten for centuries, even in the United States. So the very nature of tagging something as a trend also gives it a shelf life that is set to expire after its moment of popularity. But that’s not how cuisines work.”

    Kimchi’s trendiness will likely wane, but it will certainly not lose its cultural significance. The first step in exploring foods past your customary tastes is to have an open mind. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but don’t hold it against us.

     

  • “Avengers: Infinity War” spoilers

    “Avengers: Infinity War” spoilers

    Each Marvel movie has its own tone. Whether it is the quirky, fantastic realm of Taika Waititi’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” the darker, more realistic world of the Russo brother’s “Captain America: Winter Soldier” or the reality-warping ethereal world of Scott Derrickson’s “Doctor Strange.” Bringing all of these different worlds and tones together into one world with one tone is not a simple task.

    The simple way around that monolithic problem is to avoid it entirely.

    “Avengers: Infinity War” is supposed to be Marvel’s final boss. Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie up to this point has been leading up to this event. It was never really supposed to be a movie; instead it is more of a superhero convention. The agreed upon prediction for “Avengers: Infinity War” was that the superhero convention would start with a bit of interpersonal conflict between all the different characters. They meet up for the first time, a big bad boy appears and all the main characters have to re-re-re-learn the lesson of teamwork. The reward would be the friends they made along the way.

    It is wonderful that the predictions were mostly wrong.

    The name of this movie should have just been “Thanos.” The real plot line is a strange character study shrouded in the guise of an Avengers movie. Thanos lurks in the corner of the MCU films. Whether he’s mentioned in passing by the main characters or shown in the flesh during an end-credits scene, he has always been in the background doing absolutely nothing. Now he takes center stage, and the superhero convention that is “Avengers: Infinity War” is just unnecessary weight. All the characters we know and love tend to drag the movie down, especially the ones that stay on earth for the entire movie. The concerns of Captain America or The Vision do not matter in the face of Thanos.

    It is such a shame the movie had to be an Avengers film.

    The best parts of this movie are beautifully surreal. There is thought put into landscapes and so much detail put into the expressions on the CGI purple face of Thanos. The most memorable moments are slow and touching or strangely twisted.

    The best fights in the movie are not punch-ups. The weapon that Thanos uses can control reality, so it is perplexing that the audience is asked to take swarms of heroes and faceless villains with all of their explosives and magical fists seriously. The movie makes it clear that Thanos is on a whole other level. He can manipulate the universe as he chooses. The movie would have been improved if most of the scenes on earth were completely cut out and replaced with further explorations of Thanos’ character and reality-bending powers. The threat Thanos posed to earth was on a different scale; so much so that all the explosions and action-packed fight scenes felt hollow.

    Before this goes on, here are the recommendations: If you haven’t enjoyed the MCU so far, this “film” is not for you. If you like the MCU so far, you will probably be glad you went to the theater. There are some shake-ups, some touching moments, some wit and a whole lot of sadness.

    This next part has many spoilers. Do not read on if you have not seen the movie.

    Thanos wins. He snaps his fingers and half of all life in the universe disappears. It cements the movie as something different. Nothing the main characters do to physically stop Thanos really mattered. The ending is heartbreaking and it should stay that way. Peter Parker panicking while dissolving in Tony Stark’s arms genuinely digs into the soul if you already care about these characters.

    But of course, Peter Parker cannot stay dead because there is another Spider-Man movie in the works. The weapon used to kill over half the main characters has the ability to rewrite time, so it does not take a genius to see what is going on.

    The biggest fault of this movie, and every other Marvel movie, is not a single part of the movie. Instead, It is the fact that it cannot just end.

     

  • We still don’t feel safe

    We still don’t feel safe

    Racial discrimination on campus is rampant

    I, Skye Kimya, believe I was detained on Feb. 14 over a $40 on-campus parking ticket because of the color of my skin.

    Around 8 a.m. that morning, I walked out of a building on the northeast side of campus to find two parking officers giving me a ticket for where my car was parked.

    After getting into a small verbal altercation with these parking officers, I realized it wasn’t worth the argument. I asked them to give me the ticket and let me go about my day.

    The parking officers were not happy with me driving off while they were still giving me my ticket, and before I knew it, Humboldt State police Chief Donn G. Peterson was pulling me over in an undercover vehicle.

    Within minutes, another University Police Department vehicle arrived to the scene. I was interrogated for approximately 10 minutes by two officers on each side of my car about the incident that had just occurred. After the officers spoke with each other for a few minutes, another cop car pulled up, and UPD officer Delmar Tompkins made his way to my driver side.

    “Please step out of your vehicle and put your hands behind your back,” Tompkins said.

    “Excuse me? I don’t understand,” I said.

    I was told I was being detained under suspicion of assault with law enforcement. After questioning this accusation, I was told I was a threat at that time and needed to be detained for the safety of the officers because they did not know the full story yet.

    Confused and scared, I got out of the car, did what Tompkins asked me to do and began to cry like a baby as he placed me in the back of his cop car.

    Imagine being detained and told you are a threat, under suspicion of assault, by a white officer twice your size. Imagine feeling confused and alone. Imagine questioning what could possibly happen next.

    When you grow up trying to understand the purpose behind discrimination, you begin to notice how common it is and wonder if it will ever go away.

    At times, you lose hope for your children’s generation. Yet other times, you want to become the greatest activist that has ever walked this planet, in order to actually make things right for those future generations.

    Students at HSU don’t feel at home. We don’t feel as though there are people by our side, and we don’t see the amount of people of color around campus that the HSU pamphlets and website photos presented to us when we were deciding which university to attend.

    According to HSU’s “fast facts,” the incoming class of fall 2016 consisted of 549 Hispanic/Latino students, 51 African American students, 31 Asian students, 11 American Indian students and four Pacific Islander students.

    Additionally, the entire fall 2016 student body consisted of 2,869 Hispanic/Latino students, 271 African American students, 279 Asian students, 89 American Indian students and 20 Pacific Islander students.

    With a student body total of 8,503, you can imagine what it is like to see only 270 other faces similar to yours on one side, and only 88 other faces similar to yours on the other side.

    Hispanic and Latino students made up almost 35 percent of the entire student body that same year. Seems like a reasonable amount, right?

    HSU actually receives funds from the U.S Department of Education ever since they became a Hispanic-Serving Institution at the start of the fall 2013 semester.

    To become a Hispanic-Serving Institution, the university has to have an undergraduate full-time equivalent enrollment of at least 25 percent Hispanic students, and HSU was at 26.6 percent for the fall 2013 semester.

    HSU continues to flaunt a great amount of diversity that it does not have. These incoming students, like many of us who were once in their shoes, attend HSU and slowly begin to witness and experience how diverse this campus and community is truly NOT.

    Just the other day, the NAACP Eureka Branch called out HSU and asked them to stop recruiting students from minority-majority neighborhoods until changes are made around campus and within the community.

    A majority of the students of color who have attended HSU for at least two academic years have experienced some type of discrimination, whether it was verbal, physical or emotional.

    In 2013, Tompkins had a civil lawsuit filed against him by a Fieldbrook man who alleged he was the victim of a brutal assault back in January 2012. It turns out the Fieldbrook man wasn’t lying and the Cal State University system paid him $135,000 to keep him quiet.

    As students of color at this university, how are we supposed to feel safe if our own UPD officers don’t do things the right way and have our back?

    Cases like the murders of HSU African American students Corey Clark (2001) and David Josiah Lawson (2017) are still unsolved to this day, and we as students have not seen enough action taken by our president, UPD and even the Arcata Police Department.

    Students of color do not feel safe, nor protected here. The NAACP Eureka Branch is right and something has to change before HSU tries to drag more students of color to this campus.

  • To all of my kinky people

    To all of my kinky people

    I am not a hair guru, but I do know my hair. My hair type can be best described as 4c.

    The hair chart guide starts from type 1, which is your typical straight hair. This hair type is typically more hydrated. However, it gets greasy easily. Type 2 can be best described as wavy, a mixture of straight and curly hair. Type 3 is curly, which has a defined s-shaped pattern. These curls can get weighed down with too much hair product and will look greasy. Type 4 is the kinky hair type. This hair type has a tightly coiled pattern with a zig-zag shape.

    This hair type is the most fragile and driest of them all. It requires the most care and the most moisture.

    The problem many gals and Humboldt State University students with 4c hair likely face, is the lack of ethnically diverse hair care products in Humboldt County.

    As a newly self-proclaimed “natural,”my hair is in its raw state, not permanently altered by chemicals or heat. Since I’m new at this, I’m still looking for the right hair care products.

    If you’re looking for products that properly nourish, moisturize, detangle, tame frizz, add shine, give great body, leave hair soft, oil deeply and lock-out humidity, you can’t get that from typical hair products found at CVS, WinCo Foods or Walmart. But there are at least a few shelves of ethnic hair care options available at local stores.

    There are local beauty supply stores in Eureka, but they have a small supply. Unfortunately, they sell items that are remarkably priced higher than items back home, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

    Minority-majority areas typically have a plethora of beauty supplies and supply stores that cater to the needs of people of color.

    Unfortunately, many HSU students have to either bring supplies from home during the break or spend an arm and a leg to ship it up here.

    The HSU Bookstore now has items for their ethnically diverse student body, but prices could be better.

    HSU Clubs and Activities coordinator Tanza Triggs wants to put together a planning committee with a club called The Legacy in the fall. It would be a hair expo for people with ethnic hair.

    The purpose of the expo is to bring in local stylists and beauty supply owners to welcome HSU students with hair care contacts. This should create a drop in prices for hair care products and an increase in stock.

    I usually use Cantu products. However, I’ve taken a small break from my Cantu products, and I’ve now decided to experiment with Lottabody products. The Cantu products can be found in Humboldt County, but I have yet to find Lottabody products.

    I also use the Moisturize Me Curl and Style Milk in hopes to define my curls, tame frizz and add moisture with brilliant shine. So far, the results have been wonderful.

    I hope other people of color will be able to find the hair care products that properly serve their hair type while living in Humboldt.

  • Administration’s feigned empathy, not enough

    Administration’s feigned empathy, not enough

    Humboldt State University must strongly consider the Eureka NAACP chapter’s letter about recruitment of students of color.

    The Eureka NAACP posted a press release on April 26 insisting the college stop sending recruiters to minority-majority communities for the sake of the money these students bring the college.

    Colleges will receive access to certain federal funding based on a number of reasons, one of those is the amount of diversity in student enrollment. For example, Humboldt State is a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

    According to an article in the Sacramento Bee, to be a Hispanic-Serving Institution means the college’s demographic is at least 25 percent latino. The government awards this title and this allows the college access to “new programs and millions of dollars in targeted grants.”

    Therefore the ENAACP asks that HSU stop recruiting students of color for the sake of access to this type of funding, claiming it is misleading to gather students to a toxic environment.

    The ENAACP continues to present several reasonable demands in addition to ceasing minority-majority recruitment.

    The ENAACP asks of HSU to:

    • “Honor the experiences of students of color by confronting its institutional racism and actively engaging with the campus community, the City of Arcata and the surrounding communities in speaking to the racism that students experience.
    • Ensure that support is in place so that students of color thrive in this community.
    • Provide budget for permanent staff and student support for the Cultural Centers for Academic Excellence
    • Transparency concerning the climate of racism in Humboldt County be the top priority in recruiting and marketing
    • Do more to serve our diverse population of students with appropriate funding and staffing for the programs that serve them
    • Prioritize hiring more faculty of color, and training current faculty and staff in “cultural competency””

    We believe that these are reasonable requests to follow and that HSU must act accordingly.

    Though the demand to cease recruitment of students of color is extreme, we believe it is rightfully based off of the reality of the discriminatory climate in Humboldt county. The organization is not without proof.

    “Students of color at Humboldt State University have shared with us their experiences of racism in many forms including micro-aggressive behavior in HSU classrooms, overt racism on the streets, systemic racism in the pursuit of housing and employment, and institutional racism in the form of more punitive measures than their white counterparts,” ENAACP said in the press release. “We hear them.”

    However, it seems that HSU is quick to defend and less quick to act. In a response letter, HSU President Lisa Rossbacher expressed minor empathy for the basis of these demands and proceeded to insist HSU is doing what it can.

    “I disagree with many of the statements in the letter, but I do agree with the larger point that HSU and the North Coast need to do more,” Rossbacher said. “Our country struggles with a history of racism and racial inequality on the national and local levels. We must find ways, and work together, to create a brighter future for all our students.”

    This is an indirect response to a list of clearly well made ideas and initiatives that the college could easily adapt to. Although Rossbacher agree’s, she does not address these bullet points and does not respond with any implications of having an actual plan to address the major issue of racism, just keeps insisting more must be done.

    For example, Rossbacher has been consistently missing from discussions on dialogue and protests over the murder of HSU student Josiah Lawson. April 15 marked a year since his death and his case remains unsolved. When students gather in remembrance and protest of his death, Rossbacher is consistently nowhere to be found.

    The press release also addresses the lack of presence from administration, stating that “there has been no consistent presence of HSU administrators at the monthly vigils organized and facilitated by the students and Charmaine Lawson, the mother of David Josiah Lawson.”

    They also note the lack of regular presence of administration at the monthly Dialogue on Race meetings and recognizes that this is unacceptable.

    Though we do not believe HSU should stop recruiting in the middle of a budget crisis, we do believe HSU and its admins and leaders, such as Rossbacher, should stop responding with feigned empathy, she should start acting and start showing up to represent the students of color that represent the institution.

    We, as HSU students who have experienced this discrimination and have heard the stories of discrimination against our peers, are angry. We are tired of repeating ourselves. The toxic and racist climate of Humboldt county and Humboldt State University must be acted upon immediately.

  • Leadership should be accountable in response to racism

    Leadership should be accountable in response to racism

    More than 8,000 Starbucks coffee shops will be closed on May 29 to train employees on “implicit bias,” as opposed to explicit racism, and “promote conscious inclusion,” according to their press release on April 17.

    The racial bias training, scheduled for nearly 175,000 Starbucks employees, is a grand publicity stunt that will prove to be futile in the short run. When the smoke clears, and it’ll clear fast, Starbucks will be business as usual, and racism in the U.S. will be the same as it ever was.

    In fairness, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson wasted no time in personally addressing the issue in light of the incident. Johnson ultimately put himself in the hot seat, rather than refer to a spokesperson.

    President of Humboldt State University, Lisa Rossbacher, could learn something from Johnson.

    Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were arrested at a Starbucks coffee shop in Philadelphia on April 12. The reported scenario allegedly goes like this: two black men walk into a Starbucks for a business meeting involving an ongoing real estate deal with investor Andrew Yaffe. While waiting for Yaffe to arrive, Nelson asked to use the restroom, but was denied by the manager, who is white. The manager asked if they wanted to order drinks, but they said no. The manager then called the police for assistance to remove Nelson and Robinson from the cafe for trespassing, which was promptly granted.

    According to calculations by financially-focused media company Bloomberg, Starbucks is expected to lose $16.7 million on training day, a relatively small loss of profit compared to their average $20 billion in revenue (an approximate average of Starbucks revenue between 2015 and 2017).

    If you’ve been following the local news about David Josiah Lawson and Humboldt State University’s budget cuts, Rossbacher was absent during rallies and community events of critical importance this semester, including the budget cuts walkout on March 21 and the one-year vigil of Lawson’s murder on April 15.

    Starbucks can implement strategies and enforce new policies, but racism will prevail in the long run. This is the America we have lived in for a long time, which is apparently accentuated in the days of the Trump administration. We can write dozens of editorials protesting racism, but in the grand scheme of things, racism is too deeply rooted in the U.S. to overcome as a nation. It’s only a matter of time before the next person of color gets arrested at a bourgeois, corporate establishment and receive the highly-ratable spotlight by the mainstream media.

    At the very least, the CEO is ensuring his company is responsible for addressing the issue without delay, and Johnson himself is making the attempts to be present and accountable.

    Rossbacher’s absence reduces her credibility amongst students, regardless of deans or the provost speaking on her behalf. Not just credibility, for her sake, but trust in the institution as a whole, especially for people of color. As we wrap up the spring semester, we urge Rossbacher to be more present in the future.

  • Records rule again

    Records rule again

    The tables have turned in favor of vinyl records. While CDs and cassettes reigned king in the 1980s and 1990s, it was the rise of digital downloads and online streaming services in the 2000s that inexplicably aided in the resurgence of records. Today, records are outselling digital downloads for the first time since 2011.

    “Vinyl sales were up 10 percent to $395 million — a ‘bright spot among physical formats,’ the [Recording Industry Association of America] noted [in a 2017 year-end revenue report],” Derek Hawkins of The Washington Post said. “The outlook for digital downloads is bleak. This is the third year in a row they’ve posted double-digit declines, according to the RIAA.”

    As Apple commercialized MP3 downloads in the early 2000s, CD sales began to drop. Though cassettes are making a comeback in some areas now, thanks to record labels like Burger Records, they lost their popularity more significantly by that time as well.

    Making our way into the 2010s, millennials caught on to the joys of listening to records as download and streaming services continued to revitalize the music industry. In fact, a great deal of new records these days include free download cards — a good incentive to get the best of both worlds, that is, a tangible medium and a digital download of an album.

    Record Store Day is a global event that has happened every April since 2008. Independent record shops from all over the world participate by selling limited edition records made exclusively for Record Store Day.

    “This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities,” the Record Store Day website wrote.

    While it’s slim pickings in Humboldt County, People’s Records in Arcata carries a wide selection of outstanding records year-round. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, People’s Records will offer this year’s exclusive Record Store Day selections, and they’ve made extra room for more records.

    “We will have many of the limited edition Record Store Day items, plus we have expanded and knocked down a couple walls in the store to accommodate 1,000 new records in our stacks,” People’s Records wrote on their Facebook page.

    People’s Records in Arcata. Photo by Matthew Hable.

    Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with digitalized music. The average human ear can’t detect the sample rates of professionally processed digital audio, nor can they make out the subtle differences in sound of analog waves, aside from the record’s “warmth” people commonly claim to hear in contrast to MP3s or WAV format.

    However, what sets records apart from other formats is their level of interactivity and the way they appeal to the senses. The process of taking a record out from its sleeve, placing it on a turntable, carefully dropping the needle on the record and even the smell of records makes it that more special.

  • A joint opinion: spark it up!

    A joint opinion: spark it up!

    Humboldt County’s reputation around the United States reeks of marijuana.

    As part of the Emerald Triangle, along with the counties Mendocino and Trinity, Humboldt makes most of its green from the seasonal crop.

    Rumor has it that the celebration of April 20 started in Marin County, California, not too far from Humboldt with a group of San Rafael High School students who called themselves The Waldos. These pothead pioneers gathered on campus after school at 4:20 p.m. to spark up and look for a rumored, abandoned pot farm.

    One of the original Waldos said that the term originally meant “Do you have some?” or “Do I look stoned?”

    Eventually, the psychedelic rock band Grateful Dead picked up on the term when they moved blocks away from San Rafael High School and frequently smoked with one of the Waldos’ older brothers.

    Years later, April 20 is a nationwide holiday when stoners smoke copious amounts of weed and spend the day trying not to miss 4:20 p.m.

    Celebrating April 20 in Humboldt County is almost as pointless as the British declaring a national day for beer (which they have, mind you). But the beginning of 2018 marked a monumental time in California history.

    Marijuana advocates have been fighting for legalization of cannabis since the 1960s.

    Finally, on Jan. 1, California Proposition 64 became effective, allowing legal recreational use and taxation of marijuana statewide. Nearly 60 years later, the seed is cultivated into reality.

    Since then, there has been little qualitative information about the impact on Humboldt economy, but tourism and sales tax revenues are likely to increase.

    Now more than ever, April 20 is a holiday to celebrate the progress California has made in decriminalizing the medicinal plant and allowing anyone to enjoy its benefits. For the first time, anyone above the age of 21 can safely spark up a legal, recreational blunt in the comfort of their home.

    If you are partaking in 4/20 this year, please remember that any dank celebration should be in moderation. Spark responsibly.

  • A joint opinion: put it out

    A joint opinion: put it out

    Before the Gold Rush there was a Green Rush, with some gold in there. Settlers came from the East in the 19th century looking for gold and found some big trees to cut down and sell. It was a prosperous time for white people who made money from lumber sales, but it sucked for every person of color who worked low wages in the industry or barred from work. Now, it’s time for a new area of selling green stuff for money once again.

    There are many parallels from the Gold Rush to the Green Rush as legalization came about. Marijuana legalization is just as racist and elitist as the lumber industry. 81 percent of cannabis business owners are white. Three-quarters of the industry are owned by men.

    However, this is more than the environment, it’s about its medicinal value. Sure, there are some studies that tell of marijuana’s healing abilities and some Facebook memes that exaggerate those claims and say weed cures cancer. But those studies seem to be used to justify lazy people to smoke all day and do nothing.

    Just because something is supposedly healthy for you, doesn’t mean you should consume it to excess if it’s unnecessary. Apples are healthy, but eating a whole bushel won’t keep the doctor away and nor would smoking a pound a day, or whatever amount people actually smoke.

    There are a lot more things to do in Humboldt than smoke. Cannabis can be a part of Humboldt, but it shouldn’t be exclusive to its identity. Not everyone smokes weed. There are quite a bit of people who look down on weed due to its culture. No one should be forced to smoke, but cannabis shouldn’t be looked down upon either. The cannabis industry needs to be improved.

  • Trust in police weakens as Chapman resigns

    Trust in police weakens as Chapman resigns

    As students, we have reasonable expectations of safety so we can focus on academic success without fear. This is not the reality for Humboldt State University students of color, both on campus and in the community. Both the Arcata Police Department and HSU have a long way to go to gain the trust of students of color.

    The recent resignation of APD police chief Tom Chapman only worsens public confidence in local law enforcement.

    A good deal of community members, including HSU students, are aware that 19-year-old HSU student David Josiah Lawson was murdered at an off-campus party in Arcata on April 15, 2017.

    McKinleyville resident Kyle Zoellner was arrested at the scene of the crime, but released on May 5, 2017, due to lack of evidence connecting him to the murder.

    There is a clear and serious disconnect within our community regarding racial diversity. Because Lawson is black and Zoellner is white, racial tensions tightened in the community. And as one group tries to engage with the community about race and public safety, others view such meetings as a way to promote white guilt.

    To this day, no one is in custody of Lawson’s open homicide case.

    Former FBI agent Tom Parker, who offered his investigative services on the Lawson case for free, resigned on April 9. According to the North Coast Journal, Parker said a lack of trust and cooperation by the APD led to his decision to resign.

    “It was clear they were holding back things and not telling me the truth,” Parker said. “They had things going on and they wouldn’t tell me what they were.”

    Chapman announced his resignation the following day without reason.

    Following a press release by the City of Arcata announcing Chapman’s resignation, Arcata City manager Karen Diemer followed up with local media concerning both departures.

    “[Chapman’s] decision does not stem from any one single thing,” Diemer said. “It is a combination of personal reasons and professional judgement on what he believes is best for the department and himself.”

    In regards to the Lawson case, Diemer said the APD continues the investigation without Chapman.

    “The investigative team for the David Josiah Lawson case is solidified with members of both the Arcata Police Department and District Attorney Investigators office,” Diemer said. “This team will stay in place and focused on the case through its completion.”

    Parker’s claim that the APD withheld information raises major concerns. While it’s reasonable to conceal information from the public during an open investigation, why wasn’t the APD willing to cooperate with Parker?

    Also suspicious is the timing of Chapman’s resignation. Why did Chapman resign the day after Parker terminated his contract with the APD and just five days before the one-year mark of Lawson’s death? Coincidence would be an unbelievable excuse.

    While there’s only so much we can do in a case like this, we can demand more from from our law enforcement and other officials. Check with the City of Arcata, the Arcata Police Department and the Division of Student Affairs at HSU about the investigation. Don’t just do it once, but follow up as well.

    We must stand in solidarity of not just the Lawson case, but for students of color. By remaining quiet, local law enforcement will prioritize less pressing issues and no progress will be made. We need to stand up for ourselves because the ones who should protect and serve us are stepping down.

  • A (cynical) guide to surviving the Infinity War

    A (cynical) guide to surviving the Infinity War

    Navigating the Marvel Cinematic Universe

    There are too many Marvel movies for people to keep track of. The combined 18 movies have earnings of more than the GDP of a significant amount of nations.

    Here is a guide through the Marvel storm as we approach the Marvel cinematic singularity: The Avengers: Infinity War.

    Disclaimers

    The movies and the comics are in two totally different realms of existence, especially when you consider deep comic book lore. For example, in the comics, Captain America is secretly a Nazi and Ant-Man beats his wife. For the sake of this guide, let’s pretend they don’t exist.

    There are two Marvel movies that take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) that I have not seen. They are Louis Leterrier’s The Incredible Hulk, and Jon Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming. (There are just too many Spider-Man movies.) If anything incredibly important happened in those two movies that directly relates to Avengers: Infinity War, sorry.

    Plot

    All of the movies in the MCU somehow relate to objects called the infinity stones. For the purposes of the movies, they are convenient plot points. Something for heroes and villains to fight about. There are six infinity stones: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. They are supposedly fragments of what came before the universe, and you know they’re important because they glow. The end boss of all the Marvel movies thus far is a mysterious purple man named Thanos who really wants to put the glowing stones on his glove.

    Characters

    There are the Earth Avengers, the Space Avengers and the Avengers In-Between. Only three characters have had three movies all to themselves: Thor, Captain America and Iron Man. Each of those characters represents a division of the MCU. Each of them has their own team of lackeys who make up most of the characters. The Guardians of the Galaxy are a separate group who also represent a sizable amount of characters. Every character connects with the infinity stones in one way or another.

    Where we left off

    When we last saw our brave heroes, Captain America’s lackeys and Iron Man’s lackeys did not like each other very much. Thor was in space after successfully destroying his homeworld with the help of the Hulk, and the Guardians of the Galaxy were also in space after killing Kurt Russell. The infinity stones are spread out amongst our heroes. The red stone was last seen out in space with Benicio del Toro, but his house blew up so no one really knows where it is. The purple stone was dropped off at John C. Reilly’s place, but Thanos has it in the Infinity War trailer, so R.I.P John C. Reilly. The yellow stone is in the living incarnation of Iron Man’s computer’s face. Benedict Cumberbatch has the green stone, and Thor’s greasy adopted brother has the blue stone. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that we’ve seen the orange one unless Spider-Man has it and no one told me.

    Predictions

    All 50,000 characters are going to learn to work as a team and form the mega ultra avengers. At least one of the main Avengers will die. All the actors must be tired of this whole thing by now, though it’s not clear whose contract is up yet and who will get an out. (It has been a decade since the MCU started, and each of them must have enough money to buy entire nations at this point.) Thanos will almost destroy the universe, but our brave heroes will stop him, and Disney will have all the money in the world by 2030.

  • Consuming news safely

    Consuming news safely

    Sorting through the mainstream, and now local media

    When you turn on your local news TV station, you expect a solid mix of local and national news, and a variety of messages between stations.

    The news coverage from one area to the next will differ based on location.

    What you don’t expect is to be able to watch hundreds of news anchors, ironically reading the same script, on hundreds of different channels, about the importance of varied news sources and supported communities, like the companies owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group.

    Recognizing and understanding how to sort through the news, and have a well-rounded idea of what is happening, is important to processing the information you consume. Here are two important parts of journalism and fake news you should understand when consuming information.

    Understanding journalism objectivity

    Before diving into how to fact check and navigate the media, it is important to understand that objective journalism is incredibly hard, if not impossible, to achieve.

    People are inherently biased and influenced by the world around them. Journalists do their best, however, to inform the public, simply for the sake of the public.

    However, it is equally as important to understand that when it comes specifically to the news facet of journalism, journalists study, and are taught, to present the facts of a story from either side.

    This does not mean journalists agree with the information they have been given, but instead are presenting this information to the reader or viewer with as much objectivity as they can manage.

    The Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics is one of the most prominent professional ethics guidelines journalists follow, and sets the tone for what real journalism is supposed to be. These ethical principles exist to promote clear and concise reporting with four main facets: to seek the truth and report it, act independently, minimize harm and be accountable and transparent.

    For example, mainstream media outlets being owned by giant companies allows an argument to be made that these outlets are not independent, though they should work this way.

    Consider the case of Sinclair pushing right-based opinions and scripts to their newscasters across multiple local news stations. Sinclair also released a video in an attempted act of transparency, trying to inform the public why this script was given out. Deadspin, who released the compiled video footage of news anchors reading from their script, also provides this video in order to provide more detail to their story. This style of reporting leans toward writer bias, and is a little less formal than other outlets.

    In order to rise above the many messages media on all formats is designed to present to you, start with skepticism, and then some careful consideration. Make sure you’re digesting factual information, as opposed to fake news or misinformation.

    There are websites that specifically try to sort through political fact and fiction like the website Politifact.com. Politifact aims to provide fact-checking based journalism with principles based on “independence, transparency and fairness through reporting and clear writing.”

    Fake news in itself could be considered an oxymoron. News must be factual to be news. However, as the word of the year, and the biggest threat to our democracy today, knowing when you’re being fooled is vital.

    Skepticism and careful consideration

    As declared watchdogs of those in power, and also those who abuse their power, journalism is easily considered to be shady. The idea that journalists are out to dig up dirt and expose powerful or public figures for joy is an easy mistaken thought process to fall into.

    When you hear something on the news you find to be negative or shocking, understand there are news determinants that allow journalists to consider what is noteworthy and important for the general public to know.

    We take it upon ourselves as journalists to study these determinants seriously and with practiced objectivity. Knowing trust in the media is at an all time low, we encourage you to refer to other news sources when this happens.

    Use your skepticism of what you’ve heard reported and consider other articles or broadcasts on the same subject. Different reporting might present different facts. Even after studying a variety of sources, you as a reader or viewer may only have a small piece of the picture still. We as journalists have also considered multiple sources before presenting information so we are not failing our public by reporting on rumors or false information.

    Some websites exist to make this easier for you, such as Media Bias/Fact Check. This website lists specific sites and news sources that are either politically left-biased, centralized, right-biased or left-center and right-center-biased. You can find a list of questionable sources here as well. If you see a source on this list, they may not be the most trustworthy news outlet to refer to.

    Politifact, an outlet centered around fact checking, provides a truth-o-meter that follows the specific decisions and promises of politicians by following their actions and reporting back to inform the public whether their actions align with their words.

    The sources provided here are merely suggestions and are not an end all to fact-checking sources.

    Practicing the ability to step outside your own bias and recognize that of some media outlets to compare and contrast information is important to democracy.

    Always double check where your information is coming from and who might be influencing the message.

  • Letter to the editor

    Letter to the editor

    New Student Housing Community in the Works for Lumberjacks!

    Dear Editor:

    I’m pleased to announce that The Village, a new housing choice, is in the works for students attending Humboldt State University. As you probably know, HSU currently has room on campus for only about 25 percent of the students enrolled, which has made it difficult for HSU students to find housing year after year.

    According to a report funded by HSU, the Arcata housing market is so constrained, some students sleep in their cars or camp in the woods while they look for housing. There is currently demand for roughly 800 new student housing beds in order to address students’ housing insecurity and to support their academic pursuits.

    After various inadequate attempts to increase housing options, the city is now on the verge of having the most viable new housing choice for students in many years.

    The Village isn’t just another apartment building, it is planned as a purpose-built student housing community only half a mile from campus that specifically meets students’ needs with academic amenities such as spacious study rooms, computer lab and presentation room for individual or group study and collaboration, a fitness center with on-demand fitness programs, outdoor community space and secure covered bicycle parking. The Village will also have 24-hour professional on-site management, as well as peer mentorship from resident assistants that will be responsive to students’ needs. This property will also include many sustainable features including solar power, a bicycle-share program and electric vehicle charging stations, and will be built to environmentally conscious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standards.

    The Village will help improve the reputation of the Arcata community by creating more healthy competition in the housing market and energizing the local economy that is largely fueled by HSU and its students, and will introduce more diversity into the housing mix to reflect the diversity of today’s students and their needs.

    Despite the many positive benefits The Village will bring to the community, there are those who are actively trying to prevent current and future Lumberjacks from making The Village their home while attending HSU.

    If you are in support of the positive housing choice The Village will offer to HSU students and the community of Arcata and want to find out more, please visit this website: https://www.thevillagearcata.com/. You can also contact the Arcata City Council and let them know you support more student housing in Arcata, especially purpose-built student housing communities like The Village.

    It’s all about choices. Your support of this project can help ensure The Village is able to offer HSU students an exciting, new place to call home, and one that HSU students deserve.

    Percival Vaz
    Chief Executive Officer
    AMCAL Equities, LLC

  • Protect your profile

    Protect your profile

    In light of data breaches, maintain some privacy.

    Facebook gives away your information. Twitter, Instagram and Google do it too. So do most of your other social media apps and websites.

    Everything you search, click or talk about ends up being sent somewhere to someone and it’s usually to advertisers, sometimes it is to a political research company like Cambridge Analytica.

    After the Cambridge Analytica breach of Facebook information of over 50 million users, the time to understand your Facebook settings is now. Social media is a giant presence in our daily lives and though taking back some privacy seems difficult, it is not impossible.

    According to the Guardian, Facebook used to be able to ask for your information, but it really has access to all of your friends’ information as well, just by taking a quiz. They no longer allow this to happen, but you can still make sure you’re not sharing more than you want with others.

    “That means that around 300,000 people could sign up for a personality test quiz, and in the process hand over information of 150 times that number,” The Guardian article said.

    The Guardian goes on to explain that you’re probably handing over more information than you bargained for, even though they no longer mine you for your friends’ information.

    When you sign into your Facebook account, go up to the top right of your screen and hit the drop-down arrow. In that drop-down menu, click on settings and find your “Apps and Advertising” pages on the left hand side.

    This is where you can control some of what you share with advertisers and pages that are data mining your info, and still find out which Gilmore Girls character you’re most likely to fall in love with.

    On the apps page, sort through the lists of apps accessing your info and change permissions or delete access entirely. On this page you can also change how you interact with these apps, pages and games that ask for you information as well as change privacy settings on older versions of Facebook. You can also deny pesky game request notifications here as well.

    Accessing the ads page will neatly lay out the information ads are using to cater to you, what business you’ve interacted with and what ads you do or don’t want to see. Spend some time checking out these settings, and figuring out what does and does not bother you.

    If you’ve got extra time, Facebook also has an informational page on why advertising is important and what advertisers are looking for when they get your information. There are more options here to adjust your advertising experience.

    The reality is, escaping social media data mining is difficult for a generation who is always tuned in and constantly sharing. These are some options on how to combat your information from being too available on Facebook, and protecting what Facebook does and does not offer to third parties.

    Just like writing something on paper, the internet is permanent. You can remove your information from your profile as well, but these social media apps and programs will still have this information on file.

    A more extreme and definite alternative? Delete Facebook and your other social media apps. We as journalists do not fully stand behind deleting social medias in order to stay informed.

    However, we believe there are benefits to maintaining privacy or removing yourself from social media. We also understand it is difficult to remain informed in today’s digital era when you make these decisions.

    Explore the settings in other social media apps, and discover how much of you they are giving to outside companies and take back some of your privacy.

  • Internet killed the rock star

    Internet killed the rock star

    Rock music has had an identity crisis since the turn of the century, and the internet has much to do with it. A good place to start is Napster, a revolutionary online music-sharing site that had its day between 1999 and 2002. This was a time when downloading songs online was frowned upon in the music industry, which is fascinating now since downloading MP3s and streaming music is the norm these days. That era was also the high point of CD sales, which has lost its popularity not only to digital music, but the resurgence of vinyl records.

    The late ’90s brimmed with awful grunge rock spinoffs and rap metal, which spun in heavy rotation on the air. Throughout the ’90s, mainstream music was more subject to quantity in sales than distributing quality music, as controlled by a conglomerate of major record companies like Sony and EMI.

    To a large extent, the public embraced the ability to share music online for free, following the successful launch of Napster. However, the music industry, as well as major label artists like Metallica and Dr. Dre, weren’t having it. Courts ruling against Napster in copyright infringement lawsuits facilitated the swift decline of the peer-to-peer file sharing service. But with every ending comes a new beginning.

    Shortly after Napster ceased operations in 2002, corporations like Apple embraced downloading music and capitalized on it at full tilt. What’s also important to note is that audio recording equipment became affordable and obscure sounds of the past became more accessible, thanks to the rise of internet in the 2000s. Combine these elements with the convenient ability to upload music online and anyone can be an artist. In other words, the audience became the producer.

    Before diving further into the digital music revolution, let’s discuss the origins of rock ’n’ rolI.

    Prior to rock pioneers like Chuck Berry or Elvis Presley in the ’50s, there was blues, country and folk music. Overlooked musicians such as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Big Mama Thornton planted the seeds to rock ’n’ roll that ultimately produced the classic ’50s rock sound we all know now.

    The ’60s ushered in the hippie era, including evolutionary sounds of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Grateful Dead. The ’70s largely consisted of glam (T. Rex, David Bowie), punk (Sex Pistols, Patti Smith) and space rock (Pink Floyd, Hawkwind). The ’80s popularized hair metal (Mötley Crüe, Van Halen) and new wave (Talking Heads, Depeche Mode).

    The ’80s also launched an era of music videos to accompany hit singles, which replaced radio as a means to support artists. The invention of CDs during this time changed the game in terms of how people listened to music as well. Finally, the ’90s incorporated grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) and rap metal (Limp Bizkit, Korn). Following Y2K, rock ’n’ roll embarked on a renaissance period that extends to this day.

    These days, a vast majority of rock bands are reminiscent of the sounds of the past, no matter how much they attempt to fuse other genres into their music. Whether or not this is a drag is in the ears of the beholder, but it’s worth pointing out that there are some outstanding rock songs being shared now.

    Gone are the days of rock icons like Led Zeppelin or Queen. Gifted musicians are drowned out by the mass quantity of music posted on the internet, leaving so many of the good ones to plateau. Just as the “Video Killed the Radio Star” in the ’80s and ’90s, the internet killed the rock star by offering too many choices.

    Lastly, younger millennials have embraced the sounds and styles of the ’90s. Since the 2000s were a time of revival, what’s the next formative generation of rock fans going to embrace?

  • Humboldt State students are in need of ODEI

    Humboldt State students are in need of ODEI

    Humboldt State’s current budget crisis has been on everyone’s mind since the gravity of our school’s financial situation was brought to light. Besides the obvious, inevitable budget cuts and downsizing, our budget crisis has and will affect much more than our education.

    Humboldt State’s own Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, or ODEI, was supposed to host a collaborative community roundtable in the Jolly Giant Common’s recreation room on March 21.

    This meeting was meant to prompt discussions among students as well as the local community regarding possible strategies to make our community safer and more welcoming for students of color.

    However, the event didn’t take place and hasn’t in some time.

    HSU sophomore Davina Hernandez, 20, attempted to attend the latest meeting. The previous two meetings have been canceled or poorly attended, forcing it to be rescheduled.

    “I went on a whim, but I was kind of disappointed when I showed up and literally only one other person was there,” Hernandez said. “It was literally just me, one other person and the person who was supposed to talk to us. I ended up leaving early.”

    The event Equity Arcata is listed on HSU’s event page every week. It’s supposed to be a conglomerate of local business and community members uniting with the student body and faculty. They discuss ways to ensure that the area surrounding the school, as well as the campus itself, become more inclusive and safe for our large population of students of color.

    HSU hired a new executive director of ODEI, Dr. Cheryl Johnson, to oversee the branch and coordinate for Title IX. This was the sole change to the department made by the school administration.

    ODEI was created in order to ensure that every marginalized student is represented and advocated for on campus.

    In lieu of our current political and societal climate, it seems that our school should prioritize the safety and well-being of our students of color by allocating more funds to ODEI. This is especially true following the death of HSU student David Josiah Lawson last April.

    Our school’s administration disproportionately benefits from the presence of students of color on campus. However, they are not prepared to support them, especially in such a rural and isolated area.

    ODEI student representative and HSU senior Elijah Chandler said it is clear that, while the passion and motivation to meet with students and advocate for our rights is there, the group lacks the funding and resources needed to meet the demands of our student body.

    “We’ve had three successful meetings with over 50 people showing up,” Chandler said. “As of right now, we only have a few people really working through the school, and our schedules don’t always work out.”

    Chandler has worked with ODEI since last October. He remarked on the importance of grassroots organizations such as ODEI.

    “There’s currently a tier or hierarchy for our collective right now” Chandler said. “With admin[s] being our organizational guides [and] student leaders getting the word out, we have been talking to other community leaders as well, like former senators, the mayor of Arcata and members of the local NAACP chapter.”

    It’s clear that, while our school may be in a dire financial crisis, our student body seems determined to not allow this situation to jeopardize their resources.

  • She can breastfeed her child and serve the general public

    She can breastfeed her child and serve the general public

    She can run for office, but she can’t breastfeed her child in public without sexualization and aggressive backlash.

    It’s not a new argument or idea that the stigma behind women breastfeeding in public needs to change. If women are expected to be the primary caregivers of their children, we should respect their power in politics as mothers.

    Women are changing the way the public views their everyday lives, and they’re starting with their campaign ads.

    Krish Vignarajah, previously Michelle Obama’s policy director, is running for governor of Maryland. She is the only woman running in Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor, and she is presenting her motherhood and womanhood as one of her biggest assets.

    “I am no man,” she said in her campaign ad while breastfeeding her child. “I am a mom. I am a woman, and I want to be your governor.”

    Right behind Vignarajah is Kelda Roys, a Democratic candidate running for governor of Wisconsin. She too has been open about her daily life and responsibilities as a mother in her campaign ad where she discusses her work on banning a harmful chemical from baby bottles and sippy cups in the state of Wisconsin while breastfeeding her child.

    Roys said the moment was unscripted and she decided to keep it in the final cut. She also said she is used to the negative backlash she has received in response to the video.

    “You know what’s funny?” Roys said in a Fox article. “As a woman who has been in public life, I was the head of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin and I was in the Assembly — I’m used to that kind of really disgusting, sexist language.”

    In general, however, Roys said she was met with positive reactions from men and women.

    These women should not be met with cringes or shaming. Their openness and transparency should be met with applause, admiration and support. Both these women are trying to express the need for women, including mothers, in politics.

    “This is my life,” Vignarajah said, as reported in a Baltimore Sun article. “It’s what moms have been doing forever, juggling work and getting things done. When women serve, you have better outcomes.”

    Both of these women have been met with negative backlash in YouTube comments that imply extremities such as exploiting children and womanhood for political gain.

    A user by the name of Barron Trump commented on the Vignarajah ad.

    “You literally stole a Lord of the Rings quote. Nobody cares if you have boobs and children. You’re literally doing what women should do, and have been doing, for 10,000’s of years.”

    A user by the name of Scalene Bandito commented on Roy’s video.

    “What is the point of aggressively breastfeeding? Congrats on your plastic reform bill or whatever. Should I release a campaign ad where I just start shaving right in the middle of it? I think I’d beat you!”

    Promoting family values is not a new technique to political campaigning. Pushing their gender and roles as mothers is strategic for their campaigns.

    If you can sexualize the act of breastfeeding, allow them to normalize it. If you can allow male candidates to promote their family values, allow them to normalize their maternal values as benefits.

     

  • Redefine the codes

    Redefine the codes

    Changing the unspoken rules of human decency.

    Today’s political and social climate is bringing exposure and discussion to the way that men treat women and even the way that they treat each other. A small and possibly forgotten aspect of patriarchy in society is the infamous bro-code. Though there’s not a set list of what this code is made up of, the rules are often widely defined and understood.

    This male version of friendship etiquette is dead or at least dying. However, bro code is still alive in some ways, but hopefully not thriving. After witnessing a recent claim of broken bro code, it seemed necessary to ensure men and women are not still using unspoken codes as excuse to live their lives.

    The bro code, though prevalent for some time, has made a name for itself as the guiding principles upon which Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother lives his life. Though sometimes considered a satire of what men are, Stinson still ends up the favorite on the show. There’s even a feeble website depicting a short HIMYM rendition of the bro code.

    In some ways the bro code exists as respect between men. Men invoke these unspoken rules to cover anything from bathroom etiquette to dating. The most basic of these unspoken rules is “bro’s before ho’s” which ties into the fact that as a bro, you should never date your best friend’s ex or put a woman before your bro.

    Referring to the women in these scenarios as ho’s is problematic enough.

    Another rule is the idea that a bro’s sister is off limits, but his cousin is not. Also present in the code is the idea that if a bro is chasing a woman, that woman is also untouchable by his friends.

    The one thing missing from all of this is asking the woman what she wants, thinks or feels in relation to these bros deciding her romantic fate.

    Women are not exempt from having unspoken rules or societal expectations amongst each other. Some of them align with the bro code, like not dating the ex of your friends or asking for permission to date someone related to or close to someone else.

    It’s true an unspoken girl code exists to counteract the bro code. And it is also true that these codes end up staking claim on others while skipping the idea that one should communicate their feelings with their friends and potential lovers. These codes create shame and guilt designed to stake claim on people while protecting the pride of those whose relationships didn’t work out.

    Having open and honest communication with each other about feelings and respect is a much better way to handle decency between people. Honesty is better than perpetuating unspoken societal codes designed to put each other down and claim ownership over others.

    The bro code is alive. The girl code is alive, too. But both of them deserve to be left behind and redefined.