The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: life and arts

  • Seven years after the killing of Josiah Lawson, Arcata still mourns his loss

    Seven years after the killing of Josiah Lawson, Arcata still mourns his loss

    By Eli Farrington

    On April 15, 2017, David Josiah Lawson, an HSU sophomore, community leader, and member of the Black community, was killed at a house party in Arcata. He was sprayed with bear mace and then fatally stabbed six times after he was falsely accused of stealing someone’s cell phone. 

    On the seventh anniversary of Josiah’s passing, members of the Arcata community gathered in the square to honor his time on earth with a candlelight vigil and call for justice to be served. 

    Sarai Bordeaux, community member and former Humboldt State University student, spoke about the lack of justice surrounding Josiah’s case. She was heartbroken to hear that nothing was being done to bring Josiah’s attacker to justice. 

    “The fact that people knew who did it, knew who was involved, and very much could have done something, but didn’t, has stuck with me throughout my entire context in moving back to Humboldt,” Bordeaux said. “I’m a substitute teacher, and I work in the community, and to hear that there’s an event to celebrate Josiah’s life in the midst of a space that has done nothing to get justice for him just made me really want to come out.”

    For Bordeaux, the vigil served as a firm reminder that the Arcata community hasn’t forgotten about what happened to Josiah, and that the strength, persistence, and power of the community as a whole has the power to make positive change and make Arcata a safer place for people of color. As much as she loves the tight-knit community of Arcata, Bordeaux knows that it can be a bit intimidating and unwelcoming to marginalized communities coming here for the first time, especially when it comes to getting housing, jobs, and meeting locals. 

    “As much as I love coming out here, and as much as I need to come out here and see the community and know that we’re all still grieving, as much as I want space to be held for us, I am tired of holding it in trauma. the vigils that we hold are a visible display of our trauma,” Bordeaux said. “[The vigils] are important because people need to know that this is what we’re still dealing with here. We have to keep holding vigils because our folks keep getting murdered. We have to keep coming out to honor the lives of those that we have lost.” 

    Marlon Jones II, a community leader, activist, and organizer of the vigil, shared Bordeaux’s desires to create a safer and more accessible Arcata for people of color. He acknowledged the hard work and dedication of places like El Centro and the Umoja Center, but he expressed the fact that many black and brown students still feel unsafe outside of these environments. 

    “Through the vigils, I’ve met so many amazing people who all have this common goal of just making this place safer for Black and brown people, and providing these spaces where we can just exist,” Jones said. “Places where we can be ourselves and not feel threatened by this white supremacist, patriarchal society that tells us that we have to conform to certain spaces, or that we don’t belong in them at all.”

    Jones believes that Josiah’s vigil will continue to impact the community and motivate people to take action and seek justice, even when it may not be easy. 

    “It’s important to remember how to remain hopeful in a place that surrounds you with hopelessness,” Jones said. “It’s important to be the answer to the question … to understand that we the people, as a community, are the solution to this. We have to understand how powerful we are.”

    A major source of hope for the Justice for Josiah Committee and all of its supporters is Charmaine Lawson, Josiah’s mother. After Josiah’s passing, Jones was introduced to Charmaine. She immediately took him under her wing and showed him unconditional love and support. While she wasn’t able to attend the vigil this year, she has attended every year in the past, and even often comes on a regular basis, making the long trip up to Humboldt from Southern California to honor her son’s life and continue to spread love in Arcata. 

    “[Charmaine] does so many things for the Arcata community, despite the lack of justice,” Jones said. “She does so many things out of love and gratitude because that’s just who she is. That’s who her son is, even though he’s no longer with us physically. This young man was on the path to changing the world positively, and he was taken from us, through that avenue. There’s been so much love and support behind getting that justice, behind putting those minute steps into action, going to the courthouses, calling the [District Attorneys], and making sure that they know that this is important. Not just to Arcata, but to California, and to anybody that has had to deal with a missing or murdered person.”

    Charmaine Lawson’s goal since her son’s passing has been to continue to uplift the Cal Poly Humboldt and Arcata community. Her passion and positivity inspired countless others to follow in her footsteps, including Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, a community leader and organizer of the vigil. When Tinseth heard about Josiah’s murder, she immediately knew that she had a responsibility as a mother to take action and help the cause in any way that she could. 

    “It’s no wonder that DJ [David Josiah] was a spectacular human being, because his mother is a spectacular human being,” Tinseth said. “She has devoted her energy to carrying on the love that DJ gave, that is a product of her love. So she comes here, she does good in this community, she does the work that DJ would be doing, and she has come often every single month on the 15th, for years now. And it has been seven years. This is the first anniversary of DJ’s death that she was not here, because she chose to surround herself with her family in Southern California and celebrate DJ’s life that way.”

    Seven years after his passing, Josiah’s positive impact on the community is still being felt in many different ways, giving Tinseth and many others an outlet for creating a better Arcata and a better world. 

    “[He was] an incredible student at Humboldt State University, a leader, a person who was dedicated to changing people’s lives for the better, and fighting for justice in the world,” Tinseth said. “In fact, he was a criminology and justice studies major. He was President of Brothers United at Humboldt State, and just an amazing, good human being.”

    Michihiro Sugata, Cal Poly Humboldt Criminology & Justice Studies Program Coordinator, Associate Professor of Sociology, and former teacher of Josiah’s, spoke about who Josiah was as a student and a man. According to him, Josiah had a contagious smile that brought people in and kept them engaged. Josiah brought so much light and energy to his class, and his positivity was infectious. He loved to learn new things and take on new challenges, and he wasn’t afraid to discuss difficult topics. 

    “Losing Josiah was like watching hope die,” Sugata said. “I’ve never articulated it this way before, but Josiah was the type of student that [educators] put our hope in. He was the type of student that makes you believe that the challenges of this world can be met and overcome — he instilled hope in all of us and to lose that was just devastating. But I know he wasn’t the only one, and to see young people showing up to the vigil, to see young people painting murals and writing poetry about Josiah, that brings back the hope.”

    The vigil was ultimately a celebration of Josiah Lawson’s life, a life that was taken far too soon. But it was also a sobering reminder that justice has still not been served. 

    “These vigils remain important for many reasons,” Sugata said. “They keep us connected to one another, and keep us connected to the broader fight for injustices in our community and beyond. Just as important, the vigil serves as a symbol for the continued struggle for racial justice within this community and this country. For those of us who knew Josiah, gathering in community and fighting for just causes isn’t just an act of remembrance. It’s a way to honor the man he was and the life he lived. These are the things he embodied.”

  • Student dancers bring art to life in the Van Duzer

    By Dezmond Remington

    Dance Visions can’t be summed up in a few simple opening sentences. 

    The concert can’t be judged as a whole because of the six students and three faculty that choreographed 10 different dances, all performed by dancers from Humboldt’s dance department. Each dance had its own different look. There were fairy tales, night clubs, and cabaret halls all on stage, as well as a few more archetypal modern dance pieces. 

    It was a celebration of aesthetics. Though none of the costumes or lighting was overly elaborate, it was all rich. No dance was boring to watch. All of the dances were a thrill to watch as performers contorted and flipped, swayed and leaped. Broken Boundaries, a dance choreographed by professor Linda Maxwell and performed by just three dancers, looked like a moving painting. 

    Though the pieces by the professors were perfectly, reasonably interesting, the most entertaining and daring performances came courtesy of the student choreographers. Alli Bush’s 8te was a neo-burlesque extravaganza. Miriam Allen’s Evocative Pigment juxtaposed three different colors in a dazzling display of light and motion that was wholly captivating.

    The one criticism that could be thrown at Dance Visions is that art usually has some kind of meaning, a meaning that many of the dances seemed to lack. What significance or idea they expressed wasn’t easy to pick up on, though I’m no professional art critic.

    But how much does that even matter? Dance Visions was a beautiful spectacle, a fun look into the minds of Cal Poly Humboldt’s dance auteurs and performers. Meanings or messages can be overrated when it comes to critiquing art, especially at a college level when people are just learning how to express themselves. It was joyous, a delight to the senses. That in itself is a meaning. 

  • Horoscopes except it’s the type of milk you drink

    Horoscopes except it’s the type of milk you drink

    Dumberjack is out now! Find it on a newsstand near you!

    Courtesy of Dumberjack reporter, Radio Rebel

    OAT – If you drink oat milk, you probably have a Costco membership just to buy the bulk boxes of Kirkland brand cartons that don’t last nearly as long as they should. You might be a psych major holding a vape right now, and if you aren’t – you’ve thought about it. 

    SOY – Are you someone who doesn’t eat meat? You might be a soy milk drinker. It’s time to take that much needed social media break and maybe pick up that book that’s been collecting dust on your bedside table. Extra points if the book is anything other than fantasy. 

    WHOLE – In a world of 100 different types of milk, with a new milk type trending every day, it can be hard to stick to your roots. Whether you’re only drinking whole milk in your coffee or by the glass, you’re proud to be an American. 

    GOATS – You grew up shopping at the local health food store and it shows. If you drink goat milk, you were probably homeschooled but turned out pretty okay. When you pull up to the picnic, you’re definitely bringing the Humboldt Fog, and we thank you for it. 

    HEMP – A cannabis studies major, obviously. Hemp milk drinkers prefer chai over coffee and will engage in long form conversation about plant medicine. Long hikes in the woods are fun, and the mushrooms are fruitful, but it might be time to consider making some friends to join you.

    MACADAMIA – As a macadamia milk drinker, you’re either an art major who spends way too much money at your local coffee shop, or you just had macadamia milk for the first time because they were out of hemp milk. I’ll see you later at the open mic. 

    LACTOSE FREE – You’re a freak! Or lactose intolerant. Either way, you’re getting freaky in the bedroom. Lactose free milk drinkers are extremely well hydrated, and pretty buff considering the size of the hydroflask they’re always lugging around. How does it feel spending your paychecks on Lactaid?

    ALMOND – you’re the kind of person who takes 20-minute showers and leaves the water on while you’re brushing your teeth. Humboldt is the dream for you because you’ve been on travel influencer TikTok since you were 15. We’ve already seen that picture of your hiking boots hanging off Strawberry Rock, no need to post it every sunny weekend. 

    COCONUT – If you’re sitting in your dorm room still grieving the fact the only coastal town college you got into was Humboldt… you might be a coconut milk drinker. You had to buy your first warm jacket six months ago, and your surfboard doesn’t get used nearly as much as it used to. It’s okay though, you’ve got your outdoor recreation class to keep you busy. 

    BREAST MILK – What. There are only 3 types of people drinking breast milk: babies, curious husbands, and creepers who frequent Craigslist. If you’re a college student, stay away from all three. 

    graphics by TeenyTinyRat and Radio Rebel
  • Jasmin’s corner; what-ifs

    Jasmin’s corner; what-ifs

    Hello Jasmin, 

    I have this special person with whom I had a long standing relationship with. Going to college sort of brought an end to things and we came to a mutual understanding, so the breakup wasn’t bad at all and we’re still friends. It’s been 3 long hard lame ass years and she still pollutes my mind – it’s ridiculous. I can say I’m over the emotional heartbreak, but I still think I’m hung up on the idea that something might come of the future when I’m making big money and able to support that type of relationship. I saw them recently after a year or two of not talking and they seemed interested, though maybe I’m delusional. What’re your thoughts on revisiting relationships and do you think it’d be a good idea to try and pick up the pieces, or should I continue on as is? 

    Friend, you’re not over the emotional heartbreak or the girl. Leaving for any reason besides losing feelings or realizing your partner was actually a bum the whole time is always going to leave you with unresolved feelings and daydream-ey what-ifs. 

    If you think she’s interested, I don’t see why you wouldn’t at least try – especially if you’re not long distance. If you are, consider where you might both be in the future before you get too excited. No one should have to suffer through a long distance rekindle with an ex. You very obviously are holding out for this girl, so I definitely recommend not seeking anyone else romantically until you figure out your feelings and what to do with them. We don’t want anyone else getting their feelings hurt. 

    I don’t know the reasons behind your breakup, but I do insist that you reflect on the bad parts of your relationship and not only the warm, fuzzy memories. I will never tell you not to follow your heart – I actually encourage it. If you don’t think the timing is right, you’re right – it never is. We’re given the cards we’re dealt and have to figure out how to play them accordingly. You can show your love without having a big money job. The future isn’t promised and we have to act while the people we love are still around us. Just try to not be too aggressive or forthcoming with it.

    All in all, the only person that can tell you what to do is you. Would you rather suffer through the what-ifs or just find out for yourself? Is finding out for yourself worth the potential let-down of a second breakup? You tell me. 

    xoxo,

  • Depressing Dishes: recipes for when you’re feeling down

    By Alexandra Berrocal

    I normally don’t like spinach because people typically serve it raw. Many people don’t like “creamed” spinach either. Try this recipe. It isn’t raw, or creamed. It is simple to make. It is also very nutritious because it includes soybean paste, which adds nutrients. According to a research paper called Effects of Doenjang, traditional Korean Soybean paste has anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. Garlic is also known as a natural antibiotic. The blanching in the cooking process also leaves most of the nutrients intact, unlike the boiling process in other recipes. 

    Depressed people often don’t feel up to doing anything fun. It was my goal in publishing “I am the darkness”, my recent cookbook, to let people know they aren’t alone in their depression. And, if they want to cook a recipe along the way, well, that’s great too!  The tofu recipe is also easy to multiply in case you want to serve it to others. The tofu recipe, on the other hand, is a simple, tasty way to prepare tofu. Usually tofu is a bit bland, but the sauce counters this. It is a good way to add more protein to your diet. You can combine the spinach and the tofu into a simple meal, if you like.

    SOY SPINACH

    1 bunch spinach (or other greens)

    Salt

    1 tablespoon soybean paste

    1 minced clove garlic

    1 tablespoon sesame oil

    Toasted sesame seeds

    Wash spinach and remove dead leaves and roots. Blanch spinach for about 20 seconds in boiling water. Cool with cold running water. Gently squeeze to get out as much excess water as possible. Add soybean paste, garlic, and sesame oil. Mix it all by hand. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top as garnish.

    PAN FRIED TOFU

    1 package medium firm tofu

    1 tablespoon avocado oil

    1 green onion

    4 teaspoons soy sauce

    2 teaspoons rice vinegar

    1 teaspoon sesame seeds

    1 teaspoon sugar

    Blot the tofu with paper towels. Cut the tofu block in half, then into slices.  Grease the pan with the oil. Place the tofu in the pan without overlapping or touching. Put the lid on the pan and cook for three minutes on high heat, or until crispy and golden brown on one side. Repeat on the other side.

    Thinly slice green onion, and combine all other ingredients in a bowl for the sauce. Enjoy!

  • An excerpt from Sanctuary

    An excerpt from Sanctuary

    Sanctuary: A book of essays on faith (with some romantic poetry mixed in) 

    By Alexandra Berrocal

    I

    Dream of

    Red hair and

    Soft green eyes. 

    The eyes of my mother.

    I have dreamed of her for

    Decades upon decades and

    Centuries upon centuries.  I paint

    Her because she is clear when all fades.

    The one thing I reliably recall.

    She walks into the front door of my space

    I feel like she has entered myself

    And with every painting she sees

    She gazes into my soul.

    A soul that’s filled with her.

    For time after time

    I look at her

    And feel I

    Collapse 

    In.

    Graphic by Griffin Mancuso
  • To fuck or not to fuck… your co-workers

    To fuck or not to fuck… your co-workers

    By Christina Mehr and Andres Felix Romero

    To fuck:

    Do you like making money? Do you like making love? Well, why not combine the two?

    I believe in messing around with the people you work with. The dating pool in Humboldt is already limited, so you have to take them where you can get them. If you’re already spread so thin between classes, homework, and work, why not get spread by someone you are literally getting paid to see? It’s the best of both worlds. 

    There’s plenty of benefits to being in cahoots with your coworkers, like getting to flirt with them in passing, sharing rides to work if you share the same schedule, or sneaking away together on breaks. On the plus side, if your work is getting overwhelming, you can turn that into sexual frustration towards that coworker. It creates some fun and exciting drama in an otherwise boring workplace. Having a work crush is amusing and gives you some more motivation to actually want to go to work. 

    However, I understand the opposing side of, ‘what if we break up or get in trouble?’ or whatever, but honestly if you’re at a minimum-wage college job, just go ahead and do it for the plot. 

    To not fuck:

    Workplace romance – it’s fun and exciting, but also a potential threat to you and your emotional wellbeing. I’m not disagreeing that a romance in the workplace isn’t a bit of a thrill, but from another perspective, you might be walking into a game where everybody can lose. 

    Obviously, things can get awkward if the passion fizzles out. Breakups hurt and can be as devastating as losing a loved one. Sometimes, breakups can be amicable. However, how many of you have had those relationships (or situationships) end with your gut feeling like it’s been poisoned? The lovely person who once made you smile suddenly turns into a bitter and painful relationship? 

    Want to know the cherry on top of the heartbreak cake? Imagine losing someone you care deeply about, then seeing them when you walk into the place that pays your bills, and seeing customers flirt with your former beloved. Jealousy is a poison, and it’ll infest your workplace and create tensions and conditions that are toxic and unbearable.

    Now, flirting in itself is a whole other beast of ethics, however the general rule is to back the hell off when someone isn’t showing interest or signs that they’re uncomfortable. At a bar or party, it’s easier for someone who isn’t interested to get some distance from your flirting skills. At a workplace, your crush is probably stuck with you. Do you really want to risk making your crush uncomfortable? Do you really want to make it awkward when y’all work together? Do you really want to go to human resources (HR)?

    If you have a little crush, it’s not the end of the world. A lesson I’ve learned is that it can be harder to control our feelings, but we are in control of our actions. I agree that the rush can be fun, but all highs have to come down when we come back to reality. It’s like a bong rip just before a morning class. It sounds great, and for a while, you feel like you’re walking on the clouds doing something you really shouldn’t be doing.

  • From the psych ward to the newsroom

    From the psych ward to the newsroom

    By Savana Robinson

    March 8, 2023, I was released from a psychiatric facility with two diagnoses: schizophrenia and bipolar I. A year later, I’m doing better than ever. I’ve got a nice job as a multimedia journalist, I’m close to graduating, and I have a great group of people who care about me. Getting here wasn’t easy – I had to reconstruct myself as a person. It took a lot of support, therapy, and medication, but I did it.

    I went back to the fundamentals of me. I left Humboldt and moved back into my childhood bedroom in Redwood Valley. The pink walls with pastel butterflies and flowers, my rock collection, and my numerous stuffed animals helped gently bring me back to where I needed to be.

    The first few weeks of being back in the world were scary. I wasn’t in psychosis anymore, but the paranoia and hallucinations of onset schizophrenia were still present. I had been started on medication for it a few days before I was released, but it still took some time and help to be manageable. I’ve been in therapy since the day I got out of the facility, which has helped tremendously. Of course, I chopped off my hair. Some people believe that hair holds on to memories, so I got a bob. I loved it for a while, but I eventually mourned my long hair. 

    Per my routine-abiding father’s suggestions, I started by waking up early, making my bed, walking the dogs, and making breakfast. I took it one day at a time and eventually, I was thriving. I had to drop advanced photojournalism, and I couldn’t use the school’s camera anymore, but I love taking photos, so I bought my own. 

    Photography is another form of therapy for me. It’s relaxing and lets me express my creativity. I got a job doing photography and blog writing at a mini golf course in Ukiah. I continued with a few of my classes from home, doing online work when I wasn’t taking pictures. I finished out the semester and by the summer, I felt that my medications had leveled out enough to feel “normal.” I didn’t feel like I was moving through jello anymore.

    Halfway through the summer, I decided that I wanted to go back to Humboldt, despite my parents’ protest. I found out my friend had a vacant room, so I moved back to Arcata and went back to school in person. I was a bit nervous, but I was confident that I would be fine. I worked on The Lumberjack and continued to take photos. I started doing sports photography and made some money doing it. I even did my first wedding photography gig. In January, I got my job at Redwood News. I’m just getting started in my career, but I’m optimistic for the future.

    After being released from the psychiatric facility, I had no idea where I’d be in a year. I was hopeful that I’d be somewhat successful, but I didn’t expect to be working as a professional journalist. If I had to do my year of healing all over again, I’d do it the same, because I’m very happy with how I turned out.

  • Mar’s Gaming Garage: HI-FI Rush

    Mar’s Gaming Garage: HI-FI Rush

    By Mario Orozco

    Every good game has music. Usually a game’s music plays in the background and has no actual effect on the gameplay. This week’s game uses music differently, it’s not just in the background of your gameplay, but part of the mechanics of the game itself. Justin Crittenden, a software engineering major, recommended “HI-FI Rush” to me, a rhythm-based action game released in 2023. Before I played this game, I was under the false impression that it would be like other rhythm games, but “HI-FI Rush” isn’t like anything I have experienced before. 

    This game has a really simple story, but it was well executed and had my complete attention throughout the playthrough. It did a fantastic job taking a simple plot and making it feel entertaining and fresh. One aspect of the game that I enjoyed was the art style. The characters are cel-shaded, giving the game a comic book like appearance and the main bosses of the game each had beautifully detailed freeze frames that contributed to this design. Another aspect I enjoyed were the characters; each character had clear motives and reasoning behind their actions which is extremely important. The characters were also very entertaining, the main cast had fantastic chemistry with each other and it was fun to see them interact and grow together. 

    The main aspect of the game that makes it memorable is the gameplay – the combat is amazing. There is a constant beat playing throughout the game and combos performed exactly on this beat increase the effectiveness of your attacks, which is also used to parry enemy attacks. The beat is useful in ways outside of combat too. It is used to move faster and assists in traversing through the levels. The style of gameplay temporarily switches a few times in specific portions, it even becomes like “Guitar Hero” in a few battles with buttons needing to be pressed exactly on time to the song playing in the background.

    Like always, there are a couple negatives that I would like to address. The first is the design of the levels. Most of them have a similar feel, following the same general outline. This is okay though, the main focus is the combat, which is fun enough for the repetitive nature to not really matter. The other issue is how difficult the timing can be. In the later stages of the game, there are just way too many enemies attacking you all at once to be able to focus on hitting your opponents with rhythm. Instead, it turned into me just dashing around chaotically, randomly swinging at everything close to me. If this is a problem, you can just turn the difficulty down and it’ll make staying on rhythm more manageable.

    “HI-FI Rush” took me a grand total of nine hours and one minute to complete. It is evident through playing the game that the developers had a blast making it, and it feels like a passion project. I rate this game a 4 out of 5, and if you like fast paced, hack-and-slash gameplay, then I strongly recommend this game to you. “HI-FI Rush” is definitely worth the purchase. 

    If you have any games you would like me to review you can email marsgaminggarage@gmail.com.

  • New shark discovery offers glimpse into a lost world

    New shark discovery offers glimpse into a lost world

    By Brad Butterfield

    326 million years ago, Arkansas was underwater and teeming with an unusual, gill-covered shark, a shark that is now called Cosmoselachus mehlingi after a years-long project led by Dr. Allison Bronson, a Cal Poly Humboldt professor. The unique conditions in the Fayetteville Shale preserved the precious cartilage that was critical in digitally reconstructing an accurate image of the ancient shark, which was named to honor Carl Mehling, a senior museum specialist for the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). The shark’s ancient origins and recent identification have been made possible by CT scans, digital reconstruction, and years of careful work carried out by Bronson alongside Alan Pradel, John Denton, and John Maisey. The findings were recently published by the journal Geodiversitas.

    Cosmoselachus mehlingi is distinctly important, according to Bronson, due to the fact that its ancestors survived a catastrophic mass extinction that killed 95% of the fish population in the Devonian period.

    “In the wake of these extinctions, we often have what we call an adaptive radiation where the groups that make it through can then diversify into all these niches that were left open,” Bronson said.

    The acidic and anoxic environment of Arkansas’ Fayetteville Shale preserved the shark’s delicate cartilage for millions of years until the 1970’s, when Royal and Gene Mapes, the husband and wife duo, discovered the fossil. The Mapes would eventually donate the specimen to the AMNH. 

    “Cartilage is really rare in the fossil record, because it’s soft and squishy, and usually microbes break it down before it can fossilize,” Bronson said.

    The rare preservation of the shark’s cartilage allowed Bronson and her collaborators to use CT scanning to digitally reconstruct the ancient shark’s biological structure and identify one of its most unique attributes, gill covers.

    “It’s made of little rays of cartilage that grow off of its gill arches,” Bronson said. “In our shark, unlike anything that’s been described in any cartilaginous fish, they’re all fused together.” 

    The gill covers may have functioned to help close the gill openings, according to Bronson. Though gill covers are found today in ratfish, Bronson and her colleagues’ statistical testing showed that it is unlikely that ratfish are descendents of the group of fishes that includes Cosmoselachus mehlingi. Additionally, the digital reconstruction revealed that the ancient shark had widely spaced teeth with tooth-like scales in between.

      Bronson and her colleagues’ work to identify Cosmoselachus mehlingi gives scientists a valuable glimpse into our ancient world and another datapoint that aids in our understanding of evolution over time.

    “Once you have an understanding of the long branching pattern of evolution, you can reconstruct the way that traits evolved over time with a group like cartilaginous fishes that’s been successful for more than 400 million years, and made it through multiple mass extinction events to now be the dominant predators of the ocean,” Bronson said. “A lot of evolution is just like, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

  • Smelting in the water

    Smelting in the water

    Cal Poly Humboldt fisheries professor is working with local tribes to create better fishing stewardship practices.

    By Gabriel Zucker

    Jose Marin Jarrin is a new assistant professor in the department of fisheries biology at Cal Poly Humboldt. He is leading a new form of fishery science in Northern California, using empathy and understanding when talking with impoverished communities. He is originally from South America and he never forgets where he came from. 

    “Being Latinx, I’m also from a historically excluded community,” Marin Jarrin said. “So I saw a lot of similarities.”

    Marin Jarrin was recently awarded a little over $1.1 million from the California Climate Action Seed Grant to research climate change resilience by looking at tribal fishery practices. His goal is to reinvigorate Northern California fishery research, while also building a center that will last for years. 

    He is working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and multiple local tribes, such as The Blue Lake Rancheria, Resighini Rancheria, Tolowa Dee-Ni’ Nation, and other smaller indigenous communities. Each native group was able to pick a fish that has historical and cultural value to their tribe. The fish that are being mainly researched are green sturgeon and smelt. Five grad students are working with Marin Jarrin, acting as liaisons for the different Rancherias. On top of doing research all over Northern California, the tribes and researchers have a monthly meeting where they go over the progress and find where they can improve.

    Creating a trusting relationship with the Indigenous communities is important. To solidify this relationship, Marin Jarrin signed a data sharing agreement with all of the tribes, giving them final say on what information is published. Historically this has not been the case, and some even admitted they had never been asked to do this before.

    “The researchers would go in, ask the tribes to participate, and then the tribes don’t get a say on how the data is used,” Marin Jarrin said. “And so, one of the things we wanted to ensure is that the tribes had complete ownership of that data. For the most part, they’re not too concerned about fishery species, they’re more interested in preserving their cultural data and history. What they don’t want is for people to just take information from them and disseminate in ways that are sometimes not correct or hurtful to the tribe.”

    Laurie Richmond is an environmental science and management professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. She has worked with the tribes for years, working a quarter time for California Sea Grant as an extension specialist. Where she connects local communities with coastal science knowledge. Her role for the study is in a partner advisory role, where she offers advice and direction when grad students need a new perspective. She has been working with Marin Jarrin since the beginning of the grant and is elated at the way he is going about his research.

    “I think it’s a really new way to be a scientist that I think [Marin Jarrin] is pursuing,” Richmond said. “It’s really exciting and it requires a lot of skills that scientists don’t always have, like building partnerships and facilitating and thinking about ethics. He’s done a great job of trying to learn those things, and he has some of those because of his unique background that he brings as a scientist.”

    To record the biodiversity of the fish in different areas, grad students are using environmental DNA metabarcoding techniques, giving them data about all of the animals that have come into that area.

    “If a fish swims by, it’ll leave its DNA in the water column,” Marin Jarrin said. “If you were to collect a sample and filter out the DNA from that, you can identify what species of fish was there. The idea is that if you then go around taking samples throughout the whole coast, you can identify all the fish – actually, not just fish. From bacteria all the way to mammals.”

    Before conducting this research, they had to work with the California Fish and Wildlife department. The advisor on the grant is Kenneth Oda, a former Humboldt State University student, who is with the Marine Region and works on the State Managed Finfish Research and Management Project. Oda gives advice and helps review the proposals before they are submitted. 

    “I was just asked to be an advisor… we approve protocols, if they’re gonna be taking fish, we need to have that spelled out, and the methodologies as well,” Oda said. “We review their permit application and then approve it. I also help them with protocols regarding surf perch and red tail.”

    Olivia Boeberitz, one of the graduate students on the team, just moved to Humboldt. She chose Humboldt partly because of this research project, and the opportunity to work closely with Indigenous tribes. She has been studying fisheries since 2020, focusing on fish that inhabit both freshwater and green water. This made the transition from inland to coastal easier. 

    “I’m working specifically with Blue Lake Rancheria on green sturgeon… I’m designing a project to get some baseline information on how green sturgeon are using Humboldt Bay,” she said. “There hasn’t been much of any research, at all, of green sturgeons in this area.”

    Boeberitz is in the methods phase of her research project. She is running through a couple ideas for data collection. She wants to use acoustic receivers, alerting if any previously tagged fish are using these areas. She is also planning to use satellite tags  on fish off the coast. None of the actual research will be conducted until the summer.

    Right now, she is most excited about working and meeting with the tribes. She has worked with tribes before, but never one on one.

    “I see and talk to them very frequently,” Boeberitz said. “As soon as I produce any drafts for my proposal, as soon as I come up with a schedule, they’re going to be incorporated every step of the way. Their feedback is both incredible and extremely valuable. I’m working on this project for them, they’re the center of this project. They’re guiding me – giving the guidance they need to start putting together what our goals are.”

    Marin Jarrin is changing how people view the scientific process. He is finding paths of communication that are not usually seen in western science. He is not just doing research, he is creating positive social change.

    “I want to help communities that have been historically excluded, to be better – better informed and the different techniques and methods they could be using to manage their fisheries,” Marin Jarrin said. “We want to empower people right. Our community to tribal communities, but to the community at large in the far north of California, so that they feel they are more capable of being stewards of their resources. But also, the students that we bring, we want to prepare the best students we can because they can go out… and bring this idea of diversity, equity, and inclusion to the next job that they take.”

  • Khalil Ferguson speaks on the obstacles to equity and a fair cannabis market

    By Georgina Munoz-Villanueva

    The Cannabis Studies Program at Cal Poly Humboldt hosted a discussion on achieving social equity in California with United Core Alliance’s President and CEO Khalil Ferguson on March 22. 

    Ferguson is a social equity advocate, author, a business law and marijuana law student at Pacific’s School of Law, owner of a cannabis dispensary and the face of the United Core Alliance, a non-profit organization founded by social equity advocates, that works with communities affected by the war on drugs. 

    Ferguson spoke about the role of the legislative and constitutional limits, including California’s Proposition 209, in hindering equity efforts. The measure eliminated affirmative action programs in public employment, education and contracting and made it illegal for the government to show preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

    “The civil rights movement was asking to ban discrimination based on that,” Ferguson said. “I don’t think that’s a drawback, but it poses a hindrance when it relates to wanting to solve issues such as how to get more women involved in the market.” 

    In the cannabis industry, affirmative action will sometimes look like state-wide licensing systems with a quota that would grant a certain percentage of licenses to racial minorities, allowing them access to capital and social mobility. Nationally, according to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Cannabis Industry special report, racial minorities account for less than 16% of cannabis business ownership, while also accounting for more than 40% of the total U.S. population. In places like Illinois, Black and Hispanic cannabis majority owners comprise only 1% of the industry. 

    “The issue of this decade is how to include diversity, equity and inclusion in programs, jobs, houses, services, etc.,” Ferguson said. “It’s kind of frustrating […] to talk about racial justice because we all want racial justice, […] but how can you be passionate about it without knowing what your constraints are?” 

    Following the legalization of marijuana in California, AB-1793 was passed into law, which automatically dismissed or reduced all marijuana convictions that disproportionately targeted Black and Brown communities during the war on drugs. Equity programs were created to address these impacted communities, but created more problems. 

    “[Equity] has been over-inclusive,” Ferguson said. “There are folks in North Hollywood who haven’t been impacted by the war on drugs who qualify for social equity benefits.”

    Ferguson talked about equity programs across California, and acknowledges that while Sacramento’s Resolution 2018-0323 has its pitfalls, he still uses it as a reference when compared to other equity programs. He believes Los Angeles’ cannabis equity program, for example, is one of the worst equity programs, as it requires applicants to have a commercial lease in the city before applying for a cannabis business license. The average office lease in Los Angeles costs around $45-$55 per square foot. 

    Humboldt County’s equity program, Project Trellis, has come under fire for similar issues as many cannabis farmers, some of which faced decade-long sentences in the 90’s for growing marijuana, find themselves unable to qualify for the program. 

    “That’s inequitable in itself,” Ferguson said. 

    Social equity advocates are now trying to argue for a more narrow definition of what equity would entail. 

    “I have to say that social equity is not a monolith,” Ferguson said. “Social equity is also easily challengeable because of the restraints that are erected by Prop 209. So, as an advocate, our job and your job is to be very innovative with how we can get around that.” 

    More information on Khalil’s work can be found at United Core Alliance and Khalil Ferguson’s website. 

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  • Having a doggone good time at the Dog Expo

    Having a doggone good time at the Dog Expo

    By Griffin Mancuso

    Last Sunday, in the middle of a warehouse bustling with families and dog lovers alike, I stepped into the compact demo area, waving nervously to the packed bleachers on either side. The president of Humboldt Disc Dogs introduced me and my dog-child athlete, Oscar Meyer, as newer members of the club with a lot of promise.

    While Oscar leaped into the air trying to grab the frisbee from my hands, I lead him to the center of the demo area and gave a thumbs up to the president. The familiar start cue before every disc dog game echoed through the warehouse.

    “Ready, set, go!”

    I had the honor of participating and volunteering at the annual Dog Expo hosted by the Humboldt Dog Obedience Group. After a grueling five-hour set up the day before, I was ready for Oscar to show his skills – and to buy dog supplies that I didn’t need. 

    Even though the expo was hosted in one building this year, it was still packed with visitors. Thirty dog breeds were present for visitors to meet and learn about, ranging from the Golden Retriever to the Lancashire Heeler. There were also demos for dog sports like disc sports, rally, carting, and agility.

    Only a few Humboldt Disc Dogs members were interested in participating in the demo, and I wasn’t surprised. We normally have our games on an expansive, lush green field in Fortuna, and we were now having to show off our sport in a 30-foot long rectangle with rubber mats for traction. I was determined to make it work.

    I thankfully had the foresight to practice on set-up day and realized that my plastic discs would either a) hit a spectator, or b) go skidding out of the demo area and Oscar would follow suit.

    Equipped with a new rubber disc that would not injure anyone or send Oscar flying over the fence, I demonstrated the games 4-Way Play and Throw n’ Go along with a few other teams. As Humboldt Disc Dogs is a newer club, I felt its reputation weighing on my shoulders. I felt obligated to prove that my dog had the skill and focus to catch frisbees while surrounded by cheering spectators and barking dogs.

    Brimming with energy, Oscar caught the first frisbee throw with ease, drawing cheers from the crowd. I yelled, “Good boy, Oscar!” as he ran back to me, frisbee in mouth. Before I could tell him to drop the frisbee, he started to violently spin and thrash it around. He had too many ants in his pants. The more I chased after him, the faster he spun away from me. Once I grabbed the frisbee, we engaged in a brief game of tug-of-war as the audience roared with laughter. 

    Besides the spinning shenanigans, Oscar did fantastically and I did not hit anyone. I left the demo area with a relieved smile and gave Oscar lots of love and treats for a job well done. After the fact, the president told me Oscar was a crowd favorite.

    I spent the rest of the conference sprinting around trying to recruit booths for the upcoming All Breeds Show in July and observing the demos. Keeping myself busy helped me resist the urge to spend hundreds of dollars on dog-themed hoodies, leather collars, leashes, homemade dog treats, dog art, ceramic dog bowls, and wooden dog coasters.

    As someone who is just starting out in dog sports, I was glad to have the opportunity to see demonstrations of the sports I haven’t tried yet, especially agility. I have been told by several members of the dog sport community that agility is a rich man’s sport. Coming in at a whopping $22 per entry and hundreds of dollars for classes, it would not be an ideal sport for a college student. However, watching a poodle go flying over hurdles and diving through weave poles is really convincing. I might have to consider it despite the state of my checking account.

    One of my favorite parts of the expo was getting to meet dog breeds I otherwise wouldn’t see out and about in Humboldt. I got to meet a lovely 8-year old Drentsche Patrijshond named Mr. Tickles. The more I pet him, the more he drooled, and he’d paw at my hand if I dared to stop. The Irish Wolfhound, whose back reached just below my chest, stared at me blankly while I ran my fingers through his wiry coat. Vinnie the Lagotto Romagnolo’s entire body wiggled with excitement before I even approached him. One of the Greyhounds, Maxwell, wanted nothing to do with me and refused to sit still for a photo. Maxwell was my favorite.

    While I enjoyed the expo as a dog nerd, this event is especially important to the casual dog-lovers and families visiting. The Dog Expo exists to educate the public on responsible pet ownership, how to take care of different dog breeds, and all the amazing skills dogs are capable of. Maybe next year I’ll suggest a rescue dog booth for Oscar and I.

  • A St. Patricks journey to the center of corned beef

    A St. Patricks journey to the center of corned beef

    By Alana Hackman

    In the death of Saint Patrick came a holiday of green beer, dancing, Irish pride, and this year, an excuse to get day drunk on a Sunday. However, I had one goal on my mind this St. Patrick’s Day: to try every corned beef dish I could get my hands on before my 6 p.m. shift. It started organically as my roommate and I were anticipating the Irish dancers at the Logger bar, but our agenda spontaneously unfolded into trying all the salt-cured meaty goodness our college student budgets didn’t have the room for on Paddy’s Day, but all in good fun. 

    I bring you almost all of the corned beef dishes I tried in Humboldt County to quench your FOMO. Not all are mentioned, but here’s an idea so you can start marking your calendars for next year. I’ll be ranking the dishes on taste, restaurant festivity, and price. 

    The first plate of corned beef I had that fateful Sunday was around noon at Six Rivers Brewery in Mckinleyville. The plate was $20 for two slabs of corned beef, two boiled potatoes, one chunky boiled carrot, cabbage, a hunk of soda bread, and a little dish of stock. This plate was probably the biggest and most authentic corned beef dish I bought that day. $20 seemed pricey at first. I almost opted for their corned beef Reuben, but that would’ve been cheating. 

    The corned beef itself was tough and chewy, but still able to get through with teeth and/or a steak knife. I think it lacked that mouth-puckering saltiness I usually attribute to the meat. Having the stock separate from the veggies and beef in a dipping dish was an interesting choice, but aided in adding that saltiness to the beef. It still just wasn’t salty enough for me and I wish the meat and veggies were sitting in the broth. There was a little chili kick when I indulged in my first bite, but every bite followed was very beef broth-y, which could easily be zested up with a squirt of yellow mustard. No horseradish was a bummer, but I also didn’t ask if they had any.

      The veggies were perfectly tender and as simple as you can get flavor-wise, but the beef broth gave them that extra butter flavor that a plain old boiled veggie wouldn’t have. The ambience in the restaurant was fantastic and very loud. There were rainbow balloon arches, live music, and an anniversary banner with crossed out numbers in sharpie to signify the brewery’s 20th anniversary celebration alongside the St Patrick’s day festivities. 

    There were lots of cute families and strangers to chit chat with, including our table neighbor who questioned, “Where was I gonna put all that?” when I explained my corned beef agenda for the day. I told him he was underestimating me. Overall I give this plate a 6/10. I wish the beef was more tender and served in the stock, but the energy in the brewery and kind service really made the dish special for me. Also, a women-owned brewery, hell yea!

    The next pit stop on my journey to the center of corned beef was South G kitchen, a food truck located in the Redwood Curtain Brewing Company in Arcata. They had been slinging their corned beef special for about a week before the holiday out of their tight-quarters food truck which is super impressive. Their dish was $17 and included corned beef, collard greens instead of cabbage, and crispy potatoes. It was a smaller portion than Six Rivers Brewery, but this dish was smokey and delectably dense. Their corned beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender with a crispy skin. You could have enjoyed it with a spoon if you wanted to.  They also topped it off with some stone-ground mustard which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

    The greens were super tender and umami from the rich bowl of brown broth they were bathing in. There were pieces of thick cut bacon in the greens, which really brought me back to eating my highschool best friend’s grandma’s greens out of tinfoil serving dishes on Thanksgiving. The portions of this dish were definitely for a single serving, but they provided the perfect balance of salty, crunchy decadence that left you satiated. The collard greens absorbed most of the broth, making them saltier than the beef, but complemented the dish well. The outdoor seating at the brewery was a lot less festive and didn’t really encapsulate the holiday, but was still a chill environment. This corned beef plate was definitely not traditional, but the culinary spin on it really wowed me. It was cheaper than Six Rivers but a smaller portion with a creative take. I’d rate this dish a 9/10. My roommate and I were able to house it down after a previous plate of corned beef, so it was pretty damn good. 

    After a quick outfit change and brief state of comatose in the sun, I arrived at the Logger Bar in Blue Lake. They were having an all day St. Patrick’s Day bash, but weren’t serving corned beef until 5 p.m. so it was my second time there that day. The first time involved a lovely conversation with Tina Catalina, a Blue Lake resident who gave me a copy of her song on green paper and informed me that the entire meal was cooked by the Mad River Old Crows, which is the men’s service and drinking organization according to the Mad River Union.

     The line for food was wrapped around the bar when we arrived. It was served buffet style with chafing pans and portable burners. This felt like a family reunion which made the experience that much sweeter. There was a jar at the start of the serving table that had a sliding scale of $5-$10 for donations, but they weren’t necessary to get a plate. I ended up donating $10 for a plate of corned beef, a few pieces of olive raisin soda bread, potatoes, cabbage, and a chocolate cupcake with green frosting. They actually had horseradish, unlike other locations, which I indulged a little too much of with teary eyes. There wasn’t much space to eat inside as the talented Irish Dance Academy students doing Irish dances in their tartan skirts took the floor during serving, but it was enjoyed outside in the sun. 

    The corned beef packed that salty flavor I was looking for and wasn’t sitting in any broth, though it was dripping juices after each bite. The potatoes weren’t too special, but I will always appreciate a boiled carbohydrate. The cabbage really was the prize winner for me. It was extremely moist and flavorful. There was even a whole onion in the scoop we got. You could see all the spices they used within the cabbage as well, which gave it a much more meaty and spicy flavor than just the broth as marinade compared to other places. Overall I rate this dish an 8/10. A home cooked meal makes all the difference, no matter the taste (this one was delish), and the community was so heartwarming and supportive at that little bar. Who wouldn’t love that Old Crow corned beef? 

    The fateful and final stop of this voyage was Murphy’s hot bar in Blue Lake. I was on my way to The Pub in Arcata, but had to stop by after getting wind of their corned beef. It was 5 p.m. at this point and an hour before I had to be at work. The potatoes were combined with the shredded corned beef in one charing pan and the cabbage was dry and crispy in another pan to the left. At this point of the day, I was scraping the bottom of the pans to get something of a portion. After checkout, my plate came out to about $4  – may I add it was majority cabbage. The corned beef was extremely fatty, but also fried to a crisp under the heat lamp,which created an interesting texture. The cabbage was basically raw with a slightly buttery flavor if you got into the inner layer. The bigger pieces of corned beef weren’t too bad if gnawed around the fat. The beef was pretty bland, but had the essence of peppered beef jerky taste at the end so I can’t complain too much. The potatoes carried the dish, but again I don’t believe  a person can mess up vegetables that bad. The employees at all Murphy’s locations are always wonderful and I can’t bash on a late stop to the hot bar too much. It was my fault. I rate this dish a 4/10 all together. 

    This Sunday service of corned beef was something I was grateful to take part in. In less than six hours, I was able to cover four stops of beefy, salty, and starchy goodness. The Pub was unfortunately sold out and my lovely friends who offered to bring it in for me during my work shift tried to get their redemption by calling Gallagher’s Irish Pub in Eureka for any corned beef briefs. They were left with the dial tone. 

    At this point, I was barely moving and had a dry mouth from my salt intake, so I decided to call it a day. I had found peace, love, and happiness while exploring some, but not all, of the corned beef dishes of Humboldt county. Next year, I’ll make sure to start my excursion at 9 a.m. so I can really savor all the salt beef I want. 

  • Who are the faces behind the picket lines?

    Who are the faces behind the picket lines?

    By Dezmond Remington

    The sun is setting and people are hollering. 

    There’s a group of about 20 students parked outside of the Reese Bullen Gallery screaming their best chants at the university administrators and jet-setting donors who are supposedly inside. None of the protestors have seen them in the hours they’ve been there, and the windows are covered in cardboard anyway. 

    At the top of 12 stone stairs facing the buildings opposite stand a few people with a megaphone speaking to those down below — and across the quad, and across the street, too. Their megaphone is crackly, but effective. 

    “All he cares about is getting more students and then fucking them over by making us pay more tuition and more in housing!” Mary Mangubat said, clad in a blue surgical mask and an undone black zip-up hoodie. The protestors nod, as does student Richard Toledo, who is holding the megaphone for her. 

    Mangubat and Toledo are constant presences at protests in and around campus. They’ve supported everything from Palestinians in Gaza to professors striking this semester. Mangubat even got a protest in her honor when the megaphone usage and other violations of the university’s Time, Place, and Manner restrictions on free speech at the Reese Bullen Gallery on Jan. 23 got her and Toledo yanked into a meeting with Dean of Students Mitch Mitchell and handed a “deferred probation”— in other words, a slap on the wrist. The next time one of them breaks the rules, they may face measures such as expulsion. As it was, they had to write a reflection essay on how to be a better organizer. 

    Signs from the student protest on Feb 8 prompted by Toledo and Mangubat’s deffered probation following a violation of the university’s Time, Place, and Manner restrictions. Photo by Griffin Mancuso.

    Though many of the things people see Mangubat and Toledo do are similar, such as leading protests and showing up to meetings, how they approach those actions contrast heavily. 

    Mangubat, 20, started protesting when she was attending high school in San Francisco’s SoMa district, where she said there were issues with things like outdoors accessibility. Mangubat, a Filipina, said she had an early awareness of concepts like intersectionality when she noticed the other students working to raise awareness of those issues were richer and went to private schools. 

    She occupies many roles on campus. She’s the environmental educator at the Women’s Resource Center. She interns for the Student for Quality Education chapter at Cal Poly Humboldt. She works for the Environmental Science and Management department on their Justice Equity Diversity Inclusion committee. All of these titles add up, but at the end of it, Mangubat sees herself as a coordinator, setting people up with resources they need. 

    Toledo, 32, defines his role on campus similarly. However, the route he took to get to Humboldt was vastly different than Mangubat’s.

    He developed an early sense of the unfairness in the world after watching his mom struggle to afford to house them while he was growing up. When Toledo was 18, he tore his ACL skateboarding a few days after his insurance provider dropped him and got thousands of dollars worth of debt when he couldn’t afford to pay it all. He hopes others can avoid that fate.

    “I find purpose in anything that I can tell is making a difference of some kind,” Toledo said. “That’s why I want to work in restoration science as well. I think that being on the ground and watching those seeds literally grow – not even just metaphorically, but watching the seeds that I’ve planted grow, the things that I’ve done, develop. That makes me happy. Seeing an actual difference from my actions is something I really enjoy.”

    Now in his third semester at Humboldt, Toledo is in his second go-round through a university. He got a multimedia production degree from CSU Northridge in 2020, but after a few years of working as a web developer, he decided to quit and get a degree in environmental studies. 

    “It turned out that I was pretty good at coding and there was a lot of money in it,” Toledo said. “So, I just kind of fell into it, and I ended up despising it. Something about just how tedious the work was, and seeing the news everyday, and watching what was happening outside of my bubble at work, and wanting to do something about it as well and not just be sitting behind the computer. After a certain point, you see enough climate headlines that the pay doesn’t really matter anymore, and you just want to do something good.”

    Toledo, a self-described “de-colonial Marxist,” is deeply into studying leftist theory, and idolizes people such as Marxist revolutionary Thomas Sankara and Black Panther Fred Hampton. He’s currently working on organizing a chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society. His earliest memory at a protest was during the Occupy protests back in 2012, when he was 20 years old. Toledo met everyone from garden-variety Democratic Socialists, to anarchists, to socialists to full-blooded commies. The experience left a large impact on him. Now, he has too many books to store them all on the dorm bookshelves and leaves them in piles on his floor. 

    Mangubat’s style tends to be more accessible, not founded on turgid leftist musings or obscure revolutionaries. Though these self-appointed guardians of campus operate on distinct levels, what does make them come to the forefront of every anti-something shindig on campus is a love of disruption. 

    It’s what Toledo and Mangubat use to explain college students protesting events happening both half the globe away and close to home. Student activists get a lot of flak from the general student body because of the perceived irrelevance and disconnect from Arcata to places like Gaza or Washington D.C. They argue that that’s part of the point. 

    “The only avenue that people have is disruption,” Toledo said. “And if you disrupt as many things as possible, even if they may not be wholly related, it’s going to cause more problems for the people at the top. They’re going to take notice of that. If you have whole businesses shut down, if you have schools that are shut down on certain days, if you have more and more people that are sympathetic to the cause and getting out there in the streets, making noise and demanding things on the local level, that reaches up to the top. They realize that and they start to change their narrative, and they might even start to change things.”

    Both Mangubat and Toledo feel the Time, Place, and Manner (TPM) restrictions they violated are excessive and defeat the point of protesting and organizing. One of the TPM restrictions requires organizers to make it clear to administration when and where they plan to protest, a rule Mangubat hates. 

    “The rule of protesting is that you’re disrupting systems,” Mangubat said. “You’re disrupting the place and the people who are oppressing you, so it’s not productive or efficient to just be like ‘Hey, here’s everything I’m doing,’ and then, admin will be like, ‘OK, now we know what they’re saying…’ They have every step to prepare to cover their own asses if they had to.”

    Both Toledo and Mangubat do not have mixed feelings when it comes to Cal Poly Humboldt’s administration, which they characterize as aloof from campus and not held accountable often enough for things like last semester’s eviction of the van lifers.  At the Jan. 23 protest, Dean of Students Mitch Mitchell called the university police department on them — something campus employees are supposed to do when there’s a protest on campus. It wasn’t a move that went over well with the students that were there, especially after he talked to some of the protestors there in a way many of them thought was overly confrontational. Mitchell left when protestors booed him and chanted the word “Shame” at him over and over again. Mangubat feels that outburst was reasonable because of his position as an administrator. 

    “From my perspective, I think it’s justified because every step that they had taken since my disciplinary notice to the students trying to put on this protest, they had been escalating everything …” Mangubat said. “So, I think in some way, it was needed for admin to see what students are capable of doing. Not in a harmful way, but in a human way, like a human response type of way … it’s a complicated situation because, you know, at the end of the day, people are human, they have feelings, but your hierarchy stands out so much more. And you’re acting in that position.”

    “I’m proud of what we set out to try to do to try to get the attention of Tom Jackson,” Toledo said. “I’m not proud of exactly how it turned out.”

  • Femme Fronted: local bands to check out

    Femme Fronted: local bands to check out

    By Mia Costales

    Jude Daughdrill playing the drums and Jack Hallinan playing guitar with Porcelain Dog at Richards’ Goat Tavern. Photos by Paige Main

    Picture this: you’re mindlessly scrolling through your Instagram feed when you stumble across a repost of a hand-drawn show poster and the words, “DM for address.” After a quick pep-talk to the reflection in your mirror, you muster up the courage to DM the account and get the address for quite possibly the greatest night of your short 16-year-old life. As you walk up to the door you are instantly hit with the smell of American Spirits, PBR and a gaggle of grown men who are way too old to be hanging out with teenagers. 

    The music is great and you’re right—this is probably the best night of your life. But you can’t help but feel a little out of place in the sea of mustached, rolled beanie, American traditional tattooed guys that will inevitably ask you if you’ve ever listened to Sonic Youth. The unfortunate truth is that this may sound all too familiar to femmes. Luckily, Arcata has a small but mighty music scene. While there is always room for improvement, there are a handful of queer and femme musicians that are putting in the work to make the scene safer and more inclusive for everyone. Here are two Arcata bands who are diversifying the scene and putting on damn good shows while they do it. 

    Porcelain Dog

    Porcelain Dog is the indie three-piece composed of guitarist Jack Hallinan, drummer Jude Daughdrill, and bassist and singer Vivian Spear. The self-proclaimed loser-rock band has made strides in the Arcata music scene, playing house shows, local venues, and even playing a live set on Cal Poly Humboldt’s very own student-ran radio station, KRFH. Spear has been open about her queer identity and has actively encouraged other queer femmes to join the scene on platforms such as Instagram and KRFH.

    “I think Arcata is probably better than most places,” Spear said. “It’s such a small scene. I feel like we all look out for and support each other. I just wish there were more queer girl bands here. I know there’s a lot of creative queer femmes here, I think we’re just more inclined to feel self-conscious about putting ourselves out there.”

    Spear attributed iconic femme musicians such as Kathleen Hannah of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and Kim Deal of Pixies and The Breeders to inspiring her openness to vulnerability in her songwriting. 

    “I held myself back for so long because I felt not good enough,” Spear said. “Now that I’ve been in this band for six plus months, I know that I’ve been ready for a while. If you feel you have something to say or just want to play then go for it—you’ll pick it up along the way.”

    Heart Eyes

    Heart Eyes, the feminist queercore punk trio, is bringing back the gritty enthusiasm of 90s riot grrrl, but with a modern twist on the genre. Members Kianna Znika, Lexi Takaki, and Milo Lorence-Ganong aim to make music with punk and emo influences that portray an authentic depiction of the highs and lows of the queer experience. Local scenes can be a breeding ground for casual misogyny and bigotry. However, Heart Eyes have used these experiences as inspiration for their songwriting and hope to expand Arcata’s scene to be as inclusive as possible. 

    “It’s been hard to overcome being labeled as a ‘girl band,’” Takaki said. “We are a punk band regardless of our gender and identities. We want to be seen as musicians in the local scene, not a token band because of our perceived gender.”

    The band also encourages fellow queer and femme musicians to reach out to them and get involved in the local scene by making connections with like-minded people. 

    “Go to open mic nights and local shows, talk to musicians you like and make connections,” Lorence-Ganong said. “Your unique perspective as a femme or queer person will be appreciated, don’t feel the pressure to cater your artistic message to a wider audience. Maybe most importantly, just do it! Even if you are new to music, even if everyone else in the room knows more than you, even if you can’t afford nice equipment, don’t be intimidated. Your creative spirit is valuable, and don’t let anyone have you believe otherwise.”

  • It’s a small world, after all

    It’s a small world, after all

    By Carlina Grillo

    ‌These days, there are multiple forms of sightseeing. There’s the typical guided tours, pub hopping, gift shops, and getting lost. Then, there’s Tinder.

    ‌Using Tinder abroad took sightseeing to a whole new perspective—that perspective being from the depths of the dating pool.

    I am writing to you from across the pond, all the way from Ireland, where I am currently sitting on a bus on my way to Cork.

    ‌Besides writing for The Lumberjack and watching raindrops roll down the bus windows, there are limited activities for these long travel days.

    ‌Social media is pretty boring when most of my mutuals are still sleeping. The seven hour time difference means when I’m sipping on my morning cappuccino, or on my mid-day bus ride, the only people up are the night owls and insomniacs.

    ‌That’s when I switched to Tinder, social media for the single and bored. I’ve noticed two things about Irish Tinder: half of the men are named Seán (or some other variation of Shawn) and 99% of Tinder cover photos are group photos. When you figure out who in the group the profile belongs to, it’s never the one you had hoped for. It’s especially difficult when the European men are friends with people who look exactly like them. I can go through an entire profile never knowing who’s who.

    ‌So, here I am, scrolling on Tinder as I’m leaving Galway, and I see another familiar face. This person however didn’t have a group photo, didn’t have a stereotypical European profile and what caught my attention the most was a photo from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This man is either a tourist in Galway or has been a tourist around my stomping grounds. Either way, there’s some commonality.

    ‌I swiped right and it was a match. Immediately, I asked if he was from Ireland.

    “Yes! I lived in America for a good while… didn’t we go to school together?” He asked.

    ‌Then it all clicked. His face was familiar because we attended the same small town high school in the Santa Cruz mountains. Turns out, he moved from Ireland to California, and then back to Galway. What are the odds?

    ‌And maybe this coincidence wouldn’t have blown my mind so much if it was my first encounter within this teeny tiny world.

    ‌What I failed to mention was my plane ride to Ireland from SFO. I sat in the terminal with my friend waiting to board our Aer Lingus direct flight to Dublin. From the corner of my eye, I see another familiar face. Sure enough, I wasn’t the only Cal Poly Humboldt student who had traveled from Arcata to SF to Dublin for Spring break.

    I felt a sense of déjà vu as a classmate from my women’s studies lecture sat right down the row, just like we had done in the classroom 48 hours prior. I wasn’t completely sure it was them until 11 hours later when we caught the same bus into town. It was clear we caught each other by surprise, experiencing our first moments in Ireland together. Again, what are the odds?

    ‌Needless to say, my first time abroad, from one rainy city to another, I’ve been feeling right at home and  as the Irish say, céad míle fáilte – or one hundred thousand welcomes.

  • Mar’s Gaming Garage : The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    Mar’s Gaming Garage : The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    By Mario Orozco

    Welcome back to Mar’s Gaming Garage. This week’s game is “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” and was requested by a rangeland resource science major. “Tears of the Kingdom” (TOTK) is the newest entry in a long line of Zelda games and picks up sometime after the events of “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.” 

    Going into the game, my expectations were through the roof. Its predecessor was awarded game of the year in 2017, so I expected TOTK to live up to this legacy. Thankfully for me and my wallet, this game exceeded my high expectations.

    TOTK’s story is amazing, from the main quests to the side quests. The game does a great job expanding on the stories of previous characters and creating compelling stories for the new faces. The game stands out as a sequel when compared to others because of the brand new mechanics. Most sequels I have played take similar gameplay and insert them into a new world. TOTK does the opposite, taking a different style of gameplay and putting it into an expanded version of the “Breath of the Wild” world. These mechanics assist in making the game feel completely different than the original, despite sharing many similarities. The expansion to the world is massive; it allows for players to enter the depths of the original map and go underground in what is essentially a second full world. The sequel also introduced islands in the sky that can be explored. 

    While “Tears of the Kingdom” improves on the overall gameplay and provides more for the player to do, there are a couple things that fall short when compared to the precursor. The first of these shortcomings is the storytelling. While I enjoyed the story of TOTK more than “Breath of the Wild,” it was told in such strange ways at times. Multiple different questlines can be completed out of order, which can cause a lot of confusion. For instance, if you find the Master Sword before completing its dedicated questline, it completely ruins what I believe to be the most impactful cutscene in the entire franchise by showing it with none of the required buildup. The other issue is the graphics. The quality is a slight downgrade from “Breath of the Wild” despite being released six years later. This isn’t really a problem for me, as the reasons for the downgrade are the expanded world combined with the limits of the Nintendo Switch. While slightly disappointing, graphics were sacrificed for extra content and extra content is never a bad thing.

    “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” took a total of 63 hours and 42 minutes to complete and is arguably just as good as, if not better than, “Breath of the Wild.” I rate this game a 4.8/5. If you can afford to invest a considerable amount of time into a game, then I wholeheartedly recommend this one to you. “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is worth the purchase.

    If you have any games you would like me to review, you can email marsgaminggarage@gmail.com.

  • Being a part of the fourth estate: The Lumberjack attends the ACP conference in La Jolla

    Being a part of the fourth estate: The Lumberjack attends the ACP conference in La Jolla

    By Griffin Mancuso

    One of the distinctive qualities of a journalist is that they never truly stop working. They may finish working on a story or taking photos, but they are always thinking of their next story, their next assignment, their next grand idea to pitch to their editor. A great journalist can make a story out of almost anything.

    One of my greatest qualities (and downfalls) is my ability to turn what was supposed to be my vacation into another article.

    Every March, just before spring break, a handful of journalism students at Cal Poly Humboldt get the chance to attend the Associated Collegiate Press Conference (ACP), where we get to attend panels on journalistic practices, connect with companies and other students, and submit our work for the chance to win awards. It takes place in a different city in California every year, which gives us the opportunity to travel to new places and see all the local sights.

    This year, the ACP conference was held in La Jolla, a sunny beachside town populated by rich people and entitled seagulls. Journalists travel from all over the country to attend this conference and, hopefully, win some awards for their student media. Apparently, this year had the most attending journalism students out of any ACP conference, according to a fellow journalist who interviewed me for an article. Even with the large number of attendees, there was an unspoken sense of comradery and understanding among us, even if we had never met each other.

    One of the appeals of the conference, besides the opportunity to network and learn new skills at the dozens of panels, is getting to explore the city as a group. I didn’t have the opportunity to stick around and enjoy the city at last year’s conference, so I’m happy I had the chance to spend time with the rest of the Lumberjack team. We had a group breakfast of homemade eggs and potatoes made by our editors. We visited the Birch Aquarium where I stared at the leopard shark tank for a good ten minutes. We browsed downtown La Jolla and I made everyone visit my mother’s yoga teacher’s deli shop. I got to swim at the beach for the first time since high school.

    I make an effort to attend panels with differing topics to broaden my knowledge and gain an appreciation for the other jobs in the newsroom. I learned about the particular but important art of typography, I got a refresher on inclusive design for newspapers and websites, I learned about covering LGBTQ+ communities in San Diego County, and I attended the panel on satire news hosted by our amazing adviser and one of our editors-in-chief. Everyone was laughing for a good half of the presentation, so I consider that a success. I smiled as journalists from other schools ecstatically told me how they planned to pitch a satire issue to their publications. Holding figures of authority accountable is much more fun when you get to be funny about it.

    The biggest part of the conference for our newspaper is the awards. The ACP hosts its own award show, and a separate group called the California College Media Association (CCMA) has its own awards on the last night of the conference. ACP is a national organization, and out of all the schools with less than 15,000 students, we still won 5th place in Best in Show for one of our papers. Not too shabby for a staff of less than 30.

    The CCMAs focuses more on awards for individual journalists and is where we get most of our recognition. We all watch with anticipation as the announcer reads off each category, waiting for our school’s name to appear on the projector.

    Being unable to take a break ever, I took it upon myself to film all of our announced awards for social media. As the announcer read off the top three winners for Best Headline Portfolio, I narrowed my eyes as three familiar headlines rolled across the screen. I soon realized they were my headlines and I had won second place out of all California schools with under 15,000 students. I can now proudly put on my resume that I have the second best headlines in the state, and I have the piece of paper to prove it.

    We embraced one another and cheered as we collected a total of 14 awards for the Lumberjack. We placed in categories like Best Social Justice Coverage, Best Feature Photo, Best Arts and Entertainment Story, and Best in Show. We were struggling to get a photo with all of our awards together on the table, even when I stood on a chair and raised my camera in the air. Our advisor soon approached each of us to get a snippet of our reactions for social media. At the time, I was so overwhelmed with excitement and pride in my team that I couldn’t give the groundbreaking, heartfelt speech I wanted. I can at least give that speech in writing.

    I didn’t originally come to Cal Poly Humboldt as a journalist. I was an English major and I wanted to write novels. I joined the student magazine, Osprey, during my first semester and fell in love with it. I loved learning from people and giving that knowledge to the public. I knew I wanted to write. When I took the Lumberjack workshop, I didn’t expect to be writing for an award-winning paper. I’m grateful to be a part of the process and I am honored that our hard work gets to be recognized on a state and national level. The pressure of working on The Lumberjack is intense, but you take on that pressure as a team. No matter what else is going on in our lives, we get together every Tuesday, hunker down in the newsroom, and make a newspaper for our campus.

  • How to interact with a service dog – don’t.

    How to interact with a service dog – don’t.

    By Griffin Mancuso

    On my second day of public access with my service dog in training, I braved the crowded hallways of The Depot in search of brunch. After paying for my food, I found a booth and used the opportunity to practice deep pressure therapy with my service dog, which is his favorite task because it involves him laying on my legs and getting a bunch of treats. The pressure helps decrease my heartrate, and thus, lowers the constant buzz of anxiety any time I go into a public place. 

    A group of men in the booth next to me took notice of my service dog. I didn’t pay them much attention until I heard one of them say, “Hey, there’s a way you can point out a fake service dog, watch this.”

    My blood ran cold as one of the men tried to call my dog over in an excited, high-pitched voice. Even though it was his second day on the job and he was seven months old at the time, my angel of a dog stayed put and watched them with the same amount of bewilderment I had. Apparently, that glance was enough for the men to start gasping and pointing. Feeling embarrassed and defeated, I rushed out of The Depot and hid in my apartment for several hours.
    Thankfully, that was the worst situation I have faced with my service dog. Since then, I gained more confidence in me and my service dog’s abilities and know how to advocate for his space. I also did a little bit of reading on the law.

    According to California Penal Code 365.6, section A, anyone who intentionally interferes with a service dog’s ability to perform their tasks could be charged with misdemeanor. They can face time in jail for up to six months, a fine between $1500 and $2500, or both.

    Two years later, I have realized that many people do not know how to interact with a service dog in public. Generally speaking, the key is to not interact with them at all. In fact, pretend like they aren’t even there.

    The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a service dog as a dog that is trained to perform a task that alleviates the symptoms of a person’s disability. A service dog can be any breed and are not required to be certified or go through a professional training program. They are also not required to wear a vest or identification showing that they are a service dog, but most handlers will identify their dogs in some way to prevent access issues.

    The types of tasks service dogs can perform include retrieving items, deep pressure therapy, acting as a brace if their handler falls down, alerting to rises in cortisol or blood pressure, reminding their handler to take medication, protecting their handler’s head during a seizure, and many more. In a legal sense, service dogs are medical equipment and can be life-saving. They empower their handlers to live independently and improve their quality of life.

    Therefore, it can be detrimental, or deadly, if someone distracts a service dog, no matter what their intentions are. The Depot incident was the only time a person’s intentions were clearly malicious, but most of the time people just really, really want to say hello to my dog. 

    I’ve noticed that many passersby develop what I call doggy tunnel vision. They see the dog and feel intensely compelled to talk to them or approach them, without much thinking in between. I get it, I really do. I love dogs with my whole being. If you are an adult, I promise that you have enough self-control to leave service dogs alone. If you must say something, talk to the handler directly.

    When talking to a handler, some may be more comfortable answering questions about their dog than others. I will put up with a lot of questions and comments. You’d be surprised how many stories I get about people’s dead dogs. Not everyone is as tolerant as I am, so please be respectful of the handler’s comfort level and save your stories for later. Most importantly, do not ask about their disability.

    Some handlers are okay with their dog being pet, and some aren’t. Petting them may interfere with their ability to task or the dog is simply not interested in greeting strangers. Some handlers will have a badge saying something like, “Ask to pet,” but you should always ask before you reach your hand out.

    Most of the time, if a dog is tasking, it is best to let them do their job. You wouldn’t go up to a cashier at a store and ask them if they need help. 

    If you pass by someone having a medical episode and their service dog is tasking, assess the situation before immediately dialing 911. Ambulance rides are expensive and not always necessary.

    I am personally more patient with children when it comes to my service dog. They often don’t know any better and are following their parent’s example. Half of the time, parents will redirect their children away from my dog or take a few minutes to explain that my dog is working. Those are my favorite parents. My least favorite parents are the ones who are either blissfully unaware of their child approaching my dog or actively encourage them talking to or petting my dog.

    Living in Humboldt County, I understand that I live in a pretty dog-centric area. Some people bring their pet dogs everywhere they go, including non-pet friendly stores. Most of the time, these dogs are behaved enough and not bothering anyone, but I have no way to tell if those dogs are a danger to my service dog. Service dogs come with the expectation that they will not lunge, bark, or attack other dogs while working. Pet dogs do not.

    Some dog owners try to bypass this restriction by putting a vest on their pet dog and bringing them anyway. Legally, store employees are only allowed to ask service dog handlers if their dog is, in fact, a service dog, and what tasks they perform. This is meant to prevent employees from asking handlers invasive questions about their disability, but some pet dog owners abuse this system. 

    There is no definitive way to tell a fake service dog from a real one, so you’re doing a disservice to service dog handlers by trying to pass your dog as an essential piece of medical equipment. The best case scenario is that they are an inconvenience we have to avoid while shopping. The worst-case scenario is that your dog injures our service dog and puts them out of work permanently, or kills them.

    Having a disability can be hard. We navigate a world that was not built with us in mind, and if the dog allows me to go to the grocery store and find the minced garlic without panicking, so be it. Please don’t make our outings harder than they need to be. We appreciate those who respect us and our service dog’s space, and we’d love more people to join that crowd.

    Griffin Mancuso is the photo editor and a prolific graphic designer for The Lumberjack. He is also a service dog handler and overall dog enthusiast/nerd. You can contact him at gm249@humboldt.edu.

  • Recasting the narrative at the Latino Film Fest

    Recasting the narrative at the Latino Film Fest

    By Savana Robinson

    Chatter ceased as the house lights dimmed. Hands rustled in bags of popcorn and miniscule pieces dropped to the floor on their way to a mouth as an impressive scene of the Amazon appeared on the massive screen.

    The 25th annual Latino Film Festival at Mill Creek Cinema was held Feb. 27 through Feb. 29. This year’s theme for the festival was environmental issues. The films shown were “Nostalgia de la Luz” (Nostalgia for the Light), “El Abrazo de la Serpiente” (The Embrace of the Serpent), and “A Million Miles Away.”

    “Nostalgia de la Luz” is a documentary that takes place in the Chilean Atacama Desert, where a woman is searching for remains of loved ones whose lives were taken under the regime of Augusto Pinochet. At the same time, astronomers are looking for answers about the past of the cosmos.

    “El Abrazo de la Serpiente” shows a shaman in the Amazon who leads a sick man and his colleague to a flower that may cure him. Years later, a botanist leads him back to the sacred flower, which the shaman had forgotten. The film is set with overtones of the importance of protecting indigenous cultures and sharing knowledge.

    “A Million Miles Away” is a biopic about the life of José Hernández, a migrant farmworker who becomes an astronaut. The film is about hardship, perseverance, and the power of a dream.

    Gabrielle Gopinath, professor of history of cinema and art at college of the Redwoods, was part of the panel discussion after the screening of “Abrazo de la Serpiente.” Gopinath noted the distinct difference between the film and others of its kind.

     “Films about the jungle typically cast the global south as a crucible existing outside time and history,” Gopinath said. “Indigenous characters only come into focus insofar as they play subsidiary roles in a white protagonist’s journey. However, in “Abrazo de la Serpiente,” the white characters and their quest are accessory to Karamakate’s central character arc.”

    José Marin Jarrín, a professor of fisheries biology at Cal Poly Humboldt, gave a speech during the panel after the screening of “A Million Miles Away.” Jarrín said that the movie reminded him of the history and stories of all immigrants.

    “When we arrive, we change who we are to try to assimilate with the majority,” Jarrín said. “We also eventually realize there’s nothing wrong with who we are, and that we should be very proud of where we come from.”

  • Mar’s Gaming Garage; “Dead Space”: a classic worth a playthrough.

    Mar’s Gaming Garage; “Dead Space”: a classic worth a playthrough.

    By Mario Orozco

    Welcome to the debut of Mar’s Gaming Garage. I will be playing video games that our fellow students recommend, good or bad, and give my honest opinions to tell you whether or not it’s worth buying. 

    For the first week of Mar’s Gaming Garage, I was asked by an anthropology major here at Cal Poly Humboldt to review the game “Dead Space,” the original from 2008, not the remastered one from 2023. This is a game that I have always wanted to play, but the survival horror vibe always sort of scared me off. With this request, I finally had a reason to set my fears aside and dive into this game. I am happy to say it was well worth it.

    “Dead Space” thankfully wasn’t as scary as I had feared. Don’t get me wrong, I was still scared, but it was a fun fear. The storyline followed our main character Isaac Clarke fighting his way through a ship that was taken over by these creatures called Necromorphs. The Necromorphs appeared after the former passengers found an artifact called The Marker. The story of this game was fantastic and was honestly one of the best single-player survival games that I have ever experienced. The terrifying creatures were both gross and really cool to look at. It had very fun gameplay, heartbreaking losses, and multiple shocking twists that I genuinely never saw coming. The twist that concluded the game has been a constant in my mind ever since I saw it.

    However, there are a couple issues I had that I’d like to share. First, the camera is at a weird angle, making the creatures rushing at you really difficult to see, especially in such a dim game. As a result of the camera angle, the controls are sort of awkward; when you rotate the camera, your character doesn’t turn in that direction like in other survival games, meaning you have to rotate the character and camera independently of each other. This makes it more difficult to get shots on anything rushing that’s not directly in front of you, this mixed with the weird angle can be slightly frustrating at times. These negatives are really just me nitpicking, this game was an absolute joy and if I could go back in time and play it for the first time again, I would.

    “Dead Space” took me a grand total of  8 hours and 48 minutes to finish and was worth every one of those minutes. I rate this game a 4.6 out of 5. Whether you’re into survival horror or not, I recommend this game to you all. So yes, “Dead Space” is well worth the purchase.

    If you have any games you would like me to review you can email marsgaminggarage@gmail.com.

  • Dual enrollment; seeing double on campus

    Dual enrollment; seeing double on campus

    By Carlina Grillo

    Ever seen a classmate who seems to be in two places at once? 

    They could be a track star, master of teleportation, hologram – or more simply, a twin. 

    The chances of being an identical twin are three or four in 1000, but what are the odds of both twins going to the same college, or more specifically, a small university tucked away in the redwood forest of Northern California?

    Without a school-wide survey asking about twins, it’s hard to say, but there are at least a few pairs of identical twins right here on campus. 

    Marley and Wiley Thrift are a pair of sophomore computer science majors who grew up in Humboldt, and didn’t think much about going to the same college. 

    “Both of our parents work here, it was an easy choice to go to Humboldt,” Wiley Thrift said. “Our dad works in computer science, so that’s kind of where we got the inspiration from.”

    According to Wiley, the difference between being twins in highschool and college is mostly the size of campus and the larger population. It doesn’t always come up in conversation at first, so there will always be confusion.

    “If I see somebody that Marley knows on campus and they wave to me, I usually just wave back but I don’t know the person,” Wiley Thrift said. “If they try to talk to me, I’ll say ‘I’m not Marley,’ and it’s a little awkward, but it’s kind of funny too because I know it’s happened before, and I know what’s happening.”

    Hunter and Tanner Circe are seniors majoring in environmental studies who also grew up in Humboldt and went to highschool in Mckinleyville.

    “It’s easy to have a built-in roommate… because neither of us really had the desire to live with other people,” Tanner Circe said. “It just kind of made sense.”

    “We also rent from our parents in Arcata, so It’s a convenient reason to go to Cal Poly [Humboldt],” Hunter Circe said. 

    The Circes have a similar experience to the Thrifts, describing the same situation of people approaching the wrong twin. 

    “It’s like talking to a lot more strangers because he knows them,” Hunter Circe said. “This is our experience, it’s not unique [to us].”

    “You’re walking by and people will just look, and you know you’re getting the look like, ‘Oh, they’re twins,’” Tanner Circe said. 

    In many ways, the media has portrayed twins to be a certain way and check certain boxes. This causes a constant flow of stereotypical questions from peers.

    “I’m tired of, ‘Is one of you evil? Do you feel each other’s pain?’ It’s just so silly to me,” Hunter Circe said. “People like to put us in like ‘box A’ and ‘box B’. Like, ‘he’s the artsy one,’ or ‘he’s the sporty one…’ Why does there have to be ‘the one?’”

    “We’re siblings who look the same,” Tanner Circe said. “Its’ unique but… a little bit mystified on TV and stuff.”

    At the end of the day, twins are just like any other siblings, but the same age.

    “I think it’s a lot more similar to normal siblings than people realize,” Tanner Circe said. “[People think] it’s this mystical thing, but really, I think it’s just from growing up together.”

    For all these siblings, the future is still unwritten. 18 days is the longest time the Thrifts have spent apart, but they plan on extending that time next semester, with many miles in between.

    Both Marley Thrift and Tanner Circe have plans to travel abroad while their twins stay in California. 

    “Being a twin’s great, you should try it,” Marley Thrift said.