Today’s weatherPartly cloudyHigh 73Low 50

ForecastI wish I could give you a better weather forecast during this gloomy midterm season, but alas, it seems as though rain and cloudy skies

have crept back into our area once again. Temperatures should creep back up into the 80’s by early next week.

Kenneth Doss, atmospheric science majorAggie Forecasting Team

Chance of showers Partly cloudy

Friday

High 72Low 49

Thursday

High 68Low 51

Something funny should go here.

Written By

serving the uc davis campus and communit y since 1915www.theaggie.orgvolume 131, number 58 wednesday, may 2, 2012

Dorm residents find ways to beat the heat

Farmers Market vendor of the

week: Pure All Natural Honey

City Council candidates busy campaigning as elections approach

Local beekeepers make organic honey products

Student Housing deals with unexpected heat wave

News iN BrieF

California Raptor Center to hold

open house

By DANIELLE HUDDLESTUNAggie News Writer

After an unexpected heat wave the weekend of Picnic Day, Student Housing had to make some adjustments to ac-commodate residents. “We try to make sure that we do ev-erything we can to keep the residents comfortable. I was personally here both days on Picnic Day. The sudden heat wave just caught us off guard,” said Dave MacKinnon, assistant director of Residence Hall Maintenance. Each residence hall building has a separate air conditioning system. The buildings’ air conditioning is adjusted in an attempt to attain peak efficiency. “The way that our systems work is that they can only do heating or cool-

ing, but not both at the same time. We base the changeover on the weather forecast. We were worried about more cold weather and needing to keep the residents warm,” MacKinnon said. As with any major mechanical sys-tem, the first time it is turned on dur-ing a season, it may not run properly. Student Housing has to turn on many cooling systems while making sure they work properly. “It is uncommon that the first warm spell gets this hot, but as soon as it started we began the transition. It took about two full business days and was a challenge to complete,” he said. During the time residence halls were being switched over to the cooling sys-tems, residents had to put up with the heat.

“Because you expect to feel relief on a hot day when you walk into a building, having the air off was unexpected,” said first-year resident Patrick Le. Having the air off also affected stu-dents in other ways. “The air conditioning wasn’t on in my building and it was hot, so it made res-idents uncomfortable while trying to study for midterms. It is nice and cool in my room now,” said Andrew Chen, a first-year resident. In order to beat the heat, residents found other ways to cool off, such as going to the Recreation Pool, which opened the day after Picnic Day, or spending time in study lounges and the library.

DANIELLE HUDDLESTUN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

On Saturday, the California Raptor Center (CRC) will be holding their Spring Open House from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be free, but donations are highly appreciated. The CRC is a facility part of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, with the aim of caring for, rehabilitating and eventually releas-ing injured raptors, including eagles, hawks, vultures and owls. The Open House is intended to highlight the various tasks and responsibilities of the CRC, with raptors both in display cages and on the glove. There will be special presentations held at 10 a.m. and noon, demonstrating interest-

By LANI CHANAggie Staff Writer

On a table in the middle of the Farmers Market in Central Park on Wednesday night sits a line of jars filled with amber-colored hon-ey next to a cup of sample sticks. Free samples of local-ly produced treats are a ma-jor attraction of the Farmers Market experience, tempt-ing those strolling through to find the freshest of fresh produce and snacks. The organic goodness found at this particular ven dor, Pure All Natural Honey, is a unique selection of hon-

ey in a myriad of flavors. It is the work of two passionate beekeepers who are com-mitted to healthy living, but also to bringing the tastiest flavors to the dinner table, and luckily for the rest of us, to the Farmers Market.

The products Items for sale every Wednesday include jars of honey in Spring Blossom, Orange Blossom, Habanero, Lavender, Star Thistle and Cinnamon flavors for $6 each, which are also avail-able in pound and half-

Teams: UC Davis at Fresno State; vs. Cal PolyRecords: Aggies 16-23 (4-8); Bulldogs 18-22; Mustangs 25-17 (9-6)Where: Beiden Field — Fresno; Dobbins FieldWhen: Wednesday 6:05 p.m.; Friday 2:30 p.m.; Saturday 1 p.m.; Sunday 1 p.m.Who to watch: Sophomore designated hitter Nick Lynch mans the cleanup spot in the order, and for good rea-son: He leads the Aggies with a .330 average and .430 on-base percentage, and is second on the team with 17 runs batted in. Did you know? If UC Davis can get a lead early, it’s pret-ty good at holding on to it. The Aggies are 14-2 when leading after six innings; however, their opponents have out-scored them 28-9 in the eighth in-ning this season. Preview: UC Davis baseball closes out its eight-game road trip at Fresno State tonight before returning to

Davis for a Big West Conference bat-tle with third-place Cal Poly. Sophomore pitcher Evan Wolf will take the mound against the 2008 National Champion Bulldogs, look-ing for his second straight win after earning his first collegiate victory last week at San Francisco. The Aggies will host their conference

foes for a weekend matchup, hoping to shut down the big-hitting Mustangs. Cal Poly leads the Big West in batting average, slugging percentage, hits, runs batted in, doubles and home runs. UC Davis coun-ters with a trio of talent-ed senior starting pitchers who will have little room for mistakes against such a good hitting team. “The bright spot this sea-

son has been our pitching,” said head coach Matt Vaughn. “We will look at the scouting reports and we’ll come up with a plan. We’ve played some good offensive teams this season and we feel good about our pitchers

keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win.” The UC Davis starters will have to slow down the top three Mustang hitters, most notably Mitch Haniger, who leads the Big West with a .615 slugging percentage, nine home runs and 46 runs batted in. The Aggies have been powering up at the plate as well, with five home runs in their last six games. The problem, as for much of the season, hasn’t been getting guys on base, but getting them home. UC Davis is hitting close to the Mendoza Line with runners in scoring position, and leads the Big West with 30 double-plays grounded into. The good news for the Aggies is that after their trip to Fresno State, they play seven of their next eight games at Dobbins Field, where they own a 10-8 record. First, UC Davis must take care of business against the Bulldogs, first pitch on Beiden Field at 6:05 p.m. Friday’s game at Dobbins Field will start at 2:30 p.m.

— Russell Eisenman

Nick Lynchsophomore

BAseBALL PreView

By PAAYAL ZAVERIAggie News Writer

As the Davis City Council Elections come closer, the candidates are busy campaigning and advocating their stances to the public. The city coun-cil elections will be on June 5. Three seats on the council are open for election and five candidates are vy-ing for those positions. The five candidates include Brett Lee, Lucas Frerichs, Stephen Souza, Sue Greenwald and Dan Wolk. The last three are incumbents. In this election, all of the candi-dates are focusing heavily on a few key issues, the first being the eco-

nomic stability of the town. Second is environmental issues, in partic-ular the Davis water supply. “We have a need to im-prove the long-term econom-ic viability and sustainabili-ty of the com-munity. Additionally, we need to pursue the unfunded li-abilities and needs we have and ad-dress them to make sure that we are economically stable for the future,”

Souza said. Most of the candi-

dates are addressing environmental sus-tainability in Davis. In particular, the ques-

tion of clean, so-lar energy is be-ing debated. A

few candidates are also con-cerned with improving the

water supply of Davis. “We need to come up with a more

Jasna Hodzic / Aggie

The California raptor Center will be holding its Open House on May 5; free but donations appreciated.

Brian Nguyen / Aggie

As soon as the weather starts to warm, student Housing makes the switch from heating to cooling, which took about two business days.

Jasna Hodzic / Aggie

Pure All Natural Honey sells flavored honey at the Davis Farmers Market in Central Park, downtown Davis.

see HONeY, page X

Irisa Tam / Aggie

see COUNCiL, page 2

Candidates maintain common themes in issues they address

see rAPTOr, page 2

That awkward mo-ment when you know in your heart that

you should just “quit while you’re ahead” but you can’t because the truth is that you’re not ahead. On the contrary, you’re in way too deep, and the real choice is between crashing and burning sooner rather than later. This is the predica-ment that Speaker Newt Gingrich finds himself in. Although it is rumored that he will quit the presi-dential race sometime this week, possibly today, the action is way overdue. Gingrich did not have nearly the same amount of success as did Rick Santorum. Santorum came the closest to giving front-runner Mitt Romney a run for his money, and even he dropped out of the presi-dential race on April 10. Last-place candidate Ron Paul is still in the race as well, but that sort of “un-usual,” “out-of-the-box” be-havior is expected out of the Congressman. There’s just something about Newt Gingrich that makes the na-tion cringe as he continues to drag out his inevitable loss, something that makes us want to say, “Just quit al-ready.” It’s hard not to feel a lit-tle empathetic towards the guy, because most of us have been in a simi-lar situation before. Pride is a powerful thing and it makes us act irrationally, only to have us then ratio-nalize our irrational behav-ior. It’s a slow, embarrass-ing torture while you’re in the thick of it, but it makes for great “that awkward moment” moments. For example, that awk-ward moment when you raise your hand in lecture to ask a question but the professor either doesn’t see you or totally ignores you. That’s happened to me be-fore, and there’s really no way to play it off. You low-er your hand in slow mo-tion and play with your hair or pick up your pen-cil or do anything else you can to occupy the hand that was heartlessly rejected. At

least that’s what I do. But I did once wit-ness a guy who chose not to give up. I would like to give him the Most Ridiculously Determined Student on the Planet award. He raised his hand to ask a clarifying ques-tion and never got called on. And he never put his hand down. We had class with one of those profes-sors who tends to only look at one side of the room while lecturing, and he had, unfortunately, sat on the wrong side of the lecture hall that day. It was hard to watch as he waved about, used his other hand to prop his arm when he got tired, switched arms, etc. I wished he had either called out to the professor or … just quit already. Or how about that awk-ward moment when you’re in a serious argument with

some-one and you know you’re wrong, but you’ve al-ready in-

vested too much time and effort into the discussion so you keep arguing in de-fense of your wrongness. I’ll admit that I’m not much of a debater, but if I’m arguing with an arrogant individu-al or if I’m angry in the mo-ment, I will keep going as long as I can, ignoring the fact that my statements are progressively getting more and more preposterous. That’s right, I will go around in circles, repeating myself, raising my tone, digress-ing as much as I can until the person I’m arguing with pities my apparent insani-ty and forces me to quit al-ready by not engaging with me anymore. We live in a culture where giving up is looked down upon, but there are some exceptions to the rule. Better yet, there are dif-ferent types of giving up. If you’re quitting out of la-ziness, lack of self-con-fidence or an inability to confront challenges, then yes, you should persevere. If people are doubting you for no reason, in the words of the eloquent Mr. 50 Cent, “If they hate then let them hate and watch the money pile up.” But if you’re trying to sal-vage the unsalvageable, embarrassing yourself and wasting valuable resources because your pride is over-riding your good sense, do the right thing and quit. Quit, not because you’re a quitter in the negative sense of the word, but be-cause you are a kind-heart-ed person. Quit because you care.

Contact PAMELA NONGA NGUE at pamnonga@ucdavis.edu.

My plan was to write about how trivi-al the NFL draft is

because the true value of players won’t be known un-til years later. We pay an ex-traordinary amount of at-tention to a glorified guess-ing game. But after a few paragraphs I felt what I was writing was even more triv-ial, thus trivializing my at-tempt at ex-posing the triviality of the draft. This threw me into an existential crisis that just couldn’t be contained. So let’s go ex-ploring. I understand it’s impossi-ble to fully explore the cri-sis of my existence here, but that’s why it’s the per-fect space to do it. I have 700 words or so to contem-plate the meaning of life before I’m cut off. Without the limitation, it’s possible my mind would roam end-lessly around the expanses of space and I’d be tossed in a looney bin before you could say “Bugs Bunny.” Since there’s no logical place to start in this cha-otic universe, I’ll just get down to the brass tacks. I watched Derrick Rose’s knee buckle Saturday and it felt like I got punched in the stomach. Not just be-cause I felt bad for him and his team (I did), and not just because I was worried about his career that’ll nev-er be the same (sad, but the dude’s worth millions and NBA contracts are guaran-teed); it was mostly because my arch-nemesis, LeBron James, would have an easi-er path to the NBA Finals. This is incredibly insen-sitive and, upon further ex-amination, downright in-sane. Not only am I hop-ing for a man to fail, but to this man I don’t even ex-ist. This is true for the mil-lions of others who adore or despise him. We could all disappear from Earth like it was that picture from Back to the Future and, be-sides the fact that millions of people would be miss-ing, he wouldn’t notice and probably wouldn’t care. It’s an insane concept to know such a small percentage of the people that know you,

yet this is life for a celebrity. What’s fame? Why do “Kardashians” exist? Why do we care? It’s not because they’re relatable — celebri-ties are the exact opposite. It’s hard to imagine a hu-man lifestyle more alien to me. Is it because we want to be them? Do we want the wealth, the cameras track-ing our every move, our ev-ery move capturing the in-terests of people every-where, thus making those people want to be like us and completing this vicious circle? Personally, I think we take interest in their lives because we want someone to take an interest in our own. Even more so, we wish our lives were interesting enough for someone to take an interest in them. As depressing as it is, we know deep down that the vast majority of us will be

forgotten. Life isn’t a bell curve; only a se-lect few will be immor-talized

in history. Even our own bloodlines will forget us af-ter a while. Our lives will at best be preserved in photo-graphs, videos and public re-cords. In the face of all this, we strive to be something. But do we have a choice? We can’t accept the statis-tics and assume we’ll be nothing, because then no-body would be anything. This is almost more de-pressing; we’ll be the lit-tle engines that couldn’t. I’ve heard all my life that if I should fail, I should fail spectacularly. This means swing for the fences, con-sequences be damned. But what about those who think Mudville could’ve won? When Casey came up to bat, a deep single would’ve scored two and tied the game, giving us at least ex-tra innings. I mean, should we just enjoy the moment and not worry about our swing? Is studying more important than going out with friends in the grand scheme of things? Should we all be he-donists? If my life only mat-ters to me, what’s with all this altruistic nonsense? It seems like life is a glo-rified guessing game. We pay an extraordinary amount of attention to de-tails we won’t know the val-ue of until years later. It’s tough to see life as trivi-al, so let’s focus on what is: the Redskins’ fourth-round pick. Why take Kirk Cousins after they drafted RGIII? At least they failed spectacu-larly — we won’t forget this.

Wondering why this isn’t an article full of fun facts and trivia questions? If a dictionary isn’t around, NOLAN SHELDON can be reached at nosheldon@ucdavis.edu.

page two The california aggie2 wednesday, May 2, 2012

daily calendardailycal@theaggie.org

I would like to give him the Most Ridiculously Determined Student

on the Planet award

Not only am I hoping for a man to fail, but to this man I don’t

even exist

One Shields Ave.25 Lower Freeborn, UCD

Davis, CA 95616Editorial (530) 752-0208

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The California Aggie is entered as first-class mail with the United States Post Office, Davis, Calif., 95616. Printed Monday through Thursday during the academic year and once a week during Summer Session II at The Davis Enterprise, Davis, Calif., 95616. Accounting services are provided by ASUCD. The Aggie is distributed free on the UC Davis campus and in the Davis community. Mail subscriptions are $100 per academic year, $35 per quarter and $25 for the summer. Views or opinions expressed in The Aggie by editors or columnists regarding legislation or candidates for political office or other matters are those of the editors or columnist alone. They are not those of the University of California or any department of UC. Advertisements appearing in The Aggie reflect the views of advertisers only; they are not an expression of editorial opinion by The Aggie. The Aggie shall not be liable for any error in published advertising unless an advertising proof is clearly marked for corrections by the advertiser. If the error is not corrected by The Aggie, its liability, if any, shall not exceed the value of the space occupied by the error. Further, The Aggie shall not be liable for any omission of an advertisement ordered published. All claims for adjustment must be made within 30 days of the date of publication. In no case shall The Aggie be liable for any general, special or consequential damages.© 2009 by The California Aggie. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form whatsoever is forbidden without the expressed written permission of the copyright owner.

The California Aggie is printed on

recycled paper

Jason AlpertEditor in Chief

Becky PetersonManaging Editor

Alex TervoBusiness Manager

Grace SpragueAdvertising Manager

Hannah StrumwasserCampus Editor

Angela SwartzCity Editor

Elizabeth OrpinaArts Editor

Erin MigdolFeatures Editor

Trevor CramerSports Editor

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Amanda NguyenAsst. Night Editor

Irisa TamArt Director

Draft trivia

NolanSheldon

PamelaNonga Ngue

Just quit already

today

take Back the night6:30 to 9 p.m.East QuadThe UC Davis Campus Violence Prevention Program (CVPP)’s Take Back the Night will feature a popular local band Walking Spanish and the a UC Davis a cappella group, The Spokes. Guest speakers will include Professor Todd Migliaccio and sexual assault survivor Sabrina Sadler. Student Housing’s Clothesline Project will be on display and participants at this free event can partake in a community art project.

dance dance davis practice7 to 8:30 p.m.Hickey GymGo to this dance rehearsal to learn the dance to partake in the flash mob on May 9.

introductory Fitness class Series7:30 to 8:10 p.m.ARCTry out group cycling for free! This intro class, promoting Work It! Week, will help you get comfortable with a group exercise class setting and prepare you for regular-length classes.

wedneSday

aggie idol7 to 9 p.m.Freeborn HallWatch this fifth intercollegiate student-athlete charity variety show coordinated by the UC Davis Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The proceeds from ticket sales will benefit nonprofit Team Davis; our local Special Olympics organization. Tickets are $8 through May 1 and $10 on May 2. They are available at the Freeborn Ticket Office or online at tickets.com.

Food addicts in recovery anonymous7 to 8:30 p.m.Davis United Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson RoadFree yourself from excess weight and/or obsessive thoughts about food and body image. Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous (FA) is a 12-step fellowship based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Meetings are open and

free to the public. Go to www.foodaddicts.org for other meeting locations.

Kp Meeting of the 43rd annual whole earth Festival7 to 8 p.m.Student Community Center (across from Chem 194/Bike Barn)Learn the history of the festival, reconnect with your loving community, schedule Non-Violence Training, explore KP responsibilities and discover a little bit about yourself.

the tempest7 to 8:30 p.m.Pence Gallery “Learning Center” Upstairs, 212 D St.Watch this performance of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Tickets are $8 for students and $10 for adults. RSVP by e-mail at davis.shakespeare@gmail.com or by calling 530-802-0998.

the 2012 eugene lunn Memorial lecture7:30 to 9 p.m.Alpha Gamma Rho Hall, Buehler Alumni CenterListen to this lecture by Professor Robert Darnton with a reception to follow. He will speak on “Books, Digits, and Dollars: A Design for the Future.” The lecture is free and open to the public.

tHUrSday

Shinkoskey noon concert12:05 to 1 p.m.115 MusicWatch this free concert as Joseph Abad plays the saxophone with Jenny Lee playing piano and Lucas Chen playing the cello.

poetry night reading Series: carlos reyes8 to 9 p.m.John Natsoulas GalleryThe Poetry Night Reading Series is proud to welcome the poet Carlos Reyes.

To receive placement in the AGGIE DAILY CALENDAR, e-mail dailycal@theaggie.org or stop by 25 Lower Freeborn by noon the day prior to your event. Due to space constraints, all event descriptions are subject to editing and priority will be given to events that are free of charge and geared toward the campus community.

correctionIn the May 1 article “Recruiters aim to shift paradigm,” it was incorrectly stated that there are 15 assistant football coaches. There are 10 assistant coaches and 5 additional staff members. The Aggie regrets the error.

SHawcing tipS: Fidget For FitneSS I’m sure everyone reading this article has wanted to kill that in-cessant foot tapper sitting next to them. Although this seemingly ob-noxious behavior is distracting, did you ever think that that person was actually working on their fitness? It turns out fidgeting has been prov-en to have benefits on your health. Although it is not a substitute for the recommended 30 minutes of exercise a day, it falls under a cate-gory of “incidental” physical activ-ity that is better for you than doing nothing. These type of activities are not formally considered exercise; rather, they are actions used in your daily life, such walking up stairs, chopping up vegetables or tapping your foot, that involve some form of movement. In fact, a study done at Queen’s University in Ontario found that those individuals who accumulat-

ed the most incidental physical ac-tivity in a week had higher fitness levels than those with the least. To conduct their research they moni-tored a group of overweight adults who were healthy but lived seden-tary lifestyles. They recorded the subjects’ daily movement with de-vices attached to their legs. Rarely did the participants move enough to bump their activity level beyond incidental activity. Even though none of the volunteers met the rec-ommended 30 minutes of moder-ate exercise a day, they found that those who moved the most had better levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, demonstrating the perks of fidgeting. So, next time you don’t have time to hit the gym, get up and take a short walk, tap your foot or choose the stairs instead of the elevator. Although these actions don’t seem

like they’ll do much to affect your health, they apparently can make a difference. Speaking of exercise, don’t for-get to check out HEP’s “Work It” week from April 30 to May 4 and complete SHAWC’s “Work It” Week Scavenger Hunt. Pick up a flier at the SRRC or print one from our Facebook event at facebook.com/ucdshawc to win prizes and get fit at the same time.

The ASUCD Student Health and Wellness Committee (SHAWC) aims to promote and address important health-related issues on campus. We serve as a liaison between ASUCD and campus health organizations, clubs and resources. If you have SHAWCing suggestions, questions or tips, please e-mail us at shaw-cucd@gmail.com and “Like” us on our Facebook page!

affordable, voter-approved solu-tion to our water needs. The city’s water plant proposal was oversized and more expensive than necessary. This is important, because as pro-posed, the city water bills were going to double, which would affect home-owners and renters alike,” Lee said. Many candidates say they want to focus on building a more positive re-lationship between the City of Davis and UC Davis. “To be frank, the city hasn’t done as good of a job as it could on pro-moting a positive relationship with the university and its students. Its relationship with the University as a whole remains less close than it could be. The city needs to see the University and its students as the partners and assets they are. Davis would not be Davis without them,”

Wolk said. The relationship with the University is important for imple-menting solar energy and a clean water supply. According to Souza, by capturing the technology created at the University and implementing it in Davis, a beneficial relationship can be built between UC Davis and the City of Davis. This election is significant for the variety and diversity of the candi-dates. All come from different back-grounds and professional fields. “The number of young new can-didates makes this election unique. I think that’s a very positive develop-ment and it is still important to have one experienced voice,” Greenwald said. Additionally, the type of issues being addressed have a common thread. “This particular race has, in my opinion, a focus on economic devel-opment, and that’s probably because

of where we’re at as far as the econ-omy of not only this city, this nation, but this world. We’re all seeking to do things more efficiently to create that sustainability environmentally, eco-nomically and socially,” Souza said. As election day approaches, the candidates are making their posi-tions known and reaching out to the public. There are a number of fo-rums and meet-and-greets with the candidates scheduled for the up-coming weeks. Tonight at 7 p.m., the League of Women Voters is hosting a can-didates night in the Community Chambers at Davis City Hall. The de-bate will be televised on channel 16. Additionally, Saturday evening there will be a Meet the Candidates event in Downtown Davis from 6 to 8 p.m. Lastly, on May 9, a candidates forum is scheduled at the Davis Community Church at 8 p.m.

PAAYAL ZAVERI can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

COUNCILcont. from front page

Visitors are invited to arrive at 8 a.m. for the Hawk Walk, which ends at 9 a.m. Attendees to this event are advised to bring binoculars. Donations to the CRC are strongly encouraged due to the center’s financial sit-uation. For the past two years, the CRC has been receiving no operational funding from the budget allocated to the School of

Veterinary Medicine. “CRC has been func-tioning for the past two years mainly on volunteer help, reserve funds and donations,” said educa-tion program volunteer Lis Fleming. “It is hoped that the new budget, which be-gins July 1, 2012, will fully restore annual operations funding for CRC.” For directions to the event or more information, vis-it vetmed.ucdavis.edu/cal-raptor/index.cfm.

— Rohit Ravikumar

RAptORcont. from front page

volatile organic com-pounds (VOCs) created by the decomposition of dairy cow manure and other or-ganic wastes.

“If we use digesters to treat manure, those VOCs won’t be formed and emit-ted, because the bacteria in the digesters will con-vert the manure into meth-ane and carbon dioxide,” Zhang said.

Zhang’s husband, Zhongli Pan, is an adjunct professor of food engineer-ing at UC Davis and works in the same department as Zhang. Their son, Philip, is a senior environmental engineering student at UC San Diego.

“She [Zhang] always be-lieves that new technolo-

gies and discoveries will be the key to provide our so-ciety [with] a better living environment and make the energy supply sustain-able,” Pan said.

Zhang travels frequently to China to help further ad-vance the work in her field.

Zhang is listed as the sole inventor on two pat-ents involving the high-rate anaerobic digester process. She is also a co-inventor of three other patents related to the pro-cess. Clean World Partners has licensed all five pat-ents from the University of California but is current-ly only using two of the li-censes. Zhang will receive a percentage of the royal-ties generated, per univer-sity policy.

BRIAN RILEY can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

JWAStEcont. from page X

&Science Technology wedneSday, May 2, 2012 3The california aggie

IntroductionI, a microbiology ma-

jor, live in an apartment with a chemistry major. She often complains about the length of her lab reports — sometimes in the hard work required, occasionally in the context of how much paper and ink that it uses (as much as 10 to 15 pages for the more hellish labs).

I often don’t have much to complain about back to her. I’m in my first micro-biology lab this quar-ter, and the lab report I completed a couple of weeks ago was re-quired to be a grand total of three pages.

How hard do we each work? Consider this my lab report. I won’t stick with the traditional layout of a re-search article, as this is The California Aggie, not Science Magazine. However, I’ll in-troduce the majors.

Ignoring the general ed-ucation requirements, a chemistry major requires 107 units total while the micro-biology major requires 106 to 120 units total. The vari-ation of the latter is mostly due to which organic chem-istry class you decide to take, and, if you’re an older major, which calculus courses you took in your freshman year.

Materials and MethodsMy materials and methods

for answering the question I gave above, of how hard we each work, consisted just of my own observations of the requirements for each class. I can play fast and loose with these rules as, again, this is The Aggie, not Science.

ResultsWe spend about the same

amount of time studying, but the chemistry majors spend far more time writing lab re-ports than I do. We biology majors have fewer and short-er lab reports, as well as labs that are nearly all discussion with few or no experiments (Physics 7, anyone?).

DiscussionWhy do two science ma-

jors, both with an emphasis on research, have such dif-fering amounts of laboratory experience? We both took the Chemistry 2 series, which is the general chemistry class. Every lab had an experiment,

but mine did not require lab reports, only answering on-line questions that slowly walked the student through the math and what the re-sults could mean. Biology 2 was even less demanding; though we had many work-sheet questions to answer, there usually wasn’t an actual experiment or lab report.

I suppose in freshman year of college, easing the students into writing full lab reports might be a good idea, since some high schools might have been less demanding than others. However, when I compare my organic chem-istry class (Chemistry 118) to the organic chemistry that the chemistry majors take (Chemistry 128), the differ-ences become even starker. My organic chemistry class only required a lab report for a couple of the experiments; her organic chemistry class required a full lab report for all experiments.

One critique is that I’m working with a sample of

only two stu-dents. This is definite-ly a problem with draw-ing definitive conclusions, although it

helps that we’re both doing well in our chosen majors (there isn’t one person slack-ing off with grades to skew the results, for example).

At first glance, this seems like an advantage for biology majors. College students are busy enough studying as it is, especially since on the quar-ter system it seems like we are always in midterm season.

I know that requiring lab reports in basic chemistry and biology classes seems pointless, because the exper-iments that they set up are ones for which the professors already know the answer.

This grind does have a point though: practice. No one can learn to write in a certain style, especially the very precise style of lab re-ports, without practicing several times on an easy ex-periment or activity. Without this practice, many biology students will end up going into professional laborato-ries with two or more years less experience looking af-ter experiments and writing their findings than chemis-try or physics majors.

If the findings are some-thing no one has ever seen before, you’re not going to have a computer program there to slowly guide you through the algebra. There won’t be a worksheet to ask leading questions. Those things can be very useful tools, especially in the be-ginning of a college career. But in the real world, it’s well-written lab reports that count.

AMY STEWART can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

Amy Stewart

In defense of reports

No one can learn to write in a certain style ... without practicing several times ...

By HUDSON LOFCHIEAggie Science Writer

Whether cheering on your favor-ite NBA team, wearing your univer-sity letters or hugging strangers at a political rally, it feels undeniably good to be part of a group. A univer-sity student might make a new friend while traveling thousands of miles away simply because they both go to the same school, and you might get beaten up for wearing team colors in a different city. All of these situations are examples of intergroup bias, a psychological phe-nomenon behind behavior ranging from racism to patriotism, from team spirit to school pride on Picnic Day. “Intergroup bias is a psychological or behavioral competition between two groups based on group mem-bership,” said Jeff Sherman, a pro-fessor of psychology at UC Davis. “It amounts to treating people different-ly based on [group] membership.” Essentially, intergroup bias is the basis for all exclusionary behavior we exhibit. It is why racism exists, why private social clubs exist and why ca-reer favoritism exists. While modern human society has evolved millions upon millions of subgroups, this pref-

erential group treatment goes back to the most basal of survival instincts. “[Intergroup bias] has some evolu-tionary basis,” Sherman said. “There is an expectation of future interac-tions with group members, so indi-viduals will share resources with their own group rather than an outgroup.” As group identification shifted

from pure survival into the more so-cial realm of personal identity, inter-group biases shifted along with it. Differential treatment evolved to jus-tify a bias, and biases emerged to jus-tify differential treatment. The sim-ple state of belonging to a group can

You’re not us, you must be wrong

Intergroup biases, school pride and humanity

Evan Davis / Aggie

UC Davis students stand and cheer for Aggie Pride at sporting events.

See PRIDE, page X

By RACHEL KUBICAAggie Science Writer

Barobo, Inc., a robotics company founded by UC Davis mechanical and aero-space engineering professor Harry Cheng and his former graduate student, Graham Ryland, has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) small business inno-vation research program for their small, versatile modu-

lar robot. Cheng and Ryland will be using the grant money to further develop their mod-ular robot, “Mobot,” over the next two years. “With the funding from NSF, we will develop Mobot as a programmable univer-sal building block for educa-tion, research and industrial applications,” Cheng said. A Mobot is a fully func-tional robot with four de-grees of freedom, includ-ing the ability to move for-ward, roll around and bend forward. It uses two wheels at either end to move and can be modified using two hinges in the center of the module.

“It can roll, crawl, stand, tumble, etc.,” Cheng said.

“In addition, like Lego, Mobot can also be used as

a building block to create a snake, tank, truck, human-oid and any systems you can imagine.” Cheng hopes to use the Mobot to teach young stu-dents robotics as early as kindergarten. “Each building block is fully programmable, which makes the combined sys-tem extremely flexible and versatile,” Cheng said. “Programming a single Mobot and multiple Mobots can be easily accomplished by K-12 students.” Cheng and Ryland have been working with 15 lo-cal schools in Davis and Sacramento to use Mobot in classes, demonstrating

to students how to build the robots using computers. “It’s really exciting to be part of something that in-spires middle school and high school students to get into robotics through sci-ence, technology, engi-neering and math (STEM) subjects,” Ryland said. STEM is the acronym es-tablished by Cheng through his UC Davis K-14 Outreach Center for Computing and STEM Education. “The goal of the C-STEM Center is to broaden par-ticipation of students typ-ically underrepresented in computing and to de-

Modular robot receives NSF grant‘Mobots’ help teach young students math

and science

courtesyModular robots could help kids learn math and science

By BRIAN RILEYAggie Science Writer

A new type of high-rate anaerobic digester sys-tem created by a UC Davis professor was given its first commercial applica-tion recently at a packag-ing plant in Sacramento. The digester allows organ-ic solid waste to be recy-cled more efficiently.

Ruihong Zhang, a pro-fessor in the department of biological and agricul-tural engineering, created the process in the lab at UC Davis. In 2006, a research and demonstration facility was built on South Campus to test and fine-tune the process to make it ready for public and commercial use. Plans are being made to use the facility as a model for a larger facility to be built on the site of the current UC Davis landfill.

“I think it’s a very unique opportunity that we can take technology that has been developed right here on campus by

Dr. Zhang and apply that to our own facilities,” said Sid England, Assistant Vice Chancellor of the UC Davis Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability program.

The planned project would convert agricultur-al and landscape waste cre-ated on campus, as well as leftover food scraps from the dining halls, into a fuel mixture made of 90 per-cent methane that could be used to fuel Unitrans buses.

A mixture made of methane and carbon dioxide could also be converted into elec-tricity for use on the cam-pus grid, in order to be part of the West Village zero net energy project.

“Dr. Zhang’s technolo-gies allow material that is up to 50 percent solid with no additional water added,” said Michele Wong, CEO of Clean World Partners, which has licensed the technol-ogy from the University of California and runs the new

plant in Sacramento.“Other digesters require

that you have material that is much lower in solid con-tent (10 to 20 percent), so you must add water, [which] increases the cap-ital costs,” Wong said.

Initially foreseen as being a potentially valuable means of large-scale energy genera-tion, anaerobic digester pro-cessing plants now are most highly valued for their abil-ity to reduce landfill use. Reducing the amount of or-ganic, or carbon-based, sol-id waste in landfills also re-duces the amount of green-house gases released into the atmosphere, since meth-ane, which is created when organic waste decompos-es, is a highly potent green-house gas.

Widespread use of more inexpensive anaerobic di-gester processes such as Zhang’s can reduce a sig-nificant portion of the smog in California air ba-sins. The smog is caused by

New anaerobic digester technology improves the atmosphere

UC Davis professor Ruihong Zhang invents new process

By CLAIREMALDARELLI

Aggie Science Writer

Researchers at UC Davis have discov-ered a key tool they believe helps sperm and eggs develop exactly 23 chromosomes

each. This work, which could lead to signif-icant insight into fertility as well as sponta-neous miscarriages, cancer and other de-velopmental disorders, was published on April 13 in the journal Cell.

Normally, if all goes according to plan, a human fetus develops into a healthy adult with exactly 46 chromosomes — 23 from the sperm and 23 from the egg. But just one small mistake in this process can have significant effects on the fetus, often de-veloping into well-known disorders such

as Down syndrome, which is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

The developing process of a human fetus is complex, involving a multitude of process-es, enzymes and other complexes that work together as one big unit. Because of its direct effect on many diseases, much research has gone into understanding this mechanism.

“We are trying to understand how these proteins work together at a molecular lev-el and how they are regulated to do the right thing at the right time,” said senior

author of the study Neil Hunter, a profes-sor of microbiology and a member of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center research program.

During meiosis, the sexual cell division that produces sperm and eggs, match-ing chromosomes pair up and connect through a process known as “crossing over” — much like when two long strands of spa-ghetti twist together when twirled with a

UC Davis researchers find key tool in chromosome crossovers

Result could provide insight in treating a broad range of diseases

See CELL, page X

courtesyZhongli Pan, left, and Ruihong Zhang at the anaerobic digester

See ANAEROBIC, page X

See ROBOT, page X

The california aggie4 WeDneSDaY, MaY 2, 2012

By SARA ISLASAggie News Writer

Earth Day is celebrated in a huge variety around Davis. Some hike more, some bike more, some eat better and others get their hair cut. On April 29, Davis residents vis-ited Strands Salon and Spa in Downtown Davis to donate money to the California Clean Water Fund while freshening their look. Strands’ owner, Jacquelyn Crabtree, pledged to wholly donate 100 percent of the day’s earnings to the fund. The fund works with Northern California groups to re-duce trash in waterways, promote reusable bags in stores, eliminate foam containers, protect drinking

water affected by the oil industry’s increased use of fracking in under-ground drilling and clean up mer-cury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxin levels in the San Francisco Bay. “I think it’s very generous that Strands is donating everything to-day,” said Davis resident Patty Glen, 34. “It made me more inclined to come contribute than if they had been donating a percentage.” About 30 other Davis residents showed support for the cause by getting haircuts and taking part in other spa services. Strands also prepared a bake sale and donation stand for residents too busy for an appointment. By noon, the event, which ran

from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., had reached the half-point goal of $5,000. By the end of the day, they successfully reached it. “Davis community members tend to be really supportive of good causes,” Crabtree said. Aveda, Strands’ main product line, has raised a total of $10 million between all of its sponsoring salons across the U.S. because of these an-nual Earth Day events. The compa-ny, which claims to be eco-friend-ly because of its microlending com-ponents and because 94 percent of its products are made of plants, plans to continue and increase its fundraising efforts.

SARA ISLAS can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

campus CHIC.

By STEPHANIE B NGUYENAggie News Writer

Danae Jarrett, senior communication major

The Aggie: What are you wearing?Jarrett: “I’m wearing a black maxi dress from Forever 21. My sandals are from Shiekh. My necklace is Juicy Couture, my watch is from Aldo and my ring is from Israel.”

How did you decide what to wear today? “I knew it would be warm and breezy. It was the perfect day for a long dress.”

Where do you find inspiration?“I enjoy reading blogs as well as fashion magazines like Nylon.”

What’s your favorite item in your closet?“I have this silk scarf that I got when I was in Rome. It’s unique and has rich colors. I like it because it’s versatile; I can wear it around my neck, around my head as a headband or hang it on my bag.”

STEPHANIE B. NGUYEN can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.

Stephanie Nguyen / Aggie

Stephanie Nguyen / Aggie

Davis salon hosts Earth Day cut-a-thon

Second annual event will occur next year

Brian Nguyen / Aggie

Davis resident Anne Williams gets her hair cut at the cut-a-thon to celebrate Earth Month.

lead to biases we are completely un-aware of. But why do we attach our-selves to groups in the first place? “There is value to being accepted into a group,” said Cynthia Pickett, an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis who studies social iden-tity. “There is value in having peo-ple living with you, hunting with you and sharing with you. People feel emotions based on their group and group pride can serve a function.” When many individuals become part of a close group, they experi-ence strong intragroup cohesion and show more support to group mem-bers. Humans are social creatures by nature, and there is a strong desire to identify with a group. However, the same behaviors that lead to strong group loyalty also lead to strong

competition and discrimination against other groups. Even compet-ing groups can belong to the same overarching superordinate group, such as a nation or species. “Strong group cohesion formed because originally, group mem-bers were more related [to each oth-er] than they were to members not in their group,” said Karen Bales, an associate professor of psychology at UC Davis. “Evolution favored kin se-lection and sacrifice to protect the group because it would help pass on [family] genes.” But humans are finicky, and al-though we strongly desire to be part of a group, we also have a desire to maintain a personal identity. Pure cooperative living, while appearing to be a sound theory on paper, often fails because of the individual’s de-sire to be … individual. “People want to belong to groups, but they want to be distinctive, to be

set apart from other people,” Pickett said. “There are superordinate groups, like humans, but they are di-vided internally into smaller groups. People do not like to discard identity and just be humans.” So let’s go back to Picnic Day. While not everyone who came to ex-perience Picnic Day was a Davis stu-dent, the event was instrumental in generating and maintaining school pride. According to Pickett, the emo-tions of loyalty and pride felt by stu-dents and alumni create substantial financial support in tough econom-ic times. Ultimately, people will find a bal-ance between a group identity and their own personal identity, which can give them the social comfort of belonging to a group and the psycho-logical pride of being an individual.

HUDSON LOFCHIE can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

PRIDECont. from page 3

dor, Pure All Natural Honey, is a unique se-lection of honey in a myriad of flavors. It is the work of two passionate beekeepers who are committed to healthy living, but also to bringing the tastiest flavors to the dinner table, and luckily for the rest of us, to the Farmers Market.

The products Items for sale every Wednesday include jars of honey in Spring Blossom, Orange Blossom, Habanero, Lavender, Star Thistle and Cinnamon flavors for $6 each, which are also available in pound and half-pound containers. Also in the product line are a car-amel sauce and a chocolate sauce, also $6. “What bees do is magic and amazing, the whole process they have to go through,” said Doneice Woody, a CSU Fresno alumna who has been helping her mother, Robin Harlan, start up the business since her graduation. “I love selling a product that is healthy, and one that people enjoy and love.” Honey provides a healthy and versatile alternative to sugar as well, said Harlan, who has been bottling and selling the natu-ral honey products since 2010. “Sugar has no health benefits,” Harlan said. “When you use honey, you get a much better type of energy — you don’t get the same highs followed by a crash. Also, there are enzymes, and eating locally produced honey helps with allergies.” The Harlan family has, like honeybees

themselves, become accustomed to using honey as a primary source of energy. “I keep a jar in my pickup and if I feel like I need energy, I’ll take a shot of honey,” said Henry Harlan, a fifth-generation farm-er in the Winters area and owner of Henry’s Bullfrog Bees. “Try it yourself — see how you feel now and then see how you feel in 10 minutes.”

Their story Pure All Natural Honey has existed as a division Henry’s beekeeping business for just two years and has had a spot at the Davis Farmers Market for six months. “We’ve only had the bees for five years,” Henry said. “We started planting almonds, which needed bees, so [before] it was just for pollination purposes.” Selling honey at the Farmer’s Market was something neither Robin nor her daughter saw in their future. Both having dealt with difficulties in the job market after the eco-nomic crash of 2008, they turned to the re-sources they had on hand. “One day, Henry said, ‘Why don’t you just start selling the honey? It’s a natural byproduct of what we have here,’” Robin said. Now, the bees are in fields of wildflow-ers as well as orange and tangerine groves, pollinating the family’s existing crops while also serving as the primary fuel behind the production of the popular Farmer’s Market item. “We can start collecting after everything starts blooming,” Henry said. “We average 40-50 pounds per season from bees in a

particular crop.”

Cooking with honey Both avid cooks, the mother-daughter team were ready with an arsenal of reci-pes and innovative ways to showcase each of their products, making it impossible to choose a favorite. “It depends what I’m using it for,” Woody said. “If you’re using cheese, I’d go with the habanero honey. Because you can do brie and roasted garlic on a baguette, and then drizzle it over.” Yum. “I also prepare yams like mashed pota-toes, add milk, a little butter and then our cinnamon honey,” Woody said. “I never sweetened my coffee until we made the cin-namon. Or, what I love is our orange blos-som honey with maytag blue cheese on a cracker.” Whether looking to season meat for an entrée or to accompany a cheese to nosh on between meals, the Pure product line is geared toward all tastes. Henry acknowl-edged that honey’s ability to reflect the dy-namic essence of local crops is what makes it a unique product. “Honey’s like wine; you could open up a tasting room,” Henry said. “There’s so many different flavors and blends. Sometimes I like the Star Thistle, and sometimes I like the Spring Blossom, which is a mix of all the flowers in the valley. You can get it to-day and again next week and it’ll taste com-pletely different.”

Why the Davis Farmer’s Market?

Although Pure is relatively new to the Farmer’s Market, it seems the brand has found its niche. “It’s a really great community; every-one gets to know and support everyone,” Woody said. “You only want everyone to do good. We’re all in this together, so why not support something that is healthy and sup-ports your local economy?” Robin and Woody enjoy coming to Davis in particular for the opportunity to interact with a very knowledgeable and supportive community. “I love that everyone rides bikes, wants to be healthy, and exercises,” Robin said. “People really take care of themselves. And I love how people are genuinely interested in learning.” Robin said she and her daughter enjoy answering questions from Davis customers about the honeybees and different ways to cook with honey. “I feel like as much as they learn from me, I learn from them,” Woody said. “They always come and tell me that they’ve used a honey for this and this and that, and I love that, because I’m learning new ways to sell my product. It’s wonderful hearing how they’re using the product in such great ways, and that they’re being creative. I’m glad that the community has welcomed us with open arms — we’re very thankful for that.” Pure All Natural Honey can be found at the Wednesday Davis Farmers Market and at the UC Davis Farmers Market at the Silo.

LANI CHAN can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

HoNEYCont. from front page

velop students’ computer-aid-ed problem-solving skills to tack-le real-world STEM problems,” Cheng said. “Through various out-reach activities, the C-STEM Center seeks to inspire students to pursue computing and STEM-related ca-

reers and post-secondary study.” But why robotics specifically? Cheng points to the future of science and technology for his answer. “Robotics is an interdisciplinary field. Robotics is a next frontier for innovation and technology inte-gration,” said Cheng. “Robotics will be more integrated into our work and daily life in the future.” According to Brian Donnelly,

STEM program coordinator and industrial technology teach-er at Harper Junior High School in Davis, robotics is also a viable means for students to understand math in a real-world context. “This is a great way to en-gage kids in math — especial-ly those students who struggle to see how math relates to the real world,” said Donnelly. “When we

talk about giving kids ‘21st centu-ry skills’ and ‘closing the achieve-ment gap,’ the C-STEM curricu-la can really make a difference for students and teachers.” The C-STEM Center will be hosting the UC Davis C-STEM Day on Saturday at the UC Davis Conference Center. Local mid-dle and high school students will showcase their skills in com-

puting and robotics, while edu-cators and researchers will dis-cuss the importance and appli-cation of these skills. This year’s theme is “Integrating Technology and Engineering into Math and Science Education in the 21st Century.”

RACHEL KUBICA can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

RoBoTCont. from page 3

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wednesday, may 2, 2012 5The california aggie

fork. These crossover connections play an important role in creating sperm and eggs with exactly the right number of chromosomes.

According to Shangming Tang, a graduate student working in Hunter’s lab, each pair of chro-mosomes must contain at least one crossover. However, more than two crossovers per pair could damage the genome’s structure. Although scientists understand the need for chromosome cross-over, research into understand-ing the mechanisms and enzymes through which this process occurs is only recently emerging.

“Knowing how each major pathway in meiosis is regulated will help us understand why cer-

tain syndromes occur and possi-bly how we can prevent or treat them,” Tang said.

In their study, Hunter and his research associates looked for en-zymes that could cut DNA to form crossovers in yeast. Just like hu-mans and other mammals form sperm and eggs, yeast form sexu-al gametes called spores. Through this experiment they discovered three yeast enzymes – Mlh1, Mlh3 and Sgs1 – which work to cut DNA and form crossovers.

From previous research, Hunter and his colleagues were aware of other enzymes that work together with these three. In a paper pub-lished last year, they described the discovery of enzyme Exo1, a type of enzyme called a nuclease, which is responsible for degrading DNA strands. According to Hunter, these yeast enzymes directly cor-

relate with human enzymes; by analyzing these correlations, con-clusions can be drawn.

“The human equivalents of Sgs1, Exo1, Mlh1 and Mlh3 are all tumor suppressors. What we are learning about their molecular functions is relevant for understanding what goes wrong in cancer,” Hunter said.

Hunter hopes this new discovery will help improve knowledge of cer-tain diseases.

“Our fundamental discover-ies are broadly relevant for under-standing the problems that lead to various cancers, infertility, preg-nancy miscarriage and [various] chromosomal diseases,” Hunter said. “We are eager to define the roles of [all] the cofactors found. So, we still have a lot to learn.”

CLAIRE MALDARELLI can be reached at science@theaggie.org.

cellcont. from page 3

courtesyAn old diagram of chromosomal crossover

By MEE YANGAggie News Writer

Founded by UC Davis alumnus Olowo-

n’djo Tchal, Alaffia is a fair trade com-pany that sells handcrafted shea but-ter from Africa. Last Saturday, April 28, it partnered up with Nugget Markets to collect bicycles from the public. The event started at 9 a.m. and lasted until 2 p.m. at the Nugget Market on East Covell Boulevard. “This is the first time Nugget has joined with Alaffia for a bike drive,” said Dave Welch, store director of the Nugget Market on Covell in a press release. “Our entire nugget team is excited and read for a day of community fun and partnership for a wonderful, global cause.” Donations were tax-deductible and guests received a free cup of coffee and a Nugget cookie. Alaffia’s Bicycles for Education Program began in 2006 and since then over 4,500 bicycles have been donated. Many stores such as Whole Foods, Nugget Market and various grocery co-ops have been involved in gathering bicycles. “We have a lot of local support, especial-ly in California,” said Lanessa Inman, com-munity project director at Alaffia. “Nugget Market has been a real great supporter in this drive.” Once refurbished, these bicycles are giv-en, not just to anyone, but to young girls who lack the transportation to walk five to 15 miles each way in order to attend school in Togo, West Africa. The bicycles are specifically given to fe-males because of Alaffia’s gender equality mission which considers women to be the

backbone of African societies. According to their website, these women shall be honored for their contributions to society by establishing gender equality in our communities. “A lot of young women have chores at home and generally fall into prostitution if they do not attend school,” Inman said. “Giving bicycles to these girls in order to attend school will help them stray from prostitution and gain equality.” “From the perspective of a woman, any kind of help that women can get to achieve their dreams is definitely an asset to a greater good,” said Vanessa Walker, a staff member at the Women’s Research Center at Sacramento State University. Before the installment of this program, there was a 95 percent dropout rate among all students who did not have transporta-tion. Now, that number has been tremen-dously reduced. This decreased dropout rate isn’t, how-ever, the only thing that’s been improved. “Some girls were reduced to prostitution and we have seen a huge reduced amount of pregnancy and STD’s among young women,” Inman said. “These [bicycles] go in a container, through customs, and are shipped to Togo, West Africa,” Inman said. “At the moment, we’re storing bikes in California and we’ll ship them all at the same time.” For more information, visit alaffia.com.

MEE YANG can be reached at city@theaggie.org.

The california aggie6 wednesday, May 2, 2012

By KELSEY SMOOTAggie Features Writer

If you’ve ever been inside a stall in a public restroom, particularly one inside an older building, chances are you’ve en-countered some “bathroom art,” or hand-written graffiti. Writing on the inside of bathroom stalls seems to be a popular form of self-expres-sion. Whether a message from the do-good-er, offering kind words like “You’re beauti-ful,” the rebel, lashing out at an institution (“Fuck school!”) or the comedian, hoping to lighten the mood (“Dropping bombs on toiletville”), art experts and observers alike debate whether or not it should be consid-ered vandalism or art. Around the UC Davis campus, there are several bathrooms that have been “vandal-ized” with writing and drawings. The girls’ bathroom in Wellman Hall is home to doz-ens of bathroom hieroglyphics. “Never drink a cup of coffee and eat a bowl of fiber cereal before class. Learn from my mistakes,” someone wrote. In addition to humorous advice, some use the space to share quotes and ideas. One bathroom stall composer wrote: “I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you’re alive so you might as well lie back and enjoy it. — Sam, From American

Gods by Neil Gaiman.” Others see the inner stall as a place to voice concerns about social justice. In ref-erence to the recent issues concerning UC Davis police and Occupy protesters, some-one wrote: “Nov. 18 [does not equal] police brutali-ty. It was just cops being cops. Don’t pun-ish individuals, destroy institutions.” First-year cell biology Major Richie Koenig said he is a self-professed bath-room artist, and he enjoys reading what other people write and draw. “I’ve done it. It’s a great way to see how other people think. When you are in there alone, you can express yourself with no social pressure. It’s an honest view of the mind,” Koenig said. Art history lecturer Hannah Sigur said that people may enjoy creating so-called “bathroom art” when they know their identities are concealed. “People take pleasure in the anonym-ity of it. I think there is something trans-gressive in a person’s mind when they find themselves in a bathroom setting,” Sigur said. “Also, the setting of a bathroom gives people a chance to express thoughts that are more appropriate for a bathroom. Especially sexual matter.” Custodial worker Elva Martinez said she hates to see that people have drawn in bathrooms.

“I feel mad. It’s a lot of work for us, and that shouldn’t be part of our job. We clean to make it look nice, and we shouldn’t have to wash away graffiti,” Martinez said. Like Martinez, custodial worker Rosa Cortez said that she, too, is not a fan of bathroom art. “I don’t like it! One day, someone put graffiti in the Segundo Services Building and we had to get it off. It was a mess,” Cortez said. First-year animal biology major Victoria Espinoza had a horrible experience with bathroom graffiti when her number was written inside a men’s restroom. “I received so many calls from guys try-ing to talk dirty, saying vulgar and derog-atory things. I almost had to change my number. Luckily I was able to have it re-moved,” she said. Though some might argue that the “art” is defacing public property, others might say that it can be used to uplift restroom patrons having a hard time. In response to someone writing about how they wish they could be thin and pretty, someone wrote: “You don’t need to be thin. You’re already beautiful.” Though first-year international rela-tions major Nnedy Obiwuru would prefer the bathroom to be free of writing, she said there is a slight benefit to those who use the space to spread positivity.

“I’d rather it be clean, but seeing that someone has written ‘you’re beautiful’ forces you to think about it. So I guess it could be a good thing,” Obiwuru said. For Sigur, bathroom sketches only qual-ify as art when the message is clear and meaningful. “It would depend on what I’d see. It de-pends on whether the person who cre-ated the art had anything worthwhile to say, and how they said it. If you have to ex-plain your art in a long paragraph, it fails. It should speak for itself,” Sigur said. Though commonly found within the se-clusion of a restroom stall, this type of ex-pression is not exclusive to bathrooms. Desks, textbooks, and mirrors are also com-mon targets for those looking for a public emotional outlet. Upon one of the exterior walls of Wellman Hall, someone wrote: “Re-examine what you’ve been told. And dismiss that which offends your soul.” While the school does not encourage or permit vandalism, there appears to be no simple way to police this activity, espe-cially inside restrooms. So, within the con-fines of a bathroom stall, bathroom artists are likely to remain free to tell jokes, com-plement one another, vent and, eventually, use the toilet.

KELSEY SMOOT can be reached at features@theaggie.org.

Bathroom art: Vandalism or self-expression?Stalls in public restrooms used for communication

Fair Trade Alaffia partners with Nugget Market for bike drive

Bicycles will be donated to young West African girls

Yash Nagda / Aggie

Nugget employee Annie Dryer helped with the collection of bikes for the Alaffia Bicycles for Education program, refurbish ing the bikes for people in West Africa.

Aaron Juarez / Aggie Third floor of the Art building

Evan Davis / Aggie Art Annex

courtesy of Eric RauchwaySocial Scienes Building

Evan Davis / Aggie Wellman’s men’s bathroom

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Erin Migdol / Aggie

Women’s bathroom at the MU