People take the ability to read and write for granted,assuming everyone can,but the evidence suggests that it shouldn’t be. Twenty percent of Yolo County is considered functionally illiterate,according to theYolo County Library Servicesand Facilities Master Plan2002to2006.

If you’ve ever wondered how much any UC Davis employee makes, it’s your right to know. The California Public Records Act mandates it. To view compensation information, one must go to Shields Library and go to the reserves desk. The data is available in three bound books as well as on CD. Books for each campus are available in one library on that campus.

UC Davis senior Shanna Wagner has Type I diabetes.Rather than accept her situation,she decided to do something about it. Wagner decided to help in the battle against diabetes by leading the Diabetes Dash at UC Davis,a two mile run/walk set to take place at the Arboretum on Sunday,May31at10a.m.The money raised will be donated to the UC Davis Medical Center for endocrinology research.

UC Davis student Joshua Rottman and roughly15,000other students nationwide have recently filed a class-action lawsuit after paying for a special presidential inauguration travel package and allegedly not receiving what they were promised.The Virginia-based company,Envision EMI,organized a Congressional Youth Leadership Council program that promised opportunities for students to “bear witness as thepresidentof the United States is sworn into office,” “meet White House officials,congressional staff,political experts,and more,” and “experience the sights and sounds of a jubilant nation during the Inaugural Parade and a Black Tie Gala Inaugural Ball,” according to advertising materials from Envision.

Every day we are bombarded with ambition-probing questions forcing us to think about our future lives in the “real” world.These questions are usually intended to be facilitators of harmless conversation,but they often cause us to develop misconceived notions of success. Well,these questions can come in a variety of forms.

Learning to be accountable for your own actions is one of life’s greatest lessons.From a very young age we’re taught that when a problem arises as a result of our previous actions,it’s up to us to fix it. While such an idealized view of personal responsibility looks great in children’s books or in an elementary school classroom,it’s honestly becoming harder and harder to find real world examples to support such a preposterous belief.

ASUCD Senate meetings are scheduled to begin Thursdays at6:10p.m.Times listed are according to the clock at the May21,2009meeting location,the ARC meeting room for a special event and the Mee Room for the senate meeting. Meeting was called to order at6:24p.m.and again at7:15p.m.

When you apply to be a columnist atTheAggie,I believe there are two assumptions that you make about yourself: (1) that you know something that others don’t and (2) that whatever you know,you think it’s interesting enough to tell other people.In fact,when you submit your application,you have to explain these exact assumptions.When I applied sophomore year,I wrote: “Things happen to me,usually lame things,and I learn from them… I just have stories and I like to tell them.That’s all” (my eloquence at the time just blows me away).

This year marked the second consecutive year in which Safeboats have had a presence at Lake Shasta during Memorial Day weekend. Droves of college students make the holiday weekend an annual boozefest out on the lake,rentinghouseboatsto do so.In an effort to minimize the effects of binge drinking,unprotected sex,dehydration and other obstacles drunk college students manage to create for themselves,the Safeboat is on hand to lend aid.

TODAY Dine with dignity campaign 5:45to7p.m. ASUCD Coffee House View the filmImmokalee:From Slavery to Freedom and listen to a list conversation with a member of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.There will be free popcornfromthe Student Farm. Veer screening 6:30p.m. Davis Varsity Theatre In celebration of May being Bike Month,viewVeer,a movie about five people whose lives are tied to cycling.Tickets are$10at the door,and80percent after the rental fee will go to the Davis Bike Collective. Club meetup 7to9p.m. Griffin Lounge,MU If you’re involved in a student organization,stop by this forum to meet with other students and learn advice about being a club at UC Davis andhow tointeract with SPAC,CEVS and ASUCD. An evening with Jake Kosek 4p.m. MU II Listen to Jake Kosek,author ofUnderstories:The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico,speak.

Amidst the scramble for federal grant dollars,the city of Davis is looking to upgrade its traffic light system. The Davis Natural Resources Commission recommended the approval of a proposal last Wednesday by city engineers to replace existing city traffic lights with LED lighting,or light-emitting diode lighting.The proposal will be voted on at the Davis City Council meeting on June2before being sent to the federal government for review.

One out of seven patients entering a hospital needs blood.Yet,of the four out of ten people in the United States eligible to donate,only one does – if at all. In order to raise that number to accommodate more patients who depend on blood transfusions for survival,the male queer community is insisting that the donor guidelines be updated to include them.