Opinion

Continuing on with the theme of oppressive ideologies that are related to LGBTQIA+ identities, in this column I’m going to be talking about transphobia, an oppressive and marginalising form of hatred and misunderstanding that is often aimed at those whose gender presentation does not match our expectations – specifically trans, genderqueer and gender non-conforming folk. […]

I have always had a profound love for children. Throughout high school and college, I worked with highly resilient and extraordinary children in multiple capacities – as a program coordinator in an orphanage, as a volunteer in an HIV-positive mercy center and as a research assistant for a national study on foster youth support. At […]

In the introduction to a Technocultural Studies class I took last fall, my professor conducted a quick survey by asking us two  questions: “How many cellphones have you owned? How many laptops?” Our collective response yielded a jarring result. Most of us had owned at least three to four phones and two to three PCs […]

This past weekend, our campus hosted the 26th Annual Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Conference where many of your fellows Aggies were participants. The conference attracted 550 students, more than 1,000 attendees and showcased the great interdisciplinary work that our faculty and students are doing. Undergraduate research is one of the core principles of […]

Let’s play a game. I’m going to give you two scenarios. I want you to guess which one is the more likely response to being sexually assaulted. Ready? Option A: Amy was raped by a stranger a few weeks ago. During the assault, Amy was completely terrified, but reacted quickly and cleverly. She escaped the […]

There are numerous misconceptions about what autism is, what the causes are and how it is experienced. Autism, like any other disorder, is complex and variable. Unfortunately, it gets simplified by many of the misunderstandings surrounding it. I want to highlight five of the many myths people have about autism, in the hope that readers […]

Just the right amount of sunlight, just the right amount of rain. With these balances and a little fertile ground, the seed becomes the tree. The branches will find a shape of their own design, but by what providence have they grown under? It is the nurturing of the Earth that brings the tree up […]

In a speech yesterday at Lehman College in New York, President Obama addressed one of the most widely discussed topics of the ongoing Baltimore riots: news outlets’ tendency to turn a blind eye to the city’s many peaceful protests. He said that TV cameras have come to solely focus on protesters lighting fires and turning […]

Since the City of Davis recently hosted its first Pride celebration on Saturday, and the LGBTQIARC is hosting Pride Month, I thought it would be important to talk about an issue that I think is at the root of many homophobic and transmisogynistic occurrences  that we often see in our everyday lives– femmephobia. As usual, let’s […]

Under the giant umbrella that is the 21st-century startup phenomenon, one element stands out to me among the rest: the experience of women in the tech industry. This topic is compelling to me for a number of reasons, first and foremost because the issue of gender discrimination is relevant on both a domestic and international […]

What do you think of when you hear the word ADHD? Do you think of a hyperactive child disrupting a classroom? Do you think of an overly impulsive child? Do you think of a kid who will inevitably turn to substance abuse? Do you think that kids with ADHD just want attention? These are the […]

As those who know me know, nature isn’t my only interest: I’m also a big fan of music. Often when I go hiking in wild places, I like to put in my ear buds and find a soundtrack for my adventures on my iPod.  However, when hiking at Sunol Regional Wilderness with the Davis Hiking […]