Opinion

Raw milk is a controversial topic, especially among food scientists and public health officials. Why? Because raw milk has not been pasteurized, or heated to the point where microbes are killed, and thus is considered “dangerous” by the Food and Drug Administration. Pasteurization of milk began during the Industrial Revolution when raw milk was linked […]

There are not a lot of issues on which I disagree with Kurt Cobain. Not that I have a lot of knowledge of his opinions on things; I like his music, and therefore I like to agree with him on everything. However, one point on which I must show my divergence is in his lyric, […]

The California Community Colleges (CCCs) have endured radical change in recent years. Tuition has spiked, budgets have been slashed and students are left in the crossfire. In defense of the CCCs, I understand they’re under an unparalleled amount of pressure. They are desperately trying to satisfy an abundance of student needs. They’re facing high school […]

A lot can change in 20 years; conversely, very little can change in 20 years. As we look back on two decades of the North American Free Trade Agreement — which recently turned 20 on Jan. 1 — it would seem that a qualifier might be in order: a lot has changed for the worse, […]

The University of California (UC) has recently started enrolling students in online courses through a program called UC Online. This offers courses available to all UC students, which in theory, seems like a great idea. While we appreciate the idea behind the program, it’s important to recognize that online courses can never truly replace a […]

The Jan. 1 implementation of “Breathe Free UC Davis” carried a certain set of expectations from the University and from its citizens. Based on the pictures displayed on breathefree.ucdavis.edu, it seems the University expects their program to result in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, smoke-free students. That’s not what we predict. We foresee post-apocalyptic trashcan fires from […]

How many of us have skipped a lecture because we could listen to the podcast or read someone else’s notes later? These methods are not adequate substitutes for lecture, so we should not use them as an excuse to miss lecture when we can attend class. We often do this to minimize time spent on […]

I love the first day of school. I love seeing if someone cute is in the class, then hoping I have discussion with them. I also love how what I thought I knew about a subject is just completely different from what that subject actually is, and the approach the class is taking to learn […]

There’s a rather famous anecdote frequently tossed around in Mexican literary circles. The story concerns famed French poet André Breton’s first visit to our country in 1938. On arrival — and presumably still reeling from the merrymaking on the Parisian party boat — he issued the following statement which, while fitting at the time, seems […]

Three years of full-time community college classes taught me a lot. I covered the first half of my formal education; I took classes on astronomical formulas, philosophical paradoxes, anatomy, women’s history and more. But that’s not what I learned. The community college system created an interesting paradigm for me. Students are fresh out of the […]

I’m tired of the word “sustainability.” I’m equally tired of the words meant to supplant it such as “eco” and “earth-friendly.” As a fourth-year sustainable agriculture and food systems major, I am well aware of the novelty attached to the title of my degree. What exactly am I conveying to others? What value do the […]

“ANIMAL WELFARE LEGISLATION NEEDED” Our state legislature reconvened on Jan. 6. Now’s the time to ask your representatives to introduce legislation to protect animals, both wild and domestic. A few suggestions: ban all “wildlife killing contests” of coyotes, rabbits, ground squirrels, crows, whatever; they are unethical, ecologically-unsound, and give all hunting a black eye. Ban […]