Opinion

More students than ever are in long-distance relationships. A study published last year in the journal Communications Research claims as many as half of college students are in LDRs, and at least 75 percent will be in one “at some point.” Over the past several decades, LDRs have been on the rise. The number seems higher than my anecdotal experience, but it’s no less clear that LDRs are hardly uncommon.

In a matter of a few short months, I will be applying at countless public schools in the Sacramento area, desperately seeking a teaching position in the social sciences. For those who have made their abode under a large igneous formation lately, school districts up and down the state are slashing their budgets and laying off the teachers they already have.

Wind blew girls’ hair in multiple directions Monday, turning bike riding into an arduous task. Some people walked hand in hand; others sat alone, sipping coffee at the CoHo while cramming for a midterm. Ducks napped in the grass outside of Olson, most sitting solo, a few coupled up, using each other’s backs as pillows.

Language helps us define our world: the objects around us, the ideas we have and our sense of self. Although they are usually misleading, labels and stereotypes are especially useful when we’re trying to determine where we belong. The one label I hear the most is “hipster.”

Last month, ASUCD made an agreement with CampusCred, a business that promotes local deals to students. In exchange for 3 to 8 percent of their profits, ASUCD lets CampusCred use its logo.

Thursday’s ASUCD Housing Day unofficially marked the time of year when students start thinking about where in Davis they are going to live next year.

Imagine you’re a 12-year-old, face-to-face with a doctor holding a syringe. You’re the shortest person in your class, and you can tell your parents are worried you’re not going to grow. You don’t want to be short anymore. You don’t want to get picked on anymore.

Approximately half the students on this campus skip meals because they cannot afford food, according to an Aggie article that quoted Student Assistant to the Chancellor Justin Gold. In an effort to feed hungry students, ASUCD opened the doors to UC Davis’ very own food bank on Jan. 13. Any student can receive three items per day. Sounds great, right?

I’ve grown up reading science fiction, staying up late at night as a teenager entrusting in confidants such as Asimov and Bradbury to whisk me away to Bantam and Penguin fields as an escape from the various family turmoils that were all too frequent during my childhood. I daydreamed of rocketmen and galaxies, and yes, when I discovered Star Trek, Lieutenant Uhura.

I love Valentine’s Day. I love the chocolates, the excuse to use cheesy pick up lines on my housemates, the flowers … I enjoy it so much, I’ve made personalized Valentines for all my friends and passed them out every year since I was five years old. Being single never stopped me from celebrating.

It’s the day of the year that evokes either cutesy doodles of hearts on notebook margins or just feelings of plain disgust. Or maybe something in the middle.

The most recent tweets from Egypt are chronicling the Tahrir Square protest (“People now in #Tahrir are about 1.5 million #Jan25”), and taking jabs at the government (“A government that is scared from #Facebook and #Twitter should govern a city in Farmville but not a country like #Egypt #Jan25”).