Opinion

I have a confession to make. I still use a binky.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” I usually can’t take Plato’s famous quote seriously. Every time I read it in a school agenda or book of inspirational quotations, I can’t help but ask, “Really? Are our lives that complex and dramatic?” It almost feels as if we use our “hard battles” as excuses for our words and actions.

Since I literally didn’t begin writing this column until about an hour before it was due, it’s a good thing that I have a friend like Cynthia to help with last-minute ideas. She’s one of the cooler ladies I know, and is also a proud feminist. I spend a lot of time arguing politics and ideology with people I disagree with, so on days like today, when Cynthia and I get lunch and catch up, it’s a relief to relate with someone like-minded.

In the Davis City Council’s municipal codes, an ordinance banning annoying persons may be considered a violation of free speech. The issue was brought to the attention of the council last month, when council candidate and UC Davis law student Daniel Watts sent a letter to the city council urging it to repeal unconstitutional codes that prohibited annoying anyone on the street and using profane language.

Measure Q, which appears on Davis’ June ballot, continues the one-half cent sales tax that has been in effect since 2004. The sales tax contributes $3 million – 8 percent – to the city’s General Fund. If passed, the sales tax will be in effect until the end of 2016.

A veto is worth … ignoring 12 senatorial votes? Negating three hours of thoughtful discussion? Throwing five students into debt? Misrepresenting facts and manipulating the public? For ASUCD President Jack Zwald, the answer is all of the above.

I hope all of you had a pleasant Picnic Day. I was about as responsible as you might expect. I broke my friend’s bike, misused my cell phone, fell into a rose bush and lost a pair of sunglasses. All in about a minute. (Just kidding. It took me nearly 15 minutes to get all that checked off the list.)

I know it’s Wednesday, but I still have Picnic Day on my mind. Who doesn’t? There are still traces of it left behind everywhere you look. The random red cups on lawns, the beer cans in the street and the guy who’s still passed out in your bed. (You should check his pulse). I hope you enjoyed your day. And if it was your last as an undergrad, I’m right there with you. Don’t worry – you can always come back when you’re 40 and the beer bong will still be waiting.

So a week ago, I had the fortune and misfortune of going to the Passion Pit concert at Freeborn Hall. You’re probably wondering how it’s possible for something to be fortunate and unfortunate at the same time. To sum it up: The music was great, but I got stuck in front of the biggest asshole in all of UC Davis.

On Friday, the UC Davis athletics department announced the discontinuation of four teams – men’s swimming and diving, men’s indoor track and field, men’s wrestling and women’s rowing.

Picnic Day was routine for me. I woke up, took a shower, mixed orange juice and Southern Comfort into a mug, lit up a fat Churchill cigar and sat out on the lawn to watch friendly drunks walk by.

Editor, Picnic Day is progressively becoming more about binge drinking in public and less about the open house of UC Davis and its community that it was established to be.