Opinion

Dear Americans, You have a tremendous stake in this election. Our nation has reached a pivotal moment, a time that should not and must not be ignored, in her history. We face an imminent choice, and we have to make a decision – soundly, carefully, deliberately and with haste.

God, I love my parents for always trying to keep me safe. There’s really nothing that says “I love you, baby girl” like sending your daughter pepper spray in the mail (which I never curiously decided to play with and misfired) or forcing her to watch a “Too Smart for Strangers” video 238,947 times by the age of seven. I grew up next door to the elementary school I attended and was never allowed to walk home alone, even after I swore to take my little keychain harmonica to use as a whistle. But hey, I recognize that it was all for my own good.

ThePeter J.Shields Libraryat UC Davis is in a bit of a bind. In fact,that might be an understatement.The predicament that the library has been in over the past decade is slowly turning into a crisis.Long-termunder-funding has seriously damaged the library’s ability to do what it does best:provide an outstanding array of research materials for students and scholars.

Note:This is the first in a series ofThe California Aggie’sendorsements for the Nov.4election.We will be stating our endorsements over the nexttwo and ahalfweeks,andsummarizingour opinions on Election Day.

The Davis College Republicans have been posting a deceptive flyer aroundcampus,urging students to “Save UC Standards” by rallying against theelimination of the SAT II Subject tests as an acceptance requirement.

The University of California is the best in the world but it is on a slow financial starvation diet. It’s a diet that forces those who are students to pay more and more and the general public to pay less and less for the university.

Hello,world.Myname’s Cheya Cary and for the next27weeks I’m going to be publishing columns– very much like this one– about pertinent issues facing UC Davis students,the greater American public and,thanks to our pioneering time-capsule program,our reptilian overlords of the year3000.

My first column.I cannot lie:I am a small fish; the Aggie is a big pond for me. The columnists were given the option of writing an introductory column this first week to,you know,introduce ourselves.I’m using this as my get-out-of-jail free card because Ididn’t have anything prepared.It’s hard to write something so serious though,especially about yourself,because it makes you sound self-absorbed.Trying to write something comical makes it sound like you have no self-awareness.Everyone knows what I’m talking about.People who read the editorial columns are some of the most critical people in the world. (This is a good way to make some fans.) But we can’t lie.We all,myself included,read the columns and make judgments on what people have to say.It doesn’t help that there’s a little picture of them in the top corner,as psychologically I’m sure that facilitates the cynicism.

The UC Davis Marching Band-uh! made national headlines last week when theSan Francisco Chroniclereported that faculty band director Tom Slabaugh filed a sexual harassment complaint with the university chronicling a series of“ridiculous,disturbing and offensive“ incidents he witnessed during his year as director.

By2009,major restaurants in California will be required to serve up nutritional information in addition to their food. Senate Bill1420,signed last week by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,requires restaurant chains with20or more locations in California to post nutrition information on menus and indoor menu boards by Jan.1,2011.By July1,2009,restaurants must provide brochures with either caloric content information or other nutritional information,such as grams of saturated fat,grams of carbohydrates and milligrams of sodium at the point of sale,including drive-thrus.

As this is my first column,I suppose it would be best to introduce myself to you,my readers.I am aseniorpolitical science and history double major.I work at the ASUCD Coffee House as a Cashier Supervisor and I am a brother of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.This summer I worked as a Congressional intern in Washington,D.C.I love dogs,chocolate,and the History Channel.The Nintendo Wii sent me to the emergency room once.I am a quarter Nicaraguan and three-quarters random European and my favorite color used to be green,changed to blue,and is now somewhere in the blue-green range.Great.Now that we are acquainted,we can move forward.

Well,friends and neighbors,it looks like another school year has officially begun and once again,I tricked those poor bastards down atThe California Aggieto give me another opportunity to spew my words of love all over the face of Tuesday. Honestly,I am just bubbling with excitement for the new school year.These past three months have felt like the longest summer ever and a lot of shenanigans went down.Some were good,some bad,and most of them humiliating,which is actually different from bad. (Don’t worry; when your life gets to be really lame,you’ll be able to identify all the different levels and nuances of complete suck-dom).