Opinion

The Student Farmworker Alliance protested last week to put pressure on Sodexo, the campus dining service, to support farmworkers' rights. The alliance is urging Sodexo to work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) in order to agree on a payment increase.

A mere three months ago, several UC Davis students lost a close friend in a drunk driving accident. Avi Schaefer was a 21-year-old freshman at Brown University, his life filled with such rare passion that his story has been filtered through various forms of media.

A particularly odd thing happened to me this weekend at Whole Earth. I was strolling along Sunday afternoon, headed toward Voorhies Hall to see if my bike was where I had left it the night prior. As I strolled, I heard the rustling of newspaper and looked down to see page two of last Thursday's Aggie blow right past me in the pre-storm breeze. It was kind of eerie, watching myself drift in effigy off campus and into A Street.

To hear some girls talk, you'd think that every guy on the face of the planet is a conniving, black-hearted, candy-stealing blaggard who doesn't brake for furry woodland creatures. I'd point out that they're probably barking up the wrong trees, but people tend to not like hearing that they indirectly screw themselves over.

Boys and girls, we need to talk. After scrounging my brain for something to write about this week, I had an ah-ha moment. Why are we so afraid of talking about sex?

Well, I guess I'll start off by reassuring you that this column will not be about my hemorrhoids (thanks, Dave Karimi). This is primarily because I don't have them. I can feel the guy's pain, though. Okay, I can't literally feel it. But I can imagine and sympathize.

Last week, the UC Davis Cross Cultural Center invited anti-racism author Tim Wise to speak about how to recognize and minimize racism in America.

To the UC Davis community: Over the past several weeks, we have had many productive discussions across our campus about how we should respond to the recent incidents of hate and intolerance at UC Davis.

If you read this column with any regularity, or if you know me in person, you'll know that I'm pretty much an open book. This is the no-spin zone, if you will. But I dare say you're going to have to bear with me this week because, I'm going to describe - in rather gross detail - some issues regarding my ability (or, in actuality, my inability) to poo-poo properly like any normal human being.

Toward the end of last school year, there were several instances of what I imagined to be the smell of burning rubber tires seeping through my dorm windows. The odor would creep in and out, floating along the summer breeze. Each wave of the smell was cringe-worthy.

Perhaps it's appropriate that we're in Old Town Sacramento when the conversation of ghosts and demons comes up. It's Paul, Jerrel and I eating hot dogs after the clever owner of a hot dog joint just cheated us into buying sodas.

Last week I attended a guest lecture by Tim Wise, who is considered a notable anti-racist activist. The theme of his nearly two-hour speech was "white privilege" in America. Mr. Wise dug into racial issues that he believes are not discussed nearly enough in this country, and when discussed people are simply afraid to tell the truth.

I had three papers to write last week, averaging no more than two hours of sleep each night. Cinco de Mayo was on Wednesday and it would have been a shame to let my culture go uncelebrated. The weekend was trippy, to say the least, complete with hippies, raves and the nicest lady ever who took my dirty dish and gave me a dollar. All that was followed by a very hungover phone call home to wish my mom a happy Mother's Day. I'm exhausted.

If Taylor Swift thinks she can bat her whopping eyelashes at me and win me over, she is sorely mistaken.

Although the impulse to help people by controlling them may sound like a good idea to some, adhering to democratic ideals strike it from the list of viable options. But policy leaders in Europe have been increasingly more inclined to "protect" Muslim women - and the rest of the population - from themselves by banning them from wearing hijab in public. If you've ever before read this column, I think you know my opinion on this issue.