Because I write this column and work at the Internship and Career Center, people assume that I must have a super cool job lined up for when I graduate in June. Actually, I’m in the same boat as everybody else. I have no idea what I’m doing this summer or beyond that. I think the difference is that from my experiences, I’ve learned a lot of things about the job search process that most students don’t know about, and it’s given me some perspective for the uncertain future ahead.

Except for those who have already secured summer internships or gotten accepted into grad school, most are trying to figure out what to do with summer and the rest of our lives.  

Here are some points to consider during your job search. ??

1. People are really slow with hiring interns.? Employers have a lot to do so hiring summer interns isn’t exactly a priority. Some organizations have early deadlines, but plenty of internships are still open. For my past two summer internships, I was stressing out for many months before I heard back from employers in late May and June. Don’t give up because you haven’t heard back from employers yet. Follow up with HR for a status update.   ??

2. The job search process takes a really, really long time.? This isn’t a surprise to anyone, but it’s a tough job market out there. For a recent grad, it can take six months or up to a year to find a job. Of my friends who graduated last year, most did not have jobs right after graduation. In fact, Facebook tells me that many have just recently gotten hired – finally – after months of searching. And you know what? That’s okay. The important thing is you don’t give up because you’ve been at it for a few months and it’s becoming depressing. Instead, stay busy and look for internships (paid or unpaid) that could get your foot in the door. Volunteering may also help you figure out what you really want to do in life and get you networking with new people.??

3. Consider what’s going on at the other end. ?So why does the job search process take so long? The online application system can seem like a black hole. Say you find a job that sounds really cool and you are perfectly qualified for. You excitedly submit a resume and cross your fingers. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that this job even exists or is still open. Often, employers leave up expired postings as a company advertisement tool. Or they’re far along the selection process and are about to offer the job to someone else – they just want to keep a back-up plan. The point is, it’s important not to internalize the lack of callbacks as a failure on your part when you don’t even know if your resume was read at all.

? 4. Be flexible and explore all options – but don’t appear desperate. ?On average, UC Davis students change their majors three times, and people change careers seven times throughout their working lives. Your first job may not have anything to do with your major, and it may not even have anything to do with what you’ll be doing ten years from now. Approach all opportunities with an open mind, even if you would never have considered them before.

? On that note, it’s also important not to appear desperate. Some frustrated job seekers adopt this attitude, saying that they will accept any job that pays a salary. Well, employers don’t want to hire people who want do just any kind of work. They want smart, dedicated people who are passionate about their field. You have specific strengths and a skill set, so market yourself highlighting those qualities that best fit your job search needs.

?? 5. Network, network, network.? The fact is, networking is undoubtedly the best method for finding jobs and internships. Recruiters want to hire people they know or at least have met, not pieces of paper. Let friends, family and colleagues know that you’re looking for a job and ask for introductions to other people they know. Making connections and following up (in addition to submitting an application) is critical.  

?? 6. For you non-seniors, start early. ?In my student adviser office hours, I see a lot of graduating seniors coming in for help, saying, “I have no idea what to do.” They tend to be more stressed out than the average visitor to the ICC. If you’re still an underclassmen, you can alleviate a lot of future stress by familiarizing yourself with different career development tools. Of the hundreds of students I’ve worked with, the “successful” ones are likely regular visitors of the ICC and savvy users of campus resources.  Come for drop-in advising and talk to a student adviser like me. There’s nothing like talking about your career goals with someone who wants to help you achieve them and give you tailored advice. And it’s free – all you have to do is stop by South Hall between your classes.

JENNIFER KIM is only a tiny bit worried about post-graduation plans and remains optimistic. Tell her how you’re feeling at jsnkim@ucdavis.edu.

I love the word faggot.

Sure, it’s not always a fun word to hear. It stings sometimes. This one time on campus when I was strutting to my car, admittedly drowning out the world with Britney blasting in my headphones, some guy began backing out before realizing I was right behind his van. I said excuse me, and through his window, he spat, “Watch where you’re going, faggot. I’ll kill you next time.” That one stung a lot. And I was just trying to be fierce.

But it comes with the territory. Years of putting up with f-bombs make for tougher, less sensitive skin. (Actually, though, I’m pretty smooth. I adhere to a strict moisturizing schedule. No one likes a rough twink.)

I’ll come back to what exactly a twink is in a bit, but I love being one – it may have taken a while, but I’m finally sure of who I am. So like I said, I love the word faggot and I love being one.

Another lover of general faggotry is Margaret Cho, the racy comedienne and self-proclaimed fag hag. She’s bisexual, down for the gays and has won awards for her humanitarian work with women, the transgender community and Asians.

Though fag hag is historically an insult in the American gay scene, Cho is just one of many women who have come to embrace the name: “I love the word ‘faggot,’ because it describes my kind of guy. You see, I am a fag hag.”

What’s a fag hag, you ask? In the U.S., the term refers to a gay guy’s straight girl BFF – the Grace to every Will. And Cho believes hags are the backbone of the gay community. She says: “Without us, you’re nothing! We have been there all through history guiding your sorry ass. We went to the prom with you.”

Different types of fag and hag relationships may exist. But Cho finds something more meaningful in being a fag hag: “For fags and hags, love is love, and that’s the best part of it.” I’m sure I speak for every gay boy when I say we wholeheartedly appreciate the girls we call our hags.

This past weekend I had to take the time to explain the concept of a fag hag to… a fag hag. She had never heard the term before, and when the gaggle of gays around me assured her she was not only a fag hag but a fierce one at that, she threw her hands in the air and yelled, “YAY!”

This little moment made me realize how often my circle of friends throws terms and names around like this all the time. And sometimes, I forget we need a gay-to-straight translator. The outside world doesn’t always know what the hell we’re talking about.

The fact is, no matter how much we say we hate them, everyone loves a label. They’re easy. And more often than not, they’re actually spot on. Why, then, should we not embrace the hell out of it?

So let me finish off this column with a little gay glossary. After all, if any fag hags in the making are out there reading this, this is entry-level intern stuff. I’m doing you a favor.

Twink

Used as gay slang, the word twink describes a young, fresh-faced gay. He usually stands tall and slim, and has no or very little body hair.

The name comes from the Hostess snack, notorious for its golden color, phallic shape and cream-filled center. In the past, twinkie was used in a derogatory manner to describe a perhaps more effeminate male with tanned skin and little emotional depth. Today, these implications really don’t exist, and lots of slender gay boys aren’t shy to claim their twinkhood.

Bears, otters and pandas

Quite the opposite of a twink, a bear tends to have a hairy body and facial hair. Some are heavy-set or muscular and may present themselves with more masculinity in their appearance. Some bears even hate girly little twinks.

Though opposite, the term bear, like twink, is also a marker of a certain identity and community. There’s even an established flag for the bear community, and you can check it out at the LGBTRC. There are different strains of bear, naturally: pandas are bears of Asian descent, and otters are hairy thin gay boys.

Fag stag

The world can sometimes be a beautiful place. One of the most beautiful and worthwhile connections is that between a gay man and a straight one. A play on fag hag, the stag is a slang term for a heterosexual man who either enjoys the company of, or simply has numerous friends that are gay or bisexual.

To my straight honeyboys, be confident in your straightness, just as I am with my gayness. Nothing changes the world like tolerance and friendship. You won’t catch it, so talk up a fag and consider being a stag. And just an FYI, gays can make great wingmen.

MARIO LUGO wants a fag stag who will play sports with him. No, for real – like, football and baseball and stuff. The spring sun is just too good to not be outside. Send your apps to mlugo@ucdavis.edu.

I like to eavesdrop when I’m sitting at the café pretending to get work done. The other day I heard a guy say something that made me think about how stability and continuity give purpose to our lives: “I have to have some sort of project that I’m working on if I want to be at my happiest.”

When most of us were little, we thought we’d be the happiest kids in the world if we could just stay at home and watch cartoons while eating junk food all day. Come middle school, we start to realize that succumbing to such passive indulgence for an extended period of time just feels gross (Ferris Bueller might be one exception).

Now if given the choice between a day of cookie dough and TV and a day of being out and about, getting things done and drinking lattes, I’d pick the latter. I could take maybe an hour of the aforementioned cookie dough indulgence, but no more.

I am willing to bet that the logic as to why we develop this aversion to more negative, self-defeating habits while adopting a preference for more positive tendencies can be explained by an evolutionary perspective; we gravitate toward what ultimately makes us feel good in the long run.

Alcoholics and other individuals who engage in prolonged self-defeating habits have a less developed prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that oversees and regulates functioning. This region of the brain is also under-developed in small children, which could explain our infant fantasies about video games and tubs of ice cream (okay, I’ll admit that scenario sounds enticing were it only to occur once in a blue moon. But I’m talking about how most wouldn’t condone it as an everyday lifestyle pattern).

As a young adult, I agree with what I overheard at the coffee shop. More and more now, I’m finding that I benefit from having some form of project in my life, to construct ongoing stability and provide tangible purpose. Many of us won’t explicitly state it, but I think constantly having something to do stops us from feeling purposeless and invisible.

“I’m usually pretty stressed out but I’m always happy,” the guy said. “Take away the stress and I actually get more anxious.” It’s akin to anticipating the storm when the waters are calm. Like him, without the ongoing structure, I don’t have anything tangible to put my effort into, and will in turn start to feel anxious.

Similar to the coffee guzzler, I enjoy being stressed if it means I’m engaged with what I’m doing. I love having every ounce of concentration and each one of my senses geared toward what I’m taking on in the moment.

I love it when I don’t space out (with lack of structure and conscious engagement, I easily zone out). I love riding the wave of life where the past is submerged and the future is of no concern, where I’m kept grounded at the exact point in time and space that my physical body is occupying. This being said, there is a fine line between being overwhelmed by daily tasks and having enough daily tasks to give your life structure.

Many present-focused therapists say that most of us have a difficult time living in the present. While some of us are stuck in the past, others constantly plan for the future. This is especially true with people who demonstrate depressive or anxious tendencies. People with depressed tendencies are prone to living in the past, while anxious people constantly look ahead, worrying about what is to come.

“So often, we let the present slip away, allowing time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squandering the precious seconds of our lives as we worry about the future and ruminate about what’s past,” said Jay Dixit, who writes for Psychology Today.

The most common advice for staying grounded in the present is to pay attention to what’s going on around you, rather than retreating into your thoughts.

“Focus less on what’s going on in your mind and more on what’s going on in the room, less on your mental chatter and more on yourself as part of something,” Dixit wrote. “Worry, by its very nature, means thinking about the future – and if you hoist yourself into awareness of the present moment, worrying melts away.”

Dixit uses the word mindfulness to define this state of active, open attention on the present.

“When you’re mindful, you observe your thoughts and feelings from a distance, without judging them good or bad. Instead of letting your life pass you by, mindfulness means living in the moment and awakening to experiences,” he said.

Many therapists choose to apply this Buddhist philosophy of mindfulness to their work. They will say it’s especially easy to be caught in these dwelling and fretting tendencies when there’s too much time on one’s hands.

The key, therefore, is to consciously engage yourself. When you start to feel aimless, sculpt your own purpose. If you haven’t snagged a job or an internship this summer, take up a hobby and stick to it. Make friends centered around your activity so you’ll have more incentive to show up for it. Structure guides one toward living in the moment.

ELENI STEPHANIDES can be reached at estephanides@ucdavis.edu.

I am absolutely thrilled to finally write this column. As I imagine anyone who isn’t living in a cave in Afghanistan knows – actually, I bet those guys know too – Osama bin Laden is dead.

 In what would no doubt make for a fantastic movie scene, Navy SEALs landed a helicopter inside the walls of a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. They spent about 40 minutes inside the compound, killing several adult males and one woman who was used as a shield by the enemy.

Amazingly, the helicopter had a mechanical failure, and from the beginning the team did not know if they had a way out. They executed their mission anyway, and another chopper was able to evacuate them, with bin Laden’s body in tow.

American intelligence officials had been following leads developed over several years, until the compound was located in August of 2010.

President Obama deserves some credit here. While sending in an elite unit risked the loss of American life, it offered the chance of minimizing civilian casualties and being certain bin Laden was dead. Ultimately, Obama decided on that course of action over using missiles or bombs.

As a student of history, I know full well the benefits of knowing for certain that something happened. Had there been any doubt, the world would have forever wondered about that pile of charred rubble and whether America really got her man.

Some conservative partisans will likely try to deny Obama any praise whatsoever for his handling of the operation. As always, be wary of ideologues on the left or the right. This is not an issue of party politics but instead a victory for every one of us.

Besides, even more than Obama, our Armed Forces deserve recognition for recruiting, training and fielding the best military in the world. Likewise, our intelligence organizations merit praise for orchestrating such a monumental victory. Just like with Obama, give credit where credit is due.

As we recognize our heroes in this microcosm of world affairs, we must also identify the villains. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, for example, expressed outrage over the death of an “Arab holy warrior.”

“We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,” said Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip.

It is patently ridiculous for anyone to claim that the architect of 3,000 American civilian deaths should be regarded as a good person. The equivalent would be the United States government declaring Lt. William Calley, the commanding officer at the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, a hero of our own.

It is not uncommon to criticize statements made by radical Islamic terrorist organizations. But from time to time we must be reminded of who our friends and enemies are.

 A few more random thoughts on the story:

 The mechanical failure of the helicopter is not the first time – nor will it be the last – that we hear of equipment issues for our troops. Old equipment, vehicles and aircraft must be replaced, while new developments and improvements in technology are pursued. It is important to cut out the usual waste and inefficiencies in military spending, but cutting beyond that would make the situations in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere worse than they already are.

The fact that bin Laden was buried at sea shows the greatness of the United States. Islamic law requires a person to be buried within 24 hours. No country would accept his remains. But even though bin Laden was America’s worst enemy of the 21st century and he killed people in the name of his religion, Islamic rituals were respected.

There are evil people in the world like bin Laden, and we cannot afford moral relativism in how we treat them. Just as with Hitler and Mussolini, Saddam Hussein and the Taliban, mercy for the merciless will get us nowhere.

It is crucial that we not lump in too many people as pure evil, but if we find ourselves unable to recognize the truly evil like bin Laden, we will find ourselves blind to the truly good as well. Good is not good without evil.

“Justice has been done,” President Obama told the world Sunday night. He is correct. But we also should be careful lest we think that the job is now done, and the threat from radical Islamic terrorists – and terrorists of any kind – is over. Then we would be neither heroes nor villains, but simply fools.

ROB OLSON remains reluctant to discuss foreign policy, but if anyone would like to disagree and say bin Laden was not evil he can be reached at rwolson@ucdavis.edu.

Handouts and syllabi cover your bed. You can’t find your eraser under all the library books piled on your desk. Your brain is ready to call it quits from the stress of multiple midterms and papers on the horizon. It’s that time of the quarter again! Welcome to week six!

And to make matters worse, it’s spring. The baby ducklings in the arboretum are calling our names. The sunshine teases us as we sit in the library. Our friends on semester systems are done with school. I don’t know about you, but I think spring quarter is just a bad idea.

As if having to suffer from the desire of wanting to frolic in the fields instead of sitting quietly in lecture wasn’t bad enough, the plight of being a college student these days seems to be getting worse and worse.

With the University of California’s government funding being thrown out the window, we have to get part-time jobs on top of our already full schedules. With fewer classes offered, we have to stay longer and pay more in tuition in order to graduate. With the economy in the gutter, post-graduation life probably means having to settle for unemployment or a job that doesn’t require those four years of economic or literary theory we slaved away learning.

The California Aggie reported in January of this year that depression and anxiety among college students is on the rise. According to an American Psychological Association study, the number of college students using psychiatric medicines has increased over 10 percent over the course of the last 10 years. Last year, UC Davis’ Counseling and Psychological Services reported that they had treated around 14 percent of students on campus.

The stereotypical college experience is supposed to be full of fun and freedom. Yet, this isn’t always the case. Can we blame our culture for this?

A quick Google search of “American work ethic” tells us that Americans are both overworked and extremely lazy. The “American work ethic” is on the decline, but it is also one of the best in the world. Which one is it?

Maybe looking at the culture of some of our friends across the pond can help. Tijana Milosevic, a young Serbian journalist, blogged on Huffington Post in January about American workaholics and the American career path. Her culture views the American model of putting extreme importance and focus on education and career above everything else as “harsh, capitalistic, individualistic and alienating.” It’s no wonder we’re stressed.

She also points out that in Serbia, if you can’t find free time to hang out with your friends, you might just be completely ridiculous. Having to schedule a lunch date three weeks in advance or having to cancel catching up with that friend for the fourth time because you have to study is absurd.

Of course, procrastination and laziness are not ideals for anyone, but I feel that sometimes we let ourselves get too caught up in the goal we’re working toward. We are all going to school for the same reason: to try to make a better life for ourselves. But is sacrificing your well-being now in the hope of having a better life later worth it?

Some of you might say yes, and some of you will disagree. I hope you are one of the latter. Although sacrifice is an important lesson we all have to learn sometime, I believe in the idea that life is too short to be unhappy.

Here’s some unsought advice from your friendly neighborhood wannabe Spider-Woman, I mean columnist. Next time you feel like freaking out and throwing your textbooks in a dumpster, take a deep breath and put everything into perspective. Yes, it might seem like the end of the world if you get a D on your organic chemistry midterm, but it’s really not. For every negative thing that happens, there are probably at least five positive things to counteract it.

While you are locking yourself in a study cave for midterms this week, remember to take breaks to get fresh air, eat healthy and get plenty of sleep. When pass times roll around soon for fall quarter, keep a keyword in mind: balance.

Resist being superhuman and taking 20 upper-division units on top of a part-time job, internship and regular volunteer gig. Those little things like eating and sleeping are actually more important than getting into graduate school. Think of your social life and your personal need for downtime as classes required for your major. No studying, just fun.

Aggies, you have your whole life ahead of you. Enjoy it!

CORRIE JACOBS finds her daydreams about summer as great study breaks. Share your ideas for finding a second wind in order to finish off the quarter at cljacobs@ucdavis.edu.

I am a fan of patriotism, but never at the expense of basic human decency. 

Today, I witnessed many responses to the death of Osama bin Laden by friends and fellow Aggies that frankly disgust me. When I arrived at my apartment this evening, I was promptly informed by my roommate of this breaking news. Unfortunately, the standard 21st century response to such a watershed event in history is to immediately post the news as your Facebook status. I expected a wave of bin Laden related updates, but what I did not expect was to be met with such decidedly joyous responses which were astutely described by a fellow UC Davis graduate as “bloodthirsty.” The kicker came when I walked out to La Rue Road and witnessed a car taking laps up and down the street, with its passengers cheering and flying a large American flag out of the moon roof. 

That is not the response of a true American patriot, and especially not what I expected of my peers. I love UC Davis and have had the time of my life in this town, but never have I been so ashamed of my fellow Aggies as I was in that moment.

Apparently, America collectively feels that since bin Laden “hit us first,” we have the right to celebrate his demise in any way we choose. A UC Davis student and friend of mine expressed the opinion that bin Laden and al-Qaeda felt that “all Americans are evil” and that they “do not see us as humans.” My friend asserts that bin Laden fought to kill us and our families based on this belief. 

I wonder if he ever stopped to consider that millions in the Middle East likely have a similar perception of George W. Bush and the United States. Many people apparently believe that the Middle East is populated by hate mongers and religious zealots hell-bent on destroying all that is dear to us. What the hell do you think some kid in Iraq who watched U.S. troops invade his country, occupy his hometown and kill his neighbors, friends and family thinks about the United States? The rank and file of al-Qaeda are people who have been driven to radicalism by a combination of manipulation, patriotism and desperation. They aren’t so different from the average Americans. They have made a human reaction to the dire straits in which they were placed. Was this the correct response?  Probably not, but who are we to judge without walking a mile in their shoes?

I have also seen the argument that proposes this is the only way to truly redeem the deaths of the victims of 9/11. There is no bringing those people back and no way to undo the pain suffered by the ones that loved them. This does not finish the saga of the post-9/11 era, – not by a long shot. There is nothing “victorious” about killing Osama bin Laden, because the extra violence has not brought the world any more good. The death of one person could hardly put an end to terrorism and unrest in the Middle East. All that has happened is that an old man has died after managing to elude the CIA and the world’s most powerful military for almost an entire decade after they should have captured him.  

Thus Bush’s dogmatic pro-American rhetoric may have been ridiculed for its grammatical errors and mispronunciations, but it clearly still shapes the opinions of many, including liberals like my friends. These opinions work from an inherent belief that the United States is just in all of its actions, paying no mind to the perception of those in other parts of the world. 

This is why I have met my fair share of Americans who pretend to be Canadians when they go abroad. Many have called Americans arrogant, ignorant and insensitive. Unfortunately, these criticisms are often true. How are we any better than the radicals who celebrated the toppling of the World Trade Center when millions of us are already lining up to spit on bin Laden’s grave?

For the record, I feel that Osama bin Laden was an irrefutably hate-filled man. His actions were responsible for the deaths of thousands and the sorrow of millions. But he was still a man. He was a human being with people who loved him in spite of the terrible atrocities carried out per his orders. Osama bin Laden was an enemy of the United States and may have deserved his eventual fate, but these disgusting reactions to his passing only perpetuate the cycle of hatred which lead to 9/11 in the first place. 

The only way to end that cycle is to promote understanding and acceptance. We must truly let go and move on from the tragedy of Sept. 11, never forgetting, but also never letting its memory color our good judgment. I felt that the United States had made great progress toward that goal, but what I witnessed today from the students of a great school with a progressive reputation leaves me significantly less optimistic.

It does not matter to me whether or not this is published, but I sincerely hope that there are some like-minded people in Davis who take issue with the shortsightedness displayed by students today and write to you. I hope you address this in an upcoming issue of The Aggie, because I feel that this is something that the UC Davis community in general needs to give some honest thought to.

Steven Sharp