The wave of March 4 student protests have come and gone, and what a spectacle they were. I joined a group of protestors at one point to see what the commotion was all about; I really just wanted to hear what they had to say.

One of the students was screaming what sounded like obscenities into a loudspeaker. At least I thought they were obscenities, it was mostly incoherent and unintelligible. The screaming was, however, much more pleasant than the loud chorus of buzzing coming from the fire alarms. I’m sure glad that I didn’t have to be inside Wellman Hall when they went off. It would’ve been very distracting and aggravating for me had I been in class. Certainly much worse had I been taking a midterm.

As I departed the scene I thought I heard something about protecting education, but perhaps that was just another student on the way to a class.

While I departed to attend my next lecture, the protestors went to the streets. Apparently, one of their many grievances is with public transportation. The masses of angry demonstrators decided that Unitrans buses had to be stopped at any cost.

The protestors really stuck it to those students who wanted to go to class, and on top of that they showed the student drivers the error of their ways. The dastardly purveyors of diligence and hard work really had to be stopped by any means necessary.

As the day wore on, the mob of protestors decided that a bigger target was necessary to get their point across. The taxpayers and commuters must see exactly what their money has been funding. The methods the protestors used to do this seemed to be inspired by Frogger, an old video game that allows you to play the role of a frog crossing a busy street. They must have been better than me because I just remember being splattered.

The protestors were able to block many city streets before approaching the biggest target of all, Interstate 80. It was at this time that a pernicious group intervened to stop the protest from following through on the plan. The police, who are employed to protect public safety, prevented them from running out onto the busy freeway. It was around this time that I drove past the dwindled crowd, which had dissipated due to frustration, exhaustion or perhaps boredom.

Is my assessment of the day’s protests a little harsh? Perhaps, but what I want to convey is that by using disruptive and illogical tactics, the protests will do more harm than good. Simply bringing attention to a cause doesn’t mean that it will gain widespread support. Angering and alienating potential sympathizers is no way to build a mass movement.

There were many students who showed up to protest peacefully on campus, and there were some who even went to the state capitol. These actions will be far more productive in the long run, and have a much better chance of gaining support from the people who really matter.

The people who matter are elected officials and the large number of California citizens who will be voting in the next elections.

What people saw when they turned on the news appeared to be nothing more than an angry mob that lacked coherence and was destructive toward the one thing they were supposed to be supporting.

Politicians and taxpayers will not be likely to write us a bigger check if we damage the image of our institution.

Unfortunately, the event was seemingly taken over by people who just thought that a protest would be a fun thing to do. There also seemed to be a number of people attracted to the campus who were not UC Davis students at all. These interlopers have a mixed agenda that has little to do with students.

Many of the standard signs had the words AFL-CIO written at the bottom. AFL-CIO is a federation that represents the largest number of unions in the United States. Government funded unions are basically competing with the students over the same pot of money. Even if the pot of money gets expanded, unions will not race to share the money with the students.

Protests can be ugly and highly uncivil, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, using aggressive tactics to go after citizens and fellow students is both rude and counterproductive.

JARRETT STEPMAN appreciates a passionate but respectful protest that compels citizens to civic action. He doesn’t, however, support a mob. You can send him your protests at jstepman@ucdavis.edu.

Holy shit.

After writing a column each week for the last year-and-a-half, these will be my final words.

Next week, I’ll be flying out to Madrid to spend the last 10 weeks of my college career studying Spanish. I don’t really know what to say or how to sum up my time writing for The Aggie – or my time at UC Davis, for that matter.

It’s crazy how quickly an experience like college can go by. I moved up to Davis four years ago, barely 18 years old and having no idea what to expect. Now, as I’m getting ready to leave, I can’t help but look back at everything I’ve experienced.

So little of what I learned during my time at Davis came from the classroom. I’m sure sociology and psychology degrees will come in handy when I’m watching “Law & Order” after graduation. But the main reason why I loved college so much – and learned so much – was because of the people.

What if I had never met Nintendo, Tyler Eash, Hugo Fuentes, Roxanna Topete or all those other amazing students during STEP the summer before my freshman year? I would have never been so inspired by their accomplishments in their respective fields. Whether it was film production, choreography, computer science or pre-law, these individuals have always motivated me.

STEP helped me plan out college accurately and efficiently. For that reason, during winter quarter of my sophomore year, I took Philosophy 5 and met Ryan Walsh – the most amazing, patient and heartwarming person I have ever met. From there, I met other amazing individuals and got to become great friends with people like Marissa Walsh and Tyler Scudero.

Despite the insanity that was an all-girls dorm freshman year, I’m glad I met down-to-earth people like Velveth Barahona, Bianca Rodriguez and Parastoo Massoumi. You girls are nuts.

I’m so glad I got to intern at the Women’s Resources and Research Center last year. I got to meet amazing women like Joy Evans, Sing Wang, Sonya Montoya and all the other staff and interns last year. They gave me a space to grow and learn, as well as lead and use my creativity to help others. The support they gave me is invaluable and I will always remember my time there.

For two summers, I was fortunate enough to participate in the King Hall Outreach Program (KHOP). The unbelievable stories and remarkable individuals I met during those eight weeks shaped me in so many ways I can’t describe. I met individuals like Felipe Garcia, Bushra Choudhry, Elva Linares and 33 other pre-laws. The adversity each of them faced, and the resilience they displayed, always has and always will motivate me.

Not only did I meet amazing students, but I also was lucky enough to find mentors such as Cristina Gapisan, Amanda Wilder and Javier Ortiz who continue to support me in my ambitions.

If I hadn’t attended KHOP, I probably wouldn’t have joined La Raza Pre-law Student Association. Peers like Laura Pulido, Baryo Dee and Alejandra Diaz were individuals that I looked up to in their leadership roles. I’m still so proud of all they have accomplished.

In my second year with La Raza, I was fortunate enough to work side-by-side with the amazing Andrea Delgadllio. Her hard work and dedication to the community always had me mesmerized. I can only hope I didn’t get in her way too much during our time together.

Beyond all the people who have supported me, been there for me and encouraged me, I’m glad I met all the shit talkers, backstabbers and incredibly fake people along the way, too. Your ignorance and lack of appreciation taught me so many important lessons. I’d be wrong not to recognize you all as well.

And, of course, I couldn’t have written this – or any of my 30-something other columns – without Richard Procter and Adam Loberstein, my editors over the last two years. Thanks for acknowledging that I had something important to say and giving me the avenue to express it.

Damn, I guess this is it. Thanks for reading. Sara, out.

SARA KOHGADAI is going to miss all of you. Just because she didn’t mention you doesn’t mean you didn’t impact her life. Love you all. She can be reached at sbkoghadai@ucdavis.edu.

It’s 90 degrees outside (a cool evening, according to locals), pitch black and I’m sweating like an excited, yet confused dog. I’m ambling along with my family in tow in Ahvaz, Iran, which is in the Khuzestan province. I’m 15 years old, just young enough to dodge the mandatory draft. There was hot desert dirt as far as the eye could see and it was eerily silent. We planned on taking a short stroll to visit our cousin who lived down the road.

It was my fifth month there, and I was sure I understood most of the sociocultural nuances – or so I thought. I could play the tarof game with the best of them and not look the slightest bit awkward. And, most importantly, I knew that most Iranians did not follow the strict attire codes in the privacy of their own homes. Getting private and public life mixed up can lead to sticky situations with authority figures, though, especially in the only remaining theocratic country in the world.

As I’m cracking jokes to my cousins and exaggerating about my exploits in America, I notice a small nondescript car roll up right alongside me. It’s the morality police – I know this because the two people staring at me did not look amused. One mustachioed police officer points to my legs and says, in Farsi, “Hey guy, I didn’t know there was a flood.” I look down at my shorts, look back up and say in English, “Sorry, I don’t speak Farsi.” That’s a lie. I knew exactly what he meant: Men are not allowed to wear shorts in the Islamic Republic of Iran – and my cargo shorts did not pass the modesty code.

I wasn’t in the mood for being flogged (this is the actual punishment) so I decided that playing dumb would help me out. I let my aunt take care of the officers (read: bribe) so my careless mistake would not get out of hand. After the negotiations, one of the officers scrunched up his face and yells at my mother, “Is it that hard to teach your son how to dress? He looks like a typical American.” I looked into the sky, whistled “Yankee Doodle” and pretended like I had no idea what was going on.

Sometimes you need to be quick on your feet in order to keep tempers from flaring. Uncultured Americans looking for sympathy cannot charm the morality police, and I wasn’t about to test their kindness. I had been warned several times of their mercilessness. I think I just got too comfortable.

But in the end, it worked – the officers let me off the hook and told my mother if they ever saw me in “flood gear” again, they would hold me in a jail cell until I got the appropriate attire on. It was a scary send-off, but I learned my lesson: Always be conscious of the way you portray yourself in a foreign country, even if you think what you’re doing is harmless.

You see, going from a world filled with McDonalds and democracy to a world filled with Ghormeh Sabzi and theocracy proved to be intimidating, especially when you don’t know all the rules. That’s why it’s important to be very observant of all that is occurring around you. I noticed how people interacted with one another. I noticed the nuances. I took mental notes. And then I tried doing the same things they did. Sure, I would fall flat on my face sometimes, but the idea is to keep trying. You need to be okay with being embarrassed sometimes. Forbearance is key.

I later recall chatting it up with a policeman on the Khuzestan border who was waving an AK-47 in my face as if it were a toy. Normally, if you were to tell me that someone was going to brandish a large semi-automatic rifle in front of me, I would have been genuinely frightened. But this situation, like all situations, was different. He gruffly asked me to open up the trunk of my Peugeot to do a routine inspection.

While he was rummaging through my personal possessions, I chatted him up about Iran’s failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. After we commiserated over the poor performance, he gave me directions on how to navigate out of town. I then realized the assault rifle was secondary to our conversation. Above all, people – anywhere – just want you to relate to them on some level, even if it’s about something as trivial as football. That’s how trust is built.

DAVE KARIMI actually refrained from using Sailor-talk in this column. That’s because this is an essay he used for his Peace Corps application. If you liked the column, or feel it necessary to continue pigeonholing him, you can shoot him an e-mail at dkarimi@ucdavis.edu.

Reforming the current law banning texting and talking without a hands-free device while driving is a necessary measure in reducing the number of accidents on the road. The bill will increase fines and extend the law to include the same offense while riding bicycles.

Considering the technological age we live in – one where cell phones, computers and the Internet become extensions of ourselves – stiffer penalties for violations must mirror the possible consequences of allowing drivers’ eyes to wander from the road or their hands to leave the steering wheel.

Under Sen. Joe Simitian’s (D-Palo Alto) legislation, driving and talking on a cell phone without a hands-free device will cost $50 on the first offense and $100 for subsequent violations, while the fine for using text message devices will increase to $100 on the first offense.

The current base fine for texting while driving is set at $20 for the first violation. Subsequent violations are $50, excluding additional local court costs and program fees. At this penalty level, the temptation to text remains strong while the consequence is relatively trivial.

Clarification of the bill’s language to include bikes is a necessary piece of the legislation. The rule should apply to everyone who operates a vehicle, including bikes. Davis residents know first-hand the accidents that can happen as a result of poor attention to the road and other drivers.

If bikes are going to share the road with cars, trucks, and other vehicles while being held to the same laws, it makes sense for the texting and talking ban to apply to them as well. Similarly, bikes in Davis are required to use a bike light during night cycling.

The penalty for getting into an accident while texting and driving, however, remains the same. In situations where texting contributed to the collision, the driver could be charged with other violations, such as reckless driving and unsafe speeds. Furthermore, a violation of the two bans will add a point on driving records, possibly affecting insurance levels.

As technology becomes ubiquitous, laws must be altered to reflect this complexity. If this law helps to avoid accidents and save lives and injuries, the voters should support the bill.