Nowruz Celebration showcases Persian culture through music, dance and tradition

By JALAN TEHRANIFAR — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis students, faculty and alumni gathered at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center on March 8 to celebrate the Persian New Year during Nowruz Celebration, an event hosted by the undergraduate Iranian Students Organization (ISO). The celebration brought together students of diverse backgrounds to experience the rich traditions of Nowruz, which marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the Iranian calendar year.

Nowruz, which means “new day” in Farsi, is an ancient festival dating back over 3,000 years. It is celebrated not only in Iran but also in countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan and parts of Central Asia and the Middle East. The holiday falls on the spring equinox, symbolizing rebirth, new beginnings and the triumph of light over darkness.

Families traditionally prepare for Nowruz by engaging in khooneh tekouni (spring cleaning), buying new clothes and visiting loved ones. The celebrations last for 13 days, culminating in Sizdah Bedar, a day spent outdoors in nature to bring good luck for the year ahead. This year, Nowruz begins on March 20, 2025 at 2:01 a.m.

The event featured traditional Persian music, food and cultural performances, immersing attendees in the spirit of Nowruz. The student performances included a poem reading by Telli Abbasian-Arjomand, a guitar performance by Bardia Anvari, a singing performance by Terme Arjomand and a violin and santoor performance by Negar Agah and Remi Seddigh. The performances closed with a Persian cultural dance that was choreographed by the group’s board members, performed by Ayla Ajdari, Elina Sadeghian, Max Wakeman and Amanda Zanganeh Azam.

A highlight of the celebration was the Haftseen table, a beautifully arranged display of seven symbolic items starting with the Persian letter “S” that represent renewal, prosperity and good fortune for the year ahead. Items such as sabzeh (sprouted grains) for rebirth, senjed (dried fruit) for love and seer (garlic) for health adorned the table, drawing admiration from attendees.

Lila Salehi, a fourth-year human biology major, was born and raised in Iran and longed to find a sense of home at UC Davis — a connection she ultimately discovered through the Iranian Students Organization. Now serving as the group’s president, she was thrilled to share Persian culture with the broader Davis community through this special event.

“With only eight board members who are balancing school and planning [the event], we’ve worked incredibly hard to put together a night filled with performances, cultural booths, Persian food and dancing,” Salehi said. “This is the first time the undergraduate student club is hosting Nowruz. In previous years it was the graduate students, but this year it’s all on us.”

Despite the challenges of organizing such a large-scale celebration with a small team, ISO’s leadership remained dedicated to ensuring an authentic and welcoming experience.

“The ISO sets up a Haftseen display at the Cross Cultural Center on campus, allowing students and faculty to learn more about this important tradition,” Salehi said. “I just hope that this event [and] the work that ISO does helps spread the joy and the cultural richness of Nowruz to even more people in Davis and the extended area.”

Ayla Ajdari, a third-year biomedical engineering student, serves as the social media coordinator for the Iranian Students Organization and performed a cultural dance at the event. Dressed in vibrant cultural attire, Ajdari and her fellow dancers captivated the audience, embodying the celebratory spirit of Nowruz.

“Nowruz is my favorite time of the year,” Ajdari said. “One of my big goals was to show everyone what Persians love to do, which is dancing. Dancing is a big part of our culture, and I believe bringing dancing into Nowruz is a great way of celebrating [the] new year and happiness.”

Elina Sadeghian, a third-year economics and international relations double major, played a pivotal role in organizing the event as ISO’s events coordinator. She also joined Ajdari in the evening’s dance performance, helping to bring energy and joy to the celebration.

“Nowruz is a really big part of Iranian culture, so we thought, ‘What better way to bring our community together and expand our culture than a Nowruz Celebration?’” Sadeghian said. “We had so many meetings every week trying to get the venue, reaching out to performers, working with them on choreography and just organizing everything, and it was so worth it in the end. We are so happy so many members of the community have shown up.”

Ava Jabbari, a third-year international relations and environmental policy and planning double major, serves as the director of outreach. As part of her role, she has worked to strengthen ties between past and present members, ensuring that the legacy of ISO continues to grow.

“The ISO has been around for decades,” Jabbari said. “Sara Ruebelt — who is actually faculty at the university at the moment, she’s a community counselor — was a part of the ISO back when [she was a visiting scholar in the Psychology Department], which was in the early 2000s.”

The longstanding presence of the Iranian Students Organization at UC Davis speaks to the importance of cultural organizations in fostering community and preserving heritage. Over the years, ISO has provided Iranian and Iranian-American students with a home away from home, offering a space where they can celebrate their traditions, share their experiences and introduce Persian culture to the broader campus community.

With a commitment to fostering community, the ISO hopes to continue growing its presence on campus, ensuring that Nowruz remains a cherished tradition for years to come. As spring approaches and the new year begins, Nowruz at UC Davis stands as a testament to the enduring importance of tradition, unity and the celebration of new beginnings.

Written by: Jalan Tehranifar — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis students and experts discuss examples and implications of misogyny within romantic relationships

By GRACIELA TIU — features@theaggie.org

Misogyny, defined by Britannica as a “hatred or prejudice against women, typically exhibited by men,” manifests in numerous ways, on both large, societal scales and in everyday, interpersonal interactions. A consequence of our patriarchal society, misogyny can especially be prevalent in relationships, particularly heterosexual and heteroromantic ones. 

Misogynistic patterns in relationships can be more difficult to identify than one might expect. Gender-based prejudice is often normalized in our culture, making it challenging to recognize — especially for men, who do not experience this form of oppression first-hand. Though commonly overlooked and sometimes seemingly innocuous, many examples of misogyny within romantic and sexual relationships can have deeply harmful effects on the female-identifying partner and the relationship as a whole.

One common misogynistic pattern in many relationships is controlling behavior, typically exhibited by the male-identifying partner. Jessica Marie Elorduy, a victim advocacy specialist for the UC Davis Center for Advocacy, Resources & Education (CARE), described how behaviors that seem protective can sometimes overlap with controlling tendencies.

“Being ‘protective’ is not necessarily a bad thing as long as it means truly wanting the

best for another person and being willing to support them as they make their own

choices,” Elorduy said. “However, ‘protective’ can quickly turn into controlling when it starts to look like dictating what a partner can wear or who they can interact with. Controlling

behaviors can appear when one person does not respect the right and ability of their

partner to make their own choices.”

This concept of controlling behavior feels all too familiar for some women, many of whom have been told by their partners, sometimes supposedly out of “concern,” that their clothing is too suggestive or revealing. One student, who wished to remain anonymous, discussed how these behaviors have affected her.

“When going out, I have been commented on and it makes me feel cheap or less than, simply because I want to wear clothes I feel pretty and confident in,” the student said.

Men also frequently present misogynistic behaviors in sexual and intimate relations with their partner. Gender roles and expectations remain deeply ingrained in sexual interactions, shaped by various forms of media, socialization and cultural norms that influence what behaviors are considered acceptable and expected.

“These damaging myths and scripts set us up for situations where men may have been taught, either implicitly or explicitly, that when women say ‘no,’ or they don’t say anything at all, they are only saying or doing that because they want the man to ‘try harder,’” Sarah Meredith, the director of CARE, said.

Navigating consent in sex can often feel more complex than simply remembering “no means no.” Women ordinarily feel a pressure to adhere to gender expectations, such as remaining passive or avoiding conflict for fear of being a bad partner. When coupled with indirect or direct pressure from the initiating partner, this can lead to grey areas of consent where women feel both internal and external pressure to engage in sexual activity they may not truly want. In these situations, asserting clear boundaries becomes difficult, leading to consent that is coerced rather than freely given.

Common examples of pressure and coercion include when a partner repeatedly asks for sexual acts and continues pushing for them even after the other partner says no, expresses hesitation or has no affirmative response. They also could use emotional manipulation, such as bringing up societal norms that they feel justify their sexual expectations (e.g., people in relationships should have sex), or reacting negatively — through anger, withdrawal or threats — making their partner feel guilty for not saying yes.

“Pressure or coercion in a sexual situation creates a space where consent does not exist,” Elorduy said. “When one person in a sexual situation has been pressured or coerced, consent is not present. Consent must be given freely and affirmatively.”

The anonymous student recounted how she sometimes has reluctantly engaged in sexual activity due to the fear of what her partner might do or how he might act if she said no.

“In the situations I have been in, I have just given in,” the student said. “As someone who has had their autonomy disregarded and ignored before, it is scary to think what could happen if I don’t just accept it and give in. It’s so frustrating and sad that this is the way I think, but when put in that situation, it is easier to just say yes than to say no, especially because they tend to not give up and will continue to pressure or question why I’m saying no. In this case, although I am saying yes, it’s out of coercion — is this technically consent? I honestly think not, because I did not come up with this answer of my own accord.”

Meredith illustrated how these patterns can inflict harm on the people involved and damage relationships.

“Relationships where the people involved don’t have skills to communicate in a healthy way about sexual intimacy may be at risk for unhealthy or abusive sexual situations,” Meredith said. “Additionally, relationships where there are other forms of abuse, controlling behavior or disrespect for one partner’s autonomy are very high risk for sexual assault.”

A lot of the time, these behaviors stem from attitudes surrounding the idea that male sexual gratification takes priority, regardless of if it comes at the expense of their female-identifying partner. In many heterosexual relationships, sexual encounters are centered around male pleasure, beginning with the man’s arousal and ending when the man is sexually satisfied, leaving the woman partner’s experience potentially unacknowledged.

“Men tend to make sure their needs are met before the woman’s,” the anonymous student said. “Sometimes, they don’t even bother about the woman and once they are satisfied, they tell the woman to go home or don’t even care about meeting her needs.”

Misogyny in relationships can also present in the form of double standards between men and women, particularly regarding perceptions of sexual activity.

“College dating culture, especially when we are viewing it from a heterosexual lens, can

certainly have double standards,” Elorduy said. “It is often expected that male-identifying individuals have multiple sexual partners while women-identifying individuals run the risk of being scrutinized or shamed for having multiple sexual partners.”

Another form of misogyny present in relationships is the objectification of women. In romantic relationships specifically, objectification comes up when men see women primarily for their body and sexuality, disregarding their other attributes. Objectification can lead to women feeling dehumanized by their partner, who may fail to show them adequate empathy and respect.

“Unfortunately, this happens more frequently than expected,” another student, who also wishes to remain anonymous, said. “I have often experienced being judged solely based on my looks and body rather than my intelligence, personality or achievements, which is truly disappointing.”

The assumption of male superiority, a common theme within these layers and forms of misogyny, can also lead to the belittling of women in relationships. Some men might unreasonably assume that their female partner lacks intelligence, talent or work ethic, and they may also downplay their partner’s struggles or accomplishments. This dynamic can feel deeply demoralizing for the female partner, as one student reflected.

“It can be incredibly discouraging,” the anonymous student said. “I have experienced a partner downplaying my hard work, which creates a very negative image of myself, ultimately leading to self-doubt and frustration with both myself and my partner. I have gone through this

multiple times and have been left feeling unappreciated and undervalued in my relationships.”

Similarly to belittlement, acting dismissively toward women also constitutes misogynistic behavior in relationships. Elorduy provided examples of dismissive behavior and noted its harmful effects.

“When female-identifying partners are interrupted or talked over, it insinuates that their voice, thoughts and opinions don’t matter,” Elorduy said. “Because there is a pattern of women being talked over and interrupted, it creates a notion that women’s voices don’t matter and are somehow less than other voices. We have all accidentally interrupted or talked over someone else in a conversation, but when it becomes a pattern with no apology or reflection, it leads to a culture that dismisses and reduces women.”

The second student also recognized that calling women overly emotional or generally minimizing their experiences can be another form of dismissive, misogynistic behavior.

“It’s very frustrating,” the student said. “I have been told I am ‘too emotional’ multiple times when discussing serious and upsetting topics. I have noticed this pattern throughout my dating life and have come to the conclusion that men often say this to dismiss my feelings instead of engaging in meaningful conversation. This ultimately makes me feel as though my thoughts and emotions are invalid or exaggerated, even when they are completely reasonable.”

On the whole, because patterns of misogyny in romantic relationships tend to go overlooked, the harmful effects of this type of behavior can similarly go unnoticed. Although misogyny seems to remain ever-present in our society and in our relationships, Elorduy outlined ways to combat these attitudes and behaviors and work to cultivate healthier, respectful relationships.

“Communicate with your partner when you notice subtle or overt misogyny in your

relationship and know that it is okay to not be comfortable with misogynistic behavior,” Elorduy said. “If your partner is not willing to learn, grow and change their behavior, know that you deserve to be in a relationship that does not involve one person perpetuating and upholding misogyny.”

Elorduy expressed that we should work to unlearn harmful lessons about misogyny that permeate societal norms. 

 “We all grew up in a culture that contains misogyny and patriarchy, but it is on all of us to unlearn these harmful lessons and not use them to potentially harm those around us,” Elorduy said. “If someone is in a relationship that doesn’t feel healthy for any reason, please know that they are welcome to reach out to CARE for support.”

Written by: Graciela Tiu — features@theaggie.org

Amidst ongoing backlash, UC Davis community affirms importance of month-long observance  

By LAILA AZHAR — features@theaggie.org

In 1978, a school district in Sonoma, California organized a weeklong celebration of women’s contributions to history, including presentations in schools and a parade. This celebration took place during the week of March 8, in order to coincide with International Women’s Day, a holiday originating from the Socialist Party of America. 

The idea soon caught on with school districts and communities across the country, and in 1980, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed the week of March 8 “National Women’s History Week.” A few years later, after advocacy by the National Women’s History Project, the United States Congress expanded this to “Women’s History Month.”

Recently, an executive order under the Trump administration called for an end to federal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. In response, the Defense Department’s intelligence agency paused observances such as Women’s History Month, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month. Additionally, Google Calendar faced controversy for no longer displaying such observances. 

Amidst the cultural backlash to events such as Women’s History Month, some argue that it’s more important than ever to highlight the histories of marginalized communities. 

For Cuahtemoc Martinez Marquez, a second-year international relations and psychology double major, events such as Women’s History Month highlight history that is often excluded in the mainstream. 

“Even though women make up half the population, people still view men as being the ‘default,’” Marquez said. “That gets reflected in the way people talk about history. History relating to men is just history, while history relating to women is ‘women’s’ history. Women’s History Month is a good reminder to learn about the history that often gets overlooked.” 

This sentiment was echoed by Karen Gettelman, a Ph.D. candidate at UC Davis, who teaches courses including HIS 072B: Women & Gender in America. 

“When I teach regular history, I’ll have one student out of every hundred who writes on my review, ‘Well it’s supposed to be about history and she just talked about gender and race,’ Gettelman said. “But that’s history.”

In recent quarters, she said that students in her classes have resonated with discussions about the 14th Amendment, especially as it relates to Dobbs versus Jackson, the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe versus Wade. 

“During my lecture, I went through all the parts of the 14th Amendment and said [Dobbs] isn’t just about this one specific issue, it’s about pushing back against the Constitution,” Gettelman said. “It will go from abortion to marriage, and I bring up Loving [versus Virginia] — and I’m really shocked by how many of my students don’t realize that interracial marriage was illegal.” 

Her classes highlight the role everyday women have played in shaping history. 

“Women have been active in labor movements since there’s been labor,” Gettelman said, particularly noting the strikes by Black washerwomen in the South following the Civil War. “There’s not often a lot of talk about ordinary women, and yet they’re often the impetus for change. It’s just easier to remember the person who’s in the lead.” 

Ella Fodor, a second-year wildlife, fish and conservation biology major, said learning about women’s history can help students navigate current events. 

“Understanding historic precedent can help you see the misogyny that underlies a lot of things, whether that be online discourse or federal policy,” Fodor said. “But it can also give you hope and inspiration to see how women of the past have resisted these systems for years and years before us.” 

Women’s History Month remains a crucial reminder of the often-overlooked contributions of women throughout history. As discussions around diversity and inclusion face scrutiny, students and scholars emphasize the importance of challenging exclusionary narratives and advocating for a more comprehensive understanding of history.

Written by: Laila Azhar — features@theaggie.org

Students share experiences and perspectives from spending a year with cows, sheep and pigs

By NOAH HARRIS — features@theaggie.org

UC Davis is known for its deep-rooted connection to agriculture and its wide variety of animals. Davis boasts cows grazing next to student residence halls and wild turkeys walking around campus like they own the place. The livestock living on campus require constant care and upkeep, allowing UC Davis students the opportunity to live with them and care for them for free.

Students can apply for the ability to live in a barn residency, a program with nine different animal barns, including those with pigs, cows and sheep. Many of these students are in animal-related majors, which is preferred when applying — and everyone must be able to lift a bale of hay. Applicants also have to have a valid California driver’s license.

Guillermo Garibay, a third-year animal science major, discussed the work and commitment needed for barn residency.

“What’s really nice about the program is in exchange for 10 hours of work a week at the facility that you live at, you get free housing,” Garibay said. “This includes rent, utilities, electricity, water [and] anything like that, just as long as I meet my 10 hours a week.”

Garibay has had a positive experience in the program so far and shared a tip for potential student applicants.

“You learn so much from it and it only helps you further increase your animal handling experiences and exposes you to veterinary practices,” Garibay said. “If that’s something that you’re interested in, the best way is always reaching out by email.”

Many students spoke positively about the experience they have received, as well as the benefits of being able to work and interact with professionals in whichever field they are a part of during the program.

Jorge Tejeda, a third-year animal science major, lives with the sheep. Tejeda and his barn mates have to check on the sheep at 12 a.m., 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Currently, lambs are being born, and Tejeda talked through the process he undertakes to care for them.

“If there [are] any babies, we proceed with the protocols,” Tejeda said. “We set up their individual pen for the first couple of days. We lay down the straw, alfalfa grain for the mom. After that, we go ahead and we go to the other barn, where we have older lambs. Then, we go and take them out to pasture.”

Students sign a housing contract for one academic year and can stay up to two in the same barn before having the option to apply for a different barn area.

Mireya Padilla, a second-year agriculture and environmental education major, spoke about her passion for pigs that she works and lives with.

“Coming into Davis, when I joined fall quarter, my first thing was, one, how do I figure out where to apply for the Barn Residency, and two, where the heck is a swine unit at this place?” Padilla said. “I just searched it up on Google and then biked out there, made an appointment with the manager, had a little [meeting] with her, and I just told her that I want to work with pigs.”

For Padilla, children’s television was an integral part of her love for pigs.

“I found my passion [for] swine, actually, from an episode from Curious George that I watched, where he showed a pig and I was, like, that’s actually kind of cute,” Padilla said.

Though the students live at least a mile away from the main area of campus with little housing around them, they appreciate the isolation.

“I get my own room, I couldn’t ask for anything else,” Garibay said. “It’s a little far from campus, but I don’t mind. Just last week, I was in charge of feeding. I think on Friday at 5 p.m., I was out with the cows just enjoying the sunset. It’s nice being away from everything and all the urban community that you could say that Davis is.”

While Tejeda loves living in the sheep barn, there was initial hesitation.

“Every morning, like right next to the barn is probably a group of 30 turkeys,” Tejeda said. “So definitely the first two, three nights I couldn’t sleep because [for] one thing, you are in the middle of nowhere. You know, if somebody tries to do something to me, what am I going to do?”

For Padilla, living with just a few people in an isolated area has ended up being a wonderful part of her experience.

“I just can’t imagine it where I’m not close with my roommates or anything like that,” Padilla said. “We literally do everything together. They’re some of my closest friends.”

Tejeda had some words of advice for those looking for housing.

“If you guys want somewhere to live, the sheep barn is the way to go,” Tejeda said.

Spots are limited and competitive for this unique housing opportunity. While applications did close this past December, and the next crop of barn residents will experience what it’s like to live with and raise farm animals, there is always next year. Davis is known as the cow town, and perhaps nothing epitomizes that quite like the barn residency.

Written by: Noah Harris — features@theaggie.org

Students share their experiences and screenprint concepts from winter 2025 

By EVELYN SANCHEZ — features@theaggie.org

Located in the heart of Hart Hall, one unique classroom on the UC Davis campus has a closet full of paint buckets and tape. Colorful posters line the walls and wire drying racks reach the ceiling to store the student-created posters. The three-hour-long class might be tiring, but the skills it gives to students are invaluable.

Not restricted to just Chicana/Chicano studies majors, the CHI 172: Chicana/o Voice/Poster Silk Screen Workshop course presents students with a quarter-long opportunity to screen print posters in the traditional way. The art form has recently gravitated toward the digital interface, but Professor Gilda Posada provides students with the opportunity to engage with a historically political art medium by utilizing the techniques used since the 1960s.

For most students, the class presents a completely new and unique experience.

“I picked this class because it was a good outlet,” Devin Bangayan, a second-year design major, said. “[Screen printing] is a technique I haven’t learned before. In design, there’s a lot of computer and digital work, and working in [physical] layers for print [was new].”

Bangayan was previously in the military and used his experiences while enlisted to cite inspiration for his poster.

“There’s a big culture around alcoholism and I wanted to talk about that,” Bangayan said. “[This poster] is a healing piece to put out there because it’s something I know a lot of people have dealt with, and I want to represent it in an understandable way.”

Gilda Posada, the current instructor for CHI 172, shared about the history of the course.

“The silk screen courses in Chicana/o/x Studies have been taught in the Department since 1989,” Posada said. ”I am the third instructor to have taught this course after Malaquias Montoya and Carlos Jackson.”

Posada began silk screen printing when she took the same class herself as a Davis undergraduate student. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chicana/Chicano studies and comparative literature at UC Davis and later received a Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts in social practice and visual critical studies at the California College of the Arts. Currently, she is working on finishing her Ph.D. at Cornell University as an all but dissertation candidate in art history and visual studies.

Her disciplines and mediums extend to digital textiles, screen printing, exhibition curation and critical art historical writing.

“I have been printing for 18 years now,” Posada said. “I very much enjoy passing down this method to students who continue to use it to uplift their communities through their messages in their art.”

The structure of the class revolves around the creation of three posters. Silk screen printing, in the way Posada teaches it, involves the manual cutting of a stencil, which is then coated in emulsion and exposed to a screen, after which the ink is pushed through a screen by a squeegee and repeated for each new additional color.

For simplicity’s sake, the students’ first posters only have one layer and one color. Every following poster becomes more complicated and adds a new layer and resulting color, adding dimension and expanding students’ limits with the medium.

Bangayan’s poster had a rich selection of colors that featured a beer bottle tipping over into a splash silhouette of a saluting soldier. The bottle read “Coping Isn’t Healing” and the splash had blocky, red letters that said “Life Over Career.”

“I kind of expected a good measure of artwork and making stuff politically related, but I didn’t think I’d make as many friends or feel comfortable being the only Black person in the class,” Faderera Popoola, a fourth-year African American studies major, said.

Popoola’s first poster focused on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and other systems being taken away or threatened by current legislation. She remarked that she found inspiration in previous posters that said “I Am a Man” used during the civil rights movement and experimented with the phrase by substituting it for “I am Employable.”

“I wanted to play off that saying by saying ‘I am Employable’ to say that however I look or come across, I am employable,” Popoola said.

Her poster featured a Black woman with loose, 4D hair and hoop earrings holding a sign that read “I am Employable” where the only color used was black. The hair was textured by filling in the silhouette with ink and before letting it dry fully, Popoola used a scrunched-up tissue to imprint the soft fabric onto the plastic, resulting in a hair-like texture.

Adding texture to a screenprint poster is always challenging due to the plastic stencil it must be drawn — or rather, cut — onto, but Popoola used her creativity to fashion a memorable solution.

“To me [the poster subject’s attire] is professional, but to others it is not,” Popoola said. “[She] is not necessarily me but just the Black person. Regardless of what you’re wearing, you’re still employable.”

Posada also explained the roots of the course stemming from the civil rights movement.

“The course is rooted in a long history of community social art praxis that Chicana/o/x artists and many other [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color] (BIPOC) artists used to achieve liberation and social justice for their communities during the civil rights movement,” Posada said. “In the course I continue to uphold those histories, rooted in visualizing ideas that seek to create a better world, while responding to the present moment with a new generation of artists.”

BIPOC students in the class are not only able to depict personal and meaningful ideas but, in doing so, also call back to a tradition that is ingrained within their histories. The course is open to students of all years and majors and provides a special creative opportunity for interested parties to demonstrate their political voice through art.

Written by: Evelyn Sanchez  — features@theaggie.org