The thrills of reading the original “Dracula”

One deep, dark and cold night in Los Angeles, I was waiting to board the Amtrak train that would connect me to a bus, and then another train that would take me to Davis for the impending Winter Quarter. This was going to be a long ride — 12 hours in all — barring any delays. And since I had no upcoming soul-crushing writing assignments, I decided to download the audio version of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Considering the first train was stalled, and the entire trip lasted about 15 hours, it was not at all difficult to complete the entire book in one listen. As foreign lands and strange faces surrounded me, and it poured hard and cold rain, I was strangely delighted to have one of the most terrifying books that I’ve ever read in my company.

Rolled into print in 1897, Stoker’s work soon became known far and wide across the globe. It remains the pinnacle of horror to this very day.

We’ve all seen the fangs and the cliche costumes, and heard the ominous organ music and the violent crackling of lightning surrounding a castle build on a windy, remote mountainous terrain. But the actual work ― much like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ― is totally different from the popular media’s seemingly endless adaptations.

One thing that is striking about the novel is its epistolary content. The entire book is composed of journal entries penned by the various characters. (Frankenstein, which was a necessary precursor to Dracula, is also written in a very similar manner.) This format thrills because one is left to wonder whether the events described within the story are embellished, true or totally fictionalized by each of its various characters. Readers, after all, are not made explicitly aware of what may have been altered or completely omitted.

The reader is first introduced to the mild-mannered Jonathan Harker, who must depart from his deeply beloved wife-to-be Mina, in order to take an arduous journey to meet Count Dracula in his Transylvanian castle. Already the book is nothing as one might think it is: Harker is merely tasked with auditing Dracula because he wants to buy property in England. What could be more mild and utterly devoid of excitement? Obviously this does not last for long: Harker soon grows increasingly paranoid and begins to suspect Dracula is more than he seems. I think we know the rest: Count Drac is up to no good and is really into the idea of creating a vampiric race to dominate planet earth, treat humans as a food source and systematically harvest them so they can casually sip on some delicious blood whenever they please.

Thankfully, there are heroes like Professor Van Helsing, Harker and a handful of others who band together out of sheer terror and the desire to banish Dracula’s evil from the world. Eventually he is staked and re-killed (he is, after all, already dead to begin with.)

So much literary, film-based and offhand analysis has been performed on Stoker’s work that it gives one a splitting migraine just imagining it. All you really need to know is this is a killer book, and is way better (and far less lame) than any adaptation you’ve seen or heard so far. Like the picture headlining this article, these various adaptations are over-dramatized and very often deviate from the late Victorian source material. For those interested in horror, this text is the progenitor of the genre. But even for those who are not particularly drawn to the work for its horror-based aspects, it contains a wide variety of timeless themes like morality, female sexuality and — in a bizarre way — romance.  

You can reach RYAN DOWNER at rmdowner@ucdavis.edu.

And she has the foot tattoo in Hindi to prove it

UC Davis student Luna Apple, formerly Mary Apple (she changed her name after studying in India) has just returned from what she calls a “life-changing experience.” She has spent the last 10 weeks of her life abroad in New Delhi, immersing herself in the local culture.

Apple, clad in elephant harem pants, sat down with me at the Davis Co-op, the only place she would agree to meet, for what she called “ethical” reasons.

“India was incredible,” Apple said. “The people, the colors — it’s all just so vibrant. I spent 10 minutes in a slum so that I could take a picture with a small Indian boy for my Instagram, and I was hooked.”

Apple says this trip has changed her and made her want to help people. Since her $27,000 study abroad experience, she has dedicated her life to helping the 1.2 billion people living in India. For starters, she created a GoFundMe page to help get her non-profit off the ground.

The description for her GoFundMe page reads:

“It has always been my dream to make a non-profit organization. The people of third-world countries (like India) are so creative and make such beautiful jewelry, clothing and art — but they sell them so cheaply! They just don’t know how to run a business like I do! You see, I’m a second-year design major minoring in art history and economics. I know how to run a successful business. My goal is to source these peoples’ goods to high end stores like Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Free People so that wealthy white women can wear them to music festivals and feel good about themselves. Of course, 3 percent of the proceeds will go to help villages get clean water or schools or something. Please consider donating to my cause.”

Apple’s GoFundMe page has been live for two days, and so far she’s raised $250 in generous donations from her grandparents.

But what makes someone like Apple, a white, upper-middle-class female who bathes in her own privilege nightly, decide to be so darn generous?

“I spent one day in an outdoor market before deciding these people were poor and I needed to help them,” Apple said. “My partner, Mikael, recently started a business where he donates kale that he’s harvested himself to local preschools for their infant sized cold-pressed kale juices. The business is called Mikael’s Kale. His own generosity inspired me.”

Luna has not only changed her heart since she’s been in India, but her lifestyle as well. She has switched to a raw vegan diet of kale, cashews, the left side of an avocado and nothing else. How this helps the people of India is a mystery.

“I do yoga daily,” Apple said. “I have this corner in my house called the ‘chill-out spot.’ It’s set up with a tapestry I got from Urban Outfitters for $49 and some soy candles. It’s where I go when the pressure of having to reboot the entire Indian economy gets to me.”

On her foot tattoo:

“It says “one love” in Hindi, or at least that’s what the tattoo artist in Sacramento told me. He had a septum piercing, so I think he knows what he’s talking about,” Apple said.

ALEX GUZMÁN will be studying abroad in Australia next fall and promises to not act enlightened when she comes back. You can reach her at almguzman@ucdavis.edu and on Twitter @cactasss.

The following are a series of misdemeanors, offenses and felonies that occurred on April 16th during the Picnic Day event.

1. 10:02 a.m. — Ceremony grounds on North Quad Ave. — Unauthorized visitor entered one of the parading Unitrans buses and waved to crowds. Staff demanded that he leave but he refused to get off because he payed the $1.00 bus fare.
2. 10:34 a.m. — Voorhies Hall — Marching band member was arrested for assault after he repeatedly punched a visitor for pouring beer down his trumpet
3. 11:30 a.m. — Plant and Environmental Science Courtyard — Man was arrested for narcotics possession at “The Weed Doctor” event.
4. 12:03 p.m. — Mustard Seed Ministry booth — Woman was arrested for disturbing the peace when she yelled at the booth and accused them of poisoning people with what she thought was “mustard gas in ketchup form.”
5. 1:12 p.m. — Robert Mondavi Institute — Man attempted to steal a potted grapevine from the free giveaway table after he refused to wait in line.
6. 1:14: p.m. — Bainer Hall — Man was arrested for attempting to steal Liquid Nitrogen from the Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream tent. Witnesses say he did it to refreeze his fruit smoothie.
7. 1:30 p.m. — Cole Facility — Multiple suspects arrested for a fight at the “How we really make horses” event. One suspect initiated the fight by complaining how artificial insemination was immoral and that the horses were being denied the choice to engage in casual sex.
8. 2:20 p.m. — Hutchinson field — Man was arrested for kidnapping a dog from the American Brittany Rescue booth. He later defended his actions by saying the title of the event insinuated that the point of the event was for visitors to rescue dogs from the booth.
9. 2:32 p.m. — Briggs Hall — Nine suspects were arrested at the cockroach races for illegal gambling. A betting pool of $416.50 was confiscated.
10. 2:46 p.m. — West Quad — Five staff members of the food chain La Crepe were arrested for defrauding customers after it was discovered they were actually serving pancakes.  
11. 4:49 p.m. — Silo — Man attempted to steal a bike belonging to the Davis Bicycle club. Suspected defended his actions saying that he confused the six-foot high bicycle with his own six-foot high bicycle that he brought to Picnic Day.
12. 5:33 p.m. — ARC Parking Lot — Woman arrested for drunk driving after rear-ending a police car.

Written by: Evan Lilley

A cashier at the infamous ASUCD Coffee House shocked the Davis community with an unprecedented and unwarranted friendly comment.

A horrific incident occurred on campus last Friday, just before the 102nd Picnic Day.

Hayley Robbins, a 7th-year atmospheric science major, was casually using her AggieCard to pay for her iced coffee when the cashier, whose identity has yet to be released, told her to “have a good one.”

This incident doesn’t seem to be out of the ordinary. But wait until you hear this: the cashier told Robbins to “have a good one” genuinely. The cashier actually wanted her to have a good day.

“What was particularly disturbing was her smile,” Robbins said. “It was just so big. She was actually happy as she was handing me my iced coffee with room for cream. I didn’t know what to do. I just threw the coffee in the air and ran. I didn’t even remember to get them to punch my stamp card.”

The troubling incident occurred just days after shocking revelations about UC Davis’ past. Rumors had been circulating that the administration is prepared to again spend at least $175,000 to cover up the CoHo incident.

Unnamed sources inside the CoHo said that they are afraid that this occurrence will give the popular study spot a reputation of actually caring about the students they serve.

“It’s just not the kind of environment we’re trying to provide here,” the source said. “We just want to make everyone feel like they don’t matter and that we don’t care if they come back. God knows they will anyways. They’re never going to stop lining up for our ‘Mexican’ food.”

Many students have been worried following this incident and have been expressing their concerns.

“When I go to the CoHo, I want to know that I’m going to be free from somebody caring about me or what kind of day I have. It’s supposed to be my safe space,” said Reynold Armstrong, a third-year communication major. “Now I don’t know where I can go to receive apathetic customer service. I’m really disappointed.”

You can reach BRIAN LANDRY at bjlandry@ucdavis.edu