Another Coffee Cup

Electioneering

  It's election time here at the school.

Our student government, the ASUCD Senate, which according to Davis Wiki has a $9.7 million budget (yes, you read that correctly), has recently been plagued with quite a few problems lately. Since last year, our little fledgling student government has been involved in no less than three such scandals such as:

• A senator stealing nearly $360 in books from the Bookstore, and after serving a number of hours in community service, still served as a senator.
• The endorsement of a student who was running for the Davis City Council, thus violating IRS federal tax laws which prohibit this.
• Candidates doing their electioneering in the dorms and "helping" students by personally showing them how to vote for them: two big no-nos.

Add to the fact that our student elections have had a more dismal turnout than most American Congressional elections, then you can probably think that there's going to be quite a lot of voter apathy.

But this year's a little different (or at least I hope it is). Because of all the recent scandals that have been covered exhaustively by the Aggie, the resignations of three senators (two stemming from the scandals), and the emergence of a possibly strong new political party--or slate as we call them--there seems to be a different air for this election.

Basically here's a rundown of what the parties are:

• Student Focus: they're known as the Greek Party on campus, since their candidates always seem to come from or are supported by the local sororities and fraternities. Wearing yellow shirts around election time, they're easy to spot also because they always seem to be handing out these glassy yellow fliers advertising their slate. Lately they've been getting a lot of flack since their slate was the one primarily involved with Dormgate.
• L.E.A.D.: standing for Leadership, Empowerment, Activism and Determination, their slate was original touted as the more liberal slate on campus. Student Focus may wear yellow, but L.E.A.D. has that fiery determined red for a color.
• F.U.C.K.: with maybe the best ironic acronym I've heard since Team America, the Friends Urging Campus Kindness are the newest slate on campus. Unlike the others, they don't have any candy-coated color and are the most irreverent of them all. The F.U.C.K. are running the most candidates for this election (seven altogether). They are also probably the most loosely-organized party of the three
• The Independents: in the current Senate, the Independents hold the balance of power. They are what they are: independent from the parties on campus. But that doesn't stop them from getting elected, since some of the most influential and vocal senators in recent history have been Independents. 

If you want profiles and platforms, click here.

In my personal opinion, the most original ideas are coming from the F.U.C.K.. They seem to be the most energetic and alive slate there is. Plus they're not tainted with scandals, especially after all that Student Focus has had to go through lately. Also there seems to be something genuine within their proposals and especially non-conventional style, as opposed to L.E.A.D., which in all due respect, has not carried effective leadership, is just as equally diverse as Student Focus, is hardly activist, an its determination severely lacking as of late. Any slate that promises to make student government meetings more public, makes music videos, wants to get rid of useless fire trucks and last but not least make this student government more fiscally responsible has my vote.

My friend Ryan Basilio, who ran as an Independent Vice Presidential candidate last year with my friend Evan Beecher, said it best to me. The present slates--that being Focus and L.E.A.D.--are just mustard and ketchup. They both go on the same hot dog.

And that's it. There's nothing exciting about them, nothing slightly rebellious. Hell, they're not even that interesting either. They're both members of a nomenklatura student Politburo that drone to the same feedback, getting all the perks their posts give them, who seem as removed from the students as ever.

I know it's only a student government, but honestly, it's people like this who will go on to become city councilmen and women, go to state legislatures, maybe go on even to the federal level. Yes, we're young. But this is sometimes the first stepping stone. 

I'll admit that there's good candidates on both the hot dog slates, as well as excellent ones within the Independent slot. But without a doubt in my mind, the F.U.C.K. have the right idea. And if F.U.C.K. gain seats in the Senate, I'll be happy. And if F.U.C.K. doesn't do a decent job, I'll hold them accountable like any government should be.

But for this time around, I'm willing to give them a chance. After all, any slate that has piñata bashing on the Quad would get my vote anyways.

My First Tornado Watch

The weather. Most of us think of it in ying-yang way: Is it going to be sunny? Is it going to be raining? Will it be cloudy, or will it be hot, or is it going to be foggy? For the most part, I don't think of it as something that might hurt you. Coming from where I am, the most violent that weather can get is flooding, even that is restricted primarily to geography. Or if you're in a storm on the ocean. Or if you're in a freak blizzard in the Sierra Nevada. The normal person's chance of being in any of those two are, well, very slim.

  Being a Californian, if the weather is bad, it's more of a nuisance to me than something to fret about. There's more things to worry about, like earthquakes--not much in this part of the state, but still something to think about--or what crazy things CalTrans is going to think up. If there's a drought: okay, time to save some water, and it'll be over soon. If there's a mudslide; that's too bad. Don't build homes too close to the cliffs, hope the highways aren't blocked and hope no one was hurt. For Californians, violent weather always makes one think of the East or Midwest. That sort doesn't happen here, we convince ourselves, thanks to that psychological and physical barrier of the Sierras. After all, this is California.

Around mid afternoon, I was watching MTV when all of sudden it stopped broadcasting and began to admit the EAS signal. Most Americans know what it sounds like; if you don't, it sounds like a medium pitched continuous signal that's similar to the noise you hear when you pick up the phone, only just higher. It usually signifies that a) this is only a test, or b) this is a real emergency. I remember that during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, its feedback faintly buzzed on the television stations, but I don't remember it playing during the September 11 attacks.   

After buzzing for a moment, virtually every television went black with a red bar at the top, scrolling across a warning issued by the National Weather Service. This was an emergency I thought. It read there was a Tornado Watch issued for Yolo County. I looked around the room for a moment. This is Yolo County, I thought.

The screen remained black with the red bar for a few more minutes as it issued more warnings for neighboring metropolitan Sacramento counties and a garbled voice read out the alert when the EAS signal stopped. I turned to the NBC affiliate KCRA and listened as a slightly nervous sounding weather reporter comment on a Doppler radar screen that showed potential funnel clouds over Woodland, Knights Landing and Natomas. He kept apologizing if he rambled, but said that he was trying to make sense of this as things happened.

Though it was too far from Davis to really see anything from my window, I could see what was happening on the TV, watching these multiple funnel clouds develop and fizzle out, all within twenty miles of my home. In the end, damage was minimal; a tornado actually did touch down, toppled a few trees, lifted up and put down some cars. Violent, but nothing like Midwestern twisters.

  Now I know California and this area has seen this weather before, but for me, this was a first. I have never been through a tornado watch before.

Presidents' Day Weekend

I just learned a few minutes ago that Hunter S. Thompson, probably one of the most famous American journalists and writers to come out of the 1960s (outside of Tom Wolfe) killed himself. In a time like this, we could have used a lot more like him. We could have used that insightful insanity to make sense. Now we can only think of what might have been. I can only hope that a new generation of writers or journalists can come out of this grand mess.

  This weekend was pretty chill. I'm sure this applies to a lot of us students out here, but this weekend was such a relief, especially after last two weeks that have been nothing but rain and midterms (and now from what I hear, a spreading stomach flu).

My cousin Amanda came up, which was great. It's always cool to see her. On Saturday night, we went out to a place in Sacramento called Club 21, a "woman's bar," which really is just a euphemism for a lesbian bar. It's fun to go with her to places like that. Even if guys like me aren't really going to get action in a place like that, it's cool to drink with a close friend and family member like her and watch a few really attractive women dance. Nothing wrong with that, right?

 

Valentine Rant

   

I cannot state how much I hate Valentine's Day. Call me a bitter single person, but I can't stand the day. No, that's not even the right word. I detest the day.

  Especially when you walk around the campus here. On Valentine's Day, the sight of all those couples holding hands, walking around with bright flowers, giving each other kisses, and having these heart-shaped balloons strung on the hooks of their backpacks, flaunting it all out so everyone else can see it; all that giddy little cuteness made me want to puke. Whatever.

  I'm bitter and single. Bitter that I don't have anyone right now. Bitter at those that do have (and jealous too). Bitter at all those who get those nice little red and yellow flowers and romantic candies and stupid red heart-shaped balloons.

  I was briefly going out with a girl, Lynly, for about a month. It went well, but school and the pressures of early-20s life at college got in the way. Perfectly understandable. No bad feelings. A-Okay.

  But when that gushy holiday comes around, I hate it. On Valentines, I sadly had to start out the day by turning on the radio and hearing John Mayer's "Daughters" playing. Firstly, I want to say how much I hate, and I mean hate John Mayer, along with Dave Matthews, Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson, Howie Day, etc...and this song was no better. I switched off the radio and put on the Cure's Pornography instead, and vented in a far better way.

  The day continued to get worse. I sat out outside for much the day, trying to do my homework on the quad (the main part of campus), while the cold wind refused to let up while the sky was blanketed by a gray curtain. Happy couples strolled by, with me looking on, trying to find distraction in my homework. A few friends stopped by to say hello, and likewise shared my anti-Valentine feelings. It was freezing; the cold going right into my skin.

   I went home after six to my apartment. A red card was waiting for me in the post box. It was from Mom and Pop. A big smile went on my face. I called them up later that night, and told them how they were my only true Valentines for 2005.

   So it goes.

Back Again

  Okay, first of all, my apologies to people (if there really are people who actually go to this site) for not writing in ages. My school and social life has been very hectic lately, and I haven't really devoted any time to writing.

   Well, if you live in Northern California (or at least this part), you'll know how great it is for our friend, the Sun, to be out again. For about two straight weeks back in January, it was nothing but gray, gloomy skies with the occasional rain. One of my coworkers said it was Seattle Weather. It really started to feel that way too. There's only so long that you take being a prisoner of the clouds that you want friendly, blue skies more than anything else. And when it finally came, you might has well played Handel's Messiah in your head.

   Messiah, by the way, the classical score where the chorus sings "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah..." in case you were wondering.

   And now there's reports to do for school. Maybe I shouldn't celebrate so soon.