Through Our Lens: Lessons Learned From Pole
When I first tried pole dancing I felt like I was doing something scandalous, and ultimately shameful. Writing this feels taboo, and especially writing this for the student paper feels taboo — at least, that is how I’ve been taught to view it. As women,…
Through Our Pens: Unsung Comedians of Pacific
To the untrained eye, Downtown Santa Cruz is host to a wonderful collection of outlets, boutiques, and restaurants designed to satiate the hunger of any consumer. If you take out an earbud and listen closely, you’ll be exposed to a wide cast of characters detailing…
Through our Lens: Embracing Solitude
What is solitude? Solitude is defined as the quality or state of being alone or remote from society. For some, it is physical, in the sense that they are by themselves. For others, solitude is a mental state of being, where they may be around…
Prema’s Guide To Coping With The Cold
Los Angeles winters are easy. Jeans and a long-sleeve tee are enough to survive even the harshest November days. But drive five hours up the 101, and 60 degrees starts feeling a lot warmer than it does down south. In Santa Cruz, the cold is…
Little Corners of the World
100 square feet, a mini-fridge, and a communal shower — Welcome to college. Our 2,000-acre college campus offers us one assigned space to claim. We are given permission to tape our identity to inherited walls, so long as we don’t chip the paint. Coming into…
Through Our Pens: Art Needs Laziness
We are creative beings simply by existing. As an artist, I’m sometimes overwhelmed by unproductiveness when creative inspiration is absent. My ingrained academia convinces me that I’m useless when creativity isn’t always flourishing — something that capitalism mirrors. Capitalism stifles the creativity of artists. It…
Through Our Pens: Lessons from Sprouts
We talk in the mornings, my sprouts and I. As I tend to my newly sprouting Summer Zest Pak Choy — a kind of baby bok choy that enjoys the summer heat — and Chinese leek, I’m learning much about myself and the world that…
Clean Your Room With Me
After opening the door to my bedroom, guests and friends are occasionally greeted with mountains of papers towering over my opened laptop, a fleet of dirty cups lining my coffee stained desk, and waves of blankets strewn about my unmade twin XL bed. You may…
Celebrating the Indigenous Community at UCSC: IndigeFest 2022
Indigenous students are one of the most underrepresented communities not only at UC Santa Cruz but throughout all of higher education. That’s why the American Indian Resource Center (AIRC) works hard to represent the Indigenous community with events like IndigeFest. Held this year in the…
Student Organizers Host Rally at Kerr Hall Over Chancellor Larive’s Raise
Teaching assistants (T.A.s) and graduate students alike struggle to find housing and affordable child care while they work more than 40 hours per week, while, in some circumstances,being forced to live in hotels with unstable WiFi. All while Chancellor Cynthia Larive received a $105,286 pay…