Recent Anti-Asian Attacks Continue Centuries of Discrimination
As a Chinese international student walked into a CVS to place a money order, she was told to show her ID. Upon showing her Chinese passport, the cashier told her that CVS does not sell money orders to foreigners. This happened to my friend at…
Pirouettes and Plies Paused by a Pandemic
With one leg stretched along the three-foot barre, I looked over at the floor-to-ceiling mirror and wondered if my teacher would tell me that my toes weren’t pointed. I leaned over, connecting my hand to my foot for the stretch I noticed all the other…
Navigating Your Twenties in the ’20s
Growing up is the phenomenon every adult warns you about. “Cherish your childhood.” “You’ll miss it once it’s over.” Now, in your twenties, with the rose-colored glasses of childhood removed, you realize why adults are stressed all the time. Instead of eating candy and swinging…
Aging in Reverse
Does anyone else remember their sophomore year of high school? If you’re anything like me, I’ll sum it up for you — your classes are more confusing than you thought, you’re not driving anywhere other than the grocery store, and you’re spending way too much…
Life or Death: Mental Health and CAPS in the Time of the Coronavirus
Content warning: This piece contains reference to suicide and mental health struggles. The first time I called UC Santa Cruz Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) crisis line with the intent to kill myself, they dropped the call. It was around 10 a.m. on an empty,…
Santa Cruz Community Fridges Multiply Across Santa Cruz: My Experience With Mutual Aid
The first time I volunteered with the Santa Cruz chapter of Food Not Bombs three years ago, we scrutinized each piece of donated produce to make sure it was clean and unspoiled, before preparing all-vegan meals for the hungry. The amount of care put into…
Scrolling Around Campus: A Survey of Zoom University
Before freshman year, Santa Cruz was the “Murder Capital of the World” to me. Tucked in the upper corner of the Monterey Bay, its redwoods are foreboding, its boardwalk dense with character. My first impressions of Santa Cruz, influenced by movies and TV shows like…
On The Inside: Life Inside the UCSC Bubble
Arriving at UC Santa Cruz for the first time in September 2019, I still remember my university starter pack from move-in: an academic advising folder with my schedule of events, a UCSC key chain I still use today, and a blue UCSC tote bag for…
Uncelebrated Wins
Finding a sense of belonging in ourselves
Have you ever felt like all your hard work isn’t good enough? I’m a first-generation student, and my parents constantly ask me about my future. To them, it’s important that I keep working hard to get a degree. It’s easy to gloss over our success…
How Diet Culture Ruined Self-Care
Self-care is fundamentally about supplying our minds and bodies with food, water, sleep, connection and movement. Self-care is not what diet culture has turned it into. For some of us self-care is waking up on a set schedule, for others it’s just getting out of…