Columns

We studied in the Las Positas library, separately. He wore plaid pajama bottoms, in blue I think, with a grey hoodie. Making my black slacks and black-and-white-striped knitted sweater feel overdressed. He talked to a friend about his classes, at a volume…

I’ve always, on some level, been a kitty. When I was young, I struggled to relate to human people, so I found comfort in cats. I studied and mimicked their body language and the ways they interacted with their environment. I meowed,…

During office hours for a fall 2023 sociology class, I asked my professor this question: “Is it fair when people say that if Donald Trump got reelected he’d bring an end to democracy?”  “People,” in the question, was implied to include talking…

Even before the new year started I knew I wanted to meet more trans people. I wanted to meet more people in general, of course, especially people my age. But I especially wanted to meet fellow trans people. I felt that was…

I’ll never forget my introduction to Caitlin Clark. It was the 2024 women’s college basketball Final Four. I was on my parent’s couch, and Clark’s Iowa Hawkeyes pulled off a massive upset against women’s basketball powerhouse UConn.  On TV, she was statically…

The twisted-up mind, fever dreamt with drink or un-anchored high, is capable of cognitively reconstructing any phenomena. Here, the event was a birthday— my 20th reconstructed as a microscopic “Fear and Loathing.” No Hunter S. Thompson. No drug-infused lawyer. No company. No…

The teen years are just one of a myriad of trials and customs that I confess I’m unaccustomed to generally, and those of teen girls in particular. Seemingly a millennia ago, I was a particularly dorky teen. This all but ensured I…

The 96th Academy Awards figured to be a coronation for “Barbie” — one of the biggest films of 2023. Instead, in the national tradition of disrespecting women, it took a backseat to “Oppenheimer.”

I’m hardly a technology prude. I had rooftop solar long before door-to-door salespeople were hocking panels. I had a laptop with wireless internet ages before hotspots existed and mobile phones were flipped open (it was a thing in 1996, look it up). …

On Nov. 30, 2023, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa K. Sepe-Wiesenfeld dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Santa Monica College’s Covid-19 mandates violated a student’s religious freedoms and right to privacy. College freshman Carter Sparks filed suit on Jan. 11, 2022,…