September 27, 2024
Keeping in time with the Mills Community since 1917
Opinion pieces, columns, and staff editorials
When I picked up a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle the other day, my eye was immediately drawn to her.
Staring back up at me from her mug shot at the top of the front page was the young woman with a wan face, curly brown hair and sad blue eyes who has been all over the news for the past two weeks: none other than the notorious Melissa Huckaby.
When I arrived at Mills in fall 2005 from rural Washington, I had no car and no idea how to read a bus schedule - let alone organize an initiative to provide Mills students with AC Transit passes. However, as a result of my experiences in the AC Transit initiative, I have learned a few lessons about creating a successful project in the Mills community that I would like to offer as a template for students' future pursuits.
Oakland has been named the epicenter of child prostitution in Northern California. Much of the rape and abuse of girls is happening on International Boulevard right near Mills.
This is difficult to hear about, but we need to be aware of what's going on if we're going to put a stop to it.
Housing is a complicated process at every college. Looking at either large universities such as UC Berkeley or small private colleges like Dominican University, there doesn't seem to be a simple, stream-lined process that takes into consideration all a student's concerns when choosing where to live while attending school.
Before I returned to college as a re-entry student, leadership was not something I thought about.That changed in my first semester at UC Berkeley after I was invited to interview for the Leadership Award Scholarship given by the Alumni Association.
Even after I won the scholarship, I did not think about leadership or of me having a role as a leader in a direct manner, because the community work I was being rewarded for was something I just did and thought of as service work.
Café Suzie recently transformed into a creperie, a change that came much to the surprise of most Mills students. The crepes are generally a hit, and the cafe's transformation - complete with new, charming decor - overall is accepted. But I have to ask - where was the outreach by Bon Appetit? Where was the input of the Mills community? Who knew that they were even contemplating a change? This was obviously planned in great detail, but to my knowledge, the students were none the wiser.
April has rolled around again which means, for me, a mysterious throbbing below the surface of my temple has been revived. But it isn't until I stroll into the Student Union and study the fliers and intricately decorated posters fluttering in the breeze that I realize the simple, yet plain cause of this annoying, throbbing pain.