The Daily Californian

In episode two, Charlie and Jackson explore the genres of pirate novels and pirate movies. The texts discussed include the 1929 novel “A High Wind in Jamaica” and the film series “Pirates of the Caribbean.” Special guests include Daily Cal staff representative, Shannon O’Hara, and Davy Jones himself (portrayed by Russell Zych).

In the inaugural episode of Popcorn Paperback, you’ll learn more about your hosts, Charlie and Jackson, and why one loves one medium over the other. The duo also discuss texts that were released in New York. The texts discussed in this episode are Renata Adler’s debut novel, “Speedboat”, and James L. Brooks’ 1997 romance film, As Good As It Gets.

In episode three of the 2018-2019 Cal men's basketball series, Rory (RoryOToole4) and Justice (justdelossantos) hop back on the microphone to talk about the last couple weeks of Cal basketball, and Rory gives the hottest take in the young podcast's history.

In episode two of the 2018-2019 Cal men's basketball series, Justice delos Santos (@justdelossantos) officially welcomes fellow men's basketball beat Rory O'Toole (@RoryOToole4). Justice and Rory talk Cal's offense, Paris Austin, Andre Kelly, and more in their first episode together.

In episode one of the 2018-2019 Cal men's basketball series, Justice discusses last season, as well as what to expect from the Bears in the new year.

Taversia Maddalena hasn’t always considered herself an artist. In this in-depth interview, we took a look at how she got to where she is today — director of legislation in the office of ASUC senator Hani Hussein, aspiring pre-law student and creator of a popular online video uploaded onto the UC Berkeley Memes for Edgy Teens Facebook page. If you remember the psychedelic and chaotic video — titled “Cal is fucking expensive & sometimes I think about killing myself but at least I have adderall” — then you’ll understand what we talk about when we say this woman understands the mental, emotional and financial hell of logistical issues that can accompany being a student at Berserkeley. Maddalena opened up about facing homelessness and her struggle with obtaining medication for her attention deficit disorder, and she offers her perspective on coming to UC Berkeley from the Midwest as a transfer student. Leaving her support system behind, in her first semester at UC Berkeley, she watched her life as a student essentially fall apart without access to her medication, and she even slipped into homelessness. Through the kindness of classmates and strangers, she was able to find temporary housing — even resorting to staying in campus buildings overnight — while maintaining her grades and taking 17.5 units. After her video — originally created for a class — was released, she received an outpouring of concern and support from fellow students. Because her video contained themes of suicide, both campus counseling services and UCPD reached out to her. In a miraculous turn of events, she received scholarships and aid equivalent to $30,000, which wiped out her debit and covered the rest of her tuition. After describing her encounters with those who helped her along the way — including a man who bought her a meal when she was studying on the side of a curb — she touched upon how her privilege as a white woman cultivated “cultural capital.” Dumbfounded at receiving financial aid she never applied for, she wondered at the role of her cultural capital in the sudden institutional support. Nonetheless, Maddalena remains grateful for the help she received and recognizes her voice as a tool to speak out on these issues that UC Berkeley students face. As a student familiar with issues of homelessness, food insecurity and mental health, Maddalena’s artwork lends itself to the experiences of any student burdened by the several demands existing in UC Berkeley’s climate. We were incredibly lucky to sit down with Maddalena and learn from her unique perspective.

Episode 2 of “Below the Fold” featuring Black Student Union Chair AJ Moultrie For our second episode of “Below the Fold,” we welcomed AJ Moultrie, aka AJ The One, chair of UC Berkeley’s Black Student Union. Moultrie, a Black revolutionary, is also a multimedia artist, an ambassador for The Selfology Movement and host of a podcast called “Black Voice” featured on KGPC at 96.9 FM. We covered themes of self-empowerment, self-love, being an ally and addressing anti-Blackness. Her quirky attitude and colorful personality shine through in all that she does. As an ambassador for The Selfology Movement, Moultrie invests herself in the teaching of self-love and self-enlightenment to young Black girls in the community. In our interview with Moultrie, she discussed the difference she noticed in young Black girls when they learn to embrace self-love. Moultrie talked about how the Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center serves as an “affirmation station” here on the UC Berkeley campus. She talked about how as a Black student, she manages to find support on a campus where she may go a whole day without seeing another Black student. She believes that this may take an untold toll on Black students psychologically and emotionally. “Black Panther” premiered this past month, and Moultrie spoke to us about the film as an important cultural piece. Without giving any spoilers away, she explained the film’s powerful ability to address multiple issues that resonate within the Black community today. We wanted to take the opportunity to ask about how to be allies for the Black community. Moultrie said one of the most important things is recognizing the anti-Black tendencies we inherit from the media’s generational misrepresentation of Black identities. However, refusing to acknowledge that these tendencies exist in ourselves makes it all the more difficult to understand and create change. Moultrie recounted an uncomfortable experience in a UC Berkeley classroom, which could have been prevented if another student had raised their voice about the issue. Moultrie is a remarkable, intelligent and creative human being involved in many areas both on and off campus. We hope you enjoy the powerful words of wisdom she shared with us.

For the first episode of “Below the Fold,” we interviewed Michelle Zheng, who you may know as last semester’s Sex on Tuesday columnist. We covered several topics such as self-love, abusive relationships, honesty, writing and polyamory. Within the first few minutes of interviewing Michelle, we began to understand that the former sex columnist held a powerful, if not admirable, sense of self that many of us could learn from. Michelle opened up about her journey to discovering self-love, which resonated with the both of us. Premiering on Valentine’s Day, this episode explores the complexity of human relationships between people. In a society that romanticizes turbulent romantic relationships, Michelle brought to our attention the importance of the type of self-love that fulfills us from day to day. She even opened us to us about her parents. Her mother, a three-time published Chinese author, and her father, a self-made businessman and CEO, are unaware of her column, in part because of the lack of internet availability in China. Michelle feels that they would support her writing, especially her mother. Michelle also spoke to us in-depth about an abusive relationship she experienced in her past — a topic she wrote about in a column last semester. For us, it was interesting to hear her explain the oftentimes undetectable nature of abuse and how she brought herself to leave that situation. She talked about finding the strength to leave the toxic relationship while forging a better relationship with herself throughout the process by attending therapy. One of the most powerful insights she shared, from a therapy session with her counselor, was that when it comes to relationships, things are rarely an emergency and you should refrain from ever acting on impulse. In an age where sexual harassment allegations are flooding the news, we also talked about the complexity and importance of consent. Michelle stressed the importance of nonverbal cues during a physical act and how within the context of consensual sexual acts, there is still space for discomfort. Towards the end of our interview, Michelle talked about her polyamorous relationship with her boyfriend. For her, the road to understanding polyamory was initially filled with guilt. As she explains in the interview, however, attraction is a complex force, and refusing to acknowledges those emotions can be problematic later on. Something we wanted to recognize is the empowerment Michelle felt from owning her experiences by writing about them. There’s something to be said about the honesty prevalent in Michelle’s articles. Her bold attitude is as evident in person as it is in her writing. Her honest tone remained present throughout our interview, and it’s in this no-games, nothing-to-hide philosophy that her message thrives.

Here’s a fun treat for you while you bask in the glory of finishing up your last finals. (If you’ve still got ‘em, maybe this’ll serve as some last-minute motivation to get down and dirty afterwards.) It’s a little audio pleasure for the last episode of Hard and Soft’s first season! Make sure to have headphones on for this. Or don’t, if you’re nasty.

Don’t listen to what One Direction says: Makeup’s more than just for the appearances. For many people, makeup is powerful. Chris and Josh chat with Zha Maloy and Jae Jung, folks who use makeup as a source of identity formation, courage and kinship.

Sexual assault and survivorship are often topics that go undiscussed when exploring love and sex. In this piece, Chris and Josh tackle the issue head on with ASUC Senator Marandah Field-Elliot. From her work regarding assault, to her own experiences dating and dumping boys as a survivor, this queer queen leaves nothing out in Hard and Soft's second to last episode!

The Podcast cast gets our producer Michelle a vibrator!

High sex is a whole 'nother level of sex, with happiness, a little bit of tears, and maybe a catfish or two. The Hard and Soft team goes out on 4/20 to interview some high folks and get some insight on what's going on in the bedroom under the influence of THC. Music: "How Do You Do It" by Empress of "Furute Funk" by Joakim Karud

Sex Ed in high school isn’t too far off from that scene in “Mean Girls,” where we all get chlamydia and die. But some students are fighting the good fight to make sexual health and reproductive rights fun and accessible. Chris and Josh chat with one of these folks. Elizabeth Wells is a fourth-year sexpert — she’s the head student coordinator of the Sexual Health Education Program at UC Berkeley, and a co-director at Students United for Reproductive Justice. She gives us her take on pegging, some tips (heh) about the right way to use a condom, and her experiences as the big dick on Sproul.

The apps can be fun and sexy, but being on the receiving end of an unsolicited, probably racist Tinder message about being the second half of a vanilla-chocolate swirl? Not so much. Chris and Josh chat with ASUC presidential candidate Zaynab Abdul-Qadir Morris to hear her experiences of misogynoir, life as a Black womxn on the UC Berkeley campus and corny folks on Tinder.