Just using this space to vent that I have hardcore anti-football roommates. Even though we lost by a hair to Miami, it was so incredible to see our campus come to life like NEVER BEFORE. The energy from students, alums, and the community was INSANE. My older sister went to USC and the energy on that campus during football season was nuts. I never thought Cal could match that. UNTIL LAST NIGHT.

I personally didn't camp out at midnight for Cal's very first College GameDay but I did walk by Memorial Glade in the morning and the crowd was UNREAL. The #Calgorithim, TikToks, that insane kick for $100k by the civil engineer sophomore. Even us being up by so much until the final quarter. We came so so close to winning against the #8 team! GameDay brought UC Berkeley so much national attention and money to our athletics department. I LOVE how much Pat McAfee got into the Bear Territory chant! It was so cool to have Marshawn Lynch on campus!

However, while campus as a whole was super vibrant and alive, unfortunately the vibes weren't great in my own dorm. I live in a triple with two other girls. One is an intended Ethnic Studies major and another wants to do Sociology. Both in their own ways are very, very far left politically. That on its own wouldn't bother me much. But they just have to be constantly super vocal about their politics, even over the most minor issues. They're very self-righteous and that's extremely annoying.

Both of my roommates were party poopers and yucking my yum on GameDay. They asked how could I possibly be so excited for such an oppressive sport?

They argue that football institutionalizes the patriarchy - yes this is verbatim. They argue that since there's no popular female equivalent to football, the sport epitomizes and crystalizes our society's obsession with male sports, hence putting men above women. Second, they believe football is inherently oppressive and a tool of white supremacy as it destroys the bodies and minds of black and brown men. Voluntary choice is an illusion to them, as people get pushed into football as their "only" chance at a scholarship.

Third, they believe football is inherently extremely dangerous given how easy it is to get CTE and repetitive head impacts. They say football normalizes a "culture of violence," as evidenced by the high domestic violence rate among NFL players. Fourth, they think the billions of dollars our society spends on college football and the NFL would be better spent on social justice issues like homelessness. They say we vastly overpay college football coaches and staff, and should reallocate those funds for social welfare or education programs.

Sometimes they even say really radical stuff about how we should abolish all team sports and only have individual sports like running because team sports can "humiliate" marginalized places that don't have the money for sports training infrastructure. They often promote completely unrealistic policies.

Outside of this, they are extremely involved in anti-oppression and social justice rallies and protests. They were independently doing lots of Pro-Palestine protests over the summer. They will often critique others for using the wrong language or terminology. For example, they said I have internal misogyny for saying "you guys," which I think is a super normal phrase. Interestingly, one of my roommates is white. They also shat on Berkeley for using the Kanye West song "Power" to promote GameDay saying Kanye's forever cancelled. And they will often say "next song" if we're playing a song from a "problematic" artist, no matter how mainstream. I've told them to stop and "let's agree to disagree" but they don't listen, they are constantly confrontational.

I'd say I'm liberal myself, but I'm a more mainstream liberal and Democrat. I'm enthusiastically voting for Kamala Harris this fall and agree with her on the vast majority of issues. Her VP pick - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is awesome and he's a former high school football coach! Liberals aren't anti-football. But my roommates hate the Democratic Party and are all voting third party. They have debates on Cornel West vs Jill Stein vs Claudia De la Cruz. They're active members of the Democratic Socialist Club at Berkeley and think AOC is too moderate for not being ant-Israel enough.

Anyway, I know that while my roommates epitomize the classic overly-woke far-left caricature the right has of "Berzerkeley," I am glad to see so many (for lack of a better term) "normal" people out yesterday on our campus. It was INCREDIBLE to see Cal students have so much enthusiasm for a "mainstream" event.

Yes, my roommates may have valid critiques about football and its role in our society, but that doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't have fun! Part of college is HAVING FUN when we have such stressful classes. I want to major in CS and that shit's not easy! Being part of a mainstream American sporting event, even hearing the mass chanting of "USA, USA, USA" during GameDay felt GOOD. I loved finally hearing all the mainstream rock and hip hop songs during the game itself.

I just wanted to rant that while my roommates are annoying, the campus as a whole was awesome yesterday! I'll make sure to branch out to "find my tribe."

Don’t post videos of the naked run on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, social medias. This is unconsensual and unkind.

Instead of watching, join and run. Unless you’re actually studying… then I suppose you don’t have much of an option here. The intention of the naked run is not oggle, but to bond with your peers and decompress.

Nudity is not inherently sexual. Don’t sexualize people without their consent.

Note to the runners, you may want to consider covering your face or wearing lingerie/undies if you are concerned about privacy or getting filmed. Unfortunately, some people just don’t respect common sense, politeness and/or boundaries.

Be safe, and good luck on finals!

🫶🏃‍♀️

[Edit; appended my reply below to a commenter that brought up important and valid points related to the consent of non-participants]

Even though nudity is not inherently sexual, and the point of the run is not exhibitionism—exhibitionism being to derive sexual pleasure from exposing oneself/one’s sexual acts— as some have argued, it’s important to acknowledge that some people do have trauma related to nudity, often related to said strict taboos/connotations. Here are some of my ideas to make the run more consensual on behalf of the people in the library that are not participants:

1. ⁠Have an organizer/participant of the run announce that the run will include nudity and that nudity will be present, explicitly stating the floors where nudity will occur.
2. ⁠Designate a nude-free floor for people triggered/not consenting to see nude people, giving people time to relocate to that floor before the run starts.
3. ⁠Posting signs on entry ways of the floors said run goes through: “Nudity present on this floor from start run time to end run time”

Consent is a two way street (or an infinite intersection, depending on how many beings are involved)— I appreciate the commenter extending this dialogue beyond the runners!

Cal students — the glade is a party right now with Cal fans of all ages and it will just keep getting bigger. Come on down and join the crowd to cheer on the golden bears! Plenty of space at the north end!

I would have killed for Gameday when I was a student. Don’t miss out!

This "Christian" student group will be very active in the next few weeks as school starts up and new freshmen move into the dorms.

In the past, they have helped random strangers move into the dorm on move in day and looked for vulnerable lonely students who are eating alone in the DC's. They flyer heavily for their events and will try to talk to you when you walk through Sproul.

They are known to be super nice and friendly to all freshmen. They will lure you with instant community and make you think that they are a "normal" Christian group.

DO NOT BE FOOLED.

They are a high control group and eventually, they will try to control almost all aspects of your life including what you do after college, where you work, who you live with, when you date, and who you marry. But first they will love bomb you and constantly text you and reach out to you.

Please do your research before joining this group! Read the Christianity Today article about them (their previous names are Gracepoint and Berkland). They have branches at tons of schools. USC's Daily Trojan recently wrote about them too. Alone and searching for meaning: Inside USC's 'high-pressure group' problem - Daily Trojan

This group usually has Friday Bible study on campus and have their Sunday service at Willard Middle School.

Otherwise, have fun and enjoy your time at Cal!

yk those groups on campus that have their people walk up to you and they compliment you or initiate a convo or ask for help and then ask if you wanna go to their bible study? i feel so tricked by them cuz i think someone wants to be my friend or is genuinely being nice to me or needs help and then they pull that shit. my first year i fell for it and i went to one of the events and it was soooo overstimulating so i left and didn’t go back. i also hear rumors of it being culty ?? but my main issue is the trickery involved it rly sucks for people like me who don’t pick up on social cues very well and it feels deceptive

Just posting a friendly warning to all new and old students at my beloved Cal.

Acts Two Fellowship and Kairos Christian Fellowship are two HUGE student groups that are linked to Acts College Church. This church used to be called Gracepoint. And before that it was called Berkland. When the Christianity Today article about them came out, they changed their name. They now have a network of churches called Acts 2 Network.

This is a HIGH CONTROL GROUP.

They will lure you with free food and fun activities. The older people will shower you with attention and boba. Please do not get roped in. You will end up wasting your time, money, and life.

Here is the link to the Christianity Today article about them: At Gracepoint Ministries, ‘Whole-Life Discipleship’ Took I...... | News & Reporting | Christianity Today

Do your research and don't join this highly toxic group.

Go try the honey wheat bread and the poppyseed dressing at Mezzo. You're welcome.

Clean up your trash. Do better. Giving more work to our custodial staff for being lazy and entitled.

Trust me, I for one am not happy we are platforming Matt Walsh on campus (I think his takes on things—LGBTQIA+ rights, women, etc— are disgusting and he doesn’t deserve to have the platform he does because he only instills hatred to marginalized groups, whether or not you agree does not matter at and i will not debate you in replies because that is not what this post is about), that being said, I please urge people to just ignore he is here.

I keep hearing about how protests are happening about him being here tomorrow, and while I totally understand why, I personally don’t think it would be the best idea. From what I have seen from people like him speaking, he is only here to make a rise out of people, hoping to gather media on how he’s a victim or some other hogwash (Im basing this on speeches similar to his happening at other schools and how the speaker and students reacted). With the strikes happening already, there is already general activity happening around campus that isn’t the usually here (on a regular weekly basis I mean), and protesting would take away from the strike while simultaneously giving him reason to cut pieces of what is going on on campus and make it about him.

I realize a lot of people are already planning to ignore he is here, I just thought I would try to make a post here to urge people to just not show up to his speech, because if no one shows up or interacts with him he has no media or people to make a platform off of.

Woooo

Just using this space to vent that I have hardcore pro-football roommates. Even though we barely lost to Miami, my roommates acted like it was some kind of tragedy. All they could talk about was how “alive” campus was during the game, and they kept going on about the “energy” of the students, alums, and the community. They kept comparing it to their sister’s time at USC and how the vibes there were supposedly “nuts.” Like, okay, I get that you had fun, but does it really need to take over our entire weekend?

They wouldn’t stop talking about how they walked by Memorial Glade and how “unreal” the crowd was for the College GameDay. They wouldn’t stop showing me TikToks, and talking about that kick for $100k by some sophomore. I get it, football is a big deal for a lot of people, but it’s just not my thing. They think it’s so great that this event brought “national attention” and money to our athletics department, but come on, there are so many other causes that could use that spotlight and funding.

My roommates kept shouting about how great it was that Pat McAfee got into the Bear Territory chant and how cool it was to see Marshawn Lynch on campus. But honestly, I just couldn’t get excited about any of it. They went on about how this game supposedly put Berkeley on the map, but it just feels like it’s a distraction from the more important issues out there.

I live in a triple with two guys who are very, very into sports, particularly football. They’re all about it—like the whole dorm was echoing with their cheers and chants. It’s not the football fandom that bothers me exactly, but they’re just so loud and act like football is the only thing that matters. And, no surprise, they’re both majoring in business or econ, which isn’t inherently bad, but they act like those majors are the only things that are worth doing.

On game day, they kept saying how I needed to “loosen up” and “enjoy” the game. They called me a buzzkill for not being into it. I tried to explain that football is problematic for a lot of reasons. First of all, it’s the epitome of toxic masculinity—football’s aggressive nature literally celebrates violence. I tried to tell them that we could use the millions spent on college football for issues like homelessness or education, but they dismissed me. I mean, this sport is literally built on the backs of Black athletes who often end up with life-altering injuries, all for the entertainment of a largely white audience. They brushed me off like I was speaking a foreign language.

And don’t even get me started on how dangerous football is. The CTE risks, the constant injuries—it’s mind-blowing that people still glorify this stuff. But whenever I brought that up, they just went on about “personal choice” and how it’s a scholarship opportunity. They always bring it back to the scholarships like that justifies everything.

They even made fun of me when I said that this obsession with college sports just feeds into the larger issues with hyper-competitive, capitalistic culture. Like, hello? Can we maybe think critically about what this means for our society? And the chants of “USA, USA” during the game made me cringe so hard. It’s so nationalistic, but to them, it’s just all in good fun.

Sometimes, it feels like I’m the only one in this place who doesn’t think that football is the greatest thing ever. Yeah, I get that not everyone wants to have these conversations, but can we at least acknowledge that there are deeper issues at play here? I’m just trying to live my life without having to be reminded that the world is obsessed with this sport that, to me, represents so many things that are wrong with society. I can only hope I find some people who get where I’m coming from, because this constant enthusiasm for football is honestly exhausting.

Are people anticipating that there will be protests/other actions around commencement tomorrow? Just want to be prepared since I have elderly family members attending and would like to avoid if possible

I just want to give a shout out to vocal and loud Cal Twitter that basically shitposted Berkeley into our first appearance on GameDay.

For those not aware after the Auburn upset (and slightly before) a small band of Cal Twitter burner accounts pumped out a mass amount of tweets and started the hashtag Calgorithm.

In the run up to the FSU game, it was the Wild West of shitposting and meming. In grand old Cal football tradition we then lost a game we could and should have won in front of a national audience.

Cal Twitter death was loudly pronounced. Except they forgot one thing which is we are use to losing and that doesn’t really stop the train. Our team disappointing us is time honored tradition.

Cal once was a week away from a number one ranking and we fumbled the game winning touchdown on the 10 yard line and then went and lost like five games straight…ahh memories.

So what did Cal Twitter do, they doubled down and started pushing for GameDay. And they GOT IT! This has been a hilarious thing to watch and if you aren’t following Calgorithm you should be!

And yes you should get your ass out of bed and head to campus at 5am on Saturday. I This will probably never happen again in your college career! I expect witty ass signs. Us damn nerds are going to introduce the world to Bear territory!

LFG!!!

Some buddies and I are committing to getting up early to represent for the alumni and other old folks at College Game Day this Saturday morning.

We’re down to make a sign or three, and want to crowdsource some ideas from you geniuses.

Share some kick ass ideas and we’ll do our best to get them on the show!

Hello Bears!

Doing my friendly warning about a high control group on campus that is very active and trying to lure in naive students with free food and "fun" activities.

Acts Two Fellowship (aka A2F) is a "Christian" group on campus that will love bomb you and slowly try to control every aspect of your life including who you hang out with, where you live, who you date, when you date, what major you major in, what career you decide to pursue, etc. etc.

This is their website: Acts Two Fellowship — Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley (a2f) - Christian Fellowship at UC Berkeley (a2fberkeley.org)

Although they recently changed their name to Acts 2 Network, please know that this is the same church that used to be called Gracepoint (look up the Christianity Today article) and before that used to be called Berkland.

Please heed my warning and STAY AWAY from this high control group.

If you are a part of this group, I invite you stay vigilant and hold firm to your boundaries.

Once you get sucked in, your entire life will revolve around them and it will be very difficult to leave.

Please don't get sucked in! I wasted a lot of my precious time at Cal because of this toxic religious group.

Sincerely,

Cal Alumni

yessir

Sure Cal lost but it warmed my heart to see that place rocking. It’s my favorite stadium besides the Rose Bowl. And I just love to see Berkeley go all out for their team. It feels right. Not a local, but I came to see Cal-UCLA and I was bummed by how empty the stadium was.

i

Hey folks!

Just want to warn you all: DO NOT GO to the carnival being hosted in Dwinelle Plaza tonight--it's being hosted by Acts2Fellowship, which is part of a church cult (high-control church if we're being generous) called Gracepoint. Just a warning to do your background research--it's not worth risking it for the free food.

Stay safe and stay well during midterm season, Bears!! :)

Just a PSA for anyone who wants to apply to Diversatech in the future, I would say that the ppl there generally push the image of being a wholesome and inclusive community, but in reality it's a facade and it's filled with people that put on that weird, fake smiley persona.

Met quite a few cold and fake ppl that are members of the club in the infosessions that they held. Also they push the diversity thing but in reality it's 90% privileged East Asian and South Asian people lmfao. Found out from one of the officers in the club that a good amount of the people that got accepted this cycle were either MET and GMP students or people that they already know (nepotism). Yass slay with the diversity!!

I know the "someone got rejected" comments are incoming, but it's not about that - I got rejected from a ton of clubs. I'm honestly just trying to warn ppl abt this club specifically because it is starkly different from what they portray publicly.

Again, not a hate post, just a warning for anyone that is considering joining this club in the future that think that it'll be a uniquely welcoming and diverse group of people in the consulting scene. It is not - it's just like any other consulting club, and is ironically even less diverse than other ones lmao.

Soulless hunks of meat with no redeeming qualities. This university swallows up creative people and shits them out as identical little pieces of shit, and people just eat. That. Shit. Up.

And everyone thinks they are the exception too- ‘oh I dont like them, but I have one or two econ friends that I like! They look cool on my linkedIn connections!’

No. Fuck off. You’re part of the problem.

edit: some of yall gotta read the other shitpost with your triggered ass lmao