We asked students where they love studying the most. Here are 10 study spots (in no particular order) around the UCLA campus you should check out.  (A map is included at the end.)

Book stacks at the Young Research Library (Photo: Flickr/AlaskanLibrarian).

1. Young Research Library

The newly renovated first floor study lounge has a modern look that students will appreciate. In case you start feeling too cozy while studying, there’s also a cafe on the first floor.

2. Engineering Library

“They have that calm, cozy, and silent-stormy mood and atmosphere,” says  one student. The library is less packed during study season, as not many people know about it.

3. Powell Library

The library is beautiful inside and out. Some say it’s easy to focus here. But this is one of the first places people hit up to study. So during midterms and final seasons, try to exhaust your other options before looking for space here!

4. Kerckhoff Study Lounge

The study lounge can be found on the 2nd and 3rd floors of Kerckhoff, an ideal place for MSA-ers to study if they want to stay close to the Mozlums. It’s also one of the few study spots close to the prayer area behind Kerckhoff.

5. SAC (Student Activity Center) Basement

Good place to study during finals week as they have study hall hours until 3 a.m. They also have their own Vanpool service to drop students off at their dorm or apartment (available only if you study there for at least 1 hour).

6. Lawn next to Janss steps

If you need some fresh air or Vitamin D, you can study in the lawn next to Janss steps. Plus, the view is fantastic!

7. Botanical Garden

A view you will see at the Botanical Garden at UCLA. Can you spot the sunbathing turtles? (Photo: Flickr/cindylu)

The Botanical Garden is a beautiful place every student must visit before graduating (the garden even holds some very rare species). It’s open to public during certain hours, students are free to study there. My personal favorite spot is the “tropical” section. If you are close enough to the water you might spot a few turtles!

8. Kerckhoff Patio

It’s out in the open, you get fresh air (and still remain relatively close to your second home, the MSA office). It’s also right next to the Kerckhoff Coffee shop. Go here only if you are not easily distracted.

9. Starbucks in Westwood

If you are sick of studying on campus, there are plenty of cafes in Westwood (many of them come with free wifi). One student’s favorite is the Starbucks.

10. “Cafe Med” at Center for Health and Sciences

View Study Spots on Campus in a larger map

Featured photo of American flag taken by Flickr user danic.

Part 1: “Non-Violent Movement”

Part 2: “Revolutionary Ideas”

Part 3: “Tangible Demands”

Part 4: “Direct Action”

Part 5 & 6: “Bruins in Tents”

Part 7: “The State of Our Education”

Students at UCLA gathered on Meyerhoff Park on November 1st to show their support for repealing Prop 209.

Demonstration to Repeal Prop 209 – Part 1:

Spoken Word at Demonstration to Repeal Prop 209:

Demonstration to Repeal Prop 209 – Part 3:

(Featured image: Flickr/ B.R.Q.)

(Photo: Filckr/decade_null)

The American incarceration system has made it a point to imprison people, bar them from outside contact, isolate them from society and bunch them together to have “tea-parties”. Meanwhile, they fail to provide them with proper rehabilitation programs and a safe environment to foster development and change.

Put simply: this system just does not work.

How effective can prison be if its only purpose is to house criminals for the duration of their sentence and after their sentence is complete, release them back into society? Not very effective at all.

The fact that up to 60% of inmates are rearrested within 3 years of release only attests to the flaw in the incarceration system. Prisons need to be places that encourage and facilitate change and development within each inmate on a personal level.

Their primary purpose should be to provide inmates with rehabilitation programs, counseling services, educational forums, and real-world mentoring.

Their secondary purpose is to be the medium for criminals to serve their sentences. What happens if the incarceration system continues to fail to invest in inmate refinement? Well, the average cost to house a single adult inmate is nearly $50,000 a year. With nearly a quarter-million inmates (217,000 to be exact) of which over 80% serve more than 5 years, 70% serve more than 10 years, and 40% more than 15. You do the math.

And don’t forget that there’s a 67% chance they’ll go right back in. This system hurts everyone, taxpayers pay from their pockets while inmates pay with their lives.

How do you try to tackle this problem? Changing the system entirely will quite literally take a national revolution. The corporate grip on the government will not loosen easily, there’s just too much money to be made.

But there is another way.

We can target the at-risk youth who would otherwise grow up to become the adult inmates that fall into the hole of cyclic incarceration. We can provide them with the services, skills, and environment they need to develop and mature into productive people will prevent them from filling up prisons and becoming a burden not only upon society, but also upon themselves.

***

Part I | Part II | Part III

Casablanca, Morocco

If only I was equipped with a telescope so I could determine the first night of Ramadan myself, because time was passing by and it was the first of August, but no Moroccans seemed to be buzzing about with the spirit of the holy month. I eagerly awaited another month of starvation and spiritual reflection, trying to time my trip in Casablanca accurately so that I could pray the first Taraweeh prayer in the Hassan II mosque among thousands of believers.

I was in the middle of a souk when the call to Maghrib, or sunset-time prayer, was announced on a local speakerphone on a minaret. An immediate sense of jubilation came over me as I began to realize that Ramadan had begun. Eagerly, I took a break from the shopping and entered the small mosque through a hidden staircase behind one of the souk stores.

I was disoriented but couldn’t care less as I roamed about upstairs not realizing I needed to put my shoes in a bag. I went down again, retrieved one, and climbed back up. After performing wudu, or ablution before prayer, I found a seat on a stylized red carpet in a seemingly empty room. I felt prepared to engage in my first few moments of spiritual growth while observing the Moroccan women around me flip through the Quran. I prayed Maghrib and left the souk.

Amelia Noor in Casablanca, Morocco with henna on her hands.

Oussama and I toured around the King’s palace for a little while before making our way to the large park in central
Casablanca. It truly felt like Ramadan when I was pulled by the arm by a Moroccan lady and was motioned by her to sit down on a mini stool that was too short for my petite legs, even.

Within minutes, my hands were covered in beautiful floral designs in henna, the traditional leaf-extract dye that is used for celebrations. Since I already passed as a Moroccan on the streets, I felt even more like a native. My appearance became such a tool for deception–with the hijab, tanned skin, and Arab-style scarf, it was especially more now that I had henna on my hands!

Little did I know that Morocco was actually one of the only countries in the world that did not begin Ramadan according to the Saudi Arabian moon-sighting. I spent that entire evening in denial about how I began my Ramadan!

XVI | XVII | XVIII

Salmon Hossein on his first visit to Afghanistan earlier this year.

Al-Talib interviews Salmon Hossein on his experience growing up as an Afghan American post 9/11. Hossein is a recent UCLA graduate who is now pursuing a Masters of Public Policy at Harvard University.

A-T: Describe that day in 2001. What was it like, what do you remember?

Hossein: I remember, just that summer we had moved from Northern California where I was born and raised my entire life to Southern California.

That morning I happened to wake up a little earlier, and I’m sitting down in front of the TV and there’s smoke billowing from one of the Twin Towers so I’m like “Mom! Mom! Come look at this!” So while we’re watching the broadcast and while I’m eating my breakfast, the second plane hits and that’s when we knew like ok, something serious is happening here. I just remember that morning so vividly.

A-T: How do you think it impacted you growing up?

Hossein: In terms of national history, it’s probably one of, if not the most important thing that happened to me, more than the war in Afghanistan, because I was ridiculed a lot when I went to school.

It was my second day at school and the kids barely knew me to begin with. And on top of that, I happened to be an Afghan-American. So they kept calling me “Afghanistan” to a point where I didn’t think they even knew my name.

It affected me on multiple fronts because I was Muslim, and Islam was being attacked. I was Afghan, and Afghanistan was the first country that was invaded. And lastly, my last name is Hossein. So as if being Muslim and Afghan wasn’t enough, I happen to have the same last name as Iraq’s dictator. I was like the living, walking, talking Axis of Evil in one.

And it really hurt me because I didn’t know how to respond to it, I was only in 8^th grade. I went through an identity crisis. I would actually try reasoning with them “I was born and raised in California, I don’t know any of them” or “that’s not what I believe. If I believed any of it I wouldn’t be living here.”

Soon enough I realized these people weren’t listening and they were just making more fun of me. And that’s when I started to develop a sense of humor and try to mentally take what they say lightly. It almost changed my personality. Before that I was this geeky nerd and after that I realized I could use humor and personal relationships with people.

A-T: How about today, do you think 9/11 influenced your interaction with non-Muslims?

Hossein: Today I think I’m very aware of my interactions with non-Muslims, especially if they know my faith. If I’m one of the only Muslims they know, I have to put on a good show and represent Islam to them. Not put on a show as in be fake, but if I’m this temperamental, angry guy, I fit into the media stereotypes that are hammered into them every day.

But if I’m this guy that’s working for social justice, devoting my life to public service, or I’m friendly with them, then I hope that they’ll take away that not all Muslims are like this, in fact, most are like Salmon.

A-T: What about your identity? How was that impacted?

Hossein: At first, I was so typecast as “the other,” “the minority,” “the Muslim,” that I fell prey to it, that when people asked me what I am I would say that I’m Afghan. But that changed over time because I realized that no, I’m American. I was born in California, raised in California, went to school in California, lived 23 years of my life in California and only this year did I spend five months in Afghanistan. So I’m as Californian and as American as the person next to me. That’s something I hadn’t come to terms with until recently.

A-T: You want to dedicate your life to fighting poverty and other social issues. Given the conflicts going on in Afghanistan even before 9/11, what led you to this path?

Hossein: Before 9/11 I cared a lot about Afghanistan because I had learned so much about what my parents had gone through for me to be in America today and how one small change in their escape story could have either meant death for them or them not ending up in America. And if they didn’t end up in America they wouldn’t have met each other and my sister and I wouldn’t be here today.

So because I understood how privileged we were I cared a lot about Afghanistan and the issue of poverty around the world.

But 9/11 made me look into the political and societal ramifications of being a Muslim. Before that, it was a very private faith for me. It was something we did in our family, behind closed doors amongst relatives and friends. It wasn’t something that I needed to talk about. But after 9/11 I realized I have to justify my faith and justify my beliefs. I had to defend it against people who were ignorant.

So it did influence me. Because of that bigotry, because my patriotism was questioned, my faith was demonized, the very freedoms, honor and respect that my family sought in the United States was no longer being afforded to them, I wanted to enter law, policy and government and put an end to that. Because I believe that what America stands for, its truest ideals are in conjunction with the Islamic faith because both preach and promote freedom, justice, and liberty for all, and the pursuit of happiness and equality for everybody.

A-T: Tell me a little bit about your reaction right after September 11th.

O’Neill: I was really scared. I was nine years old and I remember, my dad works for a company, and they were on lockdown. And so, it was really scary to think that I might never see my dad again, or those were just the thoughts that were going through my head. I remember seeing everyone in panic, they were talking about where it might get hit next, and so it was kind of like everywhere, scary. I just remember seeing it on T.V. and not knowing what to think.

A-T: When you figured out the attackers were Muslim, how did you start reacting to Muslims?

O’Neill: Well, it was interesting, because before the attack I didn’t really know about Muslims at all. The community I grew up, I wasn’t really exposed to that. It was mostly Latinos, Whites, Asians and Blacks. That was it. So, I became more educated about them [Muslims] and I learned. I saw all the negative sentiments towards them around me, but I’m the type of person who doesn’t judge people or not like them. So I learned more about the culture, and when I came to UCLA I met a lot of different Muslim people, from different countries. It was really cool. I got to hear their stories and the things they’ve gone through.

A-T: In your own community, did you ever see negative sentiment?

O’Neill: Well, in my parents’ community there aren’t really Muslims there, and people more or less just talked about the event. They would talk about the figures pinned on it, like Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. They would talk about those things, but they wouldn’t say, “Oh, all Muslims are blank,” or that it was their fault. It was more the leaders themselves that they disagreed with and were mad at.

A-T: How do you feel after 10 years since 9/11?

O’Neill:  I can’t believe it’s been ten years. I have such a fresh memory of it. I see it as a part of history, just like any other event. The one good thing that I think came from it was a feeling of the country coming together, and least in the first part, right after it happened. You would see on T.V. people praying together and I felt a sense of unity within the country. I see it as an obstacle that happened, and we had to go over.

A-T: Is there anything else you would like to say?

O’Neill: For people that do have negative sentiments towards Muslims because of that incident, I hope that they would become more educated and really get to know people from those cultures and not be ignorant, stereotype, and hate them for something they didn’t do. We’ll never know the full answers of everything, but people need to move on and not cause dissensions.