Hi, welcome!

Welcome to the Spring 2022 Stress Busters brought to you by the CSUEB Library! We know how stressful it can be once finals roll around, but we're here to remind you that there are plenty of resources that can help bring that stress down!

Check out these fun reads from the library!

A mix of Romance and Feel-good novels:

• The Brown sisters: Get a Life, Chloe Brown: A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who's tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things. Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list.
• The Wedding Date: A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel. Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do.
• Crazy Rich Asians: The book is about three wealthy, upper-class Chinese families, and how they undermine those who are not as rich and influential as them.
• Last Night at the Telegraph Club: This book is set in 1950s San Francisco and tells the story of Lily Hu, a teenage daughter of Chinese immigrants as she begins to explore her sexuality.
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world.
• Ayesha at Last: This story takes the 200-year-old romantic comedy of manners, with its nods to Shakespeare, and updates it to the Indian Muslim community in suburban Toronto. Hijab-wearing Ayesha Shamsi is unmarried at 27 (gasp!) and prefers to be at a poetry slam in a boozy lounge than at her new job as a substitute teacher.
• You Should See Me in a Crown: The novel follows Liz Lighty, who hatches a plan to leave the "small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town" she lives in because she feels 'too black, too poor, too awkward' to live her best life there.
• The Henna Wars: Bangladeshi Irish teen Nishat is obsessed with winning her school's business competition—which entails outperforming the girl she has a crush on. Nishat is tired of hiding the fact that she is lesbian. But when she comes out to her parents, they respond with cold silence.

Sci-Fi and Fantasy:

• Legendborn: After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC–Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape—until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus.
• The Fifth Season: The story is set on a supercontinent called the Stillness that is constantly rocked by seismic activity, some of it devastating to civilization and causing an extended winter referred to as a “Fifth Season.”
• Riot Baby: The “Riot Baby,” Kev, is born in 1992 Los Angeles, just hours after the courts acquitted the cops that beat Rodney King and the city erupted in violence. As a teenager in New York, Kev is brutally assaulted by police and arrested for no crime but being black; he spends the next eight years incarcerated at Rikers.
• An Unkindness of Ghosts: On board the generation ship Matilda, where the passengers have formed a society stratified along racial lines such that those with dark skin are relegated to lower-deck lives of servitude and harsh behavioral restrictions, Aster Gray is a lower-decks healer who must discover the hidden connection between her mother's suicide decades ago and the mysterious death of the ship's Sovereign.
• Parable of the Sower: This book tells the story of a groundbreaking speculative fiction novel that tells the story of young Lauren Olamina as she journeys to Northern California to escape ecological and societal collapse in Southern California.
• Binti: A young woman named Binti is the first member of the Himba ethnic group on Earth (closely modeled on the Himba people) to be accepted into the prestigious intergalactic university Oomza Uni. Upon being notified of her acceptance, Binti runs away from home and boards a transport ship to Oomza Uni.

Graphic Novels:

• Queer: A Graphic History: Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Jules Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel.
• Almost American Girl: An Illustrated Memoir: A teen graphic novel memoir about a Korean-born, non-English-speaking girl who is abruptly transplanted from Seoul to Huntsville, Alabama, and struggles with extreme culture shock and isolation, until she discovers her passion for comic arts.
• Djeliya: a West African Fantasy Epic: Inspired by West African folklore and stories handed over centuries, this unique graphic novel follows the adventures of Mansour Keita, last prince of a dying kingdom, and Awa Kouyaté, his loyal Djeli, or 'royal storyteller' as they journey to meet the great wizard who destroyed their world and then withdrew into his tower, never to be seen again.
• The Black Panther Party: a Graphic Novel History: Using dramatic comic book-style retellings and illustrated profiles of key figures, The Black Panther Party captures the major events, people, and actions of the party, as well as their cultural and political influence and enduring legacy.

Check out campus events!

• May The 4th Be With You: Join your fellow peers at this Star Wars themed event! (May 4th, 2022 from 12 PM-1 PM)
• Baybayin Workshop: Join us in this workshop where we'll be teaching ancient Filipino script and its history! (May 4th, 2022 from 7 PM-8:30 PM)
• Blu and White Study Hall: The ladies of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority inc and Phi Beta Sigma Inc. would like to host a Study Hall to give students a safe and comfortable space to get ready for finals. (May 4, 2022 from 6 PM-8 PM)
• IISE End of Academic Year Celebration: Join us for the IISE End of Academic Year Celebration! This is a time to learn about IISE and what we do, come prepared with questions. Most importantly this is an opportunity for all IE students, from Freshmen to Seniors, to mingle, network, and have fun. Professors and other IE staff will also be at the event so come and get to know your current or future instructors outside of the classroom. There will be food and music at the event for everyone to enjoy! (May 6, 2022 from 4:30 PM-6 PM)
• Career Building Workshop: A resume critique and talk by industry professionals. Free food is provided! (May 6, 2022 from 4 PM-10 PM)

Put on your headphones and take a listen!

Take a deep dive into podcasts!

• Owning It: The Anxiety Podcast: Hosted by Caroline Foran, this podcast focuses on mental health and teaches listeners a little about how to best cope with everyday struggles, with a particular focus on anxiety and anxiety disorders.
• Dissect: Dissect is a serialized music podcast that examines a single album per season, one song per episode.
• How To Fail With Elizabeth Day: This podcast celebrates the things that haven't gone right. Every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them about how to succeed better.
• Stuff You Should Know: Hosted by Josh and Chuck, this podcast teaches you about, well, stuff you should know. Some of the topics they cover include champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime, Rosa Parks, and the list goes on and on.
• Why Won't You Date Me? With Nicole Byer: Hosted by comedian and host of the famous Netflix show, Nailed It, Why Won’t You Date Me? follows Nicole Byer’s journey to understand why she’s still single. The show is hilariously relatable or will just make you thankful for your own dating life.
• RedHanded: RedHanded is an award winning true crime podcast that offers a weekly dose of murder, wit and “WTFs” delivered with all the facts, anecdotal tangents aplenty, serious societal scrutiny and real BRITISH flavor.

Relax with music playlists from Spotify!

• ASMR Triggers: Tune in and listens o drawing, paper-cutting, tearing and brushing sounds. ASMR sounds for total relaxation. (No talking)
• 8D Rainforest Sounds: A collection of relaxing rainforest sounds.
• Meditate to the Sounds of Nature: Calm ambient music with gentle nature sounds.
• Chill Lofi Study Beats: The perfect study beats, twenty four seven!
• Animal Crossing Study Music: Take a listen to different renditions of Animal Crossing tracks.
• Brain Food: Listen to hypnotic electronic tunes, perfect for studying and relaxing.

Looking for motivation to study?

• 1 AM Study Session: Study with everyone’s favorite Lo-fi Girl on Youtube for a few hours!
• StudyStream: Study with thousands of other students from around the world on Zoom, Discord, or Slack!
• Study Together: Add a motivation booster to your studies! Join the 24/7 Zoom study rooms and learn alongside +200.000 other students.

Need tools and techniques for stress management?

• Xhaler: This web app is meant to help with your breathing exercises, and has been said to reduce stress and anxiety, by promoting slow and even breathing.
• Stress Analyst: If you've just had a stressful experience then this interactive page will help you calm down and get over it. It will guide you through a process of analyzing away your stress.
• Stress management tips from Dartmouth: This page focuses on what stress is and looks at some general stress busters to help you out.
• University of Michigan: Progressive Muscle Relaxation: Here is a list of the muscle groups in order and how to tense them to relax your body.