Hi Everyone!

The video of the week from 🍻 Guten Tag! 6/21/26 details the linguistic phenomenon that can be created using the word “buffalo”. Since buffalo can function as multiple nouns, a verb, and an adjective, you can create a grammatically correct sentence only using that one word. I have been doing some extensive grammatical analysis and have determined that you can also create a grammatically correct sentence only using my name, Will. It looks a little something like this:

“Will Will will Will will?”

For clarity, the sentence essentially means “Will Will leave Will a will?” The first “Will” is a future/question marker, the second is Person 1, the third is a verb meaning something of the line of “to bequeath”, the fourth is Person 2, and the fifth is a legal document.It is important to note here that it does not seem to be infinitely chainable like “buffalo”. However, it still is an enduring testament to the power of will.

This whole intro might be a bit much on the foreshadowing, but oh well. Let’s find out What’s Up With Will…

I feel like I have kind of hit a brick wall in my Ph.D. quest. That’s okay, though, as I have the opportunity to chat with some of my mentors and professors next week as orientations begin. With that said, I pushed that to the side to focus on overhauling my methods paper for Western States Communication Association’s 2027 Convention. I am planning on submitting it to the Language, Self, and Social Construction (LSSC) division, as I think there are several questions that emerge from how knowledge and confidence grow over the course of an interaction in a wine bar.

However, as I was editing, I realized that this task was a microcosm for the issues that I have been having this summer. I want to first state that I am truly thankful to SFSU for giving me the opportunities to gain methodological and pedagogical proficiency. I have learned what it means to research in liberal arts fields, and I could not only gain the skills, but also experience what it is like first-hand to teach a class. This being said, I feel ill-equipped on the theory of Communication Studies, which has made it hard to define what programs I want to look at, as well as how to tangibly describe what my research would look like. More specifically, regarding the WSCA submission, I do not have a firm grasp of LSSC ideas and frameworks to better situate the paper within the division. I am hoping that as I go back to school, year 2 of my master’s will be focused more on developing my theoretical Communication Studies knowledge.

California Fish Grill, a seafood fast-casual chain, is having a bit of a California Pizza Kitchen moment. Despite its regional-sounding name, it is not just stuck in California. Instead, there are locations in States across the country, including Nevada, Arizona, Virginia, and Maryland. In its cross-country rollout, they recently opened a location in Concord and were giving away free bowls *with the purchase of a drink (they got me again; I really need to read the fine print better), so I started my weekday trip there. I grabbed an Everything Protein Bowl, packed high with Cajun shrimp, salmon, swai, grilled chicken, and beans. It was the equivalent of an everything bagel, except they are exaggerating slightly less about how much of everything is on it. 

As I ate my overseasoned meal (I guess seasoning is a spice of life, though, so I can’t complain), I couldn’t help but think about the irony of California Fish Grill’s name. Can something be California anymore if it begins to appear everywhere? With California Pizza Kitchen, California’s signature style pizza (thin crust with non-traditional and locally sourced toppings) is well-known, so its expansion still preserves part of its California essence. In the case of California Fish Grill, though, is there something that ties fish to California? Interestingly, I had to look to the south of the border.

It appears that the modern iteration of the deep-fried, crispy, crunchy, Baja-style fish taco has often been credited to Baja California, Mexico.¹ Then, it made its way to San Diego in the 80’s before becoming a mainstay in every Mexican restaurant across the country. While there was no fried fish in my meal, I spotted it in items all over the menu, so maybe this is what makes it California-esque. Alternatively, maybe it’s less about the particular style, and more in line with the culinary tradition of locally sourced ingredients. Or maybe, after all this investigation, it could just be called California Fish Grill because it started in California.

With all of these questions about California swirling around in my head, I was off to the Bedford Gallery. Now on exhibit was CALeidoscope: Evolving Reflections of California, a culmination of 73 California artists’ works that examine the communities, landscapes, histories, challenges, and identities of their home state. Through these artworks, we see how we shape California’s land just as much as it shapes our identities and memories, and this dichotomy is constantly changing and evolving. 

While examining our relationship with California, I increasingly began to realize that a reflection of California meant a reflection of myself too. I’ve lived in California for over two years now, and it has been the setting in which I did a lot of introspection about my life. Many of my decisions were also influenced by my geographic position (including going to SFSU). Ultimately, I have built a life that I love, and that life has evolved in California. While in conversations, I generally position myself as an outsider from the South, yet anywhere else, I tend to be defined by California dreamin’. Maybe I have evolved into a Californian, and as I am looking at potentially leaving the state for a Ph.D. program, I wonder how this relationship will continue to change.

Will I refer to myself as California Will? Who knows…

Elisa and Lloyd got married this weekend!!!! 

Rylee originally met Elisa through her work in San Francisco, and then I met the two of them at a bottomless mimosa mini-golf event. We have since become good friends, so when we received a save the date for the wedding in Buffalo, NY, we immediately RSVP’ed yes and started looking for flights. I was also originally pumped to potentially explore NYC for a couple of days, but then I realized that Buffalo is about 6-7 hours away. Apparently, I have the same deceptively compact understanding of New York geography that my friends have of California when I have to explain to them that Southern California and Northern California are two completely different places.

The wedding was on Saturday, so we decided to fly in on a red-eye Thursday night and fly out on Sunday. That gave us very little time in Buffalo proper, so we had to make the most of it, starting with our flights in. A fire broke out in BWI during our layover (thankfully it was a fire drill, but scary to look out on the tarmac and see a giant billow of smoke), and we also got to ride Southwest’s specially themed “Maryland One” Plane into Buffalo (Southwest has 12 planes that are each themed to a different state!)²

Upon arrival in Buffalo, we checked in and then made our way to the Burger Joint Augie’s to get a much-needed lunch while we decided on our next move. While we were far, far away from NYC, we were about an hour from the eighth wonder of the world: Niagara Falls. Given our lack of sleep, Rylee and I debated going. Rylee had never been, and its geographic inconvenience meant that there would be a low likelihood that we would ever fly in just for Niagara Falls. This would be our best chance to go for the foreseeable future. Then my Messy Pressy arrived, a burger topped with Canadian Poutine, and was the gustatory nail in the coffin that I needed.

And so after our lunch, we walked past eccentrically painted Victorians and D’Youville University (which I checked, and unfortunately doesn’t offer a Ph.D. in communication) to get on a bus towards the Falls. On our drive, we also breezed by several old factories (one that caught my attention was represented by old friends at UAW) and over sections of the Niagara River, a sneak peek of what was to come. 

We finally arrived at Niagara Falls, NY (not to be confused with Niagara Falls, Canada), and made a pit stop at the visitors center. The Falls have a long history with Daredevils, so they had a photo opportunity to barrel down them yourself. I happily got the shot, but I figured that we wanted a tamer method of experiencing Niagara Falls, so we started walking into Niagara Falls State Park.

It was only a short walk until we were greeted by the roaring of the American Falls. It’s not too often you are next to a waterfall, so we took some time to really bask in its glory. It’s one of those things that pictures don’t do justice; a camera can’t capture its totality. It’s no shock that an estimated 20 million people make the pilgrimage up here each year. ³

To get an even better view of the Falls, took an elevator ride down to the boats. We donned our complimentary ponchos, a not-so-subtle nod that “you will get wet on this ride”, and boarded the Maid of the Mist. We cruised feet away from the American Falls, and while getting sprinkled, it put into perspective how even more beautiful it was. Then, we made our way towards Horseshoe Falls, the arguably more breathtaking of the two. 

As the Maid entered the mist of the Falls, the scenery around us dissipated, and all that was left were majestic glimpses of the Falls and the thunderous rush of water all around us: 3,160 tons splashing down every second⁴. As we held fast to the edge of the boat, we were getting drenched. Water came in from every direction, soaking our shoes, hair, and covering our sunglasses, making it progressively harder to see (if only our sunglasses had windshield wipers).

Yet, we made it out of the tempest, relatively unscathed and dripping wet, having followed in the footsteps of daredevils before us and conquered Niagara Falls.

While we walked around Niagara Falls downtown in an attempt to dry off, Rylee and I stumbled upon The Winery at Marjim Manor’s downtown tasting room. We figured, why not learn more about the New York wine scene? When we walked in, the wine educator sat us down and pulled out a list of 24 creatively named wines, a mixture of red, white, and fruit wines, all more on the sweeter side than dry, just like us. However, despite each wine’s sweetness, I could taste other flavors rather than just sugar: some pepper from the cabernet, an overwhelmingly grape jam note from their “dry” concord grape, and warm spices from both the plum wine and apple wine. As we sipped, our wine educator explained to us the Niagara Wine Scene.

Wineries in the New York Niagara area are all recognized as part of the Niagara Escarpment AVA, a region that is characterized by its location to Lake Ontario and being geographically located on a cliff that shields grapes from a place known for its harsh, frosty winters. A lot of the wineries focus on sweeter wines in this region, but there has been a push to produce drier wines. At Marjim Manor, they said they plan to stick with the sweeter style, though. We then heard him recall back to when a Sommelier told him that he disliked the wines, but according to the educator, “the sweet stuff is the stuff that sells”. 

There’s an interesting thread to pull here, as the cultural narrative of wine knowledge moves from sweeter, white or rosé wines before moving to drier, bolder red wines. However, in Niagara, the sweet wines are the ones that thrive. That’s what makes this region unique. There is another complicating factor, though. As I mentioned, the wines aren’t just sweet. Instead, they have a bit of complexity to them, so I don’t think that you can chalk all this up to New Yorkers having “bad” taste in wine. When looking at the wine scene globally, there’s also a swath of wines that are prized because they are sweet, like ice wine, noble-rot wines, and Port. I think this brings into question ideas about regionality, consumer preferences, and who gets to decide what makes a “good” wine.

We woke up on Wedding day and started it the only proper way to start a wedding day: brunch. We decided on Betty’s, whose menu is full of comfort-food classics with a few more eclectic options (I got a slice of the Blueberry Almond French Toast Casserole). As we ate, more and more customers wearing Buffalo Bills jerseys entered the restaurant, getting excited for a preseason game versus the Carolina Panthers that coincided with the wedding. I have heard so many things about the Bills Mafia, and in another world where the game was at a different time, I would have checked it out. There are some things more important than football, though…

For the next few hours, Rylee spent her time doing her hair and makeup to prepare for the wedding. Meanwhile, I played video games on my laptop, and then in the last 30 minutes, I ironed my clothes, and I was good to go! 

We made our way to Resurgence Brewing Company, which closed out the top floor just for the wedding. As we walked to our seats for the ceremony, we estimated that there were about 100 people in attendance. I personally enjoyed hearing about all the personal stories from friends and families who explained how Elisa and Lloyd met each other for the first time. They both said, “I Do!”

It was such a wonderful wedding. The space was perfect for the number of people there, and the decorations were on point. There was amazing food (and some that Rylee could get gluten-free), and a crazy collection of drinks (loganberry wit beer, a lemon tea sour, and a neon-blue razz shandy). Also, the DJ was cranking out banger after banger. Most importantly, though, regardless of whether it was a family member, a long-time friend from Buffalo, or a newer friend from California, you could see the love and joy that everyone there had for the bride and groom. It’s a beautiful thing to be celebrating love surrounded by the people that care about you the most. That’s all I can hope for at my future wedding.

Over the course of the night, we met several of Elisa and Lloyd’s friends from Buffalo. When we told them that we went to Niagara Falls, everyone’s first thing out of their mouths was, “Did you go to the Canadian side? It’s much better.” We told them no, but that we did go on Maid of the Mist, and that seemed to be an acceptable answer. It turns out that most of them went on a field trip there in school, so they had strong opinions about which side of the Falls was better.

Everyone was also shocked that we went to Betty’s, as a large part of the wedding party also got brunch there. I said at the beginning of the trip that I wanted to make the most of it, but it turns out that I might have actually done so. 

At one point during the wedding, “California Gurls” by Katy Perry Feat. Snoop Dogg began playing, and everyone on the dance floor started dancing in sync. I was so confused, but went along with it and copied everyone else’s moves (even if I was slightly behind, though). It wasn’t until the end that I overheard Elisa talk about how getting everyone to learn the Just Dance 3 Choreography to the song was the best wedding gift ever.