The Existential Crisis of The Donut
By Aaron Andrade
Professors Hannah Seilder Wright (holding a donut turned into a cat coffee mug & a paper Möbius strip) and Morgan Rae (holding a delicious box of donuts, now missing all maple bars because they are their favorite)
“It’s said a topologist is someone who can’t tell the difference between a coffee cup and a donut.” Topology is the study of geometric sides when you don’t care about shapes or angles so everything is just this stretchy rubber. Therefore, without breaking the mold, a coffee cup is a donut!
Halfway through the stretching, the mold gets weird. Is it a coffee cup? Is it a donut? Mathematically, it’s both!
Despite the twists and turns, this paper Möbius strip only has one side. I put my pen down and watched as the line intersected after going through loops and loops.
Chaffey student Sean Castro Melendez, crafting with extra clay from the event to form Among Us mini-figurines.
With a simple twist of a two dimensional object, a one faced Möbius strip is made. Breaking what I thought was reality.
Professor of ceramics and hater of all things math-related, Stanton Hunter. Professor Stan showed us all up and made the best mug out of a donut ever.
Professor Seilder’s wonderful cat-donut-coffee mug sunbathing to harden for later use. They weren’t fired at the event so it will be used as a lovely pen holder!
Sean’s sus final creations, I think I saw terracotta venting.
Sean showing off his young boys after the event concluded.
Sean wanted a sick-looking picture of him holding his creations. Of course, I obliged, and he later thanked me for my work.
Journalism is a messy career. I had to jot down whatever notes I could when the professors gave their presentations while we were molding the clay.
My, not so well done, donut-turned coffee mug. Just happy to be here.
‘Am I Really Just a Coffee Cup? A Donut’s Existential Crisis’ is a thought I never once had but will continue to bring up for the rest of my life to those around me. Overall, I had a great time. Chaffey students and faculty came together in one space to explore an interesting yet very niche topic. We all became topology experts, it turns out math is more than just numbers and graphs, it’s all around us, and it is incredible to know another fun way to look at the universe.