Course focuses on voting rights, interaction with community

In the fall of 2005, Whitman students were given the opportunity to do academic research which would directly impact their Eastern Washington community. The course and project, dubbed The State of the State for Washington Latinos, initially drew in 12 undergraduate students who researched everything from farm work to education to domestic violence in small towns and cities in Washington under the guidance of Associate Professor of Politics Paul Apostolidis.

The entire report, completed at the end of the fall semester, was the first inclusive account of varying conditions for Latinos in Washington.

This groundbreaking research was presented to community leaders, opinion-makers and media heads; it was also published online at The State of the State for Washington Latinos Web site, accessible at walatinos.org.

That was only the beginning.

The next year, Apostolidis offered the course again with the goal of expanding the research previous students had begun. Again, the Community-Based Research project was successful, and this time, Princeton University took notice.

The project was awarded a Learn and Serve America innovation grant from Princeton —one of 10 awards made this year from 100 applicants.

“The main reason we got funded—aside from the fact that students had done such bang-up work and the project has been so successful—is that we do some things here that are pretty different than most other places that do community-based research,” said Apostolidis.

The State of the State for Washington Latinos uniquely focuses on empirical research projects which beg explanatory analysis for statistical findings, Apostolidis said. More importantly, though, the project incorporates a public communications component: Students must present their research to community leaders and media to try to stimulate broader conversations about Latino issues in Washington.

This spring, the project took a special angle: Because 2008 is an election year, the nine students enrolled in the course focused their research around political mobilization and voting rights in the Latino community.

“When the class first begun, the Democratic Caucus was starting and that was a great way for me to not only get introduced to the process involved, but also to visually see who was there and what kind of people I was going to talk to,” said sophomore Melissa Navarro, who did her research on political mobilization in Yakima, Wash.

The five females enrolled in the class this spring chose to research political mobilization for the Latino community, while the four males enrolled researched voting rights.

The course, which required students to conduct interviews with community members in Washington cities like Pasco and Toppenish, met once a week and culminated in a single-spaced paper detailing research findings, often stretching to 40 pages or longer.

“We’re all very tired. It’s always a very difficult thing to do. It’s extremely challenging. You don’t think that you can do the research right up front if you’ve never done a project like this before, or step in front of audiences and cameras and state officials and say this stuff,” said Apostolidis. “But the fact is that these issues are very much of the moment. There’s a huge lack of knowledge. People know there are issues that need to be dealt with and they’re looking for the kind of work we’re providing. It’s having an impact.”

This year, Professor of Sociology Gilbert Mireles joined Apostolidis in leading the course. He is impressed with what the students have already accomplished.

“These students are literally on the cutting edge of research on Latino communities in the Northwest. More significantly there is a very real possibility of meaningful social and political change because of the students’ work,” said Mireles in an e-mail.

This semester’s students generally agreed that the importance of their work, alongside the community-based component, made the class memorable.

“It’s interesting to hear things on the ground that you thought you’d only hear in the context of a social science paper. You hear people intuitively saying stuff that social scientists spend years figuring out, just through experiences in these towns. It’s nice to see that the academic work has a connection to the real world,” said junior Nick Dollar, who did his research in Granger and Toppenish.

Senior Emma Fulkerson, who worked alongside Dollar in Granger and Toppenish, agreed.

“It’s been really valuable to do research with actual people rather than just reading books. We do that kind of research as well, but it makes your work feel like it actually matters because people are going to read it and you know it’s actually going to affect people,” said Fulkerson.

For Navarro, the importance of the work in the class outweighs its heavy course-load.

“When else are you going to get this experience? When else are you going to have the opportunity not only do this much work, but also get out there and meet the people you’re actually writing about and reading about? Writing a 40-page paper is a small price to pay for when you’re actually talking about things that haven’t come up before and haven’t been written about,” said Navarro.

While Apostolidis plans to continue to offer courses like this in the future, few professors are following suit. Classes grounded entirely in community-based research are rare at Whitman.

Apostolidis, for one, would like to see that change.

“We have a responsibility here as people engaged with the world of ideas and knowledge to be trying to actively do something to solve the problems that exist in society at large,” said Apostolidis.

Junior Andrea Miller, who did her research on political mobilization in Pasco, would also like to see Whitman take more steps in this direction.

“I think that Whitman should come up with more classes like this: Where you would have to go out and talk to community members,” said Miller. “Professors should think about doing this sort of class, even though it is a lot of work, because it is well worth it.”

Apostolidis is offering a similar course in the fall. Politics 458: Racism and Latinos in Washington State will be a community-based research course allowing students to work on various topics surrounding the Latino community in Washington.

Book Review Milan Kundera’s ‘Ignorance’

Kundera’s “Ignorance” is a modern version of the Great Return, coming home after the Odyssey has taken place.  While simultaneously questioning if such a return is even possible, Kundera tells the story of two Czechs who,  after being exiled for 20 years, accidentally run into each other while flying back to their homeland in 1989, after the fall of Communism in Prague.

Irena, who left Prague with her now-deceased husband, is coming home only to encounter a transformed culture that is at once familiar and alien.  Her idea of a glorious homecoming is shattered by the realization that the people she once knew are indifferent to the past 20 years she has spent living in Paris—her Odyssey ceases to exist after she has reached her Ithica.  Josef, who returns to Prague to fulfill a promise made to his since-passed wife, experiences a similarly disheartening reunion.  He no longer belongs to the country he once loved, and reentering it, he is treated even by his family like a man returning from the dead.

Their parallel stories are those of émigrés.  Even after they are allowed to come back to their homeland, both realize the truth: they can never truly return.  Long ago, Irena and Josef were involved in a brief but pivotal romance, and now, having met again in the Paris airport, the question of whether or not they will rekindle their romance, thus freeing themselves from the dismal trap of their past lives, hangs palpable in the air.

In addition to his typical poignant historical anecdotes and wisdom, Milan Kundera shapes a captivating and gut-wrenching narrative which strains between a tragedy and a half-hearted love story.  His characters are shocking in their accuracy.  The honest depictions of every person makes it such that no character is comfortably heroic.  One can find reasons to adore and disgust anyone, as reality would have it if it were half as revealing.

At times seeming to converse lightly with the reader, the narrator often frames the novel as case study on the behavior and effects of memory: how it is altered by the passing of time, how it is irreparably lost and fragmented, how it determines our present lives as it is shared or not shared between two people.

Because it is a quick read, one might easily miss the deeper theories and insights into human nature that “Ignorance” has to offer.  The extensive impact of mismatched memories is well-explored here.

Kundera deftly moves through the narratives of odyssey, historical fantasy, unrequited love and eroticism in a voice simultaneously wise and freshly curious.

Native German speaker honored

Nelli Haase, the native German speaker on Whitman campus, was awarded the 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award by the Blue Mountain Humane Society on April 28.

“I was so happy, I was almost crying,” said Haase.

Haase, who is from Berlin, is spending this year in Walla Walla as part of a year off from studying law in Germany. She is employed as the native German speaker, teaching and helping German students of all levels. In addition to her job responsibilities, she currently studies politics and philosophy, taking a full credit course load of five classes.

Haase said that she began volunteering at the animal shelter last September, after learning the difference between American and German animals shelters. She said that in Germany, shelters are government-paid and that dogs are walked at least every other day.

“The humane society depends on volunteers. If nobody comes, the dogs don’t get out for weeks,” Haase said.

She volunteers almost daily at the shelter, and estimates that she spends at least between 10 and 15 hours a week there.

“The humane society is I think only a seven minute walk from Whitman, like from Olin, so I think everybody could go at least once a week,” Haase said.

Haase spends her time at the shelter walking dogs, playing with them, brushing them and petting them. She also talks to potential adopters, sharing information and habits about particular animals and helping them get adopted. Because she knows the animals will be adopted, she doesn’t let herself connect with just one pet.

“I try to make the moment that I’m there a good one for both of us, and then I leave and I try to be just and next time take another time another animal,” Haase said. “I like to take the dogs out who need it the most, who jump the most and who are the wildest.”

Volunteering at the shelter can be bittersweet for Haase, however. In the back of her mind, she said she either thinks of how they will soon be adopted, or how unfortunate it is that they aren’t a part of a family.

“Of course you always remember how good it would be if [the animals] would have a family, but at the same time you know that you did something good and that the dogs are really happy. It’s really good when people are engaged, and you can tell that the animals really appreciate it.”

Junior Greg Phillips and German House resident assistant says that Haase’s love for animals and passion in life is apparent to all who know her.

“She’s really caring… I found out very quickly that she has a self justice system built into her mind, so all life matters to her, whether it be the smallest insect or animal,” Phillips said.

“The compassion that she has for animals goes beyond that,” he added. “It’s also the compassion hat she has for her friends, which is really uplifting.”

Fey stays smart in ‘Baby Mama’

There is a certain brand of humor generated by “Saturday Night Live” that makes for entertaining sketch comedy, but shoddy comedic films. For years, SNL has tried to cash in on their most popular characters by drawing out what should, at most, be 15 minute sketches into feature length films such as “Night at the Roxbury,” “The Ladies Man,” and “Superstar.” These films almost always turn out to be disasters, or at least extremely dull, because a single funny idea just isn’t funny anymore when reiterated for an hour and a half.

Tina Fey, one of the smartest, most inventive writers SNL has ever employed, has managed to break out of the typical sketch to screenwriting mold like no one from NBC’s hit show has before. Her first screenplay, “Mean Girls,” was a masterpiece of the teen film genre, if there has ever been such a thing.

Part parody, but rooted in real conflict and emotion, the film was a social commentary as much as a comedy. Fey’s newest film, “Baby Mama,” is actually written by Michael McCullers, another writer for SNL, and lacks the vivacious punch of “Mean Girls,” but maintains a similar sharp, witty, surprising kind of humor throughout.

Fey takes center stage in this film as Kate Holbrook, a single, successful businesswoman who, at 37 decides she finally wants to have a baby, only to discover that she is infertile. With adoption for an unmarried woman taking up to five years, Kate turns to the next best thing: a surrogate. In her desperation to find someone—anyone—to carry her baby, Kate picks the first surrogate she meets, Angie Ostrowiski (Amy Poehler), a junk-food eating, hyperactive, frenzied mess of a human being who clashes with Kate as much Felix clashes with Oscar.

Things go smoothly at first, but when Angie leaves her boyfriend and moves in with Kate, it becomes apparent to Kate that Angie needs a lifestyle overhaul if she’s going to be nourishing a child inside of her. Together, they attend surrogacy counseling, birthing classes, and ultrasounds, all the while trying to reconcile their differences and, to the surprise of each, finding an unlikely friend.

Someone once said that British humor is based on making the mundane into the absurd, while American humor is about making the absurd into the mundane. Nationalities aside, McCullers’ particular style of funny is a delightful combination of the two. The humor pops out of nowhere at times, treating the ridiculous as an everyday occurrence, and heightening the norm to levels of absurdity. It’s a fine balance, but “Baby Mama” achieves it throughout most of the film. The plot of the film is nothing unique (though McCullers does toss in a few good twists), but it is funny enough that it clips along at a steady pace after a bit of a slow start, keeping the audience engaged.

Much of the success of the comedy in this film has to be attributed to Poehler. After seeing her perform over-the-top caricatures for years on SNL, Poehler had begun to grate on my funny bone. To my surprise, Poehler carries this film, out-acting Fey with a hilarious but complex performance. When she first appeared on screen, I feared Angie would be a one-note stereotype, but she is anything but.

Fey’s character was in danger of enacting a stereotype as well, but the reason this movie succeeds is because the actors have created real people out of these characters, with whom the audience can’t help but sympathize.

Greg Kinnear, Steve Martin, and Sigourney Weaver form a strong supporting cast, with the latter two leaning much more toward the absurd as a health food magnate and the founder of a surrogacy center, respectively.

Overall, the film is a very solid, well-acted comedy. If Fey and McCullers keep making films like this, Judd Apatow and friends won’t be the only ones being hailed for ushering in a new, smart era of comedy.

Netflix it: the color of friendship

Remember the days when the Disney channel would come out with an original movie every month?

They would be called, cleverly, Disney Channel Original Movies? Most of them were pretty dumb. Fun to watch, but dumb. And then, in February of 2000, “The Color of Friendship” got released and everything we thought we knew about the Disney channel changed.

The studio that brought us such golden reflections on racial politics as “Peter Pan,” “Pocahontas” and “The Lion King” suddenly tackled South African apartheid like it was born for the job. Five incredibly short years after black South Africans cast their votes for the first time in history and Nelson Mandela was elected President, the freaking Disney channel was making movies about political assassinations and the Afrikaaner equivalent of the n-word. Then the movie won an Emmy. People sat up a little straighter and started paying attention.

Mahree Bok (Lindsay Haun) is a white South African student in 1977 who gets chosen to study abroad in Washington, D.C. for a semester. Her family is wealthy, Nationalist (supporters of apartheid) and employs many black servants. Her host family, on the other hand, is NOT WHITE. Surprises all around. Sobbing and wanting to go home and confusion and anger on all sides.

But things get better. Piper Dellums (Shadia Simmons), Mahree’s same-age host sister, stops hating Mahree when they go shopping together. Don’t forget this IS Disney, however righteous the cause.

Then Black Nationalist Steve Biko is murdered in South Africa, and Mahree must decide for herself whether to flee home to her ecstatic parents or stay with her new family and fight the system that killed Biko.

If you are uninformed about the struggle in South Africa, I truly think this is a good movie to start with. I mean it. The fall of apartheid is perhaps the greatest humanitarian victory of the last century. And it all starts with friends, people. Friends and Disney.

(2000)

Aesop Rock to perform tonight in RCC

Hip hop laureate, Aesop Rock, born Ian Matthis Bavitz, is coming to campus with force Thursday, May 1. Recording music since 1997, Aesop Rock was a forerunner of the underground rap scene and is best known for his detail-driven narratives and eclectic rhymes.Reviews for Aesop Rock claim he has, “introduced a raw, urgent, intelligent new sound designed to break the monotony of mainstream rap,” and that “listening to Aesop Rock is like taking your brain on a futuristic urban hell-ride through pop culture.”

Aesop Rock has been met by sold out shows on both coasts and across the globe. His popularity is establishing a wide range of fans. Playing music from his 2007 release “None Shall Pass,” students can expect traditional hip-hop, futuristic funk, and even some laid-back rock riffs.

Tracks are interlaced with sociopolitical critiques and inventive word-play: “Duke of early retirement pick a dream / American nightmare hogging the screen / I’ll hold the door open so you can stumble in / if you’d stop following me around the jungle gym.”

Recent Stanford University grad MC Lars, born Andrew Robert Nielsen, opens for Aesop Rock Thursday night. Reminiscent of last term’s sensation Girl Talk, he describes himself as a “post punk laptop rapper.” MC Lars has been performing for the last two years, relying on nothing but his lyrics and laptop.

His lyrics are wild and vary drastically from one song to the next. From a literature lesson on Herman Melville to a critique of mallrat Hot Topic shoppers, MC Lars seeks to preserve an image of what he calls the “iGeneration.”

He even produces his own music under the label “Horris Records” and openly encourages file-sharing as a means of promoting his music.

Aesop Rock and MC Lars are playing tonight in the Reid Campus Ballroom. Tickets are free for current students, staff and faculty.

Walla Walla Symphony to play Mahler’s challenging piece

Cordiner Hall’s stage is the largest at Whitman, and one of the largest in Walla Walla. It is the regular venue for the Walla Walla Symphony (WWS), as well as a number of other orchestras in the area.

However, it won’t be quite big enough to host the Walla Walla Symphony’s upcoming performance of Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony on May 13 at 7:30 p.m.

The Symphony calls for an abnormally large orchestra, including 10 French horns, 10 trumpets, four trombones, four flutes, four oboes and many other players. It also calls for a large chorus.

Dr. Edward Dixon, the Symphony’s principal cellist, said, “It’s the biggest and most difficult concert work that we’ve done since I’ve been here, and I’ve been here since 1990.”

Because of the sheer number of people that need to fit onstage for the performance, the concert will be held at the Walla Walla University church, which boasts a larger performance space than Cordiner.

“It’s a big sanctuary, and it has a big altar area where we can fit all of the musicians,” said Dixon.

Walla Walla Symphony principal trumpet and Whitman trumpet professor William Berry said, “It’s probably the biggest thing any symphony can do, both in terms of orchestral forces and length—I mean, the fifth movement is as long as most Beethoven symphonies by itself.”

While Mahler’s score calls for an unusually large orchestra, the Walla Walla Symphony is more regularly sized and has significantly fewer musicians than the piece requires.

Because of this, the Walla Walla Symphony has decided to play a reduced version of the piece, which compresses many of the parts for winds and brass so that fewer musicians are needed.

Although this could potentially be limiting artistically, Dixon remains optimistic. “I think the full version is overwhelmingly large; they had a tendency to do things in a gargantuan manner back then, even more than is probably practical. This will probably be more effective.”

Berry was also optimistic, but added, “Because of the reduced orchestration, everyone has to work harder.”

In order to fill the extra parts, the Walla Walla Symphony will have to hire a number of freelance musicians, many of whom will come from Portland.

The Symphony already imports musicians from all over Washington and Oregon to fill their regular roster, and they frequently bring even more players in from afar when attempting a large piece like this one. This is due partly to a shortage of accomplished local musicians.

The symphony also regularly hires a number of student musicians from both Whitman and Walla Walla University. The piece will be especially challenging for them; Mahler symphonies are considered a challenge even for professional musicians.

Geneva Faulkner, a Whitman first-year who plays with the Walla Walla Symphony, is excited for the performance. “The opportunity to play a Mahler symphony with a chorus is a rare experience,” she said in an e-mail.

However, despite her excitement and her past experience playing Mahler, she is somewhat intimidated. She said, “Playing Mahler takes an incredible amount of skill and demands a lot physically. It’s really exhausting.”

Berry also noted that, in Mahler symphonies, “every section has difficult, exposed, sections; there’s no hiding.”

Another intimidating musical factor is that the piece is entirely in German, which isn’t usually a problem, because music is printed in more or less the same way all over the world. But Mahler’s symphonies are loaded with supplemental instructive notes, which are all printed in German on the music.

“Yaacov Bergman, the conductor, put a glossary of 309 German terms in our packets of music,” said Faulkner. “I can find all 309 German markings in my music and pencil in the definitions, or I can put the list on my stand next to my music and try to look up each word as it comes along. Neither sounds very appealing.”

Walla Walla cycling takes a wild ride from humble beginnings to local tournaments, national championships

Formerly famous mainly for its wine and onions, Walla Walla is rapidly becoming known for its biking, for both recreational use and as a means of transportation.

From the professional cyclists that come from all over the country to the junior cycling team at the Community Center for Youth (CCY) to the Whitman cycling team, it is clear that spandex is in in Walla Walla. However, Walla Walla hasn’t always been full of die-hard cyclists.

Bob Watson has lived in Walla Walla since 1970. An avid cyclist, he started riding with the Wheatland Wheelers, Walla Walla’s first recreational cycling team, in 1985 when they began. He describes the group as being very different from the cyclists that he sees on the road today.

“We met once a month to go on touring rides. They were all-day rides to place like Dayton or Athena. Now it’s transformed from touring to racing, it’s mostly younger guys who like to ride fast. We used to take all day, have lunch and ride back leisurely, sort of smelling the roses, if you know what I mean,” Watson said.

Now the Wheatland Wheelers has its own racing team, L’Ecole No 41, and Walla Walla has its own professional bike race, the Tour of Walla Walla.

The Tour was founded by Steve Rapp, owner of Allegro Cycling off of Main Street. Rapp moved to Walla Walla 13 years ago from Portland and was dismayed by the lack of cycling in such a perfect area.

“When I first came here, there wasn’t much going on. For a while I was president of Wheatland Wheelers and was trying to organize local rides and there was almost no response. But now things have grown, I’d like to think that’s at least in part because of the bike race, I’m the one that started the bike race.”

Rapp started the Tour of Walla Walla in 1996. Rapp moved to Walla Walla from Portland, one of the cycling capitals of the world. He had experience organizing a bike race there and decided to organize the Tour in order to bring attention to cycling in Walla Walla.

The first Tour only had 68 riders but Rapp described it as a shock to many locals who had never seen a bike race before. His volunteers at the first race had no idea what they were supposed to be doing with the cyclists whizzing around them.

The Tour has grown a lot since 1996 to the point where Rapp has been forced to cut out certain categories. At its height, there were 512 riders, which was too many people for the Tour to handle. The Tour no longer hosts the Northwest Collegiate Cyclists, and they also cut out the Juniors league.

The last Tour had 490 riders, many of them professionals from all over the country. This year was the first time they had a rolling enclosure, meaning that they shut down the road as the cyclists went by. It was only enforced for the men’s race, but next year they might have it available for all divisions.

Rapp believes that cycling tourism is benefiting Walla Walla economically and not just from the Tour.

“Allegro started a bicycle rental program just for tourists; there’s a lot of people coming into Walla Walla wanting to ride their bikes,” said Rapp.

Whitman alum Rebecca Jensen echoed Rapp’s sentiment.

“I worked at Whitehouse Crawford and a lot of times I’d hear people not just talking about winery hopping but also talking about what bike ride they want to go on the next day. It makes sense because Walla Walla is such a great area to ride in and a lot of people can afford it, there is a lot of wine money in town,” said Jensen.

Jensen thinks that the Whitman Cycling team has encouraged this new bike-happy atmosphere in Walla Walla. Jensen described herself as the Whitman rider most involved in the community as she has spent many summers in Walla Walla and has gotten to know the cyclist crowd.

“The [Whitman] team is becoming more and more involved in the community as years go on. Glen Silver, a volunteer resource for the team, used to always say how excited local people are to have young people come out on a ride. I always just kind of smiled and never really believed him but one day I went on a ride and the leader of the ride made a point of singling me out and saying ‘it’s great to see you out here today,’ kind of appreciating bridging that gap,” said Jensen.

Rapp agreed that local cyclists really appreciate getting to know the Whitman cyclists, adding that the Whitman team is a source of pride for the community.

“Whitman’s success on the collegiate racing circuit the last three years or so has brought attention and brought pride to the community because Whitman, that’s our college. The fact that we have been Division II champs, I think people take pride in that,” said Rapp.

Whitman Cycling has also had a positive effect on the younger members of the local community.

Jensen and Greg Doering, another former Whitman cyclist, organized a two- week bike repair class, called the Bikery, at the CCY. Now, in part in thanks to their efforts and the efforts of Director Max Coleman, the CCY has a Juniors Racing Team.

“The Bikery, we really started something that took off…The fact that you can even field a Juniors team in this town is a big deal,” said Jensen.

The Whitman cycling team has also put on other bike events geared toward the community. Last year they put on a fix-a-thon to fix as many bikes as they could in a day and this year they went to a local home school and put on a workshop for them. One group learned how to fix flats, brakes, riding positions and general safety tips.

However, some members of the community think that Whitman students need to work on increasing their own bike safety.

Andy Pryor wants to see bicycling encouraged as a means of transportation and he thinks that Whitman students should lead the way. Pryor, a former member of the bicycling and pedestrian committee, self-identifies as a “bicycling activist.”

“Whitman students are the future, they are educated and becoming adults but they aren’t all that good at properly riding bikes. I go to Whitman events at night and I see people biking there but very few of the bikes have lights on them. They’ve got the wherewithal to have them,” said Pryor.

Pryor thinks that the demographics of who is biking are changing.

“With rising gas prices and increased environmental awareness, people are biking out of necessity instead of out of desire. It’s changing from a recreational use to more of a transportational one. I’m seeing more bikes on buses, more people riding their bikes to the grocery store,” said Pryor.

Pryor thinks that the only way bikes will be seen as a viable source of transportation is if there is a perception of safety. As a result, he encourages the use of bicycle lights and helmets, especially for Whitman riders.

Many cyclists would like to see the city do more to encourage both recreational and transportational cycling. Common complaints include unswept and faded bicycle lanes as well as traffic lights that don’t acknowledge bikers.

“The Community Council is going to study a couple of topics that need improvement in Walla Walla. I recommended that they study cycling. It would definitely be in Walla Walla’s interest from environmental, economical and health standpoints,” said Jensen.

Cinco de Mayo events planned in Walla Walla, Milton Freewater

People all over the continent will come together to celebrate Cinco de Mayo on the weekend before May 5. Walla Wallans will be attending events in Walla Walla, Milton-Freewater, Pasco and surrounding areas.

Walla Walla High School’s Club Latino will be hosting a celebration for high school students on Friday, May 2 and Whitman’s Club Latino will be hosting an event for students and the community.

However, many Walla Wallans will be leaving the city for their Cinco de Mayo celebrations.

Milton-Freewater hosts an annual event that draws many people from Milton-Freewater and a few from Walla Walla.

“Most people come from Milton-Freewater, even walking distance from the park, but every year we get a few people from Walla Walla, especially because Walla Walla doesn’t usually have a big celebration itself,” said Jon McFarland, who has been involved in organizing Milton-Freewater’s Cinco de Mayo celebration for several years, but hasn’t been involved this year.

On Friday, May 2, the mayor of Milton-Freewater will give a short speech and there will be a parade from 9 to 11 a.m. There will be a big soccer event, and Jose Garcia, who has played with Oregon in the state championships, is scheduled to attend. There will be a stage where people will dance and children will get to dress up.

But the really big event will take place in Pasco. Drawing a huge crowd of people from all over, Pasco holds a Cinco de Mayo celebration every year.

“It’s just a common event. We don’t really make any profit. It’s free to the public. It’s a great time for every to get together and share culture,” said Vanessa Thamart, who works for Pasco’s Chamber of Commerce.

Pasco has a 51 percent Latino population and the event is very popular. There will be a parade, a horse show, a pageant and other events.

Whitman’s Club Latino is planning to attend the event as a club.

“It’ll be a big deal. There’ll be a lot of tradition and culture,” said sophomore Estela Vasquez. “It’s really something people should do.”

Cinco de Mayo, literally the “Fifth of May,” celebrates Mexico’s victory in beating back French troops shortly after the Mexican-American War.

“It’s a celebration of the past. It’s really a great event,” said McFarland.

Whitman’s Club Latino will be hosting a huge celebration on Sunday, May 4 and they are hoping for a large turnout from Walla Walla High students, as well as other community members.

There will be dancing and singing and they are bringing a band for the second half of the evening. There will be two taco trucks and Club Latino will raffle away prizes.

WDA finishes year of service to Indian clean water projects

As the year comes to a close, Whitman Direct Action’s Sadhana Clean Water Project has achieved results. The project’s sustainability and future are secured by the dedicated students involved.

WDA members plan and execute yearly proposals that seek to help marginalized people through environmentally and economically lasting programs. By uniting people from various backgrounds, building self-confidence, leadership and teamwork skill sets, WDA has enacted positive change on campus and abroad.

In the past three years, WDA has completed a house-building project in Nicaragua and a bio-diesel program in multiple South American countries.

This year, India’s water crisis drew the attention of WDA. India is the second largest country with a population of 1.25 billion people, of whom 226 million do not have access to clean water. In the state of Maharashtra alone, over 700,000 water related illnesses have been reported and by the year 2025, the demand for water is projected to double.

Following the much talked about Date Auction, money from the ASWC contingency fund, grants from Youth Venture and Asian Studies and a myriad of other donations, WDA raised over $10,000 for this year’s Sadhana Clean Water Project.

After hundreds of hours of volunteer work, WDA members Jessie Conrad, Tim Shadix, Jyotsna Shivanandan, Yukta Kumar, Daniel Bachhuber and Dr. Raechelle Mascarenhas utilized these funds to travel to India and work directly with the community members and NGOs their project aims to help.

In India, WDA surveyed rural villages in the Kolwan Valley, held the Safe and Sustainable Water Conference in Mumbai and created the Water Book, a compilation of case studies and essays chronicling 10 different Indian NGOs efforts to implement clean water projects.

Community wells were tested in multiple villages as part of the rural study group in the Kolwan Valley. All three open-wells exceeded World Health Organization’s standards for fecal chloroform and nitrate.

“There was a lack of following through on the part of the government with regard to water purification,” said Shadix.

Taxes collected by the Indian government are meant in part to go toward water purification; village leaders, however, noted this was not happening.

The students’ survey of rural villagers’ access to clean water and the Water Book are now serving to unite local NGOs and public health officials that were previously not communicating. In addition, a report is in the works that will be used as a model for the area and the continuance of water access research.

“We hope it will be a transparent resource for NGOs and government officials,” said Conrad.
The future of WDA is fully in the hands of the students involved.

“The success of the project is up to us. It’s very intense, once you’re committed, you’re really committed,” said first-year John Loranger.

Every year a new project is chosen after multiple proposals are discussed. For next year, WDA is continuing to look at water issues and perhaps micro-financing in rural Zimbabwe and Uganda.

“The most exciting part is that we can choose any project, in any part of the world that we’re passionate about. It’s entirely open-ended,” said Shivanandan.

A collaborative report of this year’s WDA Sadhana Clean Water Project will soon be available at their Web site, whitmandirectaction.org. Students can also become involved with WDA’s grassroots team and aid in the execution of next year’s project.

If you are interested in joining or helping WDA in any way, please contact students Jessie Conrad at jessieconrad@whitmandirectaction.org or John Loranger at johnloranger@whitmandirectaction.org.

First Sustainability Coordinator appointment to be made

The application process for next year’s Campus Sustainability Coordinator position is currently underway. The position, a long-time goal of the Conservation and Recycling Committee, is designed to coordinate sustainability efforts across campus and to develop, implement and maintain a long-term campus sustainability plan.

“The primary goal of the Coordinator is to serve as a liaison between college administration and existing campus groups and clubs working on sustainability efforts,” said Jed Schwendiman, associate to the president and chair of the Conservation and Recycling Committee.

The position was first proposed to the Budget Advisory Committee in the fall of 2006 by Whitman alumna Savannah Ferguson, ’06. Although the Committee noted the importance of such a position, funding for it was unavailable.

In the fall of 2007, the Conservation and Recycling Committee, with the support of student environmental and conservation groups, resubmitted a version of Ferguson’s proposal.

“We had hoped to receive enough funding for a full-time position but that wasn’t possible for this year. We received enough funding for a part-time student intern, and we think that’s a great way to start,” said Schwendiman.

“[Campus Climate Challenge views] this position as an important step towards progress on environmental projects at Whitman. With this position, Whitman will be able to move forward on green projects—from solar panels to compost initiatives—because this person will be in charge of coordinating people and resources which have been largely disorganized in the past,” said Climate Campus Challenge co-Coordinator senior Katie King.

Sophomore Steve Shoemaker, the Resident Assistant of the Environmental Interest House, echoed King’s sentiments.

“My perspective is from the recycling end of things, because the Out House organizes the on-campus recycling program. I think it could be run a lot more efficiently, and it’s really great to have a position that will have some oversight over the recycling program and that will assess the current situation and determine what the best action is to take from here,” said Shoemaker.

“On another level, I think this position serves a symbolic role that Whitman is taking green action more seriously. This intern will work directly under the administration and alongside faculty and student leaders on environmental initiatives; by incorporating this student position into key institutional processes, Whitman is moving further towards its goals as an environmental leader,” said King.

Seniors pledge to consider morality of work after college

The seniors are graduating—time to think about the “real world” and leave the posh luxury of campus life behind. For many seniors, the hunt for a job is on…with visions of student loans and health insurance dancing in their heads. Talking to seniors, it seems as though there is worry that their progressive ideals will be compromised when trying to make money.

As senior Nathan Reiss puts it, “I know I don’t want to support the evils of the military-industrial complex, but I just got to make a buck to survive…and that may mean working for The Man.”

He is not alone in his worries. Many who are graduating feel as though most jobs available to them support the environmentally and socially destructive institutions that they were so critical of in their studies at Whitman.

Will Davidson said, “It is hard to swallow the fact that most of the easily accessible, high paying jobs for college graduates are in the most horrendous industries…for me as a geology major, I could easily get paid to work on a gas drilling rig, but shoot, but they are literally pillaging the landscape.”

This worry about jobs and their socio-environmental consequences is what leads so many Whitman seniors to take the “Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility.”

The pledge states: “I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

As part of an annual nation-wide campaign, over one million dedicated graduating students are joining together in solidarity and signing this pledge.

Graduates who voluntarily signed the pledge have turned down jobs with which they did not feel morally comfortable and have worked to make changes once on the job. For example, they have promoted recycling at their organization, removed racist language from a training manual, worked for gender parity in high school athletics, and helped convince an employer to refuse a chemical weapons-related contract.

In a sense, the pledge operates at three levels: students making choices about their employment; schools educating about values and citizenship rather than only knowledge and skills, and the workplace and society being concerned about more than just the bottom line. The impact is immense even if only a significant minority of the one million college graduates each year sign and lives out the Pledge.

“It is easily to feel like you are alone in working for change,” said senior Johanna Withrow-Robinson, “But things like the graduation pledge alliance let you know that you are not alone in your progressive efforts…Si Se Puede!”

Seniors who sign the pledge wear a green ribbon on their gown during commencement, and the printed list of names of pledge-participants appears on the college Web site—every year, upwards of 100 Whitman seniors have taken the pledge.

Seniors will have the opportunity to sign the pledge in Reid at the Graduation Pledge Alliance table, as well as at gown pick up for commencement.

RenFaire popular, yet faces uncertain future

“Unfortunately, I left my armor at home, in the laundry,” said Ruth Garcia, an Oregon resident, as she peddled chain mail at Saturday’s 38th annual Renaissance Faire. “Luckily vending is fun!”

This year’s faire drew colorful costumes and eye-catching performances, from sword fighting demonstrations to musical and theatrical performances.

Some attendees were highly enthusiastic about recreating the medieval period. “I was in England when I saw some of these old pieces,” Garcia said of her motivation to create chain mail. She began working on some pieces as many as three years ago, in addition to knitting and crocheting. She is also a member of the Empire of Adria, who led broadsword demonstrations throughout the day.

Others merely came for a day of free entertainment.

“Though I’m not particularly interested [in the time period], I’m really enjoying it,” said Walla Walla resident Juli Stout, with three children in tow. “The activities are great for kids, and this is the first time I’ve been to the campus, which is beautiful.”

Sunny and warm weather helped create a lighthearted atmosphere. “Each year it runs smoother,” said senior Ryan Peinhardt, the publicity chair of the committee responsible for RenFaire.

Planning begins with the school year and picks up heat during the second semester. “It’s cool that people get excited. You work all year long and then in these last few days it comes together,” said sophomore Brittin Borland, who participated for the first time this year.

Despite high attendance and general enjoyment, Borland, who will head up next year’s event, said that the faire will “possibly be smaller” in the future, with at least five valued members of the organizing committee graduating this year.

“We really need to recruit,” she said.

“We’d love to get more people,” echoed sophomore Jackson Kahn. “You don’t need experience at all.”

Borland and Kahn plan to reach out to incoming freshman in hopes to gain enough new members, and are thinking of ideas for next year.

“This was our first time coming and we’re already talking about coming back,” said Walla Walla residents Mike and Nancy Vidican, who praised the skill of blacksmith Torvald Sorensen.

Jen Johnson, access services manager at Penrose Library and a vendor at the faire, was dressed in full regalia and has attended the faire six times. “My kids come and do magic shows,” she said. “I love it.”

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Sit, Ubu, Sit’

As long as you don’t live under a rock and you’ve watched network television at some point in the last 20 years, you’ve heard the phrase, “Sit, Ubu, Sit” followed by a bark and “Good dog.” “Sit, Ubu, Sit” is the name of a production company started by Gary David Goldberg, and also the name of his new memoir about “how [he] went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the same woman, the same dog, and a lot less hair.”

Goldberg is the writer and producer of “Family Ties,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” and co-producer of “Spin City.” With credentials like that, Goldberg has a right to be arrogant, but he’s not. His entire memoir praises the people who helped him. More of a glorified thank-you note to others than an exercise in selfishness, the memoir reads like Goldberg is running out of time to tell the people he loves that he loves them. It’s impossible to accurately estimate how many times Goldberg says that he owes so and so for his success.

And while this is beautiful and certainly true, I have to ask, is there anyone you don’t like?

Goldberg’s anecdotes come from 1950s Brooklyn, a 1970s trip across Europe, 1980s sound stages and the present day in Vermont. They are all slices of life that leave you happier, lighter and more optimistic.

You can hear Goldberg’s voice as you read, the stories written in his memoir as he would tell them to you in person. Full of love stories, television success and just downright lovely childhood tales, this book, as Steven Spielberg said, will make you “feel better about… everything.”

Even through all of its jovial stories and praise for his friends and colleagues, there are lessons to the learned from this book. It’s a love story but it’s also about how relationships can be tried and put to the test. It’s about television success but it’s also about failure along the way. And it’s about childhood but being a child can hurt.

This is a memoir for anyone who has ever dreamed of working in television; for anyone who has ever been in love; for anyone who has ever been happy. It may make you laugh, it may make you cry, but either way it will make you happy to be alive.

ArtWalk inspiries young artists

The program allows artists and performers to display their work downtown in Heritage Park (between Spokane and Colville on Main Street) on the first Friday of every month from 5 to 8 p.m., May through December.

ArtWalk was founded by Whitman alumna Julia Harris in 2006 and has served as a medium for young artists including musicians and performers. Performing artists are encouraged to sell CDs or originally produced art and can collect additional income through tips and donations.

According to Chris Erickson of Tourism Walla Walla, “One addition to ArtWalk this year will be performers on the street, whether music or talent; we are hoping to showcase our local performing artists to an audience of passersby.”

Another addition to ArtWalk is the ArtSpace for young artists (ages 15-30), which allows artists to “show their work and have an ability to sell their original work, crafts and goods,” said Erickson.

There will be no cost to students for participation in the events. If you would like to participate in ArtWalk or ArtSpace this year, contact the Downtown Foundation at (509) 529-8755 or send an e-mail to info@downtownwallawalla.com.

Distribution requirements limit students’ possibilities

We go to a small, liberal arts college, right? Then why the hell am I finding that I can’t take all these really interesting classes? Why the hell is the rest of my academic experience at Whitman planned out on an 8 ½ by 11-inch sheet of paper that I have pinned on my bulletin board?

Distribution requirements. I’m pissed off at distribution requirements. Prepare to read a rant.
I fully recognize the value in attending a liberal arts college like Whitman. Believe me, I would not be paying Whitman’s outrageous tuition if I didn’t think that being here was the most enriching, beneficial thing I could be doing with my time.

In fact, I would even go as far as to say that distribution requirements, as an idea, are really great. But somewhere along the line, Whitman really screwed up in implementing this great idea, because I’m finding it really limiting right now, and not enriching or beneficial at all.

Whitman’s probably thinking that if students were left to pick their classes without requirements other than those of major and minor programs, they’d pick nothing but studio art and yoga. The distribution requirements are meant to keep people from taking only classes pertaining to their majors. Of course.

But here’s how the system fails: First, there are simply too many requirements. They look like the plague on my organized little four-year planner worksheet and, along with my major and minor required classes, they effectively keep me from taking anything random or interesting.

Some of the most interesting classes I’ve taken at Whitman haven’t counted toward anything. These are the classes that really make the liberal arts education experience—the random classes you take because they look cool.

Spring semester, freshman year, I took this amazing course on the international Dada movement in art. It was one of the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken. But the four credits I earned in that course count toward nothing except the total number of credits I need to graduate.

And, because I took that class instead of some boring, introductory level science class that I’m not at all interested in, my second half of Whitman is going to be jam-packed, leaving little room for another such class. What the hell? Why can’t I have the enriching experience I’m paying for?

Or, what if I want to take a class that falls under a distribution category that I’ve already fulfilled? For example, I want to take philosophy and sociology classes, but too bad—they count toward categories that I’ve already satisfied; I can take them, but they won’t count for anything.

Never mind; I can’t even take them. Instead, I have to take a host of uninteresting,

introductory courses that won’t be enriching at all, but will count toward categories I haven’t yet fulfilled.

There are so many more-effective ways that Whitman could handle distribution. They could simply require students to take classes from a certain number of departments. Or, better yet, they could abolish distribution requirements altogether.

I don’t need Whitman to tell me which courses will be most enriching, or will contribute to my liberal arts education. If I’m willing to pay the ridiculous amount of money I do to come here, can’t Whitman at least trust me to get a liberal arts education on my own? Can’t Whitman trust me to take classes that I’ll find interesting?

No. I have to be babied. I have to be treated like an unmotivated high school student who doesn’t really want an education. I have to be forced to take advantage of the $40,000 I’m forking over to Whitman every year.

Seriously, why does Whitman even care? If students are willing to pay what they do to take only the classes required for their majors, why not let them? If they want to squander their money, who’s Whitman to stop them? Then I could get my liberal arts education on my own terms.

Bon Appétit event cuts carbon emissions, educates students

Bon Appétit is putting Whitman on a diet. But with almost two fully functional gyms, active student participation in sports and miles of highway just waiting to be traveled on bike or foot, you might wonder why a diet is necessary. Except that Bon Appétit doesn’t want to get rid of pounds of fat, they’re trying to get rid of pounds of carbon dioxide.

On Tuesday, April 22, Bon Appétit held a Low Carbon Diet Day to highlight their initiative to reduce carbon emissions within their company. Held in conjunction with the global celebration of Earth Day, Bon Appétit featured signs detailing their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, as well as tips for students.

However, perhaps the most notable thing in Reid was the absence of some types of foods. Notably absent from the Fire and Spice line was meat of any kind—while a choice between chicken, beef or tofu is usually offered, on Tuesday there was only tofu or no tofu. There was also a sign announcing a new fee of 35 cents for to-go boxes.

The event was spearheaded by Roger Edens, general manager of Bon Appétit. According to Edens, the event worked toward achieving both short-term and long-term goals.

As Edens said in an e-mail, in the short term, Bon Appétit wants to “raise awareness and educate our guests on the importance of the food system in terms of total greenhouse gas emissions” and “set out a plan to reduce Bon Appétit’s greenhouse gas emissions in key areas by 25 percent over the next three years.”

In the long term, the overall goal is “to create definite change in how Bon Appétit operates, limit Bon Appétit’s greenhouse gas emissions in key areas” and “to educate students about the impact their choices have on climate change.”

The day comes as a response to both worldwide fears of global warming and to students’ increasing awareness of their own carbon emissions. In order to address this, Bon Appétit has laid out a plan to reduce their carbon emissions. They plan to accomplish this by reducing the usage of some foods, including meat—especially beef—and dairy, reducing the distance that food and air freight travel overall and reducing overall food and packaging waste.

Edens believes that students will be supportive of the initiative and that it could lead them to make a real change in their habits and, as a result, have a greater impact on overall carbon emissions.

“I believe that college students are receptive to learning more about how their personal food choices impact climate change and are willing to make small but consistent changes in the way that they eat…Feedback has been nothing but positive,” Edens said in an e-mail.

In fact, the vast majority of students surveyed said that they were happy about the changes being made, with 86 percent of students saying they believe that “Bon Appétit should try to purchase more foods that were grown locally.”

However, the main concern that students voiced was over the lack of availability of certain foods.
Said one student, “I could not live without bananas!”

Turning 20: ‘terrified’

Last week, something momentous happened: I turned 20.

My best friend, whose birthday falls four days after mine, also turned 20. She and I joked about how we have successfully eliminated the danger of teenage pregnancy and laughed about how old we felt.

But underneath my smile, I felt a little terrified.

Twenty. The first digit of my age has changed. I am now closer to 40 than to zero. I am suddenly ashamed of owning copies of Seventeen Magazine and Teen Vogue. I dread turning on the TV and seeing the next generation of television stars who are much younger, fresher and prettier than I am. I shake my head in exasperation when fast cars with music blasting drive past me. And I FIRMLY believe that the driving age should be raised to 18.

It’s not that I suddenly feel old, but it’s that I am suddenly acutely aware of the expectation for me to act my age, to mature into a confident, composed adult. And that expectation is one of the scariest things I can imagine.

To me, adulthood brings to mind a scattering of random ideas and concepts: it means paying taxes and sending thank-you notes; it means not caring what you look like; it means yelling at customer service on the other end of the phone when your order gets messed up or your tickets misplaced.

But when I stop and think about it more, I relax. Especially when I remember my 75-year-old grandmother’s response when I asked her when she felt like an adult. She said, indignantly, “Well. I still don’t!”

I think the thing to do is to spend less time contemplating the process of growing up and more time simply living life. Maybe being an adult means not thinking about what it means to be an adult.

To celebrate our induction into adulthood last week, my best friend and I dressed up in costumes and ran around campus, taking pictures of ourselves and giggling.

I think that no matter what age you are, sometimes letting yourself act like a fool and refusing to be embarrassed can be one of the most self aware and grown-up things you can do.

April snow hits Walla; farmers optimistic

Instead of April showers, Walla Walla and surrounding areas in eastern Washington were treated to April snowfall this past week.

“We had hail this afternoon,” said Prescott resident Jean Thomas, owner of Hillcrest Farms. “I was driving and I could barely see.”

“I’m still sunburned from a couple of weekends ago and now it’s snowing,” said senior Deanna Lucini.
The National Weather Service reported that this is the latest winter weather in Washington in many years. The snow has proved a boon to some ski resorts and will result in strong runoff in the summer, but has also been pinpointed as the cause of many traffic accidents.

Though low temperatures can threaten to freeze crops, Crop Consultant Randall Montgomery of Blue Mountain Growers in Milton-Freewater said that his fruit crops have escaped much of the damage suffered by nearby farms to the north.

“Everyone around us is hurting,” he said. “It has been cooler than normal. We received damage early Good Friday weekend when it got really cold for a few days in a row. We’ve had people run wind machines and water to protect the fruit from freezing. It’s a little bit more work, but not a major issue.”

Montgomery expects a good year for his cherry, prune, plum and apple crops.

Thomas said her wheat crops have also emerged unscathed, despite setbacks.

“We were slowed down when we were spraying for weeds. We’re concerned, but the wind hasn’t frozen the crops this year and we haven’t had hail damage this year,” she said. “We do need warmer weather.”

State-wide, on April 6, spring wheat planting was 35 percent done, compared with a previous five-year average of 49 percent, according the government’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

“I don’t think [the weather is] a permanent deal. It changes year to year,” Montgomery said.

“We’ve been in the farming business for a long time,” Thomas said. “It seems like every year you never know what’s going to happen.”

Indeed, other threats—including a newly-discovered soil-borne wheat virus in the Walla Walla County—pose different dangers to local agriculture.

“It’s still early in the ballgame, we still have rain, but so far so good,” Montgomery said.

Rain is predicted in Walla Walla through the end of the week.

Struggling U.S. farm bill ‘not that simple’

Remember back in the fall when Campus Climate Challenge had that big event on Ankeny to raise awareness about the farm bill and garner some support for reforms?  Well, it turns out that we are still talking about that same farm bill, and while there are some reforms, they are minor.  More importantly though, the 2007 (2008, now?) Farm Bill is in danger of not passing at all this year.  In the meantime, farmers who rely on subsidies or other components of the bill are waiting to plant their crop until the bill passes, and every day that goes by this way compounds the problems that many farmers already face.

With all the things that the farm bill does that are “bad,” such as encouraging the use of pesticides, monocropping, subsidies that hurt farmers all over the world, handouts that go to “farmers” who live in Manhattan next to Central Park and all the rest, it is easy to say, “Good, I hope it does expire.  It’s about time the unscrupulous in rural America stop taking my tax dollars.”  It is not that simple, though.

The Farm Bill has a huge impact on the Walla Walla community, and I am not just talking about the wheat farms that surround us.  Nutrition programs are a huge part of the farm bill.  Over 43 percent of the students in the Walla Walla schools receive free or reduced-cost lunch, all of which comes from the farm bill.  For low-income families having their children be able to get a good meal in school is extremely important.

Even more important than that is food stamps, which not only many Walla Walla community members but also many Whitman students also receive (and most students qualify for them).  The new Farm Bill significantly expands and strengthens these benefits, which, especially with the recent downturn in the economy, is extremely important.  Also, now that the Walla Walla Farmers Market can accept food stamps, this money will be able to directly support our local farming economy.

Besides nutrition programs, the farm bill does a lot of other important things for American rural areas, including Walla Walla.  This farm bill especially increases funding for research relating to produce,  a potentially huge boon to viticulturists, orchardists and onion farmers.

This can be seen as a double boon to Eastern Washington since we also have Washington State University, where a lot of this type of research happens.  Parts of the nutrition program also mandate purchasing of American-grown fruit, vegetables and nuts.  Title X of the bill even provides funding for purchasing from community garden projects and other locally based initiatives.  This is a huge step forward towards “farm-to-school” programs, which have been advocated on the grassroots level in many communities, including Walla Walla.

Research into pest control and other areas is especially important as Global Warming will likely allow more pests to make their way up to Walla Walla to survive and proliferate.

For example, the phyloxera insect has necessitated the use of American instead of European root stock for grapes in almost every grape growing area of the world except Walla Walla and a few other regions.  It has been our hard winters that have protected us so far from this and other pests, but that buffer may not work much longer.

No matter your politics, it is vital that a new farm bill get passed soon.  Delaying it further is only going make life harder for farmers, low-income communities and many other individuals.

Students travel to Seattle, hear Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, the manifestation of the Buddha of Compassion, the Ocean of Wisdom, was in Seattle for a five-day series of events focusing on the issue of compassion from April 11 to 16. Many students traveled the five hours from campus to attend workshops and lectures at the wuest Field and the University of Washington.

The Dalai Lama has been in exile since 1959, living mainly in Northern India after the Chinese occupation of Tibet. For the past 50 years he has set up cultural, religious and educational systems to preserve Tibetan heritage around the world. In 1989 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Tibet and his opposition to violence.

Nearly 22,000 people attended the first three events held on Friday, April 11. The main public lecture was held at the Qwest Field, home to the Seattle Seahawks, where tickets were free.

On Monday, April 14, the Dalai Lama received an honorary doctorate at the University of Washington where over 7,000 people attended his lecture, most of whom were students.

“It wasn’t about how awesome the Dalai Lama is. It was that everyone was coming to talk about compassion, the future, how we want change and how to invest in our children,” said first-year Abigail McCoy.

Throughout the event, workshops and lectures reiterated the importance of children.
“There was a lot of focus on instilling compassion in the next generation,” said first-year Dana Bialek.

“He spoke to how we can nurture children’s innate sense of compassion instead of squashing it,” said McCoy.

In response to one student’s question on how to get government leaders to act with compassion, the Dalai Lama suggested the meeting of every international political leader on a holiday. No business would be discussed, they would just have dinner.

“He wanted to have their kids play together and to eat together and to talk and get to know each other as humans,” said senior Marina Heppenstall. “So that when conflict arises we can address it human-to-human rather than as political powers.”

The program closed with the braiding of compassion bracelets. Two neighbors wove together strings and a large wooden bead.

“It was supposed to symbolize weaving compassion together,” said sophomore Katie Rouse.

“It’s kind of a nice reminder everyday to remember to incorporate it into our daily lives.”

The Seattle Times wrote that over 400 protesters marched across the University of Washington’s campus on Monday in support of Chinese actions. While there were fewer demonstrators at the Qwest Field event, many students were surprised to see radical Christians protesting the Dalai Lama.

“To me it just shows how we don’t fully understand each other, because he always says his religion is compassion and really supports other religions,” said Heppenstall.

Through five days of lectures and events, the Dalai Lama was met with criticisms and praises. He spoke on the individual level, of internal disarmament, and how to cultivate compassion.

“The cool thing about compassion is that every person can access it. Every person has the ability to make positive change and act with intention,” said McCoy.

Presidential debates’ ‘lip service’

Last week, science took a back seat to irrelevant connections between Sen. Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the Weather Radicals—in other words, tabloid-style topics that wouldn’t even merit a cover of The National Enquirer. Not only was this a sad day in American democracy, it was outright repulsive display of anti-professionalism.

The purpose of a presidential debate is to provide voters with enough knowledge regarding both the candidates and the issues, to be able to make a well informed decision come the first Tuesday in November. The ABC debate, held April 16 in Philadelphia, made a mockery of the viewers, candidates and democratic process alike by manufacturing trivial issues and feeding already determined insignificant ones when they asked questions such as “Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?” and “Do you believe in the American flag?”

Well, guess what: Reverend Wright probably “loves” America more than any of us and the American flag is not something you believe in, it just is—you can believe that it represents democracy, free speech and the like, but at the rate we’re going, those too will become meaningless.

But this is beside the point: What turned out to be a worthless debate took the place of what would have turned out to be, regardless of the moderators’ conduct, a necessary debate.

The lip service that the sciences receive in presidential debates is embarrassing.

In the ABC debate, the word “science” was uttered a total of zero times. And the words technology and global warming were uttered only a fewtimes.

The media and voters need to understand that our presidential candidates (John McCain included) can sustain a healthy discussion about the one, most important topic that has yet to be debated without necessarily getting bogged down in the scientific jargon of doctors, scientists and engineers.

Science is not scary to talk about; if you think it is, get over yourself.

In the Democratic debates, when the candidates approach the topic of science, they talk in generalities about putting money into scientific research to develop renewable energy. Yet neither Clinton nor Obama has a plan that stipulates how much money they are willing to put into the scientific organs of government already in place, like the National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation, among others.

Institutes such as these are being shortchanged when they should be at the forefront of the budgeting debate. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture, which is supposed to standardize the quality of crops and, by association, the quality of foodstuffs, has to apply for grants in order to fund their research when they should expect to receive a constant flow of money to fund their research. Then, people complain when produce we purchase in the store doesn’t receive the desirable oversight.

This failure is our own fault, not theirs.

In the latest Programme for International Student Assessment on science education, circa 2006, the United States ranked 24 out of 29 total countries. That’s abysmal. The U.S. cannot hold itself to such a low standard in terms of math and science. And yet neither the Bush administration nor the Congress has done anything about it.

Though President Bush claims to have made an impact for the better on our education system via the No Child Left Behind Act, that act only emphasizes, and poorly at that, reading and English, while shortcutting mathematics and science. If the United States wants to continue being a force in the world with respect to innovation and technology, it needs to reform its education system to a well rounded one that includes, if not strongly stresses, math and science.

In the Republican debates, science was only really discussed once: when all of the candidates were asked if they believed in evolution. I acknowledge that it is one’s right to not agree with a theory that has been thoroughly analyzed and supported by countless experiments, but I believe, and this has been proven by former candidate Mike Huckabee, that this lack of belief, or even acknowledgement, is regressive and inhibits science education. Luckily, John McCain is, by far, the only Republican candidate to have expressed concern about global warming and scientific methods for finding clean, renewable energy.

But even McCain’s dare to dream green from a Republican standpoint isn’t nearly enough.
All of the candidates declined the first science debate in Philadelphia on April 18 and instead subscribed to the awful ABC debate that took place two days earlier. Hopefully this time around, however, the candidates have learned their lessons and will engage in a debate that is meaningful. The second push for a science debate has already begun. It will hopefully take place in early to mid May and will be held at Portland State University.

The first step in regaining our ground in scientific advancement is to spur our eminent leaders to give it more than mere mention here and there. We need a thorough chat to make voters, as well as the candidates, aware of the imperative of science.

This Week in Greek

Delta Gamma: The DGs won the freshmen dance competition last Friday and on Saturday beat the Kappas and the Thetas in the inter-greek football tournament. On Saturday the DGs have their chapter retreat, an alumni open house, a pinning ceremony and lastly their dance at the Underground. In the words of one Delta Gamma officer, the day will be “DG-rrific.” Indeed it will ladies, indeed it will.

Kappa Kappa Gamma: The Kappas initiated nine girls on Saturday. Next week the chapter has an etiquette dinner with Heidi Baldwin as well as an alumni reception celebrating the chapter’s 90th anniversary. The Kappas are excited about their upcoming section renovations, including hardwood floors in the chapter room and a refurbished TV lounge. Looks like “Grey’s Anatomy” just got that much more watchable.

Kappa Alpha Theta: The Thetas initiated six new members on Saturday. This Sunday the chapter has their senior breakfast as well as an alumni open house from 4–5 p.m.

Tau Kappa Epsilon: The TKEs beat the Phis and the Sigs in the inter-greek football tournament. Relatedly, the house is now more self-satisfied than ever. The TKEs are excited for Friday’s chorale contest as well as their alumni open house. Furthermore, the chapter is holding officer elections on Saturday.

Beta Theta Pi: The Betas have a new faculty advisor, Foreign Languages and Literatures Professor Nohemy Solorzano-Thompson. Also, the Betas are very excited (in a strictly ironic sense, of course) for their new speakers.

Phi Delta Theta: On April 30 the Phis have their spring scholarship dinner with Religion Professor John Walters. He will speak on karma.

Sigma Chi: On the weekend of May 3 and 4 the Sigs have the Sweetheart retreat in Sun River.

-Chase Cooper

Dear Doctor Danger: have your cake and eat it, too

Dear Doctor,

I really want to travel the world before I sell my soul for a salary and full dental, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my parents won’t be willing to fund my debauchery and poor choices once the veneer of education is stripped away.  How can I see the world without my parents’ money?

- Poor Ritchie

Ritchie,

There is a way, but it isn’t as cushy as the pleasure cruise your time at Whitman has been.  In an interview with this fine paper a few semesters ago, a very close and personal friend of mine mentioned the Web site couchsurfing.com as a pretty reliable way to bum around the continent on a thin wallet.  You can actually go all over the freakin’ world and get yourself pretty culturally immersed.  The other option is WWOOF.  No, not “woof,”  stupid.  I typed that W on purpose.  It stands for “World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms,” and it’s basically couchsurfing plus gardening; you go to fascinating, exotic places and do organic farmwork for room and board.  It has the added benefit of involving organic farms, which means you’re saving the world.  On the other hand, you will be expected to do actual work.

Dear Doctor,

Sometimes I get lonely, and I can’t decide if I would rather leave my room and have crazy adventures or stay in my room and watch a movie by myself.  Oftentimes when I go and have crazy adventures I find I would have enjoyed myself a lot more had I stayed in my room and watched a movie by myself.  How do I solve the dilemma of being by myself versus being around other people?  How do I decide how to spend my time?

- David X!

David,

The easy answer is: World of Warcraft.  If you devote all of your time to an MMORPG you’ll feel like you’re getting stuff done without having to do work; you’ll make all kinds of interesting new friends who will leave you alone at the touch of a button; you’ll finally be able to have adventures and alone time all at once!

Dear Doctor,

I’m tired of not being able to have my cake and eat it, too.  What’s a fella to do?

- Red Herring

Red,

Have you tried new Schrödinger’s Cake?

New York City: finding home in a city of 8.25 million

My first thought after stepping off the plane was, “Is my wallet safe?”  Taking my dad’s advice, I shipped off from Boise, Idaho with some $500 in my wallet for New York, where, he threatened, credit cards don’t work and there are pickpockets lurking on every corner.  I was largely unfazed by his advice: he hadn’t been in the city since the early ‘90s, and, being far more worldly than I, it seemed likely that he was joking.  Regardless, I took an excessively thick wad of cash with me.  When I got off the plane at Laguardia, my Spidey-sense started to tingle, and had I sufficient medical equipment, I would have duct taped my money to the internal organ that I thought would be most likely to be overlooked by a thief.

New York is nowhere near as hostile a place as my imagination had made it out to be, but the people there aren’t friendly, either—in fact, most people I saw seemed too focused on some destination or goal to be socially cognizant at all.  The people standing at crosswalks, in line at restaurants, on their ways to work all seemed driven to the point that auxiliary concerns like the people around them were not only ignored, but impossibly far away.

I got a sense of this when my hostess, a student at NYU, had a long shift at the Apple Store in SoHo, and told me to take care of myself for a day.  “Go down 6th Ave.,” she said.  “Hang a right.”  I was terrified.  For one thing, I was unaccustomed to New York’s pace (one doesn’t simply stroll), but after a few hours of hanging my right I got the hang of keeping pace with pedestrian traffic, ignoring the gibbering homeless hopelessly begging for change, and steering clear of Little Italy.

All this was very exciting, and New York made a tiny home inside me.  I learned the city’s geography and gained a sense of direction.  I learned how to queue, and how to have my money ready when I got to a cash register.  I ate delicious sushi and cheesecake.  I felt very urbane, and then something happened.

I don’t mean to generalize, but New Yorkers have a thing for dogs, which still strikes me as unnatural.  In a place where the only thing that is not left to its own devices is nature, dogs seem to rule.  The sun was setting behind me as I walked through a charming SoHo neighborhood, and just-off-work New Yorkers were out walking their absurd dogs, minding their own business like everybody else.

One of these dogs, an ageing black lab with white around its mouth sniffed up to me and suddenly licked my hand.  The owner of the dog—a dark-haired woman of about 40, dressed tidily but casually—seemed appalled, tugged on the leash, and looking into my eyes, said, “Sorry, he has a mind of his own.”  I’m accustomed to dogs, and frequently pet them on the street, but there on that street, in that city, there is something intimate about touching somebody else’s dog, and the dog’s owner knew it.

I wish I could have responded to what she said with something more expressive than “uh huh.”  Never before in my life have I felt it so necessary to be understood—to employ my diplomatic skills—and shamefully, I feel like I failed utterly.  Of course, nothing more was expected of me.  What was I supposed to say?  “Your dog moves me?”  “I’m homesick?”  These things sound ridiculous, now that I articulate them, but I felt the need to say them because suddenly, I felt that I was moved and homesick keenly.

After spending a day ignoring people, or being lost in my own thoughts, or pretending to have a destination, I felt appallingly hollow and out of place.  The smallest courtesy, the smallest familiarity brought me to my knees, and that urbanity I’d thought I’d acquired was all Ego.
The thought of the woman and her dog haunted me that night as I looked out my 14th story window.  I wondered about the neighborhood I saw her in, and about the other people who live there.  The trajectory of their lives seemed comparable to mine—they own dogs; pursue work, friends and love; enjoy good food—and yet have chosen to live in this place I’d begun to unconsciously assume was socially sterile.

And so I reevaluated my opinion of New York City.  Which is to say, I no longer have one.  It’s too simplistic for me to say that a place is what you make of it.  The woman and her dog were counterpoints to a xenophobia I didn’t know existed.  Liberal institutions, like the one we happen to attend, encourage us to face our prejudices and combat feelings that close us off from experience, but these feelings have a backhanded route into our lives, and even the most orthodox social liberals have their prejudices.

The next day, as I walked past the Ukrainian National Congress, I was inspired by the enormous pendant of Taras Shevchenko hanging precariously over the door.  Born into Serfdom, Shevchenko is the Ukrainian national artist, and is reputedly revered by Ukrainians for his vindication of their language and his disgust for social injustice.  During the Soviet era, the nationalism of his work was downplayed, and instead he was read as opposing bourgeois economic structures through his hatred of serfdom.

One hopes that they are not misread.

After some consideration, I concluded that I had no opinion of New York.  Certainly, things are done differently, but I’m not a rugged or rootless “internationalist,” nor do I feel that the point of my writing this is to say that I confronted my latent fear of New York City: to be more accurate, it confronted me.  It looked me in the eye, it spoke a few words, its dog licked my hand.

No, the point I’d like to make about my experience is that I had neglected the human element.  Some part of me, blooming from the mythos of that enormous metropolis, forgot that all 8.25 million of its residents have at least that much in common with me.  It’s easy to forget when you don’t make eye contact with anybody for a few hours, and I think there are a lot of New Yorkers who do forget, probably for days or weeks at a time.  It can make a person hard, living like that, and what amazes me is how something so off the cuff as a few words broke my straight-ahead gaze.

War on Terror overlooks state sanctioned, living-room terrororism

A few weeks ago Barbara Sutton gave a talk on campus called “Gender, State Violence and Living Room Terrorism: Lessons from Argentina.” I’m feeling lately like I haven’t picked up the radical feminist torch in a long time. This is the talk that handed the torch back to me.

Barbara focused on Argentina in her talk, but I’m going global. I figure if America really is the watchdog of the world, and we can handle bringing democracy and Jesus to all the dark places on the map, we can also handle crisis control on a large scale. After all, we are fighting a war against an idea, not a person.

So about this War on Terror. We’ve been in it for five years now. We’re sticking pretty much to the Middle East, having decided that some places churn out Terror better than others.
Let’s start there. Because that is blatantly untrue.

The way I see it, there are two kinds of terrorism. State-sanctioned terrorism, and living-room terrorism. Americans practice both every day, by nature of being at war and using torture as a means of combat. Torture is a tool of terrorists. We cannot possibly succeed at fighting an idea that our military leaders defend in court regularly as legitimate means of conducting battle.

So there is our state, sanctioning terrorism like their lives depend on it. (Oh, wait…)

Living-room terrorism is domestic violence. It’s the tactics used by men and women worldwide to dominate their families or partners through threat or execution of violence. And no one is fighting a war against it. Abusive parents do not fall in the Axis of Evil.

I am not necessarily saying they should. I don’t think a man beating his wife or girlfriend should hang for war crimes. Maybe get his hands chopped off. But not hang. I think, much bigger than any one abusive relationship, domestic violence needs to enter our vocabulary as a form of terrorism. Because that’s what it is. That’s ALL it is.

Living-room terrorism in Barbara’s talk stretched beyond a nuclear family unit to include the abuses suffered by women at the hands of military men. Argentina has had some experience with the concept. Between 1976-83, the years of military dictatorship in Argentina, 30,000 people were ‘disappeared’ for anti-government suspicions. Note the use of WERE disappeared. To be disappeared is different than to disappear—one implies action was taken against you that resulted in your sudden, permanent absence. The other happens to doves in magic shows.

Just about everyone in Argentina knows what happened to the 30,000 disappeared citizens. It is not comparable to a magic show unless the doves are shot in midair after being released. And again, no war against it. Punishments against perpetrators of disappearances or torture have been lifted repeatedly over the last 15 years.

Now we have seen living-room terrorism. Either the state is perpetuating it, or it “cannot interfere with domestic affairs.” Yes, that is what the police would say to a severely beaten woman who called the second after her husband leaves. It would not be possible for anyone to explain to me why that is. But it’s true. It’s terrorism, and it’s blatantly ignored.

Excuse me if I get confused sometimes about what we claim to be up against in Iraq. Is it terror? Or is it not-white people with guns who live on top of oil we really, really, want?

Because there is plenty of Terror on American soil that could be battled instead. It would cost billions and billions of dollars less, it would require no tanks and no bombs and it would maybe make this country look less like a bunch of wife-abusing hypocrites. Not to mention it would save the lives of countless men, women and children who live right now in fear of being beaten by people they love.

It’s much too late to say we never should have taken on Terror in Iraq in the first place. But it is not too late to consider deeply this banner under which our troops are crusading. War on Terror. Think next of the places in the world, and more importantly the places in this country, that experience acts of terrorism daily. What will it take to bring the war home? 30,000 more?

cook’s corner: MATZOHTOFF!

Lots of cooks have signature dishes, and this week I’m going to share mine.

Okay, so maybe I didn’t create this recipe myself, but I’ve made it a lot of different ways since I first discovered it. Also, I made up a name for it, something I am still very proud of. I called it matzohtoff because it combined the matzoh and the toffee that are both present in the recipe, and because it sounds like ‘mazel tov,’ which means ‘congratulations’ in Yiddish.

Speaking (of) Yiddish, if you’re looking for new and different ways to complain and insult people, visit this Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_words_of_Yiddish_origin. This list includes such cultural favorites as schlemiel and schlimazel. Of “Laverne and Shirley” fame, these words are used to describe a clumsy person and a repeatedly unlucky person, respectively.

This dish is a little bit sweet, a little bit salty, a little bit Jewish. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be Jewish to make it.

In fact, for all of my gentile readers (not ‘gentle’ like Asimov or Abby, but ‘gentile’ as in ‘non-Jew’), Passover is upon us and I see fit to have a column that includes matzoh.

Passover is also referred to as the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because of the importance that matzoh takes on during this time. Matzoh is an unleavened bread made from only flour and water. Traditionally it is eaten to commemorate the time when the Israelite slaves fled from Egypt during the Exodus in order to seek refuge in Israel. Since they left in great haste, they didn’t have enough time for their bread to rise. Thus, they took the Matzoh with them on their journey.

This dish is always a big hit at my family’s annual Hanukkah cocktail party (as you can probably tell by now, we’re on the liberal side of Reform Judaism) and it’s very easy to make. Feel free to experiment with the chocolate chips you sprinkle on top—I’ve used white chocolate and bittersweet marbled together, milk and dark.

Matzohtoff!

INGREDIENTS:
4-6 salted or unsalted matzohs
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (margarine can be substituted for those keeping kosher)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cover a large baking sheet with foil, and put a layer of baking parchment on top of the foil.
2. Places matzohs in a single layer in the baking sheet, using broken pieces to fill in all the space.
3. In a medium sized saucepan, combine the butter and sugar and heat on medium while stirring until it begins to boil. Continuing to stir, boil the mixture for three minutes. Pour the mixture over the matzoh, spreading it to cover the matzoh completely.
4. Place the pan in the oven, and reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Bake it for 15 minutes, watching to make sure it doesn’t begin to burn.
5. Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the matzoh/caramel. Wait five minutes (for the chips to soften), then spread the chocolate over the matzoh with a spatula.
6. Stick the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, or until the chocolate sets. Before serving, break the matzoh into bite sized or larger pieces, depending on personal preference.

Invisible Children team presents newest film

Black Sunday,” a film about displacement camps in Northern Uganda, moved half of the Whitman audience to tears and the other half to frustration with its MTV styled activism. African Awareness, a club that formed after last year’s screening of the prequel, brought the Invisible Children tour group to campus last Thursday.

The film is meant as a follow-up to “Invisible Children: Rough Cut,” a film made in 2003 by three young filmmakers from Southern California. “Invisible Children” detailed the conflict, showing Northern Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers. The success of the film led the three film-makers to form Invisible Children, Inc., a non-profit created “to give compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.”

But some Whitman students found the new film problematic.

“The first ‘Invisible Children’ kind of started off as an adventure into the other world of Africa and then they turned that around into a really interesting and compassionate examination of the human rights issues of Uganda; however, this movie felt quite paternalistic…It felt like the movie was spliced together but they’d cut out the body and content,” said sophomore Seth Bergeson.

“Black Sunday” skipped over the details of the conflict, instead focusing on the story of one displaced child named Sunday. The film begins with Bobby Bailey, one of the original film-makers, deciding to return to Uganda and live in a displacement camp for 10 days to build support for a rally in the U.S. called “Displace Me.”

For the past 21 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel movement led by Joseph Kony, has been waging a war against the Ugandan government. An estimated 90 percent of the LRA troops are abducted children. “The Invisible Children: Rough Cut” focused on these abductions.

Since 2003 these abductions have almost stopped as a result of a temporary truce between the LRA and the Ugandan government. Now that peace is in sight, a greater focus is being placed on the aftermath of the conflict, namely the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps that house the majority of Northern Uganda’s population.

“Black Sunday” focused on the displacement camps. These camps have been in place since 1996 when the Ugandan government forcibly removed roughly 1.5 million individuals to live in overcrowded camps in hopes of providing protection against LRA attacks. But these camps are full of poverty, disease and starvation.

The film showed Bailey and the other Americans as they ate rats, cemented their hut with manure and slept on straw mats. Sunday, an intelligent young boy who wants to be a doctor, was the star of the movie. At the end of the film, Sunday invited Americans to “help us see peace.”

The film then switched back to America where in April 2007 more than 68,000 individuals gathered in 15 cities across the United States to experience for one night what it was like to be displaced. They left their homes and “displaced themselves for the displaced in Northern Uganda.”

While the film did interview a few human rights leaders who spoke about the issue, it left many in the audience wanting more details about the conflict before they felt they could truly advocate for change.

“I would it have liked it to explain a little more… For activists you have to be educated to make an educated letter or arguments afterwards. At this point you can argue from the heart but you can’t really know the full context of what you’re trying to participate in,” said senior Kate Farrington.

One of the Invisible Children “Roadies,” Josh Orr, responded to the suggestion that “Black Sunday” didn’t provide enough background, saying that it is meant as a sequel and that it is the type of film that people want to see.

“It’s meant to be done as a follow-up. We’re trying to reach younger generations or even a lot of people, if you just throw out a bunch of stats about Africa and don’t bring it to a single individual, it doesn’t work,” said Orr.

Orr spoke after the film, encouraging the audience to write letters to their representatives urging for an end to the war and the appropriation of $25 million toward rebuilding Northern Uganda.

Claire Lueneburg, president of African Awareness, was happy with the film and the turnout.

“I think that the goal of Invisible Children is to popularize it because that’s how we engage young people, we play popular music and by being funny and if that’s what it takes to get people to stay out there and write letters to their Senators then that’s great. I think that the Whitman audience is a lot more educated than the average high-schooler and I think that’s where a lot of this [movie] is taking place, in high schools,” said Lueneburg.

For more information, visit InvisibleChildren.com.

Students and family pay respects to Michael Quimpo

This Monday nearly 200 friends and family members of the recently deceased Whitman junior Michael Quimpo gathered in the Reid ballroom for his memorial service.  At the request of his father, the service’s theme was a celebration of life.

“I wanted the service to be comforting for Michael’s family, but also to be accessible to the broader community,” said Adam Kirtley, Stuart religious counselor and service organizer.
In organizing the service, Kirtley said that his main goal was to involve the people who knew Quimpo.

“The service was a good thing,” said Quimpo’s housemate and senior Mary Simpson-Stanton.  “It helped some of us find closure, and [it was nice] to be in a physical space with other people who knew and loved him.”

The memorial service consisted of biblical and poetic readings, personal reflections, musical pieces and a photo slide show compiled by Quimpo’s family.

“Any small set of speeches and pictures is going to be inadequate to capture someone’s life, but I think the combination provided a fair glimpse of who he was,” said Quimpo’s Core professor Mitch Clearfield, one of the presenters of a personal reflection.

Quimpo’s advisor Bob Fontenot agreed with Clearfield, saying, “The three speakers painted a picture of a kind, loving, mischievous, intellectually alive and curious young man who eagerly tackled such things as learning to play flute, martial arts and doing incredibly heavy lifting, for a small man, during his summer job with the Summer Events Office.”

While the personal reflections created a portrait of who Quimpo was, the ending benediction sung by his family was undoubtedly one of the group’s favorite moments.

“Their  voices stirred emotions so deeply that if people were able to hold back their tears through the various eulogies, they couldn’t during the singing,” said Director of Communications Ruth Wardwell.  “It was clear to me that Michael came from a very close and caring family.”

Eighteen members of Quimpo’s family were in attendance and participated in the benediction.
“The most amazing thing about the weekend was Michael’s family,” said Kirtley.  “They are a remarkable group of people.”

The family’s strong faith inspired and consoled many who were mourning Quimpo.  According to Quimpo’s friend and sophomore Neda Ansaari, the message they shared was that “wherever Michael is, he wants all of us to celebrate his life, smile and giggle.”

During the memorial service Quimpo’s friends and family brought him to life once more through the loving memories and thoughts that were shared in a moving celebration of his life.

“The memorial service was done to celebrate his life and I think we definitely did that—remembering all those things that Michael did, his mischiefs and actions and the moments that his friends spent with him,” said Quimpo’s Ansaari.  “However, it was hard for me to accept that he was gone and he was not there anymore amongst us.”

Senior art majors present their theses

One of the first art theses that greets visitors upon entering the Sheehan Gallery is Kento Ushikubo’s “The Auq,” a nearly 10-foot leech-like monster, whose open mouth visitors are invited to step into.

“The Auq represents the imaginary that humans feared as children,” Ushikubo wrote in an Artist’s Statement hanging nearby the piece.

“The Auq” is part of Senior Art Thesis Exhibition, a display of theses by 11 Whitman senior art majors.

On Friday, April 18, the exhibition opened with a reception at the gallery. The reception was preceded by the Perry Award Lecture by contemporary artist and Perry Award Juror Marie Shurkus.

“It’s really interesting to have met the lecturer beforehand and then to see what she’s interested in,” said thesis presenter Emma Wood.

Wood, whose thesis is an installment of light boxes that experiments with shadow and silhouette, described the atmosphere as unreal.

“It’s like we’re in a real gallery space with people I don’t know, when I see their work; I know the people and I know what they’ve been working on, but seeing it here with the polished product… it’s crazy.”
Wood also described the experience to be exhilarating.

“It’s really exciting to see people walk around and look at your work, and eavesdrop incognito since they don’t know you,” she said.

Fellow thesis presenter, Sylvia Imbrock, felt similarly.

“I’m over the shock,” said Imbrock. “It was really weird to have a whole ton of people walking through here and looking at the work. I feel a lot more relaxed and it’s really great to hear people’s responses and see what people are drawn to in all the works.”

“I think the exhibition looks really great,” said attendee, sophomore Mallory Powers. “I’ve had classes with some of these people and it’s really interesting to see what they’ve done and how their works have progressed. I noticed some things that they worked on for classes that I’ve been in, but to see it morph into a show they’ve put together is really inspiring.”

Art professor Mare Blocker agreed.

“It’s really exciting and it’s the culmination of everyone’s work,” said Blocker. “I love matching the parents with the kids, ‘cause you hear so much about them all year, and so many people did pieces about their families.”

Thesis presenter Ashley Lau was one of these people.

“I have realized more strongly than ever, that my values and ties to my family are an integral part of me and the way that I am with others,” wrote Lau in an artist’s statement that hung by her thesis, a series of five ceramic pieces which explored the growth of the artist from childhood to maturity.

“It’s really exciting and really interesting to hear people’s reactions to my work,” Lau said. “It’s just a happy celebration.”

Other thesis presenters included Jason Brain, Gayle Chung, Sarah Haas, Gregory Hansen, Mysha Oveson, Ryan Peinhardt and Sunyoung Yi.

Although Blocker loved the exhibition, she said she enjoyed the prospect of the week ending.

“I love it when this week is over, because everyone’s working so hard. Now everyone can take a deep breath and relax a little,” she said.

The exhibition will be open until May 18.

Entirely student-organized Seder celebration successful

Whitman Students of the Jewish faith joined together for an evening of celebration and remembrance during the campus’ first completely student-run Passover Seder. The event, held Saturday, April 19 in Baker Faculty Center, was organized by Hillel Shalom, the campus’ Jewish club.

Traditionally, the Passover Seder is a ritual meal held on any of the eight nights of Passover, a major Jewish holiday commemorating the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery.

Rachel Stein and Danny Kaplan, co-presidents of Hillel Shalom, have been planning for over a month to organize the event that was attended by over 60 students.

“This is the first Seder that has been organized completely by students,” said Stein. “Our adviser is on sabbatical, so Danny, myself and other members of the club have done all of the planning, from securing the building, to figuring out the food situation, to arranging the service,” said Stein.

“At home, you know that there will be a synagogue, a rabbi and a service for each holiday. Here, someone has to take a leadership role, and we have to be willing to work a lot more in order to see things happen,” said Stein.

In the past, Bon Appétit had catered the dinner for the Seder; however, they were unable to provide the service this year, so the dinner was held potluck-style.

“Surprisingly, it worked out really well. This is the best, most well attended Seder I’ve experienced during my time at Whitman,” said Kaplan.

The event offered a chance for Whitman students to partake in Passover and connect with others of the Jewish faith while being away from home during the holiday.

“This being my first year, it has been a bit sad for me. I do miss my synagogue and partaking in tradition with my family,” said first-year Leah Wheeler.

Traditionally, Jews abstain from eating leavened bread and other non-kosher foods during Passover. Matzo, a cracker-like flat bread, is customarily substituted for leavened bread during this time.

“My family always makes a ritual of cleaning all the bread products out of our house. We bake a lot of Passover brownies, and cakes, and pastries,” said Wheeler.

“I plan on staying kosher for Passover at Whitman, no matter how hard it is,” said Wheeler. “I bought matzo, so I’ll eat that. There are actually some really good matzo recipes, like matzo pizza, or matzo with cream cheese and jelly.”

“It’s much harder being of Jewish faith at Whitman,” said first-year Daniel Straus.  “There are a lot fewer practicing Jews here than at my home, and there’s not a synagogue that has a permanent rabbi or regular services around. Plus, it is really hard to keep kosher while eating in the dining halls. I still don’t mix milk and cheese or eat any of the unclean meats, but I can’t control how the food is prepared or what it is served out of,” said Straus.

Although Bon Appétit has made an effort to accommodate those students of the Jewish faith, it is not always able to offer them the same range of options that may be available at home.

“We did buy some matzo and will offer it to students while it is available; however, this year we’re having a lot of trouble finding matzo,” said Susan Todhunter, dining manager of Prentiss. “We’ve always relied on buying it in town instead of having in shipped in, but there seems to be a matzo shortage—we’ve searched in Walla Walla and the Tri-Cities, but all the stores are out.”

“However, we do have recipes all week long that are specifically foods that Jewish people can eat during Passover. We’re doing our best, and hopefully that will help,” said Todhunter.

Netflix It: “Thelma & Louise”

“Thelma and Lousie” gets a pretty bad rap. I will tell you right now: it is not a fun road trip movie. It is not a girly slumber-party movie. It has guns and blood and rape attempts and cars going over cliffs. It’s not a chick flick. It kicks ass.

Everything starts out innocently enough. Thelma (Geena Davis) and her best friend Louise (Susan Sarandon) are ready to leave their dead-end jobs and relationships and take a drive. They pack small suitcases and plan to gamble and drink and have fun together. They take a Polaroid picture of each other in Thelma’s driveway, smiling in the sun and wearing new sunglasses.

Things get exciting pretty quickly. The first bar they stop in, Thelma is assaulted by a cowboy in the parking lot and is almost raped except that Louise shoots the cowboy. Now it’s real. There’s a dead body outside the bar, and the ladies hit the road in their ’66 Thunderbird. And now they know how to shoot.

I like this movie for a lot of reasons, not all of which center around two powerful women characters who are doin’ it for themselves. I like it because it’s gritty without being gratuitous. It’s directed by a man (Ridely Scott, who also did “Gladiator”) who is not afraid to show other men acting like pigs and getting their just desserts. I also, let’s be real, like it because it briefly features a young Brad Pitt’s naked bod. A slip into gratuitousness I can allow, just this once.

If you already know how “Thelma and Louise” famously ends, then watch it for the build-up. If you don’t, watch it for the last 10 minutes and wonder if you would do the same thing under the same circumstances.

Whitties help guide future of Cascade Climate Network

The weekend of April 4-6, three Whitman students—Gary Wang ‘11, Sarah Judkins ‘10 and myself/Camila Thorndike ‘10—joined 25 youth gathered in the Oregon woods to further plot the course of the Cascade Climate Network (CCN), a youth network for climate change action that spans the Pacific Northwest.

We are guided by the Cascade Climate Declaration, also framed last fall, which states our guiding convictions about the urgency to act now in order to secure the just, prosperous and sustainable future we dream of. The CCN was integral in the successful Cascade Powershift 2008, which 12 Whitman students attended in February.

Created by youth for youth, the CCN is a web of communication and leadership that facilitates the effective collaboration of young activists, students, educational institutions and organizations of all shapes and sizes. Six short months after its inception, the CCN has proven its worth as an indispensable tool in the fight for climate change action. Working within its inclusive and equitable structure, we speak with a unified voice of greater breadth—and together we are being heard.

Twelve colleges and universities from both Oregon and Washington were represented at the Spring Fling by youth with a broad range of activist experience. Even with an entire weekend dedicated to each other, free time and open-space discussions went by the wayside as we bunkered down to hammer out the dirty details of making our vision a sustainable reality. As Nathan Jones of the CCN declared at the retreat’s opening, “the schedule is going to work for us”—and it had to work its tail off!

The weekend consisted of numerous trainings on how to build the emerging youth climate movement, as well as the challenging task of defining the CCN and its future. All attendees expressed wholehearted support for the “horizontal” structure of the CCN, which enables individual empowerment within a non-hierarchal web of names and faces. Ours is a living organization, just as dynamic as the youth who comprise it. At the Spring Fling, we ensured the network’s continued dynamism and rewarding equity.

All attendees contributed to its longevity with creative ideas that reflected their inspiring intelligence, dedication and foresight.

We began with updates from members on actions they had recently taken, which ranged from community-wide rallies to campus wind-turbine plans and photo petitions to halt further fossil fuel developments. The retreat fulfilled one of its main objectives, which was the “recharging” of the activist’s energy: that source of passion that, like any battery, can be exhausted in what is often a hostile world. The intensely-packed days overflowed into late night discussions of the sort that inspire, rejuvenate and reaffirm the principles we hold dear and the drive we all possess to make them a reality.

One of the highlights of the Fling was an anti-oppression training, held in part to stress the importance of justice in the fight against environmental degradation and climate change. It consisted of an eye-opening activity that challenged us to critically consider what privileges and disadvantages have shaped each of us as leaders within the environmental and social movements, including gender, race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation and family background. The discussion that ensued was invaluable and created a space in which we could all become more fully human.

It may be stating the obvious, but more noteworthy than our accomplishments and organizational deliberations are the people who comprise the CCN. They are both those at Spring Fling, as well as our friends whose energy and solidarity were constantly invoked and remembered. We continue to grow as more committed, passionate and positive youth are welcomed into the “bicycle wheel” of the network, adding essential spokes to the hub that has already done so much.

Tour of Walla Walla draws 500 cyclists

Several hundred people stood at the corner of Coville and Main Streets, the adults clapping, kids zealously ringing the yellow cowbells handed out by Allegro Cyclery like they hadn’t been ringing them for the past six hours. And everyone cheered as Ian Tubbs threw his arms in the air as his first place in the men’s pro-1-2 criterium brought a close to the last event of the 2008 Tour of Walla Walla.

Some 200 miles and 47 hours (over eight of which were spent racing) earlier, on a hill outside of Waitsburg, Wash., the same 100 men kicked off the weekend with a windy, 62-mile road race.

In between, approximately 500 cyclists along with dozens of volunteers and hundreds of fans made the 12th annual Tour of Walla Walla a huge success.

“The race was very smooth and the organizers made the race easy to race,” said Whitman sophomore Ben Chaddock, who took third overall in the men’s category three.

“We’re lucky to have really wonderful volunteers,” said Beth Swanson, who was in charge of public relations for the race—a new position for this year’s Tour. “I think a lot of our volunteers came from businesses downtown, and they understand the importance of bringing 500 racers to Walla Walla, only 5 percent of whom are local.”

Swanson also helped to involve the Whitman cycling team more with the race. A spaghetti feed for the racers and a raffle for a bike both benefited the team.

“It’s been a great local tie for us to have the Whitman cycling team,” said Swanson. “One, because Whitman gets to race here locally and we get a chance to raise some money for them, and then it’s been really good for the racers here because they’re supporting a good cause…and it’s a win for Walla Walla too.”

Several Whitman cyclists raced in the tour in a change of pace from collegiate racing.

“The Tour of Walla Walla is really different from collegiate races for a lot of reasons,” said junior cyclist Mia Huth. While all the Whitman cyclists noted that the field was much bigger than in collegiate races, Huth also felt the atmosphere was different.

“I think that collegiate riders are really out there to have fun, and I get the feeling that a lot of these women I was riding with in the tour seemed to be a lot more intensely into it,” said Huth. “Maybe it’s because they had a lot more money invested in it…but I think that at college races the whole atmosphere of the race weekend is a lot more lighthearted than here,” said Huth, who decided to turn Saturday’s road race into a ride when she realized she wasn’t having fun anymore.

The Tour provided a fresh pool of competition for the Whitman racers, according to Chaddock.

“Here we get to see a whole new set of riders and a whole new set of teams so you have no idea where you stand in the first race so you have to use a whole new set of tactics to make sure no one sneaks away who you aren’t familiar with,” said Chaddock.

The Tour breaks up the men into four divisions: categories five through three, and then the top division, which consists of the professionals and the category one and two competitors. The divisions are similar for women but with no category five.

Each category races a different series of times and distances throughout the weekend.

The race consisted of a 35- or 62-mile road race outside of Waitsburg on Friday for some of the racers. Saturday consisted of a seven and a half mile individual time trial and a road race that ranged from 95 to 38 miles in length and finished on a two-mile hill. The weekend ended with a criterium on a half-mile loop in downtown Walla Walla where riders raced for 30 minutes to an hour to get the most laps in on the criterion.

All in all, the Tour went off without any major snafus.

“We had two people come into first aid for road rash, but that’s it. Compared to last year we’re doing really well,” said on-site paramedic Michelle McKee, who has volunteered at the tour for the past two years.

“Category four women and category five men—when they’re done we’re pretty happy,” said McKee, explaining that the majority of the crashes occur with the less experienced riders. However, before she could finish her thought, McKee’s radio buzzed and she ran off to deal with a multi-rider crash in the men’s pro-1-2 criterium.

This year’s Tour filled up extremely quickly with the ride and waitlist full for almost every category long before the race.

“The waitlist was really, really long,” said first-year Chelsea Momany, who raced with the category four women and just found out she got a spot in the race the Thursday before it began. “Apparently at one point it was longer than the actual field.”

“[The Tour] has a very good reputation in the cycling world and with good reason. There are a lot of great volunteers who are really willing to make it happen and in 12 years it’s become a really fun, quality event,” said Swanson.

Local high-schoolers attend workshops, shadow Whitman students

Club Latino collaborated with local high schools to bring 50 low-income and minority high school students to campus on Friday, April 18.  High school students shadowed Whitman students to a class, ate lunch in Jewett and then attended several workshops designed to teach the students about the application process.

“Many of the students don’t have as much support from home, so we gave them workshops about things that many upper class and middle class students take for granted,” said Club Latino Co-President Estela Vasquez.

The workshops, as well as the itinerary, were designed by Club Latino members.
“It’s incredible that Whitman students have led this whole thing.  Each club member has become empowered by this experience,” said Intercultural Center Director and sponsor of Club Latino Andres Dankel-Ibaneziomes.

One of Club Latino’s goals for this year has been to increase the amount of interactions between Whitman and the outside community.

“We live in such a bubble here and it reminds us that there’s a side of life that most of us have probably never seen before,” said first-year Taneeka Hansen, who was in charge of matching Whitman and high school students.

Club Latino members hoped the high school students would be able to connect with Whitman students and professors.

“It’s a day to personally connect with students, a day to convey our experiences and our stories.  As Latinos in college, we are the example, and they are the future,” said Vasquez.

Whitman students were paired one-on-one with high school students, and many students from outside Club Latino volunteered to host a student.

“It’s really cool how receptive Whitman students have been to the students.  Whitman students make them feel so comfortable.  It’s great to see that,” said Dankel-Ibaneziomes.

Club Latino invited professors to talk to students, but due to time constraints, this was cancelled.

“I like the way the teachers interact with the students.  I think they explain stuff pretty good,” said high school student Karina Torres, who attended a core class with her host.

Vasquez considered the event successful.  It accomplished the club’s primary goal of exposing the students to a nice college.

“Exposure can make such a difference,” said Vasquez.  “If someone tells you at least once, you think maybe you can do it.”

Whitman students also gained from the event.

“Whitman students are empowered to apply the social justice component they might learn about in the classroom,” said Dankel-Ibaneziomes.  “This is just the classic example.  Students are really able to give back to the community.”

Chan and Li, together at last in ‘The Forbidden Kingdom’

It’s a good thing “The Forbidden Kingdom,” the long-awaited first-ever collaboration between Hong Kong legends Jackie Chan and Jet Li, is so much fun, because deep down it’s a little depressing.

The delightful mythical story—about an irreverent martial arts master called the Monkey King, who is held captive by the Jade Warlord until the prophesied Seeker returns his magic staff to the Five Elements Mountain—is bookended by the modern-day story of Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano), a Boston teen obsessed with old kung fu movies. Jason frequents the Chinatown memorabilia shop of Old Hop (Chan in terrific make-up), and one day in a back room he stumbles upon the real-life version of the dusty old staff that belonged to the Monkey King, and finds himself catapulted into the fantastical world of the Middle Kingdom, where the Jade Warlord is crushing all who fall in his path.

The aim is that Jason will be a “Last Action Hero”-esque conduit for our Western reverie of Hong Kong kung fu kitsch—and “Forbidden Kingdom” abounds with it—but the trouble is that Jason, and there is no other way to put this, is the biggest tool on the planet. He is unattractive, dimwitted, unappreciative, and obnoxiously slow on the uptake. And the contrast between his numskullery and Chan and Li’s aplomb, is, well, a little depressing, because on some level it reminds us that all the adoring kung fu geeks out there, God bless ‘em, spent their lives watching movies instead of actually learning kung fu. And where are they now?

Such morbid thoughts aside, “The Forbidden Kingdom” is terrific popcorn entertainment. Those same geeks (and I count myself an enthusiastic member of their periphery) have waited decades to see a match-up between Chan and Li, and while the two are buddies for most of the film, their central eight-minute fight scene against each other doesn’t disappoint. (It also won’t settle any barstool debates about who would win this titanic face-off.)

One only wishes fighting of their caliber would continue throughout the movie and stomp out the often-beleaguered exposition. There are a lot of characters in the Middle Kingdom, including the pipa-playing Golden Sparrow, on a quest for vengeance, and the foxy, shimmering White Witch, a minion of the Jade Warlord. Eventually, things start to get bogged down with the keeping track of all these people—but soon enough we arrive at the final showdown, and the choreography, by Woo-ping Yuen of the “Matrix” and “Kill Bill” fame, is first rate.

Jackie Chan, to many, is the most beloved of all Hong Kong martial arts stars, even surpassing Bruce Lee, and I think the reason is that he rarely takes things seriously. On DVDs of Chan’s movies, the outtakes, in which he invariably narrowly escapes death but always winds up shaking a bruised hand and wincing, are often the most popular part. To its own good fortune, we may say that “The Forbidden Kingdom” is a Jackie Chan movie. From Chan’s own one-liners and drunken lollygagging (a nod to his most popular “Drunken Master” films) to gags with an unexpectedly funny Li, “Kingdom” keeps things silly and irreverent.

The only shame is that we laugh with the masters, but we are laughing at Angarano. I shudder to think that this actor was a finalist to play the young Anakin Skywalker in the new “Star Wars” films. Next time around, the guy needs to be properly cast as one of the nitwitted teens in a slasher movie who takes a dare to run naked through the old hermit’s house in the woods, never to return. Leave the kung fu to the old pros—and let’s hope we see much more of these old pros together in years to come.

House of Clubs faces uncertain future

The House of Clubs’ representatives may no longer have as large of a voice in ASWC as years past. On the April 13 joint session meeting, President Jeff Wilson presented the House with several amendments to the constitution and by-laws after discussions with the executive council.

“We are seeking positive reinforcements to get people involved on issues they care about and issues that are important,” said Wilson.

The HOCR will no longer be incorporated into every decision made through ASWC, but will still have a say in meetings that discuss pertinent issues to club budgets.

“The constitution has been changed, on average, once every five years. It’s a little bit overdue at this point,” said Jordan Clark, chair of the Oversight Committee.

Clark believes that the biggest modification involves the HOCR.

The HOCR that attend joint sessions are formally known as budget representatives for their clubs. The issue concerning the House of Clubs is that their presence and votes at mandatory joint sessions have not been as beneficial to the student body as it was originally intended.

Many of the topics discussed at the meetings do not even directly involve clubs, calling the importance of their role in the House into question.

“It’s not so much a check anymore as it is a rubber stamp,” said Clark, who also noted that the House of Clubs is being presented with items to vote on without much knowledge about what is going on.

To receive continual funding from ASWC, clubs have an obligation to make a decision on something that may not even concern their club.

“It’s like essentially like saying, ‘Give us your opinion or else we’ll take your money away.’ That’s not the ideal relationship between the executive council, enate and the clubs on campus,” said Clark.

In past years, former presidents of ASWC have only discussed modifications of club representation at meetings, but have always passed it on to the next president to manage during their term. This year is the first time it’s being put into action.

“In the new system we got rid of that old theory of House of Clubs. In theory it would’ve worked, but in practice it didn’t implement the way they wanted eight years ago when it was put into action,” said Wilson.

When the proposed changes were presented an hour and 45 minutes into the April 13 meeting, it did not solicit much feedback from the House. However, Clark affirmed that the changes will be available online for reps to access and discuss with the executive council.

“In my opinion, the problem with the House of Clubs is that I, as a club representative, am not voting for my club but rather just voting as a student,” said sophomore Sarah Deming, who has served as the Black Student Union’s budget rep since spring 2007.

“It was kind of silly why we’re at most meetings because I don’t know how the Black Student Union feels about confirming these two people as Pio editors-in-chief or other decisions of that nature,” said Deming. The HOCR generally agreed and felt satisfied with the amendments, according to Deming.

Sophomore Jackson Cahn served on the ASWC Reform Committee when the changes  were being discussed. As the Medieval Society budget rep, Cahn shared the same sentiment as some of his fellow reps that the voice of the students is not being heard through clubs.

“Even if my club did have a stake in the issue, I would not have a chance to present the issue before my club and find their opinions before the meeting, so I cannot accurately represent their opinions,” said Cahn.

Junior Roman Goerss, chairman of the Reform Committee, has done an independent study on the workings of a student government and has played a major role in developing the changes regarding the clubs’ positions in the House.

“I think the general attitude is that the system we have is not working so well right now and so why not give something else a try?” said Goerss.

According to Clark, the Senate may have more power in the next system than it has in the past. Senators would be assigned to represent a few clubs in order to understand the workings of each club and advocating their concerns. When budget decisions need to be made, the presence of club reps would be called in for one joint session meeting, rather than attending several meetings out of the year.

In an effort to become more accessible to the Whitman community, Wilson said that the new system will include town hall meetings that anyone who is interested—club rep or not—is allowed to attend. Along with administration, faculty and staff, this town hall meeting will provide an open forum to discuss any matters that need to be brought to ASWC’s attention, rather than streaming communication through the House of Clubs.

“We want to make sure there’s a really clear process about how clubs can get funding and how the senate can go about awarding ASWC monies,” said Wilson. “This new system aims to clarify. So students will know what conduits there are for their initiatives to get money, to get rules, resolutions and more.”

The problem of taking away the check the House of Clubs has had in the student government has been discussed by the executive council since the clubs have made important decisions in the past. However, Clark asserts that ASWC won’t know the benefits of the changes without putting it into action.

“It’s hard to know before you try and put it into practice,” said Clark.

Clark hopes that once the student body becomes introduced to the changes, there will be some dissenting opinion. He believes that the executive council and committees recognizes that there is no such thing as a perfect system.

A joint session meeting will be taking place Sunday night on April 27 and the amendments about the House’s role with be voted on. In order to be approved, changes need to pass through the Senate and the House of Clubs with a two-thirds vote. It will then go on the ballot for the April 29 elections and need 20 percent of student body to vote in order to be considered majority and enacted for next year.

Access to the new constitution and by-laws are available online at whitman.edu/content/aswc.

Congress needs new fiscal diet: Use earmarks sparingly

As a plump hormonally-charged sixth grader, I often wondered what I could do to better market myself to the fairer sex. I tried to portray myself as a stud: I joined a soccer team the previous summer and, at the time, I played on a competitive hockey team.

That didn’t seem to work, so I began writing poetry. Not too far into my poetry career, however, I realized that my logical mind excessively seeped from each stanza and ultimately decided that poetry was not for me.

Perusing the posters that littered the gym one day, I came across one from the United States Department of Agriculture reading “The Food Pyramid.” I suddenly had an epiphany as to why girls began shying away from me when I displayed affection. It wasn’t me, per se, they had a problem with, it was my gut.

I took a mental note of that poster and for the next few months repeated the line “Eat fats, oils and sweets sparingly” continuously in my mind.

As hackneyed as this story may seem—one where the overweight kid, through either internal or peer pressure, changes his ways and curbs his weight—these same principles, and particularly those outlined by the food pyramid, can be applied to how we deal with spending.
The top of the pyramid, that which reads “fats, oils and sweets,” can be likened to earmarks.

Earmarks are one of the most abused and misinterpreted means of funding in the Congress today.

Earmarks are specific funds approved by the Congress via the passage of big multipurpose bills that are to be spent on corresponding specific projects—projects that, with the funds, are stipulated in the bill.

In my home state of Alaska, now scandalized by a congressman’s misuse of earmarks, congressional funding is scarce. Since Alaska doesn’t have much of a population, come passage-of-legislation time it typically gets the short end of the stick while large, metropolis-heavy states like New York and California are appropriated a hefty chunk of taxpayer money. And rightfully so.

I am in favor of giving states like California and New York large sums of money to pursue worthwhile projects that will innately cost more for them, given their scope and magnitude, than they would for a smaller state. The problem is that while these projects are being heard, other smaller, yet equally important, projects are being neglected.

Thus, earmarks provide a feasible outlet through which small states can get the money they need via specific projects, while large states continue to get the money they need for more general projects through legislation.

Without earmarks, small projects would rarely come to fruition because of their lack of legislation. And legislation is the only means of effectively distributing government funding with the least bit of corruption.

However, as we’ve seen in the ongoing Alaska political scandal, earmarks can and will be abused provided we don’t improve the way we regulate them.

Earmarks are like fats, oils and sweets. We should use them sparingly to enhance our local communities, but we need not rely on them for sources of capital.

The key word is “rely.”

States should not rely on earmarks as the only means for funding. Too much earmarking leads to inefficient and, usually, monetarily wasteful bills. The general trend is that the more earmarks that appear in a bill, the less oversight the bill receives—typically owing to its mere complexity. It is the very reason why earmarks are contentious in the first place.

Rahm Emanuel, a representative from Illinois and chairman of the House Democratic Congress, said last year that “not all earmarks are equal.” He is spot-on.

Earmarks are used in one of two ways. The first is where congressmen insert earmarks into bills for lobbyists in exchange for sizeable campaign contributions, vacations, gifts or even outright bribes.

The second is when earmarks are used for imperative projects such as the Iraq Study Group. The bipartisan panel was put together circa 2006 via an earmark proposed by Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia in order to stipulate a set of benchmarks needed to hold President George W. Bush and the Iraqi government accountable for progress in Iraq.

Without the earmark, the study group would have most likely not been proposed, let alone assembled, and we would have had no authority to measure the “progress” the Bush administration claimed to have made in Iraq in the years leading up to the study group.

Earmarks in sync with the latter are ones we need to keep around while earmarks more akin to the former must be completely eradicated from Capitol Hill. No questions asked.

Whenever I hear John McCain preach to the choir with his no-look, broadly defined no-pork-barrel-spending plan for the next four years, I can’t help but get sick to my stomach just thinking what would happen if necessary projects, such as the Iraq Study Group, were rejected with a simple signature.

Whitties’ fashion sense influenced by geography, ideology, lifestyle

Clothing is an anomaly. Humans are the only species that wear it, and we wear it as if the very act of covering our bodies is a complicated art form. As Mark Twain famously noted, “The finest clothing made is a person’s skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this.”

Fashion has become a sociological key in understanding all kinds of groups of people. From Northern Africans to the Southern Alabamans; from the yuppiest of the yuppies to the hippiest of the hippies; from senior citizens to infants to adolescents to middle-aged people, there’s at least an expected dress code for everyone. Whitman is no exception.

“Whitman has its own kind of style. It’s difficult to put your finger on. It’s sort of Northwest-dressed-down. It’s a kind of fashion but it’s not upscale fashion. It seems to be kind of the opposite in some ways, kind of like anti-fashion,” said Professor of Sociology Bill Bogard.

Many students have cited this casual, outdoorsy attitude as a major influence on the typical Whitman wardrobe. Chacos, Tevas and Northface jackets were all repeatedly mentioned as clothing staples on campus.

“It definitely seems like the majority of people here go for comfort more than haute couture,” said sophomore Iris Alden. “I think a typical Whitman outfit would be jeans, flip-flops and a sweatshirt or jacket-type thing.”

But Alden added that her own style, which she described as “comfortable in a classic sort of way,” isn’t out of place at Whitman.

“There’s definitely a large demographic of people who have Timbuktus and Birkenstocks and more fleece than I do. But really I think it’s about 50-50 between the outdoorsy folk and the non-outdoorsy folk,” said Alden.

While a more laid-back, outdoors-bound wardrobe may be archetypical at Whitman, most students agreed there is no single look that defines the campus.

“I don’t think there’s really a Whitman style,” said sophomore Jane Collins. “I think at a lot of other colleges, particularly colleges on the east coast, you might see that a lot more.”

Sophomore Obreanna McReynolds, who called her own sense of style “fairly eclectic,” said that she noticed a “fashion spectrum” at Whitman.

“Even within the jeans and Chacos image there’s plenty of room for variation, and there are definitely some people who care more about what they wear than others. It’s fun to watch freshman who dress up really nicely in the first weeks of school start to figure out that there’s really no need to put a lot of time into what you wear, unless you genuinely enjoy doing it,” said McReynolds in an e-mail.

Regardless of this spectrum, however, the generally favored fashion statement on campus has a unanimously casual, comfortable emphasis. This trend, like all trends, comes with an underlying consciousness of appearance.

“I think there’s always pressure associated around fashion, even when it’s anti-fashion,” said Bogard.

“There is a kind of fashion code that operates at Whitman. Maybe that code is to dress down a little bit and to disguise your class or status.”

McReynolds also noticed a kind of pressure surrounding the seemingly casual clothing culture on campus.

“I think fashion at Whitman is more important than a lot of people think,” said McReynolds. “There’s actually a negative judgment that comes along with caring, or even knowing, about designers and labels and things like that. I have friends who I can talk to about clothing with, and friends who will roll their eyes at me when I mention that the Paige Premium jeans that I just got on eBay have a special credit card pocket.”

Julie Grimm, a sophomore from Massachusetts, said she noticed that even casual dressers are acutely aware of what they’re wearing.

“Even the outdoorsy people are paying attention to their outdoorsy gear. They buy name-brand jackets for a very specific purposes,” said Grimm.

Grimm also said she noticed a difference between the way people dress on the East Coast in contrast to the West Coast. Collins, who also went to high school in Massachusetts, agreed.

“The west coast has a very casual attitude towards life and school and that definitely comes across in fashion, I think,” said Collins.

Senior Johanna Allen said that Whitman students’ political mantras largely contribute to how they dress.

“Many of my friends are concerned with how and where and by whom and from what their clothing is made—at this school it is cool to dress in a socially-, politically-conscious way,” said Allen in an e-mail.

She added, though, that the socio-economic demographic of Whitman contributes to the popularity of these styles.

“These fashion trends are limited to a privileged population, as in not everyone has the means to choose what they wear, but I see it as a good thing when we think critically about our decisions, including how we choose to dress ourselves.”

The college lifestyle in general likewise contributes to the way Whitman students dress.

“Having an irregular sleep schedule and having to get up for classes when you stayed up really late definitely influences what I wear. If I get up and have plenty of time to take a shower, I’ll wear nicer things. But if I don’t have that kind of time I’m more inclined to wear the shirt that I slept in to class,” said Alden.

Walla Walla’s comparable shortage of varied major department stores and independent clothing boutiques can make staying on top of the latest trends unrealistic for the typical Whitman student. Some students frequent thrift stores like The Humane Society Thrift Store or Goodwill to find unique outfits, while others buy many of their clothes at the local Macy’s, but generally students feel they must leave town to really dress the way they want.

“I think Walla Walla has a huge influence on Whitman in general, just because there’s not a whole lot to offer and so the campus becomes very centered around the school itself. It makes sense that people feel more comfortable dressing comfortably here because this is like your home. You don’t feel like you’ve gone out necessarily, you feel like you’re walking around your home base,” said Collins.

For Grimm and fellow sophomores Cadence Ellington and Sarah Trowbridge, other students are the best resources for new clothing options.

“We have a lot of clothes swaps among my circle of friends. Everyone just puts all their clothes in a big pile and you can just kind of grab whatever you want,” said Trowbridge.

Clothes are often an indicator of separations of smaller cliques and groups, even within the campus.

Many students feel their clothing choices separate them from others on campus and can even serve as a creative outlet.

“I think my style stands out a lot compared to everyone else’s because I’m not as tame as the general population as far as fashion goes. I’ve noticed most people I talk to just wear clothes because they have to. They buy whatever’s there and they don’t really think about it,” said first-year Susannah Frew, who identified her individual style as “strange and eclectic.”

Junior Lizzie Porter-Roth agreed, and said that she thought a greater consciousness of clothing could contribute to a better all-around sense of self.

“I think that when I take time to think about what I’m wearing, I feel better about myself in general, and I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I wish I was wearing something other than sweat pants.’ I say, ‘Go for it.’ Style is an artistic expression. You can change what you’re wearing every day, and that’s really exciting and I don’t think people take advantage of that enough.”

Junior Valerie Lopez said this function of fashion as an expression of self is an important component to campus life.

“I think when fashion is used as an extension of yourself and as an avenue for any kind of non-trivial statement, it’s important. Visually, it brings diverse individualities to the Whitman plate,” said Lopez in an e-mail.

Bogard said that while fashion can serve many purposes, and can at times be socially constraining, it is ultimately one of the fun parts about being human.

“I think some people can feel pressure to conform but for the most part, fashion is like a language. It’s fun. It can be like poetry and express your individuality,” said Bogard.

States’ Rights: Societal diversity means more fun for everyone

Last night, celebrating some of our last times at Whitman, some seniors and I returned to our first-year dorm roots; we stayed up really late having passionate discussions about serious topics and making friends. One of the topics we discussed was individual rights, as they relate to cigarette-smoking and gun control. I present to you: why individual freedom coupled with democracy means that we should have freer immigration in this world.

It’s all about trade-offs. We’ve struck a delicate balance in this country between individual freedoms and ability to control our collective destiny as a state. Part of the purpose of a democratic government is to enforce decisions that we make together as citizens of a state.

We’ve got a constitution set up to limit really enormous changes to a much higher level of consensus, but otherwise we’ve got quite a bit of leeway on what we want our society to be like. In general, we make policy decisions about actions that affect others; we don’t legislate about what you eat because it only affects you. We do legislate who you can kill and when.

Right now, as a society thus far, we’ve decided to preference individual freedom on ownership of guns. Pretty much anybody (other than convicted criminals) can own almost any kind of gun; in some places you can carry one on you secretly. Thus, lots of kids can grow up shooting cans in their backyard and having oodles of dangerous fun. And elsewhere, or perhaps not, kids can die of accidental shotgun wounds, or be shot at by a classmate at school. We value the individual freedom to own a gun and thus are willing to make that trade-off. And yes, the Constitution does talk about guns a little, but if enough of us wanted to change it, we could.

We just don’t.

Parts of the country are going the other way with cigarettes. Sixty-six housing authorities in the U.S. now ban smoking inside multi-unit residential buildings because it tends to contaminate non-smokers’ apartments. In general, those arguing that they shouldn’t have to be exposed to carcinogens from other peoples’ addictions are winning. We don’t ban smoking altogether, though, because it can be done in a way that won’t affect anyone else’s health. We do, however, raise cigarette taxes quite frequently, which seems to suggest that we think either that smokers are a burden to society, or that fewer smokers is better for society.

One of my friends last night pointed out that because high cigarette taxes are a burden for smokers, particularly smokers without a lot of disposable income, we should be sure before raising them that we’re achieving the optimum benefit for society. We decided (as you do late at night) that the best way to achieve that would be to make smoking cessation programs less expensive than a smoking habit, by using cigarette taxes to subsidize such programs. That way, we’re pricing cigarettes at what we apparently believe is their cost to society, but we leave people with a real choice.

A different friend argues that guns are an individual freedom like cigarettes; they don’t have to affect others. Instead of restricting use, we should discourage gun crime by jacking up deterrence. Throw anyone convicted of using a gun in a crime into jail for the rest of their life. Execute gun smugglers. Of course, with this argument you run into the debatable merits of the death penalty, and the cost-benefit trade-off of keeping people in prison for long periods of time.

So, fine, the society I live in right now has decided no to cigarettes in public, yes to guns in public. I should now have two options: one, stay in my society and accept these decisions or try to change public opinion, or two, leave for a society whose decisions are more amenable to me. For example, I personally would rather give up my right to own a gun in order to live in a place where my future children will not be at risk of dying from gunshot wounds. I should be allowed to seek such a place. “America: Love it or Leave it” only works as a motto if leaving is actually an option.

This partially explains why I am so crazy about the idea of the EU, despite its many flaws. I love the idea that moving countries isn’t a big deal. Each country has its own society. It is also, in some ways, an argument for greater states’ rights, although I’m not quite sure how I feel about that all the time. If our only option in the U.S. is to move states, we should probably ensure that states are allowed to be different from each other. If Texas decides it wants guns, and Washington decides it doesn’t, then we all have a better chance of being able to live in a society that suits us.

Mens’ tennis brings home NWC title

On Saturday the Men’s Varsity Tennis team earned their first Northwest Conference (NWC) title since 2004, with strong victories over both Willamette and Pacific Lutheran University (PLU).  The wins cemented the team’s ranking as No. 20 in the nation.

“We were undefeated in conference play this season, so there certainly were some expectations to win the championship,” junior Captain Justin Hayashi said.  “Last year we were in the same situation and made the mistake of being too overconfident and ended up losing in the conference finals.  This year we didn’t take the conference tournament for granted and came out strong in all of our matches.”

A No. 1 seeding for the NWC advanced Whitman to the semifinals where they managed to pull out a 6-3 win over Willamette.  Despite a slow start in doubles, the Missionaries finished the round strong winning five of six singles matches, moving them into the championship round against defending champions PLU.

Bouncing back from their weak start against Willamette the previous day, the men came out strong against PLU, sweeping all six matches in singles.

“I’m really proud of the way guys stepped up, especially in singles,” Coach Jeff Northam said in a summary of the match on the team’s Web site. “Losing just one set in singles is a nice accomplishment.  This team is still relatively young with a lot of sophomores and freshmen, and [the match with PLU] is the first time this season we played with great intensity from start to finish.”

Setting the tone for the team’s victories were doubles pair Matt and Daniel Solomon, who ground out an 8-2 victory at No. 1 doubles.

“In the finals, we came out with aggression and determination and played very, very well,” said Matt Solomon, a sophomore who plays No. 1 singles.

Following their lead came a win with an identical score from Hayashi and sophomore Justin Fellows at No. 3.  Six more wins in the singles matches clinched the title for the Whitman men.

“It made me so proud to watch all of our guys come together and play well to achieve one of our biggest goals,” Solomon said.

The title will give Whitman an automatic bid into NCAA Division III playoffs.  The team is excited and optimistic about the upcoming competition.

“There is no doubt that we have the talent to compete with some of the best teams in Division III,” said Matt Solomon.  “We showed in the NWC tournament that if we play focused, determined tennis we can achieve great things and play some top-notch tennis.”

According to Hayashi, the Whitman team will be facing off against Redlands, University of Santa Cruz, or Claremont-Mudd, all of which he says are ranked in the top 12 in the nation.
“We have some tough competition ahead of us,” Hayashi said.

Yet, despite what he knows will be challenging matches, Hayashi is confident in the team’s abilities.

“I honestly believe our team can take down any team in the nation,” he said.  “We just all have to click at the right time.”

No matter how the men’s tennis team does in the playoffs, a strong returning roster will give them a strong foundation to build upon for next season.

“One of the great things about our team is that we are only losing two players for next year, and only one starter,” Solomon said.  “Hopefully we will be just as competitive, if not more competitive, as we will be able to play guys with a lot of collegiate experience under their belts.”

Hayashi agreed with Solomon: “Our next season should be even better as our players continue to mature and develop their games.”

Pope must allow balance

I had heard of the Popemobile, but not until Pope Benedict’s recent trip to the United States did I have the opportunity to see it. Any quirk of image the Popemobile causes is swiftly excused because everyone would rather see the Pope behind bullet-proof glass than see him come to any harm. Such is the tale of modern life, is it not?

I confess I am no expert on Catholicism, papal goings-on, Pope Benedict or any of his predecessors. I did, however, attend a Catholic high school for four years which, even if it didn’t convert me, engendered in me a respect for the Catholic tradition.

I am told the Catholicism of today is watered down and secularized as a result of Vatican II, and still it seems to me that the culture of Catholicism is impressive in its beauty and structure. I can only imagine how much greater were these elements when the mass was still spoken in Latin (oh, to hear a Latin mass!) and Catholic sub-culture was so strong that its unfamiliarity caused apprehension and fear to those outside. JFK, after all, felt compelled to give a speech at once declaring his Catholicism to be outside of public purview and reassuring hesitant voters that he would not take orders from the Pope. He said he believed in an America “where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote” precisely because that was the division that threatened his candidacy for President.

Now, it seems, the secularization that occurred as a result of Vatican II (which JFK might have benefited from) has put a pebble in Pope Benedict’s red papal shoes. “To the extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very soul,” Pope Benedict said in an address on Wednesday, April 16. Pope Benedict’s willingness to simultaneously laud America for its ability to reconcile secular culture with religion (as he did in the same address) and imply that religion should be a more public aspect of American culture seems like a contradiction in terms.

But this is not my main concern. I am concerned with how Pope Benedict rejects the notion that Catholicism in its present form is not true, that Catholics who use birth control or have abortions (and there are some that do, as I cited in last week’s article on abortion) are not true Catholics, that they are somehow sullying Catholicism. Catholicism puts an emphasis on tradition, pre- or post-Vatican II, that is hard to get rid of. I know this because even I, a non-religious person, miss the masses I grew used to during high school. As long as Catholicism is a way of life and not only a set of beliefs, then its followers are going to have connections to both aspects, cultural and religious.

Furthermore, the idea that “private” religion is soulless denies an individual’s ability to make moral choices and reduces the broad spectrum of realities in this world to two colors, black and white. You cannot be a Catholic and use birth control or have premarital sex, says the Pope, if not in so many words. I know Catholics who have done both, who love the Catholic Church and experience life outside it. If Pope Benedict wants Catholics to return to the public community of Catholicism, that’s fine, but to do so with the thinking that practical realities of today’s society can be simply left behind, well, that’s like…that’s like trying to be one with the people while riding around in a glass fortress. But I guess the Pope does that, too.

Matt and Charlie get wild on… Monopolowavodka

This week, we got something that was slightly more expensive, mostly because we’re tired of that sympathetic/reproachful look that the guy at the liquor store gives us in response to our rubbing-alcohol-esque purchases. To prove that guy wrong (can’t say this enough—fuck you “Steven” from the liquor store) we went a little classier and dropped an extra three dollars on a fifth of vodka—classy foreigner vodka! We were looking to get drunk straight European style, like we were sucking on one of Marie Antoinette’s ice-cold teats.

We are always on the lookout for authenticity, in our search for the world’s finest/cheapest liquors.

Monopolowa Vodka is definitely some authentic shit. How authentic? Look at their Web site: it looks like they ran straight polish through fucking babelfish and came up with something only half-comprehensible in the English language. The company that produces Monopolowa (which is, by the way, the Polish word for “state controlled and produced liquors”—no joke) is called Altvater Gessler, and “Vodka” is the only thing they produce whose name we understand.

We can only sort of guess as to what they are. Altvater we assume is some sort of bum wine because it bears a specious resemblance to “alternative water.” Krupnik is a traditional clown drink1 made from fermented/rotten honey.

Pilounówka is made from pillows… or something2.

Monopolowa is a Polish vodka, which is produced in Austria.3 Granted that the term ‘Austrian vodka’ seems like how Russians would euphemistically refer to beer, this is some pretty delicious shit.

Referring to vodka as ‘delicious’ seems a little ridiculous, we admit. Anybody who refers to themselves as a “vodka aficionados” is just a drunk with a couple of sport coats and a BA in English. By ‘delicious’ we merely mean that it was something short of mind-alteringly awful, and it didn’t make us go blind.

Usually we like to drink the liquors we talk about ‘neat’ but we had to chase it with something that went down smoother… like paint thinner.

In short, when we’re talking about vodka, we really have no means of discerning between the good and the bad. It’s all just ‘that liquid that makes me get along with my family/co-workers’ to us.  As the great Russian poet Stalin said once, “All’s well that ends well.”

What to drink with Monopolowa: Beer (Budem Zdorovy, Tom Cronin!)

What to eat with Monopolowa: Uniformly sized bread handed out at the state-monopoly bakery (it tastes like winter).

What activity to pursue while drinking Monopolowa: Writing a weighty, absurdly detailed tome about morality and death, while quietly plotting to murder your landlord.

What Music to Listen to While Drinking Monopolowa: The sound of your wife leaving you.

Architect’s lecture gives hope for a sustainable future

We’ve heard about global warming. Water shortages. Peak oil. Failing states and animal extinction. But how often do we consider that these problems are interconnected?

In a lecture entitled “The Ecology of Hope: Creativity in a Finite World,” sustainable design architect Ken Hall spoke to students and community members Monday night about the interrelatedness of these phenomena, leading a discussion on what humans might consider in order to approach—and surpass—sustainability in the future.

The event was at full capacity, with interested students lining the periphery of the conference table, sitting on the floors and standing against the walls.

“I come here tonight not as an expert, but just a human being, talking to other human beings,” said Hall, who works for the world’s largest architectural firm, Gensler Architecture, out of an office in Portland, Ore.

Hall spoke to the importance of reevaluating the way we perceive and approach our role in and with the natural environment. “Many of us have to work. We are locked into a system…we have to earn a living. It is up to each of us as a whole to help this system change.”

Notably, Hall mentioned the Long Now Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted to developing the Rosetta Disk, an archived collaboration of languages intended to consolidate and preserve the world’s languages for the next 10,000 years. According to the Long Now Foundation Web site, “50 to 90 percent of the world’s languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, many with little or no significant documentation.”

Long Now is also in the process of producing multiple clocks that are intended to keep time for 10,000 years. Both innovations mark a new perspective towards sustaining, in this case, information for future generations.

While he represented his architectural firm, Hall’s presentation strayed from architecture and was in large part a survey of different models, or projections of what the world might look like in the future, and what can be done to save it or reverse our actions.

“We’ve really adopted the machine mentality as a way of looking at the world around us,” said Hall.
He emphasized that it is important to stay positive.

“I don’t want to depress you guys. There is a tremendous opportunity here, the question is, ‘How do you motivate people?’” said Hall.

Integral in the conversation was an emphasis on this issue being an unifying cause among human beings.

“This is not a fad,” said Hall. “This is not going away.”

Hall proposed that just as environmental problems are interrelated, solutions concerning them must incorporate partnered efforts among non-profit organizations and other local movements, bureaucracy and government.

“However, in the mean time,” he said, “working at the local level is absolutely the right way to proceed.”

Member of Campus Climate Challenge, senior Katie King cited one example of Whitman College making a step towards transforming our approach to environmentalism. Starting next fall, a sustainability coordinator will be hired on in an internship capacity.

The coordinator will work to ensure that environmental initiatives on campus are successful, working closely with Whitman’s environmental groups and the President’s Office.

“It’s an incremental step but I also think that it’s fundamental in changing how Whitman operates,” said King. “Hopefully, if all goes well, the position will become a full-time staff member the following year.”

“All of the green elements of Whitman life will be coordinated by this individual… this is the way in which messages like this are going to actually transform and involve the institution instead of just being something people are excited about,” said King.

Environmentally conscious community members turned out for the talk as well. Jeff Jones, a member of the group Sustainable Walla Walla, left inspired after being provided with a tangible solution provoked in part by the lecture.

“I think one of the biggest things Walla Walla could really do is lobby intensively to bring back light rail or an Amtrak train so that students and people can get to and from Walla Walla to the urban/metro areas without using an automobile,” said Jones.

“The fact that there are so many people here tonight signals that the campus is interested,” said King.
Incorporating the advice and innovation of individuals from Chief Seattle to Paul Hawkin, Hall emphasized that despite the obvious detrimental effects resulting every day from our current relationship with our natural environment, there is still hope.

“We need to see with our hearts and see with a new set of eyes,” said Hall.

This event was sponsored by the Whitman College Career Center.

Local spas offer variety of services

Living within the Whitman bubble often leads to overlooking the simple pleasures that lie just beyond campus. Spas and salons are aplenty in our burgeoning city of wine and wheat. Three spas are even located within five blocks of campus and regularly cater to students.

Staffed by an ultra-fashionable, amiable, young and all-female team, Misbehaven Spa and Salon looks like something out of a busy metropolitan paradise. Trendy products line the walls, advertising everything from expensive shampoos to “down there” hair dye. Aromatherapy candles give the bustling spa and salon a peaceful and yet hip atmosphere. A large quote on the wall reads: “Know where you’re going and look good when you get there!”

Treatments and services range from full salon care (haircuts, coloring) and spa amenities (massages, waxing, facials). A few less commonly found treatments include henna, eyelash extensions and even permanent makeup (think grandmother from “Princess Diaries”).

“I think it’s a place where people can come and really feel comfortable, especially students who are stressed a lot,” said massage therapist Wendy Chaffee.

Voted “Best of the Best” for massages in Walla Walla, Misbehaven lives up to its title. Soft flannel sheets, mood lighting and the distant sounds of a creek overlaid with exotic flute music all add to the experience. The constant reminder to relax was paired with oils and cool lotions; everything from my ears to individual toes were massaged.

Thirty-minute massages are $35, 60 minutes is $65 and for the adventure-seeking 90 minute treatments run $80. Facials follow a fairly similar price scale: 30 minutes at $40, 60 minutes at $65 and 90 minutes at $85.

Aveda Salon and Spa, a.k.a. City Slickers, takes a more earthy approach to spa treatment. Dark wood, dark green and purple tones and high ceilings give the spa an elegant and upscale feel. Staffed by a slightly older team, the spa caters to a less teeny-bobber hipster and more to a busy client merely looking for good ole’ relaxation.

Treatments such as the Rosemary Mint Awakening Body Wrap and Damage Remedy Hair and Scalp Renewal litter City Slickers’ menu. The full works is offered on the salon side and with customized 75 minute facials to antioxidant power peels, City Slickers can provide for the facial seeking customer.

“Aveda really loves the Earth. All of our products are eco-friendly and are natural supplements,” said esthetician and makeup artist Sheila Hadley. “It’s a really great company to work for.”

Smooth jazz, steam, customized aromas and cooling lotions and masks refresh the face and body at this spa. I received not only a great and thorough facial, but also an upper body massage to boot.

Facials are $75 for 75 minutes, but can be cut in half for a mini-facial at $40. The very intricate sounding body wraps are $85.

Healthquest Therapeutic Massage is geared more towards medical massage for injured or accident related pain, as well as for the hurting athlete. This generally means the massage therapists have had more advanced training and can tailor massages to precisely the client’s needs.

Non-injury related massages are also offered, but are more focused on relieving the body then providing an enchanting spa atmosphere.

If you can obtain a medical massage, insurance should cover it, but if you are only looking for a little relaxation a half hour is $45, an hour is $60, an hour and a half is $80 and two hours is $100.

Motherruckers to finish season in game against alumni

On various Mondays this year, Whitties may have noticed several pairs of severely bruised legs in mini-skirts walking around campus.

These legs belong to the members of the Motherruckers, Whitman’s women’s club rugby team, who proudly sport the war-wounds they earned in competition the week before.
Next Monday, April 28, will be the last time Whitties will see black and blue legs pepper the campus this year as the team wraps up its season with the annual alumni game on Saturday, April 26, on Ankeny.

Overall, the team was very young this season with several first-years filling out the roster.
“We’ve got a lot of committed girls this season and that’s always the biggest struggle for us so it’s great to have so many girls out here who are really excited about the sport,” said senior Co-Captain Nora Hawkins.

While the large turnout was welcomed, the team couldn’t point to any change this season that could have caused it.

“They just kind of recruited each other. One will be in a section and say, ‘Why don’t you guys come out?’” said next year’s Co-Captain Haley Woods.

For others, joining the team came on a whim.

“I was at the activities fair and a bunch of boys dared me to sign up,” said first-year Emily Lorente, who stuck with rugby after her initial dare and now will be next year’s other co-captain.

Lorente is typical of a lot of the Motherruckers who came to the team with little or no rugby experience, but stayed because they liked it. Most who do stay, stay because of the support they find from their teammates.

“The appeal I’d have to say was the real team atmosphere,” said Co-Captain Emily Tomita, who initially came out with a friend from her first-year section. A month later, her friend quit, but Tomita was hooked. “We may not win all the time, or even most of the time, but it’s a great group of girls and a fun sport.”

One of the reasons the Motherruckers are such a tight team is because of the nature of rugby.

“Rugby is a sport where if someone gets tackled you have to support them. Every girl on this team expects and is confident in knowing that when they get tackled, their teammates will be there to support them,” said Motherruckers Coach Sina Yeganeh. “Outside of rugby, these girls have many diverse hobbies and interests, but find a common interest in rugby, which forms a long lasting camaraderie that lasts even past college.”

“We’re such a diversified team. The girls on our team do so many different activities, so many different majors and we all have very different friend groups too. It’s so fun that we can all come out here and play together and really support each other,” said Hawkins.

So far in the spring, the young but close team played competitively in a tournament and barely lost to Gonzaga in their lone game of the semester. The Gonzaga game was particularly special because the Motherruckers narrowly lost by only one try, or score, when Gonzaga has handled them in the past.

“Gonzaga is one our biggest rivals and so it was really great to put up an amazing fight against them,” said Hawkins.

Despite the loss, the future is bright for the young Motherruckers, who will hopefully retain a lot of the same talent that gave Gonzaga a scare and beat them next year.

Youth Adventure Program gains membership, momentum

The Youth Adventure Program, or YAP, as it is commonly known, is not just another group of students enjoying the outdoors. No—they want to change the world.

“The official mission of YAP is twofold,” said YAP coordinator, sophomore Elena Gustafson. “One, it’s to provide Whitman students with leadership opportunities and leadership training. The second part is to provide these outdoor recreation and environmental education opportunities for especially at risk, low-income underprivileged youth in the community.”

By teaching Whitman students how to lead young people on outdoor trips, especially those who are not extremely familiar with outdoor activities, YAP hopes these students will gain confidence in their ability as leaders, and positively influence younger people who may not have strong role models or influences in their lives. The programs that YAP puts on are planned as free-of-charge for youth as possible.

Gustafson started the fledgling program last April with the guidance of Assistant Director of Outdoor Programs, Sam “Salmon” Norgaard-Stroich. Since then, YAP has gained momentum, membership and funding. The group is supported through the Whitman Outdoor Program and the Center for Community Service and received funding from Youth Venture.

Youth Venture, a subgroup of ASHOKA, funds social entrepreneurship projects for people between the ages 12 and 20. This past year, the group awarded five Whitman student groups grants for projects, with YAP the full $1,000 possible. Prior to this, YAP had virtually no funding at all.

First-year Ari Frink, who will act as YAP’s coordinator next year, said that the process of gaining this funding was important to the overall vision of the group. The interviews and panels required to apply for funding forced the members to solidify their plans, infrastructures and logistics, as well as to have a clear idea of direction.

“Since last spring it’s amazing to see what was a concept has actually turned into a full-fledged really solid and well supported program,” Gustafson said.

Programs that the group has put on in the past year have included rock climbing, pool kayaking, snow shoeing, kayaking at Bennington lake and hiking.

Gustafson drew attention to a quote by Senegalese environmentalist, Baba Dioum: “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” Gustafson said that this quote has really influenced her in creating YAP.

“The generation below our age has really gotten to the point where they know more about these environmental problems halfway across the world than they do about their own backyard, and many kids don’t have the chance to get outside at all,” Gustafson said.

“I think the main thing is that we really feel that getting outdoors and having different outlets for kids is a really positive thing,” Frink said.

Gustafson, who has worked as a canoe leader at a girls’ camp in years past, said that she firmly believes in the affect outdoors can have on youth.

“I know this sounds really cliché, but I’ve been able to see the change in the girls who’ve been on my canoe trips, when they get that click with nature. It’s hard to describe that, and there’s no way to put that into better words that don’t sound as cheesy as that.”

In the future, Frink hopes that the youth currently involved in the program can have a more active role in planning activities, to make the group self-perpetuating.

“I’d love to see YAP really interact with the juvenile justice center, and to really start working with really at-risk kids. Ultimately, it would be great to be able to lead them to the next step which is having them come back as leaders and have roles where they can continue to be active in YAP,” Frink said.

Non-shock jocks talk: Baseball

WOODS: Well, Eli, the marathon of the NBA playoffs have started.  I’ll try to keep my words at a minimum, because the readers need to hear some of your early baseball season analysis before this column is over.  So here’s a few quick thoughts on the NBA.

We’re only a couple games into the series, but every matchup has played and we’ve seen some expected outcomes and some not-so-expected.  The Lakers came out and played like a #1 seed, as expected.  Pau Gasol dominated the paint, finishing with 36 points and 16 boards.  But as usual, Kobe sealed the deal, with 18 fourth-quarter points leaving the Nuggets with a lot of questions to answer.  In the East, LeBron has proven any doubters he has left (probably just DeShawn Stevenson of Washington, who called him overrated before the series) by leading the Cavs to a 2-0 series lead.

These teams have a lot of history and already it’s been a brutally physical series.  After a fight almost started at the half of the first game, the second game featured two flagrant fouls, an ejection (Wizards’ Haywood) and a technical (Wizards’ Arenas).  The only thing stopping this series from resulting in some suspensions is the fact that it might be over too quickly.

ASCH: King James strikes me as a Kobe Bryant-type; he’s the kind of guy who plays better when he’s got something to prove.  I agree with Charles Barkley, who gave the following analysis of this year’s Wizards team:  “I think the Washington Wizards have got to be the dumbest team in the history of civilization.”  Nice work, DeShawn.

While the Wizards-Cavs series was the only first-round matchup that excites either of us back East, there are two series out West that look like they could be something special.  The Hornets are up 1-0 on the Mavs, who still have a chip on their shoulders about last year’s first-round exit.  And I think the Suns-Spurs series could go down as one of the greatest first round series of all-time.  Game one was awesome, with Tim Duncan hitting his first three-pointer in two years to send it to OT, and the Spurs taking it 117-115 in double-OT.  I still think the Suns can win it all (and if they do we both owe GM Steve Kerr a huge apology for how we blasted the Shaq trade), but game two (which will be played Tuesday, before this article goes to press) is a must-win.

WOODS: I’m with you on the Spurs/Suns series bandwagon; it’s still hard to believe we’re only in the first round.  It might be worrisome for the Suns that Shaq, who they hoped would be able to guard the West’s big men to give Amare a break, gave up 40 points and 15 rebounds to Tim Duncan.  ESPN’s Bill Simmons said this series will prove who was the most dominant center of this era, and right now Duncan clearly has the edge.

Another series out West that compels me is the Hornets/Mavericks series.  Nowitzki looks like he has something to prove in these playoffs after last season’s disappointment.  And he came out in game one and had 31 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to win on the road.  Chris Paul looked as good as ever in his first career playoff game and exploited the declining quickness of the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd.

But enough about basketball.  I hear that your Red Sox just swept a four-game series with the Rangers, that’s gotta make you feel good.  And there’s a red hot Diamondback team down in Arizona that looks like the real deal.  What do you think about this first fraction of the season?

ASCH: Any time we talk about the baseball season before June we’ve got to realize we’re dealing with a very small sample size.  But right now there are a couple things I feel very confident in saying: the Red Sox are really, really good and they’re only going to get better this season.  With Bartolo Colon and Curt Schilling likely to enter the rotation this season and Clay Buchholz’s comfort-level with pitching in the Show on the rise, the Sox’s rotation—which so far has looked like the team’s only weak link—might in fact be one of its greatest strengths come October.  Also, Big Papi has only just recently started to hit, and Jed Lowrie is showing he could be to Julio Lugo what Jacoby Ellsbury was to Coco Crisp last year.

This is going to be another banner year for rookies: Ellsbury and Bucholz are still officially rookies, and third-baseman Evan Longoria didn’t make the Rays out of camp but then was called up about 10 days into the season and is going to be something really special.  Although Homer Bailey has gotten much of the press, he’s still in the minors, while Johnny Cueto is in the Reds’ rotation and has struck out 29 hitters (against only three walks!) in his first 26.1 innings pitched.  Also, Kosuke Fukodome isn’t your traditional rookie, having played nine years with the Chunichi Dragons in the Japanese League, but he seems to have solved the Cubs’ right field/number-five hitter problem, currently sporting an OPS over .900.

WOODS: The Red Sox do look pretty stacked right now, sitting comfortably atop the American League East division.  That was to be expected, but maybe not so early in the season, without an established rotation, like you said.  As far as Buchholz’s comfort level in the Show…keep in mind he was left off the postseason roster last season, so still doesn’t have a game of experience in the playoffs.

Another team that has looked equally, if not more, impressive has been the Arizona Diamondbacks.

They hold the best record in baseball and lead the National League West, one of the best divisions in the league.  Through Monday, they’ve scored almost twice as many runs as they’ve given up (120-67), which silences some critics (including me) who said their lineup wasn’t good enough to keep up with their pitching.

And then there’s the Yankees, who it seems somehow make the news every week with some sort of scandal.  This past week a construction worker building the new Yankee Stadium buried a Red Sox jersey under 10 feet of concrete, supposedly cursing them.  As expected, Yankees management had the concrete torn up and the shirt collected, and that Red Sox fan is probably looking for another job.

Spoken word artist Staceyann Chin fills coffeehouse

Spoken word poet Staceyann Chin performed at Reid Coffeehouse Friday, April 18. The event was sponsered by ASWC, the Campus Activities Board (CAB), Coffeehouse, and Feminists advocating Change and Empowerment (FACE).

Some of the issues that Chin’s poetry addressed including masturbation, menstruation, sexuality and sexual assault.

Sophomore Rachel Hahn described the performance as being very empowering.

“She was extremely bold in the way that she addressed all of these really important issues,” Hahn said.
The event drew a large crowd.

“It’s as full as I’ve ever seen cofeehouse,” said Hahn.

Phi Delta Theta raise over $1000 for local youth center with ‘Battle of the Bands’

Judging from the size and enthusiasm of the crowd, it was hard to believe that it was a Tuesday night. Whitman students cheered, danced and sang along to the lyrics for three hours as seven different groups played at the Phi Delta Theta’s Battle of the Bands fund-raiser that raised over $1,000 for charity.

Sophomore Albert Lee organized the fund-raiser for the Walla Walla Community Center for Youth (CCY). Although many of his fraternity brothers initially wanted the money to go their national charity for Lou Gehrig’s disease, they eventually decided to donate the money to CCY.

“We wanted to do something for the community, too; we thought that it would be more beneficial and have more impact to donate it to CCY because it’s in Walla Walla,” said Lee. Lee had his own reasons for urging the Phis to consider the center.“I personally wanted to do something for the kids because when I was growing up my parents were poor and it was always nice to have a place to go to, to spend your time. It’s nice for kids to have a home for them to go to if they have abusive parents or something,” said Lee.

As co-philanthropy chair with senior Colin Miller, Lee has strongly encouraged community service in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. He has been organizing everything from stream restorations to soup kitchens to YMCA carnivals. Lee has also mandated a five hour community service requirement per semester to active members with a $20 fine for each hour not completed.

This community service event was a particular hit among Whitman students.

The band Lucid Dream opened the show with a set of three songs which started the crowd moving. Before the next set, four girls and one of the leaders from CCY gave short speeches. The girls were from CCY’s Leadership Team and spoke about how much the center has meant to them. Many of the girls suffered from difficult home situations and were grateful to CCY for providing them a place to hang out and for inspiring them.

“I come from a family that drinks a lot, I’m really glad to get out of my house and go to CCY,” said Mary Perry.“My dad is in prison and I take care of my mom but thanks for CCY I’m going to college next year and I have a scholarship,” said 17-year-old Bobbie Doll amid cheers from the crowd.

The leader of CCY’s leadership team, Rick Brown, spoke about how his own rough childhood eventually led him to spend 27 years in prison. He said he knows firsthand how crucial it is to have a system of support for these kids.After the speeches, the battle started in earnest. MCs sophomore Matt Solomon and senior Ken Anderson put on sunglasses and announced the lineup of bands: Lucid Dreams, Mad Notes, Raptivists, Funk in the Trunk, Danger Mermaid and The Band Before Time.

Mad Notes was a one-man band of first-year Joe Wheeler who rapped while playing guitar. Next were the Raptivists, featuring vocalist Aisha Fukushima singing songs by Alicia Keyes and Lauren Hill. Funk in the Trunk, a nine-man band sporting brightly colored shirts and accessories, opened their set with a song called Big Fat Funky Booty with Will Canine on vocals.

Danger Mermaid inspired even more dancing from the crowd with their ska beats and cover of the favorite “Jessie’s Mom.” The two MCs beat-boxed an opening for The Band Before Time who slowed down the crowd and played lead vocalist Jeff Wilson’s favorite song of “all time.”

Professors Karl Storchmann, Jeanne Moorfield and Director of Institutional Research Neal J. Christopherson judged the performances. After deliberation, the MCs announced a three-way tie between Funk in the Trunk, the Raptivists and Danger Mermaid. Each band played again to loud cheering but the Raptivists especially captivated the crowd with an outstanding vocal performance by Fukushima. When the MCs announced that the three-way tie was to be decided by the level of cheering from the crowd, the Raptivists clearly won.

Both the Phis and the CCY have expressed hopes that the event will become an annual tradition. The youth themselves wish to hold their own battle of the bands.

“This is giving us inspiration. We want to host our own Battle of the Bands and try to get some of these bands to come,” said Megan Barnes.

Chicago improv artists put on workshop, performance

Prison jokes, religion jokes, homosexual jokes, drug jokes, handicapped jokes, cancer jokes and old person jokes scattered the sketch of Miles Stroth and Dan Bakkedahl, two improvisational comedians brought to campus on Saturday, April 12. Although breaking many of the rules of Whitman’s politically correct environment, they were received by a full house, non-stop laughter and cheers.

Stroth started in Chicago at Second City, a nationally renowned comedy theater and school, that launched the careers of John Belushi, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner and others. After two years of training, he moved to the Improv Olympic or i.O., another well known Chicago based theater and the start of Sroth’s “long form” education. Stroth is now a teacher and comedian at the i.O. Theater in Los Angeles.

Bakkedahl also started at Second City as a member of their touring company and later moved to the i.O. to pursue a new outlet for improv. It was at the i.O. that Stroth and Bakkedahl met and formed the two-man show ZUMPF. Bakkedahl eventually went back to Second City to perform on their main stage, but has been most widely recognized for his role as a “Daily Show” correspondent from 2005 to 2007.

The two comedians use “long form improv,” where they get one suggestion from the audience and explore the suggestion through a connecting series of scenes. This is unlike the “short form,” which is structured in shorter, three to seven minute games.

“Chicago is where they turned it into a performance piece, they were some of the first to take this long form and change some of the rules,” said senior Theatre Sports member Ben Kegan. “Now they are regarded as some of the best improvisers there are.”

Stroth and Bakkedahl were brought to campus by CAB and Theatre Sports, with the support of Chuck Cleveland’s office. Theatre Sports worked with the i.O. theater a few years ago and suggested bringing the comedians.

“We’ve always heard really good things. When we were in Chicago their names kept being dropped,” Kegan said.

In conjunction with the show Saturday night, Stroth and Bakkedahl gave a workshop for Theatre Sports members earlier in the day.

“We got our asses kicked,” sophomore Theatre Sports member Alex Kerr said. “We would get up on stage and they would basically tell us how everything we did was wrong.”

Kegan said he hoped the workshop would be something the campus could see the results of.

The show itself was a little less than an hour long and was inspired by the suggestion: “I wander lonely as a cloud.” The scenes that followed ranged from pieces following two hikers in Germany, a janitor with poor grades, two guys trying to make smoke rings and a gender-confused ex-con.

“In my experience when you see two-person shows you’re just kind of amazed that it is made up. They’ll be really in touch with what each other are saying. They just don’t let anything go, it’s remarkable,” Kegan said.

Whitman lacrosse hosts tournament of 12 area teams

With dozens of pizzas, temperatures in the 80s and a sound system blasting hits from the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was difficult not to have fun at the lacrosse tournament hosted by Whitman’s women’s lacrosse team this past weekend.

Add in the Whitman women’s lacrosse team’s fun-loving attitude and it was a blast.

“I think all the teams had a really good time.  Everything went really smoothly,” said junior lacrosse player Sophia Sady.

Twelve teams totaling several hundred players made the trek to Walla Walla from across the Northwest for the annual Whitman tournament.  Games lasted all day Saturday and late into the afternoon on Sunday.

“It was one of the biggest tournaments [this year] because a lot of the other tournaments have been canceled because of weather,” said Sady.

The tournament serves as an opportunity for teams to come together for a weekend and play a variety of teams.  There is no specific winner of the tournament; instead, it serves to get in several games of league play.

The Whitman women played three games over the course of the weekend and were happy with their exciting win over Lewis and Clark and solid play against a strong University of Oregon club team.

“We held them to only four goals in the first half which was really great,” said Sady of the Oregon game.

Thus far the season has been a lot of fun and has seen a lot of young energy and talent with only four returning upperclassmen.

“We have a lot of girls who’ve never played before and they’re already really good,” said Sady.

“We’re playing really well and we’re competing with the big schools.  We also have the biggest team yet.”

Women’s lacrosse emphasizes the whole team and each player gets equal playing time, regardless of ability.

The team has one remaining tournament for the season in Boise, but in the meantime they continue to wear exciting costumes and just have a good time playing lacrosse.

“Even though we want to do well and we want to win,” said Sady, “the score doesn’t really matter as long as we’re having fun, and I think everyone’s on the same level with that.”

Applicant pool of 2012 class more qualified, diverse

On March 28, the admissions office sent out 1,416 acceptance letters to the potential class of 2012.

Applications totaled 3,245, a 6.5 percent increase in applications since last year.

“Of the 3,200 applications we read it seemed to be a very engaged, intellectually curious group of students who have done amazing things—not only students who have succeeded in the classroom, but also made an impact in their campus community, and I think those are the students who we try to identify in the admission process that we think would be a good fit for Whitman,” said Director of Admissions Kevin Dyerly.

Following national admittance trends, Whitman’s applicant pool was increasingly qualified, increasingly diverse and increasingly female.

“The profile of admitted students  remains quite strong, if not slightly better this year,” said Dyerly.  “This was the most ethnically diverse applicant pool in the history of the college.”

Comprising the potential class of 2012 are students from 42 different states and the District of Columbia and 24 different countries, including: Botswana, Bulgaria, Burma/Myanmar, Burundi, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, P.R. China, Pakistan, Romania, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

Ethnic diversity of accepted students is also strong with 21 percent of the potential class being students of color.

Gender representation was 60 percent female and 40 percent male.

“The application season has turned out well for Whitman,” said Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Tony Cabasco, in an article to The Fountain.  Cabasco was unavailable to provide additional insight to The Pioneer.

The median scores of admitted students were 31 for the ACTs and 2050 for the SATs.  As well, 76 percent of admitted students were in the top tenth of their high school class, with an average high school GPA of 3.9.

With such strong accepted students, the college is trying hard to convince perspectives to commit to Whitman.

Acceptances are trickling in, and Dyerly anticipates seeing a spike in responses after Admitted Students’ Day.  Additionally, the school is hosting admitted students’ receptions, which the office hopes will entice accepted students to say ‘yes.’

The rise in applications this year has resulted in a rise in visitors.  This month alone, the admissions office expects to see more than 450 students, a vast increase from last April’s visitor count.

“It’s an exciting time; it’s busy,” said Dyerly.

To help cope with additional applications, several part-time readers were hired to help complete the two reads that each application receives.

“It meant a lot of long hours for our staff reading these applications because we didn’t have any more time to read them,” said Dyerly.

To further aid in the reading, a new scanning technology was adopted.  This new step allowed the admissions office to process more applications by converting paper applications, which account for a little less than 20 percent of applications, into electronic files that could be read remotely.

“Our regional admission officers were able to read electronically this year since we scanned every completed application,” said Dyerly.

While the final class of 2012 will not be established until May 1, the date by which all college candidates must reply, it is certain that the group will be very qualified.

For those students who do choose Whitman, a box of onions will be shipped to them sometime this summer.

“It’s a nice touch,” said Dyerly. “It’s a way for us to communicate with our students over the summer and let them know how excited we are in anticipation of their arrival, and give them a little taste of Walla Walla to look forward to.”

ASWC candidates embrace change

Junior Elliot Okantey will be the new ASWC president next year after the election last week.  He is joined by Executive Council elects David Changa-Moon, Roman Goerss, Rachel Stein and Julia Nelson.

Okantey ran against sophomore Larsen Close.  Close’s campaign centered around his role as an outsider from ASWC coupled by a promise to stir things up.

“I’ve repeatedly read [student government] constitutions of Harvard, Stanford, Williams, Princeton and Pomona.  I’ve heard that the ASWC constitution typically gets overhauled every five to eight years.  It wouldn’t be that long for me,” said Close during the presidential debate that was held in front of a crowd of about 30 people in Olin on April 8.

“If you don’t want ASWC to proceed in the same fashion I can promise you that with me as president, it won’t,” he said.

Okantey also sees the necessity for change within ASWC, particularly in the organization’s relationship to the administration.

“[I want to see ASWC] maintaining our autonomy.  We should be doing more things independent of the administration.  I’d like to see the administration meet us halfway.  As finance chair I saw ASWC paying for too many things that it shouldn’t,” said Okantey. He gave the example of when ASWC was asked to pick up the cost of the art majors’ trip to New York, which was normally covered by the president’s discretionary fund.

“We’re glad to help our fellow students out in a pinch, but in the long term, that’s not our role,” said Okantey.

ASWC’s role is especially disconcerting for Whitman student and Walla Walla resident Ben Spencer.

“When I was in high school we looked at Whitman students like they were on a different planet,” Spencer said. “Larsen [Close] wants to have a town liaison talking to Walla Walla University and Walla Walla Community College where a lot of people from town go to school.   I think that’s really important because Whitman is prestigious and it has an obligation to the town. There are good people on both sides of the field and their needs to be some common understanding.

Whitman students are visitors in Walla Walla and should respect that.”

Both candidates also led very distinctive campaigns. Close’s campaign was known around campus for its Web site larsenclose.com, which contained a biography, platforms and a video of Close skiing as a child. The Okantey campaign was characterized by a lack thereof.

“I think I have a pretty neat Facebook group.  I don’t get what the big deal is,” said Okantey during the debates.  He also noted that his “commitment to ASWC is tangible in a lot of ways other than my campaign,” such as his role as finance chair and his three years of involvement with ASWC.

After president, the next most hotly contested position was nominations chair.  Junior Julia Nelson defeated runner-up junior Justin Hayashi by only three points.  According to the ASWC election rules, elections for the executive council are decided by the instant runoff voting method, which means that when there is no majority, the third candidate is eliminated and second choice votes then count for the remaining two candidates.

Teaching After Whitman

Christina Russell and Elsbeth OttoWith graduation only a month away, there’s one pressing question that is becoming more and more of a reality for the senior class: what are you going to do after college?

It might be surprising to some that many Whitman students choose to pursue careers in a subject that isn’t even offered as a major on campus: education.

“It has always shown that that is what a lot of our students end up going onto,” said the Director of the Career Center Susan Buchanan on teaching, or other education-oriented jobs.“It’s so wonderful to be excited about a subject…to be able to share that with someone else; it’s a gift,” said Buchanan.

According to Professor Kay Fenimore-Smith, in the past Whitman offered an education program as part of the education minor that enabled students to work towards a teaching certification as an undergraduate. That program was discontinued in December 2006.

“To my knowledge there was never an education major,” said Fenimore-Smith in an e-mail.The lack of an education major, however, has not deterred students from pursuing careers in education. Some of the most popular programs for Whitman students to pursue teaching after graduating include Teach for America, the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program (JET), Whitman in China and the Peace Corps. Whitman in China sends six Whitman students or recent alumni to China to teach English for a year.JET is a similar program, although it’s based in Japan and is a larger national organization.

“JET is very popular,” said Buchanan. “There have been years where we’ve had double digits [of graduating seniors participating in JET].”

Graduating seniors interested in pursuing work as a teacher might also consider the University of Puget Sound Cooperative 4-1 Program Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), in which students follow their four-year Whitman education with a one-year program on the Puget Sound campus that culminates in a MAT and Washington State Teaching Certificate.

The Peace Corps has traditionally been one of the most popular post-graduation programs for Whitman students landing Whitman among the top of the Peace Corps-yielding small colleges. Recently, however, there has been a slight decline in Peace Corps recruitment at Whitman, as last year the number of Whitman alumni in the Peace Corps dropped from 19 to 11. While this drop could very well be attributed to yearly flux, several students wondered if this could be part of a trend attributed to the fact that some students perceive the Peace Corps to be more imperialistic.

“The imperialistic nature of the Peace Corps is definitely a legitimate concern, but it definitely depends where you’re going and what kind of work you’re doing,” said senior Colin Miller who will be joining the Peace Corps this next year. “I’m probably going to do environmental education and I guess you can construe that as imperialistic in that people are going into another country and telling people what’s best for them,” said Miller.

“I think we live in a world today where it’s hard to consider…the needs of a community on a purely local scale. I think a lot of the times a community does know what’s best for themselves but they need the resources or the expertise to better manage their resources from the developed world,” said Miller.

Some students who would normally consider the Peace Corps instead opt for domestic programs like Teach for America. Teach for America is a non-profit that provides rigorous training and support for recent college graduates who commit to teach for two years at a low-income school.

“[Teach for America] fits well with the belief system that is Whitman,” said Buchanan. “We realize ‘what do we love the most? Learning!’ So we want to give back.”

Indeed, Teach for America has skyrocketed in popularity both at Whitman and across the country. “I’ve seen a steady increase, particularly in the past three years, in interest for Teach for America,” said Buchanan. Buchanan doesn’t know exactly how many Whitman students applied for Teach for America this year because the application can be done online, but says that there was a great deal of interest among students.

“I’ve heard they’re hiring eight [Whitman students], but I know of five so far,” said Buchanan of Teach for America.

This year’s class of Teach for America teachers from Whitman will be headed to everywhere from Honolulu to New Orleans to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

“Teach for America has identified Whitman as a great source for them, and the students they’ve hired—and they’ve hired a lot—have done a really great job,” said Buchanan. “So they’re really targeting Whitman [students] for the quality and the caring that they bring to these sometimes difficult places.”

Between 2000 and 2006 Teach for America experienced huge growth and nearly tripled the number of teachers they train each year to over 2,400, while the acceptance rate of applicants dropped to around 20 percent.

Teach for America has its downsides as well.

“I have problems with [Teach for America],” said senior Eduardo Duquez. “Well, it’s not a Teach for America problem, but more of an education in America problem. And it’s because we’re sending the most unqualified people to the places you need the most qualified people for.”

Duquez also questioned the temporary nature of Teach for America and expressed concern that it’s often viewed as just something to do for two years that will look good on a resume.

“I guess I’m just afraid that it burns people out too fast…but I guess it’s a good Band-aid for now,” said Duquez.Buchanan maintains that going into education—whether through the Peace Corps, Teach for America or any of the multitude of other opportunities—is a great option for Whitman students. “I think Whitman students in general may not initially think of teaching as a career option,” said Buchanan. “But as they finish up at Whitman they realize that they love learning, and a lot of our students go on to teach in one capacity or another.”

Whitman custodial staff covers lots of ground

Whitman custodians cover almost twice the recommended amount of square footage per day—but said it’s all in a day’s work.

While larger campuses like WSU maintain an extensive staff and come closer to the optional industry guideline of 20,000 square feet per person each day, custodians at Whitman have to prioritize.

“It’s doable. We have to learn to adapt, to know what’s important and what people notice,” said Maxey Hall custodian Laura Ealy, who has worked at Whitman for 18 years. “Whitman keeps adding space. They’ve added four or five buildings since I’ve been here. It’s a really small staff compared to other places.”

Custodial Supervisor Kevin Wright, a Whitman alumnus, expects to expand his team as renovations progress in the next few years. Since he began working at Whitman in 1989, the staff responsible for academic buildings has grown from a handful of workers to a group of 16, with one extra “floater” to cover absences. There 12 others covering residential halls.

“Staffing has improved,” Ealy said. “For the first 10 years I was here, we didn’t have that floater, so an area might get minimal or no service if someone was out sick.”

“It’s a daily battle to get things cleaned,” Wright said. “When I was a student, there were roofs that leaked when it rained. The facilities have changed a lot. I think the environment is better than it used to be.”

Wright said his staff is not paid based on square footage. Rather, the college uses a system of cost comparison to determine wages, examining the wages of custodians at other area colleges and in the Walla Walla community. Associate Dean of Students Nancy Tavelli described the wages as “competitive.”

“It’s not bad. It could be better,” Ealy said of the pay. “There’s always room for improvement. We’ve tried to make it comparable.”

The benefits package, however, “makes up for any lacks in pay” according to Ealy, and includes health coverage and tuition remission. New custodian Vanessa Wetter said the benefit package at Whitman was “one of the main reasons I came.”

Custodians also say relationships with staff, faculty and students are important factors.

“The staff is really Whitman-oriented with a good rapport,” Ealy said. Whitman uses a “zone-cleaning” method in which custodians are responsible for one building or area.

“I have a relationship with some students who spend a lot of time in the building,” Ealy said, describing a friendship with one student who often comes to Maxey in search of Coca-Cola bottle caps.

“Each building has its own personality,” said custodian Jim French.

Custodians in residence halls also build relationships with students and frequently meet with RAs. In the past two years, the school has begun doing a complex review of custodians, a rarity at college campuses.

“It’s unusual; it makes it more educational,” Tavelli said. The reviews include student input, peer- and self-evaluations and supervisor assessments.

“Some days are harder than others,” Ealy said. “But since I’ve been here, I’ve watched at least three custodians retire, some of whom worked here for 20 to 30 years.”

New winery to change face of Walla

The face of the Walla Walla wine industry is changing.

Lowden, Wash. will soon be home to Walla Walla Wine Works, a new winery under construction by Seattle-based Precept Wine Brands.

“This time marks an exciting evolution for Precept. Our hope since the beginning has been to build viable wine brands that speak to the consumer and allow us to invest the resources back into winery facilities and vineyards. Today, we are achieving what we set out to accomplish and it is an incredible dream realized,” said founder Andrew Browne in a statement issued by Precept.

Walla Walla Wine Works will operate on a scale not previously seen in region. With a planned production of 250,000 cases, the winery will produce more than eight times the amount of wine of Walla Walla’s current largest winery—Canoe Ridge.

Walla Walla Wine Works will significantly expand the production capacity of Precept itself, building on the current 600,000-case production. Construction of the facility is expected to be complete in time for the 2008 harvest.

Currently at Walla Walla winery Waterbrook will have its production moved to the new facility and will remain the flagship Walla Walla wine produced by Precept. The production at the winery will be managed by John Freeman, Waterbrook’s current winemaker.

“Acquiring Waterbrook in late 2006 introduced Precept Wine Brands to the Walla Walla wine industry. Having a brand in our portfolio that is steeped in history as one of the first wineries in Walla Walla definitely makes the process easier and very exciting. We believe we’re creating something very special with Walla Walla Wine Works and our hope is to produce outstanding quality wines and educate visitors about Washington winemaking and viticulture,” said Ally Miller, public relations manager for Precept, in an e-mail.

The expansion by the firm is expected to have economic implications for Walla Walla’s local population of wineries.

“In contrast to Napa Valley, in Walla Walla you can still earn a decent profit from making wine. This is mainly due to the fact that grape prices are very low. Even if you buy high-end quality fruit, you are not going to pay more than $4,000 a ton. Your marginal cost of producing one bottle of wine is therefore never more than $8. And then you have high-end wine [which sells] easily for $30 and above, “ said Karl Storchmann, professor of Economics and vice-president of the American Association of Wine Economists.

While Walla Walla is still nascent when compared to Napa, Cali. the introduction of a large-scale winery pushes the area in the footsteps of Napa. Storchmann currently estimates there to be about 150 wineries in and around Walla Walla, while there are approximately 300 Napa wineries.

“[Walla Walla Wine Works might] draw more firms in and, as a result, the whole wine cluster will grow. This perfectly fits economic theory. As long as a certain market enjoys real profits, more competitors join in. There is a large gap between the price of wine and the price of grapes in Walla Walla. You do not see that to that extent in Napa,” said Storchmann.

Precept’s expansion into Walla Walla may bring balance to the broader wine industry in the valley as well.

“By growing grapes you are unlikely to make any profit. I think, everybody who grows grapes does it either because they want to have top-notch fruit and don’t trust other people or they do it for the love of the thing. With the influx of more wineries into the Walla Walla Valley and the expansion of existing wineries profit margins from making wine will fall, which I think is a good thing. It may also lead to increasing grape prices allowing grape growers to enjoy profits too. So I think it will bring the market into some kind of balance, which I think is a wonderful thing,” said Storchmann.

This week in greek…

Sigma Chi: Last weekend the Sigs held their annual spring cleaning event where members’ parents came to help clean the house. The house’s scholarship luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27.

Phi Delta Theta: Last week the Phis held their Battle of Bands fund-raiser, raising $1,055 dollars for the Walla Walla Community Center for Youth. The contest, which was adjudicated by three Whitman professors, was won by the Raptivists. Also, this past weekend the Phis had their executive council retreat.

Tau Kappa Epsilon: TKEs are donating the sod from the Earth Party—736 square feet, to be exact—to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. Last Thursday the TKEs had their spring scholarship dinner.

Delta Gamma: The DG freshmen class recently did a service project at Whitman Mission working to reconstruct a creek bed. Last weekend the DGs participated in a joint highway clean-up event with the Phis. The chapter is very excited for its seniors who are passing orals and turning in theses, congratulations!

Kappa Alpha Theta: The Theta spring pledges are in the midst of their Inspiration week, which culminates on Saturday with Initiation. The Thetas senior breakfast is scheduled for April 28.

Kappa Kappa Gamma: The Kappa spring pledges are similarly in the throes of Inspiration week, which concludes on Saturday with Initiation. This weekend the Kappas and the Phis are attending the Oddfellows Home “senior prom” dance. Next Tuesday the Kappas have an etiquette dinner. Also, due to a positive budget error the chapter is planning to renovate parts of section and their chapter room, including obtaning a gigantic key, likely one that is made out of some variety of precious metal.

Greek System: This weekend the system celebrates Greek Weekend, which features an IM football tournament, BBQ and burger cook-off, dance competition and Saturday’s Barefoot Formal on Ankeny. This event, featuring Band Before Time as well as Funk in the Trunk, is open to the campus.

Who knows CPR? Creativity is dying

Creativity is under attack. Now, I know this rant is overdone, but I promise, I have enraging news from the front lines of this war. After reading this, you’ll be at least a little upset.

Take the age-old example of television, for instance. This is over-discussed, but bear with me.
When we were young, a typical kid watched maybe one or two TV shows with any regularity. We watched “Arthur” on PBS, and then it was “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer”—our cue to go play in the yard, or build a fort with the couch cushions, or even do homework.

These days, there are many, many channels on cable (which is like, five million times more common now) devoted exclusively to kids shows. Kids can come home from school and watch shows like “Hannah Montana” and “Kim Possible” until bedtime. When kids’ schedules are full of Disney’s programming, where’s room for creativity?

Crayola has exacerbated this situation with a new line of products called “Color Wonder.” A special coloring book and marker set comes packaged in the familiar Crayola yellow and green. The marker is full of special ink that will only show up in the coloring book; the idea is to keep kids from drawing on the walls and other inappropriate places.

But get this: walls aren’t the only place that Crayola has deemed inappropriate for drawing. These markers won’t even work outside of the lines on the page.

The package says, “Color Wonder Coloring Books are specially printed so that color appears only where it should.” Crayola is chemically forcing kids to color inside the lines! If this doesn’t piss you off, you were never a kid.

Not only that, the marker will only color each part of the picture whatever Crayola prescribes to be the proper color. It will only make the sky blue, the grass green, etc. So, were you to take the marker and scribble all over the page, the picture would turn out perfect, or, rather, whatever Crayola decides “perfect” is.

Giving your kid this coloring set would be tantamount to putting them in front of a player piano. Would you call that creative? Stimulating? In any way productive?

What if a kid wants to make the sky cloudy, or the grass dead? As gloomy an expression as that may be, if that’s how the kid feels, who the hell is Crayola to tell him, “Your picture needs to be happier”?

In a preface to one of his books, Joseph Conrad said that art should be “the appeal of one temperament to all the other innumerable temperaments” and, in order to be effective, it must be “conveyed through the senses…in fact, it cannot be made in any other way.”

As humble as a kid’s drawing may be (I’m talking about the kind drawn with real markers), it is still that kid’s expression of himself; it’s art.

But how’s a kid supposed to express himself, or appeal his temperament, when before he even sits down to draw, Crayola has decided exactly how his picture will appear?

We live in an age when corporations are constantly trying to pre-program what we express—to form our temperaments for us. People these days think that they’re expressing their individuality with the color of their iPods. They use brand names like building blocks to craft themselves.
Now, to qualify this angry rant: Crayola is not forcing Color Wonder into children’s hands. There is, and will always be the alternative of drawing on plain, white paper with real markers (although they can get on the walls).

So, Crayola is not so much waging war against creativity as much as they are illustrating (no pun intended) an alarming trend: Creativity is dying.

Rednecks and peak oil: Valuing the farmer’s contribution

I really like food.  Without it, I am nothing.  Food is not only a life necessity, but also an important part of culture and tradition.  If all this is true, why do we treat the people who bring us our food worse than the dirt that they work?

Rednecks, welfare farmers and all the unfortunate names we might call migrant workers from south of the border; all these people are the backbone of our civilization.  More important than all the doctors, stockbrokers and lawyers in the world, we treat them all as the bottom rung of society.

Farmers are generally caricatured in popular culture as uneducated, but even beginning to think that takes a perverse sort of logic.  Every day farmers do what the vast majority of us have no idea how to do, coax tiny seeds into plants that produce nourishment for us all.  I don’t know how to drive a tractor, do you?  Do you even know what a thresher does?  This is essential knowledge that without farmers would be lost to our country forever.

Besides just growing the crops these supposedly “uneducated” farmers have to keep track of markets, work through government red tape, find ways to market their goods and get it the consumer and finally find a way to make ends meet on the pitiful amount that we pay them.
Of each dollar we spend on food in the supermarket, less than seven cents of that ever gets to the farmer, and if we are thinking about the people that then work for the farmer that amount is even less.  Our lack of respect for those that pursue the agrarian arts ultimately translates into second jobs and huge debt.  In America we benefit from the lowest food prices in the world, yet we scream like banshees about “welfare farmers” every time we pass a farm bill.

The real problem with subsidies is not that they help farmers too little, but that they benefit very few farmers and mainly not the ones that need the help.  If we insist on paying rock bottom prices for our grocery store food then we have to find other ways to keep American farms afloat, and if that means doling out taxpayer money then perhaps that is what needs to be done.

Or maybe we could pay our farmers up-front, by starting to pay the real market value for our food, and making sure that money gets to these professionals.  In the short term this will mean buying at farmers markets, farm stands or CSAs, but hopefully we can find ways to reform our food system so that more than seven cents of our food dollar gets to farmers.

As peak oil approaches and our world moves to a place where wheat from China, asparagus from Chile and sugar from Costa Rica cease to make sense, we will be forced to recognize the important contributions that farmers make to our society.  The problem is, if we don’t start valuing their work now, we won’t have any farmers left later.

Nepal’s choices: Bad government or bad government

Last Thursday, the Nepalese people had a monumental decision to make over the future of their government. Their decision, which will mark the first elections in the country since the onset of the blood-deluged civil war in 1999, is between two of most dissimilar governments one could imagine: communism and monarchism.

But, though the ideologies of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Nepali Congress Party are poles apart from one another, the Nepalese people only have a choice to make regarding the manner in which their impending government will be awful, not whether they are awful or not.

Unlike the CPN-M, the CP has already proven how awful it can be to its people. Since 1768, the unification of the Kathmandu Valley by the audacious Gorah King Prithvi Narayan Shah, the mountainous strip we know as Nepal has been under monarchial rule. During this time, Nepalis have seen countless bloody war after another including the infamous Kot massacre (circa 1846), the unnecessary involvement in the Indian Sepoy Rebellion (circa 1857) and carelessly compromising the lives of thousands of soldiers during both World Wars (circa 1914 and 1939).
Not only did the CP forcibly engage its country in wars which it did not concern, but all the meanwhile the party was perceptibly channeling all of its money to the monarchy. Its effects are still visible today: Half of Nepalese workers are unemployed, half of Nepalese people live well below the poverty line and, despite the economic efforts of the interim secular government, it still remains one of the poorest 25 nations in the world.

The new government, however, whether it is the old monarchy or the, predicted, new communism, will not do much to change the status quo, save, perhaps, the obvious dethroning of Gyanendra of Nepal, the current king.

Though it doesn’t seem like the new government could do much worse than the old government, the CPN-M may do equally poorly. For one, the communist party, unlike, say, the PCE (Spain’s communist party) or the PCF (France’s communist party), has outspokenly supported the idea of an authoritarian regime.

In the months leading up to the election the CPN-M has proposed a Nepalese constitution that does not prohibit, or provide any checks for, a one-party state whereas many of their competitors, save the CP, have. Moreover, they have condoned the idea of having an executive president without term limits.

Apart from an authoritarian regime, the CPN-M would also bring about an ethnic strife Nepal has never seen before. They believe that Nepal’s provinces should be drawn along ethnic lines, which, in my mind, can only lead to creating and subsequently heightening ethnic tension between its regions.

More likely, the re-delineating of Nepal’s provinces will lead to violence—a kind of violence not previously witnessed by the Nepalese. All of Nepal’s previous violent tensions have been a clash of ‘M’s’: the monarchy and the military.

So, instead of eliminating this clash and the violence that comes along with it, the new communist government will simply transfer, or in the worst case, add, the violence between the military and the government to violence between ethnic groups.

In fact, the CPN-M has been already been adding violence to Nepal even before they have been elected. Among the bodies listed on their resume are no less than two candidates, two worshippers at a mosque and numerous opposition party workers.

Instigators of the Nepalese civil war in 1996 that only ended two years ago when they were offered positions in the government, the Maoist rebels have strictly adhered to their motto “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” uttered by Mao Zedong himself. Though many seem to think so, it’s highly unlikely that these rebels-turned-diplomats will suddenly drop their military ambitions in order to run the Nepalese government democratically.

Almost as important as the stability of the country itself while run by either the monarchists or the communists is the stability of the relationships they keep with their allies to the north and to the south: China and India, respectively.

Though India supported the dethroning of the king and the eradication of Nepal’s feudal system, it certainly did not support the CPN-M’s rise to the political spotlight and will, almost certainly, clash with the new Nepalese government if that rise is capped off with an election win. This certainly becomes a problem because India is Nepal’s biggest trading partner and, at least economically, has an iron grip on the Himalayan country.

Not to be forgotten, China also has a major influence in Nepal. China provides a hefty amount of foreign aid to Nepal, which primarily serves to run both their health care and their educational systems. Of course, the Chinese would be enamored by a Maoist Nepalese government—perhaps even enamored enough to rekindle the imperialist aspirations of the middle of last century.
Regarding the election, though, at least one thing is certain: A bad government.

Undergraduate Conference well attended

From Aristotle to antibiotics, the 10th annual Undergraduate Conference on Tuesday drew together various threads of undergraduate study in over 150 presentations.

“Today we’re celebrating this vibrant intellectual community,” said Provost and Dean of Faculty Lori Bettison-Varga to students at a dinner for presenters. “This community cherishes inquisitiveness. As I sat in the sessions today, listened to music, read and discussed posters with students and colleagues, my enthusiasm for Whitman was reaffirmed.”

Classes were cancelled and four sessions of presentation panels were scheduled throughout the day, in addition to a poster session. Midday, students were treated to a complimentary hamburger lunch and music from Whitman’s Jazz Ensemble.

Many commented on the high number of attendees in comparison to past conferences.
“It seemed like a large amount of students were attending talks,” said senior Suzanne Zitzer, who gave a presentation about her German thesis and moderated a panel. “I attended more than I ever had in the past.”

Senior Kim Trinh, who gave two presentations, agreed. “I feel like there were more people going this year. They’re taking this opportunity to support classmates and hear what they’re researching, writing and thinking about.”

“From what I understand, people from the surrounding community—not just the Whitman community—were impressed with [the] professionalism and the level of scholarship achieved,” Bettison-Varga said.

Several panels addressed aspects of the Walla Walla community, from a presentation on the KKK to the impact of the wine industry on the town.

While the experience could be daunting, presenters were largely positive about their talks.
“I was shaking a bit, but I want to be a professor, so the ability to communicate to a large audience is important,” Trinh said.

Presentations lasted 12 minutes and were followed by a short period of questions from the audience.

“People asked questions and were actually interested in topics,” said senior Rose Jackson.
“It was the first real conference I’ve been a part of,” said first-year Dawn Angus, who presented a Core paper regarding “Job: A Lesson in the Integrity of Selfless Faith.”

“I felt like presenting would be a positive learning experience, especially if I decide to participate in future conferences at Whitman or elsewhere,” she added.

Allison Solanki, a senior who presented a poster on “Fabrication of Stretchable Silicon Sensors and Devices,” drew from summer research experience at Stanford University and said that while different from other conferences she has attended, the Undergraduate Conference provides a unique opportunity for cross-disciplinary learning.

“It is a fascinating experience to explain your work to someone outside of your field at a level that is easily understood, which is important as a scientist,” she said.

“There was no grouping, which was unusual,” added Solanki, who displayed her poster next to a sociological examination of the role of family in Disney films. “It was kind of cool in a way to get variety and difference, but on the other hand, it wasn’t quite cohesive.”

Other creative groupings amused and confused presenters, including Trinh, whose discussion of Chinese-American identity in two novels was paired with presentations on the 2008 Olympics and the effect of globalization on soccer.

Some praised the groupings. “As a whole, the organization of the individual panels created a dialogue between presenters, regardless of whether they were analyzing the same texts,” Angus said. “The questions of professors especially helped to facilitate consideration of the connections between presentations.”

“I tried to make sure that the audience and presenters knew what to expect and would have a pleasant experience,” Zitzer said of her role as moderator. “I see it as a very self-affirming experience and one which the audience members also gain a lot from.”

“I’ve been engaged in promoting undergraduate research nationally, and today was another example of why that’s such a valuable pedagogical technique for colleges like Whitman,” Bettison-Varga said.

“I’m already thinking about what I might like to present on in the future,” Angus said.

TOP SEVEN: Cool toys to play with in the sun

It’s almost summer. Girls are wearing their short-shorts and dudes are wearing their mesh tank tops.

What’s that? You’re BORED in all this sun?

Well, never fear: I’ve come up with a pretty reliable list of sun-friendly toys that will have you giggling for hours on end.

Super Soaker Aqua Shock HydroBlitz: Hyphothetical situation: You’re minding your own business, eating a Popsicle, reading Nickelodeon Magazine, basically doing what you normally do, when your FUCKING LITTLE SISTER throws a FUCKING WATER BALLOON at your FUCKING FACE. What’re you gonna do? Sure, you COULD tell on her. OR you could ANNIHILATE HER WITH THE HYDROBLITZ. The Hydroblitz is awesome because it not only has rapid-fire blasting capabilities, it ALSO holds 101 ounces of water. Which is WAY more than a water balloon. Even a huge-ass water balloon.

Gazillion Bubblator: I haven’t actually counted the number of bubbles technically generated by the Gazillion Bubblator, but it’s DEFINITELY between a million and a gazillion. Definitely. And it’s not just quality with this baby: It also makes HUGONGOUS bubbles. (Fuck you Spell Check; “Hugongous” is so a word.)

Swimline Two-Headed Curly Serpent: Even if you don’t have a pool, this inflatable gigantic snake is probably one of the most useful things I can think of. One: It’s superlong, which means it’s really good for bonking people with. Two: It’s superscary, and would therefore probably frighten robbers if you put it by your door at night. Three: It has not one head, but two. Good two-headed toys are hard to find these days: Trust me, even porn shops are scaling back.

SW Express Geyser Blast Sprinkler: Remember when it was hot outside and your mom would be like, “Why don’t we turn on the sprinkler?” And you’d be like, “YEEEEAH!” And then she’d turn on the sprinkler and you’d jump through it a few times and it would be kinda fun, and maybe you’d pretend the sprinkler was, like, a water monster or something, but it would still get pretty boring pretty fast and you’d end up digging for worms and then your mom would be like, “YOU’RE RUINING MY GARDEN!!!!” and then you’d be in trouble. Well, WHAT IF the SPRINKLER had a MIND OF ITS OWN and started whipping around all willy-nilly like an angry snake? That would be WAY more interesting.

Old Fashioned Snow Cone Maker: I don’t know about you, but MY favorite thing about being alive is eating snow cones. I’ve oft dreamt of what it would be like if I could have a snow cone at the drop of a hat. Would this, then, be heaven on earth?

Slip ‘N’ Slide Shark Attack Water Slide: This fabulous 20-foot Slip ‘N’ Slide is great because it makes you THINK you are actually slipping and sliding into the mouth of a big-ass shark. Which is scary at first, but when you make it out on the other side and you’re wet and happy and in a safe boat (rather than the gut of a shark), it feels all that much better.

20’ Parachute: Twenty feet in diameter is fucking huge. You could definitely fit like 30 people under that shit (technically, 16. But whatever). Games that are fun to play with a parachute: Put balled up paper on it and call it “popcorn”; get underneath it and pretend you are in a “tent”; smother someone you don’t like in it and call it an “accident.” JUST KIDDING! Don’t actually do that. At least not without a parent’s permission.

‘What is the What’ provides unique perspective of Lost Boys

Dave Eggers’ “What is the What” is the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, a young boy who escapes from the massacre of his home in Sudan to walk for months across the deserts of three countries to reach safety along with thousands of other children called the Lost Boys.

Facing the daily threat of militia attacks, government bombings, wild animals, disease and ever-present starvation, Achak suffers through seemingly endless conflict and struggles to maintain a sense of self, to hold onto his humanity and his will to survive even as others around him die one by one.

The deadly journey brings Achak and the other survivors first to Ethiopia, then finally to a refugee camp in Kenya. Here, Achak waits for years, not knowing his purpose or even if his family is alive, until he is brought to live in the United States.

The narration of “What is the What” switches back and forth between Achak’s present life in the United States and his youth spent fighting to survive as a refugee. This structure facilitates a particular point the novel makes, which is central to Achak’s life: that in America, he finds only a different form of starvation. Despite all that he suffered through in Africa—despite the countless deaths he witnessed and became numb to and the pain and loss he somehow managed to endure—Achak still wishes to return home.

Although in America Achak has an apartment and a car, it is not the land of opportunity he once dreamt of. Even in America he finds animosity and death. Everywhere he looks, he is met with opposition, ignorance and callousness.

Ultimately, the United States is proven to be a false sanctuary and a cultural wasteland for Achak and many others.

The main objective of the story is to tell the truth—to convey the real experiences of a real person. While it is, without a doubt, good writing, other aspects that make for a compelling novel (drama; clear beginning, middle and end; conflict, climax and resolution; and so on) tend to fall by the wayside. The novel holds honesty above literary greatness, which is entirely appropriate for its content.

The experiences of this one man bring the lives of millions to light. As Achak observes, the complexity and the brutality of the violence in Sudan permits the world t o ignore it: “The civil war became, to the world at large, too confusing to decipher, a mess of tribal conflicts with no heroes or villains.”

By focusing on the life and perspective of a single individual, rather than involving any specific political or racial agenda, the novel reminds us what is really important in times of war (and always): the people.

Achak’s story reveals the much-overlooked pain of countless people as well as their seemingly impossible task, having emerged from their trials, of finding answers—from God, from country and from each other. Brutally honest, well-written and simultaneously crushing and inspiring, “What is the What” is well worth reading.

Memphis conference puts focus on green job industry

From April 4-6, five Whitman students immersed themselves in speeches and workshops at the Dream Reborn, a conference in Memphis, that coincided with the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.The conference advocated for the growing Green-Collar Jobs movement, a movement that aims to provide environmentally-minded jobs and job training, especially to people who come from disadvantaged communities.Green For All, the organization behind the conference, says that the movements help to “fight both poverty and pollution at the same time.”First-years Masud Shah and Elli Matkin and sophomores Bailey Arend, Elena Gustafson and Natalie Popovich attended the conference. The five students, who are all members of Campus Climate Challenge, said that the conference really emphasized the importance of the movement to them.“I think green jobs are probably the only way to have a sustainable society and community,” Arend said. “There’s a triple bottom line—you need economic, social and environmental sustainability in order to be a sustainable community. Even if you have the latest green technology and have zero emissions, that’s not going to last long, and that’s not going be worth much if there’s still vast social inequity.”The concept of green jobs, said Arend, was a solution to the different problems, because it attempts to raise the disadvantaged communities up in society and also address environmentalism.“That’s really what we need to be moving towards as a whole nation,” Arend said.“Another key point that was that a lot of times people who are abusing the environment the most are not the ones who have to deal with the consequences,” Shah said. “It’s usually the poorest people who have to live in the communities where there are coal plants, and they don’t get the benefits because they’re not the ones who are working there either. It’s kind of a no-win situation for them.”Popovich described the conference as very inspirational and effective. She attributed much of this to the fact that the leaders of this movement are from the Bronx and other inner-city areas. This was inspiring to the 1,200 conference attendees, 70 percent of whom were people of color and over half of whom were of “modest means.”“This was different than listening to this environmental discourse that has been around for decades by people who have the time and the luxury to talk about saving the planet,” Popovich said. “Getting somebody from a different economic situation that [attendees] can really relate to and have them really support is key.”The students are not sure what the next step for them is.“We’re still trying to go through what we learned from the conference and see how it applies here in Walla Walla and at Whitman,” Arend said. “We don’t have a clear game plan because we don’t know what’s out there and what projects would work and what wouldn’t.”Arend described how some of the projects that were successful in the inner city, such as training people to install solar panels, would be less successful in the Walla Walla community. Training crews would have to be brought in from Seattle or other bigger cities, because the resources and abilities are not readily available in this area.“The green collar jobs movement has made major improvements in many neighborhoods and the idea is gaining momentum. There’s a lot of force behind it and a lot of people who are really excited about it. So on a national level, this is something that we’re going to be hearing a lot more about,” Arend said.Popovich agreed with Arend.“I’ve been dreaming about it every night, consistently,” Popovich said. “I don’t know how to express that in paper to people.”She encourages students to watch clips of speeches from the conference at dreamreborn.org, claiming it’s the only way to truly understand the magnitude and power of what was said there.The group will present the information they learned from the conference on April 29 at 7 p.m. in Maxey 310.

Hippies, Indians: Picking through the rubble

The way I see it, the April Fool’s issue made fun of a lot of things. The consent posters, hippies and the new art building all got slammed. Of course, none of these articles are the cause of contention lately on campus. That’s because we’re hippies, we’ll use the new art building and we do respect the consent campaign, when all is said and done. We laugh at these things because we are laughing at ourselves. Now here we are, having published an article in a joke newspaper insert that laughs at Native Americans. That’s different. It was not written by a Native American, and there aren’t so many Native students at Whitman to read it. People stopped laughing.

We are attending a school founded in honor of a white missionary doctor who tried to indoctrinate the Indians whose land he plopped himself down on. I do not personally think Marcus Whitman is the colonial devil, but I am also quite sure his murder was not part of a ‘massacre,’ all things considered. In Cayuse tradition, medicine men who failed to cure their patients were killed. The healer knows it’s coming. If he was not strong enough to cure his patients, he had failed his calling. Whitman failed to stem the smallpox outbreak his caravan of European Americans brought to the Native tribes of northeastern Oregon. He was killed for his failure.

He was white, as was his wife. The outrage of American lives lost put their deaths down in history as a massacre. No such word is used for the deaths of the thousands of Native Americans (note: also Americans) during Western expansion. We pay $42,000 a year to celebrate his memory and not necessarily theirs. And then Indians took over Bridges’ office.

I take a different view on this controversy than most regular contributors to this paper, it seems. Writers on campus are up in arms because their freedom of speech has been jeopardized. I don’t feel jeopardized in the slightest. I frankly feel like this campus-wide argument wouldn’t be taking place if the article in question had been written better. The satirical spin in “Indians take over Bridges’ office” is obvious, but the author’s ease with satire is not.

The comics who are successful in handling satire, racial satire especially, tell their jokes from a place of experience with the subject matter. Chris Rock was born in the South in the ‘60s and grew up in Brooklyn, being bused to a white school where he encountered constant abuse. Today he makes fun of white people and black people, because his life has been irreversibly affected by both. People laugh at his jokes because he’s been observing race politics in America since 1965. We figure he has to get his material from somewhere.

When the Pio came out with the “Whitman College Native American,” I wondered who was writing for the newspaper that regularly observes and deeply understands the experience of First Americans. I came up short. Which makes writing flippantly about scalpings and relating them to real tribe names deeply, deeply problematic.

On one hand, we are obviously a bunch of twentysomethings who aren’t making a career of comedic journalism backed by years of experience and knowledge of our subject matter. On the other, larger hand, however, as writers for this newspaper we get paid out of ASWC funds, which come out of the tuition paid by the students of this College. And if someone who’s paying me to write is deeply offended by something I write, it’s absolutely the least I can do to take his or her grievance seriously.

Of course I believe in free speech. My columns swear and complain and rant all the time. If I couldn’t write it, I would cover myself in red paint and sit in front of Reid screaming something about menstruation. And I would expect to be taken seriously, because I have a history of menstruating. More than that, I would expect to be taken seriously because my experience of the world was under attack and we’re supposed to be living somewhere that lets me freely say so.

But I also believe in picking your battles, and choosing an article which I found pretty poorly written as your case in point for free speech is not the best idea. If I can be convinced that this writer would be comfortable sending his article into the Umatilla—or better yet Navajo—reservations as a representation of the Pioneer’s best satire, because he’s that sure of his message, I will hear him out. For now, though, I am truly disappointed that a school so fraught with Native American history chooses to introduce the topic via an ethically questionable article in a joke issue. Journalism can do better than this.

Wilbur reads celebrated poetry at annual Walt Whitman lecture

When Richard Wilbur, former U.S. Poet Laureate and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, ended his reading at Thursday’s Walt Whitman Lecture by sharing a few of his lesser-known children’s poems, some audience members were skeptical.

“I thought he was kidding when he said he was going to read the alphabet poetry,” said senior Ben Stevens. “But it ended up being really good and funny.”

Wilbur’s “Disappearing Alphabet” poems were only a small part of his multifaceted poetry reading, which also included short, long, rhyming and non-rhyming original poems, as well as a series of translations of Latin riddles.

The reading was the culminating event in this year’s Visiting Writers Reading Series (VWRS). The series, directed by Creative Writing Professor Katrina Roberts, brings celebrated authors and poets to campus to read their original writing.

This year, writers in the series have included Sam Witt, Carolyne Wright, Kim Barnes, Tim Marshall and Jon Clinch, and will conclude on April 24 with Christian Wiman.

Wilbur’s reading was the biggest of the year, and took place in Cordiner Hall, where an audience composed of Whitman students, faculty members, Walla Walla community members, and appreciators visiting from as far as Seattle welcomed him.

“It is true that my work has been useful,” said Wilbur before reading his poem “Two Voices in a Meadow,” which he said has been read at the funeral of a nun.

Wilbur, 87, has received the Wallace Stevens Award, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the Frost Medal, the Gold Medal for Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two Bollingen Prizes, the T. S. Eliot Award, a Ford Foundation Award, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Edna St. Vincent Millay Memorial Award, the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award, the National Arts Club medal of honor for literature, two PEN translation awards, the Prix de Rome Fellowship, and the Shelley Memorial Award.

And, as Roberts said in her introduction to Wilbur, all of his many works are still in print.

“He’s a great poet. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading,” said sophomore Andrew Hall.

Past Walt Whitman lectures have included Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, and Billy Collins, among others.

Letter to the editor: Life for Native students challenging enough

I am a member of the Whitman Class of 2007. For the past month I have been in Botswana, conducting my Fulbright research on the positive and negative impacts of San (indigenous) cultural tourism. This past week I received a few e-mails from friends at Whitman to inform me of an article that was published in the Whitman Pioneer entitled “Indians Take Over President’s Office.”

Now, many of you probably know who I am. I am Dineh from the Navajo Nation, NOT the “Navajo Indian Tribe.” My reservation is located in the Four Corners, NOT in Walla Walla. I am writing because I am deeply concerned about the present climate and culture at Whitman and how harmful it is for Native students.

The writers and editors of the “Indians” article expressly note that they did not intend to harm anyone. However, despite good intentions, Native students are hurting. Although I am no longer a student at Whitman, I have maintained friendships with a couple of current Native students. My concern is with them first and foremost. In order to explain how this article and other acts of insensitivity and disrespect harm them, allow me to give my own reactions: I truly felt small. I was not even on the Whitman campus. I did not even pick up a copy of the Pio in Maxey or in the library and still, I felt small. I took the article to be making fun of the Native American community and of our efforts to achieve justice after a history of devastating colonization. I took the article as a disrespect and dishonor to the Indian nations surrounding Whitman and Walla Walla. I was upset and ashamed that the focus was not on the right of Native students to live and study in a safe community but on the rights of the writers’ and editors’, THEIR freedom of speech. Now imagine a Native student walking around on campus. How do you suppose she feels? Estranged, perhaps, from the rest of the Whitman community? Overwhelmed by just how far along this article indicates the Whitman community needs to go in order to be welcoming and supportive to Native students? Alone because she has no one to confide in or obtain advice from who will understand where she is coming from?

I am thankful to Gabrielle Arrowood for speaking her mind and identifying herself as a Native person. I am sure it was not easy to articulate how this article harmed her or to not have a group of Native students to support her as she was writing it. In my experience, it is often times difficult for a Native student to speak up. You feel alone when you do. You feel outnumbered and often misunderstand or disregarded. Gabrielle wrote in her letter: “And I cannot help but think that they only wrote this because there are so few Native students here and because we have virtually no voice.” How true is this? Whether it is because a Native student is afraid to speak or she does not have a culturally appropriate space to speak up in or she is ignored, Native students at Whitman DO NOT HAVE A VOICE.

I appeal to you all to seek out, acknowledge and, even more so, act upon the voices of Native students. Find out where they are on campus. Hear them when they express their pain and struggles. Move in the direction of addressing their concerns in an effective and long-term way. I appeal to you to singularly recruit a Native American advocate who can advise, mentor and support Native students or on behalf of Native students. As far as I know, there is no one that Native students can go to who is an administrator, professor, or staff member. There is no one who can relate to Native students, especially those Natives who come from reservations and who might be living off of the reservation for the first time in their life. Consider their transition to be similar to the transition of international students. From personal experience, because I lived on the Navajo reservation my entire life before coming to Whitman, it is a very difficult adjustment.

There were many times when I was ready to transfer and leave Whitman. So, I appeal to you all to strongly consider making a long-term change. A written apology by the writer/editor is not enough. It is not even about the article. The article is only an indication of a bigger, institutional problem which is the lack of support for Native students. There will always be individuals who make ignorant mistakes or fail to accomplish good intentions. When that time comes and a Native student needs someone to go to or needs someone to help take on the “obligation” of “educating” the Whitman community, there needs to be someone there.

Before I end this letter, I would like to share with you a bit of my Fulbright experience: Even though I have only been in Botswana for less than a month, the perspectives and knowledge I have gained are invaluable. For instance, I am deeply grateful for the advances the United States has accomplished up to date in respecting and protecting the indigenous rights of Native Americans. I am most thankful for my ancestors and the generations of Native Americans who fought for the rights that I enjoy and worked to ensure that Native peoples have a place in American society.

Here in Botswana, the situation for indigenous peoples is not as positive. The Botswana government does not recognize the indigeneity of the San (Basarwa). The San have no rights to land, natural resources, or self-determination. As a result, the situation is that many San peoples are landless, living below the poverty datum line, restricted from hunting to support themselves, without political representation and power, dependant on government welfare and their Tswana neighbors for labor, typically underpaid or not paid in cash and discriminated against systemically and interpersonally because of their ethnicity.

On the other hand, in the United States many Native peoples have rights to land and natural resources and many of them have their own government body. However, this does not mean everything is perfect. The Native American right to land and natural resources is being challenged in and outside the courts. I believe most Americans are very ignorant about Native peoples and culture. Moreover, Native communities are battling unemployment, poverty, alcoholism, discrimination, social and political marginalization and the loss of language and culture.

Particularly, when it comes to higher education, Native Americans are appallingly underrepresented. This is clearly evident at Whitman where Natives make up less than 1 percent of the total student body population. Now I ask you: What will YOU do to change the underrepresentation of Native American students at Whitman? Will Whitman stop being a place where Native students are marginalized, estranged and voiceless? Will Whitman make changes in order to become an institution that is appealing to Native students because they see other Native students thriving and being supported at Whitman? Will Whitman serve the surrounding Native communities on whose ancestral lands the campus sits?

As a Native alumnus who has SURVIVED Whitman, I plead with you to take action and make long-term changes so that in four years Native students will feel less alone and marginalized. They will speak up more often because they know they have others to support them. They will have someone with institutional power to advocate for them and empower them. They will have peers that share their background or who will want to stay at Whitman after the first year because despite the difficulties they know REAL changes are being made and they are a part of that process.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and genuinely consider my appeals. I trust that you all as individuals will be in solidarity with Native students in making Whitman a better place.

Veronica Willeto
Whitman ‘07

Green Lantern remodel allows for more efficient service

The Green Lantern, casually known as “The Green,” has long been a favorite of Whitman students. With a significant remodel, The Green hopes to serve customers faster and more efficiently now more than ever.Built in 1917, The Green has been a landmark of Walla Walla for 90 years. Excluding a stint as a fruit stand during the prohibition, the building has been a bar since its founding. Due to its age, The Green has been grandfathered in with regard to many building codes, thus not needing to be completely up to standards. With the new remodel, however, it is fully up to code and then some.“We have basically brought it back into this century,” said Manager Dave Brown.The remodel was not intended to make The Green bigger or to change everything, Brown said, but to make things more efficient. While there is not any new customer space, there are new and better bathrooms, an expanded kitchen and a more proficient bar, among other things.“Its been a long, long, long couple of months with the remodel, but having all these beers up here really makes working here much more efficient,” said bartender and Whitman grad Michelle Morales.“We’re able to serve you a lot faster,” Brown said.What once was an hour and a half wait for some of their highly regarded tacos, of which they sold 16,000 last year, has been shortened to 20 minutes on a busy day.“You had to wait like 45 minutes to get food, it just wasn’t worth it if you were only going for dinner,” said senior Emma Fulkerson.“The kitchen was so small you could only cook four things at once,” Brown said.Although many customers were fine with the wait, a new, larger, and more efficient kitchen allows for an expanded menu and a shorter wait time.“You can definitely notice the change. I don’t have to wait in line to use the bathroom and the food comes right away,” said senior Lucas Swart.Brown noted that with the expanded kitchen, pizza made from the crust up is in the works. As far as drinks go, there are 28 beers on tap and a much larger liquor selection now that there is somewhere to put it on display.The remodel will be completed in another three months, but Brown said that in truth they will never be done as there are always new things they want to do.“We love the Whitman students that come here, they’re easy, to tell you the truth. As long as you bring ID,” Brown said.

Learning adult skills

Lately I have taken to watching the tennis courts. I mostly watch during non-team practice hours, when the “just-for-fun” players swing their rackets back and forth, laughing and tossing their hair in the sun. I watch them bounce the little green balls a couple times, lob them up in the air and whack them across the court with total ease, playing a quick round just for the heck of it. It looks great. It looks sophisticated. It stresses me out.

I also am easily stressed by going to a restaurant, where, instead of using a single utensil that I wash off between soup and cereal like I do at home, I am faced with a row of forks and a row of knifes and a row of spoons, all slightly varied with different prongs and blades and sizes.
These days I even get slightly anxious when required to hold an intelligent conversation with a person over 30 years of age (a thing also known as a “grown-up”).

The above list are skills adults need to have—playing an easy round of tennis with the boss man, eating with impeccable etiquette at a many-forked restaurant or talking with other “grown-ups” shrewdly about United States foreign policy. These are skills that I will soon need to have and are skills that, I realize as my senior year and impending graduation draws near, I severely lack. I am about to enter the world of shoulder pads about as prepared as an 8-year-old in a tutu and pretty pink tights.

Whitman, as much as I hold you dear, I must curse you indelibly. While you have done a stand-up job as my metaphorical feather bed for three years of college, you have also given me a very screwy perspective of what knowledge is expected of me from Day One in the real world.

Take my off-campus living situation located at the end of Shady Rill street behind Reid Campus Center, for example. It’s a darling two-story house with shiny countertops, white walls and brand new carpet—remodeled this summer. My rent, including maintenance, water, electricity, EVERYTHING—is $337 a month. I mean…really? That is probably the going rate to unroll a sleeping bag in some peeling brown apartment building in the butt of downtown Seattle.

Also, in the real world, you probably aren’t supposed to attend “grown-up” meetings barefoot (or wearing ratty sweatpants that proclaim the year I graduated high school, or still greasy-faced from too much/too little sleep) like I attend class here. And grown-ups probably aren’t supposed to eat cereal for most meals, either. Well, shit. I have to learn how to properly season a fillet of salmon AND perfect my backhand before graduation? And for Christ’s sake, what the HELL is that bitsy spoon laying horizontally above the plate used for?!

Thus, when spring registration arrived for the rising senior class, I sucked it up and enrolled in Beginning Tennis. I figure, if I am lacking in other adult skills and know-how, I will at least have a country-club quality backhand. Take that, real world.

Then, in some future day when I don pinstripe attire and my boss, after a scholarly discussion about President Obama’s (fingers crossed) foreign policy, wonders if I’d like to play a round of tennis on Saturday afternoon, I will smile smarmily and say, “Why, yes. I DO enjoy a good game of tennis.” And when I swing that backhand, he’ll be damn impressed and assume I own the whole toolbox of adult skills that I will probably still lack.

Whitman to commemorate its 29th Earth Day on Sunday

Since 1970 Whitman’s Earth Day celebration has been changing, and this year is no exception.  The event has expanded to include an activity fair with 23 different groups from the college and Walla Walla communities, providing students and community members with opportunities to find out how they can get involved. It will be held on the April 20 from 1 to 3 p.m.“We have talked about doing sort of an activities fair to show off the various things people can get involved in and decided to take this opportunity to put the fair on,” said event organizer and Campus Greens president Karlis Rokpelnis.Rokpelnis, with Brittany Smith and Jesse Phillips, has been actively planning the event since the beginning of the semester. Whitman Peace Coalition and Campus Greens co-sponsor the event.“Campus Greens decided last year that they wanted to start a tradition of having entertainment on Ankeny in celebration for Earth Day. Each year, we plan to make the event larger,” said Smith through e-mail.Last year attendance was somewhere between 200 and 300 people, according to Rokpelnis.  He hopes attendance will grow with the new activities.“All the environmental groups on campus are offering activities. One talked about possibly doing face painting and some will be offering food.  Also, there will be a raffle with a lot of environmentally related prizes from all of the organizations, but mostly Campus Greens and Peace Coalition,” said Rokpelnis.Also new this year is a film series that started on April 16 and ends this Tuesday.  The series contains films from Hanford all the way to China.“The first Earth Day in history was held on April 22, 1970. Whitman College has been involved in supporting this celebration since its beginning,” said Smith.  However, Lecturer of Chemistry Deborah Simon, who was a sophomore at the time, doesn’t remember Earth Day being anywhere near the event that it is now.“The whole ecology movement had just started and was really big, but there was no such thing as environmentalism; people called it conservation. They talked about conserving resources and planting trees but there wasn’t such thing as environmentalism or a feeling of this urgent crisis as there is now,” said Simon.“Now the whole idea of environmentalism is much more mainstream.  It’s more than just something a few students were involved with,” said Simon.“The [Vietnam] war overshadowed everything, put everything on the periphery.  There was this dawning awareness that the world was a bigger place,” she said.To those involved today Earth Day incorporates similar sentiments about their existence in a bigger place.“Our goal is to show that there is not just one way to be friendly to our world. There are many ways to care for the world, and we all can get involved. We hope attendees walk away wanting to be involved both on and off campus. This is our world, and we have the right to protect and preserve it,” said Smith.

cook’s corner: Polenta REDUX

Leftovers are the great unsung hero of cooking. Why else would we have Tupperware? What would do with all the leftover turkey after Thanksgiving?Leftovers are usually just a reheated version of the first dish, but this week I present another way of looking at them.A lot of really basic foods can be transformed into something else the second time you make them.Leftover rice? Cook up a batch of rice pudding. Leftover grilled vegetables? Throw them in a quiche.One of the most versatile foods to use in lots of different ways is polenta.When polenta is usually made the first time and served hot, it takes on a slightly liquid texture. After it cools, however, it becomes more firm and can be used in a multitude of different ways.This week I have a very basic recipe for polenta, as well as what you can do with it the next day. As always, have fun with it and experiment. A block of polenta can be sliced and then grilled or sautéed until brown, or used in a kind of layered dish topped with spinach, mushrooms and cheese and then broiled.You could also cut it into strips and bake them with or without cheese on top. Or you could cube it and bake it to make croutons to add to a salad.Before the recipes, I want to add a disclaimer. Polenta can be a very vicious thing to cook, and it doesn’t go down without a fight. While you are cooking it, it will bubble up and spit hot pieces of corn at you. Sort of like hot lava. But please don’t let this scare you off, just be aware of it, and try to use a spoon with a long handle for stirring.basic polentaINGREDIENTS:6 cups water1 tsp salt2 cups polenta mealButter and pepper to tasteDIRECTIONS1. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a medium sized pot.2. Add polenta in a slow and steady stream with one hand while stirring the pot with the other hand. This will prevent lumps from forming.3. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring fairly constantly, to prevent lumps and sticking.4. Cook until polenta has absorbed all the water, thickened and tastes done. This should take approximately 30 to 45 minutes.5. Stir in butter galore, the more the better, and serve.

‘Non-Shock Jocks’ talk

ASCH:
OK, Woods, so on our radio show last week you had the choice of taking Tiger or the field in the Masters, and you chose Tiger.  As we now know, Tiger came up just short for you, finishing at five-under and in second place, behind Trevor Immelman, whose three stroke victory made him the first South African since Gary Player to win the Masters. So in theory I won our bet; nonetheless, it feels cheap to me.  At the time of our show on Friday Immelman was the leader in the clubhouse after shooting consecutive 68s in the first two rounds.  I, being the bold prognosticator that I am, said that while I was taking the field over Tiger, there was also no chance this Immelman character (whose name I thought was Tom or Tim before looking it up) would be wearing the green jacket on Sunday.  So how did this relative unknown claim victory and leave most of the world’s best golfers (Woods, Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington all finished in the top five) in his wake?

WOODS:
For the record, I think our bet is a push for your comments mentioned above about the eventual champ, Immelman.  As to how he did it, I feel like this storyline is played out more in golf than any other sport.  There are so many players entered into each tournament that are all starting on the same ground; there’s no seeding, no bye-games, no advantages for the best players in the world.  And that’s part of the reason why what Tiger has done over the past four to five years (winning something like 25 percent of his tournaments entered) is so impressive.  All the players on the tour, or at least all entered in the Masters, have the skills to string together some quality rounds of golf.  Look at Immelman’s history and he doesn’t look like such an underdog (he made the cut at the 1999 Masters as an amateur).  So hats off to Immelman for hanging on when no one thought he could and taking home the green jacket.  For Tiger, I think it has to be a disappointing second place finish, right?  Considering I can’t think of another player who would label a second place Masters finish as a disappointment, this is just another statement to the fact of how high Tiger’s expectations have become.

ASCH:
There is absolutely no doubt that second at the Masters is a big personal disappointment for Tiger, especially in light of his off-season comments about how winning the Grand Slam this season was “a definite possibility.”  It’s common knowledge that the Masters is the most important tournament to him, and now his quest to win the Grand Slam is over before it even started.
But enough about Tiger, let’s talk about the champion: Immelman.  Although he had only one PGA Tour win to his credit before the Masters (the 2006 Western Open), he was the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2006 and had won three times on the European Tour. He has played on both President’s Cup and Ryder Cup teams, and has been ranked as high as 12th in the world.  He either shared the lead or was alone atop the leader board on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, and did so after having a calcified fibrosis tumor removed in December, causing him to miss the first eight weeks of the season.
But enough about golf, too.  Let’s move on to what you really want to talk about: NBA season-ending awards.  Who ya got?

WOODS:
Now you’re speaking my language, Eli.  Any one of the NBA’s postseason awards could be hotly debated, but I think I make a good case for my winners.  For the MVP, I said before that if New Orleans wins the wild race in the Western Conference, Paul has to get the MVP.  After his Hornets lost to the Lakers, and then to the Kings, it looks as if the Lakers will get that number one seed.  And to me, that clinches it for Kobe.  He carried the team all year through a barrage of injuries and is currently playing through some of his own.  He can still score with the best of them and is one of the top defenders in the league as well, so I give it to him.
My coach of the year goes to Rick Adelman.  The Rockets weren’t really on anybody’s radar at the start of the season, so he has to get a lot of the credit for this 54-46 team, especially with that run they made after Yao got hurt to win an astonishing 22 games in a row.  You could make a compelling case for Byron Scott, or even Jerry Sloan, who I still can’t believe has never won the award, but Adelman gets my vote.  My rookie of the year goes to Seattle Sonic Kevin Durant.  Horford averages near a double-double in Atlanta, but Durant had the challenge of coming into the league and being a team’s number one option.  He took on the best defenders and still came out averaging 20 a game.  My defensive player of the year goes to another Kevin, Kevin Garnett, simply for the presence he had in turning that team (and the defense) around.  Most improved in my book goes to Rudy Gay in Memphis for nearly doubling his scoring average from his rookie season and increasing his numbers across the board.  That’s enough from me, though.  Eli, who’re your winners?

ASCH:
We might be speaking you language now, Woods, but half of that was foreign to me. Nonetheless, I’ll try to hang with you while you talk NBA.  Looking back at my mid-season awards, a lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same.  I picked Doc Rivers as my coach of the year then, and—as much as I want to give Jerry Sloan some hardware for his lifetime achievement—I’m sticking with him now.  I’m amazed that he-of-absolutely no-ability-to-manage-personnel has been able to successfully utilize the Celtics’ surprisingly-deep bench.  I thought KG was a co-MVP (along with Chris Paul) before, and I still think he’s a co-MVP, although now with Kobe.  I agree with you that KG is the defensive player of the year as well, because, as John Hollinger recently pointed out, the C’s jump from 18th in the league in defensive efficiency last year to third all-time this year can hardly be attributed to Ray Allen.  Garnett’s intensity is contagious. For rookie of the year, I’m switching my vote to again agree with you: I’m on the Durant bandwagon—he’s going to be something special.  And as far as most improved: hell, I don’t follow the NBA well enough to have a real pick, so I’m going with another Celtics player: point guard Rajon Rondo.

Satire can be offensive, should never hurt

I received numerous hateful e-mails the day my response in the Pio was printed.  To those of you selecting that medium: I 1) ask you to carefully read my Senate speech or letter that was published, for while the majority of you accused me of missing “the point” in some way, I acknowledge “the point” multiple times; 2) am disappointed that you would not engage in discourse publicly; 3) hope you someday demonstrate the ability to argue without insulting your opponent; and 4) believe you were so wrapped up in a dislike for me that you were unable to see any of “the points” I was trying to make.  As I said once over the listserv, I will not participate in mudslinging or respond to personal attacks, but for the sake of the overall inaccurately negative perception others have developed due to rumors, I would like to clarify some things.

I never wanted the Pioneer to be censored (or any of the other vicious rumors like cancelling it or demanding Miss Johnson be expelled—come on), for example: I say this explicitly in my first Senate speech.  What was achieved in my negotiations with their staff is exactly what I wanted out of them: more advantage of the resource they have in Professor Charlip taken, and more consciousness of the potential repercussions of their actions.  Oh, and while it was never explicitly stated, the apologies being shifted to being less about them and more about how people were hurt in the publication of that article and acceptance of that culpability.

I do enjoy satire, and I do “get it.”  But all of the arguments in the defense of satire have been using the word “offense” and its various forms.  None (except Stephen Carter’s—I’ll come to this later) use the word “hurt.”  There is a fundamental difference, and when satire moves from offensive to hurtful, it fails.  That is why the article was so bad: it was offensive, yes, but it was also hurtful.  I reiterate: I knew what was being attempted the entire time I was reading it.  But every stereotype was like being hit with a golf club; and the line about scalping was a semi truck to the face. When satire does this, it is not acceptable.  And the staff of the Pio came to this realization, albeit a few days late; so if others still think the article was “good” satire, they miss this point and probably will never understand it.

The article being written for the April Fools edition doesn’t give it a free pass, either, and I’m not a “fool” for thinking this.  Again, I was hurt.  If I punched you in the face on April Fools Day and winked, you wouldn’t laugh—you’d want to beat me to a pulp.  So why should I or any of the other Native Americans at Whitman have said, “Silly Pio,” and giggled?  No.  Just no.  And if you want to pick that apart and try to differentiate between physical and psychological assault, go ahead, but keep in mind that you are likely not Native American and thus would never be able to read that article in the exact same way a Native American would.  Let’s face it: the only true comprehension comes from experience.  We can relate, but we can’t ever quite reach a 100 percent equal understanding of something like this.  It is part of the human experience, though, so I do not see it as something to try and “fix,” but rather to work around.

I am not too sensitive.  OK, well, I’ll take that back.  I sometimes am—I cried watching “Finding Nemo” the first…five times…I saw it.  But that’s a different kind of cry.  I had every right to be hurt in this instance, though.  I cried when I read that article because it reminded me of the oppression my family’s history is filled with.  And I pursued it so publicly because 1) I am an activist at heart, and 2) it would have been a disservice to my ancestors to remain silent, my deceased great uncle, Gerald Clifford, in particular.  He died of cancer in 2000, but was a Native American lobbyist and activist in South Dakota for ages, schmoozing with every president and key members of Congress dating back to Carter and up to the beginning of this Administration (Tom Daschle even gave a speech about him when he died).  He and I may not have shared the same last name, but we are still of the same stock.  I thought of how he would have handled it, and I tried to emulate what I came up with.

Uncle Gerald was a devout Catholic, and when I was still practicing, we said this prayer together: “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”  In other words, fight the good fight, but don’t be so blinded by your cause as to let it fail.  “You learn when to give in and when not to,” he said to me.  “If you hang on to too much, you may lose everything.”  I’ll never forget that.  It has guided me in a lot of different aspects of my life, and it guided me in this process here.   So I was diplomatic, like him: I met with as many people I thought necessary, ignored the insults and didn’t hold so tenaciously that I became sheer opposition.  You can accuse me of whatever you want, but you cannot legitimately say I handled myself inappropriately or offensively, nor that I had no right to express myself.  That’s why I conceded sometimes but still achieved something good for the campus; and why I’m still working at it.

Yes, it was personal.  But so what?  Being hurt is personal.  And I knew that if I tried hard enough, I could accomplish something, something that could decrease the possibility of others being hurt the way I had.  Just like Uncle Gerald: the violence our tribe has experienced is deeply personal for him, but it fueled the fire of his efforts for all tribes, not just ours.  So I went after it.  If you think this is wrong, then I ask you to reflect.  You may not be as much of an advocate as I am, but if you have ever believed in anything, even if it was that you thought “Transformers” was terrible but your brother thought it was the best movie of the year and you had a heated argument: that’s still something.  Take that passion and personal investment, and multiply it by about 109,025—point three, repeating.  That probably still doesn’t reach the level at which this meant to me.

And if that passion can be put to a good use, why is it bad?  I took that passion and used it to fight for everyone else that could ever be in my situation.  It wasn’t just for Native Americans that I took initiative; that I stood firm sometimes but had the ability to back down others.  It was for every person that has ever been hurt on this campus by something someone else said or did without realizing they were being hurtful.  It was for every GLBTQ student that has or could ever feel a sting because they hear people making gay jokes a table over; it was for every Latino student that has or could ever feel marginalized because another student said they should go mow the lawn (but added, “Just kidding!” at the last moment); it was for every conservative that has or ever would listen in class as someone else said, “Well, since everyone at Whitman is pretty liberal and will vote Democrat….”  Race, gender, ethnicity, religion, political alignment—you get it, right?

So this is where Stephen and I disagree: I agree with him that people will probably get hurt in the future, but by responding—and this is key—properly, intelligently and carefully to this incident, I think it can help decrease the number of future ones, because it can make people more conscious of their actions in light of this.  So I had the serenity and courage and wisdom needed to make something happen.  Hang me by my toes in the dungeon of your opinion, if you want, but see how good you feel afterwards.  Feeling squeamish at all? Because I sure feel pretty serene, myself.

Golf teams wrap up season at conference tournament

Both the Whitman men’s and women’s golf teams will travel to the conference tournaments this coming weekend with different goals.

For the men, who will take six players to the Apple Tree Country Club in Yakima, Wash., the hope is that top scorers Brian Barton, Paul De Barros and Kyle Buckingham can break into the top 10.

“While numerically we’re out of the running for the championship, we’re sill very much in contention as individuals,” said Head Coach Peter McClure.

The team also knows that a good showing in the tournament means greater respect for Whitman Athletics.

“The team understands that although we’re not in running for the conference championship we can contribute to the overall standing of the sports department at Whitman College compared to the other schools,” said McClure.

The other players making the trip are Garth Brandal, Grant Brandal and Noah Jolley. All six will complete individually and the lowest four scores make up the team’s overall total. That total is then compared to the other teams; totals and each squad is given two points for every team that they finish above at the conference tournament.

Overall, this season’s men’s team has had little trouble performing as a unit.

“[This season] we’ve tried to do more organized team practices where in the past we did more individual workouts,” said Brandal.

Aiding in that has been the leadership of Co-Captains Kyle Buckingham and Paul De Barros, who have impressed McClure with their communication with the other players.
On the women’s side, participation has been a problem. With only four members on the team, each member’s score will count in the team’s total at the conference tournament.

“With the whole athletic scene at Whitman, with so much to do and golf being a sport that takes a while to go out and play, we do have trouble keeping numbers,” said junior Shawn Kelly.

McClure added that the lack of an extra golfer has forced the team to elevate their level of play because they know that there isn’t the extra round to throw out from the team’s total.

Teammates Tamara Carley, Kelsi Evans and first-year sensation Sydney Saito will accompany Kelly at the upcoming conference tournament. So far this season, all have shot well, but Saito has particularly impressed her coach.

“She’s shown such determination and willingness to stick with us. Although we haven’t been able to get the numbers that we want out, she’s a good player and she’s got a very good attitude and I look forward to having her back next year,” said McClure.

With Saito’s youth comes hope for next year. The team does not lose a player from this year’s foursome and is already working towards filling up the roster for next season.

“We’re working on making it accessible to a lot of different people because there is definitely a lot of interest, but it’s just the concern that people don’t have time for it,” said Kelly.

“I definitely think that the other teams talk about Whitman being the most fun team to play with, which we definitely take as a huge compliment. Now we’re just looking for the most fun and the best.”

Netflix it: Step Up

I do not personally find Channing Tatum attractive, so you know this review is legit and not hormone-driven. That being said, I did watch it because it stars Jenna Dewan and she once dated Justin Timberlake. I’m scoping out the competition. Needless to say, she’s got a lot on me.Dewan plays Nora, a wealthy suburbanite attending the Maryland School of the Arts for dance. In the days leading up to her senior showcase, her partner sprains her ankle and she is left partnerless for the most important dance of her career. Enter Tyler (Tatum), the hoodlum who’s stuck doing community service at MSA after vandalizing it with his two best friends. Little did he know his janitor uniform was about to be traded in for some leggings and some pirouettes.Actually, that’s a lie. He doesn’t wear leggings until much later. He dances in baggy jeans and Timberland boots. I kid you not.If “Save the Last Dance” was the first of its genre and featured better acting than dancing, “Step Up” is smack in the middle of a dance movie craze, and focuses on footwork instead of dialogue. Which the writers understood, so that neither actor has to delve deep into their emotions save for one obligatory drive-by shooting. Obviously only included so that there could be two lines about the dance finale being in honor of the deceased, a la “Stomp the Yard.”“Step Up” is a great dance movie for all the reasons critics might use against it. You need very little brain activity to watch it, so it’s great for the weekend. It has pretty people our age doing dances we could never do, but we think we could. And it makes superficial commentary on race and class. Reference also “Step Up 2: The Streets.”(2006)

‘Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day’

What better way to indulge in nostalgia than to make a period film? Bharat Nalluri’s new film, “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day,” takes this idea one step further and actually mimics the style of films made in the period he is trying to evoke.“Miss Pettigrew” is reminiscent of the great screwball comedies of the ‘30s and ‘40s, such as “Bringing Up Baby” or “It Happened One Night.” Glamorous, flouncing leading lady? Check. Scads of suitors vying for her affections? Check.High-society cocktail parties and ornate costumes? Check, check. But mere mimicry of good filmmaking does not another good film make. The film must bring something new to an audience, so that it burns with its own flame rather than acting as the reflection of something greater. “Miss Pettigrew” frequently succeeds in this effort, mixing farcical comedy with the threat of real consequences and simply delightful performances from an excellent cast of actors.The brilliant and talented Frances McDormand plays the insecure but resourceful title character, who has just been let go from yet another job as a governess in 1939 London. When her employment agency refuses to offer her another job, she secretly snatches the address where a social secretary is needed, an occupation far beyond her area of knowledge and expertise. She arrives at the flat of one Delysia Lafosse (Amy Adams), a lounge singer with ambitions of fame and grandeur, who is in the middle of a self-inflicted crisis.Miss Pettigrew is swiftly sucked into the core of the chaos as Delysia begs her to get rid of Phil (Tom Payne), the theater producer waiting in her bedroom, before Nick (Mark Strong), the nightclub bigwig who is the real owner of the flat, returns home to find him, all while hoping that Michael (Lee Pace), Delysia’s pianist in her act, doesn’t find out about Phil or Nick. At first repulsed by Delysia’s lifestyle, Miss Pettigrew soon finds her somewhat endearing, and together they spend a whirlwind of a day trying to manage Delysia’s frenzied career and her even more muddled love life.Yes, the story itself is thin, but it’s not the story that matters in this kind of film.  What is crucial is the charisma and chemistry of all of the actors, and “Miss Pettigrew” is just brimming with these attributes. Audiences have been aware of the kind of comedic chops Frances McDormand hides under her belt ever since “Fargo” came out in 1996, but this movie should solidify Amy Adams as a talented comedic actress, as well. Together, they make a fantastic pair, with McDormand’s understated humor and expressive eyes juxtaposed against Adams’ hilarious parody of divas from cinema’s Golden Age.The film is a visual stunner as well, with gorgeous costumes flitting across the screen and unusual cinematography, especially during the nightclub scenes. Modern audiences may find the message tired and old-fashioned, as the film, yet again, seems to imply that the only way to happiness for a woman is through a man. But aren’t all comedies technically supposed to end in marriage? Okay, that’s another anachronistic way of looking at things. Still, while this film does not surpass the great comedic films of yore, if you’re looking for a modern equivalent, you could certainly do worse.

United States a rare role model in religious freedom

The separation of church and state is a fundamental part of Western society. A third grader can tell you what that means in the United States. But not all third graders around the world are granted the separation of church and state as we are. It is not often that I praise the government in a column for their policies. However, in this case, the United States has made important regulations and laws that help to make education available to people of all religions.

Turkey is a prime example of how a secular authority has taken steps to dictate religious freedom that caused more problems than it solved. When Turkey created their constitution there was a clause in it that made it illegal to wear religious headscarves in public universities.

This religious oppression was imposed in the first place as a way to be more progressive. In this way, it is perhaps most ironic to note that what Turkey did to try to be progressive the West sees as an act of oppression, certainly an act quite opposite from what we consider progressive.

This has been a hotly contested question within Turkish politics for many years and in February the issue came to critical decision in their senate. The senate voted to amend the constitution so as to remove this clause. This was an important step in freeing the religious preferences of the people of Turkey from the secular interests of the government of Turkey.

In this case, steps have been taken to eliminate the problems of religious oppression through secular controls. Before the amendment was passed many devoutly religious Turkish students were forced to either go elsewhere to study (if they could afford it) or, in some cases, to hide their veil under wigs.  In extreme cases, some religious youth were unable to continue their education because of these restrictions.

Turkey serves as an example of a state in which the secular power has caused discrimination toward their religious population by imposing rules on them. It also becomes clear, by looking at Turkey, how important it can be for the separation of church and state since it was the government that forced the schools to not allow students to wear the religious headscarves.

The United States has set up important distinctions, through our constitution and laws, that prevent the government from regulating our schools in the same way. Our system is something that we often take for granted in the United States. In truth, this separation of church and state is not something that can be found in much of the rest of the world.

This is an important boundary in the United States that should remain as firm as the beliefs of those who are alienated from the schools by secular authority. Education should not be something that is based on a selective system. It should be universal to all people, regardless of whether or not they follow the Bible or the Qu’ran, the Tanakh or the Confucius texts, the Hindu principles or the Wiccan ones.

Though many steps still need to be taken, some countries like Turkey have made important strides in making education more universal to their populations. Ultimately, though, it seems that some other countries could serve to learn a few things from the policy of separation of church and state found in the United States.

First annual festival turns Seattle green for a weekend

The Dalai Lama was not the only activist with his sights set on Seattle last weekend. For two days, hundreds of vendors and exhibitors descended upon the Washington Trade and Convention Center downtown as part of the First Annual Green Festival. More than 150 speakers, combined with 300 exhibits and 25 local eco-organizations, gave Seattleites the chance to explore environmentally-conscious alternatives for their daily lives.Politics merged with market at the event, as visitors had equal opportunities to shop and voice questions or concerns or support to King County representatives regarding various “green” projects for Western Washington. Large posterboards were set up posing questions such as “What do you love most about your neighborhood?” encouraging participants to appreciate their communities. Responses to a question about how to build communities varied from “Build trees, not Bush” to “eliminate [SR] 520 and plant native species.”The most popular section of the Convention Center last weekend was certainly the massive marketplace designed to educate visitors about the plethora of local green businesses often being overshadowed by larger chain stores. Heartsong Herbal Brewing Company in particular sees their purpose as subversive to the mainstream.“We’re really a guerrilla-style organization,” said employee Elizabeth Bretko. “We took over an abandoned Pizza Hut and started grinding our own teas. We’ve only recently started generating an audience.”Heartsong grinds its teas by bicycle to eliminate pollution from machinery.Tea and chocolates were well represented at the festival, with almost all vendors giving free samples of their products. Other stands included Nepalese stationary, eco-home furnishings, clothing, vegan and vegetarian food and cookbooks, bookstores and green media outlets.“This lifestyle is always easier than people think it will be,” said Tom Armstrong of RawVegan Source, a raw-foods activist and educator located in Redmond. “The tools to live an eco-friendly life are out there, we’re just bringing them to the limelight.”Keynote speakers over the weekend included Seattle mayor Greg Nickels, “60 Minutes” anchor Amroy Lovins, author Frances Moore Lappe (“Diet for a Small Planet”) and women’s activist group CodePink founder Medea Benjamin.Each visitor to the festival received a booklet including a list of contact information for all exhibitors and vendors present over the weekend as well as a list of e-mail addresses and phone numbers for taking further policy action in separate communities.Exhibitors at the festival were required to follow strict regulations regarding the waste produced by their booths. A sign upon entering the Convention Center claimed that all clothing and food sold must be certified organic. Vendors were only allowed to use plates and utensils that were 100 percent compostable. Even the carpet and signage within the Center were made from recycled materials and could be recycled again after use.Throughout the day and into Saturday and Sunday evenings, hundreds of volunteers sorted through the waste generated at the festival and designated each item landfill, recycle or compost.“Over the course of an entire weekend, we’ve generated less than one dumpster full of trash going to a landfill,” said Room Captain Sherry Spurlin. “This event is unprecedented in its success as an environmentally-conscious festival that lives by its own principles.”Green Festivals are planned over the next year in Chicago, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Learn more at greenfestivals.org.

Abortion: Examining the conservative side of life

I have been experiencing an uncomfortable feeling lately. It would best be described as a deep yearning emanating from somewhere between my heart and stomach, occurring only in the presence of small children. I’m calling it Baby Envy. I envy you your baby.

It’s not my fault; my hormones are banging around in my body telling me I should procreate, it’s what 20-year-old females with hips like mine are made for. Now, I know that this feeling should be ignored for now, but idyllic thoughts of families and babies (and the men with whom to create such things) have inspired me to rethink my position on abortion.

I must admit, in my most conservative hours (usually between 2 and 3 a.m.) I can’t get past the notion that life begins at conception; if one did nothing after the moment the sperm enters the egg, a baby would be born in nine or so months. This seems so apparent to me that I get really annoyed when the pro-choicers and the pro-lifers go at it over minute definitions of “when life begins.” As long as the pro-choice movement picks this battle, it’s going to lose. A fetus is alive; it changes, grows, develops. To abort that fetus is to end life. Can we not all agree that this—the ending of life—is something to be avoided?

I am a person who considers herself to be pro-choice, and this is not a statement I disagree with. Is there any pro-choicer out there calling for more abortions? No, they’re calling for safer ones, for earlier ones and, increasingly, for fewer ones. It is this last point the pro-choice movement should focus on.

Pro-lifers (don’t get me started on how loaded that term is) are also for fewer abortions. Of course, they are for no abortions, period, but that’s never going to happen, not through any means they are trying. So what if they overturn Roe v. Wade? That’s not going to make abortions go away, that’s going to make abortions illegal. The lowest abortion rates in the world occur in Europe, where abortion is legal and available (9 in 1000 women); more than twice that many have abortions in countries that have outlawed it, and those abortions are much more unsafe and result in more deaths for women undergoing the procedure.

Can’t the two movements work together on this point? Can’t the pro-choice movement relax its grip on its singular obsession with a woman’s right to choose and concede that something needs to be done to reduce the number of abortions?  Can’t the pro-life movement allow that abortions are going to happen no matter what and realize that in order to get as close as possible to that goal of zero abortions, they too should work towards reducing the number?

Once the argument unifies, once we have people who can say, I am for Fewer Abortions (regardless of their affiliation with either movement), then we’re getting somewhere. Then we can look at who is at risk for unwanted pregnancy (minorities, people living close to or below the poverty line) and work at addressing the real problem: women get unintentionally pregnant, and then feel as if they have no other choice but to terminate.

A. Let’s work at reducing the number of unintended pregnancies: more education about and access to birth control. The religious right is going to have a problem with this, given that they prefer to pretend that their teens and unmarried people aren’t having sex, and thus don’t need to be educated on or have access to birth control. But when 27 percent of women having abortions are Catholic and 43 percent are Protestant, it is clear that religion is not an effective barrier (neither are condoms, all the time, but we’re working on that).

B. Let’s address the circumstances that compel women to have abortions: 73 percent of women cite their inability to afford a child as a reason for having an abortion, and 69 percent say having a child would interfere with their employment or their education. What if paid family leave programs were initiated nation-wide to ensure that women don’t have to worry about losing their job because they became pregnant? What if daycare were made more affordable for low-income women? Release women who feel pinned and trapped by financial circumstances, and the rate of abortion will go down.

I am for Fewer Abortions: each side has to give up some of their ideological qualms to reach this conclusion, but we are getting nowhere in the current state of division between the movements. Compromise, as our parents and kindergarten teachers always told us, is the path to progress. I am for Fewer Abortions—for isn’t the ultimate goal to exist in a world where the legality of abortion is moot because abortions aren’t occurring? This will happen only when women are able to reproduce when they want, and are able to care for their children no matter their circumstance.

Laughing in the mirror

Walking out of “Borat” last year I was offended. My friends with me were offended. We discussed why the movie was racist, anti-semitic and misogynistic. None of us thought that the movie was particularly funny.

Why then did “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” win critical acclaim from the media? ABC Reviewer Joel Siegel called “Borat” “one of the funniest movies [he has] ever seen.” David Ansen of Newsweek called the film a “watershed comic event.”

In fact, nearly everyone I spoke to who was at least one generation senior to mine found the film hilarious.
What differentiated my Whitman social circle from the majority of film viewers? Perhaps everyone else is a racist for finding the film funny and we in our ivory tower at Whitman are in the right.

More likely is the possibility that we at Whitman have an immature and have a hypersensitized view of diversity.

While the symposia did great good to correct the ignorance that revealed itself so clearly in the listserv debate following the blackface incident, the days devoted to diversity have done very little to increase students’ comfort level surrounding issues of race. If anything, the symposia simply created an environment of hypersensitivity where students are afraid to say anything on the topic of race for fear of being politically incorrect and offensive.

Without a level of comfort on the issue of racism we still squirm and avoid more complex discussions than the mainstream, politically correct approach of trying to celebrate other cultures. We refuse to break the two-dimensional construct of black and white. And within that construct we refuse to see that it is grayscale in all of its dimensions. Most of all, when the topic of race is couched in a context other than a formal lecture or celebration, we reject the message on face. Without a more developed comfort level it is impossible to have a productive conversation on the issues surrounding race.

Some may believe that regardless of any comfort level, there are certain issues that must not be laughed at. I vehemently disagree. As Joan Rivers explained to Newsweek after “Borat” was released, “Comedy is there to break open the box that holds the untouchable and the unsayable. It’s about making you face the things you don’t want to face, and the easiest way to face it is through humor.”

The brilliance of satire is that it reveals the stupidity of ideas by reducing those principles to the absurd. Satire is uncomfortable precisely because it is so absurd. It succeeds by allowing us to release this discomfort through laughter and ultimately come to a deeper understanding of the issue.

Our discomfort when experiencing satire ebbs and flows while we dynamically remember and forget the context of what we are watching or reading.

Each time we lose the context all we see is hate-speech. It is that hate that is at the center of the attack by the satirist. If only for a moment we experience that hate and are cut by it. The context returns and we can release our emotions through nervous laughter. Through this process we become aware of how wrong the protagonist of the satirist’s story is.

This realization is the ultimate form of mocking. The satirist has caught us in our own comfortable lie and we are now forced to abandon that refuge in favor of an alternative viewpoint.

In short, satire is the mirror that shows us our flaws. It should make us uncomfortable. However, as Salman Rushdie reminded us, we need to develop the skin that will allow us to peer into that mirror. Any number of symposia will not grow this skin for us. We can only gain the mental toughness needed to have the imperative and difficult conversations through a slow and painful maturation process.

An elementary school teacher told my class, “There is nothing funny that doesn’t hurt someone else, so don’t joke around in my class.” I have come to realize that he was wrong. Satire is funny because it rights the wrongs of culture. I watched “Borat” again last night and I laughed.

Beijing Summer Olympics not about political boycotts

Once every two years almost all of the nations of the world meet in a competition of strategy, skill and expertise in sports—this is a time-honored event that has been defiled by the web of international politics. It is not the place of the nations of the world to boycott the Olympics for political reasons. That is not the purpose of the Olympics.

The strategy of boycotting the Olympics started in 1980 when the United States refused to participate in the Moscow Olympics. This was caused by the cold war but it was an unfounded act of political pouting.

This was followed by the 1984 Summer Olympics in L.A. which were boycotted by 14 countries, led by the Soviet Union. Though this was a deliberate political response to the U.S. boycott in 1980, it more closely resembled an act of a sibling trying to get the last act against his brother in a dispute than two nations locked in a worldwide struggle for dominance.

Now the political pouting has recommenced in the 21st century with the Beijing Olympics this summer. It all started when Steven Spielberg backed out as special effects director because of human rights violations. Spielberg is right to be mad about the human rights violations of China; he is right to want to protest against these violations; his is not, however, right for turning the Olympics—a non-political, worldwide event—into a protest against a specific country that happens to be hosting it.

So China has done some terrible things—I agree. The Olympics do not have anything to do with these things and they are not sources of reflection on a particular country when they are hosted there.

Then China attacked protestors in Tibet, and the whole issue broke open like a terrible, festering, untreated wound. All of the major nations of the world have spoken out against what China has done, but at least the U.S., Russia, the U.K. and others stopped just short of threatening to boycott the upcoming Olympics, which are conveniently at the same time as these problems—or at least convenient for France, who has threatened to boycott the Olympics.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy threatened last week to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics as punishment for what China has done to Tibet.

“Our Chinese friends must understand the worldwide concern that there is about the question of Tibet, and I will adapt my response to the evolutions in the situation that will come, I hope, as rapidly as possible,” Sarkozy said.

If Sarkozy truly cared about the “worldwide concern” he would not boycott one of the few events at which the whole worldwide community participates as one. If anything, the Olympics should be a time to set aside the sword of anger that we harbor against each other and meet as nations working for a single end.

The Olympics are not the place to take out political frustration. Leave that to the rest of the time. For the short period of the Olympics the world should come together in peace. These few days are symbol—or should be a symbol—of humanity’s ability to set aside our differences and compete in games. So, let’s leave the politics to the politics and the Olympics to the Olympics and all meet in peace at the upcoming summer games in Beijing.

Whitman athletics seeks connection to WW

At a Whitman varsity athletic event, a student is bound to see their friends, other students, professors and a handful of retired professors and alumni, but where are the Walla Walla community members? What’s their interest in Whitman athletics?

“It’s lukewarm,” said Jim Buchan, sports editor of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin for the last 26 years.

“The community interest in Whitman athletics isn’t nearly what it could be,” said Whitman Athletic Director Dean Snider.

“It’s not as much as it’s going to be,” said current Men’s Basketball Head Coach Skip Molitor in a phone interview.

Molitor’s statement is hopeful because he has recently been promoted to the new position of assistant athletic director and a priority of his new job will be to build stronger relations between the community and the athletic department. Molitor will officially begin that job on July 1. His successor as basketball coach is still unknown.

The creation of the assistant athletic director came from Snider’s own desire to increase the level of excitement about Whitman sports in Walla Walla. Snider realized that nobody could juggle coaching responsibilities and the new position’s responsibilities at the same time, so he petitioned the college for the funds to create the new role.

Part of the reason that this effort for greater community relationships hasn’t happened before is because Whitman hasn’t had an assistant athletic director. The new position allows one person to focus on the community rather than many already busy coaches trying to fill that role.

“Everyone is really very busy with their task of trying to fill a roster and coach that roster and everyone’s been doing their job and working very hard at doing the things that they need to do and now with this new added resource we can step up and do something we all wish we could do a better job of,” said Snider.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done.

“I think the colleges in town, both, or all three face the same fate, whatever you want to call it, because if you can put winning teams on the field and if you can have some local additions to it, some local contributions like somebody from Wa-Hi, DeSales or even the surrounding area, then you will have additional interest,” said Buchan.

Buchan also made the point that the dramatic increase in sports coverage on channels like ESPN has caused people to be less inclined to go out to any sporting events.

One strategy in regaining the community’s interest that both Snider and Molitor mentioned was for Whitman’s varsity athletes to help out in putting on several clinics for the youth in Walla Walla. This is something Whitman teams have done in the past with great success. Some of the camps have even been done in Spanish to welcome in the large Hispanic community in Walla Walla.

With the new assistant athletic director position, Molitor will be able to increase the frequency of these clinics and be able to scrutinize their quality with a focus that Whitman’s busy coaches weren’t able to do before.

“A lot of it’s taking the things that we have done and just committing more time and resources to do them more frequently and better,” said Molitor.

This idea received praise from Buchan as well.

“If you’re at an elementary school here and Faidley or somebody shows up and helps you to learn some basketball skills and you know he’s playing that night, you may ask your dad, ‘Hey, I’d like to go watch the game,’” said Buchan.

The athletic department is also interested in bringing more groups in from the larger community to perform at some athletic events. Whitties may remember the jump roping kids that performed at half time and the energy they brought with them during one of the Whitman basketball games last season. That sort of energy and interest is what Snider and Molitor are interested in replicating for more than just a couple games a season.

One example of Whitman athletes already helping out in the community happened last Saturday, April 5, when several of the varsity teams assisted in the memorial for the pole vaulter from DeSales Catholic High School that died in a tragic accident during practice. The community took note of this and was very thankful for their service.

How to get a girl in seven steps

Get ready, gentlemen. I am about to bestow you with mysterious secrets of the heart that you are best advised to, after reading, stick in your pocket immediately and carry with you at all times in case the love bug ever bites hard. It starts like this: How to get a girl.

This isn’t a column aimed at only at you, Whitman boys, although it appears that you, too, have problems wooing girls without the helping hand of a 30-rack and a flirtatious game of Beirut. (Don’t get defensive. It’s very charming when you rinse the beer and dirt off the ping pong ball before handing it to us.)

No, girl troubles occur outside Whitman as well—maybe even in a worse way, because there are more boys to choose from in the real world, slimming the chances you have with the girl of your liking down considerably. I am talking about the phenomenon of attraction and what girls like (not what they SAY they like—that is different).

The overall theme? Be an asshole. I have observed with my journalistic eye countless, countless girls repeatedly sucked into the asshole web, like a moth to a flame. “I just want a nice guy,” they sob, crouched and picking pieces of their hearts off the concrete from their last emotionally abusive relationship disaster. “Where are all the nice guys?”

Oh, please. Nice guys are everywhere and so easy to find, but its not like a girl actually wants one. She just feels like she SHOULD want one—and that’s what she claims to look for—until the next pierced-eared, cigarette-smoking, tattoo-bearing asshole zips along on his motorcycle (this is me being completely stereotypical. Assholes come in all shapes and sizes, so if your mom won’t let you get tattooed, don’t worry, you still have a chance with the girl of your dreams), swoops her away so she feels the thrill of her hair whipping in the wind and drops her four blocks later like an old apple core, smattering her heart against the concrete once more. It’s the common attraction phenomenon. Poor nice guys. You all really do finish last.

But never fear; I am here to teach you in the art of asshole-isms. Read carefully. Maybe even take some notes.

When with Girl of Interest, make fun of other girls that walk by. Comment on their clothes, their legs, circle their fat in the air with your finger and smirk. This will make Girl of Interest simultaneously smug and worried. “Well, he’s not circling MY fat now, is he,” they think, which makes them feel pretty good until it occurs to them, “What happens when I walk away? What exactly does he say about me?” She thinks about this. Now she is intrigued.

Also comment on pretty girls that walk by, and specify exactly HOW hot they are—e.g., smoking-hot, fantastic ass-hot, whatever pops into your head. It has the same effect. She then looks at her own ass and tries to see if you’d say it was fantastic. Creates all sorts of levels of self-consciousness, knocking the ball and the power right into your court.
Never directly tell her she, too, is pretty. That would be poor form.

Drink beer and act belligerent. Throw tables and hit walls, especially walls right behind her head.

Never publicly dance. NEVER dance at parties. You may attend, but only if you stand on the side and make fun of everyone else. Exception: If Girl of Interest is present, you may dance, but only to grind up against whatever girl is nearest—best results come if Girl of Interest is in direct view of this.

Never hold open doors, especially not for Girl of Interest. Or elderly people.

If you don’t have a nice thing to say, immediately say it. Say it twice, for emphasis.

Think of these as the seven steps to success.

Note: This advice applies until the age of marriage. At that time, take this advice, throw it down the garbage disposal and go back to being a nice guy the way your mother raised you. Guaranteed you’ll get a hot wife who is sick of gluing her heart together and will never cheat on you.

Ladies, stay tuned for the next week’s sequel: “How to get a Boy.”

Good intentions cannot make up for emotional trauma

I want to begin by saying that for any pain I have caused anyone in the past week, I am sincerely sorry. There is no excuse for adding racial tension or intentional disregard of another’s worth. It was never my intention to cause suffering or distress.
We intended to parody ourselves, both Whitman staff and students, as periodically blind to the way in which a mechanical devotion to diversity celebration can defeat its own purpose. The punch lines were never intended to be the stereotypes themselves, but the failures of the self-proclaimed “enlightened” in their misguided efforts to be labeled as accepting.

Sophie and I clearly failed to communicate that we too consider these stereotypes deeply offensive, and that we wished to contribute to their discredit in this public airing—as a means of preventing their being swept under the rug from where they are periodically resurrected by those who try to use them for harm.

What we had intended, however, is clearly beside the point. We deeply hurt people, we were too ignorant to have foreseen it, and for that I will never be able to apologize enough. As a white male, I must always be cognizant of the grave mistakes of my ancestors and be sure to never shift blame, diminish charges of prejudice brought against me, or find rationale for my errors in the actions of others like me. That is to say, there is no debating this: the article was offensive and racist and Sophie and I were wrong.

Furthermore, I had thought it self-evident that we have never considered President Bridges to be prejudiced, but have used his role as an authority figure to make a larger point. Like April Fools Day, taking any college president to task in the student paper is historic tradition. But we over-stepped that by failing to make it unfailingly clear that this was satire.

We have been asked whether we felt comfortable making this article about Americans Indians, as opposed to other minorities, because they had a smaller presence on campus. We wrote about American Indians because President Bridges’ office is on American Indian land. Huge amounts of prejudice and rewriting of history by Americans is still taking place even within Walla Walla and we clearly failed in our effort to condemn our culture’s general ambivalence towards this issue. We would not have written about any group if we thought we would have hurt people as we have.

The most important thing I want to stress, in any event, is how sorry I am for hurting the people that I have as a result of the article.

No excuse for hurtful rhetoric

I have been thinking a long time about what to write in this letter of apology. As one of the writers of “Indians Take Over President Bridges’ Office” in the April Fools’ issue of the Pioneer, I was surprised to learn that the satire had deeply hurt those it had intended to bring positive attention to. As a journalist who takes her job very seriously, larger questions about the nature of free speech and the boundaries of humor rose in my mind. As a person who carefully studies and writes about race, I was confused about how I was supposed to react.

But the truth is that this isn’t about me. Whether it is within my rights as a white, middle-class student journalist to attempt to bring light to the horrifying stereotypes embedded in political correctness is irrelevant. All that is of importance here is that the article, despite its best intentions, was hurtful. And for that, I am deeply and profoundly sorry.

If there has ever been anything I have believed in, it is that human beings must be able to decide for themselves what is right and what is wrong. What draws me to journalism is that it provides the facts and information necessary for people to make individual, educated decisions about their opinions. In the case of this article, I do not have the right to say whether it was hurtful or not.

To put it simply and bluntly, I am not Native American; I could never understand what it means to be Native American; and I will never experience pain or oppression as a racial minority. Indeed, I am one of the powerful few who must always be aware of her white privilege. So in writing the article, I was wrong.

It might be useful, however, to state for the record that Alex and I were trying to shed light on the inherent hypocrisy of “celebrating diversity.” Too often on Whitman’s campus, racial issues are dealt with by perpetuating racial stereotypes, rather than acknowledging and discussing in earnest the violent and difficult history we as white Americans—even liberal white Americans—try to cover up.

Although we chose to focus on Native Americans specifically, we did not do so because we felt the group was too tiny, marginalized, or insignificant to care or fight back. We wrote about Native Americans explicitly because we felt the racial stereotypes surrounding that group are particularly rampant and horrifying, and we wanted to bring attention to that reality.
And while we succeeded in bringing attention to Native American issues on campus, we did not do so in the way in which we had hoped.

Sometimes good intentions fail. This is one example. And while I stand firmly behind the Pioneer’s decision to publish the piece, I regret being ignorant enough to have not foreseen how much suffering it ultimately caused.

Regardless of my own feelings on the article (and on humor and satire in general), it was tremendously hurtful, and I cannot reiterate enough the depth of my regret and shame. I know that this apology cannot be enough to mend the damage it caused.
Maybe this article can help to begin more complicated and serious talks about race on campus—ones that are not driven purely by black-and-white dialogue or mindless “celebrations” of cultures we claim to understand. But even if that happens, it will have been at the expense of a group of people who were seriously injured by a well intentioned, poorly-executed article.

I am so, so sorry for that.

Tattoo: Washington bill pushes for increased supervision

What’s something that some bikers, sailors, survivors and sorority girls have in common? The answer is skin-deep: permanent body art.

This cultural norm is also sometimes considered a taboo. These days, anyone could get anything inked or pierced in just about any spot on the human body. Although the risk of acquiring some major infectious diseases via parlor needles has declined since the 1990s, according the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, concerns from both the businesses and consumers still stand.

Last March, Blue Mountain Heart-to-Heart held an open meeting to the community to discuss health risks and laws with the public and tattoo professionals. Currently, the state of Washington does not require anything more than a business license in order to do needlework on paying customers. Business-owners had voiced the same uneasiness as the rest of the community.

“The lack of government oversight on the industry is a black mark for Washington,” said Rebeckah Turner in an interview with the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Turner is the shop manager of Tatmandu Tattoo & Piercing.

“The risk of disease transmission from a properly run tattoo business is small but not nil so it pays for those considering body art to thoroughly investigate the cleanliness, hygiene, sterilization, and sanitation practices of the prospective artist’s business. Other States have taken a more regulatory approach,” said Harvey Crowder, the public Health Administrator of the Walla Walla County Health Department.

Unlike other states, these loose restrictions leave it up to the consumer to be the ultimate judge of whether or not getting work done would be safe.

“That freaks me out a little. There should definitely should be more restrictions,” said first-year Nina Trotto after hearing about Washington state regulations on tattoo and piercing shops. Trotto, who has gotten inked in her hometown of Madison, Wisc., said that her home-state’s rules are similar.

Washington House Bill 1383 has pushed for more amendments to increase health supervisions over body art shops.

“The department of health shall conduct a study of the body modification profession and make recommendations to the legislature as to whether the professions should be regulated, and to what extent, for the purpose of protecting the public interest… The department shall submit a report detailing its finding and recommendations under this section to the appropriate legislative committees,” stated the engrossed version of the bill. Since these changes have not passed, they cannot require oversight for body art businesses.

“Would I like to see someone from the health department come in here and look around? Sure. But I haven’t seen it happen yet,” said Wes Ohler, owner of Immortal Ink.

Basic precautions have been part of the criteria for most Whitman students seeking to get pierced or tattooed in the state.

“It was kind of an ‘on-a-whim’ thing to get my tragus pierced. I had been thinking about it, but then I found out it was $35 cheaper than the place I went to at home to get it done,” said first-year Claire Johnson, who mentioned that her experience getting her inner earlobe pierced in one Walla Walla parlor had been less than standard.

“It just seemed like a lot of people were going in there and they were getting pierced left and right, not caring too much. Another thing I noticed is that they asked me if I was at least 18, I said yes and he didn’t check. At home, they would always check just to make sure,” said Johnson, who is originally from Tacoma, Wash., where she has gotten eight of her nine piercings done. However, she was provided with after-care information that explained proper cleaning and maintenance tips for the newly pierced site.

“That was good to know that they actually care. They did say that if anything happens to come back and they’d look at it for me,” said Johnson.

First-year and Walla Walla native Anna Forge got her first tattoo last fall from a popular shop in town.

“I was surprised at how small the place was, but it smelled like a hospital, my friends had gotten tattoos done there and I saw the cleaning machines so I felt fine with it,” said Forge.

Community service remains defining experience at Whitman

In a survey recently completed by Whitman community partners about their experience working with Whitman students the top five adjectives used to describe Whittie volunteers were: enthusiastic, friendly, energetic, willing to help and good with kids.  These positive qualities reflect not only upon the student body, but also the Center for Community Service, which, according to the center’s Coordinator Lena Menard, strives to “promote a service ethic on campus and provide opportunities for students to get involved.”

Since its inception in 1994, the Center for Community Service has expanded its role on campus beyond its initial task of organizing the Whitman Mentor Program.  Today, the center coordinates volunteer programs and opportunities for 300 student volunteers.

Across campus the center promotes volunteering opportunities by hosting biannual Volunteer Fairs, sending information to listservs, stuffing mailboxes, posting information on their Web site, coordinating Volunteer Club meetings, tabling in Reid, publishing a Guide to Volunteer Opportunities, hanging posters around campus, and organizing workshops.

“The CCS also brings a huge range of community partners to campus, each semester at the Volunteer Fair, where you can walk through the Reid Campus Center Ballroom and talk to representatives from The Odd Fellows Home, the Humane Society, the Children’s Museum, the Army Corps of Engineers and many more—a  really easy way to get linked up with an organization that suits your interests,” said junior and Center for Community Service Intern Amy Strauss.

The Center for Community Service also welcomes students to their office for individual consultations aimed at identifying good volunteer matches.

“It’s always especially fun to do one-on-one consultations so we can learn about a student’s passions and share information about volunteer opportunities that might be a good match for her/him,” said Menard.  “Our goal is to help students learn new skills that will help them become better students and better citizens, while using their talents and the knowledge they gain through classes to assist local non-profit organizations.”

Behind this effort is a firm belief in the positive effects of volunteering.  According to a 2006 Community Service Participation report done by Neal Christopherson, “Participation in community service is an important aspect of their Whitman College educational experience.”  The article cites that students who “participate in community service are more likely to say their Whitman education enhanced their awareness of social problems, or contributed to their development in and ability to contribute to the welfare of their community.”

“Through volunteering Whitman students can explore their personal and career interests and gain valuable experience,” said Menard.

Despite the positive effects, Christopherson’s report showed declining numbers in trends of incoming students interested in volunteering.  Numbers have declined from 51-52 percent in 1998-2001 to 44.9 percent in 2005, while numbers for all highly selective liberal arts colleges have been constant.  However, when graduating seniors from seven liberal arts colleges were polled in 2006 on whether or not they volunteered during their time at school, Whitman’s numbers were the second highest at 58.4 percent.

According to people who work in the Center for Community Service, further breakdowns of these numbers suggest that females, underclassmen and greeks tend to volunteer more.

“While all different kinds of people definitely volunteer at Whitman, it seems that there tend to be more females than males and more freshman than upperclassmen,in general,” said Strauss.  “RAs and greek philanthropy chairs tend to be key figures in getting people involved with volunteering—organized, group service projects generally motivate people about volunteering who may not have had the initiative to go find a project on their own.”

Likewise, senior and Center for Community Service Intern Kari Berkas sees these same trends naming communities such as the Interest House Community and greek groups as encouraging factors.

Regardless of trends, Whitman students continue to be a constructive force in the community.  The Center for Community Service is an integral piece of this success.

“I believe the Center for Community Service is a great success,” said Menard.

Yuong speaks on his survival in Cambodian Killing Fields

“When there is life, there is hope,” said Robert Yuong as he opened his presentation on his childhood spent clinging to both life and hope in Cambodia’s Killing Fields.

Yuong’s talk, “Surviving the Killing Fields through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy,” recounted his personal story of enduring the brutal and deadly regime of the Khmer Rouge from 1975-79.

During the control of the Khmer Rouge, some two million Cambodians, about 30 percent of Cambodia’s population, were killed or starved to death.  According to Yuong, another 200,000 children were orphaned and 140,000 people lost legs or arms during the regime.

“The Killing Fields,” the 1984 Academy Award-winning film about the Khmer Rouge regime, coined the now generally accepted name for the tragedy.

Yuong came to the United States in 1980 as a teenager where he completed school and now teaches high school math and computer science in Tacoma, Wash.

Geoffrey Liu, who had Yuong as a teacher, was inspired by Yuong’s story and the grace, humility and honesty with which Yuong recounts his tale for others.

“I think nowadays we don’t hear enough first-hand accounts of atrocities,” said Liu.  “His presentation is as personal as it gets.  How he lectures is how he is when you talk to him one on one.  Nothing is scripted and everything is from his heart,” added Liu by e-mail.

As a 10-year-old, Yuong’s family was broken up and he was forced into intensive farm labor.  Over the next three years, eight months and nine days Yuong endured near-starvation, overworking, beatings, land mines and seeing thousands of others die around him.

“A lot of times [the Khmer Rouge] didn’t want to waste the bullet on you.  They’d strangle you with a plastic bag or bury you alive,” said Yuong.

The tireless monotony and seemingly endless depravation were perhaps what stuck with Yuong the most.
“You know they say ‘time flies when you’re having fun.’  Well, what happens when you’re in hell?” said Yuong.  “Time just stood still.  When you’re starving, when you’re hungry, when you’re in pain, it’s like it’s eternal.”

“We throw out all these statistics and numbers and we become desensitized and forget the stories of real people,” said first-year Liz Sieng, whose parents are also survivors of the Killing Fields.  “I think it’s really important to seek out stories, especially eyewitness accounts…you really can’t completely understand it from the textbook point of view.”

“There are so many sides and innocent people got stepped on,” said Yuong, who repeatedly expressed his desire to let his story speak for itself and avoid all politics.

“We tend to try and fix things when they’re already broken; we don’t do preventative things.  Until you’ve gone through one of those things you can’t know the true cost,” said Yuong.

“When you hear the first-person story and you multiply it by the millions of other people who had different but similar experiences, it made me think of [the more recent] ‘Hotel Rwanda,’” said first-year Gabby Brandt.  “We don’t really know about these things and we don’t really learn from history.”

Ex-con support group will shut down without more funding

Becky Hopwood knows first-hand how important it is to have a support system upon being released from prison. Hopwood spent three years in prison for cooking and selling meth, a crime which had not only led to the loss of her freedom but also to the loss of her children and her job.

In June 2006 Hopwood was released and went to the STAR (Successful Transition and Re-entry) Project office in Walla Walla. The STAR project gave her a mentor, the skills to get a job and the confidence to know she could succeed.

Hopwood remained active with the STAR Project and was an inspiration to many of the other clients. She is now director of the STAR Project, an organization that will cease to exist in June unless they receive more funding.

Hopwood is urgently seeking alternative sources of funding for this organization that has meant so much to her.

“The STAR Project has meant having a place that you can go when you feel like you’re excluded from society. A place to go where people believe in you until you believe in yourself,” said Hopwood.

Persons recently released from prison face strong discrimination and often feel overwhelmed by their new freedom. Without any support system or opportunities, it is all too easy to fall back to their criminal ways.

In Washington State 54 percent of those released from prison return to prison within two years. This high recidivism rate, as it is called, is troubling but not surprising.

The STAR Project aims to reduce this high recidivism rate by assisting persons to successfully transition from incarceration into the community. The STAR Project was established in May 2004 and currently has 54 active clients. Out of those 54 clients, they have only had three new felonies. This makes the STAR recidivism rate 5.6 percent, a huge reduction from the 54 percent recidivism rate for all of Washington State.

However, unless the STAR project finds a way to get more funding, they will soon cease to exist. In August 2005, STAR was awarded a two-year grant by the Donald and Virginia Sherwood Trust and hired its first executive director. This grant is set to end in June.

STAR has operated an institution-based program at the Washington State Penitentiary for people soon to be released to Walla Walla and Columbia counties since early 2004 and began a community-based program in Walla Walla for recently released people. In November, STAR began operating a Community Accountability Board for recently released people in partnership with the Department Of Corrections, Community Corrections Office in Walla Walla.

Hopwood believes that the community should want to support the STAR Project because by helping offenders, they increase community safety. She adds that many of the offenders have children and that these children greatly benefit from having their parents out of prison.

“If we can help someone then they’re not out there committing crimes. Even if we only helped one person in a whole month then it’s worth it, we’ve made a difference. The community safety part is just as important of reduction of recidivism,” said Hopwood.

The community also benefits monetarily if fewer people are returning to prison.

“Everyone pays taxes and a lot of these taxes go towards the prison. If less people are going to prison, it saves everyone money,” said Hopwood.

STAR volunteer coordinator Tami Olmstead thinks that the STAR Project is especially important in light of a new law that mandates that offenders must serve probation in the area in which they committed the crime.

“Say someone from Seattle commits a crime in Walla Walla. Then when they get out of prison they are stuck in Walla Walla without any family or friends,” said Olmstead.

The STAR Project has a number of counseling and training programs designed to help ease that transition. They also provide emergency housing as it is often hard for those with a felony on their record to secure housing.

“You’re released from prison and you feel like you have this big red flashing sign above your head that says ‘you’re just released from prison’ and everyone knows,” said Hopwood.
Another problem that many of their clients have is self-confidence.

“So you get out and its time to look for a job and you have to be confident and talk about good qualities but when you’re released you’re often not sure you have any,” said Hopwood.

The STAR Project provides counseling and mock interviews in order to prepare their clients for job applications. They also provide facilities such as a washer and dryer at the STAR Project office for their clients’ use.

“Sometimes they just need a place to hang out for a while during the day or use the shower or get some clothing we have clothing or do their laundry. Its just little things like that that you can’t necessarily get help for that can really make the difference in someone’s day,” said Olmstead.

The STAR Project would love for volunteers to mentor or work in the office. They would also greatly appreciate monetary donations. They will be holding a magic show at the Community College on April 20. as a fund-raiser.

Article ‘embarrassment’

Seeing this article in the Pioneer is an embarrassment.  Seeing it in the comedy section, it strikes me as being an unwitty, ineffective and racist joke. As a Whitman student and as a friend of the writer I am very disappointed.  As a leader in the American Indian Association and Local Nations Partnership, I am frustrated because I’ve been participating over the last four years in an effort to make this place a positive place for American Indian students and all those interested.  This article did just the opposite.

Others are now writing about the specifics of the article, but this is not the first time a thing like this has happened.  The most recent canary to die in the mine of Whitman was a piece in the Whitman dance production called “Zoolook.”  The program claims it “explores the social pecking order of an animalistic society and what happens when freedom is taken away.”  Does this remind you of social darwinism?  A few characters are “Gire, the spiritual leader,” “Yxor, the gatherer,” “Azil, the fisherwoman” and “Nannerb, the fire starter.”  The dancers wear skin-tight black, crouch on the ground like chimpanzees, put on face paint and use vaguely Native American style dances with vaguely African style music.  Did I mention that in the background there is a teepee and a basket?  Real people live in teepees and use baskets.  This show made them look like animals.

Then, two blonde men crawl onto the stage in camo, capture the “animalistic” people in burlap bags and throw them into a cage.  There they splash water on them and feed them.  The captives, still acting like monkeys, greedily eat up the food or die of broken hearts. End.

Watching this was embarrassing.  It is certainly offensive considering the legacy of slavery in this country—slavery that happened to real people, not animals.  It was offensive because it helped the perpetuation of the “noble savage” idea into 2008, and it was offensive because people with blonde hair are labeled as slavers.  Do white blonde haired Whitman men consider themselves slavers?  Importantly, how did a group of students and a professor practice this in front of mirrors for months without realizing how offensive it was? What kind of communication is going on here?

After sitting through that I had to check what year it was. 1957? 1847? Those years would be well known by the local American Indian community as the years of destruction of Celilo Falls in 1957 and the war between the Cayuse and the immigrants following Marcus Whitman’s death in 1847.

Ironically, Marcus Whitman was also very well-meaning.  All he did was build a business and offer teaching people to read and write the Nez Perce language.  He didn’t even teach English or get one convert.  He was executed because he thought he would make a big political splash and save his job by opening up the Oregon Trail—but through his actions he was responsible for the death of many members of the community in which he lived.

There are other dates of course.  Obviously, this is not a time-sensitive issue; there are moments of equality and moments of inequality.  In 1883, Myron Eells, who lived his entire life among American Indian people, gave a very racially evenhanded speech about treaty rights asking Americans to keep their promises of equality, even if Americans themselves are racist.  The basement section of our library is named after him, and he was asked to be Whitman president—not a bad precedent for building Bridges.

The reason I am disappointed by the article is because we live in a diverse community.  No matter how many times people call this school White-man college, it is a diverse community.  Our nation is diverse, our state, our city and our college.  Nor do we lack methods of communication.  I have my cell phone with me all the time and the editor of the Pio knows that I would answer her call at any time day or night.  The writers could have easily recognized the diversity in their community and communicated with any number of individuals.  They didn’t, and I guess they thought they could get away with it.  I support free speech, but I also expect that we are well informed and ethically responsible members of our community.

I didn’t know any color-less people before I came to Whitman.  By the way, white of any shade, “eggshell” or “taupe,” is a color, too.  I suggest you all recognize who you are, what you stand for, and what responsibilities you have in this community.  Writers of the Pio, you are not Dave Chappelle.  You have your own names, your own races, and your own accountability, just like he does.  What you wrote wasn’t funny.  I know it is hard, but try to be “Witty.”  Please, make me laugh.

This week in greek…

Sigma Chi: On April 17 the Sigs are hosting a discussion on alcohol intervention with Dean Cleveland, Assistant Director of Residence Life Sean Gehrke and the resident directors. Also, the house is busy applying for their national Peterson Award, which recognizes outstanding chapters.

Phi Delta Theta: On Tuesday the Phis had their Battle of the Bands fund-raiser, which featured the Band Before Time, Lucid Dream, Danger Mermaid, The Tender Hips, Mad Notes, Funk in the Trunk and the Raptivists. All proceeds from the event went to local charities. Last week the Phis hosted their traveling leadership consultant and conducted a formal chapter.

Beta Theta Phi: On Wednesday the Betas hosted History Professor David Schmitz, who spoke on the historical significance of baseball in American society. The Betas are in the process of renovating their chapter room and just installed a new speaker system. Jack Johnson, anyone? DMB perhaps?

Tau Kappa Epsilon: Last Friday the TKEs participated in a successful spring Red Cross blood drive, exceeding goal by four units. The house is hosting their spring scholarship dinner on Thursday. The chapter is also in the process of planning a chapter-wide Habitat for Humanity event.

Kappa Alpha Theta: Last Saturday the Thetas collaborated with the Phis on a wetland restoration project. The Thetas are beginning to prepare for their fall Cakes for CASA fund-raiser.

Kappa Kappa Gamma: The Kappas are beginning to plan their annual Mr. Whitman fund-raiser. This year’s event will allow contestants to submit proposals for a receiving charity. Also, the chapter plans to take applications from independent men, a departure from previous practice. The Kappas are also working on their summer retreat and are excited for their upcoming Inspiration Week which starts on April 14.

Delta Gamma: On April 11 the DGs are participating in a highway cleanup with the Phis. They are finishing up their final quilting project.

Castro’s daughter speaks on Cuban revolution

“In my case, everything began with something called revolution. My revolution, the Cuban one, occurred in 1959, and it’s the main reason for everything in my personal life story,” said Alina Fernandez, the illegitimate daughter of former Cuban President Fidel Castro, who spoke at Whitman on Tuesday, April 1.

“ASWC wanted to bring Ms. Fernandez here because she is a different type of speaker than anyone else whom we have had,” said ASWC Speakers Committee Chair Rachel Stein.

President George Bridges echoed these feelings in his introduction. “What is so special about Ms. Fernandez is that she brings a personal story to a form of government that many Americans haven’t understood or formerly experienced.”
“I will give you what you might call an intimate portrait of Fidel Castro’s Cuba because I am an early witness and this is what happened,” said Fernandez.

She began her narrative with the story of how her mother met the young Fidel Castro. Both were members of the same political group and the correspondence that they began during Castro’s stint in jail developed into a secret romance.

Her narrative continued with her first memories of the Revolution and the country’s transition from a capitalist to a socialist society, memories that began with the cartoons on television being replaced with socialist propaganda and televised executions.

“For me, life went from white to black and stayed grey for a long, long time,” said Fernandez, as she recounted the closures of privately owned institutions, food rationing, the exodus of thousands of her countrymen, the closures of churches and the disappearance of freedom of speech and free press.

Although her relationship with her father was not a main focus of her lecture, Fernandez briefly mentioned her struggles growing up with reconciling the feelings she felt for the man she knew as her father with those she felt for the same man responsible for imposing the drastic changes in her own life and the lives of other Cubans.

The lecture concluded with Fernandez’s perspective on Fidel Castro’s recent transition of power to his younger brother Raul.
“The feeling [among Cubans] was one of hope, and people were hoping to improve their lives. Raul, for the most part, has been providing that since he took power,” she said.

Fernandez’s dissenting political views of her father’s regime lead her to flee Cuba in 1993. She currently resides in Miami, Fla. where she hosts a daily radio program that focuses on Cuban and Cuban-American issues. She is also the author of “Castro’s Daughter: An Exile’s Memoir of Cuba.”

“I enjoyed the event and I think that other people did as well. Ms. Fernandez’s talk was enlightening because I think many young Americans do not know all that much about Cuban history,” said Stein.

Although many Whitman students did enjoy the event, many also felt that it did not meet their initial expectations.

“Alina Fernandez’s speech wasn’t what anyone expected. If you listened to the questions posed to her, students asked about her father’s socialism, about the ideology and experiences of those living under Fidel’s thumb. Put bluntly, they were questions that people thought would be covered in Fernandez’s speech. Instead, we were given her life story,” said first-year Ari Frink. “We were given a woman telling her life story, and a pretty interesting one at that.”

volunteering, by the numbers

50: number of Whitman students participating in The Story Time Project this year*182: number of Whitman volunteers reported by 23 local organizations who have volunteered independently of the Center for Community Service this year*73: number of agencies and organizations in Walla Walla accepting volunteers through the Center for Community Service*27.1: percent of college students who volunteer nationally before Sept. 11, 200130.2: percent of college students who volunteer nationally since Sept. 11, 20013.3: millions of college students who volunteered in 200539.2: percent of black college students who participate in mentoring activities22.3: percent of white college students who participate in mentoring activities11: rank of Washington among all states for percentage of college volunteers with 37.6 percent (Utah was first, New York was last)46.4: percent of college students who worked 1-10 hours per week who also volunteered.29.8: percent of college students who were not employed who volunteered.33: percent of female college students who volunteer29.8: percent of male college students who volunteer2: times more likely college students age 18-24 are to volunteer than those the same age not enrolled in college

Students drink tea, eat their words

On Tuesday, April 1, art students and friends gathered in the Olin Faculty Lounge to participate in an edible-book tea party, an annual tradition hosted by art professor Mare Blocker.

The celebration takes place yearly on April 1 and is observed by book arts communities around the world.

“The tea party is a way for arts communities around the world to participate in a global activity, in their own little neighborhoods,” Blocker said.

This is the third year that Blocker has organized the event at Whitman, although she has participated since the ‘80s. Blocker also participated in this year’s exhibit at the Center for Book Arts in New York.

Blocker encourages guests to bring books they have made out of edible materials to enter into an informal competition. The books, after being displayed and awarded prizes, are then eaten.

This year’s books ranged from cream cheese and tortilla “scrolls,” to cookies with fortunes baked in the center, to Fruit Rollups with cut out text, to Blocker’s traditional brain and heart Jell-O molds.

“I like to see the creative things people come up with using food,” Blocker said. “And what I really like is stretching people’s definitions of what a book is.”

First-years Jea Alford and Linnea Rudeen won a prize for their book, made from pieces of cinnamon toast tied together with licorice, and stamped with chocolate to spell the word “April.”

“It was a really fun and tasty tea party,” Alford said.

Sophomore Mallory Powers also attended and enjoyed the event.

“I thought it was a great way to celebrate April Fools’ Day,” Powers said. “It was a really unconventional way to have people express their creativity.”

Blocker, who is a printmaker and book artist by specialty, sent everyone home with a prize—either a book or a magnet that she personally made. She encouraged all students to think about ways to broaden their conception of the word “book”, and to think about what they can make for coming years’ parties.

“It’s a great event,” Blocker said. “The only downside is I eat way too much sugar on April Fools’ Day.”

‘Non Shock-Jock’ talks

This is going to be kind of a unique column for the Non-Shock Jocks—or, rather, I should say, for this Non-Shock Jock.  With Brian Woods in New Orleans for not Mardi Gras but a chemistry conference, of all things (woo-hoo!  par-tay!), and without access to the Internet, the column this week is going to be all-Asch, all the time.  So for those of you who read us every week for of our stunning exchanges of witty repartee (Note: We know that the person who reads us every week is, in truth, a purely hypothetical construct), sorry, this week it’s just me breaking down some ball.  Which is really unfortunate, now that I come to think about it, because Woods is the basketball guy . . . so you might wanna skip this one and just wait ‘til next week.
Woods and I did, however, have a post-game phone conversation during which he imparted some basketball wisdom to me that I will now share with you.  All season Woods and I have both harped on how we love big men in March—the reason being that big men take high-percentage shots and don’t go cold (at a time when going cold for one day means your season is over).  In Kansas and Memphis’s finals match-up, though, we saw two guard-driven offenses.  At least, that’s what we thought coming into the game.

And while it is true that vaunted guards Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose combined for 40 points for the Tigers, and perimeter-players Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush put up 30 for the Jayhawks, the difference in this game was a Kansas big man.  The Tigers had absolutely no answer Darrell Arthur, Kansas’s bruising 6’9” forward who posted 10 rebounds (five of them offensive) and 20 points (six of them coming in the final 3:36 of regulation).  When Memphis forward Joey Dorsey fouled out with 1:23 remaining with just six points and two rebounds he had clearly been outplayed and overmatched.

The most telling illustration of Kansas’s domination inside came at halftime, when CBS put up a graphic showing that all but two of the Jayhawks’ first-half makes had come in the paint.  Darrell Jackson (eight points, eight rebounds) also contributed to Kansas’s dominance inside, and center 6’11” center Sasha Kaun (who has one of the best names in college basketball) used his big frame well, providing adequate defense and four points in 21 minutes off the bench.

Of course, the biggest play of the game (and the one people will be talking about for years to come) didn’t come in the paint, but rather came about 21 feet from the basket out on the right wing.  Mario Chalmers’s game-tying three with 2.1 seconds left in regulation has probably earned itself a permanent spot on CBS’s “One Shining Moment” highlight reel.  No matter what Chalmers does from here on in, that guy is drinking for free in Kansas for the rest of his life.

While Chalmers’s twine-tickling big shot is the image we’ll all remember from this final, in Memphis they won’t ever forget Douglas-Roberts and Rose combining to clank four of five free throws in the final minute-and-a-half to allow Kansas to come back a 60-51 deficit with just over two minutes remaining.  All season long, free throw shooting has been this team’s biggest problem, but, as coach John Calipari was fond of pointing out, if you win big you don’t have to make free throws down the stretch.  In this tight contest, though, their Achilles’ heel was exposed: Memphis attempted 19 free throws on the game, but made only 12; Kansas, however, went a sterling 14 of 15 from the foul line, including Chalmers and Sherron Collins sealing the deal by each going two-for-two as Memphis fouled to try to get back into the game in overtime.

Also notable, even though Rose and CDR (as Douglas Roberts is known) both got theirs on the offensive end, was Kansas’s persistent perimeter defense.  While Rose did go for 18 points and eight assists, the Jayhawks harassed him into making five turnovers; Douglas-Roberts, who only had two turnovers, was still constantly pressured, and was forced to work for his shots.  Usually able to get to the rim seemingly at-will, CDR found it much harder to penetrate deep into the paint for high-percentage shots against 6’6” Brandon Rush (who guarded CDR for much of the game, as well as going for 12 points, six rebounds and two assists), and the fact that he put up 22 points in this contest is a credit to his creative shot-making.
Ultimately, though, the day belonged to Kansas and Chalmers, who was named Most Outstanding Player for his 18 point-performance and very timely shooting.  Now, sadly, the college basketball season is over—well, almost, that is: As I write this on Tuesday morning, about six hours remain until the tip-off of the women’s final, which features a showdown between powerhouse programs Tennessee and Stanford and their respective super-stars Candace Parker (“Ace”) and Candice Wiggins (“Ice”).  The teams already played one thriller this season, with Ice’s Cardinals taking down Ace’s Vols in overtime on Dec. 22.  Maybe this season’s got just one more great finish left in it . . .

Top 10 YouTube videos you’ve never seen

You’ve seen “Obama Girl,” OK Go’s treadmill exploits, the Evolution of Dance, prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson, the “Leave Britney Alone!” guy and “Dick in a Box.” Maybe you’ve even spent some time f*cking Matt Damon or Ben Affleck.

But now it’s time for some truly epic, possibly obscure and inevitably offbeat videos that you may have missed. Only one rule: no animals on skateboards. Oh, and I promise not to Rickroll you.

1 “Rejected Jokes,”
[youtube.com/rejectedjokes]
This endearing and self-deprecating guy was a writer for “Saturday Night Live,” “Letterman” and a few other comedy shows. He now makes videos with laugh lines that were tossed in the trash—some of which are decent, others less so. Sometimes, he has B-list guests embarrassing themselves.

2“A Beginners Guide To Faking Your Death On The Internet”
by user “lukeuea”
[youtube.com/watch?v=ZXUHy8vrVY0]
Feeling unwanted? Unimportant? All you need is a Livejournal and a really twisted mind (check and check). Try looking to the ‘ol series of tubes for validation—it’s BOUND to work!

3“David Sedaris delivers a pizza” by user “weaknights”
[youtube.com/watch?v=w0DUdpmgmz4]
If you’re familiar with Sedaris’s writing style and vocal tones, you’ll find this short parody—in which delivery boy Sedaris gives a lengthy monologue with overwrought metaphors to an unfortunate customer—quite funny.

4 “King of Glory”
by user “jonnyitsbollocks”
[youtube.com/watch?v=-fgZAmO7iAM]
It may be a sad indication of my state of mind, but there are few things that can bring a smile to my face as quickly as Stephen Colbert dancing. This is an outtake from the quirky (and cancelled) Comedy Central show “Strangers with Candy” and it lives up to the standard jazz-hands quotient (SJQ).

5“Joss Whedon’s Equality Now speech”
by user “The Hey”
[youtube.com/watch?v=cYaczoJMRhs]
Those with nerd street cred will recognize Whedon as the helm of such immortal television classics as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Firefly” and the forthcoming “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” (I am NOT kidding—Google it). Here, he gives an amazing, warm and funny speech about gender and television.

6“Avenue Jew”
by user “chrisryder123”
[youtube.com/watch?v=VKW7iL3r0_w]
This video is described as A Mix of ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Fiddler on the Roof.’” Enough said, my musically-and-hilarity-inclined friends?

7“George Lucas in Love”
by user “annasha1986”
[youtube.com/watch?v=STRja-ABexU]
This is a fan film taking the “Shakespeare in Love” approach to Lucas’s time at USC.

8“You Suck at Photoshop”
by user “MyDamnChannel” at
[youtube.com/watch?v=U_X5uR7VC4M]
A sarcastic dude who has way too much time on his hands shows you how to use Photoshop.

9“Zuiikin English”
by user “TheSkillfulAbbot”
[youtube.com/watch?v=miSADG9yihM]
Learn English while doing aerobics. Actually, just watch girls dance to the irresistible beat of “I have a bad case of diarrhea!” Don’t look at me like that. I’m not immature. Your mom is.

10“I’m F*cking Obama”
by user “hmatkin”
[youtube.com/watch?v=skIlZflDs9Y]
Seeing Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel sing about f*cking Matt Damon and Ben Affleck is a prerequisite for this politically-themed parody. This clip, like so many before it, proves just how awesome it is to splice completely random clips together entirely out of context.Pointless? Yes. But it’s so…Hillary-ous. Can I cot

MLK for a Moment?

I was without cell phone reception and without access to radio, television or Internet throughout the vast majority of spring break. I heard nothing of the controversy surrounding Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his connection to Sen. Obama until a friend told me that Obama had just given a speech on race, a purported “Martin Luther King Moment.”

This speech can be designated in two ways. Most obviously, it can be seen for its face value, for a political reaction to a block of dynamite on the campaign tracks, for a Speech on Race. It seems this is how the media has chosen to view it. This is fine, and merits its own analysis.

When I read the op-ed section of the New York Times, I hear William Kristol invoking a Nixon White House staffer to argue that “the issue of race could benefit from a period of ‘benign neglect.’” A national conversation on race, he says, is not necessary. The title of his piece? “Let’s Not, and Say We Did.”

Explain to me, Mr. Kristol, how you would handle the following situation: You are captain of a ship. One of your crew has been thrown overboard in a storm, but she is a good swimmer. It is possible that she could make it to the shore on the strength of her own strokes, but it is in no way certain. Many others have perished in these murky waters. Do you smile at her as she waves for help, offer a blessing, and carry on? To offer benign neglect is to allow the subjective and slanted norms in society to go unquestioned. The term itself is an oxymoron. Inaction is the death of progress, and there is nothing benign about that.

The speech behind The Speech, though, seems to have been ignored. It is ironic that when I first heard of the speech, it was spoken of as a “Martin Luther King Moment.” What does that really mean? What is a MLK Moment?

I don’t know whether or not Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” lives up to the legacy of Dr. King. These days, that legacy is most prominently denoted by an honorary street name (“Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard” is scrawled in miniscule white letters on thin green signs on a street in Portland; a major cross-street was just renamed “Rosa Parks Way” for the convenience of having them intersect). His words are summoned on a special day in January, his cause channeled during a special month. We have sliced and diced the legacy of Dr. King into parcels and sound bites.

Similarly, to look at Obama’s speech on race as a Speech on Race is to reduce the complexity of meaning in his words; indeed, to ignore complexity itself. You can take Obama’s elegant phrases as merely an address to the Race Issue. You can read the text of his speech in your classroom on MLK Day, or anytime in February.

Or, you can acknowledge that Obama’s speech is an extension of the motto he has for this country, a motto that’s well represented by the Race Issue. In Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” he writes, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” What are both men saying? The Race Issue is so much more than an issue about race. Racial understanding and equality is important for its inherent merits and especially for what it says about America.

We must do more than acknowledge our interconnectedness, we must work to enhance it. We must work for A More Perfect Union. It is a message appropriate on any day of the year.

Hey, Bush: Silence is not an option

Nobody will be surprised if President Bush keeps quiet about the recent human rights violations in Tibet. In fact, it would be surprising if he publicly condemned China for any human rights violation at all.

After all, the United States, along with much of the international community, has not done enough to stop the genocide in Darfur. If our government can let that slide and risk a repeat of the Rwandan genocide, then it is probably going to let the Chinese Communist Party systematically eradicate Tibet’s culture and identity. While most Western media members have been banned from Tibet, the information available suggests that largely Tibetan protests have been met with a military crackdown resulting in violence. The Chinese media, the same media that refuses to acknowledge the Tiananmen massacres, obviously tells a different story.

So far, the New York Times has reported that President Bush has merely urged China’s president Hu Jintao “in a telephone discussion to initiate talks with the Dalai Lama.” His phone call won’t stop the cultural oppression that is currently going on. It won’t prevent China’s military from destroying Buddhist monasteries and trampling upon the human right to religion. All it does is show the world that the United States is not serious about promoting human rights and self determination; too bad the world already believes that.

Keeping mum on Tibet will show the world, unfortunately, that human rights are merely political props for politicians to use whenever appropriate. The Bush administration inserted them into its rhetoric after it turned out that Saddam didn’t have WMDs. It did so for political cover, not to reflect a substantial change in policy. So the rationale for invading Iraq shifted from preventing an imminent attack to grandiose claims of universal democracy and human rights. Ever since then, the mantra has been freedom, justice and whatever empty platitude they can think of.

Well, now is a chance for the U.S. to live up to its commitment to freedom and prove that it is not a platitude. China’s attempt to destroy Tibet’s ethnic identity and culture by crushing Tibetans’ religious freedom underscores how vulnerable the regime is. Communism’s been discredited in China and so now its government, the Communist party, is left with no ideological reason for its own existence. Hence, it has to crush other ideologies, religious or not, that give Chinese citizens something to believe in, other than consumerism.

Finally, President Bush has a chance to finally stand up for a people who have struggled nonviolently for decades in the pursuit of freedom. Tibetans have not hijacked planes or launched suicide bombings like the Palestinians have for their independence. All they’ve done is mostly nonviolently protest against China’s attempt to destroy their religion’s institutions and to banish their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

I’m not demanding that President Bush skip the opening of the Olympics like Germany’s Angela Merkel has promised to. I’m not asking for President Bush to push for economic sanctions. I am asking for President Bush to tell the world that what China is doing is unequivocally wrong. Condi’s said it. Bush needs to.

China represents the limit of United States hegemony. It can use its veto power on the U.N. Security Council to frustrate our attempts to deal with North Korea and Darfur. It’s a growing economic power and owns up to $1 trillion of U.S. treasury bonds.

However, China’s power cannot and should not prevent us from speaking out when appropriate and criticize how it wields that power. Yes, there will be diplomatic blowback. Yes, China will complain about Western influence. Yes, China’s government will stoke the flames of nationalism much like it has in the past. None of these reasons justify President Bush’s silence. In international relations, silence is consent.

It will go a long way toward turning back the belief among people in other countries that the United States’ rhetoric of freedom is a ruse for imperialism if President Bush can publicly condemn the Chinese oppression of Tibet. We need the world on our side to fight anti-Americanism whether it be in Europe, East Asia, or the Middle East.

President Bush’s attempt to foster dialogue between China and the Dalai Lama is not enough. Not even close. His administration has surprised many with its brazen disregard for our allies, its systematic incompetence in governing and the disconnect between its rhetoric and action. For once, Bush has a chance to surprise the world by practicing what he’s preached.

Sherwood renovation underway

Sherwood Athletic Center is undergoing drastic changes. Alumna Donald Sherwood, former trustee and board chairman, and his wife Virginia would perhaps not recognize the building to which their name is attributed, had they still been alive to see the anticipated product of the renovation in the coming year.

The $15 million renovation process started over spring break and is projected to be completed by August 2009, just over 15 months of construction.

Main features of the remodel will include two new multi-purpose dance studios, enhanced locker rooms with designated team areas and a second full-sized gym that will include two high school courts as well as a varsity-sized court. By adjoining the space occupied by the former swimming pool and the existing small gym, this new space will serve to accommodate intramural and club sports teams, as well as varsity teams that practice during the same season.

“During the fall there are three teams sharing the main gym which makes it pretty tough for scheduling all the practices… this should be a lot better for people so they don’t have to practice at 10:30 at night, which is what we had to do in the fall,” said senior Garth Brandal, a student representative on the Sherwood Renovations Committee.

The construction team will be digging deeper into the climbing pit, giving the Outdoor Program a taller, more challenging climbing wall for students. The wall itself will be enclosed so that climbers have the opportunity to use the facility year-round for classes and open climbs, even during inclement weather. Large opening windows will permit passersby to watch climbers in action.

While the footprint of the building will stay intact, the appearance will “fit better with the campus,” said Whitman’s Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer Peter Harvey, who is helping to coordinate and oversee the renovation process. “Part of the improvement of the building is to improve the insulation and add a layer of brick in a cavity wall, which will make it more energy efficient and also make it a better fit with the rest of campus.”

The construction team is working with the College to have a minimum impact on athletes during the renovation process. According to Dean Snider, Athletic Director and Chair of the Sherwood Renovation Committee, the demolition phase of the project will be completed this coming August. At this point, the main gym will be sealed off from construction and bathrooms and a classroom in the foyer will open, enabling varsity volleyball and basketball teams to have full access to the area for the 2008-09 season.

The dance studio will remain open; however, it is anticipated that yoga and pilates classes will be adversely effected by the sound of construction. There will be periodic closure of squash and racquetball courts.

Perhaps the biggest inconvenience will be the closure of the climbing wall, which will be unavailable to the student body for the entirety of the 2008-09 academic year.

“You have to deal with some inconveniences to move forward and progress like we are,” said Snider. “We will very quickly forget the inconvenience once we enter into the new facility. The new climbing wall is going to be absolutely beautiful.”
According to Harvey, the renovation process has been five to six years in the making. It is a product of an assessment plan of the long term athletic needs of Whitman College.

“We made the decision to do it in two phases, phase one being the building of the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center,” said Harvey. Because the projects have been approached in tandem, original drafts for Sherwood were created while the Baker Ferguson project was in its planning stages.

Opp and Siebold are overseeing the process. Based out of Walla Walla, they are the same contractors who work with the College on the Baker Ferguson Center construction project, which will provide continuity in the aesthetic of the two structures.

Harvey explained that when Sherwood was built in the 1960s it was a progressive building in that it was built into the ground so that it did not have a high roofline. This design served to improve energy efficiency.

Speaking to the pitfalls of the design, Harvey said, “It is very thick concrete…unfortunately that architectural style is not very consistent with the rest of the campus.”

“It looks like a Word War II fortress,” said Brandal. “They really can’t do worse, they’re definitely going to try to improve the appearance from the outside, and it will definitely be much better inside as well.”

From an environmental standpoint, the remodel will adhere to Leadership Energy Environmental Design (LEED) guidelines in its recycling of the existing structure, its use of more energy efficient and day lighting and its remodeling of the heating and air-conditioning system. Planter boxes surrounding the grounds will use rain guards, designed to require less watering.
The remodel will serve as a tremendous benefit to the varsity programs.

“Hopefully it should help us be more competitive [in the Northwest Conference],” said Harvey. “After [Sherwood] is done Whitman really has top of the line facilities in every way. Hopefully this can help us recruit good players and just be more competitive in all of our sports.”

“The primary piece that I am really excited about is the renovation of the locker rooms,” said Snider.

By remodeling the locker rooms and giving varsity athletes designated team areas, Snider explained, the College “is honoring their experience and recognizing the effort and contribution that varsity athletes put into this institution. [Whitman is] proving them with a space that helps them forge out and identity on campus, that I am really pleased with.”

Laugh till you cry, humor’s role

Heard any good jokes lately?  Were they potentially offensive?  Have you heard any humor recently that wasn’t offensive?
We live in a culture where it seems that the more offensive the humor, the more it is considered to be cutting edge.  Except at Whitman, a student told me recently, where if you tell a joke that’s not PC, there has to be a symposium.

Ouch.

The problem, some students tell me, is not that the Whitman faculty and administration want to raise campus awareness and sensitivity about diversity.  The problem is how we go about it.  There’s something about the approaches we have taken so far that is producing a backlash.  The efforts are being greeted with laughter.  Or sneers.

Or an attempt at satire.

Last week, The Pioneer produced its annual April Fool’s edition.  The insert was dubbed The Native American, which would logically seem to be the opposite of a pioneer.  So perhaps it was in that spirit that some Pio writers took aim at Whitman’s sometimes clumsy efforts around diversity.

And the Whitman approach to diversity makes an easy target, after all.  There is something uncomfortable if not downright funny about well intentioned but mostly upper-class white folks trying to talk about diversity in a meaningful way.

And everyone likes a good joke at the expense of the powerful.  Unfortunately, the Pio writers took aim at their powerful target by using racist stereotypes about a disempowered group, Native Americans.

Not everyone was laughing.  Native Americans on campus were hurt, offended and angry.  The Pio writers involved were desperately sorry but also defensive and shielded, they felt, by their good intentions.

That they meant no offense is certainly a good thing.  Nonetheless, I am reminded of a passage in Patricia Williams’ “The Alchemy of Race and Rights,” which we have just finished reading in Critical and Alternative Voices (better known, unfortunately, as Alternative Core).  Williams describes a group of white people touring Harlem on Easter Sunday, eager to go into the churches to see how African Americans were celebrating the holiday.  When it was pointed out that perhaps people would not appreciate having their religious rites gawked at by tourists, the group protested that they meant no harm.  Williams comments wryly, “No one existed for them who could not be governed by their intentions.”

Gabrielle Arrowood is certainly not governed by others’ intentions.  Gabrielle is angry, and a good part of that anger comes from the reaction, or lack thereof, from the Whitman community.  She suspects that people are not outraged because they basically don’t take Native Americans seriously.  She contends that had the target been African Americans, or Jews, the response would likely have been akin to the “black face” firestorm last year.  And she’s probably right.

Here’s the thing:  Humor that hurts powerless people is not funny.  It constitutes a form of abuse.  It is a further exercise in abuse to insist that the injured party has no sense of humor or is wrong or should just lighten up.  You can’t hit me and then tell me it didn’t hurt and I shouldn’t mind.

But here’s the problem:  How do we get people to see that those jokes are not funny?  That they are based on hurtful and demeaning stereotypes?  That it doesn’t matter whether the joke was told with irony, or as part of a satire?

And here’s the catch:  We do not solve the problem by forbidding people to tell these jokes, in whatever form they appear.  We can and should prohibit hate speech, intended to do harm and foment violence.  But we cannot censor bad jokes any more than we can censor ideas that we find offensive.  That is what freedom of speech is about.  Instead, we should be asking why some people think those jokes are funny.  And why others do not.

So this should be an educational moment, right?  We should be using this dispute to raise awareness and sensitivity.
But how do we do that without our efforts becoming a bad joke?

I fear that the current approach to diversity is failing because many people really don’t want to be told that their behavior and attitudes are offensive.  They don’t want to change.  They want to continue to have the power to decide what is funny about people who are different from them.  They want to continue to have the power to mock, even if—maybe especially if—the power to maintain the exclusivity of their space is gone.

They don’t even want to listen to the hurt or the anger of the powerless.  They don’t recognize their own power, even as they insist on maintaining it.  And if they have to listen, then they want it done in a way that doesn’t make them feel bad about their own ignorance and insensitivity.  After all, they had the best of intentions.

It is yet another abuse of power to insist that the feelings of the abusers matter more than the feelings of the ones abused.
And whatever we do, we shouldn’t raise the issue with a tone of outrage.  That’s so over the top.  Or a tone of sincerity.  That’s so corny that it’s laughable.

The very people who most need to hear the message are the ones who are rolling their eyes and sneering at the discussions and the symposiums.

And that brings us back to the very problem that sparked the latest controversy.

I haven’t heard any good jokes lately.  At least none that come only at the expense of the powerful.

Julie Charlip is a professor of Latin American history who worked for 13 years as a reporter for daily newspapers.  She is also advisor to both the Pio and to the First-Generation and Working Class group, currently co-chaired by Gabrielle Arrowood.  She has been an active participant in Whitman’s diversity efforts.  She’s been told that she has a pretty good sense of humor.

Wallula coal-power CO2 reduction project suspended

Plans for an experimental energy project in Walla Walla County have been put on hold. The project, which was planned to take place in Wallula on Port of Walla Walla land, involves injecting thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide into underground basalt formations. However, because of liability and environmental concerns, port officials have decided to re-examine the risks and benefits to the Walla Walla Valley and surrounding areas.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, an agency committed to developing scientific and technological advancements for the U.S. Department of Energy, first began testing the site last November, according to a Union-Bulletin article published Feb. 29.

The geological conditions make Wallula an ideal site for the experimentation. Carbon dioxide emissions, such as those from a coal-burning power plant planned for the site, would be captured, converted to liquid form, and then injected over a mile underground into deep basalt formations. Theoretically, when deposited deep into the subterranean basalt, the carbon dioxide would calcify, thus staying underground and out the air. If successful, the first-of-its-kind project could pave the way for decreased air emissions from coal-powered plants around the world.

However, the proposal has been met with much opposition from environmental activists as well as citizens of the Walla Walla Valley. Currently, because of Washington state laws capping carbon emissions, a coal-powered plant cannot be built at Wallula without geologic sequestration. However, if sequestration tests are successful, the future plant may meet state standards and be permitted to operate.

Walla Walla 2020—a civic organization committed to preserving Walla Walla’s livability for current and future residents—has assisted with efforts to organize resistance to the project, helping form the local Coal Plant Working Group.

“Our citizens’ concern is that we do not want a coal plant in Walla Walla County. We feel that coal should be left in the ground where it’s very well sequestered, rather than be mined, shipped by rail hundred of miles and then emitted into the air, increasing global warming and local pollution,” said Dan Clark, vice-president and project coordinator of Walla Walla 2020.

In addition to contacting the State Department of Ecology, the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council and the National Department of Energy, Walla Walla 2020 has sent letters to the Port of Walla Walla and established a scientific panel to review the design of the sequestration test.

“The scientific panel that we put together is comprised of three Whitman science professors as well a Walla Walla University scientist and a Central Washington University scientist. We are relying on the faculty members for independent review of the plans,” said Clark.

The Whitman community has further aided the efforts of Walla Walla 2020 and the Coal Plant Working Group with the support and activism of several involved students.

Sophomores Sarah Judkins and Camila Thorndike are active in the Whitman Campus Climate Challenge as well as a local Coal Concerns group that meets monthly in Walla Walla.

“Just the idea of having a coal plant, which is such a dirty fuel, made me really unhappy, especially in this area, which is really pristine environmentally,” said Judkins.

As well as writing letters, making phone calls and sending e-mails to state and local officials, the two have attended Port of Walla Walla meetings and participated in a statewide photo petition opposing the establishment of new coal plants.

“We’re coordinating with other university students in Washington on the project that involves taking photos of students holding signs with various slogans, such as “no ‘clean’ coal in Washington.” We then send them to a central location to be compiled into a large poster,” said Thorndike.

Regarding the potential global implications of the sequestration testing and coal plant, Thorndike said, “You have to look at the issue both locally and internationally. Even if there is some technological advancement, there is still going to be negative consequences for Walla Walla. The sequestration test is encouraging the use of coal, when we could potentially be putting our efforts into investing in renewable resources, renewable technology and potential energy sources. There are so many things we could do other than this.”

When asked whether they felt their efforts influenced the port commission’s decision to re-evaluate the laboratory’s project proposal, Judkins said, “I can’t really say. It’s like a butterfly effect. Maybe we made a difference. Maybe we didn’t.”

“All activism, just by being concerned and informed about an issue, has a positive effect,” said Thorndike. “Really, the more you do it, the more you want to do it—it’s totally energizing and infectious. I just do what I can and hope that inspires other people.”

Whitman athletes assist community in tragic time

On Monday, March 31, Ryan Moberg, a DeSales Catholic High School student, suffered severe head and neck injuries when he fell to the ground after a failed pole vault attempt during practice. He was immediately taken to St. Mary Medical Center, but passed away later in the week. A memorial was held in his honor on Saturday, April 5 at his high school.

News of the tragedy reached the Whitman campus quickly and an e-mail was sent out over the varsity athletes listserv asking for volunteers to help with the memorial. The response from the athletes was quick and immense.

“As a person who has experienced a student athlete dying from our department several years back, I know that student athletes and coaches understand what the students athletes and coaches at DeSales are going through in a way that their own peers and their own friends may not,” said Head Athletic Trainer Juli Dunn, who sent out the original e-mail and co-ordinated the volunteers.

The Friday before the service, both basketball teams and the volleyball team set up the gym, putting up chairs and tables for the following day. Hours before the service, the two cross-country teams helped manage the parking lot and a handful of athletes went around during the reception afterwards making sure everything ran smoothly.

“Anything from filling up coffee, to water, lemonade or garbage just so the people from this community can use their energy to support the family,” said Dunn on the role of the Whitman athletes.

Later that night, both soccer teams came in to help take things down after a very long day.

For some Whitman athletes, the tragedy struck a personal chord.

“I have two brothers and both of them pole vault so it’s kind of close to home,” said sophomore basketball player Dawna Mello. “I was really saddened by [the tragedy] and I feel for all the community that has to go through this loss.”

“We’re a close community. We share the same fields with them. So we’re a lot closer than most Whitman students think or know,” said senior soccer player Max Weber.

As a result, the community was very thankful for the athletes’ presence even if the athletes themselves couldn’t be sure they were having an effect.

“I do my thing and that’s about it. I refill the water,” said Weber of his involvement. “It’s just nice to have a smile on your face when you go out there and relieve some stress.”

Whitman bookstore adopts new online purchasing methods, works with ASWC towards rental program

Prices of books in the bookstore should decrease as new buying methods are considered. Bryan Hoppe is the new textbook buyer this year, and one of his primary goals for the bookstore is to reduce the prices of books for students.  Hoppe, who is younger than previous textbook buyers have been, is planning to use the Internet as a resource.  He is working to buy more from online vendors and is taking advantage of the used book market. One text that is normally sold used for $30 is being sold for $6.50 this year.

ASWC is working with the bookstore to adopt a textbook rental program.  Through the program, students may save as much as one-third of the cost for a textbook. However, students can’t sell back books at the end of a semester, so the actual savings may not be as high as they may initially seem.

The textbook rental program also requires a professor to make a three-semester commitment to the textbook.  Because many classes are only taught one semester a year, a three-semester commitment may mean a six-year commitment.

“The rental program is a good idea, but in reality it’s unlikely to happen.  It must make sense for everyone involved, and right now it doesn’t,” said Bookstore Director Douglas Carlsen.

Carlsen sent out e-mails to the student listserv, inviting students and community members to a “Dialogue With Douglas.” Carlsen started the dialogue years ago to invite students to discuss the bookstore in a friendly setting.

“It’s to put a more human face on the bookstore,” said Carlsen.  He invited students to ask questions and make suggestions and emphasized that the dialogue was meant to be open-ended.  He used to go to the residence halls and give presentations, or just talk about whatever students wanted to discuss.

“I wanted to begin the dialogues again to open up the lines of communication,” said Carlsen.

Only one student attended the dialogue, but Carlsen hopes to keep people interested in the issues surrounding the bookstore.

“While it might not seem like it with the prices of textbooks, we are committed to meeting the needs of students,” said Carlsen. “One of my goals is to see an increase in communication and understanding between students and the bookstore.”

Mac ‘n cheese: an encapsulation of cooking in one dish

I guess I got fooled by April Fool’s Day, because it was only after it that I realized what I should have written about.

When I thought about my column for that week, my first instinct was to have a recipe that turned out differently than the reader expected it to. But that’s a terrible idea! Besides, I thought, that happens all the time.

I’ve made plenty of recipes that touted themselves as being delicate, creamy and awesome, but instead came out flat, dry and overpowering. As luck would have it, these recipes usually involve an expensive or rare ingredient, or you were making a giant batch of it.

How to deal with the disappointment? The key is to pay attention, trust your instincts and improvise. If the recipe is in a cookbook you own, it also helps to write really nasty things in the book in red pen about why exactly you didn’t like the recipe.

Pay attention to what’s going on in the kitchen. If a recipe for cookies says to bake them for 20 minutes and they look done after 10, take them out of the oven. Usually you’ll know when something is starting to go wrong, and you can avoid a crisis.

Trust your experience and use common sense. If you’re making dough and it doesn’t seem to be coming together, add