AS Review - October 26, 2015

Vol. 30 #7 10.26.15

Vol. 30 #7 10.26.15

2 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

Pumpkins at the Outback Farm Photo by: Trevor Grimm // AS Review

IN THIS ISSUE

4 Club Spotlight Viking Union 411 516 High St. Bellingham, WA 98225 Phone: 360.650.6126 Fax: 360.650.6507 Email: as.review@wwu.edu as.wwu.edu/asreview @TheASReview facebook.com/theasreview © 2015. Published most Mondays during the school year by the Associated Students of Western Washington University.

The AS Review is an alternative weekly that provides coverage of student interests such as the AS government, activities and student life. The Review seeks to enhance the student experience by shedding light on underrepresented issues, inclusive coverage, informing readers and promoting dialogue.

Dip into the S.A.L.S.A. Club, featured in this week’s AS Club spotlight.

6 Musician of the week

Mike Edel will take the stage on Wednesday, October 28 for a performance at the Underground Coffeehouse.

4 Climb Vantage Point this Halloween

The AS Outdoor Center is hosting a costumedclimbing session this Halloween.

7 Harvest Jubilee Come celebrate the season at the AS Outback Farm on October 29.

5 Bringing a poet back to life

Western professor Laura Laffredo recently published a compilation of the poetry of Ella Higginson, who Higginson hall is named after.

8 Fright Nights

AS Productions is screening two scary flicks this week for Halloween.

We welcome reader submissions, including news articles, literary pieces, photography, artwork or anything else physically printable. Email submissions to as.review@wwu.edu.

We welcome letters to the editor. Please limit your letter to 300 words, include your name, phone number and year in school, if you’re a student.

Send them to as.review@wwu.edu. Published letters may have minor edits made to their length or grammar.

Marina Price Alexandra Bartick Trevor Grimm Ian Sanquist Kate Welch Morgan Annable Sarah Sharp Alexandra Bartick Designer Zach Becker Adviser Jeff Bates

Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers

Drawings on the walls of the Viking Union Gallery for Drawing Jam. Photo by Marina Price // AS Review

10.26. 2015 • 3

EVENTS Fright Nights part 1 10/27 // 8-11 p.m. // VU 552 // FREE Come celebrate Halloween with AS Productions. Activities snacks and hot drinks will be served at 8 p.m. and the movie “House” will start at 9 p.m. Never seen the movie? Some key words: demonic cat, Japanese schoolgirls, haunted house, banana transformation and pillow death.

Open Mic Night 10/27 // 6:30 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // FREE Sign-ups for a 5 minute slot are at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.

Wednesday Night Concert (Mike Edel) 10/28 // 7-9 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // FREE Free concert featuring Mike Edel with Tyson Motsenbocker.

Sunset Kayak on the Bay 10/28 // 3:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. // Outdoor Center // $25 Enjoy a beautiful Bellingham sunset on a kayak in the middle of Bellingham bay.

Swing Kids weekly dance 10/28 // 7-9:30 p.m. // VU 565 // FREE Come dance with the swing kids! Free lesson from 7-8 p.m., no experience or partner required.

Chinese Student Association general meeting 10/29 // 5-6 p.m. // AW 204

Chinese Student Association is a club that meets weekly. Visit facebook.com/wwucsa for the latest events and to get in contact with the club.

Top Ten: October 19-26 1

Currents Tame Impala

Comedy Open Mic

2

10/29 // 6:30-9 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // FREE

Beach House Depression Cherry

3

Chelsea Wolfe Abyss

4

Beirut No No No

5

Mac Demarco Another One

6

Yo La Tengo Stuff Like That There

7

Turkuaz Digitonium

8

White Reaper White Reaper Does it Again

9

Thundercat The Beyond/ Where Giants Roam

Sign-ups start at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7p.m.

Harvest Jubilee 10/29 // 4-7 p.m. // Outback Farm // FREE

Mosey on down to the Outback Farm for live music by Charlie and the Rays, pumpkin painting, and carnival games.

Fright Nights part 2 10/29 // 8-11 p.m. // VU 552 // FREE Come celebrate Halloween with AS Productions. Activities snacks and hot drinks will be served at 8 p.m. and the movie “The Thing” will start at 9 p.m. Never seen the movie?

Some key words: alien, Antarctica, science and slow deterioration of morale.

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Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Clap Your Hands Say Yeah KUGS is the Associated Students’ student-run radio station. Listen online at kugs.org. If you’re interested in getting on the waves, pick up a volunteer application in the station’s office on the seventh floor of the VU.

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Cultural appropriation: Know your boundaries

Cultural appropriation has been an exploding topic in recent years. Media outlets such as Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and other frequented sites have recently been framing the issue as especially important to think about around Halloween, but the reality is, says Fairhaven College art professor John Feodorov, the issue is much older and more complex than just yearly Halloween media blitzes.

“It is a matter of the power of relationships, it involves the history of European Colonialism, and it goes back to that the time when empires like Spain and France, and even trading empires like the Netherlands were colonizing other parts of the world.

And people, for whatever reason, for good intentions or malevolent intentions, latched onto aspects of these cultures who they conquered,“ said Feodorov.

Cultural appropriation, said AS VP for diversity Abby Ramos, is when people exploit a culture that they don’t belong to or endure the struggles of in a way that benefits them.

“It’s like tourism, it’s like going to the Bahamas and just staying at a resort,” said Feodorov, “You’re there for the sun and the beach, but you could care less about the people that live there and what their culture is really like.”

But not all cultural appropriation is equal, says Feodorov, Paul Simon making music with West African influenced rhythms, for example, isn’t the same issue as a college student wearing a headdress for a halloween costume.

“There’s many forms of it,” said Feodorov, “I guess the most relevant form of it would be donning headdresses and face paint to look tribal, sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s obvious like people putting on afro wigs and black face or sombreros and big mustaches. It’s taking stereotypes that the dominant culture Designs for the SIRC and has imposed on other

BY KATE WELCH

cultures and prancing around without any sort of idea that what they’re doing is insulting.”

It’s easy enough to take off the costume at the end of each Halloween, but people who are members of the communities that experience their culture being appropriated can’t take off their identities when they want to not experience the negative aspects of their identity, said Ramos, putting on a Halloween cos-

culture has negative aspects. Feodorov, who is Navajo, said that his own culture experiences problems with alcoholism and domestic violence. Every culture, he said is more than just the superficial details or aesthetic appearances that people find appealing.

Ramos said that people can appreciate other cultures by learning more about them and doing a lot of research. She also suggests sharing culture with others so they can share back with you.

Cultural blending and cultural exchange are different from appropriation, says Feodorov, cultural blending and sharing is a horizontal transaction, there’s no major imbalance of power. Cultural appropriation, on the other hand, operates in a top down manner.

Ramos and Feodorov agree that this isn’t a new issue.

“I think it’s always been here, I think it’s always been that people have taken parts of what they want, I think now, more so, people are willing to speak out about it,” said Ramos.

And while this certainly isn’t a new issue, it’s also -John Feodorov Fairhaven art professsor not a simple one, said Feodorov, who believes that you can’t police cultural appropriation, because each tume doesn’t make anyone privy to a community’s issue is unique. struggles that they can’t escape.

“Young people particularly are looking for a wrong Part of appreciating a culture rather than approor right answer,” said Feodorov, “But it’s much more priating it, said Feodorov, is to understand that every complex than that.”

The Associated Students Women’s Center and Social Issues Resource Center are hosting an event called “Addressing Cultural Appropriation” on October 29 in Miller Hall 239 at 5:30 p.m..

The purpose of the event is to talk about cultural appropriation on college campuses, and to look at “safer and more inclusive ways of celebrating events.” Learn more on the facebook event page Women’s Center event “Addressing Cultural Appropriation”. Design by Amelia at facebook.com/ WWUSIRC.

“[Cultural appropriation is] taking stereotypes that the dominant culture has imposed on other cultures and prancing around without any sort of idea that what they’re doing is insulting.”

Barlow // AS Publicity Center

10.26. 2015 • 5

Western professor brings a Bellingham poet’s work back to life

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

W

hen Western students walk across campus, they walk in the footsteps of Washington’s first poet laureate, Ella Higginson, who lived and wrote on campus before the university existed and during its inception.

Laura Laffrado, Professor of American Literature, has selected and edited a compilation of Higginson’s works, which was published by the Whatcom County Historical Society in July. She describes the book as a collection of Higginson’s greatest hits; it includes poetry, short stories and selections from her most famous novel and her book of nonfiction entitled “Alaska: The Great Country.”

Laffrado will speak at Special Collections (Wilson Library sixth floor) on October 27 at 4 p.m. as part of the Heritage Resources Distinguished Speakers lecture series that features people who have worked in the archives of the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies. At the event, Laffrado will speak about the importance of archival work and how it is done.

Laffrado’s lecture will be the first of the 2015-16 distinguished lecture series produced by Heritage Resources. Elizabeth Joffrion, Director of Heritage Resources for Western Libraries, said that their goal is to present speakers that will attract attendance from students, faculty and community members alike.

“It is, from our perspective, a real privilege to be able to honor Laura’s research,” Joffrion said.

Laffrado’s fascination with Ella Higginson began while Laffrado was working on her second book and stumbled upon Higginson’s work at the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies.

“While I was looking at their list of holdings, I saw that they had 12 linear feet of material by some author named Ella Higginson who had lived at the end of the 19th into the 20th century,” Laffrado said. “I know a lot of 19th century woman writers and I had never heard of her.”

She soon found out that Higginson’s books had won national prizes and that famous composers had set her poetry to music which was then sung by internationally known singers. Higginson

was also Washington’s first poet laureate, a poet appointed by the government. She could not stop wondering why someone with such accolades had been completely forgotten.

“When you learn about something that has been neglected or forgotten, that tells you something very specific,” Laffrado said. “What has dropped off the map is indicative of what was being privileged and what was being marginalized.”

With the advent of World War I, many books went out of print as means of production shifted.

In letters, Higginson acknowledged the decline of her books’ publication during the war. After the war, many writers were recovered, but Higginson was left behind. Laffrado attributes the neglect of Higginson to the fact that she was a woman and she lived in the Pacific Northwest, a region with no major publishing centers.

Laffrado believes that knowledge of Ella Higginson’s life and work is particularly important for Western students. Not only did Higginson put the Pacific Northwest on the literary map, she did so from Sehome Hill.

“Every day you walk across campus you’re walking in her footsteps,” Laffrado said. “When you sit down to read Higginson, periodically some woman will be riding a bicycle and it will break down on Meridian Street. Or she’ll talk about Sehome Hill in a poem. She’s part of our club.”

Laffrado is not the only proponent of the importance of Higginson’s writing; Joffrion also recognizes her local significance. “A lot of [Higginson’s] self-confidence and works I think advanced the cause of women in this emerging, young community that was the northwest corner of the United States at that point,” Joffrion said.

Joffrion appreciates Laffrado’s work in the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies. “[Laffrado] without fail stays interested in what we’re doing in Special Collections and Heritage Resources and how we’re growing the collections,” Joffrion said. “She had an interview with C-SPAN a couple years ago and she did it up here in Special Collections and acknowledged where she was.

She’s always helping to partner with Heritage Resources to advance and promote use of our collections.”

Past lecture topics ranged from the history of television in Bellingham to colonialism within the fishing industry in Alaska. Laffrado’s lecture will fit right in with past subject matters.

“It’s important for American literature to have the widest range of voices that existed available to us,” Laffrado said. “A richness of diversity is what gives you the widest view of what’s going on. That, in turn, makes you a better thinker.”

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Underground Coffeehouse Wednesday Night Concert Series

Musician of the Week

Mike Edel A MUSIC REVIEW BY IAN SANQUIST

Mike Edel. Photo from the Mike Edel website.

M

ike Edel, a pop folk songwriter from Victoria, B.C., will take the stage in the Underground Coffeehouse on Wednesday October 28. Edel is touring in support of his sophomore album, “India, Seattle,” which saw its Canadian release in April, and was released in the US earlier this month.

This spring, Edel played a series of sold out shows in venues around British Columbia. He’s been touring the western United States with his band since the middle of October, playing stops in New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Born in Calgary, Alberta, Edel moved to Victoria six years ago. In an interview, (conducted over email due to spotty cell phone reception and the fact that he was losing his voice,) Edel said that setting is important to his songwriting.

“Most of my songs are kind of set in a place,” Edel said. “It's not that place is that important just because it's a place, but when you are writing a story or a song, the setting really affects what happens there, and who the people are, and what matters to those people. I like to think of place as a metaphor for people, community and culture and what resonates in that environment.

Edel started out playing music as a drummer, in church and in a Blink 182 cover band. For his new album, he recorded eighteen songs and chose the twelve that he felt fit together best.

“It's a slow burn,” Edel said. “If someone listens to the

record like eight times and then sees a show and hears a few of the stories, I think it grows and grows on them.”

In 2011, Edel released his first album, “The Last of Our Mountains,” which features “The Country Where I was From,” later released as a 7” single. He has released “India, Seattle” on vinyl.

“We just got the first 50 copies yesterday and had to assemble them ourselves,” Edel said. “I really am excited to write and record a new album while touring this one and everything. It's kind of fun to have an album cycle because then you are always doing something that is kind of different.”

Tyson Motsenbocker, who will also play Wednesday in the Underground, is an acoustic folk singer songwriter from San Diego. Originally from Washington State, Motsenbocker drew inspiration for his debut full-length album, to be released next year on Tooth & Nail records, from a walk he took in his late mother’s memory along the six hundred mile coastline between San Diego and San Francisco.

Edel and Motsenbocker will play Wednesday October 28 at 7 p.m.

The Music Mike Edel records music with a level of professionalism and polish that reveals ambition, talent, and a lot of very hard work. His songs develop a consistent vision of what brings people together, and in most cases, it turns out to be music itself.

“India, Seattle” is full of anthem after emotional anthem, crisp-edged radio-ready pop folk music. There’s real sensitivity in these songs—and more interestingly, the songs sometimes call the display of sensitivity itself into question as an instrument that can be played just like any guitar or drum set.

On opening track “All The Morning,” Edel conjures an image of friends gathered around a candle singing songs

to one another, in the midst of an expertly arranged musical field, spacious and personal as a rural Canadian landscape. “You were all the morning meant to me,” Edel sings, his song building in momentum and musical layers.

A familiar sound in these songs is a steadily pulsing bassline, like a heart gathering speed and experience as the song moves toward a crescendo. Listen to “More than the Summer” and try to avoid feeling swept through a collage of seasons, each defined by loves and memories, into the bridge of perfectly timed handclaps, through fingers plucking a delicate banjo and drums crashing and rolling like a marching band on the run. That heavy and fast-moving bass, on which Edel may seem slightly over-reliant at first, eventually begins to feel innate, as if it is Edel’s own heart that underlies all of his songs.

“India, Seattle” is a mature and attentive album full of expertly crafted pop folk songs that deliver quiet introspection and rousing emotion in equal measure.

TOP: Mike Edel’s newest album“India, Seattle”. Released in April 2015 by Cordova Bay Records. BOTTOM: “The Country Where I Was From”, a single from his first album, was released on 7” in 2012.

10.26. 2015 • 7

Fall festivities at the Harvest Jubilee

BY SARAH SHARP The Outback Farm will house a Harvest Jubilee with carnival games, pumpkin decorating and live music on Thurs., Oct. 29 from 4-7 p.m. It won’t be your garden-variety event.

The Harvest Jubilee is intended to bring people out to the farm, an underutilized resource on campus, said Anna Kemper, director of the Environmental and Sustainability Program (ESP).

“It’s very tucked away so when people are walking by they don’t realize there’s a full working farm with bees and chickens and a bunch of produce,” Kemper said.

The event commanded the collaboration of the ESP, Outback Farm and Associated Productions to organize activities that would appeal not only to students in Huxley College of the Environment, but to all departments on campus.

Among the night’s carnival-inspired festivities,

attendees will have the opportunity to earn raffle tickets by performing well in frisbee accuracy games, sack races and giant Jenga, and attempting to eat a doughnut on a string without using hands, Kemper said.

The raffle prizes could possibly include a gift card for REI and a membership to Vital Climbing Gym, though some prizes may still be changed or added, said Alex LaValle, AS Special Events Coordinator.

There will also be white pumpkins available for painting, and a “spooky-themed” photobooth with Halloween props, Kemper said.

Of all the events, LaValle is most looking forward to the satisfaction of watching 4x4 planks tumble to the ground in a game of giant-sized Jenga, he said.

The Jenga set, along with most of the other games, will be re-purposed for future AS events, aligning with the Outback’s philosophy of reusing and reducing waste.

At the end of the night, the event’s success hinges

on student’s increased awareness of the Outback Farm and the resources available through the ESP, Kemper said.

“As environmental and sustainable programs, we need to do a better job of publicizing,” she said.

Few students’ realize their tuition dollars go toward funding the farm’s continued operations, and even fewer know they can garden their own plot of land at the farm, Lavalle said.

The Outback Farm has been run by students since 1972, and it was recently named one of the top 40 college farms in the nation by CollegeRanker.com.

Students interested in becoming involved have the option of either attending volunteer work parties every Sunday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. or becoming an official “Outbacker.” Outback staff can be paid employees through work-study or volunteers eligible for class credit. Visit http://as.wwu.edu/outback/ for more details.

The Associated Students Outback Farm is currently growing pumpkins that are available for purchase. Photos by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

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movies that will make you Howl in horror

BY IAN SANQUIST

The Cell A creepy psychological serial killer movie starring In the week leading up Halloween, AS Productions Jennifer Lopez, “The Cell” is more notable for the surreal Films will host free screenings of two horror films, and grotesque images that it draws within the mind of “House” and “The Thing”. Collectively, these screenings the killer than for its plot or acting. This one would be make up Fright Nights, two nights of horror and games to better to play with the sound muted in the background of help you get in the spooky mood necessary for Hallow- your hip Halloween party. The story, a sci-fi twist on your een. standard post-“Silence of the Lambs” serial killer formu“House”, a 1977 Japanese horror film about seven girls la, follows a team of investigators as they probe the mind who visit a possessed house that intends to eat them, will of the comatose killer to figure out where he’s keeping be screened on Tuesday October 27. his latest (young, female) victim before it’s too late. Also, ASP Films Coordinator Nate Sawtell has seen “House” Vince Vaughn plays an FBI agent. three times.

“It’s very surreal and has a lot of cool effects that are The Shining really unique and that I haven’t seen in any other film,” Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1980 adaptation of Stephen Sawtell said. “I always find myself laughing a lot whenKing’s novel about a would-be novelist (Jack Nicholson) ever I watch it. But there are also some moments of true struggling with writer’s block in a possibly-haunted hotel horror, so I think it fits the mood of tricking and being that he’s been hired to take care of over the winter season. tricky.”

Shortly after arriving with his family, the caretaker is On Thursday, ASP Films will screen John Carpenter’s snowed in, isolated from civilization both by way of “The Thing”, a 1982 sci-fi horror film with groundbreak- geographic remoteness and personal estrangement. Muling handmade special gore effects. “The Thing” tells the tiple dissertations have been written on this film about story of an alien life form in Antarctica and its search for everything from the impossible and uncanny architecture a warm place to live. The shape shifting life form finds of its setting, The Overlook Hotel, to its recurring motif this warm place inside the bodies of a team of arctic of mirrors, to its themes of eternal return, to its implicaresearchers, led by Kurt Russell. tions as a metaphorical examination of the genocide of “Nobody knows who’s the alien and there’s not a really the American Indians. Some have even gone so far as to good way to tell,” Sawtell said. “It’s a big psychological suggest that the film is Kubrick’s confession to his role in thriller, very suspenseful. Kurt Russell kicks ass in it.” helping to fake the moon landing. (See the documentary Both screenings will start at 9 p.m., and will be preced- “Room 237” for all this and more, available on Netflix). ed by fun and games starting at 8.

At the center of all these theories is a chilling and masterIf Fright Nights don’t satisfy your craving for horror ful horror movie about a man driven violently insane by films, don’t worry, there are plenty more to be found isolation. on DVD in Western’s library, available for rental to all students.

The Fly Jeff Goldblum stars in this 1986 sci-fi horror tragedy as a scientist determined to introduce the world to his teleportation device. In a moment of self-pity, he puts himself through the teleportation process and comes out on the other side triumphant, apparently unscathed.

Unbeknown to him, though, a household fly has joined him in the teleportation pod: in the process of transmitting his molecules from one pod to another, the device has scrambled his genetic code with that of the fly. A transformation ensues, with absolutely disgusting and realistic, practical special effects. Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg, known as the king of body horror, directed this bleak and towering vision of science gone awry. Cronenberg, who’s made numerous films on themes of illness and pathology, has said that he likes to direct movies from the disease’s point of view.

The Babadook The story of a mother with some serious issues of unresolved grief and misplaced blame over the death of her husband, who died in a car wreck as they were racing to the hospital for her son’s birth. The kid is seven when the movie starts, having trouble in school because he keeps bringing homemade weapons and saying incoherent and frightening things. The trouble really gets going when a mysterious book shows up on the shelf. The book tells the story of Mister Babadook, a top-hatted bird-like entity of indeterminate origin. All lines between dream, hallucination and reality break down, and the film’s violence is all the more shocking for its implication of having been committed by someone acting without cognizance. “The Babadook” is not available in Western’s library, but it can be streamed on Netflix.

Psycho Beyond its iconic images, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” is an exquisitely tense and expertly controlled thriller, a psychological melodrama about guilty conscience that abruptly shifts gears into the story of a murder investigation, and then shifts again into a Freudian treatise on sex, madness and questionable parenting styles.

If you’re in the mood for a different take on “Psycho,” read “Point Omega” by Don DeLillo, which opens with a man in an art gallery watching a copy of “Psycho” that’s been slowed down to approximately two frames per second, so that it runs over a period of 24 hours. If the Hitchcock version of “Psycho” is checked out, there’s also the 1998 remake starring Vince Vaughn.

The AS Productions Fright Nights poster. Designed by Kylie Owen// AS Publicity Center

10.26. 2015 • 9

Haunted houses and OTHER BELLINGHAM LEGENDS

BY SARAH SHARP Some haunted houses open for the month of October, while others never close. From cotton spiderwebs and masked strangers to spine-chilling urban ghost legends, Bellingham’s haunted houses appeal to all kinds of Halloween enthusiasts.

Local haunted attractions Scream Fair Haunted House The annual Scream Fair at the Lynden Fairgrounds features four haunted houses, including a haunted asylum from Oct. 23-24 and 29-31. It opens for admission every night at 6:30. Tickets for adults can be purchased either at the door or online for $13. Prepaid tickets guarantee entrance into the event.

name after hours, and some photographs capture mysterious hazes and orbs in the building. This year, the theatre ranked 12th of 26 in King 5’s Best Haunted Places list for the Northwest.

tears. On the other hand, the “death bed” refers to a giant tombstone, under which Edmund Gaudette is buried. Legend has it that anyone who lays on top of the tomb will have a premature death.

Bayview Cemetery Many of Bellingham’s early founders and change-makers are buried in this cemetery, making it a plot rich in history and perhaps, the paranormal.

People have reported shadows of apparitions along the stone walls at night. And two of the monuments are said to be haunted: “Angel Eyes” and the “death bed.”

William Bland, one of Bellingham’s earliest pioneers, is buried underneath the monument called Angel Eyes. On a full moon, the angel figure is said to bleed

Wilson Library Some say the Microform Collection on the second floor of Wilson Library is haunted by the ghost of Mabel Zoe Wilson, the building’s namesake. Wilson helped convert the study hall of the New Whatcom Normal School (Western) into a library in 1902. Over the years, cold drifts and broken elevators have led students and library workers to point to Wilson for an explanation of the strange occurrences.

Gore and Lore Tour The Bureau of Historical Investigation hosts walking tours in downtown Bellingham on Saturdays and Fairhaven on Fridays at 6 p.m. throughout October.

The tours include some of the more gory, little-known details of Bellingham’s past. Cost of admission is $15.

Haunted House Comedy Show The Upfront Theatre offers a little comic relief from the fright of Halloween in its haunted house improv comedy show on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 10 p.m. Members of the mainstage ensemble will perform skits based on the audience’s ghost stories. Advance tickets can be purchased on the website for $5. The theatre also hosts “Hellingham,” an improv murder mystery show on Friday, Oct. 29 and Saturday, Oct. 31 with showings at 8 and 10 p.m. Hellingham is $10 online and $12 at the door.

hauntings around town Mount Baker Theatre Some claim a ghost named Judy, whose home was bulldozed over during construction of the theatre in the late 1920s, now haunts the corridor between the mezzanine and the balcony, according to the theatre’s website. Male projectionists have heard her call their

Bayview Cemetery on a spooky October night. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

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Climb vantage this Halloween

BY MORGAN ANNABLE There are numerous ways to celebrate All Hallows’ Eve this year. The Bellingham area is home to various themed parties, haunted houses, and corn mazes.

For students looking for a less traditional Halloween experience, the Associated Students Outdoor Center is hosting an excursion on October 31 - November 1 to Vantage, Wash. for some costumed climbing fun.

The trip, led by Alex Halliday, Hannah Besso, Michelle Altizer, and Roslyn Martin, will be an opportunity for students to expand their rock climbing skills while bonding with the other climbers.

“Rock climbing is an excellent outdoor activity to build friendships and community,” Outdoor Center Excursions Coordinator Gus Landefeld said.

“Vantage is home to a plethora of high quality sport climbing as well as some trad climbing,” Landefeld said.

Traditional climbing, (or trad climbing), is a style of rock climbing in which climbers place all of their protective gear as they climb and remove it when they have completed that section. Sport climbing utilizes anchors that are permanently affixed to the rock face.

“Technical skills are a big aspect of this trip and our trip leaders have a wealth of knowledge that they can pass on to participants who are eager to learn more about rock climbing,” Landefeld said.

Vantage is located east of the Cascade Range, meaning that there is less precipitation there than

the west side of the state is accustomed to. The weather in Vantage is well suited to rock climbing this time of year.

Costumes are highly encouraged for this excursion, and participants should keep in mind that costumes should not inhibit climbing. While this excursion is an annual event, it is not usually on Halloween, so Landefeld is excited about the new aspect that costumes will bring to the trip.

“Comfort and mobility are priorities for costumes,” Landefeld said.

There are still openings for this event. To sign up, or for more information, visit the Outdoor Center in Viking Union 150 or call (360) 650-7677.

Club feature of the week: S.A.L.S.A students loving and appreciating salsa

BY SARAH SHARP

yourself and your appetite for tortilla chips and salsa to a gathering once a month to become a member of S.A.L.S.A. The club always gathers in the Viking Union for events but the room is subject to change every time. Interested members can check the S.A.L.S.A club’s Facebook page for updates about where the

next event will be.

David’s favorite part of S.A.L.S.A. club is its Each week this year we will feature one of the clubs casual atmosphere, and the incentive that perks hosted by the Associated Students. With over 200 the ears of every college student: free food. clubs to join there is a club for everyone, and just It’s also one of the ways he connects to people like this article mentions if you want to create your he might not otherwise meet on campus, he said. own club and have friends who are on board then “It’s just another avenue of making friends,” you can! Read next weeks issue to learn David said. about another AS club.

The club hosted their largest “break-out” event for Cinco de When a friend emphasized her Mayo last spring, which lured new involvement in the WWU Salsa & members with a full-size meal, Bachata Club as “the dance, not the Jessica said. dip,” David and Jessica Stein both had Some of the club’s upcoming the same reaction. events include Salsa from Around “Well it would be cool if there was a the World and a Salsa Study Sesdip club,” they laughed. sion. To read more details as they The idea of bringing a salsa club become available, you can visit to Western began as a joke between their website on the AS club page. the siblings. But last winter quarter, The S.A.L.S.A. club is always welStudents Loving and Appreciating coming new members to come drop Salsa (S.A.L.S.A.) became an officially by to try some salsa, David said. recognized AS club.

And as you make your way out “That’s the beautiful thing about a of whatever room the S.A.L.S.A. university,” vice president David Stein club has commandeered that week, said. “You can make funny things a they’ll say, “Feel free to take a plate reality. Dreams really do come true.” of chips and salsa with you when There are no club meetings. There Chips and salsa. Photo illustration by Trevor Grimm // AS Review you leave.” are no strict guidelines. Just bring

10.26. 2015 • 11

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Recycling Center Aims to Reduce Waste with Education

BY KATE WELCH Kate Welch is a double major in geography and visual journalism who is interested in environmental issues and also edits the Planet Magazine.

The struggle lingering at the recycling bins on campus is always apparent. Are coffee lids compostable or recyclable? Is anything even compostable or recyclable? Who even knows?

Abigail Hann, the Education Coordinator for the AS recycling center knows, and it’s the goal of the recycling program this year to educate students to help them recycle better.

“The recycling center’s biggest goal right now is to try and eliminate waste products in the recycling barrels.” Said Hann, who also said that many of Western’s students come from areas with very different recycling procedures.

The Recycling Center, which was founded in 1971 as one of the first campus recycling centers in America according to the AS Website, is mostly staffed by students who collect around 4,000 lbs of recycling from campus each day.

Hann’s job mostly entails informing people about how the recycling program works and working with different campus entities to promote sustainability and better recycling practices, she said.

Education, she says, is the key to better recycling. Teaching students how to recycle on campus helps free up the recycling center staff to promote more sustainable practices besides recycling.

Hann said that recycling is the least important of the age-old sustainability mantra “Reduce, reuse, recycle”. They’re in order of importance, so the most important thing is to reduce waste, she said.

For students who want to know more about the recycling program or to learn about what waste products are recyclable, compostable or bound for the landfill, they can visit the Recycling Center website at http://as.wwu.edu/recycle/ or find them on facebook and Instagram.

“I think people really, really want everything to be recyclable in the whole world, from clothing to used plastic bags to food waste, and that really isn’t the case,” said Hann, “So instead of people trying to recycle everything that they own, it’s better for them to really think about the waste that they produce and use less things.”

Waste bins on campus for landfill, compost, recycable containers and paper.

Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

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The position requires about 15 hours a week of work and writers are paid by the hour. All majors are encouraged to apply. To fill out the application or find out more information about the position visit: as.wwu.edu/personnel/

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Student artwork on display of the wall of the VU Gallery’s “Drawing Jam”, in VU 507.

The wall is open to drawing, writing, or anything else for students until October 30.

Photos by Marina Price// AS Review