Vol. 31 #8 11.02.15
Vol. 30 #8 11.2.15
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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
Tyson Motsenbocker performs at the Underground Coffeehouse on Wednesday, Oct 28. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review
© 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.
IN THIS ISSUE 5 Veterans Day
Celebrate Veterans day with the Veterans Outreach Center, and learn more about services available to veterans at Western.
7 Space out at the
WWU Planetarium The planetarium is hosing several showings of “Dynamic Earth” with Liam Neeson.
5 Western student
and alumna create film on Alaskan marathon
6 Underground
Coffeehouse Band of the Week The Katie Gray takes the stage this week at the Underground Coffeehouse Wednesday Night Concert series.
Max Romey and Natalie Fedak will show their feature length film “3022 ft” in the PAC on Nov. 9.
8 Board of Directors Newsletter
This new edition to the AS Review gives an insight into what’s going on with AS student government!
11
A Western student’s guide to voting Check out these key initiatives and things you should know about before voting in Whatcom county.
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
Viewers can participate in Madeline Berkman’s “Project Happiness” in the B Gallery. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review
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EVENTS Poetry and Lyric Open Mic Night
Kayak Roll Sessions
Nov 2 // 7 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free
Travel with the AS Outdoor Center on Wednesday evening to the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center for some training on how to do a perfect kayak roll before you get out on the water.
Come see some student-performed poetry and lyrics at the Underground Coffeehouse this Monday. Sign-ups are at 6:30, everyone is welcome.
Memoirs Information Session Nov 3 // 7 p.m. // MH 152 // Free Learn how you can get involved with the newly reformed Memoirs event where all marginalized gender identities have the opportunity to perform. Learn more on page 10.
Open Mic Night Nov 3 // 7 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free Anything goes at the Underground Coffeehouse Open Mic Night. Come show off your talents or watch others perform theirs. Sign-ups are at 6:30, and are open to all.
Wednesday Night Concert Series: The Katie Gray Nov 4 // 8 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free Come see this week’s Underground Coffeehouse performer The Katie Gray. For more information and listening suggestions, check out page 6.
Nov 4// 9 p.m. // VU 150A // Free
Top Ten: October 26-31 1
Currents Tame Impala
2
Born to Play Guitar Buddy Guy
Learn how you can get involved with the newly reformed Memoirs event where all marginalized gender identities have the opportunity to perform. Learn more on page 10.
3
Depression Cherry Beach House
4
Fading Frontier Deerhunter
Indigenous Feminism
5
Weirdo Shrine La Luz
Come learn about what intersectionality of feminism is and what feminism means to an indigenous perspective. Learn to overcome the commonly held whitewashed understanding of feminism and understand it from an intersected viewpoint. Learn more on page 12.
6
Abyss Chelsea Wolfe
7
Gone by Dawn Shannon and the Clams
8
Multi-Love Unknown Mortal Orchestra
November WAPPAP
9
Untrue Nightspace
10
GO:OD A.M. Mac Miller
Memoirs Information Session 2 Nov 4 // 7 p.m. // MH 138 // Free
Nov 5 // 6 p.m. // AW 210 // Free
Nov 5// 5 p.m. // Miller Hall Collaborative Space // Free Join AS Environmental and Sustainability Programs for a meeting of Western Action for People Power and Planet, and share updates on your corner of the environmental movement. There will be a speaker followed by discussion.
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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WWU hosts Veterans Day Ceremony
BY SARAH SHARP
Veterans face a unique set of challenges transitioning from military to college life. Even changes in wardrobe, from an ironed and pressed uniform to a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt take adjusting, said Brandon Quackenbush, Associated Students Veteran Outreach Center Coordinator. “It’s like a rubber band that you’ve stretched out and once you no longer have that tension – it was something that was built into your life and now it’s gone – it’s a vacuum that needs to be filled with something,” Quackenbush said. “That becomes the crux.” Sociology professor Jay Teachman will speak on that very crux in a lecture entitled “The Lives of Veterans After Military Service: A Portrait of the Last 75 Years.” It will be the focal point of the WWU Veteran’s Day Ceremony, Quackenbush said.
The Veteran Outreach Center is hosting the free, public ceremony in collaboration with the College of Humanities and Social Sciences on Monday, Nov. 9 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. in the Viking Union Multi-Purpose Room. President Bruce Shepard and student veterans, including Quackenbush, will give opening remarks. Quackenbush will share his personal experiences transitioning from a structured lifestyle in the Navy to an uncertain day-to-day at Western, he said. Later in the evening after the ceremony, veterans and their families are invited to a “Night at the Planetarium” from 6 - 7 p.m. for a grand tour of the Voyager spacecraft missions inside the planetarium’s 24-foot dome. Entry is free but space is limited. Tickets can be reserved on Eventbrite. Quackenbush mans the Veteran
A veteran looks on at the proceedings of the 2013 Veterans Day Ceremony at WWU. Photo by Issac Martin // AS Review
Outreach Center on his own in Viking Union room 530. He plans community-wide events to connect veterans with other veterans, and sets aside office hours most days of the week for people to drop in and chat in a safe space. “I’m here to sit down and have a conversation with someone if they’re having a bad day or to point them in the right direction if they need help,” Quackenbush said. Part of the Veteran Outreach Center’s function is to refer veterans to other sources of support available on campus or in the community. Quackenbush will often direct people to the Veteran Services Office or the Bellingham Vet Center, he said. Quackenbush’s vision for the Veteran Outreach Center is to fill the void that sometimes befalls veterans entering a university at the average age of 26, when the majority of incoming students are freshmen between the ages of 18 and 19, he said. Quackenbush is currently planning outdoor excursions through the Outdoor Center for Western’s community of veterans, including a possible kayak trip to Lummi Island and a ski trip to Mount Baker. His goal is to curb isolation by bringing people with shared experiences together, he said. “We can event plan till the cows come home, but if the events aren’t something student veterans or student veteran supporters on campus want to come to, there’s really no point in it,” Quackenbush said. Looking to the future, he hopes to provide more events through the Veteran Outreach Center that appeal to families as well as single veterans.
Western student BY MORGAN ANNABLE If you think you’ve felt stressed, imagine running down a cliff carrying a $3,000 camera. Fairhaven senior Max Romey found himself in that situation in the summer of 2014 while filming his feature length documentary, “3022 ft.” The documentary tells the story of Alaska’s most dangerous foot race, Mount Marathon. The race is known for it’s unique and dangerous course. Beginning at Fourth and Washington in downtown Seward, Alaska the race ends just one block away. The halfway point of the race is the summit of Mount Marathon, 3022 feet above sea level. “3022 ft.” will air at the Mainstage of the Performing Arts Center on November 9 at 7:30 p.m. Romey, director, producer and cinematographer of the film, is a native Alaskan who had heard of the race for many years and decided to visit Seward, Alaska in 2013 with a camera. He produced a short video, put it online, and got a lot of positive feedback. Romey himself is a runner on Western’s cross country and track and field teams. “Nobody understands running aside from runners,” he said. “I interviewed the athletes to understand why people were doing this insane thing. There were people literally scaling a cliff and then throwing themselves down.” He returned to Seward in 2014 with director,producer and writer Natalie Fedak, a 2014 Western graduate, and as many friends with cameras as he could recruit. “Climbing the mountain reminded me of the whole point of our movie, which is that you’re a winner when you reach the victory you’ve set for yourself,” Fedak said. “Getting to the top was what I wanted. It wasn’t about time for me, it was about getting there and seeing that view.” The film follows an Olympian, a mother of three and a woman recovering from meth and cocaine addiction, among others. Although he focused on the top four prospects in the men’s and women’s races, Romey interviewed as many runners as possible because the mountain is so unpredictable that they had no way of knowing not just who would win but who would finish the race. “There’s not an inch of that mountain where something couldn’t happen, but you can’t capture all of it,” Romey said. “It’s just impossible to cover
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and alumna create film on Alaskan marathon everything, but we did the best job we could and ended up capturing the closest race in event history.” Romey and Fedak interviewed the subjects a few weeks prior to the race, a few hours before, and again after the race. “We really wanted to give these intimate portrayals of why they were doing it and they really opened up,” Romey said. “The film itself is really about the struggles we have to deal with in our own lives and the inspiration and passion that gets us through.” Once they finished filming, the writing and editing process started. Fedak wanted to tell the racers’ stories as a narrative with character arcs and a plot, but had to wait until after filming the interviews to find the topics that were brought up multiple times. “It was like a puzzle that doesn’t have a painting on it,” Fedak said. “The pieces don’t always connect and you can put it together however you want.” One puzzle piece neither Romey nor Fedak expected was the theme of women in sports. Romey said that women get far less media coverage than men do during events such as Mount Marathon. “Nationally, nobody focuses on women’s sports,” Romey said. “These are some of the hardest-working women in the world and [they] have amazing stories.
We wanted to be able to share that even though the news stations and the media in Alaska really didn’t.” Romey and Fedak are looking forward to the film showing on November 9 because resources and people at Western made the film possible. Fedak said that the community at Western gave them the support to focus on growing and learning, rather than profit. Romey said that he wants the showing to be “loud, exciting and super inspiring.” He plans to give out as much free gear as possible and hopes that people leave happy and wanting to go do something. “Western students should check this out whether or not they run, because this shows you that you can do it,” he said “If you want to make a film, it’s possible. If you want to go for the Olympics, it’s possible. Whatever insurmountable mountain you’re dealing with in your life, you can do it. It’s worth it.” Romey said that the annual race is an event that must be seen to be believed. “3022 ft.” lets the audience experience the mountain through the eyes of the athletes. “The race itself is amazing but it’s not half as amazing as the stories of the people behind it,” Romey said.
Stills from the feature-length 3022 ft. film. Western’s showing of the film will be on November 9 at the Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Photos courtesy of Max Romey
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Underground Coffeehouse Wednesday Night Concert Series
Band of the Week
The Katie Gray A MUSIC REVIEW BY IAN SANQUIST
K
atie Gray is a musician who graduated from Western last year with a BA in music. The Katie Gray is a singer and songwriter who plays piano, guitar, ukulele and more. The Katie Gray Band is Troy Bohman, who plays bass, Schuyler Jenson, who plays guitar, and Silas Stewart on drums. Gray said in an email that she’s more or less always been a musician. “I basically came out singing,” Gray said. The Katie Gray Band started over a year ago and is Gray’s third band. “We all knew each other from school and I was in the market for good musicians.” Maddy and the Templates will also play in the Underground Coffeehouse this Wednesday. Maddy and the Templates is a local band that plays bluesy alt-country with a twangy layered sound. The show in the Underground will start at 7 p.m.
Katie Gray, a Western alumna, will be performing this Wednesday at the Underground Coffeehouse. Photos by Taylor Sanders.
Review For fun, Katie Gray says she likes to drink pina coladas and get lost in the rain, and while her music transcends the fundamental cheesiness of that old novelty song, you can feel its playful spirit at work in the songs on her EP “Soundwaves.” “Soundwaves” opens with a piano ballad, “S.I.D.”, the most searching and directly emotional song on the EP. Gray sings about the desire to feel vulnerable and leave someone else in control, ultimately finding self-reliance in the power of her voice. “I wanna be rescued, I wanna have a hero/To feel fragile, where is my hero...now/Naked, I refuse to hold my shield/So strike me, eventually I’ll heal,” Gray sings, offering up imagery of a distressed and helpless woman tossed around in the world until the third stanza, in which she opens the song to a much larger vulnerability, singing, “but look behind me, everyone is scared.” No one’s in full control, but no one’s helpless either. The song plays out like the climax to a great high school movie, complete with a brief guitar solo that echoes Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”. The EP then moves into “Darlin’”, a kind of euro-cafe
number, or romantic indie montage, with equal parts charm, strut and sweetness. Gray’s voice hits incredible high notes as she sings through a series of promises and requests to a would-be loved one, who seems quite resistant to the love of another. “Darlin' just forget before, it's no use to you anymore,” Gray sings. “Quit actin like you've grown so old, like there's nothin left to know.” Gray’s voice is self-assured and expansive, and these songs are arranged with a precision that still leaves way for the spontaneity that true confidence and ability permit. The musicians never crowd Gray’s voice, playing their parts professionally and selflessly, contributing without ever showing off. “Darlin’ You’re Peachy” is a jangly dancehall pop number that tells the story of a satisfying romance that takes off quickly from a crowded room in a big night out on the town into a private place of fond dreams and memories. The EP closes with “Nothing to Hide”, another burst of focused emotion that finds Gray exploring the relationship between the presented self and the private self. “So I will hide behind my smile and keep on singing my silly songs,” Gray sings. At all times, Gray sounds in complete control of her voice, whether she is flinging it into a towering register, or addressing it toward something deep within herself. “Soundwaves,” is a charming and polished EP, the result of a collaboration between a band of talented musicians and Katie Gray, the possessor of a sincere and dynamic voice. Katie Gray’s newest EP ‘Soundwaves’ was released in August of this year. It is available for listening on the Katie Gray Bandcamp page.
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Space out at the WWU Planetarium BY IAN SANQUIST
ment. He is currently working on building a group of This fall, Western’s Spanel Planetarium is presentvolunteers for the Spanel Planetarium whose efforts ing Dynamic Earth, a show that immerses visitors will create opportunities for new and exciting proin atmospheric phenomena. Dynamic Earth is the gramming. Lindsey emphasized that the planetarium planetarium’s public show, for which tickets must will be what people make of it, and he encourages be purchased in advance at the Western Box Office. anyone who is interested in getting involved to conTickets are $10. Dynamic Earth will be shown November 7, 12, and 17, and December 1 and 10. Shows are an hour long, and viewers will be experience a fully immersive exploration of earth’s climate, featuring visuals based on satellite monitoring systems. The show takes viewers inside a hurricane, face-to-face with sharks, through the air on wind currents, shoots them out of a volcano, and is narrated by Liam Neeson. “[Dynamic Earth] is really top-notch, it’s a good well-produced program, I like it a lot,” planetarium content developer and volunteer coordinator Andrew Lindsey said. The planetarium is also hosting a free Friday art gallery this fall. Friday afternoons at 4:30, viewers can come to the planetarium for a fifteen-minute demonstration of the dome’s immersive capabilities, showcased through three films by artist Diana Reichenbach. “Bring a pillow and come and lay on the floor, I highly encourage it,” Lindsey said. “It’s just a nice thing to do on a Friday afternoon, come back, relax, watch some trippy art films.” Beyond these programs, Lindsey hopes in upcoming quarters to bring new and original content to the planetarium. He wants to turn the planetarium into a facility that students can use to express themselves creatively and artistically, and in turn bring more visitors to the planetarium. “When most people think about a planetarium Audience members enjoying the view at they think about a dark room with stars and usually a planetarium show. Photo courtesy of some guy talking about constellations,” Lindsey said. WWU Planetarium “It is better to think about this as kind of a blank canvas with a digital projector, you can put anything on here. The things you can do in here are not limittact him by email and set up an appointment. ed to just talking about the constellations in the night “MacMillan up in Vancouver [B.C.] worked with sky. With this system, you can fly to mars, you can local historians...they had comparisons of panoramas render made up planets.” of the city of Vancouver,” Lindsey said. “There are a He has toured other planetariums around the lot of things that you can do with programming that Northwest to gather ideas for ways of public engagedoesn’t necessarily pertain to astronomy.”
Lindsey is currently working on writing a play that he describes as a parody of Dr. Who. The play will feature characters flying around the universe in a TARDIS with a sunroof. Lindsey is building a control panel for the planetarium modeled after Dr. Who’s TARDIS control panel, with buttons and knobs and old-fashioned radio dials. “When you start talking about planetariums you start thinking about the advancement of technology. We have an iPad that we can use to control the planetarium, which is really neat if you grew up with the guy who had to be behind the giant control panel,” Lindsey said. “We also have a generation of people who grow up with tablets, who grow up with wireless technology...so instead of having the tablet that does all the things and is simple and sleek, what if we throw it in reverse gear and we make something big and crazy looking, with weird switches and wires hanging out of it?” Lindsey also mentioned the possibility of introducing a laser show in the planetarium as a recurring feature. The show would be open to modification by students interested in programming new laser light displays. “We do this with theater, we do this with art on campus, we have facilities here where students are allowed to express themselves creatively and showcase their work to the larger student body,” Lindsey said. “Can’t we do that here? Can’t we create a similar environment where we have students creating shows?” YouTube has recently introduced 360-degree videos to its website. Lindsey said these render well in the planetarium. He suggested a possible show in anticipation of shark week that would turn the planetarium into an underwater dome using spherical videos. Someone from the biology department could come and speak about sharks. “In order to have that program happen, we have to have people here, we have to have someone who’s willing to take up that mantle,” Lindsey said. “I’m trying to get the people in the door to create that content for the rest of the student body.” Lindsey anticipates that we’ll be seeing new planetarium content in Winter or Spring quarter. In the meantime, he’s looking for people who want to get involved.
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HEY PEEPS! Welcome to the first Board of Directors newsletter of 2015! So far this year I’ve been working closely with the Board of Trustees to ensure that there is some student representation on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. If you didn’t have a chance to learn, we are hiring a new University President this year! Along with that, I’ve also had opportunity to meet with a few people from Administration who work for the President’s Diversity Taskforce to discuss how we can change the structure of the taskforce to have better student representation. Additionally, some of the work that I’m hoping to do while serving in this position is to increase avenues of access for y’all to push this board to make decisions that truly reflect the student’s, especially those whose voices are least heard. This remains a challenge in an organization that has hxstorically pushed out and continues to push out students of marginalized identities. It’s just as important to recognize the parallels between our own campus culture and the exclusive and hierarchical culture in the Associated Students. This year we are hoping to engage in a discussion on how to better serve students and create a consciousness on disparities in the organization. I’m not sure what this looks like, but I do wonder if this conversation can even happen within the AS. Do you think this discourse needs to happen outside of the framework of the AS? Please, email me if anything comes to mind @ AS.President@wwu.edu
Hey everyone! It’s been a busy start to the school year and I hope all is going well with your classes! As your VP for Activities I seek to make campus an engaging place for all. I work to help facilitate our club system, including Activities Council where we approve clubs and various club requests. I also oversee AS Productions, the teams that bring you the big campus events like movies, concerts, comedians and so much more. I also work with KUGS and KVIK within the AS and Athletics, the Rec Center, and Department-Related Activities outside the AS. So far this year we have approved many clubs and already granted money for clubs to start up and go to conferences. I’m glad to be helping so many students engage in their communities on campus. The Club Hub also started a new tradition this year known as the Club Cup. If you’re in a club, ask your leadership how you can be this year’s winner! And if you aren’t in a club, check out asclubs.wwu.edu and find one that fits your interest! If you’re looking for a way to get involved outside clubs, join one of our many committees and help make a direct impact on campus!
Since the beginning of the quarter I’ve been working a great amount of time with the Ethnic Student Center and the “renovation”. For ESC students, our representation on campus is extremely important to us and we are doing work towards getting a physical building, we think the most attainable step would be to move the ESC into the Bookstore. Nothing is set in stone, but students are working hard. I’ve also been working with some other AS offices and some members on the board to try and get as much information out about the Title IX investigation happening on campus from Nov 1-Nov 3. I’ve also gathered enough funding to send six students to the Oregon Students of Color Conference, please apply by Nov 4 on Orgsync.
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Updates from the AS Board of Directors: a new AS Review addition This issue of the AS Review is the first to feature a new segment, the AS Board of Directors Newsletter. These newsletters will include a short write up from each director updating the student body on issues they are currently working on. From this issue on, the first AS Review of each month will feature a two-page spread dedicated to communication between the AS Board of Directors and Western students. As officials elected by Western students, it is the job of the Board of Directors to work to better the Western student experience in each of their seven factions. We are introducing this newsletter in the hope to increase transparency and improve communication between the Board and the people they serve. If you have any questions or comments for the Board that you would like published, please feel free to email us at as.review@wwu.edu. We look forward to hearing from you. As always, thank you for reading the AS Review, Marina Price and Alexandra Bartick Editor in Chief and Assistant Editor
Although I hear not everyone is interested in internal operations and budgets, it is important to keep updated on what is happening in the internal offices of the Associated Students. As a member of the AS, you deserve to be informed on how your money is being spent and the inner workings of the organization. In the Personnel Office, we are hiring for various work study, hourly and salaried positions! I encourage you to read more and apply for these positions via as.wwu. edu/personnel. Another wonderful opportunity to get more involved is to apply to be a voting member of the Facilities and Services Advisory Committee which serves to advise on matters regarding the Viking Union and other VU facilities and services. Apply now if you are interested in making a difference in your student union via as.wwu.edu/committees. Last but not least, there are some significant changes happening in our budgeting operations. The process to decide on next year’s office and program budgets through the AS Budget Committee has begun. I am also working to increase fiscal transparency by updating the online AS Budget Center which will allow all students to view the exact amounts each office is allocated to spend during the fiscal year. Hope your fall quarter is going swell and I encourage you to stop by my office in the Board Office in VU 504E with any questions or concerns.
There’s some academic policy changes being discussed in various Faculty Senate committees that you all should be aware of. First off, in Academic Coordinating Commission (ACC), we’ve been discussing changing Western’s grade replacement policy to reflect the norm in Higher Education. If this change passes, if a student retakes a class, the last grade the student received for that class will be factored into their GPA, rather than an average of the first and last grade being used. Be warned that this change will probably be phased in over multiple years, so if you’re not familiar with the current policy, look at the “Repeating a Course” section within the University Academic Policies. Next, a task force dedicated to creating three broad options for improving Western’s General Education program will present these options to the community at the end of Winter quarter. If you have suggestions for ways to improve this program, email me at asvp. academics@wwu.edu. Finally, along with our VP for Diversity, I’ve been working to create a space for students to organize, strategize, and be informed on issues surrounding classroom climate and the efforts within Faculty Senate to address student concerns. Please email me at asvp.academics@wwu.edu if you’re interesting in getting plugged into this process, or if you have any questions about anything related to academic policy!
I currently serve as the AS VP for Governmental Affairs, which is a liaison between WWU students and the local, state, and federal government; I also work to increase student awareness and engagement with the political process. One of the easiest ways to engage with the political process is also one of the most important: if you’ve received your ballot in the mail, submit it by Nov. 3rd at 8pm (free dropbox by AS Bookstore). If you’re unsure about issues on the local ballot, we have a voter’s guide at as.wwu.edu/rep/local. Another opportunity to have your voice heard is Viking Lobby Day (VLD), where around 100 students travel to the Washington State Capitol in January to meet with their legislators and advocate for issues affecting WWU students. These issues are presented in our AS State Legislative Agenda, which is drafted by the AS Legislative Affairs Council. Our goal this year is to have as much student involvement in the creation of our AS legislative priorities as possible so students can lobby on issues that directly affect them. To provide feedback on proposed agenda items or submit proposal ideas of your own for the AS legislative agenda, please visit http://tinyurl.com/VLD16AgendaFeedback and complete the form or attend AS Legislative Affairs Council meetings on Thursdays from 4-6pm in Viking Union 567 (for more information, please contact asvp.gov@wwu.edu).
Hi all! My name is Emma Palumbo and I’m currently serving as the AS Vice President for Student Life. I’m a senior this year, double majoring in Political Science and Sociology. As the VP for Student Life I work with a few different areas on campus – housing and dining, health and safety, and transportation and sustainability. As many of you may know, the Green Energy Fee re-passed last year to become the Sustainable Action Fund (SAF). A great deal of my work this year has been around this, working with a taskforce of students, faculty, and staff to evaluate the program and design the next steps. Some of the major goals are making the granting aspect of the program more accessible and efficient for students, establishing 3 new student positions within the Environmental and Sustainability Programs, and to use the SAF as an opportunity to broaden the idea of sustainability beyond just environmentalism on this campus. A main goal that I have for this year is to work with campus housing to reassess and update our gender-inclusive housing options. If this is something that you are interested in being a part of, please feel free to contact me at asvp.life@ wwu.edu or stop VU 504!
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A student guide to local elections BY KATE WELCH This November 3, 2015, is a local election date throughout America. For students voting in Whatcom County, here’s what you need to know: Ballots were mailed to voters on October 14, because Washington has a mail-in voting system, so if you’re one of Whatcom county’s 128,613 registered voters or you vote elsewhere in Washington, be sure to keep an eye out for your ballot. To vote, you must either return your ballot to a dropbox in the county by 8 p.m. or mail it in beforehand, all mailed in ballots must be postmarked by November 3, so be sure to drop it in early, and don’t forget postage! Important Statewide measures Initiatives are proposed by citizens and are voted into law solely by Washington voters. State Initiative no. 1366: if voted into law, this would decrease the sales `tax rate from 6.5 percent to 5.5 percent on April 5, 2015, unless the legislature interStudents and Whatcom County community memebers venes beforehand can turn in their ballots at the Offical Ballot Drop Bos to raise the requirements to change tax located outside of the AS Bookstore. Photo by Alex rates.
Bartick // AS Review
State Initiative no. 1401: This initiative, if voted into law, would raise the penalty for trafficking endangered species to a class-c felony, which results in a fine of $2,000- 4,000, and possible seizure of the goods in question. Certain exceptions are made for inheritances, musical instruments and other goods with less than 15 percent of the item being made up of animal material. This includes products made from elephant, rhinoceros, tiger, lion, leopard, cheetah, pangolin, marine turtle, shark or ray. Advisory votes are put on a ballot if the legislature enacts something into law and the people petition to put it to a vote. Advisory Vote 10: If approved, this measure would impose taxes on oil products traveling by rail, the taxes gathered would total $17 million. Advisory Vote 11: If approved, this would continue the current excise taxes on medical marijuana products. Advisory Vote 12: If approved this would continue extra taxes on vehicle fuels, and would raise $3.7 Billion dollars for the state in the first ten years. Advisory Vote 13: This bill would exempt certain software companies from retail tax exemptions, meaning they would be taxed, and also increases business taxes. Proposition No. 2015-1: This proposition would provide the necessary funding to replace the aging county jail facility on Prospect Street in downtown Bellingham by raising sales tax of 20 cents for every $100 spent. Both Western Washington University and the Associated Students place a heavy emphasis on student voting and civic engagement. This year, the AS registered over 3,000 voters on campus. “It is important for students to vote because voting is such an amazing privilege. People have died for us [students] who hold other identities,” said AS Elections Coordinator, Stacey Ejim. “Voting is a way to honor all that they have sacrificed for us.”
Club Spotlight: Foundation for International Medial Relief of Children BY SARAH SHARP Western recently joined 51 other universities in supporting the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) as an active chapter. The FIMRC, a non-profit organization, sends groups of health professionals to developing countries to set up clinic sites for children in medically underserved areas. It’s an international network with more than 3,000 staff members and volunteers. Five of those members founded Western’s first FIMRC chapter. Senior Erin Aldag spent a summer in Peru for the
FIMRC’s Global Health Program, shadowing doctors and giving health presentations to school children. But her involvement didn’t stop there. When Aldag found out the FIMRC had a long list of college chapters, she recruited some of her friends to start one at Western in January. Since then, FIMRC WWU has grown to around 15 regular members, Aldag said. The club meets every Thursday to plan upcoming community service and fundraising events in Miller Hall room 105 at 6 p.m. Recently, the club made Halloween-themed baskets to give to children at local hospitals. And last spring, FIMRC WWU volunteered in a Boys and Girls Club
Day on campus, in which all of Western’s science clubs came together to talk about science and introduce the children to a university setting. Aldag hopes to one day see the club expand to the size of some other prominent university chapters like the University of Michigan. “I think it would be fun for our club to get bigger and be able to host some big fundraising events on campus,” she said. Students interested in becoming a member of FIMRC WWU can attend one of their Thursday meetings or join their Facebook page for updates on upcoming events, Aldag said.
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Women’s Center reimagines the memoirs BY MORGAN ANNABLE Last year, two thousand people attended the Vagina Memoirs over four nights of empowering personal stories. This year, the event has been rechristened Memoirs, and that is not the only change. There are two information sessions regarding this year’s Memoirs and the differences from past years. The sessions will be held from 6 - 7 p.m. on November 3 in Miller Hall 152 and November 4 in Miller Hall 138. AS Women’s Center Memoirs Coordinator Sierra Flanagan said that she wanted to change the name of the event because the word “vagina” excluded some individuals with marginalized gender identities. “Not everyone who has a vagina identifies as a woman and not every woman has a vagina,” Flanagan said. “It used to be really trans-exclusive and we want to open it up to more than just cis women.” Cisgender women are those individuals who are assigned female at birth and continue to identify as female throughout their lives. In previous years all stories have been told via spoken word performances and the cast has consisted of eight to
twelve people. Flanagan wanted to change that to include more cast members. This year Memoirs will take the shape of an exhibit in the B Gallery. “People can still choose to write a performance piece if they want to, or poetry, or whatever they want,” she said. “But it’s going to be more than people sitting and listening to stories.” Flanagan expects that most participants will elect to create a piece of visual art, now that the option is open. She decided to amend the format because in their evaluations of the process, many previous cast members said that the best part of the experience was going through the steps of writing their piece, not the performance aspect of it. “Writing about your experiences can be really healing,” Flanagan said. “But once you share them, then two thousand people know your secrets and your stories.”
Flanagan hopes that people will understand her reasoning behind changing the name and the format of Memoirs. “There are going to be people who really love the name Vagina Memoirs and if they don’t understand why the name has to be changed this might not be the event for them to be a part of,” she said. Flanagan said people with intersecting identities are encouraged to attend either information session, as well as people who have a lot to say about being marginalized in any sense of the word.
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12 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Exploring intersectionality with Indigenous Feminism BY MARINA PRICE Intersectionality is defined on Geekfeminism.wikia.com as “a concept used in critical theories to describe the ways in which oppressive institutions are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.” The Social Issues Resource Center’s event Indigenous Feminism, which is on Thursday, November 5 at 5 p.m., seeks to educate students on the intricacies of intersectionality, focusing on feminism as it effects and relates to indigenous peoples. SIRC Outreach Coordinator Wayne Rocque said it is extremely important for people to understand the true breadth and power of feminism. “I used to have a very singular way of looking at feminism, and I found that with approaching different groups and listening and being part of those discussions has open my mind to the intricacies and intersectionalities of feminism. I’m hoping that this will be their chance to explore that, just like I had when I was starting out at college,” he said. The event will consist of a panel discussion centered around themes within the realm of indigenous feminism, such as domestic abuse and missing women. The panel will consist of Shelly Vendiola from the Northwest Indian College and Dian Million, an Associate Professor at the department of American Indian Studies at the University of Washington. The discussion will open with a blessing ceremony performed by Rudy Vendiola to bless the space before the conversation begins. Rocque said he recommends attendees arrive early, to avoid interrupting the ceremony. All students are encouraged to attend this event. SIRC Assistant Coordinator Alia Taquieddin said she believes, “the students who will benefit from this the most are those who haven’t been challenged to think about feminism from this perspective before.” She said that all SIRC events are aimed at educating the majority of Western students.
As of fall 2014, Western’s campus is made up of a 74.5% white student population, with only 23.6% of students identifying with other ethnicities. Of that 23.6%, only 2.9% identify as Native American or AK Native. “A lot of feminism tells a very singular story, it’s a very western, euro-centric story. Indigenous Feminism seeks to say that hey, there’s this whole other massive, beautiful, empowering story that is being told by the natives of these lands,” said Rocque. Rocque wants to emphasize that feminism can be an extremely effective tool in combating oppression if used with the understanding of how it intersects with other oppressive institutions besides sexism. He hopes to host future events that will touch on other areas of intersectionality as well. “We’d like to look at immigration for one, and hopefully a series of events on Asian-American issues,” he said. Indigenous Feminism will be on Thursday, November 5 at 5 p.m. in AW 210.
PROJECT HAPPINESS
Poster for the Indigenous Feminism event. Design by Dave Shin // AS Publicity Center
LEFT: Double-exposure photographs on display in Madeline Berkman’s “Project Happiness” in the B Gallery. RIGHT: Viewers can participate in the exhibit by sitting in front of a computer while a video records them similing. The computer piece is also part of Berkman’s “Project Happiness” The B Gallery exhibits the artwork of students in the Fine Arts program. The gallery is open to Monday - Friday from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. It is free to visit the gallery. Photos by: Trevor Grimm // AS Review