AS Review - February 8, 2016

Inside this issue: Western students visit the Unist’ot’en Camp in northern British Columbia. PAGE 4 Biweekly bike fix-it station workshops held on campus. PAGE 6 Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival comes to Western.

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Vol. 31 #18 02.08.16

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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

Ukrainian Artist’s Palate. Oil on wood. 10” x 14”. 2014. Artist’s palate as a color wheel inspired by Ukrainian Folk Art Laura Vasyutynska.

© 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.

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 Morgan Annable Will McCoy Chris Beswetherick Adviser Jeff Bates

Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers

BFA candidate Melissa Hand’s exhibition “Iterations” is on display until February 19 in the VU Gallery. “My work is about the human body. I contort, fracture, disassemble and reconstitute the bodily form through the use of organic and gestural forms.” The closing reception for “Iterations” is February 18 from 6 - 8 p.m. Photos by Alexandra Bartick // AS Review

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EVENTS Poetry and Lyric Night Monday, February 8 // 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free Signups are at 6:30.

Open Mic Night

opportunities. In this LinkedIn presentation you will: learn how you can develop your professional profile and explore opportunities, hear best networking practices and receive answers to your top LinkedIn questions.

Tuesday, February 9 // 6:30 - 9:30 Not Yr Valentine p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse Thursday, February 11 // 4 // Free 6 p.m. // MH 131, MH 156 // Have an amazing hidden talent? Want Price to knock the socks off of all your friends?

Brave enough to perform in a 5 minute slot? Then come to Open Mic Nigh. Sign ups at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7 p.m..

Wednesday Night Concert Series: Deadly D

An Intro level event and more advanced event on polyamory and non-monogamy.

Coffeehouse Hip Hop: Karaoke Night

Thursday, February 11 // Wednesday, February 10 // 7 - 9 7 - 9 p.m. // Underground p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse Coffeehouse // Free // Free Come show off your rapping skills at Free concert featuring Deadly D with JudyJustJudy.

Winter Leadership Development: Job Searching, Utilizing Linkedin Wednesday, February 10 // 4 - 5 p.m. // VU 552 // Free Presented by Sandy Brown (Career Services): Successfully creating and managing a positive online presence has become increasingly important as more and more employers are utilizing social media sites to research potential candidates for career and internship

a 90’s Hip Hop Karaoke night.

Cultures of Resistance Series: Late Nite Art Thursday, February 11 // 7 8:30 p.m. // VU MPR // Free An interactive workshop that uses collaborative art making, cool beats and facilitated dialogue to transform the way students and faculty relate to themselves and each other.

February 1- 8 1

Blackstar David Bowie

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Currents Tame Impala

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Another One Mac Demarco

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Weirdo Shrine La Luz

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Every Open Eye Chvrches

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Thank Your Lucky Stars Beach House

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Yours, Dreamily The Arcs

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Product 3 Beat Connection

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What Went Down Foals

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Leave Me Alone Hinds 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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Western students visit the Unist’ot’en Camp to help the fight to protect their land

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

Students at Western have partnered with the Unist’ot’en people in British Columbia who are fighting to keep an oil pipeline from being built on their land. A group of Western students spent time there in December and will speak about their experiences from the camp and what they learned at a free event on February 11 at 7 p.m. The Report Back from the Unist’ot’en Camp will be hosted at the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship at 1207 Ellsworth Street.

Students will share photographs and videos from their time at the camp, where the Unist’ot’en clan gave them consent to stay. During their time, they helped with cooking, cleaning and shoveling snow. They will also discuss logistics for another trip this spring along with other ways that students can help support the resistance against colonialism from here in Bellingham.

The Unist’ot’en clan is one of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation clans. According to their website, “The Unist’ot’en homestead is not a protest or demonstration. Our clan is occupying and using our traditional territory as it has for centuries.”

The term “camp” may evoke images of a smattering of tents, but Unist’ot’en goes above and beyond that; the Unist’ot’en clan and their allies built cabins and other permanent structures on the site, where they have lived for the past six years. They have established a community there, complete with a checkpoint to keep oil and gas workers off of their land.

At an event in January, local Lummi tribal member Freddie Lane introduced two leaders from the Unist’ot’en Camp to speak about their anti-fracking effort.

“We’re not just fighting to protect the salmon, to protect clean drinking water, to protect the clean air. It’s for our children’s children who will inevitably get this great baton that we’re all here fighting for,” Lane said in his introduction.

Freda Huson, spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en since 2008, spoke at the event. She said that she made the choice to move back to the land because her father always told her

that the best way to protect your land was to actually live on it.

“That was the only way we could monitor it,” she said. “We couldn’t monitor it from the reservation.”

Every July they run a week-long camp that brings people from all over the world to live at the homestead for a week and learn about how to effectively protect the environment through a series of workshops.

“Everything out there impacts us all, because we’re all connected by water,” Huson said. “No matter where you live. Just because you’re not in a tar sands or just because you’re not where they’re fracking, all those waters are connected and they impact us all.”

Huson predicts that humanity will have to take a few steps back in time and return to a more agricultural lifestyle. She said that we will have no choice but to go back to growing our own food and sustaining ourselves in that way; our current rate of exploitation of resources is unsustainable.

She says that she and the other people at the Unist’ot’en Camp fight back against the pipeline using facts, rather than arguing with people. She educates herself and shares what she learns with others.

This year they will run their second annual spring camp, which includes projects such as working at their healing center. Many Unist’ot’en people were sent to residential schools as children, and they are disconnected from their culture. The healing center is an attempt to bring those people closer to their culture so that they can move past the abuses that impacted their families and reconnect with the land through mental and spiritual healing.

Students who are interested in working with the Unist’ot’en clan in the future are encouraged to go to the event on February 11 to learn more. Donations to the cause are accepted but not expected.

“Everything out there impacts us all, because we’re all connected by water. No matter where you live. Just because you’re not in a tar sands or just because you’re not where they’re fracking, all those waters are connected and they impact us all.”

-Freda Huson, spokesperson for the Unist’ot’en Wedzin Kwah (Morice River is the colonial name) and Gosnell Creek mark the territory of Talbits Kwah, where the Unist’ot’en Camp is built. Wedzin Kwah river water is naturally clean and safe to drink. Photos courtesy of Eddie Ury

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Love Between the Covers documentary examines romance novel stereotypes

BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK Jane Austen, author of “Sense and Sensibility” and “Pride and Prejudice” wrote sensual, romantic stories that have become world-renowned novels and precursors to the romance genre. Today, the genre continues to grow.

The WWU department of sociology will feature “Love Between the Covers,” a documentary about the female audience and authors of romance novels with aspirations to correct the stereotype placed on female romance novelists. The department will host the movie screening in Academic West on Feb. 10th at 7:00 p.m. in room 204.

Laurie Kahn, an Emmy award winner for her non-fiction series “A Midwife’s Tale,” directed “Love Between the Covers” to illuminate the more-often-than-not under-appreciated authors of romance novels.. The project spanned three years, in which she followed the lives six romance novelists in their artistic process, and the shifting romance novel industry.

Western’s sociology department invites students to view this documentary and participate in a discussion following the film focused on the various romance novel industry perspectives the filmmakers feature. The department has invited informed guests to diversify

the post-film discussion. First, the department invited Karina Cooper, a paranormal/fantasy romance novelist to the screening. To provide a marketing perspective, Western invited Sam Kaas, a book buyer/seller from Village Books will attend the screening as well. English Professor Julie Dugger will also attend the discussion.

Finally, Jen Lois, a professor in the sociology department will input in the discussion.

“There are stereotypes that these are women who don’t have to be very smart, and that they sit around eating bon-bons fantasizing about romance and sex. ” - Jen Lois, Western Sociology professor Lois, who had intentions of showing the film, united with Dugger when both realized they had interest in

showing the same film standing up for female romance authors.

negative,” Lois said. “There are stereotypes that these are women who don’t have to be very smart...and that they sit around eating bon-bons fantasizing about romance and sex. ” This twisted image of female romance writers is what Lois and Dugger hope to end. They want to highlight the work ethic and diversity of female romance authors.

“This is a group of extremely accomplished, smart, driven women,” Lois said. “They have day jobs and are up at four in the morning writing. They’re going to get their books out, even though they have other responsibilities.”

Romance novels are the most sold books in the fiction category, meaning a large section of the book industry is controlled by women -- that is a point Lois wants to emphasize when people see the movie.

Lois attended a conference for romance writing and was interviewed by the director of the documentary, and realized all of their ideas align together. Lois’ research assistant, a professor at Pacific Lutheran University, and herself were actually interviewed and have a role in the film.

The screening is free, and will be held in Academic West room 204 on Feb. 10 at 7 p.m.

“The stereotype of romance writers is often fairly

Outdoor Center offers couples snowshoeing on Mt. Baker for Valentines Day

BY WILL MCCOY

Snowshoers on the Outdoor Center’s International Buddies Snowshoe on Mt Baker on January 30. Photo courtesy of the AS Outdoor Center Valentine’s Day is when love is in the air where roses and chocolates are exchanged over candle lit dinners. If you are bored with this same routine year after year, the Outdoor Center has an exciting opportunity for you.

On Valentine’s Day, The AS Outdoor Center is hosting a Valentines snowshoe excursion at Mt. Baker. They plan on leaving early in the morning so the group can be on the trail by noon. This is one of the most popular, and recurring events the Outdoor Center hosts.

Before the excursion, the Outdoor Center hosts a pre-meeting to discuss the hike, and gage experience levels, Liam Elio, Outdoor Center assistant excursion director, said.

“Most of our trips are geared toward the intro level, but even within our trips you can find the difficulty you want.”

Participants will also receive snowshoes and avalanche safety equipment, and there will be a crash course on how to use it all. If there are other things partici-

pants’ needs, like boots or warmer clothes, the Outdoor Center will rent these items out to you at 40 percent off.

Each excursion comes with a specific gear list that each participant should adhere to. For this trip, one should have several layers of warm, water-resistant clothes.

“Dress warm, don’t wear cotton and bring a happy attitude,” Elio said.

This event has already filled up with 12 participants, but there are still more excursions the Outdoor Center hosts in winter quarter. Keep your eyes open at the beginning of spring quarter for other exciting excursions that range from sunset kayaking to rock climbing in Leavenworth.

The Outdoor Center is also hiring excursion leaders starting in March. If you are interested in becoming more involved with the Outdoor Center and love nature, apply online on their website.

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Staying active this winter Campus bike educator with Morgan Annable: to provide biweekly

Trampoline Zone

fix-it station workshops

BY WILL MCCOY

A Sustainable Action Fee grant that was passed last school year gave Western three bike fix-it stations around campus. Along with these three stations comes an educational component.

Josh Kirsh is the newly- appointed campus bike educator here at Western. He will be hosting multiple workshops this quarter, focusing on how to use the fix-it stations.

Every other Thursday at 4 p.m., Kirsh will be at the fix-it station on the side next to the track field of Wade King Recreation Center showing students how to use the stations as well as some basic bike tune ups.

“Sometimes the stations are hard to use. There are a lot of different tools, and some are specific to bike tune ups,” Kirsh said.

These workshops are for people who are interested in maintaining their bikes but don’t know how to work on their bike. Students who are more experienced are welcome to join in and share their knowledge on bikes too.

“I am excited to share what I know, and see people become more confident with their bikes,” he said.

If you are on your own when fixing your bike, there are QR codes on every fix-it station on campus. If you scan this code, you will be sent to a tutorial website where it shows you several different ways to adjust your bike.

Besides the fix-it station by the rec center, there is one by Artzen Hall and another

by Haggard Hall. The fix-it stations were installed last summer and were brought to A Western student lands in the foam pit at the Trampoline Zone. campus to encourage students, faculty and staff to ride their bikes as well as provide Photo by Morgan Annable // AS Review education on basic bike maintenance.

If you have an idea that promotes sustainability and education on campus visit Isn’t there an aphorism about not judging the Trampoline Zone by its cover?

No? There should be. Don’t be daunted by the dark alley you have to take to get http://www.wwu.edu/sustain/programs/saf/ for more information on how to submit a grant. there. Trampoline Zone is well worth it.

If plain old jumping isn’t your cup of tea, try trampoline basketball or the deceptively tricky sport of trampoline dodgeball. Practicing to be on American Ninja Warrior? Test your skills on the obstacle course, not for the faint of heart.

Whether you want to improve your balance on the slackline, goof around in the foam pits, or just bounce the night away, Trampoline Zone provides childhood nostalgia and a good workout.

Beware: jumpers must pay upfront for the amount of time they want to spend, and one hour will be more than enough for most people. In one hour, you will be sweaty and out of breath.

Trampoline Zone is open until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and until 8 p.m. all other days of the week, so it is a great option for people who want to get out of the house or the dorms but are deterred by the early sunsets this time of year. They currently offer fitness classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 - 7 p.m. for $8 per class or $50 monthly or less with a membership.

Occasionally, they host special events, but there are also smaller weekly events, including Minecraft Wednesdays (everyone can build structures using the foam blocks, starting at 5 p.m.) and College Night Thursdays (ages 18 and over only from 8 - 10 p.m. and a discount with a college ID).

From the downtown station there are a few options for getting to Trampoline Zone by bus. Take the 232 bus or the 15 bus toward Cordata/WCC and get off at the Kellogg Road stop. Or, take the 25X bus toward Lynden and get off at Cordata Station. Or, take the 4 bus toward Hospital/Cordata and get off at Westerly One of Western’s bike fix-it stations on Bond Hall’s western wall.

Road at Meridian Street.

Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

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Underground Coffeehouse Wednesday Night Concert Series

Band of the Week A MUSIC REVIEW BY IAN SANQUIST

The Deadly D ensemble. Photo courtesy of Deadly D management

D

eadly D will play in the Underground Coffeehouse this Wednesday at 7 p.m. with JudyJustJudy as part of the Coffeehouse Hip Hop series.

Deadly D is a local hip-hop fusion group featuring six members, funky live instrumentation, energetic and creative beats and frenetic lyrical flows. Lead emcee Steve Borden writes about familiar and relatable themes like digital overload, the hunger for success and the uncertain position of feeling different from others, tossing off his verses with confidence and aggression.

Having started performing professionally in south Florida in 2011, the project moved to Washington in 2012. Deadly D is currently based out of Bellingham.

In 2014, Deadly D released the album “Psychology Vol: 1”. Available on Bandcamp, the album follows a loose concept, containing a dozen songs named after various psychoactive and prescription drugs, and a thirteenth song somewhat mysteriously titled “The Jeffrey.” (A trip to Urban Dictionary suggests that “Jeffrey” might refer to “a cannabis joint laced with opium, heroin, methadone, morphine, peyote and angel dust”. An inadvisable mix, to say the least.)

The album opens with “Meth (Heisenberg Syndrome)”, a celebratory extended metaphor comparing the creative process of making rap music to the destructive process of cooking quality meth. With a chopped and screwed sample of Miike Snow’s “Animal,” the track opens the album like a party.

Another standout track is “Ritalin (Scatterbrain Revolution)”, an atmospheric, catchy and somewhat melancholy exploration of the distracted frame of mind of the Wikipedia generation.

“The overall concept behind that album was to attempt to make commercially viable music with a more complex message behind it,” Borden said. “The idea behind the titles was to capture the feeling the beat provided and relate it in some way to a drug, then coinciding that drug to a conceptual idea.”

“Psychology Vol: 1” is an admirable addition to the subgenre of psychedelic rap, veering between thick and hazy hallucinogenic atmospheres, glimmering synths, meditative electronica, pumped up Dilla-esque raucousness (“The Jeffrey”) and gnarly paranoid machine music (“Mushrooms”).

A lot of rap albums have a drug-themed track or two, but on “Psychology,” Deadly D takes an entire trip through the Erowid database, coming up again and again with creative fire—a surprising and commendable feat for a concept that could very easily have devolved into the spaced out musings of a emcees high on their own fumes. Rather than simply focusing on the substance in the title, Borden and former co-emcee Michael Pianki draw on moods and ideas frequently associated with the named substance.

“The song ‘Cocaine (Artificial Bliss)’ is about how living and holding on too much to the past gives you a false sense of how things really are today, creating

an ‘artificial’ perspective so to speak,” Borden said.

“The actual drug cocaine...when taken gives you this inflated sense of confidence and euphoria. With all the songs we tried to go at them that way, relating the feelings the drug gives or the reasons...why people take them.”

The lyrics return repeatedly to the theme of creativity, and the way that drugs can both spark and flatten the creative impulse. With repeated listens, “Psychology” grows in its power to captivate.

In June 2015, the group released the Stevey B mixtape, featuring twenty previously released and unreleased tracks. “Driven” plays like a statement of purpose, a more upbeat iteration of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself,” as Borden passionately asserts his ambition as a rapper and artist. “Silver Lining” is mellow and smoky soul-funk, featuring lush guest vocals by Ashley Douglas.

Deadly D is currently at work on a new album. The as-yet untitled album will feature collaborations with a number of Northwest producers, including Smoke of Portland’s OldDominion. Borden said he hopes to release the album this spring or early summer.

“We love playing house parties or any other social events, so if anyone is interested in booking us, just hit us up,” Borden said.

Deadly D will play in the Underground Coffeehouse with JudyJustJudy on Wednesday February 10 at 7 p.m.

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Summer plans? Spend six weeks in Rwanda with Western’s Center for Service-Learning

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

For the past four years, Western students and faculty have traveled to Rwanda, forming friendships and partnerships with people in the village of Gashora, Rwanda. Gashora is a remote village; the center of town consists of two blocks.

Director of the Center for Service-Learning, Tim Costello said that Western has built a foundation of trust and ongoing relationships there and that the program evolves from year to year.

“What I love about this program is that we’re in it for the long haul,” he said. “I wouldn’t start a program unless I could tell the communities that are welcoming us that we’re coming back.”

The extent of many Americans’ knowledge of Rwanda comes from the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, a historical fiction film based on a very real genocide.

Rwanda has come a long way since then, and is now one of two countries in the world with a female majority in the national parliament.

“Rwanda has rebuilt itself in an amazingly short period of time,” Costello said. “It’s one of the top 10 safest countries in the world. It triggers those negative connotations of violence and disease, but I’ve been taking students to East Africa for six years and we’ve never had a single health issue or anything to do with violence. Nothing.”

Since last summer, a refugee camp has sprung up in Gashora, inhabited by people from Burundi who came to Rwanda seeking political asylum. Costello said that Western has been invited to work in the

refugee camp this coming summer.

Costello made it clear that they only do what they are asked to do and that they work with the community to figure out how to best use everyone’s strengths to meet some of the goals of the community, keeping in mind that they will only be in Gashora for six weeks.

The group from Western partners primarily with a regional health center to teach English to the staff there. The cohort also works with HIV positive people and their families and community health workers. Costello explained that the government gives community health workers a cell phone and a stipend and they triage any health issues in their area of the village.

“They’re trained in different areas of health,” he said. “It could be maternal health, children from zero to five, HIV positive, tuberculosis, those sorts of things. In this village they know every pregnant woman, and she’s documented. They know every child, they follow that child for six months and get them past the hump of being at risk for malnutrition.

We get to watch a really effective healthcare system that would never fly in the U.S.” The program is not just a volunteer trip, however. It is a study abroad through the Center for Service-Learning, so there is a big emphasis on the “learning” component as well. Every morning, the Western students have their own class time. They complete readings and written assignments as well as

analysis of their own service activities as case studies.

They also have Kinyarwanda, which is the official language of Rwanda, language lessons.

In the afternoons, students go to various work sites, including a women’s basket weaving collective, a boarding school, a local mosque or the health center.

“This experience totally changes your worldview,” Costello said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to see how most of the world lives and then reflect that back on how fortunate you are no matter what your

“What I love about this program is that we’re in it for the long haul. I wouldn’t start a program unless I could tell the communities that are welcoming us that we’re coming back.”

- Tim Costello Director of the Center for Service-Learning

Photos from last summers Service-Learning trip to Gashora, Rwanda. Photos courtesy of Grant McMeekin

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Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival comes to Western

BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK Basic human rights are essential--no question. Still, the world has not guaranteed human rights and fair treatment and to help the effort, the Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival (BHRFF) returns for its annual festival to broadcast civil rights inequalities. The Festival will take place all around Bellingham and even better, the event and parking are free.

The festival begins at Whatcom Community College on Feb. 19th at 2 p.m. with a film titled “El Canto del Colibrí” which investigates the lives of Latino immigrant fathers and their relationships with their LGBTQ family members.

Each featured movie has the backdrop of human rights, but range greatly in their stories. The festival selected films to clearly exhibit the international abundance of inequalities and mistreatments. Ranging from films about lighter, yet still vital topics like resurging a dying language to heavier but critical topics such as gun violence and racist murder.

The festival will screen “3 ½ minutes, 10 bullets” a film about the killing of black teenager Jordan Davis by a white man due to Davis’ playing of loud music. This documentary, featured in the Seattle International Film Festival, powerfully expresses the continually-repeated murders of blacks by white men.

The festival received the Mayor’s Arts Award last year because it simply provided an outlet for filmmakers to share their work and inform the festival’s patrons about injustice. A local Amnesty International group, group 270 also received an award from Amnesty International for their financial support of the film festival.

Organizations devoted to equality and rights are more than happy to fund the festival as it spans on for so long, and presents many necessary films. A plethora of Bellingham businesses are also sponsoring the festival -- it’s clear Bellingham welcomes this festival.

Overall, the festival will feature 25 films from Feb. 19-27. For more information on the films, their synopses, and further showings, go to http://bhrff.webs. com/2016festivalschedule.htm .

Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival Western Screenings 3 1/2 minutes, 10 bullets // Saturday, Feb 20 at 7 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300 Homeless in Bellingham: Cold, Dirty and Scary // Sunday, Feb 21 at 12 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300 The Hand That Feeds //Sunday, Feb 21 at 12:45 p.m. //Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300

Photos from last summers Service-Learning trip to Gashora, Rwanda.

Photos courtesy of Grant McMeekin socioeconomic background is.”

He also said that many students end up changing their majors when they return from Rwanda because the trip brings greater focus to their interests. He has seen his students end up in leadership positions, joining Peace Corps and finding jobs that fit their passions.

“The experience comes with an amazing amount of hope,” he said. Because you get to see how people living in extreme poverty survive and even thrive. They’re able to have the same kind of valuable productive lives that we have, it just looks a little different.”

Tashi and the Monk // Sunday, Feb 21 at 2:15 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300 Overpass Light Brigade // Sunday, Feb 21 at 3:15 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium India’s Daughter // Sunday, Feb 21 at 3:30 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium Who is Dayani Cristal? // Sunday, Feb 21 at 7 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300 Dirty Gold War // Monday, Feb 22 at 7 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300 Kickflips Over Occupation // Tuesday, Feb 23 at 7 p.m. // Fairhaven College Auditorium, Room 300

Bellingham’s Alternative Library: a new location with the same charm

BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK

Inside the Alternative Library’s new location on 929 State Street. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

T

here is a mysterious old building on North State Street that houses many small operations; its wooden exterior is aged but strong and its ancient presence offers a peculiar charm to Bellingham.

The Alternative Library has just established its new location within a vacant room in that peculiar building. Officially ended their 8 month hiatus, the Library now occupies 929 State St. to provide a creative space for those urging to learn, network and experience something unconventionally curious.

The Alternative Library is an official non-profit organization founded in 2007, which has become a renowned landmark to many around Bellingham. Originally, the Alternative Library operated out of just two rooms in a house on North Forest Street, then moved to Make.Shift Art Space, followed by a colorful building on Railroad Avenue and most recently to the quaint and quiet room on State Street.

One of the library’s first patron’s was a Western Graduate named David Zhang.

Zhang continually visited the library and eventually created the circulation system with which the library manages its growing collection. The creation of the system epitomizes the passion and value patrons of the library have toward the organization. Unwaveringly, the Library believes in the necessity of volunteers. In fact, many of the co-directors of the Library were, and still are volunteers.

Zhang referred to the founding member of the Library, Future Man, as a vision-

ary. Future Man is well-connected with the Bellingham arts community and has an values the arts, curiosity and knowledge.

Kryss Adams, a previous volunteer but now co-director, sees the library as a haven both personally, and for those seeking something else.

“I like inviting authors to come read stuff and lining up a bunch of my friends who are amateur writers and kind of turning things into a circle,” Adams said. “I like to dissolve the line between the stage and crowd and get everyone involved.”

One recent event hosted by the Library involved an unexpected performance: a slideshow about the history of the bulleted list. This well-composed slideshow expresses the unorthodox approach to the arts the Library regards highest.

“I try to provide a safe and comfortable space for people to socialize,” Adams said. “I think a lot about designing events for introverts. I fantasize having events where people in the crowd are about of the show.”

The Library is supplied with over 7000 books, many of which were donated, that range from classics to comics and zines. The new space the Library occupies, has less space than their previous locations, so they had to leave many books behind. Fortunately, that was easy for the library to do; some of the books they left in storage were “1984” and “The Great Gatsby,” since patrons can easily go to a public library and check them out.

Originally, the Library started off small, with a collection of comics and a single

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bookshelf.It now officially operates as a 501c3 nonprofit with members paying $5 for a membership which funds the expansion of the collection.

Zhang is particularly fond of the Sci-Fi and spirituality sections in the Library. Lately, the Library has had to become less liberal with the books they accept because their primary book buyer closed down. However, they are asking their patrons to request as many books as possible to be held in the Library.

The Library wants its patrons to curate the collection.

The Library often hosts authors to read and discuss their books. The Library networks around Bellingham and has connections with local circus acts, stand-up comics and musicians. For their re-opening on Jan 24, the Alternative Library hosted four bands and a ritual blessing of their space performed by a local clown, all accompanied by a live, 1960’s-style, psychedelic light show.

“We just want to be the ultimate community center,” Adams said. “We will have a classroom, [and] a lot of unconventional events that aren’t about music and drinking.”

“The Library by nature is experimental,” Adams said, and endless experimentation will emerge from this growing organization.

Club Spotlight: Humans vs. Zombies

BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK

One of the biggest, most extravagant clubs on WWU’s campus turns Western into an undead battlefield where humans and zombies are pitted against each other to take over campus.

Humans vs Zombies is an internationally played game on college campuses and Western models the game well as 500 participants are consistently playing every quarter.

It is easy to spot the players of this club: orange bandannas and nerf guns. To identify humans, look for an orange bandanna worn as an armband, and to pinpoint the zombies, look to the player’s head for the orange bandanna. Humans carry nerf guns and socks to defend themselves from zombies who are trying to infect the humans with their disease.

The goal of the game is for the zombies to grow their population by turning humans into zombies, while the humans simply have to defend themselves. At the beginning of the game there are a limited number of “origin zombies” who are set out to infect as many humans as possible. The participants, once infected move their bandannas from their arm, to their head and then inform the organizers of the club of their transition.

The club tracks the changing populations everyday and updates their site with the newest data. The club only has one competition every Fall and Spring quarter, however for Winter quarter they only hold mini-games. In 2014, one mini-game the club organized was a king of the hill like game on the “Stairs to Nowhere” on the south campus grassy field. Players either attacked or defended a location.

On Feb. 27 the Humans vs. Zombies club will host their Viking Union building clear where zombies occupy every floor of the building, and the humans are set out to “clear the building.”

Anyone is able to join the club and fight against humans/zombies, however an orientation and a safety training is required to join.

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The Alternative Library’s entrance on North State Street, since late January. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

Participants of Humans v Zombies stand in front of Fisher fountain in Red Square. Photo courtesy of Humans v Zombies

12 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

Last week at the B Gallery:

The War in Ukraine Laura Vasyutynska

BFA student Laura Vasyutynska has been training as an artist since she was a child. In 2001 she moved from her hometown Zhitomir, Ukraine to Seattle. She works primarily with oils but also uses graphite and watercolor.

“The selection of my paintings that I am currently showing has Ukrainian influence, with personal and political subject matter.

Two years ago, the anti-government protests rose at the main square in Kiev Ukraine.

I remember that time very well and even though I was in Seattle, a big part of me was there at Maidan with my family, friends and the rest of the Ukrainians. However, Maidan provoked the war between Russia and Ukraine that still continues without solution for peace. In this art show, I would like to share with viewers my personal reflection on the conflict situation in my country through my paintings, by pursuing further political subject matter and my Ukrainian heritage in them.” Laura Vasyutynska.

Photos by Trevor Grimm // AS Review