AS Review - March 29, 2016

Viking Comedy Hour to perform student-written sketches, PAGE 3 An update on Western’s spring sports, PAGE 5

Vol. 31 #23 03.29.16

2 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

Fisher Fountain has been re-filled for the start of spring quarter. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review

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.

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 Will McCoy Morgan Annable Chris Beswetherick Becky Campbell Ian Sanquist Adviser Jeff Bates

Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers

TOP: A student’s art piece from Art 203 hangs in the hallways of the Art Annex. BOTTOM: A cherry tree blossoms on campus. Photos by Trevor Grimm and Alex Bartick // AS Review

3.29.2016 3

Weekly Club Spotlight:

EVENTS

Board Game Club

BY CHRIS BESETHERWICK The opinion of games is multi-faceted; they are known to entertain and relax, but often times are thought to waste time and lack academic value. However, board games are a method with which anyone can workout their brain and be competitive in a unique way.

Western’s Board Game Club offers brain exercises bi-weekly as they meet to play competitively and just for fun. Each meeting is spent playing various board games, such as classic mind games like chess and cribbage, to more imaginative, role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons.

With over 100 members on their facebook page, each member dedicates themselves to practice and compete with board games in a comfortable environment. “[The board game club] create[s] a safe, non-discriminatory and fun environment for Western students to gather and enjoy board games together,” their mission statement reads.

The club recently participated in Bellingham’s MegaGames’ board game event “Watch The Skies: Neptune’s Fury” where those who participated spent an entire Saturday in a Sci-Fi world focusing on an alien occupation of the earth. With around 50 players who all have distinct roles in the game, such as aliens, earthlings and other professionals, they progress through a story about earth’s falling.

This team-based game epitomizes the community of the club in that everyone wants to attend and share their mutual interest with friends.

“My favorite thing about board game club is that I am able to do two things I love,” Sophie Marinkovich said, “play games and challenge my mind while simultaneously hanging out with people I love.”

The club typically meets on Mondays in room 464 of the VU from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. as well as Saturdays from 1 p.m. until they decide it’s time to end in the Sehome Haggen.

Top Ten: March 14-20 1

Painting With Animal Collective

2

Art Angels Grimes

3

Interior Light Young Rival

4

The Last Thing On My Mind Joy Formidable

5

Dark Sweet Night Light Hermitude

6

Product 3 Beat Connection

7

What Went Down Foals

8

Heatwave Wild Ones

9

Thank Your Lucky Stars Beach House

10

A pile of board games. Photos courtesy of WikiCommons

Fading Frontier Deerhunter 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.

4 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

Viking Comedy Hour to perform on April 1

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

On April Fools’ Day, the ensemble cast of Viking Comedy Hour will perform sketches written by Western students. The free show, entitled Fools Day Viking Comedy Hour Show, starts at 8 p.m. on April 1 and will run for between 50 and 70 minutes.

“It’s a free, fun event. It’s a night of laughs,” Senior Austin Harry said of the show.

Viking Comedy Hour, a subset of the club L.A.F.S. (Laughs at Funny Sketches), started two years ago. Members of the group work on memorizing sketches to perform at showcases like the one on April 1.

Seniors Austin Harry, Summer Storholt, and Michael Millard lead the club. The ensemble consists of twelve Western students who had to go through an audition process and were then chosen by Harry, Storholt, and Millard. They then get casted in sketches that they—or other Western students—write.

“It’s similar in format to Saturday Night

Live,” Storholt said.

Harry said that past shows have featured musical guests and standup comics, but that this show will have one musical guest and allowing them to perform more throughout the show.

Storholt is most excited about a sketch entitled “Mr. Wilder.” She wrote the sketch and said that she is very proud of it.

“I don’t want to give away too many details,” Millard said of Storholt’s sketch. “But it’s a classroom setting.”

Storholt is also excited for Western Update, a spinoff of SNL’s Weekend Update. She co-anchored the sketch last year and had a lot of fun. This year, she and her co-anchor sat down and wrote 20 jokes in one night.

“I’m very proud of those jokes,” she said.

“I’m very excited to tell them, that’s a dream come true.”

Harry is excited to showcase a sketch he

wrote with Ben Briggs about a vacuum cleaner store and the Italian family that owns it.

Because the show is right after Easter, some of the sketches are relevant to the holiday and to the season.

Any Western student who writes a sketch can submit it to Viking Comedy Hour and the cast, who all write their own sketches as well, will help the student workshop the piece and figure out where to go with it. That is how they got most of their sketches last year.

“This year it’s a lot of ensemble-written sketches,” Millard said. “Which brings a new sense of ownership to it.”

“Yeah, it’s fun for the ensemble to be so excited about the sketches that they made and then see them come to life,” Storholt said.

Harry agreed, saying that having the ensemble write their own sketches contributes to their growth as individuals and as a group.

“We get to know each other better as actors

and as writers, and we get to adhere to each others strengths,” he said.

The majority of the ensemble cast this year are freshmen, which the three leaders of the club said was coincidental, but it ended up working really well.

“They’ve been super willing to learn and subject themselves to stuff that’s probably pretty crazy from an outside perspective,” Millard said.

“They’re just excited,” Storholt said. “It revives an excitement in me, because I’m very passionate about this.”

“You can’t teach enthusiasm,” Millard said.

All three emphasized that the show is free and that they are confident in the quality of the sketches as well as the actors performing them.

Tips, safety and rules for biking on campus

BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK Known for its health and environmental benefits, biking is an excellent form of exercise and fun. Biking to-and-from campus, however, can be tricky with a hilly Bellingham and not the most bike friendly roads. To better the safety of yourself, drivers and students in-and-off campus, as well as to learn some tips for Bellingham Biking, consider the following advice. Especially with Spring Quarter just beginning, the want to bike is ever-growing.

OFF CAMPUS BIKING The number one rule, which so many break is simply to wear a helmet. There are countless deaths each day which involve bike and car collisions, and a helmet can easily save you from death. Also, when you learned to ride a bike, didn’t your parents always say to wear your helmet?

Of course, there are other road cautions to avoid in order to bike more safely. Take these precautions to prevent any injuries.

Use bike lights. Early in the morning, and at night drivers’ eyes adjust to the changing light and cannot make clear distinctions in the road, therefore using lights on the front and back of your back will make your figure obvious on the road.

Use designated bike lanes. Drivers easily become frustrated as a result of bikers traveling at lower speeds than them. While bikes do have the right-of-way, there are also bike lanes on

most roads, so when available, make use of them, or the sidewalk in order to be safe from fast and heavy cars.

Check your tires. Evaluate the amount of air in both of your tires and if low, fill it up.

ON CAMPUS BIKING When you do finally arrive to campus, the safest, as well as quickest bike route from south campus to north campus is the East College Way road which leads behind Arntzen Hall and ends by Miller Hall and Old Main.

Once you arrive on campus, dismount your bike in order to avoid any tickets. Western’s Bike Educator Josh Kirsch says anywhere in Red Square, and the path in between the Fine Arts Building and The Carver Gym Construction are high traffic zones, and fast bikers can easily hurt someone walking through. In fact, University Police will hand out tickets to bikers riding through these restricted areas.

Visit: http://www.wwu.edu/transportation/Cycling.shtml for all information regarding on-campus biking.

BIKE SECURITY AND MAINTENANCE Bikes are highly wanted items and therefore are very prone to theft. Purchase a bike lock, U-Locks specifically so a bike thief cannot steal your bike either by using wire cutters, or by simply hopping on and riding off on an unprotected bike.

Bikes are expensive, so keep them in good condition. Simple steps such as leaving it out of the rain increase the longevity of the bike by preventing the gears from rusting. Also, by wiping off any mud will keep your bike attractive.

The Outdoor Center offers bike maintenance to anyone needing it. There are many trained bike technicians at the Outdoor Center who will fix many bike malfunctions.

BIKE TIPS If you are riding your bike to campus but are also taking a bus, putting your bike on the bus’ rack takes no time and effort. Simply grab the handle of the rack like you would hold a suitcase and pull the rack down so it is perpendicular to the front of the bus. Then lift your bike to the rack and repeat that same motion with the handle at the front of the bike and raise it over the front tire.

The West College Way hill adjacent to the Wade King Recreation Center is an excellent hill to ride fast down, however be cautious as there is a streetlight many buses and cars pass through.

For those who live south of campus, riding down 24th is calm, open and entirely downhill road perfect for fun ride.

There are also many viewpoints on this route, like Joe’s farm if you turn left onto Douglas from 24th Street, there is also a trail which brings you to Donovan and 30th.

3.29.2016 5

1 An update on Western’s spring sports

e

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

TRACK AND FIELD During finals week, three Vikings traveled to Pittsburg, Kansas to compete in the NCAA Division II Track and Field National Championships. Junior high jumper Miranda Osadchey placed eleventh, Senior 60 meter hurdler Travis Milbrandt placed fourteenth, and Junior triple jumper Jasmine McMullin placed eleventh.

game but rebounded in the second game of the day. The Western softball team is now ranked third in the Greater Northwest Athletic Conference with a record of five wins and three losses within conference play.

Freshman Shearyna Labasan was named the GNAC Softball Pitcher of the Week after the four-game series against NNU. The softball team has a series of games in Turlock, California on between March 29 and April 3.

On April 22 they will play a double-header against Central Washington University and the next day they will face Saint Martin’s University. All of these home games will be played at the Viking Softball Field on south campus.

WOMEN’S CREW The women’s crew team had their first competition of the 2016 season on March 12 at the Pacific Lutheran University Invitational on American Lake in Lakewood, Washington. They competed against the University of Portland, Seattle University, Seattle Pacific, University of Puget sound, and Pacific Lutheran University.

Most years, the season starts in late March, but this year the Vikings are excited to start their competition season a few weeks earlier than usual.

Head coach John Fuchs was pleased with the team’s performance at the season opener.

“We started out great winning the first three races,” he said. “We learned some things, did some things well, and went up against some good competition.”

The crew team has another regatta on April 2, at the Husky Open in Seattle on Montlake Cut. Women’s rowing has their only home regatta of the season on April 23 at Lake Samish, where the Vikings will compete against University of Central Oklahoma and Seattle Pacific University.

Jasmine McMullin at the May 2015 GNAC Outdoor Championships in Monmouth, Oregon. Photo by Morgan Annable // AS Review Osadchey, Milbrandt, McMullin, and the rest of the track team are not done competing now that the indoor season is complete. The Vikings had their first meet of the outdoor season on March 5 at University of Puget Sound.

At the season opener, Senior Bethany Drake won the javelin competition with a throw of 164 feet ’7 inches”, a mark that earned her automatic qualification for the Outdoor National Championship meet. Including Drake’s javelin performance, Viking women took the gold four events. Senior Katelyn Wright won high jump at 5 feet ’3 inches”, Junior Megan Mortenson won shot put with 143 feet’ 10inches”, and Freshman Tracy Melville won the 10,000 meter in 37 minutes :44.53 seconds.

For the men’s team, Freshman Tre’Von Powe won the 100 meter in 11.28 seconds and the 200 meter in 22.54 seconds. Senior Matt Lutz won the 3,000 meter steeplechase in 9 minutes :15.15 seconds for a NCAA Division II provisional mark, Junior shot putter Brandon Pless won with a throw of 49 feet ”7.25inches ” and Sophomore Isaac Derline placed first in the 1,500 meter with a time of 4 minutes :01.50 seconds..

The Western track and field team has a home meet on April 30 at Civic Field.

SOFTBALL As of the end of winter quarter, the women’s softball team had won ten of their eighteen games so far in the season. On March 4 and 5 they played two home games each day versus Northwest Nazarene. Each day, the Vikings lost the first

WOMEN’S GOLF On March 8 the women’s golf team placed second at the Tim Tierney Pioneer Shootout at the Hiddenbrooke Golf Club among a field of thirteen teams total.

Sophomore Jenn Paul won individual medalist honors after shooting a 2-over-par first round and a 3-under-par second round. Paul is the first Viking golfer to win a regular-season tournament since 2011 and the third in Western history to finish a tournament under par.

The Vikings had a combined score of 23-over-par. The team was ranked 27th nationally before the tournament, and their second2nd place finish beat the twelfth-ranked Tarleton State University, fourteenth-ranked California Baptist University, fifteenth-ranked St. Mary’s, and 21st-ranked Academy of Art. MEN’S GOLF In mid-February the men’s golf team tied with Sonoma State University for third place at the East/West Bay Area Invitational tournament on February 16 in Livermore, California amidst a field of eleven teams. The Vikings led the tournament at the end of the first day, but slipped to third place in the final round on the second day.

Junior Brett Johnson finished ten over par and tied for fifth place individually.

The Western men’s golf team will travel to Goodyear, Arizona to compete again on April 4 at the Mustang Intercollegiate hosted by Western New Mexico University.

6 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

Lakewood Recreation Center: your path to Lake Whatcom

BY WILL MCCOY

With spring quarter just starting, students are looking for ways to get out of their homes and dorms in search of activities to do in the warm weather. One of Westerns hidden gems is Lakewood Recreation Center which is available to all students, faculty and staff.

Lakewood is located on the west side of Lake Whatcom, and is open for students to use during spring and summer. Students can spend all day in the sun doing fun activities on land and in the water.

The Lakewood boathouse contains over 60 watercrafts, ranging from paddle boards and kayaks to two-person sailboats. If a student is looking to rent one of these watercrafts, an all-day fee of $6 will be required. This cheap fee provides one with a day full of fun on the water.

Sailing lessons are also available at an hourly rate for students, faculty and staff who would like to

strengthen their skills on the open waters.

Make sure to check the weather before going to Lakewood. You do not want to get stuck in the middle of Lake Whatcom on a sailboat without any wind, or be kayaking back to the boat house against some strong winds.

If you don’t feel like spending money but still want to enjoy Lakewood, there is a large grass field and picnic benches available to use and hang out at.

Swimming is always free, and there are several docks to jump off of.

There are activities for everyone to enjoy, even if you are not a fan of the water. Lakewood offers a ropes course challenge for students who seek an adrenalin rush. There are a few hiking trails that start near the recreation center as well.

During the spring and summer quarter Western

offers classes that you can take at Lakewood. Sailing is the most popular class that students take. The class is taught by members of the Western sailing team, and students are taught to maneuver the two-person sailboats. Students must pass a swim test before learning how to sail. These classes are offered Tuesday and Thursdays, and Lakewood is closed to the public on these days.

Lakewood is also home to Westerns Crew and Sailing teams. Both teams practice at Lake Whatcom during the school year and attend national regattas.

These teams use the same types of watercrafts that are available for students to use.

Whether you come to try your hand at controlling a sail boat, or just to sit and soak up some sun, Lakewood is the perfect, cheap get away for Western students.

Views at Lakewood Boathouse. Photos by Issac K Martin // AS Review

Spend sunny spring days out on a boat for class credit

BY BECKY CAMPBELL

I

f you are looking into starting some new and unique classes this Spring Quarter as Western, look no further than the Physical Education department and the water-skills based classes that are offered.

Beginning Sailing, Beginning Sailboat Racing, Beginning Windsurfing and Beginning Kayak Touring will all be offered to students of Western, regardless of any prerequisites.

Jeffery Davis is the instructor for all these courses except for Beginning Kayak Touring which will be offered by Dylan Rees. Davis has been teaching boat-related classes on Western’s campus since 2007 and is highly recommended by students according to his RateMyProfessor.com profile page. Even if you are beginning in any of these courses, students all agree that this is one of the most

fun physical education courses that they have ever taken. Davis was appointed sports director on campus last fall quarter and has also been in athletic communications at the professional and collegiate levels for well over 15 years, include some time with the Seattle Mariners.

In Beginning Sailboating, students will learn the basics of safe and effective sailing for enjoyment and lifelong health as well as learning how to prepare for sailing and perform basic sailing skills. This class will be offered by Davis on Tuesdays and Thursdays from either 2:30 - 4:20 p.m. or 4:30 - 6:30 p.m..

Students who are more interested in skills that are slightly more competitive and are encouraged to check out Beginning

Sailboat Racing which is offered from Davis on Mondays from 2:30 -4:20 p.m. or 4:30 6:30 p.m.. Students will be introduced to collegiate style sailboat racing with emphasis on strategy, boat handling and tactics.

Classroom time will include lectures and demonstrations on how to use the water drills to develop skills and concepts involved in racing.

Davis will also instruct students in the Beginning Windsurfing classes which will be offered on Mondays and Wednesday from 2:30 -4:20 p.m. or 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.. In windsurfing, students will learn the basics of windsurfing in a safe environment that will teach them how to handle their gear effectively.

Dylan Reese will be offering Beginning

Kayak Touring on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 -4:20 p.m. or 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. and will be instructing students to the basic skills of the sport that including boat handling, rescues, navigation, weather and safety tactics with an extra instructional emphasis on the water paddling skills.

All these 1-credit courses are considered in the Pass/Fail section of grading and require an additional fee from the Academic Special Courses Department of Western which go to cover costs of materials, insurance and other items needed for these exciting and exhilarating courses. To learn more about these classes visit: http://www. wwu.edu/ee/ayss/fitness.shtml.

3.29.2016

NEED TEXTBOOKS FOR NEXT QUARTER? HERE’S WHERE TO LOOK

BY BECKY CAMPBELL

- As students most of us are always trying to save money when it comes to housing, food and textbooks – especially the later. With prices of textbooks continually rising and now at a 864 percent inflation rate since 1980, getting a cheap textbook on the fly is the ever e elusive holy grail of academia costs.

At Western there is a few options that students can go through to purchase their textbooks which include the bookstore, word-of-mouth and online via places like Amazon or Facebook groups. But which one is really the best? Here at the AS Review we went through several of these sources for your textbooks at a bargain.

The AS Bookstore is the main place most Western students get their textbooks. The bookstore has an option to either purchase or rent your textbooks and many students are now choosing to go with renting a book rather than

paying full price for something that they may not even be able to get money back on at the end of the quarter. When renting, students have an option of purchasing at 30, 60 and 90-day intervals.

All revenues from purchasing books at the bookstore do go to support campus programs and activities including the Outdoor Center, KUGS 89.3 and AS Productions.

Online services such as Craigslist, Facebook and Amazon seem to be the most popular by students as they doesn’t require much effort and there are no lines to purchase or sell back books.

Craigslist is not only used for finding a job or selling a car, you can also use this online community message board as a place to find or sell your textbooks.

With ads reading, “College Business Ethics Textbook - $10”, many students note Craiglist as a must-go when

searching out cheap textbooks. On this website search by title and some textbooks come up as cheap as ten dollars.

Unlike the bookstore, you might not always find what you are looking for as this is not an official textbook vending website.

Over the past five years Facebook groups have been dominating the popular social media website including one titled, “WWU Textbook Purchase/ Exchange”, where you can, in real-time sell your textbooks to students at Western. Some find this option more appealing because of the ease of accessibility to most users. Textbooks on Facebook tend to be in the same price range as Craiglist, but typically will have a book you are looking for due to to popularity of the website among college students.

Amazon’s website is a pretty safe bet for anyone looking to buy or rent

textbooks. Amazon also offers up to a 80 percent textbook trade-in for those students who don’t mind an amazon gift-card over cash. Books can be searched by title, author, ISBN number or keyword making it the easiest place to search for textbooks for any class.

One place that most students don’t tend to look is the online Viking Village located on Western’s orgsync website. These message boards include everything from students looking for new roommates to different types of activities happening on campus. While this is a less well-known resource for students, you can find books that have been used in classes directly on campus. Prices reflect Facebook and Craigslist offerings but are typically a tad higher as most students are trying to make a profit of their books.

Students form club in protest against animals on campus

BY MORGAN ANNABLE

During the last two weeks of the quarter, over two thousand students visited the dogs and cats in the library.

These animals provided comfort and stress relief to Western students as we approached our final exams, projects, presentations and essays. However, some students were negatively affected by the animals.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, approximately 15 percent% of Americans are allergic to dogs or cats. Sophomore Jack Fresno is a member of Students for the Abolishment of Dogs and Other Repulsive Creatures (SAD ORC). He said that their group formed after they noticed the animals in the library at the end of fall quarter.

“We are a dedicated group of students who will stop at nothing to get these horrible monsters out of spaces that are supposed to be inclusive,” he said.

The group began a partnership with Whatcom True Humans (WTH), another anti-animal group, in early February.

“We could see it coming,” Fresno said. “The light at the end of the tunnel, I mean. The tunnel is the academic quarter and the light is the end of finals week. But along with that light comes some truly hideous things, and we

had to avoid that.”

He said that WTH really helped the student group establish themselves as a functional club.

“They’re a group of Bellingham community members, well-known business owners, people who have influence,” he said. “And they are all people who agree with us and our demands. They know how to get things done, and they helped us get an appearance at a board meeting.”

Lara Eckstein is the president of WTH. She said that her group was excited to partner with Western students.

“We started as a small resistance movement,” Eckstein said. “It was just three of us who were passionate. At first we didn’t think we could make it work, but you’d be surprised how many people hate cats and dogs.”

Eckstein and her fellow workers in WTH and SAD ORC were disappointed that they were not able to affect change within the Wilson Library for finals week of winter quarter, but they are stalwart in their fight to ban non-service mammals from the library. The partnership recently met with several higher-ups in the library staff and both groups were satisfied with how the meeting went.

“Apparently some of the library staff have complained

as well,” Eckstein said. “And they weren’t even members of either WTH or SAD ORC. As I said, you’d be surprised how many people hate these disgusting creatures.”

Students who love seeing animals in the library every quarter should not be dismayed. The members of SAD ORC are willing to compromise. At the end of spring quarter, Western students will be able to visit the library and cuddle with Komodo dragons, anacondas, and goldfish. The student group is currently working on getting a couple of seahorse wranglers to bring their animals.

“We’re not monsters, you know,” Fresno said. “We don’t want to take away students’ comfort. That’s why we’re working with the university and Wilson Library to make sure there are animals in the library that won’t cause students harm via allergies.”

Happy April Fools’ Day (Week) from the AS Review! All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

8 • as.wwu.edu/asreview

How Space Turns (Wie Raum Wird) in the Western Gallery

How Space Turns (Wie Raum Wird) is in the Western Gallery until May 12. Photos by Trevor Grimm // AS Review