Vol. 31 #29 05.16.16
Vol. 30 # #.#.#
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A piece of student artwork submitted for the Beyond Borders Exhibition in the VU Gallery. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review
Zine Club exhibit at the B-Gallery
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
Artwork by: Cassy Brown
© 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.
Artwork by: Nils Whisman
Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers
Marina Price Alexandra Bartick Trevor Grimm Ian Sanquist Will McCoy Chris Beswetherick Becky Campbell Morgan Annable
Adviser Jeff Bates
Artwork by: Cassy Brown
Zines by: Paul Zero
5/16/2016 • 3
EVENTS Jazz Jams Monday, 5/16 // 7 - 9 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free Jazz jam session for all student jazz musicians. Bring your own gear to join.
Western Hmong Student Association’s Mad Hatter Tea Party Tuesday, 5/17 // 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. // VU 462 A/B // Entry by donation You are invited to the Mad Hatter Tea Party. Dress up and cosplay is encouraged. Tea and treats will be for sale, cash only.
Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, 5/17 // 6 - 8 p.m. // Parks Hall 228 // Free Western Washington Students for Life in conjunction with WWU Young Americans for Liberty, the None of the Above Club and Students for Sensible Drug Policy will be hosting a town hall meeting with Whatcom County legislators.
Open Mic Night Tuesday, 5/17 // 7 - 9 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // Free Signups for a 5 minute slot are at 6:30 p.m. the show starts at 7:00 p.m.
Sustainable Action Fund Annual Showcase Wednesday 5/18 // 4 - 6 p.m. // Academic West Skybridge // Free Meet this year’s SAF grant awardee’s and learn about their projects while enjoying a meal catered by Western’s catering crew.
Islamic Awareness Trivia Night Thursday, 5/19 // 7 - 9 p.m. // Underground Coffeehouse // $1 Come learn about Islam in a fun setting. Learn more on page 9.
AS Board Inauguration Tuesday, 5/24 // 7 p.m. // Viking Union Multipurpose Room // Free Come meet next year’s AS President and Board of Directors! Refreshments will be provided.
Space Jam Tuesday, 5/24 // 8 p.m. // Comm Lawn // Free Come at 8 p.m. for fun activities, movie starts at 9:30. Bring a blanket and a snack! .
Top Ten: May 9-14 1
Junk M83
2
Leave Me Alone Hinds
3
Iii Miike Snow
4
Thank Your Lucky Stars Beach House
5
What Went Down Foals
6
You Know Who You Are Nada Surf
7
Are You Serious Andrew Bird
8
Lookout Fine Prince
9
99cents Santigold
10
Pineapple Pizza Death by Unga Bunga 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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Stephanie Cheng will be your next AS President BY MORGAN ANNABLE She may have been a friendly face greeting you the first time you came to Western’s campus for orientation. Maybe you have seen her snapping portraits of her friends on campus. Perhaps you have never met her. But you are about to. On May 24, Stephanie Cheng will be sworn in as the AS President for the 2016-17 school year. Cheng is a Journalism Public Relations major in her junior year at Western. She originally contacted the AS board to inquire about a communications job, and ended up chatting about the AS President job. At that time, multiple people from inside and outside the AS began encouraging Cheng to run. “I thought that, because I was on the Presidential Search Committee, that this would be a really good time to have an AS President who has experience working with the new university president,” Cheng said. “That further drove the point home, of wanting to run.” Cheng started working for New Student Services as a freshman, and is now the Student Coordinator for Training and Development, so she works on a committee that interviews and hires twenty Orientation Student Advisors. Then, she participates in training those students so that they have all the resources they need to successfully guide incoming freshmen and transfer students through their Summerstart orientation in the summer. During summer, Cheng coordinates the scheduling for orientation and makes sure that everything is running smoothly. “I also engage in a lot of family and student panels and talk to them about what their fears are and what they are looking for,” she said.
Cheng’s experiences speaking with incoming students inspired her to run for AS President because she realized that students often do not know about all of the resources that are available to them. Cheng ran on a platform that revolved around accessibility, centering marginalized students in conversations around campus and transparency. “The way that we present information to students
“The way that we present information to students needs to be more accessible. There is a lot of rhetoric being used and a lot of university communications that is really academic.” - Stephanie Cheng, 2016-17 AS President needs to be more accessible,” she said. “There is a lot of rhetoric being used and a lot of university communications that is really academic.” Cheng has noticed that when there is a committee made up of faculty or administrators and students, that the only students in the room will not be students of marginalized identities. “Often you get into a room and there might be one or two students there with a ton of faculty, and typically those students aren’t marginalized students,”
she said. “So how do we bring marginalized students to that conversation? And how do we not only create spaces for them, but create safe spaces?” The third pillar of her platform, transparency, goes hand in hand with the accessibility portion of her campaign platform. “There are a lot of things happening, especially with the huge shift of getting a new university president, and a lot of students don’t know what is going on,” Cheng said. Many of the incoming AS board members spoke about a restructure of the AS during the campaign process. Cheng supports the idea of examining the AS and looking for ways to improve it to meet students’ needs. “Right now it’s the hierarchy of the AS that is being evaluated,” Cheng said. “When you have institutions that have existed for a long time it’s important to be constantly checking in and reevaluating the purpose, whether we are serving that purpose, and, if not, how to serve that purpose.” Cheng has experience working with various student and faculty groups across campus. She has seen campus issues through the eyes of new students as well as from the perspective of a Western employee. “I think I have a really wide breadth of experience,” she said. “I have worked with a lot of administration and I have been able to voice a lot of my opinions as a student.” Cheng plans to use the relationships she has with faculty, administrators and fellow students at Western to further the goals of the AS and to advocate for student needs.
The AS Elections results were announced on April 29. These candidates have all been elected to make up the 2016-17 AS Board of Directors
Stephanie Cheng President
Erick Yanzon VP for Academic Affairs
Mary Moeller VP for Business and Operations
Wayne Rocque VP for Student Life
Alyeda Cervantes VP for Diversity
Bryce Hammer VP for Governmental Affairs
Alex Lavallee VP for Activities
5/16/2016 • 5
Western’s Design department to host another year of Design Days BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK Scholars week is every department’s yearly opportunity to highlight the work of their undergraduate students as well as the department’s own work. The Design department curates Design Days, a student-and-teacher-organized event to share design with the school. Design Days is a week-long design exhibition starting today and ending Friday all throughout campus featuring keynote speakers, artwork and interactive booths open to everyone. “Design Days is a week to celebrate design within the WWU community,” department head Elsi Vassdal-Ellis said to her students. The week begins with “Designing with Empathy,” a student lecture about how students approach human-centered design and how it can help solve problems. Students will discuss how design can catalyze change and discussion. Scholars week aims to have students present about working within the department, and here students will lecture entirely based on what they have learned.
Similarly, the design department invited alumni and important current design luminaries to participate and lecture on their work. For example, the week culminates with a keynote speech from designer Kirk James, founder of the portland-based design firm Cinco. James started this firm and will discuss his experiences with starting the company. Not only will he come, but also the Senior Graphic Designer of Starbucks, Fumi Watanabe, who graduated from Western in 2001 will also come with insight from her growing professional career. This lecture will take place at 5 p.m. today in Academic West 204. Inside Academic West this week will be examples of student works for a Design Days assignment the entire major was invited to entitled “Just Our Type.” Designers chose one letter from the alphabet and then embellish that letter with graphics related to individual passions to create a cohesive letter showing equally the letter, and the content of the designer’s passion. These works will hang all week in the
building. A variety of other students’ class projects were also submitted to the event so projects will be put on display to show exactly what the product of the classes is. These examples will hang in the Fine Arts building all week. Finally, there is also an impressive student video reel strung together by various designers in the major, making for a long video of motion graphics, brandwork and commercials. This showcase will take place Wednesday May 18 at 5 p.m. in Academic West 204. Many students from the design major also over this last summer traveled through Germany and Switzerland and studied at different institutions in either location. Now, after their worldwide trip, they will present and showcase a video of their summer in Europe and really prove how the Design program has been important to them in understanding cultures and allowing them to see these cultures. This lecture takes place on Tuesday
The Viking Union gets a paint job BY MARINA PRICE Tuesday May 17 will be the first day of painting for the Viking Union’s paint improvement project. The project will see a big change from the white walls of the current building, featuring bright colors and big informational lettering describing the features of each floor. The painters will be using paint with low levels of violate organic compounds, but the painters will do their best to minimize the impact on others, said VU Greg McBride in a building-wide email. AS Publicity Center designers Zach Becker and Amelia Barlow designed the images for the west lobby space areas. The painting project is projected to continue until at least mid June, although further improvements may continue into the summer months. Design by Zach Becker // AS Publicity Center
may 17, again in Fraser Hall 102 at 11 a.m. These few lectures only make up a small bit of the all-week event, which will give the audience such a variation and understanding of the department. In fact, the organization of the event has so much to offer, the design department has made it easy to participate in fun activities. Their most anticipated event is the interactive screen printing, where students bring the screen printer out from the Fine Arts building, into red square to let anyone make a print using the program’s materials, and a design from a student. Shirts and posters can be made. The department also is bringing materials to bind books similarly to an upper division class for design majors. The department wants to give the school the chance to become a design major for a short while in their scholars week contributions and really prove what the department can do.
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Did You Know? WESTERN
Interesting facts about WWU A COLUMN BY WILL MCCOY
As the spring days become consistently warmer, students head outside to study in the sun or just take a break before returning to class. Red Square is usually packed due to the open space it provides as well as Fisher Fountain in the center of the courtyard. One of the biggest questions you hear students ask is how the height of the fountain changes. There have been rumors circulating on campus that might explain why the water height is always changing. One is that it changes height depending on the time of the day, while another states it just randomly changes. As it turns out, the wind is what controls the height of the water in the fountain, Sean Petersmark, Western Alum and former Western Admissions employee, said. Before the height of the water was ever changed, it would stay at the same height. During the windy school days, unlucky students would be sprayed by the water as they walked through Red Square. In 2009, an engineering student was fed up with being sprayed over and over again, Petersmark said. They decided to propose a solution to fix this problem. In order to stop the fountain from spraying everyone, the height needed to constantly change in order to match the speed of the wind. The engineering student proposed that the university install an anemometer, a device that measures wind speed, on a roof near the fountain and connect to its operating system so that it would change heights. This proposal was accepted and implemented in 2011, and the anemometer was placed on the roof if Bond Hall. As you walk by Fisher Fountain, look at the height of the water and see if you can notice how windy it is. If the water stream is high in the air you know that there is very little wind that day.
Staying Active this Spring : a column by Morgan Annable Arne Hanna Aquatic Center, located in the Civic Athletic Complex on Lakeway Drive, offers a variety of programs at the pool. There are recreational swim times, during which the diving board and 135 foot water slide are available as well as workout classes. One workout class taught at Arne Hanna is deep water running, offered weekday mornings at 10 a.m., Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Saturdays from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m., and Sundays at 1 - 4 p.m. For this activity, the
aquatic center provides flotation devices to aid in flotation, and an instructor leads participants through a set of exercises simulating running movements in terms of arm movement, leg movement, and body posture. This activity offers an intense workout without the impact of regular running. Studies done at the University of Wisconsin in 1991 suggested that deep water running is a form of cross training on par with or even superior to bicycling, while research from
Linfield College showed that this kind of workout is good for maintaining fitness but not building it. Another class is water aerobics, which is intended to help participants tone muscles and improve circulation. Water aerobics classes are offered every weekday at 8:30 - 10 a.m., and Saturdays at 8:45 p.m. Each class is an hour long. A similar class is the deep water aerobics class in the 12 foot deep diving area, offered from 5:45 - 6:45 p.m. every weekday.
For this class, all students are equipped with flotation equipment. A lower impact class, great for folks recuperating from surgery or injury or those with joint problems, is the arthritis exercise class. It is offered from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. To get to the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center by bus, take the 525 bus to the Pacific Street stop and walk down Orleans Street to the aquatic center.
5/16/2016 • 7
‘Beyond Borders’ exhibit now showing in the Viking Union gallery BY BECKY CAMPBELL Opening on Monday, May 16, the newest gallery show ‘Beyond Borders’ will be featured at the Viking Union Gallery. This show will feature the work of over 20 artists across the West Coast, including those from California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska in a juried competition. This annual competition has been going on for 21 years after it’s start in 1995. The newest Viking Union Gallery director, Jean-Louis Gazabat, helped to pick the submissions from the work of undergraduate artists from across the West Coast. All types of media formats were considered during this process. The title ‘Beyond Borders’ serves to remind viewers and participants that art has the power to transcend all boundaries and encourages communication across community, national, international and social borders. “This show was started to create and artistic community along the coast,” Gazabat said, “And to stimulate dialogue between artists that would normally not get the chance to interact.” The jurors for this competition were selected by Gazabat for their contributions to the art field and relation to the academic world, including Western. Jurors will select the artwork and winners in an anonymous submission process. These jurors include Everett Ison, who helped found a portion of the film school of Visual Arts in New York; Amy Shaloupka, a western alum currently curating at the Whatcom
Museum in Bellingham, Washington; and Western art professor Garth Amundsen. Out of the over 40 entrants that applied, the following Western students were accepted into the competition (in alphabetical order): Alea Clymer, Beaudry Allen, Breanna Coon, David Roon, Dylan Vogel, Ella Ordana, Galen Kydd, Jasmine Escalante, Jessica Olsen, Kimeree Bolla, Laura Vasyutynska, Louis Broadhead, Madeline Berkman, Madeline Thunder, Max Romey, Nate Sawtell, Pippa Lattey, Rachel Ivancic, and Rebecca Securest. Gazabat hopes to expose Western students (and not just art majors) to other student art across the West Coast that they would have no other chance to see and build upon the visual culture he sees at Western.
Pieces currently on display in the VU Gallery. Photos by Trevor Grimm // AS Review
Design by Hannah Schaffer // Publicity Center
“It enriches and gives students a chance to see other perspectives” Gazabat said. Winners will be announced at the closing reception for ‘Beyond Borders’ on Thursday, June 2, in the Viking Union Gallery from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m and will received cash prizes for First, Second and Third place. Honorable Mentions will be included when applicable. The last day for the show will be the day after the closing reception, on Friday, June, 3. For more information on the show contact Viking Union Gallery Director Jean-Louis (JL) Gazabat, in the Associated Students Production (ASP) office in Viking Union 422.
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Photo by Casey Cosley
Underground Coffeehouse Wednesday Night Concert Series
BANDS OF THE WEEK
Jamie Blake & Solipsis A MUSIC REVIEW BY IAN SANQUIST
J
amie Blake, an electronic beat maker from Seattle, will play in the Underground Coffeehouse this Wednesday at 7 p.m.. Blake will play with Solipsis, a baroque indie pop band from Victoria, B.C. Blake has several recordings available online, full of shimmering, glossy, chilled out electronic music with thoughtful arrangements and intriguing samples. His latest EP, “Evolve,” slides comfortably between hip hop and electronica, rework-
ing classic songs of romance, like Bob Marley’s “Is this Love” and Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing,” along with newer and less subtle tracks like Kelis’s “Milkshake”, to make a sensual, blissful lover’s album of neon synth notes and jazzy constellational bass. “You,” from Blake’s debut “From Now On EP” is his most experimental and haunting track, featuring a somber, lonesome central piano melody and a chopped up chorus of inhuman ululating voices that seem to emerge from a thick foggy cave of glitches and tremors. The bass gathers at a rapid pace, disorienting and trippy, like system overdrive as the song builds in intensity, merging the dense jazz electronica of Flying Lotus with the dark ambient electro battle music of Forest Swords. Solipsis is a recording project that seems to be mostly the work of one man, Eric Hogg, although if you listen to the music it certainly sounds like he’s playing with a full band. But a note on his Bandcamp page says, “All music written, recorded, mixed and mastered by Eric Hogg,” with the exception of drums on four tracks played by Jud MacKay. So one gets the idea that Hogg might be some kind of Brian Wilson-esque virtuoso working in isolation, translating his passing thoughts into delicious music. Which would follow, given that the band’s name, Solipsis, is a truncation of “solipsism,” or “solipsist,” a philosophical view that one’s self and thoughts are all that can be truly known to exist. The band’s sound is more Beatles than Beach Boys, though, full of arpeggiated melodies, the occasional thrust of wailing jet engine style guitar, layers of vocals, and lyrics with a dash of psychedelia. Think “Fool on the Hill” or “Lucy in the Sky.” Think Elliott Smith at his most baroque and upbeat, or Sparklehorse at its most lush and direct. This is twinkling British Invasion style twee pop by way of Canada, warm, catchy, and just strange enough to keep you guessing. Hogg sings with a quivering strength, the kind of voice that doesn’t seem to want to leave the bedroom. The album “Twilight Horizon” opens with “Along the Way,” a slowly building rock song with a fast thumping beat and the universal spirit-joining lyrical aspirations of a song like “I Am the Walrus.” “Inside a mind collective/The parts combine to form a whole/Everywhere you go/Everyone you know/Everything you find along the way,” Hogg sings. It’s not quite, “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together,” but what is? Anyway, Hogg’s vocal delivery is just polite and charming enough to be captivating. Solipsis and Jamie Blake will play this Wednesday in the Underground Coffeehouse at 7 p.m.
5/16/2016 • 9
The Underground Coffeehouse hosts its first Islam Awareness Trivia Night BY BECKY CAMPBELL
T
hen Underground Coffeehouse is hosting its first ever Islam Awareness Trivia Night on Thursday, May 19, from 7 - 9 p.m. This event, along with other previous trivia events at Western like Hip Hop History, Harry Potter and Secondary Education were created by the AS Productions to create a fun and
educational event for students. AS Underground Coffeehouse Coordinator, Karimeh Daneshmandi said that each quarter the AS Productions office tries to have at least two types of trivia events, one more light and fun in nature, and one more serious and educational like the Islam Awareness Trivia Night. In conjunction with the Muslim Student Association, the trivia night was important for Daneshmandi to have because she believed that there is a lot of confusion about what the religion of Islam is and who practices it. “There is a lot of backlash against the religion in this country currently and I think a lot of it has to do with ignorance and miseducation,” Daneshmandi said, “If it isn’t talked about, it’s not okay.” The Muslim Student Association is a student organization that strives to create unity and
“There is a lot of backlash against the religion [Islam] in this country currently and I think a lot of it has to do with ignorance and miseducation. If it isn’t talked about, it’s not okay.” -Karimeh Daneshmandi
Underground Coffeehouse Coordinator awareness between Muslim and non-Muslim students, faculty staff and community members through social activities, community services and religious dialogs. General activities of the club include: Weekly jum'ah prayers (Friday congregation) at Islamic Society of Whatcom County, halaqas, Ramadan iftars and during spring quarter, Islamic Awareness Week. This quarter, the Muslim Student Association will also be hosting ‘Ramadan-ify WWU!” in which a pre-Ramadan iftar (evening meal) on Saturday, June 4 from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Everything at the dinner will be free and students are encouraged to bring a friend to learn more about Ramadan and what it means to Muslims. For more information on this event and updates visit the Muslim Student Association’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MSAWWU. Ramadan is a holy month in the Islamic/Lunar calendar where Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn until sunset. The reasonings are many, but the main ones are for amplifying spirituality and placing oneself in the same position as those who do not receive food/drink as much as many of us do. The trivia event was created said Daneshmandi, to inform students who want to learn more about the religion in a safe place, for students interested in learning about Islam and Muslim Western students. “It is all about bringing awareness about the religion.” she said. The space is open to everyone, and not just Muslim students. Teams of 1-to-6 people are allowed and it is $1 per individual to participate. All proceeds from the event are split up between the first, second and third place teams. Daneshmandi said it is important to have these types of events in an academic setting because students are in college to learn, and it is an important time to talk about issues that don’t necessarily relate to them.
Design by Miriam Gootherts // Publicity Center
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Western’s Kinesiology Club organizes their first charity run
BY WILL MCCOY
A popular way to promote your health and the community you live in is by participating in a charity run. Western will have its own 5K charity run this spring hosted by the kinesiology club on campus. Westerns kinesiology club has partnered with Whatcom County’s Girls on the Run, a non-profit which inspires young girls to live a joyful, healthy and confident life, for this event. Half of the proceeds collected will be donated to this organization, while the other half will be collected by the kinesiology club to plan future events like this charity run. “The more I have learned about the charity we picked, I couldn’t be more excited to help them out as much as we can,” Celia Peacock, president of Westerns kinesiology club, said. “Girls on the Run is a fantastic program. Personally, I want to help adolescents in the future, and a program dedicated to enhancing the lives and empowering young girls through activity to take charge of their own minds is a program I would do anything to support.” The idea for a 5k charity run came from Peacock herself. When she first joined the kinesiology club last year, she explained that putting on a charity event is something she is interested in. This year as president of the kinesiology club, Peacock put her ideas into
motion and set up this year’s charity run. The 5K run will be hosted on May 21, and participants will run or walk through campus and up through the arboretum via the park trails. There is an alternative route that participants can use if they have strollers, wheelchairs or do not want to run or walk through the arboretum. This alternative route takes these participants up the access road between campus and the arboretum, Peacock said. Before the actual race, a shorter kid’s race will take place. If there are students or community members that would like to participate but do not want to stress out their children, this smaller race is perfect, Peacock said. Participants will also be entered to win several prizes at the end of the race. Once you sign up to run the 5K, your name will be put into a pool, where you might be selected to win gifts from Mallards Ice Cream, SuperFeet or a mystery box from Fairhaven Runners. Registration for the 5K run is now open and online. The Kinesiology club has made an event on Facebook titled “Kinesiology Club 5K Run/Walk”, where more information is posed about registration. Anyone can register, and the deadline is on May 21, at the start time of the race. The kinesiology club
would prefer for people to sign up earlier than the day of so they can get a better idea of the amount of participants, Peacock said. Adult’s registration fee is $8, and the children fee is $5. Planning the event has been easy for the most part, Peacock said. The biggest difficulty that Peacock and the kinesiology club have run into was managing time. They wanted to give out shirts and other gear for the event, but did not have time to gather all the materials. The kinesiology club is planning to start working on this event earlier in the year so that they can have all components, Peacock said. This is the first charity run that the kinesiology club has hosted, but there have been several other events put on by the club like guest speakers, volleyball marathons and football tournaments. The kinesiology club has created a Relay for Life team as well for the upcoming event in July. Peacock will be attending the event, but not participating. Due to her role as president, she has to oversee the event and make sure that everything runs smoothly. She also hopes that this event bring in enough funds to provide the community with future charitable events. Peacock says she would like to make this 5K run into an annual event.
MEChA hosts lowrider show on campus BY CHRIS BESWETHERICK On Sunday May 15th MEChA, the The Chicano@ student movement of Aztlan club, hosted their 16th annual Ridin’ Low in the 360 lowrider car show in the middle of red square to eradicate its stereotype and raise awareness of their club’s mission. An abundance of cars registered to attend and impressed their audience with the vehicle’s mechanisms. However, the impressive cars receive a strongly negative stereotype of being related to gang violence, drugs and theft and it has not stopped. “[I was] riding in a lowrider around Bellingham passing out information for the event and [I was] racially profiled and pulled over,” alumni Cecily Hazelrigg-Hernandez said. Preventing that profiling and
dismantling the lowrider stereotype inspires The MEChA club to advocate for their heritage. Lowriders define a part of Mexican-American
However, the stereotype overlooks the cultural and artistic value of lowriders and instead replaces praise with fear and hate.
“These lowriders show the true ingenuity and hard work needed to make the car,” -Cecily Hazelrigg- Hernandez
culture, and having a cultural symbol attacked due to racism inspires the club’s equalizing efforts. The lowrider stereotype claims the driver of the car is a threat to society because of their ties to gang violence.
“These lowriders show the true ingenuity and hard work needed to make the car,” Hazelrigg-Hernandez said. “So much time and money is put into every car made by lowrider mechanics.”
To really express the beauty and unique style of all lowriders, The MEChA organized multiple competitions among the registered cars in order to show them off; MEChA also rewarded the winners with cash prizes. Cars would compete in hop contests, as well as aesthetic contests. Bikes also made their way to the event and competed for the best bike. MEChA communicated with lowrider owners and advocates all over Washington to really grow the amount of featured cars, and make it the memorable event it has been for the last 16 years. Lowriders are a part of Mexican-American culture, and culture cannot fall apart with advocacy and justice efforts.
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West Side Fire Symposium held at Western as wildfire season approaches BY MORGAN ANNABLE
Department of Natural Resources firefighers battling the Okanogan Complex fire in 2015, and an arial photo of wildfire smoke over Washington state. Photos courtesy of Sandra Kaiser Last summer was notorious in Washington for being the most destructive wildfire of fire that could be expected in a given area if everyone stopped their suppression season in the state’s history. On May 6, Western hosted the North Cascades West Side efforts. Some of Medler’s colleagues have created a data set called LandFire, which Fire Symposium in the Viking Union. The event focused on conversations about wild- breaks down a map of the nation into 30 square meter parcels. Medler and other acafire and prescribed burns on the west side of the North Cascades. It was also a chance demics use LandFire to study mean fire return interval for each of those areas. for researchers, fire management professionals, tribal leaders and other interested Mean fire return interval is the average time between one fire and the next, in a individuals to have a conversation addressing the complicated issues involved in fire specific area, if no fire suppression actions were taken. management and prevention. In the southern part of the country, fires have historically been more frequent, In her talk, Sandra Kaiser, the Communications Director for the Department of thereby clearing underbrush and preventing future fires from becoming too big to Natural Resources, showed videos with first hand testimonials from individuals in manage. Here in the Northwest, however, wildfires are less frequent and the brush communities that have been affected by prescribed fires that got out of hand. They in the forest builds up and acts as kindling. On the east side of Washington state, the spoke of the physical destruction of property and the wellness issues caused by smoke mean fire return intervals are typically between 25 and 50 years, while on the west inhalation. side of the state, the intervals can be up to 150 years. Kaiser said that legislators are not willing to pass legislation that will help fund proStudents graduating from Huxley, or even from other colleges at Western might active, preventative measures, but instead will help fund aid after wildfires. consider applying for jobs with the Department of Natural Resources. Kaiser said The Washington State Department of Natural Resources has a few goals in mind for that there are various kinds of entry level jobs available to students with little to no fire prevention. They want to help provide equipment and training for local firefightexperience, from junior level foresters and aquatic researchers to entry level commuers in communities around the state, as those are the people who are first to the scene nications and administrative jobs. and often do not have the necessary equipment or training to handle wildland fires. All employees are hired through the State of Washington hiring system, which is Kaiser also placed importance on modernizing fire communication. online at careers.wa.gov, and there are job openings all over the state. In general, Kaiser said, the Department of Natural Resources aims to prepare the “You have an amazing opportunity to work with some of the state’s leading scienlandscape to prevent fires from getting out of hand and to prepare people (firefighters tists in trying to preserve, conserve and manage our natural resources,” Kaiser said. as well as homeowners) for the possibility of fire and how to handle it. The State of Washington also hires temporary employees every summer to be Dr. Michael Medler, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental trained as wildland firefighters. They attend the fire academy, where they learn to fight Studies at Huxley College of the Environment, spoke in defense of prescribed fires. wildland fires, for a few weeks. Then they are deployed to a fire camp and live there He said that a certain amount of fire is necessary to clear underbrush from densely for the summer. forested areas. In addition to paid positions, the Department of Natural Resources also recruits “We need more fires. We need bigger fires. We need lots of fires,” Medler said. volunteers and provides them with the training they need. “We’ve talked about the conundrums with smoke management and land management “Not only could you volunteer to get wildfire training, there are also other great and people’s homes, and this is a complicated messy thing.” volunteer opportunities,” she said. “It could be restoring eelgrass in Puget Sound or He then showed a model that he and his students use to determine the amount trail maintenance at Mount Si or Blanchard State Forest.”
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