Review
News // Events // Student Life
Q&A WITH BEN GIBBARD
The AS Review sat down with the Western alumnus before his show on March 3, page 8
Vol. 28 #18 3.5.13
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CLUB SHOWCASE IN ITS SECOND WEEK
The 2012 Club Showcase was held in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room. This year, Associated Students Club Coordinator Jarred Tyson moved the showcase to the Communications Facility Lawn for easier accessibility. A few clubs are showcased on the lawn each day, instead of showing all the clubs at once. Tyson hopes this will help clubs recruit more members, because they will not be competing with every club on campus. Photo by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
By Lauren Simmons s the end of winter quarter approaches, students can take a second from study sessions and group projects to check out the Associated Students Club Showcase, currently in its second week. The showcase, taking place in Carver Gym this week, is a time where the AS “Club Hub” is showing students the clubs that are featured at Western, said Jarred Tyson, AS Club coordinator. This event used to be a one-day help in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room, cramming all the clubs in at once. This year, the Club Hub is changing things up and expanding the event, making it more attainable for students, Tyson said, “This year we decided, instead of having people come to the clubs, we’re bringing the clubs to the students,” Tyson said. “So we’re set up in high-traffic areas this year over a two-week period, where every day we’re switching up what clubs are tabling. It’s essentially 10 clubs a day for two weeks.” Tyson’s office, located on the fourth floor of the VU, deals with anything club related. This can range from a random student curious about what clubs are offered on campus, to anything club related like developing events,
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finding funds and knowledge of AS policies, Tyson said. The organization of the AS Club Showcase was based on clubs’ interest in tabling at the event. All the clubs were mass-messaged regarding the opportunity and there was a GoogleDoc created for signing up on a first come, first serve basis, Tyson explained. Therefore, not every club participates; there are between 70 and 80 clubs signed up to table over the two-week period. “Those clubs [that signed up] have a better chance at recruiting because there isn’t a many clubs at once,” Tyson said, contrasting the event with the Fall Info Fair. McKensie Westfall tabled for the Cuong Nho Martial Arts Club during the showcase last week as a first-year member of the club. Clubs get exposure during the event, and students can gain a pick-me-up while walking through the showcase. We are calling it “100 donuts a day,” Tyson said. “Whenever a student comes and talks to a club, they’ll get a sticker,” Tyson said. “The sticker can essentially be traded in for a donut. The thing is they have to ask about clubs, probably join a couple sign-up lists and then they’ll get the sticker, and then they’ll get a donut. Who doesn’t like donuts?”
Participating students also get entered into a raffle where they can win one of the donated $50-value bookstore donations. The clubs themselves also have a chance to win money for participating in the showcase, based off of two contests, Tyson said. One contest is for the most attractive display, and other is for the club with the most signups. “It’s fun,” said Anna Coyle, representing Alpha Kappa Psi, Western’s professional business fraternity, at the showcase. “It’s good to see a lot of new people and find potential members.” With well over 200 clubs at Western, there is essentially a club for any interest. There are special-interest clubs, departmental clubs and recreational clubs just to name a few. Tyson describes their clubs as anything from A to Z, from Acapella to Zombies. “People don’t know [that] the potential of your college experience can be multiplied from joining a club because it’s literally something that you’re interested in, and if you’re in a club with the same interests, it’s just going to be a great time,” Tyson said.
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EVENTS Thursday March 7
Tuesday March 5
Les Miserables
Seed Starting
3-5 p.m. in the Outback Farm Free
8:30 p.m. in Arntzen 100 Free
Saturday March 9
Fourth-Annual Laser Tag Tournament
9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Wade King Rec Center $40 per team, 5-8 people per team
The AS Outback Farm will teach students and community members how to begin planting seeds for spring. Participants will be taught how to create fertile sil mixes, germinate seeds for sprouts and more.
AS Productions Films will show the motion-picture adaption of the stage musical that ran for 27 years. The Oscar-nominated film is set in 19th century France and follows the story of love, passion and the survival of the human spirit.
Wednesday March 6
Friday March 8
Sunday March 10
7-9 p.m. in Academic West 205 Free
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the VU Gallery $10 for students, $12 general
9:30 p.m. at the Wild Buffalo $15, 21+
Sling-Shot Hip-Hop
Slingshot Hip-Hop is the story of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel, who use hip-hop as a way to break societal divisions.
Labyrinth
AS Productions, VU Gallery and the AS Women’s Center teamed up to showcase visual pieces from this year’s Labyrinth journal. The show will be running from Feb. 25 until March 13.
Up to 24 teams will battle during the “Humger Games” edition of the annual laser tag tournament. Awards are for the best dressed team and first place campions. There will be free pizza, monster energy drinks and prizes.
Emancipator, Little People, ODESZA The Wild Buffalo in downtown Bellingham hosts a mix of artists on March 10, including ODESZA. See the full article on ODESZA online at as.wwu.edu/ASReview
THE BIG BLUE BONUS BOOK:
Advertising local businesses, coupons and scholarship funds for students By Nick Markman The routine of getting new textbooks is a process that most students dread. There is one book, however, that students look forward to getting at the beginning of each quarter. It is not required for any class; it does not weigh 20 pounds and not only is it free – it actually saves students money. The Big Blue Bonus Book, more commonly known as the Blue Book, has provided Western and Whatcom Community College students with deals and savings throughout Bellingham for 25 years. While students are most likely familiar with the coupons and deals within the Blue Book, they may not be aware of the other services the Big Blue Bonus Book provides. Scott Mihelich, who has published and managed the Blue Book since its inception in 1988, said that book was originally created to raise scholarship money for Western students. Each year, a portion of the advertising revenues gained through the sales of coupon ad-space to local businesses goes to the Associated Students notfor-profit. Currently, the revenues donated to the AS by the Blue Book funds thirteen $1,000 scholarships for students. Along with funding scholarships, the Blue Book helps spread local business awareness to students throughout Whatcom County. “It was designed to marry the business community
with the students,” Mihelich said. “We’ve got this large student population, many of which come from King County, who aren’t familiar with this area. That was a way for the Blue Book to get advertising and marketing messages to the students and give them an incentive to come in.” The Big Blue Bonus Book is distributed each quarter to students through the Western Bookstore. Bookstore General Manager Peg Godwin said that the coupons to the bookstore advertised in the Blue Book are some of the most successful and redeemed advertising vehicles. She added that the Blue Book has maintained its popularity with students throughout the years. “We always have people asking for it before it’s ready and there are people who come in specifically looking for the Blue Book,” Godwin said. “You rarely see people not take one.” In addition to the printed Blue Book, the Big Blue Bonus Book makes its coupons available through the internet at www.bigbluebonusbook.com and through mobile phone via app. Mihelich said that while the mobile and internet mediums are gaining popularity with students, a good amount of local businesses are apprehensive about mobile and online advertising. “It’s a learning curve for a lot of my advertisers,” Mihelich said. “Most of my customers are small businesses.
They can get so engrained in what they do day-to-day that I think they get overburdened by everything like search engine optimization (SEO), Google, Facebook, mobile – they just don’t know what to do.” One of the biggest, long-running clients of the Blue Book is the Bagelry, located at 1319 Railroad Avenue. The Bagelry is only two years older than the Blue Book and has been offering coupons in the book since 1988. Ken Ryan, who owns the Bagelry with his wife, Marguerite, said that although the Blue Book is the most direct, effective way to reach students, he is reluctant to incorporate mobile and online advertising with the shop. “I’m not so enthralled with how people can attack you on the Internet,” Ryan said. “There’s no accountability and they can give a slam at you just because you didn’t do things exactly how someone wanted and then all of a sudden, you’re all over the Internet.” Mihelich said that since the economy turned in 2008, businesses have been advertising less in the Blue Book. While both students and businesses are spending less in a tough economy, the Blue Book continues to save students hundreds of dollars each year. “I know I definitely use them,” Western junior Kendall Kochmer said. “I actually bring a bunch home to each of my roommates and we like them quite a bit.”
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SENIOR ARTIST: Q&A WITH JAKE RELLER By Todd Wells
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ake Reller, a senior in Western’s Fine Arts program, has put every ounce of energy towards doing what he loves most: creating art. The AS Review had a chance to sit down with Reller and ask him a few personal questions. AS Review: When you came here did you know that you wanted to pursue art? Reller: No, I actually remember not wanting to go into art because I like art and I didn’t want it be a job. But I wasn’t really interested in any of my classes, so I sat down one day and said, “well what am I the best at; what do I know I’m good at?” and I just realized it was art. I took a class with John Keppelman, who is a great professor here, and he had some really encouraging things to say. I realized that I needed to be in the Art Department, and then figured everything else out from there. Review: Where are you from? Did growing up in that area inspire your art? Reller: [I grew up in] Walla Walla, Wash. I guess a lot of my imagery is focused around animals that I grew up with. My parents aren’t farmers, but we had a lot of animals, so I was always with goats and chickens and cows and horses. In a lot of ways I feel like my art is a reaction against that conservative rural upbringing. A lot of my images use those kinds of devices, like those animals, but in a really nihilistic, hopeless kind of reactionary way. Review: How would you define the genre of your art? Reller: It’s definitely realism, and I guess I’m interested in narrative artwork too. I have an affinity for surrealism, but usually it’s too spectacular for me. What I appreciate about surrealism is when it’s subtle, so I only take from it small elements that I like.
Photo by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
Review: In many of your pieces, there are repetition of different objects. What is the roll of those objects in your art? Reller: I’m trying to use similar motifs. In their repetition, they’re instilled in meaning. They kind of become like characters, like protagonists. It’s kind of like this idea of a visual lexicon. It’s like this is my
vocabulary and I use it to speak. Review: Bulls, snakes, the crescent moon. Why the repetition of these particular objects? Reller: They’re mediated but they’re also formal. Sometimes I really like the way they look, and there’s also a personal connection with some of the animals. Some of them have associations already that I can kind of use. I think they’re sometimes kind of pulled from other art. I really like some of the uses of the bull in biblical imagery. I think it’s instilled with a lot of meaning, and what I appreciate about the bull is that it’s sacred and profane. It can be something that’s sacrificed for the Abrahamic God, but then it’s also just this mundane domestic animal. It just has so much meaning and so many associations to almost become mute. It’s almost a blank space because there’s so many voices instilled in it. Review: Who are some of the artists that have inspired you the most? Reller: I really like the surrealist artist Renee Magritte, and I really love the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. And then as far as contemporary artists that I’ve been thinking about; there’s a really awesome painter Justin Mortimer who paints from surreal collages that he constructs, and there is a German painter Neo Rauch who makes these really obscure paintings of confident looking German men doing absurd things. Reller will be completing his BFA this spring and plans to further pursue a master’s degree and artist residences afterward. From showings in Pacific Northwest venues like the Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton, Wash., to print making shows in Corpus Christi, Texas, Reller’s art has already been shown throughout the country. He aspires to to publish in a number of other locations in the future. Jake Reller will show I went Alone as a Tunnel in the Viking Union Gallery from April 8-26. This showing will be Reller’s BFA thesis and will highlight 12 to 16 of his favorite large format prints. There will be a closing reception of the show on April 26 from 6-8 p.m. in VU 507.
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Ben Gibbard performed in the Performing Arts Center Concert Hall on March 3. Photo by Cade Schmidt
review
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©2013. Published most Mondays during the school year by the Associated Students of Western Washington University. We are a student-produced, alternative campus weekly covering news and events that are of interest to the Western community. We support all programs, offices and clubs affiliated with the AS. We have a direct connection to the AS board of directors, and although we report on board actions objectively, our relationship should be made clear. Submissions: We welcome reader submissions, including news articles, literary pieces, photography, artwork or anything else physically printable. Email submissions, or send them to the mailing address above. They will be returned as long as you include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Letters: We also welcome letters to the editor. Please limit your letter to 300 words and include your name and phone number. Published letters may have minor edits made to their length or grammar, if necessary. Calendar/Ads: We don’t sell ad space. Sorry. Email as.review@ wwu.edu to have an event listed in the calendar.
NEWS
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DECONSTRUCTING DAM Ecology class field trip helps deconstruct Elwha Dam in Port Angeles
EVENTS
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CLUB SHOWCASE “Club Hub” brings clubs to the Comm. Lawn to interest students
Megan Thompson Spencer Pederson Cade Schmidt Bradley O’Neal Nick Markman Lauren Prater Lauren Simmons Kylie Wade Todd Wells
Adviser Jeff Bates Editor’s Note: Though the AS Review usually publishes on Mondays, this quarter our production cycle changed due to a staffing issue at the printers. The AS Review will continue to publish weekly, on Tuesdays for the reamineder of winter quarter. We will resume our normal schedule during spring quarter.
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STUDENT LIFE
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ANIMAL THERAPY Western students brought animals to Red Square to relieve student stress
FEATURES
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ARTIST Q&A AS Review talks to Western senior artist Jake Reller
Staff
Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Designer Writers
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CAMPUS SAFETY With an increased number of Western Alerts, here are some tips on how to stay stafe EVENTS CALENDAR See what’s happening around Bellingham this week
PUBLICATIONS ON CAMPUS First edition of the different publications on campus and what their niche is
BEN GIBBARD VISITS WWU Western alumnus played to a sold-out show on March 3. AS Review sat down with Gibbard for a Q&A session.
GET YOUR ‘AS’ IN GEAR
The Associated Students annual spring job fair held March 7 By Kylie Wade
The Associated Students Job Fair will take place this Thursday, March 7 in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. A representative from every department in the AS will be at the fair to speak with students and inform them about the open positions within the AS. “It gives students the opportunity to be able to make a first-hand connection with others and hear the information from current AS employees who can answer any questions they might have,” said Nidia Hernandez, the AS Personnel Office project assistant. Around 15 different departments within the AS will be represented at the fair, and many departments have several offices within them that will each be hiring. In total, the AS will hire about 100 people in spring. Students don’t need to bring a resume or a cover letter to the fair. “We won’t be evaluating applicants in any capacity at the event, so students don’t need to worry about making
a certain kind of impression,” said Ruta Nanivadekar, the AS Personnel assistant director. “This is really for them to learn about all the different options available in the AS in one convenient setting.” Hiring within the AS is highly competitive, so Hernandez advised students to apply to more than one position. Nanivadekar said as students move throughout the hiring process, they should be careful to read all instructions thoroughly, ask questions if they have any, and spend time carefully crafting their cover letter. For students looking to improve their applications, there will be a cover letter workshop on March 12 and 13. Nanivadekar said some of the benefits that come from working within the AS include flexible hours and a supportive, friendly work environment. “Jobs in the AS really emphasize you taking responsibility and ownership for the job that you have,” she said. “You won’t find many jobs that just feel like menial work, every job is created to have meaning.”
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LABYRINTH: BODIES IN MOTION
Photos by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
The AS Women’s Center’s annual publication, Labyrinth, is to be published on March 13 during the gallery reception for the visual pieces featured in the zine. Selected written works will be read during the reception at 6 p.m. in the VU Gallery. TOP: “Crowning” bye Jake Reller. BOTTOM: (From left to right) Handmade kozo paper by April Hayden, united visual print by Katie Hudak, and “Soar Above” by Shauna Crawford. See an artist profile on Jake Reller on page 12.
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PUBLICATIONS ON CAMPUS
With so many publications at Western, what are their specific roles? This week: The AS Review, Fairhaven Free Press, Jeopardy and Klipsun
By Lauren Simmons and Kylie Wade
The AS Review
The AS Review is a weekly publication dedicated to publishing news, events and student activities within the Associated Students organization at Western. With that said, the paper has the freedom to go outside of that and publish any story on Western-related topics, said Spencer Pederson, assistant editor of The AS Review. The staff is comprised of five writers, two editors and one photographer. The AS Review publishes most Mondays. “We write everything from hard news to feature stories, Q & As, profiles [and] sports,” Pederson said. “It’s a good publication that serves the Western community as a whole, with the focus around the Associated Students.” Being completely run by students, it is up to the two editors to choose what is best for the paper, Pederson, a journalism major, said. The AS Review is the only publication at Western whose entire staff is employed by the university. Since The AS Review is not a class, there is more freedom to publish diverse content. The absence of a professor, participation grade or syllabus contributes to this, Pederson said. More freedom to concentrate on the stories assigned allows for freedom to try new things and find different tones and voices within the writing. The publication also accepts submissions. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to participate, Pederson added. The AS Review accepts letters to the editor and guest submissions about news stories, events, poetry or whatever someone would like to submit. We are interested in running submissions as long as they are quality content, Pederson said. “Our place, [on campus] specifically, is to keep students informed of what the Associated Students is doing for them,” Pederson said. “The AS is run by students, for the students. [The AS] plays a big role on campus, pretty much organizing all the events and coming up with how to make the campus better from sustainability to concerts and events for all the students on campus. The AS Review’s primary role is to keep students informed on those events, issues and topics.”
Fairhaven Free Press
The Fairhaven Free Press is a student publication that was published every quarter until Fall quarter of 2012. Since the last staff member graduated and advisor Daniel Larner took a professional leave of absence during Fall and Winter quarter this year to research at the University of Delaware, the publication has yet to publish. Larner hopes to get the publication back on track once he returns. The Fairhaven Free Press began about eight years ago and stands as a place where students can write more in-
depth pieces, Larner said. Publishing every quarter allowed for the staff to produce long, heavily researched, investigated stories and even photo essays. The publication has had students report from all over the world and has investigated a multitude of topics, Larner said. Oil extractions, local problems and issues and even donut shops have been stories featured in the publication. Students can write for the Fairhaven Free Press for Fairhaven credit, meeting once a week. This publication has a different voice, resembling that of a magazine, Larner said. Previous issues of the Fairhaven Free Press are featured online in PDF form on ffpressonline.com
Jeopardy
“Jeopardy is Western’s own literary-and-arts magazine,” said Alison Cooper, editor-in-chief of Jeopardy. This publication features works from students, staff, faculty and alumni. The works in Jeopardy typically have a creative bend toward fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, art, photography or anything that someone can create, Cooper said. Jeopardy has an online portion titled “Suffix,” which is geared toward experimental work or work that cannot be featured on print such as audio, video and hypertext. Jeopardy does not have a theme for submitters to mold their work around. “That’s something we often get asked, like [whether there] is a certain voice that we’re looking for, is there a certain type of writing…but we’re really just open to all sorts of different forms, themes and content,” Cooper explained. “We’re just looking for something that evokes something and that’s whether it’s emotional or what not. Something that’s just really compelling and engages the mind or the heart…” Jeopardy’s staff is comprised of three associate editors, a print designer, an online designer, a group of student volunteers who read submissions and Cooper, the editor-in-chief. The publication has been around for 49 years and submissions used to be open to anyone, but a few years ago, it became limited to people associated with Western. “It’s a really great opportunity for people to start sending out their work,” Cooper said. “It’s kind of a step in-between not publishing anything and going for Poetry Magazine.” Submissions for Jeopardy are submitted online and a blind reading process begins – meaning that no one will know who is associated with the piece, Cooper explained. This type of selection process is a pretty fair way to choose submissions, she said. Jeopardy receives hundreds of submissions ev-
ery year and only publishes the best ones they see fit, Cooper said. Last year’s edition published 35 works and covered about 200 pages. That edition has won design awards, and has been featured on Pinterest and Tumblr websites, Cooper said. The publication comes out once a year in the spring and unfortunately the deadline for text submissions has passed. However, the deadline for art submissions is midnight on Friday, April 5. “We are a showcase of the creative talent that is happening on Western’s campus,” Cooper said. “We have such an amazing pool of writers and artists, and Jeopardy is a place for their works to be displayed.”
Klipsun
Klipsun is offered as a course through the journalism department. Writers and editors receive class credit and editors are also paid. Klipsun is the university’s periodical and it comes out twice a quarter and contains longer, more in-depth stories. “It focuses on interesting snippets of life that you might not get to see or understand,” Branden Griffith, the Editor in Chief of Klipsun this quarter said. Each issue of the publication has a theme. For example, the upcoming issue will be centered on the theme ‘Rise.’ Griffith has been involved with Klipsun for three quarters now, serving as a writer, story editor, the managing editor and now the editor-in-chief. He says his vision for the publication is to modernize it, placing an increased emphasis on design and visual lead-ins into stories as well as increasing Kilpsun’s online presence. He also wants to ensure that the publication follows the standards of the magazine industry as much as possible. “We are viewed as a student publication but we’re trying to turn it into a professional publication run by students,” Griffith said. Griffith said the main thing that separates Klipsun from other campus publications is its ability to get a more intimate look at interesting topics. “Other publications can’t go as deep. They can’t go out and be as involved with the stories,” Griffith said. “For our next issue, we’re doing a story on ice-climbing so we had a photographer actually go out and go ice-climbing. Other publications don’t have the time to do things like that.” No matter what the theme of the issue is, Griffith said that when you pick up a copy of Klipsun, you can expect to see stories about interesting people within the Western, Bellingham or greater Pacific Northwest community. “We provide unique human interest stories, that’s our main focus. You’re reading about people in a way you haven’t heard before,” Griffith said.
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Stacks of student publications are made avalaible to student journalists from around the country to exchange on March 1. AS Review Assistant Editor Spencer Pederson and Lead Photographer Cade Schmidt attended the journalism conference from Feb. 28 to March 3. Photo by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
ECOLOGY CLASS WORKS TO REMOVE DAM looked at the sediment that was deposited above it,” said dam deconstructions are base off of. This is the first one Drew Swisherm, a sophomore in the class. “They estiof its type, so it’s pretty exciting to know that it’s setting mated that the sediment that is going to be washed out the stage for others to come.” of the Elwha River should fill up the CenturyLink Field, Morgan remarked that Nature Bridge doesn’t really where the Seahawks play, eight times over.” have a standard program and that they are able to adhere “The site here is this great teaching tool that we can to the specific needs of various classes. use to have students look at stewardship,” said Chris “Our goal is really to work with students and foster Morgan, a field science educator at Nature Bridge that a sense of connection to the natural world and foster led the field trip. sustainable action to protect This is the first [dam removal] of its The Elwha Dam it. That’s kind of the core of removal is the tallest dam type, so it’s pretty exciting to know that our program,” he said. deconstruction projHodges was amazed by it’s setting the stage for others to come. ect that has happened the student’s performance. Chris Morgan, trip leader anywhere on the planet, “I was quite struck by how and the Elwha River is known to have been one of the well the students worked together and got along,” he most pristine watersheds in the Olympic National Park. recalled. “They were helping each other out and staying Eighty percent of the Elwha River watershed lies within interested.” the park and there are rumors of Chinook salmon that Of all the activities Swisher has participated in at weighed upwards of 100 pounds spawning upstream of Western, this field trip stands out as his favorite. the dams. “It was hands down the coolest trip that I’ve been on “It’s a wonderful case-study on cost benefit analysis; through the school,” he said. “It’s pretty inspiring to see why was a dam that was viewed as so profitable and something like this, in hopes of it becoming some sort of useful that was managed for the better part of 100 years precedent to set for other rivers around the world.” decided to be torn down?” said Hart. “This is a fairly The class will continue to evaluate the Elwha dam regrand experiment and what we’ll learn from taking this moval project and other ecological restoration projects down has value all by itself.” throughout the remainder of the year. “Nothing has been done of this scale before, so it’s “We have a lot of fun teaching the class,” said pretty exciting to have students out here and see first Hodges. “The students tell us it’s a lot of fun to have our hand all the changes that are happening,” said Morgan. back and forth lectures, because they get to see how “What happens here is going to be the model that future inherently interdisciplinary things are.”
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By Todd Wells Throughout the Pacific Northwest there is a growing trend for ecological restoration projects. From tree planting to riverbed reconstruction, Whatcom County, Washington State and the Pacific Northwest are helping to lead the charge in a movement to restore environments to their historic and natural state. In addition to their positive environmental impact, many of these projects are now being taking advantage of as an educational tool as well. For Western’s Ecology and Economics of Salmon Recovery class, a class that is co-taught by economics professor Hart Hodges and biology professor David Hooper, a recent weekend-long field trip to the Elwha Dam removal project site on the Olympic Peninsula helped to illustrate what exactly is involved in such mass restoration projects. After a long day of traveling to Port Angeles, a Forest Service employee greeted the class and gave a brief presentation about the Elwha Dam removal project. Later the class met up with Nature Bridge, a non-profit environmental education center that works with national parks across the country, for dinner and a good night’s sleep. The next morning the class woke up early to start a day of hands-on learning. First they experimented with a scaled model of the Elwha dams to see what would happen theoretically if the dams were to be removed, and then they traveled to the actual sites. “In our visit we looked at the two dams they are taking out: the lower Elwha Dam and the upper Glines Canyon Dam. We started out at the upper dam and
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March 5, 2013 • 7 Junior Olivia Sund talks to students about animals she and fellow human services classmate Ashley Hurlburt brought to campus in collaboration with Animals as Natural Therapy for a service-learning project in their Human Services class.
ANIMALS in RED SQUARE
Junior Hannah Fenske holds one of the two rabbits brought by Animals as Natural Therapy to Western’s Red Square on Feb. 11.
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Photos courtesy of Western Office of Communications
A simple idea brought bunnies, a chicken, mini-horses and dogs to Red Square during the week of Feb. 11 to relieve stress for students. Studies show that animals reduce stress, and can treat mood disorders such as depression.
By Kylie Wade few weeks ago, a student at Western walked through campus on the brink of tears. She cut through Red Square, trying to keep her composure after a midterm that went less than stellar. That’s where she ran into Ashley Hurlbut and Olivia Sund, both juniors in the human services program at Western, out in Red Square working on a class project. The project? Sund and Hurlbut worked with Animals as Natural Therapy, a local nonprofit organization that uses animal assisted therapy to heal and empower people. Sund and Hurlbut were able to partner with ANT and bring therapy animals into Red Square to help students de-stress during midterms. Over the course of a week, Sund and Hurlbut were amazed to see how many people they touched. They can share story after story like the one above, of people who sat down to hold, pet and cuddle with animals and unload whatever problems were bothering them. The event that touched hundreds of students began with a simple class assignment: Hurlbut and Sund were tasked to create an event that would raise awareness about a local organization or cause. They reached out to ANT with an idea of bringing therapy dogs onto campus during midterm week and were floored by the response. “They said they had mini-horses, a rooster and bunnies we could use too,” Hurlbut said. “It just kind of went from there. We made a Facebook page, invited everyone we knew and it got a lot bigger than we ever thought it would.” Sund, Hurlbut and staff members from ANT were in Red Square Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday the week of February 11 for about two hours each day. For the first four days, a dog, two bunnies and a rooster named Juan were available for students to interact with.
On Friday, for the grand finale, there were two dogs, two bunnies, Juan and two mini horses. Ariel Haustveit saw the event on Facebook and kept hearing her friends talking about petting bunnies and roosters, so she decided to check it out. “I was stressed like everyone here at Western during midterms,” Haustveit said. “But I was also missing my family pets, like my dog Farley and my cats. This is my second year here and I still miss home especially around finals and midterms.” Haustveit said even just seeing other students interact with the animals put her in a better mood. “When you see others in a good mood it just brightens your day and it really helps you breathe easier,” she said. At the event, Hurlbut and Sund passed out volunteer packets and other information about ANT. They also had a donation basket to raise money for the organization, which is entirely powered off of volunteer effort and fundraising. “We started the project to raise awareness for ANT, but in a way, I feel like it was more for the students,” Sund said. “People would be coming up to the group looking upset and asking, ‘What is this? What are you guys doing?’ We’d explain that we had animals and instantly, it was like a light went off. They would leave smiling and running off saying they had to go tell their friends.” Sund and Hurlbut say they were shocked by how much the animals seemed to impact the students. “It was something so simple,” said Hurlbut. “It just shows you how much something so small can go so far. Honestly, I was expecting there to be 15 people a day, but we had crowds.” The idea that began as a simple class project exploded into an event that captivated campus for a week.
Hurlbut estimated hundreds of people stopped by every day of the event. Reporters showed up daily, snapping pictures. The Bellingham Herald ran a front-page photo about the event. Now, Sund and Hurlbut laugh about how they get recognized around campus. “A lot of people come up to me and just say, ‘You were that girl! With the animals!’” Sund said. “So now I’m Animal Girl, I guess.” “People just wave at me and I wonder who they are at first,” Hurlbut added. “Then I imagine them holding a bunny, and I’m like, oh yeah, they look familiar.” The popularity of the event surprised everyone, even ANT founder Sonja Wingard. “Sonja was at the event on Friday at the end of the event she came up to both of us and almost started crying and was just saying that ‘this was so beautiful and you guys have touched so many people and I’m so proud of you,’” Hurlbut said. “It almost made me cry.” The effect the animals had on campus is well documented by several psychological studies looking at the impact of therapy animals. A study done at the University of Pittsburgh concluded that even brief visits from therapy dogs significantly reduced pain and emotional distress in patients at a university clinic. Studies have also shown interacting with therapy animals has been effectively used to treat mood disorders, depression, dementia, Alzheimer’s, patients recovering from serious trauma, at-risk youth, geriatric patients and those recovering from substance abuse. Still, seeing the animals have such a real effect on students was a profound experience for Sund and Hurlbut. “I don’t even have words for it,” Hurlbut said. “Amazing doesn’t do it justice.” “It was beyond anything I imagined it to be,” Sund added.
8 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
BEN GIBBARD
The Western alumnus, member of Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service visited campus on March 3.
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By Nick Markman n Sunday, March 3rd, Western alumnus and indie-rock legend Ben Gibbard returned to his alma mater for an intimate, sold-out performance in the Performing Arts Center. Before Ben took the stage to share some songs, laughs and stories, he sat down with the AS Review and answered a few questions. Here is what he had to say. AS Review: What is it like returning to Bellingham, to play a show at your alma mater? Ben Gibbard: It’s odd to come back here because so many of my formative musical and life memories are here. When I was driving up Garden to come to the PAC, I was driving by my sister’s old apartment and my old girlfriend’s apartment. When I come back to Bellingham, so much of it is frozen in time for me. When I drive up through campus, I still feel like I’m a college student. I have this flood of memories but then I realize that it has almost been 20 years since I’ve gone to school here. Review: Where did you live while attending Western and what was the college housing experience like for you? Gibbard: I lived in Nash my freshman year. Nick Harmer (bassist for Death Cab) and I lived in an apartment down on Indian Street. I remember it was a house that had been converted into three apartments and some snowboarders lived above us, we lived in the middle and some hippy girl lived on the bottom. By the time the year was over, the girl had two school buses parked in the back and her friends had moved in and were running power from the house. There’s this particular kind of lawlessness that occurs in college towns when you have young people living all together and they’re in that stage right between being a teenager and being an adult. I look back rather fondly at those memories. Review: A lot of people look up to you and Death Cab For Cutie as a model for musical success here in Bellingham. What would you say to the aspiring musicians out there that are trying to make in this city? Gibbard: I feel that community is really the most important element. I feel like once you establish a kind of network and community of like-minded people that are all interested in the same thing, if the music has something to offer people, it’s just a matter of time before people find that music. It’s a lot different now than it was when we were playing here in Bellingham, but for me it still comes down to the connections you make with people
based not in ambition so much as your desire to connect with people and share art and music with people. Find community, find people who have like-minded goals and try to share with them. If it’s meant to be, it will happen. Review: How do you manage all of duties between Death Cab, The Postal Service and your solo work without going crazy and what sorts of things do you like to do during your down time? Gibbard: I feel very lucky that I get to make music for a living, so in that sense, it’s really not hard to juggle it. A lot of it is creating my own schedule, but I also like to be busy and I like to be working. I don’t like to go on tour and then come back and do nothing for six months. I want to start working on another record or I want to plan another tour because this is what I do for a living and I want to take advantage of this window of time where people actually care and people want me to be places and do things. I don’t see it as being too much work just because I really enjoy it. I took up running six years ago. When I’m not playing music, I like to go trail running and watch too much baseball – read, go see movies, things like that that people tend to like. Review: When you come back to Bellingham, do you have any favorite restaurants, shops or places that you like to visit? Gibbard: We had Casa Que Pasa tonight. It was a staple of my diet for the five years I lived in Bellingham. Whenever I come up here, I end up stopping there. I always end up going down to Aladdin’s Lamp and picking through whatever stuff is there. I think they have a lot of stuff in that shop that has been there for 20 years. It’s interesting how a city can stay virtually the same but be ever-changing. I’ll come back maybe a couple times a year and driving through the streets, there is stuff that I’m surprised has survived all these years and then there are some things that are gone that I thought would have been there forever. Review: Some Death Cab For Cutie songs directly refer to Bellingham. Are there any songs on “Former Lives” that may be directly or indirectly referring to your experiences at Western or your life in Bellingham? Gibbard: Not directly, but I feel like I always like to experience things in life and then get some distance from them and write about them later. Life was a lot simpler and different here. It was difficult for me at the time to go from living in a house with all my best friends playing
Photo by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
music in the living room to living in a small apartment for about three times as much money than I was paying in Bellingham. There’s a song on the record, “Teardrop Windows,” that I wrote when I was living in Los Angeles about Seattle. I think that sometimes, whether it’s “A Movie Script Ending” or “Teardrop Windows,” I get kind of mournful and reflective about people and cities and things that are kind of somewhat in my rearview and only after leaving I am able to really appreciate them. Review: In the past few years, your personal life has received a lot of media attention -both good and bad. How do you go about dealing with that and does it ever affect you personally or as a musician? Gibbard: It’s not fun to have that stuff out in public, but it’s not as if I didn’t know that was a possibility. I think that more than anything, there are times in your life were you go through unfortunate events and strife and it’s in those times that you realize who your friends really are and who the people are who are always going to have your back. You never want to have to go through those kinds of things to find that out, but the silver lining is that the people who are always going to have your back, the people who are your true friends and your family, they come out and they are there for you in every way that you possibly need them. Creatively, I’ve never felt an urge to hold back anything. I think a lot of songs that I’ve written that people have kind of made assumptions about, nine times out of ten, they’re never about the thing or person that people think they are about. I suppose as a songwriter, people always assume that if I’m using personal pronouns or using first person that I’m writing about my life and sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not. I just take it all in stride and stay off the Internet. Review: Think back to when you were a student here. If you could go back and tell yourself one thing or give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be? Gibbard: I think I would’ve not taken school as seriously as I took it. I was really high-strung when I was in school – really high-strung. I lived and died on every grade and test. I wouldn’t have told myself, ‘hey, you’re going to be a musician for a living, don’t worry about it,’ but I would’ve told myself to take it easy. I would have tried to be a little less high-strung and I wish I would have had the foresight to realize that there’s more to life than taking tests and grades and you shouldn’t get too bent out of shape about them. wait there’s more! read the full interview online at as.wwu.edu/asreview
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March 5, 2013 • 9
SAFETY ON CAMPUS
Safety relies on the actions members of the Western community, not just the University Police By Lauren Prater
SAFETY ORGANIZATIONS ON CAMPUS To support that goal, the university provides services for and assistance in maintaining a safe environment. These services include campus security, campus police, as well as 24 Public Safety Assistants, more commonly called “Green Coats.” On top of the student security, Western also employs fifteen state commissioned police officers, and two to four of them are on duty at all times. These officers are primarily for patrol, but also cover traffic enforcement and police reports. With over 13,000 students at Western, it is close to impossible for these safety organizations to protect all students, and that is why students should know how to stay safe on campus. Corporal Joe Bailey, of the patrol at Western, gave advice on how students can avoid putting themselves in dangerous situations. “Being aware of your surroundings is the best way to keep you safe,” Bailey said. He explained that walking with your eyes on your cell phone or looking at the ground prevents you from looking around and scanning for anything that may be a threat to your safety. Having a hoodie over your head, or headphones in your ears also obstructs your hearing and therefore you cannot hear when someone or something may be coming up behind you. “Being with people I know makes me feel safe,” said freshman student Jessica Breitenfellner. “Strangers that I can’t see at night makes me feel unsafe.” Stay away from dark, secluded areas, especially while walking alone, don’t cut through the woods, and always walk with a friend if possible. “Students who are not aware [of their surroundings] are more likely to be victimized,” Bailey said. PATROL SERVICES Most Western students are very familiar with the student security services, the Green Coats. Corporal Bailey said that the main purpose of the Green Coats is to patrol exterior areas of the dorms. There are three dorm patrols on duty from 8 p.m.
to 3 a.m. every day of the week, along with one roving patrol on duty from 4 p.m. to 8 a.m. during the week and another roving patrol on duty from 8 a.m. to 4p.m. on the weekends. These patrol officers are constantly moving around campus, patrolling the area and making sure it is as safe and secure as possible. These patrol officers are also the “escort service.” By calling (360) 650-3555 students can contact a Green Coat patrol officer to safely escort them across campus, to any dorm or building. EMERGENCY SERVICES Large blue boxes line Western’s campus and are labeled “emergency.” Those boxes are radio frequencies that are directly connected to the on-campus emergency dispatch center. When the emergency buttons are pushed, a signal is sent to the on-campus police station informing them of your location. Soon after the button is pushed, a microphone will be kicked open allowing the victim to be in direct contact with the dispatcher. These buttons are for emergencies only, and should not be used to signal an escort. If you are ever put into a dangerous situation on campus where you need help, your first instinct may be to call 911. Cell phones are directly connected to the closest state police dispatch which is in downtown Bellingham, but there is a faster alternative. But dialing (360) 650-3911, you will be directly connected with the Western Washington University police dispatch which will be able to get help to you quicker and more efficiently because of their close location. WESTERN ALERTS Students are connected with the Western Alerts system that alerts students when a dangerous situation has happened in or around campus. Corporal Bailey emphasized that not all alerts are directly related to Western students but because of the location of an incident, they want to warn students to avoid the location or surrounding areas and to take extra precautions to their safety. The Western Alerts are nothing to be frightened by, but to simply allow you to steer clear of areas where and incident may be taking place. If you have any questions, or are interested in finding out more information about these services you can visit the Student Services website.
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Safety at Western is a community-wide effort, it is not just the effor of law enforcement or other safety organizations on campus. Each student, faculty member and employee of the university should live in a way that promotes health and well-being for ourselves and others.
surroundings is the best way to keep you safe. “Being aware of your CORPORAL JOE BAILEY, UNIVERSITY POLICE