Hip Hop Dance Team presents tWWUrk, p. 4 Assessing accessibility on campus, p. 8 Outback Farm hosts seed planting workshop, p. 11 Vol. 29 #23 4.7.2014
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VCR tape is strewn from
IN THIS ISSUE
the ceiling in the B Gallery at Record, an installation created by art students Tor Jakubcin and Evan Rumble. Photo by Isaac Martin //
NEWS
STUDENT LIFE
MUSIC
AS Review
MAKING YOUR LIFE BETTER, ONE PAGE AT A TIME 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 © 2014. 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 under-represented issues, inclusive coverage, informing readers and promoting dialogue.
4 tWWUrk WWU Hip Hop Dance Team present their second tWWUrk showcase
11 Seed Planting AS Outback Farm prepares for planting
8 Assessing
Accessibility What’s left for Western to accomplish in becoming more accessible?
10 Transitions Transition Club focuses on tackling global issues on a local scale
5 Morning Phase The AS Review takes a listen to Beck’s newest record
6 Music Through the Lens
Tommy Calderon spends his evenings photographing the local music scene
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.
THE AS
REVIEW Cade Schmidt Kylie Wade Isaac Martin Trevor Grimm Kelly Mason Andrew Wise Annika Wolters C Hayley Halstead Dominic D’Angelo Designer Kristina Huynh Adviser Jeff Bates
Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Photographer Copy Editor Writers
Memories written by B Gallery visitors are displayed at Record, an installation created by art students Tor Jakubcin and Evan Rumble. Record will be on display until April 11. A reception will be held on April 8 from 4-6 p.m. Photo by Isaac Martin // AS Review
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EVENTS Western Cares: National Volunteer Week April 6-12 This week, Western gives you the oppotunity to give back. For more information, contact Sarah King at as.secretary@wwu.edu and check out the story below.
Throwback Thursday Karaoke April 4 // 7 p.m. // UGCH // Free The Underground Coffeehouse brings you the opportunity to belt out all your favorite songs from the past.
Wednesday Night Concert Series: Snug Harbor w/ Hot Cotton April 9 // 8 p.m. // UGCH // Free The first show of the quarter features a night of soul and funk from Snug Harbor and Hot Cotton.
tWWUrk 2.0 April 11 // 8 - 10 p.m. // PAC Concert Hall // $8 students, $11 general admission The WWU Hip Hop dance team presents the 6th annual WWUrk Hip Hop Showcase. For more on the showcase, check out our story on pg. 4.
Latino Student Union Heritage Dinner April 12 // 6 - 9 p.m. // VU MPR // $12 students, $14 GA The Latino Student Union is hosting their 9th annual heritage dinner. The evening is a celebration of the Latino culture through performances, music and food.
Western Athletics: Softball April 11 // 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. // Viking Field Catch the Western’s softball team’s double-header against Western Oregon this Friday.
Western Cares: Rebuilding the student-community relationship after riot By Kelly Mason In response to last fall’s riot on Indian Street, the AS Board of Directors created Sarah King’s temporary position of Western Students Give Back Logistics Coordinator in order to rebuild the relationship between Western and the Bellingham community. Western is joining the National Volunteer Week bandwagon, from April 6 - 12 to give back to the city with Western Cares: National Volunteer Week. Western is teaming up with the Volunteer Center of Whatcom County. Students are encouraged to sign up for a volunteer opportunity through the Volunteer Center’s website. “We tried to find a lot of diverse projects that students could go to, some like painting, building, fixing-up organizations like offices, planting trees, taking out blackberry bushes or feeding the homeless,” King said. King said that most of the projects are off campus and are geared to connect students to their community, repairing the bond between community members and students. This week was “inspired by the feedback received from students following the October 12th ‘riot.’ Students wanted a way to give back
to the community and show their support for Bellingham,” said AS President Carly Roberts in an email. Throughout the week, the volunteer efforts will be documented by Western students Anastasia Blakley and Tyler Whitmire and composed into a video. The goal is to make this video, highlighting the good Western is giving back to the community, more famous than the picture of the girl twerking on the cop car from the riot and the damage the riot left for Western’s public image. “I love Western and I’m so glad to be graduating with my fouryear degree from here. To have a negative connotation or a negative image with our school, I kind of take it personally because I know my university is great and to see that some people don’t really respect it because of the actions of a few students at the riot, it’s like I want to defend the great university that I’m a part of. I want to uphold the great things that I see and share that with everyone else,” King said. To sign up for a volunteer opportunity, check out www. whatcomvolunteer.org/events/national-volunteer-week. Students who sign up for an event and put “WWU” in the company box will receive a free Western Cares T-shirt while supplies last. For more information about Volunteer Week, contact Sarah King at as.secretary@wwu.edu.
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Hip-Hop Dance Team gets its tWWUrk on, round two By Kelly Mason We’ve all attempted to twerk and it probably didn’t go well, but now here’s a chance to see how it’s really done at Western’s Hip Hop Dance Team’s sixth annual hip hop showcase, tWWUrk 2.0. tWWUrk 2.0, a sequel to last year’s performance entitled tWWUrk, will be held on Friday, April 11 at 8 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center Concert Hall. The showcase will not only feature performances from WWUHHDT, but also guest performances from dance groups of the greater Seattle area and a performance from rapper and Western alum Anthony Hale. WWUHHDT, led by captains Hannah Thomas, Ashley Beymer and Tarah Desatoff, will perform six dances, including ones from previous performances and new ones. Each dance is choreographed by a member of the dance team and follows a certain theme, like “Back to School,” “Beyonce” or “Swag.” “We usually pick a theme or an idea of what we want a dance to be like and see who wants to choreograph. Before we would just have a couple of people choreograph all the dances for the whole year, but we found that it’s a lot more fun and a lot more diverse to have everybody who wants to choreograph be able to do that,” Desatoff said. “It’s turned out really well because everyone has their own style and it makes everyone grow as dancers because you have
to adapt to different styles.” According to Desatoff, the team performs mainly a general form of hip-hop laced with other musical influences, including Latin, African, reggaeton and more. Like the event name implies, there will definitely be twerking, however you can expect it to be more artful than that of Miley Cyrus. “Nobody even knows what twerking is, it’s pretty much bootypopping basically,” Desatoff said. “It’s just a movement, but there’s so many things associated with it. Like last year calling the event tWWUrk was funny, but it was also ironic because nobody really knew what twerking was and it had just started to become popular. And this year, when we were planning we wanted to keep the image of it more hip-hop orientated versus just girls booty-popping.” Desatoff stresses that the showcase will focus on hip-hop dance as more of an art form rather than simply a dance. “Behind all choreography that we’ve done and all of our pieces, there’s a little bit of acting that goes into it,” Desatoff said. “You have a character and you have to portray these feelings or visual images. It’s like with any other kind of dance, you want the audience to feel something. It’s not just for pure shock appeal.” Tickets for tWWUrk 2.0 are $8 for students and $11 for general admission. WWUHHDT has auditions at the beginning of every school year and accepts people based on skill level.
Anacortes band Silm plays at Colony Wharf Studios on Holly Street April 2. The lineup included KUGS 89.3 employee Drake Wilcox’s solo project Orphans [left], and Fictions, fronted by fellow KUGS employee Nick Thacker. The studio is featuring art installations by art students Debbie Kenote and Hayley Boyd, and Department of Art alum Tyna Ontko. Photos by Isaac Martin // AS Review
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Beck reaches middle age, gets synthy in “Morning Phase” By Andrew Wise Beck is old, which is an odd thing to come to terms with. He’s 43 and “Mellowgold” and “Loser” are 20 years in the rearview mirror. But the great ones last, and Beck has maintained relevance by taking his music in some really weird directions. He’s dabbled in a little bit of everything sound-wise, and his lyrics have reached into a unique realm of visceral strangeness. His new album, “Morning Phase,” demonstrates a departure from the strange and surreal. 2008’s “Modern Guilt” was headed in this direction, using fewer samples and moving toward heavy instrumentals. But “Morning Phase” completes the transition with grand, spacious string sections and lyrics coping with the transitions of middle age. Beck’s been busy since “Modern Guilt,” despite a back injury that kept him from even being able to hold a guitar for a long period of time. He released a series of covers online, as well as mix tapes of his own favorite songs and an entire album of sheet music. With his return to a full-length album, Beck slows things way down, and gets deeply introspective. The album opens with an overture of pure strings, setting a tone of grandiosity and richness, yet acoustic guitar riffs maintain a slow, steady simplicity. The vocals echo, adding to the spaciousness surround sound throughout the record. The tempo never really manages to speed up. The melodies remain in a dreamy, floating state for the entirety of the album. Connections to 2002’s “Sea Change” are rampant in “Morning Phase.” “Sea Change” was the result of a bad break up. The lonesomeness present in songs like “The Golden Age” and “Paper Tiger” is renewed in “Morning Phase’s” tracks such as “Say Goodbye” and “Blue Moon.” It’s easy to get lost in the steady undulations of subtle, hypnotic synths. There is some real darkness in tracks like Wave, which sounds like it’s straight out of a dystopian movie soundtrack, bulky and foreboding. But on the whole, the album sounds like a new dawn rising from darkness. There’s an aspect of reconciliation, maybe reaching all the way back to the pain present in Sea Change. Perhaps the simultaneous messages of comfort and lonesomeness serve as an effective reflection of Beck’s mid-life moment. It’s not bad, but something’s missing. The grit is gone, which might be a bigger analogy for what’s hap-
“Morning Phase,” Beck’s 12th studio album. pened since the 1990s, for better or for worse. Beck has gone from a slacker to a professional, and flannel shirts have gone from rebellious to ubiquitous. Times change. Longtime Beck fans may recognize that “Morning Phase” is a more mature version of “Sea Change.” They’ll appreciate his newest record, but recognize that it’s the work of an artist whose most innovative efforts are probably behind him. Still, it’s an album that’s easy to get lost in. It’s a cohesive compilation and offers a vast depth of sound and meaning. With a discography as extensive and important as Beck’s, there is something to be said for perfecting what he started with “Sea Change,” rather than reaching too far in a new direction. “Morning Phase” is a good one to save for those rainy days when you want to fall deep into your thoughts and float around for a while.
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Behind the lens: Student photographer frequents house shows
Seattle synth-pop band Cruel As Kidz performs at the Naked House on East Myrtle Street. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review By Andrew Wise I set out from campus on a rainy Saturday night with an address and a name in my pocket and only a vague idea of where I’m going or what I’ll encounter when I get there. According to the map on my phone, I’m almost there. I find it, I think. The bass thumps from the house. An amplified voice is muffled, but audible. A grumpy-looking guy with a beer sits on the porch, which has a handwritten cardboard sign hanging on the door that reads “21+ only.” I start toward the door but I’m told, “Around back.” I head for the side of the house. In the backyard are a few groups of people, dark and damp from the rain, laughing, sip-
ping from bottles of wine, faces shown by the orange glow of a cigarette. The back door is open. Purple light and music are spilling out. I enter. Inside, it’s not the sardine-can, five-hundred-person-party-in-a-tiny-house scene, but it’s definitely crowded. The kitchen gives way to a living room empty of furniture where thirty or so people groove to the music with varying degrees of head bobs and toe taps. The band is just visible over the heads of the crowd. Their stage is the next room toward the front of the house, so the people in the front stand three feet or so from the woman singing. She is flanked by a guitarist, drummer and keyboard player. Massive speakers blast sound from the
stage room to the crowd room. A guy in a navy blue T-shirt and jeans leans against the far side of the archway separating the two rooms, moving with the music, camera hanging from one shoulder, eyes turned to the screen of his cell phone. He’s closer than everyone else, practically amongst the band. His name is Tommy Calderon and if you show up to a house show in Bellingham, there’s a really good chance he’ll be there too. And he’ll probably be wielding a camera. Calderon is a Bellingham native and first started going to house shows while attending Squalicum High School. Like many millenneals, Calderon’s first album purchase was Green Day’s American Idiot. It was the begin-
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ning of an intimate relationship with music that carried him through high school and continues to affect his trajectory. “Growing up, I think music was an outlet for me to kind of escape from the things that were troubling me,” Calderon said. “In high school I never really wanted to be the popular kid because it was kind of a superficial thing. Music was something that I could escape to, feel like I could relate to and just be a part of. It meant something to me and it was important.” When Calderon was in high school, he says there were more all-ages venues in Bellingham, but now people under 21 can only turn to the Make.Shift or house shows. He laments the loss but has made the most of the house show scene. I made the mistake of asking how house shows fit into the music industry and Calderon quickly set me straight. “No one’s a part of the music industry here, but as a music community there are people at every show that you see,” Calderon said. “It’s a very tight-knit community where people are very kind to each other. And really supportive, which is why it’s so great to
be a part of the house show scene and the Bellingham music scene in general. It’s really welcoming.” Calderon says the shows happen in a organic fashion. The houses are always changing, bands spring up out of nowhere or from the leftovers of other bands. Audiences are friends of friends of friends, Facebook invitees or people who happened to walk by. “It’s kind of an adventure every night,” Calderon said. The night before I caught up with him, he’d been at a house show that included a set from a fledgling death metal band and someone got thrown out of a window. Throughout everything he’s seen, so far Calderon and his camera have managed to survive even the more violent mosh pits. In the future, Calderon hopes to go on tour with a band and document their stories, music and lives. For now, Calderon distributes his photography through social media. He posts his work on Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr and Instagram. A musician himself, Calderon has played several house shows.
“Playing a house show by yourself is a completely different experience, just because it’s a really casual crowd and everyone’s right in front of you when you’re playing to them,” he said. Calderon doesn’t limit himself to house shows, but he says that he’s seen some really good bands in people’s living rooms. In particular, he remembers seeing Special Explosion, a Seattle band that has gone on to make it big. “They’ve played house shows up here. They’ve been a part of Bellingham festivals like Yellingham,” he said. “But now they’re on a U.S. tour, they just got signed to Top Shelf records and they played at South By Southwest this year. It’s crazy. I know all the guys. They’re great guys, so it’s really fun.” As Calderon and I talked, the next band was about to start playing, so we headed back into the house. The band calls themselves Noise Toys and they play it loud and angry. I looked across the crowd towards Calderon, wanting to somehow indicate that I dug this sound, but he was already lost, head whipping back and forth to the beat, escaping. So I did the same.
Left: Tommy Calderon shoots Cruel As Kidz, performing at the Naked House. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review. Right: Tommy Calderon. Photo by Isaac Martin // AS Review
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ASSESSING ACCESSIBILITY WESTERN’S JOURNEY TO ACCOMMODATE ABILITIES By Kelly Mason Photo by Trevor Grimm Accessibility is an important issue here at Western - especially because Western’s geography continually proves to be a challenge. Western strives to ensure the success of all students including those with disabilities. Yet with a hilly terrain, millions of bricks and buildings dating back to its opening how accessible is Western today? According to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, it’s illegal to discriminate an individual based on disability, this includes inhibiting the success of a student with a disability. Under this law, Western is legally required to provide accommodations for qualified students with disabilities to guarantee that everyone has an equal opportunity for success. In order to be successful, a student with a disability must be given the means to function just as any other student - this includes being able to access any building on campus, having proper accommodations in and out of the classroom and feeling welcomed and included in a safe community. Western provides many different services to ensure the success of students with disabilities, such as the Equal Opportunity Office, the disAbility Resources for Students Center, Associated Students Disability Outreach Center and more. Each office is dedicated to providing accommodations, awareness and support for students with disabilities and the larger campus community. Although Western is dedicated to ensuring equal opportunity for all students, there’s still a long way to go until it’s a fully accessible campus. The Equal Opportunity Office, located in Old Main 345, is an office
that’s sole responsibility is guaranteeing equality for all students. Dr. Sue Guenter-Schlesinger, Vice Provost of the Equal Opportunity Office and Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator, is one of the many individuals who is paving the way towards Western’s full accessibility. As ADA Coordinator, she sits at the head of the Disability Advisory Committee which is made up of faculty, staff and students who are dedicated to addressing problems that arise with accessibility on campus. “One of the things that we have done in this office, under the ADA Coordinator’s job, and is that we have conducted architectural accessibility studies of the campus,” Guenter-Schlesinger said. “When I came in to the office in 2005, we hadn’t done an update. We asked for the services of an organization, which provides free education and training to universities and other companies and institutions, called Disability Business Technical Assistance Center [now known as Northwest ADA Center]. “They trained us over a whole week period how to conduct architectural access studies of the campus. It was great, we went out with slope measures, we went out with pull weights on doors, we went out with a protocol of how far the hand rails should be when you go into a bathroom stall and we compiled a huge list that we then got on a spreadsheet, so we could say these are the things that need to be addressed and here is the priority. Just this past year, 2013, we updated that list - here’s what’s already been done, here are buildings that still need work on and so on,” she said. One of those buildings on that list was Fraser Hall. Before its renovation, which was completed in 2013, the building didn’t meet ADA requirements though it housed the largest lecture halls on campus, these halls weren’t accessible to students with disabilities. Now Fraser Hall, along with its neighbor Miller hall, is fully acces-
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sible for all people with ranging ability. The next building on the agenda is the Carver Academic Facilities. To add to the many problems with Carver [see AS Legislative Agenda*], this building isn’t in compliance with ADA standards. Western is currently waiting on budget approval from the Washington State Legislature, but with huge support from the community, hopes to make the changes necessary for Carver to be full accessible. However, in addition to having a fully accessible campus, one must be able to navigate it. “Previous to the access assessments, our campus signs had never - and what I mean by campus signs is when you go around campus, you’re going to notice that there are big, steel, physical signs that have a picture of the campus on it. Previous to these accessibility studies, for anyone who had any type of mobility impairment it was not useful to them,” Guenter-Schlesinger said. “So we did a lot of research, we got some good models and for the very first time we created a new map that allows students, faculty and staff to see indicators that show usable routes and accessible routes.” Student Program Coordinator in the EOO, Michael Rivera, is responsible for putting this improved campus map online making it accessible to everyone. The map not only provides routes for students, but allows them to see where fully accessible restrooms and push pads are located in buildings. The Equal Opportunity Office ensures that campus gradually becomes fully accessible for all students with disabilities, while the disAbility Resources for Students Center, located in Old Main 120, supplies accommodations for students in and outside of the classroom. “We try to help guide students through the things that we see year after year with new students getting acclimated to campus. We try to be a support for them. But [what the DRS offers] is broad and it’s all the challenges that every student faces: getting used to being at college, making friends, being away from home,” said Anna Blick, assistant director of DRS. Blick, along with Director David Brunnemer and four other staff members, ensure that students with disabilities get the accommodations needed to be successful. DRS provides students with academic adjustments in the classroom, specific housing accommodations, note-taking services and much more. In addition, the AS Disability Outreach Center seeks to raise awareness and create an inclusive community for students with disabilities. “We are an office with the Research and Outreach Programs, so we provide a lot of services, like guiding students in the direction they need when they come in for advice or if they need resources. We have a resource library where there’s a bunch of literature, films and all types of
resources. We also offer a safe space where students can talk about personal issues or vent. It’s a safe space for them,” said DOC Coordinator Cristina Rodriguez. The DOC puts on events to raise awareness about disabilities, such as fall quarter’s Disability Etiquette event which allowed students to have an open discussion about ways to be inclusive of students with disabilities and ranges of ability. Upcoming DOC events include a Campus Accessibility Forum co-sponsored with the AS Legal Information Center, on May 7 from 6-8 p.m. in Academic West 304, as well as activities during Disability Awareness Week which will take place May 12-16. “Something that’s interesting, is that over the years there have been improvements, so it’s not always negative,” Rodriguez said. “We switched offices, so it’s a wider door frame and the door is lighter.” The DOC was previously wedged into a narrow hallway on the fifth floor of the Viking Union, which made it difficult for people with some disabilities to access the office. Before winter quarter began, the AS Business Office traded offices with the DOC so students are able to get to the DOC easier. “We have enough space for a chair to do a full 360 turn. The VU has automatic doors, which it didn’t before. They re-bricked the area in front of Old Main where the big tree is. When there’s issues and we raise awareness and let the administration know, something can happen,” Rodriguez said. Though Western is making changes to become a more accessible campus, the most important step is awareness of the issue. Students with disabilities deserve the same opportunity to succeed as any other student and Western is determined to make that happen. “Disability is an extremely important issue here at Western. Making sure that we have an accessible campus and that we respond to accommodating both students and employees with disabilities is absolutely essential - first of all, it’s a matter of law but it’s also within the spirit of us having an inclusive community here at Western,” Guenter-Schlesinger said. *Editor’s note: Approved by the AS Board of Directors in December, the AS Legislative Agenda includes three proposals to the Washington State Legislature, one of them being renovations to Carver Academic Facility. Carver currently suffers from poor ventilation, has a history of raw sewage seepage and is vulnerable for catastrophic collapse in the event of seismic activity. The agenda asks for five million dollars to begin renovations this summer which include driving pilings into the bedrock underneath the building.
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Transitions: Turning theory into action By Andrew Wise Even though they have ambitions to change the world, the group sitting underneath a tree in Red Square on a sunny afternoon looks very humble. Most of them aren’t wearing shoes and just about everyone’s hair is long and free-flowing. A loaf of fresh-baked rosemary bread is passed around, each person ripping off a chunk and passing it to the next. Junior Andrew Eckles calls the meeting to order and conversation fades. There’s work to be done. The club is called Transitions and Eckles said it draws its name from the Transition City Movement. “The idea is transitioning from a fossil-fuel based society to a growth-based society, [a society] that is dependent on localized communities and localized resources functioning in a steady, stable manner,” Eckles said. “[The idea is for] people to meet their basic needs more through people they know rather than through the global market and money.” A year and a half ago, this club didn’t exist and Eckles was sitting in a classroom listening to lectures. “I would say I was significantly radicalized in fall quarter of my sophomore year,” Eckles said. “I was taking a class on world history, global water crisis, capitalism and climate change problems and that got me to a point of saying, ‘wow, if we don’t do something about this, we’re really screwed and we don’t have that much time.’ I don’t have time to get a degree and work slowly through the system.” Eckles’ realization nearly led him to drop out of school, but he instead decided to shift toward independent study projects that would allow him to focus on the issue that he’s passionate about. He has also done his own research and compiled fifty pages of political analysis and historical narrative work encompassing his ideas. Transitions has become a
vehicle for Eckles and other like-minded students to put these ideas into practice. The club has had several projects going at any given time, but its centerpiece has been what is called a garden party. A garden party involves the club helping a homeowner build a garden in exchange for a meal. Eckles and others from the club attend neighborhood meetings to inform residents about the garden parties. Last spring quarter the club did one garden party per week and aims to do the same this quarter. The club has also been part of the York neighborhood farm. A group of community members in that neighborhood are leasing an area about the size of five house lots that students from the club are turning into a farm. The group has also been involved with the free
to think about and discuss these problems, but not a lot of space or pathways to makes significant changes.” Transitions offers a path to fixing global problems on a local level, primarily by looking at issues of climate change resource scarcity. Eckles is upfront about just how bad things have the potential to get. “It’s a crisis response, generally, so I think the general idea is building resilience from shocks to the system, be that economic crises, environmental disasters, [or] lack of food or resources,” Eckles said. “From our political analysis we see those things as likely things to happen in our future and this work is about being prepared to handle that well and not fall into social chaos.” At club meetings though, the conversation
“I’ve found that taking action and trying to do something about everything that’s going on has made me much more excited about the future and the possibilities and ready to face it head on.”
-- ANDREW ECKLES exchange table in Fairhaven. For Eckles, it’s all about making things happen. “If we’re actually serious about changing the world, we need to spend more time acting and reflecting than theorizing,” he said. “Theorizing is important, but it’s only useful if it’s combined with action and reflection.” Eckles said the club’s ultimate goal is to act more than it meets. He also acknowledged that while there are a lot of Western students who share the ideals of Transitions, not all of them are actually taking action. “The institution keeps people very busy,” he said. “It’s a place where we’re supposed to be getting the skills to get careers and exist in this society and it gives people the opportunity
is focused less on the problems and more on the solutions. The club is considering a new project, a ‘community listening campaign’ where members would go door-to-door talking to Bellingham residents about the changes they would like to see in their community and then connecting those with similar interests. When taking on the issues that a club like Transitions deals with, Eckles said it’s easy to get hopeless, but working towards change keeps him thinking positive. “I’ve found that taking action and trying to do something about everything that’s going on has made me much more excited about the future and the possibilities and ready to face it head on,” Eckles said.
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Outback Farm leaps into spring with planting workshop
Scenes from the Outback Farm. Top right: Sophomore Jordan Jacobson and senior Sarah Bolton prepare plots for new plants. By C Hayley Halstead // Photos by Trevor Grimm Winter is over and the sun is finally out in Bellingham, creating the perfect weather for planting seeds. Gardening may seem impossible for those living in cramped dorm rooms and apartments, but Western’s five-acre farm and wetland restoration site, the Outback Farm, offers students the opportunity to contribute to a community garden. To get students started, the Outback Farm is offering a free seed starting workshop on Tuesday, April 8 at 3 p.m. Associated Students Outback Assistant Coordinator Grace Coffey described the workshop as a hands-on introduction, aimed at those without a lot of experience. The workshop will educate people about starting seeds, transplanting and which soils to use. Using the right planting techniques plays a critical role in the success of a crop, Coffey said. Everyone who participates in the workshop will
get a chance to master these techniques and will also get to take seeds home with them. For those that don’t have the space to garden at home, the Outback’s community garden offers over 40 plots that students, faculty and staff can apply for. The community garden was revamped in 2011 with $11,000 from an Associated Students grant, giving more students the opportunity to manage a plot. The Outback Farm also has an educational garden that focuses on productivity, growing crops to contribute to the Bellingham Food Bank. While produce is readily available in grocery stores, Coffey encouraged students to explore the benefits of growing their own produce. “I think it’s an important way to familiarize yourself with gardening,” Coffey said. For more information about the workshop or the Community Garden, e-mail Coffey at AS.Outback.Assistant@wwu.edu.
12 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Pants around ankles, pen in hand: Bathroom graffiti follows us to college By Andrew Wise Photo Illustration by Isaac Martin & Trevor Grimm It’s not often that you find yourself smiling in the restroom, for obvious reasons. It’s generally a place of grim necessity, and let’s leave it at that. But in places like the sixth floor Viking Union women’s room and the first floor Communications Facility men’s room, there are a few stalls that just might brighten your day. The “grout puns” in the VU sixth floor women’s room are virtually an institution. They’ve been gathering for years, returning after janitors wipe and paint them away. Someone’s even been prompted to write “I’m agrout tired of these puns.” A stall in the Communications Facility first floor men’s room has been gaining ink all year since some time during fall quarter someone proposed a simple challenge: “Describe your poop as a movie.” Needless to say, the imagination runs wild. Some of my personal favorites are Titanic, The Nutty Professor and 12 Angry Men. I won’t admit as to whether or not I or anyone I know have contributed to these ever-expanding hubs of bathroom creativity because, well, it’s vandalism. Things like the grout puns and the film titles inevitably create a complicated dynamic between the students and the maintenance staff of this university. We as students, are heavily dependent on the hard work of our maintenance staff. There is no student who would want the bathrooms to become lawless, unregulated, unclean places. The janitorial staff certainly can’t be expected to clean away the profanity and leave intact the clever comedy. I would imagine that cleaning bathrooms is all about speed and efficiency, and having to analyze each scribbled clause in each stall for comedic value can’t be beneficial in either of those respects. Let’s face it, no matter how clever the pun is, it would be at home in a middle school. Are we degrading ourselves by taking a pen to a wall with our pants around our ankles? Do they write in the bathrooms at Harvard? Probably, but it’s in Latin.
And when a bunch of people do it in the same place, a small community is created. This would be fantastic, I mean it’s really what college is all about. Except that someone - possibly one of our peers - is left to scrub away the result. A clever resident advisor on the sixth floor of Mathes Hall had the idea to put up big sheets of black paper and silver sharpies in the bathrooms to provide a harmless place for graffiti, and the result is somewhat successful. It’s not the first attempt to provide a space for students to write freely. I’ve seen the free speech board on the sixth floor of the VU crowded with hastily written manifestos for one cause or another with some platitude about self-respect tucked neatly in the corner with a sideways smiley face. If we want to find community through creative action that’s sort of against the rules, we should go about it in a less damaging way. I suggest a flash mob. Yes, it may seem like a stretch to try and get from writing in the bathroom to assembling en masse, dancing or costumed or singing or something, but the connection is there. Both are all about attention, about waking people up from a routine and doing something funny. So next time you find yourself holding the end of a pen to a stall wall, stop, think, put the pen back in your pocket, wash your hands and get some friends together for an impromptu dance number in Red Square. The janitors, your friends and everyone in Red Square will thank you. *Editor’s note: No bathroom stalls were vandalized in the making of this photo-illustration.