Review
News // Events // Student Life
Vol. 28 #20 4.8.13
2 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Little known to the campus community, several whimsical and majestic sculptures keep students company outside the ceramics studio in the Art Annex. Photo by Cade Schmidt// AS Review
review
Viking Union 411 516 High St. Bellingham, WA 98225 Phone: 360.650.6126 Fax: 360.650.6507 Email: as.review@wwu.edu Online: as.wwu.edu/asreview @theasreview facebook.com/theasreview
©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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THE BUSINESS OF SEX A look at prostitution and human trafficking in Washington and Bellingham
EVENTS
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THE AFTER PARTY 90s teen icon Aaron Carter will perform in the VU MPR on April 9
STUDENT LIFE
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FASHION ON CAMPUS Abo. Oluptat. Corem inis elest lam quam velluptat vitaerro dis
FEATURES
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FENCING CLUB Stick them with the pointy end.
Staff Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Copy Editor Writers
Megan Thompson Spencer Pederson Cade Schmidt Serena Imani Korn C Hayley Halstead Isabelle Hoonan Nick Markman Lauren Prater Lauren Simmons Kylie Wade
Adviser Jeff Bates
Several pairs of women’s underwear
were found humorously scattered around campus on April 4. Photo by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
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EVENTS CALENDAR See what’s happening around Bellingham
48-HOUR FILM FESTIVAL AS KVIK and ASP Films pair up to challenge filmmakers to create, edit, and produce a film in two days
EN GARDE
April 8, 2013 • 3
Students gather twice a week for Fencing Club
By Lauren Simmons Where at Western can you fight with swords, wear a mask and participate in organized combat with other students? Western’s Fencing Club does just that on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. The Western Fencing Club is a group of students learning and perfecting the art of fencing, as well as participating and hosting tournaments during the school year. This sports club on campus stands on its own among the other sports clubs on campus like rugby and baseball, said Jake Unzicker, vice president of Western’s Fencing Team. “We’re a little different than a lot of the other club sports on campus,” Unzicker said. “We’re not just a competing team, we do a lot of lessons specifically. The club is very beginner-oriented. In the fall, I think half of the quarter is devoted to trained new fencers.” Unzicker, who started fencing last year, began the training classes in the fall, and was prepared to work on intermediate practices during winter quarter, he said. Although though the club prefers students to join at the beginning of a quarter, anyone can join at any time. Students joining in the middle of the quarter will still be taught the basics of the sports. But at the beginning of the quarter, more people are joining and can be taught in a group, said Taha Rabbani, president of Western’s Fencing Club.
Photos by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
Something else that sets the fencing club apart from other sports at Western, such as men’s and women’s basketball is that fencing is a club sport, and basketball is a team sport. At Western, there is a group of sports team and a group of sports clubs, and the groups are a bit different from each other. “Sports clubs are not funded directly by the state. They get a certain amount of money, a state allocation, every year depending on the club, how big it is and everything it involves,” said Maggie Rogers, a sports club liaison at Western. “The rest of the money has to be raised by the students, so they have to figure out different types of fundraisers that can take place.” Sports clubs also have to volunteer a certain amount of hours during the quarter, ranging from 150 to 200 hours, depending on the size of the club, Rogers said. These clubs, like fencing, also have to pay dues because they do not receive the same kind of funding by the state. Theses dues cover things like transportation fees, entry into tournaments and housing while traveling. “It’s interesting because when we talk about other clubs on campus, an example that come to mind is the hockey club,” Rabbani said. “They call themselves the hockey team because they’re the only team that Western has that plays hockey. When we introduce ourselves, people don’t normally call us the fencing club, they call
us the fencing team anyway.” While the Sports Clubs Office is responsible for helping organize travel, accommodations, filling out paper work and other housekeeping duties, the sports clubs’ members are primarily responsible for how the club runs, Rogers said. The fencing club at Western started, in its current form, in 2004, Rabbani said. There is a trophy from the 1970s, but there was a period where the club was not meeting. Rabbani had previously fenced in high school, and upon coming to Western, wanted to see what Western’s club had to offer. “I’m a transfer student, so at my old school that I went to my freshman year, they didn’t have really a big [fencing] club at all,” Rabbani explained. “When I came here, I was really surprised at the size of the club.” Western’s fencing club competes against other clubs and individuals in the Pacific Northwest, but Rabbani’s goal for the club this year is to build better relationships with the clubs at other schools in the area. By finding more tournaments and finding more competition for his club and himself, he can help improve everyone’s talents. “Fencing each other every week is a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong, but it’s always incredibly valuable to fence people that you haven’t fenced before to work on your skill and your technique,” Rabbani said.
4 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
SPRING STREET STYLE: FASHION IN BLOOM
By Isabelle Hoonan Blooming cherry blossoms and an endless sheet of blue sky mean a few things: bare legs parade under acid-washed denim shorts and homely sleeping bag jackets are pushed to the back of the closet. Parlay into spring with blended style by mixing and matching a variety of style inspirations. From classic, 1990s plaids mingled with fresh floral prints, to cherry-picked Value Village finds paired with flashy Beats-By-Dre headphones, unifying high-and-low ensembles are in full octane. Whether you decide to coordinate slick, black leather and gauzy extras or prefer rolling out of bed in Coachella-worthy tribal-print Vans, the bright weather is your canvas for expression. Accessorize with longboards, Flying Lotus blaring and splashes of color worthy of a prized Pollock. Throw on your neon Ray Bans because spring fashion is in bloom in Red Square.
Photos by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
Maggie Corrigan
“INDIE IVY LEAGUE”
Marissa Estrada
“URBAN FESTIVAL MEETS BOHEMAIN RHAPSODY”
Lisa Ponsler
“PUNCHY FLORALS LAYERED WITH LACE IN MUTED TONES”
Age: 21, Senior Shoes: Value Village Shorts: Charlotte Russe Shirt: Bumbershoot 2012 freebie Cardigan: Value Village Bag: Value Village Tights: Forever21
Age: 19, Freshman Dress: JC Penny Leather Jacket: Wet Seal Shoes: Wet Seal
Hong-Sik Park & Ju Hyung Lee
Avery Lyons
“RETRO HAWAIIAN MEETS HIGH FASHION”
Age: 19, Sophomore Skirt: American Apparel Sweater: H&M Blouse: Vintage Boots: Vintage Rings: Indian jewelry shop finds
Age: 20, Junior Shoes: Adidas Shirt: Word Backpack: Zumiez Jeans: Hot Topic Sunglasses: Zumiez
Nick Emard
Yazeed Alnasrallah
“LORDS OF DOGTOWN”
Lilly Cazier
“PARISIAN MEETS LAID BACK”
Age: 19, Sophomore Jacket: thrift Dress: a store in Japan Shoes: Vans Shoelaces: “Kidnapped from a pair of Keds at Goodwill” Scarf: Indian Saari scarf Feathers in hair from craft stores
James Dancer
“DAPPER COLLEGIATE”
Alexis Hulen
“GRUNGE MEETS CALI-PUNK”
“DANDY STYLE”
South Korean exchange student Shirt: American Eagle Jeans, belt, bag and shoes from stores in S. Korea
South Korean exchange student Shirt, backpack, baseball cap from S. Korea Jeans: American Eagle Shoes: Nike store in New York City
Age: 18, Freshman Sweater: Free People Shoes: Converse
Elisa Fu
“FEIST MEETS HARAJUKU GIRL”
Jacket: Red Light Cardigan: Goodwill Shirt: Goodwill Pants: Levi's Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Age: 24 Shirt: The Gap Jacket: H&M Belt: Gucci Shoes: Jordan Air
April 8, 2013 • 5
Age: 21, Junior Watch: Nixon Shoes: Clarks Desert Boots Jeans: Levi's Cardigan: Merona, Target Shirt: Forever 21 Men The Look: Dapper collegiate
Age: 20 Shirt: Buffalo Exchange Jeans: Hot Topic Shoes: Urban Outfitters Hat: Snagged from a friend
4 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
SPRING STREET STYLE
By Isabelle Hoonan Blooming cherry blossoms and an endless sheet of blue sky mean a few things: bare legs parade under acid-washed denim shorts and homely sleeping bag jackets are pushed to the back of the closet. Parlay into spring with blended style by mixing and matching a variety of style inspirations. From classic, 1990s plaids mingled with fresh floral prints, to cherry-picked Value Village finds paired with flashy Beats-By-Dre headphones, unifying high-and-low ensembles are in full octane. Whether you decide to coordinate slick, black leather and gauzy extras or prefer rolling out of bed in Coachella-worthy tribal-print Vans, the bright weather is your canvas for expression. Accessorize with longboards, Flying Lotus blaring and splashes of color worthy of a prized Pollock. Throw on your neon Ray Bans because spring fashion is in bloom in Red Square.
Photos by Cade Schmidt // AS Review
Maggie Corrigan
“INDIE IVY LEAGUE”
Marissa Estrada
“URBAN FESTIVAL MEETS BOHEMAIN RHAPSODY”
Lisa Ponsler
“PUNCHY FLORALS LAYERED WITH LACE IN MUTED TONES”
Age: 21, Senior Shoes: Value Village Shorts: Charlotte Russe Shirt: Bumbershoot 2012 freebie Cardigan: Value Village Bag: Value Village Tights: Forever21
Age: 19, Freshman Dress: JC Penny Leather Jacket: Wet Seal Shoes: Wet Seal
Hong-Sik Park & Ju Hyung Lee
Avery Lyons
“RETRO HAWAIIAN MEETS HIGH FASHION”
Age: 19, Sophomore Skirt: American Apparel Sweater: H&M Blouse: Vintage Boots: Vintage Rings: Indian jewelry shop finds
Age: 20, Junior Shoes: Adidas Shirt: Word Backpack: Zumiez Jeans: Hot Topic Sunglasses: Zumiez
“DANDY STYLE”
South Korean exchange student Shirt: American Eagle Jeans, belt, bag and shoes from stores in S. Korea
South Korean exchange student Shirt, backpack, baseball cap from S. Korea Jeans: American Eagle Shoes: Nike store in New York City
E: FASHION IN BLOOM Nick Emard
Yazeed Alnasrallah
Lilly Cazier
“PARISIAN MEETS LAID BACK”
Elisa Fu
“FEIST MEETS HARAJUKU GIRL”
Age: 19, Sophomore Jacket: thrift Dress: a store in Japan Shoes: Vans Shoelaces: “Kidnapped from a pair of Keds at Goodwill” Scarf: Indian Saari scarf Feathers in hair from craft stores
Jacket: Red Light Cardigan: Goodwill Shirt: Goodwill Pants: Levi's Shoes: Urban Outfitters
Age: 24 Shirt: The Gap Jacket: H&M Belt: Gucci Shoes: Jordan Air
Age: 18, Freshman Sweater: Free People Shoes: Converse
“LORDS OF DOGTOWN”
April 8, 2013 • 5
James Dancer
“DAPPER COLLEGIATE”
Age: 21, Junior Watch: Nixon Shoes: Clarks Desert Boots Jeans: Levi's Cardigan: Merona, Target Shirt: Forever 21 Men The Look: Dapper collegiate
Alexis Hulen
“GRUNGE MEETS CALI-PUNK”
Age: 20 Shirt: Buffalo Exchange Jeans: Hot Topic Shoes: Urban Outfitters Hat: Snagged from a friend
6 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
HUMAN TRAFFICKING Bellingham is a hub for underage sex trafficking
By Nick Markman and Kylie Wade Over the course of her teaching career at a public high school in King County, Karen Marion made a shocking discovery – two of her students were working as underage prostitutes. Marion and other employees at the school tried desperately to reach out to the girls and a group of additional students believed to be involved with prostitution once they became aware of what was going on. “I even offered to have one of these girls come and live with me,” Marion said. “I met with the principal and this girl and I said, ‘you can stay with me during the week and I can help you with your homework. You can have a routine.’” The student rejected Marion’s offer, saying she was too connected to her pimp to abandon him. She told Marion the pimp had said he would marry her eventually, as long as she helped him raise money for their future. “This is what she told me: she said, ‘no one has ever loved me before. This is the first person who has really loved me.’ That’s what she really believed,” Marion said. Marion said that for girls raised in poverty, the dual promise of love and money was enough to persuade them to become entrenched in the world of prostitution. Marion’s story is shocking, but it is in no way an anomaly. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates than anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 American children are victimized through the practice of prostitution each year. Understanding modern sex trafficking in America requires an adjustment in the way the crime is typically envisioned. The term conjures images of children kidnapped from families in developing countries. In America, it’s more common for pimps to seek out vulnerable members of the population, specifically homeless youth. These children aren’t usually grabbed off of the street; they’re coerced with promises of a better life, money and love. According to the Washington State Attorney General’s office, several key factors make Washington an ideal place for such traffickers, namely its access to an international border and its abundance of sea ports. Whatcom County also has its own advantages to traffickers: “Because of Interstate 5 going through our county between Vancouver B.C. and then Seattle and Portland, we are a corridor for trafficking that we don’t necessarily see or hear about, but it’s traveling right through us,” Sue Ann Heutink, a steering committee member at Hope4Justice, a local organization dedicated to raising awareness about sex trafficking, explained. Because of the issue’s prevalence, many organizations are springing up across Whatcom County to try to combat local sex trafficking. Part of the problem is simply understanding exactly what’s going on in a world that tends to operate in the shadows. Anya Milton is the Executive Director of Access Freedom, an organization that was founded three years ago and provides outreach to commercially sexually
exploited youth in Whatcom County. “It’s transient; it’s pervasive; it’s constantly changing and that is what makes it so hard to combat. There’s no one situation that is exactly alike,” Milton said. What is clear is that American children that end up in prostitution share some commonalities. Debra Boyer, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist who first started investigating issues of sex trafficking in Seattle during graduate school at the University of Washington in the 1980s. Boyer’s research revealed that the majority of children that end up in prostitution have a history of poverty and childhood sexual abuse. “Over 75 percent of the girls in our study had been sexually abused, had been victims of incest and had been raped before they ever got to the street,” Boyer said. Milton said the most prevalent form of human trafficking that Access Freedom encounters is youth who perform sexual favors in exchange for housing, clothing or food, a behavior commonly referred to as “survival sex.” Often, abuse at home forces children to runaway, where they then resort to survival sex as their only means of supporting themselves. The average age of entry into prostitution is 14. There are several groups in Whatcom County, including Access Freedom, that work directly with survivors of sex trafficking. Engedi Refuge Ministries recently opened a safe house for adult victims this past month in Whatcom County to provide the women with a safe place to live, as well as give them access to rehabilitation, further education, spiritual guidance and above all, a sense of self-worth. “Every aspect of it is reinforcing the value in their worth as a person and that their worth is not tied up in their profitability for someone else at the expense of their own body and their soul,” explained Aaron Newcomb, co-founder of Engedi. While outreach opportunities are critical, other groups feel that without attempting to change the societal causes that have created sex trafficking in America, the problem will never truly go away. Arianna Cane, a recent Western graduate and an Access Freedom volunteer, explained that the hardest part of understanding sex trafficking in America is realizing why it happens. “I think the one thing that still leaves a question in people’s minds is it doesn’t make sense how this could happen,” Cane said. “Why would we have 13-year-old girls that are sold out on the street? Why would we have people that are willing to buy a 13-year-old girl? A lot of that answer is you really have to look into the parts of society that you don’t want to look at.” For one, the industry only exists because there are people willing to pay for sexual services. According to Access Freedom, the estimated revenue for human trafficking is $87 million per day. The massive revenue stream has made human trafficking the fastest growing criminal industry in the world and the second largest
M
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criminal industry overall. 1 “It gets down to this cultural issue,” Boyer said. “Men have got to stop buying women and children. And F decent men, men who don’t, and I understand that there A f are many of them, need to begin to stand up to those 2 who do.” Experts believe problems also arise from a misconception about the prostitute’s role in prostitution. “When you ask a little girl, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ Have you ever heard anyone say, A ‘Oh, I want to be a prostitute,’” Marion asked. “People 7 think that it’s a profession. They think that if they give a prostitute money they’re helping her because she has a $ job. Really? No, she doesn’t have a job. She has a lifestyle A that started probably because she was abused as a child.” E “We have a really antiquated view of prostitution,” h Newcomb added. “We see it in this way where a prostitute is just a loose woman trying to make a fast buck. That is a really, really wrong perception. What’s happening is that men that are exercising control and greed are using them as commodities.” In a 2008 report commissioned by the city of Seattle, Boyer discussed the harm and ineffectiveness of blaming commercially sexually exploited youth for the existence of prostitution. “We are, however, placing the responsibility for prevention of prostitution on the shoulders of children and youth alone when we fail to address the cultural norms that shield the dynamics of demand and normalize the behavior of buying sex,” the report states. “There is no curriculum that can provide an abused and frightened 14-year-old with the cognitive ability and refusal skills to outthink a 26-year-old offering love, money, and to take care of them.” Those involved with the cause also believe it is necessary to change the way prostitution and sex trafficking are viewed in the legal and educational systems. Inspired by what she observed in King County, Marion now serves as an area associate for Washington Engage, an organization that operates at the state level to form community collaboration against human trafficking. The organization pushes for legislation that protects victims and harshly punishes those who sell and buy sex services, as well as emphasizes a need to education children about what sex trafficking is, what pimps and traffickers look like and how they can both recognize and avoid them. Primarily, the issue revolves around awareness, an understanding of the factors that contribute to sex trafficking and a dedication to working to stop it. “I believe that there are enough people on board with this issue that are radically energized and radically empowered to stop it,” Marion said. “People need to have the passion and the heart and the vision to believe that we can make a change and make a difference. I believe that Bellingham is ready to explode on this.”
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April 8, 2013 • 7
EVENTS Monday April 8
I Went Alone as a Tunnel
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in VU Gallery Free
An exhibition of artwork by Jake Reller will be displayed from April 8-26. A closing reception will be held on April 26 from 6-8 p.m. in VU 507.
Tuesday April 9
Aaron Carter: The After Party Tour 7 p.m.in the VU MPR $7 for students, $10 general
Associated Students Productions’ Pop Music and Special Events are bringing Aaron Carter to perform a concert for his “After Party Tour 2013.”
Wednesday April 10
Western Reads - Rebecca Skloot
7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the PAC Concert Hall Free
Friday April 12
Concert: Learning Team 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Wild Buffalo
Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, will be speaking to discuss her book as part of the 2012-13 Western Reads program.
Western students and alumni of the Indie Folk band Learning Team to perform at The Wild Buffalo for their EP release party.
Thursday April 11
Saturday April 13
Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief Event VU MPR
Japanese Student Association is hosting a fundraiser which includes videos and traditional Japanese dance performances. All donations will be sent to Japan through Japan Society.
Latino Student Union Heritage Dinner 5:30 p.m. in the VU MPR $10 for students, $16 general
THE 48-HOUR FILM FESTIVAL
By Kylie Wade There are a lot of things in life that require more than 48 hours of effort, but the way Associated Students KVIK Coordinator Robert Bojorquez sees it, making a short film isn’t one of them. Bojorquez brought Western its own 48-Hour Film Festival last year, and this April the festival is back for its second iteration. Teams of eager filmmakers, willing to forgo sleep and all other commitments for 48 hours, will come together, draw genres out of a hat and then set about bringing an entire movie to life in just two days. The teams will be provided with a character, a line of dialogue and a prop that they must incorporate, and the final films cannot exceed 10 minutes. Other than that, there are no guidelines, rules or expectations. You draw your genre, set out into the night and return 48 hours later with a finished movie. “By containing it to just 48 hours, there’s so much more eagerness,” Bojorquez said. “It’s really a test of what you can do.” Teams will be composed of three to six people, and students can register either as a team or as an individual. Individual registrants will be assigned to a team that is willing to accept extra members. All of the team members must be Western students with a valid ID card, but each team can recruit up to five additional people to help out with acting and fill specific roles that students may not convincingly be able to play, such as the elderly or an infant. “It’s really non-cliquey,” said Cody Olsen, AS Films Coordinator and co-coordinator of the festival. “If you don’t have a team, that’s fine, we’ll put you with someone.” Bojorquez and Olsen both encouraged everyone who is interested to participate, regardless of experience. “Everyone can participate, be it filmmakers, Fairhaven students or freshman in their dorms, that like to make
goofy videos,” Bojorquez said. “They can all rally around this. The whole point of the festival is to shake all the filmmakers at Western out of the woodwork and get them to all collaborate and compete with one another.” The films will be shown at a premiere on April 20 in the Viking Union Multi-Purpose Room and will be judged by a panel of five Western faculty members from the film and theater departments. The top three films will all be shown later at the Pickford Theater. Bojorquez brought the festival to campus last year, after growing up in Spokane and witnessing an annual 48-hour film festival every New Year’s Eve. “It just seemed like something other students would get involved in,” he explained. “It’s not a huge commitment and it lets everyone be a part of what KIVK has to offer.” He said he is impressed with the buzz and excitement that is starting to surround the festival. “This year, I had people come up to me in October and tell me how excited they were for the festival,” he said. “I was like, ‘That’s great, but I haven’t even started planning it yet.’” The excitement among those who experienced the festival last year is running high. Hayley McVay, who coordinated the festival with Bojorquez last year, is participating this year as a filmmaker and said she is thrilled by the opportunity to see the festival from a different side. “Last year it was so incredible to see all the seemingly small things that Robert and I did to plan it lead to eight films. It was just so amazing to see the creativity of our student community and I’m excited to see it again,” McVay said. “Part of the reason it’s taken off so quickly is because it’s a simple idea,” Olsen explained. “It’s easy to communicate the concept and for the filmmakers, it’s pretty clear what they need to do.”
It may be clear, but it certainly won’t be easy. Olsen, who participated in the festival last year as a filmmaker, said his best advice to participants this year is to find a way to quickly move on from discouragement. “Things are going to go wrong for every team,” he said. “Just look up at the night sky and know someone else out there is super tired, too. It will be a rollercoaster of good and bad and you’ll come out stronger. Pain is temporary, but glory is forever.” Everyone is welcome to witness the filmmakers’ attempts at glory at the Saturday-night premiere at the end of the festival. Bojorquez and Olsen said the audience can expect an impressive variety of films – and a lot of tired filmmakers. “It will be a strange mix of sleep deprivation and adrenaline,” Olsen said. Bojorquez said this year he and Olsen have widened the scope of the genres that will be available for the teams to draw, hoping to cast a wider net and broaden the scope of the final films. “If you like watching all different kinds of movies, that’s what you’ll see,” Bojorquez said. Bojorquez will be graduating at the end of the year, but he hopes his successor at KVIK will continue the festival for years to come. “I did sneak the word ‘annual’ in the official event title,” Bojorquez warned. “So they’re kind of obligated to bring it back and if they don’t, I might send them a few emails about it.” The registration deadline for the festival is Monday, April 15 and registration must be completed online. Registration forms and more information can be found on the KVIK Facebook page. For any questions about the festival, email Bojorquez or Olsen at as.kvik@wwu. edu or as.films@wwu.edu.
8 • as.wwu.edu/asreview Photo courtesy of Jordan Swider // AS Productions
1990s teen icon, Aaron Carter, to perform at Western on April 9
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AARON CARTER:
The After Party Tour
By Nick Markman n Tuesday, April 9, ‘90s teen pop-starturned-Broadway-performer Aaron Carter will perform at Western as a part of his 60-day tour. Western students will be able to watch Carter perform old school hits off of his best-known 2000 album, “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It)” and even purchase all-access VIP tickets, allowing them to meet Carter himself. “Aaron Carter: The After Party Tour 2013” will take place in the Viking Union Multipurpose Room at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. Regular tickets are $7 for students and $10 for general admission. Allaccess VIP packages can be purchased for $30. The concert is co-sponsored by the Associated Students Productions Pop Music and Special Events. ASP Special Events Coordinator Jordan Renshaw said the idea for the show came about when some ASP employees noticed Carter’s tour was stopping in Seattle. “It was kind of cool because all of us in AS Productions were just kind of reminisced about listening to Aaron Carter when we were younger,” Renshaw said. “He’s kind of like our generation’s Justin Bieber.” Pop Music and Special Events proceeded to gauge student interest before deciding to book the concert and they were met with very diverse responses. “I think the most exciting and shocking thing is that when we were out hand-billing for this event, I could not guess which person was going to be stoked and which person was going to laugh in our face,” ASP Pop Music Coordinator Megan Housekeeper said. “We’d have a bunch of really buff dudes walking out of the Rec and we’d give them a handbill and they’d be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to go get my tickets right now.’” Housekeeper said the VIP access helps differentiate this concert as a special event and not a normal Pop Music show. Only 50 VIP tickets are available to students and they include a meet-and-greet session with Carter after the show as well as a custom-printed VIP badge and a free poster. “We will have the posters for sale at the event but the VIP people get it for free and they can bring it to Aaron to get it signed and have that one-on-one experience with him,” Renshaw said. “They’re going fast, but they are definitely still available.” Renshaw said that the show is meant to be a throwback concert that appeals to the college generation’s musical nostalgia. “I think a lot of people our age, around 18-22, are going to really be the ones to respond to it well. I think they’re going to have a great time,” Renshaw said. “It’s just kind of an event where people can come and relieve their childhood, so to speak.”