Vol. 30 #23 5.11.15
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Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 will continue for its 15th year. Cover design by Keghouhi Bedoyan // 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 © 2015. Published most Mondays during the school year by the Associated Students of Western Washington University. The AS Review is an alternative weekly that provides coverage of student interests such as the AS government, activities and student life. The Review seeks to enhance the student experience by shedding light on underrepresented issues, inclusive coverage, informing readers and promoting dialogue.
IN THIS ISSUE NEWS 4 ESC: Shocking the audience with culture ESC students put on annual culture shock talent show
7 Take a little trip
with me: Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 MEChA hosts 15th annual low rider show
STUDENT LIFE 5 Shatter the
silence, march against violence
FEATURES 6 Story title Story blurb
Take Back the Night march will be held on May 12
8 Learn to see the person, not the disability
Disability Awareness Week
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.
Abby Ramos Kelly Mason Trevor Grimm Ian Sanquist Nontawat Thammawan Marina Price Alex Bartick Spencer Newsad Designer Keghouhi Bedoyan Adviser Jeff Bates
Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers
The Lube Ladies’ outfit hits the runway at the Condom Fashion Show, put on by the AS Sexual Awareness Center and Voices for Planned Parenthood on Friday, May 1. Photo by Trevor Grimm // AS Review
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EVENTS
Disability Awareness Week May 11 - 14 The Associated Students Disability Outreach Center hosts its annual Disability Awareness Week! Throughout the week, come to a multitude of events to learn more about disabilities. For more information about each event, check out p. 8
Slut
May 12 // 6:30 p.m. // Miller Hall 235 // Free Join Western Students Against Violence for a positive and empowering discussion around slut shaming and how it perpetuates gendered violence. After the event head to PAC Plaza to par ticipate in Take Back the Night. For information on Take Back the Night, turn to p. 5
Sounds of the Underground May 13 // 6:30 p.m. // UGCH // Free Watch three semifinalist bands battle for a chance to win the first annual Sounds of the Underground. This battle-of-the-bands performance includes experimental-electronic ar tists Scruffager, garage-pop band The Cleos and progressive-metal core group Projections.
Culture Shock May 14 // 7 p.m. // PAC // Free
Celebrate the different cultures of Western at the Ethnic Student Center’s biggest event of the year: Culture Shock Showcase. This event features performances of all kinds displaying and showchasing a multitude of cultures. For more information, check out p. 4
Top Ten: May 4-10
Meet the Mormons
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May 14 // 7 p.m. // Arntzen Hall 100 // Free
Strangers to Ourselves Modest Mouse
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What for? Toro y Moi
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Another Eternity Purity Ring
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Carrie and Lowell Sufjan Stevens
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Sonata Delirium Tribe Society
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Little Neon Limelight Handmouth
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I Love You, Honeybear Father John Misty
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Blue Against Green Mercies
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All Possible Futures Miami Horror
Learn more about Mormons at this event hosted by the Latter-Day Saint Student Association. There will be a showing of “Meet the Mormons” a documentary which looks at the lives of church members around the world.
Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 May 17 // 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. // Red Square // Free Join M.E.Ch.A for its 15th annual Low Rider Low! This free and for-the-public event is hosted by M.E.Ch.A. Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 features a Low Rider competition, games, food, fun and more. To learn more, flip to p. 6
Back2Bellingham 2015 May 16 // 10 a.m. - 10 p.m. // WWU // Free Need a day of fun? Western’s got you covered. Back2Bellingham is an annual alumni weekend which includes a zipline across Old Main Lawn.
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San Cisco Gracetown KUGS is the Associated Students’ student-run radio station. Listen online at kugs.org. If you’re interested in getting on the waves, pick up a volunteer application in the station’s office on the seventh floor of the VU.
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ESC: Shocking the audience with culture By Ian Sanquist Poster By Tristan Wood If you’re looking to experience the talents of cultural clubs and individuals from Western’s student body, look no further than Culture Shock, an annual talent showcase hosted by the Associated Students Ethnic Student Center. On Thursday, May 14, Culture Shock will provide a space for Western students to represent their diverse cultures through performances. Culture Shock is free and will be held on the Performing Arts Center Main Stage. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. The ESC includes fifteen active clubs that represent cultures from around the world. AS ESC Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Teena Thach explained that Culture Shock will feature performances from ESC clubs as well as from individuals with a talent to share that in some way represents their culture. Culture Shock will feature 23 performances, and attendees can expect to see a wide variety of talents and art forms on display. “We have the Korean Student Association doing their k-pop dance, we have people that are singing in different languages, we have some girls that represent India doing some Bollywood dancing, we have some poetry,” Thach said. “Just so many different cultures, and not just cultures from like race and ethnicity...we have someone doing sign language.” Culture Shock originated in the early 2000s as International Night. According to AS ESC Coordinator Nate Panelo, the name Culture Shock was adopted around 2010 or 2011. “I think it is very intentional why we called it Culture Shock,” Panelo said. “Initially what it was for a lot of our students that came [to Western], they were going through a culture shock mentality knowing that this is a place that’s gonna be really tough for them to navigate, and so we really flipped it on its side to allow them to have a space where they could be more of themselves, to promote who they are and provide some perspective.” Hui ‘O Hawaii, a club focused on the culture of Hawaii, who has performed at Culture Shock in previous years will perform a dance to a song featured in “Lilo and Stitch”. Club President Rachel Umetsu explained that hula dancing is a key feature of Hui ‘O Hawaii’s major yearly event, a luau. “With every hula dance there is a story being told through the movements and the gestures and the stage, everything stands for something, and so it’ll either represent an emotion or it can even be an animal or something out of nature,” Umetsu said. “It’s kind of beautiful in the sense that even for people who don’t know the Hawaiian lan-
guage and don’t know what the song is actually about, it can kind of be interpreted by the dance moves.” Panelo expressed hope that students who come to Culture Shock will “start thinking for themselves how they see their own culture” and find ways to explore and how they be a part of something that they may not have realized existed until now. Th e Et h nic St ud e n t Ce n te r P re s e n ts
Performances Showcasing an Array of Multicultural Creativity
Per for ming Ar t s Ce n te r Doors open at 7PM | Event Starts at 7:30PM
For disability accommodations please call (360) - 650 - 7271 Western is an equal opportunity institution.
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Shatter the silence, march against violence By Marina Price Poster by Enkhbayar Munkh-Erdene One of the first “Take Back the Night” marches was in 1975 in San Fransisco, as a response to the murder of Susan Speeth, a microbiologist who was killed walking home at night alone. Since then, the anti-violence against women movement has become international. The AS Women’s Center has been holding “Take Back the Night” annually since 1991. “It’s an opportunity to speak out against gender-based violence, and really get empowered and motivated,” Associated Students Women’s Center Assistant Coordinator Jasmine Smith said. This year’s march will be on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 p.m., starting at the Performing Arts Center, head downtown, and then returning to the PAC around 9 p.m. for a closing reception. The closing reception is a new addition to the event this year. “We noticed that [the event didn’t] have a lot of closure, and just sort of disperses. We decided to add a reception for a time to
close up the space and discuss the feelings,” Smith said. There will be a spoken word performance at 6:30 from Toronto-based Vanessa McGowan. After working in social services for 13 years, McGowan began using spoken word and their skills as a singer-songwriter to discuss social justice, advocacy, counseling and do workshop facilitation. For those who don’t want to participate in the march, the Women’s Center is also offering the option to take part in an on-campus vigil during the time that the actual march is being held, Smith said.The vigil will also start at 8 p.m., and be held in the PAC plaza. The candle-lit ceremony will be put on by Western Students Against Violence, a club on campus dedicated to “providing a positive, empowering and inclusive environment to focus on the intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, culture, privilege, and oppression,” according to their website. “WSAV will be speaking at the event and acting as peacekeepers to accompany the march and attend the vigil,” WSAV President Erika Bro said.
Although there has been controversy in many cities over the years over who should be allowed to participate in the march, the Women’s Center is working hard to make sure it’s all-inclusive. Everyone is welcome to attend the event. “It’s for people with marginalized identities and who have experienced gender-based violence, but it’s also for allies who recognize what a prevalent problem this is and how it impacts people,” Smith said. Smith participated in the march last year, after being encouraged by the Women’s Center staff at the time to be at the front of the march. “It was indescribable. I felt very empowered and a lot of strength. I really felt like I was accomplishing something,” Smith said. Smith said about 100 people participated in the march last year. “This is part of a movement larger than any one of us,” she said. “It’s a place to build this community into a space that you will want to be in.” The event will be held in the PAC at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14. Admission is free.
the Women’s Center presents
TAKE BACK THE NIGHT // RECLAIMING THE STREETS IN PROTEST OF GENDERBASED VIOLENCE
PROCESSION OF EVENTS
/1/ Enjoy the performance in the PAC Theater
/2/ Join the march through downtown
/3/ Stick around for the reception in the PAC Lobby
/ OR / Attend the vigil at the PAC Plaza
TUESDAY // MAY 12, 2015 6:30 PM
Theft of this banner is a violation of University policy and will result in notifying University Police and the Dean of Students Office.
For disability accommodations please call (360) 650– 6114 Western is an equal opportunity institution
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Take a little trip with me: Riding Low in the 3-6-0
send across the message that they and their cultures do have a place on this campus, Pacheco said. Get ready as that time of year has come “Last year, it was really amazing seeing around once again! Movimiento Estudiantil my family and friends feeling comfortable on Chican@ de Aztlan [MEChA] will be celebratthis campus as I’m aware that it’s not coming its 15th annual Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 on mon because it’s a predominantly white camSunday, May 17 in Red Square from 11 a.m. pus,” Pacheco said. – 5 p.m. Winners of the Low The whole area will be Rider Show will be “Last year, it was amazing seeing my family and my friends feeling filled with 50–100 of moawarded with trophies tor vehicles to check out, and cash prizes. The comfortable being on this campus as I’m aware that it’s not common and a variety of entertainparticipant with the especially because it’s a predominantly white campus.” ment and activities will “Best in Show” title will be offered throughout the receive $250 award, and -- Patricia Pacheco day. The event is free and the one with the “Best open for all to participate. Bike” title will receive Low riders, started in $150 award, according 1950s, are automobiles customized with hy- dancing from a group here on campus, and to MEChA’s Facebook page. draulic jacks to lower the ground clearance Sini Gang, a hip-hop group on campus, will As for the hop contest, the winner of a sinas low as possible. be performing as well,” Chavez said. gle pump hop contest will receive $250 award However, in the past, it was illegal for MEChA Budget Authority Patricia Pa- and the winner of a double pump hop contest a car to be too low because police couldn’t checo said this event is an attempt to reach will receive $400 award. lift it up without damage in case of illegally out to the Latin@ community and other The hop contest is when low riders with parked situation or emergency. students of color within the region. hydraulic jacks use the pumps to bounce their “What ended up happening was a lot MEChA is trying to encourage people cars off the ground by raising and lowering of Latino people who had these really low especially high school students to at- the vehicles. The one that hops the highest cars worked for Boeing, so they would tend the event as it wants to wins the competition, Basilio said. take spare parts from Boeing and “I’m very excited for this year event beput them into their cars,” MEChA cause it’s the 15th annual. In Latino culture, member Marco Basilio said. “So we celebrate Quinceañera which is basically now, when these people parked 15th birthday celebration—it’s usually more their cars, they could raise them for women,” Basilio said. up to avoid getting a ticket. And People can register their vehicles that’s how the low rider started for the show at the day of the event going up and down.” from 7-11 a.m. The cost is $30 Aside from the Low Riders, the for cars, $20 for bikes and event features other entertainment including a $5 for just display. jalapeño eating contest, apple bobbing contest For more informaand low riders hop contest. tion regarding the event, In terms of food, there will be Burrito like MEChA’s Facebook King, Paletero Man—naturally made Mexican page. fruit-flavored popsicles— and two taco trucks. By Nontawat Thammawan Illustration By Keghouhi Bedoyan
Musical and dancing performances also will be happening throughout the day, MEChA Co-Chair Jacqueline Chavez said. “To start the day, we’ll have an open ceremony with Danza Azteca—[traditional Chican@ dance circle of families]—at 11 a.m. And then throughout the day, we’ll have Baile Falkorico which is a Mexican traditional
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Back to Bellinghome By Alex bartick Illustration By Keghouhi Bedoyan This year, Back2Bellingham is celebrating its sixth annual weekend of events and festivities for Western alumni and their families, staff and students. Western’s Alumni Association has more than a hundred events planned for the weekend of May 15 – 17, including celebrating Fairhaven and Huxley’s 45th anniversaries. Registration for the event costs $13 which gets you a bracelet to participate in many of the events including a picnic on the lawn of old main, a party in the library, access to the Red Square carnival and much more. Fairhaven and Huxley Colleges are co-hosting the alumni event this year. Both colleges were founded in the late 1960s and were groundbreaking at the time. There will be many events for alumni from these colleges including a breakfast with Fairhaven’s founding class and lectures taught by professors from Fairhaven and Huxley College. Huxley will also be celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Planet magazine. In addition Back2Bellingham will feature an array of events including: An Evening of Improv with the Dead Parrot Society on Friday May 15 at 8 p.m. in Fraser Hall 102. The improve comedy will be created around suggestions from the audience; tickets can be bought at the door for $4. Saturday at 9 a.m. is the College of Business and Economics ìWelcome Backî Breakfast in Parks Hall foyer and balcony and the Breakfast for Fairhaven’s Founding Classes starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Fairhaven College courtyard. A carnival will be set up in Red Square from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The carnival will include a marine touch tank, a zip line, rock climbing wall, twenty seven foot tall slide, face painting, bounce houses, local food vendors and much more. In the event of rain, the carnival will be moved to Carver Gym. A BBQ will be held on the lawn of Red Square from 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The food they will be serving includes BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches, cilantro slaw, mac and cheese and much more. Baby Cakes, a local soul/funk band, will be providing music for the BBQ. In case of rain the event will be moved to the Viking Commons. From 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. there will be a party in the Harry Potter room in Wilson Library. This is an opportunity for students to talk and meet with alumni. This event is included with the $13 registration fee and appetizers, beer from Boundary Bay and local wine will be served. Director of Young Alumni and Student Programs Chris Roselli wants students to participate in Back2Bellingham this year and one way in which they can do this is by attending the reunions. In addition
to the Fairhaven and Huxley reunions, the Ethnic Student Center will be having a reunion with its founding members. The Ethnic Student Center reunion will be held in Viking Union 420 from 2:30 - 4 p.m. My goal is getting students to approach alumni and make connections with our alums who walked the same bricks that students are currently walking now,î Roselli said. Sunday at 10 a.m. Fairhaven professor John Bower is leading a bird walk through the Sehome Hill arboretum. The tour will start at the Performing Arts Center plaza, through the arboretum and end at Fairhaven College. If you have ever been curious about what goes on behind the doors of Boundary Bay, the brewery will be giving a tour of its facility. The tour starts at 11 a.m. and is limited to the first fifteen guests. On Sunday from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. MEChA will be hosting its fifteenth annual low-rider show. Ridin’ Low in the 3-6-0 is the longest running low-rider show in Washington State. All day on Sunday Fairhaven is hosting the Fairhaven Alumni and Student Music Festival. Attendees are encouraged to bring their instruments and dancing shoes. The festival will be held in the Fairhaven Courtyard. Be sure to enjoy all that Back2Bellingham weekend has to offer. To learn more, check out the Back2Bellingham website.
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Learn to see the person, not the disability By Nontawat Thammawan Poster Courtesy of Mirabelle Blech From May 11–14, the Associated Students Disability Outreach Center will be hosting Disability Awareness Week for the purpose of educating students regarding the issue of disability on campus. Disability Awareness Week is designed to end the stigma that has surrounded issues of disability and encourage people to start talking about it with caution in order to change people’s perspective, DOC Coordinator Mirabelle Blech said. Monday, May 11 Professor James Fortney, and Student and Disability Activist Kyan Oliver Furlong will be holding a disability workshop at Academic West 305 from 6–8 p.m. The workshop will discuss the issue of ableist language, oppression and performance of disability According to the 2013 article by Vanier Institute of the Family, ableism is a form of prejudice, discrimination or social exclusion toward people with disabilities either physically or mentally. Ableist language, therefore, is any word, phrase or gesture used against people with disabilities. For example, when the subject of disability is spoken by the people without disabilities and they refer to themselves as “normal people,” these individuals are practicing ableism because they’re treating disabilities as mistakes or failures rather than human diversity. Tuesday, May 12 University of Washington Disability Studies Program Director José Alaniz will be speaking in Communication Facility 229 from 12–2 p.m. about his most recent book, ““Death, Disability and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond.” Also on May 12 in Viking Union 464 from 6–8 p.m., the DOC is partnering with Building Resilience and Voicing Empathy [BRAVE] –Western’s suicide prevention program—and the AS Women’s Center Literary Journal Labyrinth to show students the ways art and journaling can relief stress and create positive and optimistic thoughts. Thursday, May 14 Pacific Northwest poet Clementine von Radics who is a queer woman with non-apparent disability will come to share her life experiences with students and read off her poetry in Old Main Theater from 6-8 p.m. “What most people don’t know is that there are what are called apparent disabilities. So, if you see someone on a wheelchair, wearing
hearing aids, walking with canes or wearing sunglasses, you can look at them and understand that they’re people with disabilities,” Blech said. “Then, there are a lot of non-apparent disabilities which can range from chronic illnesses, chronic pains and learning disabilities.” Blech said there are many more facts and lessons regarding disability that people are not aware off, she wanted to create this event to give students the opportunity to start conversations about disabilities.