Summer headlines review, p. 4 Catching up with singer-songwriter, alum Kris Orlowski, p. 8 WOOT!, p. 12
WELCOME BACK!
Vol. 29 #2 9.23.13
2 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Sept. 23, 2013 • 3
AS salaried employeesguide Challenge Course Coordinator Jonathan Mayfield and Board Assistant Max Zentner along a tight-tope at the Outdoor Center’s Challenge course on Lakewood, Sept. 19. Isaac Martin // AS Review
NEWS 4
SENATE HIATUS Student Senate under reconstruction
5
SUMMER HEADLINES A look back at some of this summer’s top stories
COLUMNS
MAKING YOUR LIFE BETTER, ONE PAGE AT A TIME
11
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
SUSTAINING SOUND
A message from KUGS 89.3’s music director
STUDENT LIFE 12
©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.
WAR FOR WOOT Freshmen outdoor experience at risk of being cut
FEATURES 8
CATCHING UP WITH KRIS ORLOWSKI We caught up with the famous WWU alum at Bumbershoot
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.
10
GO OUTSIDE AS Outdoor Center preps for a quarter of excursions
6
CLUBS IN THE HOUSE AS clubs get a cozy new work space
By Cade Schmidt, Editor-in-Chief I had the epiphany of my career in a sardine-canned hotel conference room in San Francisco. During my final workshop of the Associated Collegiate Press Conference, the San Francisco Bay-Guardian’s pink-haired culture editor fed me the pinnacle nuggets of alternative-weekly truth. Among other brilliant things, she said that alt-media should seek a voice for the powerless and stray from aspiring to a certain level of robotness often demonstrated in mainstream reporting. In the early 1990s some cool cats at the Associated Students founded our darling publication to supplement what they felt wasn’t being addressed in Western’s campus media. Some magic happened, this baby was born and we’re still kicking it over 20 years later. And you won’t see any robots in our paper, unless it’s the KUGS-bot. You’ll find us nestled in the bowels of the Viking Union where we practice pointing you towards local treasures, lifting voices of the marginalized, telling you about the latest awesomeness in the AS, great photography and Internet meme worship. We report to you in a relatable way, because we are for the students, by the students.
Red Square Info Fair
Sept. 23 & 24 // 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. // Red Square The largest information fair of the year takes
place this week,
offering students an incredible opportunity to explore every-
Fair
will feature over
200
clubs, departments, local businesses and organizations as well
THE AS
REVIEW Cade Schmidt Kylie Wade Isaac Martin Annika Wolters
as free food, prizes and giveaways.
Welcome Back Memory Walk
Sept. 24 // 7 p.m. // PAC Plaza Welcome students back to Western with a firework display sponsored by President Bruce Shepard. The night will also include the Memory Walk, a commencement tradition dating back to 1912 where each graduating class places a time capsule beneath a stone engraved with their class year.
Sept. 25 // 7 p.m. // CF 120 Western’s Doctor Who club Associated Students salaried staff got real close with one another during an activity that required employees to squeeze 12 people onto a small platform at the Outdoor Center’s Lakewood Challenge course on Sept. 12. Photo by Isaac Martin // AS Review
We’re on Twitter! @TheASReview
will kick-off their year with a
meeting discussing the upcoming
Who.
50th
anniversary of
AS Productions Volunteer Info Session Sept. 26 // 5 p.m. // VU 552 For all those interested in getting involved with AS Productions, head to the info session to learn all about volunteering with ASP entails.
what
Western Athletics: Men & Women’s Soccer
Bad WWUlf’s First Meeting
Adviser Jeff Bates
We not only understand the importance of putting a picture of a puppy or My Little Pony on our cover during finals week, but we also foster our readership by inviting you to partake in our newspaper. We covet reader submissions whether it’s a response to a story, album review, rant about dining hall cereals or a cartoon of a tyrannosaurus shooting hoops with Bruce Shepard. If there’s an issue on campus you feel our community needs to know about, we’re all ears. Western manages to curate some of the most talented and caring folks around and we want to help you share what you love. So shoot us your letters to as.review@wwu.edu or stop by our office on the fourth (east) floor of the VU. We look forward to a year of making your life better, one page at a time.
EVENTS: SEPTEMBER 23-30 thing available on campus. The Info
Letters: We welcome letters to the editor. Please limit your letter to 300 words and include your name and phone number. Send them to as.review@wwu. edu. Published letters may have minor edits made to their length or grammar.
Editor in Chief Assistant Editor Lead Photographer Writers
THE AS REVIEW: WHO WE ARE
Doctor
Sept. 26 & Sept. 28 // Orca Field // $3 The women face off against Western Oregon on Thursday at 3 p.m., followed by the men’s game against University of Mary at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the teams will hit the field again as the women take on Saint Martins at 4 p.m. and the men battle South Dakota School of Mines at 7 p.m.
VU Late Night: Mystery City
Sept. 27 // 8 p.m. // VU Head to the VU for a night of activities including a masquerade ball, face painting, games and vendors. There will be performances by Seacats and The Bad Tenants, as well as an improv show by the Dead Parrots Society. The night will also feature a tarot card reader and comedian magician Michael Kent.
4 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Sept. 23, 2013 • 5
SUMMER NEWS ROUND-UP By Cade Schmidt While you may have been making Vines or Instagram videos of your weekend in Chelan, watching Miley Cyrus twerk or debating whether you should care about the royal baby or not, this summer saw some big headlines. Here’s a review of what you may have seen on your Twitter feed over the past few months. We understand this list doesn’t include every news event of this summer. Whether a headline is listed here or not, it doesn’t make it any more or less important.
TOP 10 ALBUMS: SEPT. 10-16 1
Paracosm Washed Out
2
Love Now Mean Lady
3
Radical Blossom Tangerine
4
AM Arctic Monkeys
5
The Nextwave Sessions Bloc Party
6
Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action Franz Ferdinand
7
Jacuzzi Boys Jacuzzi Boys
8
Was Dead King Tuff
9
Sleeper Ty Segall
10
Lighter Typhoon White KUGS is the Associated Students’ student-run radio station. Listen online at kugs.org. If you are interested in getting on the waves, pick up a volunteer application in the station’s office on the seventh floor of the Viking Union.
Texas abortion bill hacks women’s access to health care - On July 18, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill into law that will squelch the state’s abortion clinics and prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Senator Wendy Davis became a symbol of women’s rights by jamming the bill’s movement on the senate floor with an 11-hour filibuster on July 25 and rallying public response.
Graphic designs by Justin Van Natta and Jesi Maakad, AS Publicity Center
Zimmerman found not guilty - On July 13, George Zimmerman was acquitted of seconddegree murder and manslaughter charges he faced after shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla. last February. After the jury’s verdict, public outcry and protests erupted throughout the country. A week later, President Barack Obama spoke about race in the U.S., saying, “There are very few AfricanAmerican men in this country who have not had the experience of being followed when they are shopping at a department store. That includes me.” Washington Post sold to Bezos - On Aug. 5, one of the nation’s most beloved newspapers was handed over to Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon. The decision came after
years of previous chairman Donald Graham struggling to keep the paper afloat financially. The Post had been in Graham’s family since 1933. The family stood by the paper during some of its finest moments, including its running of the Pentagon Papers, whistleblowing on the Nixon administration and earning 47 Pulitzer Prizes. California fights for trans and gender-variant kids - On Aug. 7, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill ensuring children who identify as trans or gender-variant are protected in public schools. The first of its kind in the country. It supports children’s right to use restrooms and participate in gender-segregated activities that reflect their gender-identity. Ghouta chemical attacks - On Aug. 21, what U.S. officials estimate as 1,400 people were killed by sarin gas in the Ghouta suburbs near Damascus, Syria. Footage and images of the carnage went viral and immediately resulted in an investigation by the United Nations. The Obama administration continues to mull over appropriate responses to the Syrian government’s use of banned chemical weapons. Colorado recovers from record flooding - During the week of Sept. 16, widespread flooding displaced hundreds and caused what catastophe-remodeling firm Eqecat estimates to be $2 billion in proprety damages. Reuters reported on Sept. 19 that at least 1,700 homes were destroyed. Oil spills have been reported along the Rocky Mountain foothills.
6 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Sept. 23, 2013 • 7
GET INVOLVED: CLUBS AT WESTERN
NEW CLUBS IN THE ESC
CLUB SPOTLIGHT:
By Kylie Wade ties of how to reserve a room kind of diverse little niches of groups With over 230 existing clubs and to the finer points of successful event of families of people,” Koenig said. roughly 40-60 new clubs added each planning. Clubs also have access to “That’s where I found my family at year, the club system at Western a ton of online resources through a Western.” serves as a robust system for student program called OrgSync, which is Hayden said the club system can involvement in a wide variety of accessible from the club page on the not only provide students with a arenas. “We have everything from academically focused clubs to cultural and ethnic clubs to fun, recreational clubs to clubs that are really trying to change the world,” said Casey Hayden, the Student Activities Coordinator. “You can make a club of pretty much whatever you’re into, as long as it’s legal.” Clubs are managed and supported by the Club Activities Office, affectionately called the Club Hub and located in Viking Union 425, as well as the Activities Council, which oversees official club recognition and all monetary requests. To start a club, all students need to do is find five prospective members, draft a constitution and a mission statement and submit those materials They will then be prompted to set up meetings with Hayden and Kasey Koenig, the AS Club Coordinator. Clubs will eventually appear before Activities Council AS Club Activities staff (left to right) Giovanni Milan, Giselle Alcantar Soto, to receive official recognition, and Kasey Koenig and Casey Hayden. Photo by Isaac Martin // AS Review after recognition, a wealth of opportunities and resources become AS website. community-building platform, but available. Clubs can take advantage The main purpose of the club can also help them develop profesof the Activities Council budget to system is to provide students with sional and organizational skills. get funding to put on events or atopportunities to build communities Hayden also pointed out that clubs tend conferences. Clubs can also take that center around their interests, can sometimes have huge impacts advantage of the support of Koenig, passions or background. on the wider Western community. whose role is to be a resource helping “I think the club system is just Some examples include campus-wide with everything from the technica-
NORTHWEST MUSIC FESTS
initiatives that were born in clubs, including the new campus water bottle ban that began in Students for Sustainable Water and a push for the university to purchase 100 percent of its energy from green sources that grew out of the work from Students for Renewable energy. “The club system is so essential to our campus. It’s really where a lot of the expression of the student body comes from,” Hayden said. “If it wasn’t for the club system, a lot of student identity, beliefs and viewpoints wouldn’t be as expressed as they are.” This year will see some changes to the club system, beginning with an expanded Club Showcase with more rooms for clubs to table and reach The Flaming Lips perform at Capitol Hill Block out to prospective members. A new Soul singer lights the Martin. Party on Cody July ChesnuTT 28. Photo byupIsaac Honda Bigfoot stage on Monday, despite event called Club Refresh will also the rainy weather. take place in January that centers around giving clubs a chance to reconnect with resources after a busy fall quarter. The Club Hub itself got a makeover over the summer and now boasts all new furniture and will soon include a new flat screen TV. The Club Hub will also feature two new staff positions this year, support specialists Giovanni Milan and Giselle Alcantar Soto. For any student who wants to get involved and either join or start a club, stop by the Club Hub or take advantage of OrgSync. OrgSync allows anyone with a Western universal log-in to browse a database of clubs and make online requests to join.
The Ethnic Student Center is focused on growth this year, welcoming three new clubs and focusing on collaboration within the ESC and with other AS departments, according to Polly Woodbury, the ESC Program Support Coordinator. Woodbury emphasized that the ESC is open to all students, including not just students of color, but also allies. She also advised that anyone looking to get involved in the ESC attend the upcoming 23rd annual ESC Conference which will be held in October at Camp Casey.
JAPANESE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
THAI STUDENT ASSOCIATION
KOREAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION
- added to the ESC last fall - the club says they are “committed to promoting a better understanding of Japanese culture; free from stereotypes and idealized images” - open to all who have an interest in learning more about Japan -one of the biggest things JSA did last year was hold a traditional Japanese dinner to raise money for tsunami relief in Japan.
- added to the ESC last winter - the club says their aim is “to depict positive Thai culture through education, social and recreational activities” - their meetings feature mediation and yoga - every other week, a TSA member brings a delicious dish to share during the meetings, accompanied by an instructional cooking video so members can learn how to make it
- added to the ESC in June - the club “strives to familiarize the community with various aspects of Korean culture including, but not limited to, kpop (Korean pop music), food and karaoke” - they identify their purpose as creating an environment of “tolerance of ideas, culture, peoples and religion” - offer meetings, outings and cultural events
Members of Learning Team, all Western students, unload their gear before their Capitol Hill Block Party set on July 28. Photo by Isaac Martin. Scot Porter aka Vox Mod performs at the Vera stage at Capitol Hill Block Party on July 27. Photo by Isaac Martin.
Twin Shadow performs at Sasquatch on May 27. Photo by Cade Schmidt
Nic Offer of !!! (Chk Chk Chk) opens the group’s set at Bumbershoot on Aug. 31. Photo by Cade Schmidt.
Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend sings the ivyleague quartet’s single “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” at Sasquatch on May 24. Photo by Cade Schmidt.
Ben Carson of Seattle’s Hot Bodies in Motion kicks off the last morning of Bumbershoot at the Mural Ampitheatre on Sept. 2. Photo by Cade Schmidt. Seattle hip-hop favorite, Sol pumps up his crowd at Bumbershoot’s Fisher Green stage on Sept. 2. Photo by Cade Schmidt.
8 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Sept. 23, 2013 • 9
CAREER ON THE CLIMB: ALUMNUS KRIS ORLOWSKI By Annika Wolters & Cade Schmidt Kris Orlowski is sweeping the west with his raw baritone and full acoustic sound. After his single “I Will Go” saw airtime during the sixth season of ABC’s medical drama Private Practice, a national tour and signing with new managing, Kris found time to sit down with us before his Bumbershoot performance, and chat about his
over the last six months. All of the How is life with your degree? sudden we’re on the map. To me, this Bumbershoot show really solidifies “Good. I was able to get a job right our credibility.” out of college. I went over to Calcutta right after I graduated and did misWho were the three artists you sion work for Missionaries of Charity toured with? for about two weeks. I got really sick and almost died. I was in the hospital “Sarah Watkins, the violin player for about a week. It was a pretty clear for Nickel Creek, The Last Bison indication that I wasn’t supposed to - they’re the same age as us - and be there. Whatever that means, you Gregory Alan Isakov. Every show we know? My path was going another played with (Isakov) was sold out: way. I got a job in Bellevue at a market research firm. I was there for two years as an analyst. Then I got a job at a consulting firm in Seattle and I’ve been working there ever since.”
Kris Orlowski opens his set at Bumbershoot with his 13-piece band at the Seattle Center on Aug. 31. Photo by Cade Schmidt newfound success, his first show in the Underground Coffeehouse and being a jerk.
LA, Santa Barbara and San Diego. I made a ton of fans. It was really fun.”
So now you’re back in the NorthReview: You’re having a great year, west. What’s next? how do you feel going into Bumber“I just got back last Sunday. It shoot this time around? feels good to be back. We go in the Kris: “There’s been a lot of mo- studio again next week to record for mentum building over the last eight two weeks and finish our full-length months. We signed with an agency record. Then back on the road for a group in New York in January. (It couple weeks until we do a tour with represents) people like Citizen Cope, the Little Green Cars. They’re out Dinosaur Junior, really big bands. of the UK. They released a record a Macklemore works with our agency couple of months ago, it’s been doing group. It’s a big step for us having a really well. We’re doing four dates with them up the coast in October.” national agency getting us shows. Then, on top of that we signed with management and got two place- You’re a Western alumnus, right? ments on Grey’s Anatomy and Private What year did you graduate? Practice. Just those things alone have “Yes, I am. I graduated in 2005. given us a lot of credibility. We started working on a new record this fall and My major was in Communication.” I’ve toured with three different artists
“Well it’s evolving now, because it was more of a folk-pop sound. Part of it was other people telling me what they heard (in my music). When people compare you to other artists, you try a few things and then something clicks. I think that is when you know you’ve found something, when it clicks internally. It feels really good. That’s where the authenticity comes from, that authenticity is what shows on stage. That’s what people grasp on to, that’s when it’s real. That music stays around forever. People can listen to it ten times and still feel something.”
When can we expect you back in Bellingham? “That’s a good question. We’re trying to line something up in the fall at the Wild Buffalo, potentially. Funny enough, Bellingham is really where I go to recharge. My family is a big part of that. And my dog. I went up there last night to recharge so I could come down to the show.” What breed of dog to you have? “She’s a blue heeler, Doberman pincher. It looks like a black lab, mini dobey mix.”
Your last name is pretty awesome. What’s your experience in people butchering your name? Does it bother you? “I remember when I was playing soccer on the state soccer team in high school and they announced my name over the loudspeaker. They said, “Or-shlongski.” My team just bent over laughing. People have butchered While opening for Allen Stone at Western on Jan. 12, 2012, Orlowski invited the it every way you can think of. My golden-haired R&B hipster on stage to help him close out his set. Photo by Cade name is Czech, but I’m Polish. It’s weird and I’m weird. Schmidt // AS Review Just for the record, I’m not a nice guy. People have been saying your art, but that’s total bullshit. You can take classes and it’s totally not going to mess up your art. Also, start playing out as much as you can. Then I’m a nice guy in these articles and it’s piss- Orlowski takes part in a panel about staywhen you’re ready, create a band name. Collaborate. You’ll learn so much.” ing me off.” ing green in the music industry as a part of AS Productions’ Pop Music Industry We’ll just call you a jerk. It’s easy to get lost in individual sound. Sometimes bands can sound very Conference on Feb. 2. Photo by Cade similar. Can you tell us about the experience you went through to find (He’s really not.) Schmidt // AS Review your own sound?
Your music has a lot of references to Bellingham. What does Bellingham What’s her name? mean for you, in terms of your music? “Her name is Tess. She’s really old.” “Bellingham is part of my core. I grew up there. I was born in St. Joseph’s Hospital. I was raised there. Besides a We remember you saying at AS Profew trips here and there – like London ductions’ Pop Music Industry Conand for study abroad programs – I’ve ference that you have done some been in Bellingham most of my life un- environmental activism with some til I moved to Seattle. So, it is like my green organizations. Can you talk home, you know? Home is the people. about that? It’s not necessarily the place, it’s mostly the people. I hold a lot of memories “I’ve done some volunteering there. There is a lot of beauty in that through Projectline. Projectline has town—that nostalgia—that I don’t got a very robust volunteer program, ever want to get away from. You know? where we volunteer at different places So when I go back there, it’s almost a every month. I helped start the Green Graphic design by Kristina Huynh, AS Publicity Center comfort zone thing. When I can just Team to try be more conscious of the relax and do what I’m supposed to do: way we’re living and working. Beretreat.” yond that, I actually stopped driving for three or four months and bussed Is there a specific place that inspires or biked everywhere. That was tough. you, or an experience you can remem- But it showed me that if you really to ber that really added to your music? change, you can. It’s so easy to be jaded and think, ‘I “I played with a couple artists out don’t have to recycle, because someof Bellingham over the years that have body else will do it. It’s just one more inspired me. But I think what was most thing in the landfill.’ But if everybody inspiring was my first time playing at says that then we are screwed. I’m the Underground Coffeehouse. wearing a green shirt now. If that’s not I was so nervous. It was an open- activism, then I don’t know what is.” mic, and I got up there with my guitar and the whole room froze. Not because Do you have any advice for musicians I was good. I think it was because of at Western? my voice. People were like ‘How does this kid have this voice?’ Because that “I have a couple pieces of advice. was really the only thing I had going One: the most important thing is to for me. My guitar playing sucked and practice. I think that’s one of things my song-writing was okay. I think that took me so long. Granted, it does I had a knack for it and that’s why I take a long time. Death Cab didn’t stuck with it. People were saying, ‘You make it overnight. I finally feel like I’m should keep doing this. You’re not getting to a point where they were— good enough yet, but you should keep getting the exposure—practice and doing it.’ The cornerstone of my Bell- study. There is a lot of value listening ingham experience was playing in that to different types of music and taking coffeeshop.” a few classes. I always thought it kills
10 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
OUTDOOR CENTER EXCURSIONS By Kylie Wade This quarter, the Associated Students Outdoor Center will be offering six chances for Western students to explore the Washington outdoors and experience a new outdoor sport or activity. The Outdoor Center hosts a series of excursions each quarter designed to provide students with accessible, high-quality outdoor adventures. AS OC Excursions Assistant Coordinator Jason Davis said this quarter many of the excursions will show students easy ways to connect with outdoor activities close to home. “One of our focuses this quarter is trying to show people the beauty and the fun stuff that you can do right around here,” Davis said. Two of the excursions, a backpacking trip and a Deception Pass bike tour, will leave straight from Western’s campus to show participants how easy it is to head out on their own amazing trips right from school. Davis said the Outdoor Center also focuses on finding ways to keep the costs of excursions as low as possible, so more students have the opportunity to participate. “Our mission at the Outdoor Center is to provide an educational experience outside. If you were to go and do one of these trips through a professional guide service, it would cost a lot more,” Davis said. “We try to provide these trips at a price that students can afford.” All the excursions are designed for beginners and have no requirements involving prior experience. “You don’t have to have done any of these sports before. We get lots of beginners on all of our trips and that’s what we’re here for,” Davis said. “This is a really great opportunity while you’re in school to take advantage of our lower pricing and try a new activity or a new sport that you’ve maybe been curious about. You get to spend a day or a weekend playing outside – I can’t think of anything better.”
DECEPTION PASS BIKE TOUR OCTOBER 12-13 // $35 This overnight bike trip starts off on campus and follows the scenic coastline to Deception Pass. The ride winds down Chuckanut Drive, past Bayview State Park and ends at the Deception Pass campground. “It’s a beautiful ride,” Davis said. “Deception Pass is a beautiful area. You get views of the San Juan islands, Chuckanut Bay and Chuckanut Drive.” The cost of the trip includes bikes, panniers, helmets and tents.
WHITEWATER COURSE NOVEMBER 2-3 // $180 This trip serves as an entire introductory course to whitewater kayaking and will teach participants basics including how to roll, kayak handling, river running and risk assessment. “This is designed to get people up to the ability to kayak on beginner and intermediate rapids,” Davis said. Before taking off, this excursion includes practice roll sessions on Oct. 22, 24 and 29. After completing the roll sessions, participants will first spend a day on the Skagit river near Concrete, Wash. on Oct. 26 and then reunite for a two-day trip to the Wenatchee river near Cashemere, Wash.
LUMMI ISLAND KAYAK TOUR OCTOBER 19-20 // $60 This trip begins in Fairhaven and features a paddle across Bellingham Bay before stopping at a campsite on Lummi Island. “It’s a really, really cool campsite surrounded by these beautiful madrona trees,” Davis said. After camping overnight, the journey back home will begin early in the morning to give particpants a chance to experience a sunrise paddle back to Fairhaven.
ROCK CLIMBING NOVEMBER 9-10 // $115 Aimed at introducing beginners to the basics of bolted sport climbing, this trip will feature a drive out to the east side of the Cascades in Vantage, Wash. for two days of climbing on incredible columnar basalt. “It’s this really cool place in Central Washington near the Columbia river and there are these giant 200 ft. basalt columns,” Davis said. “It’s amazingly beautiful, it’s really good climbing and it’s a great place to learn to climb because a lot of the climbing is very accessible.” Harnesses, helmets and transportation are included in the price, but rock shoes are not.
BACKPACKING & FORAGING OCTOBER 26-27 // $40 A new excursion this year will take participants on an overnight backpacking trip through the Chuckanuts. The excursion will feature a foraging session along the way for mushrooms and edible plants. Davis said the trip will also be focused on taking in the natural beauty of some of the areas closest to campus. “You walk from Western, so you see urban Bellingham, and then you walk up into the hills and into the Chuckanuts,” Davis said. “You get this really cool transition of urban and then slighly suburban and then you’re in the woods - you’re away from civilization that fast.”
MOUNTAIN BIKING NOVEMBER 16 // $30 This trip is a one-day biking excursion on the Galbraith trails in Bellingham. Participants will leave from campus with a trailer full of mountain bikes and park near Galbraith Lane before heading up to the trails on Galbraith Mountain. All experience levels are welcome and helments and transportation are included in the cost.
WE’RE HERE, THIS IS NOW
Sept. 23, 2013 • 11
Sustaining sound in a college town By Nick Thacker, KUGS 89.3 Music Director “It’s a scary world, but we don’t need to be scared anymore, we need active, visionary protest, we need to grab hold and make the transformation, from complaining that there is NO FUTURE to insisting that there be a future.” – Al Larsen, from “Love Rock and Why I Am,” 1990
Each September brings a wave of musically creative people to Bellingham. During their time here, they form Portrait by Isaac Martin // AS Review bands, play shows, make records and open venues. Takluck, a new exit will be blasted into the Make.Shift basement and ing cues from those that came before, they deconstruct the mystique live music will return to Flora St. But even then, one organization around creating music. Anyone who wants to can do it. The secret of shouldn’t be expected to do it all. musical accessibility is discovered. The point is this: sustaining music communities in places like Then June comes. A few graduates linger around the City of Bellingham require not consistency, but a constant influx of proSubdued Excitement, but most move on. Bellingham, of course, active participants. If there aren’t any shows that your underage has a thriving music scene outside of the college circuit, but the fact friends can go to, have one at your house (but ask your neighbors remains: a sizable percentage of the creative population is turned first). If there aren’t any bands that speak to you, start one that over each year. Consistency across more than a few years is difficult does. Like-minded people do exist, they just have to be found. If to maintain. you’ve yet to find yours, you might consider doing as the original Discovering the aforementioned secret of musical accessibility do-it-yourselfers did and look to your friendly college station. is reliant on the existence of performance spaces that are accessible KUGS is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and is always to minors, the demographic a majority of undergraduates belong accepting volunteers. Hosting your own radio show, in addition to. Bands don’t just show up at the age of 21, fully groomed and to expanding your musical lexicon, will allow you to meet other developed. They aren’t created in a vacuum. It’s one thing to be students that are as passionate about music as you are. The local influenced by a great record, but being able to see a group perform section of the KUGS library is a living archive of Bellingham music in a small room – a basement, a living room, an art space – without waiting to be explored and added to. any barriers is what convinces people they could just as easily do The Show Off Gallery isn’t here anymore. The Old Foundry isn’t the same thing. here anymore. Death Cab For Cutie isn’t here anymore. But all of For a number of reasons, Bellingham has seen many all-ages venthose things were here and are examples waiting to be followed. We ues come and go: The Vortex, The GAF Church, The Old Foundry, are here. It’s time to make stuff up so that when the next wave rolls in, countless house venues, and perhaps the longest running all-ages they can look to the blueprints we’ve drawn. A lot has changed since venue in Washington, The Show Off Gallery. Without relying on the 1990 – the year The Show Off Gallery opened and also the year Al Larsen sale of alcohol for financial sustenance, as most bars and age-restrict- penned the epigraph to this piece. But the same tools and resources are ed venues can, all-ages venues are almost never money making ven- still in place, and then some. It’s a scary world, but we don’t need to be tures. Make.Shift, downtown’s only all-ages space, is currently unable scared anymore. to host shows until the building is brought up to fire code. With any
12 • as.wwu.edu/asreview
Kicking up dust, hiking during sunset, a WOOT group hikes along a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, in the North Cascades National Park Sept. 17, 2012. Photos courtesy Danny Miller.
THROWN INTO THE WILDERNESS
WOOT TAKES INCOMING FRESHMEN ON AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY By Kylie Wade Every year since 2010, the school year at Western has begun one week earlier for a small group of incoming freshmen who choose to be part of a program called Western Outdoor Orientation Trips, or WOOT. Participants move into their dorms early and spend the first day of the program exploring campus, getting to know each other and preparing for the trips. For the next six days, they set off on outdoor adventures that have included backpacking, bike touring, sea kayaking and rock climbing in the past. The students learn how to take care of themselves in the wilderness and how to work as a team. They also follow a curriculum designed to offer opportunities to form fierce bonds with each other and reflect on their upcoming transition into college. “I think one of my favorite moments is when I see the students come back from their trip. There is this glow on their face…it’s almost indescribable. I call it backcountry bliss,” said Marli Williams, the WOOT Coordinator. Jasmine Wilhelm is currently a senior at Western double majoring in art and recreation. Wilhelm went on WOOT during its pilot year in 2010 and is returning this year to serve as a leader. “Having WOOT as my first experience at Western was the best thing I could have asked for,” Wilhelm said. Josh Kirsch is a sophomore who attended WOOT as a freshman in 2012 and is returning as a leader this year. Kirsch said the most valuable thing he took away from the trip was confidence. “I remember the first night, it was definitely a lonely night,” Kirsch said. “You’re by yourself in this new place. It was just like I don’t know what to
do with myself. But after I came back, I was like I have 10 new friends who I can call up at any time and I have a bike that I know where to go with and I have something to do with my time.” Williams said the core mission of WOOT is to enhance, support and ease the transition for incoming students through outdoor adventure. “When people connect in the wilderness, there is a deeper, more profound soul connection. You are each other’s entertainment and support. If you’re tired and cold and grumpy and stinky and people love you anyway, those relationships last,” Williams said. Williams brought the program to Western in 2010 after dreaming up the idea with another student while she was in graduate school at Western. The first year, Williams was able to get the AS Outdoor Center to help put on one trip with 10 students. WOOT then received funding from the AS Board for a 3-year pilot program. Each year of the pilot, WOOT was able to increase the number of trips. This year the program will include seven trips with 84 students. Even as the program has expanded, it is still not able to accommodate every student who wants to participate. In 2012, WOOT staring using online registration and all of the trips filled up in four hours. In 2013, the same thing happened. Both years also had full waiting lists. This year will be the final year of the pilot program and WOOT’s future is currently full of question marks. After this year, Williams will no longer be granted time away from her full-time position with Student Outreach Services to coordinate WOOT. A meeting to discuss the future of the program took place on Wednesday, Sept. 18 with key stake-
holders in the university. In a phone interview following the meeting, Williams said that ultimately nothing was decided, but the conversation will continue. “No one is saying the program is awful and they want it to end, but no one is taking a stand and saying this is something we need to stand up and fight for,” Williams said. Williams said the meeting left her unsure of the program’s future and unsure of even what the next step will be. In a WOOT program report prepared in May of 2013, Williams cited national research that states that outdoor orientation programs can increase first-year retention rates, grade point averages and personal, social and spiritual growth. In William’s own studies of WOOT participants, students that went on WOOT have a first-year retention rate of 90 percent as compared to 84 percent for students who did not participate in the program. Williams also found that WOOT participants had a slightly higher first-term GPA as compared to those who did not participate. “On the surface, it’s an outdoor trip, but that’s really just the disguise for this journey of self-discovery,” Wilhelm said. “Along with gaining these outdoor skills, it’s also aimed at gaining some life skill and I wouldn’t trade those lessons. I learned so much on that trip.” Williams envisions a future for the program that includes hiring a new coordinator, creating an advisory board and steadily increasing the number of available spots. “This program has an incredible amount of potential to be a cornerstone of the university, a program that other schools look up to and a program that Western is really proud of,” Williams said.