Issue 11

Page 1

Ne w s p a p e r o f Wa l l a Wa l l a U n i v e r s i t y

Collegian The

Volume 102 | Issue 11

Peacekeeping Week pg. 5

January 18, 2018

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” - James Baldwin

C o l l e g i a n W i s d o m | S e n a t e | J o b s | H i s t o r y | M e d i a + Te c h | R e l i g i o n | S c i e n c e | Fe a t u r e | S u b m i s s i o n s | We e k i n Fo r e c a s t | C u l t u r e | Fo o d | O u t d o o r s | O p i n i o n | P o l l

Featuring discrimination testimonials from students and faculty at Walla Walla University.

Last Things First college place, wa | walla walla university

| January 2018 Issue 11

The Great Minivan Mix-Up By Meghann Heinrich I was born with an innate ability to identify possible threats and make them known. From a very young age, I considered danger detection my personal burden to carry. “Mom they put all the fat people on our side of the plane! We’re gonna tip over and die!” “Mom! Tell Uncle David to stop driving the boat in circles before the lake turns into a toilet, and we all get flushed down and die!” These PSAs were given frequently and at full volume, just to make sure that at any given moment my friends and family had a good read on the risks associated with any given activity. Even as a child I could sense the embarrassment I caused my mom, but I reasoned she’d rather be a little embarrassed and well-informed than not know at all. My family did its best to change me, but I would not be

Hey Thanks! “Thanks for not making the second week of school Week of Worship, so I have a shot at actually figuring out when/where my classes are before the fruit basket upset.” “Thank you power bills for reminding me that I am stronger than I think, and can go without heat.” “Thank you, giant puddle outside the CTC. Without you, I never would have felt the need to buy rainboots.”

swayed. “Meghann, honey, you don’t have to worry all the time. It’s not healthy,” my mom would say. “Yes I do! If I don’t worry, then no one will, and then we could all die!” There is no arguing with bomb-proof logic like that, so my mother resigned to letting her child fret away her youth. This brings me to The Great Minivan Mix-Up, a harrowing tale of miscalculations and safety concerns brought to you by 7-year-old me. It was an average day of running errands with my mother and sister—nothing too fancy, just a little light grocery shopping. We had one stop left: Walmart. We parked and started piling out of the minivan; this is where things got dicey. You see, I had a small drama getting my seatbelt to release, and where I finally emerged from our trusty Ford minivan, my family was nowhere to be

found. I frantically scanned the parking lot, doing my best to quell the panic rising in me before I hit DEFCON 1 and initiated the subsequent reaction sequence of running and screaming and biting anyone who dared touch me. Just as I felt my initial scream climbing up my throat, I spotted them; my mom and sister were just crossing the street and heading for the main doors. Immediately, I started to evaluate the risks involved in crossing the street without someone holding my hand and whether I could make it in time to reunite with them before they entered the store and were inevitably lost in the sea of bargain shoppers. Every second that passed upped the risk factor which then begged the question: what are my options? Just as I realized I didn’t really have any options, I saw my mom and sister walk through the doors and

seal my fate. There was no way I could cross the street on my own, and every stranger passing me had started to look like Frankencelery.1 I did the only thing I could possibly think of: return to my trusty minivan and wait for my family to return. I made a mad dash for the van and as soon as I got inside locked all the doors. I sat there waiting for approximately 11 seconds, at which point I realized that devious characters could easily spot me sitting in my minivan. I did the only thing I could think of: crawl under the bench seat and lay perfectly still on my tummy singing happy songs while I contemplated my current predicament. This accomplished two things: 1. effectively keeping me out of sight of the ne’er-do-wells, and 2. effectively keeping me out of sight of my mother who had instantly realized

I was no longer with the party and had come running out to look for me. Within minutes, Walmart was on lockdown, and every man, woman and child was searching high and low for me. Meanwhile, I was jamming out to Baby Beluga and all the other Raffi greats thinking life wasn’t so bad after all. She eventually found me, and that was good, but she never took me back to that Walmart again. 1 Frankencelery is a character in “Where’s God When I’m S-Scared,” the pilot episode of the much loved television series, VeggieTales. He is a scary looking celery at first, but in a delightful turn of events we find out he is actually an actor named Phil Winkelstein from Toledo.

Verbatim “If we go faster, the wrong notes last a whole lot less time!” - Professor Brandon Beck “We live love in human relationships. I should put that on Twitter #GoldenRules.” - Professor Timothy Golden “Jesus is my homeboy.” - Marketing and Media Director Chris Drake “The Philistines are upon us.” - Professor Alden Thompson “This is my ‘day one tie’. You will immediately respect me and expect great speeches only to be disappointed because of it.” - Professor David Crawford Email your faculty verbatim or thanks to meghann.heinrich@wallawalla.edu to be featured!

© 2018 KYRA GREYEYES


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