Wildcats dominate Player of the Week awards ahead of Homecoming
See Pages 6-7
PREACHER LAWSON PREACHER LAWSON
on his origins and comedy in the modern era on his origins and comedy in the modern era
Preacher Lawson, three-time “America’s Got Talent” finalist, actor and stand-up comedian, is currently traveling across the continent of North America on his Funny as Bleep tour. The tour’s second date is at 9 p.m. on Oct. 25 in the SURC Ballroom at Central Washington University. “If you ask a lot of people what they want to do, I think the majority would say travel,” Lawson said. “A lot of people want to travel, which is great because you become cultured, you learn a lot, you grow. Yeah, I think it’s a nice little job.”
Lawson’s comedy career began right before he turned 18 in 2009, beginning at the University of Memphis. Lawson expanded his professional stand-up career by auditioning for “America’s Got Talent,” and went upwards from there. “I used to watch ‘American Idol’ growing up, so seeing Simon [Cowell] in person was pretty surreal,” Lawson said. “It was cool.”
Lawson wasn’t the stereotypical class clown as a kid. He was more the quiet and reserved type. “I was very quiet, unless everybody in the class was quiet, then I was like ‘Alright,’” Lawson said. “Some people
just really want attention. First off, everyone does. Let’s just put that out there. No one wants to be ignored, but some people just want it a little more.”
To Lawson, stand-up comedy is more about work ethic and technique. “Get on stage immediately and just do comedy a lot,” Lawson said. “I think humor is like athleticism. Some people are born a little more athletic than other people, then there’s some people that are just born a little funnier. But, I don’t care how athletic you are, you still have to learn how to shoot a basketball or dribble… You need to learn technique.” He iterated on this saying that, like with sports, if you practice every day you will be better. “Write every day like it’s your morning coffee,” Lawson said. “You should do it anyway for your mental health.”
Speaking on the qualities a comedian should have, Lawson mentioned authenticity. “People love that,” Lawson said. “Especially now, they want you to be authentic to yourself.” He carried on saying that comedians should also work very hard at their craft, despite their job seemingly being exciting. “It’s not
supposed to be fun, it’s a job,” Lawson said. “You’re not supposed to like jobs because they’re working, and that’s the trade off.”
Though being famous is absolutely work, Lawson still enjoys some aspects. “I think I have the perfect amount of fame, where if I go outside there’s people that recognize me,” Lawson said. “But it’s not like ‘I just want to eat food with my family.’” Though to Lawson, being commonly recognized still comes with its fair boundaries. “I don’t like when people take pictures, or videos of me without my permission,” Lawson said. “I think that feels uncomfortable… It’s like, I never said I wanted to be recorded.”
Lawson is a clean comedian. Clean comedy is a genre of comedy that works in avoidance of “shock value” humor, such as profanity or jokes that would generally be considered derogatory. As a clean comedian, he has a unique perspective on backlash comedians face by speaking on controversial topics.
“Anyone’s going to get upset,” Lawson said. “But if it’s a large group of people that are upset, I think it’s usually because the comedian did a bad job of conveying
that joke. Comedians, we’re just storytellers. We’re the same thing as when you go to the movies… and lose yourself for an hour and 30 minutes. You know, you would leave the theater feeling refreshed like ‘That was a good time.’” He continued saying that people have different tastes in movies, and the same goes for stand up comedians.
“If you go into the movie theater and you don’t like the movie, you probably should have looked up the director,” Lawson said. He also thinks there’s an importance in owning up to mistakes in stand-up comedy. “There’s this narrative that you shouldn’t apologize,” Lawson said. “Which I think is stupid. I think there are times that a comedian should apologize, and then they don’t do it because they’re like ‘No, I’m a comedian,’ and it’s like ‘No, actually that you should apologize for.’” Conversely, Lawson said he doesn’t like the censorship aspect of critiquing comedy. “I really believe that anyone can talk about anything,” Lawson said. “But I do think sometimes… We say dumb things. [Like] ‘My bad. That was dumb, what I said.’”
Photo courtesy of Campus Activities and Preacher Lawson
Lee Beck Scene Editor
LETTER from the EDITOR
Hey Wildcats!
Wow. Almost halfway through the quarter already. Hasn’t it flown by? It seems like not too long ago it was 100° and we were all wearing jorts and at the beach.
Happy Homecoming! Our issue this week is jam-packed with Homecoming content, from the front page to Cativities. Our issue this week is also sports heavy, and by heavy I mean heavy. Which, as a former Sports Editor, I can’t help but be happy about.
And in my mind, all of these stories need to be told! We have so many stories of triumph and success this week. From the women’s rugby team absolutely dominating their first game of the season, to the football team bringing their all this past weekend and hoping to do the same thing on Saturday in front of the best fans in the Lone Star Conference, to player awards, to tailgating. We’ve got it all.
On our front page, we were able to secure a fantastic interview with comic Preacher Lawson. Lee did a fantastic job getting him to open up, and I had a blast taking a peek into his mind, and I hope you do too.
On the news side we’re pretty minimal this week as we ramp up for a news heavy cycle in the coming weeks. But, we do have a super lovely story about the world language open house that happened last weekend, and all the fun activities and learning opportunities that took place.
As we look forward to the coming five weeks of The O’, I implore you all to check out the fantastic work that Brandon has been doing on our social media (We have a lot more coming in that regard), and our new Observer en español stories online! Huge ups to the translations team, Abby, Evelyn, Kathryn and Olivia!
Have a great Homecoming ‘cats. As midterms approach, I think we all deserve a weekend to relax, check out and have a good time. Isaac
(Photo by Z Morris)
Tailgating:
The Social Side The Social Side of Foot ball of Foot ball
Hayley James Staff Reporter
Fall marks the start of football season, and with that comes a trail of social events that surround the sport. Football is a significant aspect of college, especially for students. College football unites students and brings them together over their shared love and pride for their school and their community.
During these events, a lot is going on from the game on the field, the social scene in the student section and the tailgate parties. “I like going to the football games for the school spirit, listening to the marching band, cheering and socializing with friends,” Grace Harper, senior hospitality major, said.
There is much more that happens at a football game that has less to do with the sport and everything to do with the crowd. “I personally
like watching football but the environment and the people are fun to be around.” Kayla Gumke, law and justice grad student, said. “I usually like going to the games with my roommates and hanging out with friends while watching the game.”
Many people attend these events for different reasons whether that’s for the game, the music or the people. “Me, personally, I’m not the biggest fan of football and I don’t really know how to keep score but it’s fun socially, just to be there with your friends,” Harper said. A considerable amount of the social scene around football is tailgating.
Tailgating is a social event, usually in front of the football field or the parking lot before and during game time. “I feel like you don’t realize how big the school is,” Harper said. “I feel like I always see the
same people in class so it’s nice to see everyone there and meet new people,” This is when people get to know each other and celebrate their mutual support for the team and the sport.
Tailgating is great for meeting people with similar interests and commonalities you wouldn’t have known or met otherwise.
“My experience tailgating is always fun, especially if you show up early enough to feel like you have plenty of time. It’s cool because it’s a way to be around lots of fans before the game steals our attention away in the stands,” Max Reeves, 2024 alumnus, said. “It gives fans the chance to interact with other fans more directly and celebrate the team with more than just close friends.”
Tailgating is a typical way for someone to enhance their overall game day experience. “I think tailgating is the perfect way to blend the personal hangout with the public hangout,” Reeves said. “You’re out amongst a bunch of other people but you still have your own space, your friends, your games and drinks, but you still get the energy of the stadium.” These events are helpful for building relationships, making friends and fostering a sense of community. These experiences create a great camaraderie between the students, the faculty, the alumni, and the community as a whole. The next home football game will be our homecoming game on Oct 25.
The Volk Family Tailgating.
Photo Courtesy Justin Yormark
On the ground at the On the ground at the
WORLD LANGUAGE WORLD LANGUAGE
OPEN HOUSE OPEN HOUSE
Afrom the French, Japanese, Korean, Russian Sign Language and Spanish departments, the World Languages and Cultures Open House was a forum for students across departments and across campus to build a sense of community with one another and learn more about what CWU’s World Languages and Cultures department has to offer.
“Knowing another language has huge potential for almost any career you can envision,” Volha Isakava said at the World Languages & Cultures Open House on Oct. 10. Isakava is the chair of the World Languages and Cultures department, a professor of Russian language and one of the several language and culture faculty that attended the open house.
More than 70 students showed up to the event hosted in Black Hall 106-6, according to Christina Torres García, the Director of Latino & Latin American Studies Program. Each language department held games at their table that focused on language, ranging from students guessing the meaning of French double entendres and trying to figure out the meaning of “konglish” – korean-english hybrid – words, to learning how to write their name in the Cyrillic alphabet at the Russian table and learning how to finger spell it at the Sign Language table.
There was also a language Kahoot! led by French language professor Michael Johnson with questions about global language, while students ate homemade food from the various cultures represented at the event including enchiladas and Russian potato salad. Beyond fun games and food, the event was a way to bring students together to learn
beyond their general education requirements.
“Think about today’s workplace,” Isakava said. “Even if you come from the smallest rural community, or from a small town like Ellensburg, you know for a fact that when you start working, you’ll be working with people and for people from other cultures and other backgrounds. If you work for an international business or international firm, you might have teammates from India or from Eastern Europe or from Africa. So to learn a language is like to open up the window to another world, to another way of thinking, and open your mind to new experiences and adventures.”
Most importantly, according to Isakava, language degrees carry practical skills no matter what field you go into. She points out that lots of students want to go on to teach language, to teach English overseas or even to work for the government, and that’s why they are learning a language.
“It goes beyond just this kind of practical, career driven focus. Having a language education equips you with cross cultural understanding, sensibilities and skills that are an asset in any workplace,” Isakava said. “Almost any job you hold today in any sector requires you to understand, respect and appreciate people who are not like you, who came from different backgrounds, maybe speak a different language than you, maybe have different cultural traditions and that is the true asset of a World Languages and Cultures degree.”
“So to learn a language is like to open up the window to another world, to another way of thinking, and open your mind to new experiences and adventures.”
-Volha Isakava
ASL students showing the sign for “I love you” at the sign language table. (Left to right: Jose L Martinez III, Tevin Merlin and Jesus Chavez-Lara)
(Photo by Astor Powell-Pedersen)
Russian language students Caleena (left) and Danielle (right) showing off their names written in Cyrillic.
(Photo by Astor Powell-Pedersen)
WILDCATS WIN
WILDCATS WIN
McGill & Matagi earn Player of the Week honors ahead of Homecoming
Isaac Hinson & Maggie McBroom Editor-in-chief, Staff Reporter
The Wildcats spoiled Texas A&M University Kingsville’s (TAMUK) homecoming celebration this past Saturday, beating the Javelinas on their home field 31-0, their second shutout win of the season. Following the win, sophomore quarterback Kennedy McGill and sophomore defensive lineman Daniel Matagi both won Lone Star Conference (LSC) Offensive Player of the Week and Defensive Player of the Week respectively.
The Wildcat’s now sit at 5-2 on the season and 4-1 in the LSC, and look to win again this weekend at CWU’s homecoming celebration as the team welcomes Midwestern State University to Steve Hertling Field at Tomlinson Stadium
“It’s a good feeling,” McGill said. “But, we’re moving on onto the next week. Hats off to the O-line. They dominated all night, and hats off to our defense … It’s nice when they can get you the ball back.”
The team’s defense has been notable all season. The Wildcats are beating their opponents by an average margin of 17.3 points, and the Wildcats have been converting on third downs at a 56.8% rate, while holding their opponents to a 34.1% rate. Their opponents have also only reached the red-zone 11 times the entire season. Conversely, the Wildcats have gotten to the red-zone 29 times and converted 19 times. McGill, who has been a dual-threat quarterback this season being able to rush and pass,
reer-high four passing touchdowns, attributing the heavy air-time to offensive coordinator Mike Ferriter.
“Coach Ferriter does an excellent job of game-planning for us week-to-week,” McGill said. “The game-plan going into the game was to air it out a little more because the defense we went against played low safeties. They were very good at stopping the run.”
The game started scoreless in the first quarter. McGill pointed to the weather conditions, but as the offense got into its rhythm and used to the conditions, the game began to expand for the offense.
“The weather played a little bit of a role at the beginning of the game, because it was a mon-
WIN BIG
WIN BIG Homecoming
Matagi’s success can be attributed to his incredible work ethic. While some people might take time off over summer and win ter break, Matagi is in the gym working hard on his athleticism. He understands that good performances take more than just showing up on gameday.
As he puts it, “I know that if I wanna perform on Saturday, I need to perform on Monday, then again on Tuesday, all the way up to Saturdays, so I have those perfect practices to rely on in game, and that gives me confidence to play fast and physically,” Matagi said.
With performing in-game every week end comes a lot of pressure, and every ath lete has a different strategy that they use to calm and overcome their pregame nerves. A lot of his teammates have very high energy in the locker room before games, but Matagi would rather find somewhere quiet to relax his mind.
What keeps him grounded is thinking about, “What my family sacrificed for me to play college football,” Matagi said. “Especial ly the sacrifices my dad has made for me my whole life, and try to make them all worth it.” Grounding himself in his “why” is a key pregame strategy for Matagi.
While Matagi’s mindset is in the right place, it takes a combination of individual efforts from the entire team and coaching staff to see success.
The culture of the CWU football team is one where each player takes it into their own hands to be the best that they can be, as just about every individual player is self motivated. As Matagi puts it, “Our whole team wants to be better without coaches pushing us,” Matagi said. “The coaching staff tells us the standard and we hold it or raise it– nothing less.”
However, the football team’s motivation goes far deeper than wanting results on the football field every Saturday. Much of CWU’s current roster has played either with or against each other having grown up in the state of Washington.
These deep relationships translate into wins.
“When we get in tough situations it’s the rela tionships and bonds with each other that we rely on to win the tough ones,” Matagi said. This is proven true as CWU has now gone 4-1 in conference play so far this year.
CWU Football’s only loss this year was a score of 13-14 against the conference’s current No. 1 University of Texas Permian Basin the Sat urday before last. However, they were able to turn such a difficult moment into a positive, and came out with the shutout win this weekend.
This was Matagi’s favorite moment of the season so far, “We bounced back from a pretty rough loss and it just showed how resilient we are together,” Matagi said. “We aren’t gonna dwell on the past, but instead take it to the chin and keep moving and keep giving our best.”
Looking ahead to next week, the team isn’t looking to do anything differently before their game this weekend. Associate Head Coach and Defensive Line Coach Grant Torgerson said that the team maintains the same mentality no matter the opponent.
“We are not changing anything,” Torgerson said. “We talk about it all the time, no matter
less, faceless opponent. We respect everybody, but we fear no one.”
BACK IN BLACK BACK IN BLACK
WOMEN’S RUGBY
WIN HOME-OPENER, SEASON DEBUT 106-0
Parker Wood Staff Reporter
T106-0
he Wildcats women’s rugby team returns to the field after 168 days. After losing seven of their last nine games, the Wildcats made their debut at home on Oct. 19. With new and returning faces alike, Coach Matthew Ramirez and Loose Forward Jessica Postle were ready to start the season on the right foot, stomping their opponent 106-0.
The teams first opponent was an unfamiliar one– The University of Oregon. The last time the Wildcats faced the Ducks was back in 2015, when the entire coaching staff and team looked entirely different. The way Coach Ramirez sees it, they can’t focus too much on what their opponent is going to do this early in the season.
“There’s not a lot of film on Oregon, as they’re getting their season going here,” Ramirez said before the game. “So it’s just, you know, focusing on us and what we can do, how we can prepare, and being, you know, ruthless at the basics for us, and then building from there.”
One of the leaders of the team is Postle. Ramirez praised the junior Loose Forward. “(Postle) has been great for us with her intensity and leadership,” Ramirez said. Postle was second in the team in “tries,” or grounding the ball in the opposing in-goal, with six, only behind fellow junior Winger Lilly Thomas.
When asked about the offseason, Postle ensured that they were keeping themselves ready for the challenge of this season. “We did a really good job this summer working on our conditioning and staying fit,” Postle said. “As in the past, one of our
challenges was coming in fit and ready for our first games.” Ready the Wildcats were as they showed out in their debut game on Oct. 19.
The Wildcats jumped to an immediate lead against the Ducks, taking a 65-0 lead at halftime. The ‘Cats didn’t let up their foot off the gas as they put ball after ball into the opposing goal, winning 106-0. Despite the blowout, Postle still praised the Ducks for their play. “Even though it was a blowout, we still played all the way through and so did the other team,” Postle said. “They were such good competition still. They just gave us great defense and were consis tent the whole way through.”
Postle described the process they go through the week before the next game. “We did most of what we could do before, and now it’s just about keeping our bodies healthy and just practicing for how they’re going to play, because [Brigham Young University (BYU)] is a very strong defense team,” Postle said. “So we got to work a lot this week on our defense and tackling.”
As Coach Ramirez looks to these future matchups, he has a unique perspective –“Every week’s a final, right? Right now, our final is Oregon,” Ramirez said. “It’s our big focus.” Up next for the Wildcats is the BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah before com ing home to face rival Life University, who knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Postle hopes to find a big home crowd on Nov. 1 against rival Life.
Loose Forward Jessica Postle.
Photos courtesy of Jacob Thompson / Thompson Sports Media
Sideline cheering on the team.
SOUND BITE
Astor Powell-Pedersen
Columnist
Throughout American history, and quite frankly all of political history, every major politician is going to have their diehard supporters. The people who love everything they do, and follow their every word. Politicians having followers isn’t a new concept, but the age of the internet has added a new level to politics that borders on something close to fandom spaces.
If I had to place it, I’d say it probably started in part with Obama, which makes sense considering his presidency is when online spaces really started kicking off into the super mainstream. If you were online – well, ever – you’ve seen an Obama meme. You’ve probably seen edits of him that make him say something odd, or skits where someone imitates his voice, but all around there wasn’t really anything all that odd about the way the internet treated Obama, at least in terms of public figures. It was young people on the internet making jokes, just like everything else.
This kind of light, joking fandom space shifted massively with Donald Trump’s first campaign. Whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying that the online and offline
culture surrounding Donald Trump is intense and passionate. I’m just saying, during his campaign, I never saw a truck covered in Obama flags and stickers driving down my street. From the beginning, the following surrounding Donald Trump has seemed different than political followings in the past. It’s the same thing that happened with Ronald Reagen to an extent, where the nation fell in love with him from his past AS a celebrity, and it continued into his career as a politician.
There’s this idolization of Trump that I’ve only really seen with career celebrities before, where no matter what Trump says or does, it must be true and he must be right and if you say otherwise you should burn in hell. Obviously. Everybody’s seen the infamous red MAGA hats everywhere since 2016, with people wearing them to the county fair or the grocery store like throwing on a band t-shirt. Hell, I’ve seen small children walking around in Trump merch. It isn’t just the Trump campaign though, the 2024 presidential election has seen the parasocial relationships with politicians go through the roof in a way that’s beyond t-shirts, flags and shitpost memes. I am of
course talking about the Kamala Harris campaign. For God’s sake I literally saw nipple pasties the other day that said “Kamala is Brat” on them in the colors of the Charlie XCX album. I don’t feel like it’s being a prude to think that thats fucking weird is it?
No matter your political leaning or how charismatic you find her, I think it’s wrong to idolize her like she’s a celebrity. Supporting a candidate is one thing, but the worship that we as a nation have made the norm for our political candidates only serves to further polarize us in this left vs right battle.
Treating politicians like we treat our favorite musician puts them up on a pedestal that makes them increasingly difficult to criticize without oddly emotional backlash. I’m not saying not to be vocal about your support of a political candidate, but it is important to understand that left vs right, democrat or republican, politicians are not our friends. Politics will always be about having your own best interest in mind, and that goes for them too. When we treat politicians like we treat Taylor Swift, we put our blinders up to any wrongs they may do to us.
THIS WEEK IN MUSIC
Brandon Mattesich Columnist
Welcome back to Sound Bite! This week we are going a bit of an unconventional route and covering some new and old releases that I feel deserve to have been covered. From country to alternative hiphop, this issue will have a little something for everyone.
Starting with “Welcome to the Plains,” a new release by up and coming country artist Wyatt Flores . The album deals with themes of self discovery and is a deeply emotional project. A few standouts for me come from the instrumental sections, with Flores’ band really showcasing their extreme range and prowess over some unconventional sounds. This growing trend of the Oklahoma sound is really making its way into the mainstream, and I think Wyatt is going to be a key part of that sound.
Up next we are taking it way back to this past May, when an almost decade long narrative series was finally wrapped up. That’s right, I’m talking about “Clancy” by Twenty One Pilots . The series, which started in 2015 with the release of their album “Blurry Face,” chronicled the tales of the character Clancy who fought to free himself from an ever oppressive fictional city. I have to admit that I slept on this album, really the whole series of albums, for far too long. It’s so rare to see well constructed overarching narratives executed this well between albums, and for that I felt like I had to go back and give them their flowers.
In upcoming news Tyler, The Creator just announced that he will be dropping his next project at the end of this month, Oct. 28. The album, which will be titled “Chromakopia” has already sparked major headlines across the internet for its stylistic debut teaser shared on most social media platforms. With the album being written, produced and arranged entirely by Tyler himself, it’s clear that Tyler’s dominance over the hip-hop and experimental scenes will continue as long as he keeps making music.
also released a new album this past week. “LYFESTYLE” marks his latest entry into the heavily electronic and experimental side of rap. Personally, I am not a fan of the album. It feels too long and too muddy, with a couple great concepts buried underneath layers of excessive sound. However, I am not a Yeat fan and Yeat fans love this album. Yeat has been a divisive figure for awhile now in the music scene, and I think it’s fair to say that his music just isn’t for everyone. If you’ve liked his stuff in the past you’ll love this album. If you haven’t, this one definitely won’t change your mind.
Photo and Design by Brandon Mattesich
