“We’re not here to make happy athletes, we’re here to make winners”
Student athletes allege serious mistreatment from Cross Country and Track and Field coaches
Jackson Roberts Co-Editor-In-Chief
Recently, in response to a “campus consensus” survey by The Observer, multiple students cited complaints with coaching on the Track and Field and Cross Country teams. One survey respondent claimed, “Nearly every member of the Cross Country team disapproves of the new distance coach put in charge. The last time someone tried to stand up for the athletes, they were removed.”
The Observer spoke with four athletes about the current climate on the team and also reviewed a complaint one student filed with Human Resources about multiple issues involving the program under Head Coach Jonathan Hill and Assistant Coach/ Distance Coach Matt Layton. The Observer reached out by email to Coach Hill for comment. He replied, “With this particular request, I don’t have any desire to comment.”
Coach Hill came to CWU in 2023 after five seasons as an assistant coach for Division I school Rice University. Coach Layton came to CWU the same year from the University of Louisville. According to CWU Athletic Director Dr. Dennis Francois, “Anytime there’s situations where student athletes might not be happy with a new coach and other new things, change is difficult, and it is different for everybody. It’s difficult for new coaches coming into a new environment. It’s difficult for student athletes who are used to a different coach who recruited them. Now I’ve got this person who I don’t know and might not agree with
their philosophy and might not be a good fit for me. These are decisions that student athletes make.”
“Hopefully, they see what Coach Hill and Coach Layton are trying to develop here, and we would love to have them along for that ride and buy into what’s happening,” Francois said.
Physical and Mental Health
The athletes interviewed expressed concerns about their teammates’ mental well-being while on the roster, claiming they endured mistreatment by the coaches. Multiple athletes confirmed hearing Coach Hill say, “We are not here to make happy athletes, we’re here to make winners.”
One athlete, Athlete 1, who, along with all the other student athletes interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity out of a concern that they could lose their roster spot or face retaliation, complained about how coaches viewed injured athletes. “It’s almost like when you’re injured, you don’t matter anymore. I’ve had weeks on end where I almost haven’t even been talked to by the coaching staff because I’ve been injured,” Athlete 1 said.
Athlete 1 also alleged that there has been more than one instance where the coaches have pushed athletes too hard during injuries. Athlete 1 claimed that Coach Hill and Coach Layton were pushing two athletes so hard that it led to both needing surgery. Athlete 1 claimed the coaches were adamant they never needed to go get the injuries checked out by professionals, continu-
“I’ve had weeks on end where I almost haven’t even been talked to by the coaching staff because I’ve been injured”
- Track and Field / Cross Country Athlete
ing to put the athletes through cross training instead of tending the injuries.
According to Athlete 2, some athletes have been forced to race through injury. “There is one athlete who is in excruciating pain and I’ve had a friend with this exact same injury and they had to have surgery. Coaches are telling them they’re not allowed to get imaging done, telling them they are not allowed to go to an actual doctor about it and that they just need to keep on running,” Athlete 2 said.
“Instead of taking their training back to let them heal, they have increased the number of workouts they are doing per week and because they physically can’t handle the pain anymore, they scaled back the length of their workouts and added another one into the week to compensate for the fact they couldn’t do longer workouts. They are still making them race, it’s really been awful.”
Athlete 2 asserted that the coaches’ methods have taken a toll on the athletes in a negative way, stating they are worried about some of their team-
mates’ mental health. “I have a friend running for a university in the midwest who had similar issues with coaching. One of her teammates actually committed suicide, in large part due to the toxicity of the coach. The university’s athletic admin did not do anything until it was too late. So now I’m sitting here, wondering which one of my teammates is going to have to lose their life before the admin will be willing to do anything about the things we’re experiencing.”
Francois described how CWU handles the mental and physical health of the athletes. “We want to make sure they have the best training possible, but a lot of times, the actual philosophy might not be as good of a fit as it was with our previous coach. In terms of training and mental health, we have a plethora of services available to our student athletes and students,” Francois said.
“We definitely make those services
Collage by Julia Snow.
BEYOND OUR COVERAGE
LOCAL: “CWU to now offer graduate business degree with competitively low tuition” (via the Daily Record)
“Lee resigns as CWU women’s soccer coach” (via the Daily Record)
“Pilot found dead in plane crash near Vantage Highway” (via the Daily Record)
NATIONAL: “Trump says Ukraine ‘more difficult’ to deal with than Russia” (via BBC News)
“Trump pulls $400 million from Columbia University over Gaza protests” (via BBC News)
“Trump signs executive order to establish government bitcoin reserve” (via AP News)
INTERNATIONAL: “Keir Starmer welcomes EU moves to boost defence spending” (via BBC News)
“Clashes in Syria between government forces and Assad loyalists kill more than 200” (via AP News)
Brandon: Journalism is in an interesting place right now. Freedom of speech is being challenged at the federal level, and I have a feeling these next few months will be extremely important for journalism, and especially student journalism, across the country. That said, The Observer this week absolutely crushed it. 16 pages of news, scene and sports with some of our biggest stories of the quarter. There’s something for everyone
Jackson: Another 16 pager puts a smile on my face! Whole team did a great job this week and I am beyond proud of this issue. During a tough time to be reporting in journalism, the work we put in this week was well done and I am upset to say goodbye to some of our staff after this quarter. Thank you guys for picking up our paper. Myself and Brandon Take pride in the work that is published here and couldn’t have asked for a better first quarter as Co-Editor-In-Chiefs. We also saw The Observer take home sixth place in Best of Show for Newspaper/Newsmagazine as well as sixth place for Best of Show for Website at the Spring National College Media Conference.
Issue 9 Recap
News this week is dense, covering both campus news and news around town. On top of that, President Wohlpart gave The Observer an exclusive interview which is presented on center spread, covering everything to do with campus news
and finances. Parking was also touched on this week, with students voicing concerns through a past survey. Finally, an update on Ellensburg High School and their progress with last year’s federal ruling.
Sports this week has a bit more of a touchy story than we typically see revolving around issues with Cross Country and Track and Field coaching. Besides that, womens and mens rugby played back-to-back over the weekend. Finally we see CWU mens and womens basketball conference seasons come to an end but not before stacking up awards.
Scene looks into Women’s History Month and the event CWU hosted in Black Hall with guest speaker Michelle Pinkham making an appearance. McIntyre Music Building hosted a choir event with a number of groups performing, each in their own unique way.
Design this quarter has been amazing, with one of the largest staffs in recent memory. This week they were once again challenged with a 16 page issue, and once again they absolutely nailed it. With the heavy nature of so many of the stories this week, design was something we were really looking at for a proper representation of the writing, and our talented team knocked it out of the park. We are lucky enough to have all of them returning next quarter, so keep your eyes out for more amazing designs in the spring.
Brandon and Jackson with the Observer’s recent Best of Show Awards. (Photo by Astor Powell-Pedersen)
known to our student athletes and constantly talk about those things in our orientation, and I’m sure our coaches are doing it on a somewhat regular basis in terms of mental health. That’s something we definitely don’t ignore in any of our programs. I’m confident in terms of injuries, it comes down to having trust in our student-athlete athletic trainers and making sure they are prescribing to them the regimen for recovery and therapy to get back to training at the top level.”
“Make it Yours”
In Division II sports, the slogan is “Make it Yours,” recognizing that the athletes’ lives do not fully revolve around their respective sport. They have personal matters such as work, school, family or even a basic social life outside athletics. “It’s almost kind of like [Coach Hill and Coach Layton] don’t get that,” Athlete 1 said. “It’s like all there is in life is training and doing everything to make yourself better. They’re basical-
“I’m not doing it for me … I just want to raise awareness so hopefully the people who come to this program after me, and who love this school as much as I do, don’t have to go through the same stuff we did.”
- Track and Field /Cross Country Athlete
ly guilting us for doing anything besides constant running, Track and Field and Cross Country.”
Touching on the NCAA’s Division II slogan, Francois suggested the team is thriving in terms of their academics as well as the results they are seeing at events. “‘Make it yours’ is really the balance part of it where it’s not over the top 24/7 and rules your day. No doubt it does demand a priority within your life, but there is still time to make sure you’re taking care of academics. Which our student athletes have proven time and time again,” Francois said. “Last year, we had a 3.31 GPA for student athletes, that was very impressive … I think the results academically and the results athletically are kind of speaking for themselves in terms of Coach Hill and Coach Layton.”
Athlete 1, who initially said they were hesitant to speak to The Observer for this story, explained why they eventually agreed to be interviewed. “When I chose to do this interview, I was thinking about it for a while. Like, do I think this is morally right to kind of just go and slam my coaches pretty much? And to be honest, I don’t really think it’s ok, but I’m not doing it for me … I just want to raise awareness so hopefully the people who come to this program after me, and who love this school as much as I do, don’t have to go through the same stuff we did.”
A third athlete said that CWU’s Track and Field program was not what they envisioned it to be. “If I could go back, I would have gone to Western Washington,” Athlete 3 said.
Something the athletes are looking for is equality between the players. “They kind of let people who are lower
to middle class when it comes to competition be forgotten,” Athlete 4 alleged. “It doesn’t matter if you’re fast, middle class or slow, [a coach should] just try and communicate and listen to everybody no matter their ability or talent.”
Communication Issues
Students claimed that communication between the coaches and athletes has been poor as well. Athlete 2 claimed that Coach Hill would occasionally not send out a practice schedule and ask athletes to be at practice last minute. Students claimed they had classes that would conflict with this sudden practice and then be in trouble for not being able to make it. “The communication issues with Coach Hill, double for Coach Layton. He has refused to respond to us ever since the indoor conference championship this year where both teams got second,” Athlete 2 said, referring to the GNAC Indoor Championships in Spokane, Wash. on Feb. 17 and Feb. 18. “He has been extraordinarily rude to us, refusing to respond to people’s messages. He will say he is going to talk to you, then completely disappear and straight up not talk to you.”
“This season, [Coach Hill] took a sprinter and put her on the women’s Cross Country roster so we can have one more male spot,” recalled Athlete 1. “She had no intent of running Cross Country. We’ve asked her many times if she actually had any intent, if they asked her if she wanted to do this at all and she said, ‘No, I never wanted to run Cross Country, ’” Athlete 1 said.
The problems did not stop at communication. “We were really struggling with Coach Layton, nobody was feel-
ing like our training was progressing. Nobody felt like he really trusted or respected us,” Athlete 2 said. “Their first season with the team, we started with 14 girls on the roster. This coming fall, we had five girls return. Only one graduated from the program.”
Students alleged there was an instance where one of the team captains of the team got kicked off the team for standing up for their teammates. “As a result of that, I think there are a lot of athletes who are afraid to speak up about what is happening in the way people are being treated … By getting rid of essentially the voice of the team and silencing them, Coach Hill made it clear that if you speak up, you’re out.”
Policies around food seemed to be an issue as well. Athlete 2 spoke of an instance they saw where some team members were grabbing snacks during a training run. One of the injured athletes grabbed a snack along with some of the top-performing members of the team. According to Athlete 2, Coach Hill told the athlete that since they aren’t running, they are not allowed to grab snacks despite being at the training and unable to obtain food for multiple hours.
very little progress was made towards mending the relationship between the two sides, according to two athletes who attended.
“We had a couple of intervention meetings last year; this was one of those meetings,” Athlete 1 said. “We were actually going to address problems we had with Coach Layton. Basically, Coach Hill kind of pushed Layton into the corner and did all the talking for him. He acted as a brick wall between us and our distance coach. Nothing really came of that meeting. Nothing positive anyway.” In that same meeting, a couple of athletes brought up financial struggles they were experiencing. “A couple of guys kind of brought up that they were having financial hardship. Like, ‘Hey, we’re being required to practice way too much, I can’t even get a job to pay for school,’” Athlete 1 said. “ These are guys who aren’t on scholarship, basically running for free. They were asking, ‘Maybe we can do something about Saturday practices, maybe we can not have them or just move them to a different time so I can still go to work.’ In response, I don’t want to misquote him
“Their first season with the team, we started with 14 on the roster. This incoming fall, we had 5 girls return. Only one graduated from the program.”
There was talk between the team members about another circumstance where an athlete was hospitalized recovering from a serious eating disorder. Athlete 2 also alleged that a team member told them that Coach Hill said, “It sounds like the team needs to learn to be less emotional about food.”
Intervention Meeting
These issues have been ongoing for more than a year. On March 4, 2024, a meeting was held for the team to talk over the issues the athletes had with Coach Layton. Despite the meeting,
because I don’t remember exactly what he said, but basically implying that people with financial hardship shouldn’t have the opportunity to run in college. Which was pretty hard to hear.”
Francois talked about the growth and success the team has seen over the past two years and the direction in which the team is going. “We have six individuals going to nationals this week and that’s pretty impressive. The showing a couple of weeks ago indoors was impressive, knowing where we were two years ago. I think that speaks to the type of program we want to build here,” Francois said.
- Track and Field / Cross Country Athlete
CWU Recreation Complex. (Photo courtesy of CWU)
‘
DISCRIMINATION AT ELLENSBURG HIGH SCHOOL Superintendent Responds, Graduates
Katherine Lewis Staff Reporter
In 2024, Ellensburg High School (EHS) came under federal investigation and public scrutiny for issues surrounding discrimination and rights violations. EHS serves as the main high school for residents of Ellensburg. Upon investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded in December 2024 that the School District had “failed” to protect students from harassment based on sex, race and national origin.
The DOJ stated that “Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students experienced slurs, taunts and physical assaults based on race, national origin and sex … The district’s insufficient response allowed the harassment to continue and even escalate, denying students equal access to the district’s educational programs.”
However, instead of pursuing further investigation, an agreement was made between the DOJ and the Ellensburg School District in which the district was given a set time frame to implement a variety of changes including the hiring of a third party advisory service, designating a Spanish-speaking liaison for Latino families, creating a new electronic reporting system for instances of discrimination and more. The deadline for many of these changes is April 1.
“Our settlement agreement is more open-ended than most and is designed to make sure we monitor Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) policy/procedure properly,” Troy Tornow, superintendent of the Ellensburg School District, said in an email response to The Observer about the settlement.
Tornow also stated that one of the DOJ’s main findings was that the district did a “lousy” job with outreach to Latino families. The agreement that the DOJ and the Ellensburg School District entered into was a “voluntary resolution agreement,” which means it is up to both parties to ensure the agreement is completed in good faith or further litigation will occur.
In his email, Tornow highlighted “a training component for multiple groups within our district, as well as systems to monitor school climate.” He said that the School Board and staff started these training plans late last year before the DOJ agreement and that they
are continuing the training as part of the agreement.
Mike Rowley, chair of the Ellensburg School Board, added in a separate email, “We are working hard on a new district strategic plan and we feel the steps the district administration has taken are leading the school district in a positive direction.”
The settlement agreement is for three years of monitoring and Tornow said the district will have a 2025-2026 plan in place by the July 1, 2025 deadline, to be submitted to the DOJ.
“Since the events that brought about the investigation … most everyone has moved on to looking at the future and making sure we continue to grow,” Tornow said.
Student Experiences
Olivia Reiman, a 2022 EHS graduate and current CWU law and justice senior, shared her experience at EHS. “The main reason why I disliked Ellensburg High School was the ‘school board.’ I would say they did not treat their students equally and they didn’t treat them well,” Reiman claimed. “They just chose to turn a blind eye, or say they didn’t want to cause any more problems.”
A 2024 EHS graduate, Brooklyn Hill, spoke about her experiences at both Ellensburg High School and Kittitas Secondary School.
Moving to EHS during the second half of Hill’s junior year, Hill highlighted the help from local adults wanting to support queer kids. An English teacher at EHS is known for hosting a club called Sexuality and Gender Alliance (SAGA) and Pizza Klatch, a weekly lunch meetup that was hosted for queer kids needing a safe space. Hill said she found sanctuary there as well as at Helen House, a safe space run by local women.
These women, in particular one EHS English teacher, played a large part in the DOJ investigation, according to the students interviewed.
Hill did not participate in this investigation, and she stated that the school didn’t make this case known to the public. “They tried to keep it as quiet as possible … it wasn’t mentioned in assemblies or school announcements,” Hill said. “We had school shooting threats
Share Their
Stories
and they kept it quiet and away from parents.”
In April of 2023, The Observer covered board meetings where staff spoke out about a lack of transparency from the school district, specifically regarding discrimination.
In his response email, Tornow commented on the biggest issue the DOJ had with EHS’s response to the original events, “My predecessor made a decision not to follow district policy/procedure and asked EHS admin team to investigate the original incidents as school discipline events rather than looking at them through the lens of Harassment, Intimidation, Bullying policy and/or Sexual Harassment policy.”
Another EHS graduate requested to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of his story. He graduated in 2024, and during his time at the high school, he said he received support from the SAGA, Helen House and Pizza Klatch clubs. “I don’t believe there would be diversity and inclusivity programs without people in the community like this who are willing to volunteer their time and energy to these students that deserve a safe space, and that itself is a problem,” he said.
In December of 2024, the Ellensburg City Council voted to restrict funding for LGBTQ+ programs at the high school, including the Pizza Klatch program. The program served primarily as a safe space for students to hang out with their friends. Later that month, the council overturned the decision, reportedly following public outcry.
The EHS graduate claimed that outside of these clubs, those who do not fit the social norms “are being slurred, bullied and belittled, by other students and unfortunately some staff as well.”
As a trans man at EHS, the anonymous graduate said that when starting his transition in his freshman year, he was automatically put in online physical education, as well as given a key to the staff restrooms.
“Instead of combating transphobia that I would have likely received there, the coping mechanism of the administration, as a way of dealing with trans and queer kids, is to hide them and isolate them,” he said. “Hate is taught, it can be overcome by advances in diversity and inclusivity, but instead EHS turns a blind eye to hate because they think it is okay to ignore struggles of the queer student body.”
He stated that he consistently received hate from his peers, being called slurs in the hallway. He said that the fear and anger he experienced has been caused by a lack of education. “Now that I’ve graduated and lived separately from the school district, life in Ellensburg is better … I can live a beautiful, authentic and intrinsically queer life because I transitioned. It’s not the path for everyone, but the kids who are like me deserve to live too,” he said.
Disclosure:
Katherine Lewis graduated from EllensburgHighSchoolin2022and attended the school in person for sixmonths.
Ellensburg Highschool. (Photo courtesy of KIMATV)
PARKING AT CWU
Students report issues with spaces, prices and more
Kyley Glenn Staff Reporter
The Observer surveyed students at CWU about parking on campus. Twenty students responded, with 85% of students stating they could not find parking or had to park further away either very often or somewhat often. Out of the 20 students that took a survey on CWU parking, 18 said that they drove to campus. Of those 18, only 15 reported paying for a parking permit.
One survey respondent said, “After 9 a.m. it is impossible to find parking anywhere. I usually have to park off campus, which is a poor use of the almost $300 I spent on a pass.”
Berthon-Koch commented on issues facing parking on campus, stating that while CWU does have the most parking they’ve ever had, not all of it is always best for students. “The problem we have is it is not convenient parking right next to where somebody goes to class,” Berthon-Koch said. “We have that problem sometimes, as well as that, students would rather park up by the Psychology building and then drive to Shaw-Smyser instead of walking for the next class. And they’re late because that’s a tough zone down there and there’s not a lot of parking spaces either, so instead of walking, we end up with traffic at class breaks, etc.”
“I live on campus but I have a car and occasionally drive to campus. I do pay for a parking permit. It is impossible to have a car on campus. The parking is so far away. I would make parking free and it is [just] so far away,” Charlotte McNeely, a second year, said.
The price of a parking permit on campus is $268.
The CWU chief of police, for 26 years, Jason Berthon-Koch, shared that the permits do not cap out. Meaning regardless of there only being about 5,000 spaces, from Berthon-Koch’s recollection of the last time the spots had been counted, any student who wants a permit will receive one, even if more than 5,000 are sold.
“I feel like the parking spots to students ratio is way off, and the amount of times people can get away with not having passes seems to outweigh the cons of potentially getting caught,” Blake Cloud, a third year Law and Justice major, said.
In 2018, CWU Parking had been granted permission to raise the price of parking for students by 10%. With the cost of tuition getting an increase well, the school decided to not participate in the increase. Parking on campus has proceeded with the same price since.
“Parking does not get tuition dollars. It does not get state funding. It is a self support entity, meaning the money that parking makes stays in parking and gets utilized for parking stuff,” Berthon-Koch said.
Because of this system Berthon-Koch also stated that, “every employee that works here has to buy a permit.” Meaning that the spaces are shared not just between students, but staff as well, especially during days where the staff lots fill up.
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Parking permit fees as well as tickets cover the costs of repainting the lots, sanding them, putting gravel in the free lots and clearing off any snow/ice.
Berthon-Koch claimed that a solution that has been suggested has been to add new lots. He stated that this would require demolishing some of the greenery surrounding CWU.
“We have a sustainability goal at the institution,” Berthon-Koch said. He claimed that getting rid of nature would be going against this goal.
He stated that parking is, and will continue to be, changing at CWU as talks and plans adapt to the student body at large.
Do you have a parking permit for CWU?
How often can you not find parking/have to park further away?
WILDCATS STOCKPILE GNAC AWARDS
Jackson Roberts & Hudson Moore Co-Editor-In-Chief, Staff Reporter
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) basketball season is in the books. The mens and womens teams each fell short in the GNAC tournament. However, both the teams had two players make First Team All-GNAC and the ‘Cats swept GNAC Player of the Year.
Senior guard and the all-time leading scorer of the CWU women’s team Sunny Huerta was recognized as women’s basketball GNAC Player of the Year. Then sophomore guard Cavin Holden capped off his regular season as mens GNAC Player of the Year. It doesn’t stop there though as the head coach of the men’s team Coach Brandon Rinta was recognized as GNAC men’s basketball Coach of the Year.
Huerta averaged 18 points per game for her third straight season. The tenured guard has been a consistent scorer since she stepped foot on campus and the Wildcats will have to find a way to stay competitive without her. Junior guard Asher Cai was the other women’s player on the roster to make First Team All-GNAC, as we will likely see her as the primary ball handler next season.
Huerta said that what she learned in her CWU career is a level of toughness as well the ability to set a standard for herself. “I think it’s just the standard I’ve held myself to over the years, just trying to get the best out of myself every single year and improving every single year and pushing myself beyond limit,” Huerta said.
Holden averaged 15 points per game, 4 assists per game and was ranked as the second best three point shooter shooting 45% from beyond the arc. Holden made his defensive presence known as well averaging 1.5 steals per game. He spoke on what it means to be the GNAC Player of the Year as just a sophomore.
“Man, it’s such a great feeling but first, I want to thank God. He put me in positions and gave me opportunities that other people don’t have, he gave me a gift of playing basketball,” Holden said. “Second, I want to thank my family
for what they do for me, they watch every game and text me at every halftime. I wouldn’t be the person or basketball player I am right now if it wasn’t for them. Third, I want to thank my team. This could be one of the best teams I’ve been on in my whole life. The bond that we have off and on the court is just amazing. I just want to give them all the credit because this is a team sport. If I wanted to talk about myself I would go play golf or tennis. I want to thank them and my coaches.”
Coach Rinta, a former member of the Wildcats as a player, had quite the special year for himself. Following him, leading the team to the GNAC championship last season, Rinta tallied career win number 100 this season leading the Wildcats to a regular season record of 14-4 in conference play.
Speaking on Coach Rinta winning GNAC Coach of the Year, Holden detailed the high level of work all the coaches put in. “Coach Rinta winning coach of the year is special to see, people think it’s just the players out there doing it, but they don’t see how much the coaches put in,” Holden said. “All of our coaches, Rinta, Coach Church and Coach Brooks do an amazing job with film review, scouting and having a relationship with the players.”
Both teams also received a bid to the NCAA DII tournament as the six seed. The women play Mar. 14 against three seed Point Loma University and the men play the following day on Mar. 15 against three seed Chico State University.
CWU’s All-Star cheer team, the Cheer-Cats, have their first cheer competition since the creation of the sports club in 2022 on April 5th.
The Cheer-Cats is a completely student run club. Like other clubs on campus, the school does give them a fund to help cover expenses. However, their uniforms and other expenses still are covered by the students who are on the team.
They have two presidents. Kaila Akina, the first, is a fourth year student at Central. She has been a member of the team since it started in 2022. The second president, Clarrisa Slaton is a fourth year and has been a part of it since the beginning as well. Akina leads the
A SPOTLIGHT ON THE CHEERCATS BATTLE IN THE ‘BURG
WOMEN’S
Hunter Rhea Staff Reporter
Women’s rugby faced off against sixth-ranked Lindenwood University in D1A rugby with a final score of 15-41 on Saturday March 8, Men’s rugby hosted Trinity Western, securing the win.
practice and Slaton keeps up with the office work.
“I was a little nervous, but the last couple of weeks, this team has been amazing,” Akina said.
Central is expected to be the only college team competing in Tacoma, Wash with everyone else being attached to a cheer gym.
“I’m really excited for them to just put something out on the competition floor that they’re proud of,” Akina said.
As of now it is unclear if the competition will be streamed but the routine will be shared on their instagram, @cwucheercats, after they compete.
The Wildcats put up 57-48 against the Spartans.
It was their first game in four months, and the Wildcats ran into injury troubles. Head Coach Matthew Ramirez believes doing the little things right will help the team move forward, “this team
can be great when they decide to do the little things right, be the best at things that take no talent and that’s our challenge, so this week we can build up from there,” Ramirez said.
The women’s team will take on Life University next Saturday, March 1, at 7:00 a.m. from Lupo Family Field.
Todd Thornely, the men’s rugby head coach is preparing for the wildcats matchup against BYU next week on March 15, in Utah, Thornely believes that while the team did poor on defense and discipline, the team did very well setting the tone of the game by scoring a try in the first two minutes of the game. Even though the Wildcats did well, they gave up opportunities to overwhelm Trinity Western. “You can start really well and be up two scores, but then you can continuously do your job and do the basics really well. Sadly we lacked a lot of discipline defensively in the first half,” Thornely said. “In the second half, we pieced bits of rugby, there was a two minute spill where we were really poor”.
Following the win, fourth-year senior Arona Tauiliili and sophomore
Julian Ninulala reflected on the game. “When we are attacking, I’m focusing on looking to see if there’s space and calling it,” Ninulala said. Playing on the wing, during attacking phases Ninulala is in a good position to receive kicks from his teammates, creating isolation to score or for good field positioning.
“It was really cool to be able to watch my boys work, but we got a little bit more work to do, specifically, more defense-wise stuff, but it was a good game to watch and be a part of,” Tauililli said. The flanker came off the bench and went straight to work. Scoring a try for the Wildcats and setting the Spartans back in field positioning.
Both men’s and women’s rugby are on the road but will return to Ellensburg to face Brigham Young University (BYU), with the men’s team coming back on March 22 and the women’s team on March 29.
Ane Eteuini pushing BYU defender away. (Photo Courtesy of Jacob Thompson)
The Cheer-Cats practicing stunts. (Photo by of Kyley Glenn)
AN INTERVIEW WITH CWU PRESIDENT
FEDERAL FUNDING, ENROLLMENT,
Brandon Mattesich Co-Editor-In-Chief
Recent legislation by the Trump administration has sparked conversation across that nation as college funding is being threatened at the federal level. Recently, CWU President Jim Wohlpart released a series of emails detailing CWU’s response to this new legislation, as well as separate emails covering staffing, policing, future CWU plans and more. The Observer sat down with Wohlpart to discuss these recent emails and how CWU plans on handling new federal policies. The following is a Q&A, which was conducted in person on March 7.
Q&A edited for length and clarity.
Q: Federal funding is being threatened due to new legislation by the Trump administration. How do you see CWU responding to this new legislation, and where do you see CWU aligning itself on these more polarizing issues?
A: We get $17 million a year in Pell Grant funding; that’s 43% of our students. We receive $42 million a year in federal loans; that’s probably about 60% or 70% of our students. We have TRIO programs that receive $1.6 million a year. We hire about 30 staff, many of them students, to run those programs, and then we have all of our contracts and grants … That is what’s at stake. I’m very cognizant of the fact that if there was any pause or loss of those federal funds, half of our students would disappear and we would probably not be here. It’s huge. So how are we responding to that? We’re being very thoughtful. We meet on a regular basis with people in the Attorney General’s Office. We meet very regularly across the six institutions. In fact, I had a meeting this morning with the other five presidents; we all talked about what we’re working on and what we’re doing. What we have been doing is in compliance with federal and state law. We don’t exclude people, we don’t segregate people, we don’t stereotype people, all of which is listed in the Dear Colleague letter, so we feel confident that the path we have gone down is one that fits with federal
changes we might make. Nothing’s been determined yet, but we will have those conversations.
Q: If a conversation is to take place about how to handle these new policies, have there been talks about when and how, and will there be a place for, just broadly, student voices?
A: We are in conversation now at the executive leadership team about when and how. We always include our shared governance groups, so we would reach out to Malik, who’s the president of ASCWU, and ask him to be a part of that conversation or have him appoint somebody. For instance, if we decided to change our vision statement, we always get feedback from the campus community. The board is the one who approves that. So yes, there is always opportunity for faculty, staff and students to be involved.
In response to Trumps threats to cut federal funding: “I’m very cognizant of the fact that if there was any pause or loss of those federal funds, half of our students would disappear and we would probably not be here.”
Q: In reference to the evolution of the vision, mission, values and strategic plan, you stated that “the pace of the evolution may be increased based on what occurs this week at a federal level.” With the week wrapping up, have there been any changes on what this evolution now looks like? Has the timeline advanced?
A: Through the Dear Colleague letter, there is a website now set up for anyone to go in and launch a civil rights complaint. We didn’t know how fast that stuff would happen and how fast the Office of Civil Rights might come to do an inves -
Q: The fall to winter retention rate just increased from 91% to 93%, the highest it has been since COVID. What were some of the changes made on the institutional level that helped this change come to fruition? What changes can we expect to keep it going forward?
A: A whole host of things. More attention [was] paid by our resident assistants in each of their halls, more touch points with students, more intentional work done with students as they come up to the registration deadline to make sure that they know that the registration deadline is. More attention [is] paid by the advisors as they’re reaching out and making certain students have the information they need to get registered. More scrutiny on holds that students have. Why do they have holds? Do those holds need to be there? Can we take those holds down so that they can get registered? A change in what happens in our classrooms, our faculty are taking attendance and using a new software we have called Civitas, so if a student is gone for a period of time or struggling, they can send a message to advisors, who can reach out to them and find out what’s going on. We changed how we bill residence halls and dining. We used to front load that bill in the fall quarter because if a student decides then to leave, we can’t refill that room necessarily. And so we lost revenue. That’s why it was front-loaded. I think it was 40% of that total bill that was due in the fall. The problem is that financial aid is spread out evenly over each quarter, and so if you don’t get financial aid, you may not be able to pay that full bill. So we now spread it out evenly.
In response to enrollment es: “...we think that we’ve tom, and we’ll start going
Q: Enrollment has been a challenge since COVID. Are there any plans to increase enrollment, and if so, how will that impact funding
In response to staffing changes: “This isn’t something that we wanted to do; it was living into our budget, and that restructure, reimagine, rethink, is a challenge for us.”
PRESIDENT JIM WOHLPART
STAFFING CHANGES AND MORE
So that’s not unique to us. We have had a larger freshman class every year since I’ve been here; we also had really big freshman classes before I got here, and those freshman classes have now all graduated, so we think that we’ve hit the bottom, and we’ll start going up in terms of our overall.
Q: With Bob Ferguson recently coming to campus, we were wondering if he has announced any potential changes to funding from the state level that we can expect to see impacting Central. If so, how is Central going to adapt to those changes?
enrollment challengwe’ve hit the botgoing up”
A: He has suggested a 3% cut to higher education. The house will put out the first budget, he’s not actually putting out a budget. He’s just talking about ways to fix the state-level deficit. So the House will put out the first budget, and then the House and the Senate and the Governor will negotiate where that goes, what that looks like. The house is leaning very heavily towards revenue generation, increased taxes. The governor’s leading towards cuts. I’m sure they’ll meet someplace in the middle. That will impact us in some way, we will probably have a reduction, like most state agencies. But we are prepared for that because of the hard work we have done over the last four years in living into the state budgets that we’ve been given. We are going through an exercise now to rethink, restructure, reimagine many of the things that we do here at Central and as we do that work, we will be prepared for whatever it is that happens in terms of the state budget.
Q: Recently, the Community Policing Task Force released its final report about policing at Central, stating that while the cops on campus are reported as approachable, there were concerns both about cultural competence and racial profiling. Have there been any talks yet about addressing these concerns?
do fantastic work, and they will continue to do fantastic work, and that is their training.
Q: Recently, the current Vice President of Student Engagement and Success announced their departure from the role, following in line with another couple of staff positions that were also vacated or moved on from. And since COVID, staffing at CWU has faced pretty consistent restructuring. How has CWU been handling staffing changes? Has there been pushback about these changes from the staff level? If there has, has CWU talked about or rethought how they’re going to continue handling these changes?
A: That’s part of that restructure, rethink, reimagine, and that is something that we’re asking everyone across campus to do. We recognize we’re down 130 full-time employees, and that’s a lot of employees. That’s 14% of our workforce, and that’s largely because of the drop in enrollment and tuition dollars and the reduction in state funding. This isn’t something that we wanted to do; it was living into our budget, and that restructure, reimagine, rethink, is a challenge for us. We’re trying to find ways to do that work across the board with everyone, and there are exercises going on to do that work. I sympathize with the drop in the number of our employees and the work that still has to get done.
Q: Is there anything else you want to add?
A: This is a time of transition for Central, and a tough time because we grew our enrollment over a 20 year period. We slowly, methodically added programs, added faculty, added staff, and lost all of that in four years. That transition is a hard one to live into, and we’re still trying to figure out what that looks like and what that feels like. So that’s hard on everyone, and I want to acknowledge the challenge that this is for everyone
In response to a final statement: “Somehow, we have to figure out how to make reductions across the board, including administration, and we’re looking at that in serious ways.”
Photo courtesy of CWU Flickr.
Women’s History Month
The fight for equality isn’t over
Asia Long Staff Reporter
As many women took to the mic to share their goals, aspirations and dreams in honor of Women’s History Month, the audience gave their full undivided attention, clapping loudly after each speaker gave powerful words of inspiration.
On Mar. 6, in Black Hall, a Women’s History Month event was hosted. There were seven women who sat at the panel and a guest speaker who spoke for about 40 minutes. They all shared their backstories, gave state-
“I hope we can continue to move forward rather than backwards. And I want to help all of the wonderful women who have been in my life and my past self feel empowerment as they deserve.”
- Cyrus Bajwa
ments on their dreams and ambitions, the adversities they experience as women, especially women of color and what they hope to do with their degrees in the future.
After one speaker, Lashaya Doty, a junior majoring in Social Services with a minor in Law and Justice, delivered a passionate speech, audience members were filled with opinions that they were ready to share. “Currently, there’s definitely a culture around people preaching equality, but it’s not really shown and it’s not as prevalent as it’s done,”
Damon Dodd, a sophomore who is an English teaching major, said. “It’s not equal, even though we say it is.”
The room was quiet as the speakers answered the last question. Once everyone had answered, the room was once again filled with clapping and the guest speaker was introduced, Michele Pinkham.
Cyrus Bajwa, a junior majoring in psychology and English, gave their opinion on the event. “I used to not really be someone who showed up to things like this because I thought Congress would bring progress, but especially with things recently, I’ve been seeing it go backward, so I wanted to start showing up and being steadfast in my beliefs,” Bajwa said. “I hope we can continue to move forward rather than backwards. And I want to help all of the wonderful women who have been in my life and my past self feel empowerment as they deserve.”
Going behind the scenes, Michele Pinkham, a Community Engagement and Development Director for Native American Rehabilitation Association and also the guest speaker at the Women’s History Month event, gave some insight into why Women’s History Month is so important to them. “Thinking about me growing up as a tomboy and thinking that I have every right to do what the guys are doing. That who I am as a female should not hinder what I want to do,” Pinkham said. “I want to be happy. If it means doing male roles, I’ll do male I got more into my spirituality as a Two Spirit (a “Two Spirit” is an Indigenous person who embodies both a masculine and a feminine spirit, according to Tribal Institute), I saw more of the struggles of women not getting that equity. And I thought, okay, so I spoke under my identity and to show empowerment through that.”
Michele also shared how they think women from diverse backgrounds and experiences can be better supported. “It does take a village. It does take a lot of voices, things that I have seen, protests that I’ve been a part of. Just seeing the camaraderie, knowing that we have this in common … I think that is what is really empowering us and is really scaring those that don’t want this to happen.”
Michele Pinkham presenting (Photo courtesy of Asia Long)
Michele Pinkham standing at podium (Photo courtesy of Asia Long)
CWU’s Choir Concert A Night To Remember
Kam Schindewolf-Broyles Staff Reporter
McIntyre Music Building hosted a choir concert on Sunday Mar.
9. This concert featured CWU’s University Chorale, Vox Divina, Wildcat Chorus and Chamber Choir. These groups in total performed nineteen songs for the concert, four performed by the University Chorale, four by Vox Divina, five by the Wildcat Chorus and five by the Chamber Choir.
The first group to perform was the University Chorale, conducted by Professor Vijay Singh. This group sang very melodic songs, three being performed acapella style while one included University Chorale singer Ella Melin on piano.
“It was really fun preparing [for the show],” Arturo Meza, University Chorale singer and a first year majoring in music education and secondary education, said. “I... run through the music in practice rooms just a few times, but then I get most of my memorization done in class.”
The next group to perform was Vox Divina, conducted by Dr. Nicole C. Lamartine as well as graduate conductor Christopher Lerch.
While this group also had that melodic feel to them, they differ from the University Chorale performance because there were much deeper tones to their voices, as well as the fact that each time had instrumental accompaniment. This included collaborative pianist Kathryn Amdahl, Vox Divina singer Isa Thornsley on cello and Vox Divina singers Anya Degroot and Aubrey Akers on percussion.
The third group to perform was the Wildcat Chorus, CWU’s tenor and bass choir conducted
by Dr. Scott R. Peterson, as well as graduate conductor Maria Kramer.
Two singers from the Chorus talked about their feelings having completed the show.
“The fact that it’s over and that I felt like I did a good job with the performance, I feel happy and relieved,” Nina Soetamin, a first year music education major and singer for Vox Divina and Wildcat Chorale, said. Lucas Clark, also a first year music education major and singer for University Chorale and a part of Wildcat Chorus agreed, stating, “I feel a lot of relief, and I’m happy to be looking towards new music. I’m proud of the work we got done with the circumstances we did.”
This group had the most variation in the kind of music performed, having renaissance, sea shanties and others. This group also had a mix of acapella performances as well as ones with instrumentals, featuring collaborative pianist Nathan Ortiz, and other choir singers and staff such as Lael Maddox on mandolin, Jeff Selden on banjo, Dr. Scott R. Petersen on guitar, Dylan Bell on cello and Rowan Morales on bass.
The last group to perform was the Chamber Choir, CWU’s premier choir. This group was conducted by the previously mentioned Dr. Lamartine and graduate conductors Kramer and Lerch.
This performance was truly unlike the rest, not due to the sound of the songs performed, but rather because there was a story being told throughout their performance. They did a
performance of five songs, all coming together to tell the story of “Fire In The Meadow”. This performance was entirely acapella, and had many moments where the singers would quiet their voices for a moment just to come back with loud projections to create a contrast in the songs.
Soetamin left some parting words of encouragement, stating, “if you want to join any of the non audition choir. So that’s ... [Wildcat Chorus], Vox [Divina] or [University] Chorale. They’re open to anybody on the CWU campus. So you should do it,” Soetamin said. To which first year musical theater major and University Chorale and Wildcat Chorus singer, Lily Kealoha, added, “and even if you can’t sing, you should still come out and support the arts and come to concerts...it’s really fun.”
“
if you want to join any of the non audition choir...[Wildcat Chorus], Vox [Divina] or [University] Chorale. They’re open to anybody on the CWU campus. So you should do it,”
-Nina
Soetamin, a first year music education major and singer for Vox Divina and Wildcat Chorale
University Chorale preparing to perform. (Photo by Kam Schindewolf-Broyles)
‘Like a dragon’
The ‘yakuza’ games and the power of positive masculinity
Patrick Pugh Columnist
In case it wasn’t obvious, I’ll be spoiling the “Yakuza” franchise, so for those who haven’t played them, do that. They’re peak and if you have a Game Pass, most of them are free.
There are very few game franchises that get me consistently hyped for a new entry like the “Yakuza,” also known as “Like a Dragon” franchise, and the newest game “Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii” is no exception and I unsurprisingly had a blast playing it.
However, while playing the game I came to realize something in between beating up the same goon for the 900th time, sinking any pirate ships that dare cross my path and watching Majima sing their heart out in the karaoke mini game, these games have really good examples of positive masculinity.
For those not in the know, “Yakuza,” also known as “Like a Dragon,” is a franchise that started all the way back in 2005. Each game typically follows one Kazuma Kiryu, a legendary yakuza with unparalleled fighting skills and his attempts to unravel a conspiracy in each game that typically ends with him and the main antagonist fighting shirtless on a rooftop in Tokyo.
The games have a tone that varies from deadly serious to Looney Toons, and somehow they always manage to make it work with its charm. And in the dead center of that charm is its characters, more specifically, its main characters.
Let’s start off simple, Kazuma Kiryu, AKA the Dragon Dojima. On the onset seems like the ideal man, strong, confident and has a jawline that could cut diamonds, however when one looks deeper into him you see how he’s more than that.
Yes, Kiryu is all of that and a bag of chips, but he’s also respectful towards women, no matter the profession, is kind and gentle towards children, is
open and honest with his emotions, doesn’t mind looking like a complete dork when having fun and is always willing to help others no matter the situation or how uncomfortable it makes him.
Whether it’s helping a girl with her stalkers or dressing up to be a town’s mascot (complete with catchphrases and everything) in order to cheer up the local children. If someone needs help, he’ll help them.
His own backstory has to do with the concept of masculinity. Growing up an orphan, Kiryu greatly looked up to his foster father, Shintaro Kazama. To young Kiryu, Kazama had it all: nice suits, fast cars, the respect of his peers, he could do no wrong. But as he grew older, he came to realize that his foster father was far from perfect, so instead of trying to emulate Kazama, he decided to try to emulate the man he thought Kazama was, opening up his own orphanage and helping his kids get through life the best they can.
Moving on from Kiryu, let’s look at the protagonist of the newest game, the fan favorite, Goro Majima, AKA The Mad Dog of Shimano.
For those who haven’t played the games, Majima is yin to Kiryu’s yang. Where Kiryu is stoic and serious, Majima is boisterous and unpredictable, but not in an aggressive or demeaning way, more of a love-of-life sort of way.
Majima wears a snakeskin jacket, no shirt, leather pants and crocodile skinned steel tipped shoes, why? Because it’s what he likes to wear. He acts effeminate whenever he’s interacting with Kiryu, why? Because it’s how he likes to show affection towards him.
A karaoke sequence from Yakuza 0 featuring Goro Majima. (Photo courtesy of SEGA)
A karaoke sequence from Yakuza 6 featuring Kazuma Kiryu. (Photo courtesy of SEGA)
Ichiban Kasuga being the living embodiment positivity in Yakuza: Like A Dragon. (Photo courtesy of SEGA)
Despite these less traditionally masculine, and in some cases more feminine, qualities, he’s never shown as less of a man. If anything, he uses his less traditional way of acting to his advantage; it’s commented on multiple times that both allies and enemies have a hard time predicting what he’ll do because of the wild antics he gets in.
One day, he’ll disarm a bomb using his instincts and eeny meeny miny moe, the next, he’ll dress up as a woman in order to get a drop on his rival, Kiryu, or as he affectionately calls him, Kiryu-Chan.
Finally, something that the series does that not a lot of other series have the courage to do is let their male leads cry— and not a single manly tear, but bawling one’s eyes out, red cheeks and crying eyes.
There are two great examples in the series, one involves Taiga Saejima and the other, once again, involves Kiryu.
For those not in the know, Saejima is Goro’s oath brother and is probably even more stoic and lacks even less tack than Kiryu. Built like a brick-shit-house, this man throws motorcycles around. In the story of the game, he’s recently escaped from prison on 18 counts of murder from a raman shootout in order to learn the truth of why he was really put into prison.
This all leads up to events in “Yakuza 4” where he’s forced to fight in an underground colosseum match in order to learn some information. After beating his opponent the crowd demands he kill him, one person stating “You already killed 18, didn’t you? What’s one more?”
Sajima yells at them to shut up and breaks down in tears running down his face. He says that none of them knows what it’s like to kill a man. It’s terrifying; every night, he sees them in his dreams, reliving the events, seeing their terrified faces, hearing their bones crack and that he knows he’s scarred their families for life.
The other famous example is at the end of “Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.” In the game Kiryu has faked his death and works with a secretive government organization due to events in a previous installment.
At the end of the game his handler, Hanawa, hands him footage from a secret camera that the organization has set up looking at his fake grave, and some of the children at the orphanage find it. Deducing that the camera probably has something to do with Kiryu, they sit down and begin to talk to it.
They explain that no one at the orphanage really believes he’s dead but trusts he has a good reason for keeping his distance. They go on to explain what they’ve been up to since he’s “died” and that they’re living good
SOUND BITE YUM!
lives partially because of the lessons he’s taught them.
While Kiryu watches the recording, he’s bawling his eyes, even has snot coming out his nose.
But it gets sadder. Hanawa then hands him a photo taken of a picture drawn by Kiryu’s four-year-old grandson, Haruto, who also lives at the orphanage. The drawing consists of Kiryu with everyone together.
Kiryu starts crying even more, saying how proud he is of Haruto, how last he saw him he couldn’t even talk, now he can read and write and is drawing pictures like this. He then exclaims that he wishes he could tell his kids how much he misses them and that he thinks he needs them more than they need him.
This is a man who has toppled criminal conspiracies and brought down entire empires, yet here he is, bawling his eyes out over how much he misses his kids. And at no point does the game judge him or paint him as any less of a man for it.
THIS WEEK IN MUSIC
Brandon Mattesich Columnist
Welcome back to Sound Bite! This week we will be covering Lady Gaga, JENNIE, Doechii and Wu-Tang Clan in a classic return to format for Sound Bite. I had a ton of fun listening to the music this week, so let’s dive right into these reviews!
Starting off with a banger, Lady Gaga ’s “MAYHEM” is the ultimate dance pop album, and at the same time, it’s kind of all the same. Listening to this album I think it’s full of potential hits, but there were also many points throughout the album where I found myself almost tuning out and missing song transitions because of the very universal sound throughout. At the same time, it’s the closest we’ve come to classic Lady Gaga in years, and while I do love her newer music, I really do believe that her classic sound is unmatched. Overall, this project was fun, and a great entry into her already all time great catalog.
JENNIE also released a new album this week, and honestly I was surprised by its quality. “Ruby” is only 41 minutes long, but it’s full of really catchy tracks and the shorter nature of the album really left me wanting more. There really weren’t any misses on this album, and all of the features really worked for me. This blending of cultures and genres into what is simply a hit of an album is fairly impressive, especially considering JENNIE’s entry onto the scene. If you haven’t heard much of her work, I think this is a great jumping in point and easily contains some of her strongest songs yet.
Ironically, Doechii also released a single leaving that combo JENNIE Doechii review I did just a few Sound Bites ago in the dust. The single, entitled “Anxiety,” is not a new song but instead a remaster of a single she previewed years ago. The sample is probably the most notable part of the song, being a flip up of Goyte’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.” I loved this single, and while I definitely do think Doechii has evolved both as a lyricist and performer since she wrote it years ago, I think the fact that it’s blowing up as big as it has is just a testament to her long time talent.
Lastly we have a new release by one of Hip-Hops all time greats, the Wu-Tang Clan . This single, entitled “Mandingo”, was most likely released in anticipation of their upcoming “final” reunion tour. I loved this single, and it’s amazing to see Wu-Tang Clan back and at it. To me this single still hits just as hard as their older works, and all it did was make me even more eager to try and get tickets to their tour. I would argue there is no group as iconic as Wu-Tang Clan in this genre, and watching them make one final hurrah is everything I ever dreamed of. All I can say, listen to this song.
Photo and Design by Brandon Mattesich COLUMN
Kazuma Kiryu killing it on the dance floor in Yakuza 0. (Photo courtesy of SEGA)
Taiga Saejima crying over his past mistakes in Yakuza 4. (Photo courtesy of SEGA)
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WILDCAT WORDS
Divined by Z Morris
Aries (March 21 - April 19): Doubts may fill your mind, Aries. Doubts about finishing the last chimichanga in your friend’s fridge. But what does he need the chimichanga for? It’s not like he was going to eat it! Tip of the day: It’s changa time!
Taurus (April 20 - May 20): You might be feeling off. But have you considered feeling on? It might light up your life! Or is that too big of a switch for you? Tip of the day: Get used to change.
Gemini (May 21 - June 20): Who said Geminis have two faces? That’s hogwash! It’s not like I’d recommend you use the other one to pretend she’s a woman named Denise and crash someone’s family reunion! Tip of the day: The costume shop downtown has what you need.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22): There’s a project you’ve been procrastinating. Perhaps a final you’ve been ignoring? A meeting you’ve been putting off? A Sudoku you haven’t touched in the newspaper? Or it’s nothing. Tip of the day: It’s probably nothing.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22): Be on the lookout for somebody close to you today. They might be in the SURC, in Hebler or in Black Hall. Present them with this trigger word sequence: HONEY, BUTTERED, BADGERS. They will give you an envelope. Tip of the day: -.... ----. --..-- / -. .. -.-. .
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22): You might feel as if your goals are out of reach. But if you reach just a bit further… just a little more…. Ah! Yes, I knew you could turn off your alarm! Tip of the day: just snooze.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22): WERK GIRL WERK!!! It’s time to gross the hell out of these finals! Study Sesh?! SNATCHED! Notes?! READ! Energy drink?! DRUNK! Slap that diva in the face and show those tests who’s boss! Tip of the day: This goes for you too, boy Libras.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): Today, you might face a tough decision. Pasta, or pizza. On one hand, pasta is carbs, oil and sauce. On the other ha nd, Pizza is carbs, oil and sauce. Decisions decisions. Tip of the day: Get the salad.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21): Finances might be in a bit of a mess for you. It’s because of all of those “sweet treats” you’ve been getting your self. By “sweet treats,” I was referring, of course, to your stocks…in Tesla. Tip of the day: If you have stocks in Tesla, best not.
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. - Tight Line Rendezvous/Used Boat Swap Canyon River Ranch
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan.19): Focus, damnit, FOCUS!! Look at me, in the eye. OK. Listen closely. HONEY, BUTTERED BADGERS. Tip of the day: Hand this paper to a Leo; they will look at you in the SURC, in Hebler or Black Hall.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb.18): Ugh, people are so emotional! Not you, though; you are cool as a cucumber in a crafty cooler on a clear day in the coa stal town of Cape Cod! Charming as ever!! Tip of the day: Therapy is really… cool.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20): If your energy has been a little low, then I recommend doing something to lift your spirits! Like an exorcism! That’ll raise your right up and out of that mortal coil of yours! Tip of the day: Call Ghostbusters.
