Summer 2021

CWU’S STUDENT-RUN LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2021

PULSE TIKTOK

CELEBRITY

AT CENTRAL FROM CAMPING TO GLAMPING: COMFORT UNDER THE STARS

EL CAMINO

THREE LATINAS TELL THEIR STORIES BEGINNER’S GUIDE

TO WINE TASTING IN WASHINGTON SUMMER SPRING 2021 2021

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OUR TOWN FASHION

O N T H E C OV E R A bed and a tent from a glamping trip, TikToker Natalie Steinman, and a bottle of white wine being shared between friends getting together.

Illustration by Sara Roach Design by Katie Jo Stewart See stories for photo credits

OUR TOWN 8 Cookies Across Communities 1 0 Exploring Ellensburg Floral & Gifts

SPOTLIGHT 1 6 El Camino: Three Latinas Tell Their Stories 2 4 TikTok Celebrity at Central

PASSPORT 1 2 From Camping to Glamping: Comfort Under the Stars 1 4 Beginner’s Guide to Wine Tasting in Washington

COOL CATS 3 0 Jon Kitna: For the Love of the Game

what’s INSIDE

Photo by Katie Jo Stewart

FOOD + DRINK 3 2 Stepping in to Healthier Eating 3 6 Three Easy and Delicious Summer Salads LIFE HACKS 4 0 Environmentally-Friendly Hacks to Reduce Kitchen Waste

4 4 Prepping for Graduate School 4 6 Rental Hacks: Move-in Edition ENTERTAINMENT 4 8 Women in Comedy 5 0 Summer Festivals and Events

OUR TOWN

SUMMER 2021 LEADERSHIP STAFF GIRL

Bailey Tomlinson editor-in-chief

Addie Adkins associate editor

Katie Jo Stewart art director

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POWER

EDITION

Libby Williams assistant editor

Sara Roach senior designer

Itzel Montoya senior designer

Mary Miller copy editor

PULSE STAFF Editorial editor-in-chief Bailey Tomlinson associate editor Addie Adkins assistant editor Libby Williams copy editor Mary Miller writers Carolyn Dean Emily Holyoak Tomohiro Koizumi Ondrea Machin Jazmine McQuerry Tom Mendez Aitana Myrbo Nick Noice Amy Rubio Jackson Sorenson

Joseph Stanger Paula Williamson Kahlyll Wilson contributors Robin Gramlich Austin Kong Yajaira Perez Autumn Reed

Nick Noice Katie Jo Stewart Paula Williamson

Advertising business manager Cait Dalton 509-963-1026 cait.dalton@cwu.edu

Design

Advising

art director Katie Jo Stewart

faculty adviser Jennifer Green 509-963-3216 jennifer.green@cwu.edu

designers Itzel Montoya Sara Roach

Photography photographers Addie Adkins Carolyn Dean Aitana Myrbo

PULSE magazine is a student-run lifestyle magazine, both in print and online at www.cwupulsemagazine.com. PULSE produces one issue an academic quarter. Student editors make policy and content decisions for the magazine, which serves as a public forum for student expression. PULSE serves the Central Washington University community with informative, engaging and interactive content covering campus and community life, trends and issues, and providing practical magazine and multimedia training.

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NOTe FROM THE EDITOR I have spent the majority of my time at CWU working in student media, but lifestyle media is not really where my experience in this field lies. I’d spent just over a year working at our studentrun newspaper, The Observer, as News Editor and, for a time, the dedicated pandemic reporter. After working in news media through an emergency on a global scale, I knew I needed a change of pace.

However, I also couldn’t bring myself to leave student media behind.

I made the leap and spent last quarter writing for PULSE, learning new skills and expanding my experiences as a journalist while enjoying exploring an environment that felt surprisingly new to me.

When our adviser asked me if I would be Editor-in-Chief over the summer quarter, I was blown away. I was a little nervous at first, since I hadn’t spent much time at PULSE yet, but I knew my previous experience (and my amazing team) would help me when I needed it.

Leading PULSE this summer has been an incredible experience, and I am so honored to have had the opportunity to do so. Everyone I’ve had the pleasure to work with this quarter has put their best into this issue, and it shows in the remarkable quality of every page. I know that I have personally grown so much from this experience, and I wholeheartedly believe that everyone else who worked on this issue has had a great experience putting it all together as well. It is my hope that you get just as much out of this issue as we have.

In this issue, we highlight several members of our community, including CWU’s very own celebrity. Check out the story of Natalie Steinman, a 21-year old film major who recently passed over a million followers on TikTok, on page 24.

Looking to enjoy some of the natural beauty and great craftsmanship Washington has to offer as summer winds down into fall? Learn about how Washington wine tastings are some of the most special out there, and find a winery near you on page 14.

If you’re struggling to find ways to nurture your green thumb (and the environment) in a new dorm or apartment, then look into the environmentally-friendly kitchen hacks we’ve published on page 46. They’re doable even without a yard or garden space.

Seniors, as your time as an undergraduate comes to an end, you’re probably facing a myriad of overwhelming choices that feel like they’re coming up fast. Graduate school might be the choice for you! To learn about your resources and how to navigate taking the step into continuing your education, make sure you see our article about it on page 44.

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OUR TOWN

Cookies Across Communities Story by Jackson Sorenson | Photos contributed by Charmaine Mosiman | Design by Itzel Montoya

The photo of Charmaine in the pink shirt was taken by Ensign Photography (@ensignphotography on Instagram) and the other photos were done by Charmaine herself

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Charmaine Mosiman used to teach music to small children, following a dream she’d always had. After settling in Roslyn with her husband Henry, she found she wanted to bring something to the community that they may not have seen before: macarons.

Every weekend, as Lemon Thyme Macarons, Mosiman brings hundreds of differently flavored and colored macarons to not one, but two different farmers markets. She attends the Ellensburg Farmers Market on Saturdays and travels to Suncadia Resort on Sundays for their farmers’ market.

She has recently begun creating new treats to bring to the market, such as cakes in a jar. She is working on a new business project that she is excited to bring to life: she is almost done with creating a trailer that will allow her to travel across the county, or beyond, and sell her macarons and many other options including coffee and teas, along with an assortment of other treats and goodies.

The Process Macarons (not to be confused with macaroons, which are small, typically coconut cookies) are made by combining egg whites with flour, sugar, powdered sugar and some salt. Food

coloring can be added as desired to the mix. Once the batter is made, Mosiman uses a piping bag and a silicone mat template to pipe out the macaron tops so they are all the same size.

She will occasionally create macarons in shapes other than circles, like a Pikachu face.

While the tops are baking, Mosiman starts working on the fillings.

“I love traveling the county and finding local ingredients that I can turn into my macaron fillings,” Mosiman says. Recently, Mosiman acquired a watermelon jam from a local vendor, which she then used to create watermelon flavored, and colored, macarons.

“I was just shopping around, and I saw this watermelon jam and I just knew that I had to create macarons with it,” Mosiman says.

Every weekend, Mosiman creates six or more fillings, which she makes by hand each time. Some of her popular flavors are animal cracker, honey lavender and cheesecake. Each weekend, she can be expected to have something different.

and other bakery treats on days other than the farmers markets’ on the weekends. She plans to sell macarons, other bakery treats and some beverages out of her trailer.

“I am so excited to be starting a new chapter with my business and am so thankful for the community,” Mosiman says.

The Future Mosiman is in the process of growing her business.

She wants to be able to sell macarons

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OUR TOWN

EXPLORING ELLENSBURG FLORAL &

Gifts

Story by Ondrea Machin | Photo & Design by Katie Jo Stewart

When you think about a special time of year, such as Mother’s Day, anniversaries, weddings or Christmas, flowers are one of the first things you think about buying for someone. Ellensburg Floral has an array of flowers, as well as gifts that give people the opportunity to buy a beautiful arrangement or a nice gift.

As a new mom, Dottie Rodgers was looking for a job and found a part-time florist position. She eventually bought Ellensburg Floral and has now been a florist for over 30 years. Rodgers said she kind of fell into being a business owner but there is a sense of community when owning a business.

“There’s a support system in the community. There’s the Ellensburg Downtown Association, and there’s the Chamber, and there’s the city and all of them are really supportive,” Rodgers says.

Having a supportive community is important to Rodgers.

Without it, she wasn’t sure if she would have made it as a thriving business. Also, Rodgers says without the help of friends and family she probably would have never opened a business because of how much renovation went into the building to make it an acceptable place to have a business.

Owning a business came with a lot of competition from online floral shops. However, Rodgers says she is a hard worker and wants to put her energy into something for herself.

She thought of ways to keep up with the competition, and after the first dotcom crash she added gifts to her floral shop.

Twelve years ago, Rodgers moved her business to its current location on the corner of 4th and Pine. The move boosted her gift and plant sales, and allowed her to expand what kinds of gifts she can sell.

Rosemary Meyer is an Ellensburg local and a customer of Ellensburg Floral. Meyer says Rodgers is a “beautiful and creative designer,” and that she enjoys the variety of the store as well as being able to find everything she was looking for in one place.

“So, I appreciate the fact that she’s got, you know, the flower shop, but also the gift side of things, too. It just goes together so well,” Meyer says.

One thing Rodgers says she loves is seeing people come into her store and laugh and have a good time, because her shop gives them a shopping experience that the online stores do not offer.

“That whole thing when you go shopping with your girlfriends, and you’re having a really good time, to have that in my store that’s one of my goals,” Rodgers says.

Rodgers says owning a business is one of the hardest things

she has ever done because there is a constant guessing game with buying flowers and whether or not she will sell them. But it can be fun as well. “[It] can be lots of fun when the whole team is standing there and we’re all creating really wonderful things,” Rodgers says.

“And when the flowers come in, oh my God, so beautiful and the store smells amazing.”

Rodgers sets short-term goals for her business and is always looking towards the next thing. She says she has already ordered most of her Christmas stuff and has a few things left to get, and she wants to contribute to the community more.

One goal Rodgers has is recycling when possible. The store composts all its waste and recycles vases people bring in. They also try not to buy excess vases to reduce the amount of garbage that eventually comes out of the community.

“I just want to be the best at what I do, that’s my main goal,” Rodgers says. “I want people to walk in the door and go, oh wow, this is cool.”

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PASSPORT

FROM CAMPING TO

COMFORT UNDER THE STARS Story by Mary Miller | Photo & Design by Katie Jo Stewart

Camping is traditionally geared around getting back to basics, the bare essentials. Glamping, or glamorous camping, on the other hand, is all about enjoying a natural setting in a primitive dwelling that is decked out with all the luxuries. You can relax with all the modern amenities.

Both camping and glamping start with the decision to visit a beautiful destination. Enjoy what nature offers: inspiring sunrises and colorful sunsets, majestic mountain scenes, refreshing clean air and calming bodies of water.

When glamping, rather than a basic tent you can enjoy a cozy shelter such as a cabin, an RV, a safari tent or a yurt.

Even tree houses have been set up by some as glamping destinations.

For your sleeping pleasure while glamping, a real mattress is a must. Imagine climbing into bed: you sink into a memory foam mattress, are enveloped in a luxurious comforter and surrounded by many fluffy pillows. After waking, you sit up and push your toes into a plush throw rug adorning the floor. String lighting decorates the ceiling.

The next necessity for glamping is conjuring a way to relax. Lie back in an outdoor lounging chair with a large, colorful umbrella overhead. Enjoy a cocktail or your favorite drink, while reading a book or browsing the internet. Of course, there is a portable power station nearby and a side table conveniently available.

Gourmet meals are the fare for the glamping life, rather than cooking over

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a campfire, unless that is your pleasure.

If you choose a campfire, or a propane barbeque, you could flame broil filet mignon smothered in buttered mushrooms. Delivery or a night out at the nearest village pub are also options.

Whether you are camping or glamping, s’mores cooked over campfire coals are a delightful tradition. Glamp up your

s'mores using chocolate mint patties, peanut butter cups or truffles in place of just plain chocolate bars.

If you want to enjoy the beauty of nature without giving up the comforts of home, consider treating yourself to the glamping experience.

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PASSPORT

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO WINE TASTING IN WASHINGTON Story & Photos by Paula Williamson Design & Illustration by Katie Jo Stewart

When I was 21, I went on a date to a fancy Italian restaurant in the West Village. I was a poor college student, so any meal I did not have to pay for was a treat. However, this was extra special. The meal was delicious, but my date ordered a bottle of Merlot for dinner. I had never had red wine and had no idea how it was supposed to taste.

This wine was terrible, but I decided to continue drinking it because I did not want to seem unrefined. I spent the entire meal shooting wine and chasing it with water.

Years later, I moved from NYC to San Francisco and was introduced to Napa, Sonoma, The Russian River and the other wine towns surrounding the Bay Area.

I fell in love with wine tasting and have developed a passion for wine. I often think back to that date and laugh to myself, thinking if only I had known.

Are you curious about wine? Wonder what all of the fuss is about?

You do not have to travel to California to experience wine tasting. In fact, according to the Washington State Wine Commission, Washington is the second largest wine-producing state in the United States, home to over 1000 (primarily family-owned) winer-

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ies. Wine tasting at small family wineries is an excellent, stress-free way to explore the world of wine.

Picture it - you and a group of friends are seated outside, the wind whipping through the evergreens.

You scoot closer to the fire pit, swirling a glass of red wine in your hand while you laugh, talk and take in the mountains in the distance. This is what wine tasting looks like in Washington. The experience is meant to allow for exploration.

What Makes Washington Wines Shine?

According to Jason Reigel, winemaker and owner of Ellensburg Canyon winery, The Yakima Canyon has unique soil types that translate into flavors in the wine. You will get to meet the winemakers at most wineries. The price point is affordable, and the cool weather climate creates excellent white wines with high acid and minerality.

Columbia Valley has so many opportunities and offers an excellent value for consumers, second-generation winemaker Megan Hughes of Barnard Griffin Winery says. While the Californian wine experience is beautiful, since Washington is more agricultural land-based, you get the opportunity to talk to the winemakers, drive through the vineyards and make a connection. You can get an education-based experience if that is what you want.

“Washington has all the tools to make wines that stand out,” Mackenzie Fancher, Assistant Winemaker at Swiftwater Cellars, says. The cool nights and incredible soil help create big, bold wines that can stand beside any food or have the personality to stand alone.

Wine Tasting Tips from the Pros “Taste everything you can, even the bad stuff or what might be bad stuff,” Reigel says. He encourages tasters to take advantage of where they are. Smaller wineries generally have lower tasting fees and can be explored more.

Hughes says not to chew gum because it will change the way your taste receptors experience the wine. Wearing perfume can also negatively impact taste.

“Think of wine tasting as an art,” Fancher says.

Each winemaker is an artist, and all have different styles and creativity. Think about the fruits you have tasted. Swirl your glass before every taste, and you will likely get new aromas each time. The longer you let it breathe, the more the flavors and aromatics will develop.

Popular Varietals in Washington State Red Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Bordeaux blends.

Whites Chardonnay, (sweet) Riesling.

Rosé all day!

Wine Recommendations for Beginners Ellensburg Canyon Winery “Sundance” Riesling, 2020 $22.00 ‘Happy Dance’ Cabernet Franc Rose, 2020 $22.00 Barnard Griffin 2020 Rose of Sangiovese $14.00 Swiftwater Cellars 2018 No. 9 Chardonnay $20.00 2018 No. 9 White $20.00

Nearby Wineries to Check Out Ellensburg Canyon Winery (15 minutes from Ellensburg) 221 Canyon Vista Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926 Phone: (509) 933-3523 Open 11–5 pm Wednesday thru Sunday, closed on Monday/Tuesday.

Gard Vintners (15 minutes from Ellensburg) 311 N Pearl St. Ellensburg, WA 98926 Phone: (509) 925-1095 Open Monday-Thursday 2–8 pm, Friday 2–9 pm, Saturday 12–8 pm, Sunday 12–5 pm Swiftwater Cellars (45 minutes from Ellensburg) 301Rope Rider Drive, Cle Elum, WA 98922 Phone (509) 674- 6555 Open Fridays & Saturdays 11:30am - 9:00pm Weekdays Frichette Winery (1.5 hours from Ellensburg) 39412 N Sunset Road Benton City, WA 99320 Phone (509) 426-3227 Open 12 pm-5 pm seven days a week Barnard Griffin (2 hours from Ellensburg) 878 Tulip Lane, Richland, WA 99352 Phone (509) 627-0266 Open Mon- Fri 12pm-6pm

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SPOTLIGHT

ElLatina Camino

Package Three Latinas Tell Their Stories

Design by Itzel Montoya

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Cheyenne Rae Flores

All for Amelia: One First-Generation & Single Mother’s Journey to Finish College Story by Yajaira Perez | Photos contributed by Cheyenne Rae Flores

As Cheyenne Rae Flores looked into her newborn’s eyes, she felt her long-held fear of uncertainty melt away, replaced by a desire to provide the best possible life for her daughter.

Now a junior Elementary Education major at CWU, Flores has carried the responsibilities of being a first-generation student, living on her own and being a single mom all at once. Thanks to her persistence and willingness to try, she is not just making it work – she is succeeding.

Flores’ father crossed the Mexico– United States border when he was 17 years old, without completing high school. He had Cheyenne, his first child, at 23 years old, with the hope that she would go on to pursue higher education.

Growing up in East Wenatchee, Flores watched her dad struggle while working in landscaping to provide for five kids and her stepmom.

“When he would come back from work, my dad would provide us with food but he would struggle to eat himself, because he didn’t have enough food to separate for all of us,” Flores says. Seeing the struggles her dad experienced motivated her to continue her education.

Flores developed a love of teaching after taking child development classes in high school for three years. Her interactions with children there inspired her dream of becoming a teacher.

Shortly before graduating high school, Flores found out she was pregnant with her daughter, Amelia. She felt like a disappointment to her parents and knew that the responsibility of a baby was life changing.

“I kind of felt like I couldn’t go to college anymore, like I disappointed my parents, but at the same time, I knew I

needed to come to college to better my daughter’s life,” she says.

Knowing that Amelia was on the way, Flores applied and got accepted into CWU. The uncertainty surrounding the idea of being a full-time student and a single mom scared her.

“My advisor [Heidi Anderson] helped me since I got accepted to CWU. She ended up contacting me and telling me that I will be successful, and I should still come to college. I’m not the first nor last person to go through this,” Flores says.

Managing her education while raising her daughter is difficult, but with the support of her friends, professors and daycare, it is manageable, she says. Her friends and professors are very considerate of her situation and provide support in any way possible.

“I would say it’s pretty hard being a single mom because I have to manage school and my daughter at the same time, but I’m doing pretty well so far.

Amelia recently got accepted to the daycare, so it’s been helpful,” Flores says. “I have friends to help me out, but sometimes it’s hard to do homework when I have to take care of her at the same time.

She’s at the age where she no longer

takes naps, so I have to be in constant care of her.”

Being a first-generation student just adds more tension for Flores.

“As a first-generation student, you feel pressured by your parents and your family. If you fail that test or fail a class it’s like the end of the world, and they don’t really understand how hard it is to be in college, especially as being a mom in college at the same time,” she says. “I feel like your parents have that pressure on you that you have to succeed in everything for those four years.”

Her internal motivation in being successful and striving at CWU, for herself and for her daughter, is that it’s better to live life knowing you tried rather than thinking of the what-ifs or regretting not putting effort in.

Flores is on track to graduate in June of 2022.

“My goal as a parent is to help better my daughter’s life and give her the best future I can,” she says. “I will have a great career and I will be able to provide as many resources as I can for my daughter, because this degree is not only for me, but it’s also for Amelia.”

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SPOTLIGHT

Alejandra Cruz-Martinez

CWU’s New Director of Student Life and Facilities Reflects on Path to Success Story by Austin Kong | Photos contributed by Alejandra Cruz-Martinez

Alejandra Cruz-Martinez, CWU’s new Director of Student Life and Facilities, is the oldest child of immigrant parents and embodies the image of perseverance.

Now ending her junior year as a business administration and management major, Cruz-Martinez’s story began well before she decided to attend Central.

During her middle school to high school years, Cruz-Martinez and her family experienced temporary homelessness and displacement, which she says accounts for the perspective she has today.

“As someone who personally dealt with food insecurity, displacement, temporary homelessness … that really shifted a lot of my perspective on, 'How are students able to be successful if they don’t have their basic needs met as an individual?'” she says.

While attending high school in Vancouver, Washington, Cruz-Martinez took college readiness classes to prepare for higher education. Like many high school seniors, Cruz-Martinez felt pressure from her family to strive for greatness.

Cruz-Martinez comes from an immigrant family. Both of her parents immigrated from Mexico and as the eldest of three children and the first to attend college, there were a lot of expectations that she felt she had to live up to.

“I feel like often times I can’t let anyone down," Cruz-Martinez says. "Like I can’t mess up because there is no room to mess up, you know? There’s that pressure of parents getting older and my siblings getting older, and they’re starting to grow up and also maybe consider college.”

Cruz-Martinez also mentions differences in the pressure she has felt coming 18

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from an immigrant family as opposed to those whose parents were born in the U.S. “It comes down to really anything. That could be job positions, class, quality of life, really anything,” she says. “I think the most noticeable thing for me personally was obviously not looking like my peers growing up. But essentially, it’s everything really. The language, everything.”

Even while feeling this pressure, Cruz-Martinez went on to apply to CWU and pursue higher education. She hoped to major in business administration with a specialization in leadership and management, something CWU offers, but it was not the only thing that drew her to attend. She says one of the things that drew her in was the university’s diversity.

Even with clear goals, she continued to face obstacles. Transitioning into college life was not a simple task. Cruz-Martinez says the transition can weigh on students academically and personally, and affect their mental health. However, she also says that it has allowed her to learn more about herself and how to help others.

Cruz-Martinez says there was a moment in her academic career when she was not doing so well, where grades and general life had been affecting her heavily, almost to the point of considering dropping out. Her academic advisor, Anna Cortes, was a major support for

her and her biggest inspiration, she says. “[Cortes was] honestly the person I credit to really getting me together, and me staying here at Central,” Cruz-Martinez says. “I love talking to her and meeting up with her because we have very inspirational, motivating conversations, essentially. What I like to say about [Cortes] is that she tells me what I need to hear and not what I want to hear.”

After facing that period of doubt, Cruz-Martinez felt the support of her academic advisor and continued on with her college career, reinvigorated by the fact she had another supporter cheering her on. With that energy, Cruz-Martinez re-centered herself in her college career, working hard at academics as well as taking on the responsibility of being an administrative assistant for the former director of Student Life and Facilities.

After two years of being an administrative assistant and campaigning, Cruz-Martinez is taking strides as she steps into her new position of Director of Student Life and Facilities.

While being excited for the position and celebrating her big win, Cruz-Martinez is still thinking of things to do for the next year.

“Coming back to in-person, I want to kind of make up for lost time that we lost during the pandemic, which you know, involves the fun culture of being a college student here at Central,” Cruz-Mar-

tinez says. “So essentially, I get to help put on big events like Fred Meyer’s Night, the Mariners night collaboration with CWU Fred Meyer’s Night, Wellington’s Campfire and WildFest, which is like our cool end-of-the-year student appreciation fest.”

With the intent of bringing back a lot of the activities that create a college life atmosphere, Cruz-Martinez also plans to introduce more initiatives to help improve student life.

“Essentially, helping establish basic needs here at Central," she says. "That could be like food insecurity initiatives that help address that, or housing insecurity, financial insecurity. How I view it is like, you can’t have a good experience in college if your basic needs aren’t met.”

While campaigning, Cruz-Martinez mentioned that food insecurity is a major issue she would like to tackle at CWU, as someone who has experienced it firsthand. By championing this cause, Martinez hopes to relieve financially struggling students of the issue of finding food for the day.

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SPOTLIGHT

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Fabiola Serra Fuertes

Following Her Heart Led to a More Fulfilling Life Story by Robin Gramlich | Photos contributed by Fabiola Serra Fuertes

Fabiola Serra Fuertes, raised in Lima, Peru, grew up in a culture that held a high value for tradition. In the face of these expectations, Serra Fuertes followed her heart and dedicated her life to her dream of becoming a veterinarian.

Serra Fuertes grew up learning to value a strong work ethic while helping her family run their small convenience store.

Along with working at her family’s business, she says she often brought home sick and injured animals. She once rescued 24 puppies that she kept in her parent’s backyard.

“I would get animals into my house and my parents were very open-minded to a lot of things, even though they are very traditional, and they always accept all my hobbies and stuff,” Serra Fuertes says.

After finishing high school at 16, her aunt came to her and said, “Okay Fabiola, let’s sit down and decide what you are going to be.” Serra Fuertes responded, “Well, I want to go to vet school.”

Her aunt tried to convince her to study something else, saying, “You’re very good at numbers. You’ve always liked science.

So why don’t you study something that is more related with numbers and pragmatics?” She took her aunt’s advice and began studying mechanical engineering and chemistry, but it was not long until she realized veterinary school was where she truly belonged and switched.

When she first began vet school, she was focused on small animals such as cats and dogs. After taking a class with a professor who taught about small ruminants, such as sheep and goats, she fell into the world of agriculture.

She quickly realized the field needed more attention, because while there were plenty of people working with

small animals, there were not nearly enough people working with farmers. “[Working] with agricultural animals and agricultural sustainability in Peru helped me understand that I could be part of the solution and not part of the problem,” Serra Fuertes says. “So that’s why I focus my life, my professional life, on agriculture.”

In Peru, a farmer typically makes around $200 a month for a family of four.

This means they maintain their farms and create products on a tight budget.

Part of Serra Fuertes’ job became teaching these communities how to make the most of their resources by offering means of increasing their income. She also had to ensure she was being respectful of each individual community by adapting her ideas to fit within their culture.

“Just because you have this great idea, the people in that town, they are not going to listen if it doesn’t go within their culture,” Serra Fuertes says.

“We are all humans. It’s just like me go-

ing to your house and telling you how you should organize and paint your house. You will not like that, right? It is the same thing.”

One of Serra Fuertes’ fondest memories of working on these farms was when a young man asked her to take a picture of him next to alfalfa that he grew. It made her happy to see someone be so proud of their work that they would want a picture with it. She felt she could relate to that as a woman who always felt like she needed to prove herself.

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SPOTLIGHT

After years of working with these communities, she landed her first big job. At the age of 26, she became the director of her own veterinary school, where she oversaw other professors, schedules and student activities. It was here that she founded a goat farm where she would teach students how to milk goats, turn the milk into yogurt or lotion and, much to her dismay as a vegetarian, commercialize the meat.

“I had to be a part of the butchering process of my goats, and that was horrible and painful, and I cried for days,” she says. “It was not something I looked forward to, but this is how I see it. If you give an animal a good life and just one bad minute, it’s okay.”

After working with cattle for years, Serra Fuertes found her way to Oregon through a friend she met while interning as a veterinarian. She received an invitation to come work at an animal hospital in Oregon. She learned about the agricultural differences between Peru and the United States, which excited her. She worked in Oregon for about a year and a half, until her visa expired.

Serra Fuertes continued to make trips between Peru and the United States, where she eventually met her now

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ex-husband, who lived in Ellensburg.

From there, she decided to try to get a job teaching at CWU. Moving to the United States came with its own obstacles.

“It’s just being a foreigner, it’s a little bit nerve wracking when you go to another place.” Serra Fuertes says.

“But, [the people here] were super welcoming, they were very respectful and they liked my job. I started with just teaching one class and went from there.”

In addition to the overwhelming experience of moving to a new country, Serra Fuertes had to adjust to the needs of CWU's students. When she first began as a professor, she would get comments from students saying they could not understand her because she had a very thick accent, or that her English was bad.

“I understand that I have an accent. I don’t think my English is too bad,” Serra Fuertes says. “But I do have an accent, so it was hard for me.”

She realized that in order to communicate effectively with her students, she needed to rehearse her lectures to improve her pronunciation.

“I remember practicing my lectures over and over on pronunciation, just trying to understand a bit more, and I still do,” she says. “I still get concerned, not as much, because now I am a little bit more comfortable with myself and my own accent.”

She also makes sure to ask her students to tell her when something does not make sense, or how she can improve her English.

The challenges Serra Fuertes faced never stopped her from following her dreams. Ultimately, her ambition has paid off. Today, she lives in Ellensburg, teaches biology and owns a dance and fitness studio. No matter how busy she gets, the knowledge that she is doing what she loves is all she needs to get through the day.

“We need to love what we do always, because it’s the only way you wake up in the morning and say yes,” she says. “That doesn’t mean it is always going to be fun, but if you love it, then it’s not going to be a dread to get out of bed.”

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SPOTLIGHT

TikTok Celebrity at Central Story by Joseph Stanger | Photos by Natalie Steinman Design by Sara Roach Have you ever met a celebrity? Well, if you go to CWU, you might have had a class with one.

Natalie Steinman is a 21-year-old majoring in film production who began putting out fun videos with her roommate on TikTok shortly after the start of her freshman year. But now, as a senior, her following has accrued to over 1.1 million users.

“TikTok used to be the app called Musically, and I used to have Musically when I was little,” Steinman says. “And then it changed to TikTok and more people started using it, so I was like, ‘Oh, this looks fun.’ So I just downloaded it and started making fun videos with my roommate, and then it just kind of took off.”

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SPOTLIGHT

Her Content

While Steinman started out on the platform by making dance videos and small skits, she’s primarily known by her following for her Point-of-View (POV) style videos where the camera acts as the viewer’s perspective in a fictional narrative.

“I see a lot of POV videos that come up on my ForYou page and I don’t see any that are like Natalie’s,” says Steinman’s old roommate, senior elementary education major Emily Houck. “She’s like a cutesy looking girl and then she does these crime TikToks, and I like the contrast between that and I think a lot of people do.”

The videos themselves mostly consist of Steinman talking to the camera, but the stories being told revolve around serious topics such as crime and heartbreak.

Some of her stories take up multiple parts and can take over a month to complete. The first part of her most recent series, which went on for eight parts, garnered over 17.5 million views and 3.5 million likes.

“I do so many stories. I have so many videos. Making a story for every single video is difficult,” Steinman says. “I really like stories that have a huge plot twist and then end there and have multiple parts. That is also how you gain more followers, is by having a plot twist and then people want to keep coming back to see what happens. But it’s hard sometimes.”

Steinman’s grandfather Randy Boston says he remembers Steinman’s excitement when she hit ten thousand followers, and that he never would have guessed her following could grow to over a million.

“I find it interesting that so many people are so invested even though they’re just little things that she kind of makes up as she goes along,” Boston says. “I think she gets kind of a general idea of what she’s going to do, but once she gets to the end of it, she struggles with how to wrap it up. But she seems to do it and everyone seems to be happy with it.”

Boston is retired, and according to Steinman, is one of her biggest supporters.

“My grandpa actually will send me updates on my followers like every single day,” Steinman says. “He’s super into it, I swear he’s like my biggest fan. He’ll read all the comments to my videos and even reply to people.”

Steinman’s mom, Stephanie Steinman, says her daughter has always enjoyed making small videos and telling stories, making TikTok the perfect platform for her.

“She was always making little movies and writing scripts and videotaping them, and then we’d all have to watch them, which is fine,” Stephanie says. “But, you know, for school projects when you have a choice to do like a paper or what have you, she would always do the video option and make little videos about stuff. I’m old so I don’t understand it. But she’s always been into this so this is the perfect thing I think for her.”

Her Career

Although Steinman’s following has grown past the 1 million mark, she’s not quite at a point where she can make a living off of it.

“TikTok recently got the TikTok Creator Fund,” Steinman says. “So, it’s 3 cents per a thousand views. If my videos do really well – like they have been right now – I'll get around like $40 a day, but if they’re not taking off then it’ll just be like $10.”

Even though she is making money off of the platform and even getting advertising and sponsorship deals, Stephanie says she’s not letting Steinman rely on her following just yet. During her time home from school, Steinman works with her mom at their local hospital.

“I’m still making her work this summer,” Stephanie says. “She always says, ‘Mom I’m making money on TikTok,’ and I say, ‘Too bad.’ I think this experience will be good for her and I think that someday maybe it will help her on a resume."

Steinman says her parents don’t exactly understand social media, but they have continued to support her as her following has grown.

“My mom and dad are super like, ’wow that’s awesome,’ but they also don’t understand social media that much,” Steinman says. “They think it’s cool but they’re like, ‘who are these people? You don’t have a million friends.’ But they’re super supportive.”

Her Following

Even though Stephanie has a hard time understanding some of her daughter’s videos, she appreciates the positive impact that they have.

“She explains them to me, but like I said, I’m not super social media savvy,” Stephanie says. “If she can entertain

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SPOTLIGHT

people then that’s great. That’s something good to do.

And a lot of kids that follow her have been sending her messages saying during [the pandemic] that they were just watching her videos and that it really kept them feeling positive and happy to have something to look at. I think they’re pretty positive and she can act as a good role model which I want her to do.”

While Steinman’s gotten a lot of positive feedback for her content, a large following can come with a few downsides. Luckily, Steinman says she has not experienced the kind of problems she thought she would.

“When I thought of getting a following, I thought, ‘Oh, there’s going to be haters.’ But my followers are super sweet, kind people and they really aren’t mean at all,” Steinman says. “There are a few trolls or whatever, but I notice that it’s mostly people in my hometown that are my haters. There was this thing that happened where people from my hometown were just talking badly about me on Twitter. It’s just so odd, like the people that knew me personally are the ones who hate on me, but not other people on social media, which is really weird.”

According to Stephanie, Steinman’s TikTok’s have had a positive impact on the people in her own community.

“We live in a small town and she has friends who have younger sisters,” Stephanie says. “She’s gone over and surprised a couple of the kids before when they’ve had like summer parties. She’ll come over and do a TikTok with them or something like that.“ Stephanie even says that some of her friends have started to get into TikTok as a source for short how-to videos or funny sketches.

“A lot more of my friends who are more my age are watching it now because it’s now turning into a YouTube type thing,” Stephanie says. “I think it’s neat because it’s not big long videos or films and people can just go through short little vignettes. I think it’s great. You can comment I think on it, but I feel like most of the comments have been positive. And it seems like they keep a pretty close eye on what the content is from what I’ve seen, so I like that.”

According to Statista, TikTok is currently the seventh largest social media platform in the world with 732 mil-

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lion active users. The top ten accounts on the platform all have over 50 million followers, and while Steinman’s account is not one of the biggest on TikTok, it does not stop her from getting recognized in public.

“I went to the store the other day and this guy was like, ‘Natalie?’ and I said, ‘Yeah?’ And he said, ‘You have more followers on TikTok than some countries,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, thanks.’ But yeah, it’s cool to be recognized—it's different,” Steinman says.

Steinman has even been recognized by one of her professors at CWU. “One of my professors was actually like, ‘We have a little bit of time left in class, let’s talk about Natalie’s TikTok,’” Steinman says. “I was like, ‘What!?’ and she said, ‘Yeah, I follow you,’ and I was like, ‘Awe, that’s awesome.’”

Her Future

While Steinman’s TikTok following is still growing, she’s interested in growing her following on other platforms as well.

“I’m going to keep trying to gain more followers,” Steinman says. “It’s something that I love doing. If this could be my full-time job, that would be amazing. So, I’m just going to keep working at it and pursuing it. I’m going to work on other apps too, like Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, all of those. I really want to be a content creator – I also want to be a film director – but having this kind of following can give you more opportunities.”

Influencers and content creators are not exactly known for their turns to Hollywood, but it is not unheard of.

Jônatas de Moura "Joe" Penna, who once went by the username “Mysteryguitarman” on YouTube and was at one point the most subscribed-to content creator in Brazil, now works as a critically acclaimed director. He most recently directed the 2021 Netflix Original sci-fi film "Stowaway," which stars Anna Kendrick and Daniel Dae Kim. Even if Steinman does not currently have the following, connections or resources to direct a feature-length film, Stephanie believes that anything is possible for her daughter. “[Natalie’s] not the cookie-cutter kid by any means,” Stephanie says. “I don’t know where she came from, I always told her that. My husband’s a teacher, I’m a nurse, we live in a small town and she’s kind of doing all this stuff. So, who knows, the sky’s kind of the limit for her."

Popular TikTok Accounts in 2021 Sidebar by Tomohiro Koizumi | Design by Sara Roach The number of TikTok users has surpassed one billion worldwide, making it the seventh most used social media platform in the world. Curious as to who’s big?

Here are the top four accounts on the app.

Charli D'Amelio 110 Million Followers D'Amelio, a Connecticut native, launched her TikTok at the end of 2019 and quickly rose to the top in 2020. Originally a competitive dancer, she is known for her viral dances. Aside from her TikTok career, she has also done voice acting in animated films and created original drink orders for Dunkin' Donuts.

Addison Rae 78 Million Followers Rae was born in Louisiana, where she was a competitive dancer. She studied at Louisiana State University, but dropped out to pursue a career in social media. After moving to Los Angeles, Rae partnered with American Eagle as a brand ambassador and launched her own cosmetics brand, Item Beauty. She also began a career as an actress, starring in the remake of the movie "She's All That."

Bella Poarch 59 Million Followers Poarch is known for her singing and a lip-sync video she posted in August 2020 is still the most liked video on the platform. Her content continues to grow as she tries her hand at dancing and uploading videos of games.

Zach King 58 Million Followers King had already found fame on Vine in 2016, before TikTok hit the big time. He won YouTube's Next Up Creators Contest in 2013 and competed with his wife in The Amazing Race in 2015. The main TikTok videos he posts are based on optical illusions.

Information sourced from TikTok

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COOL CATS

JON KITNA : From a math education major, to player in the NFL, to head football coach and boys athletic coordinator for Burleson High School in Texas, Jon Kitna has had a passion for the game of football ever since he started playing for the Central Wildcats.

Since retiring from the NFL in 2011, Kitna’s passion for coaching high school boys and leaving a legacy of character and leadership development is what keeps him going. Here’s why you should know this Cool Cat:

Q: How did your football career start?

A: Pretty unorthodox, for sure. Not the usual way.

I finished up at Central, we finished up the national championship in December and football was pretty much done. I hadn’t heard anything from anybody.

I tried to stay in shape, and I started doing my student teaching in January at Davis High School.

In March, Dennis Ericson’s nephew, who played for us said, “Coach Harrison wants to work us a couple. Let’s go over there and workout.” So, I went over there and worked out with Coach Harrison.

The workout went great, and a month later after the draft, they signed me as a free agent and Coach Harrison really took care of me my first three years in the league. Got my feet on the ground and it kind of took off from there.

Q: What’s your favorite childhood memory?

A: Probably being at the Eastside Boys and Girls

Club, to be honest. I grew up a Boys and Girls Club kid, my parents were working 9-5, so that was where we went. We spent all summer there, playing every sport there is, learning how to compete. I had

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some really cool coaches there. Those are probably some of my favorite memories, especially early childhood before high school.

Q: What are some of your hobbies?

A: I love golf. I love Bible studies—reading the Bible. My family and I, we’re pretty big into boating and water sports. But one thing we took up at the end of my career was snowboarding.

We love to go on snowboarding trips together with my kids.

Story by Autumn Reed | Design by Katie Jo Stewart

For the Love of the Game Q: What are some of your personal goals?

A: One thing that I would love to do is stay at a place for 15

or 20 years, and be here long enough to see some of the guys that I coach come back and coach for me. And really leave a legacy of character development and leadership development amongst my program. Of course, if we could win a state championship doing that, that would be awesome. But the main thing is really developing a young man into a man of character and leadership.

Q: What are some of your career goals?

A: I like what I’m doing. I love what I’m doing. If I could

retire at 72 years old, which is 24 years from now, and have a couple of state championships, and a whole bunch of kids that are now grown up and have kids, and I got to be a part of their life while they were forging their lives, that would be the career goal for me, to be honest.

Q: What are three fun facts about you?

A: I was on the Wheel of Fortune when I was playing for

the NFL. I got to be on the Wheel of Fortune and we won the whole show. I literally hated football all the way through high school. The third one would be, I was invited to be on “Survivor,” the show, but I had to turn it down because I was coaching football.

Q: What is a quote that you live by?

A: “Never tire of doing what is right, for at the proper time you will reap a harvest.” That is Galatians 6:9.

Q: Where can we find you hanging out?

A: Probably on the couch with my family. We love sitting

down together, eating together, watching shows together.

We’ve watched “Survivor” for 20 years. We love the show “Blackish.” We love “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Just being on the couch together, playing games, playing board games, playing card games. That’s what we love to do.

FOOD + DRINK

STEPPING IN to HEALTHIER EATING Story by Kahlyll Wilson | Contributions by Bailey Tomlinson | Photos by Nick Noice | Design by Itzel Montoya 32

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that including fresh produce as part of a regular diet will help keep your cholesterol levels in check.

Fresh produce does this by lowering LDL cholesterol, the more dangerous cholesterol, while also increasing HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. People are also more likely to make better food choices when full than indulge in sweets or whatever is available due to feeling hungry.

How to Get Started According to an article from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), the total dietary fiber intake for a person should be 25 to 35 grams a day. However, in the United States, adults consume on average about 15 grams a day, half of the recommended amount. UCSF explains further that a high fiber diet is shown to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, constipation and other conditions.

One effective way to increase the fiber in your diet is through the consumption of fresh produce. UCSF says dietary fiber is the material from plant cells that cannot be broken down in the human digestive tract.

Fiber also plays a role in making sure that you feel satiated, meaning you feel comfortable after eating.

Shena Jaramillo, registered dietician and owner of Peace & Nutrition says

Jaramillo says those looking to add more produce to their diets can visit sites such as choosemyplate.gov or eatright.org to get started. She also says proper ways to store produce are one of the biggest concerns for people just beginning to change their diets because of how quickly it goes bad – it is important to have good information about meal prepping.

“When you get home from the grocery store, chop up your broccoli and your cauliflower and have it ready,” Jaramillo says. “Have it in the front of your refrigerator so you can grab and go, or something along those lines, which is going to really help to increase your intake because then your foods are not going to be spoiling.”

However, it is also important to make sure you are nourishing your body with all food groups.

Tracey Kmiecik, registered dietician, master of public health, and owner of

Humankind Nutrition, says that by being properly nourished we are giving our bodies the sufficient energy and nutrients needed to meet our basal metabolic needs.

Kmiecik says basal metabolic needs refers to the energy required for our organs to independently do their jobs, such as our heart beating, lungs breathing and neurons firing. For example, fruits are a good source of glucose, which allows the brain to function properly. When we are not properly nourished, we will be unable to satisfy our basal metabolic needs.

Jaramillo says that produce additionally helps bolster the immune system.

Making Change Kmiecik says we can improve our mentality towards eating because all foods are nutritious in various ways and should be enjoyed in balance. People cannot eat enough of any one superfood to obtain ultimate health.

Jaramillo says people tend to separate the foods with the most physical benefits and the foods that satisfy their emotional needs. For example, a piece of chocolate cake can be extremely beneficial to our emotional well-being and physical well-being, even though it is a more calorie-heavy food and has some fats in it.

Our body still needs them even though it doesn’t need them all the time.

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What’s in Season Locally Right Now? Sidebar by Bailey Tomlinson | Photos by Nick Noice | Design and Illustration by Itzel Montoya

Apples

Washington state is the apple state! Though their peak harvest season isn’t until fall, apples are in-season year round and add a fresh crunch to salads, a sweet flavor to sausages or make a great snack on their own.

Strawberries

Strawberries are in season from May to September in Washington, and are a sweet and fresh addition to anything that calls for berries.

Lavender

Lavender is in season in Washington during July only, and can be great for natural crafts, like handmade soap or baked goods.

Carrots

Cherries

Peak harvest season for carrots runs through summer and into early fall, from June to October, but they’re in-season year-round.

Cherries, both Rainier and Bing, are in season from June through August. Great for baked goods or plain snacking alike, this summer treat is a favorite of many.

Beets

Apricots, nectarines and plums

All three of these fruits are in season from June to August, with nectarines and plums staying in-season for an additional month into September, just in time for early-fall crumbles and pies.

The peak harvest season for beets runs from May through September, though in Washington they’re in season year-round.

Information sourced from the Washington State Department of Agriculture

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FOOD + DRINK

Three Easy and Delicious Summer Salads Story and Photos by Carolyn Dean Design by Katie Jo Stewart

1

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Chickpea Salad There’s nothing more refreshing than a summer salad filled with fresh produce.

When I want something cool and easy, my go-to salad is this chickpea salad by Kathy Siegel. It only has seven ingredients and takes roughly five minutes to make. It’s the perfect side dish for any barbeque, or a nice snack on a hot day.

What you’ll need: 1 can of chickpeas 3 tablespoons of mayo ¾ cup of celery, finely chopped ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped ½ lemon, juiced ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard ground black pepper to taste When I made this salad, I added a ½ teaspoon of garlic powder as well.

Begin by mixing the chickpeas, mayo and Dijon mustard. Add in finely chopped red onions and celery, and mix. Top it off with pepper and garlic seasoning to taste. This pairs very nicely with chicken wings but is also a great standalone dish.

Recipe by Triad to Wellness Consulting from Kathy Siegel Nutrition

perfect summer salad In the summer, if I’m craving something sweet but nutritious, I tend to lean towards this Perfect Summer Salad by Kristi Ruth, from the blog Carrots and Cookies. This salad only uses five ingredients, and is simple and cost-effective.

What you’ll need: 10 strawberries, cut into fourths 1 ½ cup spring mix 1 tablespoon pistachios 1 teaspoon hemp hearts 2 cups Microgreens (I used basil and arugula).

Place your greens into a bowl and toss. I tossed mine with a raspberry vinaigrette.

Recipe by Kristi Ruth from Carrots & Cookies

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FOOD + DRINK

greek salad

3

Having guests over? This salad is my favorite to impress guests with. This is my own recipe for Greek salad. This recipe is a bit more complicated, but is definitely worth it.

What you’ll need: ¼ cup red onions, finely chopped ½ cup Feta cheese ½ cup grape tomatoes ½ of one cucumber ¼ cup chopped celery ½ cup chopped green bell pepper ¼ cup of mint, optional Kalamata olives, optional

I like to make my own Greek dressing to go with it.

For the dressing: ½ cup olive oil ¼ cup red wine vinegar 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon oregano 1 teaspoon garlic powder 2 tablespoons of lemon juice Toss ingredients together and enjoy.

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LIFE HACKS

Story & Photos by Aitana Myrbo | Design by Itzel Montoya

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Millions of Americans live in spaces with little to no backyard, from apartments to townhouses to dorms, but that should not prevent them from the joys of growing their favorite fruits and vegetables. Even with minimal space, people can still create beautiful gardens and compost unusable scraps. Seeds can be grown on windowsills, several veggies and herbs can be grown in cups of water on a shelf or countertop and a compost bin can easily be stored and maintained indoors with no smell or mess.

Keep the Seeds

Many store-bought fruits and vegetables contain seeds that can be planted in the garden or put in a seed vault for future use. Plants such as avocados, lemons, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini and more all contain seeds which have the potential to germinate and grow at home.

Storing seeds in a dark, dry location keeps most seeds good for a year or two, which means no more spring rush to buy seed packets. Hold onto the seeds from your favorite fruits and vegetables and you will always be ready for spring.

There are many benefits to growing your own food from seeds. Elizabeth Waddington, a writer for Rural Sprout, a group of writers dedicated to homesteading, writes that by growing food from store-bought vegetables “you should be able to easily grow more food, save money, and move towards a zero waste lifestyle.”

Eating fruits and vegetables from the garden instead of the store could help prevent food from going bad in the

fridge, and ensure that what you are eating is free of pesticides and chemicals.

Waddington encourages never discarding seeds, since many seeds can be eaten as well as planted. Pumpkin and squash seeds can be roasted for a tasty treat. Some seeds can be sprouted in a windowsill and then eaten, such as beansprouts, broccoli sprouts and microgreens, making a tasty, healthy addition to many meals.

Regrow Scraps

Regrowing scraps is actually very simple. Many vegetables can be regrown by placing the unused ends in water. This is an easy way to start a garden without needing seeds or dirt.

Many root vegetables and leafy greens can be regrown from scraps in the kitchen. Potatoes can be grown from just small scraps, as long as they have an eye or divot, by placing it directly into the soil. Other vegetables such as carrots and sweet potatoes can be started in water, but will need to be moved outdoors as they grow. Some plants, such as green onions and several types of herbs, can be regrown and harvested without ever touching dirt as long as the water is kept clean and liquid plant food is occasionally added.

“For those of us who live in an apartment or without a yard, we’re always envious of those who have their own gardening areas for planting and regrowing vegetables,” writes Daniel Huang, a blogger for spud.ca, a Canadian company that delivers fresh produce and helps households go green.

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“It’s the accessibility, the cost saving, and the knowing that nothing toxic is going into your food.”

But even people in apartments can grow their own food. Growing herbs and vegetables in glasses of water on the countertop can provide a supply of produce all through winter.

Compost

If you find yourself with food scraps that have no seeds and cannot be regrown, then the compost bin is where they belong.

There are small-scale compost bins for apartments and small homes, designed for anyone who wants to give composting a try. Composting has many benefits, and compost is often recommended over fertilizers since compost is a safe, eco-friendly alternative for feeding your plants.

An indoor worm bin or an outdoor worm tower are two easy ways to compost kitchen scraps that take up little space and will not attract rodents. A worm bin can be fashioned out of a tote and stored indoors all year round, producing a constant supply of healthy soil from infertile dirt and kitchen scraps. A worm tower is a great way to add nutrients directly into the ground by sticking an open-ended, four inch PVC pipe into your garden and filling it with kitchen scraps.

Composting is cheap to set up and maintain, and will allow you to grow

healthier plants in your garden and increase your yield. Adding compost to plants puts the unused nutrients from food scraps back into the soil.

Leaf and Limb, an organization whose vision is to overcome pressing environmental issues, writes that composting “prevents green waste from going to a landfill, which reduces your waste footprint and prevents the generation of harmful methane gas.”

The decomposition process of food in compost bins does not produce methane gas, making a compost bin safe for indoor use. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s website specifies “methane-producing

microbes are not active in the presence of oxygen.” Since scraps in the center of landfills and manure piles are cut off from oxygen, they release significant amounts of methane into the atmosphere. Small-scale composting does not have this problem.

Spud.ca urges households to buy only what they need and discard as few kitchen scraps as possible, but acknowledges that “composting is one of the easiest ways to reduce your personal environmental footprint.”

If you are still not sure composting is for you, check your area for eco-friendly food scrap recycling programs, or composting services.

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Prepping for Graduate School Story by Jazmine McQuerry | Design & Illustration by Sara Roach

It is your senior year, and you finally hit submit on that final that you forced yourself to stay awake typing. A sweet sigh of relief overcomes your body. You are one step closer to holding that bachelor's degree in your hands. Now is the time that you might wonder what comes next, and realize your path would benefit from advancing your education even further.

But where do you begin? Starting the application process and mentally preparing for graduate school can be intimidating, but help is on the way.

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Build a Support System Professors, advisers and other faculty members can offer you their knowledge and support to help you carve a path to academic success. According to Justine Eason, CWU graduate student associate adviser, speaking to a faculty member along with the graduate school office is a good first step.

Graduate school is challenging enough on its own, so do not go through the process alone. According to CWU English professor Maya Zeller, it is common to not understand there are resources available.

“Be sure to ask mentors about ways to find a good program for you. There are databases that exist for this purpose, in each field. Your professors care and can help you,” Zeller says.

Eason says one of your current professors might have connections at the school of interest, and recommends asking to be put in contact.

Not only can your mentors become high-quality recommendation providers, but they can also help further your network. Building a network that reaches someone in your graduate program of choice can potentially create an advantage for you over other applicants. Certain graduate programs are competitive and only admit a limited number of applicants, so it is important to utilize every asset.

Understand Admission Eligibility It is crucial to research admission requirements well in advance. Certain programs require standardized test scores, such as the GRE test or the GMAT. Grade point average and letters of recommendations are also commonly used in consideration of graduate school admission. Along with the seriousness of application deadlines, it is important to consider these factors and plan ahead long before you begin the application process.

A statement of purpose is also a common requirement in graduate school applications.

“Make sure you include your goals, what you have been currently doing, why you are the best candidate, etc.,” Eason says. “If you have subpar grades and there’s a reason for it, I would touch on this in your statement.”

Research Funding Opportunities Figuring out how to afford graduate school can be stressful, but with the right preparation you may be able to find alternative methods to fund your education. In fact, most graduate programs offer some form of assistantship. An assistantship, Eason says, is when a student works for a department, doing jobs such as research, teaching or acting as staff, and receives a stipend for it.

From her experience, Zeller says she was not able receive an assistantship during her first year of graduate school.

“I think had I understood how to apply for one, I would have had a better shot at it,” she says.

Researching potential funding opportunities and learning more about the application process from the beginning will improve your graduate school experience by allowing you to lessen the amount of loans you take out.

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LIFE HACKS

RENTAL HACKS: MOVE-IN EDITION TOP 4 TIPS FROM A LICENSED REALTOR Story & Photos by Addie Adkins | Design by Sara Roach Everyone hates it, but almost everyone has to do it at some point in their lives. Of course, I’m talking about renting. When renting a house or apartment, some people feel as if they are in a constant temporary state. It’s not your home after all, it’s just where you live.

There are several tips and tricks that can make your rental feel more like your own space. Here are four of my favorite move-in hacks, straight from the desk of a Realtor.

TIP

#1

Take Your Own Photos During the Move-In Inspection

A serious tip first - always, always, always take your own photos during the move-in inspection. Make sure you can find the timestamp information in the photo data, but a timestamp on the photo itself is always best. This way, if a dispute comes up during the move out inspection or the deposit return, you have your own photos to back up your claims.

During the move-in inspection, you will also want to check behind appliances, the top of the fridge and cabinets, all exhaust fans and air conditioner and heat pump filters. These are generally the most overlooked items in both a move-in and move-out inspection and are also generally the most common charges on a deposit return statement.

TIP

#2

3M Command Hooks Are Your Best Friend

Have photos or paintings to hang? Don’t touch that hammer! First, look for existing holes or nails in the walls and use them. If you don’t like the placement of preexisting holes, grab some Command hooks instead.

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There are so many to choose from, including picturehanging strips and organization caddies.

The big decorative hooks work great for hanging curtain rods. The budget blinds that come in most rentals are boring and dust traps. Blinds are easy to uninstall:carefully take them down, wrap them in saran wrap and store them. The saran wrap keeps dust from building up on them while they are in storage.

Bonus tip: the picture-hanging Command™ strips are great for getting power strips off the floors and counters.

Just throw one side on the wall and the other on the back of the power strip and you’ve got appliance cords up out of the way.

TIP

#3

Shelves in the Cabinets are Moveable

Most kitchen cabinets have small pins holding up the shelves. These pins are moveable, making your storage customizable. Do you have a tall, awkward glass from that one time you were in a wedding party? Move one of the shelves up or down to make it fit!

If you like do-it-yourself projects and you have a large enough cabinet, you can buy more pins and make an extra shelf.

Speaking of cabinets, if you like an open-shelf look for your kitchen cabinets, take the doors off and store them too! I recommend wrapping them in saran and bubble wrap for storage. Since cabinet doors are generally the same size, it will most likely be easy to find a storage tote for them.

TIP

#4

Contact Paper For The Win

Last, but not least, there is this handy thing called contact paper. It is easy to install and remove, making it one of the simplest temporary customizations you can make.

Wish your kitchen had butcher block counters? There’s a contact paper for that!

It’s a fast and easy upgrade that doesn’t cost a lot with many options to choose from. If you communicate with the landlord, which I highly recommend you do anyway, they may want to help you choose the contact paper so they can keep it after you move out.

Addie Adkins is a licensed Realtor in the state of Washington. Always read your lease and ask for written permission from your landlord before making any changes to the dwelling unit.

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Women in

ENTERTAINMENT

JACKIE “MOMS” MABLEY

LUCILLE BALL

Loretta Mary Aiken of North Carolina joined the vaudeville circuit as a comedian at just 14 years old. She took on the stage name “Moms Mabley,” for being viewed as a mentor and having a maternal persona. She became the first woman to perform at the Apollo Theater, and was featured on many variety shows, including "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." On stage, Mabley would dress as an old woman in “a housedress, floppy shoes, and knit cap,” according to the National Museum of African American History & Culture. Her costumes were meant to be commentary on stereotypes and bigotry against African Americans.

Mabley was openly lesbian and in her daily life liked to wear clothes typically worn by her fellow male performers.

Star of the hit series "I Love Lucy," Lucille Ball paved the way and became an icon for women in comedy. Her success was hard earned, however. Ball was told by acting teachers that she lacked talent, and had difficulty finding work in Hollywood in the '30s. She met her husband, Desi Arnaz, on a movie set in 1940.

The relationship inspired the television show, which was an overnight sensation, winning over 20 awards, including five Emmys. The couple started a production company, Desilu Productions. When they separated in 1960, Arnaz sold his share of the company to Ball, making her the first woman to own a major studio.

1894 - 1975

“It's no disgrace to be old. But damn if it isn't inconvenient.”

-Moms Mabley

1911 - 1989

“Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work- and realizing what opportunity is and what isn’t.”

-Lucille Ball

CAROL BURNETT 1933 - PRESENT “You know, Carol, variety is a man’s game.” That’s what CBS told Burnett when she pitched the idea for The Carol Burnett Show. By 1971, it was one of the networks highest rated shows, and her slapstick humor and over-the-top silliness was beloved by viewers across the country. Burnett went on to perform in a number of films and other television shows. A six-time Emmy winner, she was also the inaugural recipient of the Golden Globes’ Carol Burnett Award, recognizing her lifetime achievement in television and entertainment.

“When I was little I would always stand in front of a mirror and cross my eyes. Then my mother would come in and say, ‘Stop that, nothing will ever come of it!”

-Carol Burnett

H A H A H H A A H HAH A H

Story by Libby Williams | Illustrations by Sara Roach | Design by Katie Jo Stewart Information sourced from britannica.com, biography.com, womeninhistory.org and nmaahc.si.edu

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SUMMER 2021

Comedy TINA FEY

MINDY KALING

KATE MCKINNON

1970 - PRESENT

1979 - PRESENT

1984 - PRESENT

Elizabeth Stamatina “Tina” Fey has established herself as one of the top comedians of her time, especially through her work on "Saturday Night Live." She was the show’s first female head writer, and made her cast member debut in 2000 on the “Weekend Update” segment.

She went on to write the screenplay for Mean Girls in 2004, and created the hit show 30-Rock based on her time at SNL. She continues to act, write and produce for many movies and television shows.

Actress, comedian and writer Mindy Kaling has been wildly successful in her field since she began in the 2000s. After graduating from Dartmouth College, she co-wrote the infotainment satire "Matt & Ben" about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The play had a successful two-year run off-Broadway. When writer and producer Greg Daniels saw the play, he recruited Kaling in 2004 to write for the American version of "The Office," where she also portrayed the character Kelly Kapoor. She directed several episodes and served as executive producer in 2008. She went on to create The Mindy Project in 2012, which had a successful run until 2017. She continues to write, act and produce for shows and movies, securing her place as one of the most successful female comedians of the decade.

Kate McKinnon graduated from Columbia University with a degree in theatre, and went on to perform on "The Big Gay Sketch Show" before joining the cast of "Saturday Night Live" in 2012. Some of her more popular impressions for the show include Ellen DeGeneres, Ann Romney, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Shakira, and most notably, Hillary Clinton. Her success has paved the way to roles in multiple hit movies and personal projects. McKinnon has already won multiple awards for her career, including two Emmys.

“Do your thing and don’t care if they like it.”

-Tina Fey, BOSSYPANTS

H A H A AH HA A H HA

“Comedy is a tool of togetherness. It’s a way of putting your arm around someone, pointing at something, and saying, ‘Isn’t it funny when we do that?’ It’s a way of reaching out.”

-Kate McKinnon

“I will leave you with one last piece Of advice, which is: if you’ve got it, flaunt it. And if you don’t got it? Flaunt it. ‘Cause what are we even doing here if we’re not flaunting it?

-Mindy Kaling, WHY NOT ME?

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ENTERTAINMENT

SUMMER FESTIVALS AND EVENTS 50

SUMMER 2021

TENINO MUSIC FESTIVAL JULY 23-24 TENINO CITY PARK

WATERSHED CAMPING & COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL JULY 3-AUG 1 THE GORGE AMPHITHEATER

BASS CANYON FESTIVAL AUG 20-22 THE GORGE AMPHITHEATER

UPPER LEFT BEERFEST AUG 27-28 EVERETT

ELLENSBURG RODEO SEPTEMBER 3-6 ELLENSBURG RODEO GROUNDS

DAY IN DAY OUT SEPTEMBER 4-5 FISHER GREEN PAVILLION

BEYOND WONDERLAND OCTOBER 1-2 THE GORGE AMPHITHEATER

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OUR TOWN FASHION

cwupulsemagazine.com

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SUMMER SPRING 2021 2021