FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2009 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 28
Event of the day Enjoy an evening of cultural festivities at Colored Pencils Arts and Culture Night, where your $3 admission benefits victims of recent Asian Pacific natural disasters. When: 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Where: SMSU, room 101
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INSIDE OPINION
Who really needs guns? Hypothetical situations cause local security changes PAGE 4
ARTS
Domanic Thomas: Thomas and other SALP members sought advice from legal counsel regarding international travel by student groups.
The inevitability of death Día de los Muertos gets a theatric welcome into Portland PAGE 5
Student groups grounded SALP has restricted international travel Virginia Vickery Vanguard staff
Years and years of beers and beers The Horse Brass Pub celebrates 33 years of service PAGE 6 Everyone’s got a grudge Ju-On: The Grudge is the casual gamers’ horror experience PAGE 7
NEWS Breaking the code could cost you Changes to the Student Code of Conduct include fees for violations PAGE 8
SPORTS
Sweeping in Vikings have chance to go undefeated in the state of Montana this week PAGE 10
Liana Shewey/Portland State Vanguard
Portland State student groups, such as Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and the world-traveling Debate Team, are confined to the country as a result of a moratorium placed on international travel by university administrators. Over the summer break, Student Activities and Leadership Programs revisited its student group international travel policies with Portland State’s legal counsel, and determined that the university is vulnerable to lawsuits under its current policies and practices. A hold was placed on international travel until new governing policies are devised, said Domanic Thomas, assistant director for Student Activities and Leadership Programs. “After an assessment of our practices at the end of the year, it was determined that we were in need of some revamping and codifying of our process,” Thomas said. “Legal counsel said if we got sued, we would have lost. Thankfully, nothing has happened.” No particular incident prompted the revision, but an international trip was taken last school year by an unidentified student group that caused administrators to question how trips are approved and organized, Thomas said. EWB assists developing communities by traveling throughout the world to provide basic human needs such as clean water, power, sanitation and education, according to its Web site. Currently, EWB is working in Nicaragua to prevent annual flooding at an
elementary school, and designing a clean water source and distribution system for a village of 3,000. “SALP’s policy change effectively prevents us from traveling,” said sophomore Chad Norvell, EWB president and Portland State sophomore. “There are real people down there, suffering, counting on us to provide a solution, and [Portland State] is asking us to turn our back on them.” The Debate Team competes in a world format and travels internationally, representing the university at tournaments. “I understand there is risk involved for the university, but there has to be some way to work this out quickly and effectively,” said Debate Team coordinator Kelly Welch. The team has lost money as a result of the restriction. The world championship competition, to be held December 2009 in Turkey, requires several stages of entry, which began in July 2009. “When SALP came to us to tell us we couldn’t travel, we had already sent in our first-stage entry and [nonrefundable] fee of $700,” Welch said. The team was also barred from attending a tournament in Vancouver, British Columbia. Wednesday, an informal task force—consisting of SALP administrators and representatives from affected student groups—convened to discuss how to work toward establishing new policies. At the meeting, no time frame for the implementation of new international travel policies was provided by SALP. Debate Team coach Christopher Richter asked, of the administrators present, what specific policy changes need to be made in order for the university to not be at risk. No specific changes were given.
However, a list of concerns over existing policies was provided. The concerns included pre-travel training, pre-travel screening of locations and crisis contingencies. “This is more than a conversation with legal [counsel],” said Assistant
General Counsel David Reese, “but about SALP working with legal and risk management to ensure Portland State has appropriate policies and procedures to adequately address liability, and to safeguard the heath and safety or students.”
Photo courtesy of Chad Norvell
Chad Norvell: Norvell, president of Portland State’s EWB chapter, and other members are
unable to continue their work in Nicaragua, which includes flood prevention at a primary school.
Vanguard 2 | Opinion October 30, 2009
Sarah J. Christensen Editor-in-Chief Danielle Kulczyk News Editor Theodora Karatzas Arts & Culture Editor
OPINION Editorial
Richard D. Oxley Opinion Editor
Student-veterans
Robert Britt Sports Editor Shannon Vincent Production Manager Marni Cohen Photo Editor Zach Chastaine Online Editor Jennifer Wolff Chief Copy Editor Jennifer Wolff Calendar Editor Matthew Kirtley Advertising Manager Judson Randall Adviser Ann Roman Advertising Adviser Illustrator Kira Meyrick Marketing Manager Kelsey Chinen Associate News Editor Virginia Vickery Production Assistants Bryan Morgan, Charles Cooper Williams
Writers Kate Alexander, William Blackford, Bianca Blankenship, Alanna Connor, Meaghan Daniels, Erica DeCouteau, Mariah FryeKeele, Joel Gaddis, Natasha Grozina, Patrick Guild, Rosemary Hanson, Steve Haske, Ed Johnson, Carrie Johnston, Mark Johnston, Tamara K. Kennedy, Anita Kinney, Katie Kotsovos, Gogul Krishnan, J. Logue, James MacKenzie, Holly Millar, Sean Rains, Stephanie Fine Sasse, Wendy Shortman, Nilesh Tendolkar, Robin Tinker, Vinh Tran, Virginia Vickery, Allison Whited Photographers Aaron Leopold, Rodrigo Melgarejo, Liana Shewey, Adam Wickham Copy Editor Robert Seitzinger Advertising Sales Matthew Kirtley, Ana SanRoman, Jae Specht, Wesley Van Der Veen Advertising Designer Shannon Vincent Contact Editor-in-Chief 503-725-5691 editor@dailyvanguard.com Advertising Manager 503-725-5686 ads@dailyvanguard.com The Vanguard is chartered to publish four days a week as an independent student newspaper by the PSU Publications Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers, and do not necessarily represent those of the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. One copy of the Vanguard is provided free of charge to all community members, additional copies or subcription issues may incur a 25 cent charge. The Vanguard is printed on 40 percent post-consumer recycled paper. Copyright © 2009 Portland State University Vanguard 1825 SW Broadway, Smith Memorial Student Union, Rm. S-26, Portland, Ore., 97201
Letters
Commuters’ dilemma
If you attend classes or work at Portland State, chances are you commute to campus. This is an urban school with limited oncampus housing options. People commute to PSU in a variety of ways, ranging from driving to riding TriMet to bicycling. These all sound like pretty good options, right? It’s a bit more complex than that. A Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS) survey of students in 2007, published on their Web site, showed that 38 percent of students rode public transit and another 33 percent drove or carpooled. Bicyclists and walkers were represented by surprisingly lower percentages. Students who drive generally agree that parking on campus is a nightmare. It costs anywhere from $149 to $318 per term for on-site parking. Some cheaper passes enable parking during certain hours or in specific structures, while others cost more and let you park anywhere. However, paying for that pass still doesn’t guarantee you a spot, and you may end up parking on the street anyway. If you ride with TriMet, you have the choice of purchasing a TriMet pass for $86 a month, or a
FlexPass from TAPS for $175 per term. It’s cheaper to go with the FlexPass—a savings of 35 percent, according to TAPS—but you’re still shelling out a pretty penny. Portland is obsessed with sustainability and promotes alternate modes of transportation. Why not follow the example that the University of Oregon has set? U of O offers a pretty impressive discount: For students, riding on the public transit system in Eugene and some surrounding areas is free. The school accomplished this by negotiating with Lane Transit District, enabling students to simply use their university-issued IDs instead of purchasing passes. Negotiating a cheaper fare for students to ride TriMet would solve a lot of our problems. Students who drive to campus could save gas money while saving the environment, and PSU can feel good about “going green.” This also would free up more parking spaces for those who really need to utilize them. Best of all, students who already use TriMet could spend the extra cash on something they really need—like, you know, food that isn’t ramen.
Sarah J. Christensen, Editor-in-Chief | Danielle Kulczyk, News Editor Theodora Karatzas, Arts & Culture Editor | Richard D. Oxley, Opinion Editor Robert Britt, Sports Editor | Marni Cohen, Photo Editor Shannon Vincent, Production Manager | Zach Chastaine, Online Editor Jennifer Wolff, Chief Copy Editor
We took notice to the information you disseminated about homeless veterans in Oregon. Such facts were too grievous to believe. We venerate you for unveiling that men and women who selflessly serve our country embody 22 percent of the homeless population. With such a high percentage, a proliferation of homeless veterans could occur. ASPSU works to represent students who are marginalized, and we are perturbed that possibly any of the students we represent are a part of the body of homeless veterans in Oregon. To bring honor to our valiant comrades, ASPSU is tenaciously working on constructing a student veteran memorial. The piece would be an august addition to the rich veteran history of Portland State University. The memorial would also bring respect to our student veterans. —ASPSU
Why Marriage Matters Christopher and Patrick, a Portland couple, registered for a domestic partnership so they would be protected in the event of a crisis. But earlier this year, when Christopher was gravely ill in the hospital, Patrick was told that he couldn’t be at his partner’s bedside. Why? Because they were not married. The hospital staff said Patrick was not considered “family.” One of the reasons partnership laws like Oregon’s aren’t good enough is that they pointedly—and pointlessly—withhold one of the main protections that comes with marriage: being married. Marriage matters. When you say those simple words—“we’re married”—there’s no doubt what it signifies. It says “we’re family” in a way that no other word can. It’s a universally understood expression of love, commitment, and the heartfelt desire to take responsibility for the ones we love. Marriage is a building block for strong families and strong communities and, for most of us, a personal commitment so important and defining that we wear its symbol on our hand. This is the common-ground starting point from which Oregonians can begin a meaningful conversation about why marriage matters to all couples in loving long-term rela-
tionships—including Oregon’s caring, committed gay and lesbian couples. I’ve been all around the country and talked to thousands of gay and lesbian Americans and their families. I’ve seen gay couples raising great kids, struggling to make ends meet, worrying about their aging parents, and caring for one another in sickness and in health. They share everyone’s hopes and dreams, including the dream of a legal commitment to match the personal commitment they live out day-to-day, doing the work of marriage with the person they love. Denied the freedom to marry, these families are denied the safety net marriage brings, touching every area of life from birth to death, with taxes in between. Yet legal protection isn’t the only concern; there is also the question of fairness. At its heart, the conversation about why marriage matters is as basic as the golden rule: Treat others as we would want to be treated. Fairness and respect for each other are basic American and Oregon values. We honor these values when we ensure that all our neighbors have the opportunity to create a family with the love, commitment and protection that the freedom to marry offers. In America, we simply don’t make one set of rules for some, and another set for others. These values of family, freedom, and fairness are why we need to start a conversation in Oregon—now, today—with our families, friends and neighbors, about why Oregon’s exclusion of committed couples from marriage must end. This week, I am joining with Basic Rights Oregon to launch a grassroots effort to get Oregonians talking to each other about extending civil marriage to same-sex couples. The more we talk with the people around us— each of us the most effective ambassador to those in our lives—the more we help them think through how they’d feel if they were denied the freedom to marry the one they love, and how unnecessary this harmful exclusion is. Each one of us can, and should, engage people in conversation about why marriage matters. After all, there is no marriage without engagement. I hope you’ll join me and Basic Rights Oregon in kicking off this important dialogue Monday night (Nov. 2) at SEIU Local 49 in Portland (3536 SE 26th Avenue). —Evan Wolfson
Round two The crusade against Sam Adams is misplaced and counterproductive Will Blackford Vanguard staff
Mayor Sam Adams’ escapades with a young intern, followed by the lies regarding said incident, garnered him many an enemy here in Portland. Enough enemies for some to believe they could mount a reelection. That poor effort failed, and now Adams’ opponents are gearing up for round two. Let us get the obvious stuff out of the way. Mayor Adams lied. Plain and simple. Not only did he lie, but he lied about sex. Not only did he lie about sex, he lied about gay sex. And not only did he lie about gay sex, he lied about alleged young gay sex. A more perfect scandal that challenges social norms and taboos there is not. Even given these facts, I think these recall efforts are motivated by more misguided ideals than ousting the lying politician.
The people leading the recall effort, like Jason Wurster, seem to be under the impression that they have a large amount of people who back their effort—an effort that is being pursued in the name of truth and justice. How they came around to this idea probably has to do with how loud Mayor Adams’ opponents are as opposed to the people who support him, because the numbers do not agree. Adams was elected in May 2008 with 58 percent of the votes. His closest opponent, Sho Donozo, had only 34 percent, with the rest split among a dozen or so no-names according to KGW. That’s a pretty significant win by my standards, even in the face of the as-yet-unconfirmed rumors of the aforementioned young gay sex. According to the Portland Auditor’s Office, the city of Portland has about 350,000 registered voters. The amount of signatures required for a recall? A little over 32,000—a number that Wurster and his volunteers did not reach. I’m certainly glad that less than 10 percent of voters can make it
possible to waste time and money by initiating another election. To Wurster, all these numbers somehow add up to the idea that it is the right thing, and a possible thing, to get Mayor Adams out of office. Again, this is probably largely due to the volume of Wurster and his allies’ voices, not their numbers. If I were able to believe that the smear campaign against Adams was really about the search for truth and justice, these recalls, and even the initial allegations, would be a different story. However, it seems to me that the initial rumors were brought about not in an attempt at truth seeking, but in a blatant attempt to smear Adams. I would be willing to bet that Sho Donozo and his team were much more interested in negatively affecting Adams’ chances of getting elected than the pursuit of truth. So what has our mayor, who has come under so much fire during these strained attempts to force reelection, been doing in the face of all this recall madness? Well, he’s working for the city in his elected capacity. Mark Larabee of
Vanguard Opinion | 3 October 30, 2009
Opinion Editor: Richard D. Oxley 503-725-5692 opinion@dailyvanguard.com
The Oregonian quotes Adams as saying, “We’ve been running full speed. That’s what the citizens expect of the mayor of a city with one of the largest unemployment rates.” Adams is doing the job he was elected to do and doing it well. So Mayor Adams lied. About sex. Gay sex. He lied because he knew bigots and political competitors would use the truth to smear him. Adams is not the first nor last politician to lie while running for office, but most of those other lies weren’t of such a taboo nature. Nor do they prevent Mayor Adams from doing his job well. This recall is a waste of time. The only thing we are going to see from a potential recall, assuming that throwing money at the effort will produce one at all, are a bunch of annoying and preachy commercials slinging mud at Mayor Adams. Most importantly, if there is a recall, be sure to send in your ballot if you support Mayor Adams. Make sure that your voice, though quieter than Wurster’s, is heard above the roar.
Bigger
is
Don’t think small when it comes to student housing Natasha Grozina Vanguard staff
As I am writing this article, outside my window is a perfect scenic view of the Portland skyline. If I look straight ahead, the tallest building I see is the Wells Fargo Center. Far away to my right, I can see a growing skyline at the South Waterfront. To my left is something less appealing to me—lots of McMansions in the West Hills, mostly empty due to foreclosures. But this article is not about estate sales, and it is not about the beautiful Pacific Northwestern skyline. It’s about the on-campus housing building that is in the works at Portland State. An article published by the Vanguard [“More university housing for fall 2012,” Oct. 15] stated that this building “to be named College
We all know scandals are nothing new to the world of politics, especially the sexy ones. From Bill Clinton to John Edwards, many politicians have suffered lapses in their better judgment. But how have other scandals gone? Who else has had to face the public after getting caught with their pants down? Larry Craig (R-Idaho) In 2007, Sen. Craig displayed how familiar he was with the signs and signals of public restroom…er…let’s call it bathroom speed dating. The senator was charged with homosexual lewd conduct, but did not resign. Eliot Spitzer (D-N.Y.) Gov. Spitzer has expensive taste when it comes to women, or in his case, hookers. Spitzer was found to be using the Emperors Club VIP, an escort service known to charge $1,000 per night for some company. Spitzer was not charged with any crime, though in light of his indiscretion, he resigned. Mark Foley (R-Fla.)
better Station, will likely be located at Southwest Sixth Avenue and College Street and house approximately 950 students. Housing officials estimate that the facility will open in the fall of 2012.” Now, I do not have any problem with more student housing. In fact, I think we should build enough student housing to complement the increase of students at PSU, and I agree completely with the University Housing initiative to collaborate with ASPSU on the development of more family housing, as well as the possibility of graduate student housing. However, I do disagree on one point. Why on earth are we not building a larger building? You would think a need for more student housing would be less of a problem, since a taller building could hold more students. It would be more practical to have more rooms to accommodate more students and less land will be used. According to the article, “Like
Scandalous!
Broadway, the new facility will also incorporate eco-friendly amenities and bicycle storage space. It will also be mixed-use, with retail space and offices on the lower levels and badge-access-only housing on the higher floors.” None of this is bad. In fact, Portland is one of the healthiest and most sustainable cities in the nation. But unfortunately, with the rapid increase in population from our favorite Californians—and others, of course—we don’t have all the land in the world. Portland, like all cities, is required to have a 20-year supply of land. According to ORS, 197.296, Oregon law requires fast-growing cities— cities with populations over 25,000— and metropolitan service districts to include enough build able land for the next 20 years of residential growth within their urban growth boundaries. Yet another reason why taller buildings would make more sense. And just how fast is Portland
growing anyways? The population inside the urban growth boundary grew 22 percent in the 1990s to 1.2 million. In the first 16 years of the growth boundary, Portland added 3,000 acres to its urbanized area. In just the past three years, Portland has loosened its belt again to add 4,000 more. The area within the growth boundary now comprises 236,313 acres. I understand the need for suburban families to have enough space for raising children, but I am not talking about that. I am talking about PSU building affordable housing for students. I am not saying we should build skyscrapers to house students. I just hope that people would come to a realization that property needs to be used differently nowadays. We may have extra rooms now due to students staying at home to cut the costs of living expenses, but we need to look at this in the long run. A 950-room building can go an extra mile and house a few more.
Sen. Foley found that when you want to sexually harass in the workplace, you better make sure there is no record of it. Foley is still under investigation for multiple text messages, sexual in nature, that he sent to male congressional interns. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) While still married to his second wife in the 1990s, Gingrich engaged in an extramarital affair, one that would blossom into his current marriage. Sure, compared to other politicians, this might seem tame, if not for the fact he had the affair while leading the investigation into thenPresident Bill Clinton’s scandal with Monica Lewinski. Snap! Thomas Jefferson (as in the third president) After the death of his wife, Jefferson found comfort with his slave, Sally Hemings, with whom he fathered at least one child. Not really a scandal by today’s standards, but it didn’t go over well with the racist South of his day. —Wikipedia
Vanguard 4 |4Opinion | News February January Month OctoberDay, 30, 23, 13, 2009
an open budget Place PSU’s budget online for everyone to see Sean Rains Vanguard staff
What do you think? With school shootings in the news over the years, or armed guards showing up at OHSU, guns on campuses have been a long-argued debate. Portland State’s campus security doesn’t carry firearms, and guns in general are not allowed on PSU grounds. Yet, concealed weapons are allowed in the city-managed South Park Blocks. Would guns on campus contribute to security or add to student anxiety? Do we have a constitutional right to bear arms at a public institution? What do you think? Send your thoughts to opinion@dailyvanguard.com.
There are a number of problems with Portland State as an organization, and I intend—unrealistically—to write about each of them at some point. But one problem any bureaucracy faces is a lack of upward communication, and one way to increase that upward communication is to place all of the university’s budget information online. Let me start by explaining the issue in more detail. The idea behind a bureaucracy is to organize people like a set of cabinets, which is where the bureau part of the name comes from. Each of these cabinets is organized into larger sets of cabinets above them, and so on until you get to the big cabinet that is PSU. Each cabinet has a hierarchy, and then there is a hierarchy of cabinets. For example, department heads here are under the dean of their colleges, and the deans are under a vice provost, and so forth. The point is that everything looks
very pretty on paper, complete with boxes and lines that come together to look something like a pyramid. Except, in a pyramid, the weight is centered on the bottom. In a bureaucracy, the weight of decision making is concentrated on those higher up in the hierarchy. So in theory, the president of the university is supposed to be responsible for overseeing all the decisions that happen here. In essence, the pyramid stands on its head. There are many problems with this, but we should focus on the problem of information. No single person can possibly know everything that happens at this university, and this means that the president’s decisions are inevitably uninformed.
Yes, he has advisers and reports and whatnot, but there are important facts about the everyday experiences of PSU students, faculty and support staff that don’t reach his ears before he makes his decisions. And, more to my original point, these facts are not making their way into decisions related to the budget. To be completely honest, I do not yet know how the budget is made. The PSU budget director has kindly offered to help me start to make sense of it once this year’s budget is completed. Yet that is precisely the problem: When something as important as the budget becomes so difficult to understand, a large part of the university population is not able to provide feedback. And when we
cannot provide feedback, decisions are made that ignore our needs. Placing all of the details of the university budget online helps to solve this problem. By making the budget more accessible to those people who do understand it, it becomes possible for them to start explaining it to everyone else. And with that, students, faculty and staff will all have an easier time providing informed feedback about the university’s priorities and voicing their concerns about how money is spent. Not to mention, the budget office can then spend its time dealing with its immense workload rather than trying to explain things to people like me.
Who really needs guns? Hypothetical situations cause local security changes Robin Tinker Vanguard staff
A false sense of danger is on the loose in Portland. Oregon Health and Sciences University and the Portland Water Bureau have both requested that they be allowed to arm officers and have authority to make arrests. They aren’t asking for this because something happened recently to qualify a need to shoot at someone. In fact, the agencies both gave reasons that seem alarmist, potentially dangerous and may increase unnecessary intimidation. According to the Portland Tribune, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill in August authorizing OHSU to train and commission officers at a state police academy and gave them authority to investigate and arrest, but not carry a gun as requested. The actual armed guards will be contracted by an existing law enforcement agency instead. One reason OHSU officials are implementing this armed-guard policy is because it takes Portland police 15 minutes or longer to make it up the hill to the campus. They are concerned about a possible Virginia Tech-style massacre, but no one has really said why. On April 16, 2007, 33 people died on Virginia Tech campus from a lone gunman, the worst school shooting ever in the U.S. The paranoia is puzzling. Why
Kira Meyrick/Portland State Vanguard
the fear mongering, OHSU? I can’t imagine why on earth it takes police so long to get to OHSU, but as I have not timed the drive from the police station to the campus, I will just leave it at that. What happened at Virginia Tech was obviously a horrible atrocity committed by an extremely disturbed individual. It does make some people feel better if an authority figure has a gun to protect them, but that is a false sense of security. It’s really not possible to predict when and where these random shootings might happen. Just because there are armed guards doesn’t mean they will be in the right place at the right time to shoot such a person before anyone gets hurt. In fact, it seems quite unlikely. Not only does it seem unnecessary to have these armed guards at OHSU, since nothing has happened to warrant them, but it could potentially be dangerous to patients. There are frequently mentally unstable patients treated at OHSU. This could definitely cause more problems than it might prevent. Jason Renaud, the Mental Health Association of Portland’s board secretary, was quoted in the Portland Tribune as saying, “Guns
around persons with acute mental illness coming in for treatment are not a good mix.” He also calls concerns about a mass shooting at OHSU ridiculous. Gary Granger is the public safety director for OHSU. He is tired of people not respecting his authority. He is in favor of the new changes and the power he will now have. Granger was quoted in the Portland Tribune as saying, “You probably don’t appreciate how many times people look at us and say, ‘You’re not the real police.’ What changes is that on my uniform will be a little label that says ‘police’.” Portland Commissioner Randy Leonard also wants the Water Bureau patrols to be able to make arrests and carry guns, even though nothing has happened to warrant this, either. According to David Shaff, Commissioner Leonard’s water administrator, the bureau needs a way to handle trespassers and terrorists capable of harming the city’s water supply. This is extremely alarmist and I can’t help but wonder…what terrorists? Is Portland suddenly a major target? I think not. Currently, if someone is trespassing near a water source, the Water Bureau patrols call
the police, but if the location is remote, it can take awhile to make an arrest. Leonard believes these guards need more authority and guns. He says, “People do stupid things and I want my folks to have the ability to take action.” Generally, misdemeanors like trespassing or even vandalism don’t warrant shots fired. The limited amount of crimes committed at the water sources are of this nature, not violent crimes in which guns are a necessity in apprehension. According to Willamette Week, in June 2008, two people jumped into the Mt. Tabor reservoir and were arrested by police for trespassing and the charges were later dismissed. This is not a serious crime, and the only possible difference a gun would have made in this situation would have been unnecessary intimidation. Nothing is wrong with the current system of Portland Police Bureau and the Water Bureau working together. There is absolutely no need for armed guards at OHSU or for Water Bureau patrols. It is completely unnecessary, and potentially dangerous. Any time guns are added to situations, where there were previously none, the danger factor increases.
ARTS & CULTURE
Day of the Dead: Los muertos return, singing “Cielito Lindo” in Canta y no llores at the Milagro Theatre.
All photos courtesy of Russell Young
The inevitability of death Día de los Muertos gets a theatric welcome into Portland Anita Kinney Vanguard staff
For the past 13 years, Latino theater group Milagro Theatre has been creating an original production to celebrate the Day of the Dead, or el Día de los Muertos. The Vanguard spoke with artistic director Olga Sanchez about their 2009 production, Canta y no llores, a show set during the Great Depression that tells a series of interwoven stories. Sanchez developed the production
along with the show’s cast and crew, and provided original translations of songs used in the play.
Daily Vanguard: How did you develop this play? Olga Sanchez: We generally start thinking about [the Day of the Dead show] in the spring. This time we started talking about it right after last year’s show…we knew this time we wanted to bring some traditional elements into the show. And in the springtime, we started talking about fitting it in the Depression era, and setting it in Oregon, because Oregon is in the 150th anniversary of its statehood, and from there, it was just a question of “how do we weave the story?” So
Day of the Dead: Train orphan Mary (Melanie Meijer) offers to help Eduardo (Carlos Alexs Cruz), while her muse, the spirit of Mae Catrina (Rebecca Frost Mayer), observes.
I started picking out some songs, and I got some different recommendations of songs from the 1930s. Traditional Mexican tunes, then some Woody Guthrie songs and some Hollywood standards as well. As I was doing that, we were doing a lot of research about what was going on in the Latino community and just the nation in general. We read a lot about the Dust Bowl, and repatriation, just, where the troubles were and how people coped with them.
DV: Does the play deal with the Latin American experience in Oregon during the 1930s? OS: Well, yes, but there’s very little information about the Latin American experience in Oregon during the 1930s! We knew that there was a growing community in the ’20s, and an even bigger one in the ’40s, but for some reason, there’s just not a whole lot of information on the ’30s. So we kind of thought about what might have brought Latin Americans here, and then we came up with stories about individuals that we thought might be representative about what might have happened. In other words, they reflect what was happening around the region and around the country. It’s basically the story of immigrants—so they’re being pushed, for various reasons, from other parts of the country, or they’re here because they’re looking for work. And Timberline Lodge was being built at the time, so it becomes a draw for people looking for work, especially if they’re skilled artisans, which is what the people in this play are. DV: How does this play fit into the rest of your season? Do you have any themes that you’re exploring this year, either in this play, or in others that you’re staging? OS: I think what we realized going into the season, we knew that people were feeling relatively bummed about the economy. There’s a lot of negativity and things pointing downward, and we want to do works that, not so much cheered people up, necessarily, but that pointed a light to the resilience of the human spirit. How people find within themselves the strength, and where they find the strength, to keep going, to have
hope, even when the situation looks hopeless. So in the case of [Day of the Dead], it’s about tradition, songs, music in a way that lifts us, so that, “OK, I can get through the day,” which is kind of how people got through the Great Depression. Obviously they had to get out there and work, but the music—and the Hollywood movies that came out of that era, are just fanciful and full of music—there were lots of musicals at that time, so we’re tapping into that expression as a form of inspiration. In other cases, later on in the season, we have a play called How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, and we’re looking at how self-reflection, how processing your history, gives you the strength to look forward. It’s basically a woman who’s working on an autobiographical sort of journal, and it’s through reliving her experiences and recounting them that she finds the inspiration to go forward. And the final play of the season is El Quixote, where basically imagination, the ability to sort of deny your reality, and create your own, give you the strength to move forward.
DV: What is the connection between this play and the Day of the Dead itself? OS: It takes place right around the Day of the Dead. And it’s through the celebration of the traditions of the holiday that people are restored. It’s through remembering the dead, and those traditions—everybody’s suffered some kind of death in their lives in this play, so everybody’s coming in with some kind of experience in how they deal with it. And it’s kind of a parallel to them having lost everything. If you’ve lost everything, what do you hold on to? What do you still have? That’s the question. DV: Why do you think Portland has such a large number of Day of the Dead activities? OS: One, I think it’s a terrific celebration. I think people need it. Society needs it. Portland’s a progressive town, well-read, it’s interested in things that are happening around the world. It doesn’t just see itself as its own self-enclosed society: It sees itself as part of the world. You could ask the same question about the Milagro Theatre—why does it exist in Portland? We are the premier Latino culture organization in the Northwest, and the only one that’s really thrived. In Washington, Oregon, Idaho—there’s nothing like Milagro. And I think part of that success is because Portland is the kind of town that supports a diverse experience, is curious about what’s going on in the world, and that’s what Milagro offers. The Latino community is growing here as well, and Portland, instead of saying, “get these people out of here,” is interested in other cultures, wants to learn about them! And that’s the personality of Portland—it welcomes diversity, or tries to, anyway.
Canta y no llores Milagro Theatre, 525 SE Stark St. Opens Fri, Oct. 30, Runs through Nov. 15 Thu, 7:30 p.m., Fri and Sat, 8 p.m. Sun, 2 p.m. $20–$22, $16 students and seniors
Vanguard Arts & Culture | 5 October 30, 2009
Arts Editor: Theodora Karatzas 503-725-5694 arts@dailyvanguard.com
El Día de los Muertos: facts about the Day of the Dead The origin of the Day of the Dead is believed to have roots planted thousands of years ago. It is believed to have ties to an Aztec festival devoted to a goddess by the name of Mictecacihuatl, which in English translated to “The Lady of the Dead.” To date, similar observances have been found throughout the rest of the world in locations, such as Brazil, Spain, Africa and the Philippines. The Day of the Dead celebrations has connections to an array of indigenous peoples, including the Mixtec, Mayans, Totonac, Olmecs and Zapotecs, where ceremonies focused on celebrating the deaths of ancestors have been recorded into their history. This means that the origins of the holiday may date back as far back as 2,500–3,000 years. Pre-Hispanic history shows that it was not uncommon to see people keep skulls in their possession as trophies, which were put on display during times of rituals to serve as a symbol for death and rebirth. In the majority of places in Mexico, Nov. 1 (Día de los Inocentes, Day of the Innocents, or Día de los Angelitos, Day of the Little Angels) is reserved for the honor of dead children and infants, while deceased adults are honored on Nov. 2 (Día de los Muertos or Día de los Difuntos, Day of the Dead). When paying respects to the death of a child, toys are bought, while tequila is a common gift for deceased adults. Gravesites typically showcase the leftovers of candies that the dead enjoyed while alive. Outside of the home, some leave pillows and blankets out for the deceased. A popular figure of the Day of the Dead celebrations that take place in Mexico is a catrina—a skeletal female vision that usually wears elaborate hats upon her head and is often seen carrying a bouquet of flowers.
—www.unexplainable.net
Vanguard 6 | Arts & Culture February October 30, 20, 2009
Beloved TV shows
(that traumatized cast members for life) Anyone who has worked shoveling shit at a circus can tell you that making entertainment isn’t as much fun as watching it. The same goes for TV shows and, in some cases, it’s even worse than the elephant shit thing. There are shows you loved and grew up with that, behind the scenes, were a constant, dark carnival of torment.
ALF The show An extraterrestrial puppet confounds his adopted Earth family with his cateating ways. But behind the scenes... A dictatorial puppeteer confounds his cast with a deathtrap set. ALF creator and head puppeteer Paul Fusco epitomized eccentricity. By “eccentricity,” we mean, “he sorta fuckin’ believed ALF was real” and demanded nothing but the best for his cash cow. In practical terms, this meant that multiple puppeteers needed 14 trap doors built into the show’s set to manipulate the puppet. Keep in mind, the set was a living room. Take a glance at your living room floor, and imagine it’s riddled with over a dozen Viet Cong tiger traps. Now imagine having to walk around that space without ever looking down because you’re too busy making eye contact with a horrifying puppet with a syphilitic phallus for a nose. Resetting the trap doors was arduous, and the only alternative was to let actors randomly fall to their deaths. Shoots therefore took much longer than usual, which exhausted the actors, but was the only way to avoid being the subject of a “broken neck” storyline next week.
The Price is Right The show A geriatric man tries not to fuck up stating the price of a projection TV in a legally binding way. But behind the scenes... A geriatric man builds a game-show dynasty founded on sexual harassment. The 106 years Bob Barker hosted the show were a hard time to be a Price is Right spokes model. For a guy so concerned about animals (or at least their genitals), it’s pretty insane how The Bark treated his beauties like his own personal petting zoo. In the early ’90s, model Dian Parkinson alleged that if Bob Barker weren’t allowed to drop his “plinko chip” down her “prize board,” she’d lose her job. But at least he gave her dignity. Although Parkinson did have a tumultuous off-camera fling with Barker, she wasn’t the only Price is Right girl to complain about the host’s wandering, prune-y python. Since 1996, six female employees have sued the horny old gnome. All of them, save one pending case, received out-of-court settlements. —www.cracked.com
harmony
In perfect Folk trio redefines what it means to fit in Stephanie Fine Sasse Vanguard staff
Occasionally, a band pops up with a sound so rich you can actually feel the waves go through you. Something in the balance of sounds and tonal composition blend to create music that seems to matter in a way so as to catch you pleasantly off guard. Atlanta-based Girlyman solicits just such feelings of awe for any enthusiasts of the pop-folk genre. Within seconds, you feel personally obligated to purchase their music and make damn sure they have no excuse to stop filling the world with more of it. The band started with three musically inclined friends living together in Brooklyn, N.Y., After playing a few shows as separate acts on the same bill, Doris Muramatsu, Tylan Greenstein and Nate Borofsky decided to schedule a rehearsal to see what they could come up with. Unfortunately, the date of that initial jam session was Sept. 11, 2001, and New York had different plans. “When we did come back after that, we [had] a real sense of doing a project that was going to be fun for us right now,” Borofsky said. “Something that makes us feel good right now. There were a few months when we never knew what was going to happen. Living in New York at that time, I don’t feel there was a huge amount of terror in the music that we did. It was quite the opposite. It made us really want to
do something that felt joyful.” That theme has been steadfastly carried through the past eight years that the band has grown and produced music. Though Girlyman became a symbol of their optimism, it was also an ode to their selfproclaimed misfit dispositions, offering solace to those fans that felt similarly. “If you put the three of us in a blender that’s probably what you’d get,” Borofsky said of their androgynous name and styles. “I wear makeup on stage, Ty usually wears a vest and tie on stage. There is some degree to which we feel like we don’t quite fit in, particularly with gender. The name is also very light hearted. It’s very hard to take what we’re doing too seriously with a band that’s called Girlyman.” Based on these feelings of not quite fitting in, it seems all the more phenomenal that the group has developed such an inclusive sound. Not only do their three-part harmonies complement each other flawlessly, but their poignant lyrics guarantee that each song on their new release Everything’s Easy creates a musical mirror that reflects a piece of any active listener. It makes you wonder how it is possible that these three individuals know you so well. This feeling of closeness and intimacy is likely a result of the member’s playful and nurturing interaction with each other. “There’s a lot of love between us,” Borofsky said. “I feel like I get to tour around with my two best friends. There really is that kind of connection between the three of us.”
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Richardson
Girlyman: Doris Muramatsu, Tylan Greenstein and Nate Borofsky comprise this musical ménage à trois.
That connection is evident in their music, and notoriously carries over to their live performance. “What we try to do in shows is connect with a deeper part of ourselves and each other and hope that doing that can help others get in touch with deeper parts of themselves,” Borofsky said. The new album is a sentimental, delightful array of nostalgia and emotion. It feels sincere and pure without being safe. Much of the album’s authenticity stems from their self-producing approach. After raising money from their devoted fans for a $10,000 microphone, the members of Girlyman focused their energy on creating an entire album from their home. “In the past when we’ve recorded it has always been in a studio,” Borofsky said. “There was a degree of time pressure, because we were paying by the hour, to get things recorded quickly. With this CD we really took our time, to try out ideas that were different. It was wonderful to be able to play around like that—to make mistakes and learn from what we
Years and years The Horse Brass Pub of beers and beers celebrates 33 years of
were doing. We got a finished product that really honored the song.” The members of Girlyman are the face and sound of a new cultural identity, which focuses more on quality than category. They may not be as easily labeled as bands of past generations, but there is a freedom and soulfulness to their music that must be credited to their acceptance of themselves and one another. Their music follows suit, fearlessly merging sounds and styles to fill whatever role the trio chooses. With the completely cool uniqueness of Girlyman’s dynamic, it really makes you wonder who decided “fitting in” was a good thing to begin with.
Girlyman Mississippi Studios 3939 N Mississippi Ave. Sat, Oct. 31, 9 p.m. $15 advance or $17 door 21+
Horse Brass Pub’s 33rd Anniversary 4534 SE Belmont St Sun, Nov. 1, 12 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. 21+
service
Bianca Blankenship Vanguard staff
If you walk into the Horse Brass Pub on a weekend night, you’re guaranteed to find it packed with smiling, beer-guzzling folks. Yet you’re likely to find at least one small table for you and your friends where you can sit and enjoy some of the best beer on tap in this city. This Sunday the Horse Brass Pub is celebrating its 33rd anniversary by doing what it does best: serving delicious beer. The pub will be serving up a number of specialty microbrews, including some they have been saving all year for the occasion. Perhaps the beers the Horse Brass is best known for are its stouts and porters. It’s one of the few spots in Portland where you can find Young’s Double Chocolate Stout—an import from England— on tap, not to mention Walking Man’s Black Cherry Stout, which is best described as a mix of cherry, chocolate, beer and heaven. One of the premiering beers at the anniversary will be Black Butte XXI from local Deschutes Brewery. Introduced this year, the XXI is a special reserve described by Deschutes’ Web site as “a tribute to Black Butte Porter,” which is poured in many of Portland’s bars and pubs. Unlike the gentle porter, this beer is only in its second year. The first version came out in 2008, called Black Butte XX, in celebration of Deschutes’ 20 years of business. This time the beer marks Deschutes’ 21 years.
Deschutes worked with a number of businesses to create the special brew. It incorporates cocoa nibs from Theo Chocolate in Seattle, Wash., it was dry-hopped with Bellatazza coffee beans from Bend, and then a share of it was aged in Stranahan’s Colorado whiskey barrels. If that’s not enough to make your mouth water, you should question your taste in beer. There will be a number of other beers tapped for the event and a list will be released soon. As always, the Horse Brass will serve its usual beers, in addition to the guest beers on tap right now. All in all, the pub will be offering over 50 beers on draught. There’s a reason they’ve stuck around for 33 years. When you’ve had enough to drink at the bar, you can stroll over to one of the four dartboards and show off your drunken skills. After all, another thing that Portland bars are good at is giving us games to play—like darts and shuffleboard—after we’ve talked the bartender’s ear off. The Horse Brass is also a good spot for football fans. No, not the sport where players don hefty protective gear, but that sport that the rest of the world likes to call football. In other words, you’ll never miss an English soccer match at this pub. In any case, if you haven’t checked out the Horse Brass before, now is the time to do it. Their 33rd anniversary requires no entry fee and any beer tapped for the occasion is bound to be seriously delicious.
Liana Shewey/Portland State Vanguard
Horse Brass: Warmth emanates from the lights outside this traditional British pub.
Everyone’s got a grudge Ju-On: The Grudge is the casual gamers’ horror experience
Steve Haske Vanguard staff
Not far into Ju-On: The Grudge, your cell phone starts ringing. Without a word, you pull it out, look at the distorted picture on the screen and answer the call. “Click-clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick,” the voice on the other end says. To anyone mildly familiar with The Grudge series of films, the sound is instantly recognizable—it’s the long-haired dead girl who likes to crawl on the ground or ceiling like a broken-backed insect, terrorizing her next victims with her guttural clicking before they die. But why is she utilizing a phone instead of just skittering at you from around the next corner? It’s going to happen sooner or later. A translation of her call might be a colloquial greeting, letting you, the victim, know that she’s lurking nearby. Or it might just be something along the lines of, “I’m going to fucking kill you!” Either way, the result will be the same: you’re dead. The suspense would be more of a draw if your fate weren’t already a foregone conclusion. Instead, Ju-On makes you survive a particular harrowing series of events, or as is often the case, feint-scare tactics, before meeting your untimely (and inevitable) fate. If this were a traditional horror game, it might make for an interesting take on the genre, but Ju-On just barely qualifies as a game. In its defense, the words “haunted house simulator” are emblazoned in plain view on the game’s box. This may confuse people. Don’t be confused, though. Think about the experience of going through a haunted house—add a flashlight and you’re basically there. Which more or less makes Ju-On something of a casual horror title.
And casual means casual with a capital C. The gameplay consists of little more than exploring moody, stereotypical survival-horror environments (abandoned hospitals, derelict apartment buildings and the like) with a flashlight, aimed with the Wiimote, looking for keys to progress or batteries to keep your light functional. While exploring, items get knocked off shelves, phones and doorbells ring and you see and hear things that aren’t there. The series’ trademark ghosts, dead girl and the boy who makes cat noises also terrorize you throughout the game, leading to a lot of gesture-based evasive maneuvering with the Wiimote. The point of the title is less about playing a game and more about the experience of frightening you. The game thrives on pop-out scares, augmented by a somewhat foreboding atmosphere. Given Ju-On’s reliance on scripted events, any unsettling feelings you may get will probably only be on the first play through, but the game does an adequate job of maintaining a Silent Hill or Fatal Frame aesthetic and feel, and Takashi Shimizu (the director of the original Japanese films) helped oversee the project, which is a nice touch. But simply escaping the four short scenarios Ju-On throws at you ( five, if you count the fifth unlockable level) might not be enough, given its rigid mechanics. Your flashlight is constantly draining power, and if you don’t find replacement batteries, you’re left with an uncomfortable death in the dark, essentially making each level timed. I understand this is to heighten the tension of getting through each episode, but having the option to inch your way through a creepy level might’ve made things even scarier. The constant drive to find new batteries almost gives Ju-On a predictable feel, so you can expect a progression of scares and ghost encounters at a fairly regular clip. It wouldn’t have killed the development team to allow you to run, at least for short periods of time. Plodding through large, dark areas usually takes forever. God forbid you run out of batteries, as there are no checkpoints per level. Finally, given Shimizu’s involvement, couldn’t they have done more with Ju-On than simply create a series of encounters with cat boy, dead girl and dead girl’s inky, symbiotic hair? Not that Ju-On’s unorthodox approach is surprising, knowing the kind of weird games that come out of Japan. But honestly, Nintendo approved this for a North American release and passed on Fatal Frame IV? What gives? It’s not that Ju-On is bad, per se. As a haunted house simulator, it does a decent job of unsettling you, despite its foibles, although with a bit more creative freedom and open-ended design, it could’ve been something really unique. For fans of the films or survival horror, JuOn might be a rental at best. But at least it’ll probably make for a good $30 party trick with some 30-something casual Wii owners throwing Halloween bashes.
Ju-On: The Grudge XSEED Games Nintendo Wii $29.99
Vanguard Arts & Culture | 7 February30, October 20,2009 13, 2009
Because you’re too old to be trick-or-treating: live music on Halloween night Copy, Guidance Counselor, Atole, E*Rock, Dj Automaton Starting off the plethora of Halloween celebrations right, Disjecta is hosting an all-star line up of kick-ass electronic music. Guidance Counselor is in the midst of finishing up a new album and, so far, the few tracks that have been released are pretty swell. Atole stopped booking shows for 2009 and only have a couple more besides this one. They’re trying to focus on their new album so this will probably be one of the few times to catch them before the year is out. Copy is like this amazing teddy bear of a key who makes über-cool ’80s-influenced electropop and E*Rock is like the patron saint of DJing. Really, you can’t lose with this one. Disjecta, 8 p.m., $10, all ages Girlyman, Lucy Wainwright Roche See article on Page 6. Mississippi Studios, 8 p.m., $15 advance or $17 door, 21+ Starfucker, Deelay Ceelay, Wampire, Nice Nice This is one of those shows that could possibly be classified as Portland music history. On Halloween night, Starfucker will play their last show ever as Starfucker. Following a national tour with Deelay Ceelay, the band had a contest to rename their group. The winning name was PYRAMIDDD. I have no idea why it’s in all caps or why there are three Ds, but let’s wish them well during this musical transition by saying goodbye at the Wonder Ballroom. Joined by Nice Nice, the aforementioned Deelay Ceelay and Wampire, the lineup for this show is more than a little bit awesome and sure to bring about a whole lot of dancing. Plus, there’s a costume contest and the members of Starfucker will be the judges. Wonder Ballroom, 8 p.m., $14, all ages
Vanguard 88||News News Month OctoberDay, 30, 2009
News Editor: Danielle Kulczyk 503-725-5690 news@dailyvanguard.com
Important registration dates Priority registration students: Mon, Nov. 2 to Thu, Nov. 5 Graduates and postbac graduates: Mon, Nov. 9 Seniors: Thu, Nov. 12 Postbac undergraduates: Mon, Nov. 16 Juniors: Wed, Nov. 18 Sophomores: Mon, Nov. 23 Freshmen: Wed, Nov. 25
NEWS
Breaking the code could cost you
Changes to the Student Code of Conduct include fees for violations Tamara K. Kennedy Vanguard staff
Though many changes to the Portland State Student Code of Conduct were simply in grammar to increase clarity, a new section assesses a fee when students are found responsible for violating the code.
Quick entry students: Mon, Nov. 30
2010–11 scholarships now available Hundreds of scholarships are available to Portland State undergraduate students. It’s easy to apply online for many of these. Be sure to submit your scholarship application early! Access the PSU online Undergraduate Scholarship application at: portlandstate. scholarships. ngwebsolutions.com The following undergraduate scholarships are available: -General University scholarships -Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science scholarships -School of Business Administration scholarships (except Food Industry and Real Estate scholarships) -College of Urban and Public Affairs (except Real Estate scholarships) -University Mentor Scholarships The Portland State online undergraduate scholarship application is due at noon, Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. To search all PSU scholarships and non-PSU scholarships, go to www.pdx.edu/ finaid/scholarships and select “Search for scholarships.” —scholarships@pdx.edu
All photos by Rodrigo Melgarejo/Portland State Vanguard
Natalee Webb
The intent of the fee is to cover expenses such as accessing records, the cost of certified mail, if needed, and follow-up sanctions, according to Natalee Webb, interim assistant dean of students and senior conduct officer. This change will most likely have the biggest impact on students, Webb said. The lowest-level fee begins at $10 for the first offense and increased for each subsequent infraction. There is no ceiling on high-level fees, Webb said. Another significant change in the code includes splitting the definition of sexual misconduct from sexual assault. Previously, sexual assault seemed to be downplayed by calling it sexual misconduct, Webb said. “The concern always has to be the health and safety of the community,” Webb said, regarding violent crimes against another person. Additionally, academic negligence is now divided into two categories. One is academic dishonesty, such as intentional plagiarism, and the other is academic negligence, such as a simple case of not citing sources properly, according to Webb. “If a student copies and pastes an entire paper, suspension is more likely than if they just misused one sentence from their text book,” Webb said. Under the new code, a student who
The Daily Cut Your world in brief
is negligent might not be dishonest. The intention is to make a more accurate reflection of code violations in student records, Webb said. Many sanctions are educational, and suspension and expulsion are possible, though the Dean of Students Office doesn’t have a grid, Webb said. The Student Code of Conduct was reviewed because it must be reviewed every three years. However, that rule itself was revised, and a review will occur every five years or as needed, moving forward. The changes in the code were a collaborative process that included a committee of three students, two faculty and six staff members who
reviewed the code by reading every word. Domanic Thomas, assistant director of Student Activities and Leadership Programs, chaired the committee that met biweekly from November 2008 until March 2009 to make any necessary changes. The length of the code was reduced by six pages and took effect the first day of classes in fall term, Sept. 28.
To read the Student Code of Conduct, go to: www.pdx.edu/dos/codeofconduct
crimeBlotter (Times and dates are when incidents were reported.)
Local: Deadly foam kills seabirds, puzzles scientists PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)—Scientists know what caused the ocean foam that has killed thousands of seabirds in Oregon and Washington, but they don’t know exactly why it suddenly showed up in such deadly abundance off the Northwest coast. The organism is a single-cell phytoplankton, or algae, called Akashiwo sanguinea. It has been blamed for red tides off Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and Hong Kong. While algae blooms are common in the Northwest, and essential to providing food that supports fisheries, this algae created surfactants—detergent-like substances that covered seabirds in foam and stripped away their waterproofing, causing them to become hypothermic and die. Thousands of dead and dying birds washed up on beaches in mid-September around Kalaloch on the Olympic Peninsula. Last week, scores more washed ashore on Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula, just north of the Columbia River, and as far south as Cannon Beach, Ore. Hundreds of birds have been sent to West Coast care facilities for cleaning and feeding. They include Western grebes, common murres, red-throated loons and common loons.
Code changes: Natalee Webb, interim dean of students and senior conduct officer, evaluates violations to the Student Code of Conduct.
Goddamn theives...can’t they just carve pumpkins? Why now? “This is the big million-dollar question,” said Michelle Wood, a phytoplankton specialist at the University of Oregon. The organism flourishes in warm, stratified water—ocean water with a warm layer on top. Last week, the ocean was warmer than usual. Sensors 10 miles from Newport detected an ocean temperature of about 55 degrees. That’s about 5 degrees higher than averages from 2002–08 at the same spot at the same time of year, said Pete Strutton, an Oregon State University associate professor of oceanography. Strutton also noticed another phenomenon in the ocean around Oct. 14—as water temperatures rose, the salinity dropped—and this algae thrives in warm water with low salinity. The bloom that created the killer foam is at least seven weeks old but appears to be less of a problem now with strong winds coming from the north. “I’m guessing that with these high winds that it’s been pushed offshore,” said Bill Peterson, an oceanographer with the fisheries service in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
10/19/09
10/22/09
School of Extended Studies – 9:40 a.m. Theft from inside university office/studio
Science Building 2 – 4:55 p.m. Laptop stolen from research lab
10/20/09
Science Building 2 – 10:38 a.m. Theft of welding lead
Peter W. Stott Center – 8:03 a.m. Unknown persons entered office and stole property Stott Center – 12:11 p.m. Seat and post stolen from bike Hoffman Hall – 2:18 p.m. Bike stolen NW Center of Engineering, Science and Technology – 12:02 p.m. Suspect violated stalking order
10/21/09
10/23/09
Millar Library – 4:24 p.m. Victim received numerous phone calls from unwanted source after telling him to stop calling SMSU – 5:12 p.m. Laptop stolen from the third floor of the building
10/24/09 West Hall – 12:19 a.m. Suspect cited for Furnishing Alcohol to a Minor
Outside University District – 12:20 a.m. Male arrested on a Post-Prison Supervision detainer after short foot pursuit
West Hall – 1:51 a.m. Items stolen from dorm room
Neuberger Hall – 2:07 p.m. Unknown person called victim on the telephone and harassed victim by talking sexually
SMSU grounds – 12:01 p.m. Wallet stolen at Farmers’ Market
West Hall – 9:12 a.m. Laptop stolen from residence
—Information from Campus Public Safety Office campus crime log—
CONSTRUCTION ILLUMINATED
Vanguard News | 9 October 30, 2009
Fake AP Style Confused about how to adhere to AP Style? Read these for a laugh, but understand you will be shunned if you follow these rules: Slander is harder to prove, so avoid libel charges by just yellin’ that shit out the window. If your story reveals the perpetrator of a crime, it is polite to put a spoiler warning at the top. In medical stories, the opinions of doctors should be secondary to those of celebrities. Use “verbal” to compare words with some other form of communication (“poor verbal skills”), use “oral” to be more popular. If you cannot find the source of a quote, make one up. Nobody’s reading your story anyway. Get over yourself.
Marni Cohen/Portland State Vanguard
Thankfully, lights have recently been set up, illuminating the path and creating a safer environment. If you ever encounter a poorly lit part of campus, call the Campus Public Safety Office at 503-725-4407. Also, if you feel uncomfortable walking around campus at night, do not hesitate to utilize the CPSO escort service.
WANTED
A large construction project is going on in what used to be an open field next to Science Building 2. Green fences currently divide the field, flanked by King Albert Hall to the northwest and Montgomery Hall to the southeast. These fences create an uncomfortably dark walking path for some students traveling through the construction area at night.
Comic arstist for the Vanguard Send résumés to: arts@dailyvanguard.com
Robots should only be referred to by genderneutral pronouns, no matter how sexy they may be. —@FakeAPStylebook on Twitter
Vanguard 10 | Sports October 30, 2009
Sports Editor: Robert Britt 503-725-4538 sports@dailyvanguard.com
SPORTS sweeping in
The National Bowling League
The NBL wasn’t to be a bunch of solo hotshots out only for their own glory. Instead, the bowlers would play as teams from different cities, and at the end of the season they would compete in the World Series of Bowling. Unlike the Professional Bowlers Association, the NBL lacked a television deal, so it relied on ticket sales for cash. Matches took place in specially designed arenas that allowed spectators to perch around the lanes. The league debuted on Oct. 12, 1961, and by Dec. 16, the San Antonio Cavaliers franchise had gone under. The rest of the league unceremoniously followed suit five months later. Although it was shortlived, the NBL had its own scandals. Legendary PBA bowler Don Carter was allegedly offered a bribe to join the rival league: a pig farm. Roller Hockey International Remember inline skating? Vaguely? Back in 1993, it wasn’t a fad; it was a new youth movement that was never going to die. And thus, the RHI was born to capitalize on it. The league had teams in the U.S. and Canada, and they played with rules that were subtly different from the NHL’s. Aside from the obvious lack of ice, teams had four skaters and a goalie instead of the NHL’s five, and games consisted of four 12-minute quarters rather than three 20-minute periods. The league operated from 1993 to 1997, took a year off in 1998 and then returned in 1999 for a final season/death wheeze. —www.mentalfloss.com
Showdown on the Sound Who: Portland State at Eastern Washington When: Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Where: Qwest Field in Seattle, Wash., home of the Seattle Seahawks Coverage: Watch on www.bigskytv.org, listen on 800 AM KPDQ, or read about it in the Vanguard
Leagues that didn’t make it
Most people only think about professional bowling when they flip past ESPN on a Sunday afternoon. In 1961, though, professional bowling seemed like such fertile ground that one league wasn’t sufficient. Enter the National Bowling League. That’s right: league.
Up next:
Net victory: The Viks hit the road to face the Griz and the Bobcats.
Vikings have chance to go undefeated in the state of Montana this week J. Logue Vanguard staff
The Portland State volleyball team is headed to Montana today for a two-game road trip that will take them from Missoula to Bozeman in two days. In their last back-to-back road trip of the season, the Vikings look to pull ahead of the Big Sky pack. “We’ve split a couple road matches,” said head coach Michael Seemann. “Going 2-0 for us might put us in a position where we can separate ourselves a little bit from the other two [teams] in first place.” Starting tonight against Montana, Portland State will have their hands full with a Grizzlies team that lost last weekend to instate rival Montana State for the first time in seven matches. The Griz are led by the strong play of middle blocker Jaime Thibeault and outside hitter Whitney Hobbs, and the Vikings will need the front row to step up to relieve the pressure both can bring. A First Team selection last year, Thibeault tops the Big Sky with her .389 hitting. “I think they are a team that’s improved tremendously,” Seemann said. “They’ve got one of the best middles in the conference.” The pivotal matchup of the night will be between Thibeault and Portland State’s junior middle blocker Lana Zielke, as both will be battling for control of the net. Leading the Big Sky in blocks,
in brief Boarding a plane yesterday, the
Portland State cross country team headed to Greeley, Colo., to prepare for tomorrow’s Big Sky Cross Country Championship. After a two-week break since its last meet—the Mike Hodges Invitational in Oregon City—the team goes into the competition hosted by Northern Colorado with fresh legs. “All the hay’s in the barn, as the coach tells us,” said junior John Lawrence. “We’ve done all the work to get ready. We feel good and ready to go.” In Greeley, the Vikings will not only have to adjust to running at an altitude of 4,658 feet, they will also be dealing with winter weather conditions. According to the National Weather Service, the area has been under a winter storm warning, with lows near 20 degrees and snow levels expected to reach 14–28 inches.
Rodrigo Melgarejo/Portland State Vanguard
the Grizzlies will test the mental fortitude of the Vikings’ outside hitters, who will need to play an error-free match to win. Tomorrow, the Vikings will be tested by a Montana State team that has momentum. “Montana State is playing well,” Seemann said. “They are going to play well at home, and they have a great crowd and are second in attendance.” Despite being last, or nearly last, in almost every statistical category this year, the Bobcats are playing with a nothing-to-lose attitude, which creates a dangerous situation for the Vikings when playing Montana State on their home court. Getting decent play from middle blocker Kyla Hendry, Montana State relies heavily on a few players and lacks the depth that Portland State has. Having already swept the Bobcats once this year, the Vikings look to get similar results with a mistake-free game. “We’ve got to prepare for every match, one at a time,” Seemann said. “The goal of our staff is to prepare this team the same for every match.” In a conference where the top five teams have winning records at home—including fourth-place Montana—home court advantage can be the difference between a win and a loss. For Portland State to come out of this road trip with two wins, they will need to stay focused on their opponent and not overlook anyone. With Northern Colorado and Eastern Washington both on the heels of Portland State, the Vikings will need every win they can get to lock down the Big Sky regularseason championship and put themselves in a good position for the conference tournament.
Tomorrow’s forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and highs around 40 degrees. Sweeping the
Big Sky honors this week are members of the Portland State women’s soccer team. Senior Dolly Enneking and junior Emily Rohde were named the Big Sky Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week, respectively, for their contributions in last weekend’s wins. Enneking scored two goals against Idaho State on Friday, and her third game winner of the season against Weber State on Sunday. Rohde assisted the Portland State defensive line that shut out Weber State and held the Idaho State squad to one goal. Offensively, she tallied two assists and scored her first goal as a Viking in the 4-1 victory over Idaho State. Enneking and Rohde’s honors
The scrambler: Will Kavanaugh or Hubel get the start in Seattle?
Football resumes conference play, looks for much-needed win Allison Whited Vanguard staff
Records entering the game: Portland State has one win versus a conference opponent, giving them a conference record of 1-4, and 2-6 overall on the season. Eastern Washington has had a strong season, going 4-2 in conference play and 5-3 overall. Last year’s meeting: Portland State won, 47-36, in a surprise victory over the nationally ranked Eagles. Junior quarterback Drew Hubel threw for 623 yards and had four receivers with over 100 yards. Exotic location: Under normal circumstances, this year’s matchup would have taken place at the Eagles’ Woodward Field in Cheney, Wash., but in an attempt to draw a bigger crowd, the game will be played at Qwest Field in Seattle, Wash. The large NFL venue that is home to the Seattle Seahawks is guaranteed to add some excitement. Scouting the Eagles: The Eagles are a three-headed monster. Quarterback Matt Nichols was
mark the third time in school history that two Portland State team members have swept conference recognitions in the same week, the last time happening in 2004. The first-place Vikings play at Sacramento State today for a shot at hosting the Big Sky Championship. Meeting last
night with members of the Rec Club Council (RCC)
Adam Wickham/Portland State Vanguard
Rodrigo Melgarejo/Portland State Vanguard
just named Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week following his 327-yard passing day against Montana State last week. Nichols has moved into fourth place in the Big Sky for career passing yards and total offense. He leads an offense that is racking up an average of 414 yards per game. Another key component of the Eagles’ attack is cornerback-turnedrunning back Taiwan Jones. He leads the conference in rushing yards per game and all-purpose yards with 105.1 and 187.8 yards, respectively Linebacker J.C. Sherritt is the final piece of the puzzle. He leads the nation with an average of nearly 15 tackles per game and 119 on the season. Scouting the Vikings: Portland State’s offensive identity has been MIA for the past two weeks without Hubel, throwing for their lowest total yardage in those games. Hubel has been listed as questionable after a knee injury against Northern Colorado. Like the Viks did against Weber State early in the season, the defense has shown they are able to stop big runners for the opposition. Continuing in this vein against Jones will be pivotal this week. The secondary will have to step up to give the offense a chance against Nichols, the conference MVP from two years ago.
and Rec Clubs adviser/coordinator Sami Faile to decide the fate of their organization were members of the Portland State Rugby Club. James Taylor, an elected officer on the RCC, said the meeting was held in response to a complaint against club members made by staff of the MacTarnahan’s Taproom restaurant to Campus Rec. According to an e-mail sent by club president Nicholas Carlstrom to club members, a “verbal dispute” between players and a member of the restaurant’s staff took place at a social event involving alcohol after a club scrimmage on Oct. 17. It is a violation of Campus Rec’s Code of Conduct to consume alcohol during club activities. Taylor said of the three levels of infractions recognized by the RCC, this is “at the top, since it involved alcohol and an unscheduled event.” He added that he hopes the meeting will be a learning point for the club’s members. Carlstrom did not return the Vanguard’s calls for comment. —Robert Britt
etc.
The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 500 Seventh Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Saturday, October 24, 2009
Edited by Will Shortz
HALF-CENTURY PUZZLEMAKERSʼ WEEK
Note: All the daily crosswords this week, Monday through Saturday, are by puzzlemakers who have been contributing to The Times for more than 50 years. Mel Taub had his first Times crossword published on October 24, 1954. His Puns and Anagrams puzzles (of which this is an example) have appeared in the Sunday Magazine since 1955.
Across 1 Impudence of a Br. fool 6 At least itʼs a real bargain 11 Author in a stupor 12 Job for a Rhine surgeon 14 Mien of a crapshooter will reduce friction 16 Oath from a renegade 17 What lies in the Seine 18 ___ party (golfersʼ bash) 19 Kind of dry 20 Turned pea in 19-Across 21 Group of Irish islands in quarantine
22 Dead set against being keyed up 24 Divided A.P. pictures 25 Tenants of Lords, e.g. 27 D E L F 30 Except having Republican passage from a book 34 Retro style 35 One who attends school hops 36 Swiss tourist center 37 Why isnʼt one done? 38 Pedroʼs hand in Oman 39 ___ pressure (cause of a jetty collapse)
ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE � � I L E
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40 Fall guyʼs protection when traveling 43 Where does N.C. rank among U.S. states in Christmas tree production? 44 Reined in nymph 45 Shabby followers of a bee 46 Pairs accumulated in 500 days Down 1 With which Seamus will rub ego 2 Companion of Arnold 3 Word with which to laud the new year 4 The direction to Husseinʼs heart 5 Having chevrons with red tips 6 Charlieʼs luster
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Driver/Assistant Needed Hiteax incoporation is seeking a responsible individuals for full time/part time driving/assistant positions. Must be at least 25 years old with experience and Class A CDL required. Home every night. Competitive wages and full benefit package. Interested candidates should resume to hiteaxincor@live.com.
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11 & 13 Push a fellow in public relations
15 Bound legs with clubs
Toshimitsu Shigemura: Japan and the Korean Peninsula Noon SMSU, room 294 David Strayer: The Multi-tasking Driver Noon Urban Center Building, room 204
Puns and Anagrams Puzzle by Mel Taub
20 Sign outside a 35 S Y 27 What stern post office landlords expect 38 Intellect in 1500 21 Vault may finally 28 Holds so dear collapse 39 One who may 29 Expression get a rap at a 23 Graduate from coined by a law office Calumet crapshooter 24 ___ enemy (one 31 Plowed under, I 41 Writer whose who may blow work describes gather 7 Affairs that might up bridges) him to a T 32 Summary? sate the British 26 Irelandʼs Cripes! 42 Carlos, for 8 Kind of ant currency unit 33 Like one whoʼs example, in tried too hard future years since 2001 9 She danced in Tirana For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit
10 I learn of some measurements
Today
Film and discussion: America the Beautiful 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. 5th Avenue Cinema Free with PSU ID
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Experienced Tutor needed: I am seeking a tutor for my child. Lessons will be 2 days a week, hours are flexible, and lessons should be about an Hour. Subjects: Mathematics, Science, and English reading and writing. Interested please reply by email (andrewscastro@aol.com).
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Vanguard Etc. | 11 October 30, 2009
card, 1-800-814-5554. Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sunday crosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS. AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visit nytimes.com/mobilexword for more information. Online subscriptions: Todayʼs puzzle and more than 2,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.
Film: Bram Stoker’s Dracula 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. 5th Avenue Cinema Free with PSU ID Halloween Thriller Party 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Peter Stott Center $12 no costume, $10 costume, $5 Michael Jackson costume
Saturday Campus Rec: Running Around Portland State 10 a.m. Meet in front of Stephen Epler Hall Film: Bram Stoker’s Dracula 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. 5th Avenue Cinema Free with PSU ID
To place an event: Contact vgcalendar@ gmail.com or pick up a calendar request form at the Vanguard advertising office, Smith Memorial Student Union, room 115.
KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. ©2009 KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. Dist. by UFS, Inc. www.kenken.com
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Each row and each column must contain the numbers 1 through 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating.
Thenumberswithintheheavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given
operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.
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Freebies:Fillinsingle-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN -The Vanguard Staff
SPORTS EXTRA All comes down to
This weekend in Portland State sports
this
Friday Soccer at Sacramento State Where: Sacramento, Calif. When: 1 p.m. Volleyball at Montana Where: Missoula, Mont. When: 6 p.m.
Saturday Cross Country Big Sky Championship Where: Greeley, Colo. When: 10 a.m.
Conference title, location of championship rests on today’s match
Football at Eastern Washington Where: Qwest Field Seattle, Wash. When: 1:05 p.m.
Nilesh Tendolkar Vanguard staff
Records entering the game: Topping the charts in Big Sky soccer, Portland State (10-6-2, 4-1-1 Big Sky) is the only team in the conference to have already secured a place in the postseason, with today’s game still left to play. With a win, the Viks would clinch the conference title and host the Big Sky Championship. With a draw, they could still take the conference if second-placed Northern Arizona draws or loses its final game against Northern Colorado. Sacramento State (8-5-4, 3-2-1 Big Sky) needs a win today to qualify for the postseason. If they fail to get the three points for a win, the Hornets will have to rely on favorable results elsewhere in the conference to make it through.
Last year’s meeting: A double-overtime stalemate that ended at 0-0. Portland State looks to avoid repeating the outcome of last year’s match that caused them
Volleyball at Montana State Where: Bozeman, Mont. When: 6 p.m.
to miss out on hosting the championship. As a result, the Viks had to be content with the No. 2 seed going into the postseason.
Men’s Soccer Club vs. UPFC Where: Stott Field When: 1 p.m.
Scouting the Hornets: Sacramento State is tied for third in the conference. They come into the game on a winning note after last weekend’s 2-0 victory over Idaho State. “They have a couple of dynamic and attacking players, but hopefully we will be able to neutralize them,” said head coach Laura Schott.
Sunday
All photos by Adam Wickham/Portland State Vanguard
Clinched: The Viks already earned a spot in the postseason, and now play to host the championship.
Scouting the Vikings: Portland State has the momentum going into their final regular season match after three consecutive conference wins. The Vikings are on a four-match unbeaten streak and have netted six goals in their last two games. “We have a very motivated group of players,” Schott said. “And we will be up for the game even though we have qualified for the tournament.”
Big Sky Standings 1. Portland St., 13 pts. 2. N. Arizona, 12 pts. t3. Sacramento St., 10 pts. t3. E. Washington, 10 pts. Win=3 pts. Tie=1 pt.
lenient on fouls, because our back line likes to go in strong.
DV: What is your greatest strength? ER: Being able to get the ball down, and settle it and keep it for the team—my composure on the ball. DV: What is your favorite place to eat around campus? ER: It’s probably a tie between Chipotle and Big Town Hero. Goalkeeper Cris Lewis and I go to Big Town Hero often.
Star defender: Rohde, a native Oregonian, has been crucial to the Vikings’ success this season.
Spotlight: Athlete of the Week Portland State junior Emily Rohde, Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week Nilesh Tendolkar Vanguard staff
Daily Vanguard: Why did you choose to come to Portland State? Emily Rohde: I was originally at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., and the biggest reason I came to Portland State was soccer. Portland State is, like, 10 minutes down the road and I can
go and see my family. The soccer team is awesome, and I am glad everything worked out.
DV: What has been your best moment on the field? ER: Scoring my first goal. It’s funny, because head coach Laura Schott and I had a deal that if I score my first goal, she is supposed to dance on the sideline. And the team was pretty excited about that. DV: If you could change one of your sport’s rules, what would it be? ER: I wish the refs would be more
Vanguard Sports | 12 October 30, 2009
DV: What is your favorite thing to do around Portland? ER: I love going to Blazers games. DV: What is the first item you would buy if you won the lottery? ER: I would buy a big boat or a yacht.
What: Portland State at Sacramento State
When: Today, 1 p.m. Where: Sacramento, Calif.
ER: I made pasta last night.
DV: If you could attend one sporting event, anywhere, what would it be? ER: A game in the World Cup next summer in South Africa. I would probably go see Brazil or Germany. DV: What has been your favorite class at Portland State? ER: African Development Issues. That’s because I have taken physics and calculus, and they are not exciting at all. DV: What’s on your iPod right now? ER: I have lots on my iPod. My favorite song right now is “Three” by Britney Spears.
DV: What is your most embarrassing moment on the field? ER: I normally don’t get embarrassed that easily. But on Friday, it was wet and when I tried a throw in, it slipped and went to an opposing player’s feet and the referee said play on.
DV: If you could have dinner with three people from history—alive, dead, or fictional—who would they be? ER: Martin Luther King Jr., for one, because of what he did for the African-Americans. Princess Diana would be another one, because of what she did for the poor people in other countries. And Michael Jackson, because he is one of the most famous artists in history.
DV: Do you have any hidden talents? ER: I can sing, and I don’t think many people on the team know that.
DV: Do you read the Vanguard? If so, how often? ER: Probably once a week. I like the sports section.
DV: What was the last thing you cooked?
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Men’s Soccer Club at Willamette Univ. Where: Salem, Ore. When: 7 p.m.