VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 4 • APRIL 20, 2021
P. 8–9
WISHING
WON’T MAKE IT RECYCLABLE
NEWS SHAC helps with stress P. 4
ARTS & CULTURE Spending 4/20 alone again P. 12
OPINION The shame in purity culture P. 15
CONTENTS
COVER BY SHANNON STEED
NEWS COVID-19 UPDATE
P. 3
AMID PANDEMIC, SHAC HELPS STUDENTS MANAGE STRESS
P. 4
TRIAL OF FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER DEREK CHAUVIN CONTINUES AMID PROTESTS, OUTRAGE IN THE STREETS
P. 5
INTERNATIONAL JORDAN’S PRINCE ACCUSED OF PLOTTING POSSIBLE COUP
P. 6
TANZANIA’S NEW PRESIDENT REVERSES PREDECESSOR’S CORONAVIRUS POLICY
P. 7
SOUTH KOREAN MAYORAL ELECTIONS LEAD TO GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLES
P. 7
COVER WISHFUL THINKING: SAVING POLAR BEARS WITH COFFEE CUPS
STAFF
EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Justin Grinnell MANAGING EDITOR Nick Townsend NEWS EDITORS Nick Gatlin Rachel Owen INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Karisa Yuasa SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Béla Kurzenhauser ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Morgan Troper
OPINION EDITOR Nick Townsend ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon CONTRIBUTORS Alana Baldwin-Joiner Conor Carroll Nova Johnson Catherine Kane Allison Kirkpatrick Benjamin Kirkpatrick Analisa Landeros Kat Leon Michelle Moore Danny O’Brien Sierra Still Mackenzie Streissguth
P. 8–9
INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CDC RECOMMENDS PAUSE ON JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE TO EXPLORE SIDE EFFECTS
P. 12
ANOTHER SOLO 4/20
P. 13
OPINION A COP BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A COP
P. 14
THE SHAME OF PURITY CULTURE AND ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION
P. 15
EVENTS CALENDAR
P. 16
A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee
STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher
PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person
TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale
T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson
P. 11
ARTS & CULTURE GRUDGE MATCH: ACADEMY AWARDS
PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz
DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Sam Garcia Shannon Steed
P. 10
To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com
MIS SION S TAT EMEN T Vanguard ’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.
A BOU T Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Tuesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.
COVID-19 UPDATE CONOR CARROLL
TOTAL AT PSU AS OF APRIL 19: 49
Two April cases Two new cases have been reported at Portland State in the month of April, raising the total number of cases at the university to 49. PSU relies heavily on a self-reporting system for people who have tested positive or inconclusive and have been on campus within two weeks. The self-reporting form can be found on PSU’s Coronavirus Response website. The Student Health and Counseling Center (SHAC) is taking measures to obtain COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccine distribution is controlled by the state and timelines are not clear at this point.
TOTAL IN OREGON AS OF APRIL 18: 175,121 CONFIRMED CASES: 2,460 DEATHS
Total Vaccinations as of April 19: 567,168 vaccines in progress, 1,033,175 fully vaccinated Oregon has paused its usage of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine while federal officials examine a potential connection to rare and severe blood clots. The hiatus follows reports of six cases in the United States of an unusual type of blood clot, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, in women ages 18–48. One of the cases was fatal. About 6.8 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered nationally to date, including more than 81,000 in Oregon, according to an OPB report. Waiting on vaccinations allows the CDC and FDA time to obtain and analyze more data and explore whether there’s a cause-and-effect relationship between vaccination and the rare clots, and to assess the extent of the risk-benefit ratio of actually taking the vaccine.
TOTAL IN U.S. AS OF APRIL 18: 31.44 MILLION CASES: 563,980 DEATHS
Total vaccinations: 131.28 million people with at least one dose, 84.26 million fully vaccinated. Cornell University researchers analyzing 38 million English-language articles about the pandemic found that former President Donald Trump was the largest source of dangerous misinformation throughout. The study is the first comprehensive examination of coronavirus misinformation in traditional and online media. Mentions of Trump made up nearly 38% of the overall “misinformation conversation,” making the president the largest driver of the “infodemic”—falsehoods involving the pandemic, according to the study. The study identified 11 topics of misinformation, including various conspiracy theories, like one that emerged in January suggesting the pandemic was manufactured by Democrats to coincide with Trump’s impeachment trial, and another that purported to trace the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, to people who ate bat soup, according to the report. “Misinformation around the pandemic is one of the major reasons the United States is not doing as well as other countries in fighting the pandemic,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who teaches about public health crisis communications. “There is a science of rumors. It’s when there is uncertainty and fear,” Sharfstein said. “In the absence of treatments or vaccines, honest and consistent messaging is essential. This is what we need to save lives. If it’s not done well, you get far more infections and deaths.” The analysis from Cornell comes on the heels of a Feb. 2021 study from The Lancet, which indicated at least 40% of all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented, stating that Trump’s pandemic response was “inept and insufficient,” and “needlessly cost lives.”
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
NEWS
3
AMID PANDEMIC,
SHAC HELPS
STUDENTS
MANAGE STRESS
RACHEL OWEN As the pandemic continues to affect the Portland State community, the Center for Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) is offering an event called “Managing Emotions” to help students. The goal of this event is to “validate the difficulties the past academic year has been for students while also providing resources about how to manage and cope with these difficulties,” said Amanda Ramirez, SHAC psychologist and outreach coordinator. “Managing Emotions” is a collaborative series by SHAC and the Transfer and Returning Student Resource Center. The two groups have worked together to create a series centered around student mental health. While hosted by professionals at SHAC, the partnership with the Transfer and Returning Student Resource Center ensures student minds are at the forefront of presentation. “The event is split into three segments, each lasting 20–25 minutes,” Ramirez said. “The first segment addresses the concept of stress. The goal is to gain a basic understanding of what stress is and how it might manifest in our lives, physically, behaviorally, emotionally and cognitively. The first segment also consists of identifying current stressors in student’s lives while also exploring what stress might be telling students.” After completing the first segment, students will then meet with a facilitator where, together, they will do an exercise in grounding or mindfulness. Following this, students will take a five-minute break to rest their eyes, stretch, grab a snack or whatever else they may need. Next, students will come back together with the presenter and facilitator to discuss the exercise, answering questions about
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NEWS
CENTER FOR STUDENT HEALTH AND COUNSELING SIGN. JUSTIN GRINNELL/PSU VANGUARD what students noticed and what was helpful or unhelpful. This will lead the group into a discussion about practical strategies to use in response to stress. SHAC uses the acronym “FACE COVID,” “FACE” meaning “Focus on what you can control,” “Acknowledge your thoughts and feelings,” “Come back into your body” and “Engage in what you are doing.” Together, students will talk about each one of these stages means, how stress looks under each stage and how to apply them to situations. Then, they will do another mindfulness activity and another five minute break. When everyone returns, the presentation breaks down the second part of the acronym. Here, “COVID” stands for: “Committed action,” “Open up,” “Values,” “Identify resources” and “Disinfect and distance.” Just like the previous segment, this part of the presentation will address each of the categories and how to implement them in the practice of managing and responding to stress. Since this is the last activity, the group will open up to any questions and comments they may have to conclude the event. “I believe students will get a space to connect around similar difficulties and [leave with] an understanding that they are not alone,” Ramirez said. Although this is the first one of its kind during this term, SHAC has hosted similar events in the past. “The series has also acknowledged the length of the pandemic and how that has impacted student experiences at college,” Ramirez said. “As the pandemic continues, the series shifted to be increasingly interactional to counteract Zoom fatigue that students have identified in classes.”
The presentation team has also adapted the series to reflect student feedback on aspects such as the effectiveness of the exercises, as well as the implementation of more pressing concepts and themes related to student experiences. According to the presentation team, student turnout has been consistent throughout the series as most leave with helpful tactics to address stress and other COVID-19-related issues. Students are given the opportunity to communicate with peers and counselors about their feelings and shared experiences. This also provides students with a chance to work out and share any methods they use and have learned about both inside and outside of the session to deal with stress. Outside of this series, SHAC offers individual and group therapy, workshops and drop-in groups. Organizations and groups on campus are encouraged to work with SHAC to do outreach presentations to address mental health on campus. These organizations often do so, allowing for the center to present to classrooms. In the wake of the pandemic, SHAC has reinforced these programs to provide students with more resources to combat the emotions that go along with continuing life during this time. As the pandemic continues, SHAC plans to continue with the “Managing Emotions” series as well as other programs. Working with other on campus groups and organizations, the team will continue to address student needs and find ways to help the PSU community. “Managing Emotions” is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20 from 12–1:30 p.m. Students can register for the event as well as check out any future events and programs on SHAC’s website.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
TRIAL OF FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER DEREK CHAUVIN CONTINUES AMID PROTESTS, OUTRAGE IN THE STREETS FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE OFFICER DEREK CHAUVIN. COURT TV VIA AP PHOTO
CONOR CARROLL The death of George Floyd, a Black man, while in police custody in Minneapolis last May ignited months of global protests calling for racial justice. The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer facing charges in relation to Floyd’s death, is ongoing in Minneapolis. The trial continues amid protests that have recently erupted following the death of Daunte Wright, a Black man who was shot by Minneapolis police during a traffic stop last week. Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, a white 19-year veteran of the department, pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for over nine minutes. Floyd, handcuffed, cried out for help and repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Opening statements in the trial of Chauvin, who was terminated following his involvement in Floyd’s death, began in late March before 14 jurors and two alternates. According to the official court charging documents, Chauvin is charged with second-degree felony murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd’s death. If convicted of second-degree murder, the most serious charge, he would face up to 40 years in prison. Second-degree murder requires a higher burden of proof than the other charges Chauvin faces. Under Minnesota state law, prosecutors will have to prove that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death “while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense,” which is assault in this case. The lesser charge of third-degree murder carries a penalty of up to 25 years. Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill, who is overseeing the trial, granted prosecutors’ request to reinstate the charge in March of this year. The prosecution rested its case on Tuesday, April 13, with jurors having heard the testimony of nearly 40 witnesses. The defense rested its case on Thursday, April 15. Last week, the prosecution called use-of-force experts and police officials to testify about proper use of force, and medical professionals to testify about the drugs found in Floyd’s system, trying to head off the defense’s argument that drugs played a key role in his death. The defense, meanwhile, highlighted the effect methamphetamine and fentanyl may have had on Floyd’s heart and lungs. The defense also argued a crowd of bystanders distracted and threatened the officers, preventing them from providing care to Floyd and warranting additional force.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
Philonise Floyd, George Floyd’s brother, testified Monday as a “spark of life” witness, or a witness meant to humanize the victim, a common tactic used by experienced trial lawyers. Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, testified Monday. He concluded Floyd died when his heart and lungs stopped working, which he attributed to low oxygen levels caused by Chauvin’s restraint. “Mr. George Floyd died from a cardiopulmonary arrest,” Rich said during his testimony. “It was caused by low oxygen levels. And those low oxygen levels were induced by the prone restraint and positional asphyxiation that he was subjected to. His death was absolutely preventable.” Last Friday, the chief medical examiner for Hennepin County, Dr. Andrew Baker, testified the conclusions of his autopsy of Floyd, conducted last May, remained unchanged. The “topline direct cause of [Floyd’s] death,” Baker said, was “cardiopulmonary arrest as a result of him being subdued, restrained and his neck compressed by law enforcement.” Seth Stoughton, a law professor at the University of South Carolina, former police officer and use-of-force expert, testified Monday “no reasonable officer would have believed that that was an appropriate, acceptable or reasonable use of force.” His repeated use of the word “reasonable” during his testimony was in reference to the standard that an officer can use only as much force as is “objectively reasonable and necessary” to arrest someone. Stoughton said placing Floyd in the prone position—on his stomach—when he was taken out of the police car was inappropriate because he did not pose a risk of assaulting the officers or fleeing. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked Stoughton whether Floyd posed “any threat at all” to Chauvin and the other officers. “No,” Stoughton said. Under cross-examination, Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s defense attorney, asked him, “Reasonable minds can disagree, right?” “On this point, no,” Stoughton said. “The prosecution needs to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Christopher Carey, Ph.D. to Portland State Vanguard. Carey is an associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at PSU and a specialist on courtroom procedure. “The defense will then raise a motion for a directed verdict which the judge [either] denies or can withhold judgment on,”
Carey explained, “and then the defense proceeds to lay out their version of the case usually with experts and other witnesses.” “The big question is whether Chauvin will testify in his own trial,” Carey said. “Because of the Fifth Amendment he cannot be forced to testify, and the decision is solely his own. After the defense rests, the prosecution gets a chance to call any rebuttal witnesses and then both sides give the closing arguments to the jury.” On Thursday, Chauvin declined to testify in his own defense, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, or the right not to be compelled to self-incriminate through testimony. The first medical expert witness called by Chauvin’s defense team faced cross-examination on Wednesday after he testified Floyd died from sudden cardiac arrhythmia and car-exhaust fumes, not a deprivation of oxygen caused by Chauvin, as the prosecution’s medical experts testified. The defense called witnesses along these lines throughout the week, attempting to call into question the prosecution’s assertion that Chauvin’s actions directly resulted in Floyd’s death. Civil rights attorneys and criminal procedure experts have claimed much of the defense’s reasoning is racist in nature and lacking scientific or medical facts. The prosecution and defense are expected to give closing statements on Monday, April 19. Earlier Monday, Judge Cahill denied the defense’s request to immediately sequester the jury following unrest Sunday night in Brooklyn Center, about 10 miles north of Minneapolis, after Daunte Wright, 20, was shot and killed by police during a traffic stop. The city of Minneapolis declared a state of emergency and a 7 p.m. curfew in response to the protests, which have persisted throughout the week. On Wednesday, Minnesota police officer Kim Potter, who fatally shot Daunte Wright, was arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter. The maximum punishment for such a conviction under Minnesota state law is 10 years in prison. According to a Washington Post database on police shootings, as of April 15, 982 people have been shot and killed by police in the last 12 months. The database shows Black men have been shot and killed by police at a disproportionately higher rate.
NEWS
5
JORDAN’S PRINCE ACCUSED OF PLOTTING POSSIBLE COUP
BENJAMIN KIRKPATRICK The former Crown Prince of Jordan, Hamzah bin Al Hussein, was ordered on April 3 to stay confined in his Amman palace, though Jordan’s Army Chief, Major General Yousef Huneiti denied reports of his arrest, according to Al Jazeera. Hamzah’s ‘house arrest’ happened after security forces in Jordan arrested many highprofile figures as part of an ongoing security investigation concerned with national security. The Washington Post stated as many as 20 people were arrested for involvement in the alleged plot to unseat King Abdullah. The individuals detained include Bassem Ibrahim Awadallah, former head of the royal court, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family. The military stated they were concerned about the security and stability in the kingdom. Just a few hours after being issued this warning, Hamzah was instructed not to leave his home nor contact anyone. According to a statement issued by Hamzah to BBC, he stated Huneiti was the one that ordered him to be placed under ‘house arrest.’ Hamzah denied all accusations of being involved in a conspiracy, but investigations continued.
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INTERNATIONAL
ABDULLAH II AND HIS HALF-BROTHER PRINCE HAMZAH MAKING THEIR FIRST JOINT PUBLIC APPEARANCE SINCE A PALACE FEUD LAST WEEK. ROYAL COURT TWITTER ACCOUNT VIA AP NEWS Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said the investigations were intended to monitor communications with foreign parties “over the right timing to destabilize Jordan,” including a “foreign intelligence agency contacting Prince Hamzah’s wife to organize a plane for the couple to leave Jordan.” Hamzah’s mother, Queen Noor, tweeted a response to the allegations. “Praying that truth and justice will prevail for all the innocent victims of this wicked slander,” she wrote. “God bless and keep them safe.” According to a former United States official, this malicious plot that Hamzah was accused of would involve protests that would appear to be a “popular uprising with masses on the street.” Tribal support would be provided by the Herak, an activist group who have, in recent weeks, incited protests against corruption amid the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on the economy. The economic tension in Jordan is “reflective of a domestic internal rift,” said Dalia Fahmy, associate professor of political science at Long Island University, according to Al Jazeera. “The statement by the former crown prince about corruption really is reflective of what’s
been happening economically in Jordan,” Fahmy said. “When you have a country that’s hurting economically, there comes a point when opposition within the government can rise…this is probably not going to go anywhere. But what the king has to do is lift some of the austerity measures.” Hamzah was informed he was being punished for his presence at tribal meetings that openly criticized Jordan’s king, King Abdullah II, though not accused of participating himself. The prince also stated the well-being of Jordanians “has been put second by a ruling system that has decided that its personal interests, financial interests, that its corruption is more important than the lives and dignity and future of the 10 million people who live here.” “This country has gone from one that was at the forefront of the region in terms of education and healthcare, in terms of human dignity and freedoms, to one in which even to criticize a small aspect of a policy leads to arrest and abuse by the security services,” Hamzah stated. Hamzah said he would disobey orders and still communicate with the outside world. He also said he would not escalate moves after being put under ‘house arrest,’ according to BBC. The United States expressed its sup-
port for Abdullah and his efforts to ensure Jordan’s tability. U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price stated Abdullah was fully supported as a key partner of the U.S. “We are closely following the reports and in touch with Jordanian officials,” Price stated, according to Reuters. Many other countries including Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Yemen, Palestine and the UAE expressed similar sentiments. Jordan resident Mohamad Abdel-Latif stated, “We wish for prosperity and progress for Jordan, and for the issues to be resolved as the king called for—within the royal family.” Head of the Phenix Center for Economic and Informatics research institute in Amman, Analyst Ahmad Awad, stated the events were “the beginning of a crisis and not the end.” “This shows that there is a need for political, economic and democratic reforms,” Awad said. On April 11, Hamzah was seen in public for the first time since the accusations, next to Abdullah during a ceremony marking a major Jordanian holiday. Although it was seen as a sign of unity, there was no public comment made, and Hamzah’s location after the ceremony remains unknown.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
TANZANIA’S NEW PRESIDENT REVERSES PREDECESSOR’S CORONAVIRUS POLICY
MICHELLE MOORE Tanzania’s new President Samia Suluhu Hassan announced on April 6 she will be creating a coronavirus task force to advise her. “It is not proper to ignore it,” Hassan said at a swearing-in ceremony for her newly-appointed secretaries. We cannot reject or accept it without any evidence from research.” “[Experts] will tell us more about the pandemic, and advise us about what the world is proposing. We cannot accept everything as it comes, but we also cannot isolate ourselves as an island while the
even before his death. I think a change of course here would be very much welcome.” Magufuli was a controversial president. Although well-liked at the beginning of his presidency— earning the nickname “The Bulldozer” for his popular infrastructure improvements—he was later accused of suppressing press freedoms after he began to ban newspapers and arrest reporters that were critical of him and his government. The beginning of his second term was plagued by accusations of voter fraud after he received 85% of the vote in the 2020 elecPRESIDENT SAMIA SULUHU HASSAN. tion. Magufuli responded by orCOURTESY OF AP PHOTO dering the arrest of opposition party members and protesters. world is moving in a different direction.” Magufuli was also believed to repeatedly downThis is a reversal of the policies of her prede- play or deny the effects of COVID-19. He refused to cessor John Magufuli, who was succeeded by implement lockdown procedures, instead asking Hassan, Tanzania’s first female president, af- his citizens to pray and use traditional medicine. ter his death in March, according to Al Jazeera. Magufuli implied that going to church and taking “If she changes course decisively on COVID-19, the Eucharist would cure coronavirus. the rest of the country will follow suit,” said “Coronavirus, which is a devil, cannot survive Tundu Lissu, a leading opposition figure and in the body of Christ...it will burn instantly,” said Magufuli’s main opponent in last year’s presi- Magufuli on March 22, 2020 from the altar of a dential elections. “The denialism that defined church in Tanzania’s capital, according to BBC. Magufuli was becoming increasingly untenable Magufuli’s death was announced on March
17. The official cause of death—heart failure— has been disputed, as on March 10, a Kenyan newspaper reported an unnamed African leader was being treated for coronavirus in a private Kenyan hospital. Lissu has repeatedly claimed that the unnamed politician was Magufuli. Two days before Magufuli’s death was announced, Lissu stated on Twitter, “My own sources in TISS say he’s on life support with COVID and paralyzed on one side and from the waist down after a stroke. Tell the people the truth!” These claims remain unverified. Hassan has begun reversing Magufuli’s more controversial policies. In addition to her coronavirus task force, she also rescinded the ban Magufuli placed on certain news organizations. The state of Tanzania’s coronavirus outbreak remains unknown. The last official report was from May and reported 20 deaths. According to BBC, some doctors have reported significant increases in patients with breathing problems, but have been forbidden from referring to these cases as coronavirus. In addition, the World Health Organization released a report stating it found a coronavirus variant originating from Tanzania. “We cannot be reading about COVID-19 in the world and when you reach sections about Tanzania, one find[s] gaps,” Hassan said. “I think we need to be clearer whether we accept or not.”
SOUTH KOREAN MAYORAL ELECTIONS LEAD TO GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLES
KARISA YUASA Following party losses in major mayoral elections, South Korean President Moon Jaein replaced the prime minister and six cabinet members on April 16, according to Reuters. On April 7, mayoral elections were held in the South Korean capital of Seoul and the country’s second largest city of Busan. “If Moon’s party loses, it would be a crushing defeat that would bring a political brain death for
In Seoul, Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party won just 39.2% of the votes while Oh Sehoon of the opposing People Power Party won 57.5% of the votes, according to AP News. In Busan’s mayoral election, Park Heong-joon of the People Power Party beat Kim Young-choon of the Democratic Party by approximately 28 points. “I will prove that we’re competent, different and good at work,” Oh said during a party NATIONAL ELECTION COMMISSION OFFICIALS video conference, SORT OUT BALLOTS. LEE JIN-MAN/AP PHOTO after taking office and returning to a him and eliminate any momentum to push ahead position he held from 2006–11. with his policy agenda,” said Kim Hyung-joon, a The election comes as Moon and his liberal political scientist at Myongji University in Seoul, Democratic Party’s approval rating drops to an prior to the election. all time low. In a Realmeter poll published at the “It doesn’t necessarily mean the opposition end of March, Moon’s approval rating fell to 34%, candidate will be the next president, but a new the lowest it has ever been, and the Democratic political force could emerge even within the Party’s approval rating dropped to just 28%, the ruling camp to keep Moon’s group in check lowest under Moon’s administration. and try to differentiate from it.” In the same poll, the conservative People Power
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
Party held an approval rating of 35%. The fall in approval ratings comes after the exponential increase in housing prices, corruption scandals, and sexual assault allegations by people in government. According to Reuters, the median housing price in Seoul has increased by more than 50% since 2017. “People’s anger is turning toward more fundamental problems, including massive unearned incomes, widening inequality, fading dreams of having their own home and a new class society based on property ownerships,” Moon said. Both mayoral seats became vacant in relation to sexual assault allegations that led to the alleged suicide of then Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and the resignation of then Busan mayor Oh Keo-don. The mayoral elections were seen as a test for what could happen in the presidential election set to happen less than a year away on March 9, 2022. The reshuffle in government with the new prime minister and several cabinet members is seen as a push to rekindle support for Moon’s Democratic Party, but some wonder if it will be enough. “It’s not getting easier for Moon to fulfill his desirable legacy in the last year of his term,” said Thomas Yoshimura, the South Korea representative of a German international civic political organization. Moon is not up for reelection next spring, as South Korean law only permits presidents to hold office for one five-year term. “The ruling party’s defeat could make him a dead-duck president, stripping him of any remaining policy momentum, much of which he had already lost,” Kim said.
INTERNATIONAL
7
SAVIN WITH GREEN RECYCLING BIN. COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS
JUSTIN GRINNELL In a weary state, I lumbered into a local doughnut shop and purchased 16 ounces of black liquid. The barista handed me a warm disposable cup with a plastic lid. I could already feel the pressure from my headache subsiding. I left the doughnut shop. While walking down a busy SW Broadway in Portland, OR, I repeatedly burned my mouth as I hastily engulfed my scalding drink until I was left with an empty container. I came to a full stop. I was frozen, standing on the sidewalk with my arm bent at a sharp right angle—a temporary paralysis only broken by my eyes as they glanced from left to right. I stared at the three separate receptacles in front of me and then back to the empty coffee cup with black plastic lid and cardboard sleeve in my hand. The receptacles were labeled: trash, recycle and compost in friendly, reassuring font. But my mind was in torment, wrestling with a grave moral dilemma; Where the hell do I put my cup? I raised the empty beverage container to just below my nose, and scoured the lid for instructions. An embossed warning label notified me the contents were hot—thanks. The cup was paper so it must go in recycling, right? Popping the lid and peering inside, there was a clear waxy coating beneath dry coffee stains. I was no closer to answering my dilemma when I decided to extend the cup and black lid over the friendly trash receptacle. But before I condemned the container to the city landfill for eternity, I thought about a polar bear. It wasn’t just any polar bear. It was that poor polar bear adrift at sea on a shrinking slab of ice whose very survival depended upon the choice
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I made right here, right now. “This one’s for you, polar bear,” I said to myself—out loud and very much in public—as I chucked the cup and lid with confidence into the recycling receptacle. I walked home. On November 15, 2019, several weeks after the coffee cup dilemma, I joined Rushada Wimer—a longtime friend—for brunch at Cracker Barrel. She was waiting for the dealership to finish work on her car just down the road. A server with a white, cumulus perm showed us to our table. While removing our coats, I noticed Rushada’s ensemble: black boots, black pants and black shirt. This was pretty standard for her. We ordered our food—of course, I ordered coffee—then we played catch up surrounded by hokey, country decor. During a break in conversation and after we finished our meal, I remembered Rushada has done work in waste management, and jokingly, I told her about my moral dilemma with the coffee cup. “Those coffee cups aren’t recyclable,” she told me rather sternly. “It’s because of the wax lining inside them.” She told me frozen food boxes and some takeout containers have a similar lining. These items, among others, are known as contaminants and ruin recyclable waste streams. Rushada referred to me as a “wish recycler”—someone who tries to recycle contaminants under good intentions, but unknowingly harms the recycling process. I was dumbfounded by the horrible choice I made. The polar bear that I thought I had saved now plummeted into the warming sea. And it was all my fault. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, I asked Rushada if she knew any organizations that could provide me
with more information. She rattled off a few organizations that focus on sustainability and waste management, including a previous employer Community Environmental Services (CES)—an organization focused on sustainability and researching waste stream management at Portland State. She gave me the contact information for the organizations and we left the restaurant—forgetting to pay for our meal. After we realized our mistake, we went back and paid. I utilized the information Rushada had given me the following day. As a PSU student myself, I decided to reach out to CES. Through back-and-forth emails, I learned the organization was planning to assess the waste stream for a Portland hotel on November 23 and, if I was willing, I could volunteer to help them sort trash. I told them I was. At 6 a.m. on November 23, I was jolted awake by the cheerful blare of the default iPhone alarm. Through my apartment window, I saw with groggy eyes the sky was still dark. As instructed by CES, I dressed myself in clothes I wouldn’t mind dirtying: a holey pair of Levi jeans, a sweat stained North Face t-shirt, a black, faded Six Flags hoodie and a musky pair of toe-curled hiking boots. Now dressed for success, I poured three cups of coffee in a metallic travel mug and grabbed a protein bar for later. As I left my apartment that morning, I saw the night sky and the light of daybreak locked in their eternal, crepuscular struggle as they both moved west over the city. The air was chilly and I could see my breath with each exhale. I arrived at the CES meeting place—a parking garage— just before 7 a.m. Inside the garage was a chain-link cage and
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
WISHFUL THINKING:
NG POLAR BEARS H COFFEE CUPS three individuals bundled in thick jackets and knit beanies. They were loading a Ford F-150 with plastic bins. I greeted the crew and we exchanged introductions: Gwynn MacKellen, Benjamen Acord-Becker and Brian Nguyen. I had previously spoken to Brian through the series of emails. Brian—as the Materials Assessment Project Manager of the Solid Waste Assessment Team (SWAT)—was in charge of today’s waste stream assessment. Now part of the SWAT team, I helped load the truck with equipment: coveralls, hard hats, safety goggles, neon reflective vests, folding tables, stacks of yellow sorting bins, stacks of black plastic tubs, a shovel and gloves. They told me the gloves were the most important. We finished loading and our party split in two. I joined Ben in the truck while Bryan and Gwynn took what I assumed was the other SWAT vehicle: a light-blue Toyota Prius. As Ben drove us through the drab and foggy Portland morning, he explained he was a graduate student in PSU’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program. He was on track to graduate in the spring of 2021. Ben told me the sort was part of a Portland hotel’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification—a prominent green-building initiative. CES’s role was to assess the hotel’s level of contaminants in its trash, recycling, and compost waste streams from a 24-hour period. Just before we approached the facility where the waste was being held, I asked Ben what the worst thing he found during a sort was. “A ziplock bag with bullets and sunflower seed shells,” he replied.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
The F-150 pulled into a waste material collection facility on the northwestern side of the city. While Bryan and Ben looked for the facility manager, Gwynn and I waited outside for more CES trash sorters to arrive. Gwynn was also a student in the MURP program and was planning to graduate in June of that year. She had been with CES since August 2018, but had been doing volunteer work in waste management since 2005. She said the worst items she found at a sort were confiscated knives, needles, used condoms, and bottles of urine during a large event in San Francisco The other trash sorters arrived just as Brian and Ben returned with permission to commence sorting. Sorting took place in an immense, open-top warehouse. Exposed to the chill of the morning, I quickly lost the feeling in my fingers despite my outer gloves and the blue vinyl gloves underneath them. The tips of my toes followed suit. Separate heaps of trash, recycling, and compost were stacked about four feet high and eight feet wide. The compost steamed from decomposition in the cool air, and it smelled acidic. We began with the pile of trash first. We started by shoveling waste into black plastic tubs then carried the filled containers over to a folding table for sorting. Scattered around the tables were yellow plastic bins each one for a different purpose: paper, plastic bags, food soiled napkins, compost, liquids, hot drink cups, cold drink cups, metals, glass and plastic bottles. The waste in the black tub was carefully picked apart—each piece of trash tossed into its appropriate yellow bin. Each yellow bin was weighed and recorded
to assess how much recyclable material had been tossed in the trash stream and how much contamination had been tossed in compost and recycling streams. As I sifted through each bin of waste, my fingers meticulously clawed through moist napkins that were folded around half-chewed wads of food, tissues crusty with dried mucous, rust-colored tampons and nearly empty soda bottles that would often drain viscous backwash over my gloves. I chucked them all into yellow bins. The person sorting next to me found a used condom and a blood-soaked hotel sheet. Sorting through the recycling was less vile. However, the sloppy tubs of compost had the same consistency as chunky vomit. With the compost just below my nose, the acidic odor was strong enough to leave a sour taste in the back of my throat. We completed the waste assessment around 5 p.m., after sorting, weighing and cleaning the equipment. Before we left, we scrubbed our hands in the waste collection facility’s restroom. I knew singing “Happy Birthday” twice was the recommended amount of time for washing my hands, but I stopped counting after six. As Ben drove the SWAT vehicle back to the parking garage, the sky was locked in a crepuscular struggle once again. Ben and I agreed we were in desperate need of a shower. I noticed my travel mug, resting in a cup holder. I lifted it by its handle and gave it a jostle: a swig’s worth of coffee at the bottom. Tilting my head back and raising the mug to my lips, I downed my coffee in one mouthful, now cold from sitting out all day. I immediately thought of the thick backwash that poured slowly out of old soda bottles. And then I felt sick.
FEATURE
9
THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
Apr. 12–15
1 2 3
5
4
1
April 12
NORTHERN IRELAND
The 23rd anniversary of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, enacted to end a decades-old conflict over Northern Ireland that caused more than 3000 deaths, was marked by the continuation of weeks of unrest in the area. Nearly 90 officers have been hurt in Northern Ireland’s worst street violence in years, and sporadic rioting has continued in several towns and cities since the end of March. Police responded by using water cannons for the first time in six years. The governments in Belfast, London and Dublin have condemned the unrest. An estimated 20 people have been arrested and 15 charged after crowds of predominantly loyalist youths attacked lines of riot police officers and vehicles with bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs. While all of Northern Ireland’s main parties have condemned the violence, they are divided about its causes. 2
April 13
FUKUSHIMA, JAPAN
The Japanese government announced it will release more than one million tons of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea on Tuesday. The decision has faced backlash with China calling it “extremely irresponsible,” and South Korea calling on Tokyo’s ambassador in Seoul in protest. The first release of water is expected to occur in approximately two years in order to allow plant operator Tokyo Electric Power time to filter the water of harmful isotopes, build infrastructure and acquire regulatory approval. Japan responded to opposition by arguing the water release is necessary to continue the shutdown process of the plant, which was destroyed
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INTERNATIONAL
during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. “Releasing the...treated water is an unavoidable task to decommission the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and reconstruct the Fukushima area,” said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to Reuters. 3
April 14
UNITED STATES, AFGHANISTAN
United States President Joe Biden announced plans to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan before Sept. 11, a move that would mark the end of the United States’ longest war 20 years after the terrorist attacks that sparked it. The decision, confirmed by senior Biden administration officials, comes after months of deadlocked peace talks with the Afghan government and the Taliban. It extends a withdrawal deadline first negotiated under former President Donald Trump to pull all U.S. troops by May 1. According to a BBC report, the Taliban has officially claimed victory over the U.S. “It was never meant to be a multi-generational undertaking,” Biden said. “We were attacked. We went to war with clear goals. We achieved those objectives. It’s time to end the forever war.” 4
April 15
BRAZIL
Brazil’s health crisis was described as a “humanitarian catastrophe” by the international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders—known by its French acronym, MSF—which has teams in parts of the country. Health officials in Brazil say many hospitals are running dangerously short of things like sedatives and other critical medications utilized for treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients. The warning comes amid in-
tense international concern over the spiraling pandemic in Brazil, where the average daily death toll has risen well above 3,000, the highest in the world. The BBC reported on April 6, Brazil recorded over 4,000 deaths for the first time since the pandemic began. To date, 365,444 people in the country have died of COVID-19, according to Reuters. “The Brazilian authorities have overseen the unmitigated spread of COVID-19,” said Christos Christou, the international president of MSF. “Their refusal to adapt evidence-based public health measures has sent too many to an early grave. The response in Brazil needs an urgent, science-based reset.” 5
April 15
SOUTH SUDAN
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Thursday received more than $95 million from the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance to provide food aid to South Sudan amid biting hunger, according to an official press release. WFP Representative and Country Director in South Sudan Matthew Hollingworth said the rising food insecurity has pushed 60% of the population into “hunger and poverty.” “These funds will also help WFP to preposition food stocks for the lean season when humanitarian access is more challenging,” Hollingsworth wrote in a statement issued in Juba, South Sudan. “Funding shortages remain a reality in South Sudan, where humanitarian needs outpace the aid response.” On April 8, WFP stated it was forced to cut food rations to South Sudan from April, a decision that will affect at least 700,000 refugees and internally displaced people who now receive 50% of a full ration, down from 70%.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
CDC RECOMMENDS PAUSE ON JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE TO EXPLORE SIDE EFFECTS
BANNING RECREATION CENTER IN WILMINGTON, CA SWITCHES TO THE PFIZER COVID-19 VACCINE FROM ITS ORIGINAL PLAN TO USE THE JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE. MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP PHOTO
BÉLA KURZENHAUSER The Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration recommended a temporary national pause of the usage of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine on April 13 until immunologists can deduce more conclusive information on the relationship between the vaccine and six extremely rare blood clot cases. The pause will likely be for only a “matter of days,” according to FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Janet Woodcock. Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine has been administered to 6.8 million adults in the United States, so the reported clot cases make up less than a millionth of all inoculated patients. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine made its debut this past March, distinguishing itself from Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines due to its single-dose administration. Although a single dose results in a lower vaccine efficacy—the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a 66% efficacy rate compared to Pfizer’s 95%, according to the CDC—clinical trials found the vaccine to be upwards of 86% effective against severe COVID-19 infection and 100% effective at preventing death due to COVID-19. According to a Mar. 4 report by NBC, none of the clinical trials’ 44,000 subjects were hospitalized within the month following their vaccination.
“You’re talking about one per million, and when you give millions of doses of vaccines, you will see events like this that you couldn’t see in the clinical trial just because you didn’t have millions of people enrolled,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System to CNN. “But I want to congratulate the CDC and the FDA for very quickly jumping on it...and really trying to understand what’s going on.” The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine has also run into similar rare cases. If the name sounds unfamiliar, it’s because the AstraZeneca vaccine hasn’t been authorized for use in the U.S. The vaccine, which was developed as part of a collaborative effort between Oxford University and European pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, was found to have a possible link with blood clotting following an investigation by the European Medical Agency (EMA). Similarly to Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca’s actual clotting rate is extraordinarily small—just around four in a million in the U.K., according to CNN—so the EMA elected to make no changes to their current inoculation plans, stating that the benefits of the vaccine vastly outweigh any potential risks. However, the U.K. did choose to give
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
people under the age of 30 an alternative vaccine due to the higher risk of AstraZeneca in younger populations. No such risks have been shown for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “I think vaccine safety has always been a priority, and I think this is exactly the right move until we understand what’s going on and what’s the way forward,” del Rio said. One possible explanation as to why such incidents are isolated to the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines has to do with vaccine architecture. The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are both mRNA vaccines, which use oil bubbles to latch mRNA onto the coronavirus’ spike proteins. In contrast, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines are both adenovirus vaccines, which use a form of hijacked adenovirus—a form of the common cold—to safely spread the vaccine information to the rest of the body. Whereas the common cold infects the body by overwriting cells with harmful viral data, an adenovirus vaccine builds immunity by overwriting viral cells with vaccine messenger data. Other adenovirus COVID-19 vaccines like Russia’s Sputnik V don’t have the same clotting issues, so the issue is not isolated to the viral vector utilized in AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s vaccines. Some studies point towards an extremely rare antibody against
platelet molecules known as platelet factor 4 as a key player in cases of blood abnormalities. Studies by Germany, Norway and the CDC found many recipients of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines who developed blood clots also tested positive for antibodies against platelet factor 4, according to The Atlantic. Such results point toward the possibility that rare blood abnormalities are a result of the body’s immune response to the vaccine, rather than the vaccine itself. The Oregon Health Authority has stated in a report that the pause on the vaccine will slow the effort to vaccinate the state, but only temporarily. According to the OHA report, some vaccine appointments may be canceled or delayed due to the need to redistribute stock of Pfizer and Moderna. Additionally, the OHA has reassured that there have been no cases of vaccine-induced clotting in Oregon and that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has not been shown to have a direct link with cases of clotting. “I really want to stress to the public that they need to remain confident in our concepts and the times regarding vaccines in general,” said Dr. Jason Goldman of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, according to ABC. “Do not let this sour your decision on getting vaccinated in general.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
11
GRUDGE MATCH
SAM GARCIA
ACADEMY AWARDS
A CINEMATIC SMACKDOWN
HASSAN ELTELBANY AND BÉLA KURZENHAUSER Grudge match is a semi-regular series in our Arts & Culture section where two or more Portland State Vanguard contributors debate on a divisive issue in pop culture. This edition features a discussion between Science & Technology Editor Béla Kurzenhauser and Arts & Culture contributor Hassan Eltelbany on this Sunday’s upcoming Academy Awards ceremony. Béla Kurzenhauser: The Academy Awards are upon us once again after a 14-month hiatus, and despite the lack of theatrical releases throughout 2020, I’d argue that this year has one of the most surprising and eclectic set of nominations in quite a while. The Best Picture category still serves as a microcosm of the Academy’s tastes, largely filled with biopics such as The Trial of the Chicago 7 and films from well-established filmmakers such as Mank, but there were also multiple other films such as Minari and Sound of Metal that I never would’ve expected to see up for so many awards. Hassan Eltelbany: It seems that the Academy is focused, more than in years past, on representation. With the exception of Mank, each film centers around issues of race, gender, nationality or disability. It will be interesting to see whether the Academy honors Mank for its sleek, vintage portrayal of the Hollywood that was, or if they instead award films such as Promising Young Woman or Nomadland, which, besides being the two films I’m happiest to see nominated, raise issues of representation and identity in innovative and bold ways. What are your thoughts about the Best Director category? BK: This is certainly one of the most interesting sets of director nominees in a very long time. This is the first time in Academy Award history that two female directors were both nominated in the same year, so it’s a bit of an understatement to say that this awards season was pretty groundbreaking for the Oscars. In previous years, the Academy’s claims of representation always felt like platitudes, but this year, it feels like they put more effort into curating a more diverse lineup of not only actors but also directors—something that is very much
12
ARTS & CULTURE
noticeable with the nominations of directors such as Chloé Zhao, Emerald Fennell and Lee Isaac Chung. Seeing Thomas Vinterberg in the lineup caught my attention, as foreign directors rarely see a nomination for Best Director unless they also managed to nab a Best Picture nominee. I would have liked to see Eliza Hittman, director of Never Rarely Sometimes Always, get a nomination, but that movie pretty much flew under the radar, so I’m also not surprised. HE: I’m also encouraged that foreign films are increasingly being represented in categories beyond simply Best Foreign Feature. Parasite winning Best Picture last go round exposed cloistered Americans to the array of fantastic foreign films that exist. For me, however, this category presents a particularly important opportunity for the Academy to honor David Fincher with a Best Director Oscar. He’s been, and continues to be, one of the most daring directors in Hollywood, and Mank was no exception. BK: In any other year, my bets would’ve been on Fincher, but Mank didn’t scoop up anything at the Golden Globes, so I think his chances this year are slim. My prediction, coincidentally, is also my preferred winner—Chloé Zhao. This is only her third feature but after snatching up the Golden Lion at Venice and Best Director at the Golden Globes, she’s most certainly made a mark on critics and voters alike. Nomadland’s integration of actors and non-actors is not only fluid but genuine, and the film carries a sense of stillness to it that is all-too-absent in current American filmmaking, which seems to rely heavily on glitz and style. It’s rare to see such a gentle film get so many nominations, which speaks to how much the Academy liked this one. HE: Speaking of Nomadland, how about Frances McDormand for Best Actress? Once again, she’s stunning. This time, however, she isn’t displaying her chops as a lovably weird police officer as in Fargo, or as the menacing and desperate mother in Three Billboards. Here she evokes a somber, serene and patient
quality that I’m convinced has everything to do with her being outside the Coen brothers’ grasp. In Nomadland, McDormand made the jump from an eclectic and talented character actress, to an eminently relatable human on-screen. BK: McDormand is definitely the popular pick for this category and I think the only actress that stands a chance of winning against her is Carey Mulligan. Personally, my favorite was Vanessa Kirby for Pieces of a Woman. I’ve seen very little of Kirby prior to this film and was taken aback by her performance, which can only be described as staggering. Her performance acted as a perfect catalyst of grief, loss and trauma, and her ability to stand out amid a fantastic ensemble is an achievement in and of itself. I’ve only ever seen Kirby in blockbusters such as 2019’s Hobbs and Shaw, and from my view, Pieces of a Woman finally gave her a role capable of matching her fulgent array of emotion. HE: In our last category, Best Actor, all eyes will be on Chadwick Boseman. His tragic and premature death from cancer will be honored, if not by a win, with a tribute of some kind. Personally, Riz Ahmed from Nightcrawler fame delivered the best lead performance from an actor last year, but I’d be shocked if the Academy didn’t honor Boseman, considering the circumstances that surround his astounding effort. Is there a performance you preferred to Boseman’s, or are you set on presenting him the award, no questions asked? BK: In my view, Ahmed delivered the best performance of last year in Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, although a posthumous award for Boseman is almost certainly a lock. Ahmed was able to capture a very specific sense of wistfulness and restraint in a world filled with grainy silence, echoing the pain and struggles of a recovering addict. I’m sure that either Nomadland or The Trial of the Chicago 7 will win the Oscars’ most prestigious award, but Sound of Metal’s illustrious, sincere and warm portrayal of adjusting to a world filled with silence makes it my pick for both Best Actor and Best Picture.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
MORGAN TROPER To say I have a love-hate relationship with weed would be an understatement—smoking it has directly led to some of the most outrageous panic attacks I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It has also profoundly influenced the way I listen to music, read literature and just generally perceive the world. Most people I know have a fairly simplistic relationship with the vitamin W—they either love it or abhor it. My attitude on marijuana frequently oscillates between those two extremes. Also, I don’t think anyone actually calls it the vitamin W. Many years ago I wrote a piece on “how to say no without being a buzzkill” for a Portland Mercury 4/20 issue. The article was conceived as sort of a Vice parody, and I felt encouraged by my editors to be as hokey and curmudgeonly as possible. A bunch of stoners sent me hate mail and left incensed comments on Facebook, which seemed both uncharacteristically angry and characteristically obtuse of them; people
wrongly assumed that I was a narc, or that I was actually the character I was just temporarily inhabiting for the purposes of a throwaway article. It taught me that people in Portland take weed— and 4/20—very seriously, which I somehow missed even though I grew up here. This is, of course, the second 4/20 in a row where smoking weed with your friends is gauche. It’s not as bad as it was last year—in April 2020, we still had no idea how bad COVID-19 truly was and the development of an effective vaccine still seemed like it could be several years out. We now have an abundance of effective vaccines and a sense of social normalcy is gradually returning, despite moralistic finger-wagging from the cloistered politicians who practically left us for dead a year ago. Still, we at Portland State Vanguard cannot in good conscience recommend smoking weed with your friends in the midst of
a pandemic, effective vaccines be damned! So, alternatively, here are a number of things your stoner ass can do alone this 4/20.
SPEND APPROXIMATELY EIGHT HOURS ON YOUTUBE Most of these activities are evergreen, but YouTube rabbit holes are especially engaging when you’re high. I recommend spending time with some light conspiracy theories—i.e., no 9/11 or QAnon stuff. You can watch virtually every episode of Mountain Monsters on YouTube for free—a terrific reality show about a band of grizzled, nicotine-stained trappers and hunters who search for fictitious monsters in the Appalachian Mountains. It goes without saying that this ragtag gang never finds what they’re looking for, but every episode devolves into an unintentionally hilarious spectacle where a bunch of dudes in overalls and night vis i o n gog-
gles trip over each other and mistake rock formations for Bigfoot.
LISTEN TO PROGRESSIVE ROCK Ordinarily, progressive rock offers a profoundly sexless and cerebral listening experience, but then you listen to some of this stuff high and realize what all of the fuss is about. It’s also essential that you’re listening to the right brand of prog—not Kansas or Styx or any of the other late ‘70s, chiefly American bands. Instead, listen to Yes’ masterpiece, Close to the Edge, or King Crimson’s seminal In the Court of the Crimson King. Top it all off with Foxtrot from Peter Gabriel era Genesis—an album whose centerpiece is the sprawling, 22-minute “Supper’s Ready,” which is one of the most engaging rock suites ever written.
PLAY VIDEO GAMES This one is self-explanatory, although you might want to stay away from anything too grisly. Play the peerlessly-trippy Nintendo classic Earthbound. Or, if you have the money to burn, track down a Sega Dreamcast and a copy of Seaman—a classic pet simulator which features a talking fish voiced by Leonard Nimoy.
GO OUTSIDE It’s cliched, but the natural world becomes a lot easier to appreciate when you’re high. Thankfully, natural beauty is bountiful in Portland, and there’s a gorgeous park within walking distance from almost any place in the city. To play it safe, 4/20 this year should probably still mostly be a solitary activity—but it doesn’t have to be a sedentary or exclusively indoors one, either.
HAVE A PANIC ATTACK THAT WILL BECOME A QUINTESSENTIAL 4/20 ANECDOTE One time I got really high and thought my throat was closing up, which is sort of par for the course. This time, however, I got so scared that I raided my friend’s mom’s cupboards and found some local anesthetic that I sprayed into the back of my throat. I somehow missed my throat—the one area I was aiming for—and hit everywhere else in my mouth instead, and I suddenly felt like I was at the dentist. So, I was now high, still worried that my throat was closing up and my entire mouth was doused in local anesthetic. It was truly one of the most terrifying experiences of my life, but in hindsight, I think it’s pretty funny, so that makes it worth it.
ANOTHER SOLO 4/20 HOPEFULLY THIS IS THE LAST SHANNON STEED
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
ARTS & CULTURE
13
A COP BY ANY OTHER NAME IS STILL A COP DANNY O’BRIEN Portland City Council is doubling the amount of park rangers in Portland, ostensibly to reduce reliance on police presence in Portland parks and create community-based alternatives to policing. But beneath the surface, despite claims that the plan does not include any new funding for the Portland Police Bureau, the plan includes increased involvement of the police in city parks and does little to reduce police presence in public spaces. The Portland City Council voted on April 7 to approve Agenda Item 230-1. The measure calls to “amend the FY 2020-21 budget to allow for expenses in the Office of Management and Finance, Office of Violence Prevention, and Portland Parks and Recreation to increase staffing, programming, and resources for community-based organizations to reduce the impact of gun violence in our community.” The city council, in its breakdown of this item, explained that this will give $3.1 million to the existing partners of the Office of Violence Prevention—an office associated with City Council with aims towards public safety—to be used for “intervention and case management, wrap-around support, aftercare support, and funds for families,” and an additional $600,000 to budding community-based organizations, as well as organizations based around the prevention of gun violence. Another major aspect of this agenda item is the scaling up of park ranger staffing in Portland parks. At any given time, there are 24 park rangers available in Portland. This number climbs seasonally as the summer months roll in, with an average of 13 seasonal hires. The new plan calls for doubling the amount of available park rangers. According to Ricardo Lujan-Valerio, policy director on the team of Commissioner Carmen Rubio, the PPB wishes to create a focused intervention team that will attach to this proposal, funding itself through a reallocation of internal funds already available within the bureau. This intervention team is the direct result of Mayor Ted Wheeler campaigning to try and get a dozen-strong task force of police involved, despite the plan’s clear intentions to break away from dependence on police.
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OPINION
Despite presenting itself as a flashy, alternative-to-police plan that was just what 2021 needed, the plan—and Wheeler’s intervention—seems to be structurally no different than an increase in policing and includes little to no actual apprehension toward using police services. Elliot Young of the Committee for Community-Engaged Policing, while voicing his support for the proposal, spoke about how the police need to focus less on preemptive policing policies, and the need to stop targeting and harassing people of color. He said police need to focus on their investigations and on supporting the community. But it’s clear that spitting nice-sounding buzzwords at adrenaline-filled agents of capital will likely do nothing to change the racist bedrock of the American police system. The past year has shown that targeting and harrassing people of color is the chosen method of carrying out both investigation and “community support” for police departments across the country. While there is a level of intent in this proposal for the city to break away from its over-indulgence in policing, the city councillors seem to think intent alone has made this a job well done. Time and again in the council meeting, the councilors champion themselves for dealing with community-based organizations and answering citizens’ cries for alternatives to policing. Throwing money at organizations and hoping a statistic will go down won’t work unless these organizations can actually use the grant money in a positive and useful way. There is no publicly available breakdown of how these funds will be used by the Office of Violence Prevention and associated community organizations. There is no outlined agenda for how park rangers will deal with gun violence, only guesswork. There isn’t a publicly available list of all the organizations which will receive money under this proposal, so the public can do nothing but hope that the organizations are accountable and effective. Incendiary right-wing sites such as The Blaze and Law Enforcement Today have reacted predictably and angrily to
PROPOSED PARK RANGER STAFFING MEASURE IS BASED ON AN UNHEALTHY DEPENDENCE ON SECURITY AND VIGILANCE PORTLAND PARK RANGERS. COURTESY OF PORTLAND.GOV
the proposal, calling it useless because park rangers will only be able to call the police when they’re in trouble. While this is hard to take seriously coming from the paranoia-stroking, authority fetishizing right wing mediaverse, there is a substantive argument that the presence of more park rangers won’t do much to curb gun violence. It could very well be that all that the park rangers will do is call the police; the police do have a “focused intervention team,” as mentioned earlier. The city council maintains that when police are visible out in the community, it reduces crime. The argument bears a remarkable similarity to the broken windows policing strategy of the ‘90s, a theory of crime and disorder that disproportionately incarcerated minorities for minor infractions. The union representing the park rangers wrote, on behalf of the concerns of the rangers, that being in uniform may potentially deter “inappropriate park behavior.” But they also acknowledge that, for some members of the public, the presence of uniformed city employees inspires a hostile reaction. Long-time Portland park ranger Dave Barrios spoke on behalf of park rangers and clarified their job descriptions, saying, “We are not the police of the parks, period, and we’re not going to be, period. It’s not something that the rangers themselves want.” From all sides, gaping holes shine through the logic of merely getting more park rangers and putting them in police-like positions. It’s ridiculous that after a year of talking about reforming, defunding and lessening the dependence on police nationwide, this is the scheme being presented. Is this the best the city could think of by way of an alternative? The whole proposal is based on a vague theory of gun violence reduction and an unhealthy dependence on security and false authority as a solution. It does not create trust in the community. By having city employees cosplaying as police officers swarming the parks at night, you effectively recreate the police. Dispatching a cop under a different moniker with a semantically-similar job description is still dispatching a cop.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
The shame of purity culture
& abstinence-only sex education KAT LEON I could feel my heart racing in my chest— BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. My heart crashed against my rib cage, wanting to flee this predicament as much I did. My cheeks grew red, and I wanted to sink down into the floor and disappear forever. In front of all my friends at my 13th birthday party, my father had gotten down on one knee, his arm outstretched, holding a small silver ring with a tiny cross and an even tinier diamond. Why was my 50-year-old father seemingly proposing to his 13-year-old daughter in a room full of her teenage friends, one might ask? The answer: purity culture. Purity culture is a creation of conservative and fundamentalist Christianity, and it is used to justify their views on abstinence, homosexuality and a woman’s place in a “godly” home. Purity rings are meant to symbolize the daughter’s commitment to stay pure, and one is often given to her by her father to represent his commitment to “guard” his daughter’s purity. Purity rings are not the only symbols of abstinence touted by this culture. Women are often required to sign abstinence pledges or attend purity balls to solidify and “celebrate” their commitment to purity. While a well-informed personal choice to remain abstinent is not, in and of itself, a harmful one, several problems arise when purity culture’s abstinence-only sex education practices become commonplace in our education system. Purity culture has left a lasting impact on youth that grew up with this background, and it has left many young women with feelings of shame and low self-worth. It is vital that we examine purity culture with a critical lens and ultimately recognize the importance of abolishing this outdated practice for the good of all future generations. Since 1996, the federal government has spent more than $2 billion promoting abstinence-only sex education in educational programs for young people. These programs were significantly promoted
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
by former President George W. Bush and supported again by former President Donald Trump’s administration, causing them to play an active role in our educational system. A study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation stated out of 50 states, only 24 mandate sex education. Furthermore, 37 states require that sex education, if taught, must include abstinence-only education, and 27 of those states require schools to stress abstinence-only sex education above all other methods. Abstinence-only education is far from successful. States that promote abstinence-only sex education have the highest STDs, STIs and teen pregnancy rates. Unfortunately, abstinence-only curricula are widespread in our education system. Abstinence pledges, which are commonplace for supporters of abstinence-only education and purity culture, require that individuals promise not to think sexual thoughts. This essentially makes real sex education morally unacceptable despite its being far more successful at educating youth about their bodies and preventing STDs, STIs and reducing teen pregnancy rates. According to other data from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s study of abstinence education, only 13 states require that sex education be medically accurate. This allows abstinence-only educators to teach with little to no accountability; as a result, abstinence-only education is often flawed or downright inaccurate. Moreover, according to research compiled by undergraduate of John Fisher College Amanda Paul, over 80% of abstinence-only educators teach false information. While abstinence-only education and purity culture are nearly synonymous in teachings, purity culture often takes things several steps further. It relies on shame and fear to ensure participation, while at the same time promising a fulfilling and prosperous life if only one waits until they are married to have sex—among other
outdated mandates. If one waits, according to purity culture, your sex life will be fantastic, and you will be able to share this amazing connection with your partner that you would not have if you did not remain pure. Purity culture is not just about teaching individuals to remain pure, but about shaming them and threatening their future prosperity. What is even more concerning, from a psychological point of view, is that the teaching of shame becomes a part of one’s identity because of the formalization of these views during adolescence—a pivotal time in a young adult’s development of self-worth. As Donna Coletrane Battle, a chaplain at Meredith College and fellow survivor of purity culture, expressed: “We can overcome trauma. It is a shame that it is so incredibly difficult to overcome. At its core, [shame] exposes what we feel is a deficiency in our dignity. Shame goes directly to the heart of where we feel worth and value, and it tears it; it rips it apart.” Unfortunately, this shame is hardwired into the teachings of purity culture. Purity culture teaches youth that their only value is their purity. If that fails, then they are essentially worthless, leaving youth indoctrinated into this culture with an immense hurdle of shame and low selfworth to overcome. One must recognize that teaching young adults inaccurate information about their bodies and then shaming them when they fail to follow purity culture’s outdated guidelines is not a healthy or helpful form of sex education. It is vital that instead of giving in to archaic rules of purity culture dictated by an outdated, unsuccessful set of standards, we instead advocate for safe sex education in our school system and appropriately encourage sexual freedom. This will help change the effectiveness of purity culture and the shame that it leaves in its wake.
OPINION
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EVENTS CALENDAR
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TUE APR 20
WOODEN SHOE TULIP FESTIVAL Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm 9 a.m. $60 Ongoing through May 2
Look out at over 40 acres of blooming tulips during peak blooming season at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, located in Woodburn. Tickets must be purchased online and social distancing measures will be in-place.
THUR APR 22
THE GREAT GREEN WALL Livestream via Hollywood Theatre 12:01 a.m. $12 Online event Ongoing through April 24
“Renowned Malian singer Inna Modja and Executive Producer Fernando Meirelles (Academy Award®-nominated director of “City of God”) take us on a music-driven journey of hope, hardship, perseverance and environmental justice across Africa’s ambitious Great Green Wall project - the planting of a 8,000km “belt of green” that will be the largest living green beltway on earth, three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef, and a new wonder of the world. A musical odyssey, cultural road-trip and climate justice exploration - Inna sets out on a mission to assemble Africa’s most thrilling musicians and record a once-in-a-lifetime album that captures the spirit of the planting of the Great Green Wall.”
THE 93rd ACADEMY AWARDS
SUN APR 25
Streaming on ABC 5 p.m
MON APR 26
Ongoing through April 25
The Portland Mercury’s pizza week returns for 2021 with a bevy of participating pizzerias, including Zappos Pizza, Pacific Crust Pizza Co., Red Sauce and many more. Slices at the restaurants involved are only $2, and most pies are $16. I’m especially looking forward to trying Danwei Canting’s Hong Shao Rou, or red cooked pork belly, slice.
NATIONAL PARK WEEK Free Ongoing through April 25
“Join us celebrating National Park Week 2021 from April 17 to 25! Parks across the country will host a variety of special programs, events, and digital experiences. There are also special theme days during the week to highlight the different ways everyone can enjoy national parks.”
THE DECEMBERISTS 20th ANNIVERSARY LIVESTREAM Livestream via Mandolin 5 p.m. $30–70
There isn’t a whole lot to say about the Oscars that hasn’t been said elsewhere—namely, in our Arts & Culture section, where Portland State Vanguard’s Science & Technology Portland indie rock fixtures The Decemberists are celebrating their 20th year of existeditor Béla Kurzenhauser and contributor Hassan Eltelbany offer a constructive break- ing with a livestream show. They’re also offering a variety of price tiers, from the basic down of this year’s ceremonies. ticket at $30 to a ticket with “VIP streaming” privileges and exclusive poster at $75.
POWELL’S USED BOOK DRIVE
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PORTLAND MERCURY PIZZA WEEK
Powell’s Books 11 a.m. Free Ongoing through April 30
FREE VIRTUAL ADVANCED ONLINE POWER YOGA WITH BRITTANY Livestream via Home Yoga 8 a.m. Free
“Join our free live 60-minute virtual online yoga class with instructor Britta“Donate your unwanted used books to Powell’s and we’ll pass your proceeds on to one ny Wilkewitz!” of our partner nonprofits. Powell’s Book Drive will be held April 2 through 30 at Powell’s Industrial Warehouse, located at 2720 NW 29th Ave. Drop-offs are welcome between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. All COVID-19 safety protocols, including mandatory face masks and social distancing, will be observed during the Book Drive.”
EVENTS
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
