VOLUME 75 • ISSUE 1 • JUNE 30, 2020
‘NOW IS THE TIME TO DISARM, DEFUND AND DISBAND CPSO, BECAUSE
BLACK LIVES MATTER.’
NEWS PSU EMPLOYEES ENROLL IN WORK SHARE PROGRAM INTERNATIONAL UN WILL EXAMINE RACISM AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE ARTS & CULTURE BON APPÉTIT AND RACISM IN FOOD CULTURE
CONTENTS COVER BY SAM PERSON NEWS HILL TO HALL
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DISARM PSU MARCHES WITH NEW DEMANDS
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PSU EMPLOYEES ENROLL IN WORK SHARE PROGRAM
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INTERNATIONAL UN WILL EXAMINE RACISM, VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE
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STAFF
EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Dylan Jefferies
COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon
MANAGING EDITOR Justin Grinnell
CONTRIBUTORS Nick Gatlin Marshall Scheider
NEWS EDITORS Hanna Anderson Aidan Kennelley
PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz
INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Isabel Rekow
PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Nick Townsend OPINION EDITOR AJ Earl ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings
DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Shannon Steed
ARTS & CULTURE A RECKONING IN THE FOOD WORLD
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OPINION HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE SUMMER
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DIS T RIBU TION DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dylan Jefferies
To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com
T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow George Olson John Rojas
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 DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale
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.
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NEWS
JUNE 24–28 HANNA ANDERSON
JUNE 24: LINCOLN COUNTY REMOVES FACE MASK EXEMPTION FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR AFTER NATIONAL, RACIST BACKLASH
Lincoln County rescinded a face mask exemption for people of color, after the county faced extreme racist backlash to the rule. According to AP News, the county passed the original policy, which requires face masks wherever social distancing couldn’t be maintained, on June 17, with several exceptions, including people of color who are concerned about being racially profiled or harassed. However, the policy garnered national attention and widespread backlash, accusing the county board of commissioners of “reverse racism” against white people, and concerns that the exception would fuel more hate towards people of color, according to OPB. The exception was removed after a statement from the Board of Commissioners on Thursday.
JUNE 26: OREGON SPECIAL SESSION WRAPS: PLANS FOR ANOTHER
The Oregon legislature ended a three-day special legislative session on Friday, passing 22 bills largely focusing on police reform and the coronavirus pandemic. Six bills were passed specifically addressing police accountability, according to OPB, including bills limiting the use of chokeholds to situations that warrant deadly force, limiting the use of tear gas only after it’s been announced and the crowd has time to disperse and requiring officers to intervene when other officers engage in misconduct. After the conclusion of the session, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Saturday she would call another special session in July or August to continue focusing on coronavirus relief, according to AP News.
JUNE 28: OREGON ACLU FILES SUIT AGAINST PPB FOR TARGETING JOURNALISTS
Protesters broke into police headquarters in downtown Portland on Friday night. Portland police declared a riot around midnight as fires were set in the street near Southwest Alder and 4th Avenue. Video appeared to show dozens of people breaking into Pioneer Place mall and taking bags from a Louis Vuitton store, according to AP News. The protest began peacefully in Peninsula Park before hundreds began marching through downtown to Portland police headquarters outside the Multnomah County Justice Center. According to KOIN News, at least two protesters were arrested and no other details were immediately released.
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NEWS
DISARM PSU MARCHES WITH NEW DEMANDS HUNDREDS OF ADVOCATES RALLY FOR POLICE REFORM
PROTESTERS STAND OUTSIDE OF THE PSU CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY. COURTESY OF POPULAR MOBILIZATION
HANNA ANDERSON Where the Portland State campus has been nearly barren since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of students, faculty, alumni and community members came, echoing a familiar demand: Disarm PSU. Hundreds of protesters gathered on June 12 to march for disarming PSU. The march went from the Urban Plaza to the front steps of the Campus Public Safety Office, taking a route down 5th Avenue, across College Street and up Broadway—a total of 10 blocks. Advocates from PSU and across Portland gave speeches in front of the public safety office, calling for the disarmament of CPSO and stronger efforts by the PSU administration to address systematic racism on campus. “We come to this current moment when we’re reigniting these claims,” said Ben AndersonNathe, a professor in the Child, Youth and Family Studies program. “One because it’s the month in which we’re coming up on the anniversary of Jason Washington’s killing, again, and two, we’re really recognizing the cultural moment in which the rest of the country seems to be kind of waking up, in some ways, to the consequences of a militarized police force, and specifically the consequences to Black and brown people.” “We’re starting to see that calls for disarmament are being taken up and being taken seriously, and are actually being enacted in ways that I don’t think the Board of Trustees did, or, to be fair to them, could really have imagined.” CPSO hasn’t always been armed, not until a resolution the Board of Trustees first began considering in 2014 to hire sworn officers, which has faced opposition since its inception. In 2018, the movement to disarm PSU was reignited after the death of Jason Washington, who was shot and killed by CPSO officers on June 29, 2018. Now, Disarm PSU has new demands in a new age of police reform. “They promised us oversight. They promised us a police that would uphold the ethos of PSU,” said Miranda Mosier, one of the demonstration’s speakers. “They promised us police that would somehow magically operate outside the paradigm of policing, which a lot of us know is
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about upholding property rights and policing and controlling the bodies of Black and brown people, and far too often, ending their lives.” Protesters marched with a total of seven demands for the university that not only included disarming CPSO, but also removing them from the PSU CARE team, extending the campuswide furloughs to CPSO, discontinuing the policing of the houseless on campus and creating a permanent memorial to Jason Washington. Both Washington’s widow, Michelle Washington, and his daughter, Kayla Washington, were among the speakers at the demonstration. “PSU doesn’t want you to know my father, a black man, a veteran, a peacemaker was killed because PSU made a horrific decision to legally arm their security against the wishes of students, faculty and staff,” Kayla Washington said. “Say their name. That plea reminds us that this moment is not just about George Floyd, but about all those who we have lost over the years to a national apparatus of unaccountable police violence.” “This is bigger than PSU, bigger than our community, or even this country. This movement right now is across the world,” Michelle Washington said. “We’re here not only for Jason, but for every single person who’s ever endured police violence or will ever in the future. We are here for every family that has been torn apart and silenced in this process, and we need to stand together as a community, and say enough is enough. We will not let this happen again.” Following the protest, PSU President Stephen Percy released a statement promising to address equity and systemic racism. “I am listening. I am reading your messages and I watched today’s protest. We continue to grieve the loss of Jason Washington across our community,” he stated. “I don’t have all the answers. But I am determined that we will rise to meet this moment, and through our collective work, make PSU known as a place where equity is reality.” Days after the protest, at the Board of Trustees meeting on June 18, advocates took another opportunity—an hour of the meeting dedicated
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 30, 2020 • psuvanguard.com
to public comment—to continue speaking out against armed CPSO officers. Comments largely echoed the demands of the demonstration, as well as addressing the day’s vote on raising tuition, but this time, the comments reached the BOT directly. Among the speakers during public comment was Erica Bestpitch, who formerly served on the BOT from 2013–19. “In 2014, I voted in favor of a police force for PSU,” Bestpitch said. “I put my trust in campus leadership as they promised to create a police office that is different [from the Portland Police Bureau], that would respond better to campus needs, [and] that would be a real caring part of our community. I have not seen anything close to that. As a result I no longer believe in police reform. We need to dismantle the police and
law enforcement model at PSU and begin determining what will take its place.” For many commenters—who consisted of students, staff, alumni and community members— disarming CPSO was no longer a sufficient solution. Advocates both cited the demands of the demonstration, and brought demands of their own. “It’s not radical or irresponsible to disarm, defund, and disband campus police,” said Dan Harrell, an adjunct professor in the school of social work. “It feels like an insult [to] thousands of people making this demand, the Black community leaders organizing for this and the family of Jason Washington, to suggest that it’s too much too soon. Now is the time to disarm, defund [and] disband CPSO, because black lives matter.”
PROTESTERS GATHER TOGETHER OUTSIDE OF UNIVERSITY POINT ON JUNE 12 TO MARCH FOR DISARMING PSU. COURTESY OF POPULAR MOBILIZATION
NEWS
PSU EMPLOYEES ENROLL IN WORK SHARE PROGRAM MOST EMPLOYEES ON 12-MONTH CONTRACTS PARTIALLY FURLOUGHED UNDER OREGON UNEMPLOYMENT DEPARTMENT’S WORK SHARE PROGRAM AIDAN KENNELLEY On May 28, Portland State President Stephen Percy announced in an email there would be a reduction in hours for most part-time and full-time 12-month employees at PSU under Oregon’s Work Share program. “Under our plan, all PSU employees who are eligible under the Work Share program will see a temporary 20% reduction in work hours, or one day a week for full-time employees,” Percy stated. “In addition to receiving their prorated wages from PSU, the state will compensate employees with state unemployment benefits plus additional benefits from CARES funding that continues until July 25.” In other words, the Oregon Unemployment Department (OED) will be assisting employees enrolled in the Work Share program by making them eligible to collect partial unemployment while furloughed at either 20% or 40% of their work schedule. Further, employees who receive these Work Share benefits will be eligible for Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation of $600 per week until July 25. The university’s decision to participate in the Work Share program required agreements from both PSU’s American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) chapters. About 1,400 employees are on the program with reduced hours, according to Christopher Broderick, Associate Vice President of University Communications at PSU. The program places all SEIU-represented employees, except those in the Campus Public Safety Office, all AAUP-represented 12-month employees and all unrepresented, unclassified em-
ployees on the Work Share program. Administrators and academic leaders who already took pay cuts without work reductions are exempt from the program. Jodi Stiegemeyer, head advisor in the Engineering and Computer Science department, has been placed on furlough under the Work Share program. “I completely understand the university’s decision on this and I think it makes sense,” Stiegemeyer said. “If this is a mechanism that’s going to potentially impact the budget such that more people will be protected, jobs will be protected, then I’m hopeful.” Jennifer Kerns, President of PSU’s AAUP chapter and assistant professor in the History department, is also optimistic about the program. “It is our ardent hope as a union that no future layoffs will occur due to the costs saved by the Work Share program and the CARES Act,” Kerns said. While the 20% reduction in hours for most employees will save the university money, there are challenges involved with departments reprioritizing tasks to adhere to 4-day work weeks. “Work share employees must take the furlough time off work,” PSU’s Work Share Resource webpage states. “They cannot be required to ‘make up’ work that was not completed because of their furlough. However, supervisors can and should identify the duties that should be prioritized during work time.” “I’ve been speaking to other AAUP colleagues in 12-month positions and I understand it has been difficult to prioritize work within the confines of this 20% reduction,” Kerns said. “Clearly, our advisors and counselors don’t want to short change students regarding their needs, but in order to comply with this program
they have to take a significant portion of work off their plates. And I know it’s been really difficult for our colleagues in student-facing positions.” When asked about how she has prioritized work due to reduced hours, Stiegemeyer became visibly emotional. “As advisors, we love our job,” she said. “We love working with students. And it’s a complicated, difficult time for students. It’s painful to not be able to get to everybody as quickly as we want, to see emails piling up, having to modify our work and things take longer than they normally would.” In Stiegemeyer’s department, Advising and Career Services, every employee has been placed on the Work Share program. “Anybody who’s not teaching, really, is dealing with this,” she said. With payday for the university coming up on June 30, Human Resources sent out an email to staff updating them on the program on June 24. In it, they shared that OED plans to start processing Work Share claims from the first week of June starting next week. This undoubtedly means PSU employees will be receiving their Work Share payments late. This announcement comes on the heels of the revelation that many Oregon educators enrolled in the program still haven’t received their benefits. OED’s latency in processing Work Share claims has raised concerns among PSU employees and union representatives. “This is a burden for our academic professionals, our advisors and counselors,” Kerns said. “The reality is that 20% cut without any immediate compensation is going to be difficult on a lot of employees by July 1 when rent is due.”
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INTERNATIONAL
UN WILL EXAMINE RACISM, VIOLENCE AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE
U.N. PALACE OF NATIONS IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. KSENIA NOVIKOVA/FLICKER CREATIVE COMMONS
MARSHALL SCHEIDER Protests for Black lives and against police violence spread across the world in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. In response, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) unanimously adopted an amendment on June 19 to launch an investigation into systemic racism against Black people across the globe. UN News reported over 20 senior U.N. leaders of African descent issued a statement condemning “pervasive and systemic racism.” The signatories called on world leaders to “do more” than offer public statements condemning racist practices and violent policing. Signatories to the statement underscore “deep trauma and inter-generational suffering” caused by racial injustice. They place the contemporary struggle against racism and police violence in the context of the U.N.’s chartered objective: “promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.” While George Floyd’s name has reignited the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S.—and the world over—Floyd’s was not the only life taken by police in recent weeks. Since Floyd’s death, police killings of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, David McAtee and Andres Guardado have ignited protests and prompted calls for police departments to be reformed or abolished. In a landmark decision on June 7, Minneapolis city council members committed to disband the Minneapolis Police Department, citing the failures of incremen-
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tal reform. “Abolitionists are now in a position of more leverage and power than they have been since the early 1970s,” stated Dr. Anoop Mirpuri, professor of English and affiliate faculty in the department of Black studies. “As far as what’s happening in Minneapolis with disbanding the police, I think this is promising.” According to Mirpuri, working towards police abolition doesn’t mean simply getting rid of police and prisons. “It’s the practice and process of getting together with people to imagine and build social forms that not only produce the kinds of erasures we’re hoping for,” Mirpuri stated, “but that build the kind of society that no longer has the need for the things we want to erase.” Abolition should be considered an ongoing practice of positive world-building, not a fixed end goal, according to Mirpuri. “We’ve built a world that is rigged to benefit the very wealthy at the expense of the rest of us,” Mirpuri stated. “A world in which everyday plunder and looting, by the wealthy, of the poor and working classes is normalized and legal. Of course that world will require an armed police force to defend it. And of course policing will become violent, because ultimately that’s what policing is—the enforcement of rule through violence and the threat of violence.” Besides killings by police, the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in February and the deaths of six people of color by hanging across the U.S., decried by many as lynchings, have fanned the flames of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent weeks.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 30, 2020 • psuvanguard.com
George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, addressed the U.N. Human Rights Council last week, attesting to the injustice of his brother’s murder while condemning police violence against protesters. “When people dared to raise their voice and protest for my brother, they were tear-gassed, run over with police vehicles, several people lost eyes and suffered brain damage from rubber bullets, and peaceful protesters were shot and killed by police,” Floyd said. “Journalists were beaten and blinded when they tried to show the world the brutality happening at the protests.” African leaders in the UNHRC highlighted police brutality, calling on the council to investigate the violent repression of protests by militarized police. The New York Times reported leaders initially called for a formal commission of inquiry into systemic racism and anti-Black police violence in the United States. A commission of inquiry is the most intense form of scrutiny available to the council. Yet the final proposed resolution, unanimously adopted on Friday, calls only for a “more generic report,” according to The New York Times. The report will not focus specifically on the U.S. Instead, it will employ a “broader approach” to investigate racism in all nations, according to UN News. The decision not to pursue a commission of inquiry “could be read at least in part as an unwillingness to ‘single out’ the U.S.,” Mirpuri stated. “As a U.N. institution, the HRC is and always will be vulnerable to the outsized influence of powerful member states.”
“But,” Mirpuri continued, “in fairness, one could also argue that the ‘global’ view [the decision] authorizes is a recognition that what we are seeing here is in fact a global problem, and not specific to the U.S.” In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the Human Rights Council. In a press conference on June 20, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the call to address systemic racism “marks a new low” on behalf of the UNHRC. As for the potential consequences of the forthcoming report, “we shouldn’t expect a general report on racism by the U.N. to have any teeth,” Mirpuri stated. “What the U.N. can do is help normalize the kinds of questions we’re asking and the kinds of demands we’re making—to offer global institutional authorization for abolitionist work and ideas.” “To the extent that the UNHRC is framing this as simply a problem of racism, well, that’s something we should be pushing back against,” Mirpuri stated. “We need to be focusing not simply on disproportionate policing, but on the systems and policies that give rise to the belief that police are necessary,” Mirpuri stated. “The call to end racist policing is an important first step in challenging policing as such.” The African U.N. leaders’ call to action concludes with a quote from South African Archbishop and activist Desmond Tutu. “Black liberation is an absolutely indispensable prerequisite to white liberation,” Tutu wrote. “Nobody will be free until we all are free.”
ARTS & CULTURE
A RECKONING IN THE FOOD WORLD THE RISE AND FALL OF BON APPÉTIT
NICK GATLIN Adam Rapoport, editor in chief for food publication Bon Appétit, resigned on June 8 after a photo of him in brownface from 2004 reemerged on Twitter. Then, the floodgates opened. Staff members at BA reacted swiftly. Sohla El-Waylly, an assistant editor who appears in videos for the BA Test Kitchen, wrote in an Instagram story, “I’ve been pushed in front of video as a display of diversity…In reality, currently only white editors are paid for their video appearances. None of the people of color have been compensated for their appearances.” Other staff members quickly came forward to tell their own stories of racism at the publication. A report by Business Insider, published a day after Rapoport’s resignation, reported the stories of more than a dozen employees who described a toxic culture of racism, exclusion and racial inequity at BA. They claimed Bon Appétit denied equal opportunities to nonwhite employees, it “treats people of color as second class to white employees” and the publication has consistently failed to tell diverse stories adequately. Rapoport’s assistant, Ryan Walker-Hartshorn, claimed Rapoport treated her like “the help” as the only Black woman on staff, giving her personal errands to do far outside her job description, including cleaning Rapoport’s golf clubs. When Walker-Hartshorn went to HR to complain, according to Business Insider, Rapoport continued anyway. Matthew Hunziker, a BA video editor, was suspended by the company “pending investigation,” Business Insider reported on June 25. Three employees interviewed believed Hunziker was suspended because of social media posts criticizing the company; a few days after former EIC Rapoport’s resignation, Hunziker tweeted, "Why would we hire someone who's not racist when we could simply [checks industry handbook] uhh hire a racist and provide them with anti-racism training..." Hunziker is the editor of the popular show, “It’s Alive with Brad,” for Bon Appétit. Bon Appétit has publicly attempted to apologize and make amends for its culture of racism, including in two blog posts on the website, “A Long Overdue Apology” and “Making Our Recipes Better.” Systemic racism in the food industry, of course, does not begin and end at Bon Appétit. Speaking on NPR’s All Things Considered, Vox writer Alex Abad-Santos discussed his piece, "The food world is imploding over structural racism. The problems are much bigger than Bon Appetit." He describes how Filipino food—food he ate as a kid, which he was bullied for—is “the new trendy food.” He dubs this the “Columbusing” of food—food writers “discovering” food where it existed all along, a type of food colonialism. Abad-Santos talked about how when food media is predominantly white, food critics are white and their audiences are white, food from other cultures becomes more “accessible” because it’s cooked by a white chef. The interviewer asked Abad-Santos, “[W]hy does an Indian chef cooking the food of her own culture tend to get less mainstream attention and praise than a white chef who uses a lot of Indian ingredients in her recipes?” Abad-Santos uses the example of “Rick Bayless, who has an empire of food, of Mexican food. [L]ike, he's huge in Chicago. You can buy Frontera Grill salsas in the supermarket. But I think, like, reflexively, it's like, where is the Mexican chef who's cooking Mexican food? Where is his empire?” When people of color cook food from their own culture, Abad-Santos wrote in his piece, it’s deemed “ethnic,”
POK POK THAI RESTAURANT IN PORTLAND, OREGON. COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS “cheap,” “gross,” “weird,” or not “click-able” enough. When white chefs cook the same food, however, it becomes “exciting” and “trendy.” Chef Kwame Onwuachi wrote in Food & Wine in March 2019, “In the culinary industry we are so often judged for our African, Caribbean, African American, and Latin food by people who have little to no emotional or cultural connection to it. I can count the number of Black food writers who have interviewed me for major publications on two fingers.” She describes how delivery workers instinctively gravitate toward the only white person in the kitchen when looking for a signature, ignoring her, the executive chef and a chef of color. Alison Roman, a former food writer for The New York Times, was met with backlash after attacking Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo in an interview for selling products that capitalize on their fame—despite selling her own “capsule collection” of vintage spoons. She was also criticized for doing what many considered a racist imitation of Kondo’s Japanese accent. Alison Roman’s problems extend beyond that interview, however, and they exist in the food world writ large. Roman, like other white celebrity chefs, has capitalized on “ethnic” ingredients to make them more palatable for a mainstream (white) audience. An Eater piece by Navneet Alang on the unique role whiteness plays in this food culture as follows: “Only whiteness can deracinate and subsume the world of culinary influences into itself and yet remain unnamed. It’s a complicated little dance of power and desire…” One can see this play out in Roman’s recipe for “Spiced Chickpea Stew with Coconut and Turmeric,” dubbed “The Stew.” Alang wrote “the fame of #thestew, Roman’s now-viral recipe for chickpeas in coconut milk and turmeric, [felt] a bit weird, but also vaguely familiar to me: I know these
ingredients; what are white people so excited about?” When white chefs pluck an “exotic” ingredient from the culture it came from, they transform it from “foreign” to “trendy.” Take Rachel Ray’s Korean BBQ Burgers, or Bon Appétit’s Kimchi Toast. Restaurateur Andy Ricker, owner of Portland’s Pok Pok chain of restaurants, recently announced all but one of the restaurant locations would close permanently. Ricker is the head of a food empire, and he’s best known for cooking Thai food. A piece in Portland Monthly titled “Does the World Still Need Pok Pok?” asks the question: what does it mean for a white guy to build his legacy around Thai food? Ricker says he wants to cook food “without concessions to the timid American palate”—what that means is up to the reader—and says “I’ve really tried hard to be respectful of the food and culture we’re representing.” Speaking to his position as a white person, he argues “[r]ight now is the time to be thinking about the fact that we live in a world that systemically lowers the value of food that people of color make and raises the value of food that white people make. I’ve been the recipient of awards, attention, voice, and platform…this is the moment...to be deeply self-critical.” To give Ricker credit, he seems to be more self-reflective than some of his other colleagues in the food world. But in Portland of all places, the “whitest city in America,” it’s important to look at the secondary effects of a restaurant empire like Pok Pok. How many Thai chefs do they hire? How many Thai-owned restaurants has Pok Pok crowded out of the city? What is the impact on “hole-in-thewall,” “ethnic” Thai restaurants when Pok Pok claims the title of “high-end” Thai dining? What is the effect, in other words, when the high-profile face of Thai food in Portland is a white guy?
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OPINION
HAVE YOURSELF A
MERRY LITTLE SUMMER HEALTH TIPS AND HOPE FOR A SAFE SEASON
SHANNON STEED
AJ EARL I really value the dividends paid by paying attention to even the smallest portions of our health needs. My body has been a blunderland since a bus accident in December 2018 left me with a myriad of issues: cervical spine disc protrusion, spinal misalignment, a worsened tonsillar ectopia and what’s known as a syrinx. Plus, I just had surgery. In short, I seem to have had an eventful health situation over the past year and a half. That said, this current COVID-19 crisis has led me to some important reconsiderations of my health and well-being, and those thoughts have led me to a broader consideration of the importance of staying healthy and avoiding unnecessary health risks. I mean, sure, I have had a bit of solid food since my surgery when I should have waited until two weeks after surgery, so risk is my middle name! That does not mean health is discardable. Here are some tips to give you a bit of a boost this summer.
STAY HYDRATED, BUT…
Hydration is super important, I can’t even stress this enough. Yet, at the same time, are you drinking water correctly? Often we find ourselves drinking a large quantity of water all at once, generally neglecting to drink water later on or waiting
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PSU Vanguard • JUNE 30, 2020 • psuvanguard.com
until the end of the day to drink all of that day’s missed water. Do not do this! Well, yes, drink water, but please space it out. By establishing a routine, you’re less likely to forget to drink water during the day.
PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE SUN
Sunburns are terrible, but the very real risk of heat exhaustion can lead you into the hospital when hospital capacity is most needed. Consider loose, light-colored clothing, sunscreen and, looking back at the preceding paragraph, stay hydrated. Also, consider limiting your exposure to the sun to less than an hour at a time.
BREATHE
It’s odd to have to say this, but making sure you take time to take in deep breaths is vital. Lung capacity isn’t just about general fitness, it’s also about the basic exercise of inhaling to increase and maintain capacity.
DON’T IGNORE HEALTH ISSUES DUE TO COVID-19
There’s a distinct fear—a reasonable one, honestly—that has arisen among the general population to try to put aside health concerns due to the risk of contracting COVID-19 by heading to hospitals or urgent care. While COVID-19 is obviously concentrated in hospitals, like any infectious disease there are isolation and care protocols in place. Your risk is extremely low and it is far more dangerous to your health to
let a potentially catastrophic health issue balloon because you are concerned about infection.
SOCIAL DISTANCING ISN’T SO BAD
There’s a generally meaningful discourse that comes up around mental health issues with long-term isolation, but it’s equally important to recognize that you run immense risk of infection from even meeting with your social groups. Not hanging out with friends isn’t the worst thing right now, though, and if surging COVID-19 cases prove anything, it is the value of friends and keeping them alive. It is not hyperbolic to suggest there is a danger inherent in assuming all is well when it comes to your friends right now, even if you trust them. Trust the science, keep your distance.
FINALLY, WASH YOUR HANDS AND WEAR A MASK
Wearing a mask and washing your hands seem deceptively simple as far as health management goes. The idea you can ward off a major infectious disease with something as simple as cloth and soap begs belief, but the science has become clear. Now that epidemiologists are aware of the size of droplets in transmission of COVID-19, the utility of both preventative measures—handwashing and masks— are now more clear than ever.