VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 44 • APRIL 20, 2022
SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU’VE GOT ‘EM: HAPPY 4/20 SPORTS Vikings dominate Southern Utah Thunderbirds P. 6-7
ARTS & CULTURE Rock and rhododendrons in Rose City P. 8
OPINION The United States' silence towards Yemen conflict speaks volumes P. 11
WE’RE HIRING Copy Editors & News Editor EMAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM
CONTENTS
COVER DESIGN BY WHITNEY GRIFFITH
NEWS KETANJI BROWN JACKSON CONFIRMED TO SUPREME COURT
P. 3
INTERNATIONAL EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY ADMITS CONGO, AIMS TO BECOME SUPERSTATE
P. 4
THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD
P. 5
SPORTS VIKS SILENCE AND SWEEP SOUTHERN UTAH
P. 6-7
ARTS & CULTURE RHODODENDRON BRINGS PROG ROCK TO PORTLAND
P. 8
FIND IT AT 5TH AVE.: MISSISSIPPI MERMAID
P. 9
OPINION THIS FEELS CORRUPT, NO?
P. 10
THE UNITED STATES' SUPPORT OF THE YEMENI INVASION IS HYPOCRITICAL
P. 11
SCIENCE & TECH SCIENTISTS HAVE FINISHED DECODING THE ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME
P. 12
STAFF EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Béla Kurzenhauser
OPINION EDITOR Justin Cory
MANAGING EDITOR Karisa Yuasa
ONLINE EDITOR Christopher Ward
PHOTO EDITOR Sofie Brandt
COPY CHIEF Mackenzie Streissguth
SPORTS EDITOR Eric Shelby
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Tanner Todd
NEWS EDITOR Zoe Edelman
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan McConnell
CONTRIBUTORS Alex Aldridge Camden Benesh Whitney Griffith Jeremiah Hayden Nova Johnson Milo Loza Jesse Ropers Aiden Tuan Isabel Zerr
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Tanner Todd INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Alberto Alonso Pujazon Bogani
PRODUCTION & DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shannon Steed
ADVISING & ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood
DESIGNERS Leo Clark Whitney Griffith Fiona Hays Mia Levy A Pargett
STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Maria Dominguez
TECHNOLOGY & WEBSITE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Kahela Fickle George Olson Kwanmanus Thardomrong
To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com
STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Vacant
MISSION STATEMENT 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.
ABOUT 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 Wednesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON CONFIRMED TO SUPREME COURT
KETANJI BROWN JACKSON AT HER HEARING BEFORE NOMINATION AS ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. COURTESY OF C-SPAN.
JACKSON IS THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO SERVE AS ASSOCIATE JUSTICE
ZOE EDELMAN Former judge on the United States Court of Appeals Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by senators to become the 116th Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court on April 7. Jackson grew up in Miami, Florida, and developed her love of law from her family, some of which serve or have served as law enforcement officials. Inspiration from her family led her to seek out high grades and positions of leadership throughout her education. Though she faced adversity with her aspirations in high school, Jackson eventually graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School. She was also an editor of the Harvard Law Review and built rapport with many professionals as an Ivy League alum. Her avid work ethic and impressive credentials landed her a job as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bryer, where she learned about serving as a justice interpreting the U.S.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
Constitution. Jackson moved on to become a public defender, and will be the first Justice on the Supreme Court who has served as a federal public defender. Jackson was recognized by former President Barack Obama in 2009, who nominated her to serve as the Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. The Sentencing Commission is bipartisan by design, and in 2013 she was confirmed once again with bipartisan support for Obama’s nomination to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her impressive resume, however, did not earn her support from 47 Republican senators. In fact, during her confirmation several Republican senators walked out of the chamber while those in the majority celebrated. All 50 Democratic senators of the caucus voted to confirm Jackson, making her victory a close 53-47 win. “But at this stage, I was convinced that Judge Jackson is well qualified, intelligent, capable, and I became con-
vinced that she is within the mainstream,” said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah when questioned on his decision to vote to confirm Jackson, against most Republican colleagues. Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz and other Republican senators spoke in depth during Jackson’s testimony, depicting her rulings as soft on crime, as well as painting Jackson as part of the polarization and sensationalism of a so-called radical left they believe the Democratic Party to be culpable of, taking up much of their questioning time with topics outside of the scope of Jackson’s legal work. Regardless of the intense scrutiny Jackson faced from Republicans and the plethora of defamatory media commentary surrounding her character and credibility, she proudly accepted her position to be appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court. “She is one of our nation’s brightest legal minds and will be an exceptional justice,” stated President Joe Biden following Jackson’s confirmation.
NEWS
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EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY ADMITS CONGO, AIMS TO BECOME SUPERSTATE AN UPDATE ON PAST AND FUTURE POLICIES FOR THE EAF
AIDEN TUAN The East African Community (EAC) officially admitted the Democratic Republic of Congo during its March 29 summit. Now comprising the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda, the intergovernmental organization promotes trade and cooperation between its member states. Much like other political or economic unions around the world, the EAC includes many perks—partner states have mutual free trade, a common external tariff as well as a harmonization of banking rules and regulations as part of their unified economic policies. Joint actions in various sectors such as agriculture and food security, health, immigration, infrastructure and tourism are also overseen. This includes freedom of movement of goods, personnel, labor, capital and services, as well as establishing the right of residence. Questions, however, have plagued the EAC. Many member states have significant political differences between type of governance and policy decisions. Conflict has arisen from the single party dominance in the parliaments of both Tanzania and Uganda, and Kenya’s parliament has faced criticism of powermongering and ethnic politics.
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INTERNATIONAL
DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA DAVID MABUZA MEETS WITH YOWERI MUSEVENI, PRESIDENT OF UGANDA AND VOCAL PROPONENT OF THE EAC. COURTESY OF GCIS President Yoweri Museveni, the current leader of the Republic of Uganda, has been reelected to his sixth term with the country’s election shadowed in doubt—including from other EAC nations concerned about the Ugandan electorate. Even before the 2000s, the idea of a union of East African nations was sought after. With the overthrow of European colonialism in the 1960s, the original EAC was established on the relics of imperial administration. Yet, their efforts were rather short-lived, as the then-EAC collapsed in 1977 after various leaders could not come to agreement on the benefits member states should have. Even after its dissolution, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda still sought cooperation and put forth concrete plans for such an agenda. Finally, in 1999, the treaty to form the EAC again was signed in Arusha, Tanzania, the current headquarters of the organization. However, the East African Community had greater ambitions than simply being a trade union. In Sept. 2018, the EAC kickstarted the process of becoming a political federation by drafting a regional constitution. If formed, this superstate would become one of the largest states in Africa, by both landmass and population. In addition to the current list of benefits EAC members share,
there are also much more tangible advantages to becoming the East African Federation (EAF). For landlocked nations such as Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, this could mean being able to access the coast by means of Kenya and Tanzania, and with it, maritime routes and resources. The EAF would also be in a position to become the dominant regional power and negotiate with much more impact on the international scene. Currently, the 2023 target for bringing the confederation to reality is on track to be missed, as governments struggle to agree on and implement timelines for the creation of the EAF. As much as the EAC has tried to promote mutual trade benefits and free trade, there are still trade disputes between member states. Moreover, some key economic frameworks and policies remain incomplete. Despite reciprocation from Rwanda and Kenya, other nations of the EAC have exhibited distrust of the agreement. It’s unclear what will happen to the EAF in the future. As history has shown, it could become a dream that never fully materializes. or it could become an entity within the decade and bring about a new outlook for geopolitics. In the meantime, the EAC will continue to look to bring stability and unity to this region of Africa.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
April 10-16
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ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI 1
April 12
CAIRO, EGYPT:
The Egyptian state-appointed human rights council urged prosecutors on Tuesday to investigate the death of economic researcher and member of the liberal Reform and Development Party Ayman Hadhoud in a psychiatric hospital. According to authorities, the council will determine if Hadhoud was actually a victim of forced disappearance—a term used by activists to describe detentions carried out by security agencies without saying the detainee’s location or communicating charges to their families or lawyers. The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) stated on Monday that it was awaiting an autopsy report, under speculation that Hadhoud may have been subjected to torture prior to his death. The liberal party’s leader, Mohamad Anwar al-Sadat, sits on the NCHR and mediated some prisoner releases. Hadhoud was reportedly arrested by Egypt’s public prosecution on Feb. 6 after a guard discovered his attempt to enter an apartment in the Zamalek neighborhood located in Cairo. After judging Hadhoud mentally incomprehensible, prosecutors sent him to a mental health hospital. Though the prosecution said they
were notified of Hadhoud’s March 5 death from cardiac arrest, Fatma Serag, a lawyer for Hadhoud’s brother, Omar, said the family was not informed of the death until April 9. The delay in his death announcement raised further concerns about Hadhoud’s detention and whereabouts. The NCHR said that since it was reconstituted last year, it has coordinated with the public prosecution and the interior ministry with over 19 complaints of forced detentions. 2
April 12
BRASILIA, BRAZIL:
On Tuesday, former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised Brazil’s Indigenous people that if he wins the presidential election in October, he would put a stop to illegal mining on reservations and recognize Indigenous land claims. Lula visited a protest camp located in Brasilia where thousands of tribal members gathered to protest far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his plans to allow commercial agriculture, mining and oil exploration on their lands. “Everything this government has decreed against Indigenous peoples must be repealed immediately,” Lula said. Bolsonaro trailed Lula in early polls
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
ahead of the election, which will occur on Oct 2. Bolsonaro vowed in 2018 not to recognize a single centimeter of Indigenous reservation land, gaining him a strong backing from the country’s powerful farm lobby. Bolsanaro’s presidency had depleted the government’s Indigenous affairs agency of its staff and funding. Indigenous leaders have called on Lula to rebuild. “Lula, we are unprotected,” said Joenia Wapichana, the country’s only Indigenous congressional representative. “Our rights are being trampled on.” 3
April 13
MANILA, PHILIPPINES:
Philippine authorities struggled on Wednesday to deliver aid to tens of thousands of people residing in evacuation shelters after being displaced by typhoon Megi, which triggered several landslides in coastal provinces on Sunday and left at least 138 people dead and another 103 people missing. According to the state weather bureau, Megi, the first tropical cyclone to hit the Philippines this year, has dissipated, after displacing 162,000 people and injuring at least 200. The majority of casualties have been reported in the City of Baybay, a mountainous area prone to landslides.
Search and rescue efforts have been primarily focused in Baybay, with social media images circulated of children being pulled from thick mud. Coast Guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo said in a public briefing that survivors were still being evacuated from flooded areas on Wednesday. “Water systems here have been bogged down, so our problem is drinking water,” said Norberto Oja, a health officer in Baybay, to DZRH radio station. Baybay Mayor Jose Carlos Cari told the same station that aid, food and medicine are available, but the problem was management of evacuation centers. Mark Timbal, spokesperson of National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said that the landslides went well past the hazard area, which heavily affected relatively safer areas. With continual rain in some provinces, the risk for landslides remained high. “We are doing retrieval operations and still looking for the missing,” Senator Richard Gordon, chairperson of the Philippine Red Cross, told Reuters. “Due to continuous rain among areas of unstable soil, the rescue workers were not immediately permitted to embark on the rescue mission…it was deadly because it dumped a lot of rain and it hit the mountains.”
INTERNATIONAL
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Track The Viks divided and conquered last weekend, heading to the Mt. SAC Relays and Bryan Clay Invitational in California, as well as the Lewis and Clark Invite on Saturday.
Mt. SAC Relays Women's results: 10,000m (Collegiate): 32. Maya Irving, 36:11.49
Men's results: 10,000m (Collegiate): 37. Dom Morganti, 31:29.75
3,000m Steeplechase (Collegiate): 31. Tatum Miller, 10:43.43 68. Jalen Marcil, 11:48.35
3,000m Steeplechase (Collegiate): Evan Peters, 9:25.46.
Bryan Clay Invitational Women's results: 5,000m (Open B): 14. Sammy Burke, 17:45.96
5,000m (Open B): 27. Zach Grams, 14:45.46 62. Abdi Ibrahim, 14:57.81
5,000m (Open A Section 3): 23. Abi Swain, 18:05.13
5,000m (Open A Section 3): 14. Keynan Abdi, 14:12.71.
VIKS SILENCE AND SWEEP SOUTHERN UTAH
Men's results: 800m: 60. Chase Lovercheck, 1:51.40 T-108. James Bottrill, 1:53.46
Lewis and Clark Invite Women's results: 1,500m: 14. Emma Owen, 4:57.78 18. Sophie Jones, 5:03.10 22. Campbell Faust, 5:08.50 32. Abby Donde, 5:22.30
110H: 2. Jordan Gloden, 15.41 6. Harley Montgomery, 17.58
5,000m: 3. Sophia Hackett, 19:26.07 9. Dyllan Newville, 21:05.43 Madison Tafoya, DNF
Long Jump: 4. Jordan Gloden, 20-09.25 (6.33m) 11. Harley Montgomery, 18-01.00 (5.51m)
400H: 2. Jordan Gloden, 57.00
Men's results: 800m: 12. Zach Salcido, 2:00.06 1,500m: 20. Rashid Muse, 4:07.57 22. Brandon Hippe, 4:08.53 28. Jake Schulte, 4:11.55 37. Andy Solano, 4:17.57 39. Kelly Shedd, 4:21.02 43. Erik Solano, 4:24.48 52. Aiden Carlson, 4:38.07
ABOVE: JACINTA MILENKOSKI IN ACTION ON THE TENNIS COURT. OPPOSITE, FROM TOP: JAKE SCHULTE RACING IN THE 1,500M. HARLEY MONTGOMERY JUMPING IN THE 110M HURDLES. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
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SPORTS
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
ERIC SHELBY
Softball
Men’s Tennis
The Viks swept the Southern Utah Thunderbirds last weekend—and advanced to 10 games above .500, at 24-14. The Viks are currently in second place behind Weber State, which has a perfect 9-0 in conference, while the Viks are 8-4. It was all Viks in the first game with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Logan Riggenbach got two RBIs which brought in Emily Johansen and Olivia Dean. Johansen stole second base in the second inning, and Dean stole third and scored on an error by the Thunderbirds. Riggenbach got a double and another RBI—and brought Johansen home again in the second inning. The following inning saw six runs when it started with a single to shortstop by Dean, then Kiara McCrea advanced to second. Next, Alexa Cepeda advanced to third which gave Mariah Rodriguez the opportunity to get home. A single by Johansen brought in another run and Cepeda scored—bases still loaded, 6-0 Vikings. Riggenbach once again stepped onto the plate and gave the Viks a 10-0 lead in the third inning with a home run, which brought everyone home. The Viks allowed one run from Southern Utah in the next inning. The game ended in five. Olivia Grey got her 14 wins with just five losses this season. Still a runaway although a bit closer of a game, the Viks won the second game of the double header, 4-1. Johansen started the game off right in the first inning with a homer and brought in two RBIs. McCrea, in the fourth, also homered and brought in two RBIs. Only two hits were allowed from the Viks despite the two errors. Allicitie Frost got her seventh win on the season 7-4. Frost pitched all seven innings with only two hits and eight strikeouts. The last game of the series was low-scoring—the Viks won 2-0. Grey shut out the Thunderbirds with only two hits and 10 strikeouts. In the second inning, McCrea singled and Paetynn Lopez scored. The score was 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning after a single by Riggenbach and Johansen scored on an error by Southern Utah. The Viks then traveled to Eugene for a one-game match against the Oregon Ducks, before later hosting Warner Pacific. The season is also coming to an end, with only two conference series matchups with Idaho State and the first-place Weber State Wildcats.
The Vikings faced the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Flagstaff, Arizona for their last away match of the regular season. Nils Plutat and Oliver Richards fell in a close one, 7-5. Sam De Vries and Tommy Hsu fell 6-0 in doubles. Plutat fell 6-3, 6-2 in his singles match. Richards also fell 6-1, 6-2. Otto Holtari fell 6-1, 6-3. Hsu fell 6-1, 6-0. The Viks fell 7-0 to the third-place Lumberjacks, and headed home for their final game of the regular season for senior day—playing the Idaho Vandals. The Viks are currently 3-13 this season, 1-9 away and 3-3 at home.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
Women’s Tennis The Viks also traveled to Flagstaff to play the Lumberjacks and could not get the win in their final game of their regular season. Jacinta Milenkoski and Makoto Ohara fell 4-6 in doubles. Majo Hernandez and Emily Rees fell in a close 7-5 match in doubles. The match with Kika Beukers and Capu Sanoner ended unfinished. Hernandez fell in singles 6-4, 6-0. Rees won 6-2, 4-6, 10-5—to get a point on the board for the Vikings. Milenkoski fell 6-0, 6-3. Beukers fell 6-4, 6-2. Ohara, like Rees, won in three—3-6, 6-4, 10-7. The Viks ended their regular season 8-11, with 1-8 away and an impressive 6-3 at home in the Park Blocks.
New Recruits The Park Block Vikings just signed three new men’s basketball players for the 2022-23 season. Bobby Harvey, a 6’3” guard from Chicago, Illinois, transferred out of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Cole Farrell, a 6’5” guard from St. Louis, Missouri also signed. The final pick was Kendall Munson, a 6’7” forward from Seattle, Washington, whose former school was Pepperdine of the West Coast Conference. The Viks will lose a lot of key players next year, including Khalid Thomas, Michael Carter III, Ezekiel Alley and Ian Burke. The Viks will also lose Paris Dawson and Marlon Ruffin, who both entered the transfer portal.
Viks travel to Mt. SAC SPORTS
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RHODODENDRON BRINGS PROG ROCK TO PORTLAND
THE BAND TALKS CREATIVE PROCESS AND WHAT THEY HATE MOST ABOUT HOUSE CONCERTS EZRA CHONG, GAGE WALKER AND NOAH MORTOLA PERFORM AT A RHODENDRON CONCERT (LEFT TO RIGHT). IAN ENGER/RHODENDRON
JESSE ROPERS According to the simple description found on their official Instagram page, the band Rhododendron is “pdx prog punk.” While these three short words might be accurate, they don’t go far enough in describing the Portland-based group’s fresh sound that blends decades of musical evolution. Rhododendron has its roots in the Portland School of Rock, a music school that all three band members attended for several years. Guitarist and singer Ezra Chong and bassist Gage Walker were the first to meet, and they quickly made a doom metal band that neither member looks back on fondly. “It was this really crappy doom metal band we didn’t do anything with,” Chong said. Chong began listening to a lot of King Crimson, while Walker got into prog rock and experimental music. With shifting musical interests, the pair left their doom metal band to make something different. They began playing around with a riff that both thought was cool, but Chong knew that whatever they did, they would need their fellow School of Rock student Noah Mortola as their drummer. “I was fifteen, Gage was sixteen and Noah was thirteen, but— even then—he was still the best drummer I know,” Chong said. Mortola agreed to join the project, and in March 2019, the three came together for their first practice. Although they found musical chemistry right away, their plans were unexpectedly put on hold when Mortola broke his arm BMXing, causing them to postpone practice for months. Once Mortola’s arm was healed, the group realized they needed a name. The band threw around a few—almost going with Stickbone Bonestick—but weren’t satisfied. Frustrated, the three went on a walk around their neighborhood. On their stroll, they passed a bush of rhododendrons. Back home and hours later, the flower came back up in their naming discussions and they decided to make it their new name. Although the name had almost random origins, Chong found meaning in it after the fact. “There was a rhododendron garden near my house as a kid,” Chong said. “I would go to feed the ducks, and I always thought it was a sick word.” A friend of theirs mentioned that they thought it was a good name because rhododendrons are beautiful on the outside but poisonous on the inside.
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ARTS & CULTURE
“I wasn’t thinking that at all, but it’s cool that people can get that interpretation,” Chong said. “I swear we aren’t that edgy.” Although the name is memorable, the band has found some unforeseen inconveniences with it. “People will tag us in their [Instagram] photos not knowing that we’re a band,” Mortola said. “[They will] caption it with ‘nice day at the rhododendron garden.’” In a more intentional way, fans will often send them photos with the flower. “I’m always like ‘this is cool, but I don’t know what to do with this,’” Walker said. With a name chosen and Mortola’s arm healed again, the band started making music in 2019. Most songs began with Chong coming up with a riff or melody that would develop into a song. After the rough idea was developed, Walker would go through and help edit the riffs into cohesive tracks. Finally, Mortola would record all the parts and mix the tracks into a finished song. Chong described the dynamic simply: “I’m the writer, Gage is the editor and Noah is the talent.” Their first months of writing manifested into their debut EP, Stream of Nauseousness. The band described this first project as being a mish mosh of different songs of different genres. “We were writing music and knew that we had to release something quick,” Walker said. “It was less cohesive and more collage,” Chong said. “Every song was its own genre in a way.” Although they enjoyed the project, the band finished with a desire to make something more unified. In 2021, the group released their first full-length album, Protozoan Battle Hymns. This release would see their goals made true, with tracks that share unifying themes and musical ideas throughout. “[I wanted to create] something that you can define more as being ‘our sound,’” Mortola said. “As opposed to just a ton of random songs.” In all of their discography, their unique approach to naming tracks has persisted. They described their naming technique as a random process of putting words together into word vomit. One of their song names, “Moloch Whose Eyes are a Thousand Blind Windows,” was decided on a rock paper scissors game that Walker lost to Chong. The song borrows its title from a
line in an Allen Ginsberg poem, who Chong cites as someone that they want their lyrics to be like. “No one knows our lyrics,” Chong said. “And we’re okay with that because I’m not very proud of them.” When asked about their influences, the band overflowed with artists and genres, including Brazilian folk, various metal bands and prog staples. Chong’s major influences in writing for Rhododendron include Don Caballero, Gospel and 37500 Yens. Walker cited The Birthday Party in their approach to intentional repetition and deconstruction in repetition. Mortola agreed with the others—referencing Matt Gartska as his favorite drummer—but in recent years, has been studying jazz for his style, naming Bebop and its many subgenres. To him, the difference is a huge plus. “If we all liked the same music it might be easier to have a collective image,” he said. “But I like having a different take, especially with something as essential as drums.” In their three years together, the band has seen a lot of what the local scene has to offer. In that time, they’ve also developed a few minor grievances. One of these is frustration at house shows, with the crowd either getting on stage or walking directly through their area. “Give all the bands you go to see space,” Chong said. “If you crash into my pedals I’m going to kill you.” Another issue for Chong in particular is their rising popularity. “A lot of people know me in the scene, which is cool to be appreciated, but I have this expectation because everyone knows me,” Chong said. “People associate it more with me, and it sucks because Gage and Mortola are putting in just as much work and are crucial.” Despite the small upsets, the group is still very thankful for the success they have found and emphatically express how much fun they have had. All three agree that their work is something they would be doing no matter whether people listened or not. They all state that they write because it’s what they enjoy, not for any career goals or public appeal. Moving forward, the band plans to write more original music, with a loose goal of releasing an album or EP this summer. Interested readers who’d like to learn more about their work and upcoming shows can find them on Instagram, where they go by the handle @rhododendronpdx.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
FIND IT AT 5TH AVE. MISSISSIPPI MERMAID
CATHERINE DENEUVE AS JULIE IN MISSISSIPPI MERMAID. COURTESY OF UNITED ARTIST’S CORPORATION
THIS WEEK’S FILM SHOWCASES A CLASSIC OF FRENCH NEW WAVE CINEMA
MILO LOZA Find It At 5th Ave. is a recurring column that reviews, previews and explores running and upcoming films at PSU’s independent movie theater, 5th Avenue Cinema. 5th Avenue Cinema will be screening the 1969 film Mississippi Mermaid this upcoming weekend. Created by the legendary French director François Truffaut, Mississippi Mermaid is about Louis (Jean-Paul Hunsaker) and Julie (Catherine Deneuve) who meet through the personals column of a French newspaper. After exchanging letters for some time, the two decide to skip straight to marriage without ever having met in person. Upon her arrival on his plantation, he discovers that she had been sending false photos of herself, and she discovers that he had been hiding his wealth—each aiming to ensure the other’s sincerity. The film follows them as they go through with their marriage despite the mutual deception. But did they make the right decision? You only have one weekend to find out—and it may be your only opportunity to see Mississippi Mermaid in 35mm ever! The film was chosen for screening by cinephile and Francophile Genevieve Hunsaker, a Portland State film major. Hunsaker said she liked watching Belmondo and Deneuve—both held in high esteem in French cinema—in anything they’ve been in. “He [Louis] gets wrapped up in this crime and mystery,” she said. “And they do kind of fall in love—so there’s that conflict.”
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
Hunsaker said that almost anyone, regardless of taste, can find something to enjoy with Mississippi Mermaid. “It has the conventional crime drama, but it also has a little more of the arty, arthouse, cinephile feel because it’s French New Wave,” she explained. According to Hunsaker, the French New Wave was a cinematic movement that took place in the late ‘50s, distinguished by its rejection of conventional and traditional filmmaking techniques and its fondness for experimentation. “They were really into American cinema, but also saw how artificial and scripted Hollywood was,” she said. “The French New Wave is kind of poking at the conventions of cinema and playing with them.” Directors such as Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard—who created Breathless, a film that marked the beginning of the movement—were the heralds of the French New Wave. Hunsaker said that these films had imaginative, new elements like fourth wall breaks and jumbled story lines where directors would explore new possibilities and experiment with self-awareness. “In general, I think it’s a fun movement and one of the first cinematic movements that people hear about and get into—that’s what it was for me,” Hunsaker said. Watching these films helped her realize that movies are not so absolute, and that there are different categories—including cultures and time periods—that contribute to the overall aesthetic of a film.
Although the French New Wave took place in the late ‘50s, contemporary French films have not withdrawn from its attributes. “It’s definitely been folded into cinema, in general,” Hunsaker said. “I think the theories behind what they were doing with their films have definitely become embedded into modern French cinema.” For modern viewers, this means that Mississippi Mermaid offers a window into how modern cinema became what it is today. Hunsaker described one of her favorite scenes from Mississippi Mermaid as a classic example of Truffaut’s personal style: a woman sitting in front of a vanity mirror while a man comes up behind her and draws his gun. The composition, in addition to the colors and decor of the room, create a very pleasant and complementary visual, Hunsaker said. “I feel like it sums up a lot of the French New Wave theme,” Hunsaker said. “Godard says ‘all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.’” She said that viewers who like crime dramas are bound to like this one, especially because it’s a little different, although anyone with an interest in film history or arthouse movies in general is bound to find something to love. “There are a lot of French films that take themselves way too seriously,” Hunsaker added. “But this one in particular does not have an air of pretentiousness.” Mississippi Mermaid will play at 5th Avenue Cinema from April 22-24.
ARTS & CULTURE
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THIS FEELS CORRUPT, NO? WHITNEY GRIFFITH
INFLATION AND MARKET MANIPULATION ARE GETTING OUT OF HAND CAMDEN BENESH When I hear about inflation, all I want to think about is inflating my bike tires full of air and going on a nice ride on a breezy April afternoon. But recently, U.S. inflation has risen 8.5%—the highest pace in 40 years. The last time we saw such dire statistics was in 1981. With the pricing of gas, food and pretty much everything rising, the supply chain disruptions coupled with labor shortages related to the pandemic still seem bizarre when all of these big corporations are marking record profits. It simply seems like a slap in the face seeing that large businesses are benefiting from the pandemic and the war Russia has raged on Ukraine. The future looks bleak if in-
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OPINION
flation keeps going up for us everyday citizens. Should I pay for food or gas? Such decisions thwart us faster than we realize. The financial apocalypse seems to be around the corner. Even more problematic than rising prices is how these corporations use it to their advantage with market manipulation. Say, for instance, prices for toilet paper skyrocket, but my local grocery only distributes 75 bundles at a high price. With a
first-come-first-serve mentality, these corporations can easily shift gears and profit from the increased demand for said product. By limiting the supply but increasing the demand, it’s quite hard to regulate. It seems to fall into a gray area. As another example, suppose that a Transformers toy is suddenly in demand because other toy manufacturers went out of business, but only Target and Walmart get to carry the product. Target may charge $75 for your limited edition Optimus Prime figure, while Walmart goes above and beyond and charges $100. If Target only has a week’s worth of inventory of this toy, but Walmart
has an entire box of them, then Target’s box will sell out quickly and consumers will be forced to buy from Walmart at the increased price. You can see the pattern here. There should be some sort of regulation, but currently there’s none at all. In normal times, there would be no way in hell these companies would be able to charge $100 for my Optimus Prime. This inflation doesn’t just affect collectible toys and consumer goods—the same applies to gas prices, food and really everything. When a delay happens, there’s an opportunity for companies to explain to customers why prices are being raised. Issues like distribution or delivery that necessitate the current cost increase can, of course, be justified—but at what point does the line blur?
At what point do consumers have to make the call to not get the product that they want, or even need? Inflation affects all of our lives to a considerable degree, and the point that it has gotten to is inexcusable. We all know that the global supply chain has been disrupted. Last November, President Joe Biden spoke about energy costs, and stated he would begin an investigation led by the Federal Trade Commission to tackle the potential market manipulation at play. With the President stepping in, how would companies be penalized for manipulating markets or price gouging? A slap on the wrist? A firm warning? Permanent closure? Only time will tell. With a possible recession on the rise, perhaps we need to approach this issue differently than before. Transparency amongst leaders in business might just be the solution we need to halt this market manipulation. A balance needs to be set in place, so that we won’t be making these hard financial decisions, juggling which of our basic needs and desires we have to live without. What does the future have in store—pun intended—for us?
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
THE UNITED STATES' SUPPORT OF THE YEMENI INVASION IS HYPOCRITICAL A LOOK AT AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IN THE FACE OF ATROCITY AN ANTI-WAR PROTESTOR AT A RALLY IN CENTRAL LONDON ON MARCH 6. COURTESY OF ALISDARE HICKSON
ALEX ALDRIDGE The Russian invasion of Ukraine, under the command of President Vladimir Putin, has caused a groundswell of support for the Ukrainian people and condemnation of the Russian government. While we must continue to voice our support for the Ukrainian people—as well as the Russian people who are in opposition to the war—we should also scrutinize the hypocrisy and posturing of world leaders. Many of them are responsible for actions and policies that directly contributed to the death and suffering of people the world over—strikingly, the ongoing war in Yemen. The United Kingdom and the United States governments possess immense hypocrisy for rightfully condemning Russia for its invasion while also providing massive military support for Saudi Arabia in its ongoing war in Yemen. This is not an attempt to compare nuanced and different conflicts, but rather to inspire us all to challenge the moral superiority of those who are hypocritical and morally bankrupt. With so much going on in the world, I encourage people to pay attention to both local and global news. If you haven’t been paying attention, Yemen has been in a civil war for the last eight years. In 2014, Houthi forces took the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a, forcing President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia. Because of Saudi Arabia’s worries about the Houthis receiving support from Iran, the Saudis and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) began to launch attacks in Yemen with the support of nine other countries in the region. The United Nations estimated that the war in Yemen has killed over 377,000 people since 2014, both directly from fighting and indirectly from the resulting hunger and disease. 70% of those deaths are children, with nearly half of the children under age five in Yemen facing chronic malnutrition. 14 million Yemenis—nearly half of the population—are currently on the brink of famine due to the blockades imposed on them by Saudi Arabia. The conflict has also displaced at least 4 million people from the country of 31 million. Saudi-led air strikes and blockades caused this humanitarian crisis in Yemen, and it should anger people that the U.S. has supported Saudi Arabia—in the form of billions of dollars in arms sales, training, mechanical and other logistical support— and, until 2018, aided with aerial refueling for the Saudi coalition bombing runs. These same bombing runs and other Saudi-led attacks have been carried out using U.S.-manufactured weapons. When look-
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
ing at data from March 2015 to Nov. 2016, the Human Rights Watch documented that 21 of the 58 apparently unlawful airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition used U.S.-made weapons, which included an attack on a market that killed at least 97 civilians, and an attack on a funeral service which killed at least 100 and wounded another 500. Though U.S. President Joe Biden announced early last year that he planned to end support of Saudi Arabian offensive operations in Yemen, the administration just approved a $650 million sale of 280 air-to-air missiles made by Raytheon—with the caveat that these are supposedly defensive weapons. It is also important to note that the U.S. has supported Saudi Arabia and the UAE in their intervention in Yemen over the course of the last three administrations. In fact, from 2015-2019, 73% of arms that Saudi Arabia imported came from the U.S. and 13% came from the UK. The UAE also received two-thirds of its arms from the U.S. during the same period. While it’s important to criticize U.S. imperialism and its double standard with Yemen, it is just as important to criticize the U.S. media’s racist coverage in contrast to the war in Ukraine. At the end of February, Charlie D’Agata of CBS said that the people of Ukraine were civilized, unlike the people of Iraq or Afghanistan. NBC news correspondent Kelly Cobiella said that, unlike refugees coming from Syria, Ukrainian refugees are Christian and white. Comments like that are as morally bankrupt as those who defend them. The data on the number of Yemeni refugees that the U.S. has taken in is hard to find. Lauren Aratani of The Guardian wrote that, since the war in Yemen started in 2015, the U.S. had only taken in 50 Yemeni refugees. Five-zero. Are you kidding me? Furthermore, in the fiscal year of 2021, the International Rescue Committee stated that not a single Yemeni refugee was admitted in the US. Your first thought may be to blame the pandemic, but in that same fiscal year the U.S. took in 11,411 refugees. It’s hard to understand why the United States hasn’t taken in more Yemeni refugees, but with the media coverage mentioned above, maybe it’s not so hard to fathom afterall. In contrast to the war in Yemen, the U.S. government said in late March that it would take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees. According to CBS, about 150 Ukrainians a day have been allowed to enter the U.S. at the San Ysidro port of entry. We shouldn’t be critical of the number of Ukrainians seeking refuge, we should be critical—and outraged—of the decision on
who gets sympathy and who doesn’t. Waving Ukrainian flags and calling for sanctions against Russia ignores the fact that, like the sanctions the U.S. put on Venezuela, or the blockade that Saudi Arabia puts on Yemen, these measures often lead to humanitarian disasters—and hurt everyone except the wealthy, while oftentimes pushing these countries even further into authoritarianism. This isn’t about what-aboutism or an either-or situation. Two or more things can be true at once—unless nuance is dead. This is about scrutinizing the U.S. government’s hypocrisy, and the responsibility it has for the death and suffering of so many around the world. We need to pressure those in power and hold them responsible for trying to stand on the podium of self-righteousness while soaking their hands in blood. We need to ask why the U.S. government gave Israel $3.8 billion in military aid in 2020, when Amnesty International declared Israel had committed the crime of apartheid against the Palestinian people. The U.S. is hardly the bastion of morality with our own numerous war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Wars continue to be waged by the rich who send the young and poor off to die, while people from halfway around the world fetishize the bloodshed by posting pictures of the dead for likes on social media. The general U.S. populace is just as hypocritical and morally bankrupt as well. I remember during the early years of the Iraq War when people in the U.S. publicly said we should carpet bomb all of the Middle East, and when the Dixie Chicks—now called The Chicks—were canceled for voicing opposition to the Iraq War. Everyone likes to claim they would take the moral high ground in reference to past atrocities and movements, yet when these atrocities are committed in the present time, many look the other way. We should continue to open our arms to fleeing Ukrainians as well as Russians who are also seeking escape from their own government. But when people fleeing conflict to the south of us are called caravan invaders and bans are being put on travel from Muslim-majority countries, criticism and outrage needs to be directed towards our government and those who support such fucked-up, exclusionary policies. So much hate and vitriol in the world is directed towards others based on illegitimate social constructs and invisible lines— imaginary borders on stolen lands, built off genocide.
OPINION
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SCIENTISTS HAVE FINISHED DECODING THE ENTIRE HUMAN GENOME LEO CLARK RYAN MCCONNELL In a landmark feat for scientists, geneticists and health experts, the first complete sequence of the human genome has been mapped, announced on April 1, 2022. Led by the Human Genome Project, 92% of the genome had been sequenced in 2003, beginning an international research project aimed at completing the final 8% of sequencing. With 19 years of collaboration, it has finally been accomplished. A lot of science fiction jargon is thrown around when discussing the future of human genetics, which provides an unwanted opening for some largely cryptic opinions about how genetics work in humans— especially the impact on the field of medicine and scientific research. The easiest analogy for a genome is to view all species as a cookbook. Any living being, plant, animal or fungi needs a recipe to build themselves with. Each living being needs different cells to do different things, and when those cells die, they need other healthy, living cells to replicate and function in much the same way. This is the natural cycle of how living organisms survive. When cells don’t die at the right time—or when they don’t adhere to the cookbook of life—cancer is formed. The genome, much like
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a cookbook, encompasses the complete guide of all the different kinds of things a living organism can produce, from start to finish. Naturally, within that cookbook, are recipes. These could be recipes for different cells, or different pieces that a being needs to produce in order to function. The recipes here can be thought of as genes. At the end of the day, all recipes are a set of instructions. They tell you what you need, what to do and how long to do it. Each instruction in a recipe can be thought of as a strand of DNA. Think of a recipe for mac & cheese as the gene, and the instruction for boiling pasta as the DNA in the recipe of life. So, where then, are the ever-contested and oft-cited chromosomes in this analogy? These little bundles of genetic data can be thought of as the categories inside a cookbook. If we see a gene as a complete recipe, a chromosome simply bundles recipes together in a certain functional order, no different than the soup section in a cookbook alongside the dessert section. Each gene inside a chromosome is often related, but still varies widely between organisms and for functions within an organism. Each species carries different sets of chromosomes, and each chromosome has
endless potentials for variation. Humans most often carry 23 pairs of chromosomes, creating a total of 46 chromosomes in all. Typically, one chromosome in a pair is inherited via the egg, and the other is inherited via the sperm. This is why chromosomes are often talked about in pairs—one from each parent. Sex chromosomes are specific chromosomes that impact developmental functions such as genitalia and hormone production. These are usually described as either an XX chromosome pair or an XY chromosome pair, which many use as the basis to determine one’s sex. However, as the Intersex Campaign for Equality details, an estimated 1.7–2% of the population actually carries a variation beyond these pairs, such as a single X or a triple XXY set of chromosomes. Nature is never bound to adhere to strict rules in every instance. To place this into perspective, if the United States has 300 million inhabitants, this would mean that 5–6 million people are born with a set of chromosomes beyond the binary pairs of XX or XY. 6 million individuals should hardly be considered outliers in our diverse society. This is evidence of the human genome’s variability and flexibility. These chromosomes are important to discuss because these have actually accounted
for a majority of the 8% of genetic data that the Telomere to Telomere (T2T) consortium dedicated itself to mapping, in collaboration with the Human Genome Project. The euchromatin regions—the less dense DNA material that is more active and shared amongst all humans—accounted for the original 92% of the genome that had been mapped by 2003. With the advancement of technology and medicine, the strands of DNA that were previously too dense to break through, but were found most often in sex chromosomes—known as heterochromatin or the dark matter of our genetic structure—have now been uncovered. This is only the first step in our understanding of the material that makes us unique. While this section of the genome has been mapped, it is not yet understood precisely what instructions these sequences do. Since this research mapped chromosomes individually and independently, it does not yet look at the cookbook as a whole, but rather what can be found in each section of the book that tells us who we are. For now, it is our responsibility to ensure that the research conducted remains ethical, moral and used only for the purposes of enriching the lives of those who may suffer from debilitating and lethal genetic disorders.
PSU Vanguard • APRIL 20, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
