VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 46 • MAY 4, 2022
PORTLAND STREET RESPONSE PILOT SUCCESSFUL IN FIRST YEAR
SPORTS
ARTS & CULTURE
OPINION
Portland State Viking takes flight with Falcons P. 6-7
The Doc is in P. 8
In contempt of the court P. 10-11
WE’RE HIRING Copy Editors & News Editor EMAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM
CONTENTS
COVER BY WHITNEY MCPHIE
NEWS PORTLAND STREET RESPONSE RELEASES YEAR ONE UPDATE
P. 3
ARTS & CULTURE QUEER COMMUNITY REACTS TO PORTLAND’S NEW LESBIAN BAR
P. 8
INTERNATIONAL NORTH KOREA BOLSTERS NUCLEAR POLICIES
P. 4
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE PODCAST COMES TO PORTLAND
P. 9
THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD
P. 5
OPINION DEMOCRACY IS DYING BY TRIBUNAL
P. 10-11
SPORTS PORTLAND STATE PUNTER SETH VERNON SIGNS WITH ATLANTA FALCONS
P. 6-7
SCIENCE & TECH WEB SCRAPING RULED LEGAL IN US APPEALS COURT
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 Jeremiah Hayden Nova Johnson Foster Kupbens Analisa Landeros Kat Leon Whitney McPhie Carmen Peters 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 Fiona Hays Mia Levy Whitney McPhie 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.
PORTLAND STREET RESPONSE RELEASES YEAR ONE UPDATE
WHITNEY MCPHIE
AN UPDATE ON THE INTRODUCTORY YEAR OF A NEW KIND OF FIRST RESPONDER ZOE EDELMAN Portland Street Response (PSR) was introduced on Feb. 16, 2021 as a new branch of Portland Fire and Rescue to mitigate mental and behavioral crises. By Nov. 4, 2021, PSR was expanded to the entirety of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and given a team consisting of firefighter paramedics, a licensed mental health responder, community health workers, an EMT and peer support specialists. The two available PSR teams are dispatched by the Bureau of Emergency Communications when a caller reports a non-violent crisis concerning mental health, substance abuse or verbal outbursts. People who are outside and available to help address the crisis in a helpful and timely manner could also be called on. This month, PSR released its one-year evaluation of the response program. PSR recommended the program continue expanding ample support for the team to provide education for the community, to address communication concerns between 911 operations and the PSR team and to improve team culture, racial equity and community inclusivity. The creation of PSR was sparked by a report from The Oregonian which stated that 52% of arrests in 2017 were of unhoused people—and that a call to action to prevent this level of arrests was needed. Street Roots, a street advocacy group and newspaper, created a framework for PSR modeled after a similar program called CAHOOTS in Eugene, OR. The program was given the go-ahead by the Portland Police Bureau after receiving support from Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty during the 2020 George Floyd protests. Out of 824 calls initially responded to by the PPB and then distributed to the response team, PSR determined they consisted of
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
“84.6% welfare checks, 13.5% unwanted persons calls, and 1.9% that [it was] unable to determine.” PSR was generally able to respond to these calls within 25 minutes to address the emergency. Only 11% of the PSR responses required a co-response from other first responders to mitigate the situation—meaning PSR was effective in meeting its mission to handle most crises that affect the unhoused population. PSR reported that “65.1% of client contacts involved someone experiencing homelessness” and that “51.9% of client contacts involved someone with suspected mental health needs.” About “3.2% of all calls were transported to the hospital for additional care.” PSR clients may receive resources such as food, tents, clothing, water bottles and service recommendations from the PSR team, and PSR reported that nine clients obtained permanent housing due to working with them. According to the survey, positive first responder experiences helped combat the fact that 54.6% of the Portland unhoused population reported negative first responder experiences in the past three months. 51% reported feeling unsafe to call 911, citing “cops aren’t compassionate.” “Don’t call police,” stated another response. “It’s hit or miss about whether they even respond. They mistreat people with addiction. It’s an illness and should be treated as such.” PSR feedback found that unhoused community members who interacted with the program rated it a 4.64 out of 5 on average. “They treated us like humans,” said one client. “They were friendly and didn’t come in with the attitude.”
Several Portland residents praised the work of PSR, reinforcing the importance of programs that provide alternatives to the police and the value of having experienced mental health professionals approach those who are going through immediate crises. “It’s very positive for the community,” said a person commenting on PSR. “If you don’t care about society’s most vulnerable, then you don’t care about society.” An interesting finding was that awareness of PSR among Black unhoused people went from 15.8% awareness after six months to 54.5% awareness by the end of the year. Right now, over a third of the unhoused community members interviewed reported being aware of PSR and knowing the services it provides. Respondents gave positive feedback to the team, especially noting the team’s patience, empathy and intelligence. Most clients appreciated PSR’s determination to provide services that got them back on track with mental health and housing for long-term success by providing follow up check-ins. “I don’t worry anymore,” said one client. “I can say I need Portland Street Response, and I know it won’t be the police showing up.” The PSR team does address major concerns with a temporary fix, as that is all it is able to provide in a lot of cases. Lack of availability of shelters, rehabilitation facilities and permanent housing options hinder what the PSR team is able to accomplish, along with having the necessary geographic knowledge on where to check on residents. “We need to remodel the whole system, and we’re not in that place yet,” said one team member. “So, I think calling us a solution to homelessness is kind of setting us up to fail.” More information on the Portland Street Response initiatives can be found at portland.gov/streetresponse.
NEWS
3
PRESIDENT OF SOUTH KOREA YOON SUK YEOL VISITS THE SEOUL NATIONAL CEMETERY ON MARCH 10, 2022. JEON HAN/REPUBLIC OF KOREA
NORTH KOREA BOLSTERS NUCLEAR POLICIES ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI
YOON SUK-YEOL PREPARES TO ASSUME OFFICE AMID TENSIONS
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South Korea’s President-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol will assume office on May 10. In his first meeting since becoming president-elect, Yoon told The Washington Post that South Korea must step up its foreign policy commensurate with its cultural and economic status as well as becoming a stronger ally to the United States. “We should not only focus on relations with North Korea, but rather expand the breadth of diplomacy in the E.U. and throughout Asia with the South KoreaU.S. relationship as our foundation,” Yoon stated. “We should take on a greater role in fulfilling our responsibility as one of the top 10 economies in the world.” Yoon has stated plans for abandoning the defensive stance towards North Korea and China, instead aiming to tighten and strengthen the relationship with other allies. Yoon intends to make South Korea a critical player in terms of addressing global challenges, including an array of issues ranging from supply chain management to climate change to vaccine production. Overall, Yoon hopes to deviate away from a singular focus of forming all of the country’s policies around relations with North Korea. Yoon is about to take the helm of the world’s 10th largest economy without any previous policy or governing experience—and the narrowest margin for a presidential election victory in the nation’s democratic history. The immediate challenges he will face include rallying together the opposition-controlled parliament and relieving a nation divided
INTERNATIONAL
by worries regarding income inequality and housing price inflation. Yoon’s plans of rebuilding an alliance with the U.S. contrast the goals of the outgoing president, Moon Jae-in, whose foreign policy ambitions included brokering peace with North Korea. According to U.S. analysts, Yoon’s ambitions have been welcomed by the U.S. government which looks to South Korea for a reliable ally to bolster democratic unity in the region. However, it seems Yoon’s efforts will not go unchallenged. On April 25, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech during a military parade that his nuclear force holds the responsibility of not only preventing war through deterrence but also of carrying out strikes against anyone who violates their “fundamental interests.” The Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles were driven through the night parade, marking the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People’s Army in Pyongyang, North Korea. Cha Du-hyeogn, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, South Korea said, “His speech sent a message that North Korea might possibly use nukes preemptively depending on the situation, and more freely pose nuclear threats if necessary going forward.” Yoon then sent a written statement to Reuters in response to Kim’s speech, in which he stated that the
North’s nuclear policy was “delusional.” “It’s failing to realize that there is nothing it can get with nukes,” Yoon stated. “It’s become clear now that North Korea’s claim thus far that its nuclear development was for defense purposes was a lie,” said a spokesperson for Yoon. Though the U.S. military did not immediately provide commentary on the wording of Kim’s speech, it did say North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs “constitute a serious threat to international peace and security.” According to analysts, Kim’s speech was a buildup from previous statements and policies. They also said his speech seemed to mirror language used in the latest U.S. Nuclear Posture Review, wherein the U.S. claimed it would use nuclear weapons to defend the “vital interests” of itself or its allies. Melissa Hanham, a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation in California called the speech a “threat that leaves something to chance.” “The idea is to get your adversary to back off and be afraid of doing the unknown action that would trigger nuclear war, but it’s also a form of brinksmanship that can escalate to nuclear war due to accident or misunderstanding,” Hanham said. Yoon’s team has since said that deterrence is a priority, underscored by the arms race between both North and South Korea to develop increasingly powerful weapons and missiles.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
April 25– May 1
2 3
1
ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI 1
April 27
ABUJA, NIGERIA:
Nigeria’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday which imposes a jail sentence of at least 15 years for anyone who pays a ransom to free a kidnapped person. The bill also made abduction punishable by death in instances where a victim dies. Kidnappings have plagued Nigeria for the past decade, with several armed gangs mostly active in the northern states of the nation. Kidnappings for ransom included students, villagers and highway motorists, though the gangs were also responsible for thousands of killings. The bill was an amendment to the preexisting terrorism law, and mandated the death penalty for convicted kidnappers in cases of loss of life due to abduction as well as life imprisonment in other circumstances. Michael Opeyemi Bamidele, chairman of the Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters committee, told the Senate that making ransom payments punishable by death would “discourage the rising spate of kidnapping and abduction for ransom in Nigeria, which is fast spreading in the country.” Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has taken the step to officially classify the armed gangs as terrorists. However, this has not been successful in stemming the kidnappings which are an almost daily occurrence. Following the passage of the bill, it will now be debated in the lower chamber of the National Assembly before being sent to the president for signature. 2
April 28
SHANGHAI, CHINA:
For the past four weeks, the city of Shanghai has been dealing with China’s largest COVID-19 outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic, remaining in a critical stage despite various efforts to alleviate the outbreak. So far the city has taken steps to make resources such as vaccinations for elderly residents more available. On April 27, Shanghai witnessed a 22% drop in new asymptomatic cases which marked the lowest rate in 24 days for the city. Deputy Director for
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, Zhao Dandan, spoke at a briefing on Thursday, and reported that every district in the city is coordinating with “prevention and control efforts.” “On the condition that epidemic risks are controlled, and with the elderly as the focal point, we are actively promoting COVID-19 vaccinations,” Zhao said. He added that community vaccination vehicles and temporary vaccination stations in care homes were being deployed to the districts. Shanghai’s harsh lockdown has contributed to growing fears that China will be trapped in a process of lifting and imposing lockdowns for the upcoming months, as it has caused a great deal of strife to the economy while exasperating the population. Several schools and public spaces in Beijing were closed April 28 as much of the capital’s 22 million resident population prepared to participate in mass COVID-19 testing, with the intention of avoiding a Shanghai-like lockdown, according to Reuters. 3
April 28
NEW DELHI, INDIA:
India faced harsh repercussions of global warming in the past week, as large swathes of South Asia experienced intense heat waves, Reuters reported. Last month was India’s hottest March on record, and the heat does not seem to be dwindling. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been prompted to warn about increasing fire risks as the country heats up rapidly. India experienced its worst electricity shortage in six years, as early school and other closures forced people indoors. Temperatures in New Delhi rose past 40°C (104°F) consistently for several days—and they are expected to hover around 44°C (111 °F) until Sunday—with peak summer heat expected to arrive before monsoon rains in June. Health officials in Gujarat made arrangements for a potential spike in patients. “We have issued an advisory to hospitals to set up special wards for heat stroke and other heat-related diseases due to the rise in temperatures,” said Manoj Aggarwal, the state’s health secretary, to Reuters.
INTERNATIONAL
5
PORTLAND STATE PUNTER SETH VERNON SIGNS WITH ATLANTA FALCONS SOFTBALL WINS 19-15 AND TAKES SERIES AGAINST IDAHO STATE ERIC SHELBY SOFTBALL The Viks played their last away series against the Idaho State Bengals. They couldn’t get the sweep, but won the series last weekend. The first game was all Viks. Paetynn Lopez grounded out to second getting an RBI, Logan Riggenbach advanced to second, Olivia Dean came to third and Alexa Cepeda scored. Natalia Martinez singled to right field and Dean scored. Cepeda and Dean, in the following inning, scored after Riggenbach singled to right field as well. Mariah Rodriguez singled to left field and everyone advanced, while Riggenbach scored. 4-0 Vikings in the fourth. Shea Garcia got an RBI and brought Lopez home. Kiara McCrea singled up the middle and Martinez scored. The score reached 8-0 in just the fourth. If that wasn’t a secure win, Emily Johansen, Lopez and Rodriguez all homered in the top of the next inning, increasing the lead to 11-0. Idaho State
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SPORTS
homered in the bottom of the fifth, but the game ended early with a 11-1 win for the Viks. The Viks fell in the second game of the double header, despite a three-run lead in the first inning. Riggenbach went 3-4 at bat against the Bengals with one run. Johansen went 2-4 with two runs and four RBIs. The Viks couldn’t get the ball rolling after scoring five runs in the first two innings, leading them to fall 8-5—though they looked to take the series the next day. 16 hits came from the Viks in the last game of the series as they went on to win in a 19-15 thriller. Riggenbach doubled to right center and Johansen and Dean scored. Lopez got an RBI and Riggenbach scored. Rodriguez reached on an error by the shortstop and Martinez advanced to second while Lopez scored. Cepeda singled and Martinez scored. A sacrifice popup came from Dean, and Rodriguez scored unearned. Cepeda and Garcia scored unearned
from a single by Riggenbach and the Viks were up 8-0 in just the first inning. Idaho State answered and scored 10 runs at the bottom of the first and second. The lead was 10-8 Bengals, in what looked like the end result of a game. Bases loaded in the top of the third with Dean, Cepeda and McCrea for the Viks. Johansen was walked and McCrea scored by walking home. Fielders choice by Riggenbach and Cepeda scored. Martinez walked and Johansen came home, tying the game at 10. The Viks did not end the inning yet, as Lopez reached on a fielder’s choice—and Dean scored on yet another error by Idaho State. Martinez walked again and Johansen came home, bringing the lead to 12-10. A single by Rodriguez brought home Riggenbach. Shea also singled to right field, and Lopez scored. McCrea singled to left center and Martinez scored, the lead now 1610 in the bottom of the third. The Bengals crept up a little in runs, gaining four in the fourth inning, decreasing the lead by two for the Viks. Powerhouse Logan Riggenbach singled to left field, having Johansen advance to second, and Cepeda scoring in the fifth. Johansen homered and got two RBI, bringing home herself and Cepeda in the seventh. The Viks won 19-15, closing out their last away game and looking forward to Weber State next week in their last home series of the regular season. Though Weber State are now Big Sky regular season champions and are officially seeded first in the tournament, the Viks still want to leave a message: they are reigning
Big Sky tournament champions. WOMEN’S TENNIS The Viks made it to Phoenix and qualified for the Big Sky tournament last week, starting off the first round playing fourth seed Sacramento State. Emily Rees and Majo Hernandez fell in their doubles match 6-1. Makoto Ohara and Maddie Egan fell in a close one, losing 5-7. The match with Capu Sanoner and Nika Beukers went unfinished, leaving it at 6-6. Capu fell 1-6, 2-6 in singles, and Makoto fell 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 in a close one. Majo fell 6-4, 3-6, 3-6. Three of the other matches went unfinished. Beukers went 3-6, 6-1, 3-5 before going unfinished. Rees was up 6-2, 7-6 before going unfinished. Jacinta Milenkoski 6-5, 5-7, 0-2 before ending the match unfinished. Sacramento State went on to win 4-0 and advanced. Northern Arizona University won the tournament for the third time in a row with a win over Weber State, who could have won their first championship in over 20 years. Idaho won over Montana State to claim the men’s Big Sky title. NFL DRAFT: PRO VIKING SETH VERNON Portland State Punter Seth Vernon signed with the Atlanta Falcons during the highly anticipated NFL Draft last week. He will come in on the team as an undrafted free agent. Vernon is currently a 6’5”, 230-pound senior from Santa Rosa, California. His longest punt was 66 yards in 2019 against Eastern Washington. His longest in 2021 was 65 in a 20-13 win over Southern Utah.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
NIKA BEUKERS ON THE COURT. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
TRACK: OSU HIGH PERFORMANCE MEET The Viks traveled to Corvallis for the Oregon State High Performance meet on April 29 and 30, racing against their personal records and local schools in the Pacific Northwest.
800M: 3. Chase Lovercheck, 1:50.56 17. Luke Ramirez, 1:54.72; 26 Sam Lingwall, 1:57.06 35. Rashid Muse, 1:58.74 45. Cam McChesney, 2:00.49 48. Zach Grams, 2:01.45 49. James Bottrill, 2:01.56 52. Zach Salcido, 2:02.77
WOMEN’S RESULTS: 800M: 37. Sophie Jones, 2:23.75 1,500m (Open): 4. Tatum Miller, 4:39.60 35. Olivia Brooks, 4:51.07 44. Natalia Martino, 4:53.63 46. Sophie Jones, 4:54.70 49. Phoebe Brown, 4:56.52 72. Dyllan Newville, 5:26.66
1,500M (OPEN): 4. Cam McChesney, 3:56.58 6. Keynan Abdi, 3:57.61 19. Zach Grams, 4:03.77 21. Abdi Ibrahim, 4:04.47 22. Brandon Hippe, 4:05.53
5,000M (OPEN): 5. Sammy Burke, 17:34.29 14. Jalen Marcil, 17:53.98 23. Emma Owen, 18:34.51 33. Campbell Faust, 19:24.51 35. Madison Tafoya, 20:49.10 Sophia Hackett, DNF 5,000M (INVITATIONAL): 6. Maya Irving, 17:03.87 3,000m Steeplechase: 2. Abi Swain, 11:19.72 MEN’S RESULTS: 400M: 13. Harley Montgomery, 51.36 24. Zach Salcido, 53.83
SAM LINGWALL IN THE MEN'S 800M. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
1,500M: 2. Sam Lingwall, 3:52.69. 1,500m (Invitational): 7. Luke Ramirez, 3:52.86. 5,000M (OPEN): 8. Jake Schulte, 15:27.34 9. Andy Solano, 15:34.24 16. Erik Solano, 15:46.86 5,000M: 8. Dom Morganti, 14:54.94 5,000m (Invitational): 15. Evan Peters, 14:35.14 110H: 1. Jordan Gloden, 14.95
ZACH GRAMS AND BRANDON HIPPE RACING IN 800M. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
400H: 5. Jordan Gloden, 55.87 10. Harley Montgomery, 58.52.
LOGAN RIGGENBACH SPEAKS WITH A SOFTBALL COACH. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
MAYA IRVING AT THE OSU HIGH PERFORMANCE MEET. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
SPORTS
7
QUEER COMMUNITY REACTS TO PORTLAND’S NEW LESBIAN BAR
DOC MARIE’S IS FIRST SELF-DESCRIBED LESBIAN BAR IN OVER A DECADE
KAT LEON
The Portland queer community was abuzz with news of the self-proclaimed lesbian bar for everyone, Doc Marie’s, opening May 21. In a divisive time for queer people everywhere, it is nice to have the promise of a new safe haven. While Portland has gained a name for being a safe and inclusive city for members of the LGBTQ+ community, some have argued that nightlife catering specifically to lesbians was lacking. Olga Bichko and Nikki Ferry are the new owners of Doc Marie’s and seek to fill this perceived need in the community. “We say, every time we go out, ‘Why isn’t there a lesbian bar in Portland?’” said Bichko in a Portland Eater interview. “It was clearly something really needed and wanted in the community.” Portland has vibrant queer communities online, and several bars that generally accept the queer community or specifically cater to gay men. Unfortunately, the nightlife scene for women who love women has been nonexistent since the closing of the Egyptian Club in 2010. In 2016, Ellena Rosenthal wrote in the Willamette Week that, due to identity politics, a bar labeling itself as a lesbian bar was a sure way to not survive in Portland, given that other LGBTQ+ people felt excluded by the term. “The fights over language may seem academic and obscure if you’re not part of them,” Rosenthal stated. “But they are increasingly the battlegrounds over how people see themselves.”
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ARTS & CULTURE
While it is true that identity and the ability to see oneself however one wants are essential, it is equally crucial that lesbian-specific bars exist. “Women, trans femme people and many afab [assigned female at birth] nonbinary people feel safer in lesbian spaces than in straight or even gay [male] spaces because of how toxic men can be,” stated queer community member Luna Phelps. In addition, if Rosenthal’s theory is correct and identity politics is why lesbian bars have not thrived, why is it that bars that cater specifically to gay men have and continue to thrive in Portland? According to Susan Cox of the Feminist Current, there are at least eight bars for gay men in the city. As for how some of the members of the queer community feel about Doc Marie’s new label, fears of exclusion were smoothed over by the fact that the bar stated it is also “for everyone.” “I feel [the] label is relatively accurate,” Phelps stated. “And [it] really only excludes cishet men, as it should.” Kris Lauck, who is queer but does not identify as a lesbian, stated that they felt conflicted given that they agree with the bar’s desire to allow other queers to feel welcome in the space, but worried about “the number of non-queer people this label [of being for everyone] will attract.” “I worry that cis straight people will take this as an invitation to occupy our space, and I worry that will lead to this space feeling less safe for
us queer people,” Lauck said. Twi, who asked not to be identified by their full name, is another member of the queer community who does not identify as a lesbian. Twi said that they felt “nervous about invading a space” which does not match their own identity. Nonetheless, they agreed that the label does not feel exclusive or unsafe to them, but they still desire to respect the fact that the bar is lesbian-centric. All interviewed individuals agreed that they wanted to go to the bar, despite their own personal feelings about how the owners chose to label it. And, despite their opinions, a safe space is considered a welcome addition to Portland’s nightlife, given the slough of repressive legislation sweeping U.S. politics. “I do not feel safe as a queer person in America at all,” Twi stated. Back in March 2022, NBC reported that, since the start of 2022, a record 238 bills were proposed by state lawmakers that would limit the rights of LGBTQ+ people. “With the passing of each new bill and the overturning of each existing bill, I find myself wanting to leave this country more and more,” Lauck stated. Despite all the progress the queer community has made, it has become increasingly frightening for some. “I am having to narrow down where it would
be safe for me to move if I ever moved out of Portland,” Phelps said. While the consensus is that Portland generally accepts the queer community, discrimination still exists here. For example, Twi stated increased physical attacks since moving to Portland from their hometown in Florida. Phelps remarked they left an enjoyable job last year due to transphobia. “This year, I am in the closet about being nonbinary because I work for a relatively conservative company,” Phelps said. While Portland is very far from the queer utopia that some might believe it to be, the community is relatively supportive of each other. “Portland is where I finally felt safe enough to come out as a nonbinary and queer individual,” Lauck stated. Ultimately at times such as these, it is essential that members of the LGBTQ+ community rally around each other. With the help of the vibrant queer community in Portland, Doc Marie’s can become a community space as well as a safe haven for lesbians—and all queers. While Doc Marie’s is not open yet, Lauck stated that they plan to visit the space. “[I’m going to] check it out and support fellow queers,” Lauck said. ABOVE: THE OSBORN BUILDING WHERE DOC MARIE’S IS SET TO OPEN. KAT LEON/PSU VANGUARD
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE PODCAST COMES TO PORTLAND TANNER TODD
AFTER ALMOST A DECADE ON THE AIR, THE SHOW REMAINS A CULT CLASSIC
Welcome to Night Vale, a serial podcast with a global cult following, came to Portland, Oregon last week for a live show at Revolution Hall. Delivered in the style of a community radio program, the podcast has been described by one New York Times reviewer as “what might occur if Stephen King or David Lynch was a guest producer at your local public radio station.” Set in the fictional desert town of Night Vale, the show is punctuated by supernaturally odd news reports about things such as strange phenomena in the sky above the town’s Arby’s, floating black cats and public service announcements from the Sheriff’s Secret Police, all delivered in the soft-voiced tones of the show’s announcer, Cecil Baldwin. Last week’s performance marked almost 10 years for the podcast, which began life as a much smaller project between the show’s co-creators Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink. “I don’t think we expected the kind of success that Night Vale has had,” Cranor said. “It’s been a really delightful surprise. It still is, years later.” The podcast got off to a quiet start—in the early days, lead voice actor Baldwin said he struggled to get his family to listen to it—but it quickly exploded in popularity within its first year. By its one-year anniversary, the show had beat Cranor and Fink’s goal of 100,000 downloads, and only a few months later, download numbers skyrocketed into the millions. “It just started going crazy…the very next month, July 13 it was like some 2.2 million [downloads],” Cranor said. “Something clicked.” But what was it about a quirky supernatural podcast set in a fictional town that resonated with so many people? Cranor cited novelty as a defining factor. “It does a lot to be the first,” Cranor said. “We weren’t the first podcast by any stretch, but the first kind where it was a serial fiction [type of ] storytelling.” Cranor said that the show’s unique spin on the community radio format helped to launch it into an audience that had previously shown little interest in podcasts as an art form. “I guess it sort of reached a lot of people who weren’t going to [otherwise] listen to podcasts in that way,” he said.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
Cranor also noted the diversity of the show’s characters, a rarer trait back in 2012, especially for the relatively young podcast market. The show, which features characters who have multiple intersectional identities, would have been somewhat trailblazing in the early 2010s. “The representation of gay, nonbinary, people of color...it really meant a lot to a lot of people,” Cranor said. “It just latched onto an audience that I don’t think was necessarily being served by podcasts in 2012.” Interestingly, part of the reason that Night Vale was able to explore the multifaceted identities of its characters so well was due to its long-form format. Cranor explained that the idea of a successive, continually developing storyline was one of the core features that he and Fink agreed on when they first decided to launch the project. “Our goal at the outset was, we can do whatever we want with the podcast as long as it has continuity,” he said. “The characters age, and change, and get older.” Unlike shows like The Simpsons, where plotlines reset at the end of every episode, Night Vale refuses to forget—and its characters change as a result. Cranor described a character that was introduced as a young tween in the show’s early years, who is now graduating college as an adult in the world of Night Vale. For Cranor, this is one of the highlights of the show’s serial nature, and part of what keeps the podcast fresh after so many years. “When you get to play with characters in that way, it’s really fun,” he said. For audiences at the sold-out show last week, the performance in Portland was a fun way to catch some of those familiar characters being performed in-person. Cecil Baldwin brought his trademark old-school radio announcer’s voice to the stage at Revolution Hall, delivering Night Vale’s uncanny news with a soothing yet excitable charm. Even with the dialogue about haunted family homes and ghostly possession, it was still easy to hear the show’s community radio origins. “For me it’s always been about the format of the radio announcer,” Cranor said. “[It’s a] love letter to old-school community radio.”
ARTS & CULTURE
9
DEMOCRACY IS DYING BY TRIBUNAL WHO DOES THE SUPREME COURT ANSWER TO? JUSTIN CORY This summer it is widely expected that the Supreme Court will issue a ruling on the Mississippi 15-week abortion ban that will overturn almost 50 years of settled abortion law precedent. This is in spite of recent Gallup polls showing nearly 80% of the United States supports abortion in all or most cases. In the same poll, 63% of the U.S. wanted the Supreme Court’s precedent in Roe v. Wade upheld. If—or more starkly put, when—the new conservative supermajority now on the court thanks to Donald Trump tears up Roe v. Wade, it will be acting in direct opposition to the prevailing views of the majority of the country. This is not the first time that the court has done this. By its very nature, the Supreme Court is inherently deferential to a conservative and traditionalist reading of the Constitution and legal jurisprudence. There is already an inherent conservatism when the Supreme Court references its own decisions from the past to determine how to rule on contemporary issues. But perhaps even more consequential is the reactionary right wing of the court who unite under the banner known as originalism. In Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s own words, she believes that the “constitutional text means what it did at the time it was ratified and that this original public meaning is authoritative.” Proponents of this philosophy argue that this is meant to restrain interpretations of the Constitution and readings of the law that further a judge’s own partiality or preferences. This is ironic given that the originalists themselves have overturned long-settled legal precedent when it suited them, arguing that these instances contradicted the original intent of the Constitution. Interesting that they were able to so intimately get into the minds of long-dead men. There is also the complication that the Constitution is riddled with ambiguities—and was written by white men who enslaved human beings, disallowed women the right to vote (much less hold political office), committed genocide
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OPINION
against the Indigenous people of this continent and furnished themselves as a very wealthy and exclusionary minority ruling over the majority. One could also point out that human beings had not even harnessed the power of electricity yet, so how could one argue that the Constitution, in its original form, considered all of the important issues that would arise in the centuries to follow it? Of course, hypocrisy and flawed logic are not onerous concerns for the reactionary right. One could be forgiven for feeling a bit of whiplash from watching former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell block then-President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court—invoking grandiose platitudes to democracy and claiming the people should decide since it was an election year—only to rush through Trump’s third nominee, Barrett, during an even shorter window of time during another presidential election year. It seems that the gloves will come off and these petulant power brokers will do whatever it takes to get their way, precedent be damned. This on its own should be distressing enough. It is absolutely terrifying that the institution entrusted with decisions that impact millions of lives is dominated by these kinds of ideas and actors. Unfortunately, it gets worse. 1857’s Dred Scott v. Sanford decision blocked citizenship rights for Black people in the U.S. and invalidated Congress’ authority to ban enslavement in the new territories of the time. The Supreme Court was instrumental in overturning the laws that Congress passed during Reconstruction to grant voting rights and citizenship to Black people who had recently been freed from brutal enslavement. The court tacitly supported white people in the South as they terrorized and disenfranchised Black voters. In 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, the court enshrined the separate-but-equal doctrine of Jim Crow into legal statute, thus preserving the racial caste system for decades to come.
The court backed all of the white supremacist and imperialist expansionism of Manifest Destiny across the western edge of the continent—and even beyond when the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam—and gave the green light to deprive the residents of these new U.S. acquisitions of any constitutional rights. Then, during World War II, the Supreme Court upheld the incarceration and internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans in violation of their due process. There is also the infamous Citizens United ruling which essentially found that money is protected as political speech. This court-sanctioned new wave of legal dark money opened the floodgates for the further subversion of democracy, and allowed wealth inequality to soar ever higher, with no transparency or checks and balances on the power and reach of the wealthy and powerful. This is not an anomaly, as The Washington Post journalist David A. Love recently wrote. He argued the court has historically served to undermine the foundational democratic value of political equality through its deference to various laws that have harmed “racial, religious or ideological minorities” and through its protection of the interests of the wealthy. “For most of its existence, the court has not been a moderate, apolitical body, but rather has oppressed marginalized groups and protected white male landowners, the group long considered ideal political citizens, who wrote the Constitution, and for whom the Constitution was written,” Love wrote. Even the 1954 landmark progressive victory for the Civil Rights Movement, Brown v. Board of Education—which ended racial segregation in schools—has been tied to ambitions to bolster U.S. influence and global opinion during the Cold War. Officials of the time were keenly aware that a nation declaring itself the arbiter of democracy and truth looked hypocritical in light of the brutal racial hierarchies at home. This gets us to the assumption that judges or justices are—
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
or even can be—devoid of partiality, political motivations or personal opinions. That these would not shape their judgements is a delusion of the highest order. It is a noble ideal that a body of laws would rein in some or all of these personal investments, but time and again those at the top of the legal system’s hierarchy have shown themselves more than capable of overturning laws that get in their way. The judiciary has heavily favored the rights of property over human rights, and long staked itself to the interests of the wealthy and powerful, a group to which most of its members belong. Lifelong appointments do little to curb this. It is also nearly impossible to impeach or hold a Supreme Court justice accountable in any meaningful way. A case in point: Justice Clarence Thomas refused to recuse himself from several cases relating to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, even though his wife Virginia Thomas was a leading participant in the campaign to overturn the 2020 election results. The Supreme Court has no mandate or code of ethics requiring a justice to recuse themselves for such a conflict of interest. There has also only ever been one impeachment of a justice—Samuel Chase in 1804 who was acquitted by the Senate and continued to serve on the court until his death. Congress seems unwilling to seriously consider removing Thomas, even with a slight majority of Democrats amid the still-resonating sting of McConnell’s hypocritical marksmanship that reshaped the court so far to the right. Even President Abraham Lincoln famously rebuked the Supreme Court in 1861. “The candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the Supreme Court—the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal,” Lincoln said.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
This is as profoundly true for us today as it was when he first said it. Ultimately, it is painfully clear that the Supreme Court is an aristocracy that protects the interests of the wealthy. Even the historic confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson seems a mere symbolic virtue signal when considering the lack of accountability and appalling unchecked power that the court wields. Representation matters—and I don’t mean to dismiss the power in that—but a seat at the table is less meaningful when the table itself is rotten. There are proposals from some to pack the court by adding more justices as a counterbalancing measure, but this is not a real fix. Clearly, the next time that Republicans dominate the executive and legislative wings they could just do the same. Some have proposed term limits or a revolving lottery to temper the impacts of justices. Others suggest weakening the jurisdiction or power of the court to undermine or reinterpret laws. Or even the idea of a supermajority 7-2 vote required for striking down certain federal laws. All of these ideas try to reform the institution, but what if it is rotten at its very core? The idea of judicial review—that the court can declare a legislative or executive act in violation of the Constitution— is not even present in the Constitution! The court established the precedent for this power in its own 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision. In theory, the Supreme Court is supposed to be a limiting force upon the power of the other two branches of government. Who is limiting their power? I don’t pretend to have answers to these complex problems, but one thing for certain is that the Supreme Court is inherently undemocratic and biased. It is fundamentally unjust that nine individuals with Ivy League degrees can gut the Voting Rights Act or terminate access to abortion for millions of us. We all deserve so much better.
LEO CLARK
OPINION
11
WEB SCRAPING RULED LEGAL IN US APPEALS COURT
SHANNON STEED
RYAN MCCONNELL The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled April 18 that scraping publicly accessible data was legal and not in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act—the legislation which constitutes computer hacking under U.S. law—following the legal battle between LinkedIn and hiQ Labs. Major benefits for academics, researchers and archivists may also have important implications for other tech industries as a result. Web scraping itself sounds more complex than it actually is—the act of grabbing data and code from a website so it can be put into a format that is more usable and readable. So long as the data that’s being grabbed is publicly available, anyone can scrape the data for their own use. Beyond understanding what web scraping is, it’s important that it be legal for any data scientist or researcher who uses online information. This has been reaffirmed by this recent ruling. What defines public and private data online is a little bit different than how we might imagine it in person, and is why LinkedIn sought to rule web scraping as an illegal act in the first place. Websites both large and small often have what is called a digital gate. Like a gate you’d find on a fancy driveway, this gate is used to secure stuff that websites don’t want other people touching. What kind of data should be considered public or private is ultimately up to the website itself, though most private data is mundane and helps the website run, only to be touched by the web developers.
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SCIENCE & TECH
Some websites allow users to determine if they want their data private or public. Private user data doesn’t mean that the website itself doesn’t have access to it, but rather the general public shouldn’t have access to it. But public data is necessary for the internet to function. This technique is actually how Google and other web search engines work—they crawl the internet to see what sites are publicly available, and then match these sites to what the user searches for. Some data has to be public, such as profiles on social media sites. The details of someone’s profile, such as age or phone number, may be private data, but the profile name itself is often public so that users can find others online. This is where LinkedIn comes in. HiQ Labs, a data analytics company, uses public data from LinkedIn’s profile database to conduct metrics for its clients. These metrics identify which employees are most likely to quit and which are most likely to be targeted by recruiters. LinkedIn filed a cease and desist letter, and in 2019, the court affirmed that this act was not illegal and that forbidding the company to scrape web data would destroy its business. LinkedIn filed an appeal, but was again turned down in favor of hiQ Labs. Like the 2019 decision, the ruling determined that any data that is public-facing online is available for anyone to use. HiQ Labs isn’t the first company to depend on public data from other popular social media sites. Clearview AI—which has questionable business practices—scrapes the web for bil-
lions of social media profiles to train its facial recognition data. This practice is not limited to just businesses, although there can be great demand for individuals who use such techniques. This is the essential toolbox for any research analyst and data scientist. Research analysts can be hired by businesses to scrape the web for product data, and help provide economic calculus to determine affordable prices for consumers. They can also scrape web posts—which is particularly valuable for publicly-funded and academic research about important topics such as disinformation. Data scientists do much more than simply scrape the web, however a major part of their role in the data ecosystem is about managing and creating large datasets for others to digest. They can work internally within a company—or in an education setting—where they provide the data for research analysts to evaluate safely. Their focus is much more about the side of computers that users don’t see, using web scraping tools to see how computer systems could be improved or tweaked. Because of this, web scraping has become a vital tool for both research and business alike. Without it, universities would not be able to safely research how to prevent the spread of misinformation, and academic fields would become severely limited in what they would be allowed to research. It is up to the websites themselves to handle their data responsibly, and to ensure that any data that they don’t want the world to see should be kept behind their pearly gates.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 4, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
