VOLUME 78 • ISSUE 16 • NOVEMBER 16, 2023
Opinion: Successful boycotts require continuous community support P. 6
Arts & Culture: PSU opens new DREAMer Resource Center P. 7
Science & Tech: PSU Emeritus Professor talks filmmaking and feminism P. 8–9
SU P T A L L A R O F N OLUM C M R O F T A L P N O SU N OPINI
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FILIATION W/P • STATE NAME AND AF OSEN BY THE EDITOR CH D AN ED TE AN AR PAID, NOT GU COM • SUBMISSIONS ARE UN ITOR@PSUVANGUARD. ED TO NS IO IN OP D AN ORIES • SEND THOUGHTS, ST
CONTENTS
COVER DESIGN BY BRIANA CIERI
NEWS Broadway bike lane set for changes
P. 4–5
SCIENCE & TECH Documenting social issues through a feminist psychology lens
P. 8-9
OPINION Boycotts then and now
P. 6
NEWS CROSSWORD Answers in stories
P. 10
ARTS & CULTURE DREAMer Resource Center opens at PSU
P. 7
COMMUNITY & WELLNESS RESOURCES Updated weekly
P. 11
STAFF EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Kat Leon
SPORTS EDITOR NOW HIRING
PRODUCTION & DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Briana Cieri
MANAGING EDITOR Brad Le
OPINION EDITOR Cameron Rodriguez
DESIGNERS Neo Clark
NEWS EDITOR Zoë Buhrmaster
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Alberto Alonso Pujazon Bogani
CO-NEWS EDITOR Alyssa Anderson
ONLINE AND PROMOTIONS EDITOR Alley Henrici
TECHNOLOGY & WEBSITE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS George Olson Hongzu Pan Sara Ray
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Macie Harreld
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Tasha Sayre
SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR Anish Kumar Arumugam
COPY CHIEF Isabel Zerr CONTRIBUTORS Amber Finnegan
ADVISING & ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood SALP ACCOUNTANT Maria Dominguez STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Rae Fickle
To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com 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 online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.
CONTRIBUTORS Write. Edit. Photograph. Film. Design. Illustrate. Create. WRITE: News, Arts & Culture, Science & Tech, Sports and Opinion PHOTO & FILM: Create engaging content that captivates our audience in modern and creative ways EDIT: Ensure precision, clarity and consistency in every article DESIGN: Create impactful visual content that empowers, respects, educates, guides and shares truth Learn skills, build a professional portfolio and make your own schedule. We are willing to train inexperienced applicants who demonstrate ability and a desire to learn the skills. Contributors are paid for published work.
SPORTS EDITOR IMMEDIATELY HIRING! RESPONSIBILITIES: • • • • •
Train new contributors Cultivate pitches to fill two pages a week Attend pitch meetings on Thursdays Edit contributor pieces Write pieces as needed
Sports writing, interviewing or reporting experience is helpful but not required ELSA grant amount: $2,100 a term, ~20 hours a week Student-athletes cannot fill this position
APPLY TODAY
at psuvanguard.com/jobs
Letters from the editors MEET ALLEY HENRICI, VANGUARD’S NEW ONLINE AND PROMOTIONS EDITOR ALLEY HENRICI
COURTESY OF ALLEY HENRICI
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
Hey y’all! My name is Alley Henrici and I am a first quarter graduate student in the Communications program here at Portland State. This is my first position with student media but I am so excited to get involved with Vanguard as the Online and Promotions Editor. I earned my bachelor's degree in General Studies from Texas State University which allowed me to take courses in Communications, Psychology, and Theatre. I left my job as an academic advisor at my previous school to pursue graduate education and potentially an academic career. As such, education is one of the areas I’m interested in writing about. Most of my work for Vanguard centers creating social media posts advertising the current issue’s articles and posting the articles on the website. Throughout the week, I monitor comments and share campus events out to our students. I enjoy creating the promotional material for the articles and getting the first look at the full issue before it goes out. It is also a treat to sit in on pitch meetings and help shape the content of our paper. Getting involved in student media has been extremely rewarding so far. It’s a great opportunity to connect with the local community, campus-wide and city-wide, and make an impact. As this is my first quarter at PSU, contributing to Vanguard has introduced me to so many aspects of campus that I may never have engaged with otherwise. It has helped shape and give volume to my voice on campus. If you are interested in making a difference or engaging more deeply with campus life, consider joining us at Vanguard!
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ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD The protected bike lane on Broadway is a popular route for students commuting to campus by bike
BROADWAY BIKE LANE SET FOR CHANGES STUDENTS EXPRESS NEED FOR SAFE BIKE LANES ALYSSA ANDERSON & ISAIAH BURNS In September, Bike Portland reported that the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Director Millicent Williams emailed several select staff members with plans to remove the 16-block protected bike lane between NW Hoyt and SW Salmon in downtown Portland. This plan would have resulted in less safe bike lanes on Broadway—a highly populated urban area that PBOT has included in their High Crash Network—a list of streets where crash-related severe injuries and fatalities occur at an aboveaverage rate. Though PBOT has now rolled back its plans to change the Broadway bike lanes, the proximity to the Portland State campus raises concerns among many students and staff. Considering our status as a commuter campus, where many students rely on bikes for commuting, the potential for increased safety risks heightens the recognition of this issue as a significant problem. In an anonymous survey conducted by Portland State Vanguard, students expressed their concerns with potential plans to change bike lanes. One student said they found the potential removal of these protected bike lanes extremely disappointing.
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“Portland is one of the few large cities that truly cherishes and embraces biking culture, and this should be protected and considered in all aspects of transportation,” the surveyee stated. “Biking is sustainable, cheap and creates community, and this effort is a dangerous precedent in eliminating non-car transportation. This is especially important at PSU, with a large number of students, staff and faculty relying on the ease of biking to get to classes and work. Many PSU community members live on campus and use bikes to get around the campus.” Over a 14-year period, PBOT created a parking-protected bike lane from the Broadway Bridge to Interstate 405. This is an area where parking spots are away from the curb, creating a wider lane for bikes. Bike Portland reported that PBOT Commissioner Mingus Mapps, alongside Williams, wanted to revert the southern section of these parking-protected bike lanes to their previous form to allow more parking, even though it would put bikers in a dangerous position with the bike lane being between car doors and car drivers. The motives behind this proposed change were unclear. However, Bike Portland explained how many businesses on Broadway have expressed dissatisfaction with the bike lanes,
such as the Historic Benson Hotel. George Schweitzer, the hotel’s general manager, has contacted City Hall with concerns regarding alleged conflicts between bikers and his hotel customers. According to Bike Portland, Schweitzer said the bike lanes have been “crazy since they went in.” From his viewpoint, Schweitzer said the bike lanes are problematic and supports the plan to revert them to their original design. The Broadway bike lane is one of many bike lanes in Portland, causing concern. David Brink is a PSU staff member and frequent biker who works at the Campus Recreation Center and lives in Southeast Portland. Brink said he’s aware of the restructuring of some of the bike lanes in his area. “I think it is kind of a step in the wrong direction, considering that [the bike lanes] are already set up,” Brink said. “The main argument I’m hearing for taking them down is lack of parking, but I feel like that’s an easy issue to solve, considering there are alternatives that Portland can do other than street parking. I believe that increasing access to bike lanes and safe alternative modes of transportation will create a less congested city. Portland streets and infrastructure seem to not be set up correctly for everybody to drive cars, let alone with the [population] growth that we are seeing now.”
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
A Sept. 19 statement from PBOT to Bike Portland further explained the issues surrounding the Broadway bike lanes, citing mixed feedback from community members as the reasoning behind their decision to reevaluate their design. “After receiving additional feedback from PBOT staff, Director Williams asked staff to prepare 1) a full project evaluation that considers all users, 2) proposals for upgrading or ‘hardening’ portions of the existing bike lane in its current configuration and in a potential future state (similar to the proposed bike lane for the forthcoming SW Fourth Avenue project) and 3) a proposal for a modified bike lane that clears parking corners along the corridor and increases signage and paint, while also returning the bike lane to its 2018 configuration between NW Hoyt and SW Salmon streets,” PBOT stated. “PBOT staff will be preparing these options, offering additional insights and engaging in public outreach in the coming months. Additional information will be available on the SW Broadway Bike Improvements Project website in the coming weeks.” After hearing significant community feedback, PBOT updated their project website on Sept. 27. The update explained
that—based on this feedback and direction from Williams— PBOT will move forward with a full project evaluation and implement the previously planned and budgeted safety upgrades on Broadway which it says were delayed last year due to contractor availability. These safety upgrades will include improved valet platforms for Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, plus the Vance, Benson and Heathman hotels, which will reduce conflicts between cyclists and customers. Construction is set to begin this winter, though no official date has been set. The traffic signals at intersections on SW Oak, Taylor and Jefferson will also be updated to reduce conflicts between rightturning vehicles and cyclists by featuring bicycle and right-turn signal phases. Construction for this will likely begin next year. PBOT also said it plans to expand and harden portions of the existing bike lane. This statement indicates PBOT’s decision to focus on creating a better Broadway bike lane for all instead of reverting it to its previous, reportedly unsafe form. However, advocates of the bike lane remain concerned about
the bike lane’s future, given mixed messaging and desire to see the city prioritize biking commuters. “The TriMet streetcar and buses are not convenient and quick to get to opposite ends, and having bikes and biking lanes be very accessible allows for a more cohesive and easy commute,” another surveyee stated. “While the proposed project appears to keep bikers safer, I still feel that limiting or removing access is rarely an improvement—I personally feel that expanding and encouraging biking takes importance over any freeway or highway project and should be the initial concern… I do not accept these changes with open arms, given how mixed the reception is by bikers. There may be benefits that come along with drawbacks, and we need to discuss these even if the project is an improvement.” A third anonymous surveyee described these potential plans as a step backward which will only make Portland roads more dangerous. “The bike lanes may not be the most well-designed and I think they are halfway attempts sometimes,” they stated. “But that means we should expand and improve them, not remove them.”
ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
NEWS
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BOYCOTTS THEN AND
NOW Individualism doesn’t work for collective action CAMERON RODRIGUEZ Boycotts have a rich historical significance in fostering collective action and solidarity against the decisions of a company or country. The concept traces back to the 1880s during the Irish land agitation, where people protested against exorbitant rent and evictions. Notable boycotts stand out as prime examples of successful movements, such as the 13-month Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 ultimately bringing an end to public bus segregation. Throughout history, individuals have employed boycotts as a powerful tool for instigating change. However, in certain cases, actors may attempt to shift the narrative towards individual responsibility, thereby undermining the effectiveness of boycotts. In such scenarios, companies or states often redirect the focus onto consumers, whom they may portray as failing to take action rather than highlighting their own adverse actions. This happens with a variety of issues. For example, being environmentally conscious. Sometimes, companies suggest that making more eco-friendly products is not their responsibility. Instead, they focus on consumers, saying it’s our duty to participate in environmentally friendly actions. This places the onus of responsibility on the individual instead of the system, which is responsible for producing significant waste. It can create a sense of need to change our habits and
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OPINION
ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD Some consumers have taken to boycotting popular chains like Starbucks and McDonalds in light of the actions they have taken in the Israel-Hamas war
even lead to feelings of guilt if we don’t change things. In this, many believe that—no matter how much effort they put into environmentally friendly action—their action has no impact. This feeling of not making a difference leads to people giving up. This ultimately benefits the company, which is no longer held responsible These challenges require your support, not just as a consumer making choices but as a community member who gives and receives support. It’s not a competition to see who can be the most ethical consumer, where you win by meticulously controlling every action and looking down on those who aren’t. That’s an exhausting and ultimately futile standard to maintain, and it serves against the ultimate goal of the action, which is to be an agent for systematic change. It’s much easier and more effective to rely on those around you, building trust and relationships based on navigating the demands of a consumer-driven system together. One person can only do so much, read so much and know so much, but with the help, reminders and teachings of others, it becomes achievable. Boycotts work best when they are collaborative, inclusive and go beyond merely refraining from consumption. They should involve active protest through disengagement. A successful boycott includes specific demands, moving beyond a simple call to boycott, which often involves individual consumer actions. Divesting from a product should also involve an investment in a community for which you are willing to make sacrifices. While this may seem challenging and difficult to accomplish without immediate visible results, the community’s collective effort keeps everyone motivated and consistently engaged. Boycotts have become increasingly complex, especially when it comes to boycotting funding and investments that aren’t directly tied to individual consumers. Public pressure can manifest by targeting companies associated with the issue, as seen in the controversy surrounding the sports team now known as the Washington Commanders. The team—previously named with a racial epithet—faced significant backlash from civil rights activists. Ultimately, the pressure extended to influential entities like FedEx, who threatened to withdraw funding unless the team changed its name, and this approach proved successful. Acknowledging the timelines involved in boycotts or any form
of resistance is crucial. Change does not happen instantly. It requires effort and sustained commitment. That’s why there’s an emphasis on caring for and showing compassion to those organizing and staying consistent. Boycott fatigue is a term used to express the exhaustion people may feel while participating in a boycott. While some criticize those who find boycotting challenging, such complaints provide valuable insights for adaptation. Consider the challenge of boycotting fast food giants like McDonald’s or Starbucks. The difficulty might stem from habits, the convenience of a quick treat or the comfort associated with these brands. Rather than scrutinizing those sharing their challenges, extending understanding is essential. We should persist in discussing these issues, keeping them in the spotlight and applying social pressure compassionately—emphasizing that it’s hard, but we’re still committed. One way to offer practical support is by providing easy-to-replicate at-home alternatives, along with simple recipes and tips. Take, for example, the ongoing boycott of Starbucks. Numerous other coffee shops exist that offer similar or nearly identical alternatives. These strategies and activities to replace the boycotted items vary among individuals, with some facing more significant challenges than others. Moreover, sustained action requires compassion and empathy for the collective willing to engage and the struggles that come with continuous engagement. Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) is a movement started in the early 2000s which focused on actions of protest supporting the freedom of the Palestinian people. Many posts in the online circulation include graphics and information on this website, focusing on negative information and giving positive information to keep up people’s morale worldwide, showing that protest efforts work. This group lays out a boycott as a strategy but also upholds larger scales of action and participation. Boycotts act as an initial strategy for change, representing the starting point of a potential journey toward protesting and rallying for a cause. The subsequent steps may require more action than individuals initially anticipate, especially if attempted in isolation. This underscores the importance of undertaking boycotts collaboratively with others.
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
DREAMER RESOURCE CENTER OPENS AT PSU
NAVIGATING HIGHER EDUCATION AS AN IMMIGRANT MACIE HARRELD. PSU VANGUARD Advisory Board Members and President Ann Cudd announce the opening of the DREAMer Resource Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony
MACIE HARRELD Students, faculty and community members gathered in room 428 of Cramer Hall on Nov. 3 to celebrate the opening of Portland State’s DREAMer Resource Center. The center is a space dedicated to DREAMers, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) recipients, those who are undocumented or mixed-status, immigrants and their allied communities. Undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children are referred to as DREAMers based on the 2001 DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act). The most recent version of this legislation would provide people who arrived in the United States before age 18 with a pathway to U.S. citizenship contingent on enrollment in higher education, military service or three years of employment. While no version of the DREAM Act ever passed, DACA was passed in 2012 and affords immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before age 16 with some legal protections. While the program does not lead to citizenship, it does protect recipients from deportation and provides twoyear renewable work authorization. In 2017, former President Donald Trump’s administration attempted to terminate DACA and imposed significant constraints on the efficacy and reach of the program. An estimated 22,000 people lost their DACA status in the first six months of this termination campaign, and renewals and new applications were entirely banned. The center at PSU can trace its origins to 2017, when student leaders created the DREAM PSU club. Dr. Oscar Fernandez—a professor of university studies at PSU— explained how the goals of this club were “to academically support DREAMers at PSU, retain them and empower the university’s undocumented students and DACA recipients during the escalation of anti-immigrant sentiment across the country.”
The DREAMer Resource Center in Cramer Hall serves DREAMers, DACA recipients, those who are undocumented or mixed-status, immigrants, and their allied communities President Joe Biden attempted to reinstate DACA with limited success. DACA has not accepted new applicants since 2017, but former recipients can renew. Significant and ongoing barriers exist for people to access DACA’s benefits. For DACA recipients, some states—including Oregon—offer in-state tuition rates and state financial aid. However, DACA recipients are not eligible for federal aid, including federal health insurance, nutrition assistance or housing assistance. When it comes to PSU, students of various immigrant statuses continue to face significant financial barriers to their education. For example, a person seeking asylum in the U.S.—a process which is currently sitting at about six years just for an appeals
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
interview—does not qualify for any federal or state financial aid. Nor would they qualify for student loans or in-state tuition at PSU, even if they have been working, paying taxes and living in Portland for the entirety of those six years. According to PSU’s cost of attendance estimator, this student—hypothetically taking 15 credits as a freshman studying computer science—would be expected to pay $49,650 annually. This cost is insurmountable for the average college student without access to loans or aid. Many people find themselves in similar situations of repressive bureaucracy, waiting for years to achieve stability, reasonable access to education and even the opportunity to visit their loved ones.
“If you have never tangled with the U.S. immigration system, consider yourself very lucky,” said Dr. Ame Lambert, vice president for global diversity and inclusion at PSU. “It is complicated, confusing, and cumbersome. It took me 11 years to become a permanent resident of the [U.S.]” “The sense of hopelessness, the lack of agency and the uncertainty I dealt with as I went through that process are things I will never wish on anyone,” Lambert said. “It is a lonely and hard place to be,” Lambert said. “I needed support, and I got it from creative legal minds, supportive administrators and a leader willing to invest in me. Our students also need support, and I’m so proud that PSU, GDI, ASPSU, our faculty, our administrative divisions and our community and colleagues are able to provide that kind of support to our deserving students through this center to our students who are trying to navigate these systems.” The center offers various support services, including educational programming and workshops, volunteer opportunities, a study space, technology access, leadership development and one-on-one navigational support. Ultimately, the center serves to foster connection, community and inclusivity. “For our DREAMer students, we hope they see this space as a wrap-around support system where they do not have to worry about disclosing [their experience] or [receiving] judgements based on their immigration experience,” stated Joanna Jauregui, the program coordinator for the center. “We’re committed to making sure that students feel that they belong on our campus, that they believe in their potential, and that they become what they dream of becoming,” said PSU President Ann Cudd at the Nov. 3 celebration. “The DREAMer Resource Center underlines the importance of this commitment.”
ARTS & CULTURE
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DOCUMENTING
THROUGH A FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY LENS DR. JAN HAAKEN’S FILMMAKING ACTIVISM J.M. VINCENT Among Dr. Jan Haaken’s many titles are clinical psychologist, documentary filmmaker, feminist and professor emeritus of psychology at Portland State. Her career began in the early ‘70s when social movements were front-andcenter and new theories in psychology were emerging. She’s written several books on trauma, memory and psychological storytelling. In the early aughts, Haaken began using documentary filmmaking to inform broader audiences about issues she felt must be heard. Since then, she’s directed and produced over a dozen feature-length and short documentary films. One of these— Atomic Bamboozle: A False Promise of an Atomic Renaissance— just finished screening in Europe. Portland State Vanguard spoke with Haaken to learn more about her career.
VG: You recently got back from a trip to Germany and Estonia? Haaken: Yes it was great—a combination of vacation and work. I met with International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War in Berlin. They were doing an article on my new documentary and doing a screening there. Then I had a screening in Tallinn, which is a fabulous place if you ever get the chance to go there. There’s a group called the Estonian Green Movement, which is made up of environmentalists who are fighting against a lot of false solutions to the climate crisis. They found out about my film and asked me to come and screen it there. I was part of a panel with two other speakers. That was really a highlight of the trip. I also met a lot of young people who are very involved in fighting nuclear power. Here in the [United States], it’s been more of a generational issue where older people who have more of the memory of nuclear power—the fight against it in the ‘70s and ‘80s, proliferation and the threat of nuclear war—it’s more on their minds than on those of younger people here. VG: How long did you work on this film? Haaken: This has been the fastest feature I’ve done. I’ve been making films since maybe 2001. Usually, by the time you raise money and get grants, it can often take a number of years. This one started early last year doing pre-production research. We started filming last summer, and we finished early March. So that’s very fast, eight months for a feature-length project. I started using this medium of documentary to take complex topics that are socially controversial or contentious or anxiety provoking and bring them into this medium where people can hold ideas in their minds for a longer period than one might be
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able to when these issues are in the news.
VG: How would you describe your approach in filmmaking? Haaken: I usually put a lot of time into pre-production research. It matters to me that the participants are thoughtful and that you trust them, especially if they’re going to educate you about a problem. There are filmmakers—including documentary filmmakers— who think of the medium in more artistic, expressive ways of working through a problem of interest to them, or there are those who are academics who mainly have a research interest. I’m an activist as well as an academic. I’m interested in documentaries that help people think more deeply about problems and perspectives that get shut down and marginalized quite quickly in this culture. VG: How did you get into filmmaking? You said you started in 2001? Haaken: Yes, I was doing a research project. I got a small grant from Human Rights Watch to go to West Africa. At the time, the Sierra Leonean War was coming to some kind of tenuous conclusion, and people were fleeing into Guinea from Sierra Leone. I was able to visit refugee camps in the area around Gueckedou. I checked a Hi8 camera out from the PSU audiovisual room… I had been thinking about using cameras as a way of capturing in a richer, fuller way the experience of people in the field that were unfamiliar to me. Rather than a notebook or a recorder— which I’d been using for years in my field research—I thought it would be better to use a camera. When I was back in Portland, I got funding through PSU to have a conference at the university, which allowed me to bring in Sierra Leonean women to talk about the war. At the time, these women were being recognized as victims of war, primarily rape survivors. Much of the attention at the time was paid to war crimes that took place during the war. There was very little focus on what women had to say about war, about their analyses of war. It was important to me, and it has been important in all of my projects from a feminist perspective, not just to show the suffering or abuse or violence against women, but to bring out how women are thinking about and analyzing the problems of their existence. VG: You mentioned developing a sense of trust with an interviewee. How do you accomplish that? Haaken: Trust is a complicated construct, isn’t it? It’s some-
thing that you develop an intuition for when you meet people. There’s a whole psychology on that. We size each other up pretty quickly. ‘Does this person feel trustworthy?’ But it’s also a relational dynamic that develops over a period of time. I’ve worked with a lot of Indigenous people and tribal communities over the last five years where trust is a very scarce commodity. The history of broken promises and violence and betrayal is deep and continuing. So it’s something you have to earn over a long period of time.
VG: You grew up in Washington, is that right? Haaken: I grew up north of Seattle in a very Christian community. All my grandparents were Norwegian immigrants. My parents were not formally educated. That’s another example of the different fates of people based on their race and ethnicity. My dad didn’t go to college, and my mom was a maid who hadn’t graduated high school. But my dad worked his way up from working in the fisheries to eventually becoming an airline executive in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The biggest struggle for me was religion, growing up in a very conservative religious family. VG: Do you think that informed your decision to go into psychology? Haaken: Yes. In fact, I once told my brother—who was a hell-fire-brimstone preacher who tyrannized me growing up and had a lot of power in the family—that he had an enormous influence on me becoming a psychologist, feminist and an atheist. It was my way of fending him off. I told him, ‘The belief that a heavenly father, as you think of him, would punish someone for turning their back on him by condemning them to eternal suffering in hell is a pathological concept.’ If that were translated into anything human, it would be someone who would be unthinkably evil. VG: Do you think choosing psychology was, in some way, an attempt to understand god? Haaken: I think I was trying to understand belief and how people find meaning and purpose in their lives. VG: Can you tell me more about your career in psychology? Haaken: My first career was as a psychiatric nurse. I was in a research unit at the University of Washington. Then, in the early ‘70s, I worked as a child psychiatric nurse. I went back to school in 1974 and then went on to graduate school.
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
SOCIAL ISSUES I became very involved in women’s health as a feminist and as a nurse, first and foremost. There were a lot of social movements at the time—educational reform movement, anti-war movement, radical psychiatry. I published a book a couple of years ago called Psychiatry, Politics, and PTSD where I talk about some of that history, including my own history. I wrote a lot about gender and sexuality, in particular. It’s been a theme in several of my publications. I was also very involved in writing about sexual abuse and trauma. I felt wary of developments within feminism that put too much emphasis on trauma. So, for example—and I use this example in my recent book— when I was a girl, my mother told me that if you were raped, it’s better you be killed than to live in dishonor. There are many cultures that still believe that. Courts often require women to say that their ‘lives are ruined’ in order to go after their attackers, saying ‘I’ve been ruined,’ to win in court. My feminism was very much about acknowledging sexual trauma but not giving too much up of oneself in advancing a claim or grievance. As a clinician, I saw many women over the years who had been raped or assaulted, and I would work with them on this idea that they haven’t been ruined. In a certain way, what’s been done to them has to do with somebody else putting their shit in them. And, psychologically, they need to put it back. My feminism was very devoted to this idea that we are intact and we can also be rational, that if we’re emotional, it doesn’t mean we’re hysterical.
VG: How would you describe the role storytelling plays in the way we develop a sense of self ? Haaken: I was initially drawn to psychoanalysis, because it does bring the body into consciousness. Even when [Sigmund] Freud is rightfully criticized for talking about women feeling castrated, at least he talked about how women felt about their bodies and about men’s attachment to their penis as a symbol of power. So much of psychology is disembodied when you think about it. Storytelling is at the center of psychoanalytic theory. A lot of it is about how people tell stories about themselves and how they listen to those stories. There is literature on narrative psychology that makes some of these same arguments that autobiographical memory and many other areas of memory are structured through stories. People often remember through stories. VG: As in, there’s an arc, there’s a protagonist and there’s an antagonist? Haaken: There are dramas that inform autobiographical memory. But then, of course, there are areas of memory and knowledge where people acquire facts or information in a non-storied form. So, I’m not saying that all knowledge or all memory takes the form of a story. I don’t have a practice anymore, but when people would come to me as a clinician and have a complaint, what’s called the ‘presenting complaint,’ maybe not being able to sleep, having fights with a partner, or feeling lonely or having trouble enjoying life, they’ll say ‘This is what bothers me,’ but what emerges is a story. My approach to storytelling is that, by inviting more complex accounts of how things happen and the context in which they happen, people are learning to be better observers of their own experiences, a kind of nonjudgemental receptivity. Noticing seems to be the first step in rewriting those narratives.
COURTESY OF DR. JAN HAAKEN Dr. Jan Haaken, a psychology professor emeritus at Portland State University, is dedicated to creating films that address complex social issues
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
VG: How does one go from being hurt to being guarded to opening back up again? Haaken: In three easy steps. You’ve just cracked the process! Of course, it depends… I don’t mean to make things seem too uniform, but in the way I talk to my son, to other young people, and to clients, I’m listening to what conclusions they draw. ‘What are the lessons you are drawing from feeling hurt or wounded? What are you taking from this?’ For some people, the lesson is ‘I should never let my guard down,’ or ‘I need to always be on top of my game.’ I think it’s important for each of us to listen to the conclusions we make about ourselves. ‘What’s our call to action?’
SCIENCE & TECH
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VANGUARD CROSSWORD Answers in stories KAT LEON
Vanguard Crossword - Crossword Labs
11/11/23, 2:43 PM
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Across: 2. W hat DACA recipients aren't eligible for, two words 4. Healing from being hurt 6. How people remember
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9. L ongstanding boycott caused team name to change this 10. D evelops over a period of time
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12. B oycott helped bring an end to bus segregation
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13. T ime it takes just for asylum appeal interview, spelled out
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Down: 9
1. High-risk Portland street 3. Opposite of hellfire-brimstone preacher
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5. When bike lane construction begins, two words
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7. Reasons students care about bike lanes 8. Argument for removing bike lanes
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11. Bike lanes between car doors and drivers
https://crosswordlabs.com/view/news-crosword
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PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
Community & Wellness Resources UPDATED WEEKLY By Kat Leon
Happening soon Summer Research Experiences SMSU 296/8 Nov. 20, 12:30 pm Free for students Learn more about NSF-funded REU programs. This event is aimed at undergraduates from all disciplines interested in research.
Scholarship Workshop
Resources
Wellness
PSU Basic Needs Hub
SHAC Mind Spa
SMSU Suite 435 Mon–Fri, 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Free for students
UCB Suite 310 Mon–Fri (by appointment) Free for students
Helps students access resources such as funds, food, housing, employment, childcare and health support.
Solo space to experience biofeedback, light therapy, meditation, massages, relaxation and more. Must be enrolled in at least five credits for summer or fall.
PSU Food Pantry 1704 SW Broadway (temporary location) Tues–Thur, 12–4 p.m. Free for students
Women's Resource Center Nov. 20, 2:30 p.m. Free for students
Access to free groceries in a welcoming, equitable, trauma-informed way. Must be enrolled in at least one credit for summer or fall.
Topics include the financial stress of paying for higher ed, feelings of tokenization and the different barriers and challenges students may face when applying to scholarships
SMART Recovery Meetings
Bowling Night with SAPS Viking Gameroom Nov. 20, 4 p.m. Free for students
University Center Building 340 E Times vary Free In peer recovery, students with shared experiences connect to reduce stigma and build a campus recovery community.
Bipolar Student Connection Coco Donuts Tues, 12 p.m. Free for students Casual meetup every Tuesday for the remainder of the fall term where you can bring homework and study! It's a way to meet new people and chat.
Mindful Meanderings Listen on Spotify Available 24/7 Free PSU-produced podcast about being mindful while outside, practicing gratitude, finding joy and being in the moment
Join the Student Association of Political Science for free popcorn and drinks as they bowl
SHAC Weekly Online Parent Support Group
Telus Health Student Support
3v3 Basketball Tournament
Online Thursdays 11 a.m. Free
Download on App Store or Google Play Available 24/7 Free
Come together as parents in a relaxed setting to support each other, share ideas, collaborate and commiserate
Connecting students with free, confidential mental health and wellbeing support
Community Technology Space
Workshop Wednesday Video Series
730 SW 10th Ave. Suite 111 (entrance on SW 9th Ave.) Mon–Fri, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Free
Watch on Youtube Available 24/7 Free
PSU Rec., Courts 1–2 Nov. 20, 7 p.m. Free for students Get ready for the winter basketball league by playing in this 3v3 basketball tournament. Register as a team or free agent by Nov. 20.
Russian Tea FMH 334 Nov. 21, 4 p.m. Free for students Join the Russian Speaking Club cultural event and enjoy tea, candies and talks! Everyone is welcome.
Get Slimy With Las KDChi's Parkway North—SMSU Nov. 21, 4 p.m. Free for students
Multnomah County official cooling center with access to free technology, internet, limited books and events
PSU Campus Recreation Center staff videos about topics ranging from Leave No Trace and plant identification to hiking spots and land acknowledgments
Oregon Energy Fund
BORP Online Fitness Studio
Varying Locations Mon–Fri, hours vary Free
Watch on Zoom Mon–Sat, hours vary Free
Provides energy bill assistance to low-income Oregonians to support household stability
Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s (BORP) virtual exercise classes for people with physical disabilities
Kappa Delta Chi Sorority has the slime supplies, you bring the good vibes!
PSU Vanguard • NOVEMBER 16, 2023 • psuvanguard.com
RESOURCES
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