portland state vanguard 10-30-12

NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ARTS & culture............ 6 OPINION........................ 10 ETC................................ 13 SPORTS........................ .. 14

A vote for Obama is a vote for sanity Vanguard 2012 election endorsements opinion page 12

FREE The Vanguard is published every Tuesday and Thursday

PSUVANGUARD .COM

PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

PUBLISHED SINCE 1946 Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 | vol. 67 no. 18

Professors PSU hosts EcoDistricts Summit tour weigh in Walking showcases on election sustainability features at Local candidates offer few substantial differences

university Andrew Lawrence Vanguard Staff

Ravleen Kaur Vanguard Staff

With about one week left until ballots are due, a question is beginning to surface: Does it really matter who wins?

Portland State’s political science faculty tackled that question on Wednesday evening in a panel composed of professors Richard Clucas, Phil Keisling, Kim Williams and David Kinsella. An attentive audience of about 25 people gathered in the Urban Center to take part in the discussion, which was broken into local, state, national and international subtopics.

“Does it matter who wins? In Portland, not a great deal,” Clucas said, discussing the implications of the mayoral and city commissioner races. Portland’s unusual form of government leads to a somewhat diminished role for the mayor, with most of his or her power ending up being informal rather than direct, Clucas explained.

On top of that, mayoral candidates Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales share miles of common ground.

“This is a liberal town,” Clucas noted.

Still, the city council will see a shake-up of fresh faces—three of its five seats are possibly up for grabs. “I do not anticipate profound changes in the city,” Clucas said, See election on page 3

In Portland, the terms “sustainability” and “green building” are used so often that when such concepts are actually put into use, one can miss them—even if they are literally right under one’s feet.

From the fifth-floor courtyard of the Academic and Student Rec Center, the stones that make up the outside flooring seem suspiciously far apart. Instead of drains, vegetation covers a good portion of the patio.

This isn’t a sign of shoddy building or dilapidation, though: Rather than sloshing onto the streets or into the city’s sewage system, water drains through the cracks and plants, supplying almost all of the non-potable water for this Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Goldcertified building.

As part of the fifth annual EcoDistricts Summit held at Portland State last week, the Vanguard went on a walking tour of sustainable features in the South of Market EcoDistrict on and around campus.

Led by Fletcher Beaudoin, partnerships director at PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions, the tour highlighted some of the roughly 20 sustainability features in the EcoDistrict, one of five in the city defined by the ISS as “a neighborhood or district with a broad commitment to accelerate neighborhood-scale sustainability.”

During a brief respite from the rain, Beaudoin praised the recent

Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

fletcher beaudoin, partnerships director at PSU’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions, highlighted the university’s eco-conscious features at last week’s EcoDistricts Summit. The four-day event brought dozens of speakers to campus. weather to the tour group, which included members from England, Australia, Japan, Brazil and Italy, among others. “This is the time of year you can actually see the sustainable water features in action.”

From the sky bridge on Southwest Broadway, Beaudoin pointed out something else that might not be recognized as a sustainability feature: the bicycle lane pulsing with jacketed road warriors.

“If you guys can imagine, about 30 years ago this used to be a four-lane highway, essentially,” he said. A cycle track gives more safety to bicyclists by separating them from traffic, in this case with a row of parking. There was a dual purpose for the creation of the track, though, as Beaudoin pointed out: “We wanted to make it easier for our students to get across here without dying.”

Aside from the track, the district is a pretty hard place to bike to, Beaudoin said. The ISS is working with the city to find other avenues to get bikes and people into the south downtown area since Portland’s bike infrastructure, while good by U.S. standards, still lags behind other cities, especially some in Europe.

“I was giving a tour to the mayor of Copenhagen and a delegation, and when they came here and looked at our bike infrastructure they kind of laughed at us,” Beaudoin said.

The sky bridge itself is in a way a sustainability feature, carrying the piping for the district energy system that connects 17 buildings on campus, efficiently redistributing energy around campus for heating and cooling.

Electric Avenue, on Southwest Montgomery Street between Broadway and Sixth Street, is another sustainability feature that might be easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. Through a partnership with Portland General Electric, the city and a few others, PSU has helped set up a row of seven charging stations for electric vehicles. The stations have varying degrees of strength, from a quick 30-minute charger to a longer 8-hour one.

The electricity is free, while parking is paid for like any other spot in the city. The idea, Beaudoin said, is for people to drive their electric cars to the Avenue, hop on the MAX to go to work, and have their cars charged by the time they’re ready to go home.

See sustainability on page 4

Women of color combat abuse with activism WRC talk opens dialog, spurs action Andrew Morse Vanguard Staff

corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFf

S. Renee mitchell performs spoken word about the feelings involved in emotional abuse at a Friday talk held at the Women’s Resource Center.

What does domestic violence look like in communities of color? And what can be done to stop it?

About two dozen students and faculty gathered Friday afternoon to ponder the answers to these questions at the Women’s Resource Center for a talk titled “Resisting Violence in Communities of Color,” sponsored by the WRC’s Women of Color Action Team.

It was the WRC’s final event related to Domestic Violence

Awareness Month, a nationwide movement held every October.

Tonya Jones, a graduate student in the Postsecondary, Adult and Continuing Education program, coordinated the event in conjunction with her participation in the WOC Action Team.

“We’re looking at it from the unique perspective of women of color,” Jones said. She hoped the event would encourage people to engage in activism.

Action teams are part of the WRC’s programming, formed to tackle specific issues that more

general programming can’t adequately address, Jones explained.

Friday’s event was designed to deal with specific issues related to domestic violence.

Two guest speakers led the talk, and an open discussion among the attendees followed.

The first speaker was S. Renee Mitchell, a former Oregonian journalist and founder of the Healing Roots Center. She emphasized the different ways domestic violence and abuse can manifest.

Portland State Black Studies professor Walidah Imarisha spoke second and focused on alternatives to engaging with the prisonindustrial complex.

See WRC on page 3

2

Vanguard • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • news

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Erick Bengel

NEWS EDITOR NEWS@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Deeda Schroeder

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR ARTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Louie Opatz

OPINION EDITOR OPINION@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Meredith Meier

SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Marco España

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR ASSOCIATENEWS@PSUVANGUARD.COM

Whitney Beyer

PRODUCTION MANAGER production@psuvanguard.com

Elizabeth Thompson

PHOTO EDITOR photo@psuvanguard.com

Kayla Nguyen

Online Editor online@psuvanguard.com

Claudette Raynor

CALENDAR EDITOR calendar@psuvanguard.com

Jordan Molnar

COPY CHIEF copy@psuvanguard.com

Emily Gravlin

ADVERTISING MANAGER vgdispad@gmail.com

Iris Meyers

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Romeo Salazar

ADVISER Judson Randall

ADVERTISING ADVISER Ann Roman

DESIGNERS Tom Cober, Danielle Fleishman, Dillon Lawerence Colton Major, Maria Perala

WRITERS Kat Audick, Zach Bigalke, Mary Breaden, Chris Carpenter, Gino Cerruti, Becca Cotton, Shanna Cranston, Matthew Ellis, Marco España, Crystal Gardener, Melinda Guillén, Rosemary Hanson, Breana Harris, Isaac Hotchkiss, Ravleen Kaur, Nicholas Kula, Josh Kelety, Andrew Lawrence, Austin Maggs, Andrew Morse, Alex Moore, Erik Mutzke, Cassandra Moore, Kaela O’Brien, Katie Quick, Kevin Rackham, Patrick Rogers, Eva-Jeanette Rawlins, Jeoffry Ray, Benjamin Ricker, Maya Seaman, Gwen Shaw

PHOTOGRAPHERS Daniel Johnston, Karl Kuchs, Maria Perala, Jinyi Qi, Miles Sanguinetti, Corinna Scott, Adam Wickham

VIDEOGRAPHER video@psuvanguard.com

Jann Messer

COPY EDITORS

NEWS

Editor: Deeda Schroeder news@psuvanguard.com 503-725-3883

Domestic violence authority tells story at PSU WRC hosts criminology and criminal justice studies expert Erik Mutzke Vanguard Staff

Domestic violence tears apart families and communities, causing psychological harm that is immeasurable in any courtroom.

While much has been accomplished in the last 40 years, domestic violence remains an outstanding issue that calls for increased attention and focus.

That was the message from Annette Jolin of Portland State’s department of Criminology and Criminal Justice on Thursday. Jolin is a professor emerita and authority on “intimate partner violence” who spoke at the Women’s Resource Center as part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

“We must understand how far we have come in addressing this issue,” Jolin said.

In 1977, Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to criminalize domestic violence with its Oregon Family Abuse Prevention Act. Jolin, through her experience and activism, was a force of influence for the legislative change.

Her exposure to domestic violence started with her experience as a police officer.

“There was no formal training for these dangerous, volatile situations,” she said.

Before the Abuse Prevention Act, there were no specific mandates for arrest in cases of domestic violence. Now, batterer-oriented policies insist that an assault is a crime no matter where it occurs. If there is probable cause for the crime, an arrest must be made.

With her experience in the force, Jolin went to the legislature in 1976 as a citizen and presented data on assault

reports from the field. With the help of other activist groups and increasing attention to the issue, the new law came into effect by 1978.

“The minute we criminalize something is the minute we say, as a society, that that’s something wrong. Criminalization should usher in a changed attitude with society at large.”

Coordinated community response and action are forms of intervention key to addressing these issues, Jolin said.

Shelters for battered women were the first coordinated effort for victim safety. In 1980 there were only 300 shelters for battered women in the U.S. As of this year there are 2,800.

There were eight of these confidential shelters reported in the Portland metropolitan area in 2007.

While that’s an improvement, it’s not good enough, Jolin said.

“These numbers are still woefully inadequate,” she said.

The Portland Beyond Arrest experiment, part of the Domestic Violence Reduction Unit of the Portland Police Bureau, proved to be a successful way to address domestic violence.

Jolin engaged with graduate students in an assessment of the approach. Beyond Arrest emphasized victim empowerment by providing contact with outside support agencies.

Through the experiment, Jolin found there were more reported batterer prosecutions and convictions and fewer instances of repeated violence toward previous victims.

“This is a successful example of a community-oriented approach,” she said.

Kylie Byrd, Rachel Porter

ADVERTISING SALES Sam Gressett, Brittany Laureys, Kari Tate

DISTRIBUTORS Erik Mutzke, Katie Quick

The Vanguard is published twice weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Publications Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers, and do not necessarily represent those of the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. One copy of the Vanguard is provided free of charge to all community members, additional copies or subscription issues may incur a 25 cent charge.

The Vanguard is printed on 40 percent post-consumer recycled paper. ©2011 Portland State University Vanguard 1825 SW Broadway Smith Memorial Student Union, Rm. S-26 Portland OR, 97201

kayla nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

Annette jolin, a professor emerita at PSU, spoke Thursday about intimate partner violence.

kayla nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

anthony stine, communications director for ASPSU, logs donated food given by students, faculty and staff at PSU.

ASPSU feeds hungry students Food drive donations needed to stock pantry shelves Shanna Cranston Vanguard Staff

A food drive benefiting the Associated Students of Portland State University’s Student Pantry will be held through Nov. 12 in collaboration with ASPSU and the University Studies program. The pantry, located in Smith Memorial Student Union, room 325, is open to all students—no questions asked.

This term, the need is dire, organizers said.

“We are constantly asking for food, asking for volunteers, and right now, especially this term, the need has far outweighed what we’ve been able to bring in,” ASPSU Operations Director Amber Kelsall, one of the drive’s organizers, said.

The plan for the event came together between Kelsall and University Studies Retention Project program assistant Erika Schnatz.

“My main goal this year is to increase student retention, so, obviously, having food is a major part of being able to be at school and be successful,” Schnatz, a member of AmeriCorps, said.

The plan is to fill the pantry’s shelves and create a back stock for the future, Kelsall said.

“Our goal is to have more food than is needed,” Kelsall said. “The pantry runs entirely off of donations…we have absolutely zero budget for it.”

According to Kelsall, residents of King Albert Residence Hall have been collecting donations, and ASPSU officers have coordinated efforts at Stratford and Blackstone residence halls.

While there have been talks to team up with Campus Housing for a campus-wide drive, it didn’t come together.

Kelsall said she would like to see more student groups involved, since multiple groups can accomplish more.

Campus fraternities have announced that they will be holding a monthly food drive, also to benefit the ASPSU Student Pantry. While still in the early stages of development, Kappa Sigma fraternity member and ASPSU Senator Maxwell Milligan is hopeful that the monthly drives will be a success.

“Philanthropy is a huge part of our [Kappa Sigma’s] mission statement,” Milligan said.

“When I saw that the food pantry desperately needed more food, I thought we could do more service work for it.”

According to Milligan, many of the other Greek life houses on campus have also expressed interest in a monthly food drive.

The pantry needs donations of high nutritional quality that can help students stay focused on their studies and stay enrolled long enough to graduate.

There is also, sometimes, a population of homeless

students, and the pantry tries to keep in mind the fact that some students will not have access to a can opener, organizers said. Pop-top and easily edible foods that are high in nutritional value, such as the Campbell’s Chunky Soups that are loaded with potatoes and meats, are always appreciated donations.

Organizers request rice and ethnic foods and sauces for meats and pastas, all popular items that aren’t commonly donated.

Hygiene items can also be donated and are greatly appreciated. Toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste in travel sizes are especially helpful for students, as they are easier to carry around.

Collection bins for food can be found in the University Studies office in Cramer Hall, room 117. Students enrolled in Peer Mentor sessions can also give food to their mentors to donate.

The ASPSU Student Pantry takes donations throughout the year. There are bins at the pantry, or right outside the ASPSU office in SMSU 117.

The pantry is open Monday through Friday from noon to 2 p.m. When volunteers are available, additional hours are added. The schedule for the extra hours is posted just outside the door of the ASPSU office and in the ASPSU binder located in the pantry.

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS •• TUESDAY, TUESDAY, • •Tuesday, TUESDAY, JANUARY JANUARY Oct. MAY30, 24, 17, 1, 2012 • VANGUARD

wrc from page 1

Personal experiences are used to educate others on domestic violence Both women spoke from personal experience.

Mitchell performed several pieces from a play she wrote about domestic violence called Tangoing with Tornadoes. With jazzy and thunder-tinged backing tracks, she alternated between singing and spokenword recitation to make her points.

Domestic violence does not just take a physical form, Mitchell explained, but can also be verbal, emotional, spiritual and financial. It doesn’t happen just between romantic couples but in all types of everyday relationships.

“I am everybody of every race…of every economic situation…I am that woman…I am you,” Mitchell recited.

Her performance expressed the confusion that comes with being the victim of a manipulative perpetrator. “You broke into my heart and head and you robbed me of my peace… because of your words,” she recited.

After her performance, Mitchell explained that her personal experiences with this kind of abuse made her want to open up a dialogue.

A lack of information about domestic violence made even some of her female friends resistant to her message at first. This push back made her want to speak out even more, and ultimately inspired her to write the play.

Imarisha’s presentation was less stylized but no less informative. She discussed ways in which communities of color can hold people accountable outside of the criminal justice system.

Policing in the United States can be traced back to antebellum systems of slave control, Imarisha explained. She cited the example of an Alabama prison that, prior to the abolishment of slavery in 1865, held predominately white prisoners. After 1865 it held 99 percent black prisoners.

In short, the prison system effectively allowed for the continued practice of free black labor.

Imarisha stressed that women of color have less access to resources because of the criminalization and occupation of communities of color by police forces.

corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFf

S. renee mitchell (left) and Walidan Imarisha lead the discussion about domestic violence.

In cases of domestic violence, women might not have anyone to turn to.

“Oftentimes, calling the police is not an option because both sides get arrested,” she said.

Instead, communities of color should develop alternatives to relying on traditional policing, Imarisha explained.

One such solution, emphasized by several people in attendance, is the banishment of violent perpetrators from communities.

By banding together community members the perpetrator respects and taking a stance of zero tolerance of violent actions, some communities have successfully kept offenders away from their victims.

One question this approach raises is how to keep perpetrators from simply going to another community and finding new victims. Imarisha suggested that redefining community to reach a broader spectrum is one answer.

Rather than communities being simply geographical or ethno-religious in makeup, they can be defined along identity, interest and occupational lines.

Imarisha gave an example of a national academic network that was able to keep an offender from gaining access to new victims elsewhere by letting potential employers know his history prior to hire.

The WRC’s participation in Domestic Violence Awareness Month was coordinated by its assistant director, Jessica Amo. One of its main goals is to help women overcome violence as a barrier to accessing education, she explained. Student engagement is key to this process.

“We would love any students who have questions or would like to be involved,” Amo said.

Students, in prison

PSU students visit Coffee Creek for classes alongside inmates Mary Breaden Vanguard Staff

Morgan Campion’s capstone course was unlike any women’s studies course she had ever taken: It took her into a prison for the first time in her life.

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program takes Portland State students into the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville to sit side by side with the prisoners in Oregon’s only women’s prison.

Campion and the other students worked with the prisoners on a project designed to improve the lives of all the women involved.

“It’s clear to me that the women in our class were super intelligent and engaged and put so much work into what we were doing,” Campion said. “They were the reason for why we were able to achieve what we did.”

Campion’s project consisted of organizing educational p r e s e nt at i o n s— i n clu d i n g topics like financial literacy, nutrition and housing information—by social services agencies. These presentations took place in the facility’s “chow hall” every other Friday.

For one presentation, a judge came and explained to women at Coffee Creek what they could expect in the family court system.

“You never had a vibe of ‘Oh, I’m hanging out with a criminal.’ It was really just a roomful of women, and there was no difference other than what we were wearing,” Campion said.

Amy Spring, who brought Inside-Out to PSU six years ago, said the program is very popular with the 15 students who are able to enroll in it each term. PSU students, Spring says, often have an “eye-opening experience.

“There are students in my class who have had a family member or someone close to them serve time in a prison.

They can understand how dehumanizing that can be,” Spring said. “Other students have preconceived notions of the types of people who are inside [the prison system]…Then they realize that they’re just like you and me.”

While in the past PSU’s School of Extended Studies allowed prisoners to pay a significantly reduced cost for the class and receive three credits from the university, this option is no longer offered.

Spring hopes that in the future these college credits will be once again granted to the prisoners who can manage to enroll and pay the $150 fee for the course.

Professor Jody Sundt, in PSU’s Criminology and Criminal Justice department, said the Inside-Out program

3

election from page 1

Local, state and national politics discussed but added that both the mayoral and city commissioner candidates have been highly attentive to PSU. On a state level, Keisling discussed the paradoxical nature of this year’s election.

“This is arguably one of the dullest state elections we’ve had in Oregon,” Keisling said, to laughter. “And yet the results could matter incredibly.”

This year’s race lacks strongly contested top-tier races, he said.

“Well, the secretary of state race is very close, but that’s really a second-tier race. I would know,” Keisling, who served as Oregon’s secretary of state in the 1990s, said.

Ballot measures are similarly watered-down in terms of contentiousness, he said.

“It’s kind of cats and dogs and dope,” Keisling remarked of this year’s set of statewide measures. But the makeup of the Oregon legislature will greatly influence a host of public policy issues, from education reform to health care, he explained. The red or blue tilt of the legislature comes down to a handful of districts—and that will affect how the legislature will work with the governor.

The presidential race, however, will have far-reaching consequences, Williams, who discussed the national election, said.

“The two candidates have vastly different conceptions of the safety net,” she said. “The two are really neck-and-neck right now. I have no idea who’s going to win.”

Williams outlined the biggest trends she sees shaping this year’s race— the most significant of

can be a step toward a prisoner’s rehabilitation, often because the majority of prisoners have enormous educational need.

Sundt said she usually has a student each year in her criminal justice classes at PSU who is a former prisoner struggling to get back on his or her feet while pursuing higher education.

“You never had a vibe of ‘Oh, I’m hanging out with a criminal.’ It was really just a roomful of women[.]”

Morgan Campion, PSU student

Sundt said that some of her former-prisoner students had been food insecure; one of her students, she believed, was homeless.

“I felt very empathetic for them and for their struggle.

They were trying to get back on their feet and go through school,” she said.

Miles Sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

kim M. williams (right) speaks at Wednesday’s event as fellow panel member Phil Keisling listens. which is the role of money— explaining that independent groups’ advertisements have dramatically impacted the race. Data mining should also alert voters to the degree of privacy they maintain, she explained. Both parties laser-target a plethora of information about undecided voters, right down to their automobile preferences.

Williams also touched on the possible implications of new voter identification laws and increasing racial polarization. “In this case, it does matter who wins. They have different ideas about what government is supposed to do,” she said.

Broadening the presidential race to the scope of foreign policy, political science Chair Kinsella sounded back to a familiar theme throughout the night: little difference between the candidates.

“During the final presidential debate, I was astonished at how little they disagreed on,” Kinsella said, describing both President Barack Obama’s shift to traditional foreign policy tactics through his presidency and Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s move to the center from his earlier positions during the primary.

“Part of his shift was debate strategy, but many of these similarities on foreign policy

are real. Romney recognizes that the American people are not in an interventionist mood right now,” Kinsella said. He did note some differences in focus between the candidates, including Romney’s increased focus on the Middle East just as Obama is beginning to pivot his attention toward Asia. But Kinsella takes the candidates’ promises with a grain of salt.

“Remember how many things Obama said he’ll do differently when he first ran? He changed some areas of foreign policy, but not fully. Romney will probably fall on similar lines with that,” Kinsella said.

The panel addressed audience questions on a variety of issues, from a possible repeal of Obama’s health care plan to the reality of immigration reform, from the lost momentum of the Tea Party to the president’s possible secondterm agenda.

“Could each of you give me your predictions?” one student asked.

All four professors agreed Obama would eke out a victory, though things may change, they said.

“I think it will be close enough that we might not know for days after the election,” Keisling said. “I expect long lines, litigation and attorneys. Chaos is a definite possibility.”

Other Criminology and Criminal Justice instructors agree that Oregon can help reduce its prison population by placing more of an emphasis on providing education to inmates.

According to Danielle McGurrin, a professor in Criminology and Criminal Justice and instructor of an Inside-Out course on domestic violence, it is “all but a guarantee” that the female prisoners in the Coffee Creek class were affected by domestic violence in some way.

The Coffee Creek prisoners’ application process for this program can be rigorous.

Prisoners must have earned their GED certificate and are required to write an essay. Then they must complete an internal (within the prison) background check, and must not have received any recent disciplinary marks against them.

During the first year of McGurrin’s Inside-Out class, prisoner-student privileges were limited to minimum-security inmates, but the class was later opened to medium-security inmates.

Within the prison system, more of an emphasis should be placed on enriching the lives of the prisoners, McGurrin said.

She mentioned that the rates of recidivism, or further offenses, were much lower for prisoners released from Coffee Creek, and she attributed a large part of this to the facility’s efforts to offer some educational programs to their prisoners.

“But these good intentions coexist with a bleak economic climate,” she said.

Though the InsideOut program heightened Campion’s awareness of gender inequalities within the justice system, particularly relating to drug offenses, she said that her exposure to Coffee Creek helped to clarify where she would like to go in her career.

She continues to work at Coffee Creek as an intern and plans to pursue a master’s degree in public administration.

4

VANGUARD • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • News

Crime Blotter

New faculty profile: David Stuart Gwen Shaw Vanguard Staff

Medical assist: Oct. 19

Recovered stolen car: Oct. 24

Hoffman Hall

Southwest 13th Avenue and Montgomery Street

Around 12:40 p.m., Officer Gary Smeltzer requested medical assistance to help deal with a student who was having a severe panic attack in Hoffman Hall.

Officer McCleary found a 1995 Nissan Pickup unoccupied at 2:37 a.m. After checking the license plates he discovered it had been stolen. Portland police were called in to do a recovery.

DUI crash: Oct. 20 Southwest Broadway and Montgomery Street

Student conduct issue: Oct. 24

At 4:44 a.m., Officer Robert McCleary saw a vehicle driving between 50 and 60 miles per hour at Southwest Broadway and Mill Street. The vehicle ran through a light at Mill Street and attempted to stop at a red light at Montgomery Street but lost control, hit a tree and continued on. Portland police finally stopped the car at Southwest Second Avenue and Stark Street.

Officer Baker took a report at 4:54 p.m. regarding inappropriate student behavior at a student meeting. The student had fashioned his hand into a gun and pretended to shoot another student in the midst of a disagreement. After speaking with witnesses, Officer Baker determined no crime had been committed.

Smith Memorial Student Union

Student struck by car: Oct. 26 Marijuana violation: Oct. 21 Ondine Building

At 6:17 p.m., Officer David Baker was dispatched to contact a person smoking marijuana on the west side of Ondine. The student who had been smoking was carrying 1/3 of an ounce of marijuana, an empty jar with marijuana residue, two metal grinders and a digital scale. He claimed that the items were for personal use. The student was cooperative, and Officer Baker referred the incident to Student Affairs.

Southwest 12th Avenue and Montgomery Street

At 9 a.m., Officer Smeltzer contacted a student who had been hit by a car while walking in a crosswalk. The student was transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Portland Police Bureau is conducting the investigation.

sustainability from page 1

Since 2000, the number of students bicycling to PSU has quadrupled It’s also a response to the fact that chargers are currently placed somewhat sporadically throughout the city. The question, Beaudoin said, is, “How do we concentrate some of these charging stations and connect them to some of the best public transit in the state?”

That transit, along with bicycles and other modes of cleaner travel, has seen its share of student and faculty riders growing over the last decade.

From 2000 to 2011, the percentage of students driving alone to PSU has dropped from 41 percent to 19 percent, while mass transit usage has climbed from 32 percent to 44 percent, and bicycling from 3 percent to 12 percent. This prompted an English member of the tour to remark, “Students drive their cars to university? Strange.”

Standing in front of the Bike Hub on Southwest Sixth Avenue and Southwest Harrison Street, Beaudoin explained the significance of the center in PSU’s green plans.

“We’re taxing the bad,” he said, referring to parking prices, which have increased year after year. “And we’ve used that to support, I would say, the good, which is biking.”

For $30 a year, students and faculty can join the hub, which has tools and places to work on one’s bike, and technicians on site to lend advice.

“It’s the idea of ‘how do we empower students, faculty and staff to be able to take responsibility for fixing their bikes,’ which we think will

increase our ridership,” he said.

While on the green roof of the Rec Center, built in partnership with the city, Beaudoin noted an interesting fact about the swimming pool: It’s bomb-proof because of the city’s archive right beneath it.

Looking east, where Mount Hood would be on a less-gray day, one of the tour members asked about a decidedly nongreen feature in the EcoDistrict: a series of block-large surface parking lots.

“So, those are problems,” Beaudoin said. They’re located on what was going to be the site of the Oregon Sustainability Center, but the project hit hard times, and failed to get funding from the legislature.

“It was going to be one of the world’s biggest living buildings,” he said.

Richard Kaneko, a member of the tour who is in his final year of the architecture program at the University of Oregon’s Portland campus, said a lot of people ask him if he’s studying some type of “green” architecture.

“All of the topics in architecture sort of are trying to relate back to some sustainable goals,” he said. His thesis is on a sustainable topic: cleaning up the Willamette River. When asked if he thought the general public has misconceptions about sustainability and green building in general, he replied that though there has been some criticism about LEED and other certifications, if you look at the big picture, at least people are thinking about it.

“I can actually talk to people now and say ‘LEED,’ and they know what I’m talking about,” he said. “Everyone knows what sustainability is, even if it’s just the buzzword.

I think people are at least conscious that something’s going on.”

Anyone can take the sustainability walking tour.

Here’s a link to the map, which is also available from the Campus Sustainability Office: Map of sustainability walking tour pdx.edu/sustainability/sites/www.pdx.edu.sustainability/files/ SustainabilityTourMap_0.pdf Transportation study pdx.edu/planning-sustainability/sites/www.pdx.edu. planning-sustainability/files/2012%20Transportation%20 Update%20Final.pdf

With a doctoral degree from the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, and two years of postdoctoral studies at Harvard University, David Stuart, Portland State’s new chemistry professor, brings with him great opportunity for research.

Stuart is currently teaching the mixed undergraduate/ graduate course “Organometallic Chemistry.” He is also working on a research group that students will start participating in this December.

“We’ll be engaged in organometallic chemistry research, organic synthesis and development of new chemical reactions for organic synthesis,” Stuart said.

Stuart’s goal is to share his passion for catalysis with his students, and to help them understand what it can do for them and for the work.

His research group will be developing reactions that can be applied to the pharmaceutical industry. He wants to make new reactions that are more efficient and more cost-effective, and he hopes, essentially, to reduce the time

Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf

and energy needed to develop medical drugs.

When Stuart made the decision to enter the world of academia, he applied to a broad range of schools.

When he got an interview at PSU, the Victoria, British Columbia native felt that coming back to the West Coast would be a good fit.

“The department here is fantastic, and the city really appealed to me as well,” Stuart said.

Outside of academics, Stuart spends a lot of time with his wife and son. Though he used to play hockey, he said that he doesn’t have a lot of time now and just focuses on staying active and being outdoors.

He suggests that students take classes they are passionate about. “If you’re not passionate about it, then it’s going to be really difficult to get excited about going to class,” Stuart said.

“Make sure you love what you’re doing.”

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS •• TUESDAY, TUESDAY, • •Tuesday, TUESDAY, JANUARY JANUARY Oct. MAY30, 24, 17, 1, 2012 • VANGUARD

5 3

Student employees must represent themselves Departments not formally required to give feedback Isaac Hotchkiss Vanguard Staff

About 2,800 students are employed at Portland State— in research labs, at Millar Library and in dozens of classrooms and student-run organizations across campus.

Despite their numbers, student employees are not represented by a union in the same way as “classified,” or faculty, employees at PSU. Students can’t collectively bargain for better pay or improved working conditions the way union workers can.

Student workers and graduate assistants can, however, find resources through the PSU Student Employment Steering Committee, a group that advocates for student employees by providing training, creating recognition and developing guiding policy.

The committee is made up of PSU administrators and student employees and is responsible for an upcoming Student Employee Handbook,

Employee of the Year awards, and for creating policy recommendations.

has been shown to help students be successful insofar as GPA and graduation rates.”

Graduate assistants “PSU could not function without the great and talented work of our student employees.”

J.R. Tarabocchia, Student affairs outreach coordinator

The handbook will be a new online resource assembling many of the tips that are currently scattered around PSU Career Center materials, such as resume and cover letter writing and tips for when a student is on the job. The aim is to centralize information.

“PSU could not function without the great and talented work of our student employees,” J.R. Tarabocchia, student affairs outreach coordinator, said in an email. Tarabocchia is also a member of the steering committee.

Tarrabocchia said the work student employees do can have a positive effect beyond the workplace.

“When done well and effectively, [student employment]

Graduate assistants play an integral role in the functioning of PSU. According to Dana Rognlie, vice president of membership communication for a local graduate assistant union, graduate students do 31.5 percent of the teaching at the University of Oregon. Her union, known as the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation Local 3544, has existed since the 1970s, and is one of only two graduate student unions in Oregon.

Graduate assistants at PSU are divided into teaching, research and administrative roles, where they assist a tenured professor with tasks such as grading papers or classroom instruction. They are paid a percentage of a full salary, from 15 to 45 percent, depending on how many hours they work.

“Forty percent of them are paid below the federal poverty level,” Rognlie said.

Rognlie argued graduate assistants perform the economic

work of teachers, rather than spending time purely on tasks related to their own education.

They should be considered employees rather than students, she said, and have the ability to bargain collectively.

One of the main benefits of Rognlie’s union is that it keeps assistants at UO protected from encroachments on their time and workload, she said.

Graduate assistant unions have long been a divisive issue around the nation, with 28 recognized unions and one undergraduate union.

Career Center advice Gregory Flores, associate director of PSU Career Services, had some advice for student employees about how to represent themselves.

Since many PSU student employees hold their positions for longer than six months or a year, Flores recommended students ask for an annual performance review.

Currently there are no formal requirements for departments to provide feedback to their employees.

Flores explained that PSU’s Human Resources department has paperwork and

processes set up to make this easier for each department, but it is up to the employees to talk to their managers and advocate for themselves by asking for possible pay raises or extra training and responsibilities. He recommended outlining achievements in writing and setting up meetings with managers for periodic performance reviews.

“The big thing is knowing your value,” Flores said.

“Demonstrate what you’ve done that’s above and beyond.”

Student employees typically pay fewer taxes on their paychecks than their private counterparts. If they are enrolled with half-time or more credits, students are exempt from Federal Insurance Contributions Act taxes on their paychecks.

Student employees make anywhere from $8.80 per hour to $15 per hour, depending on their experience and the complexity of their position.

PSU students interested in student employment may apply using the Career Connect link at pdx.edu/careers.

Graduate assistants seeking employment are advised by the Office of Graduate

Studies to correspond directly with their departments, though they are free to work as an assistant in any department.

FRIEND US ON FACEBOOK facebook.com/ portlandstate vanguard

6

VANGUARD •• Tuesday, THURSDAY, TUESDAY, Oct. JANUARY OCTOBER FEBRUARY JANUARY 30, 2012 10, 25, 26, 2, 2012 2011 • 2012 ARTS •• •OPINION OPINION &ARTS CULTURE & CULTURE

ARTS & CULTURE

EDITOR: Louie Opatz ARTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5694

Stories from an ‘outsider’ Eliot Treichel talks geography, early Soul Asylum and being an outsider Mike Allen Vanguard staff

Eliot Treichel is from small-town Wisconsin, and he’s not trying to hide it. His short stories and essays inhabit, nay, breathe a world of rushing rivers, fishing holes, desert highway expanses, and guns and pickup trucks. His characters are laconic, solitary and tough, even while the author tenderly and quietly exposes their vulnerability.

Treichel has been publishing short form fiction and freelance magazine pieces for years.

His first book-length project, a short story collection called Close Is Fine, will be released at the end of this month by PSU’s Ooligan Press.

Ooligan and Treichel celebrated the release of Close Is Fine yesterday evening at the Doug Fir Lounge.

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Treichel about himself and his writing. Here’s how it went.

Vanguard: How long have you been writing?

Eliot Treichel: I got started writing…I think it was in 1992, 1993, I think. I had done some really crappy poems in high school about my girlfriend or whatever. But I was at Prescott College at the time, and I actually needed a class… the class I was in had gotten canceled, and my friend said, “Hey, I’m in this creative writing class, you should take it,” and it sounded really fun. I was like, “All right, that sounds cool.”

I took the class and started writing short stories, and something about it clicked in a way that writing had never really clicked for me before, and along with that, reading sort of became a new thing for me. So I’ll let you do the math, 1993 till now.

VG: Did it take long before you were like, “I wanna do this for a living,” to pursue it, to try to get published? Or did it happen organically?

ET: While I was still at Prescott College, one of the first stories I wrote won a student writing contest and got published, and I received positive feedback from an instructor, and I thought: “Yay! I’m going to be a writer.” Then I had a few other things published while I was still at college. Then I had this long period where I really wanted to be a writer, but I kept getting rejection after rejection. Thinking it was still possible, I ended up doing some other jobs.

I worked as a whitewater kayaking instructor for a very long time. I decided to go to graduate school, get an MFA—with the understanding that if I had an MFA, I could just get a teaching job. It wasn’t really until I was in graduate school that someone, I think it was the director of the AWP [Association of Writers and Writing Programs] came and said, “You know, it’s going to be really, really hard to get a teaching job. It’s going to be really hard to be a writer,” and that sort of thing.

So the reality of things started sinking in that this wasn’t going to be something that I could make a lot of money at. For better or for worse, that did not deter me, so I took jobs doing landscaping, construction, working in a bakery, stuff like that. More recently, within the last 5 years or so, I started doing freelance writing. I was able to make a little bit of money doing that.

I’ve started teaching. I teach at Lane Community College, so I’m able to make a living teaching—and writing and being a writer are definitely two different things. I feel like I am a professional writer to a certain extent. But I feel like I’m not able to put enough food on the table as a writer yet.

VG: That leads right into my next question, which is, does teaching writing influence your writing? Does it help?

COURTESY OF Eliot Treichel

Author Eliot Treichel is releasing his debut short story collection through PSU’s Ooligan Press this week. Way to go, Eliot.

ET: I would say yes, overall it does. I primarily teach composition courses, which is a little different than teaching creative writing. It does make me more cognizant of what makes for good writing, thinking about things like genre and grammar. I think it makes me empathetic as an editor. It’s tough to balance, to find time to be a creative writer while teaching composition.

If something happened where I was able to be a full-time writer, I think I would still really want to teach because it influences me in a certain way. I think it makes me a better writer because it makes me a better person, if that makes sense. I will say the thing that probably helped me the most was when I was a reader on the Northwest Review, which was a literary journal at the U of O [University of Oregon] which has now gone under.

But being a reader for a journal or something like that is probably one of the best things you can do as a writer, to become better, because you see a lot of people who are similar to your position and you really understand the difference between “almost good enough” and “good enough” in a very clear way.

VG: Where in Wisconsin did you grow up?

What kind of a place was it?

ET: I grew up near a town called Appleton, Wis., which is just south of Green Bay in the Fox River Valley. That was kind of small-town Midwestern…a mill town. Outside the little town [were] mostly dairy farms, lots of corn fields. I would not classify that as rural Wisconsin. But then, after college, I moved to northern Wisconsin, near the Menominee Indian Reservation at the headwaters of the Wolf River. I think that is more of what the stories in Close Is Fine reflect.

In northern Wisconsin there’s lots of white pine, lots of forest, little creeks and marshlands and that sort of stuff―not very many towns or cities at all. Oregon is the first place I lived in after Wisconsin, and it’s sort of similar to me. I think that’s partially why I love it here, ’cause Wisconsin’s very flat and dull, and obviously Oregon has the Cascades, and the ocean and the high desert. But there is something sort of

similar here, the small-town-ness of certain places.

VG: You mentioned that that sort of landscape influences Close Is Fine. What does that title mean, by the way? Obviously I guess there’s a story titled that...

ET: So there is a title story called “Close Is Fine,” and in that story there is a piece of dialogue that actually comes from a piece of dialogue that I heard working on a construction site that sort of stuck with me. Partly what it reflects is that many of the stories in the collection have to do with proximity, physical proximity, such as being close to a lover or a family member or pushing them away, but it also has to do with striving for certain things.

I think we don’t often quite reach the things we strive for and have to deal with that disappointment of not quite getting what you want to get, or not being who you want to be.

So it’s a sort of an acceptance of the journey, maybe, I guess is a good way to put it. It’s not necessarily about the destination, but it’s the journey and getting close is sometimes good enough under some circumstances.

VG: Something I was thinking about when I was reading the personal essay about Soul Asylum: I didn’t realize that Soul Asylum had been playing and recording since the early ’80s. So I went back and listened to some early Soul Asylum, which I really liked. But it struck me that Soul Asylum is like this quintessentially Midwestern hardworking success story: just grind and grind away for years and inch closer and closer to marrying Winona Ryder. So I’m wondering, does that worldview, does that say anything about your view of artistic success at all?

ET: I think that’s the case a lot of times. Maybe I’m reaching here, but I think that [there] is [a] certain Midwestern value of hard work and just going about it day after day after day. But you can see it with all sorts of writers. Cheryl Strayed is an example recently, best known most recently for her memoir Wild, which has become an Oprah book, and she was doing the “Dear Sugar” columns on The Rumpus.

Several people called her an overnight success, when in reality she’s been writing for years and kind of going on about it steadily.

Alan Heathcock is another example. He wrote Volt―it did really, really well. People called him an overnight success, but I think he had been working on that book for 15 years or something like that.

It takes time. Writing is about hard work, and getting published has a little bit to do with luck and just kind of falling in the right place at the right time. But I think many overnight success stories are really just long, long success stories that people haven’t heard about.

I have to say I’m really excited that you went back and listened to old Soul Asylum stuff, that’s pretty cool.

VG: I absolutely hated Soul Asylum growing up in the ’90s, and I’m glad I did [revisit them] because I listened to…I forget the name of the album, the one with “Freaks” as the opening track…

ET: While You Were Out… VG: Yeah, and I listened to the rest of that album. I’m a big Replacements fan, and the center of that album seems to have a Replacements influence. So yeah, I’m glad you introduced me to it. But speaking of hard work, what is the hardest thing about writing?

ET: One of the hardest things for me, because it’s really hard to be a professional writer and just write for a living, there’s often a second job involved, there’s a family involved, a boyfriend or girlfriend, wife, husband that sort of stuff; so really finding the time, making the time to do it. Finding the energy to get up at 5:30 in the morning before you go to work, to write, or gathering the energy at night when everybody’s gone to bed, to write, is one of the hardest things.

I think there’s a bit of a difference between fiction writing and nonfiction writing. With fiction writing it’s really an act of faith. I’m working on a novel now, I’ve been working on See ooligan on page 7

Arts & Culture • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • VANGUARD

7

Crisp sesame chicken salad Reinvent your ramen noodles with class Kat Audick Vanguard staff

Ramen has been a go-to college meal since the dawn of education. A cornerstone of all-night study sessions, this familiar square of dried noodles has helped many PSU students stave off starvation. But if you’re ready to take ramen to a whole new nutritional level, try it in this sesame chicken salad recipe.

A medley of delicious vegetables and lean chicken breast make this meal everything your body craves. The sauce is sweet and satisfying and, because the salad is best served chilled, you can snack on it for days by keeping it refrigerated. (Remember: Always use separate cutting boards and knives when working with raw meat and vegetables.)

A quick and healthful way to cook your chicken is by poaching it. Place chicken breasts in a large saucepan and add water until the meat is just covered, then bring to a boil. For a more flavorful chicken, dump in your unused package of ramen seasoning to the poaching liquid.

Cover the pot with a lid, reduce to mediumlow heat and let simmer until breasts are cooked through, which can take 12–20 minutes depending on their size.

INSTRUCTIONS Fill a bowl with cold water and some ice cubes and set aside. Boil a small pot of water and cook ramen noodles for 3 minutes until tender. Drain noodles and shock in ice water for a few minutes to chill, then drain again.

Combine peanut butter, vinegar, sherry and sesame oil and stir until smooth. Then add green onion, cilantro, Sriracha and soy sauce and mix until well-incorporated.

Remove darker, outer romaine leaves and chop remaining bundle into small 1/2-inch pieces. Combine chopped chicken, lettuce, snap peas, bell pepper and cucumber in a large bowl and toss. Toss ingredients with about 1/2 of prepared dressing, adding more dressing as desired. Season with salt and pepper and garish with toasted sesame seeds.

Serve immediately or keep chilled.

Ooligan from page 6

Treichel discusses book it for probably close to two years and...there’s probably another two years left—and you put in all this time and then you really have no guarantee that anyone’s really going to publish it.

And you’ve put in all this work and there’s a huge leap of faith that’s hard to sustain, in many ways, living in this culture where it’s instant gratification and how much income you make and that sort of stuff. So those are the hardest things for me, personally.

VG: The pieces I’ve read, “Novitiate Falls” and “Open Boat, Open Mind,” and the Soul Asylum essay, “Sometime to Return”—I notice there’s a common theme running through them of insiders versus outsiders.

And in the personal essays, the speaker is not necessarily dwelling on the fact that they are an outsider, but they very obviously feel like an outsider, and then in “Novitiate Falls” there’s kind of a twist in that the outsiders, the natives, are actually inside the structure, the novitiate.

I was just wondering, is that a recurrent theme in your work?

ET: It is a common theme; it’s not always intentional. I think that most writers were, and always are, outsiders to a degree, and I think that not fitting in, being on the edge, kind of leads them to writing as a way to express themselves and [to] give commentary on being on the outside.

Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFF

Reimagined ramen: This tasty chicken salad uses ramen in a gourmet way. Chill the salad and keep it in the fridge for a delicious lunch all week.

Ingredients 1 package dry ramen noodles (3 oz) 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup rice vinegar 1 tbsp dry sherry 1 tbsp sesame oil 4 stalks green onion, finely sliced 3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped 1 tbsp Sriracha (or more, to preference) 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped 1 head romaine lettuce 1 lb cooked skinless chicken breast, chopped and chilled 1 red bell pepper, diced 1/2 English cucumber, diced Salt and pepper to taste Toasted sesame seeds (garnish)

That’s what draws me to writing to a certain degree: I never feel like I fit in; I always feel like I’m looking for my kin. I’m not an extrovert.

I’m pretty introverted. Writing gives me a way to put myself out there in a way that I normally wouldn’t. I read some quote somewhere that all artists are outsiders—I have no idea who said that or if I’m just making it up. I think it’s hard to comment on anything when you’re in the middle of it, but once you remove yourself, it becomes obvious.

It really wasn’t until I left Wisconsin that I was able to write about it, and I really wanted to start writing about it once I left because I wanted to share my experience with everyone.

The Wisconsin I knew was not the Wisconsin I was seeing portrayed on TV or the caricatures of people talking about eating cheese and the Packers and that sort of stuff.

VG: So it’s a matter of the artist providing perspective by virtue of being outside. Like with anything, with any society, you can’t see anything when you’re immersed in it. It’s like a physical object.

ET: Exactly.

6 8

VANGUARD •• Tuesday, THURSDAY, TUESDAY, Oct. JANUARY OCTOBER FEBRUARY JANUARY 30, 2012 10, 25, 26, 2, 2012 2011 • 2012 ARTS •• •OPINION OPINION &ARTS CULTURE & CULTURE

COURTESY OF Future You pictures

LEAN BACK: Wayne White flaunts one of his creations in front of the Los Angeles skyline. White is the subject of Neil Berkley’s documentary Beauty Is Embarassing, which is playing at the Northwest Film Center this weekend.

Pee-wee’s art house Northwest Film Center to screen Beauty Is Embarrassing Breana Harris Vanguard staff

Why can’t great art be fun? That’s the question that encapsulates the career of pop art pioneer Wayne White, one of the founding artists of Pee-wee’s Playhouse and the subject of Neil Berkeley’s 2012 documentary Beauty Is Embarrassing. the film screens this week at the Northwest Film Center.

White is the master of a grand and weird world —his work as a puppeteer and art director for many memorable music videos and commercials in the ’80s and ’90s can attest to that. But he’s also a Southern-born family man who declares unabashedly that art is entertainment and that humor is sacred, which makes him a refreshing and joyous subject. I had never heard his name before watching the film, and I now consider myself a huge fan.

There have been arguments that White’s life is a little too unremarkable to warrant an entire film. And, on the surface, it’s obvious where this complaint comes from: Although he was raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., his parents were largely supportive of his creative pursuits. They, along with his first-grade teacher, noticed his early gift for drawing and encouraged him every step of the way. Although he has a few anecdotes about his art being met with resistance and his need for rebellion, they are more hilarious than tragic.

The film follows White during his college days, his move to the big city (Manhattan) and the start of his career as a cartoonist, until he lands a job on Pee-wee’s Playhouse. The crew struggled during the first season, which was shot in New York, before the show moved to Los Angeles. But the tales of rickety sets, low budgets and tiny dressing rooms don’t seem all that daunting when your job is to create puppets of blue dogs.

But that’s the point of Beauty Is Embarrassing: White is neither pretentious nor tortured—he’s actually legitimately funny, and not in a funnystrange kind of way. His studio is filled with fantastic drawings, homemade puppets and relics

from his past work, but the man himself is fairly normal. White is bearded, cynical, anxious about money and his work, and willing to poke fun at himself and the entertainment industry.

White’s recently reinvented his career as a pop artist, creating paintings of kitschy phrases about life, art and Hollywood imposed on thrift-store landscape art. The snobby way that the art world reacts to work that’s both innovative and funny is one of the things that makes you appreciate White most of all.

Beauty Is Embarrassing features commentary by some well-known collaborators and admirers of White, including Paul Reubens, Matt Groening, Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris and designer Todd Oldham. We get to meet his wife, cartoonist Mimi Pond, and their two children, as well as his college friend Mike Quinn—himself a talented artist—who stayed behind in Tennessee when White moved to the big city.

White’s story is not very profound or dramatic, which is what makes it valuable. No matter what kind of artist you are, his story feels accessible: You don’t have to be a certain kind of person to be immensely talented and visionary or to make beautiful things.

As a person, White is also accessible. His friendly brand of cynicism and obscenity-laden quips are the foundation of the film. He’s a guy you might know. When he delivers his hilarious diatribe on the American Dream, I was eerily reminded of another eccentric Tennesseean: my dad.

Berkeley’s documentary occasionally feels too gimmicky—like when he translates White and his wife’s meeting into a comic strip—but for the most part, Berkeley smartly lets White take over. The fact that the director chose White for his subject is inspired.

The man and his work challenge the notion of what we expect art to be—too hip, too serious, too full of itself. But White infuses art with provocative humor and whimsical fun, and the film is ultimately very touching because he’s so easy to like.

Northwest Film Center is screening Beauty Is Embarrassing Nov. 2–5 at the Whitsell Auditorium, and White himself will be in attendance Nov. 2.

“We’re very excited to have someone like Wayne White visiting the Film Center,” Jessica Lyness, the center’s marketing manager, said in

an email. “Experience as an artist, puppet designer and illustrator is a good fit for other creatives working here in Portland. And we really thank Wieden+Kennedy for helping to make it happen.”

I cringe to say that Beauty Is Embarrassing inspires you to live your dreams, but I also love that White makes me say it…and mean it.

Northwest Film Center presents Beauty Is Embarrassing (2012) Whitsell Auditorium Friday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 4, 4:45 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m. $8 students and seniors; $9 general

16 10

VANGUARD •• Tuesday, THURSDAY, Oct. NOVEMBER 30, 2012 10, • OPINiON 2011 • SPORTS

OPINION

EDITOR: Meredith Meier OPINION@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5692

Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf

Feminism: conservatives’ dirtiest word

Suraj Nair/VANGUARD STAFf

What do you know about student loans?

The reason you’ll be eating ramen for the next 10 years Sans the Salt Alyck Horton

O

ur financial aid system works out well for the two extremes: Those with absolutely no financial means are able to have their college education paid for largely by federal or state grants, and those with affluent backgrounds are able to pay tuition out-of-pocket.

But that leaves the rest of us to fend for ourselves. In the middle—with parents who don’t happen to have an extra $20,000 a year to pay for our schooling, but have enough to make us ineligible for grants— we’re left to either take out loans or not go to school.

If this is you, don’t feel alone.

The lot of us have built up a national student loan debt of $1 trillion.

In 2011, the average debt of a Portland State graduate was $26,287. Of those who graduated with a bachelor’s degree, 64 percent did so with debt.

We have two types of student loans: federal loans and private loans from sources such as banks and credit unions. Furthermore, federal student loans can be broken down into two categories: subsidized and unsubsidized.

Subsidized student loans will end up costing the least after graduation, as the U.S. Department of Education pays the interest until you graduate. Currently, the government pays a 3.4 percent interest rate for these loans.

Unsubsidized loans accrue interest while you’re in school at a rate of 6.8 percent. Using the rule of 72, a standard rule for calculating how a loan doubles, it’ll only take 10.6 years

from the day you borrow the money for your loan to double the initial principle amount.

Federal loans of either type bear the cross of having fairly low yearly caps. As a freshman, the maximum yearly loan is $5,500, which increases by $1,000 every year you stay in school.

Private student loans will rape your bank account with interest rates as high as 16.75 percent. The rate is based on factors not taken into consideration for federal loans, such as credit history (or your parent’s credit history), income (or your parent’s income) and how long it’ll take you to pay them back.

Generally, private loans come with fees that are 3 to 4 percent of the entire loan—equivalent to about an extra 1 percent interest on the overall loan.

We must become an educated society in order to establish a stable and productive economy. This means providing access to education to those of us whose parents aren’t millionaires, or even to those who are college graduates.

Contrary to popular belief, after any losses and administrative costs the federal government still manages to makes a profit from student loans. The system must be reformed to put the needs of the students before investors’ profit margins.

Currently, the maximum available federal loans aren’t enough to cover a full year’s tuition, let alone books, supplies or even living expenses.

Increasing or even eliminating the limit on how much a student

can borrow in subsidized student loans would alleviate the need to take out private loans.

The amount you owe from student loans will stay with you until they’re paid off.

With one rare exception—undue hardship—student loans can’t be discharged through bankruptcy. This policy is completely to the benefit of bankers who make money off of us, and needs to be revised.

We must become an educated society in order to establish a stable and productive economy. This means providing access to education to those of us whose parents aren’t millionaires, or even to those who are college graduates.

The chief solution to reducing student loan debt, however, is reducing how much we have to borrow. Additional funding of the federal workstudy program would allow students to earn money rather than having to borrow it.

Earning a college degree is difficult as it is (especially for first-generation college students), but we’re not looking for a handout. What we need is a system set in place to invest in us and put people before profit.

Katherine Fenton isn’t a feminist—are you?

A Woman’s Right Shilpa Esther Trivedi

M

ost of us have heard about Romney’s “binders full of women” and seen the data proving Romney didn’t actually compile said binders and, furthermore, that his record of hiring women was actually quite poor.

It isn’t like that was anywhere near the biggest lie he told at the debates.

What about the woman who first asked the question about workplace inequalities? Not much has been said about her.

Katherine Fenton is a teacher and undecided voter who believes in “women’s equality in the workplace” and said she’s “protective of [her] reproductive rights.” She’s worried about the economy and is grateful that she was able to stay on her parents’ health insurance thanks to the Affordable Care Act. She’s also been widely attacked by conservatives, and slut-shamed for posts on her Twitter feed indicating she enjoys the occasional drink. All things considered, she resembles the typical female voter.

Oh, and one last thing: She’s publicly declared she’s “absolutely not” a feminist.

She said, “I’m a 24-year-old woman that lives in the United States and feels like I should be treated the same as anyone else. That makes me a normal human being.”

I’ve heard the same thing in classes here. Even in women’s studies classes or in response to lectures on feminism, women begin comments by saying, “Well, I’m not a feminist, but…” And it’s not just at Portland State—recent data

suggests 71 percent of women don’t self-identify as feminists.

Do self-hatred and internalized sexism really go that deep?

These women frustrate me.

They sure seem to think they ought to have the right to get an education, to vote, to sit at a table alongside men, to wear what they want, to earn equal pay for equal work and, most importantly, to express their own unique opinions.

At the very least, I wish they’d realize that by disavowing feminism they’ve failed to recognize that they stand on the backs of giants who fought hard-won battles for their right to have a voice—the same voice they now use to rail against feminism.

We should thank early feminists for so many things: parental rights after a divorce, birth control and the ability to own property, drive a car or consent to sex.

Feminism means you believe in equality for all genders. It ought to be a pretty simple concept, and while I have some criticisms of the feminist movement, the basic tenet—that women deserve equality—has not changed.

Caitlin Moran, a very funny albeit occasionally problematic feminist, has a great response to women who rush to separate themselves from feminism. She points out in her book How To Be a Woman: “Here is a quick way of working out if you’re a feminist. Put your hand in your underpants. a. Do you have a vagina?

And

b. Do you want to be in charge of it?

If you said ‘yes’ to both, then congratulations! You’re a feminist.”

While Moran’s definition is limiting—genitalia doesn’t always determine gender and you don’t need to self-identify as female to be a feminist— the image she conjures serves as an apt response to women who disavow feminism.

Fenton’s declaration certainly seems to indicate a skewed definition of the term, since she implies feminism has nothing to do with equality and is something abnormal.

That’s the most frustrating part. Many in our society have worked very hard to make feminism a dirty word. You’ve all heard the negative descriptions—ranging from hairy, man-hating beasts to slutty, birth-control-using whores— that many people choose to believe. The consequences are astounding.

When a woman asked a question about equal pay at a presidential debate, even though she was quick to separate herself from feminism, she was still harassed for being a “party girl” and was called names like “feminazi.”

It’s exactly because of this negative treatment that we still need feminism.

Everyone—of any gender—needs to think before rushing to be separated from “feminism.” Declaring you aren’t a feminist merely cedes power to a conservative movement that’s spent the last 40 years trying to make feminism a bad word.

I’d like to echo a few other feminists who, after Fenton’s claim, merely smiled and said, “I’ll still fight for her rights, even if she doesn’t think she needs me to.”

OPINiON • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • VANGUARD

11

Loving and hating The Walking Dead The flaws and successes of AMC’s zombie drama That’s What’s the Matter Kevin Rackham

Miles Sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

Central Loop’s second month Streetcar’s new line definitely not all it’s cracked up to be Everywhere and Here Eva-Jeanette Rawlins

T

here’s nothing quite like standing and waiting for 45 minutes on cold, wet pavement for a streetcar to come trundling around the corner. Recently I’ve been doing a lot of that.

I decided to try out Portland Streetcar’s new Central Loop Line at the beginning of fall term. The streetcar is free for Portland State students, and I’m a cheapskate, so it seemed like the best option once the MAX Free Rail Zone went away.

I was mistaken.

It all started out so well.

The first morning, I caught the streetcar on the east side of Portland and spent the half-hour ride to PSU studying, with little to no disturbance. I marveled at how quiet and uncrowded it was compared to the MAX, where I’d often spend the whole time standing. I congratulated myself on my brilliant new plan to maintain a free, no-hassle commute.

That’s pretty much where the warm fuzzies ended.

Every day since, the streetcar from PSU has been late. And not just by a few minutes—more like 15, 30, 40 minutes. No matter how many times you check TriMet’s website, the estimated time of arrival on the stop’s display is completely different.

One particularly unamusing evening, I was on my way home and TriMet’s website

told me: Next streetcar due at 5:12 p.m. Being extra careful, I made sure to arrive early in case the time changed.

Bad idea.

The display’s red neon message mocked me: “CL Line— 40 minutes.” Let’s just say it wasn’t the best way to end my day.

For all the buzz this new line originally generated, it’s a pretty disappointing debut.

It wouldn’t make sense to compare it to the MAX. After all, it has to compete with traffic, just like all the cars that weave in front of and behind it. Some inconsistency is to be expected. However, the same can be said for buses, and if they ran 30–40 minutes late every day, TriMet wouldn’t hear the end of it.

The varying arrival times aren’t really the problem. It’s that predicting them is impossible, which makes planning a trip also impossible. With any other form of transport, TriMet’s website is generally reliable, so why is the streetcar so far off? If Portland Streetcar and TriMet are going to collaborate for easy-to-navigate public transit, synchronicity is key.

If there were even a semblance of synchronicity, we might have a fighting chance of getting somewhere within a predictable time frame.

But it gets worse.

Apparently, not even the timetables or actual displays can be trusted. For example,

last week, one stop’s display told me I had a 30-minute wait. I stood there, debating whether or not to pop down to Safeway in the interim, when lo and behold, the streetcar appeared seven minutes later.

Seriously?

Portland Streetcar has had this line in the works for years and has had ample time to test and retest the new routes. How is it possible that the timetables are so unreliable? There should have been countless practice runs at all times of the day to predict traffic patterns and get it down to an art by the launch date.

If it were a complimentary service for everyone, it’d be understandable, and you’d just put up with the inconvenience. But what about all the non-PSU customers who have to pay to travel?

There’s no way I’d pay for this level of ineptitude.

The total cost of the CL Line was $148 million, $27 million of which the City of Portland paid (translation: our tax dollars). If the city’s going to spend that much of our money on something meant to enhance Portland’s public transit system, then it should debut at the highest level, not blunder its way onto the tracks.

Portland is so easy to navigate because of the city’s investment in public transportation, and it’d be a mistake to forget how fortunate we are in that respect. However, it is for that very reason—the city’s reputation—that Portland Streetcar should uphold a tradition of excellence and ensure that the money Portlanders have invested in it is worth it.

A

MC’s The Walking Dead has earned a reputation as the show fans love to hate. Each episode is full of potential, but many people seem to feel that it’s failed to reach that potential.

That reputation is unfair—the show has managed to stay faithful to its source and has provided some great entertainment along the way.

Beware! Spoilers ahead.

I love the TV version of Dale just as much as graphic novel Dale, and his death hit just as hard. Both Andrea and Daryl have become much stronger and more enjoyable characters, and Hershel has been a perfect mix of aggravating old man, worried father and good Samaritan.

Glenn remains my favorite.

I watched the first season of TWD before reading the comic and loved it. After I’d read the comic’s first few volumes, I watched the show again and didn’t love it quite so much.

Liking the characters was harder because the graphic novels had done a much better job of developing strong, complex people. The show introduced weirdly, blatantly stereotyped characters: Daryl “the Redneck” and T-Dog “the Token Black Guy” (we might as well just call him Theodore, or Ted, or even Teddy).

Some amazing moments shone through despite coming directly from the graphic novels, like Rick’s first kill and Andrea’s sister turning into

a “walker.” Some moments, however, didn’t quite make the grade, like the Center for Disease Control story arc.

So, when it aired, I didn’t keep up with the second season beyond the first three episodes, though people still complained about Lori.

I watched comedy website CollegeHumor’s #KillCarlAlready campaign take off and was fairly content with my choice, until last week.

I sat down and watched the second season. And I understood why folks had so much hate.

Lori was pretty terrible.

Carl really needed to just stay in the house and shut up. Andrea was way too melodramatic.

At the same time, I loved it.

The zombie battles were disgusting but awesome, most of the characters grew enormously, and though the hunt for Sophia was drawn out, its resulting reveal still hit me pretty hard.

I think I understand the problem: In graphic novel form, TWD is a great series because of the characters.

It might be obvious, but the title refers to the survivors just as much as it does the undead. Their days are numbered, and the odds are overwhelmingly against them.

Some people expect nonstop zombie-butchering action, and those people will often be disappointed, because that’s not what TWD is about.

To do the source material any kind of justice, the show has to spend a lot of time developing characters, something much more difficult to do on TV than in a comic.

Mapping out a character’s backstory in a graphic novel can be done in a few panels, and showing characters’ reactions and personal struggles takes relatively the same amount of space. Readers’ minds will fill in the details between panels, and understatement is perfectly acceptable.

Not so much with TV, though. Mapping characters’ backgrounds can resort to employing flashbacks (which disrupt the narrative) or having the characters just tell it (immersionbreaking and often corny).

All good reasons why sea-

son two was dedicated to character development.

Some of TWD’s characters have been really sloppily developed, to be sure, as in the case of Lori, but they’ve succeeded more than they’ve failed.

I love the TV version of Dale just as much as graphic novel Dale, and his death hit just as hard. Both Andrea and Daryl have become much stronger and more enjoyable characters, and Hershel has been a perfect mix of aggravating old man, worried father and good Samaritan.

Glenn remains my favorite.

Without the relative safety of Hershel’s farm, the characters to whom we’ve become at least somewhat attached are going to be in real danger again, and seeing how they react and grow from it will be that much more worth watching.

Above all, they’ve done a great job with Rick. His ascent to leadership, and his self-doubt and reluctance about it, has been perfectly portrayed—just how it should’ve been.

They’ve trimmed down the number of characters, too. No more red shirts—the remaining characters are important and have had significant amounts of screen time.

Without the relative safety of Hershel’s farm, the characters to whom we’ve become at least somewhat attached are going to be in real danger again, and seeing how they react and grow from it will be worth watching.

I don’t have cable, so I haven’t caught up on season three, but I’m going into it with high expectations. The stakes are much higher, the characters are competent and we’re going to be introduced to new folks—some of author Robert Kirkman’s best characters.

It’s going to be good.

12

VANGUARD • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • Opinion

The Vanguard ’s official 2012 election endorsements Vanguard Editorial Staff

A vote for Obama is a vote for sanity The Vanguard has already spilled much ink this quarter over the regressive disaster a RomneyRyan administration would look like, so let’s keep our focus on the man we’re endorsing.

With the Great Recession still ongoing, U.S. unemployment stubbornly high and the economy convulsing back to life at what feels like a glacial pace, it’s easy for idealistic voters to succumb to the view that President Barack Obama hasn’t accomplished very much during his maiden term in office.

But let’s be realistic adults for a moment. No president, not even a level-headed, highly intelligent, overachieving gentleman and scholar like Obama, could possibly live up to the naive, hyperbolically hopeful expectations the electorate had for him when he entered the White House. Especially not

with the Bush administration’s eight-year horror show—which culminated in the worst economic crisis since the Hoover administration—still an uncomfortably recent memory.

Perhaps Obama didn’t prove to be the quasi-socialist messianic figure his followers prayed for, but he’s done many admirable things nonetheless. And he did it all while cleaning up Bush’s mess, restoring a sense of dignity to the Oval Office, contending with an unprecedented ecological disaster in the Gulf Coast and supporting a series of unforeseen political uprisings in the Arab world.

Obama didn’t close Guantanamo, but he did kill Osama bin Laden and end the Iraq War. He didn’t reanimate the inert economy with magical swiftness, but his stimulus bill did help to avert Great De-

COURTESY OF syracuse.com

pression II. He didn’t give us single-payer health care, but with the Affordable Care Act of 2010, he brought us a step closer.

What’s more, he did much of it in the face of an uncooperative, downright coercive Republican House fully prepared to hold the national interest hostage, choke off the administration’s progress, deny the president any credit for his accomplishments and then blame him for the so-called failures of government.

Here’s hoping Obama has climbed the executive learning curve high enough to know that upon his reelection the white gloves must come off.

So vote for women’s rights.

Vote for gay rights. Vote for a robust social safety net. Vote for military restraint. Vote for sanity. Vote for Barack Obama.

Hales, Hales, he’s our man—if he can’t do it, no one can!

Portland mayoral candidates Charlie Hales and Jefferson Smith both have their own fair share of impressive accomplishments—as well as their fair share of gaffes.

But when it really comes down to it, Hales possesses more experience as a leader and a better temperament.

His ability and determination to solve problems, coupled

with his extensive knowledge of the city, make him the more qualified candidate for mayor.

During his time as city commissioner, Hales accomplished much for the city’s nationally renowned parks system and public transit— two things Portlanders take great pride in.

With a solid understanding of Portland’s budget, Hales is

COURTESY OF streetroots.wordpress.com

the stronger candidate to tackle the financial hurdles that face the city.

For these reasons, we endorse Charlie Hales for Portland mayor.

Fritz for city council We like Amanda Fritz’ handson, small-town approach to leadership.

She answers correspondence personally and appears to grasp the city’s challenging politics on layman’s terms.

Fritz uses public financing to bankroll her campaign, not accepting more than $250 from any one donor—leaving her less beholden to big-money interests.

Her opposition to the city’s planned Education Urban Renewal Area—a plan projected to provide up to $169 million in tax increment financing for investment in educational facilities, affordable housing and private taxable development in the downtown University District—is admirable. She voted against it in May. We have faith that Fritz will look out for students’ need for

Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

affordable housing in this district when urban renewal dollars start pouring into these projects.

State and local measures Let’s legalize already Kick back corporate kicker tax

Vote ‘yes’ on Measure 80 The hyper-criminalization of marijuana has infected North America in all the wrong ways: Petty users and smalltime dealers are incarcerated for decades because of harsh “war-on-drug” sentencing, and marijuana trafficking begets violence in our poorest neighborhoods—all while lining the coffers of corpora-

tion-like cartels far from the streets.

For this reason, Oregon’s Ballot Measure 80 (the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act) is worth voting “yes” for. The act draws parallels between cannabis and alcohol, noting that the former “does not constitute a public health problem of any significant dimension” and that there

exists no “rational basis for treating cannabis as more dangerous than alcohol.”

By legalizing the use and possession of marijuana, the measure would redistribute cannabis dollars from cartels to the government through taxation, which would be overseen by an Oregon Liquor Control Commission-like governing body.

Vote “yes” on measure 85 In times like these—when jobs are scarce, checks are light and notions like health insurance and benefits have become the wistful anecdotes of a generation that now seems very far removed from this one—Mea-

sure 85 presents an incredibly important decision for Oregon voters.

However, if it’s a choice between sending extra funds to a public school system that is struggling to compete glob-

ally or to businesses that are struggling to expand, we believe that students are the ones most deserving of an upgrade.

We say “yes” vote to repeal the corporate kicker tax law and make an investment in our future.

Permanent funding Private casinos: a bad for Multnomah idea all around County Library?

Vote “no” on Measures 82 and 83

Oregonians love their lotteries—Scratch-it tickets, video machines, Powerball, Megabucks—all of which serve a purpose in society as a seemingly harmless method of entertainment. But here’s the deal: Gambling’s not a pastime we should support on any level.

Especially when it comes to

privately owned and operated casinos like the proposed mega-complex near Troutdale.

Measure 82 would allow it to be built, and Measure 83 would define the parameters of the casino itself. Measure 82 would open the floodgates of privatized gambling in Oregon. It would effectively amend Oregon’s constitution.

Only 25 percent of its revenue would go back to the state, and considering the potential the casino has to take money away from the Oregon Lottery, it’s possible that there wouldn’t be additional money funneled to Oregon’s school systems.

The remaining revenue would go to out-of-state investors.

It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

Vote “no” on both measures.

Hells yeah.

Multnomah County residents, listen up. Did you know that Multnomah County Library has the second largest circulation in the U.S., after the New York Public Library? Or that in cities with populations between 500,000 and 999,999, MCL is the highest-ranked in

circulation, collection turnover and library-only materials per capita?

All of these are reasons to vote “yes” on Measure 26143, which would give MCL permanent funding.

Up to now, funding has come from various shortterm levies and bonds, leaving the system in constant limbo regarding its existence

and success as one of the most important community services in Portland.

A “yes” vote would create a permanent library district in which funding would be collected via real estate taxes.

It’s a paltry amount: $1.24 per $1,000 assessed value.

It’s a small price to pay for the future of our public libraries.

ETC. • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • VANGUARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Erick Bengel EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5691

Tuesday, Oct. 30

5–8 p.m.

Sniff Dog Hotel 1828 NW Raleigh St.

7:30 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 294 1825 SW Broadway

Dress up yourself and your dog and come to Sniff Dog Hotel’s Halloween Bash to compete for prizes in the costume contest and enjoy beer, wine, snacks and party fun. All ages are welcome. FREE

Night of the Pumpkin King 9 p.m.

The Lovecraft Bar 421 SE Grand Ave.

The Lovecraft Bar hosts a night of music, dancing and carving, where you are invited to bring your own pumpkin and compete against other carvers for a grand prize. FREE 21+

Wednesday, Oct. 31

Trick or Vote 2012 3:30–9 p.m.

Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside St.

Join the effort to remind your Portland neighbors to vote by knocking on doors this Halloween. Afterward enjoy a party with performances by Wanderlust Circus and Chervona at the Bossanova Ballroom. For more information visit bossanovaballroom.com. FREE

ETC.

Sniff and Treat: Halloween Dog Bash

Archaeology and Science at the Paisley Caves

This colorful slide show lecture takes the audience through the scientific processes employed in proving the case for pre-Clovis (more than 13,000 years ago) human occupation at the now world-famous Paisley Caves.

FREE

13

Backspace 2012 Halloween Party 8:30 p.m.

Backspace 115 NW Fifth Ave.

Free candy, fake blood and five live bands kick off the party at Backspace this Halloween. Come participate in a costume contest for prizes and end the night with a dance party. Admission is $5 at the door or $3 if you arrive in costume.

Zombie Prom 8 p.m.–11 p.m.

The Portland Spirit Salmon Street Springs (Boarding location) 1000 SW Naito Pkwy.

The Portland Spirit offers a ZombieProm-themed cruise on Halloween night. Music, dancing and a costume contest are included, and a drink and dinner menu is available. This event costs $20. For more information visit portlandspirit.com/ zombiecruise. 21+

Maria Perala/VANGUARD STAFf

Latte art is a fun way to express a love of coffee! Learn new things about coffee from the experts at the 2012 Portland Coffee Fair, held this weekend at the World Forestry Center.

Thursday, Nov. 1

Open Sports Addition Forum Noon–1 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 296 1825 SW Broadway

Come to this open forum to offer your opinions on the athletic opportunities that you believe Portland State is lacking. This is your chance to pitch the idea of a new sports team to the people who can make it happen.

Archaeology First Thursdays 4 p.m.

Cramer Hall, room 41 1721 SW Broadway

The Anthropology Department presents Eirik Thorsgard of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in a discussion about traditional cultural properties—places which have significant meaning to indigenous people—and how they are identified.

FREE

Friday, Nov. 2

The Human Influence: Responsibility for Novel Ecosystems 4 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 296 1825 SW Broadway

Join the PSU Socratic Society for a free seminar by Dr. Allen Thompson from Oregon State University in which he presents a model for thinking more broadly about environmental responsibility in the 21st century.

FREE

Indigenous Arts and Craft Group 4–5:30 p.m.

Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.

Come to the Native Center every Friday to work on your own indigenousinspired craft projects. Materials for most projects are provided and everyone is welcome. FREE

Gorge Inspirations 6–8 p.m.

Architectural Heritage Center 701 SE Grand Ave.

Gorge Inspirations is an art exhibit produced by local artists and inspired by local landscapes. Not only will art inspired by the Columbia River Gorge be featured, but educational lectures are also scheduled to coincide with the event. For more information visit visitahc.org. FREE

Saturday, Nov. 3

Penjing Beautiful: Living Three-Dimensional Poetry 9:30–11 a.m.

Urban Center, room 250 507 SW Mill St.

This event will include a talk and demonstration of “Timeless Trees and Potted Landscapes” in the Chinese manner. While bonsai is synonymous with miniature trees, penjing equates to miniature, potted landscapes. FREE

2012 Portland Coffee Fair 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

World Forestry Center 4033 SW Canyon Rd.

If you are a fan of coffee, this event is the perfect way to spend your weekend. Come and enjoy the sight, smell and taste of various kinds of coffee, and learn from local experts what the difference is between them and how they are best brewed. Admission is $6–9. For more information visit worldforestry.org.

Sunday, Nov. 4

An Evening of Greek Mystique 3–7 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 462 1825 SW Broadway

The Resource Center for Students with Children invites you to take a walk with them to the Portland Art Museum on the museum’s Family Free Day and enjoy art-making, storytelling, demonstrations and musical performances. Space is limited, so please RSVP by Thursday, Nov. 1. You may call the Resource Center at 503.725.5655 or email nneka@pdx. edu to have your name added to the event list. FREE

= on PSU campus FREE = free of charge = open to the public 21+ = 21 and over

14

VANGUARD •• Tuesday, TUESDAY,Oct. JANUARY 30, 2012 10, 2012 • SPORTS • ETC.

SPORTS

EDITOR: MARCO ESPAñA SPORTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-4538

A look at PSU’s 2012 Hall of Fame inductees Travis Kremer Vanguard Staff

Jim Dunn (baseball, 1977–79) Jim Dunn began his baseball career at Portland State in 1977, when his father, Jack Dunn, was coach. His career at PSU spanned three seasons, from 1977–79. Dunn stole a recordsetting 26 bases in 1979 and received All-NorPAC honors in 1978 and 1979. He was named the team’s Outstanding Pitcher in 1978 and won a Gold Glove award in 1979. Dunn is also PSU’s all-time leading hitter with a .385 batting average.

He played professionally for the San Francisco Giants after graduation. His son, Ryan Dunn, was recently drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays.

Ryan Fuqua (football, 2001–04) Ryan Fuqua played football for Portland State from 2001–04. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards in three of his four seasons and set a school record of 393 rushing yards in a single game.

He was named Big Sky Newcomer of the Year in his first season and rushed for over 1,500 yards that year, ranking him fifth in the nation.

At the end of his collegiate

career, Fuqua ranked second all-time in rushing yards at PSU and fourth in touchdowns. He was also named National Player of the Week three times during his stint as a Viking.

Sarah Tiller (women’s golf, 2001–05) Sarah Tiller played golf for the PSU women’s team from 2001–05. During her senior year, she was named PSU’s Female Athlete of the Year and still ranks in the top 10 all-time at PSU in career and season scoring average.

Tiller was lauded as an All-Big Sky player three times and was the Big Sky Golfer of the Week five times in her final season.

She led the team to conference championships in three straight years from 2003–05.

Seamus Boxley (men’s basketball, 2001–05) Inducted for his performance on the men’s basketball team from 2001–05, Seamus Boxley had a consistently strong collegiate career at PSU. Boxley finished his career as PSU’s fourth all-time leading scorer (1,498 points) and third all-time lead-

courtesy of go viks

lasting impression: Portland State welcomed several new faces to the Hall of Fame this month, highlighting the diverse athletic achievements of those who once called the Park Blocks home.

ing rebounder (748 rebounds).

He was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year for the 2000–01 season and was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Year as a senior. Boxley was instrumental to PSU’s first Big Sky Basketball Championship in 2004–05. He currently plays for the Lieden squad in Holland’s first division league, where he was voted MVP for the 2011–12 season.

Tim Walsh (football coach, 1993–2006) Tim Walsh coached PSU football for 14 seasons between 1993 and 2006, longer than any other coach. He coached four NCAA playoff teams, including three straight from 1993–95, and was a finalist for the Eddie

Higher, faster, stronger Felix Baumgartner free-falls into the record books Zach Bigalke Vanguard staff

Sometimes we are presented with an event so awe-inspiring, so unique and so outlandish that we fail to recognize it for its essence.

Sometimes we are so taken aback by what we have witnessed we can’t seem to define it.

But make no mistake: When Felix Baumgartner took a twoand-a-half-hour journey 24 miles into the stratosphere—enclosed in a tiny space capsule towed by a 55-story helium balloon—he set himself up to perform the greatest athletic feat of the 21st century.

At 12:08 a.m. on Oct. 14, after completing his ascent from the New Mexico desert to his perch in the heavens, Baumgartner saluted the camera and then stepped off the edge of the cocoon that had carried him there, taking an international Internet audience of millions along with him for a truly unprecedented adventure.

Baumgartner, the most prolific BASE jumper and skydiver of the present generation of daredevils, launched himself into free fall higher and faster than anyone had previously accomplished. Bedecked not with the flag of his native Austria but rather the wings of project sponsor Red Bull, he married the commercialism of modern sport with the nostalgia of an era when every record was up for grabs.

The trip was not without complications. Through the first minute of his plunge from 128,000 feet, Baumgartner found himself caught in an uncontrolled spin, corkscrewing violently toward the earth below. Fighting against the rotations, he finally managed to straighten his descent about 80 seconds into the fall. In Baumgartner’s own words, it was “like swimming without touching the water.”

Somewhere in those upper reaches of the stratosphere, where the air is thin and offers little resistance, Baumgartner

also became the first human to break the sound barrier without vehicular assistance, and he kept accelerating from there, topping out at 834 miles per hour before the air thickened and slowed his descent.

Three minutes later, after free-falling nearly 120,000 feet, Baumgartner opened his parachute and glided the rest of the way to solid ground. Floating down to the landing zone outside Roswell, N.M., he stuck a landing that would make any gymnast proud, then, understandably, fell to his knees.

Human beings have always had a fascination with testing the extent of our capabilities, and throughout history we have sought to identify and expand those limits. We want to see exactly how far we can go, and then we want to see someone go beyond it. It’s the reason so many were simultaneously awed and annoyed when Usain Bolt broke the 100-meter world record at the 2008 Olympic Games—while he proved that it was possible for an individual to travel that distance

in less than 9.7 seconds on his own steam, he also slowed to celebrate before the finish line and left room for improvement.

Bolt discovered the limits but declined to exceed them.

Baumgartner didn’t leave anything on the table when he took his 24-mile dive. He set records galore: highest elevation achieved by balloon (128,100 feet), fastest speed achieved without engine power (833.9 miles per hour) and longest free-fall distance (119,846 feet).

The YouTube broadcast of his jump became the most-watched live video in the site’s history, with more than 8 million people tuning in worldwide.

But his flight was bigger than records. Athletic achievement, after all, isn’t merely about defeating an opponent—sport, at its very core, is the quest to bring the human form to its breaking point, to go further than we have ever gone before. With his leap into history, Baumgartner transcended the lines of a playing field and showed us just how far humanity can push itself.

Robinson National Coach of the Year award in 2000.

Walsh is currently the head coach of the football team at California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.

1962 Viking baseball team First place in the Oregon Collegiate Conference championship and the NAIA Dis-

trict II championship plus second place in the national championships—not a bad year for the 1962 PSU baseball team. They ended that season 25-12, with numerous All-American awards and honorable mentions on the roster. Vikings pitcher Gordon Riese was inducted into the PSU Hall of Fame in 1997 for multiple career and season records.

SPORTS ETC. • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • VANGUARD

13 15

Vikings take charge Portland State volleyball rolls past Montana squads Rosemary Hanson Vanguard Staff

jinyi qi/VANGUARD STAFF

set, Match: Garyn Schlatter lays the groundwork for the Vikings attack. With two victories over the weekend, PSU maintained its stranglehold on the Big Sky conference standings.

The Portland State volleyball team continued their strong play this season, holding on to their top ranking in the Big Sky conference after sweeping Montana State University and the University of Montana over the weekend.

On Thursday, senior outside hitter Megan Ellis led the Vikings to victory in four sets over the Montana State Bobcats. Two days later, at the annual “Dig Pink Match” for breast cancer awareness at the Stott Center, junior outside hitter Aubrey Mitchell had one of her best career matches as Portland State notched another fourset win against the Montana Grizzlies.

Thursday night was all about Ellis. The senior slammed 20 kills, claiming her 13th double-double of the season with 13 digs.

Junior outside hitter Jaklyn Wheeler and junior setter Garyn Schlatter also contributed double-doubles.

“Megan’s coming out every night and playing tough, playing well,” head coach Michael Seemann said. “She’s our steadiest player, even emotion-

ally—whether we’re down or up, she plays the same.”

With the three upperclassmen taking the lead, the Vikings took the first set 25-14.

But after the initial setback, the Bobcats (13-9, 7-7 in conference) made it abundantly clear that they would not go down without a fight. Backand-forth scoring was the story throughout most of the second set, which the Vikings finally claimed 25-23 on a Bobcat error at set point.

“These are great teams,” Seemann said. “We have to continue to not take anything for granted.”

The third set progressed in much the same way, but it was the Bobcats who had the last word, as Montana State claimed set three 25-21 to extend the match to a fourth set. The Vikings responded by taking the lead early and never looked back, closing out the match 2521. With the win, Portland State remained undefeated on their home court in Big Sky play.

“These are great teams coming into the gym,” Seemann said after Thursday’s match.

“We have to continue to not take anything for granted on our side of the net, and make sure we stay aggressive and do the things that help us function well.”

Those words rang true on Saturday, when the Montana Griz (6-17, 4-10 in conference), forced the Vikings to work for their four-set win.

Mitchell, whose 18 kills tied her career-high, took control in the match as the Vikings gutted out another victory.

Seemann has become accustomed to this kind of effort from Mitchell. “She comes to play every time,” he said. “The whole match, I kept saying to staff on the bench, ‘We can’t give her the ball enough.’”

The Bobcats didn’t make it easy on them. After falling behind early in the first set, they stormed back to take the lead 8-7, eventually claiming the set 25-21. The Vikings made the necessary adjustments, however, taking a tough second set by a score of 25-20. They carried that momentum into the third and won 25-22—even after a violent dive by Schlatter into the scorers’ table left the setter with a bloody nose.

Without missing a beat, the Vikings kept the pressure on their opponent. With the help of sophomore libero Kasimira Clark making some key back-row saves, the team fought their way through the fourth set to win it 25-18.

Mitchell, Ellis and the rest of the Vikings will now go on the road to face Southern Utah University and Northern Arizona University this weekend.

Activities to take the edge off Banish midterm tension with these university offerings

Maya Seaman Vanguard Staff

As week five fades away and week six finds you anxiously awaiting midterm grades, you may begin to feel the effects. A bit of strain in your neck, an ache in your temples. Perhaps your road rage has increased, or you’re beginning to imagine your not-soreliable lab partner as a humanshaped punching bag.

Whether your symptoms are emotional or physical, the important thing to recognize is that you’ve got stress that needs to be dealt with, and your regular trip to the gym isn’t going to cut it—you need something a little more hardcore. Here are some alternatives to help you regain your composure.

Trampoline dodgeball Now you can experience the humiliation of dodgeball combined with the exhilaration of jumping on a trampoline.

Bring your friends, family, coworkers—anyone you’ve ever wanted to pummel without consequence—and jump into the courts at Sky High Sports.

The floors are trampolines, the walls are trampolines, and

there’s a giant foam pit you can fling yourself into with reckless abandon.

Sky High Sports 11131 SW Greenburg Rd. Tigard jumpskyhigh.com

Bikram yoga Yoga is an amazing way to regain balance, increase flexibility, build strength and calm your mind. Stretching out for 90 minutes in a studio heated to 110 degrees will do all that and more. It’ll make you too exhausted to remember what you were stressed about in the first place.

Bikram Yoga Alberta Street 1301 NE Alberta St. bikramportland.com

Commune with nature Sometimes the only way to reset your mental clock is to get out of town. Luckily, the Portland State Academic and Student Rec Center’s Outdoor Program has plenty of weekend getaways to get you on your way. November is chock-full of day hikes,

climbing trips, whitewater kayaking and camping. Leave all your worries behind and rediscover why you moved to the Pacific Northwest. You’ll come home refreshed and ready to take on the world—or at least finals week. pdx.edu/recreation/outdoorprograms-trip-schedule

Martial arts When the pressure gets to be too much and all you can think about is kicking someone’s ass, then maybe it’s time you gave in and did so—but with adult supervision in a controlled environment. Boxing and martial arts can transform your body into a healthy, well-oiled machine, along with allowing you to burn off any pent upaggression from a long week in the library. There are a number of studios in Portland, but this place also offers one of the only regular women’s self-defense courses in town.

One with Heart 4231 SE Hawthorne Blvd. onewithheart.com/page/adult_ martial_arts

Kai hayashi/VANGUARD STAFF

Hit and Run: Dodgeball is just one of many options available to help ease your troubled mind.

16

VANGUARD • Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 • SPORTS

Cross country calls it a season

Recent RESULTS Wednesday, Oct. 24

WOMEN’S SOCCER @ Vikings Cal State

2 0

Top performers Amanda Howie: 1 goal Amanda Dutra: 1 goal

Thursday, Oct. 25

VOLLEYBALL vs.

Vikings 3 Montana State 1 Top performers Megan Ellis: 20 kills, 13 digs Jaklyn Wheeler: 15 kills, 14 digs Garyn Schlatter: 42 assists, 13 digs

Saturday, Oct. 27

FOOTBALL vs. courtesy of go viks

going the distance: The Viking cross country team made its last run of the season at the Big Sky Championship. They’ll look to build on strong showings this year.

Vikings’ season ends at Big Sky Championships Alex Moore Vanguard Staff

The Portland State cross country season came to a close on Saturday as the Vikings competed in their final meet of the year, at the Big Sky Championships in Flagstaff, Ariz. The women were led once again by senior Amber Rozcicha, who finished in 19th place. Freshman Neil Seibert paced the men, finishing in 57th place.

The Vikings were not only competing against their Big Sky opponents during the competi-

Alex Moore Vanguard Staff

The 2012 regular season came to an end for the Portland State women’s soccer team last week, as the Vikings beat California State University, Bakersfield 2-0. Seniors Amanda Dutra and Amanda Howie each tallied goals for the Vikings, who will now look forward to the Big Sky Conference tournament.

The Vikings (9-7-2, 6-2-1) had already finished their

49 21

Top performers

tion, they were also battling the high elevation in Arizona. At about 7,000 feet above sea level, Flagstaff is a much different environment than the team is accustomed to practicing in.

Head coach Jonathan Marcus didn’t mince words. “It’s somewhat of an unfair advantage,” he said. “I’m not going to beat around the bush. It’s kind of frustrating.” Despite that, he was encouraged by his team’s performance.

“It’s just one of those conditions we had to factor in, and we knew this going in,” Marcus said. “We ran to the best of our ability. Everyone ran as tough as they could.

This all bodes well for the

future.”

As a team, the women finished in ninth place. Senior Sarah Dean was the second Viking to finish, coming in 39th place. Behind her were freshman Katherine Hendricks and senior Brittany Castillo.

Rozcicha has been the top runner for the women’s team all season, and she isn’t finished just yet. She and the rest of the Vikings can still compete in the regional meet, which takes place Nov. 9.

“For Amber, the goal is to be in the conversation, be in the hunt for that automatic individual qualifier to the national meet,” Marcus explained. “It’s going to be exciting. I think all

the pieces are coming together.”

On the men’s side, sophomore Jake Schwartz and freshman Jonathan Talik finished second and third for the Vikings, behind Seibert. Marcus was pleased with his team’s efforts and believes the future is bright for Seibert.

“He gave it his all,” Marcus said. “As a freshman, he’s only going to continue to improve.

We are expecting him to be a big contributor for the rest of his time on the Park Blocks. By the time he is a junior or a senior, he will be all-conference, without a doubt.”

PSU will next compete in the NCAA West Regional Championships on Nov. 9 in Seattle.

Kieran McDonagh: 250 passing yards, 1 touchdown Ian Sluss: 6 tackles, 2 interceptions

VOLLEYBALL vs.

Vikings 3 Montana 1

courtesy of go viks

out in front: Neil Seibert led the men’s team in Arizona.

Big Sky campaign for the regular season, finishing in a three-way tie for first place in the conference. In their game against Cal State, PSU was looking to stay healthy, gain experience and perform well.

The Vikings did exactly that and more.

“Bakersfield is a good team with some very talented players,” head coach Laura Schott said. “We dominated parts of the game and they dominated parts of the game.

The aspect of the game I was most pleased with was our ability to manage the ups and downs. We never got too high or too low—we managed the game well.”

The Vikings have now won three games in a row to the end the season, with Howie

scoring a goal in her last four games. Even though the team is still looking to improve before the start of the tournament, the win was an important one.

“Any victory is a celebrated victory in a sport like soccer,” Schott said. “Sometimes you have what seems like 90 percent possession and you lose; sometimes you get one shot and you win.”

PSU will now move on to Pocatello, Idaho. The four teams competing include the Vikings, the University of Montana, Idaho State University and Weber State University. PSU is the second seed in the tournament and will play third-seeded Montana for a chance to advance to the championship game.

Top performers Aubrey Mitchell: 18 kills, 5 digs Jaklyn Wheeler: 18 kills, 13 digs Megan Ellis: 13 assists, 10 digs

CROSS COUNTRY Big Sky Championship Women’s team finished 9th overall in the 5k

Big Sky ambition Women’s soccer team takes winning streak into conference tournament

Vikings UC Davis

Top performers Amber Rozcicha: 19th, 18:12.3 Sarah Dean: 39th, 18:29.7 Men’s team finished 11th overall in the 8k Top performers Neil Seibert: 57th, 28:09.5 Jake Schwartz: 69th, 29:17.4

Sunday, Oct. 28

WHL vs.

Winterhawks 6 Tri-City 0 Top performers Brendan Leipsics: 2 goals, 1 assist

Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFF

MOVING ON: PSU women’s soccer ends 2012 on a high note.