Portland Vanguard 11-08-12

THE RESULTS ARE IN!

Obama, Hales and Fritz emerge victorious after intensely fought election battles

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

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Portland University Portland StateState University Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 | vol. 67 no. 21

Voters choose Hales Kaela O’Brien Vanguard Staff

After enduring nearly a year and a half of campaigning, Portland has elected its new mayor.

Not long after 8 p.m. on Tuesday, as voting in Portland came to an end, it became clear that Charlie Hales had bested candidate Jefferson Smith with 62 percent of the vote.

“I am excellent!” Hales answered when asked how his night was, barely audible over the joyous crowd celebrating his win at Southwest Portland’s Holocene bar and music venue.

“We obviously ran a great race!”

After pulling in front of Eileen Brady earlier, candidates Jefferson Smith and Charlie Hales had been running a tight race.

In early October, police reports dating back 19 years surfaced, revealing that Smith had hit a girl in the face with a closed fist. Smith, who was a 20-year-old student at the University of Oregon at the time, admitted to striking the then-18year-old woman.

This new information about Smith, paired with the discovery that his driver’s license had been revoked seven times in the past, led to a distinct decrease in public support.

By Monday, Nov. 29, it was clear that Hales was pulling ahead.

The Oregonian released a statement based on their polls revealing that Hales held a 20 percent lead over Smith.

As a city councilor for more than a decade, Hales tackled public transportation by expanding light rail, developing the streetcar and improving bicycle routes.

See Hales on page 4

Obama wins second term Carries 53.3 percent of the Oregon vote Ravleen Kaur Vanguard staff

It was an early night after all.

Although many people were bracing for a rehash of the 2000 presidential election—lawyers, litigation and recounts in tow—President Barack Obama won a second term with a clear victory of 303 electoral votes to Mitt Romney’s 206, with Florida still too close to call.

As of Wednesday morning, the president held 50 percent of the popular vote to the former Massachusetts governor’s 48 percent, with more than 2.6 million votes separating the two.

Shortly after networks projected that the president would carry Oregon, the crucial battleground state of Ohio broke for the incumbent, confirming a result that seemed increasingly likely as the night wore on.

The final outcome was largely consistent with recent state-level polls, said Portland State political science professor Chris Shortell. “Obama held small but significant leads in battleground states. Romney had a very narrow path.”

Other PSU professors agreed with that Obama’s reelection was predictable.

“Despite the rhetoric of a close election, the polls didn’t show that,” communications professor Lee Shaker said, adding that he puts credence in the mathematics of the polls.

Both professors credit youth turnout as an essential component of the president’s victory.

“There was a lot of talk about whether or not young voters would be persuaded to come out,” Shaker said. Exit polls showed that turnout percentage for voters between the ages of 18 and 29 up from 2008.

“This speaks to a youth

Daniel Johnston/VANGUARD STAFf

Students Dave Coburn, Chris Dollar, LIam Leaf Zuk and Spencer McNett respond to the news that Obama has won on Tuesday night.

demographic that is taking politics seriously, that feels it is impacted by national politics,” Shaker said.

Voters under 30 broke for Obama 60 percent to Romney’s 36 percent.

“I think that young voters made up a very important part of Obama’s voting coalition,” Shortell said.

In Oregon, 81 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, according to the office of the secretary of state—higher than the national average. Obama carried 53.3 percent of the statewide vote to Romney’s 43.5 percent—a margin that, while commanding, is noticeably smaller than his 16-point victory in the state four years ago. Third-party candidates received roughly 3 percent of the total vote.

Obama’s lead was enormous in Multnomah County—75.6 percent

of voters cast their ballots for the president. Romney received 21 percent of the vote.

“What you really saw was a systematic and thorough organizing, county by county. It was the mobilization of voters,” Shaker said.

Local Democrats expressed a view that voters were responding to a contrast between the two candidates.

“The American people as a whole respond to a message that tells them what you plan to do. I think the Romney campaign did not tell us that. We don’t like to vote for unknowns,” said Susan Hagmeier, a spokeswoman for the Multnomah County Democratic Party.

“President Obama laid out a vision of not only wanting to be president but explaining why he wanted to be president,” Hagmeier said.

Professors pointed to the challenges facing Republicans as they moved forward.

“Solving the difficulties with young voters and Hispanic voters is critical to the future success of the Republican Party,” Shortell said. “I expect that the social issues are pretty substantial to winning over young voters in particular.”

Conservative organizations and students expressed disappointment, noting that the status quo remained unchanged.

“I just have to wonder how the electorate can vote so nothing changes—the same president, the same House, the same Senate,” senior Michelle Reed said. “Unless someone makes a positive move, I’m afraid it will be business as usual. Somebody has to humble down.”

Portland State hit hard by server failure Many systems offline for more than six hours Kaela O’Brien, Andrew Lawrence and Josh Kelety Vanguard Staff

Kayla nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

Computer labs in the library sat empty on Wednesday after a campus-wide server failure crippled Internet access.

The Portland State campus was paralyzed Wednesday afternoon when a power malfunction shut down the university’s main server.

Around 3 p.m., the Fourth Avenue Building Data Center suffered a catastrophic, multi-unit failure to its local Uninterruptible Power System fabric, Information Technology Director Janaka Jayawardena said.

The localized power outage caused the Internet, email, Desire2Learn, data storage and Wi-Fi to fail, said Scott Gallagher, PSU’s director of communications.

Technicians arrived on campus at 6:30 p.m. to assess the problem.

By 9:30 p.m., two of the three systems had been repaired. PSU technicians were then given the green See outage on page 2

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Report trashes liberal arts majors Lists ‘best and worst’ majors by income and employment Cassandra Moore Vanguard staff

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Not all majors are created equal, according to a new study, and some are quite literally more valuable than others.

In May, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce published a report called “What’s It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors,” which found vast differences in income and employment rates between various fields of study.

As a result, dozens of financial websites like Kiplinger.com and Forbes.com, and even Time Magazine online and CBS News, posted lists of the “worst” and “best” majors for income and employment, calling studies in English, sociology and the arts the “most worthless” or “useless” college majors.

Disheartened by the simplicity of such lists, Virginia Butler, a Portland State professor of anthropology, is eager to call out the foolish and inaccurate nature of such reports.

Especially since her own field of expertise, anthropology, is ranked as the number one “least valuable” degree.

“That hurts,” she laughed.

According to the study, recent anthropology grads can expect

to earn less than someone with a high school diploma and encounter a 10.5 percent unemployment rate.

Butler cited the study as inaccurate because of its overly simplistic attention to the shortterm economic value of the various degrees.

“While maybe students can leave PSU with higher earning in certain fields, that is not all of life’s value,” Butler said. “Even someone in engineering would say income is a narrow view of life’s value.”

To boot, every other field needs and hires employees who understand human behavior; even Intel hires anthropologists, Butler explained.

“There might be economical realities out there where the United States needs more students in science, technology, engineering and math fields, but we need people even in those fields to understand cultural diversity,” she said.

Rather than rank fields of study on a scale of good and bad while discouraging the study of liberal arts, Butler thinks a better solution would be bridging the humanities and sciences.

“Even in my [anthropology] research I’m trying to bring in more science,” she said.

Butler visits middle schools, bringing animal bones from archeology sites, hoping students otherwise intimidated by science will become curious by way of a more hands-on approach.

She would like to see similar

bridging practices at PSU. Former PSU art student Devon Mitchell, who graduated in 2011, agrees that universities should not take their resources from the humanities and pour them into higher-earning fields.

“In my opinion, it’s not a service for the collegiate world to focus its resources in business or [other] degrees that lead specifically to careers,” said Mitchell, who is the coexecutive director of a new Portland nonprofit called Portland Child Art Studio.

“A lot of the benefit of college is reading, and critically thinking, and writing, and learning to thoughtfully articulate. I think those are really fundamental skills we’re kind of losing in universities,” she said.

With bachelor’s degrees in both economics and art, Mitchell understands the worth of a degree is relative. “I finished my degree [in economics] and I had work experience in the nonprofit world; I actually went to Bolivia to work with some textile female cooperatives there, but what I discovered was that I didn’t want a desk job,” she said.

Mitchell decided to pursue her passion for art over the potential financial payoff of desk work.

Mitchell’s PSU painting professor, Susan Harlan, applauds her and other students who seek to fulfill their calling rather than to make the most money.

While the Georgetown

University study does show that majors associated with specific occupations, like health care and education, have higher employment rates, Harlan does not see that as a viable reason for an artist to choose engineering over painting.

“While some degrees, like law, have professions attached to them, art is a calling. Your whole life is your career,” said Harlan, who was a trial artist in Washington, D.C. and New York City for 12 years.

“I always tell my students that they have to supplement their art somehow,” she said. “You just have to find something that doesn’t drain you so you have energy left for your art.”

Harlan was also comfortable sharing anecdotes of friends who sought success over passion and who, in the long run, were unhappy.

“A lot of students who are influenced by their parents or society, and who pursue something [practical] like law over art—are they happier? No. So then I get them back in my [art studio studying art] when they’re 35,” she laughed.

Architecture professor and department chair Clive Knights said he’s not certain bad rankings keep students from studying what fascinates them.

Though architecture currently has the highest unemployment rate of any field as a result of the recession (13.9 percent), Knights has not seen

The 10 worst college majors for a lucrative career: 1. Anthropology 2. Fine Arts 3. Film and Photography 4. Philosophy and Religious Studies 5. Graphic Design 6. Studio Arts 7. Liberal Arts 8. Drama and Theater Arts 9. Sociology 10. English The 10 best college majors for a lucrative career: 1. Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2. Nursing 3. Transportation Sciences and Technology 4. Treatment Therapy Professions 5. Chemical Engineering 6. Electrical Engineering 7. Medical Technologies 8. Construction Services 9. Management Information Systems 10. Medical Assisting Services From a study conducted by the Georgetown University center on Education and the Workforce

enrollment or student interest negatively affected.

“The only thing that might stop students from studying architecture is rising tuition,” he said.

He added, “Education’s value is how it enriches you as a human being, not its monetary return.”

outage from page 1

Most services restored by 11 p.m. on Wednesday light to begin restarting the systems.

By 11 p.m., most of the systems in the data center were back online, Jayawardena said.

The system failure only affected the PSU campus; surrounding businesses were unaffected.

“Most services, including file servers, networking, Wi-Fi, login authentication, email, printing, VPN [the library’s Virtual Private Network], web sites and others appear functional,” Jayawardena said.

The failure caused damage in some of the feeder breakers, which PSU and UPS technicians will be looking into.

The source of the power interruption is still unknown, Jayawardena said. Portland General Electric and building engineers assured PSU that no external or buildingwide power event could have caused the problem.

The failure in the system was not human error but an equipment malfunction, Gallagher said.

Jayawardena explained that remaining problems and effects of the system failure are still being assessed.

While the initial problem has been solved, it may still take a while to get all systems restarted and running again, Gallagher said.

Snafus in financial aid, registration Assistant Director of Registration and Records Chris Hart said the interruption allowed his department to catch up on a few things offline. “There are a lot of things that are quite manual, like filing, that we’re always behind on,” he said.

Over in the financial aid office, there are around 21,000 student files and 10 counselors on staff.

While an outage is difficult in the middle of the day, at least it didn’t come during a critical time for the financial aid department, said James Ofsink, assistant director of student financial aid and scholarships.

“A few years ago it went down on the second day of school; that was the worst,” Ofsink said.

Since the system was down overnight, around 45 students will be receiving aid disbursements a day late; but aside from that there were no other longterm problems, he said.

pdx.edu was down on Wednesday afternoon after a “catastrophic” failure of the university’s servers.

Library comes to a halt Portland State library operations were incapacitated and left many students electronically stranded. Michael Bowman, the school’s assistant university librarian, described the scope of the damage.

“When things went down yesterday we were hit pretty hard,” he said.

The library was unable to check out books or use their printer systems. Students couldn’t access the vast resources that the facility holds.

Despite the crash, library staff was able to look up books but still couldn’t check out books.

Students couldn’t book the library study rooms.

“Luckily it’s after midterms, but it’s still not good,” Bowman said.

In response, the library gave out information to students to access its alternate server, VPN. VPN is designed to access online library materials when a student is off campus.

“Most students don’t know anything about VPN. But the people asking us are able to get in,” Bowman said.

PSU bookstore OK, D2L down The PSU bookstore was unfazed by the crash. Store Manager Ken Brown said the store doesn’t rely on the main PSU server for the

majority of its operations.

“It doesn’t affect us at all.

We’re not on the university system,” Brown said. “We weren’t even aware.”

The network interruption greatly impacted students taking online courses, said Sara Smith, graduate coordinator for the Computer Science Department. Because the D2L systems were down, students couldn’t access any course content, including quizzes.

“Most of the departments in the College [of Engineering and Computer Science] had to close early. There was nothing they could do,” Smith said. “Pretty much everyone was gone by 4 p.m.”

NEWS NEWSNEWS ••NEWS TUESDAY, TUESDAY, • •TUESDAY, Friday, JANUARY JANUARY Nov. MAY24, 17, 9, 1, 2012 • VANGUARD

Fritz wins big Incumbent takes 57 percent of vote

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Charts made easy New typeface helps graphic design students create graphs with ease

ff chartwell, a typeface that easily converts data into charts, can produce various forms of graphs.

Josh Kelety Vanguard Staff

Moments after the polls closed on election night, it was clear that incumbent City Commissioner Amanda Fritz would remain in office.

Fritz beat out challenger Mary Nolan, a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, with more than 57 percent of the vote.

It didn’t take long for Fritz supporters to rejoice.

“Well, obviously, we are very pleased,” said Debra Porter, a spokesperson for the Fritz campaign.

The Nolan campaign was unavailable for comment.

Despite Nolan’s larger campaign war chest, Fritz won most of the county’s voters. Nolan became known for securing strong union backing as well as significant financial donations throughout her campaign.

“It was a close race and Fritz was looking stronger going into Election Day, but it was still tight,” said Chris Shortell, Portland State political science professor.

Fritz and Nolan differed in their view of the Urban Renewal Project in the University District, with Nolan arguing for continued developmental investment and Fritz saying that other portions of the city could better use this funding.

Porter attributed Fritz’s

Mary Breaden Vanguard staff

kayla nguyen/VANGUARD STAFF

amanda fritz was reelected as city commissioner with over 57 percent of the vote. success to her skill in connecting with voters. During the city commissioner debates at PSU, Fritz talked up her responsiveness to inquires and questions from Portland voters, saying she would “respond to every email, every telephone call.

“It was all about talking to people and engaging Portlanders in conversation, and that is what Amanda excels at and that is how we ran our campaign,” Porter said.

“We know that Amanda has a lot of support, so as a campaign we were never going to take that for granted, because we were up with a very well-funded and wellestablished candidate with a long history,” she added.

Even though one round of the city commissioner debates were held on the PSU campus, many students were unaware of the race.

Jeremy Won, a sophomore graphic design major, didn’t vote for a commissioner.

“I didn’t follow that race a lot, so I didn’t want to pick at random. I didn’t vote for commissioner,” he said.

Sophomore chemistry major Rod Vidomsky said he was disengaged from the race because he is a Republican and both the candidates were Democrats.

“As long as the United States prospers and gets up from this depression, I personally don’t care who is in office,” Vidomsky said.

Student Amber Kelsall, a political science senior who supported Nolan, was content with the results.

“I thought Nolan coincided more with my ideals as a student, but I am happy for Fritz, too. I wish they both could have run for open seats. That would have been ideal.”

Bringing an idea from imagination to fruition on a computer screen while staying within the parameters of the assigned task is just one of the many challenges facing graphic design students.

This can be especially difficult when students are asked to create charts and graphs using the most common graphic design programs—Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator.

“InDesign can be a good tool for chart-making if you can set up a system for yourself,” said Cielle Charron, a graphic design student at Portland State.

“I always feel like the margin of error is very high, and the process is time-consuming.”

Travis Kochel, an adjunct professor of graphic design at PSU, is trying to solve this problem. He has created a typeface that provides students with an easy-to-use alternative for creating charts.

“FF Chartwell” works within the design program so that the designer can quickly input data and produce a chart without spending too much time creating styles (fonts, spacing, alignments, etc.). He borrowed the name for the typeface from a street sign in Wellington, New Zealand.

“Chartwell is a typeface

Ballot measures a mixed bag Voters reject legalization of marijuana in Oregon Matthew Ellis Vanguard Staff

Oregon’s ballot measure returns brought surprises on Tuesday night, as Oregon voters rejected marijuana legalization and Portland voters approved Mayor Sam Adams’ controversial $35 arts tax for Portland citizens.

Measure 80, written by Paul Stanford of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, would have legalized marijuana for personal use with state regulation. The measure failed, carrying only 45 percent of the vote.

Stanford was quick to point to the campaign’s limited resources, especially when compared to similar measures in Colorado and Washington state that were approved by voters.

“Washington had 11 times the money we had for this—

we only had around $450,000, and most of that was spent just getting the measure on the ballot,” Stanford said.

Now that the measure has failed, the foundation plans to push legislation forward in the Oregon State Legislature, with the help of state legislators who have been working with them.

“Even with tonight, we are moving closer to a time where we are poised to legalize cannabis in Oregon in the near future,” Stanford said. “I mean—now anyone can just drive over to Washington and get whatever they want.”

The reality of insufficient funding plagued both Measure 80 and Measures 82 and 83, legislation that would have paved the way for legalized, privately owned casinos in Oregon, specifically one in Wood Village.

The campaign behind Measures 82 and 83 suspended

operation on Oct. 16. That day, in a press release, the campaign blamed the “existing political and gaming monopoly in Oregon” for the action.

These three failed measures helped illustrate the difficulty in proposing controversial ballot measures without unlimited financial backing. This, to Portland State political communication professor Dr. Leslie Rill, helps explain how deeply money injects its influence into the political system.

“People always talk about how important social media is these days, and how it can be a big difference-maker. But the reality is that things are just left exactly the same as before—our American democratic system is inherently reliant on money,” Rill said.

Portland’s Measure 26-146 passed with 59 percent of the vote, even with many on either side of the aisle citing their skepticism before Tuesday’s election. Heavily touted

by Adams, the measure imposes an annual $35 income

tax on all Portland residents living above the poverty line, to help refund arts in Portland Public Schools.

Here are all the ballot measure results: Oregon Ballot Measure 77, which amends the state constitution to allow for the governor to declare a “catastrophic disaster,” passed 58 percent to 42 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 78, a housekeeping measure to change language in the state constitution describing separation of powers, passed 72 percent to 28 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 79, which prohibits real estate transfer taxes, has been approved 59 percent to 41 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 80, which would legalize marijuana use under state regulation, failed 45 percent to 55 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 81, which prohibits gillnets used in non-tribal fishing, failed 34 percent to 66 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 82, which would allow for the establishment of privately

courtesy of fontfont.com

and font file you can install on any computer,” Kochel said. With this typeface, once the designer inputs the numbers they want to see on the chart or graph, they turn on the ligatures and the typeface will snap that text into the chart, he explained.

A ligature is a glyph within a font that is particular to certain combinations of letters, such as “fi” or “fl.” Kochel said that ligatures are traditionally only used within the text, but he had heard of other type designers using the technology in a similar way to produce icons.

While Kochel worked on honing Chartwell, he and his partner, Lizy Gershenzon, were working as designers for various clients. Together they run a graphic design studio in Portland called Scribble Tone.

Scribble Tone’s website includes a straightforward video and instructive images that demonstrate how to use Chartwell in InDesign, which underscores Kochel’s interest in making the graphic designer’s life easier.

Rather than frustrate and discourage, Chartwell’s colorful elements are more likely to inspire the designer to explore the graphic elements, Charron said.

Lorna Nakell, a graduate student and book designer in PSU’s publishing program, was also impressed by the typeface.

“What gets me excited about Chartwell is its potential for using the abstract shapes the typeface creates for logos, background images or possibly a pattern for end pages,” she said.

Kochel said the chart-making problems that designers often run into were what inspired him to create this typeface.

“It’s a weird overlap of things that I do,” Kochel said.

“I do a lot of typeface design and…web design, which brings more analytic and a problem-solving approach [to design].” The making of Chartwell was a good combination of his skills, he said.

Kochel’s efforts were recently rewarded when he was given the Innovation By Design Award (in 2-D Design) by Fast Company, a magazine that promotes new thinking in design and technology.

Kochel intends to continue his work at Scribble Tone and as an instructor at Portland State. His current typography project is to take a “traditional type design” and make from it “a super-wide sans serif.”

Ballot measure results Measure 80: Marijuana Measure 82: Casino Measure 26-143: Library Funding Measure 26-144: Improve Schools

Measure 26-146: Arts Tax

owned casinos, failed with only 28 percent of voters voting in the affirmative and 72 percent voting against.

Oregon Ballot Measure 83, which would authorize a privately owned casino in Wood Village, failed 29 percent to 71 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 84, which would phase out current inheritance taxes, has fallen 46 percent to 54 percent.

Oregon Ballot Measure 85, which reallocates the corporate income/excise tax “kicker” to K-12 education from corporations, passed 59 percent to 41 percent.

Yes No

Multnomah County Measure 26–143, which would form a permanent fund for the Multnomah County Library, passed 62 percent to 38 percent.

Portland School District Measure 26–144, which would authorize up to $482 million to improve the physical condition of school properties, has passed 65 percent to 35 percent.

Portland City Measure 26–146, which would tax all Oregonians above the poverty line $35 annually to fund arts education in public schools, passed 60 percent to 40 percent.

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VANGUARD • Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • News

Every week, the Vanguard interviews members of the Portland State community in the Park Blocks and asks them a timely question.

This week’s question:

“How do you feel about the election results?”

Nick Miller, a staff member in Portland State’s School of Social Work, 34, is optimistic about President Barack Obama being reelected. “I think his policies will benefit more people in the country,” Miller said. “Although the economy has been recovering slowly, I think it’s on a path where we want to be as a country. More so than the policies Mitt Romney and the Republicans had.”

Melanie Atkison, a women’s studies junior, 22, is relieved that Obama was reelected. “I’m really glad my rights as a woman didn’t get violently yanked away from me, which I was scared was going to happen,” Atkison said. “I didn’t have a lot of faith in a lot of the states that didn’t care about women, gay people or anyone but rich white people.”

Olivia Riggs, a communications sophomore, 22, is glad that Obama is serving for a second term and acknowledges Romney’s close run. “Good job to Mitt Romney for all that he did and trying to become our president, but I think the better man won,” Riggs said. “I believe that Obama believes in all of our hopes and dreams, and it’s his dream to see us pursue our dreams.”

Erick Benick, a junior English major, 23, is relieved by the election results and has faith in Obama’s plans. “I believe in my heart that Obama is going to go all the way to the left with it and is going to work on socializing health care, work on legalizing gay marriage and hopefully keep inflation rates low with student loans,” Benick said. “I’m pretty straight up with most of his policies.”

Nathan Richards, a mechanical engineering sophomore, 20, is satisfied with not only the results, but also the vote toll. “Barack won by a relatively close margin in the popular vote, but he crushed in the Electoral College, and that’s the best representation in an election,” Richards said. “I think it was a landslide in that fashion, and I’m pretty happy about it.”

Jennifer Cox, a community health sophomore, 27, is excited that Obama won over Romney and the Republican Party. “I agree with his general premise, where he’s taking the country, and I wanted to see how much further he can take it without the reelection,” Cox said. “The general Republican line is not something I agree with, and differs from the general Democratic line that Obama was doing.”

Lauren Krueger, an electrical engineering senior, 22, is thrilled but slightly disappointed by the election results.

“For my reproductive rights and health care, I guess I don’t have to worry so much about my future now,” Krueger said.

“Locally, I’m a little disappointed in Oregon, but I didn’t think that we would legalize pot this time around. Hopefully, next time around, Measure 80 will pass.”

austin maggs/VANGUARD STAFf

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Hales from page 1

Hales ‘humbled’ and ‘stunned’ by support of Portland voters He was also involved in the renovation and construction of more than 110 Portland parks.

Hales is an advocate for higher education budgets and supports programs that link universities such as Portland State with local schools.

Hales said he felt “very humbled and maybe a little stunned” by the experience of running for mayor, and was quick to express his gratitude for the incredible amount of effort and support he received during his campaign.

Regarding the reelection of President Barack Obama, Hales said he was “so relieved and happy.”

Hales explained that it felt good to have an administration that “supports our whole agenda,” listing livable communities, energy and climate concerns as priorities.

“These topics wouldn’t have been [addressed] if the president hadn’t been reelected,” he said.

Now, with only 60 days before he’s sworn into office, Hales says he has a lot of work ahead of him.

Hales will be meeting with current Mayor Sam Adams to discuss issues facing Portland.

Some of the biggest challenges Hales plans to take on include enhancing public schools and increasing the quality of some East Portland neighborhoods, which he feels have been neglected.

Hales also seeks to create safer neighborhoods by strengthening the relationships between communities and police.

Hales wrapped up by saying that there are some “serious issues awaiting my administration and city counsel,” but said he felt confident and ready to begin his term.

NEWS NEWSNEWS ••NEWS TUESDAY, TUESDAY, • •TUESDAY, Friday, JANUARY JANUARY Nov. MAY24, 17, 9, 1, 2012 • VANGUARD

5 3

Ecotool eyes efficiency New calculator compares green roofs to conventional roofs Katie Quick Vanguard staff

Let’s say you have two identical buildings, side by side.

The only difference? One has a green roof that absorbs rainwater, insulates the building and provides habitat for wildlife in the inner city. The other has a conventional roof.

Which is more efficient?

David Sailor, a professor in the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department and the director of the Green Building Research Laboratory at Portland State, has created a tool that will compute the answer.

Sailor created a Green Roof Energy Calculator, which allows the user to find out if a green roof would be more sustainable and efficient than a conventional roof in its place. “[The calculator] is designed for developers, new green roof, people who are interested, and for researchers to understand the effects

of green roofs,” Sailor said.

“Back in 2003, the City of Portland asked, ‘What would happen if we were to reroof all of the buildings in central/ East Portland?’” Sailor said.

They were looking for ways to reduce the impact of storm water and energy consumption and, ultimately, find a way to measure success.

“It became apparent that there was no suitable approach to green roof energy. I saw an opportunity…and decided to do something about it.”

Sailor set out to create software that would determine if a green roof would be energyefficient for any given building. With the creation of the initial EnergyPlus program, researchers could simulate ecoroofs and surrounding effects. They ran 8,000 building simulations from 100 different climates, with another focus on residential buildings versus office buildings.

“We did initially only new construction (buildings constructed post-2004). In most cases, the performance of the green roof had a modest impact,” Sailor said, explaining that other components can contribute to a building’s efficiency, such as computer or

electronic usage, the amount of people in the building, air flow, etc.

In 2007, with all of these modules and examples in the data system, Sailor, alongside faculty from the University of Toronto and graduate students from PSU, created the calculator, which takes into account several different factors: whether the building has a black or white roof, the location, the total area of the roof, the type and age of the building and the desired thickness of the green roof.

Sailor was also interested in whether a green roof had the capacity to keep cities cooler—impacting what’s called an “urban heat island,” an area of a city with higher temperatures.

For the initial trials they used two different types of roofs as the control: white and black. The two different roofs absorb different amounts of energy based on the amount of sunlight in that particular climate. They then began to ask: How does a green roof affect heat energy? They found the green roof to be more efficient most of the time.

“Green roofs cost more, but

Riza liu/VANGUARD STAFF

david sailor, a professor of mechanical and materials engineering, helps senior mechanical engineering student Pamela Wallace use the Green Roof Energy Calculator. last twice as long and with more ecological benefits,” Sailor said.

According to Landru Parker, a third-year Eco-Rep student and the residence life sustainability liaison intern at PSU, green roofs reduce heating costs, treat waste water, reduce stormwater run-off and help to clean the air.

“With an ecoroof, all we’re doing is elevating that space up to the sky. We’re not taking away a resource but relocating it,” Parker said. Indeed, ecoroofs provide the same amount of area, just not on ground level.

“I believe green roofs are an

essential tool to the PSU community. It’s a worthwhile investment for the community to make,” he said. “The long-term benefits outweigh the costs, and they add to the visual component of PSU being a pioneer of sustainability.”

Mechanical engineering graduate student Max Gibson, who works with Sailor on the project, believes the calculator is important because it allows people without significant knowledge of building energy modeling practices to measure the benefits of a green roof.

“The better accessibility may encourage some people

to be thinking about green roofs—and green building practices in general—where they may have felt this topic was too intimidating or complex before,” Gibson said.

He also believes the tool’s creation should be a point of pride at PSU. “Let’s not forget that this tool is hosted at PSU, helping to solidify PSU’s place in the worldwide green building community,” Gibson said.

“This calculator demonstrates that the university is quickly becoming a leading player in the very important field of research.”

New faculty: Jill Castek Research mixes linguistics and social justice

jill castek was hired this year by the Department of Applied Linguistics.

Gwen Shaw Vanguard Staff

This year, Jill Castek was hired by the Department of Applied Linguistics at Portland State.

She is working as a research assistant professor within the Literacy, Language and Technology Research Group.

The group works on several projects, but primarily provides opportunities for vulnerable populations of adults to acquire digital literacy skills.

“It’s a very important component of the 21st century to have digital literacy skills,” Castek said. “And although young people and college students and those in the work force have adequate opportunities to develop those skills, there [are] a lot of people in our society who have been left behind.”

Recent immigrants, exconvicts and the poor lack access to training, limiting their ability to participate in society, she said.

The group develops online training materials to deliver necessary skills to disadvantaged groups.

Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFF

“It’s a high-need area when it comes to equity and access,” Castek said. “So it very much has a social justice component to it.”

The group goes into target communities in the Portland area to make this education available; similar groups are working at six other sites in five states.

Castek is also working on her own research.

“A lot of my work primarily was focused on teaching and learning among populations of adolescents in upper-elementary and middle school,” Castek said.

She’s in the process of writing a grant proposal to fund a look at the development of scientific language in an informal science education setting, using tablet technologies to support online

and face-to-face discourse.

“When we look at today’s society and the dependence on… technology, we really need to work hard, across the board in all educational areas, to help support learners in general in acquiring the skills and strategies needed to be part of a 21stcentury society,” Castek said.

In education today, there is a very traditional way of doing things, with textbooks and paper and pencils, but when people are sent into the workforce they need to be digitally able, she said.

“There are multiple dimensions of literacy practices that intersect with the digital world that we live in, and to support that kind of development is really where the next level of education needs to go,” Castek said.

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VANGUARD ••Friday, Thursday, THURSDAY, TUESDAY, Nov. JANUARY OCTOBER Nov. FEBRUARY JANUARY 9, 2012 8, 2012 10, 25, •26, ARTS 2, 2012 2011 •2012 ARTS &••CULTURE •OPINION OPINION &ARTS CULTURE & CULTURE

ARTS & CULTURE

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

Putting the funk in fine art

Sing-song: PSU choir members belt out some dulcet tones.

Four choral ensembles will perform this weekend at First United Methodist Church.

PSU choirs present ‘Clash of the Titans’ concert Becca Cotton Vanguard Staff

What inspires the creation of new musical genres?

This weekend, four of Portland State’s choral ensembles—Vox Femina, PSU Man Choir, University Choir and Chamber Choir—will bring their voices to the “Clash of the Titans.”

This concert mixes classical and modernday music in a celebration of the breadth of vocal ability: The title refers to the pairing of two seemingly opposite branches of music.

“There are going to be some jarring transitions back and forth between classical and pop music,” said Ethan Sperry, head of Portland State’s choral program and one of three conductors for the event. (Chris Edwards and Erik Lichte are also conducting.) “We give examples from basically every time period and composer.”

The concert is sure to entertain and amuse: Pieces are arranged in a manner that will bring laughs and evoke emotion.

“The first piece will be one by a German composer named Hans Leo Hassler called ‘Cantate Domino,’ which is basically a prayer, and then we follow it up with ‘Like a Prayer’

by Madonna,” Sperry said. “We even sing the monkey song from The Jungle Book.”

Every year, the PSU Choral Department chooses a theme for their choir concerts. Although “Clash of the Titans” was not chosen as the theme for 2012, Sperry decided it was worth elaborating on.

“I really liked the concept and believed it could make a great concert,” Sperry said.

“We’re transcending boundaries in music.

The voice is the most versatile instrument there is. No matter how many instruments we create there’s nothing that has the capability that the voice has.”

Not only will the genres of the music change with each piece, but the choirs that sing them will rotate as well. Each of the four choirs will get equal time with their pieces,

COURTESY OF PSU CHOIR

ultimately inspiring a wide variety of reactions in the audience.

“Obviously, since I’m helping conducting the concert, I like all the pieces of music, but if I had to pick one to highlight it would be a piece by Eric Whitacre called ‘A Boy and A Girl,’” Sperry said.

Following the theme of the concert, Whitacre is not only a Grammy-winning composer but a poet who combines his art forms to create a new genre of music. “‘A Boy and A Girl’ is about lovers that are so consumed with one another that their love survives it all,” Sperry said. “We recently played it in high schools, and there were students literally crying. It really grabs you.”

To add to the ambience, the concert will be presented in the old First United Methodist Church on Southwest Jefferson Street. The

juxtaposition of gothic architecture and songs

by Stevie Wonder and Fun will help set the mood for a promising night.

“We live in a world that loves to classify things,” Sperry said. “There’s an urge when you hear a piece of music to instantly put it into one of many categories, but we hope to break down more barriers rather than create them.”

PSU Choral Department presents “Clash of The Titans” Friday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 11, 4 p.m.

First United Methodist Church, 1838 SW Jefferson Ave. $12 general; $7 students

High-profile brain dance from someone younger than you

gloomy flume: Australian glitch producer Flume chills out in front of a storage unit.

His debut selftitled album is out this month on Future Classic Records.

Australia’s Flume releases debut glitch record Nicholas Kula Vanguard Staff

Everyone has one of those friends that talks about how “music sucks these days,” and further, how the only good stuff still being made is from established bands. Unfortunately, this mentality seems to infect younger and younger people as time drags on.

Our parents decided that music wasn’t getting any better when they turned 40. Now you’ll hear people in their late 20s spouting the same tired rhetoric before shutting themselves in their bedrooms with boring Bon Iver records.

Fortunately, the world of music is not so ready to let people commit to terminal boredom. Our friends and relatives need not wait for Radiohead to ooze out another bucket of chum with bated breath.

If you know where to look, music is exciting, and sometimes you really have to dig. Enter Flume, a glitch-cum-synthpop producer from Sydney, Australia, who got his start with free ultra-basic music software included in a box of cereal. With origins as humble as any I’ve ever read, how does the 20-year-old’s eponymous debut fare against a world of stunted musical growth?

For those not into much electronic music, the album may take a couple listens in order to wring out maximum enjoyment. Glitch isn’t exactly the most accessible genre, so for you casual electronic listeners out there, you can be thankful that Flume keeps the glitch elements to a minimum and is liberal with his application of sexy, ethereal vocals.

If glitchy, swirling electronic dreamscapes sound right up your alley, then Flume has your number. If you’ve been listening to glitch for years now, you might want to move along— Flume weaves an entry-level glitch tapestry that may not interest seasoned listeners.

Allow me to take the time to explain what might be the worst element of contemporary electronic music: poor vocal sample manipulation. By poor, I mean severely annoying—and

squeaky, double-time, chipmunk-esque vocal samples are the apex of this phenomenon.

Unfortunately, Flume’s record is chock full of chipmunk samples. I attribute this blunder to Flume’s overeagerness as a producer—it seems his eyes are bigger than his proverbial stomach. Flume wants to create a mesmerizing work of electronic brilliance and wants the human voice to act like another synth track, riding and falling at his whim.

This is where the mistakes are made. The human voice works best with glitch music as a salve to the subtle chaos of everything else in the music.

Flume overcomplicates this right out of the gate on the first track, “Sintra.” Luckily, the tracks are short enough (most are under three minutes) not to bury the listener in layers of chipmunk samples.

The beauty of Flume’s intro-to-glitch record is that he doesn’t attempt to toss the listener onto a glitch minefield like Kid606 might. It’s meant to take your hand and gently guide you into the genre. By track nine, “More Than You Thought,” Flume hammers the listener with some serious next-level glitch, and the trip down the summit is a graceful one.

Sadly, the journey up the mountain is one fraught with bumps and setbacks, and they exist mainly because of the chipmunk vocals. It almost seems that the shrill vocal bursts only exist to make the last third of the album more enjoyable, since it contains none of the aforementioned affronts.

Tracks five, six, seven and eight pack so many chipmunk vocals you’ll swear Dave Seville produced them. While these samples, along with some other throwaway audio artifacts, are Flume Mountain’s collective yeti menace, he provides you with enough rations beforehand to weather the beast.

Songs like “On Top” are early stars on the record—and aptly titled to boot. If you can tune out the mediocre hip-hop vocal musings, you’ll find a skillfully crafted beat on par with any

COURTESY OF The windish agency

contemporary producer, seasoned with tasty arpeggiated square waves on loan from a Commodore 64 computer.

Other tracks, like “Left Alone,” feature seasick-Nyquil-fever-dream synthesizers with soulful vocals spilled into the mix. At times, it reminds me of a scaled-back PANTyRAID or edIT of Glitch Mob fame; the only thing missing from the marriage is the goofy name stylization.

Flume’s work contains several veteran touches, like syrupy filter work and great sample choices, and the subtle integration into the first two-thirds of the album is welcomed. However, when “More Than You Thought” cracks off, the record really opens up. The track starts out sounding like a field recording.

Truthfully, if tracks five through eight were all like this, the record would be infinitely stronger. “More” is unquestionably the best song on the record: It’s cobbled together from deep bass cuts, broken percussive samples and vocal splatters that sound straight out of some dusty attic’s 45 collection.

One thing you’ll notice on Flume is that the songs end abruptly, with no flow whatsoever.

Even with a gapless playback system in place, you’ll feel pushed, pulled and jerked from one composition to the next.

Some might say that it fits with the glitch aesthetic, but if you’ve ever heard a fan of the harsh noise genre talk about “good noise” versus “bad noise,” you’ll understand how this particular

type of glitchiness isn’t exactly a musical styling.

This is certainly one area of Flume’s game that needs stepping up: If he’s ever going to play this stuff live, he’d better learn to mix it together, lest his peripheral vision be forever watching for a shepherd’s crook.

Other elements of the album just seem like bad ideas. “Insane” starts out with a truly captivating vocal melody, but launches into some kind of Tesla Boy-inspired cheeseball synthpop horse jazz. Had the song been kept as it started—a minimal, breathy piece—it would have worked far better.

It’s easy to tell that Flume intended his debut as one solid movement, with “More Than You Thought” being the apex and nothing else after it attempting to come close. If only he hadn’t littered the path to the top with so many pitfalls, the album would have been more successful.

On the other hand, the smattering of ideas present on this debut is far too big for Flume’s rookie britches. As his career continues, his complicated frameworks will find a home big enough to support them.

Flume Flume Future Classic Records Out 11/9

Arts & Culture • Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • VANGUARD

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Bringing back the Bard PSU theater department debuts Shakespeare’s Othello this weekend Whitney Garcia Jacobson Vanguard Staff

“Give me the ocular proof!” Othello shouts, thus illuminating the tragic central element of Shakespeare’s classic play, opening this weekend at Portland State.

The universities Department of Theatre and Film takes on the Bard in its rendition of Othello, officially premiering tomorrow at Lincoln Hall’s main stage theater. Students can catch a student preview of the play this evening.

After four centuries, Shakespeare challenges even modern-day audiences’ assumptions of how individuals view their reality. This classic tragedy echoes many challenges that PSU students face in their studies: Objectivity and rationality are questioned at every moment. With twisted romantic affairs, an evil villain and nonstop scheming, this production stays true to the original text while making for an exciting evening for all ages.

The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice was written by Shakespeare around the year 1603 and is based on an Italian short story, “Un Capitano Moro.” The play’s titular character is a general in the Venetian army who has recently married Desdemona. Othello’s lower-ranking comrade, Iago, plays deceitful games in order to trick Othello into believing that his wife has not been faithful to him.

Shakespeare’s description of Othello as a “Moor” is a constant source of debate for modern interpretations of the play: Some have taken this

CORINNA SCOTT/VANGUARD STAFf

Schemin’ Venetian: Iago, left, tempts Roderigo in Shakespeare’s classic Othello. PSU’s Department of Theatre and Film is performing the play for the next two weekends in Lincoln Hall. to mean that Othello has black skin, has darker features or that the term black used in the play may be a metaphor for an unsavory character trait. Whatever one’s interpretation, race has historically been an important factor in the staging of Othello.

“While race hatred is used as a weapon in the play, the work is about slander, and how easily we believe gossip, innuendo and lies about other people,” said Devon Allen, a theater arts professor at PSU and the play’s director.

Allen’s vision of the play focuses heavily on how its characters, namely the villainous Iago, wreak havoc on people’s relationships. While a modern audience may not think Shakespeare’s time was as gossip-infected as our tech-savvy generation, Allen notes that most legal cases in Britain at the time involved allegations of slander.

A life in pictures Chinese-Canadian graphic novelist David H.T. Wong comes to PSU Tristan Cooper Vanguard Staff

By now it’s cliche to proclaim that “comics aren’t just for kids anymore.” Especially in a city like Portland, home to publishers like Dark Horse Comics, Oni Press and Top Shelf Productions, comic books have long since proven themselves above petty genre distinctions.

Comics are a medium for art, and whether that art includes contemplative slice-of-life autobiographies or grown men shooting lasers at each other remains completely up to the creators.

David H.T. Wong saw the graphic novel format as an opportunity to connect to readers with a sensitive, specific story by using the universal language of sequential art. He’ll be coming to Portland State to share his new nonfiction book, Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America, on Tuesday, Nov. 13.

“Escape to Gold Mountain is based on the interviews that Wong conducted with his family about their experiences as immigrants to North America, and also their ancestors,” said Jennifer Abel Kovitz, Wong’s publicist. “He also delved deep into the archives and has sketched a lot of things based on photographs that you can see in old newspapers and the archives. It’s the first time it’s ever been done, and he’s done it in a really accessible way.”

Wong’s family history in North America dates back about 150 years. He grew up in Vancouver,

Riza Liu/VANGUARD STAFf

David h.t. Wong holds a digital copy of his upcoming graphic novel, Escape to Gold Mountain.

British Columbia, with a strong desire to be a cartoonist. Practicality won out, however, and Wong ended up with a career as an architect.

Six years ago, he sold his firm and decided to set out on a more personally meaningful pursuit.

“About 10 years ago my father passed away, and previous to that he had really wanted me to go with him to go visit our ancestral village in China,” Wong said. “I thought that maybe I should start following through at what my father wanted me to look at.”

Further inspiration for the graphic novel came not from the past but from the next generation.

After one of their weekly visits to the local library,

“When many hide behind social media outlets…they can retain their cowardly anonymity and do much damage to reputations and lives,” Allen said.

For the actors taking on the roles in the play, the complicated interplay of characters and schemes can be a challenge to portray.

“For me, [my character] is very different from myself all around,” said Talon Bigelow, who plays Othello. “Othello is cooler than me—more intimidating. It’s a part that’s very out of the box for me.

It’s a challenge. If I do it right; I’ll be exhausted after every night.”

Sam Morrison, who plays the duplicitous Iago, finds there is a fine line between relishing a role and going overboard.

“One fear is that I allow myself to indulge in [Iago’s evil nature] because it’s really fun to be

Wong and his children brought home a graphic novel called Fagin the Jew. The book, a retelling of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist from the villain Fagin’s perspective, captivated Wong with its beautiful artwork and in-depth storytelling. He sought out more work from the book’s legendary creator, Will Eisner, who is generally known as the father of the graphic novel.

Wong admits that his career as an architect played a big role in the creation of Escape to Gold Mountain.

“Good design, whether it’s architecture or even poetry or music—there’s a different structure to it,” Wong said. “Some people call it rhythm, and other people just call it a good narrative. A good story is told by good design. I think that being an architect, I guess a creative person, it really helped me organize how the story should be told.”

That story proved to require quite an effort to tell with proper accuracy. Though the comics format provides an accessible inlet for all ages to partake in, Wong ran into some trouble after resolving to remain faithful in the visual aspect of history.

“I found that the whole nonfiction of it really drove me crazy, because it had to be real,” Wong said. “To write words is difficult, to make sure it’s accurate, but trying to draw pictures…the clothing had to be accurate, the cars had to be accurate, the watches they wore, the streetlamps, the buildings. That research took two and a half years before the actual drawing began.”

Escape to Gold Mountain chronicles the Wong family’s tumultuous journey through an era of discrimination and heartbreak starting in the 19th century. Chinese immigrants coming to North America at the time faced a harsh environment of racism and subjugation, which worsened with government legislation.

Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 put a “head tax,” a fee of $50, on any immigrant from China who wanted to enter the country. In 1900, the fee was raised to $100.

sinister and dark,” Morrison said. “[Iago] makes other people move the plot so he is never directly in the spotlight by his own working.

“He’s called ‘honest Iago’ probably more times than he’s called ‘Iago’ in the play. Everybody thinks he’s the best guy,” Morrison said. “It’s a testament to how good he is at hiding these tendencies.”

Both Bigelow and Morrison acknowledge that historically there is a long history of onstage and offstage rivalry between actors who play Othello and Iago. But Morrison was quick to note, “There hasn’t been any terrific animosity between us.”

Morrison thinks that any possible animosity between the actors playing Iago and Othello stems from the script itself.

“I like to think that Shakespeare did that on purpose, where Othello gets all the grandeur and everything, and the poster, and all the photo shoots and everything,” Morrison said. “And Iago? I don’t get a woman. I don’t get a poster. Nobody’s calling me for interviews.”

For both actors, the chance to enact these dueling roles on stage will allow attendees to see that the story is relevant to a contemporary audience.

“The way this interpretation of this play is going, this could happen to anyone,” Bigelow said. “It’s relatable in a scary way―if you believe everything that you hear and have too much trust and not enough logic. It’s definitely a cautionary tale.”

PSU’s Department of Theatre and Film presents Othello by William Shakespeare Preview: Thursday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.

Performances: Friday, Nov. 9, through Sunday, Nov. 11; Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 14, through Saturday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m Lincoln Hall, main stage theater $12 general admission; $8 students; $6 student preview

Three years later, the fee was increased again, to $500, an incredible amount of money at the time: equivalent to two years’ salary for the average Chinese immigrant. Immigrants from China were banned altogether from the United States in 1882.

These harsh restrictions split families across the Pacific Ocean. Some came to North America in hopes of finding enough gold to support their families, only to be cut off from seeing their loved ones, possibly for the rest of their lives.

“I think it’s important because we as Pacific Northwesterners live in the part of the world where this history really played out,” Kovitz said.

“From San Francisco north to Vancouver, British Columbia, this is where Chinese immigrants were landing first, and this is where they experienced their first encounter with American racism. I think it’s important to remember that Portland was not immune to that at all.”

Wong hopes that his graphic novel will help illuminate a dark part of North American history. If all goes well, that light will help guide Canadians and Americans of all backgrounds going forward, keeping mindful of where they’ve been.

“I think that people have a tendency to repeat the same mistakes over and over again,” Wong said. “We look at human nature; it’s always easy to find blame instead of taking responsibility and taking charge of the situation. Fingers are always pointed at someone else or another group. I would like people to learn that it can lead to some really painful problems later on.”

PSU’s Confucius Institute and the Chinese Friendship Association of Portland present A book talk and signing by David H.T. Wong, author of Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America Tuesday, Nov. 13, 6:40 p.m.

PSU School of Business Administration Building, room 190 Free and open to the public

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VANGUARD ••Friday, Thursday, THURSDAY, TUESDAY, Nov. JANUARY OCTOBER Nov. FEBRUARY JANUARY 9, 2012 8, 2012 10, 25, •26, ARTS 2, 2012 2011 •2012 ARTS &••CULTURE •OPINION OPINION &ARTS CULTURE & CULTURE

All photos by: Corinna Scott /VANGUARD STAFf

Shapes and sizes: Two First Thursday attendees stand back and appreciate the view at Blackfish Gallery in Portland’s Pearl District.

it’s a schooner: A bespectacled man smartly removes his glasses in order to decipher a particularly perplexing Magic Eye piece at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery.

Art walk Northwest A tour of First Thursday galleries and a look at new works Jeoffry Ray Vanguard Staff

Dreary weather didn’t put a damper on last week’s First Thursday gallery walk in downtown Portland. Patrons crowded their way across the Pearl District and Old Town, filling out the breadth of galleries dotting the city’s heart.

The Vanguard made its own trip across town in an effort to give the student body a glimpse at what’s currently on display.

Unfamiliar with First Thursday? The art event is a collaborative effort by the art galleries around downtown to give Portlanders a chance to spend a night looking at a variety of artwork, both regional and international.

Galleries in the area keep their doors open late, typically offering food or refreshments to visiting patrons. Many of these galleries arrange their new displays specifically around this night, hosting busy opening receptions often visited by the artists themselves as well as other longstanding members of the art community.

There are too many exhibitions on any given First Thursday to possibly touch on them all, but we stopped by several galleries to get a peek at the variety of work offered in the city this month.

Our tour began with the Blackfish Gallery in the Pearl. This artist- and memberoperated gallery features a large central room coupled with a second, smaller gallery in the back of the building. The main exhibition features a selection of mostly painted works by a pair of area artists, Michael Knutson and Carol Benson.

Knutson’s work centered on various imaginings of a spiral pattern repeated in multiple layers, the color palettes interacting to create a unified web of tone and form across the canvas.

Several iterations of this theme in various colors filled the main gallery in a series titled “Symmetrical Four-Layered Ovoid Lattices.”

The works create a dialogue of visual contrast with Benson’s art, which feature large, angular forms cast in a variety of bright colors.

“It’s like I’m painting for weeks on one painting, when a whole new world of color jumps out,” Knutson said.

In the back of the gallery, artist Mandy Stigant displayed a collection of ceramic works. She mounted on one wall a spiraling circle of eight ceramic shards, titled Turbine.

On the adjacent wall, she set a series of jigsaw pieces in a line extending across the wall at eye level. Several ceramic baskets stood on pedestals.

“I had a whole series,” Stigant said. “They started as jigsaw puzzle pieces, but I decided to take them out of context.”

Stigant reflected on the meaning of her work and of artwork in general.

“The meaning examines the joy of living in a puzzle,” Stigant said. “Making a leap from how things work to what they mean is where we get stuck sometimes. That we get stuck, I think, is kind of fabulous.”

Just across the street from Blackfish, the Elizabeth Leach Gallery is among the most successful galleries in Portland. Its First Thursday exhibitions included a multimedia exhibition

by Portland State master of fine art graduate Mark R. Smith, featuring works incorporating fabric, wood and photographic imagery.

M.K. Guth presented in the second gallery, showing a giant hanging rope of braided hair evoking the Rapunzel fairytale. Hidden in the braids were small messages written by visitors to a previous performance work. A collection of framed photographs surrounded the installation, each showing the artist wearing the braids in a different setting in the Las Vegas desert.

Roger Mangrum, a Pearl District resident and published poet, shared his reaction to Guth’s work.

“It’s definitely the largest braid I’ve seen in my entire life, and I wonder what it’s made of. I kind of want to touch it.

Really, it makes me want to swing on it,” Mangrum said, laughing.

“There’s very creative visualization here,” Mangrum added. “Going from the braid to the pictures, it’s a very complex and intricate display overall.”

Further east along Everett Street, an entire block of art spaces dominates the storefronts between Sixth Avenue and Broadway.

The Everett Station Lofts feature a variety of often-changing galleries, many run by fledgling artists. In addition to showing fine arts projects, many galleries also offer art merchandise for sale.

At Fleeting States, a gallery recently opened in Everett Station, owner Sienna Morris explained her efforts to open the space last month with her husband, Tabulanis Morris.

“We moved in and had four days to get a show up,” Sienna Morris said. “It was wonderful. It all went by in a blur.”

This month they brought in print artist Marcus Adams, who showed an exhibition featuring a collection of artistic prints centered

on a screen printer. Adams, who also displayed shirts and other prints designed from photographic sources, explained his recent excursion into making photographic art prints.

“When I started printing from my new camera, I thought, ‘Hey, these look pretty good!’”

Adams said. “So I’ve stepped up my game to bring my prints into something I could possibly sell.”

Adam’s move into showing in a gallery setting is also recent and is just one example of the gallery’s interest in helping starting artists get a foot in the door.

“Our gallery’s vision is to help out new and startup artists by giving them a space to show,” Sienna Morris said. “It can be hard starting up as an artist. Most galleries will only show artists that have already shown in a gallery setting.”

Above is only a small sampling of the First Thursday experience: The monthly gallery walk offers a great variety of work, from the startups and the emerging artists to the most prominent and renowned creators in contemporary art.

First Thursday provides a great opportunity to view art as part of a community and to open a dialogue about the work displayed.

“I feel really lucky,” Adams said. “The artist community is really awesome and supportive here.”

Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf

Rapunzel, Rapunzel: M.K. Gath’s braided, hanging installation provides the foreground for First Thursday patrons at the Elizabeth Leach Gallery.

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VANGUARD •• Friday, THURSDAY, Nov.NOVEMBER 9, 2012 • OPINiON 10, 2011 • SPORTS

OPINION

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

Malala Yousafzai’s powerful message Why it should be the ‘Century of the Girl Child’ Everywhere and Here Eva-Jeanette Rawlins Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

Sex ed and the Internet: part I Putting an end to sexual misinformation A Woman’s Right Shilpa Esther Trivedi

T

he following the first of a two-part series about comprehensive sex education, hook-up culture, benevolent sexism and some of the corners of the Internet where these intersect. * * * This past week, Parks and Recreation humorously took on problems with sex education, and while the episode itself was funny, the problems with ensuring accurate and comprehensive sex education the show alludes to are very real.

Teen pregnancy is a hotbutton issue in this country: We talk about it in the news, we watch shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom and we endlessly debate how best to prevent it.

Just a couple weeks ago the Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that teen pregnancy rates have dropped to the lowest ever recorded. President Barack Obama is anti-abstinenceonly education because these programs have been consistently proven as inaccurate and an immense failure at preventing teen pregnancy.

While Obama originally removed two-thirds of the $176 million former President G.W. Bush provided to abstinenceonly education, unfortunately many of these programs are still taught and continue to be paid for by our tax dollars.

Here’s an example to give you an idea of how some of these programs work: One program teaches young girls about sex by handing them a piece of tape and telling them to stick it to something.

Then they remove the tape and affix it to a different object.

As they repeat this process, girls are taught that women

who have sex with multiple partners become like the tape: dirty and unable to properly form an attachment.

Programs with exercises like this one fail to educate teens and renforce horrible stereotypes.

Abstinence is a valid option.

If practiced correctly, abstinence will prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, but studies indicate teens who take this pledge often fail to remain fully abstinent and don’t know how to have safe sex when they do end up engaging in some form of intercourse.

This isn’t just a problem for teenagers.

If you’ve ever had a partner or a friend who believed some crazy myth or theory about how to prevent pregnancy that wasn’t biologically sound, or who didn’t understand when to get tested, you know what I’m talking about.

Teens raised with abstinence-only education often become adults who remain uninformed about their own reproductive health. Thus, abstinence ought to be taught only in conjunction with all of the other methods of preventing STDs and pregnancy.

I’m neither for nor against teen pregnancy. Personally, I don’t have the right to judge another person’s choice to have a child at any age (or many of their other lifestyle choices). Actually, by attempting to prevent unwanted pregnancy among teenagers, we’ve created a social stigma around teen motherhood that has some abhorrent ramifications.

Comprehensive education about sexuality and sexual practices is absolutely needed at the earliest possible age.

This also means providing universal access to the full range of reproductive health services—including abortion, birth control methods and even prenatal care—to everyone, regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status or sexual orientation.

Ensuring accurate information, education and access is the best way to give all genders the tools needed to take control of their lives and navigate their own health care and that of their children (if desired) with a sense of autonomy, in order to prevent the spread of diseases and to ensure that everyone who becomes a parent does so if and when they desire to become a parent.

If teenagers aren’t being given correct and comprehensive information in the classroom, they’ll often turn to other avenues such as peers or parents who may not give correct information or promote positive gender concepts.

Today, teens searching for this information most often turn to the Internet.

In part two of this series, I’ll talk about a few sites whose creators engage in questionable behavior regarding sex education. The sites I’ll critique are indicative of a larger societal problem and represent trends I find offensive and, worse, potentially very harmful.

You’re probably wondering at this point why you should care at all about the sites that I’ll mention; after all, there is plenty of suspect information on the Internet.

The answer: Because, in an age where many people get their information about what is and isn’t safe sexual behavior from these sites, your next partner may very well have some incorrect ideas about how to keep both of you safe.

They may have in the past engaged in detrimental behavior with other partners as a result of misinformation about sex, which could potentially impact your future health.

I

n October, the world celebrated the Day of the Girl Child. Celebrations of girls and young women and their incomparable contributions to global progress echoed everywhere.

That very same month, in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai—a 15-year-old girl—was brutally attacked on her way home from school and shot in the head and neck by Taliban militants. Her crime? Proposing that girls should be allowed to attend school.

In some ways, this is a step backward. After all, in a month dedicated to the empowerment of girls, a very brave one was almost killed for wanting the most basic of rights.

As gruesome as this crime was, it signaled that Yousafzai and many others like her pose a deep threat to tyranny. A threat far greater than military action. A threat revealing that oppression can be undermined by courage found in the most unlikely places.

It all began in 2009, when the British Broadcasting Corporation asked Yousafzai to begin an online diary of her life under the Taliban regime.

She was 11. Excerpts from her anonymous diary entries described how she “was afraid going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools. Only 11 students attended the class out of 27.

The number decreased because of Taliban’s edict.”

She also wrote: “They banned women from going to the market, and they banned shopping.”

Over the next three years, this little girl would bravely raise her voice against the inequities and oppression around her.

“Yousafzai was one of the few brave voices who spoke out. Her blog…detailing the abuses meant that no one could pretend an accomodation with terrorists was anything other than a deal with the devil,” wrote Rob Crilly, the Daily Telegraph’s Pakistan correspondent.

Her voice is the power she wielded, and it’s voices just like hers that the Taliban tries to silence. By refusing girls and women the rights given to any man in Pakistan, the Taliban attempted to limit their existence to the four walls of their homes.

Yousafzai’s voice, however, broke out of this confinement—and beyond. Her story spread across the world, and she quickly became a symbol of hope and peace. Pakistan awarded her its National Peace Prize.

Eventually she shed the protection of anonymity and appeared on television, publicly promoting education for girls, something few adult men dared to do. She challenged terrorism with the strength and intelligence that she, as a woman, was not expected to display nor even be capable of.

On Oct. 9, Taliban gunmen stopped and boarded a school bus, asked which girl was Yousafzai and then unleashed a torrent of gunshots.

Sustaining life-threatening bullet wounds to her head and neck, she was airlifted from

her village and later taken to England, where she’s now on a very fortunate but slow road to recovery.

William Dobson, politics and foreign affairs editor of Slate Magazine, wrote of the attack on Yousafzai as a potential turning point in the Taliban’s influence. He wrote, “A teenage girl speaking out for girls’ education is just about the most terrifying thing in the world for the Taliban…a local, living advocate of progress, education and enlightenment. If people like [her] were to multiply, the Taliban would have no future.”

Indeed, that the Taliban would go to such lengths to eliminate one teenager reveals that they understand very well the power of the ideas she champions.

“There is no investment more effective for achieving development goals than educating girls,” the World Bank Group states on its website.

Beyond being an enormous economic benefit and solution to poverty, educating girls results in overall improvement of communities’ health and social well-being.

It’s no surprise, then, that a terrorist group whose sole aim is to maintain absolute power over its people would do anything to stem the tide of hope, courage and empowerment that one little girl is part of.

Thirty days out of a year are not enough to celebrate the impact girls like Yousafzai have on the future of our globe. Every day should be a reminder that people—the most effective weapons against terrorism and regression—are daily offering their very lives to achieve the most basic of human freedoms.

All power to them.

COURTESY OF Veronique De Viguerie, Getty Images

OPINiON • Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • VANGUARD

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Let freedom ring Peaceful activists resist grand jury, further solidarity One Step Off Emily Lakehomer

R

esisting a grand jury may not seem like the best way to get out of legal trouble, but that’s exactly what Leah-Lynn Plante and others have been doing these past few months.

On May 1, Seattle police dealt with what they believed to be violent activism. On July 25, police forcefully broke into Plante’s Portland home. The same thing happened all over the Pacific Northwest, including in Olympia and Seattle.

The task force had search warrants for computers, phones, anarchist literature and black clothing. Because, y’know, those zines and black crewnecks are definitely a serious threat to the public and the government’s well-being.

While it’s understandable that law enforcement should do their jobs, they need to be done based on ethical reasoning. That seems to be something that doesn’t jive too well with police activity these days.

Plante and her housemates were forced outside—in their pajamas—while FBI agents removed questionable items from their Northeast Portland house.

While it’s understandable that law enforcement should do their jobs, they need to be done based on ethical reasoning. That seems to be something that doesn’t jive too well with police activity these days. Why were these searches and arrests necessary?

The Seattle May Day protests were peaceful until a group of weapon-carrying, black-garbed demonstrators joined in. Seattle’s mayor was forced to declare a civil emergency, which resulted in tens of thousands of dollars of damage. There were also multiple arrests for various reasons, including assault and vandalism.

Despite being involved with the May Day march, there

was no insinuating evidence that Plante et al. had been involved with the demonstration’s more violent parts, which makes the whole grand jury thing suspect.

A panel of civilians comprises a grand jury. After seeing the evidence, they decide if a crime was committed in the first place. Jury members aren’t vetted for biases, and there’s no judge. Grand jury sessions are also closed to the public, so for all we know they might not even take place.

Despite all the secrecy, information gathered by a grand jury can be used against testifying witnesses. For the most part, grand juries protect witnesses who are working to gain back their freedom, but they can also be used as a means to pressure the witness to give information when they’d otherwise remain silent to protect themselves and others.

The fact that Plante was arrested in the first place is, well, problematic. According to her own account, she wasn’t even in Seattle during the May Day march. After that was substantiated, Plante and three other activists, Dennison Williams, Matt Duran and Katherine “KteeO” Olejnik, were granted immunity from criminal charges—something they didn’t even ask for.

“This is a common tactic used by federal investigators.

By removing the specter of criminal prosecution, prosecutors preclude ‘immune’ witnesses from invoking their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent in order to avoid self-incrimination. It’s a way to make people talk,” according to Vice magazine.

Plante and her fellow activists chose to stand up for their beliefs and their personal rights when they refused to speak to a grand jury. Rather than giving away evidence that could have incriminated them, as well as their friends and fellow activists, they chose to act in solidarity.

That’s incredibly admirable and brave and speaks to their character much more so than that of the justice system.

Since their initial arrests, Dennison has been in prison since Sept. 26 and KteeO since Sept. 28. Plante was jailed on Oct. 10 but released two weeks later.

Little is known of why Plante was released, and she refuses to speak with media representatives. This is a smart move on her part, since

incriminating herself is the last thing she needs to do.

Since she’s been released, however, she’s been silenced.

She can’t speak about her ordeal or share her story with others. The group of Portland activists had been under government surveillance prior to the May Day marches.

This, coupled with the fact that FBI agents searched for anarchist literature, shows that the government acted in an Orwellian or Bradbury-ian manner—controlling what they think, what they read, and determining what’s OK and what’s wrong.

It’s great that Plante was released. Online photos show her to be a happy, smiling young woman. Whether or not she believes in dismantling the government is her prerogative.

When it comes down to it, the FBI, police, etc. have no right to do what they did to her and her fellow activists.

The Pacific Northwest has anarchistic roots, and that’s something we should be proud of. Our little corner of the world seems to breed the ability to think outside of prescribed notions of what it means to be free.

At the time I’m writing this, we’re two days away from electing the leader of our country. Whether it’s Romney

This, coupled with the fact that FBI agents searched for anarchist literature, shows that the government acted in an Orwellian or Bradbury-ian manner— controlling what they think, what they read, and determining what’s OK and what’s wrong.

or another four years of Obama, we need to always, always, always remember that we have our own agency, and if something doesn’t seem right we have the ability to enact change.

I’m not telling you to don ski masks and burn flags, but take some time, maybe stop by Laughing Horse Books over in Northeast Portland, and think about your personal freedom and the freedom of others.

Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

The pressure of matrimonial bliss Expecting love and marriage to go hand-in-hand is to expect far too much The Emphatic Observer Rabia Newton

I

n a new textbook, Exploring Marriages and Families, Portland State professor Karen Seccombe comes to the conclusion that marriage provides a robust set of economic, health and psychological benefits for gay and straight couples alike.

Based on a meta-analysis of academic research pertaining to marriage, Seccombe points to a well-established correlation between matrimony and financial security, low rates of depression and improved overall well-being.

So, basically, run outside and grab onto the nearest unsuspecting bystander because otherwise you’ll live a life of misery and loneliness, filled with money problems and general malaise.

Oh, and you’ll get sick a lot.

OK, that’s a bit dramatic, but I tire of our cultural obsession with matrimony. We place way too much weight on the vague, idealized concept of marriage— especially when it comes to the notion of “true love,” which is what most of us are socialized to expect from a life partner.

Let’s not forget that 50 percent of these supposedly blissful unions end in divorce: a process that ranks only second (right behind death of a spouse) on the Holmes and Rahe stress scale, which measures the negative health impact of various major life events, like the birth of a child or a job change.

All Americans enter the institution of marriage with this statistical shadow looming over them. A one-in-two shot at happiness. A virtual coin toss of matrimonial felicity.

With numbers like these, should we really play up the positive ramifications of matrimony? We should emphasize the heavy weight of such a promise—that the act of legally binding yourself to a fellow human forever and ever is kind of a big deal. And it doesn’t always work out.

Seccombe herself notes that only the ambiguously termed “good” marriages improve couples’ overall welfare. Even for those of us who have managed to jump on the culturally endorsed matrimonial bandwagon, happiness isn’t guaranteed.

This smacks of bitterness, but I neither wish to undermine the legitimacy of marriage as a social institution nor invalidate the undeniable happiness experienced by many couples as a result of their vows.

We ask too much of marriage. And books like Seccombe’s simply contribute to the societal pressure we all face—women in particular— to externalize our ultimate happiness. To find a soul mate, a so-called better half (the troubling implication being that we’re not whole to begin with).

How is anyone supposed to live up to that kind of pressure?

We need to lower our expectations. We need to accept marriage for what it is…and isn’t.

Because by expecting perfection, we’re virtually ensuring disappointment.

Most of us manage to conveniently ignore the historical origins of matrimony as a means to clarify matters of paternity, legitimacy and property. Instead, we place

this inherently practical social institution on a pedestal of utopian romance.

We shouldn’t put it on any pedestal. After all, marriage is (in the secular sense) simply a business arrangement. All the associated notions of true love and eternal bliss are entirely culturally constructed, as Seccombe herself points out: “The idea we have of romantic love, that’s a relatively new concept, and it’s one that isn’t practiced a lot in the world.”

In fact, for many societies, marriage is and has always been a clear-cut matter of economic and social affiliation. A pragmatic union, though decidedly less exciting, may also be decidedly less messy.

Countries that view the institution of marriage in this utilitarian sense also tend to boast substantially lower divorce rates. India, though often deemed archaic according to a Western paradigm of matrimony, claims the lowest rate worldwide, while the U.S. holds a far less flattering position on the list.

We shouldn’t start arranging marriages, and I’m not talking about the culturally condoned sexism often present in such practices.

Western society’s matrimonial ideal might not be quite so ideal.

Love is love. And marriage is marriage. But by fundamentally tethering the two together, we’re asking for too much.

We should collectively stop saddling ourselves with the pressure of perfect matrimonial bliss. We should stop defaulting marriage to the status of universal life goal. For some of us, health, happiness and economic security aren’t necessarily found inside a wedding chapel.

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VANGUARD • Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • Opinion

The good, the bad and the ugly Looking ahead: What the 2012 election results signify Kevin Rackham Vanguard staff

Suraj Nair/VANGUARD STAFf

Not a fan of the ban NYC’s soda ban will be ineffective Sans the Salt Alyck Horton

G

rown adults aren’t responsible enough to make wise consumer choices for themselves; therefore, the government is entitled to restrict what its people can purchase if it’s in their best interest.

Let that sink in for a minute: The government deciding what’s in your best interest and controlling what you can buy.

That doesn’t seem quite right, does it?

This is what Mayor Bloomberg, along with the New York City Board of Health, has successfully done in NYC. The ban, which takes effect in March, restricts a single serving size of sugary drinks, namely soda, to 16 ounces, or about a half a can with ice. It doesn’t include diet beverages or products that are at least 50 percent milk or milk substitute.

As someone who typically doesn’t drink soda, the size isn’t what bothers me. What does bother me is the government poaching the rights of individual consumers and small, private businesses.

I admire Mayor Bloomberg on a personal level: He’s done exponentially more than any other major politician by actually trying to create a solution to America’s obesity problem. In a city with a McDonald’s on virtually every corner, Manhattan isn’t a terrible place to try something like this.

The city’s plan, with all of its great intentions, is a bit haphazard. It’s like they had this grand idea, and then when it came to fruition they sort of just made shit up as they went along.

For example, restaurants are allowed to refill the 16-ounce sodas as many times as they’d like. Effectively, the only thing that will change is cup size, not the amount of soda put inside it during one sitting.

The ban is limited to restaurants and vendors of readyto-eat foods, such as delis and food carts. The measure does not include limiting the size of sugary beverages sold in supermarkets or convenience stores, only making it slightly less convenient to get ahold of the bubbly stuff.

It’s estimated that McDonald’s alone will see $140 million in yearly revenue lost.

Nobody’s going to start fundraising to help Mickey D’s out, but they’re just one of thousands of affected businesses expected to lose a significant amount of revenue on this venture.

At the risk of sounding too “NRA,” we aren’t living in East Germany or North Korea.

Our economy is capitalistic, and as soul-devouring as it is, we must reap what we sow.

Soda companies didn’t make these people obese—the people’s poor decisions did.

What we need to do, rather than taking away businesses’

and citizens’ rights to choose what they sell or purchase, is better educate them on why soda might be banned in the first place.

Advertising dollars are a lot more ample than education funding; every day we’re shown skinny models drinking soda on jet skis or going to soccer practice. Never do we see the reality of an obese woman riding around in a Rascal scooter with a Big Gulp fastened to her cup holder.

If better health education proves unfruitful, implementing an excise tax will be the final logical step, unless the city decides to go all out and ban soda completely.

An excise tax, like what’s added to tobacco products and alcohol, will make soda more expensive and therefore less accessible to those with both limited incomes and larger waistlines.

Oregon has the lowest childhood obesity rate in the country. While we may not be the all-around most-skinny folks, we’re far from needing the government to control what we can eat or drink.

Government should have as minimal an impact as possible on the people it serves. In a society based on free enterprise, businesses that aren’t slinging coke or underaged girls shouldn’t be told what they’re allowed to sell.

For far too long we’ve lived well on borrowed esteem.

It’s time for America to own up to its mistakes and work to better educate its people on the consequences of their actions.

After what felt like years, the 2012 election is finally over.

Though disappointed by some outcomes, I’m hopeful for the future.

I’m happy that President Obama tenaciously carried the popular and electoral votes, and that the Democrats strengthened their Senate majority. While not surprised, I’m disappointed that Republicans retained the House majority. As we’ve seen in the last two years, a divided Congress doesn’t accomplish much.

I’m excited to see what Obama does now that reelection’s been achieved. He said he’d have more flexibility, and we’ll see him doing better at following through with his goals. That’s nothing but good.

Oregon’s results were even better than expected. The 3030 split in Oregon’s House is broken, and we can finally start fixing the state’s various problems. Younger faces and freshman representatives

joined the state legislature, and it’ll be great to see how they shake things up in Salem.

Less exciting were the ballot measures that passed and failed.

Measures 82 and 83 failed easily, as they should’ve. Seeing Measure 79 pass pained me. It was such an obvious grab for money by the state’s real estate agents, and will mean a significant loss of state revenue. I’m ecstatic that Measure 85 passed; K–12 education needs secure funding so badly, and the corporate kicker was a backward policy. Allocating that money to education should go a long way toward stabilizing the currently volatile situation.

It was flat-out stupid of Oregonians to vote down Measure 80. Yes, it was poorly written, but it would’ve been so much better to pass it now and amend it later rather than quash it. Since Washington legalized marijuana, I foresee a lot of money heading out of Oregon. Measure 80 could’ve contributed significantly to our local economy.

Being a relative newcomer to Portland, I don’t claim to have any great knowledge of city politics, but I’m not enthusiastic about Charlie Hales as mayor. I wasn’t very enthusiastic about Jefferson Smith, either, but he seemed the lesser of two evils.

Portland passed measures to fund the library, arts programs and renovation of schools, all of which were necessary. Albany—my hometown—rarely passes these sorts of measures, and I love living in a city that makes education and literacy priorities.

This is the first major election I’ve voted in. The campaign ads, the hyperbole and the ignorance were tiring, but, all things considered, it went well. If nothing else, the nation’s no worse off than before, and Oregon is much better off. We’re on the way to making serious and muchneeded reforms. As for Portland, I’ll reserve judgment a little while longer. Things are still looking up.

ETC.ETC. • Thursday, • friday, Nov. 8, 9, 2012 • VANGUARD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Erick Bengel EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5691

PSU Chamber Choir, Man Choir, Vox Femina and University Choir put on a performance featuring classical works by Monteverdi, Duruflé, Verdi, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Britten set up with popular selections by Stevie Wonder, Madonna and Fun. Admission is $12 general and $7 for students and seniors.

Bravo! Wedding Affair 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Portland Art Museum 1219 SW Park Ave.

COURTESY OF Portland Japanese Garden

GARDEN STATE OF MIND: Do yourself a favor and enjoy a peaceful, soul-soothing jaunt through the Portland Japanese Garden when it offers free admission Monday, Nov. 12.

Thursday, Nov. 8

The Department of Theatre and Film Presents Othello Low-Cost Preview 7:30 p.m.

Lincoln Hall 1620 SW Park Ave.

A preview show of William Shakespeare’s Othello is set to play at Lincoln Hall. Tickets for preview shows are $6 at the door.

The Performance Attendance Recital Series 12–1 p.m.

Lincoln Hall, room 75 1620 SW Park Ave.

Portland State students, faculty and Portland community members as well as professional musicians offer live musical performances of various types at noon in Lincoln Hall.

FREE

Don and Mary Feller: Some Reflections on Cuba 1–2 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 236 1825 SW Broadway

on Southwest 10th Avenue and Montgomery Street)

Enjoy the chance to be a part of the dedication of the oak savanna on the PSU campus. Learn the history of the oak savanna and how it relates to the history of native peoples and the decline of these plant communities over time with Euro-American settlement. Taste food and teas created from native plants harvested in FREE an oak savanna.

Indigenous Nations People and Food Systems 5–7 p.m.

Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.

Join the discussion about accessing cultural food systems and food on reservations while enjoying a warm, FREE seasonal meal.

Saturday, Nov. 10

Occupied Cascadia Film Screening and Dinner 5:30–11 p.m.

Hoffmann Hall 1833 SW 11th Ave.

Don and Mary Feller present an account of being part of a U.S. Department of State-approved “People to People” visit of 19 U.S. citizens to Cuba. The goal was for the participants to make personal contact with the Cuban public through social programs and senior citizen, elementary school and agricultural visits, as well as taking in some of Cuba’s historical FREE sights.

A screening of the documentary film Occupied Cascadia, which examines the emergence of bioregionalism in the Pacific Northwest, and a free dinner are presented on campus.

FREE

Friday, Nov. 9

Learn how to make your own paints from natural materials and use them to create your own unique art. A natural builder will be present to speak about her experiences using sustainable technology. Snacks will be provided. This is a two-day event.

Feel free to attend one or both of the FREE sessions.

Tree Arrival in Pioneer Square 12–1 p.m.

Pioneer Courthouse Square 701 SW Sixth Ave.

The time of year has finally arrived for Portland’s holiday tree to arrive in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Come watch the tree being set up, then return on the day after Thanksgiving to see it lit up. FREE

Natural Paint Making: Part One 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.

Sunday, Nov. 11

Restoring the Oak Savanna on PSU Campus

“Clash of the Titans”: Classical vs. Popular Music for Choir

1–2 p.m.

Just south of the Science Research and Teaching Center (across from Starbucks

4–6 p.m.

First United Methodist Church 1838 SW Jefferson Ave.

Come to the Portland Art Museum for the chance to find everything you need to put on the perfect wedding. There will be tastings of various catering options as well as decor ideas and a large sampling of vendors to meet any wedding needs. Admission is $15 at the door.

All ages are welcome.

Monday, Nov. 12

Portland Japanese Garden Free Admission Day 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Portland Japanese Garden 611 SW Kingston Ave.

The Portland Japanese Garden offers free admission to come and enjoy one of the most beautiful and authentic Japanese Gardens in the United States. FREE

Tuesday, Nov. 13

Escape to Gold Mountain 6:40 p.m.

PSU School of Business Administration Building, room 190 631 SW Harrison St.

David H.T. Wong, a prominent architect in Vancouver, Canada and the author of the upcoming graphic novel Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America, will be at PSU to talk about his new book and the history of Chinese immigration to and settlement in North America. There will be a book sale and signing prior FREE to the talk.

“Let’s Talk” Drop-In Counseling 2–3 p.m.

Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.

Come to the Women’s Resource Center for a free consultation with a Student Health and Counseling counselor about any questions you may have or stresses you may be FREE dealing with.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

Back Fence PDX presents “Catch Me If You Can” Doors open 6 p.m., show begins 7:30 p.m.

Mission Theater 1624 NW Glisan St.

The Mission Theater hosts an evening of true storytelling revolving around the theme of “catch me if you can.” Storytellers vary from an events planner for Nike to a former member of the Blue Man Group.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. For more information visit backfencepdx.com. 21+

ETC.

If you are a member of an indigenous nation, a part of the community in any way or simply curious about native culture at PSU, join UISHE for weekly meetings on FREE Wednesdays at noon.

Test Your Mood!

11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 238 1825 SW Broadway

Students feeling the pressures of school and general life should take advantage of this opportunity for free stress evaluation, resource information and consultations with FREE SHAC counselors.

Independent Kurdistan?

Perspectives on the Non-Arab Middle East 5:30 p.m.

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 238 1825 SW Broadway St. Portland, OR 97201

Join PSU in celebrating Jewish Book Month by attending a panel discussion on topics raised by author Ariel Sabar in his book My Father’s Paradise about a time in Iraqi Kurdistan history when Jews and FREE Muslims lived side by side.

United Indian Students in Higher Education 12 p.m.

Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.

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

14

VANGUARD ••Friday, TUESDAY, Nov. JANUARY 9, 2012 10, • SPORTS 2012 • ETC.

SPORTS

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

Slow burn to an explosive finish Women’s basketball starts off strong Travis Kremer Vanguard staff

Last Friday night, the Portland State women’s basketball team played the first game of the new season in an exhibition at home against the Warner Pacific College Knights.

The Vikings started out slowly, remaining scoreless for almost five minutes until junior forward Keaton McFadden finally sunk the team’s first basket. The game was neck-and-neck throughout the first half, with seven lead changes before the break. PSU carried a slim 29-27 lead into the locker room.

The second half was an entirely different story. The Vikings managed to stretch the lead to six with a little more than a quarter to play, then went on a furious 28-3 run that left the Knights reeling. Warner Pacific never recovered, and PSU cruised to a victory by a score of 75-45.

The dramatic shift in the quality of play to close the game was the result of a team

effort. After shooting only 30 percent in the first half, the Vikings improved to just under 47 percent in the second.

They also out-rebounded the Knights 56-37 for the game, and scored 22 points off turnovers to the Knights’ five.

Sophomore forward Mikaela Rivard led the Vikings in scoring with 13 points, followed by senior guard Karley Lampman with 11 points.

McFadden was the team’s most active player on the glass, finishing with 10 rebounds, while senior guard Courtney VanBrocklin and junior forward Angela Misa—a recent transfer from Oregon State Un iv e r s i t y— c o n t r i b u t e d nine apiece.

The win was an excellent way to kick off the 2012–13 campaign for the Vikings, who ended last year with a 15-14 record, leaving them in a tie for sixth place in the Big Sky Conference. PSU will be at home again on Nov. 9, when they go up against George Fox University at 6 p.m. in the Stott Center.

adam wickham/VANGUARD STAFf

The Portland state women’s basketball team needed about three quarters to find their form in the first matchup of 2012–13, against Warner Pacific College.

The Vikings eventually found the right formula, rolling to a 75–45 win.

Wealth, talent, failure Gino Cerruti Vanguard staff

Why money can’t buy happiness in Los Angeles

This was supposed to be the year Los Angeles dominated the sports world.

The Dodgers, who were bought out by a team of investors (including NBA legend Magic Johnson) for an insane $2.15 billion back in March, had all the money they needed to purchase top-ranked prospects and sign (and resign) star players. Many thought the team was a shoo-in for the playoffs, especially when they acquired Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford near the end of the season. Instead, their Northern California rivals, the San Francisco Giants, took the division, and the St. Louis Cardinals jumped ahead and knocked them out of wild card contention.

The Angels found themselves faced with similar circumstances. They currently have the fourthlargest payroll in the MLB and field one of the best hitting lineups in baseball, one that features veteran All-Star outfielder Torii Hunter, rookie phenom Mike Trout and future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Albert Pujols. And yet the Baltimore Orioles, with about half the payroll (a $73 million difference), ended up denying the Angels an American League wild card spot.

Of course, baseball isn’t the only sport Los Angeles throws money at. The Lakers, a team whose capacity to contend year after year is revered by many and feared by the rest of the NBA, used its deep pockets to recruit point guard Steve Nash (two-time MVP) from the Phoenix Suns and center Dwight Howard (perennial favorite for the Defensive Player of the Year award) from the Orlando Magic.

The basketball community was stunned, if not surprised, by the news that the two superstars would be joining a team that already had plenty; along with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace, Nash and Howard were predicted to set about tyrannizing the league on talent alone for years to come. As it stands today, Nash is out with a small fracture in his left leg and the Lakers are struggling to find a way for their stars to coexist on a nightly basis. They’ve won only one game so far this year after losing all eight games in the preseason.

Is it simply bad luck? Not entirely—each of these franchises has the pieces they need to wreak havoc, but it doesn’t seem as though their respective front offices have any idea how to fit them together to form a consistently effective roster. The Giants have a decent-sized payroll, but they also managed to play as though their actions were a unified effort, and they have their second World Series championship in three years to show for it.

Similarly, the Lakers’ losing streak isn’t the product of player regression or lack of skill, but rather the inability to play as a team. One of the biggest criticisms against the Lakers this year has been Mike Brown’s decision to inhibit Nash’s capacity to run the offense, which defeats the whole purpose of signing him in the first place. Instead, they are relying on the same unimaginative Kobe-centric strategy that they have employed for years, one that is capable of leading the team to a 30-point blowout or derailing them down the stretch against some of the league’s worst lineups. Nash, one of the best playmakers in the history of the NBA, is still getting used to his drastically reduced role and looks genuinely lost on court.

Now that Nash is out with an injury, replacement point guard Steve Blake has been picking up the slack, and the team recently crushed the Detroit Pistons for their first win of the year, controlling the game from the outset and never letting up. But these are short-term fixes for a long-term problem, and talent is only as good as the foundation supporting it. It remains to be seen just how long it will take Los Angeles to figure that out.

Volleyball regroups for the weekend Vikings take on North Dakota and Northern Colorado Rosemary Hanson Vanguard staff

The Portland State women’s volleyball team did not have their usual lights-out performance last week, splitting their matches and suffering their second conference loss of the year.

But with two weekends left to play in the season, they are trying to brush it off and continue looking forward. The team goes back on the road to face the University of North Dakota on Thursday and the University of Northern Colorado on Saturday.

The name of the game this weekend is offense. The Vikings have generally been strong in that regard this season, but barely managed to outhit Southern Utah University last Thursday and were then outhit by Northern Arizona University in a fourset loss on Saturday. “There’s no question that we have to get better offensively,” head coach Michael Seemann said.

With senior outside hitter Megan Ellis and junior outside hitters Aubrey Mitchell and Jaklyn Wheeler leading the charge, the Vikings head

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damage control: Portland will try to rebound from a loss last weekend. to North Dakota to start the weekend. North Dakota is currently 13-14 overall and 8-8 in conference, and are coming off a loss to Northern Colorado on Monday.

On Saturday, the Vikings will gear up for their own showdown against the Northern Colorado squad. The Bears recently secured their postseason eligibility and sit in fourth place in the Big Sky with a record of 18-8 overall and 11-5 in conference.

Of the weekend’s matches, junior setter Garyn Schlatter said, “Our focus is going to be our communication between one another during plays and during rallies, and making sure that we are all taking care of our own responsibilities on the floor, so in turn everything as [a] team is getting taken care of.”

The matches are scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m.

Saturday. Live stats can be found at goviks.com.

16

VANGUARD • Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • SPORTS

Viking collapse Record-setting return fuels comeback victory for Northern Colorado Zach Bigalke Vanguard staff

Through nearly three quarters of play on Saturday, Portland State did everything right in their Big Sky showdown against the University of Northern Colorado. DJ Adams scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to extend the Viking lead to 28-10.

Kieran McDonagh shook off nagging injuries and an early interception to lead four scoring drives. The oft-maligned Viking defense stuffed UNC’s run game and forced quarterback Seth Lobato to try and win with his arm.

Then Thomas Duyndam stepped onto the field to launch his fourth punt of the game, and Bears punt returner Dominic Gunn seized the momentum for the visitors. Eluding six tacklers and streaking free for

an 83-yard touchdown return, Gunn became the first player in Northern Colorado history to gain more than 2,000 return yards in his career.

More importantly for the Bears, the special-teams score provided the catalyst for a run of 22 unanswered points.

Gunn would go on to score the decisive touchdown, hauling in a 29-yard pass from Lobato to complete UNC’s 3228 comeback victory.

Before Gunn’s return, Portland State had committed only two penalties in the game.

The first was a controversial illegal forward pass call that negated a 35-yard touchdown pass from McDonagh to Nevin Lewis. The crowd of 5,077 voiced their displeasure as the video replay showed Thomas Carter’s pitch to McDonagh traveling backward.

Portland State was forced to punt after the penalty, failing to convert an interception by Michael Williams into points.

The second was a 15-yard illegal block penality that turned a three-yard run by Shaquille Richard into a second-and-25 hole. The Vikings failed to

Upcoming Games Friday, Nov. 9

Women’s basketball

vs.

Vikings vs.

George Fox University Peter Stott Center 6 p.m.

Men’s basketball

vs.

Vikings vs. Pacific University Peter Stott Center 8:05 p.m.

WHL Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf

Breakdown: After starting strong against Northern Colorado, the Vikings fell apart in the second half, losing 32-28. move the chains on the series, and three plays later Duyndam sent his momentum-shifting punt toward Gunn.

“It’s a shame, because they were playing well and doing what they needed to do to win,” Vikings head coach Nigel Burton said after the game. “When the discipline and focus disappeared, so did the scoreboard.”

PSU finished the game with nine penalties after losing their composure on both sides of the ball. The offense sputtered in the second half, managing just four first downs through the final two quarters. The defense ceded scoring drives of 64 and 57 yards over the last 20 minutes as Lobato finished with 316 passing yards and three

touchdowns (two passing, one rushing).

The defeat dropped the Vikings to 3-6 on the season, guaranteeing a losing record in Burton’s third season as head coach. They travel to Bozeman to face Montana State University on Nov. 10 before returning to Jeld-Wen Field to play Eastern Washington University for the Dam Cup in the season finale.

Women’s soccer falls in Pocatello

Winterhawks @ Vancouver Pacific Coliseum 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 10

Football @ Vikings @ Montana State University Bobcat Stadium 12:30 p.m.

Forecast: High of 18 degrees, snow shower

Volleyball

@

Vikings postseason campaign ends early

Vikings @ University of Northern Colorado Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion 6 p.m.

NBA vs.

Alex Moore Vanguard Staff

After a long season, Portland State lost 3-2 to the University of Montana in their opening match at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Pocatello, Idaho. The Vikings were playing for a chance to advance to the final round of the tournament, but came up short despite goals from sophomore Daniela Solis and senior Amanda Howie.

Montana started the game off hot, scoring two goals in the first 13 minutes. The Vikings trailed 2-0 for most of the first half until Solis gave the Vikings some hope, scoring off an assist from Howie. But Montana struck again early in the second half, stretching the lead to two. Howie answered with a goal in the 72nd minute, but it wasn’t enough.

“The team fought hard versus Montana, but we were playing catch-up for the final 80 minutes after a slow start,” head coach Laura Schott said.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make up the lost ground.”

Montana outshot the Vikings 19-11 and had twice as many shots on goal, 10-5.

The loss was a tough one for the team, but their early exit

@

Blazers vs. San Antonio Rose Garden 7 p.m.

WHL

@ WinterHawks @ Spokane Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 11

NFL Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf

End of the Road: The Vikings fought hard against Montana at the conference championships in Pocatello, Idaho, but were knocked out of the tournament by a score of 3-2. doesn’t take away from a season full of broken records and impressive efforts.

“It’s safe to say the group is disappointed and feels it wasn’t their best game, not to mention it wasn’t the result we were striving for,” Schott said. “However, I personally am proud of our season. We ended with another winning overall record, had nine players named to the Big Sky allconference teams and earned a 6-2-1 conference record with

a share of the regular season title. We had big contributions from our senior class and our underclassmen, making the season a true team effort.”

Those seniors have now played in their last game as Vikings, and a lot can be said about the years they’ve spent at PSU. “We are graduating some impactful seniors who we will miss,” Schott said.

“Amanda Howie in particular ended her season with five

goals in her final five games, including one on Friday versus Montana. Amanda Dutra broke the all-time assists record this year. The group overall has had a tremendous four years.”

Howie’s consecutive goalscoring streak to end the season was a particularly significant feat, considering she plays as a midfielder.

“Very, very impressive,” Schott said. “That is rarely seen in college soccer [even]

from a forward. Howie is a holding mid and was performing at a high level defensively and offensively. We are very proud of her.”

Schott’s team also has the third-best record in PSU history, and it was only the fourth time that the Vikings finished with an overall winning record as Division I participants.

Despite the loss, they can look back on the season as a tremendous success by any measure.

vs.

Seahawks vs.

NY Jets CenturyLink Field 4:05 p.m.

Forecast: High of 48 degrees, cloudy

Monday, Nov. 12

Men’s Basketball vs.

Vikings @ University of Oregon Matthew Knight Arena 6:30 p.m.