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Portland State University WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 | vol. 68 no. 06

PSU’s Diversity Action Plan proving difficult to define

From violence, voices emerge Women at PSU share personal stories of violence and harassment Ravleen Kaur Vanguard Staff

Reported cases of violence against women at Portland State have increased during the last year. In the second installment in a three-part series, three different women on campus describe their experiences either witnessing others suffer physical or sexual violence or suffering it themselves.

The military woman

Wim Wiewel at the ninth annual President’s Diversity Awards ceremony for advancing diversity on campus. Upon reading the first draft of the DAP December 2011, Thomas immediately felt it was misguided; he investigated its creation process in a report for a professor.

“This says they want to be a national role model,” he said, holding up a copy of the DAP, which was covered with his notes. “This is sad. They’re

When Susan Johnson, a former staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, witnessed women in the military being harassed verbally and sexually, she felt agitated to say the least.

“I can’t even articulate how frustrating it is,” she said.

Johnson, a political science major at PSU, described the military as “claustrophobic,” adding that bases sometimes felt unbelievably tiny.

“You keep facing your attacker,” she said. “You are locked. You can’t leave. You can’t escape.”

On more than one occasion, Johnson was the victim of an attempted assault. In one incident during her military career, a drunk man tried to enter her room—Johnson was able to fight him off.

Johnson, who was born and raised in Boston, described herself as tough,

See DIVERSITY on page 2

See VIOLENCE on page 3

Jinyi Qi/VANGUARD STAFf

Kevin Thomas, a senior at PSU, investigated the Diversity Action Plan in a report.

Students and faculty express concerns about plan to promote diversity Ryan Voelker Vanguard Staff

Can diversity really be defined? Portland State is giving it a try by developing a Diversity Action Plan. While the plan’s stated goal is to be inclusive of everyone, some people are feeling left out.

Diversity action plans have been used by universities across the country for years. The general purpose is to promote campus diversity by defining a series of objectives with clearly measurable outcomes.

PSU’s DAP was made public in February 2012, and is currently

labeled a “working document.” One student feels the 96-page plan exhibits a disconnect between its creators, the Diversity Leadership Team, and the issues that are really important to students.

“I read it, twice, and I couldn’t really believe what I was reading. Or rather, what I wasn’t reading,” said Kevin Thomas, a senior at PSU majoring in women’s studies and minoring in indigenous nations studies.

In May, Thomas was among 10 people at PSU recognized by President

Food for Thought ventures outdoors Student-run cafe opens new food cart on campus Sheena Miller Vanguard Staff

Food for Thought Cafe, a popular student-run vegan/vegetarian eatery on campus, has opened a food cart.

The cart, which passed its health inspection Tuesday, will be open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday. The cart can be found between Smith Memorial Student Union and Neuberger Hall.

The summer menu will be rotational, with a selection of wraps, salads, onigiri, bagels, pastries and coffee.

“We had wanted to do it last year, but could not get what was needed

together in time to make it work,” said Elizabeth Bommarito, one of the students spearheading the food cart effort. “So, really, this is the manifestation of over a year’s worth of wanting the cart and making it happen.

“The idea came about because we wanted to brainstorm ways to keep our business up during the summer, and thought a food cart would breach the hurdle of getting people into a dark basement in the summertime,” Bommarito said.

The cart has held two free sampling sessions in the last month, both of which were successful, Bommarito said. The cart has also been receiving positive feedback on its Facebook See FOOD CART on page 2

Elizabeth bommarito, left, and natalie fraver, right, work the new Food for Thought food cart, now open.

Miles Sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

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NEWS

Editor: Coby Hutzler news@psuvanguard.com 503-725-3883

Early Head Start conference promotes learning, networking Study finds correlation between participation in children’s programs and abuse prevention Sheena Miller Vanguard Staff

This year marks the 16th annual Early Head Start and Infant Toddler Conference, which aims to help inform and network professionals in the early head start, child care, health, mental health, early intervention and child welfare fields.

The conference will take place at the DoubleTree by Hilton on Northeast Multnomah Street July 29–31.

Expected attendance is around 300, with attendees coming from all over the Pacific Northwest and even overseas. The costs of the conference have been covered by a fee-for-service payment model established in 2003.

“Our focus is to help improve the capacity of programs to serve children and families,” said Mary Foltz, the conference chair and senior Early Head Start consultant at Portland State’s Early Childhood Training Center.

In light of a recent research study led by Beth Green, director of early childhood and family support research at PSU, this year is said to be more informative than previous years.

Although the results of the study are not formally on the

agenda at this year’s conference, they will be presented at the American Psychological Association Convention later in August.

Based on data gathered from a longitudinal study over 13 years, Green and fellow researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that EHS child participants are at a lower risk for child abuse than their peers.

This study is the first of its kind to prove a positive correlation between access to EHS services and child maltreatment prevention.

Green commented that having a well-rounded system in place is key with programs like EHS. “The effective [programs] share with EHS things like skilled and well-trained interventionists, frequent contact with families and children, strength-based approaches to working with families that are individualized and use of effective curricula for helping parents improve their parenting skills,” Green said.

Green explained that the effects attributed to early childhood programs often don’t show up until later in life.

“That’s what we see with

DIVERSITY from page 1

Members of PSU community feel feedback is being ignored more than a decade behind the other big schools in the state.”

One area of concern Thomas mentioned was the plan’s ambitious goal to improve foreign relations and gain business contacts. He explained that this takes up precious classes and resources that should be focused locally. “[The DAP] says to increase the proportion of PSU students who go abroad,” he said.

“OK, that’s a nice objective, but what does that have to do with diversity on campus?

“It’s great that we can go out and relate to people from east Turkmenistan, but what about going out and relating to people in East Multnomah County?” he asked. “We are graduating people in health fields, social work and education that know nothing about these ethnic communities in our immediate area.”

Another pressing concern for Thomas is the limited opportunity for others in the PSU community to share their thoughts on the plan. He said that while everyone can share feedback, the few people who took the time to closely read the lengthy document found their responses fell on deaf ears.

“I knew some people that

sent in comments, but there was no acknowledgement that [those comments were] submitted,” Thomas said.

“All the information in the comments [was] going upstairs, but nothing was coming back down.”

Thomas explained he sees the DAP simply as a document created to keep the university from being sued.

PSU Chief Diversity Officer Jilma Meneses, who oversees the DAP project, is a lawyer.

“The comments are being forwarded to my staff,” she said.

Before coming to PSU in 2010, Meneses spent 10 years working in risk management at Oregon Health and Science University. She said she took the job at PSU as an opportunity to return to equality rights issues in an executive officer role. She admitted that the DAP has a global focus, and that it has its fair share of flaws.

“Is this a perfect plan? No, but it’s a start,” Meneses said. “[The DAP] is an attempt to make people at all levels think of diversity, but it’s not complete. We’re [going to] see results gradually.”

Meneses said that part of the struggle to create a plan

brian nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

Catherine Ayoub, the co-prinicpal investigator of the OHS National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement, was one of the presenters at the conference.

Mary Foltz is the senior Early Head Start consultant at PSU.

brian nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

this study, in fact—the reduction in maltreatment wasn’t pronounced until children reached age 5 or 6,” Green said.

As for how this research will impact EHS program funding, Foltz said it certainly

“strengthens the case.”

EHS, a primarily federally funded program, aids families that fall between the categories of prenatal and with a child up to the age of 3. The program links families with needed

that everyone can agree upon stems from the difficulty of defining the term diversity.

She explained that diversity is larger than just race—it extends to, among many other categories, gender, culture and sexual preference.

She added that everyone needs to be individually accountable for promoting diversity inside and outside of Portland, and that’s what the DAP aims to do.

“We want to be leaders in cultural competency, and the best way to learn is to travel,” Meneses said. “Having well-traveled people at PSU will make foreign students want to come here and want to stay here.”

As far as Thomas’ issues with the DAP, Meneses said she acknowledges them, and explained that concerns like his are what makes the plan a working document.

She also said that the Diversity Leadership Team has conducted a self-assessment to determine if their objectives in the DAP are being met. According to Meneses, the results of the assessment will be released to the public soon, but she did not provide a specific date.

Students are encouraged to read the Diversity Action Plan for themselves and share their comments at pdx.edu/president/ diversity-action-plan-2012.

FOOD CART from page 1

medical, mental health, nutrition and education services.

Green has been working on this program evaluation since 1994, when PSU became involved with the EHS program.

Calmer summer months will be used to iron out issues page and from people in the Park Blocks.

“The more variety we have here, the more people will come from other places,” Dogs and Fries vendor Hossein Talebi said. “The reason everyone goes [to the food carts on Southwest] Fifth [Avenue] is because of the selection…A good place to open up a business is next to a successful business.”

There is one downside to opening the cart during the summer, however.

The majority of Food for Thought’s customers are students, and with significantly less student traffic during the summer it may be more difficult to make a profit.

“Certainly there is always some concern over financial responsibility when choosing

to expand,” Bommarito said. “[B]ut at the same time we feel that if the food cart is to stay open into the fall term, having the summer to work out all the kinks will make the future of the cart run smoothly, which will in turn make it more financially successful.

Also, by next summer this process will a breeze and the bulk of the investment will have been made.”

If everything goes as planned, the food cart will remain open in the fall and help alleviate some of the earlymorning coffee line congestion the cafe usually faces. Being able to grab a quick drink or snack outside without trekking down to the SMSU basement would be convenient for hurried students.

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Violence from page 1

Violence against women takes numerous forms

Brian Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf

Rae Nichelle-Peres graduated from PSU with a degree in women’s studies and a minor in black studies.

assertive and able to deflect regular harassment with ease. Other women she knew weren’t as thick-skinned and would crumble under the pressure—and sometimes she crumbled, too.

“It was a little bit easier for me,” she said, “but it did happen. And I do have certain stigmas and issues as a result.”

Johnson, who joined the military when she was 18, wasn’t sure at first what to make of the abuse she was witnessing.

“Until recently, I didn’t really think [harassment] was abnormal,” she said. “It really becomes a norm.”

According to a 2011 Pew Research Center study, the number of women on active duty in the U.S. military has increased sevenfold since 1973, from 2 to 14 percent. The number of female commissioned officers has quadrupled, from 4 to 16 percent.

Despite these increases, women remain the clear minority in the military.

“It’s hard,” said Johnson, who described a high-stakes situation that left no time to decompress, adding that isolation and stress coupled with relatively easy access to liquor magnified what she described as a cultural norm.

“It’s a cyclical, systematic issue, women being objectified,” Johnson said, “but it intensifies in this hypermasculine setting.”

Post-traumatic stress disorder from sexual assault—not just the realities of war—cripples thousands of women leaving the military, Johnson explained.

Indeed, according to a study led by Dr. Shira Maguen, a psychologist at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 31 percent of women diagnosed with PTSD reported experiencing military sexual trauma, compared to 1 percent of male veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs defines MST as “sexual assault or repeated, threatening sexual harassment that occurred while the veteran was in the military.”

“It’s a drastic problem,” Johnson said.

The woman facing domestic violence “I still have nightmares about it,” said Jen Parker, a student at Portland State majoring in psychology and French. “I still see him throwing my body down the stairs and seeing me lifeless at the bottom.”

Last Halloween, Parker and her now ex-boyfriend were at a party at a friend’s apartment.

Parker, who was pregnant at the time, was feeling ill and refused to smoke marijuana with him. The argument escalated and he pushed her down a flight of stairs. She broke several bones and suffered a miscarriage because of the assault.

“I don’t remember the fall.

I remember waking up with my friends around me asking if I was OK. The emotions I remember are sadness, confusion, anger,” Parker said.

The incident was the culmination of an emotionally abusive relationship. All the while, she struggled for years with mental illness.

“He kept telling me my disorders were not real and that I needed to go back to the mental hospital because that is where I belonged,” Parker said. “I belonged in the mental hospital in a padded room.”

“I tend to break out in a cold sweat, become short of breath and feel a sense of doom,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be completely healed, per se, but I will say that it has made me learn more about myself.”

Rae Nichelle-Peres

At first, Parker stayed quiet. When she first brought the attack to light, she found little sympathy.

“It seemed like no one wanted to listen to me except the Women’s Resource Center [at PSU],” Parker said. She began volunteering with the center, embarking on a tumultuous healing process that continues to this day.

“I coped using my therapy program, Portland Dialectical Behavior Therapy,” Parker said. But in the months that followed, Parker did not tell her family about the attack.

“My mother had a heart attack earlier this year, so I decided to not tell them and cope on my own,” she said.

Then she paused, reconsidering her words.

“I was never truly alone in this. I told my therapist immediately,” Parker explained.

“And my fiance has been hugely supportive.”

Parker is on the cusp of transferring to a university in Quebec to be closer to her fiance.

“I stopped blaming myself for [the attack] and accepted it,” Parker said. “It really can happen to anyone, at any point in time, at any location.”

Women assaulting women Eleven years ago, Rae Nichelle-Peres was raped.

After the third drink on a night out with a female friend and the friend’s female partner, she began to feel disoriented.

“By the time we got back to my friend’s house, I was feeling even more discombobulated,” Nichelle-Peres said.

Within moments, the two women—the friend and her partner—pinned her down

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and began raping her with a sex toy.

“I was mentally aware of what was going on around me, but I had little to no physical control. I had never been drugged before,” Nichelle-Peres said.

“I wanted so badly to scream out…but I was so groggy,” she said. The next morning, the two women took NichellePeres to her vehicle; she never saw them again.

Nichelle-Peres never reported that rape, out of fear. She believes that if the incident occurred today, she would have the strength to speak up.

“At the time, I thought no one would ever believe [those] women raped me. I can’t believe women would even do such a thing,” Nichelle-Peres said.

“I didn’t think I would be taken seriously,” she added.

Eleven years ago, she was unsure of herself and of life.

“And I wasn’t out to my parents at the time.” NichellePeres is lesbian.

Countless times, NichellePeres has been verbally harassed with homophobic slurs and threats. In one case, she was followed by four people on motorcycles who surrounded her and yelled “Die, you fucking dyke!” At a gas station, the attendant kicked her vehicle and used the same slur to violently demand she leave the premises.

In public restrooms—including in the one on the first floor of Smith Memorial Student Union—Nichelle-Peres has faced homophobic taunts and threats, almost entirely from fellow women.

“Verbal harassment is a form of violence,” she said.

“I faced harassment as early as the third grade,” she said.

“Kids used to push me into the boys bathrooms and the boys would urinate on me.”

The constant violence and harassment took a toll on her self-image.

“For many, many years, I felt like the stereotypical angry butch lesbian that everyone so often labeled me as,” NichellePeres said. “I was angry all the time. I didn’t have that many avenues to which I could turn…for venting.”

Nichelle-Peres now suffers from generalized anxiety disorder; television and movie scenes related to rape can trigger an intense reaction.

“I tend to break out in a cold sweat, become short of breath and feel a sense of doom,” she said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be completely healed, per se, but I will say that it has made me learn more about myself.” She added that finding a support group with the WRC has contributed to that process.

And though her story of rape and harassment defies gender expectations, she cautioned against stereotypes.

“Woman are just as capable [of committing sexual violence] as men.”

This story is the second in a three-part series exploring violence against women at PSU, which concludes next week. The names of some sources have been altered to safeguard their privacy.

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VANGUARD • WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 • OPinion

OPINION

EDITOR: BREANA HARRIS OPINION@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5692

Police accountability Too much power leads to poor decisions Ms. Fudge’s Sweet Nothings Stephanie Fudge-Bernard Jinyi Qi/VANGUARD STAFf

Food for thought Where does our food come from?

Page by Page Brie Barbee

I

f you were to ask someone on the street where their food comes from, their answer would likely be the name of a supermarket.

But that’s not really the truth.

Before our food makes its way to the grocery store, it is grown at a farm and then processed somewhere else entirely.

Nowadays, it seems that people are becoming disconnected from the food that they eat.

Without knowing or caring where our food comes from, we may not realize what kinds of chemicals and additives we are putting into our bodies, or how our food is being made.

Issues such as animal treatment, genetically modified organisms and pesticide use are being overlooked because people simply aren’t taking the time out of their day to figure out more information about their food.

It is this mindset of not worrying about the food that we are consuming that is leading to the record numbers of obesity and other diet-related illnesses in the world today. Food items that may have seemed relatively healthy, such as protein bars, juices and crackers with long shelf lives have hidden stores of calories and sugar that we are eating without a second (or even a first) glance at the ingredients list.

Not learning more about our food may seem like a stupid issue. I get it—our lives get busy, and we have plenty of other things to worry about. You go to the grocery store after a long of day of work or school and buy the same trusted brands that you have been buying for years. You don’t look at the

ingredients list, because why would you need to? It’s just another thing to do on your already too long to-do list.

If you want to be healthy and treat your body well, it is going to take a little more work on your part than it might have 50 years ago. Research what certain terms like low-fat or gluten-free mean according to the Food and Drug Administration.

It may seem trivial, but in the overly convenient world that we live in—with premade lunches and dinners filled with preservatives and other questionable ingredients—making the time to ask where something is made or looking at the list of ingredients can make all the difference in our health and the way we live our lives.

Frankly, people do care about how they treat their bodies. No self-respecting person would fill themselves up with things that they knew were causing them harm just for the fun of it, and no one eats foods simply because they are unhealthy. When we do eat

unhealthy foods it is because they taste good, or simply because they are convenient.

If you want to be healthy and treat your body well, it is going to take a little more work on your part than it might have 50 years ago. Research what certain terms like low-fat or gluten-free mean according to the Food and Drug Administration. They might not mean what you think they do, and buying foods without knowing what the terms mean tells food companies that they can keep up their same practices.

If you don’t know where your food comes from, look it up. If you don’t care, you should. We all want the newest and best technology, so why don’t we want the most responsibly grown and highest-quality foods?

Finding out this kind of information may seem pointless to some people, but it really isn’t. In a culture where foodrelated illnesses are killing people on a daily basis, where people no longer spend time cooking meals with their families and where food can contain a whole host of chemicals that we don’t want to be putting in our bodies, it is not pointless.

Knowing where your food comes from or how it is made doesn’t even require you to change your current eating habits. It’s not a campaign to get people eating healthier; it is just a campaign to promote knowledge.

You may find that, after doing some research, you don’t want to eat foods that contain certain preservatives, or you don’t want to buy eggs that aren’t free-range and grain-fed.

That’s your choice. But realize what choices you are making, and how those choices will ultimately affect your life.

Now let me ask you: Do you know what you’re eating?

P

olice in today’s society have quite a bit of power with very little accountability, and we have known for decades that such authority inevitably leads to abuse.

As many psychology majors know, a famous study called the Stanford Prison Experiment shed light on the depths of cruelty and depravity normal individuals can sink to in certain situations.

The experiment went down more than 40 years ago, in 1971, and was led by Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a rather off-putting but engaging man who seems to perpetually sport the same circle beard.

With the promise of a little participation money, a group of young men were told that they were either going to be prisoners or prison wardens and then placed in a jail environment to see what would happen.

Things hit the fan. Despite being scheduled to last two weeks, the experiment abruptly ended after only six days. The reason? The participants had become so distorted by their fake roles that some started to have mental breakdowns and outbreaks of sadism, and some even went on good-old hunger strikes.

These rather unfortunate responses were the result of

some very unfortunate roles the individuals took on during the study. The prisoners quickly became sick of being referred to only by a number and treated less than sweetly by their fellow participants acting as guards.

It’s pretty important to emphasize the fact that such degeneracy occurred after only six days, and that the individuals involved were all screened to make sure that they weren’t, you know, completely insane.

The guards stripped the prisoners naked, put bags over their heads and made them do exercises to humiliate them.

Later, they started interrupting the prisoners’ sleep and harassing them emotionally.

It’s pretty important to emphasize the fact that such degeneracy occurred after only

Suraj NAIR/VANGUARD STAFf

six days, and that the individuals involved were all screened to make sure that they weren’t, you know, completely insane.

The fact that such abuse can happen so quickly in a group of normal individuals who just answered an advertisement in a local paper is startling.

So what does that mean for the modern police force?

It means that the power of situation and the illusion of authority can lead to incredible brutality in a very short amount of time. Individuals who are put in that position of power on a daily basis must be held accountable. We have to make sure that the inclination to be a complete jackass is stomped out frequently.

There are instances of police brutality all the time. Portland developed the reputation of being a “shoot first, ask questions never” kind of city.

There was William Kyle Monroe, for example, a man diagnosed with bipolar disorder who was crippled by a police officer in 2011 when the cop decided Monroe was just acting too weird and shot him. Oh, and the incident sparked a lawsuit that cost Portland $2.3 million dollars.

Jason Cox, who was lucky enough to get security camera footage of himself being beaten, is currently suing Portland for more than $500,000. The video shows police officers pushing what looks like a very calm Cox to the ground, using a taser on him four times and punching him repeatedly in the face.

Of course, it’s not just our city that faces problems with violent police officers. Seattle was a little embarrassed back in 2010 when an officer named Ian P. Walsh decided to punch a 17-year-old right in the face. Again, the young woman was lucky enough to get the incident on camera.

There’s not necessarily a clear solution to this problem, but it is very apparent that the problem exists. I would also argue that it is our responsibility as citizens as well as the responsibility of the government to make sure that we protect police officers from themselves, especially given the knowledge that an average person can fall victim to his own depths of vindictiveness when in a position of power.

We set ourselves up for failure by not monitoring our police. There needs to be a better system by which impartial groups can monitor police and keep them honest and decent.

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Breaking bank Television’s place in the Great Recession Guest Column Breana Harris

A Miles Sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

Pay it forward My education is yours?

Everywhere and Here Eva-Jeanette Rawlins

W

hat if you didn’t have to take out a loan to get through college? In fact, what if you didn’t have to worry about paying at all the whole time you were studying?

Some people think they don’t have to worry about it because they’ve taken out a bunch of loans and then learn the horrible truth when they’re faced with a pile of debt and ever-increasing interest rates the minute they throw their cap in the air. But if Oregon lawmakers have anything to do with it, this won’t be your reality.

The “Pay It Forward” bill was passed unanimously in the Oregon Legislature earlier this month. It proposes that students attend public universities tuition-free and loanfree. Then, when they finish their studies and enter the job market, they get 3 percent of their pay deducted from their paychecks for about 25 years.

This money would go into a fund that would cover the education of future students.

Wait for the socialist conspiracy theorists!

The concept, developed by a nonprofit policy group called the Economic Opportunity Institute, is still being worked out, detail-wise—how to raise the initial startup money, for example, which would be about $9 million. That aside, the idea makes a lot of sense.

As it stands now, millions of students will be paying off debt until they die—or at the very least, into old age. What started off as a $20,000 education could well end up costing $50,000 or more the way

interest rates are going. We’re in a hole and we can’t get out.

Something has to give, and this may just be the answer.

OK, the thought of having your paycheck docked 3 percent on top of taxes isn’t fun— especially if your first job isn’t exactly helping you rake in the dough. However, it’s significantly less than what loan repayment would cost. Banks don’t really care how much you’re making. They just want their money back. No matter what kind of a job you get, you still have to cough it up.

I would feel honored and blessed if my success created success for someone else down the line.

The “Pay It Forward” plan would take your job into consideration. If you are unemployed for a while— which, sad to say, is a situation many new graduates find themselves in—you wouldn’t have to pay anything. It’s based on your income. No income, no bill.

Of course, this is probably where the bill will lose some people. There will inevitably be those who suggest that this wouldn’t be fair—that some people will get great jobs, and

others won’t, and the former will end up paying a lot more.

It’s true. They will.

Say a graduate has a gross income of $800,000 over the next 24 years. They’d end up paying $24,000 for their fouryear degree. Pretty reasonable. If someone makes $2 million over the same period, they’d pay $60,000. The billionaires among us would pay—perhaps we don’t want to go there. Let’s just say it’s a substantial difference.

The argument will no doubt be that all these people had the exact same education and one just paid almost triple the amount as the others. It’s the same old debate. We’re punishing people for making more money. Give me a break.

What if we chose to frame it slightly differently? What if we saw our secondary education as the privilege it is—one that a huge percentage of people on this earth don’t enjoy?

And what if we saw it as our responsibility to ensure that as many of us received that privilege as possible, and viewed our education as an opportunity to invest in others?

I would feel honored and blessed if my success created success for someone else down the line. I wouldn’t see it as a punishment. It’d be a gift—one small way to make sure that the money I made wasn’t just feeding the unquenchable appetite of consumerism. Going through school without the weight of loans and then getting the chance to give back to someone else? Yes, please.

It’s a win-win situation and we’d be fools not to pursue it.

Sure, it won’t be perfect and there will be hiccups along the way, but at least we could stop holding our breaths every time the government raises loan interest rates and just breathe.

MC will premiere the first of Breaking Bad’s eight final episodes on Sunday, Aug. 11. One of this century’s most brilliant television shows is coming to an end. But is it also the end of an era?

If you’re not familiar with Breaking Bad, first of all, get Netflix and watch it. Second of all, you should know it’s the story of Walter White (played

by Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer who puts his scientific skills to use creating a new form of bluecolored methamphetamine.

His shiftless former student, Jesse Pinkman (played by Aaron Paul), indoctrinates him into the drug business.

The last five seasons have been devoted to the slowgrowing meth empire they’ve built together, as well as Walt’s transition from middle-class defeatist to amoral megalomaniac. Cranston has won three Emmys for his performance, and Paul has won two.

I have a close family member who is a recovering meth addict. I was always impressed by the incredible accuracy of Jesse Pinkman’s world. Most “tweakers” I’ve met are poor, uneducated white kids. They really do call themselves things like “Combo,” “Badger,” and “Skinny Pete”—nicknames that should belong to characters in Peter Pan. In season two’s “Peekaboo” episode, Jesse goes to confront a heavily addicted couple who ripped him off and finds their severely neglected young son living in squalor. That episode always gets to me because I know that there are many children living in those conditions right now in the neighborhood where I grew up. No doubt here in Portland, too.

But to its credit, Breaking Bad has never really been about drug use or drug addiction as much as it’s about the addiction to money. “Are we in the meth business or the money business?” Jesse famously asks Walt in season five.

The show premiered on Jan. 20, 2008. The Great Recession we’ve all been dealing with for the past five years began in December 2007. Just last week, President Barack Obama gave a speech declaring the recession over. Walter White’s story has turned out to be roughly the same length.

Since early 2008, there have been dozens of television nods to the “new normal” caused by the Great Recession. Everything from Storage Wars to 2 Broke Girls has painted a picture of debt, struggle and the wacky lengths sitcom characters will go to to put food on the table.

As someone who grew up poor, I admit I tend to roll my eyes at these attempts to dramatize financial problems. Alyssa Rosenberg wrote an interesting piece about this for political blog Think Progress last year.

She talked about Ponzi schemes used as dramatic plot points, characters paying their student loans off with a party and a plethora of unrealistic depictions of the complicated issues facing real Americans.

But cable, as usual, is much closer to getting things right.

Even though shows like Shameless and Weeds feature some highly unrealistic situations, there’s still an undercurrent of authenticity. Even the symbolism of a collapsed society full of zombies in The Walking Dead has the ability to speak to our times.

Breaking Bad might be the best example of recession-era television. Walt is

potentially a genius who missed his chance to be part of a multibillion dollar corporation. His potential, not as a chemist but as a breadwinner, was never realized.

His ability to make money is tied to his self-worth from the beginning.

Mounting medical bills frequently come into play on the show. Not only is Walt afraid to die and leave his pregnant wife and disabled son penniless, but the cost of his treatment would be way more than they could bear. Many families have probably gone through similar experiences, burdened with the knowledge that you can’t be diagnosed with a serious illness in this country without you and your family incurring an incredible amount of debt.

The issue of who is going to finance the medical expenses comes up again in season four, when Walt and his wife, Skyler (Anna Gunn), devise a cover story so they can pay for physical therapy for Hank (Dean Norris) after he is gravely wounded by agents of a Mexican drug cartel. Hank works for the Drug Enforcement Agency, and yet the only way he can get the care he needs is with hundreds of thousands of dollars of meth money.

Last season, it was Skyler’s revelation of a storage locker full of Walt’s money that caused him to finally reconsider his line of work. Breaking Bad has many themes, but the corrupting power of cash seems to be one of the biggest ones. How much is too much?

Is your humanity inevitably corroded if you belong to the 1 percent of people who have more money than they could ever spend?

It remains to be seen whether America will actually learn anything from the Great Recession. But for the last five years, Breaking Bad has been smart and superb at asking the right questions. Man, I’m really going to miss it.

Miles Sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

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A different kind of camp Pixel Arts Youth Game Camp teaches kids to make video games Brandon Staley Vanguard Staff

sentiment I had heard more than once regarding the video game camp.

“I wish they were around when I was younger,” Crispen said. “And I definitely think we need more of this.”

Location, location, location

Summer camp. When the topic comes up, the first thing to spring to mind might be log cabins in the woods, loudspeaker announcements or sunset cannonballs off a creaky wooden dock into shimmering waters below. Whatever comes to mind when you think of summer camp, it’s probably not video games. Until now.

On Saturday, Pixel Arts Game Education held their first-ever video game youth camp at Portland Youth Builders in Southeast Portland.

The camp, which charged no admission or registration fees, aimed to teach kids between the ages of 12 and 17 how to make video games.

Modules included activities that touched on the basics of how to program, animate, sculpt and design for games.

Pixel Arts is the brainchild of Will Lewis and Jeffrey Sens. Lewis, a Portland State alumni, is the founder of the Portland Indie Game Squad, or PIGSquad, a group that organizes monthly activities around the themes of game development, design and appreciation. Sens began teaching himself to program at a young age, and has a long history of instruction and community outreach behind him.

The camp was held at Portland Youth Builders on Southeast Schiller Street at 92nd Avenue.

Lewis and Sens confirmed that the location was a very conscious decision, as one of the main focuses of the camp is community.

“We’re really working on embedding locally so that kids don’t have to make the huge bus transit or bike ride all the way up to PSU,” Lewis said.

Sens said that despite their focus on the neighborhood model, word of the camp spread far and wide. He said the camp saw kids registered from as far as Oregon City and Hillsboro.

“We weren’t expecting that,” Sens said. “One of our goals was to try and draw as much as possible from communities that were residents around this area.”

Sens said that he has been contacted by people from many differing backgrounds and locations who are enthusiastic about the game camp.

“I got a call from one of the parents, who couldn’t come today, who lives in Northeast Portland,” Sens said. “She wants us to keep her apprised of all the different things that we’ll be doing because she wants these opportunities showing up in her community.”

The hardest part

The program and beyond

Lewis said that one of the goals of the camp is to teach kids how to teach themselves. Kids are taught not only how to sculpt characters and design a level, but also how to communicate effectively within a group. Failure is a possibility, but one crux of the camp is to create a safe environment for failure and to temper its sting with encouragement.

“It’s an exploratory stage where kids can get their hands dirty and see what interests them and [what] doesn’t,” Lewis said.

But making games is daunting, and there is perhaps nothing in the process more daunting than programming. Luckily, the technology of building games has come a long way since the days of having to hand-code each and every line of a game.

Newer programs like Stencyl and Snap!, visual programming tools that rely on puzzle-like colored shapes that fit together, take the bite out of manual coding by removing it almost completely.

“Essentially, what they’re learning are the exact same concepts that they would need to do traditional programming, without just throwing them into it,” said Lucas Crispen, who helped to mentor the programming module.

Crispen was a developer in the games industry before moving to Portland. He echoed a

Lewis and Sens are treating the camp as a kind of pilot program. Registration was free and all of the instructors and mentors were volunteers.

Still, the camp snapped up volunteers almost as quickly as it did learners. Lewis said that for every two students there was one volunteer mentor.

Sens said that the direction the camp ends up taking will largely be guided by the feedback they get from the kids.

“What we really need to know is, for all the kids of different motivations, what would they want to have happen next?” Sens said. “Do they want a two-week summer camp? Do they want programs spread throughout the year? Do they want workshops? Do they want a club in their school where they can get activities going?”

Sens said that once they have a clear vision of what kids want, they can offer a clearer picture to parents, sponsors and other allies in the community.

While the program is just a pilot right now, the lessons that kids can draw from the camp are still significant.

“I’d like to think we’ve influenced their opinions on technology and the adaptation of ideas,” Lewis said.

Additional information on Pixel Arts Game Education and upcoming youth camps can be found at gameeducationpdx.com.

The final chapter My journey to write a novel: What worked, what didn’t and what you can learn from it Jessica Miller Vanguard Staff

At the beginning of the month, I set out to write a novel in 30 days. Sadly, I could not complete the Camp NaNoWriMo 50,000-word challenge.

I reached the halfway point and simply couldn’t continue. It’s said writing is a marathon, not a sprint, but every day felt like running on a road of broken glass: agonizing and seemingly never-ending. I may not have completed the novel, but I don’t regret trying. I learned so much about myself and writing through the process.

And if anyone wants to attempt the upcoming NaNoWriMo challenge in November, I have a few pieces of advice.

First, write whatever you want, no matter what it is. Variety is great, and experimentation is the lifeblood of creative writing. It’s always good to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. The majority of your experiments will probably fail, but out of that failure you never know what you might find.

There is some truth to the old adage, “Write what you know.” I personally have never been a violin player or had mother issues like the main

Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf

IN THE ARTS and ANIMATION ROOM kids learned to create game characters with pen, paper and collaboration.

Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf

Kids put their newly gained skills to the test designing and programming their own video games.

character in my story. Then again, I’ve never been to space or transformed into a were-animal of any kind, and fantasy and soft sci-fi are the realms in which I feel the most comfortable and at home. I think I strayed a little too far into literary fiction to keep my interest. Writing became a chore, not a joy. I started to dread opening the Word document and getting to work every day. Exploration is important, but staying true to what you know could help you stay interested in your story.

I also recommend finding a support system.

If you have roommates, like I do, tell them that at a specific time you are going to write and that you are not to be disturbed. Mine were incredibly helpful (and sometimes forceful) in insisting I keep up with my writing. The support allowed me to really rack up my word count. I’m one of those writers who gets easily distracted by everything; music, TV, the Internet, other people, food. Having outside support can make all the difference when you feel like doing anything but writing.

Writing should be a joy, something you look

forward to doing. Not every day will be, of course. Some days words are not going to want to come. Some days you will really have to mine for those words. Some days you are going to have to work for them. Writing is a relentless journey that isn’t always easy. But you should feel some sense of accomplishment once you’ve put the work in. You should find a way to feel proud of the end product and revel in whatever it ends up being. It’s yours, after all—you made it. Why not enjoy it?

I wish I could reveal the big secret to writing; the one big thing that will revolutionize the creative writing process for everyone. But there are no universal rules for writers. Everyone’s brain works differently, and everyone tells stories in their own unique way. There are thousands of different rules and bits of advice for writing, but, in the end, you have to create them for yourself. You have to find a way to write that makes sense to you. What matters is putting the pen to the paper and pouring out words.

ArtsArts & Culture & Culture • WEDNESDAY, •Tuesday, JULY Jan. 31, 2013 • VANGUARD

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Like a homemade mix tape, but better Portland band Summer Cannibals shine with the release of No Makeup Blake Hickman Vanguard Staff

It’s never easy to predict the future. I’ve seen and heard a lot of local bands, and in the last year I’ve had the pleasure to be able to sit and talk with a couple of them. Few have stood out to me like Summer Cannibals. And as much as I’ll miss seeing them for less than 10 bucks, I’m excited to say that they seem like the Portland group that’s most destined for success outside of the Rose City that I’ve seen in some time.

Summer Cannibals have made a fantastic album with No Makeup. It’s fresh-sounding, well sequenced and, most importantly, concise, with 10 songs that clock in around 30 minutes (what is up with all of these bands making 70-minute albums)?

No Makeup is a document of a recently formed band playing recently written songs, the same sort of circumstances that have given music fans so many great punk and DIY albums in the past, from Let It Be by The Replacements to Surfer Rosa by The Pixies (more on them later).

Summer Cannibals is a band with a fairly unique biography. No Makeup was originally demos recorded by vocalist and musician Jessica Boudreaux, with her playing all of the parts of the songs and then bringing the completed tracks to the band. This sort of auteur approach is something I had heard about other bands doing, but never from a punk band like Summer Cannibals. Through this writing style, they’ve managed to make a record that sounds kinetic and raw. The more I listened to No Makeup, the more I found myself wondering what other bands might have influenced and shaped the project to give it this

unique sound.

“I feel like The Pixies are probably the common thread between the four of us,” Boudreaux said.

Knowing about this influence instantly allows you to pick out the Pixie-esque textures on tracks like “The Hand.” It especially shows on “Hey/I Was Saved,” with its unique pacing and central bass riff.

But No Makeup has more to it that that. As with so many other bands, though, this record is a product of various, disparate influences, some you might not necessarily expect.

“Marc really likes Nine Inch Nails, like, a lot… he also has Bjork tattoos, so that’s interesting too,” Boudreaux said, outing bandmate and guitarist Marc Swart and some of the more diverse artists that have shaped the band.

Another unique perk of the record is its track sequence. Have I mentioned how well this thing is ordered? From the sounds of it, the flow of No Makeup is not unlike a mix tape you’d make for your friend (do people still make those?). This structuring was intentional, Boudreaux said.

“We knew the order of what we wanted the record to be while we were recording it,” she said. The pre-planned and well-crafted ordering makes the record feel, in that sense, exactly like making a mix tape, only with songs that they had created.

In terms of the album’s fresh, raw sound, the band had an explanation for that, too.

“For the most part, we recorded the album live, so we basically played the full album start to finish over a couple of days,” Boudreaux explained. The live recording, as well as the fresh spin on their influences, created the raw and ferocious sound found on No Makeup.

With the upcoming release of the album, Summer Cannibals have solidified their place as one of the great Portland bands. Not originally from the city, they have come to find many opportunities for a band starting out here—the environment and community included. In their new home, the band has been looking to find something in the local music scene that will push them to new heights.

jinyi qi/VANGUARD STAFF

“We’re still looking for the bands that will make us play harder and louder,” Boudreaux said. “I think you can get stuck in Portland, just being really comfortable. We don’t just want to play shows in Portland for the next five years.”

Despite their desire to branch out and extend outside the city and the Northwest, Summer Cannibals love Portland, Swart said.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support, so I’ve got to say that we’re part of a community,” Swart said.

I have a feeling that the music community in Portland will continue to embrace Summer

Cannibals as long as they continue making great albums like No Makeup.

No Makeup is available August 6 from New Moss Records.

Summer Cannibals No Makeup Album release show Mississippi Studios 3939 N Mississippi Ave. Thursday, Aug. 1, 8 p.m. $5

Bug Eater’s Delight The next trend in dieting Jaime Dunkle Vanguard Staff

I did it. I ate a scorpion. And mealworms. With ice cream. With a cherry on top. And it wasn’t that bad.

I was trying to find something bizarre and creepy to do in Portland, and I remembered my friend telling me about eating bug sundaes at the Freakybuttrue Peculiarium and Museum.

The gag gift shop sells sci-fi- and horror-themed ice cream dishes, and is home to a recreation of Al Capone’s safe and other curious oddities.

A giant Sasquatch guards the entrance with one eye cocked in attack mode, flowers strewn at his feet and money pinned to his shin as if he were some Vedic god. I started laughing immediately.

I told the friendly guy behind the counter, Matthew Vasquez, that I wanted the Bug Eater’s Delight, which is a sundae topped with dried mealworms and a dried scorpion (without its stinger).

Vasquez, originally from Los Angeles, started working at the Peculiarium in August 2012. I asked him if he’d ever eaten the sundae, and he said he hadn’t because he’s a strict vegetarian.

But that didn’t damper his enthusiasm for it.

“When they started the Bug Eater’s Delight— it was the very first thing [the owners] tried, and they said that they imagined that nobody would want to eat bugs,” Vasquez said. “But it became one of their most popular things, as you can tell by the Bug Eater’s Hall of Fame, or the Bug of Fame.”

Vasquez also said that places like the Church of Elvis really helped pave the way for what he called “nonserious, opposite-of-somber fun.”

He handed me a dried mealworm to sample. I looked at its eyes and legs. It smelled like Chex cereal. I was afraid I was going to crush it when I smelled it, and ended up dropping it because it was slick to the touch.

Vasquez offered me another.

I told him it was like chewing sand.

“With a body,” he said.

In 2012, Dennis G.A.B. Oonincx and Imke J.M. de Boer, researchers in the Netherlands, published a study in the academic peer-review journal PLOS ONE stating that “mealworms should be considered a more sustainable source of edible protein.”

Maybe I was preparing for something bigger—the next diet trend in Portland: mealworm meat substitute.

I also found out that practitioners of Chinese medicine use scorpions for aliments that have to do with “wind,” one of the elements used to categorize energies and illnesses, according to Acupuncture Today’s website.

Wind is attributed to varying maladies, from headaches and rashes to seizures and spasms, according to the website of Mystic River Acupuncture, a therapy center based in Groton, Conn.

Maybe eating a Bug Eater’s Delight is a good way to fight summertime hives or poor student/ starving artist migraines. I’d try it.

I asked Vasquez for mint chocolate chip ice cream to help mentally block the fact that I was about to eat the same food as a bird. The sundae was topped with whipped cream, rainbow sugar crystal sprinkles, a handful of dried mealworms and a dried scorpion next to a cherry.

I wanted to plug my nose like a little kid, but I didn’t.

The outer shell of both insects reminded me

Brian nguyen/VANGUARD STAFF

of roasted peanut skin, or that thin waxy tab from popcorn that wedges itself between your teeth until you floss 50 times.

I went for the scorpion claw first. I severed it with one quick crunch. It didn’t really have much taste; it was mildly nutty. I left the rest of the body for later.

The first bite of beetle larvae slathered in whipped cream was fine, novel, and went down easy until the aftertaste of salted cardboard hit me. I ate a spoonful of ice cream to wash it down, but I knew the next bite o’ bug would be even more pronounced. And it was.

After the initial hint of nut, eating mealworm was like chewing Styrofoam or air, followed by a gritty, salty filling.

I’m not going to lie. I couldn’t eat them all. I wanted to. I tried. But it just got to me, like the sound of a metal fork on a porcelain plate.

The scorpion was an even more unpalatable sight, with light reflecting from its H.R.

Giger-esque exoskeleton. Its beady tail dipped in cream and sprinkles. My tummy turned. But I was determined!

I squeezed my eyes shut, took a big breath and ate the rest of the scorpion. I couldn’t believe it tasted better than the worms. It was almost sweeter or tangier.

I ate my artificially flavored maraschino cherry and left the remaining dead worms drowning in melted mint chocolate chip and whipped cream soup.

Now I can finally cross “eat bugs like Bear Grylls” off my bucket list.

Bug Eater’s Delight, $4 The Freakybuttrue Peculiarium and Museum 2234 NW Thurman St. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.–9 p.m.

Arts &news Culture • WEDNESDAY, •Tuesday,JULY Jan. 31, 31, 2013 2013 • VANGUARD VANGUARD

‘Trayvon Martin and the new Jim Crow’ Portland socialists discuss the state of racism in the US Christian Carson Vanguard staff

On the night of Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, Trayvon Martin was shot to death by George Zimmerman, who was later charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. The case that attracted national attention for more than a year; Zimmerman’s trial began June 10, 2013, and 33 days later he was found innocent and acquitted of all charges.

Last Thursday night, the Portland chapter of the International Socialist Organization held a public meeting titled, “Trayvon Martin and the new Jim Crow,” to discuss the incident and the state of racism in the U.S. Speakers at the event, which was held in Smith Memorial Student Union, room 294, claim that racial profiling of blacks, Muslims, Arabs and undocumented immigrants across the U.S. by state and federal authorities has increased along with domestic surveillance.

“There’s a racial system in play that says black people have no value,” said Deyalo Bennette, a Portland State junior and an Associated Students of Portland State University senator. “Someone can say, ‘I was afraid—he was black,’ and most courts will still uphold racial fears as grounds for selfdefense,” he added. “We need a solidarity of colors.”

PSU student Anthony Lathan asked, “What is the true construct of racism? Historically, slavery wasn’t even about skin color. It’s about dividing and conquering so people don’t even see the real issues at stake. We need to ask what racism is really about.”

Amid murmurs of approval, a hand rose. “In the ’60s and ’70s, blacks were seen as revolutionary leaders—look at Malcolm X,” said ISO member Andrea Hektor. “When he was imprisoned he got a lot of mail, the bulk of it…from white supporters. How have we come to a place where blacks are seen as criminals?”

From there the forum moved to a discussion of “stop and frisk” profiling; the stigma of being a convicted felon and how attendees think this creates a class

of people with diminished civil rights; and a sense of racism that speakers asserted is built into the very fabric of society. “Racism is the linchpin of American capitalism,” Bennette said.

When the discussion shifted to concrete actions Portlanders can take, the room hummed with ideas.

“People must address and change the way they address one another here and around the world,” Lathan said.

“They need to become sympathetic and conscious of their internal, taught biases.”

Many attendees voiced the need to bring more to the table than legal representation to combat these injustices— that society as a whole needs to unify its struggles and be aware of injustices. The public, they said, should push to reopen stalled cases through rallies and public pressure.

“If people as a whole are divided and without orientation, all is lost,” Bennette said. “Humans are a young species and our potential is so great. We need to find our center.”

The Multicultural Center in Smith Memorial Student Union, room 228, will host a forum on Aug. 6 called “Next Steps.”

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:

“Do you prefer hard copy textbooks or e-books?”

Austin Maggs Vanguard Staff

Erik Myers, 21, a sociology junior, buys his textbooks in ebook format because of the cost. However, he wants to look into cheap hardback copies on Amazon. “I like the physical copies, it’s just the financial aspect of it. It costs less to get it on your computer. But I like a hard, physical copy,” he said.

June Kim, 31, a public health junior, buys physical copies because she feels they are easier to buy. “I don’t do a lot of online purchasing. So…going into [the] PSU bookstore where the books are available is the easier way for me because I can get the book at hand,” she said.

Heather Mattioli, 40, the assistant director of financial aid at PSU, encourages students to buy e-books because of the price. “They’ll be borrowing less in loans if they can save money on books. Plus they update more often, so it’s easier to update a text,” she said.

Portland State wins civic engagement award Austin Maggs Vanguard Staff

This July, Portland State was among five victors awarded The Washington Center’s Higher Education Civic Engagement Award for 2013.

The Washington Center’s website describes the award as one that “recognizes institutions achieving breadth and depth of civic engagement through sustained and mutually transformational partnerships that define and address issues of public concern at any level from the local to the global.”

Winners received $20,000 in funding to help their students participate in The Washington Center’s academic internship program next year in Washington, D.C. “It’s quite a bit of money for students in that interest,” said Mark Wubbold, senior policy analyst in the president’s office at PSU. The Washington Center considers and reviews applicants based on leadership and innovation in addressing and defining public concern issues, vision for systemic and sustainable change and extensiveness of institutional commitment.

The university was chosen out of 126 other applicants, and it’s the first time the school has

won this award. Past winners include Duke University and Bulova University.

“It’s a pretty highfalutin’ group,” Wubbold said.

PSU was recognized for achievements including community development—based on Senior Capstone courses that work on issues within the community—economic development partnerships, and campus planning and development partnerships.

The economic development partnerships center around PSU’s eight schools and colleges, 62 research centers and institutions and the Business Accelerator, which is home to more than 30 start-up companies.

One facet of these partnerships that stood out was the School of Business Administration, which started a new certificate program that gives

students the opportunity to work in the athletic industry cluster.

The campus planning and development partnerships focused on financing new development within PSU. Public investment will also focus on developing new education facilities and labs, as well as job growth and developing clusters. The developments were all discussed in the application for the Civic Engagement Award.

Wubbold feels honored that PSU has earned this recognition.

“It connects us to the community very closely…If PSU is going to be relevant, we have to do work that the community builds from,” Wubbold said. “Any time you get this recognition, it’s like getting the gold housekeeping stamp of approval.”

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Rena Greene, 23, a sophomore linguistics major, prefers physical copies. This term she is using e-books for the first time, despite disliking them. “This is my first term using an e-book for one of my classes, and it’s difficult because you have to cite your sources. And you can’t really cite them,” she said.

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The ninth annual Empowerment Day offers the chance for members of the community to do their part to raise awareness and money for research of ovarian cancer. The event offers a timed 5K, a timed 10K or a family friendly, untimed mile-long course that runs along the Clackamas River.

To register for this event, visit shocfoundation.org.

to enjoy the alcoholic fare the lounge has to offer while putting their skills with a pen or pencil to use. FREE 21+

14th Annual Iranian Festival

6 p.m.

Japanese American Historical Plaza, Waterfront Park Northwest Naito Parkway and Couch Street

10 a.m.–5 p.m.

South Park Blocks Portland State

The Andisheh Center, a supporter of Portland State’s Middle East Studies Center, invites you to attend the 14th annual Iranian Festival in the Park Blocks. Come enjoy a taste of Iranian culture with food, dancing and Iranian music. All ages are encouraged to enjoy this event and everyone is FREE welcome. © wanDerlust circus

Portland’s local Wanderlust Circus offers the chance to witness live performances like you’ll see nowhere else at the Bossanova Ballroom on Aug. 2, with a show that kicks off at 8 p.m.

Sunday, August 4

Wednesday, July 31

Ecotrust Concert Series and Innovation Showcase 5:30 p.m.

Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center 721 NW Ninth Ave.

The Ecotrust Concert Series and Innovation Showcase is a weekly event that seeks to bring the community together through live music and a street fair showcase that highlights discussion about green living. Each week you are invited to come enjoy local performances and browse interactive booths run by sponsors and organizations that can help you learn how to live an environmentally friendly life. This week the theme is “food.” FREE

Wednesday Night Swing 7:30 p.m.

Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside St.

Wednesday nights at the Bossanova Ballroom are taken over by the Portland Lindy Society, a nonprofit group that teaches people how to dance. Admission for the evening is $7 and it opens with a dance lesson at 7:30 p.m. and then moves on to open dance from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. to conclude the night. 21+

Thursday, August 1

Washington Park Summer Festival 6 p.m.

Washington Park Rose Garden Amphitheater 400 SW Kingston Ave.

The first day of August marks the beginning of the Washington Park Summer Festival, a series of free concerts that encourage all ages to get out to the International Rose Test Garden and see the flowers at their finest while taking in professional performances. The festival kicks off with a concert by the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus. FREE

Friday, August 2

Movies in the Parks: Mary Poppins 6:30 p.m.

Laurelhurst Park Southeast 38th Avenue and Stark Street

The Summer Movies in the Parks schedule presents Mary Poppins, a film about unhappy children who find themselves on an adventure when a magical nanny enters their life. Movies in the Parks is free for all ages to attend and features live musical performances before each film as well as free popcorn. The event kicks off around 6:30 and the film begins at dusk. FREE

Simmertime: The Wanderlust Circus 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside St.

The Bossnova Ballroom is host to Portland’s own Wanderlust Circus, a show that has something for everyone. Join the Wanderlust crew for their only performance this summer, where you can witness daring aerial acts, acrobatics and other performances you will not soon forget in the only local venue where fire acts are legal. To purchase tickets and look up pricing information, visit bossanovaballroom.com. 21+

Saturday, August 3

New Belgium Brewing’s Clips Beer and Film Tour

Ninth Annual Empowerment Day Walk, Run and Race

7:30 p.m.

Tom McCall Waterfront Park Southwest Naito Parkway

6:30 a.m.

Team Latus Motors Harley-Davidson 870 E Berkeley St., Gladstone

Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Hanford: A Tragic Connection

The people of Portland are invited to join peaceful community groups on the 68th anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The event will feature speakers and performers who seek to enlighten and honor, and will end with a ceremonial walk to the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center to view two art exhibitions that explore the bombings as subjects.

All ages are welcome and encouraged to attend this event. FREE

Tuesday Night Tango Drink and Draw Sundays

New Belgium Brewing, the company responsible for Fat Tire Amber Ale and a number of other award-winning brews, will be returning to Waterfront Park for their nonprofit beer and film tour. The tour offers the chance for attendees to view short films created

by New Belgium fans and to purchase more than 16 varieties of beer, the proceeds from which will be donated entirely to local nonprofit groups. This festival is open to all ages, but alcohol will only be available to those 21 and over. FREE

Tuesday, August 6

8 p.m.

The Goodfoot 2845 SE Stark St.

Every Sunday at the Goodfoot, bring your friends and your sketchbooks to participate in a “drink and draw” event, where artists are encouraged

welcome, including beginners, and a lesson will be offered from 7–8 p.m. for those who would like to learn the steps. Admission is $8 per person. 21+

Wednesday, August 7

Sounds of Summer Concert Series 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Pettygrove Park 1990 SW Fourth Ave.

The Sounds of Summer Concert Series features talented local musicians in the perfect event to visit during your lunchtime breaks on Wednesdays this August. Presented to you by SoMa, a community leader in innovation and sustainability, the concerts begin on Aug. 7 with a performance by concert rock violinist Aaron Meyer. Each performance is free and you are welcome to bring your lunch along or grab some grub at one of the surrounding local businesses. FREE

7 p.m. class, 8 p.m. open dance Bossanova Ballroom 722 E Burnside St.

On Tuesday nights the Bossanova Ballroom offers you the chance to learn to tango. Bring a partner or come alone for free dance from 8 p.m. to midnight. All skill levels are

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

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VANGUARD • TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2012 • ETC.

SPORTS • WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 • VANGUARD

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NHL to take midseason break in Sochi Deal struck to bring professionals back to Winter Games in 2014

Tanner Notch Vanguard Staff

After months of deliberation among the NHL, the NHL Player’s Association, the International Ice Hockey Federation and the Olympic Committee, an agreement was finally reached to allow professional hockey players from the NHL to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. As part of the agreement, the NHL will halt the 2013–14 season so that an estimated 120 players can take part in the hockey competition scheduled for February 12–23.

Though the decision wasn’t surprising, it came less than a year after a lengthy and contentious collective bargaining dispute between NHL players and ownership caused the cancellation of nearly half of the

NHL’s 2012–13 schedule. Much of the opposition to Sochi came from owners frustrated with the high risk and limited financial returns of professional athletes participating in international tournaments, an issue that has been a source of friction ever since NHL players made their Olympic debut at the Nagano games in 1998.

In several instances over the course of the negotiations, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had stated that the league would stay in business during the Olympics—a move that caused several NHL players, including star Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, to remark that they would take part in Sochi regardless of the league’s ruling.

In order to accommodate the Olympics, the league will shut down February 9–26. The NHL will undoubtedly lose revenue as a result of the Sochi games, since they will not own the

rights to broadcast the tournament or be permitted to sell merchandise associated with it.

But a boycott would have done much more harm to the NHL’s brand over the long term. The Olympics provide tremendous international exposure for NHL players both domestically and abroad, and the event brings hockey into markets where it would otherwise struggle to build an audience.

It’s inconceivable that other Winter Olympic events sports like bobsledding, downhill skiing or speed skating would take place without their best athletes involved, which makes this most recent objection from NHL owners all the more confounding. The return on investment that comes from promoting hockey in a competition that has a truly global audience may not be immediately quantifiable, but it is an incredible boon to the financial future of any sport fortunate enough to have a place on the schedule.

NHL owners have every right to be wary of a two-week break in the action. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed.

© Cameron Spencer/getty images

Sidney Crosby and more than 100 of the NHL’s biggest stars will be headed back to the Olympics next year.

Basement Notes: Jeter shakes off the rust Yankee legend returns to the lineup with home run

Derek Jeter came back from the disabled list for just his second game of 2013 on Sunday.

Marco España Vanguard Staff

The New York Yankees had a slightly altered lineup for the last game of their series against Tampa Bay on Sunday afternoon. Coming back from a fractured ankle that took him out of the playoffs last October and a strained quad that put him back on the DL in his return on July 11, Derek Jeter jogged out onto the field at Yankee Stadium and dug into position at shortstop. He warmed up in the same way he has since making his major league debut with the Yankees in 1995, as if there was nothing particularly noteworthy about the occasion, stretching his limbs and fielding ground balls and blocking out the urgent yelps from the stands that accompanied his every move.

The noise continued to build even as the top of the first inning played out uneventfully. Phil Hughes took 14 pitches to retire the first three Tampa hitters, then the Rays came onto the field and Matt Moore settled in to face the Yankee batting order. An anxious hum rose in the stadium when leadoff hitter Brett Gardner came to the plate, and almost nobody noticed when he struck out swinging as Jeter took languid practice cuts in the on-deck circle. The congregation on hand in the Bronx was ready to burst by

© Jim mcisaac/getty images

the time Jeter walked over to replace Gardner in the batter’s box, whistling and barking nervous encouragement to the 39-year-old Cooperstown formality.

Moore eased into his windup and delivered a 92-milean-hour pitch high and just a little outside, and Jeter, an aggressive hitter throughout his career, liked what he saw and committed to an insideout swing that sent the ball 380 feet in the opposite direction for a home run to right center. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead and Jeter trotted calmly around the bases while the television announcer did his best to scream over the crowd of 47,000.

Jeter touched home and returned to the dugout, where

his teammates and the coaching staff waited to greet him.

He moved through a methodical procession of congratulations and then back up the dugout steps to peek out and acknowledge the crowd before quickly ducking back down again. The YES Network camera zoomed in close, Jeter glanced over, and a smile finally cracked through the just-another-day-at-theoffice facade.

New York and Tampa Bay were tied 5-5 going into the ninth, so Mariano Rivera was brought in to shut down the side and give the Yankee hitters one more shot at the goahead run. Rivera obliged, coaxing the Rays into three groundouts with the same split fastball he’s used for two

decades. Tampa Bay took the field and Gardner worked through eight pitches to earn a walk, moving on to second when the first pitch to Jeter came in wild. Jeter was intentionally walked, Robinson Cano struck out on three pitches, and then Alfonso Soriano’s single to center brought Gardner around for a 6-5 Yankees victory.

It was a thrilling end to a close game, but Soriano’s game-winner never had a chance to be anything but a postscript, a necessary item in the day’s box score. After 19 seasons, 3,300 hits, five World Series championships and a first-inning home run in late July, Jeter remains the headliner in New York.

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VANGUARD • WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 • SPORTS

SPORTS

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

Blazers make their move in the offseason Portland adds new names to the roster as they work toward a return to the playoffs Alex Moore Vanguard Staff

Summer can be a tense time of year for Portland basketball diehards when the Blazers miss the playoffs, as the fan base is left to speculate on an uncertain future during the free agency/ summer league stretch. When the team spirals down from playoff contention with a 13game losing streak as it did to close out the season in April, the months leading up to October become even more uneasy.

Blazers owner Paul Allen and general manager Neil Olshey have had plenty of issues to address over the last few weeks. Portland struggled to find their rhythm last season, with periods of inspired play undone by the overall inexperience of the roster.

The Blazers’ bench was also

among the worst in the league in 2012–13, putting even more pressure on lone All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge and Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard.

Fans have held out hope for years that the franchise will be able to land the marquee free agent that will make the difference in Portland, and it looks like they will have to wait another year after the organization was unable to lure any of the summer’s biggest names.

Instead, Olshey concentrated on adding some much-needed role players to the roster. The Blazers upgraded considerably in that regard, bringing in three-point threat Dorell Wright, last year’s No. 5 pick Thomas Robinson, rookie lottery selection C.J. McCollum and veteran point guard Earl Watson.

But Portland’s most important pickup came in the low post when the team acquired center Robin Lopez through a trade with the Brooklyn Nets.

The Blazers have been in need of a strong presence in the paint for a long time now, someone who can provide consistent interior defense and control the boards. Lopez will be expected to give Portland the inside help they have lacked in recent years and should complement Aldridge nicely.

The majority of Portland’s bench went on to compete in the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas, a two-week event that gives teams the opportunity to try out different roster combinations before the season begins. The Summer League provides a venue for unsigned players to showcase their talent and allows players already under contract to build chemistry with their teammates.

Portland’s lineup finished 1-5, but Blazer fans were treated to solid performances

by McCollum and Robinson.

Robinson demonstrated his

RECENT RESULTS Saturday, July 27

MLS

@ San Jose Timbers Top performers Darlington Nagbe: 1 goal

Sunday, July 28

NWSL

vs.

Thorns Chicago

3 3

Top performers Christine Sinclair: 2 goals Meleana Shim: 1 goal

© Sean Meagher/oregonlive.com

thomas robinson was active on the boards as he made his debut with the Blazers in the Summer League.

UPCOMING Wednesday, July 31

ability on the glass, posting the league’s third-best rebounding average with nearly 13 per game, while McCollum shined on offense, coming in second among all scorers with 21 points per game.

It was a summer of pleasant surprises for the Blazers, but now comes the really difficult part: Portland will have to figure out whether all these new parts add up to a playoff team.

Thorns foiled down the stretch by Chicago Red Stars tally 2 goals late in 2nd half to escape with a draw

Christine Sinclair scored twice for Portland against the Red Stars, but it wasn’t enough as Chicago rallied in the last 15 minutes to earn a road point.

Matt Deems Vanguard Staff

The Portland Thorns took to the pitch on Sunday for a showdown with the Chicago Red Stars in the first installment of a three-game homestand. The game was broadcast on Fox Soccer and the Rose City Riveters were out in full force among the crowd of 12,534, eager to give a national television audience a taste of Portland’s passion for the sport.

Though the Red Stars are currently out of playoff contention, the regular season series between Chicago and Portland has been a close one, with the Thorns coming into the most recent matchup with a 2-1 edge.

The last time they met, the Red Stars rocked the Thorns with a 2-0 victory in front of Portland’s home fans. Looking to prevent a similar fate, the Thorns came out attacking and built a 3-1 lead—but Chicago stormed back, scoring two clutch goals in the last 15 minutes to earn a draw.

The Thorns made their way into the Red Stars’ box early and often, getting a free kick and a corner kick in the opening minutes, while the Red Stars struggled to make progress in Portland territory throughout the first half. Portland struck first in the 23rd minute by way of a brilliant

2 1

NWSL

vs.

Thorns vs. Sky Blue FC Jeld-Wen Field 7:30pm Forecast: High of 83 degrees, partly cloudy

Saturday, August 3

mls

vs.

Timbers vs. Vancouver Jeld-Wen Field 8 p.m.

Forecast: High of 79 degrees, partly cloudy

Sunday, August 4

NWSL miles sanguinetti/VANGUARD STAFf

collaboration between Tobin Heath and Christine Sinclair.

“I asked [Sinclair] if she wanted to shoot it and she said no,” Heath explained after the game. “She said, ‘How about you put it over the wall?’ I said OK. She snuck behind, I put it over, and we scored.”

The Red Stars’ frustrations were audible all the way up in the press box as Portland tallied 11 crosses, six shots and two attempts on goal in the first half. Thorns midfielder Meleana Shim kept the team’s momentum going after halftime, finding the net in the 55th minute when Alex Morgan drove down the right side of the Chicago box and

sent a shot on goal that was deflected right into her path for an easy volley. It was the National Women’s Soccer League rookie’s third straight game with a goal. In the postgame press conference, Portland head coach Cindy Parlow Cone expressed her satisfaction with Shim’s progress.

“She’s been fantastic,” Cone said. “She is scoring goals for us but she is also defending well…I couldn’t be happier about her play in the midfield.”

Down but not out, the Red Stars were reinvigorated by Portland’s second goal. Alyssa Mautz finally got Chicago on the board in the 60th minute, losing several Thorns

defenders at the top of the box to blast a deep shot past Thorns goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc and cut the lead to one. Portland responded right away as Heath found Sinclair again in the 63rd minute on a cross into the box. Sinclair scooped the ball up, used her first touch to move around Red Stars keeper Erin McLeod and then booted a shot home to put the Thorns up 3-1.

The Chicago squad was deflated, but Mautz’s second goal of the game in the 75th minute was exactly the motivation they needed build some energy. The surging Red Stars then added another goal in the 86th minute as midfielder Julianne

Sitch volleyed a deflected ball into the net to even the score.

Portland launched an allout attack to try and tally the go-ahead goal, but their efforts were in vain as the final seconds ticked off the clock and the Red Stars left the field with a hard-fought draw. A win against Chicago would have propelled the Thorns into first place in the NWSL standings.

Instead, Portland finds themselves tied for second place with Sky Blue FC as their season moves into its final five games. The Thorns will get a chance to break that tie tonight when they take on Sky Blue FC in a 7:30 p.m. matchup at Jeld-Wen Field.

vs.

Thorns vs. FC Kansas City Jeld-Wen Field 5:30 p.m.

Forecast: High of 83 degrees, sunny

Tuesday, August 6

NWL Northwest League All-Star Game Everett Memorial Stadium 7:05 p.m.

Forecast: High of 75 degrees, sunny