PORTLAND STATE Vanguard
VOLUME 69 | ISSUE 28 | april 7, 2015
NEWS
OpINION
arTS & CULTUrE
SpOrTS
Harvestpg. officers. Share 6 provides free fresh fruits and vegetables in Park Blocks on April 13. pg. 5
Recent events campus. pg. 9 at Reed College spark debate about free speech and trigger warnings. pg. 8
Armenian pients. pg. genocide 16 focus of film series screening on and off campus. pg. 15
The Seattle pg. Marathon. Mariners 23 kick off the 2015 season. Read one Vanguard writer’s preview on pg. 21
CONTENT NEWS OPINION COVER ARTS & CULTURE CALENDAR SPORTS
4 8 12 14 18 20
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM Turner Lobey
JGEKELER@PDX.EDU Jordan Gekeler
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Tessa Millhollin
NEWS EDITOR
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OPINION EDITOR OPINION@PSUVANGUARD.COM Chelsea Lobey
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The Vanguard is published weekly as an independent student newspaper funded by the Student Fee Committee and governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent those of the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. One copy of the Vanguard is provided free of charge to all community members; additional copies or subscription issues may incur a 25 cent charge. The Vanguard is printed on 40 percent post-consumer recycled paper.
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NEWS
180 seconds to win Applications Open for Second Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition
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Portland State’s second annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT) registration closes April 10. The competition is an opportunity for graduate students to share their research with the public, win cash prizes and advance to state championships by putting together a three minute presentation. “It’s a fun, fast-paced event,” said Dean of Graduate Studies Margaret Everett. “There’s a real diversity in terms of the topics students are speaking on.” “[You] get a real sense of the range of topics, business and the sciences, humanities, social sciences; it’s all represented.” 3MT is open to masters or doctoral students conducting research for a culminating project, thesis or dissertation.
The competition follows the guidelines laid out by the University of Queensland in Australia, where 3MT originated. Students present their research in under three minutes without props except for a single PowerPoint slide. Chemistry student Adriana Bon Ramos won last year’s People’s Choice Award for her research on the behavior of proteins. She said that the experience was important for learning how to engage a general audience with her research. “As a graduate student, I spend most of my day focused on specific experiments, and it is sometimes difficult to explain to others what my research is all about and why it is important,” Ramos said. “The elevator pitch, as it is often called, is nowadays a funda-
mental part of interviews. This competition is the perfect opportunity to give this type of speech to a non-specialist audience and receive immediate feedback.” According to Everett, who also organized the event, judges for the upcoming competition will include former PSU president Judith Ramaley, Vice President of Research and Strategic Partnerships at PSU Jonathan Fink, and a variety of members of the community from government, communications, media and the private sector. The first-place winner will receive $500. The runner up and People’s Choice Award winners will each receive $250. The three PSU winners will advance to state championships and compete against other graduate students statewide.
BUSINESS STUDENT HOLLY KOONTZ presents her first-place thesis, “Treelectriq: The Intersection of Illumination and Imagination,” during the 2014 Three Minute Thesis competition. COURTESY OF CHAS GILLEY/PSU GRADUATE STUDIES
Students will vote for the winner of the People’s Choice Award by text message. Organizers hope that the competition will continue to be an annual event that showcases the diversity of research being done by students at PSU. One of last year’s judges of 3MT, Mark Sytsma, said at-
tending the event was a great way to find out about other students’ research. “It is a good thing for the grad student community as a whole to hear what is going on in departments and colleges across the university,” Sytsma said. “[T]his is one of the few opportunities to hear
about something novel and new that could stimulate some new thinking on the listener’s part.” The competition is free and open to the public and will take place May 8, 4–6:30 p.m. at the Loacker Studio in Lincoln Hall 355. More information can be found at pdx.edu/ogs/3mt.
aspsu hopefuls kIck off campaIgnIng WITh candIdaTe deBaTes CoLLeen LeARy
This week, student government hopefuls will participate in three candidate debates hosted by Associated Students of Portland State University. The April 7 Presidential and Vice Presidential debate is the first of the three, followed by the April 8 Student Fee Committee debate and the Senate debate on April 9. ASPSU candidates will respond to questions from a student media panel, a live audience, and questions submitted via a form on the ASPSU website. “The debates are a chance for the students to see how
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the candidates would address campus issues in their own ways, depending on their platform and their ideas for their candidacy,” said Coordinator of Student Government Relations Candace Avalos. Avalos said she anticipates questions regarding student engagement, campus safety, and tuition rates. “Other big topics ASPSU has focused on this year will be sexual assault prevention policies and cultural competency policy,” Avalos said. “So I imagine there might be questions from former ASPSU members in there to prompt those topics.”
This year, two presidential and vice presidential teams, or slates, are campaigning for election. Tony Funchess is running for President with Vice Presidential candidate Kaitlyn Verret under the Step Up, Speak Out, Stand Together slate. Running on the same slate are four SFC and eight Senate candidates. Also running for executive positions are Dr. Khalid Alballaa for President and Linda Hoppes for Vice President. Alballaa and Hoppes are running under the Students for Affordable Education slate, which does not include any Senate or SFC candidates.
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Also in the running for positions are two Senate candidates with no slate affiliation. Students will be able to vote for candidates not currently registered by ballot write-ins. “It’s important for people to go [to the debates] because the point is that these are your representatives, and we’re asking them good, probing questions to see that they are concerned about your issues,” Avalos said. Watch for next week’s Election Guide with a “Meet the Candidates” section and debate recaps.
SENaTE CaNDIDaTES paTrICK VrOMaN aND KaTHrYN VU participate in an activity during a recent Meet the Candidates function. COURTESY OF DEVIN COURTRIGHT
prESIDENTIaL aND VICE prESIDENTIaL DEBaTE: Tuesday, April 7 12–2 p.m., PW North
SFC DEBaTE: Wednesday, April 8 2–4 p.m., PW North
SENaTE DEBaTE: Thursday, April 9 1–3 p.m., PW North
Student debate question submissions: aspsu.pdx.edu or email election@pdx.edu
NEWS
neW parTnershIps gIve psu sTudenTs access To free, healThy food STUDENTS LIVINg ON CaMpUS can apply for a plot in the PSU Community Garden, located on SW 12th and Montgomery.
hAyLey boyd
The Committee for Improving Student Food Security (CISFS) has implemented two new programs that combat food insecurity at Portland State. CISFS has partnered with the Multnomah County Department of Human Services to connect students with county resources and with the Oregon Food Bank to bring Harvest Share—a free food program—to PSU, starting on April 13. A specialist from the Multnomah County DHS is now at the Center for Student Health and Counseling three days per week to answer questions about eligibility for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and help students apply. Students who qualify for SNAP receive benefits depending on factors such as household size and income. The benefits can be used to purchase non-restaurant food. The representative from DHS can also help students access other assistance that they might qualify for, such as help with utility expenses or childcare costs. “We just want to get a lot of students in the door,” said Jessica Cole, co-chair of CISFS and Associate Director for the Center for Student Health and Counseling. “Not only to benefit from SNAP but from the other amazing services that they can connect students with.” Often, student SNAP benefit recipients are required to work at least 20 hours per week to remain eligible. Cole hopes that in the future there will be more opportunities for students to work longer hours on campus.
“A lot of departments on campus can’t meet that 20 hour threshold. So it has been difficult,” Cole said. “So that’s one of the policy level initiatives that we’re working on at the committee level.”
Harvest Share The second initiative, Harvest Share, will bring fresh fruit and vegetables to students and the downtown community on a first-comefirst-served basis. Harvest Share begins April 13 at noon and will be held on the Park Blocks outside Shattuck Hall. Harvest Share will be the first of its kind downtown and give students access to healthy options. Availability of produce will be dependent on what the Oregon Food Bank is able to access from distributors. Students do not have to prove need, and Harvest Share is open to the public. Organizers hope to make Harvest Share a regular event on the second Monday of every month. Students can get involved by volunteering. “We have been soliciting volunteer help,” said Ann Mestrovich, chair of the committee and the Employer Relations Coordinator for Advising and Career Services. “So we are going to have faculty, staff, students, helping out with setup, food distribution, and cleanup too, so this is very much a campus initiative.” The necessity for the programs became apparent last summer when a campus-wide survey about food insecurity garnered nearly 5,000 responses. The results revealed
that food insecurity was an issue for many students. “Nearly 60 percent of students who responded experienced some sort of food insecurity at some point during the 2013–14 academic year,” Cole said. “Whether it was not having the type of food they wanted to eat, not being able to have their food supply last through the month, or not having sufficient access to food.” She continued, “When we did the 2014 campuswide assessment, one of the questions that was asked was, ‘What is your biggest concern when accessing emergency food services?’ And the top-most thing that students said was ‘access to fresh fruits and vegetables.’ So that was really important when our committee was focusing on something to give to the students.” The new programs are in addition to other programs on campus, such as the Associated Students of Portland State University student food pantry and the RHA community garden. In the future, organizers of CISFS hope to educate more students, involve members of the community, and annually assess food insecurity accurately in order to gauge the effectiveness of the new programs. “We will continue to cultivate that data…Anecdotally we know this [is a problem], but it’s good to get some numbers behind what people say they experience,” Mestrovich said. Office hours for the oncampus DHS specialist can be found at pdx.edu/studentaffairs/cisfs.
SELENY DIAZ/PSU VANGUARD
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NEWS
The rIghT To sleep URBAN HUMANITIES CLASS PAINTS DOOR FOR RIGHT 2 DREAM TOO PROJECT
THE rIgHT 2 DrEaM SITE located on W Burnside. Right 2 Dream offers 12 hours of sleep to Portland’s homeless. TONY YIM/VANGUARD STAFF
eLiZAbeTh hendRiCKson
Behind a row of unobtrusive, painted doors in downtown Portland is an organization dedicated to providing the homeless with one of the most elemental human rights: the right to sleep. Right 2 Dream Too, or R2DToo, is a nonprofit organization offering 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep off of the streets to those who need it. Perhaps the most distinct aspect of R2DToo’s location is its line of vividly painted doors bordering the site. When a donation of at least $100 is made to R2DToo, the donors are given a door to paint, lending to the artistic diversity. Aside from the practical benefits of a perimeter, the doors are symbolic as well. “[It’s] because of the sayings ‘When one door opens, another one closes,’ or ‘Doors are opportunity,’” explained
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Ibrahaim Mubarak, cofounder of R2DToo and Right 2 Survive, an organization that advocates for people affected by poverty. “And this is your opportunity to get rest, get fed, do some community building, and then decide how you’re going to be productive and get back into the mainstream of life.” R2DToo’s purpose has made an impact on several students in the Portland State community. Dr. Kaia Sand, a professor in the Honors College at PSU, has implemented awareness of R2DToo in her sophomore Urban Humanities lectures. Her class hosted two of the founders of R2DToo, Leo Rhodes and Mubarak, and visited the physical location. Moved by R2DToo’s purpose, several students organized a donation to purchase a
door. They painted it to represent PSU. “I’m really proud of this class,” Sand said. “On my end, what I can do in the classroom is bring in materials, open up a space for conversation, and then figure out when to get out of the way, and I didn’t expect all of this to happen.” “Visiting [R2DToo] was an incredible experience,” said PSU student Lauren Hurrie, who was directly involved with the donation and painting of the door. “We got to meet so many people, and they simply needed a peaceful, uninterrupted area to sleep,” “We heard about a few individuals who held jobs, which is a much more difficult experience when you don’t have a place to call home and get the sleep you need,” Hurne continued. “Homelessness is
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a growing problem in various communities, but I really admire how individuals are able to overcome such a huge obstacle. [R2DToo] is providing a vital human necessity, and I’m extremely glad that our class was able to come together and help them out.” Often, one of the challenges facing homeless individuals is finding a comfortable—and legal—place to sleep. Termed as a ‘rest area,’ R2DToo is a solution run entirely by the local homeless community. It consists of a men’s tent, a women’s tent and several couples tents. The site also offers restrooms, a kitchen and a computer lab. Guests are provided with a sleeping bag, a tent and basic toiletries. Mubarak said inspiration for the rest area stemmed from the unlikely source of the Portland Rose Festival.
“People are able to pitch a tent up on the sidewalk to watch the Rose Festival,” he said. “We noticed how they were taking the homeless people’s tents and makeshift shelters and criminalizing them by taking them to jail, taking all their belongings, making them do community service by cleaning up the sidewalks and stuff. And so we said, ‘Why is it legal for people to do it for pleasure, and not a way of survival or living?’” The following year, the future founders of R2DToo sectioned off several sidewalk blocks during the Rose Festival and invited the houseless people to sleep for the night. “The next day, the houseless people let us know that
that was a good night’s rest,” Mubarak said. They were not harassed or bothered; they slept good for a long time. So now with what we do, we continue to do that.” R2DToo continues to make an impact not only in this community, but also in multiple communities across the country including Eugene, Tucson, Denver and San Jose. “Our next step is to incorporate the model because now cities in different states are coming here to look at our model, wanting to know more about it,” Mubarak said. “We want to establish where the houseless community themselves can be able to establish a village or community where they can learn to take care of themselves.”
Watch the video story online at psuvanguard.com
NEWS
hIgh school meeTs college In ThIrd annual InnovaTIon challenge sAshA KRAMeR
STUDENTS aND MENTOrS FrOM JEFFErSON HIgH SCHOOL present to visitors during the 2014 High School Innovation Challenge. COURTESY OF JULIE RUTHERFORD/MASEEH COLLEGE
Portland State’s Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science is hosting its third annual High School Innovation Challenge on April 11 at University Pointe. The PSU Innovation Challenge Competition is a student-driven event that allows high school students to explore their potential in engineering and design and how they might use those skills to create a better world. This year’s competition theme is “Smart Cities: Making Our Urban Communities Safer, Healthier and Happier.” High school students teamed up with PSU student mentors in early January to create eight competing teams. Each team was tasked with developing a prototype of a solu-
tion that addresses this year’s competition theme. At the final event, the teams will present their ideas to a panel of judges. According to the PSU Innovation Challenge Competition 2015 Detail Sheet, they will be judged based on the criteria of Scope and Depth, Creativity, Presentation, Teamwork, Technology Focus, Human Impact and Audience Favorite. The winning teams will receive banners for their achievements. Brad Scardino, a PSU student mentor, said the event is important because it introduces high school students to college-level thinking. “They get to apply what they have learned…They have to use critical thinking more, and for many [this is] the first time— all the way from a problem
statement to a proposed solution,” he said. One goal of the event is to encourage the participation of women and students from backgrounds that are typically underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines [STEM]. Julie Rutherford, an organizer of the event and the Communications Director of Masseeh College, described her philosophy for recruitment. “The Innovation Challenge targets students who typically do not participate in STEM competitions,” she said. “It does this by demonstrating how the engineering design process and scientific method can be harnessed to better humanity. Studies indicate that this approach tends to encour-
age the participation of female students and students of color.” Rutherford said the teams and event organizers are excited for competition day. “You see this every year. Students start out nervous and shy about discussing their ideas,” Rutherford said. “By the end of the event they are actively engaging with the judge panel, audience members and one another. The energy is very exciting and seems to prove that the program is making an impact.” She continued, “Even in such a short time, we’ve welcomed a number of Innovation Challenge students into the engineering and computer science programs as incoming students.” Competition day is April 11 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at University Pointe.
graffITI cosTs add up JAiMe dunKLe
Graffiti cover-up and repairs costs Portland State thousands of dollars per year. Aside from painting over graffiti, maintenance staff also patch walls and repair damaged areas on campus. Labor adds even more money to the PSU graffiti bill. During the 2014 fiscal year from July 1, 2013, to June 30, 2014, facilities received 183 reports of graffiti and spent at least $10,282.42 responding to those reports, according to Sheryl Luppino, the AiM administrator and reporting analyst for Facilities and Property Management at PSU. “There are additional costs of the response [to graffiti] that I am unable to quantify, because some of our staff do not report time worked on calls, and some invoices may
have been paid against our custodial contract instead of against the individual work order,” Luppino stated in an email. Facilities have spent around $8,100 removing graffiti since July 1, 2014, according to Sarah Kenney, executive administrative coordinator for Planning, Construction and Real Estate at PSU. “This amount does not include the graffiti removal our custodial crews or property management company have done,” Kenney stated in an email. “So the actual number is probably quite a bit larger.” Last summer, the stairwell in the Art Building was repainted to cover graffiti and it cost $4,500, according to Kenney.
Costs need to be conserved, according to Mark Russell, operations manager of PSU’s Smith Memorial Student Union. “We have to paint—and patch, sometimes—walls where there’s damage,” Russell said. Supplies cost money, and so does labor. Russell said SMSU only has one general maintenance mechanic. “He has to take time out of his day to paint graffiti or to paint a wall,” Russell said. “You can’t just paint over the graffiti itself, you usually have to paint over a whole section of the wall or the wall itself so it doesn’t look garish.” The main agenda is to keep campus safe for students, according to Russell. “Basically, we have to maintain a safe and inviting place for all the students,
and that means no graffiti,” Russell said. Chris Fischer, PSU graffiti task force liaison and campus safety officer, said graffiti on campus usually comes from students. “Outside of that, there’s… what you could call street kids or taggers,” Fischer said. Vandalism at PSU comes in cycles, according to Phillip Zerzan, chief of campus safety. “There has not been a significant or noticeable increase,” Zerzan said. “You can have a very active graffiti artist that can cause a temporary spike, and we’ve certainly seen that.” Xavier Obelander, program assistant in the art department, also said he notices graffiti on campus in cycles. He said he has seen a lot of graffiti in the Art Building.
Graffiti recently defacing the Smith Memorial Student Union basement mens restroom. JEOFFRY RAY/PSU VANGUARD
“The building was degraded,” Obelander said. “It was repainted over the summer.” Obelander said there is a mural painted without permission in the Art Building. The art was not removed. Obelander said he thinks it’s
suitable for the space, unlike usual graffiti. “While I don’t appreciate [graffiti], it is an expression,” Obelander said. “I think people put things on walls to try to communicate.” Additional reporting by Tony Yim.
Watch the video story online at psuvanguard.com
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OpINION
avoIdIng TrIggers harmful for learnIng envIronmenT against the Current
by Sebastian Richardson Recently there was a lot of hullabaloo at Reed College over issues of free speech, classroom etiquette, trigger warnings and how colleges should handle classroom discussions. The controversy involved a young student who was asked to leave his intro-level humanities class after he voiced some ill-received opinions. These controversial opinions usually had to do with his views on rape, rape culture and men who were falsely accused of rape. According to his professor, he was dismissed because he was making students uncomfortable and was being disruptive, making it difficult for classroom discussions to take place. The student quickly claimed the college was infringing upon his first amendment rights and published a petition online for people to support him. He was told he could still obtain credit for the class but was simply asked to not attend the discussion portion of the conversation. Despite the fact that most media outlets have picked this up as an issue of free speech, I have no interest in seeing it this way. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the constitution knows that the first amendment does not allow citizens to voice opinions like a jackass and then not face any consequences. Clearly this student was being disruptive and a nuisance, regardless of his opinions. From what I’ve read, I feel the professor was justified in taking disciplinary action with this student. On the other hand, as someone who honestly feels that political correctness and safe zones often go too far, it saddens me that the only martyr which people like myself have to look to is an obnoxious student such as this fellow from Reed. Despite the fact that this student was in the wrong, I can’t help but agree with his sentiment that establishing safe zones in classrooms, which would force everyone to be conscious of potential triggers, could hurt the mission of higher education. In my opinion, college campuses should be a place where any idea, belief, opinion, philosophy or theory can be called into question, attacked, supported or discussed, regardless of whether or not you agree with it and especially if you do not agree with it. On our campus there should always be room for the neo-conservative Baptist to express nationalistic feelings and for the Marxist, free-love vegan to express why farming is a form of modern-day slavery. With this in mind, a university should never be a place where only safe topics are discussed. It should be a place where issues of war, violence, illness and sexual abuse are hashed out and discussed in respectful ways. If a university can be bullied to limit certain forms of expression and opinions for the sake of other students, it begins to lose its credibility as an institution of higher learning. This is why I feel that actively trying to avoid triggers in the classroom is a silly notion. This whole rhetoric of establish-
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ing safe zones operates on the idea that there are places which aren’t safe which would demand that every other place should conform and become safe. While I agree that people should be polite and courteous, I would argue that if you have a trigger then that is a personal problem and not one that the rest of the world needs to tip-toe around. Obviously, in personal circles, making your trigger known is a perfectly valid thing to do, but in the public sphere, in a coffee shop, on public transit, on the streets and even on campus you shouldn’t expect the world to conform in such a way that would suit you. I have no interest in going through my day constantly doing my best not to offend someone or trigger someone. That is not my responsibility. If you politely tell me during a one-on-one conversation that you don’t want to talk about something for personal reasons, I will smile, agree and then change the subject. However, demanding that a class can’t touch on a certain subject defeats the whole purpose of the university. It shouldn’t be the university’s job to protect you from potential discomfort or distress. In fact, it should do the opposite. If you don’t squirm in your seat during a lecture at least once during your time in college, then the university is not doing you a favor. While most of the time rhetoric, which seeks to establish safe zones, is done from a compassionate point of view, recent
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scholarship has found that certain aspects of the trigger rhetoric is doing little in the way of helping people cope with trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder. Evidence compiled by the Committee on Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from the Institute of Medicine found that avoiding potential triggers can actually prolong PTSD. They found that frequent exposure to traumatic memories reduced PTSD symptoms. The medical researchers found that by confronting triggers, victims were able to better overcome traumatic memories and PTSD. An article published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress by two medical researchers from Harvard University found evidence that when people make their triggers and abuse an important part of their personal identity it actually prolongs PTSD and recovery. So, in the end, creating safe zones and avoiding triggers would not only be harmful for a learning environment, but it also carries potential harm for those trying to overcome PTSD. Places where victims can feel safe from bad memories and distressing conversations should always exist. However, the campus should not be one of them. I think this guy from Reed was clearly being disruptive and disrespectful. Nevertheless, if there ever comes a day when a student is thrown out of class for expressing controversial opinions that might contain triggers, that would be a sad day for higher education.
CHRISTIAN PROFETA/PSU VANGUARD
OpINION
The TruTh aBouT True's acTIons Cherry Bomb by Anna Suarez
Allow me to preface with the fact that I am a firm believer in free speech. I am a firm believer in speaking my mind. However, as much as I believe in the power of free speech, I firmly believe in respecting my peers. Sitting in a classroom is not necessarily a comfortable experience; the lights are oppressive and the chairs are uncomfortable. Despite all of the discomfort and the desire to be anywhere but in class, Reed College students recently had to deal with someone who was trolling everybody in class. Suddenly, their class felt like an unsafe environment. For a survivor of sexual assault, this scenario is a nightmare. Jeremiah True, a 19-year-old Reed College freshman, was recently removed from the discussion portion of his mandatory humanities class for making offensive comments about
rape culture and rape statistics. His professor decided to ban True from discussion after listening to several students confide in him that True’s comments were upsetting. Though True has been banned from the discussion portion of his class, he is still receiving credit for the course, completing assignments, and regularly meeting with his professor. True is not having his education revoked; he is instead facing consequences due to his blatant disrespect for others. True identifies himself as a free speech activist and claims he is entitled to freely discuss his opinions in class, but he is failing to acknowledge his classmates’ feelings of safety. True’s professor delivered a practical and fair solution with regard to his students’ struggles inside the classroom. True is not banned from the course, and he is not having his education taken from him. He is simply facing consequences for his disrespectful actions. True’s comments are direct triggers for survivors. In a culture that often causes survivors to question what constitutes rape, and that encourages feelings of shame while often not receiving justice for their aggressor’s actions, True’s comments are heartbreaking. Rape culture is everywhere around us: in the music on the radio, on the streets where people often feel fear when they walk home, at parties when asking a friend to hold their drink while they pee, and especially all over college campuses. Rape on college campuses is an epidemic, and the worst part is that not much is being done to stop it. By disciplining True in this way, Reed is acknowledging the sexual assault problem and is taking proper action.
True’s professor is pushing boundaries in order to protect survivors from shame and fear, but he is also making a point that rape culture will not be tolerated in an academic environment. However, with the professor’s actions to ensure a safe campus, he is still acknowledging the importance of True’s education, therefore still allowing him to participate in the course. True’s exemption from discussion is a powerful and effective method to secure every student’s academic success. In addition to students feeling unsafe due to True’s comments, he now threatens that he will “rain hell” by bringing a media storm down upon the Reed campus. I am scared for the students of Reed because not only must they recover from the damage of True’s words, but also his threat. He is demonstrating an aggressive attitude by once again disregarding and disrespecting his classmates through a battle with a campus that is just trying to protect its students. I beg True to step back, to not “rain hell” on the campus, and to let his classmates find peace. His free speech battle expresses a lack of concern for anyone other than himself. He needs to face the consequences of his actions, which include him receiving credit for the course he was kicked out of, and regularly meeting with his professor in order to obtain the academic tools he needs. The situation represents a campus taking a stand against sexual assault while still considering True’s academic success. Please, True, step down.
don’T underesTImaTe The WorkIng class That's What's the Matter by Kevin Rackham In one of my last articles I quoted a statistic that said the working class gives more. As long as I’ve worked on nonprofit fundraising, I’ve had to remind myself of that because asking people for money sucks. But for the last couple of years, that statistic has grown to mean a lot to me. The working class as a base of activism is just as important. The Republican victories in Congress during elections last year showed that the Democratic Party has had a really difficult time connecting to its roots: working-class people. While the Tea Party received millions of dollars in funding from groups like the Koch brothers, it hasn’t made headlines or threatened Congress the way it had for years. Money can never fully replace the value of a real movement. While the Tea Party was successful in pulling Republicans further to the right and blocking or repealing certain bills, the Occupy Wall Street movement was responsible for something that will ultimately affect the trajectory of American history longer. The narrative of the 1 percent vs. the 99 percent has stuck around in pop culture as well as current political rhetoric, and that awareness of inequality has helped fuel recent progress like Seattle’s minimum wage increase or Portland’s Earned Sick Days
ordinance (which were only possible because of the sustained efforts of working-class people). Massive donors like the Gates Foundation can accomplish some great things, but one of the downsides of getting all your money from grants is all the strings that are attached. Without small-dollar donors and traditional fundraising, a lot of nonprofits wouldn’t even exist. If your mission is even slightly political, say goodbye to the majority of big donors. There are certainly grants that go to political organizations, but the competition for them is even fiercer than it is for other grants. This is why so many grassroots causes rely on money from small-dollar donors; a smattering of wealthier progressives; and unions, who are really just a big group of working-class, small-dollar donors. If you need money for anything that’s time-sensitive, going directly to supporters is going to be faster than trying to find funding elsewhere. While people like Sean Penn and government relief programs have done a lot for Haiti since 2010, the Red Cross and other relief organizations raised $43 million just through those text message donation ads that were so ubiquitous in January 2010. The majority of those donations were $5 or $10, and they happened two weeks after the earthquake. When it comes to charitable giving, especially, you can count on the working class to give generously and quickly. The age of crowdfunding is based on an idea that nonprofits have survived on for years: In the absence of big money from businesses or angel investors, you can still thrive by asking more people for less money. Lower- and middle-class donors can be convinced to get on board with your dream more easily because they aren’t treating their donation as an investment. The successes people find on sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo or GoFundMe attest to this. One dollar from a supporter who believes in your cause and wants to help or tell their friends about it will always be worth more than $5 from a corporate sponsorship or a grant, and, despite their lack of individual wealth, workingclass people will always be able to make the biggest impact. Ultimately, numbers mean more than money does.
NIMI EINSTEIN/PSU VANGUARD
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OPINION
I’m a gamer, hear me roar Page by Page by Brie Barbee
The video game industry (and its surrounding culture) has been predominately male for a very long time. In 1988, Playthings, an American trade magazine, reported that females only made up about 21 percent of all the people who played video games, but these statistics are rapidly changing. In 2014, the Entertainment Software Association estimated that 48 percent of gamers were women. Today, female gamers make up twice as large of a player base as boys (ages 18 and younger) who play video games. The seemingly quintessential groups of gamers, boys and young men, are dramatically outnumbered by the people who, until recently, no one thought actually played video games. Why, then, are the many women and girls who consider themselves gamers not thought of as such? And why are women often held to higher standards than men in order to prove their passion for video games? I can’t speak with any authority about the potential answers to these questions or what most men think about women in the gaming industry because I’m not a male gamer. Fortunately, I can speak to what it means to be a female gamer because for as long as I can remember I have loved to play video games. I grew up playing the Sega Genesis and the original Playstation with my cousins until the Christmas when I got my first video game console, the Nintendo 64. Throughout the years, I’ve continued to play video games. Today, my consoles of choice are the Playstation 3, Playstation 4 and Nintendo 3DS. The games and the consoles that I’ve played on may have changed, but I’m a still a gamer. I’m sure many other female gamers will agree, but it’s not always easy to admit you like to play video games. If you aren’t having your hobby or passion completely dismissed for not being “serious” enough, then you’re getting hit on by guys who suddenly worship the ground you walk on because you like to play video games. As a girl, it can be both tiring and embarrassing to admit to new people that you play video games. I don’t get the same reactions when I tell people that I like to read or crochet, but video games are a completely different story. I recall a time when the shirt that I was wearing ended up being something that suggested to other people that I wasn’t a “real gamer.” I was wearing a grey shirt with an abstract version of the owl from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask on it. For those of you who have played either of these games, you probably know who I am talking about even if you didn’t know his name. The character is well known for being rather annoying, and the long bouts of dialogue he spews at you are often repeated accidentally if you try to push buttons too quickly. The owl is a very memorable character, even if you are not the biggest fan of the game. I liked my shirt and I bought it because I like the video game that it’s from, but it caused me to briefly question my own passion for video games. One of my friends, who was also attending the convention, recognized the reference. He asked me if I knew the owl’s name; I didn’t. But I can bet most people don’t know it, because the references for it are rather obscure. (For those of you who are curious, it’s Kaepora Gaebora). His response was something along the lines of: “Oh, I thought you said you liked The Legend of Zelda?” While I don’t honestly
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believe that his response was meant to be hurtful, at the time it made me feel really bad. It made me second guess my purchase and the fact that I said I liked the game it was from. Maybe I wasn’t a real fan, because a real fan would have known to look something like that up. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought a shirt that referenced something I didn’t completely understand. But why should that have made me feel bad? I have every right to own and wear a T-shirt I like even if I don’t know the complete history of the character’s origin. Looking back at it, it feels dumb to have let something like that bother me. I wasn’t mad about what he said, and I didn’t say anything about it. (In fact, I hope he never reads this article or realizes that it was him that I was talking about.) But it did hurt, because a small part of his response seemed to be attacking the fact that I played video games. I am a girl who plays video games, but somehow that doesn’t make as much sense to other people as it would if I were a guy. So why is it that there is still a stereotype that exists that says girls don’t know how to play video games? Or that they can’t play as well as guys? I’ve played video games for most of my life, but I am still faced with moments that make me think I haven’t been playing them correctly. Is there even a right way to play video games? I don’t think so.
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No game developer expects each player who picks up their game to play it the exact same way. And even if they did, each player would notice and recall certain things differently than the next person. I am a girl, and I play video games. There are thousands of other women out there who are just like me—women who have played video games all their lives or who are just now picking up their very first title. We are all gamers. We make up a huge portion of the industry, but for some reason there are still girls (myself included) who feel like they don’t belong. Video games are often considered a boy’s or man’s hobby, and while women can play them, we can’t fully appreciate them. This needs to change. It shouldn’t matter what your gender, age, social standing or anything is, if you play video games and enjoy them, you are a gamer. No one should tell you that you don’t like something enough or make you feel bad for liking the things you do. I feel a lot more confident in my ability to identity as a female gamer now than I ever have, but there are many women out there who might not feel the same way. The video game industry should encourage everyone to follow their passions. It should be a place where phrases like “I am a girl, and I am a gamer” are an everyday occurrence.
Silvia Cardullo/PSU Vanguard
OpINION leTTers To The edITor
To: psu-AAup In 2014, your organization [the Portland State chapter of the America Association of University Professors] fought hard for a package of job improvements for faculty that included nice salary increases and other things that cost money. You went so far as to take the faculty to the verge of striking. You got almost everything you wanted. In the process, you petitioned the student population for their buy-in for the professors’ demands, and even asked them to participate in rallies and not to cooperate with the administration’s plan for bringing in replacement instructors. I remember well the signs everywhere on campus.
Now, those pay increases and perks for faculty, among other costs, are coming home to roost for students, who are (very predictably) being asked to pay for them in the big balance sheet of the university. As your organization well knows, students are a largely impoverished population, with an average of something like 25 or 30 grand in student loan debt and often working jobs or other learning-harmful activities at the same time as being a student, just to get by. So my question is: why aren’t the professors, individually and under the banner of your organization, now fighting on behalf of the students?
Why are the professors not threatening to strike now, in solidarity with the students? Is it because it is accepted wisdom in the university community that the students wield very little power and are thus the reliable ATM every year to offset the funding increases that go to other, more powerful interests? Sincerely, JiM MiLLeR
PSU grad student with a PSU Bachelor of Science and $80,000 in undischargeable student loan debt, and rising.
MEMBErS OF THE aMErICaN aSSOCIaTION OF UNIVErSITY prOFESSOrS demonstrate with students against a tuition raise during a recent Board of Trustee vote.
To: Jim Miller On the exact same day (February 12) and at the exact same time that the PSU Board of Trustees’ Finance and Administration Committee decided to bring a tuition raise to the full Board, PSU students and PSU-AAUP were at the Capitol for Lobby Day. We all had one month to prepare for the Board meeting. In solidarity with students, PSU-AAUP members attended the rally on March 12 to bring all voices to the Board that a rise in tuition would harm our current and future students. They were not listening. Our numbers were not large enough to move the Board. In order to push back on rising tuition, students and faculty must work together on many fronts. Over the last several weeks, PSU-AAUP has been in Salem testifying for legislation to offset tuition costs and to address the indefensible costs of administrative bloat. Our statewide faculty association, AAUP-Oregon, will bring faculty from across the state to Eugene on April 25 to join forces on student-centered, educator led and debtfree higher education in our state.
SILVIA CARDULLO/PSU VANGUARD
We must build our movement of students, community, faculty and staff to help our policy makers and Boards to understand and to act on our collective message. The saying, “United we stand, divided we all,” rings true for us. President [Wim] Wiewel was quoted on March 12 in University Communications’ weekly faculty and staff newsletter, Currently, “If funding comes in more than the co-chairs’ (of the Joint Ways and Means Committee) budget, then we will lower the tuition increase.” We will watch this together and expect his promise to be kept. PSU-AAUP shares Mr. Miller’s anger, we respect the questions he raises, and it is imperative that we stand together in this battle. It is not going to be won quickly or easily. Thank you, pAM MiLLeR
Send us your letters! got something to say? Disagree with something you read in this week's issue? The Vanguard welcomes all letters to the editor from students, faculty, staff and community members. Send all letters to opinion@psuvanguard.com
President, PSU-AAUP, Professor of Social Work
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COVEr
poRTLAnd sTATe speAKs ouT AbouT seXuAL AssAuLT on CAMpus RICO MACIAS ZEPEDA/PSU VANGUARD
MoRiAh neWMAn
Associate Professor Ernesto Martinez of the University of Oregon lectures about race and gender issues during the 9th annual Student Research Colloquium on Friday, April 3.
SELENY DIAZ/PSU VANGUARD
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Sexual assault on college campuses is never an easy topic to talk about. Every year it is estimated that 25 percent of women are sexually assaulted on college campuses. “College-age women are at higher risk of assault than women their age who are not on campus,” said Jessica Amo, director of the Women’s Resource Center at Portland State. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and PSU will be hosting workshops, panel discussions, film screenings and collaborative conversations throughout the month to raise awareness and provide support for victims of sexual assault. These events are intended to facilitate a healthy and informed discussion around the topic of sexual assault, as well as offer tools and resources for students who have been assaulted. SAAM kicked off on April 1 with a bake sale between Neuberger Hall and Smith Memorial Student Union and culminates on April 24 with the Take Back the Night rally. Events will range in subject matter, such as street harassment, queer consent, men as feminist allies and victims’ rights on campus, among others. “How to Have Sex…and
Pizza” on April 6 was hosted by the Office of Dean of Student Life and sought to define consent with the addition of a free pizza lunch. “The event is intended to promote awareness of law and policy around consentbased sexual activities,” said Domanic Thomas, assistant dean of student life and director of conduct and community standards. “Our hope is to define consent in a way that is positive and educational for all students, in addition to developing strategies in recognizing and interrupting behaviors that may violate our community standards.” This year, award-winning slam poetry artists Sister Outsider will perform and speak at Take Back the Night. The powerful duo uses their words and art to communicate what some victims often remain silent about. “Art is redemptive, period. Particularly for marginalized people; especially for women…especially for survivors who have had to move so much bramble out of the way just to say anything at all,” said Dominique Christina of Sister Outsider in an email. “I think we ‘empower’ women and victims to find their voice by using our own. In doing so, we permission others.”
COVEr feaTured saam ’15 evenTs
STUDENTS aTTEND a TaLK about the prevention of sexual assault scenarios by Assistant Dean of Student Life & Director of Conduct & Community Standards, Domanic Thomas.
International Anti-Street Harassment Week April 12–18
Students will rally together the week of April 12 to bring awareness to how street harassments affect us all and how teaming up with our local community to bring harassment to an end is an effective tool.
Trauma-Informed Self Care
Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave. April 14, 2–3:30 p.m.
The WRC will be offering a lecture on how trauma affects the body, particularly the nervous system. They will provide tools on how to control responses, as well as creating ways to cope on a daily basis.
Get Your Queer Consent On Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave. April 15, 2–3:30 p.m.
The Queer Resource Center will team up with the Women’s Resource Center to engage in an informative yet fun workshop focusing on what sex, dating and consent look like. Students of all sexualities are welcome and invited to attend. SELENY DIAZ/PSU VANGUARD
According to a study by New York State Coalition against Sexual Assault, statistics show that one in four women will be or have been a victim of sexual assault during a traditional four-year-college academic career. Of those attacks, 80 percent of assaults are committed by someone the victim knows, usually when alcohol is involved, and typically do not get reported. There is often a misunderstanding that speaking up about the assault causes the victim more shame, embarrassment and humiliation. Because sexual violence on college campuses is often committed by someone the victim knows, there can be an even deeper level of shame or embarrassment in reporting the attack. Victims may often think no one will believe it was rape if the assault was caused by a friend or classmate. “I’ve had a student say that not having her friends believe her was worse than the assault,” Amo said. “Especially when [our culture] gives so many messages that they are responsible for being assaulted. I see a lot of self-blame and a lot of minimization. People get a lot of messages that they should just move on.” The large misconception is that rape can only be defined as such if physical violence is
used. According to Amo, rape can be defined as violations of consent or any time there is physical or sexual contact without effective consent. So how does someone know if they have consent? “Consent needs to be mutually understood,” Amo said. “Silence is not consent. If somebody is feeling afraid or nervous or unable to identify a boundary, then it’s the responsibility of the person that they’re with, or the person who’s initiating contact, to stop and ask some explicit questions until they can get really clear on whether or not consent is in place.” No should always mean no, regardless of alcohol consumption or fear of hurting someone’s feelings. Feeling threatened or unsafe in any situation is an immediate sign to remove oneself from the situation. It is always OK to care more about your own safety and well-being than being worried you might offend or upset someone. “I’ve heard so many stories of young women waking up and not knowing what happened, knowing they’re naked, there’s someone beside them, or blacking out and coming to while someone is assaulting them but not naming it as assault,” said Virginia Martin, assistant director at the WRC. “I think a lot of
folks don’t name it, and that’s why it continues.” Reporting and naming what happened as assault is an incredibly scary and vulnerable thing to do, but survivors of sexual assault need to know they are not alone in the process. “Often the first responses people get [after a sexual assault] define whether or not people will seek help,” Amo said. “We also know statistically that students are much more likely to tell their friends than they are to tell any professional staff.” SAAM will culminate in an event called Take Back the Night, a national organization committed to empowering victims of sexual assault to speak out against violence and empower them to no longer fear the night. Marches are held across college campuses and neighborhoods to bring back a feeling of safety and community support. Amanda Blaugher, program director for Take Back the Night, said that for some, simply showing up to the event is the first step toward healing. “At Take Back the Night we promote healing by tak-
ing control of the one aspect that is holding you back and releasing that hurt from you,” Blaugher said. “At many Take Back the Night events, part of the event includes a hurt-to-healing component, where survivors write down the thing that is holding them back and releasing it by lighting a small piece of paper on fire.” Assault or abuse of any kind, be it physical, sexual or emotional, is never okay. Supporting a friend or loved one through the aftermath of sexual assault is the most loving thing you can do for them. Sit with them. Grieve with them. Listen to them. “The people who have gotten that response from their friends are the people who have felt most supported,” Amo said, “and are actually more likely to make a report when the time is right for them.” Students should know about all resources available, both on campus and off. All resources can be found at pdx.edu/sexual-assault. Additional SAAM event listings can be found at bit.ly/ psusaam15.
Watch the video story online at psuvanguard.com
Sexual Assault Victims’ Rights Across Campus, Civil, and Criminal Justice Systems Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St. April 21, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
A panel discussion on victims’ rights after sexual assault. The panel will be opened by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and will feature speakers such as district attorneys, the executive director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute and the chief of Campus Public Safety at PSU, among others.
Grounding through Zines—You Don’t Have to Do it All Yourself Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave. April 21, 4:15–6 p.m.
This workshop will be a great tool in offering ways to help survivors of sexual assault better manage times of anxiety, stress and lack of stability. Zine templates will be available to create a personal guide on how to manage the aftereffects of assault.
Sex work: the Intersections of Safety and Stigma Academic and Student Recreation Center 1800 SW 6th Ave. April 22, 4–5:30 p.m.
The Women’s Resource Center will be teaming up with the graduate School of Social Work to create a space to explore how the current sex trade industry is affecting the social service environment. This community panel will feature members of current and past fields of the sex trade industry.
Take Back the Night
Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St. April 23, 5:30–8 p.m. Students and members of the community are encouraged to come together to encourage and support survivors of sexual assault as they tell their stories. Slam poetry duo Sister Outsider will perform.
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ARTS & CULTURE
‘Through the Woods’ will hunt you in your dreams And you'll like it Andy Anady
The best thing to pair with spring—when the sun actually swings up into the sky and bakes the dirt and scorches the asphalt, and sundresses are pulled out of the back of closets and dusted off—is horror stories. The best kind of horror stories make you suspicious of your neighbor, of your sister and strangers. The best kind of horror stories assure you with quiet confidence that there is a monster in the woods, and it will find you, and it will hollow you out from the inside to make space for its young while it whispers promises of strength and healing if you submit.
The best kind of horror stories make you wonder if perhaps the monster doesn’t live in the woods, but if it’s moved into the house beside the woods. The best kind of horror stories make you wonder how many times you can be lucky before your luck runs out and the wolf catches you. Emily Carroll, who has been published in numerous anthologies including Dark Horse’s Creepy #9, has come out with her own anthology, Through the Woods. In Through the Woods are five of her beautifully crafted stories sandwiched between “An Introduction” and an “In
Conclusion,” which are short stories in their own right and a comment on the five stories between them, one of which is the infamous “His Face All Red.” “His Face All Red” is something I could read a hundred times—I’m sure I have by now—and still not be able to confidently declare the true events of the story. Through the Woods is very congruous with Carroll’s other work in writing and art. These stories will leave you unsure of yourself. And trees. And your surroundings. And of all the silly and paranoid feelings that something is watching you. Especially if you’re near the woods.
Margaret K McElderry Books/2014
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“His Face All Red” is also on her website, Emily Carroll Art & Comics, but the other four stories are not. Some of my favorite stories of hers are only online, like “Out of Skin,” while others are only in Through the Woods, like “The Nesting Place.” One of the truly brilliant things about Emily Carroll is that many of the stories on her website can only be online, and if they were put to print they’d really lose something. Her stories “Margot’s Room” and “The Three Snake Leaves,” even “Graveyard of the Lizard Queen,” have got to be on a screen or else they
would turn into different stories, which shows just how well she understands how the medium affects storytelling. Through the Woods is a beautiful book to have, with so much art on every single page that depicts trees with leaves that look like a lady’s hands; bright colors; dark woods; loose teeth; and dark, straining eyes. There’s definitely a blanket trigger warning for body horror for all of her work, though, personally, that is something that makes her work so dangerously intriguing and nightmarish. Her artistic style is so distinct that I hardly need to know her name to identify her
work. When I saw Through the Woods on the shelf, I immediately knew it was her. The cover is a tiny blue figure fleeing in the snow from a cottage whose chimney smoke forms a wolf’s head in the sky, and trees frame the entire thing with hand-like branches reaching threateningly for her name. And in Through the Woods I found fuel for nightmares, an old favorite and new ones, like “The Nesting Place” and “My Friend Janna.” It’s an anthology of murder, horror and magic, of stealing bodies and finding bodies. Perhaps most spectacularly, Carroll dedicated such a book to her parents.
ARTS & CULTURE
Film series explores the
Jon Raby
legacy of genocide
Eric Friedler/2010
Three films will be showing throughout the month of April, looking at past recognized and unrecognized genocides in the world. The films will screen at Portland State and in the surrounding area. The films’ focus will be on mass atrocities committed against Armenians 100 years ago, which are not legally recognized by the current Turkish government as genocide. “These movies bring up really important questions that we want to ask the PSU community,” said Tavi Gupta, director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project at PSU. “The Armenian Genocide is a hinge-point for all three movies we are playing this year.” After each film there will be a discussion with the audience about the issues brought up. The first movie, Screamers, will play on April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Smith Memorial Student Union room 236. Screamers is a 2007 documentary that follows the band System of a Down while they spread information about modern genocides and how the Armenian genocide, begun in 1915, has influenced the way current genocide can be defined or ignored. The second movie, and most acclaimed of the three, Watchers of the Sky, won two 2014 Sundance Film Festival awards, a Monadnock International Film Festival award and Best Documentary at the Jerusalem Film Festival. It will show April 14 at the NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave, at 7:30 p.m. Watchers of the Sky follows the life of Raphael Lemkin— a Polish Jew who lost many friends and family in the Holocaust—on his journey to find legal recognition of those crimes and others like them. Lemkin eventually coined the word genocide. “Raphael Lemkin created the word genocide in part because of the Armenian genocide, which of course wasn’t called that then,” said Amelia Green-Dove, producer of Watchers of the Sky. By giving these mass atrocities a name, Lemkin, in effect, gave a way to recognize them. “How does the word genocide impact the way we look at mass atrocity?” Gupta said. “And how has language shifted the way we legally and socially address these events?”
These are issues the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project would like to address with these screenings. The third film, AGHET: Ein Völkermord, will be showing on April 23 in SMSU 236 at 7:30 p.m. AGHET: Ein Völkermord is a 2010 documentary specifically about the Armenian genocide with never-before-seen footage and documents on the historic telling of the mass atrocity, and of the current Turkish government’s refusal, since World War I to classify the events as genocide. “Currently, 22 countries and 43 states within the USA recognize the Armenian genocide,” Gupta said. In 1915 Turkey did not exist; instead, the Ottoman Empire occupied the area until 1923 when Turkey was formed. During those years and after, many cultural Armenians faced persecution, forced labor, homelessness, displacement and death in the area. The country of Armenia was formed 1918. Many Armenians within the Ottoman Empire fled to this new country and to surrounding countries, especially Syria. Many Armenians annually commemorate the genocide on April 24. This year will be the 100th anniversary of the genocide. The Holocaust and Genocide Studies Project is a PSU program started in 2012 and is funded through private donations to the Portland Center for Public Humanities. The program seeks to engage students, faculty and the Portland community members in the study of the Holocaust and other genocides. It works with survivors, local organizations and the community to educate about both the local and global effects of genocide, according to the group’s MYPSU profile. “Students and community members are welcome to email and connect with ideas and thoughts at our email, Facebook page…or Twitter,” Gupta said. “We welcome anyone who wants to be involved.” Years ago Raphael Lemkin asked: “Why is the killing of a million people a lesser crime than the killing of a single individual?” “Lemkin would spend his entire life trying to address this,” Green-Dove said. All three movies will be free and open to the public.
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ARTS & CULTURE
The Italian opulence of ‘The Leopard’
5th Avenue cinema to screen Visconti classic Ruby King
During the weekend of April 10, 5th Avenue Cinema will feature Visconti’s 1963 epic, Il Gattopardo, or The Leopard. The fi l m i s b a se d o n Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel of the same name that chronicles the crumbling of the Italian upper class in 19th century Sicily and is considered one of the most important novels in Italian literature. The cast includes the American Burt Lancaster, the French (and impossibly handsome) Alain Delon and
the Italian Claudia Cardinale at the height of her cinematic beauty. The film was given a 100 percent rating by the infamous Rotten Tomatoes and the late Roger Ebert commented that it “was written by the only man who could have written it, directed by the only man who could have directed it and stars the only man who could have played its title character.” Prince Don Fabrizio (Lancaster) of Salina learns that Giuseppe Garibaldi, an important figure in the
Italian unification, and his troops have hit Sicily. An obvious threat to the position of the Sicilian upper class, Fabrizio sees this as a precursor for his social demise. Yet when his promising nephew Tancredi (Delon) joins Garibaldi’s army and becomes engaged to Angelica (Cardinale), the daughter of the newly appointed mayor, Fabrizio cannot deny what the social connections could do for his nephew. If anything, the film is a visual stunner. Visconti pays great attention to detail, and
the beauty and pride of the Italian backdrop is just as great a force as any of the cast members. It is rumored that the team needed to cast a Hollywood star like Lancaster, despite the fact that he was not Italian, to gain more attention and justification for the large budget. While Lancaster was not the first popular choice for the role of Don Fabrizio, some regard it as one of the best performances in Lancaster’s career. Lancaster said of the role, “It was my best work…I
bought 11 copies of The Leopard because I thought it was a great novel. I gave it to everyone. But when I was asked to play in it, I said, no, that part’s for a real Italian. But, lo, the wheels of fortune turned.” While Lancaster is dubbedover in Italian, it is not in his speech but in the silence of his actions that he conveys his masterful talent. Fabrizio quietly struggles to accept the loss of power his people will come to know, sacrificing his family’s prominence in society to uphold the tradition and
continuance he grew up knowing and respecting. The final sequence is a 45 minute ball, a celebration of the dying age. It ties together all of the themes of the movie seamlessly without even directly mentioning them in conversation. The viewer sympathizes with Fabrizio, a man who truly loves the way he lives his life, knowing that it must soon come to an end. The Leopard is a film of both beauty and silent, accepting pain, of which Visconti conveys effortlessly.
PDXCC revives the art of snail mail Local co-op celebrates all forms of physical mail Lauren Moore
It’s been a long time since physical mail like handwritten letters and postcards have reigned supreme, but luckily there’s one group in town willing to give the post office their stamp of approval. The Portland Correspondence Co-op is a group that embraces correspondence art in the tradition of pioneers like Ray Johnson and Anna Banana. Their do-ityourself snail mail includes writing, drawing, collage, rubber stamps, faux postage, typography and anything else you can think of. “Mail art is a uniquely democratic art form,” said Niko Courtelis the founder of PDXCC. “There are no rules, and anything goes as long as it goes through the mail,” The Portland chapter of the Correspondence Co-op was recently established by Courtelis, with the help of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. The PDXCC establishes a network between Portland and San Francisco, where the founding branch of the co-op is located.
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Pollyanne Birge, executive director of the IPRC, said that the IPRC supplies writers and artists a dynamic workspace complete with silk screens, letterpresses and five computers loaded with Adobe Suite 6. These tools give creators the bookends of publishing technology. When Courtelis first approached the IPRC, the organization was excited. “One thing I do is send a lot of real snail mail to real people,” Birge said. “We are utilizing a form that is outdated. Exactly the kind of communication that we need.” Personalization is one of the key goals in correspondence art. No two letters look the same. Each letter has a personality. “I have always enjoyed snail mail and was delighted to find this way to meld so many of my interests—drawing, painting, paper craft, correspondence and design,” said Marion Kessler, co-founder of the PDXCC.
Kessler said that she felt strongly about the value of collaborative creativity, that she wanted to start a group for creative work which would reach outside the group itself and spread joy and energy into the world. The PDXCC fits her vision perfectly. Kessler’s passion for the power of written correspondence was recently renewed upon discovering a collection of postcards and letters that her mother had sent when she was living in England in the late 1980s. Her mother included small drawings and purchased specific stamps, bringing her memories of England to life. PDXCC meets every third Tuesday at the IPRC. Basic materials are on hand, such as scissors, glue sticks and envelopes. A-Z Engravings, a local rubber stamp company, gives PDXCC members a discount. Fort George Brewery has supplied beer in the past. “Our mantra is: Meet. Make. Mail,” Courtelis said.
Vanguard | APRIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
PDXCC Where: Independent Publishing Resource Center 1001 SE Division St. When: Thursday, April 21 Cost: Free
Public Domain
ARTS & CULTURE
Make like a scone and get with these hot jams Jordan Rasmussen
2015 has been jam-packed with stellar records from Title Fight, Viet Cong, Kendrick Lamar, Panda Bear and even the return of Sleater-Kinney. There are even more albums that have yet to be released this year from Chromatics and Kanye West himself, including others. With all this good music being released, it’s terrifying how easy it can be to overlook some great tunes.
On the quasi-folk ballad “Depreston,” Barnett begins the song by telling her audience how she is saving $23 per week by buying a new coffee percolator. This might seem like a weird way to begin a song about the pressures of adult life and the choices you have to make, but it’s the way Courtney Barnett fills her songs with the minute details that truly make them come to life.
Courtney Barnett—'Sometimes Quarterbacks—'Quarterbacks' I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just over a minute into Quarterbacks’ self-titled LP, Just Sit' Courtney Barnett hails from Australia and makes folk-pop influenced garage rock, wherein she writes about the mundane and ordinary details of everyday life, commenting on what she sees with her sharp, clever and dry sense of humor. She’s not ironically detached from it all. Instead, the non-committal, matterof-fact way she describes her cream-colored wall at three in the morning on the track “An Illustration of Loneliness (Sleepless in New York)” reveals the deep subtext behind it all. It’s an impressive trick she pulls off repeatedly throughout Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit, released on March 23. Musically, Sometimes is jam-packed with loud guitar-riffs, deft guitar solos and catchy-but-soft folk-pop. On the raucous “Small Poppies,” Barnett admits in her loudest but still deadpan voice, amidst a crescendo of guitars, “I don’t know quite who I am, oh but man I am trying / I make mistakes until I get it right / An eye for an eye for an eye for an eye for an eye / I used to hate myself but now I think I’m alright.”
lead singer Dean Engle sings, “I’m in love as usual,” on the opening track “Usual,” only to sing right back “I’m not in love with anyone / What’s wrong with me?” on the very next song “Not in Luv.” Released on Feb. 10, every song on Quarterbacks’ 22-minute running length is ostensibly about a girl, or holding hands with a girl, or about being in love with a girl, with every song running at a blisteringly fast pace. On “Center,” Engle quietly ends the song ruminating “As I get older / I recognize that love is mostly situational.” Quarterbacks make the sort of twee-punk that could almost be mistaken for hardcore or pop-punk because of the jangly guitar pieces or the blistering pace at which they play most of their songs. But the aforementioned guitar is detuned slightly, pushing Engle’s nasally voice and lovelorn lyrics to the forefront of every song. Originally started as a minimalist pop-punk group in upstate New York, Quarterbacks successfully merges their straightforward (and admittedly very cute) K-Records influenced twee-pop with the intense velocity of pop-punk song-
writing à la Modern Baseball or Joyce Manor.
Lady Lamb—'After' Folk-rock multi-instrumentalist Aly Spaltro, who takes the moniker of Lady Lamb (formerly known as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper) makes folk-rock tunes that captures the best of both the folk and rock spheres, namely the acoustic intimacy of folk and the big, life-affirming power of rock. On her sophomore LP released on March 3, After, Lady Lamb’s best songs are the ones where she does both. On the psychedelic-shoegaze tinged “Heretic,” she alternates fuzzy guitar riffs with melodic fingerpicking, while also singing, “Let’s learn about black holes and plug the television set / Let’s ponder the true builders of the Pyramids / And then let’s order in” before saying of her lover, “If you’re a heretic then so am I.” Lyrically, After is an album about heartbreak and the many different feelings that come after. On After, Spaltro makes folk-rock that is playful, experimental and childlike in nature. The album remains grounded because of solid songwriting, deep metaphors and an impressive vocal range that rewards multiple listens.
Revisionist sounds like the half-cousin of an Explosions In The Sky album combined with shockingly beautiful black metal akin to Deafheaven (minus the screaming vocalist). It’s an extremely impressive feat, as the band weaves their
own brand of metal into the cinematic, emotional framework of post-rock without all the waiting around usually associated with the genre. Sannhet doesn’t waste any time with drone or empty space in the songs; instead, they pack dense
textures, feelings and melodies inside songs ranging from three to six minutes at the most, exemplified best during the track “You Thy_”, wherein Sannhet tackles romance, loneliness and fear all without uttering a single word.
Sannhet—'Revisionist' Released on March 3, Revisionist is the second LP from metal-instrumentalist trio Sannhet. Rather than stick to one subgenre of metal, Revisionist has Sannhet intertwining elements of black metal, sludge and post-rock to create huge waves of crushing sound throughout the album’s 37 minute runtime.
After, by Lady Lamb the Beekeeper. Mom & Pop Records/2015
Vanguard | APRIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
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ETC
EVENT CALENDAR john pinney
April 7
April 8
Sexual Violence and Native Silence as Power When: 2 p.m. Women
Where: SMSU (Room TBA)
When: 4 p.m. Where: WRC
Part of the Sexual Assault Awareness Month 2015 event schedule, this program sponsored by the Women’s Resource Center Women of Color Action team revolves around the sexual violence toward Native women with regards to settler-colonialism.
Science on Tap;
When: 7 p.m. Where: Clinton Street Theater Fee: $8 in advance online, $10 at door Come join the science lecture series where your thirst for knowledge isn’t the only thing getting quenched. Movie treats and beer will be available for purchase, and other food is welcome in the theater as well. In this lecture, Dr. Angela Strecker will discuss freshwater degredation, research and prospects for the future.
Part of the SAAM event schedule, come and learn how silence offers both power and resistance for survivors of sexual assault.
Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine When: 7 p.m. Where: QRC
Part of the SAAM event schedule, this intimate documentary is a reminder about the lives of those left behind by the horrific assault and death of Matthew Shephard. Though seemingly in the past, the issues of Shephard’s life and death still haunt and inform choices made today. Come and witness this event so the story will not be forgotten and can live on.
Justice for My Sister When: 5:30 p.m. Where: SMSU 238
This is a film screening and Q&A with filmmaker Kimberly Bautista about the documentary where a Guate-
malan woman sought justice and answers to her sister’s brutal murder. This documentary is not just about one struggle, about about struggles that happen worldwide everyday.
this group is actively working to provide housing for vulnerable residents, though they don’t specify who is deemed vulnerable. I guess that’s just part of the mystery and what you’ll have to show up to find out.
Registration Deadline: Multnomah and Wahkeena Falls April 10 Hike Beyond Survival Where: Outdoor Program Office Fee: $25 member, $50 non-member
When: 11 a.m. Where: Mercy Corps on Ankeny
Though the high itself does not happen until Sunday, April 12, the registration deadline is today at 5 p.m. This classic 5-mile loop hike takes you past devastatingly pretty waterfalls numbering in the tens and gives you a brief glimpse into the heart of the Columbia River Gorge.
Fifty-one million people are currently displaces as refugees because of armed conflict or natural disasters. This exhibit focuses on the destructive nature of trauma and the challenges of being a refugee. Stories of individual families are also featured.
Walking with ’Trane
April 9
Sustainability and Gentrification When: 6–8 p.m. Where: Bridgeport Brewery Fee: $11.50 (free adult beverage!)
If your career path takes by social conciousness or nonprofits for the local good, this is the meeting for you! Not only will there be networking, but
When: 8 p.m. Where: Newmark Theatre The Urban Bush Women is a showcase of the “energy, vitality, and boldness of the African American community.” After seven years, White Bird is hosting this group, whose performance of Walking with ’Trane is inspired by John Coltrane and is accompanied by George Caldwell.
April 11
April 12
When: 9:30 a.m. Where: PSU Campus Red Fee: Member, $10; Non-member, $20
When: 11 a.m. Where: Crystal Ballroom Fee: $8–10
Rose City Rock Rodeo
This annual all-skill level bouldering competition is a PDX —not just PSU—event and is a celebration of inclusivity and is open to any over the age of 16. There are three 90-minute heats: beginner, intermediate and open. Top in each category compete in the finals at 4 p.m. Registration closes April 10.
I Carried A Watermelon
Hanging On: Clothing Swap!
There are rules to this clothing swap, though I can’t imagine they would fall along gender lines. Probably they just want clothes that are clean and in good condition. But it sounds like a fun way to not just restock your wardrobe but also to get out and meet some other clothiers just like yourself! This event bills itself as the biggest clothing swap in the Northwest.
When: 8 p.m. Where: Disjecta Fee: $15–18
TriptheDark Dance company returns for its fifth year with a reimagining of ’80s cult classic, and the only reason Patrick Swayze ever had a dance hit: Dirty Dancing. I guarantee you’ll have the time of your life! Other dates are April 3, 4 and 10, all at 8 p.m.
FREE
21+
PSU FREE OPEN TO PUBLIC 21 & OVER
FEATURED EVENT NW Geek Alliance!
When: Tues April 7 at 7 p.m. Where: Guardian Games Free Right now is a great time to embrace your inner geek, nerd or dork, especially in the area of board games. We are in the middle of something of a board game renaissance. Board games aren’t just Risk or Monopoly, heck, we’ve even eclipsed Settlers of Cataan territory. There are board games about zombies, superheroes, races to the rescue, and everything else you can think of. It’s a great way to have fun and make friends without even having to flip a light switch (I myself have at least one glow in the dark boardgame). Show up to play, to learn, to have a good time. Also, there’s a free raffle and goodies.
CHRISTIAN PROFETA/PSU VANGUARD
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Vanguard | APRIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
ETC
horoscopes John pinney
aries March 21–April 19
Colors like pesto and avocado are really off-putting. You should probably not use them when painting a kitchen.
Taurus April 20–May 20
Leo July 23–Aug. 22
Or neither. What do I know about your color choices? Maybe you hate wearing black because it makes you feel like Wednesday Addams. You do you.
Scorpio Oct. 23–Nov. 21
aquarius Jan. 20–Feb. 18
You know what else is fun? Speaking of success, this is Binge watching Archer. My the week to apply for work, friend says Cheryl is the best, Aquarius. The moon might but I’m actually a big fan of not be in the seventh house, Archer. I mean, he’s a bigger but this is your week to find nerd than me, and that’s say- that dream summer job or ing something. career!
When thinking about ways to make your life more sooth- Virgo Aug. 23–Sep. 22 ing, try something in a lighter On the other hand, there’s Sagittarius Nov. 22–Dec. 21 shade of orange. It will bring something to be said for clas- One of your friends secretly serenity. sic good taste, right? Unless hates you and might try to you want to wear Dolce & poison you this week. Don’t Gabbana. Are you protesting go out for sushi. them along with me, Virgo? gemini May 21–June 20 Serenity was also the name of a movie about the crew of the Capricorn Dec. 22–Jan. 19 TV show Firey. No, I’m still Libra Sep. 23–Oct. 22 Can I just say that I love your not over the premature can- You know what is fun? Be- new major? It was a great cellation either. ing organized for a new term. choice and a good change of You’ve already got a couple pace for you. I see success in of projects underway; make your future as long as you don’t sure to use your planner, Li- ever change majors again. Cancer June 21–July 22 If you’re going to buy new bra. shoes or clothing this week, it’s a good week to invest in longterm pieces like a suit jacket or a little black dress. Maybe both.
pisces Feb. 20–March 19
Have you ever considered what happens to alligators that get flushed? Do people actually flush alligators in this day and age? And if so, why do they all end up in Florida?
From Mystic J, permanent resident of Room 1313, Hollywood Tower Hotel
ELISE FURLAN/PSU VANGUARD ELISE FURLAN/PSU VANGUARD
sudoku
crossWord
4 8 6 9 1 6 8 7 2 9 5 4 3 1
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Play Sudoku and win prize
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5 7 4 4 8 7 3 2 8 4 5 2 9 7
ACRoss 1 Exact lookalike of the late Quasimodo? (4,6) 6 Travel across river from Belgravia, say, to Maidenhead (4) 10 Undercooked part of dish (7) 11 Company's chief gets less productive daily (7) 12 Contrives to disconcert sneering European (9) 13 Outspoken heretic of race favoured by the Nazis (5) 14 Engage in a fight (3-2) 15 Chap's a non-starter, being in inferior health (9) 17 New codeine recipe damaged certain type of gland (9) 20 A French scoundrel's right off the hook (5) 21 Soldier turned up carrying fuel (5) 23 He's to follow story written out in seven languages (9) 25 Ultimately dedicated doctors in hospital department get farthest (7) 26 Spread rumours – very quietly? (7) 27 Tie up an animal (4) 28 The old man put back price to tempt student (10)
COURTESY OF ALBERICHCROSSWORDS.COM
doWn 1 Diana's got energy back (5) 2 Order to a brigade I revoked and rescinded (9) 3 Islander presenting Wyss's family with empty pot? (8,6) 4 Seasoning mainly left out of a foodstuff (7) 5 Forgives former partner's swearing right away (7) 7 Girl, one concealing Ecstasy, is frightened (5) 8 Members of RC sect will include fashionable Italian poet's followers (9) 9 In summary, the soldiers surrender (14) 14 Insomniac skins up on fewer occasions (9) 16 Trees from Europe with typical problem (9) 18 I am getting almost passionate about favourite Egyptian architect (7) 19 Authorise note lifting pressure on debtor (7) 22 God involved with rain (5) 24 Some of letter's extremely concise (5)
Vanguard | aprIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
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SpOrTS
MY FIRST TIME: WInTerhaWks
CoMMenTARy by CAssAndRA biRd CoMbs
I’ve been wanting to go to a hockey game for a while. I’ve never really watched hockey, for even as I write this, I can hear my father in my head explaining that it’s not football, so it’s not a sport. But I had a deep interest in hockey especially because I’d heard there were a lot of penalties, and I like violence. So when a coworker offered me two free tickets, I jumped at the chance. I got the night off and called my friend Emeka. Standing outside waiting for my friend to arrive so we could walk into the coliseum together, my instinct was confusion: Why do so many women wear heels to hockey games? Can someone explain this to me? Also, I had been under the misguided and completely unresearched belief that Winterhawks referred to a bird of prey and not a tomahawk, somewhat ingenously mixed with the word winter (I assume due to the fact that hockey is played on ice). Sitting on the lovely steps outside the coliseum in a very Portlandy light rain, I was alarmed by the colorful mascot heads on the red and white jerseys walking by me, and to be honest it took me a while to decide which jerseys were ours. (Okay, so I don't get the Memorial Cup in hockey knowledge.) We got inside, and immediately after the puck dropped, I was enamored with hockey. Watching hockey in person is very different from television. It is not a TV-friendly sport. This is how I feel about baseball as well. About two minutes into watching, I said, “I love hockey.” My friend laughed at me. “That's all it took, huh?” Below us a player shouldered another player against the wall with his entire body weight, perilously atop two thin blades. (Note to self: Always attend a new sport with someone who already watches the sport, but not with somebody who particularly cares about the outcome of the game.)
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Emeka and I watched and laughed, and sometimes he’d explain things, and we stood on our feet and tried to count the beats to pound our fists in the air at the right time when the Winterhawks scored. The fight song is my favorite part about hockey. When I was in high school, my dad asked me what our fight song was, and I had no idea. It was a bygone thing, a fight song. Dad still knew his 40 years after the last time he played football. Hockey has a fight song. That’s cool. (The Winterhawks’ song is “TNT” by AC/DC, and who doesn’t love AC/DC?) My other favorite thing about hockey: the noise. There is an indescribably perfect tonal note that echoes when stick hits stick. There is the off-kilter minor key, there is the precious sweet-spot-on-the-tennisracket round note. There are the predesigned clips of songs that play for various different events on the ice, several-second clips to pump up the crowd, like pressing the scan button on your FM radio. (One song that is particularly insidious and awesome: “I don't give a f*** about you” plays without the lyrics whenever the other team scores.) There is the happy, loud crowd between loud cheers and held breaths when the puck is in our defended territory. My least favorite thing about hockey so far? Three. The number three. My life is based in quarters. Sure, there are nine innings in baseball, but those innings have a top and bottom—they’re split in two. Hockey has three periods? Three? Emeka and I both thought, at the first break, that a hockey game must be only 40 minutes long. Hell, I couldn’t drink more than eight beers in forty minutes. What was the point of this game? At the first break, the very strangely named Rosebuds (the Winterhawks’ dance/ cheer team) performed a routine. I’m guessing it’s
rarely appreciated how hard moves like that have to be to perform on ice. Emeka kept wondering what kind of special ice-walking shoes they must be wearing. Then a second break happened, and it dawned on both of us that it was, in fact, an hour-long game. At the second break, a game called chuck a puck occurs. It’s a
fundraiser where people buy pucks to throw on the rink, and if your puck lands in the center you can win a prize. After this, the Rosebuds run around on the ice retrieving the pucks with orange five-gallon buckets. I’m sure this is their favorite part of their job. I thought the name Rosebuds was very weird until research concluded (very
short research) that that was the name of Portland’s NHL team in the 1920s. It has historical depth; it just isn’t clear on the surface. Near the end of the game, because the Winterhawks were up one, and in a move that is common to many sports, the Americans’ goaltender moved away from the goal to try to help the
team score. They did get one goal in this way. And then. And then! In the last minute of game time, the Winterhawks scored two points on an empty net. The puck soared through the air from halfcourt into the net. The crowd was insane. It’s so easy to blindly root for your home team when they win so spectacularly.
THE pOrTLaND WINTEr HaWKS in a 2011 match against the Victoria Royals.
Vanguard | aprIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
COURTESY OF CHARLES KREMANEK THROUGH CREATIVE COMMONS VIA FLICKR
SPORTS
The Mariners hope to bring postseason baseball back to the NW COMMENTARY BY Phuoc Francis Nguyen
From the Timbers Army to the 12th man, nobody brings the noise like the Pacific Northwest. And when it comes to our beloved baseball, the region only has one baseball team: the Seattle Mariners. Portlanders do not have a MLB team in town, so they rely on proximity for MLB baseball. Portland to Seattle is at least a three-hour drive. The nearest MLB teams to Portland after the Seattle Mariners are the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics, which would nearly be a 10-hour drive. Baseball fans from all over the Pacific Northwest live and breathe Seattle Mariners from opening day in April to the end of the season in September. These fans are hoping to see October postseason baseball played with their Mariners in contention. The team has made all the moves necessary to build a contender here in the Pacific Northwest. Finishing 87-75 in Manager Lloyd McClendon’s first year was a pleasant surprise for the Seattle Mariners, but last year they failed to make the playoffs once again. They have not played postseason baseball since 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki was in his rookie season, in which he won both the Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. The playoff format has recently been expanded to include two wildcard teams from both the American and National Leagues. This includes the three division winners of the West, Central and the East. This 10-team playoff from the original 8-team format changed in 2012. The Mariners finished one game behind the Oakland Athletics for the second wildcard spot. The Athletics finished 88-74 to leave the Pacific Northwest without postseason baseball for the 13th year in a row. In 2014 the Mariners scored 634 runs to average 3.91 runs per game. Their pitching was phenomenal, giving up the fewest runs in the Major
League at 554 total runs to surrender only an average of 3.42 runs per game. They were second in Earned Run Average at 3.17 to the Washington Nationals at 3.03. The pitching staff was led by “King Felix” Hernandez, who was 15-6 with a 2.14 ERA and career high 248 strikeouts. The former AL Cy Young winner finished second to Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians. Closer Fernando Rodney also led the Majors with 48 saves. The Seattle Mariners ranked 19th in total runs scored and 1st in fewest runs allowed. General Manager Jack Zduriencik knew he needed to improve the offense this year for them to make the playoffs. Last offseason he made a splash by signing second baseman Robinson Cano to a 10-year, $240 million contract. The New York Yankees tried to resign him to a 7-year, $175 million contract, but he wanted a longer deal. Cano finished his first season as a Mariner batting .314 with 14 home runs and 82 runs batted in. Hitting behind Cano in the lineup was Kyle Seager, who had a career year hitting .268 with 25 home runs and 96 RBI. Before the trade deadline, Zduriencik made a trade for center-fielder Austin Jackson hoping to add a leadoff hitter for the playoff push. This three-team trade sent Jackson, to the Mariners with them giving up Nick Franklin to the Tampa Bay Rays, who traded Drew Smyly, Willy Adames and star pitcher David Price to the Tigers. In 100 games with the Tigers, Jackson batted .273; in 54 games with the Mariners he struggled down the stretch, hitting .229. After missing the playoffs in 2014, Zduriencik knew he needed to add bats to the core of Cano and Seager. He proceeded by trading for outfielders left-handed Seth Smith of the San Diego Padres and right-handed Justin Ruggiano of the Chicago Cubs. They will form
a platoon in right field with Jackson in center and Dustin Ackley in left field. The Mariners’ biggest need was a right-handed power cleanup hitter to hit fourth in a lineup after Cano and before Seager. They signed home run king, outfielder Nelson Cruz, from the Baltimore Orioles to a four-year, $57 million contract. He led the league with 40 home runs while batting .271 with 108 RBI. The Mariners also bolstered their pitching staff by trading outfielder Michael Saunders for left-handed starter J.A. Happ of the Toronto Blue Jays. The 2015 season has many experts picking the Mariners to at least make the playoffs as a wildcard with some even choosing them to potentially win the AL West. The additions of Cruz, Ruggiano, Smith and their own players make it hard not to believe them. Taijuan Walker, who has been the top prospect in their organization, has pitched lights out in spring training. His 3-0 record with a 0.36 ERA in 25 innings has put him in the opening-day roster as part of the starting rotation with King Felix, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton and Happ. This rotation could arguably be the best in all of baseball. An improving offense with a pitching staff that will likely be one of the stingiest will create a potent World Series contender in the Pacific Northwest. The hitters and pitchers are, on paper, good enough to advance to the postseason. However, games are won on the field and not in the offseason. The Seattle Mariners open the regular season facing off versus division rivals the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at home at Safeco Field in a threegame series from April 6–8. Felix Hernandez (15-6 in 2014) will oppose Jered Weaver (18-9) in the opener. James Paxton (64) will take the mound in game two against C.J. Wilson (13-10). Hisashi Iwakuma (15-9) will close out opening series against Matt Shoemaker (16-4).
Turner Lobey/PSU VANGUARD
UPCOMING GAMES Women's Golf
Men's Tennis
Women's Tennis
PSU & Montana Dual Match Ocotillo Golf Resort, Chandler, AZ
PSU vs. Eastern Washington
PSU vs. Eastern Washington
Sat., April 4, 10 a.m.
Sat. April 4, 2:30 p.m.
Sat. April 4, All Day
Wyoming Cowgirl Classic Ak Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club, Maricopa, AZ Mon., Tues., April 6-7, All Day
Softball
Softball
PSU @ Seattle
PSU @ Seattle
Wed., April 1, 3 p.m., 5 p.m.
Wed., April 1, 3 p.m., 5 p.m.
PSU vs Northern Colorado
PSU vs Northern Colorado
Fri., April 3, 1 p.m., 3 p.m. Sat., April 4, 12 p.m.
Fri., April 3, 1 p.m., 3 p.m. Sat., April 4, 12 p.m.
Vanguard | APRIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
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SpOrTS
The dIeT War
PETA protesters at South-by-Southwest in 2013.
HEALTH& WELLNESS
CoMMenTARy by JACQueLine C. bRyAn
Now more than ever, I’m witnessing the health food diet craze running rampant everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good sign because it means people are starting to decipher how food plays a part in their lives and how it affects their health. As an eternal optimist, I truly believe that people are starting to wake up to the reality that a McNugget meal is not only going to put you in a nasty food coma, but it can also play a huge part in destroying your body and health. I truly believe we are entering what I like to think of as “The Food Revolution,” or, rather, a new chapter in how we produce, distribute and consume food. It’s extremely exciting stuff ! That said, just like any major change, there is a lot of controversy behind the diet food craze, so much that it’s turned into a full-on diet war. You can see it on any foodrelated posts online. For example, someone posts a comment on how eating meat is bad, and suddenly there’s an onslaught of replies, some
agreeing wholeheartedly, while others protest against the practice. Half the time, the protests aren’t subtle or civilized—people get angry, hurtful and have absolutely no problem voicing their harshest opinions. I am pleased that people are passionate about their health, and moreover, those passionate enough to share their discoveries with the rest of the world in the hopes of helping another individual on the road to a better lifestyle. But I find the hostility that accompanies this passion to be overzealous, where people cross the line from voicing their opinion into shoving it down everyone’s throats. This is really where people stop caring about helping others and simply want to win an argument. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t constructive, and it fuels the war. What irks me most about this diet war is that people truly believe they know absolutely what’s best, with no wiggle room. They take no consideration for the individual’s needs and are headstrong that their diet—whether it be
psu Cheer heads to daytona 22
COURTESY OF GEOFF LIVINGSTON THROUGH CREATIVE COMMONS VIA FLICKR
vegan, vegetarian, paleo or whatever else—is the diet that will not only bring everyone to the pinnacle of health but will also somehow help save the world. While I agree that having a society that thrives health-wise will help to develop a better world, I don’t agree that we will all get there in the same way. There are too many factors that go into developing an appropriate diet for the individual, so stating that one diet works for everyone is a huge misconception. We have to look at things like body type, environmental factors, ances-
try, childhood diet, emotional and spiritual tendencies, culture, age, sex, health issues, and the list goes on and on. As a petite woman who grew up on the tropical beaches of Costa Rica, my body needs a lot of protein and vegetables as well as foods that will keep me warm come winter time. On the flip side, a burly man who was born and raised on the Alaska plains will probably want to adhere to a diet that’s quite different from mine. Furthermore, an individual’s diet can change many times throughout their life. What might have worked for them
as teenagers might not be what they need as they approach their 50s. The bottom line is that with practice, patience and intuition, we can all learn how to read our bodies and understand what they need in order to achieve optimal health. This can be accomplished through trial and error, investigating the factors that contribute to our specific dietary needs, and learning to listen to our bodies when something is wrong—trust me, your body will want to let you know when it isn’t happy!
I am by no means ruling out the notion of sharing your dietary beliefs with the world since this is how we all learn about food, but we have to draw the line when personal vendettas step in. Be conscientious when voicing your opinions, sending them out only with the intention of helping others. Best of luck in your endeavors as a vegan, vegetarian, paleo, raw food, fruitarian, industrialized or whatever diet keeps you vibrant. Let each other know what works and what doesn’t, but in the name of peace, let’s keep it civil!
CAssondRA biRd CoMbs
The Portland State cheer team is flying to Daytona Beach, Florida On Tuesday to compete in Nationals. The cheer team, led by coach Andrea Larkins, is the only team from Oregon to compete, and this is the first time PSU is represented at the national championship competition. The team had a sendoff party on Saturday night where they performed the routine they’ve
Vanguard | aprIL 7, 2015 | psuvanguard.com
created for Nationals. They have been fundraising since the beginning of winter term. Larkins said, “We are about $3,000 away from our goal, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve been getting.” For more information about supporting the cheer team, visit squareup.com/ market/psucheer/nca-nationals-shirt.
CHEErLEaDErS perform a prep during a Winter Term practice. DEVIN COURTRIGHT/PSU VANGUARD
Pouregon
SPORTS
HEALTH& WELLNESS
commentary by Lauren Schlangen
In my hometown of Hillsboro, Oregon, there is small coffee shop off of Baseline and 53rd Avenue. Insomnia Coffee Co. is a slice of the quirkiness of Portland amid the uniformity of the suburbs. The location is quaint and filled with mismatched furniture, colored tables, local artwork for sale on the walls, metal silverware and local musicians playing every now and again. A corkboard in the back of the building is used as a public display of local ads and services. Unique stickers are placed along the small divider separating the customers from the baristas. One sticker I will always remember (and wish that I could obtain myself ) is in the shape of Oregon being tilted downward in the bottom left corner. Within the border of Oregon there appears to be black coffee exiting the border as if the outline of the state is a makeshift coffee pot. Within the border of the outline of Oregon the word “Pouregon” is printed in cursive. It is no big surprise that Oregon, and Portland specifically, is a big coffee area. There are Starbucks on every block, it seems, and of the well-known Stumptown, there are five in Portland alone. If I could, I would start every day with a black cup of coffee. And I used to until my roommate moved out on me and took the Keurig with her. Coffee seems to rule our lives. For some, 8 a.m. classes are next to impossible without that dirty chai tea latte with not one but two shots of espresso. My father drinks coffee somewhat religiously, despite his atheism, any time of day. Just the other week I was back home in the Beaverton-Hillsboro area for spring break. It was close to 8 p.m. one night and my dad walked into the living room, cup of black coffee in hand. I asked
him how he could do that because, to me, a cup of coffee at 8 p.m. is unheard of unless you’re a college student cramming during dead week. But all my father said in response to my bewilderment was, “It won’t keep me up.” I immediately compared this remark to an alcoholic pouring yet another drink and saying, “It won’t get me drunk,” as if to rationalize the typically unusual behavior. We live in a nation where the consumption of coffee is at all-time high. According to Health Ambition writer Jim Dillian, 180 million Americans start their morning with a cup of joe. With this much caffeine coursing through our veins, it’s almost intimidating to look into the health effects all that coffee is having on our bodies. In moderation, coffee can be a good thing. And we probably only see these positive short-term effects, like the way coffee wakes you up in the morning. However, according to the Harvard School of Medical Health, “… data has also been collected that suggests there may be harmful effects associated with the beverage, particularly if not consumed in moderation.” WebMD claims that the side effects of coffee consumption include insomnia, nervousness and restlessness, upset stomach, nausea and vomiting, increased heart and breathing rate. It’s America’s favorite drug, although I’m sure no one thinks of it that way. Dillian states that excessive long-term coffee consumption “has been associated with an increased risk of high cholesterol, heart disease and osteoporosis.” In Dillian’s article he goes over seven main negative attributions to consistent coffee consumption. They first include the fact that most who start their day with a cup of coffee are only starting it
with that. That is to say, despite the iconic phrase about breakfast that is “the most important meal of the day,” most people tend to skip over this meal of importance. Drinking anything on an empty stomach causes the stimulation and production of hydrochloric acid. This acid should only be stimulated when digesting food. However, with that most important meal of the day ab-
sent, in extreme cases, this behavior can result in ulcers, Irritable bowel syndrome and acidity. Other side effects may include heartburn as well as that overwhelming feeling to run to the bathroom and take that number two after your third cup of the day. Coffee is seen as some as a natural laxative, but just like the overuse of any laxative, there can be harmful effects on the body
like dehydration and even weight loss. Coffee also contains Acrylamide, which can be cancerous. Dillan says it is a “Potentially carcinogenic substance that forms when coffee beans are roasted at high temperatures. The darker the roast, the higher the levels of acrylamide are likely to be.” Because of these effects, we will see a correlation
between the amount of coffee we consume and our bodies physically. I’m giving a lot of extreme cases, and in all honesty, I don’t think any of us are going to die from drinking coffee. But I do think it is wise for us all to be aware of what we’re putting into our bodies and how everything that we consume has side effects. Whether it be a food, drink or drug, think before you pour.
Jeoffry Ray/PSU Vanguard
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