Vanguard March 1, 2011

Portland State wows Montana schools

Snake oil

INDEX

Is Kombucha a health miracle or a malady?

NEWS OPINION ARTS SPORTS

Freshman Yuki Suigiyama has led Portland State with an 8-2 record in singles games this season

SPORTS: PAGE 12

OPINION: PAGE 5

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PSU pulls out of Oregon Executive MBA Program University of Oregon revamping 25-year partnership between three universities Miranda Schmidt Vanguard staff

P

ortland State will cease to be a part of the Oregon Executive MBA (OEMBA) Program after current program students graduate in two years. The program, which is taught in Portland by faculty from PSU, the University of Oregon and Oregon State, is being restructured to better accommodate business professionals.

For 25 years, the OEMBA has offered an MBA program for working executives. PSU faculty members currently teach about half the courses in the program, and U of O awards the degree.

“The idea was to get the best faculty in the state collectively between the three schools to teach the program,” said Scott Dawson, dean of the PSU School of Business.

But, according to Dawson, U of O has had a difficult time getting its faculty to Portland to teach classes. Part of the new program structure is a change in scheduling, which will make it easier for faculty to teach at U of O and in Portland.

Because PSU is located in the city, its faculty members have had an easier time teaching at

Italian Studies gets a boost from $7,500 grant Assistant professor defies stereotypes with National Italian American Foundation grant Joshua Hunt Vanguard staff

both schools. According to Dawson, PSU faculty often have recent industry experience and are used to teaching older students and working professionals.

“The reality is, has been for quite some time, that nobody’s really owned it,” Dawson said of the OEMBA program.

Kees de Kluyver, the new dean of U of O’s Lundquist College of Business, seems to be taking on that ownership. In an interview with The Register-Guard last week, he described plans for the new program. The MBA will be broken into five certificates, and students can work toward select certificates or complete all five to get the MBA.

Portland State World Languages and Literature faculty member and Assistant Professor Silvia Boero was recently awarded a $7,500 grant from the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF). The grant will enable Boero, a native of Genoa, Italy, to increase visibility for PSU programs in Italian language, culture, literature and cinema.

MBA ON PAGE 3

Board hopes to increase voter turnout, minimize campaign policing

ITALIAN ON PAGE 7

E-board establishes elections goals

Sierra Pannabecker Vanguard staff

Though the ASPSU student government elections take place in April, plans are already being made to reach out to students in an effort to increase student voting.

Ari Wubbold is this year’s Elections Board chairman. While he was not here for last year’s controversial election, he brings a fresh perspective to the election process.

The E-board’s main focus this year is not on policing the campaigning process, but rather on increasing voter turnout, which has been dismal in the last few years. Last year, only 700 votes were submitted.

E-BOARD ON PAGE 7

Professors investigate Ft. Vancouver site KARL KUCHS/VANGUARD STAFF

MBA restructuring: Portland State will be pulling out of the Oregon Executive MBA program after its current students graduate in two years.

PSU student opens film studio Nate Brauer-Rieke establishes Ellipsis Studios in Portland Jesse Hansen Vanguard staff

Every year, thousands of Americans apply for a business license in the United States, but according to Business Magazine, only .03 percent of all applicants are under the age of 25.

Portland State’s own Nate Brauer-Rieke now falls into that elite .03 percent. On Jan. 11, he and his partners officially received their business license from the state of Oregon, establishing Ellipsis Film Studios

here in Portland.

Senior Brauer-Rieke, a 21-year-old political science major, became interested in the film industry over a year ago.

“I was originally interested in writing,” he said. “I was looking on Craigslist for anyone who was willing to work with scripts…I ended up meeting my partner, and a year later this is what we’ve ended up with.”

Brauer-Rieke’s Craigslist search ultimately led him to Portland filmmaker Christen Kimbell, owner of Sleeping Dog Films.

“When I met Nate, I was busy making movies with my company, but I’m not a business person,” Kimbell said. “Nate demonstrated

Discoveries indicate commercial sophistication among the multi-ethnic population Solomon Hanson Vanguard staff

talent in that aspect; it was clearly something he’s interested in.”

With the company now established, the real work begins, according to Brauer-Rieke. As with any small business, Ellipsis Studios is still financially struggling, but with several projects already underway, the team is confident in their fledging studio.

According to Kimbell, who manages the production end of Ellipsis, they have already completed a series of webisodes and short films to start marketing the company and proliferating the name.

Portland State archaeologists are working at Fort Vancouver and its surrounding sites in an effort to better understand the cross-cultural relationships formed there in the past.

Fort Vancouver was not only a center for trading; the village (the lodging area located outside the stockade of Fort Vancouver) was home to a “multi-ethnic population that was the center of culture contact,” according to Doug Wilson, regional archaeologist for the National Park Service and an adjunct associate professor of anthropology at PSU.

FILM ON PAGE 3

FORT VANCOUVER ON PAGE 7

NEWS ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 3

2 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ NEWS

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MBA FROM PAGE 1

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Corie Charnley

Students testify against U of O’s “New Partnership”

OPINION EDITOR OPINION@DAILYVANGUARD.COM

Today, members of the Oregon Student Association will testify at a public hearing in Salem against Senate Bill 559, also known as the University of Oregon’s “New Partnership.”

SB559 would establish U of O as an independent public university governed by its own board of directors. It would also grant the university $800 million in bonds that U of O would match dollar-for-dollar. OSA is against the bill because, if passed, it would reduce legislative oversight. The organization also claims that the endowment is “high risk,” according to a press release.

The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. at the Oregon State Capitol, hearing room B.

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All-campus budget forum today

ONLINE EDITOR

Portland State is hosting an all-campus budget forum today to answer questions and listen to concerns about PSU’s budget process.

Additional public meetings will be held April 18 through April 22, after the budget team has developed final recommendations.

The forum will begin at 10 a.m. in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom.

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ILLUSTRATORS Susannah Beckett, Heather Mcintyre

DESIGNERS Colby Brooks, Stephanie Lucky, Ben Patterson

WRITERS Kat Audick, Ian Bellamy, Erick Bengel, Peter Browning, Tori Christensen, Meaghan Daniels, Ryan Deming, Sarah Engels, Jesse Hansen, Rian Evans, Kevin Fong, Jesse Hansen, Rosemary Hanson, Solomon Hanson, Joshua Hunt, Ines Kuna, Alexis Jewel, Ebonee Lee, Stephen Lisle, Christina Maggio, Joe Mantecon, Natalie Mcclintock, Erin McIntyre, Daniel Ostlund, Katrina Petrovich, Sierra Pannabecker, Gretchen Sandau, Miranda Schmidt, Jenieve Schnabel, Wendy Shortman, Kali Simmons, Catrice Stanley, Jake Stevens, Nilesh Tendolkar, Vinh Tran, Kat Vetrano, Allison Whited, Elisabeth Wilson, Roger Wightman, Brenda Yahm

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Sustainable art: Will Parnell demonstrates some of the reusable scrap material that the children use to make art projects.

Helen Gordon Center to host child development initiative The Helen Gordon Child Development Center, Portland State’s innovative laboratory school for young children, will host its fourth annual professional development initiative for the early childhood educator community.

The initiative will begin on Thursday, March 3, with a keynote address by Dr. Christine Chaillé, a professor of early childhood education and chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, and Dr. Will Parnell, the Helen Gordon Center pedagogical director.

In addition, the Helen Gordon Center staff will lead school tours and classroom visitations, as well as host small group discussions about various topics on Friday, March 4.

On Saturday, March 5, it will host information sessions on topics such as “design technology in the primary years,” according to a press release.

To register, visit www.hgcdc.pdx.edu/initiatives.php.

ADVERTISING DESIGNER Beth Hansen

DISTRIBUTORS Brittany Castillo, Brandy Castillo

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

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De Kluyver also hopes to increase the number of students enrolled in the program. There are currently between 40 and 45 students enrolled at any given time. According to the Register-Guard, de Kluyver hopes to increase this number to between 100 and 150.

PSU and U of O discussed partnering in the new program, but amicably decided against it.

“For us, a partnership was like what we have with OHSU for our healthcare program,” Dawson said.

In the Oregon Health and Science University partnership, both schools are equal partners and students are admitted to both institutions.

However, Dawson said that U of O was not interested in such a partnership.

“I don’t hold any ill will against them at all,” he said. “It was time for something different to happen.”

PSU faculty will continue to teach in the OEMBA program until current students graduate in 2013. OSU has not announced whether or not it will remain in the partnership.

PSU will not be changing the programs offered by its School of Business, which in-

clude a wide variety of undergraduate majors, a master’s in financial analysis, master’s degrees in real estate development and international management and three different MBA options.

The university is currently considering partnerships with businesses in Portland and with other schools, but has no plans to directly compete with the new OEMBA, according to Dawson.

The current OEMBA program awards an MBA degree and classes are taught at 500 SW Market St. The program is self-supporting and has graduated high-profile community members, such as OHSU President Joe Robertson, former Tectronix President Rick Wills and former Intel Capital President John Miner.

Students in the current OEMBA program take classes part time, and must have worked three years in a leadership position, have five years of work experience and hold a mid- to senior-level position at the time of application.

Total tuition for the program is $58,000, which also covers lodging and parking during residencies. Financial aid is available in the form of student loans, and information sessions occur both in Portland and in Eugene. ■

Oregon crime rate decreasing

ADVISER

CRIME BLOTTER The Campus Public Safety Office is required by law to maintain a public crime log, which it publishes on Mondays and Fridays. Here are some excerpts.

■■ Feb. 18, 4:30 p.m.: Suspect stole a backpack out of the library.

■■ Feb. 18, 10:27 p.m.: A laptop was stolen from George C. Hoffman Hall.

■■ Feb. 20, 12:13 p.m.: A vehicle was broken into while parked in Ondine Parking.

■■ Feb. 20, 3:04 p.m.: Male assaulted another male in front of his minor child near the Stratford Building.

■■ Feb. 20, 3:04 p.m.: Male pushed and grabbed wrist of ex-girlfriend near the Stratford Building.

■■ Feb. 20, 3:04 p.m.: Male grabbed an ex-girlfriend and almost caused her to drop her child near the Stratford Building.

■■ Feb. 21, 2:33 p.m.: A vehicle was broken into while parked in Ondine Parking.

■■ Feb. 21, 8:44 p.m.: A male was found trespassing in the Art Building.

■■ Feb. 23, 8:21 p.m.: A male was found trespassing in the library.

■■ Feb. 24, 7:46 p.m.: Suspect stole victim’s laptop in the library.

■■ Feb. 26, 2:53 a.m.: Person arrested for disorderly conduct in Stephen E. Epler Hall.

■■ Feb. 27, 2:28 a.m.: Female arrested for domestic violence in Blackstone Housing.

■■ Feb. 27, 3:48 a.m.: Person cited for offensive littering outside Neuberger Hall.

■■ Feb. 27, 3:48 a.m.: Person arrested for criminal mischief.

CAMPUS CONNECTION

PSU is considering collaborating with local businesses

Though Oregon’s crime rate has been decreasing—it’s the lowest it has been since the 1960s—a recent Portland State survey revealed that more than half of Oregonians believe that its crime rate has increased.

According to a press release, PSU’s Criminal Justice Policy Research Institution compiled the study’s findings, which was conducted last summer. The institute surveyed 1,569 Oregonians over the age of 18.

Of the individuals that took part in the study, 52 percent believed that crime rates had increased over the last year. Only 10 percent believed it had decreased.

Those who believed crime rates increased tended to be more conservative, had a family income of less than $50,000 a year, had less education than a bachelor’s degree and were dissatisfied with the criminal justice system, according to the press release.

Universal Pictures looking for university to host premier of “Your Highness” Eventful Inc. and Universal Pictures recently launched a campaign to give college students the opportunity to host the red carpet world premier of “Your Highness” at their campus.

According to Eventful, Inc. Director of Communications Christopher Lehman, the winning college will also host an exclusive after-party, which will be attended by the film’s stars: James Franco, Danny McBridge, Zooey Deschanel and Natalie Portman.

Five runner-up colleges will receive free advance screenings of the film.

Students have until March 20 to vote for their school. For more information, visit http://eventful.com/yourhighness.

ASPSU to host town hall meeting on restructuring

ASPSU will host a town hall meeting on higher education reform on Thursday, March 3 to raise awareness about how restructuring will affect students.

The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in 236 Smith Memorial Student Union with a presentation on the current restructuring bills being heard in Salem. The presentation will be followed with a question-and-answer session.

For more information, contact ASPSU at 503-725-3454.

United States deputy secretary to speak at PSU Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will speak at Portland State on Thursday about her “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative, and how the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is strengthening the connection between farmers and consumers.

According to a press release, the Obama administration is seeking to strengthen local and regional food industries to support rural communities. The initiative aims to bridge the gap between agricultural communities and urban markets.

At a recent presentation, Merrigan said that consumer demand for locally grown food is expected to increase from $4 billion in 2002 to $7 billion in 2012, according to the press release.

For more information on the initiative, visit www.usda.gov/knowyourfarmer.

The presentation will begin at 3 p.m. in PSU’s Vanport Room, located in 338 Smith Memorial Student Union.

Corie Charnley

Saria dy/VANGUARD STAFF

Student success: Nate Brauer-Rieke actualized his passion for film by establishing his own studio.

FILM FROM PAGE 1

Ellipsis’ current project is a full-length documentary about environmental degradation Not unlike the traditional studios of successful film companies,” Kimbell said.

Hollywood, Brauer-Rieke hopes that one “We’re really hoping we can change that.” day they will be handling full-length movies.

While this much is true, the inception of But given the luxuries of 21st-century Ellipsis as a company is occurring at a time media, he hopes that Ellipsis will also when Oregon is exhibiting an increased intereffectively seize a est in investing in valuable portion of film as a means of the ever-growing “I realize that this is a bringing jobs and web-based market. resources back into huge risk, but I’m keeping “The key to this the state. The most business is diver- my nose to the grindstone.” recent example is sity,” he said. “We Nate Brauer-Rieke Governor John have to start at the Kitzhaber’s probottom, doing adposed renewal of vertising, commercials and things like that. the film industry tax credit program, which Ultimately, once we can afford it, our goal is is estimated to make 2011 “the biggest year feature films.” for total dollars spent on film and television Brauer-Rieke stressed the importance of projects in Oregon’s history,” according to the crafting a body of work to display to potential Governor’s Office of Film and Television. investors as well as gain interest from higher Regardless of his mainly optimistic outlook profile filmmakers. He also said that as the on the success of his company, Brauer-Rieke business expands, they must constantly pro- is also fully aware of the daunting task he is duce and generate content. up against.

In addition to the work they have already “I realize that this is a huge risk, but I’m produced, Ellipsis is in the production phase keeping my nose to the grindstone,” he said. of a full-length documentary titled “Invasive “The whole team is really invested in this, Species,” which documents man’s impact on though, which is great. If all else fails, I’ve at the environment. The film, which is slated for least gained the experience of starting a busirelease in February 2012, ultimately proposes ness, and the social networking that’s come a more positive interaction with nature. with it.”

Despite the decent start that the company Brauer-Rieke is also heavily involved in the has been afforded, the Ellipsis team is perfect- Portlanders for Schools organization, which ly aware of the challenges they will be facing. is campaigning for increased funding for “Oregon really doesn’t have a history of Oregon public schools. ■

Salem crowds demonstrate solidarity for Wisconsin labor unions Supporters, including University students, rally for workers’ collective bargaining rights Colton Totland Daily Emerald staff

A crowd of demonstrators rallied in Salem, Ore., Saturday morning, advocating for workers’ rights and showing support for labor unions across the country.

Inspired by the ongoing dispute in Wisconsin over public employees’ collective bargaining rights, hundreds of teachers, nurses, electricians and students assembled at the steps of the Oregon State Capitol to show their support. Earlier this month, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker proposed serious restrictions on rights that allow workers to unionize and negotiate the terms of their employment. Walker’s proposed changes would make it easier for the state to cut jobs and salaries to deal with budget deficits.

Demonstrators argued that these restrictions are not only harmful to American workers and the economy, but that they will in fact deepen the deficit by reducing middle-class income.

“The middle class is under attack in this country, and until we provide good jobs that provide good wages, we are going to continue in a downward spiral,” Oregon Rep. Brad Witt (D-Clatskanie) said at the event.

“That’s not just in our living standards, but also in the ability of the state government to raise adequate tax revenue.”

Saturday’s demonstration represented just one of the protests that have recently broken out at every state capitol across the country.

Orchestrated by MoveOn.org and a coalition of grassroots organizations, the “Wisconsin Solidarity” rallies attracted large numbers of union members and their supporters. In Salem, the crowd swelled to approximately

1,200 protesters by noon, chanting slogans and wielding handcrafted signs.

Among the crowd were a number of University organization members, most notably the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, a labor union representing the University’s 1,300 teaching and research assistants. Also present at the rally was ASUO Sen. Zachary Stark-MacMillan, who spoke passionately to the crowd about the need for collective action, both through unions and support movements like the rally.

“Last weekend, I was overwhelmed with helplessness and anger about the news in Wisconsin,” Stark-MacMillan said. “I think that for years, (my generation) has been disappointed by our leaders, and we’ve almost come to expect that they’re going to let us down. But this is our time to come back and make our own movement, instead of waiting for one.”

And Wisconsin is not the only front for labor disputes. A number of states, including Ohio and Indiana, are currently considering bills remarkably similar to the one proposed by Walker, and states are struggling to deal with their own budget deficit all across the country.

In Oregon, drastic cuts have been made in many public services. Although Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has made no attempt to restrict collective bargaining, labor negotiations will nevertheless be a tense legislative issue in the upcoming months.

“It’s going to be a battle,” said Neil Bednarczyk, a negotiator for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). “Kitzhaber hasn’t put any limits on what we can attempt to bargain over, but we know that there is a $3.5 billion shortfall in the general fund, and we know that there are sacrifices that state employees are going to have to shoulder.” *This article was originally published in the Daily Emerald. It appears here in its original form.

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4 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ OPINION

OPINION

OPINION ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 5

EDITOR: RICHARD D. OXLEY OPINION@DAILYVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5692

Snake oil

Game on Video game players aren’t awkward sociopaths

P

icture, if you would, a video game player. What comes to mind?

For Fox News, the image of the gamer is apparently a sociopathic, socially awkward, isolated, promiscuous, overweight delinquent who thrives on violence and the demoralization of women. Not ridiculous in the least, right?

Let’s face it: Video gamers get a bad rap. According to watchdog groups all over the country, video games are responsible janieve for every imschnabel moral characteristic bred in the American population. That is not anywhere near true. The majority of people who play video games show none of these traits.

Video games are a part of everyday life in much of the world. In America alone, it is estimated that 90 percent of young males and 40 percent of young females play video games on a regular basis. Sixty-two percent of console owners are over 18 years of age, indicating that video games are not solely for America’s youth. Most of these gamers are productive members of society, despite what the media portrays them to be.

The claim that video game violence has led to an increase in juvenile crime is also completely false. Juvenile crime rates are at a 30-year low in the United States. There have been no scientific studies done proving that video games do or do not cause violent behavior, but even the United States Surgeon General’s office seems to be convinced that video games are hardly a factor.

The cat’s out of the bag and in my face I thought I was a cat person. All my life, I’ve had feline friends all around me. Granted, it has been some time since I have shared my living space with a cat—but my latest “roommate” has become quite a nuisance.

I don’t know whether it is because all my past cat companions have been raised with dogs, and therefore learned certain superior pet traits, or if this new guy is something unique, but this new cat seems to lack any sense of boundaries.

I thought cats were independent; at least, that is what had been promoted of them to me from various friends as they encouraged me to add a new friend into my life and my bare apartment.

How could that hurt?

This cat has no idea what personal space is.

It is constantly coming up to my feet, crawling over my shoulder, or trying to get into my lap.

If it could talk, it is as if it would be saying “pet me, I’m cute.” And I have no problem with a little pat now and then, maybe some playtime with some string, but this is getting ridiculous. I mean, this is a pretty straightforward deal here—

In regards to youth violence, the surgeon general said in 2001, “The strongest risk factors during childhood are involvement in serious but not necessarily violent criminal behavior, substance use, being male, physical aggression, low family socioeconomic status or poverty and antisocial parents—all individual or family attributes or conditions.” The report concluded that most sources of juvenile crime are driven by human interactions.

The label of “loner” that is often associated with video game players is yet another ill-informed concept. Approximately 60 percent of gamers play with friends regularly. Siblings, spouses and families also often play together. The market for multiplayer games is expanding, and gamers have been quick to pick up on this. Video game players are no more socially isolated from their peers than those who indulge in other hobbies or group activities.

Parents are often concerned about the effects of violent imagery in video games on their children. These same parents, however, are often the ones who do not understand the rating systems on games and who purchase violent games for their children. Eighty-three percent of game purchases for underage consumers (i.e., an 11-year-old who wishes to own “Medal of Honor”) are made on the child’s behalf by his or her parent or guardian. Concerned parents should research video game rating systems before purchasing games.

Kristina Anderson, a sophomore at Portland State University, is an avid gamer. She thinks too

I pet it every now and then and feed it, and in turn the cat keeps mice out of the kitchen.

But it doesn’t stop there. I’m trying to watch my stories, and the cat is there. I’m trying to read a book, and the cat is there. I’m trying to write this very column, and the cat is marching all over my keyboard, stretching its paw out at me, already purring as if it is expecting me to just drop everything…and of course I do, because the thing is so damn cute when it does that.

But it goes beyond the constant in-my-face interruptions. I am convinced that it has observed my behavior and has adapted beyond the capabilities of most ordinary cats…it is conniving, I tell you.

For example, on more than one occasion it has paused TV shows I’m watching on Hulu. Out of nowhere, suddenly a paw will appear in my peripheral vision and hit the space bar on my computer—and the cat is stretching for it too, it knows and it’s sneaking. And I’m positive it’s no accident—it’s aiming right for that space bar, and it knows that pressing it will stop the show.

One moment I’m watching "Maury," and the next moment the screen is paused and I’m prevented from knowing who the hell the father is.

Is Kombucha a health miracle or a malady?

Elizabeth Bommarito Vanguard staff

K

ILLUSTRATION BY susannah beckett/VANGUARD STAFF

much blame is placed on video games for society’s ills. “There has always been crime; it didn’t just start happening after video games were invented,” Anderson said. “And not everyone who plays violent video games is going to end up a violent, disturbed person.”

Anderson’s mother plays video games as well, and as a result, so does she. “If anything, video games gave me and my mom something to do together,” Anderson said. “There are always parents who try to blame video games or television as the cause of bad behavior in their children, but if they would take time to keep their kids

This is promptly followed by the cat rolling over and giving out a “meow.”

It also knows when it’s time to get up. Before my alarm can even go off, I’ll wake to find a cat’s head nudging me in the side of my face. But unlike the alarm clock, the cat doesn’t have a snooze button to hit…though I’ve been tempted.

When I’m not picking up after the thing, it’s circling me. It’s a constant cycle of furry feline affection that is interrupting the peaceful island oasis that is my apartment. At one point I theorized that the cat could be the reincarnation of my ex-wife, come back in time to torment my remaining days. But that was a ridiculous notion—after all, unlike my ex, the cat is affectionate.

And you’ll notice that earlier I wrote “if it could talk,” and didn’t just impose a voice over the cat, as many cat people would do.

Cats don’t have voices—at least, they don’t have human voices. We all know those people who have a special voice for their cats, usually a different characterization per feline. These folks are also more likely to stuff the little guy into a reindeer outfit for Christmas, or a pumpkin costume for Halloween.

Let’s not call these people “cat people” anymore. As with their counterparts in the dog community, let’s just call them what they are—crazy people. The difference between a cat person and a dog person who dresses up their pet, though, is that in most cases a dog has a good chance of getting away. Seriously, have you ever seen a picture of a happy-looking cat dressed up in whatever seasonal getup they’ve been forced into? I didn’t think so. ■

away from media they deem harmful, much of that could have been avoided.”

Video games are not the cause of society’s ills.

Certainly, too much of anything is bad, and video games are no exception. But trying to pin the blame for such multifaceted issues as those facing an entire society on any one thing is utterly ridiculous. There is no magic formula for what will make a good or a bad person; everything is variable. So even if there are two or three misogynistic, lazy, promiscuous sociopaths who happen to play video games out there, it can be assumed the video games aren’t the cause. ■

ombucha has been touted as a cureall for over 200 years throughout Eastern Europe and Asia. In the late ’60s and early ’70s, it began sprouting up in hippie youth and alternative medicine subcultures in the United States and globally.

This generation has since supplied us with many a trendy miracle food, potion, pill or tonic, aimed at selling a bottle of promises and filling the idealist-turned-capitalist shelves of their bourgeoisie health stores.

Proponents and distributors of kombucha link its nutrition content with the ability to heal ailments from digestion, to chronic fatigue, to joint pain and even as a cancer or AIDS recovery treatment.

It would seem that most people with the ability to think critically realize that many of these health claims are bunk and, at best, a placebo effect. But as kombucha seems to be flying off the shelves at approximately $100 billion in sales in the United States and $150 million in the U.K., one has to wonder that it can’t be the urine-like taste of kombucha that has people so quick to spot the $3 to $5 price tag.

On the surface, everything about kombucha looks great. The acid content does provide an antibacterial, and in essence an antibiotic property, as does its probiotic content. Being low in calories and relatively low in sugar, it sure beats soda as a carbonated beverage.

Also being high in enzymes and potentially having antioxidants found in tea explains why some associate it with the reduction in cancer cells.

One has to question though: Is kombucha’s targeted market the one that drinks a Big Gulp every day? For those who make eating healthy a priority, there are aspects of the wonder

drink need to be taken into consideration before chugging down the vinegary tonic.

At 14 grams of sugar for the average bottle, containing a suggested two servings, it is still an awful lot of the white stuff. At 30 mg of acetic acid, it has high acidic content. This is of concern, not only to those on a lowacid diet, but also for those who value their stomach lining.

There have been very few peer-reviewed studies done to support the claims that the kombucha industry makes. Of the ones that have been done, some indicate that kombucha may be more harmful than healthy. Bottles of GT Synergy-brand kombucha claim that the beverage contains glucuronic acid, which detoxifies the liver, but scientific studies proved it does not. Some studies have actually linked the beverage with liver damage and metabolic acidosis.

Dr. Andrew Weil, founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, is also not so keen on kombucha’s reemerged popularity. On his website Weil, who is no stranger to making a buck on the health food craze, advises against the consumption of kombucha for a plethora of reasons, including fear of antibiotic resistance and allergic reactions. Weil would especially advise pregnant women, children and the elderly against consuming it.

When it comes down to it, kombucha will not likely harm you if you don’t drink it every day and you don’t have a compromised health situation. However, it isn’t going to perform the magic tricks it claims. Wouldn’t it just be better to eat fruits and vegetables?

They’re cheaper, more sustaining and have all the same health benefits that Kombucha claims without the possibility of side effects.

Ounce for ounce and pound for pound, the health claims of a fresh fruit smoothie outweigh the sour grapes of a bottle of fermented tea any day.

People should drink what they want to drink, but they should do so knowing all the information about the bottle in their hand. ■

PHOTO adam wickham/vanguard staff

Old time medicine?: Does anything good for you actually ever taste good?

Rust on the silver screen Portland State's best local bar Where do you go to wind down after a long hard week, day or class period of studying? What bar, pub or hole-in-the-wall do you prefer to frequent around the Portland State area? Go to www. psuvanguard.com and take our online poll. The result will be published in our upcoming Night Out Guide.

The fall of the video store Have you been noticing that all the local video stores—chains and small stores alike—have been liquidating their KALI product and sIMMONS going out of business?

The large, friendly stores are being replaced with “Redboxes”—cold, unloving computers that sit in the rain outside grocery stores. They preach convenience, but where did the warm, nerdy movie rental store I used to love go?

Millions of Americans go to the movies every year. We’ve created awards for movies, made gods out of movie actors and generally given in to movie worship. But, in this economy, it’s hard to shell out 10 to 12 bucks a pop for a movie in the theater—and up to 18 dollars if you want to see it in IMAX. Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing shift towards viewing movies at home. In the beginning—the early ’80s or so—there were movie rental stores. The aver-

age “mom and pop” movie rental stores were owned by troll-like curmudgeons who hid in the back, lest the light sear their flesh. They carried movies you’d never known existed, from different countries and…in different languages. They were the first to go.

Then you had the big chains such as Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. They were well lit, clean and charged four times as much as the locally run video store. They also employed the sale of candy, popcorn, soda and other sugary treats that would only hasten your cinematic diabetic coma. Both chains have filed bankruptcy over the past few years.

So of course, I showed my support for the stores I once loved: I rushed to the stores and bought up all the clearance movies I could…I never said I was perfect.

But more and more, as the shift towards these robotic movie kiosks of shame dominates, I wonder how we moved away, culturally, from the days when renting a movie was an adventure: When you and your significant other had to argue for hours over whether or not you wanted to see the new movie about the man who finds love, or the other new movie about the man who finds

love that has animated kittens in it. Now, all of those bonding experiences have to be held outside, in the freezing cold rain, with much fewer movie options.

Currently, the Hollywood video website is a shell of its former self, the only information displayed being “The company is in the process of exploring new ways of delivering entertainment to you and we anticipate that this website will be under new ownership shortly. “It appears that big chains that were once considered unfaultable are now being forced into the electronic kiosk world. Blockbuster was first, with their mailin movie program, and then eventually their Blockbuster Express sadness kiosks.

True, it’s smarter for the pocket to rent movies from a Redbox—they only cost $1 a night, and for the most part they’ll offer the big-name movies that most consumers want to see. But for the hardcore movie fan, we’ve been forced back to the indie theaters in order to see the latest in what the mainstream calls “art-house” theater, and what we call “real entertainment.” You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy of “Eraserhead” or “Old Boy” in a Redbox. So where can you go to see all of your

favorite hard-to-find movies?

Netflix. Netflix takes the lack of human interaction a step farther by allowing consumers to stream movies straight on their computer and gaming device, allowing you to stay in your dark cave of an apartment and avoid any interaction with mouth-breathing homo sapiens. With over a billion videos rented from their service, Netflix shows that we love movies and hate each other.

While it’s good that movies have become cheaper an d more convenient to view, the social and economic costs just seem too great.

As Blockbuster and Hollywood fell, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. The American goal of comfort has cost us a great period in our culture—a time when you actually had to talk to people about movies.

Movies are a mass fantasy. The experience of sitting in a theater and imagining with others, or sitting in your living room and imagining with your friends—that world is starting to fade. Without a culture than encourages this kind of shared experience, movies have turned into someone staring at a screen, forgetting for a while. Where is the imagination in that? ■

NEWS ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 7

6 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ OPINION

New players on the field Who is the Muslim Brotherhood?

Joe Mantecon Vanguard staff

By now, you’ve probably heard a thing or two about what’s going on in the Middle East. Heck, you’ve probably heard enough about what’s going on in Egypt to satisfy your curiosity all the way to 2017. It’s been rough keeping up with this story, considering how often the situation mutates itself. Hey, no one ever said it was easy being well informed. This is the Middle East as we know it best—temperamental, complicated and totally unpredictable.

With that in mind, you may have heard mention, in all this hubbub of democracy and revolution, of an up-to-now obscure little organization called the Muslim Brotherhood, seeking to make its bones in the midst of all this political commotion and social upheaval.

What is the Muslim Brotherhood?

Watch CNN or Fox News for a few minutes. Though you might not learn a whole lot about what it is the Muslim Brotherhood does, you’ll probably get a fairly decent idea of why you should be afraid of them. Dig a little deeper (by which I mean, read a book) and you will learn that the skinny on the Muslim Brotherhood is about half as clear as a bucket of tar.

The key word is contradiction. Why all the confusion? How does an institution that has publicly and officially extolled the virtues of jihad, praising “death for the sake of Allah” as the highest aspiration, manage to garner support as an agent of moderation and progressive reform?

How does a group that builds and administers hospitals, schools, daycare centers and thrift shops come to be viewed as a nefarious, scheming pawn of al-Qaida?

A little perspective might clear the waters.

First of all, the Muslim Brotherhood is not an international terrorist organization in the vein of al-Qaida. It is, first and foremost, a political party, albeit with a rather ambiguous mission statement. The reason for this is simple. Like our own Democratic Party and GOP, its constituents run the gamut from centrists, to hardliners, and outright nutjobs—making the task of classifying the group as a whole a fairly slippery endeavor.

Basically, the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 (yeah, it’s old) by one Hassan al-Banna, is an organization devoted to the Islamization of society through means of political activism, encouragement of Islamic values and social welfare initiatives. In Egypt, the 3,000-member local membership runs a number of perfectly benign domestic institutions, including schools, hospitals, charity foundations and such. Well, that’s just dandy.

But we don’t want to give the Muslim Brotherhood a free pass, now do we? Yes, the Brotherhood has experimented with terrorist bombings in the past. Yes, the group has claimed responsibility for political assassinations. Yes, the group’s website (www.ikhwanweb.com) equates Israelis to “Draculas.”

Not exactly the picture of moderate progressivism. Still—and please bear with me—fears regarding the alleged radical nature of the Muslim Brotherhood are inaccurate, or at least absurdly overblown.

What about the Muslim Brotherhood’s ties to alQaida, you ask?

Well, I say, as far as anyone in the know can tell, there aren’t any. On the contrary: Casual observation would seem to indicate that the two groups don’t get along at all—by any practical definition, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida are vehement political enemies.

In the years since 9/11, the Muslim Brotherhood has fought to distance itself from Osama bin Ladin and his cohorts. Ayman al-Zawahiri (Osama’s major deputy) has publicly decried the Muslim Brotherhood’s failure to pursue jihad, its slowness to implement any real progress toward Islamizing Egypt, and its participation in Egypt’s 2005 parliamentary elections (in which the Brotherhood came off with a handsome 20 percent of the legislature).

So al-Qaida is out of the picture. Ol’ Ayman might not realize it, but that’s a pretty good endorsement of the Muslim Brotherhood as an agent of moderation, as things go.

One of the main reasons that many Westerners view the Muslim Brotherhood with trepidation is due, in no small part, to the efforts of none other than former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak himself.

For much of his three-decade reign, Mr. Mubarak has vilified the Muslim Brotherhood as the nightmare alternative to his own regime.

Domestically, he has used this as justification to

ruthlessly extinguish political dissent, no matter how questionable the association to the actual Muslim Brotherhood. Abroad, he has used this as a scare tactic in order to consistently secure the support of policymakers in Washington.

In this regard, Mr. Mubarak should be praised for his shrewd political maneuvering— after Israel, Egypt is the single largest recipient of American foreign assistance. Not to mention a major diplomatic partner.

Many fears harken back to the 1979 revolution in Iran—Tehran has praised the revolution in Egypt as a “rallying call for Islamism.”

This is inaccurate for too many reasons to list here—suffice it to say that the respective revolutions in Iran and Egypt were inspired by different ideologies, carried out by different constituencies, in two separate countries with substantially different ethnicities, religious identities and political traditions.

Yes, similarities can and have been identified. Personally, I’m not convinced.

Regardless, were Egypt to re-imagine itself as an Islamist state, Sunni Arab Islam (Egypt) and Shia Persian Islam (Iran) differ widely in practice—namely, the major focus in Shia Islam being on the power of the clergy (ulama).

It is this key difference that has allowed the entrenched religious elite to hold sway in Iran for so long, and with such opposition-quashing effectiveness. Such a system does not exist in standard Sunni practice.

But, as recent activities have indicated, this very argument seems irrelevant. Lately, even the foundational Islamist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood has more-or-less fallen to the wayside. Some Muslim Brothers have gone so far as to abandon hopes of an Islamist Egypt altogether, instead aiming for further cooperation with liberal/secular groups.

Taking these apparent contradictions into consideration, you may find yourself wondering just how, exactly, an Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood might look. Taking into account the wide body of literature on the subject, I feel the only answer that can be credibly argued is that we honestly do not know.

Maybe the Muslim Brotherhood, sobered by the realities of a globalized, interconnected world, has sincerely resigned itself to the futility of strict Islamism. Perhaps active democracy is the future of the Brotherhood. Maybe it’s all a veneer—after all, this is exactly what a Muslim extremist group would want us to think.

Maybe the whole doggone issue is moot—in a recent straw poll, the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood garnered a whopping 1 percent of Egypt’s popular vote. Even Mubarak did better than that.

I’m not going to side with either viewpoint.

It’s possible to observe without endorsing or

FORT VANCOUVER FROM PAGE 1

Ames and Wilson have discovered the only documented native food storage cellars in the U.S. condemning, which seems to be exactly what Mr. Obama is doing (whatever his rationale is).

Maybe we’ll have a better idea when, or if, the Brotherhood starts to take a more visible role in Egyptian politics. For now, I don’t know.

If this seems like a giveaway for someone who really ought to know more about the Middle East, I’ll let you in on a little secret. To my knowledge, two months ago, no one, in all the field of Middle Eastern academia, was making the case for how and why Egypt would experience a grassroots revolution organized through Facebook. No one predicted this. Who can say what will happen next? ■

Wilson has been an archaeologist for NPS since 2000. He is now “on partnership agreement” with PSU and runs a field school at Fort Vancouver and surrounding sites. Graduate students are able to have more applied, practical experiences with archaeology through this program, he said.

Professor Kenneth Ames, chair of the PSU Department of Anthropology, similarly described the population in and around the fort as one consisting of indigenous Chinook people, Euro-Americans, Iroquois and Hawaiians, among others.

Both Ames and Wilson said that Fort Vancouver was the largest establishment between Yerba

Buena in San Francisco and Sitka, Alaska, and at its height in the early 1800s hosted a population of 600 to 1000 people.

Ames has worked at sites surrounding Fort Vancouver since 1991 and has spent a good deal of time at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Reserve, 15 miles downstream of the fort. There, he worked to find and excavate the remains of a Chinook Indian village called Cathlapotle.

Ames has also worked at a site called Meier.

Both are near the Ridgefield National Wildlife Reserve, across the river from Scappoose.

Cathlapotle, Meier and similar villages that Ames has excavated and analyzed are representative of recent and significant archaeological dis-

QUOTE FOR THOUGHT

Photo courtesy of dr. kenneth ames

Re-creating history: Doug Wilson poses in front of a re-creation of a Chinook structure. It was constructed based on past archaeological findings.

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

“I find television to be very educating.

Every time somebody turns on the set, I go in the other room and read a book.”

Groucho Marx

coveries, he said. Ames has discovered that the native homes there had cellars, likely for the use of food storage.

“They are the only [Native American] cellars documented in North America,” Ames said.

“And these people are supposed to be huntergatherers.”

Ames described the cellars as being larger than those of Knossos, a bronze-age palace on the Mediterranean island of Crete that is known for its storerooms.

Certain animal remains also constitute a significant discovery, according to Ames.

“The sites are full of the remains of animals that the people harvested,” he said.

One such is a species of elk hunted by the Chinook. However, the remains indicate that this subspecies is some 30 percent larger than elk seen today, according to Ames.

These elk hides would have been valuable for the Chinook, he said. Many were scraped, tanned and used as protective armor. In Ames’ estimation, two layers of these elk hides would be thick enough to stop a musket-ball.

The hides also appear to have been a considerable source of wealth for the indigenous people near Fort Vancouver. They were traded for items such as beads, copper, pottery and muskets.

“We’ve got thousands of objects,” Ames said.

Wilson was the director of an archaeological dig at Station Camp, a native village located on the banks of the Columbia River rich with these objects. The Chinook called it “Middle Village.”

Wilson said that the considerable count of these “wealth items” at the site specifically indicated the prosperity of the Chinook. Due largely in part to this, he believes that a powerful Chinook chief named Concomly lived in the area

KARL KUCHS/VANGUARD STAFF

Local excavation: Dr. Kenneth Ames has worked at the sites surrounding Fort Vancouver since 1991.

and controlled much of the fur commerce in the Northwest.

Elemental testing is currently being done, with the use of soil samples, to better understand how the people at these sites lived and coexisted by assessing what foods they ate and what materials they used.

Tami Lasseter Clare, associate professor of chemistry at PSU, is performing these tests.

The samples given to her represent soil from a dirt floor, a refuse disposal and an area next to a hearth.

“I do it with cultural collections…[but] this is a first,” she said, referring to her work with the archaeology department.

Both Wilson and Clare are excited to see the outcome of the tests and the cooperation between departments. ■

E-BOARD FROM PAGE 1

ITALIAN FROM PAGE 1

Board hopes that over 2,700 students will vote in election

Boero hopes to help build a more positive image of Italian-Americans

This year, the E-board has set a goal of having 10 percent of the student population turn out for the vote: over 2,700 students.

“We want to create a blanket effect with our advertising for the elections,” Wubbold said.

“And we’re working with senators to reach out to constituents.”

The E-board is planning a “Rock the Vote” type of event for April 26, the week before voting occurs. In a meeting last Friday, its members discussed various marketing ideas, from creating promotional videos to distribute through the PSU network to creating informational pamphlets.

They also hope to create an online presence via social networking. Part of the problem, according to Wubbold, is that people don’t know what ASPSU does.

“We want to publish some literature explaining what they do, what money they control, what things they manage,” he said.

ASPSU has struggled for some time to fill open positions in the Student Senate and other committees. Many have attributed this to student disinterest in student government.

To combat this, ASPSU filled two executive positions earlier this month: the communications director and outreach coordinator. These positions are dedicated solely to bridge the communication gap between students and student government.

Wubbold believes a contributing factor to the low turnout of student voting is confusion about campaigning.

“Candidates can campaign up until the last second on the day of voting,” he said.

This means that candidates have up to two full weeks to get their name out and convince students that their vote is important. Ultimately, it is the candidate’s responsibility to gather votes, according to Wubbold.

The E-board also wants to curb the kind of bickering that plagued last year’s campaign season.

Last year, a candidate was disqualified after accusing another candidate of improper

ADAM WICKHAM/VANGUARD STAFF

Gearing up for elections: Chair Ari Wubbold discusses the Elections Board goals with a fellow member.

conduct. The candidate was finally reinstated days before the election by a Judicial Board vote.

According to Wubbold, the E-board has control over a few things, such as candidate eligibility, but it primarily upholds the statutes described in the ASPSU constitution.

According to the ASPSU constitution, governing members must maintain a GPA of 2.00 for undergraduates and 3.00 for graduates.

However, the E-board is seeking to increase this minimum in order to establish a higher standard for student body governance.

Wubbold is hopeful about this year’s elections. He also said that two interested candidates attended the E-Board meeting last week.

“We are expecting a passionate campaign,” he said.

Campaigns will begin April 11 and PSU students can vote online on April 29 through the MyPSU portal. ■ The E-board is currently accepting applications of candidacy. E-mail aspsueboard@gmail.com for information.

“I am planning to organize a cycle of lectures on Italian and American-Italian studies,” Boero said. “Lecturers from the most accredited universities in the nation, and possibly from Europe, will be invited to PSU, giving our institution an even wider public prominence.”

Boero is in a good position to recognize prominence in the field, having taught Italian language, history, literature and semiotics in Europe before beginning her career in university-level instruction in 1999. She came to PSU in 2007, after having taught the previous year at Duke University.

In addition to teaching six courses each academic year, Boero is an academic adviser, serves on various departmental committees and actively publishes her research in the field of Italian studies.

However, there is still more that Boero does to serve both PSU students and the community.

“Every academic year, during winter and spring, I host the PSU Italian Movie Night,” Boero said. “I show non-mainstream films. This event is free and open to anyone who wants to expand his or her knowledge in Italian cinema, or in Italian culture and history. Moreover, this event is a great opportunity to reach the greater Portland community.”

Boero believes that this relationship with the community is vital in shaping a positive image of Italian-Americans, a belief that aligns strongly with the mission of the NIAF. A study conducted by the Italic Institute of America between 1996 and 2002 examined film portrayals of Italian culture from 1928 to 2002, concluding that 69 percent of these portrayed Italians in a negative light. Of these films, 40 percent featured Italians as mobsters or criminals, and 29 percent portrayed them as bigots, buffoons or bimbos.

The study found that only 31 percent of all films portraying Italian culture during these years featured complex or realistic characterizations of

the Italian or Italian-American experience.

“What we desire is to make known how Italian is not only the stereotypical language of love, good food and wine, and, more recently, fashion,” Boero said. “Italian is the language of a country who shaped and shapes the cultural history of Europe and a good part of the world.”

According to Boero, she does not intend for the programs to exude a nationalistic attitude.

“Italian is the still the language of freedom fighters and great thinkers,” she said. “It is a language of resistant material, so to speak, whose legacy is our culture, never to be intended as circumscribed by borders, but always open to the wider community of the world.”

With enrollment increasing each year, PSU now has more Italian minors than ever before, and with a dedicated but limited faculty, Boero said that grants such as this can make an enormous difference.

In addition, this support may be critical to the World Languages and Literatures Department, in which all PSU students enrolled in bachelor’s programs must take classes if they have left high school without two years of foreign language competency.

However, though the department is affected more drastically than others in the face of rising enrollment, there are no guarantees of expanding its faculty in these times of economic uncertainty.

The lecturers and outreach programs that grants like the one Boero has received from the NIAF may help to bridge this gap by attracting much-needed support, while highlighting the prominence of PSU’s Italian studies program.

“In order to continue expanding Italian studies, we want to reach out even more to…

Portland, of which the Italian-American community is a thriving and extremely helpful force,” Boero said. ■

ARTS & CULTURE ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 9

8 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ ARTS & CULTURE

A&C

EDITOR: NICHOLAS KULA ARTS@DAILYVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5694

Portland State has jokes on jokes PSU students are ready to tickle your funny bone Kynna Groff Vanguard staff

G

et ready to laugh, because the 2011 National College Comedy Competition has begun. If you’re in the mood for comedy this week, you should look no further than our very own Portland Sate University NCCC team. They’re facing off against Evergreen College and showcasing their best stuff during the Regional Rival Show at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 2.

The National College Comedy Competition was founded in 2008 by Rooftop Comedy with an ambitious plan. They were going to search colleges throughout the U.S. looking for the funniest college student. It’s about more than just stand-up, though, since students who advance to the higher rounds have to make short, funny films that roast their rival team. There are some newcomers in the mix this year, as well as a few old rivals. One thing’s for sure, though— this year is going to be even wilder and more hilarious than last year.

2011 marks the group’s fourth year of hosting the competition. At the start of the season, there are 32 teams—eight teams for each geographical area: west, east, south and midwest.

Each college’s team is comprised of eight students who have won a spot after their campus talent search. The eight teams compete in a Regional Rival Show (March 1 to April 9) where the audience and a panel of judges get to decide who moves on.

From there, the teams whittle down to the “Select 16” who will again fight it out regionally (March 20 to April 11), while online voters get to decide which teams will be worthy to move on and become part of the “Ultimate 8.”

Those who have been deemed worthy enter the Conference Rival Round (April 14 to 18), where eight teams will ultimately have to say goodbye to their dreams of being named the funniest college students.

From those eight, the teams compete in the Conference Rival Roast (April 18to 25), wherein their funniness on film is tested and they create video roasts of the team they’re facing. Audiences across the U.S. once again cast their votes, and the four teams with the most become the “Funniest 4.” These four teams take it to the stage and bring everything they’ve got (April 28 to May 2).

Once again, it is up to the judges, who will name the nation’s funniest college team on May 9.

The glory doesn’t end there, however, because four MVPs are selected from the winning team, and get to bring their A-game to the stage at the TBS Presents Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Chicago on June 14 to 18. Once there, the team members will receive the VIP treatment, including hanging out with celebrity comedians and backstage passes to all kinds of events.

Last year, Calvin Cole, a student from the University of Florida, won the top honor after a fierce competition that left Emerson College, Loyola Marymount and Xavier University in the dust. This year, Portland State is ready to enter into the fray and treat the other teams to a healthy dose of Portland humor.

The NCCC is not just about who’s going to be named funniest team or funniest student in

Nicholas Kula Vanguard staff

Like black metal, grind and pretty much all electronic music, Portland has this unspoken ratio in play: For every good band, there are approximately 300 bad ones. Everyone in Portland thinks they’re in a good band. That said, for some strange reason, our town’s venues are clogged with bands that are just plain no good.

With Portland’s nepotistic nature, spots in our now waning venue population are hotly contested. More often than not, smaller venues are packed to the gills with bands nobody really wants to see. But quietly, in the shadows, relative unknowns are doing some amazing things.

Enter: Leaves Russell.

On Feb. 4, Leaves Russell released its first piece of music, “Tale of Two Basements.” A very promising release, AToTB may have performed the impossible: raising the bar of Portland’s stalwart music scene—and nobody out there knows it yet. On the flipside; at five tracks, does AToTB have the mass necessary to make a real impact on Portland’s sonic landscape?

In the shortest terms possible: it should. More honesty drips from this record than most albums released by Portlanders in the last few years. Listeners will call it like it is on this record. Leaves Russell are, in no uncertain terms, a more pop-

oriented Radiohead with some R&B hooks scattered throughout.

And really, that’s fine. Songs like “Paperthin” really exemplify this comparison. Frontman Matthew Russell sounds like Thom Yorke might, if Yorke weren’t howling into a microphone drenched with compression, reverb and echo. It is this sense of stripped-down honesty that characterizes AToTB. Sparse but lush instrumentals cover the terrain of the record, which are only augmented by Russell’s crooning.

When the instruments drop out, Russell’s voice is naked and wavering, which only reinforces the idea that this record seems to conjure up again and again: Four guys got together and recorded a very real album, more out of passion than menial chore. Lots of records released in this city traverse every path BUT honesty, and sad to say, the façade quickly wears thin.

Every member contributes something to the band, which is more than can be said for quite a few bands these days. The lovely piano work is added by Russell himself, and its interplay with strings player Thacher Schmid’s violin on songs like “La Zona Rosa” is pared down and devoid of any pompous frills—quite the welcome change from early 2011’s (and late 2010’s) glut of dense tedium.

The rhythm section, comprised of bassist Isaac Medina and percussionist Jackson Conrad, is about as tight as any band could hope for. The closing minute or so of the album’s opening

Things to try out once you’ve hit a wall

their appeal. This especially helps keep things interesting during longer cardio workouts.

Rian Evans Vanguard staff

Listen to audio books

No matter how dedicated one is to their fitness endeavors, we all invertibly run into a wall at some point. Sometimes this can be the avoidance of one particular workout, or a rut that last for weeks on end. Either way, here are some easy-to-implement tricks that may potentially help trainees push forward when they’re running short on enthusiasm.

Listen to music

PHOTO COURTESTY HELIUM COMEDY CLUB

Packed house: Hopefully Helium will be a little fuller than this.

America. It’s also about raising local revenue and college spirit. That said, come out and support our PSU comedy team. After all, this may be your last chance to get to know them now, before they become big-shot comedy champions.

For more information about the Helium Comedy Club, check out their website at www.heliumcomedy.com/portland. ■

National College Comedy Competition March 2 Helium Comedy Club 1510 SE 9th Ave. $5 21+, subject to change heliumcomedyclub.com/portland

Almost more Radiohead than Radiohead Leaves Russell releases debut album, raises local bar

Spicing up the old workout

How some people manage to train without music is beyond me. I’ve always found the right song and the right moment to be of great help. I can’t imagine attempting to move heavy poundages without the sound of thrash metal in my ears. For others, it may be rap, hip-hop, rock, pop or even musical scores. Whatever a trainee’s preferences, the right music can be a great motivator. Music has also been shown to make individuals more compliant with their routines, probably because we’re more likely to stick with something when we find it enjoyable.

In my personal experience, music is great for “psyching up” before attempting a heavy lift. I save my favorite songs for just before attempting a working set. The only drawback to this method is that eventually, the songs get stale. No worries, though, just load some tunes on the mp3 player or iPod before the old songs completely lose

Right behind music are audio books. I don’t recommend audio books for weight lifting, but for those who engage in long-duration cardio, audio books are fantastic. They provide something to focus on, making the cardio session seem much shorter and more enjoyable. I’ve even used audio books as a way of increasing my study time during the day, since it is possible to find textbook overviews, such as Vango Notes, in audio form.

Work out with a partner I’d actually rate a workout partner above music.

Music is of course more practical, but I highly recommend finding a training partner if possible. A partner not only makes the workout safer by acting as a spotter, but we’re always more motivated when we have someone to impress. In the instances in which I’ve had a training partner, I always found myself trying to compete with them or trying to impress them during my sets. Immature and overly macho?

Perhaps, but it also makes for some extremely effective workouts.

Get wired As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, stimulants are always an option. I don’t recommend anything too extreme—just plain old caffeine.

Coffee is a fine option, but it tends to run right through the bladder. That said, I prefer caffeine anhydrous, which is available over the counter in

PHOTOGRAPHER/VANGUARD STAFF

Earbuds: The tools that sculpt chiseled bodies.

those little yellow tablets. The brand name stuff is Vivarin, but I recommend saving some cash and getting the generic brand. It’s ultra cheap, even more cost-effective than a cup of black coffee. Just be sure not to consume too much. Most people do well with 100–200 milligrams. By consuming over that amount, there is a greater chance of running into caffeine intoxication.

And of course, those sensitive to caffeine or with health problems will want to avoid it.

Look up to someone Many a skinny young lad was motivated by Charles Atlas in the days of yore. Times have changed, but it’s still easy to find athletes (or celebrities) with physiques we can admire. I will often watch YouTube videos of professional athletes working out before heading to the gym myself. There’s something motivating about seeing an elite physical specimen at work. Find someone inspirational and let his or her passion and performance be a motivator. ■

For the love of a homeless man “Good Morning to the World!” will test the viewer’s patience Ines Kuna Vanguard staff

PHOTOCOURTESY LEAVESRESSULL.COM

Leaves Russell: Delivering a holy experience.

track, “Heart of Things,” is a perfect example. In what appears to be a short interlude at the end, the band interplays brilliantly with one another with gorgeous tones all around, especially those from Medina.

Of course, no album is without its flaws, and thankfully, this record keeps them to a minimum. Some of the songs could stand to be tightened up a bit. Some songs, such as “Paperthin” have a couple sparse transitions that drag down the mood of the song a bit. The transitions between tracks aren’t as smooth as they could be, but I think this hints at the album’s chief problem: the track order.

The record as a whole is exceptional. The order in which they choose to present it, how-

ever, is a little slipshod. The album’s pathway is a rocky one mood-wise, when a record of this caliber and emotive content could benefit from a much smoother ride. Personally, I’d order the tracks two, four, one, three and five for maximum enjoyment. But when your record’s biggest problem is the track order, I’d say you’re doing just fine. ■

Tale of Two Basements Leaves Russell Out now leavesrussell.com

“Good Morning to the World!” is a relatively short film following the life of a naïve, curious high school student. The introverted Yuta (Yoichiro Koizumi) contently lives a routine existence filled with school, long spring days and lots of free time. With a non-existent father and barely-present mother, Yuta has all the time in the world to strum his air guitar and fight off imaginary friends in his small, ordinary dwelling.

He records the mundane events of his life, in which all days run like those before, to his faithful tape recorder. Every morning on the way to and from school, Yuta passes a homeless man who spends his nights under a tunnel. Although he clearly avoids the man at first, Yuta becomes increasingly more interested in the life he himself could never understand. As his worldview is challenged, Yuta finds that the story of his life is unraveling.

The next day, the tunnel is a crime scene and Yuta has set his sights on discovering the truth behind what appears to have been a murder.

Luckily, having seized the man’s bag the day before for curiosity reasons, Yuta is equipped with necessary but vague tools which lead him on a heroic search for a cause outside the breadth of the small, contained world that he is used to.

Abandoning school, Yuta embarks on a short but enlightening quest.

Director Satoru Hirohara succeeds in creating a film that captivates the innocence of youth.

It brings back long summers, where there was nothing to do but walk about and try to keep busy. Despite hormones running wild and plen-

PHOTO COURTESY FESTIVALSCOPE.COM

Lookin' good: Good morning to the world indeed.

tiful teenage insecurities, those years were ignorant to many inevitable larger sufferings of the real world. As Yuta and his friends discuss if they will truly ever die, their fear is pushed behind a veil of youth and vitality, juxtaposing a recurring mention of one classmate’s suicide. This lingering tragedy is discussed with surreal disbelief.

The illusion of immortality set forth by youth slowly erodes as Yuta furthers his quest for the truth in the death of the homeless man.

The film is beyond realism: It is 80 minutes of YouTube footage. There are about 10 scenes in the entire film, and the scenes are too long even for Kubrick’s taste. The dark scenes are too

dark and the bright scenes are too bright. This cinematography is intentional, but not fulfilling. Realism can be achieved through long shots with higher resolution cameras, making for a more enjoyable experience. I am sure that many will, rightfully so, disagree with me. However, if it bothered me, it may bother the rest of you as well. With that said, the movie takes a very patient viewer.

Most importantly, the storyline is draining. Coupled with slow cinematographic style, “Good Morning to the World!” is exacting, like watching a documentary about a kid too insecure to have an interesting social life and

too curious for his own good (but still not that interesting). Although the film truly does succeed nostalgically in bringing one back to carefree youth, it does as good of a job as any home video—and the latter is obviously better, since you can be the protagonist. ■

Good Morning to the World!

Dir. Satonu Hirohara nwfilm.org

ARTS & CULTURE ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 11

10 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ ARTS & CULTURE

Gameboy chaos Crystal Castles makes a stop in Portland Jake Stevens Vanguard staff

PHOTOCOURTESY CULTUREBULLY.COM

King nothing: 2011's most misleading album title.

Three years for this, huh?

Radiohead releases “The King of Limbs” Nicholas Kula Vanguard staff

In October 2007, Radiohead released “In Rainbows,” an album with a twist. In contrast to the normal ways that bands release albums, i.e. through labels at a fixed price, Radiohead instead offered a “pay what you will” system. Fans who downloaded the record did exactly that: They paid whatever they wanted. Even with some people paying only a penny, sales of “In Rainbows” surpassed those of their previous album, “Hail to the Thief.”

This time around, Radiohead has returned to fixed prices, and it appears that they just don’t give a damn. In fact, upon first listen, it would appear that Radiohead is engaging in an even more groundbreaking marketing strategy. The new name of the game is “let’s see how much goofy crap we can put out and still have people pay for it.” With their new release, “The King of Limbs,” Radiohead is teetering on the tightrope; below is complete self-indulgence, and just ahead is quality songwriting.

But wait, you say, isn’t this what people were saying about “Kid A” when it came out? Yes, yes they were. However, “Kid A” was a radical departure from their previous work, 1997’s “OK Computer.” Nobody expected the shift from Radiohead, and their following works saw them expanding on that style. “In Rainbows” saw them inching their way up the ladder to one side of the tightrope. Now that “Limbs” is out, Thom Yorke and company are right out there on the high wire, flapping their arms and sweating profusely.

I never thought I’d live to hear myself say this, but it seems that the lack of a record label is causing Radiohead to implode. The complete lack of any outside force to keep them in check lets them release whatever they can squeeze out whenever they want.

That’s what “Limbs” appears to be—a collection of ideas with no real cohesion, a model airplane assembled with no glue.

Granted, the album, which consists of eight tracks, is somewhat of a grower. Upon second

and third listens, a bit more stands out, but halfway through the third listen, the album plateaus, and it isn’t pretty. Jonny Greenwood fans will be extremely disappointed to hear how shamefully underutilized he is on this record.

One thing that isn’t underutilized by any stretch is programmed drums. In fact, the album is rife with them, with Radiohead using the most boring trick in the book—playing half-time to fast drums. We’ve come to expect more from Radiohead, and this time they simply haven’t delivered.

In fact, one of the standout tracks on “Limbs,” titled “Lotus Flower” leaked everywhere before the album was even released.

Fans clamored with excitement that Radiohead might deliver unto us another “OK Computer” or “Kid A.” When “Limbs” was finally released however, the doubt ran downhill from the “Lotus Flower” peak. Some might argue that “Lotus Flower” is the album’s peak, and I wouldn’t disagree, though “Morning Mr. Magpie” and “Little by Little” are close.

By now, you’re undoubtedly thinking that I have said that nearly half of the album’s tracks are good. They are—but the level of pretense that Radiohead operates under throughout the course of “Limbs” is simply enough to mire the rest of the compositions.

From a practical standpoint, and given the rest of Radiohead’s offerings, there isn’t a single track on “Limbs” that would electrify a crowd if played live. Every record has one such track, and I believe it’s fair to judge Radiohead’s contemporary output in this way. Unfortunately, “Limbs” holds no instant classics in Radiohead canon, and thusly should be viewed as what it is—a sloppy mishmash of underutilized talent that has a few shiny spots. I hate to say it, but every band is entitled to a stinker. Let’s hope this is Radiohead’s first and last. “Pablo Honey” doesn’t count. ■

Having become yet another pop icon to come out of Toronto and join the elite ranks of Drake and Justin Bieber, Crystal Castles and their eight-bit machine gun are coming into town to put on quite a show this week. They will lay claim on the Roseland this Sunday to an already sold-out show. Are we saying you shouldn’t try and get tickets? Well, no.

But since that has been clearly established, it seems like there isn’t much to talk about.

Hogwash! Crystal Castles is the coolest thing to come out of dance music since Benny Benassi’s music video for “Satisfaction,” which featured many a bodacious babe working with power tools.

Hailing from Toronto, these Canadian dance punks go by the names of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass. Ethan does the producing and Ms. Glass blesses us with her vocals and head-banging enthusiasm. Their shows and tunes have been creating some serious buzz since they first got together in 2003. Crystal Castles falls in line with the endless amount of other artists that have recently staked their claim to fame over the Internet, releasing music for multiple years over MySpace until a record company finally swoops down on them.

This eclectic duo first came on to the scene in March of 2008 with their self-titled debut album, which reached number six on the U.S. Top Electronic Albums list and came in at number 47 on the UK Top Albums chart.

However, their premier celebration came to a halt shortly thereafter with issues surrounding copyright violations and using artist Trevor Brown’s artwork on some of their band merchandise. The short-lived dispute with Mr. Brown was over a quite humorous picture of Madonna with a black eye, which was placed on T-shirts sold at their shows. The dilemma was swiftly taken care of by Crystal Castles by

In other news: Prank calls make it to the big leagues

purchasing the rights from the disgruntled artist. Besides their merchandise, Kath’s Gameboy beats went under scrutiny when he failed to give proper credit to a sample he had used on one of his original unreleased demos that he put up on his MySpace page.

Besides all of the copyright issues that this young pair have attracted, they should be recognized for their immense talent and vision that they have exhibited in the world of popular music. As the story goes, Kath first discovered his young vocalist when she was only 15 and singing in a local punk band. Kath really liked her voice and bequeathed upon her a CD full of instrumentals, which Glass accepted and started writing lyrics for, eventually leading her into the studio to record. These recordings of Alice filling in with her vocals have been titled “Alice Practice.” This can be seen as the meeting of two great forces: Kath with his unique eightbit beats, and Glass with her ear-penetrating punk dialect.

What to expect from this intensive beat unit this Sunday goes far beyond their music.

The 21-year-old Glass has already acquired an infamous reputation of getting buck-wild during her performances. There are many reports of the overzealous singer attacking fans and even security guards. This past summer during a show in Barcelona, Glass reportedly attacked one of her security guards during a performance and put cigarettes out on fans. If this isn’t your type of usual groove, it’s highly recommend to avoid the near-stage area during her unusual spectacle, just to be safe.

Other than the potential of being punched, kicked, spat on, burnt and pummeled, this should undoubtedly be a great show. That is, if you can find tickets. ■

Roseland Theater Sunday, March 6th Sold out, tickets available for $25–30 All ages

Radiohead Out now PHOTO COURTESY ZASMAGAZINE.COM

NOW HIRING ARTS WRITERS a p p ly o n li n e at w w w. P S U VAN G UA R D.c o m

ADAM WICKHAM/VANGUARD STAFF

Heart-shaped boxes Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of existential warehousing Joshua Hunt Vanguard staff

Crystal Castles, Suuns

The King of Limbs

Alice Glass: Shutter speeds don't get much lower.

Buffalo, NY’s Ian Murphy is a hero to us all. Just last week, he called up governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin pretending to be billionaire David Koch, where he got Walker to admit all sorts of inflammatory things—anti-democrat statements, how unions need to be done away with, and other things.

No, this isn’t funny when specifics are considered. However, from an outsider’s perspective, this is hilarious. How lucky are we to be living in an age like this, where journalists are prank calling governors and getting them to open up about all their secret prejudices? It’s the citizen’s version of state government checks and balances: as long as one man exists who can do a voice well enough, we’ll always be able to ferret out the rats that hold elected office.

Who knew the art of prank calling—as old as Ma Bell herself—could be used to uncover corruption and extreme bias in politics? Hats off, Mr. Murphy. ■

Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel “Never Let Me Go” has recently enjoyed a revival after being adapted for the big screen in 2010 by director Mark Romanek. The novel was a risky venture for one of literature’s most subtle voices, as its subject matter draws heavily from the science fiction thriller genre. Yet, just as Graham Greene fashioned the crime thriller framework of “Brighton Rock” into a novel that challenged the Roman Catholic doctrine on the nature of sin and morality, Ishiguro has done something marvelous with “Never Let Me Go.” The premise, unfortunately, cannot be left unstated in any review of “Never Let Me Go.” Kathy, the novel’s 31-year-old narrator, is introduced to us as a “carer” who works in a recovery center, where she assists “donors.” It is not long, however, before Kathy’s mind wanders, taking us back to the privileged upbringing she enjoyed at the boarding school Hailsham.

Along with best friends Ruth and Tommy, our narrator received an education and upbringing that is perhaps best described as Dickensian via Aldous Huxley. Rather than nuns, there are “guardians,” whose extreme concern for the children is countered by a professionalism and distance that comes across as slightly odd. Kathy, Ruth and Tommy spend their childhood absorbed in art projects and other enjoyments, and are encouraged to stretch the duration of their early years for as long as possible.

Once revealed, their post-graduate duty gives harmony to the discordant notes that came before. Hailsham is a school for clones, created and raised to adulthood ex- clusively for the use of their organs. Here is where it becomes important to distinguish Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel from the world of science fiction, with its simple moral paradoxes.

From any other author, this would almost certainly be a trite commentary on the ethics of science, but the man who authored “The Remains of the Day” doesn’t tend to make such middling statements. Ishiguro’s characters offer us either the highly personal or the wildly vast when it comes to statements on the human condition.

If one goes looking for the personal, what one discovers in “Never Let Me Go” are those things that Ishiguro might say are innately human. That there are things so much a part of human nature as to be experienced even by quasi-humans, reared in an environment that is merely a grotesque caricature of childhood.

At the same time, we also catch glimpses of the consequences in rearing focused on developing a personality that can tolerate one’s fate.

This, of course, has nothing to do with personality-deficient clones or moral debates in science and medicine. It has everything to do with what it means to be human, and the limits to which we can abuse the privilege. The tolerances of humanity, it would seem, are great in the personal as well as the collective.

Ultimately, “Never Let Me Go” is a novel about our collective ability to persevere in spite of an existence that is utterly meaningless. Kathy, Ruth and Tommy are merely living an accelerated and tightly focused form of the existence that all experience in alleged chaos.

Reason would suggest that the three of them should resist, but instead they simply live each day conditioning their self to accept the constraints of their lives. They struggle, but it is a struggle toward acceptance, not against it.

Kazuo Ishiguro’s wonderful novel doesn’t ask us why we want to clone, or whether it is morally correct. Neither is his decision to use clones to illustrate his point accidental. It is, in fact, an ironic one—man’s only means of achieving immortality is fashioned into a story that asks us why we don’t each walk off a cliff the moment we realize the futility of existence. ■

Let me tell you a secret

http://www.psuvanguard.com is holding it down!

Exclusive online content: check. A more detailed listing of shows: check. An open online forum to discuss the articles: check. A completely online Vanguard experience: double check. Make sure you check it out!

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12 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ SPORTS

SPORTS

Blazers improve roster with last-minute deadline deal

EDITOR: KEVIN FONG SPORTS@DAILYVANGUARD.COM 503-725-4538

Portland State wows Montana schools point, the Lady Griz recovered to make it a four-point game with under a minute to go.

Still, the Viks made their free Montana (14-13 9-5 BSC) throws down the stretch to opened the second half on hold on to the 70-65 win. a four-point run, but PSU Head coach Sherri Murrell answered the Griz with a said that playing at the Mon10-point run, including two tanas is a hard weekend and treys—one by senior forward winning just one game is an achievement, but both is huge. The Viks did just that.

Both the Montana Lady Griz and the Montana State Bobcats are known for their high-intensity fan bases, but senior guard Lexi Bishop said that the team used this to their advantage.

“It’s funny…

Full of Heart: Senior guard Kelli Valentine has helped I think we play provide leadership and experience for the Vikings. better in bigKelli Valentine and the other ger environments and bigger by junior guard Stephanie crowds—it almost helps to Egwuatu. Although the Viks get us fired up. We want to pushed the lead to 20 at one show them and prove to them

Vikings sweep Montana and Montana State on the road for first time in history Rosemary Hanson Vanguard staff

F

or the first time ever, the Portland State women’s basketball team swept Montana and Montana State away from the Park Blocks. The Viks beat Montana on Thursday 70-65, and then Montana State on Saturday 81-77. The wins pushed the Viks into a tie for second place with Montana State, just a game behind firstplace Northern Colorado.

On Thursday night, the Viks (17-10, 10-4 BSC) managed to gain a substantial lead multiple times, but Montana responded to all of the Viking surges to end the game with just a five-point difference. PSU was up by as much as 17 in the first half, but went into the locker room barely in the lead 38-30.

all photos by karl kuchs/VANGUARD STAFF

Air Courtney: Sophomore guard Courtney VanBrocklin flies through the air on her way to the hoop.

that we can beat them,” Bishop said.

Although the Viks may have enjoyed the environment, PSU finished the first half against Montana State (16-12,10-4 BSC) down by 10, 46-36. At halftime, Murrell said she told the players they needed to change some offense around, but more importantly, bring heart into the game if they wanted to gain a second consecutive road win.

“I just asked for them to show heart. I told them they have to dig in and I said if you really truly want this, Prime time: Junior forward Shaunice Samms has come up huge inside for the Viks since returning. you have to play 20 minutes with heart and “She’s always been known necessary to compete against they showed that they wanted for her defense every single competitive teams. it,” Murrell said. year, but when she played this The starters all posted high The Viks played to win in weekend she really stepped numbers over the weekend as the second half and kept the up on offense and took the well. Valentine, VanBrocklin Bobcats scoreless for a little open shots,” Murrell said. and junior guard Eryn Jones all scored in double-figures “ I think we play better in bigger environments for both games. Jones led the Viks with 20 on Thursday, and bigger crowds—it almost helps to get us and combined for 35 over the fired up. We want to show them and prove to weekend.

PSU hosts the Montana them that we can beat them.” schools next week, and the Viks will again need their depth, Lexi Bishop fast offense and ability to come over nine minutes. from behind. With just two At 12:18, a shot by games left until the end of the sophomore guard regular season, PSU is pushing Courtney VanBrocktoward the possibility of a Big lin gave the Viks Sky regular season victory their first lead at and the honor of hosting the 51-50. The Bobcats tournament at home. However, controlled the score the Viks will need to win the one last time, but a rest of their games to have a pair of free throws shot. by sophomore guard Tipoff for the game against Karley Lampman Montana is on Thursday with under 10 minat 7 p.m. at the Peter W. utes to go gave the Stott center. ■ Viks the lead again for good.

Bishop said that KEY LEADER the importance of winning this game was making the team Bishop rules: Senior Lexi Bishop was the queen come together. of the court this weekend against the Montanas.

“I think just knowing every game is like a “It really showed—Lexi is a championship,” Bishop said. senior and she wants to win “We have no chance of host- this championship. She did ing unless we win out the rest what she had to do to help of our games. We knew we her team.” had to dig deep in ourselves Besides Bishop, several and keep playing strong.” bench players stepped up over The weekend was all about the weekend. On Saturday, the performance of Bishop, a Lampman and freshman player usually known for her forward Allie Brock made some Lexi Bishop defense. The senior posted key stops and shots. Brock Senior, guard a career-high four three- ended Saturday in doubleCombined weekend numbers pointers on Thursday and figures with 10 points. Also, Points: 32 then came back on Saturday Egwuatu had seven rebounds Three point field goals: 9 and re-broke her record with and a block. Murrell said it is Steals: 5 five. Bishop combined for crucial to see strong reserve Rebounds: 4 32 points over the weekend. players because that depth is

New Blazer Gerald Wallace made his much-anticipated debut against Atlanta on Sunday night Kevin Fong Vanguard staff

Gerald Wallace is just what Portland needed— and never mind the basketball team; it's mainly this city that needed him. Last Wednesday, with less than 10 minutes before the end of the NBA trade deadline, the Portland Trailblazers pulled off a crunch-time deal, sending forward Dante Cunningham, centers Joel Pryzbilla and Sean Marks, plus two future first-round draft picks to the Charlotte Bobcats in exchange for Wallace.

“It’s an exciting team,” Wallace told The Oregonian last week. “A team that’s in the hunt, for not only a playoff berth, but a championship…I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Wallace’s excitement is matched by the enthusiasm of the fans. The all-star forward was greeted by a chorus of cheers at the airport when he arrived in Portland on Friday. When his picture was displayed on the big screen during Friday night’s game, the Rose Garden erupted for an extended ovation. The atmosphere was absolutely electric for Wallace’s debut on Sunday night, feeling more like a late February playoff game than simply a regular-season contest.

“Hopefully, [I’ll bring] that energy, get out on the court and pick it up on the defensive end,” Wallace told radio station 95.5 “The Game” in a pre-game interview. “Whatever they need me to do, I’ll do it.”

Energy is exactly what Wallace has already provided for this franchise and its fans. The excitement coursing through this town could be heard on the radio shows and read on the Internet forums over the weekend. For a city that once dreamed of championships, only to have their hopes repeatedly shattered by injuries and disappointment, a dose of good news was

exactly what the doctor ordered.

“I haven’t been this excited about the Blazers all year,” said Paul Eisl, a Blazers fan and recent Portland State graduate. “[The Blazers] should have made this move a long time ago. Wallace makes us a dangerous team.”

Earning the nickname “Crash” in his seven years with Charlotte, the 6-foot-7 Wallace is a player known for his aggression and athleticism, averaging 18.2 points and 10.1 rebounds in an all-star campaign last season.

“I just want to come out and fit in, just want to get my feet wet,” Wallace said before his debut. “The main thing is to just get settled in and get accustomed to the guys.”

On Sunday night, the Blazers received a reality check against Atlanta, as Wallace and the team struggled to find their rhythm in a 90-83 loss. Although Wallace only managed to shoot 4 of 12 from the field, fans still got a glimpse of the intangibles the 28-year-old forward brings, as he grabbed five rebounds, two steals and a block in 29 minutes.

Wallace’s presence should help the Blazers build momentum and improve their playoff positioning down the final stretch.

“It’s always a great thrill [to be on a winning team],” Wallace told 95.5. “That’s what you play 82 games for, to get into the postseason, and this is a team that’s right in the hunt and moving fast, so it’s a great feeling and I’m looking forward to it.”

If the Blazers can ever get healthy, then becoming a championship contender isn’t entirely out of the question—just don’t expect it to happen this season. Portland will still have to find a long-term solution for the point guard position, and will need to add depth up front during the off-season. Things won’t happen overnight. It will take time for the roster to gel and for players to adjust to their new roles.

But even if another first-round playoff exit is likely, at least Blazers fans are free to dream big once again. ■

Tennis profile: Yuki Sugiyama Freshman Yuki Suigiyama has led Portland State with an 8-2 record in singles games this season Nilesh Tendolkar Vanguard staff

Last year, Yuki Sugiyama was attending Portland State as an exchange student from Japan when her tennis skills caught the eye of Vikings tennis coach, Jay Sterling. Sterling quickly recognized her talent and recruited her onto the women’s tennis team as a freshman. Since then, Sugiyama has not failed to impress, earning nine wins from 11 matches in her first season while playing the number one spot in singles competition.

“Yuki came to us last year as an exchange student,” Sterling said. ”It was a combined effort between me and the administration to make it possible for her to come in and play here.”

“Last year, I was an exchange student,” Sugiyama said. “Because of my university program, I had to study abroad for one year. I came to Portland State and I wanted to join the tennis team. But because of NCAA rules, an exchange student couldn’t join the tennis team. Then coach Jay saw my tennis one day and he asked me if I would be interested in playing tennis for them.”

Sugiyama took up tennis when she was five years old. “My father is a tennis coach, so when I was a kid, I started playing tennis and it came naturally,” Sugiyama said.

While playing for Waseda Jitsugyo University in Japan, she won the singles and the doubles tournaments in a private school competition in 2006, and her team was ranked in the top eight in the country.

“In high school, we had a very good tennis team. I played singles at lines one to three and doubles at line one,” Sugiyama said.

Sugiyama, who is majoring in international studies, played her first match as a Viking against Oregon’s number-one singles player Pavlina Smatova. Despite putting up a tough fight, Sugiyama lost the game 6-3, 6-4.

“That was my toughest game so far this season,” Sugiyama recounted. “It is hard to win at number one in singles because my opponents are also that good.”

But since then, Sugiyama hasn’t looked back and has won eight matches in a row.

“This season, Yuki has been a really solid performer and a great motivator for our team,” Sterling said “She has really stepped up and held her own at the number-one position and competed well and dominated. The whole team is proud of her.”

Just like her favorite player Kim Clijsters, Sterling attributes Sugiyama’s mental toughness as her major strength.

“She fights and never gives up,” Sterling said. “ No matter what the score is, you can’t tell if she is winning or losing. She does not quit until the last point, and that motivates the other players when they are grinding it out.”

Sterling has also been impressed by Sugiyama’s technical abilities on the court.

“She plays well from the baseline. She plays well at the net,” Sterling said. “She serves really well and transitions well. She does an amazing job of seeing the court and developing points.

She is an incredibly smart tennis player.”

Sugiyama feels that the women’s team has opportunities to improve this season and continue to become an even better team overall.

“We are getting better,” Sugiyama said.

“We have to win doubles point [so] we can put pressure on our opponents, and then we can improve our chances of winning.” ■

SPORTS ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ VANGUARD 15

14 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ ETC.

ETC.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: VIRGINIA VICKERY EDITOR@DAILYVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5691

Softball stops Roadrunners, silences Gaels

CALENDAR Today Effective Interviewing Workshop 11 a.m.

University Services Building, room 402

This in-depth workshop will provide information on what employers expect during an interview, and will provide specific strategies to help further develop participants’ interviewing skills.

wall, and participants are free to watch and climb for free.

Thursday Sexual Assault Education Theater Winter Performances 7 p.m.

Ondine Hall, room 218

Students in the Sexual Assault Education Theater

capstone class will perform a play they’ve written about sexual assault on campus.

The performance is based on the Theater of the Oppressed Open Forum model, in which audience members are invited to stop and shift the action by joining the play, thereby practicing strategies for facing challenging situations.

CLASSIFIEDS Movie: “The Turandot Project” 12:45 p.m.

SPRING BREAK CABO SAN LUCAS Playa Grande Resort Condo for up to 4 walk to downtown Mar 20 to Mar 27 regular price $2,100... for $1,000 503-939-5520

Robert Britt Vanguard staff

Smith Memorial Student Union, room 228

Hosted by the PSU Multicultural Center, this event is free and open to the public.

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Intro to InDesign Workshop Noon

Portland State goes undefeated at firstever PCSC Crossover Tournament

The California rain wasn’t enough to stop Portland State softball from earning a pair of wins over the weekend at the first-ever Pacific Coast Softball Conference Crossover Tournament in Sacramento.

The Vikings (8-5) defeated the Cal State-Bakersfield

Broadway Housing Building, room 225

Edited by Will Shortz

This workshop is for beginners, and will provide an overview of the InDesign interface. Topics will include understanding text boxes and flow, working with graphics and formatting objects. It is highly recommended that participants be familiar with Adobe Illustrator before attending the class.

Across 1 Command to a Doberman 6 “American Idol” rating 10 Crotchety sort 14 Sunshine State city 15 Place on the payroll 16 “60 Minutes” correspondent Logan 17 Spanish moray still exists 20 Broke bread 21 Art gallery site, possibly 22 Biscotti flavoring 23 Wall-to-wall measure 24 “Both Sides Now,” for one 26 Polish sister showed her inexperience

33 Watch for 34 Bar opening?

35 ___ carte 36 W.W. II pinup features 37 Fleet members 39 Not much 40 Barely manage, with “out” 41 “Pet” thatʼs a plant 42 Auto gear 43 Silver State boogie band autopsy expert 47 Stink to high heaven 48 Itʼs pumped 49 Tale of Achilles 52 Pic 53 Parseghian of the Fighting Irish 56 Red Sox fans mourned tearlessly 60 On break, say

Down 1 Member of the 600 home run club 2 “Rhyme Pays” rapper 3 Batmobile “garage” 4 Super Bowlwinning Manning 5 Teen loiterer, possibly 6 Creepy 1981 Lauren Bacall film 7 ___ Cong 8 Start to fix?

9 Salon stuff 10 Holds tight 11 Jazz saxophonist Coltrane 12 God in the 49Across ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 13 Corner of a F I R E R O O M Y S M O G diamond U R A L O U T I E N A P A 18 MGM mogul J A M S E S S I O N I C E D Marcus I Q S V A T S T V A D S 19 Maui neighbor W A R O O H E D 23 Antique shop tag L A D Y M A R M A L A D E 24 Sassy sort S H U T E A R E N T M O P 25 Has control over T E X T C H I L I W I N E 26 “Friendly” action A X E S A L E S E R A S E 27 Bright-eyed and G A M E P R E S E R V E S bushy-tailed B L U E R E I N 28 Japanese F L O Y D C A L L Z A P noodle dish I O U S J E L L Y S T O N E 29 Eskimo boat L U R E A L I T O A N T E 30 Israeli P.M. after E D G E R I P O N D E S K Shamir

Take Back the Night/ Bike Back the Night Planning Meeting 5 p.m.

Women’s Resource Center

If you are interested in volunteering for Take Back the Night/Bike Back the Night, or if you would like to participate in this year’s ride, drop in to sign up.

Bike Hub Workshop Series: Wheel Building 5 p.m.

PSU Bike Hub

This is the last class in the five-week advanced class series. All workshops are free to Bike Hub members.

To learn more about becoming a member, visit www.pdx.edu/bikehub.

Noon Women’s Resource Center

All are welcome to come share skills, ideas and thoughts.

Bring knitting, crochet or sewing projects—yarn and needles will also be available for beginners or those in need. All types of crafts are welcome.

Bike Hub Workshop: Basic Maintenance 5 p.m.

PSU Bike Hub

KenKen® is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. ©2011 KenKen Puzzle LLC. All rights reserved. Dist. by UFS, Inc. www.kenken.com

6 p.m.

● Each row and each column

must contain the numbers 1 through 4 (easy) or 1 through 6 (challenging) without repeating.

ASRC climbing center

The climbing center will be showing “The Players,” projected onto the climbing

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31 Having a pulse 32 Firefighting aid 37 Wingtip or wedge 38 Country bumpkin 39 Elvis ___ Presley 41 Doctrine 42 Leave, as kids at school

44 Gives a speech 45 Fireplace remnant 46 Algerian port 49 Sacred bird of ancient Egypt 50 Gold streak 51 Manhattan, for one

52 Clothing tag information 53 Terrier in “The Thin Man” 54 Travel aimlessly 55 Up to the task 57 Go-ahead sign 58 Female 64Across 59 La Brea goop

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-814-5554.

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Get a grip: Brandi Campos braces herself for a hard swing.

Score by inning Saturday R H E CSU Bakersfield 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 (0) 5 7 3 Portland State 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 (1) 6 10 3 Win - Bertrand, A. (4-2); Loss - Hoag, S. (0-3) ; Save - None Sunday R H E Portland State 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 8 0 Saint Mary’s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 Win - Latham, N. (4-3); Loss - Lemmon, J. (0-1); Save - None

conference championship.

The previous meeting between Portland State and Saint Mary’s was in last year’s PCSC Championship Series, when the Coastal Division champion Gaels defeated the Mountain Division Vikings, three games to one, to end PSU’s season and win the conference’s automatic entry into the NCAA tournament.

Latham (4-3) threw a complete-game shutout and gave up just five hits while walking two and striking out four.

“Nichole just threw a great game. She was on today and got herself out of trouble a couple of times with their best hitters at the plate,” EchoHawk said.

The Vikings scored all three runs in the third inning on back-to-back doubles. Sophomore Danielle Lynn began the scoring with a two-run double before being brought home on the next at bat off an RBI double to center field by Holm.

Saint Mary’s (2-3) attempt-

ed to come back late in the game, but Latham shut down the rally attempts. The Gaels stranded six runners in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, combined.

Junior Jenna Krogh tripled on Saturday and singled on Sunday to extend her hitting streak to double digits.

Her 10-game hitting streak is currently the longest in the PCSC. Saturday’s result was a mirror of the last meeting between Portland State and Cal State-Bakersfield. In 2008, the Vikings defeated the Roadrunners 6-5 in eight innings at the Nevada-hosted Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.

The Vikings return to action Friday in Tuscon, Ariz., where they will begin their five games at the Wildcat Invitational by taking on tournament-hosts University of Arizona. PCSC league play begins April 9 when the Vikings are scheduled to host Utah Valley at Erv Lind Stadium. ■

Sprinting through the finish line to take away two gold medals

Gretchen Sandau Vanguard Staff

Crafternoon

Movie Night 2

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her to third before senior outfielder Brandi Campos drove her home on a single up the middle for the gamewinning RBI. “[Campos] has always been a clutch player for us. It was just the right person to have up at the plate in that situation,” Echo-Hawk said in a media statement.

Sophomore Anna Bertrand, last year’s PCSC Pitcher of the Year and co-Freshman of the Year, tossed the full game for the Vikings and earned the win to advance her record to 4-2 on the season. In the eight-inning effort, she walked six batters, struck out four and earned five runs. Roadrunner reliever Sarah Hoag (0-3) took the loss.

“We did a nice job of battling back in the fourth when we scored all of those runs,” Echo-Hawk said. “Lacey had another great game at the plate and Anna did a good job of settling in after the first few innings.”

The Roadrunners (2-10) went on to earn their first victories of the season in wins over Idaho State and Weber State on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, respectively.

While it was PSU hitters that shut down the Roadrunners on Saturday, it was a Viking pitcher that shut out the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Sunday.

Senior Nichole Latham, last week’s PCSC Mountain Division Pitcher of the Week, took to the pitching circle in what was a rematch of last year’s

The track and field teams proved what they were made of this weekend

Wednesday

All workshops are free to Bike Hub members. To learn more about becoming a member, visit www.pdx.edu/bikehub.

61 Seep 62 Deadly 63 Gets the picture 64 White-tailed ___ 65 Picture holder

On Saturday, the Roadrunners shot out of the gate to take an early 4-0 lead in the first two innings of play, but when the PSU batters finally came to life, they came in full force.

The Vikings took a 5-4 lead in the fourth inning off sophomore Carly McEachran’s first career home run, a two-run shot to left field. PSU began the scoring with an RBI triple from junior Lacey Holm, an RBI double from senior Arielle Wiser and an RBI single from freshman Crysta Conn.

The Roadrunners scored in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 5-5, and after the Vikings failed to score in the bottom half the game moved into extra innings with the international tie-breaker rule in effect. Each team began its half of the eighth inning with a runner placed at second base.

After Cal StateBakersfield was unable to benefit from the advantage, PSU head coach Tobin Echo-Hawk placed Wiser on second, where she did not stay long. Following a failed sac fly, an infield all photos courtesy of goviks.com grounder advanced

Roadrunners 6-5 in eight innings on Saturday, and then carried the momentum into a 3-0 win over reigning PCSC champion Saint Mary’s Gaels on Sunday.

Originally scheduled for four contests at the six-team tournament, including a Friday meeting with eventhosts Sacramento State, Portland State saw its weekend slate cut in half after strong rainstorms forced the cancellation of Friday’s games.

The weather, though, did not hinder play for the rest of the weekend.

● The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given

3-1-11

operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

● Freebies: Fill in single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

The Vikings officially finished their indoor track season this weekend at the Big Sky Championship in Pocatello, Idaho. It was a tough weekend for the Vikings, but they were able to walk away with two gold medals, two bronze and many other athletes with scores that just barely missed the podium.

Junior Tony Crisofulli won his first career medal, placing third in the 800-meter with a time of one minute and 51.26 seconds, only .52 behind the first-place runner. Crisofulli was the only male athlete to win a medal for the team, but many others were close behind.

The men’s distance medley team, made up of seniors John Lawrence and Nate Endicott and freshmen Zachary Carpenter and Luke Leddige, took fifth overall. Junior J.J. Rosenberg took sixth in the 400-m and 10th in the heptathlon. Junior DeShawn

all photos courtesy of goviks.com

A golden run: Karene King takes gold in the 200-meter at the Big Sky Indoor Championships

Shead, who only joined the track team at the Husky Classic on Feb. 12, came in fifth in the 60-m hurdles.

On the women’s side, both senior Karene King and sophomore Geronne Black took gold medals in the 200-m and the 60-m, respectively. King, a native from the British Virgin Islands, also ran in the 60-m and ended up coming in fourth by a mere .01.

Black came back for the second year in a row as a cham-

pion in the short distance sprints. Last year she won the 55 m. She is the first Big Sky athlete to be a back-to-back champion in the 55- and 60-m since 1994–95. Not only did Black set a new championship record this year of 7.43 seconds, but she broke a school record as well. She also came in fourth in the 200-m.

Junior Joenisha Vinson came in third in the pentathlon and finished fourth in the 60-m hurdles. She also competed in

Multi-talented: Joenisha Vinson captures the bronze in the Pentathlon

the long jump event, finishing in eighth.

Another female athlete who did well was senior Adrienne Davis in the shot put, placing sixth with a distance of 44 feet, .50 inches. Competing for her first time in the Big Sky Championship was freshman Shae Carson, who threw a new personal record at this meet of 42-6.25, placing her in ninth.

The women Vikings also had all four of their 60-m runners place in the finals, which is

impressive, said assistant coach Cassie Stilley, because that is the maximum amount of runners that can be entered in an event from one school. The women’s team also finished seventh overall in the conference, and the men in last.

“Since most of those athletes are underclassmen, I think that’s a positive sign for the future because it means our younger athletes are getting in there and mixing it up with the veterans,” Stilley said. “If they

can keep working hard and improving, they can score at future championships.”

The team will be taking a break from training and preparing for the outdoor season that starts on March 12 at the Northwest Conference Preview in Forest Grove.

“After seeing the progress some of them are making, we’re really looking forward to seeing what these athletes can do in the outdoor season,” Stilley said. ■

16 VANGUARD ■ TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011 ■ SPORTS

Seniors come up big on Senior Night Portland State beats Montana State 69-64 in a thrilling comeback victory Saturday

give it to him for a wide-open jump shot, so it was senior to senior [for the last shot] and it doesn’t get any better than that on senior night.”

“It was perfect,” Thomas added. “Melvin is always lookKevin Fong ing for me, so all I had to do Vanguard staff was catch the pass and knock it down.” n a fitting end to Senior For the five seniors on the Night at the Stott Cen- Vikings’ roster who started the ter, the Portland State game—forwards Phil Nelson men’s basketball team and Paul Guede, guard Alonzo pulled out a 69-64 win against Brandon, along with Thomas the Montana State Bobcats, and Jones—a win in the last thanks to a clutch play by a home game of their college capair of their senior leaders. reers was all they could ask for.

With .54 seconds left on the “It was a great feeling. I love clock and the Vikings clinging the support that the Portland to a 61-59 lead, senior guard State fans have given me and Melvin Jones found fellow I’m just glad that we were able senior Phillip “Tree” Thomas to give them a good show for open on the wing. Thomas our last night,” Thomas said. turned and calmly nailed a “It was a very nice endjumper near the elbow that ing, especially with my family would ultimately prove to be members here,” Jones said with the game-winning basket. a smile. “And it’s always good “I was supposed to come off to get a win on your last home the screen and swing it back game, there’s no better feeling.” to the other guard,” Jones After a tough 85-84 loss explained. “But I saw Tree to Montana last Thursday open and thought, why not night, the team found themselves in another intense back-andforth battle against Montana State, although this didn’t come as a surprise to head coach Tyler Geving.

“Thursday night was an emotional game, and guys are tired,” Geving said. “So I knew it was going to be a tough one.”

Added Geving with pride, “But they responded when we needed to.

They could have easily quit and packed it in, but we didn’t.”

Despite taking a 30-23 lead Get low: Junior Charles Odum creeps his way inside. into halftime,

I

Portland State came out of the break sluggish, allowing Montana State to begin the period on a 10-2 run. The Bobcats (12-17, 6-9 BSC), took their biggest lead at 53-43 with just over nine minutes remaining in the game. However, the Vikings remained resilient, responding with a 15-4 run of their own. Junior guard and the team’s leading scorer, Charles Odum, took over the game, scoring 10 of the Viking’s 15 points during the crucial stretch, including back-toback three-pointers to spark the run.

“Charles was huge. He’s such a competitive kid. [His] strength is his weakness.

[He’s] so stubborn at times, but that’s also what makes him good, because he’s a stubborn kid that’s going to will his way to a win,” Geving remarked. “Sometimes it gets the best of him and [we] joke about it, but it’s [part] of what makes him a good player…he won’t back down from anyone or take no for an answer.”

“We knew they were going to go on a run in the second half, but we just all photos karl kuchs/vanguard staff made sure we were preEyes on the goal: Sophomore Chris Harriel watches his floater take flight. pared for it,” Thomas said.

“The game’s never over no to 39.7 percent shooting for 13-19. Portland State will matter how many points you’re the game. face Northern Arizona on down, so we just stayed poised, “We look at three things the road tomorrow night and fortunately we were able to every game: Did we out-re- with tipoff scheduled for pull it out.” bound them? Hold them to 40 5:35 p.m. The game can Overall, the Vikings won percent [shooting]? And not be followed through Big the key hustle categories. turning it over more than 10 Sky TV, and the link is They out-rebounded Mon- times?” Geving pointed out. located at goviks.com untana State 41-36, had more “If you do all three of those, der ‘LIVE EVENTS’. The points off turnovers (14-9), then you give yourself a pretty game will also be televised more points in the paint good chance to win.” on Fox Sports Northwest.

(12-5), and more fast break The Vikings are currently “It means a lot to [impoints (8-6). Portland State in seventh place in the Big prove on last season],” was efficient offensively, dish- Sky with a record of 13-15, Thomas said. “It’s not going out 14 assists and only 5-10 BSC. With two road ing to be easy out on the committing eight turnovers. games left in the season, the road. We’re going to have to They were also solid defen- Vikings need just one win focus, work hard and play sively, holding the Bobcats to better last year’s mark of together as a team.” ■

Recent Results Friday Women’s tennis Portland State at Northern Colorado Softball * Portland State at Sacramento State – rained out Softball * Portland State vs. Saint Mary’s – rained out NBA Denver Nuggets 106 at Portland Trail Blazers 107/OT Top Performers: L. Aldridge (POR): 24 pts, 14 reb, 3 blk D. Gallinari (DEN): 30 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast Club hockey Boise State 2 at Portland State 5 WHL hockey Portland Winterhawks 0 at Everett Silertips 2 Scoring Summary: EVR: S. MacDonald (17:20 2nd) T. Maxwell (17:29 3rd)

Saturday Softball * Portland State 6 vs. Cal State Bakersfield 5 (8 innings) Top performers: Lacey Holm (PSU): 3-4, 1 run, 1 RBI Arielle Wiser (PSU): 2-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI Women’s basketball Portland State 81 at Montana State 77 Top performers: Lexi Bishop (PSU): 17 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl Katie Bussey (MSU): 17 pts, 10 reb, 7 ast Men’s tennis Northern Colorado at Portland State Men’s basketball Montana State 64 at Portland State 69 Top performers: Charles Odum (PSU): 16 pts, 3 ast, 2 reb Danny Piepolie (MSU): 19 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl Club hockey Boise State at Portland State

1 10

WHL hockey Portland Winterhawks at Seattle Thunderbirds Scoring Summary: POR: S. Bartschi (02:08 2nd) N. Niederreiter (11:41 2nd) R. Johansen (02:56 3rd) N. Niederreiter (19:26 3rd) SEA: B. Rouse (02:45 2nd) C. Lund (09:37 2nd), T. Toomey (12:48 3rd)

Sunday Softball * Portland State 3 vs. St. Mary’s 0 Top performers: Danielle Lynn (PSU): 2-4, 1 run, 2 RBI Nicole Lathum (PSU): 7 ip, 5 hits, 2 BB, 3 SO

* Pacific Coast Softball Conference Crossover Tournament

UPCOMING GAMES: Men’s Basketball

Paul Guede Senior, forward • 8 points • 4 rebounds • 1 steal

Phillip “Tree” Thomas Senior, forward • 14 points • 7 rebounds • 2 blocks

Chehales Tapscott

Charles Odum

Melvin Jones

Junior, forward

Junior, guard

Senior, guard

• 16 points • 3 assists • 2 rebounds • 1 steal

4 3

Atlanta Hawks 90 at Portland Trail Blazers 83 Top performers: A. Miller (POR): 20 pts, 7 reb, 4 ast J. Johnson (ATL): 22 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast

A little senior savvy went a long way Saturday night, as the Vikings pulled out a 69-64 win against Montana State in their last home of the season. In a thrilling finish, the play of the night was senior Melvin Jones finding fellow senior Phillip “Tree” Thomas for the game-clinching jumper.

• 9 points • 3 assists • 11 rebounds • 2 blocks

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SATURDAY'S TOP PERFORMERS

“I’m really happy for Tree—that was a big basket he made on senior night,” coach Tyler Geving said. “[Tree] didn’t play a lot last year, was kind of raw, but he’s turned into a really good player and I wish we had him for another year. It’s sad to see him leave because I think he’s coming into his best basketball.”

4 3

• 10 points • 3 assists • 2 rebounds • 1 steal

“Paul played well. We put him in at the end and he got a big stop, forced a tough shot. Paul’s a great defender,” Geving said.

“He’s had a great year as far as leadership [is concerned].

To take a backup role this year and not play as many minutes, he’s had a great attitude about it and never complained. He’s always helping guys out and giving tips—it’s almost like having another coach in practice sometimes.”

Portland State (13-15, 5-10) at Northern Arizona (17-11, 8-7)

Flagstaff, AZ Wednesday, 5:35 p.m.

TV: Fox Sports Northwest Radio 970 AM Women's Basketball Portland State (17-10, 10-4) vs Montana(14-13, 9-5)

Stott Center Thursday, 7:00 p.m.