Portland State Vanguard, vol. 72 issue 6

PORTLAND STATE VANGUARD

VOLUME 72 • ISSUE 6 • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

: I H S E R U O H S T N E D I S PRE ?

E H S I WHO

NEW PSU PREZ TALKS PET PEEVES, MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT AND FAVORITE PORTLAND EXPERIENCES P. 7­–9

NEWS: AS P S U AN D

PSU TRUST EES REBUIL D TRUST P .3

KS NIC AT TAC O S S U 6 IO R HAVANA P. L: MYSTE A IN N Y IO S T S A A B N M INTER RE OF U.S. E U S O L C N E THREAT AR T S & C ULTURE: N ORTHWE & ARTIST ST FILM C S REP THE ENTER ATRE’S NE W SEASO NS P. 11

OPINION: READ A BANNED BOOK P. 12

ARTS & CULTURE NEEDS WRITERS! HEY YOU! Are you that person who’s always: -going to shows?

-reading books?

-watching movies? ...and then can’t shut up about it???

JOIN US! psuvanguard.com/jobs

CONTENTS COVER DESIGN BY SHANNON KIDD, PHOTO BY JOE W. SHAPIRO NEWS PARKING KITTY TAKES OVER PSU TICKETING

P. 4

ARTS & CULTURE OCCULT CLASSIC FILM HOLY MOUNTAIN PROMISES IMMORTALITY

P. 10

INTERNATIONAL DID U.S. CAUSE THE MIGRANT CRISIS?

P. 6

OPINION READ A BANNED BOOK

P. 12

FEATURE PRESIDENT WHO-RESHI? MEET PSU’S NEW PRESIDENT

P. 7–9

ON & OFF-CAMPUS EVENTS SEPT. 26–OCT. 2

P. 14-15

STAFF

OPINION EDITOR Thomas Spoelhof

EDIT ORI A L EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Colleen Leary

ONLINE EDITOR Andrew D. Jankowski

MANAGING EDITOR Evan Smiley NEWS EDITOR Alex-jon Earl ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Alanna Madden INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Chris May ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Matthew Andrews

COPY CHIEF Now Hiring COPY EDITORS Harlie Hendrickson CONTRIBUTORS Andrew Olson Jordan Ellis Anamika Vaughan Jake Johnson Cassie Duncanson

PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Silvia Cardullo PHOTOGRAPHERS Jake Johnson Katie Pearce MULTIMEDIA MANAGER Joe W. Shapiro CR E ATI V E DIR EC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shannon Kidd DESIGNERS Lydia Wojack-West Robby Day Georgia Hatchett Marika Van De Kamp

Grace Giordano Ella Higgins Aaron Ughoc Chole Kendall DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING MANAGERS Andrew D. Jankowski A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood

To contact Vanguard staff members, visit psuvanguard. com/contact.

To get involved and see current job openings, visit psuvanguard.com/jobs MIS SION S TAT EMEN T The Vanguard’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with a quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills that are highly valued in today’s job market.

A BOU T The Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print every Tuesday and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.

NEWS

ASPSU, BOT TURN NEW LEAF AS ACADEMIC YEAR BEGINS ANAMIKA VAUGHAN

To start off the new school year, student body President Brent Finkbeiner and Vice President Donald Thompson III are reaching out to members of the Portland State Board of Trustees individually to try to forge a new and strong relationship between the two governing bodies.

“There were some obvious public tensions between our bodies, but as individuals what we have really been working on is we’ve been having those one-on-one meetings, we’ve been building that relationship, and we’ve been building trust,” Finkbeiner said. “While we’re going to disagree at times, we want to establish that relationship where even if we disagree we’re going to still try to work towards a positive solution in the long run.”

So far, Associated Students of Portland State University’s attempts to reach out to the board members has been met with optimism by the BOT. “We sensed a new approach by ASPSU,” said new Chairman of the Board Rick Miller. “We sensed that they understand that we share the same concerns, the Board, that they do. And we want to solve many of the same problems as they do. Today there is a different feel between the Board and ASPSU in terms of how to approach problem solving. Right out of the gate [Finkbeiner] and [Thompson] threw out an olive branch.”

One of the sources of tension, as described by Thompson, was a feeling by students and ASPSU members that their concerns either weren’t being met with respect, or they weren’t being heard at all.

“This past year has not been a particularly healthy relationship between ASPSU and administration, and it’s especially in part because of the way that [past President] Wim Wiewel treated the executive team last year,”

Thompson said. “And to a degree, some Board of Trustees members treated them all very disrespectfully. And that’s not permissible.”

According to Thompson, this treatment included interruptions of student speeches, disrespectful language such as calling the previous president and vice president “crazy,” the practice of describing ASPSU members as “misinformed,” and failing to address members by their preferred pronouns.

“In the past, I would describe some of the interactions at the Board meeting as kind of pointing fingers, there’s been a lot of anger,” Miller said. “That approach has not, nor will it, lead to the solutions we need to solve together. I would hope going forward that they, these stakeholders, we can come together, set common goals, we can work more closely together to solve this problem.”

In response to students feeling they are not being heard, the Board of Trustees has added a new practice to its agenda for board meetings.

Firstly, at the end of each meeting, trustees will review all of the concerns, suggestions and requests put forth by students, faculty, staff and other stakeholders. And secondly, trustees will then add them to their action items which, according to Miller, will be brought up at every meeting until a response has been submitted.

“It’s always been the Board’s intention to respond to all these issues,” Miller said. “I think what we’re experiencing is that we’ve got a new Board. Over the last three years there has been a lot to do, and if anything has fallen through the cracks it has not been intentional. But to make sure that doesn’t happen again, we’ve added those things to the agenda to make sure that we are listening and responding.”

TENSIONS ON TUITION INCREASE

Last April, the Board of Trustees voted and approved a 9 percent increase in tuition, a decision met with student protest. Thompson describes the Board during this time as having “given up on listening to students.”

“That’s not the conclusion that only I have reached, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission— that’s the people who get to decide whether or not we get a rise in tuition above 5 percent—thought the same thing,” Thompson continued. “They said, ‘You didn’t get adequate student perspective on this tuition increase and go back and get it.’ And that’s what I’m talking about.”

However, according to Miller, the Board had many factors to take into account before making a decision.

This included having to balance affordability with keeping the quality of education high, factoring in the decreasing state funding, reserving enough funds for scholarships, and limiting cutbacks.

“There has been maybe some misunderstandings in that I feel the Board is fully aligned with students, but there has been a sense that the students that have been at those meetings haven’t felt that they have been listened to or felt or heard,” Miller said. “I think that maybe they also thought that the Board didn’t do enough to hold down tuition increases.”

“From my perspective, to the contrary, the Board is very concerned about access and affordability at PSU and it’s been a high priority for Board to study this issue,” Miller added.

Miller also cites other factors that complicate the tuition issue: the “enormous” deferred maintenance costs of PSU buildings and the relatively low compensation and salaries PSU staff and faculty earn, which comes down to as much as 20 percent lower than their peers at other public universities.

Another big conflict between the governing bodies arose from the creation of the sworn, armed campus police, an issue that students rallied against in 2015.

“I think that ASPSU did a good job at speaking out for those students that were concerned,” Miller said. “The message was clear. But I also think that the delivery could have been better, and the message was delivered out of fear and some anger and judgement at the Board, and, looking back, although I would say that the Board did reach out to student and the various stakeholders, and that that represented an opportunity for better collaboration, as was tuition.”

ASPSU and Board members are hopeful new PSU President, Rahmat Shoureshi,will help contribute a positive shift in the relationship too. Shoureshi has expressed a strong commitment to student engagement and building student relationships.

ASPSU EXECUTIVES HAVE SOUGHT TO STRENGTHEN THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BOT. JAKE JOHNSON/PSU VANGUARD

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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NEWS NEWS

STUDENTS CAN MEOW PAY TO PURR-ALLEL PARK WITH PARKING KITTY JAKE JOHNSON

Portland State has teamed up with the City of Portland and PassportParking, Inc. to release a new way for PSU students to pay for hourly and daily parking spaces around campus.

Parking Kitty has been in use in the city of Portland since May of 2017. Additional updates include further implementation around PSU in various hourly and daily zones. The app may not be live for the first two weeks of the 2017 Fall Quarter while the app launch receives its finishing touches.

Parking Kitty made its introduction to Portland through a video featuring a local feline flow-maker named Moshow the Cat Rapper, who joined forces with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to produce a commercial in the form of a music video.

“I’m gonna park my car with this Parking Kitty app,” Moshow the Cat Rapper’s lyrics assert. “Ridin’ in my car with my cats while I rap/ Easy to pay, no receipt, that’s a fact/ Find us up in Portland, that’s where we be at.”

Sadly, Parking Kitty does not hail a cat to come park your car for you. However, if you’re tired of those parking receipts you have to stick in your window, PK will sync to an information database accessible by parking enforcement officers who will be able to see that your license plate has paid for time in that parking zone. To quote Moshow, “No receipt, that’s a fact.”

PARKING KITTY IS ABOUT CONVENIENCE AND CATS

Dylan Rivera, spokesman for PBOT, said he feels very positive about Parking Kitty and the collaboration with Moshow to spread the word about this new development.

“Moshow is a very charming guy,” Rivera stated. “He is able to help us reach a younger demographic that the city may not have been able to. This is a part of an effort of the Portland government attempting to make access to our services more convenient for people.”

The Vanguard noticed that Passport Parking, Inc., who owns Parking Kitty, is a third-party, for-profit contractor. Rivera helped clear this up by noting a 10 cent charge per “session” and this is how PPI gets paid.

Each time you park your car is referred to as a session.

One benefit of these sessions: You can pay for other people’s parking. Why? I’m a broke student. Shouldn’t other people pay for my parking? Yes, that makes sense, but when you pay for parking in the app, Parking Kitty purrs at you. When you have fifteen minutes left on your session, the kitty app alerts you with a meow.

See? Capitalism can be moderately delightful at a reasonable price sometimes.

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Rivera expanded on convenience and discussed PDX Reporter. PDX Reporter Portland launched a few years ago as a way for residents to report potholes and streetlights that are out and other things of that nature, not for crimes.

Rivera said Portland is constantly trying to figure out how to keep access to its services relevant in ever-changing technological times. Parking Kitty is simply Portland’s latest attempt to be hip to what the kids are doing.

Apparently, Portland thinks the kids like kitties, which is a fair assessment.

PDX Reporter started as an app and moved to the web. Rivera hailed this move as a positive thing for PSU Students and Portlanders alike so the precious storage space on their phones can be saved for pictures and videos instead of installing the app.

So, while Moshow the Cat Rapper’s delightful video discusses the benefits of the Parking Kitty App, users can also use the mobile site as well.

more time. You can park on the other side of the street or around the corner, but you must change block faces. In Parking Kitty, at this point, Rivera believes you would start a new “session” to be able to park on a different block face without getting a ticket.

Parking Kitty is a product from Passport Parking, Inc., which has served many government jurisdictions and several schools including Oregon State University—not that this is a selling point. Stude asserted that PSU has no plans to expand Parking Kitty to be utilized in any of its permit parking areas.

Parking has a cat app, and public transportation is swaying users away from its app, back toward a more widely accepted card, Hop, that crosses many different transportation options and goes across the river.

Technology is changing all time, but at least this time it changed toward more cats. Meow.

Sadly, Moshow was a no-show when asked to comment for this article. It’s alright; the Vanguard believes that given what was available, this piece came out purrrfectly. Cat argue with the facts. Better catnip this in the bud while there’s still thyme.

“BUT I HATE NEW TECHNOLOGY…”

Fear not, Parking Kitty will not be replacing the standard green parking meter stations you’ve come to know and love, but will simply create an alternative. According to PSU’s Director of Transportation and Parking Services Ian Stude, PK is merely another option.

“We will continue to have automated pay stations at these locations,” Stude assured.

“The Parking Kitty app is setup to supplement this technology…Parking Kitty users will be able to skip the line at the pay station during busy times, keep their vehicle and payment information stored securely within the app for easy use when parking, and re-up their parking time remotely, without needing to return to their vehicle.”

IMPORTANT FINAL NOTES

Stude, Rivera and Parking Kitty said you can re-up your parking time remotely, and if you park blocks away from where you’re going this can come in handy. However, you can only add time to a parking session until you have reached the maximum time allowed for a parking zone.

If you are parked in a two-hour zone and you initially pay for a one-hour parking session in that zone, you are allowed to add up to an hour. This information applies to Parking Kitty and old-school parking with receipts in the window. After you reach the maximum time allowed for that zone you must move your car in order to not be liable to get another ticket.

Most parking zones cover entire neighborhoods, so this part gets tricky. Unless you change the “block face” you are parked on, you can get a ticket even if you have paid for

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.

KATIE PEARCE/PSU VANGUARD

NEWS

FROM THE HILL TO THE HALL: SEPT. 20–26 ALEX-JON EARL

AG SESSIONS GETS A PORTLAND WELCOME

Attorney General Jeff Sessions visited Portland to talk sanctuary cities and was greeted with a few dozen furious protesters. Meanwhile, Sessions used his speech to provide a rundown of the sort of arguments he intends to use against cities like Portland in future lawsuits, from crime to cost. After the speech was over, Sessions made a hasty retreat.

CASSIDY-GRAHAM TO PUNISH OREGON THE MOST

The latest Affordable Care Act repeal attempt, the so-called “Cassidy-Graham” bill offered by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R–La.) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R–S.C.), would be a punitive measure against some states and hit Oregon the hardest.

With an estimated loss in healthcare funding per person of over $2,000, according to the New York Times, Oregon seems to be the nation’s piggy bank. Sen. John McCain (R– Ariz.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) have stated they will vote no on the bill, and Sen. Susan Collins (R–ME) has suggested she may not support the bill.

ICE GETS THE WRONG GUY?

Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly tapped the wrong guy before fleeing the scene this week in Washington County, according to the Oregonian and ACLU observers.

After Isidro Andrade-Tafolla was tailed by plainclothes ICE officers from a court hearing for his wife, an ACLU observer taped the ensuing interaction.

In this filmed confrontation, in spite of the observer’s efforts to demand the existence of a warrant, the ICE officers held Andrade-Tafolla and checked their records until they determined he was not who they were looking for. Rep. Susan Bonamici (OR–1) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (OR–3) have demanded answers from ICE.

PORTLAND’S ARTS TAX IS LEGIT

A ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court has affirmed Portland’s Arts Tax, batting back an attempt to sink a tax that would direct a modest annual payment toward art education for kids. The 2012 voter-backed measure was attacked on the rhetorical premise of, “Well, it’s nice and all, and I like kids, but…”

TED WHEELS OUT HIGHWAY PROPOSAL SUPPORT

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler came out swinging for a major I-5 expansion in the Rose Quarter, raising the ire of residents, activists, and anyone aware of the fact that we have HOV lanes that only serve Washington residents. Wheeler stands opposite environmentalists, civil rights activists, and other assorted social justice activists on the issue. Don’t expect this to go away any time soon.

THIS WEEK AT PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL

Post Office site plans start to grow up, 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept 28.

City Council is set to debate a height increase for the Pearl District Post Office site, which would move the maximum height from 250 feet to 400 feet on one portion of the parcel.

The Post Office is set to move out of its current location, and a potential mega development will move in. The height increase will assist in this development.

KARL MILLER CENTER CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING CHRIS MAY Over a decade in the making, on Sept. 19 the new building for the School of Business Administration, the Karl Miller Center, held its grand opening.

“PSU is a model of openness, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation, and when you look at this building it really resembles and is a great testimony to what PSU is,” said Portland State President Rahmat Shoureshi.

Shoureshi also pointed to the center as an example of what is possible when academics, industry, government and alumni team up to make something happen.

Roughly two-thirds of the $64 million project was paid for by state bonds, with the remaining third coming from private donors.

No student money was used for the design and construction of the center.

Rick Miller, business school alumnus and chairman of PSU’s board of trustees, along with his wife Erika, provided the largest contribution to complete the project. The building bears the name of Miller’s grandfather, a World War II veteran, firefighter and entrepreneur.

Miller said his contribution was in part to honor his grandfather and also to give future business students an environment more conducive to learning.

“I remember almost 30 years ago going to school here,” Miller recalled. “It was dark, it was dull, it was cramped, it was quite uninspiring. Much is different today.”

Former PSU President Wim Wiewel related a characterization of the old building offered by one former student that described the School of Business as “having great caviar in a really bad tin can.”

“Well, we upgraded the tin can,” Wiewel proclaimed to cheers and laughter.

The center is on track to be the third PSU building to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification, the highest ranking from the U.S. Green Building Council. A wide array of sustainable construction features were designed to cut energy use by half while increasing the square footage of the building by 42 percent.

Included in the design is a central, open atrium that encourages collaboration and connectivity between learning and working spaces, and glass-walled classrooms promote the idea that education should take place in an open space and not just behind closed doors.

Luis Balderas, a student majoring in business administration, works as a project manager at the Center for Entrepreneurship, which is housed in the new building. He feels his work helping students manage projects and procuring resources from both on and off campus is an example of how the new space can benefit students.

“I feel like the Karl Miller Center will offer [students] a bigger scope to see how everything works and have more teams to come in

to explore and see what resources are available,” Balderas said.

Carsten DeBakker, also a student in the School of Business, is an operations assistant at the PSU Business Accelerator. Working alongside the Center for Entrepreneurship, DeBakker’s group will house start-ups and work closely with organizations such as the

Center for Entrepreneurship to forge relationships between students and businesses.

“Companies benefit from the knowledge and the resources that we can provide, and that the university can provide them,” DeBakker said. “It’s kind of a give and take, in order to bring Portland together for the business community.”

PSU BOT CHAIR AND SBA ALUM RICK MILLER JOINS WIFE ERIKA IN CUTTING THE RIBBON DURING KARL MILLER CENTER’S GRAND OPENING. CHRIS MAY/PSU VANGUARD

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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INTERNATIONAL

U.S. RESPONSIBLE FOR AMERICAN CHILD MIGRANT OPINION PIECE BY ANDREW OLSON Since the 1980s, growing violence in Central American countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador has compelled growing numbers of refugees to migrate through Mexico into the United States.

In 2014, during the Obama presidency, a wave of unaccompanied minors crescendoed and consequently overwhelmed the U.S. border’s judicial and executive capacities. Courtrooms overflowed with children, and it was readily apparent that immigration policy had failed dramatically. For years, the Obama administration had begun record-setting numbers of deportations, attempting to stem the tide of migration by forcible removal and militarized policing.

Under the Trump administration, the already rapid pace of deportations has increased.

Now the current administration threatens one of the few programs protecting these vulnerable children from a myriad of threats, including human trafficking at the hands of gangs fueled by U.S. drug money and violence and poverty in their home countries.

How did we come to such a pass, with both progressive Democrat and openly anti-immigration Republican administrations deporting record numbers of children and young adults back to coun-

tries with some of the highest murder rates in the world?

United States politics has indisputably contributed to the increasing instability in the American South. Examples include the Reagan and Bush administration’s interventions in Nicaragua and Grenada, the Clinton administration’s military aid to the Mexican government in order to suppress popular uprisings like that of the Zapatistas, neoliberal trade policies like NAFTA that have cost American jobs and lowered wages across the continent, and the failed bipartisan war on drugs.

However, to really understand the full context of U.S. policy toward its southern neighbors, one needs to revisit the Monroe Doctrine, issued in the early nineteenth century. While ostensibly a declaration that expresses opposition to European colonial power in the Americas, the proclamation makes no mention of U.S. policy toward the nations of Central and South America. The intended inference is clear: Back off, Europe, it’s the United States’ time to dominate the Americas.

Indeed, from Dole to Pinochet, the history of U.S. corporate investment and foreign policy in Central and South America is replete with examples of spurious interventions that resulted in immense profits, growth,

and stability for U.S. corporations but death and suffering for the common people of those countries.

Guatemala suffered a U.S.backed coup in 1954, deposing a democratically elected ruler in favor of a series of dictators.

Honduras was used as the base for right-wing “Contra” Nicaraguan terrorists in the 1980s. The early 1980s also saw El Salvador butchered by an American-backed government employing massacres of whole villages, such as the town of El Mozote, in order to defeat leftist rebels.

Farther south, the U.S. has conducted coups in Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela. The U.S. has also implemented outright military occupations in Nicaragua (21 years), Honduras (7 years), Haiti (19 years and a second three-month invasion), the Dominican Republic (8 years) and Panama (95 years of occupation, plus an invasion under Bush Sr.). It is the chaos that has been sown in this region by the United States for over a century, as well as the ongoing policies of military aid, drug prohibition, and historic levels of drug importation that have created the escalating migration.

What is the border, anyway? The border is a means by which the ruling class is able to create and preserve wealth by sequestering whole popu-

SEPT. 16

CAIRO, EGYPT

SEPT. 17

HAVANA, CUBA

SEPT. 18

RAJBIRAJ, NEPAL

SEPT. 19

NAYPYITAW, MYANMAR

SEPT. 19

MEXICO

lations into a class of nonperson. It is not a natural entity, despite what the local white nationalists would like to tell you. Moreover, in mainstream discussions of “illegal immigration,” a serious mention is usually not given to the patently obvious fact that non-indigenous Americans are all “illegal immigrants.”

Let us discard any pretense of righteous indignation at the concept that some people, facing political persecution, economic disaster, and incredibly high murder rates will flee for their lives without regard to imaginary lines, mountain ranges, and immense bodies of water alike. Indeed, that is precisely the story of the Mayflower, of Ellis Island, of the boat people.

Let us also discard the fantastical notion that immigration has a negative effect on working people in the U.S. While immoral, the U.S. economy benefits enormously from the cheap labor of undocumented immigrants, many of which are paid less than minimum wage to do jobs that have few citizen applicants.

Without countless undocumented U.S. farm workers, it is doubtful that food prices could remain as low as they are in theU.S., which sees lower average prices

CHLOE KENDALL for essential staples than most other countries on earth despite the high value of its currency. The loss of jobs and the rise of permanent unemployment in the U.S. economy, far from attributable to the influx of undocumented immigrants, is due to corporate outsourcing, the lack of affordable education, and the steady rise of automation, which is set to phase out millions of jobs in the next decade alone.

As both environmental and economic pressures mount, the migrant crisis will continue to intensify.

The U.S. has an ethical obligation and an economic imperative to take in not only unaccompanied minor refugees, but also to invest in

their home countries’ wellbeing as reparations for the crimes against humanity that our government has inflicted on the entire region.

To renege this responsibility and double down on our hypocritical, imaginary borders is to ensure that more money is wasted on a fool’s errand. It is in everyone’s interest, all Americans, to stabilize these parent nations and thus decrease the flow of vulnerable and displaced persons, rather than squandering resources on repeatedly deporting desperate people in need of help. It’s time for us to take responsibility for our nation-state. Forget defending DACA—abolish the borders and make reparations to the global South.

The life sentence of overthrown Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was upheld by an Egyptian court, charging the former president with damaging national security by leaking secret state documents to Qatar. Morsi was ousted during a coup in 2013 by then-army-chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has been president since then.

After mysterious incidents involving sound waves and U.S. diplomats becoming nauseous, dizzy or temporarily losing their hearing and memory, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he was considering closing the recently reopened embassy in Havana. The means and motive for the alleged attacks remain unclear.

After boycotting nationwide local elections in May, voting took place in the Number Two Province in southern Nepal, completing the country’s first local elections in nearly two decades. The local elections were part of an agreement in 2006 that ended a decade-long war with Maoist rebels, though the following decade saw continued instability, with the country transitioning through nine governments in nearly as many years.

Sept. 16–22 Chris May

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In a highly anticipated speech addressing the ongoing persecution of the Rohingya people, Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi expressed sympathy for the Muslim ethnic group her government says does not qualify for citizenship because they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar military’s action against the Muslim ethnic group has been called a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing,” while government officials have countered allegations of setting fire to Rohingya villages by saying the Rohingya are setting fire to their own homes.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck central Mexico, killing nearly 150 people and causing at least 44 buildings to collapse in Mexico City alone.

An 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit southern Mexico earlier this month.

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.

COVER

SHOURESHI AND HOUSING DIRECTOR DROP IN ON STUDENT MOVE-IN DAY JAKE JOHNSON

PSU PRESIDENT RAHMAT SHOURESHI GREETS STUDENTS ON MOVE-IN DAY SEPT. 21 AT THE BROADWAY BUILDING JAKE JOHNSON/PSU VANGUARD New residents living on the Portland State campus started moving in for the fall term on Sept. 21 at the Broadway Building on SW Jackson. PSU President Rahmat Shoureshi was there to say hello and make sure everyone was doing well.

Siena Clark moved from San Francisco for her first year at PSU. While the trip may have been easier for her than others, she thought it was just far enough. Clark is excited about the people and a change of scenery.

“I’m really excited to meet new people and get out in the area,” Clark said. She seemed prepared with pots, pans, and parents in tow, but there was one thing left behind. “I know I left my backpack at home, but luckily that was empty so I’m okay there. Other than that I think I’m solid.”

Alexis Bright is a Portland local who wanted to change it up by living on campus this year and looks forward to being so close to school.

“I’m excited to get involved on campus,” Bright said. “I did a women’s leadership

program through the school of government at PSU and I met a lot of great people I’ve already seen. I’m excited for the PSU community and the proximity.”

Terra Cibere helped her daughter move to Portland from Boulder, Colorado and is happy about her daughter’s life progress.

“I think you get excited that they’ve worked hard to get here, so you’re more proud,” Cibere said. “We’re really excited for her to start college.”

A PRESIDENTIAL MOVE

Not only did students move in recently, but so did new PSU President, Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi.

Shoureshi took a few moments to speak with the Vanguard between conversations with students, staff, and parents.

“I truly believe that we are here because of the students,” Shoureshi said. “I know especially the PSU students come from very diverse backgrounds, and many of them

probably have to juggle so many demands in their lives from family to working and still to be able to go to school.”

ADVICE FROM UHRL DIRECTOR WALSH

University Housing and Resident Life Director Michael Walsh was also present.

“Seeing our new president, Dr. Shoureshi, meet, greet, and validate families and new students made me so happy,” Walsh stated. “It’s his first move-in too. It’s great to have President Shoureshi here.”

Walsh said that living on campus should be a positive experience and provided some advice to students moving in.

“Get to know your resident assistant and get to know other people as soon as possible,” Walsh said. “Then get engaged with activities on campus.”

Walsh said getting involved and getting to know other people helps students succeed

and this success starts with a little extra effort as soon as they move in.

Walsh encouraged students to seek out the help of their RA and other UHRL staff if students want help in this regard.

“Adjusting to a roommate or roommates is probably the hardest thing new student residents face,” Walsh said. “Talk to your roommate[s] ahead of time and use UHRL staff to help you.”

Walsh and Shoureshi certainly have a desire to see students enjoy and succeed at PSU. “Like little ripples of a butterfly in one corner of the world creating big effects on the other side, small efforts in the beginning of college create huge success dividends for students who live on campus,” Walsh said.

“College education transforms people,” Shoureshi said. “I want to make sure to give them the most positive transformation experience here.”

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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COVER

PRESIDENT SHOURESHI: WHO IS HE? NEW PSU PREZ TALKS PET PEEVES, MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT AND FAVORITE PORTLAND EXPERIENCES COLLEEN LEARY & ALEX-JON EARL

PSU PRESIDENT RAHMAT SHOURESHI DURING AN INTERVIEW WITH THE VANGUARD. JOE W. SHAPIRO/PSU VANGUARD As new students arrive on Portland State’s campus, many may not be aware they’re also under the leadership of a brand new PSU President, Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi. You may ask yourself, “Who is this ‘Reshi? What does he care about? What does my school’s president have to do with me?”

If you live in the Broadway Residence Building, maybe President Shoureshi helped you carry your mini-fridge into the dorms last Thursday. If you frequent the PSU Bookstore, maybe you chatted with him on his first day at PSU in early August. Or, if you ride the streetcar to campus, maybe you’ll run into him on his daily commute.

Just before classes began, the Vanguard sat down with Shoureshi on a Monday morning.

We heard details of his impressive list of professional accomplishments throughout his career, ambitions and visions for PSU, and what he likes to do in the hours he’s not running a university of nearly 30,000 students and 7,000 faculty members.

GETTING HIS START

President Shoureshi described his early years as a graduate student in Boston at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he arrived in 1976 with his wife. Several years into his studies the Iranian Revolution broke out casting his future into doubt.

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“We had spent over five years in Boston, and halfway through my Ph.D., the revolution happened back home, and so it was a decision of do we go back or do we stay,” Shoureshi explained.

“This is an angle that I very clearly understand what our international students are going through, whether they are those that are from the infamous ‘six countries,’ or the DACA students, because I—my—experience back in the 1980s was when the government was also looking at the Iranian students [for deportation].”

During the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979, then-President Jimmy Carter created a situation in which hundreds were deported and thousands more left of their own volition. In response, campuses then, as today, stepped up to make sure students were in compliance with the demands of Carter’s executive order.

“I always remember how MIT decided to support its students and make sure that nothing would disrupt their education,” Shoureshi said. “That’s what I’d like to do here at PSU, to make sure that any students, no matter what background or nationality, [has] the opportunity to study and complete their education at PSU.” After graduating from MIT, Shoureshi moved on to teaching positions in various

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.

universities. His first was at MIT itself, and in 1981 he moved on to teaching mechanical engineering at Wayne State in Detroit, Michigan.

From 1983 to 1994, Shoureshi spent time at Purdue in a variety of positions, including continuing on as a mechanical engineering professor. This position helped him gain the opportunity to partner with the National Science Foundation to create an engineering research center at Purdue and the Colorado School of Mines.

In 1994, Shoureshi took a lucrative position as a founding chair of an Engineering Systems graduate program at the Colorado School of Mines, which allowed him to create another NSF partnership, this time in the field of biomedical devices.

In 2003, Shoureshi stepped into the position of dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Denver, and, in 2011, he became the provost and vice president for academic affairs at the New York Institute of Technology.

Among Shoureshi’s accomplishments are nine separate registered patents at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

These include a smart insole for diabetic patients and a vibration control system for cars, things most Vanguard readers have encountered in their lives at some point.

PSU AS A GLOBAL URBAN UNIVERSITY

Shoureshi’s vision for PSU continues the work he’s done in past positions. “I know what it takes to move a university,” Shoureshi said.

“I call myself a builder,” he said, “At every university I have been, I have built great programs, colleges, universities. So I feel that PSU is a university with all of the right ingredients and is poised to really become a great, what I call, ‘global urban university.’ That’s what I’m aiming to push for.”

Shoureshi’s past experience has included building global partnerships between universities and businesses in various corners of the world. He believes when faculty members take an active role in their industries, they bring stronger educational benefits to the classroom.

“I believe in the fact that the faculty need to be involved in creative work and scholarship because that’s an effective way that makes them a lot of more effective in their classrooms and the education they provide to their students, so this is an area I also will be emphasizing here at PSU.” “Then came the opportunity of PSU, and usually before I move to a university, I do a great deal of behind-the-scenes assessment, you make sure first of all it’s the right fit,” Shoureshi said.

“And secondly, that it is a place I can make a difference...and that is why I am here.”

COVER

Q&A

VG: Can you talk a little more about what it means to be a ‘great global urban university’?

RS: Our students are going to end up working in businesses, NGOs, companies that are international. So we want to make sure that they get that education and exposure while they are at PSU. At the same time, what that means is that not only hopefully learning another language, but more importantly, learning other cultures. Because it is so important to appreciate and understand the cultures that we are not exposed to. I can see that there are many conflicts and many issues that arise because people do not appreciate the other side’s culture, and so it’s part of that education.

The other part is that we want to make sure our faculty and students have the opportunity to collaborate in Portland with others around the globe, because nobody can say, ‘We know it all, we have it all.’ There are others that can contribute.

I would love to see our faculty spending sabbaticals at partner institutions overseas and visa versa, and so it’s that because by going through experience, which I call it, ‘the element of experiential learning’ outside of the classroom that our students when they graduate, they will be in a much better position than their peers when it comes to job opportunities.

VG: Do you have any specific ideas for how to promote that cultural competency in the classroom and pursuits here on campus?

RS: In the classroom there are a number of ways. [The] first thing is actually having workshops. And I know the [PSU Office of Global Diversity and Inclusion] is doing some of that, but establishing workshops not just for our students, but our faculty and staff, about what it means to be exposed to somebody coming from a completely foreign country. How do we give them a welcoming on-boarding?

The other part is I would love our faculty to come with those composite experiences so when they discuss cases in their lectures, they bring examples that really represent a global perspective rather than just focusing locally.

The third part is by having students from other backgrounds in the classrooms, so our classrooms are diverse. That’s another way to interact. That might be the most effective way, that peer-to-peer interaction among students to educate them about being a global citizen.

VG: How would you promote diversity in the classrooms?

RS: There’s local diversity and there’s global diversity. I would like to see our partnerships with school systems and community colleges become very strong, so that when students come to PSU, they are very well-prepared and they will be successful.

I was visiting the president of PCC. In their student body, you see the diversity in a true sense. So you want to make sure you attract more of them here. That expands the diversity that way.

The other part, I have already initiated and will be expanding is [to] build the partnerships that I used to [have] back in New York. Trying to reach out to the universities that already know me very well to establish joint degree partnerships with those universities and have opportunities of their students coming here and being in our classroom, as well as our students going to their classrooms.

Those are just some of the immediate ideas and plans I have.

VG: What have been some of your favorite experiences in Portland thus far?

RS: The first one that comes to mind is the bike ride...Voyage of Visionaries on [Sept. 8]. It gave me the opportunity to see parts of Portland that probably [I] wouldn’t have seen in the immediate future.

[It was an] opportunity to really get to know leadership of Portland community, whether it was the city leadership or the business leadership in a setting that was very collegial and inviting, so I enjoyed that very much.

The second I have to say (even though I wish they had won) it was going to Providence Stadium and watching the football team play, and going to see the football players and coaches.

[My wife and I] were able to meet the cheerleaders and see all

of the excitement they have and the pride they have for PSU. Even though it wasn’t a regular game [and] students are not in town yet, the stadium was more than half full. So I realized how much pride the folks in the greater Portland Metro have for PSU. It was a very positive experience.

Something that my daughter had told me, but now we have really experienced is how nice, how kind are people in Portland. They have a great value of respect for others.

You can imagine the contrast I have between New York and Portland. So, it’s such a positive experience to see that even at the traffic light they don’t try to run you over.

VG: What’s something you’ve been told you need to visit in Portland that you haven’t seen yet?

RS: Well, I haven’t been to OMSI...You may know I take the Streetcar every day to go to work and the streetcar keeps saying, ‘This is such and such street car…going to OMSI.’ And for a while I was wondering, ‘Who is this OMSI?’ The other part, is that I understand, and my daughter has been there several times, the coast I’m told is very nice.

VG: What are some of your pet peeves?

RS: Let me tell you this: Being on time and being organized is very important. If I go to a meeting and if the meeting says it starts at 10 a.m., I expect all of those to be there.

The other part for me, I have already made it clear is when you are in a meeting, people using or being on their cellphones.

This is so disrespectful. If what you’re discussing isn’t important, then why did you even come to the meeting to begin with?

The other is one of my main principles of operation. I don’t want to get surprised. I do my best not to surprise others and I hope others don’t surprise me, and so far it has not happened yet here.

One other point, and it’s only been one month at PSU so I cannot say much, but I have seen it at other places, university folks tend to forget that we are all here because of the students.

In fact, I ended up, not here but in some other place, finally turning to someone and saying, ‘Do you know where your paycheck comes from? It’s through the students.’

So it would bother me if I see faculty or staff not really being service-oriented to our students. I hope I won’t see that here.

VG: Can you tell us one of your most embarrassing moments?

RS: I was in the process...of establishing a partnership with universities in Turkey, and so my office would arrange the visits and so forth, and so there is the Eastern University—they claim they are 600 years old, and a huge university.

I was supposed to meet with their provost. I went to their meeting, and I saw that they really rolled out the red carpet.

They gave presentations about things they are doing, and every now and then some of the people at the table kept asking me, ‘So how is professor so-and-so?’

And I couldn’t remember having professor so-and-so. At some point it dawned on me: They must be mixing our university with another university. So when it was my turn to present about our university, I started by saying, ‘I’m coming from this university. I have a feeling you are mixing me up with with university.’

I’m not mentioning the names, but it’s easy to figure out what I’m thinking about. And then I saw, ‘Oh my god, that was the case. And their whole behavior changed. It was such an embarrassing situation, I thought, ‘I can’t wait until this meeting is over.’

VG: What kind of advice would you give our undergraduates that are just coming in?

RS: There are several things, I have shared some of these advices with my two children also. The first is that college years are such informative and transformational years that

you should take full advantage of the time that you are at the university.

I used to tell both my son and daughter that, you know, you’re gonna live probably about a hundred years. An extra year at the university is not going to really hurt you, compared to a hundred years. But you get the chance to learn a lot more not just to stay within your own discipline.

My son was into baseball. He went and took a course—he was an engineering undergrad—the course was economic impact of baseball. And then he did a term project about Fenway Park in Boston, given that he was born in Boston…Don’t just take classes on your own disciplines. Try to learn from other disciplines and take courses.

The second part is don’t just go through classrooms. Get involved in projects as part of experiential learning. Get involved with clubs and try to take some type of leadership role in some projects, whether it is within your dorm, within your school, within your group, something that shows you initiated that.

The other part is definitely, if the opportunity is there— and I’m hoping to provide that opportunity—to take at least a semester or a quarter overseas to learn a different culture.

And finally, I would strongly encourage students to do internships...while they are studying because the experience they gain going through that confirms even more what they are studying.

VG: What was one of the most rewarding leadership roles or projects you worked on in your undergraduate studies?

RS: I had the opportunity to teach math in a high school while I was going through my undergraduate studies. This is back home [in Iran], and at the time and I’m sure it’s now even more, many of the high schools, they were separated by gender.

I was teaching in an all-girls high school and I really wanted to get them excited about engineering and sciences and try to show them how exciting math is. So I got them involved in projects that was so different from typically at that time was happening in high school classrooms, even giving them opportunities for visiting the university because not many at the time were taking beyond a high school diploma.

So those are the ones that I felt were non-engineering but rewarding.

VG: Describe an interaction you’ve had with a student at PSU that’s stood out to you.

RS: So far the one that I have had, and I hope I will have plenty more, is on is my first day on the job, the three that gave me the tour.

I had the opportunity to ask them about their experiences and what they think of PSU, what brought them to PSU, and I’ll never forget Marwa, and the experiences she has gone through in her life and coming here, the difficulties that she and her family have gone through. So that was in a sense a positive experience from the [student’s] perspective. All three of them represented a really diverse group, and [shared] how pleased they have been with their experiences at PSU. That was great.

The second one was I have had a chance to interact with a few times the [President and Vice President of Associated Students of PSU] Brent [Finkbeiner] and Donald [Thompson III].

I was impressed by their devotion to the student issues and what they are trying to push forward, which is pretty much in line with what I believe.

VG: Describe yourself in three words: RS: Hardworking, super-optimistic, and—since you are asking me—I’m a visionary person.

PSU PRESIDENT RAHMAT SHOURESH IN A BOT MEETING WHERE HE WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED TO BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF PSU ON MAY 15, 2017. JAMON SIN/VANGUARD

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

9

NEWS ARTS NEWS& CULTURE

BECOMING GOLD:

JODOROWSKY’S ‘THE HOLY MOUNTAIN’ MATTHEW N. ANDREWS AND ANDREW D. JANKOWSKI Vanguard editors Matthew N. Andrews (Arts & Culture) and Andrew D. Jankowski (Online & Social Media) attended NW Film Center’s sold-out screenings of The Holy Mountain (1973).

Andrew narrates, Matthew comments: I attended the Sept. 17 screening of The Holy Mountain with Nick Mattos, a former PQ Monthly columnist and arts & culture writer. I know that Matthew and Nick are Jodorowsky fans, but I knew next to nothing about Jodorowsky’s films except the basics: They’re symbolic, colorful, visually rich and likely to send any MPAA disciple into a medical emergency. [To say nothing of the brick it would make poor old Will H. Hays shit—MNA] I’d never attended a NW Film Center screening. I meant to attend at least one of the David Lynch Retrospective films, but I never made the time. I also meant to see Santa Sangre (1989) and Endless Poetry (Poesia Sin Fin) (2017) when they screened at other Portland theaters, but same story.

Whitsell Auditorium is a large, acoustically quiet theater with chairs of comparable comfort to 5th Avenue Cinemas (I haven’t been there since before any seat remodeling, and I’m closer to seven feet tall than six, so take that information for what it is). [I’m about as wide as Andrew is high, and I love Whitsell’s seats—MNA] PSU Assistant Professor Amy Borden’s avant garde cinema class is probably the most valuable film course I’ve taken. I learned how to disassociate cinematic reality from natural reality, what to watch for in a plotless film, and the truth that any stimuli you experience— from your neighbor’s reactions to the mechanical sounds of the projector—can inform your film reading.

All this to say: The Holy Mountain was a difficult, spiritual art journey, and I left the theater a changed being, not only having seen a film but at many times having felt seen by a film featuring chambers constructed as eyes staring back at the audience. [We’re certain that was Jodo’s intent—MNA] There’s not much plot of speak of: The plot diagram one usually learns in tenth grade English class mostly just navigates us through the religious and cultural imagery permeating the film. It’s hard to decide on images to discuss that won’t give away the experience. I really wish I had written down which of the planetary avatars’ lives was referenced for Santigold and Nima Nourizadeh’s “L.E.S. Artistes” music video. [The first part is Jodo’s alchemist himself, the part with all the fruits and body horror is from the sequence when studly Axon

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(Richard Rutowski) and his Unsullied Neptune Youth don their riot gear and face off with protesters in the streets—MNA] The two themes that struck me the most in The Holy Mountain were the presence of non-human intelligences and the idea of between-stages, something I first learned about through Stephen Nachtigall’s zero vine Littman Gallery exhibition last January.

[The theme that struck me most appeared early on, the Jesus character carrying around a plaster-cast copy of himself hanging on the cross, fractally bearing his own crucified image. I’m a sucker for blasphemous and absurdly recursive imagery—MNA] [@MNA And wasn’t it also made of pork-sourced wax?! Let’s look at that too!!!—ADJ] Animals occupy the same space as human actors in The Holy Mountain, the most obvious example being the frog and lizard reenactment of Spain’s American conquest. The audience audibly “aww”ed at the lizards in their indigenous national costumes, but I didn’t hear anyone react as the conquistador frogs overwhelmed the lizards, the pyramids gushing fountains of blood and the landscape violently exploding (likely taking all the frogs and lizards with it). The Thief (Horacio Salinas) [that’d be the Jesus avatar, who is also The Fool and much else besides—MNA] croaks and groans across the ruined, bloody stage like an amphibian, driving home the point that European conquest was not quite a matter of two different species performing in cute costumes against their will.

I most vividly remember a crane walking around in one of the eye chambers, because it moved with the same semi-aware motions and a similarly unknowable, Brakhage-unfixed gaze as the sleep-deprived/stoned actors. The camera angles and staging made me feel like a god, seeing every corner of a chamber from above. [Also Jodo’s intent: Know ye not that thou art gods?—MNA] The between-stages theme is most obvious in the alchemical symbolism and the characters’ spiritual journeys. Both of these processes in The Holy Mountain require human ingredients as conduits for change. The spiritualists must lose themselves until they find themselves; in one striking scene, shit and sweat are drawn from a hyperbaric chamber pumping boiled shit fumes back in on the nude querent (which, if there’s only one visual metaphor allowed for artistic academic bubbles gone wrong, what other would be better?). [I love this scene’s punchline, a holographic synecdoche for the whole damn movie: “You are excrement. You can change yourself into gold.”—MNA]

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.

ELLA HIGGINS If The Holy Mountain obviously exposes the artifice of special effects in cinema (using fruit to resemble organs and exposed tubing to pump blood), then it also reveals the grueling physical and logistical labor which goes into staging such scenes, and the use of body horror is a way to connect the audience to the light-and-pigment images projected before them. [Cronenberg is pretty great at this too—MNA] I really, really hope that The Alchemist (Alejandro Jodorowsky) didn’t actually rip an acrylic nail off Leticia Robles’s or Connie de la Mora’s thumb, because that was just as bad as witnessing staged castrations or the flesh being cut from a living horse (staged? one hopes so), if only because of the long tradition of ignoring femme pain and femme labor. (Consider also that both women are credited under the same role). Their pain, along with the surrealist portrayal of a limbless man (real-life multiple amputee Basilio González, who is not properly credited), represents The Thief’s emotional state; they also signal how journeys of spiritual enlightenment can be brutally violent, and Travelers can lose themselves and become symbols, like The Alchemist’s taxidermic goat throne. [This union of physical and spiritual cruelty is one of Jodo’s special touches, running through all his work, and the one that would probably get him into more trouble if he weren’t so goddamn charming. See also: careers of G.I. Gurdjieff, Joshu Sasaki, Alfred Hitchcock, et alia—MNA] Speaking of moments that made me wince and look away from the camera, let me now address my fellow audience members: Please, please I’m begging you, learn how to act like you’ve never before seen tiddies or ass cheeks or simulated sex or queer displays of affection or centenarian hermaphrodites with jaguar-head tiddies. The gentleman next to me who started snoring as he slept was less annoying. Most of the time I tuned the audience out, though, and became the only being in the whole theater, engaged in mutual gaze with Jodorowsky’s 40-plus-year-old immor-

tal avatar. [Ha! He trapped you, too, eh?—MNA] I don’t want to spoil The Holy Mountain’s climax. It was so special. [I won’t spoil it either, but I don’t mind hinting that it was good enough for Monty Python to steal it at least twice— MNA] All I will say is that literally anyone who offers you immortality is not offering you what you think. For The Holy Mountain, there is indeed real alchemy and real binding magick and the real immortality achieved by creatives like Sylvia Plath and Amy Winehouse. [I have to add Prince and Bowie to this litany—MNA] It is real and attainable. You will lose every claim to your body and your conscious autonomy, but you will live forever (assuming the medium you’re bound to survives). [“You are excrement.

You can change yourself into gold.”—MNA] As Nick and I exited Whitsell Auditorium, rejoining the real world waiting for us, we ran into not only XRAY.FM host and DJ Vera Rubin and her date, but the large-scale Keith Haring display outside Whitsell Auditorium that we all somehow missed when we found our seats. Rubin joked about recognizing the pattern from a pair of H&M shoes. We all laughed and took in Haring’s black and red lines, and the white space between them. After watching almost 120 minutes of psychedelic cinema, all the lines appeared vibrant, crackling like electricity. I personally love queer artifacts at least a decade old. I feel in tune with the embedded queer energy from another era still affecting the present. Spotting Keith Haring before walking beneath larger-thanlife realistic orchid sculptures was the perfect art history companion to The Holy Mountain’s transcendental offerings. I didn’t just see a movie: The movie saw me. [I never noticed the Haring display either. And I think we can add him to that list of immortals.—MNA] The Holy Mountain screened as the first film in NWFC’s Genrified! series, which continues in October and December with cult classics Near Dark, Cat People, and Suspiria. Visit nwfilm. org/film-series/genrified-cult-other-curiosities for more info.

ARTS & CULTURE

POLITICS IN THEATER: ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATRE SEASON PREVIEW CASSIE DUNCANSON

THE ARTIST REPERTORY THEATER. COURTESY OF JEFF HAYES The 35th anniversary season of Artists Repertory Theatre, located in Southwest Portland near Providence Park, promises to be one hell of a year. ART’s seven plays have been specifically curated to get political and spark conversation.

Theater—community, large scale, professional or amateur—invariably is a reflection of contemporary society. Writers are influenced by the context they live in; it is impossible not to be. The shows that ART puts on are always new plays, first performed within the last three years or so. But this year is a little different. The plays were selected in 2016, right around the time of the election.

“Most of the people in our staff…are feeling a lot of anxiety,” ART Artistic Director Dámaso Rodríguez said. “Theater can be used as an escape. Or theater [can be used] to explore and discuss that anxiety and shared experience of relief by taking on work that doesn’t shy away from the moment.” And that is what ART is tackling this season: racism, chronic illness, climate change, government oppression…

ART isn’t pulling its punches.

This season’s plays involve Tony winners, Pulitzer winners, MacArthur Genius playwrights, a commissioned play and prolific plays.

The season kicks off with An Octoroon (Sept.

3–Oct. 1) by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a dark

comedy more about the experience than the story. Read our opening night review online.

Caught (Oct. 1–29) premieres at ART in October, in partnership with The Chújú Gallery/SF and The Geezer Gallery with artist Lin Bo and playwright Christopher Chen.

Rodríguez describes the installation/theater piece as reflecting the contemporary by the way it showcases “how a government can pretend to be pro artist but acting as if [they are] not an oppressive regime…art as a way of obscuring, [when] they are actually oppressing people.” The multimedia production explores what truth and perception are, depending on who is speaking and who is viewing.

Stephen Karam’s The Humans (Nov. 19– Dec. 17) takes place in a single location over the 90-minute production. “It’s almost surreal in its hyper-realism,” Rodríguez said.

Generations of a family gather to celebrate Thanksgiving. Over the course of dinner, audiences come to understand the various anxieties of each member of this middle/ lower-class family.

“You could do this 50 years from now and get a sense of what it’s like to be alive right now,” Rodríguez said. “It’s a 21st-century look at what a certain kind of American life is like.” What Death of a Salesman was to the ’40s, The Humans is to today. “The anxieties come out in really interesting ways,” ART publicist Nicole Lane added. That said,

the play does not create a sense of hopelessness. “There’s something positive about it,” Rodríguez said.

Magellanica (Jan. 20–Feb. 18) explores climate change, detailing a 1985 expedition to Antarctica to study a hole in the ozone. It is a five-part play, with each part lasting an hour (audiences will be treated to a dinner break).

Rodríguez and Lane, anticipating that audiences might be tentative regarding the long run-time, commented that people familiar with Netflix-binging can comfortably take a journey that looks at governmental control, isolation, climate change and truth.

Continuing the theme of topical timeliness is Stephen Adly Guirgis’ Between Riverside and Crazy (March 4–April 1), a 2015 Pulitzer winner about a black cop forced into retirement after being shot while off-duty by a rookie white cop. Kevin Jones, whom Portlanders may be familiar with from the Red Door Project (described by ART as “an organization that uses art as a catalyst to transform the racial ecology of Portland”) will be playing the main character, Pops.

The Thanksgiving Play (April 1–29), written by Larissa FastHorse, was commissioned

by ART. A classroom full of white teachers is tasked with putting on a play that will celebrate Thanksgiving while somehow honoring Native American Heritage month. “It’s mutually exclusive,” Lane said. The teachers utilize an actor whom they believe is Native

American as their textbook. Even as a comedy, it invites discussion. These teachers could easily be the liberal, white, progressive, well-meaning instructors of Portland who are just ill-equipped to do what they are trying to do.

The season ends with I and You (May 20– June 17), one of the most-produced plays of the last year in the United States. On a surface level, this is a much quieter and smaller play than the previous powerhouses. It’s a two-character play: Two seemingly opposite teenagers have to work together on a project about Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself. The rest of the season is “confronting and challenging,” Rodríguez said. The season is meant to be viewed in its entirety: “I and You is the takeaway. It’s a positive view of the future.

More hopeful if you will,” Rodríguez said.

Lane added, “It goes beyond clearly drawn lines.” Director JoAnn Johnson described the play as “a cosmic hug.”

ART, in addition to the seven theater pieces, has a three-show Frontier series: limited-run shows curated by ART. They, Themself and Shmerm, The Holler Sessions, and White Rabbit Red Rabbit all sit somewhere between play and performance art.

An Octoroon is currently in production through Oct. 1 and the season runs until June 17. You don’t want to miss a thing. Visit www. artistsrep.org/onstage/201718-season for more info.

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

11

OPINION

NO, NOT THAT BBW— IT’S BANNED BOOK WEEK

Mystery Flavor

by Jordan Ellis

The American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week runs Sept. 24–30. Established in 1982, the week aims to raise awareness of book censorship and gain public support.

BBW this year focuses specifically on First Amendment rights by celebrating “Our Right to Read.” BBW Chair Charles Brownstein states, “Our free society depends on the right to access, evaluate, and voice a wide range of ideas. Book bans chill that right and increase division in the communities where they occur. This Banned Books Week, we’re asking people of all political persuasions to come together and celebrate Our Right to Read.”

The BBW’s website claims, “Censorship is happening and it is infringing on the rights of readers,” citing the 17 percent increase in book censorship complaints in 2016. Book challenges and bans most commonly occur in schools and libraries with parents and patrons commonly challenging books. Each year individuals and organizations report hundreds of book challenges to ALA, but only 10 percent of reports actually result in the removal of those books. The ALA aims to make those numbers even lower through BBW. Books that contain diverse content most commonly face these challenges. Nine out of 2015’s top ten most challenged books do.

This includes “diverse experiences, including (but not limited to) LGBTQIA, people of color, gender diversity, people with disabilities, and ethnic, cultural, and religious minorities,” explains the ALA. In light of recent acts of racism and bigotry against diverse populations, future generations need to read about these

important issues.

Books give readers a window into lives or ideas that differ from their own. This exposure can foster empathy for others and illustrate the diversity of human experience.

Literature can also act as a mirror, enabling readers to better see themselves through characters or situations familiar to them, giving a new perspective to events or ideas they view as normal. In an essay exploring this concept, Emily Style writes that in general, “white males find, in the house of curriculum, many mirrors to look in, and few windows which frame others’ lives. Women and men of color, on the other hand, find almost no mirrors of themselves in the house of curriculum; for them, it is often all windows.”

Readers need access to both mirror and window books, covering all demographics. Readers without access to books where they feel represented can feel a sense of alienation— that their experiences aren’t valid—deepening that notion of otherness, and as mentioned earlier, windows build necessary bridges between demographics.

Manhattanville College assistant professor Katie Cunningham stresses the importance of this, writing, “Stories can help young children understand that racism very much exists in this country, and that power is unequally distributed based on race, class, and gender. For children from dominant groups, window moments in stories come when the children realize they hold a powerful place in society, and that there is

GEORGIA HATCHETT something unjust about this.”

People disproportionately challenge and ban books that reflect diversity. BBW hopes to continue working to give readers access to literature containing these important issues. It is understandable that some parents may not want their children exposed to such charged subjects at a young age for any given reason, yet there is a difference between monitoring the books of one’s own child and monitoring the books of every student at a school or every patron of a library.

This week BBW is hosting a virtual read-out. In addition to read-alouds in bookstores and libraries, there will also be readouts of banned books utilizing YouTube as a platform. BBW has a designated channel where the group will post videos of people reading banned books aloud. Anyone is able to participate and submit a video that meets their criteria. More info is available on the BBW web page.

BBW’s main goal is to raise awareness. So this week, educate yourselves. Explore ALA’s lists of frequently challenged books.

Sign up for newsletters or get involved with an organization protecting our access to books. Spread the word about BBW, get involved with local friends of the library groups, or just curl up with a banned book and celebrate your right to read.

More resources: The Banned Book Week Website: bannedbookweek.org The American Library Association Advocacy Page: ala.org/ advocacy/bbooks

sents e r p d r a u g n a te V Portland Sta

Viking Voices is an open platform, rolling submission Op-Ed column open to all students, faculty, and staff of Portland State.

Submit your thoughts, stories, and opinions to opinion@psuvanguard.com Please provide your name and major or affiliation with PSU. No submissions over 600 words.

Submissions are voluntary, unpaid and not guaranteed to be published. All submissions will be reviewed and selected by the Vanguard Opinion Editor.

Accepting submissions now!

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PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.

OPINION

AN OPEN LETTER (CHALLENGE) TO THE PSU COMMUNITY Beyond the Pale

by Thomas Spoelhof

Dear esteemed colleagues, faculty, and fellow students of the Portland State community; The new academic year is upon us, and with it as always the tenuous opportunity for fantastic successes and disastrous failures, intellectual breakthroughs and stifling conundrums.

The arrival of October also heralds the three-quarter mark for what arguably has been the most tumultuous year in the last half-century of United States history.

November’s presidential election unleashed a sea of opposition and disdain followed by protest and discord throughout the country. Berkeley, Charlottesville, Portland, and many other cities have all played the role of contentious battlegrounds competing for possession of your ideological heart and mind.

As the flurry of presidential directives emanating from our tweet-happy commander-in-chief bewilder us on a daily basis, people are being shouted down in the classroom and on the street when views and opinions contrast. Media bombard us with countless portrayals of mobs of disgruntled extremists from every corner of the darkest, ugliest dogmas we would like to pretend no longer exist. We’ve been barraged with examples of verbal berating, intimidation, physical assault and murder.

As a result, people are afraid to speak, afraid to share their views for fear of saying the wrong thing, inadvertently offending someone to the point of instant ostracization or worse.

The issue, of course, is not unique to PSU. Consider the letter composed by a collection of Harvard, Princeton and Yale professors addressed to incoming students at the onset of the new school year with the premise of asking them to commit to thinking critically and keeping open minds.

“Thinking for yourself means questioning dominant ideas even when others insist on their being treated as unquestionable,” the letter states. “It means deciding what one believes not by conforming to fashionable opinions, but by taking the trouble to learn and honestly consider the strongest arguments to be advanced on both or all sides of questions—including arguments for positions that others revile and want to stigmatize and against positions others seek to immunize from critical scrutiny.”

In conjunction, this open letter to you—the faculty, students, and community of PSU—is also a challenge: a challenge for you to maintain your individuality. You are not required to declare your allegiance to any identity, party line, group, or philosophy.

As transcendentalist agitator Ralph Waldo Emerson states in his essay Self Reliance, “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great [human] is [they] who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

Feel free to strongly declare one position on an issue today and completely reverse yourself tomorrow. Feel free to explore all alternative views on any given topic. You have the right to maintain and/or change your mind at will.

At an Iowa town hall discussion in 2015, then-President Barack Obama summarized the necessity of individuality as such: "The purpose of college is not just to transmit skills.

It’s also to widen your horizons, to make you a better citizen, to help you evaluate information, to help you make your way through the world, to help you be more creative." Obama recognized the importance of facing uncomfortable ideas and resisting our innate tendency to turtle-up and deny consid-

eration of others’ points of view in what now appears to be a visionary sentiment.

Similarly, Langston Hughes offers a fitting metaphor for the concept in his poem titled “Motto,” which sums up a feasible life strategy for survival in difficult circumstances: I play it cool And dig all jive That's the reason I stay alive My motto As I live and learn Is: Dig and be dug in return.

Give respect, Hughes writes, and expect to be respected in return. Whatever the other is into, as long as they are not hurting themselves or anyone else, they are worthy of respect.

The same is equally true for you and your beliefs.

Civil rights group The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education documented the disinvitation of 43 speakers from scheduled college campus engagements in 2016, and the list continues to grow in 2017. In a time when the supposition of ideas is frequently shut down for a wide spectrum of reasons, we need individuals to muster the courage to take on a dangerous proposition: Be willing to entertain ideas different from those you already hold.

How does one participate in said challenge? Read everything.

Listen to everyone. Have lunch with someone whose views and experiences differ from your own. Remain malleable. Reach out.

Say hello. Expand your tolerance for the individuality of others.

Expand understanding of your own individuality.

Get involved, join a club, attend seminars, speaking engagements and debates. Pursue knowledge relentlessly. Commit to lifelong learning. Commit to a contribution to the human race and planet earth. Be true to yourself and all the world around you. Transcend your group identity. Refuse to let one mere aspect of your character dominate your entire psyche and persona.

Here’s a time-tested technique for initiating dialogue: Whenever aggressed with a particularly abrasive comment, instead of reacting viscerally with a verbal beat-down, ask the offender this question: What makes you say so? Afford yourself the opportunity to hear the reasoning, however unreasonable it may be, behind the other’s thinking. Hopefully, once you’ve offered the opportunity to be heard, you may in turn retort and be heard. Whenever an impasse should arise, let’s resurrect the lost art of agreeing to disagree peacefully.

Human beings are amazingly resilient creatures. Accept that you, yourself, are simultaneously fully capable of great good, great harm, and complete rehabilitation. Respectfully speak your mind in class. Don’t be afraid. Let honest inquiry and debate guide your actions, not fear of rejection or judgement.

Think for yourself.

Best wishes for an excellent and enlightening school year.

Thomas Spölhof

ILLUSTRATION BY LYDIA WOJACK-WEST

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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EVENTS SEPT 26 – OCT 2

ON CAMPUS FEATURED EVENT

FILM MAGIC MIKE XXL (2015) SEPT. 29–OCT. 1

5TH AVENUE CINEMA $4–5 (FREE W/PSU ID), ALL AGES

The sequel to Magic Mike (2012) is a road film, a masculinity film, and according to one of our designers, an example of Floridian cinema which she called “sad, but in a good way.” Also MMXXL equals 2050. Maybe Jennifer Lynch will direct that version? Check back for our review of Magic Mike XXL and Portland State’s student-run movie theater.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 GRAND OPENING SMITH MEMORIAL STUDENT UNION

11 A.M. FIRST FLOOR SMSU FREE, ALL AGES

PSU President Dr. Rahmat Shoureshi serves cake at the ribbon-cutting for the million-dollar renovation to SMSU’s food court. Free food & drinks from new vendors like Salt & Straw, Stumptown Coffee and more.

FILM POETIC MIGRATIONS

7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM $6–9, ALL AGES

Ever-busy Northwest Film Center screens three new short films with themes of science fiction, poetry and the immigrant experience: Haft Seen, Sight and Field Theories.

MUSIC ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO 7:30 P.M.

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL $35–75, ALL AGES

The Grammy-winning Beninese singer-songwriter sings with the Oregon Symphony.

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27 CHAMBER MUSIC HOLLY BOWLING 8 P.M. (PERFORMING SEPT. 28)

THE OLD CHURCH $15–20, ALL AGES

Pianist Holly Bowling interprets the music of the Grateful Dead and Phish into complex classical arrangements.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 28 GRAND OPENING PARTY IN THE PARK 11 A.M.

PSU PARK BLOCKS FREE, ALL AGES

Get swag, snacks and goodies from PSU clubs and organizations, and learn how to get involved on campus in a way that caters to your interests. We’ll see you at our table!

SWIMMING SOUND WAVES LU’AU 7 P.M.

ACADEMIC AND STUDENT RECREATION CENTER FREE, ALL AGES

The Pacific Islanders’ Club hosts a pool party with traditional Pacific Islander dance and a student DJ performing to a laser light show.

FILM CHARLIE VS. GOLIATH (2017)

7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM $6–9, ALL AGES

Retired Catholic priest Charlie Hardy runs for office as a Democrat after returning to his home in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and discovering immense local apathy to problems like houselessness and poverty. Director Reed Lindsay will be in attendance.

THEATER PHANTOM THROUGH OCT 15.

7:30 P.M BRUNISH THEATRE $26–45, ALL AGES

Yeston & Kopit’s take on the classic Phantom of the Opera tale is purportedly one of the most deeply character-driven iterations to take the stage.

FILM SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING (2017)

7 P.M. PARKWAY NORTH FREE, ALL AGES

Tom Holland’s second time in the Spidey suit, and the first in his very own movie.

Check out our summer superhero story guide for what else we’ve said about Spider-Man: Homecoming.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 29 COUNTRY STURGILL SIMPSON 8 P.M. (PERFORMING SEPT. 29)

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL $40–70, ALL AGES

The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter comes to Portland in support of his new album, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 30 FILM HEIDI (2016) 2 P.M.

WHITSELL AUDITORIUM $6–9, ALL AGES

Anuk Steffan portrays the eponymous heroine in a new adaptation of Johanna Spyri’s novel.

FESTIVAL OKTOBERFEST 2 P.M.

PIONEER SQUARE $35, ALL AGES

Widmer Brothers Brewing’s 13th annual Oktoberfest celebration features live music from Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats along with beer and traditional German food.

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FILM DOLORES (2017) $6–9, ALL AGES 4:30/7 P.M

WHITSELL AUDITORIUM (SCREENING SEPT. 29)

Documentary about Dolores Huerta, cofounder of the United Farmworkers Union alongside Cesar Chavez.

BENEFIT SHOW WE ARE ONE 7 P.M.

WINNINGSTAD THEATER $30–40, ALL AGES

Four musical acts perform to benefit the nonprofit Northwest Young Adult.

SYMPHONY LED ZEPPELIN 7:30 P.M.

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL $35–95, ALL AGES

The Oregon Symphony plays Led Zeppelin’s greatest hits alongside a rock band and vocalist Randy Jackson (not sure if it’s the American Idol judge or not).

CHAMBER MUSIC LEYLA MCCALLA 8 P.M.

THE OLD CHURCH $12–15, ALL AGES

The cellist performs in support of her new album, A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey .

SUN OCT. 1

FITNESS WALKTOBER 6 A.M. (THROUGH OCT. 31)

ANYWHERE FREE, ALL AGES

Register online for a month-long, campuswide fitness challenge.

SPEAKING GENERATIONS OF PRIDE CENTRAL LIBRARY 2 P.M. FREE, ALL AGES

Paul Iarrobino hosts a story-telling night from queer people of different ages, orientations and backgrounds.

COMEDY NICK OFFERMAN 5:30/8 P.M.

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL $40–60, ALL AGES

The writer, comedian and actor comes to Portland solo on his Full Bush tour.

MONDAY, OCT. 2

FILM KILLER OF SHEEP (1978)

7 P.M. WHITSELL AUDITORIUM $6–9, ALL AGES

Charles Burnett’s UCLA Master’s thesis on life for African Americans following the end of legalized racial segregation in the United States, focusing on the life of slaughterhouse worker Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders) and his family.

CHAMBER MUSIC SCHUBERT ENSEMBLE 7:30 P.M. (PERFORMING LINCOLN OCT. 3) PERFORMANCE HALL $5–60, ALL AGES

Friends of Chamber Music kicks off its season with two concerts from London’s veteran strings + piano ensemble as they take a victory lap tour celebrating the end of their 35 years playing the finest in classical chamber music. The Schubert Ensemble will play works of Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Suk, Martinů, and Dvořák across two evenings.

LECTURE FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA 7:30 P.M.

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL $15–70, ALL AGES

Sofia Coppola’s dad and the director of films like The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Godfather Part III (1990) and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) comes to Portland to discuss his book Live Cinema and Its Techniques.

LECTURE VIEW FROM ABOVE 7:30 P.M.

NEWMARK THEATER $25–45, ALL AGES

Astronaut Terry Virts discusses his experiences leading the International Space Station and being named an astronaut to take the most photographs about the ISS. Part of the National Geographic LIVE series.

Matthew N. Andrews & Andrew D. Jankowski

OFF CAMPUS FEATURED EVENT

FILM FESTIVAL SEPT. 29-OCT. 5 17TH ANNUAL CINEMA 21 PORTLAND QUEER FILM $10-75, ALL AGES FESTIVAL

Called “Portland Gay & Lesbian Film Festival” until this year, PQFF features independent films and documentaries about people across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. Movies this week include dramas about urban lesbians, documentaries about rural gay men and two films about Tom of Finland.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 26 ART & CULTURE A JOINT FOR BLACK PORTLAND 6 P.M.

PENSOLE FOOTWEAR DESIGN ACADEMY $5–10, ALL AGES

The nonprofit SuperThank presents an evening of storytelling and music, including stories from economist/entrepreneur Stephen Green and photographer Insitar Abioto.

THEATER EVERY BRILLIANT THING 7:30 P.M. (STAGED

THROUGH NOV. 5) THE ARMORY $30–40, ALL AGES

Critically acclaimed monologue written by Duncan Macmillan, performed by Jonny Donahoe and directed by George Perrin. A boy writes a list of reasons to live for his suicidal mother. Read our Artists Repertory Theatre season preview online at psuvanguard.com

THEATER THE (CURIOUS CASE OF THE) WATSON INTELLIGENCE

7:30 P.M. (STAGED THROUGH SEPT. 30) COHO THEATER $20–32, ALL AGES

This romantic comedy focuses on various sidekick partners named Watson from the 19th–21st centuries: Alexander Graham Bell’s Mr. Watson, Sherlock Holmes’s Dr. Watson, and Watson the IBM computer who won Jeopardy! in 2011.

FILM

THE THING (1982) 5:30 P.M. (SCREENING SEPT. 27-OCT. 2)

MISSION THEATER $3-11, ALL AGES

John Carpenter’s classic sci-fi horror about a group of scientists who discover a shape-shifting monster in their remote Antarctic outpost.

FILM

DEEP RED (1975) 7:30 P.M.

HOLLYWOOD THEATRE $7-9, ALL AGES

This Italian horror film focuses on musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings) and reporter Gianna Brezzi (Daria Nicolodi), who are investigating the murder of famous psychic Helga Ulmann (Macha Méril).

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 27

THEATER FUN HOME 7:30 P.M. (STAGED

THROUGH OCT. 22) THE ARMORY $25–85, ALL AGES

Based on the eponymous autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, this musical focuses on a woman processing her childhood as a closeted lesbian growing up in a funeral home, and trying to see her complicated parents as the people they are.

FILM

WONDER WOMAN (2017) 6:45 P.M. (MULTIPLE SCREENING DATES)

LAURELHURST THEATER $4, 21+

Gal Gadot takes on the cinematic version of the role originated by Linda Carter. See our take on summer blockbluster films for what else we’ve written about Wonder Woman.

THURSDAY, SEPT. 28 ALT ROCK BEN FOLDS 8 P.M.

ROSELAND THEATER $33.50–250, 21+

Ben Fold’s Paper Airplane Tour is an interactive live show where the singer-songwriter plays requested songs flown on stage via paper airplane.

NIGHTLIFE BETTER HEALTH 9 P.M.

NYX $8, 21+

Mental Health Club presents DJs Perfect Health and FatherFannie alongside queer vocalist Maarquii for a night of compact, high energy music.

FILM FESTIVAL 5TH ANNUAL PORTLAND ECOFILM FESTIVAL

SEPT. 28-OCT. 1 HOLLYWOOD THEATRE $10-60, ALL AGES

Eight independent films about sustainability, nature and animals.

FILM VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS (2017) 8:45 P.M. (MULTIPLE

SCREENING DATES) LAURELHURST THEATER $4, 21+

There’s little in-between consensus on whether audiences loved or hated the latest film from the creator of The Fifth Element.

FRIDAY, SEPT. 29

FILM THE WAKE OF VANPORT (2016)

1 P.M. THE KENNEDY SCHOOL FREE, ALL AGES

Survivors of the Vanport Tragedy recount the tales of the Pacific Northwest equivalent of Hurricane Katrina, Harvey or Irma.

R&B JANET JACKSON

8 P.M. MODA CENTER $25–135, ALL AGES

Third time’s the charm: Miss Jackson is honoring tickets from her cancelled Jan. 12 and July 3 concerts as she makes her State of the World Tour Portland stop.

R&B 8 P.M. MOSES SUMNEY, DOUG FIR LOUNGE ANGELO DE AUGUSTINE $18–20, 21+

The L.A. alt–R&B singer-songwriter tours in support of his new album, Aromanticism.

DANCE PARTY SNAP! ’90S DANCE PARTY

9 P.M. HOLOCENE $7, 21+

Curated tunes of the last decade of the 20th century, as chosen by DJs Doc Adams, Colin Jones and Freaky Outty.

SATURDAY, SEPT. 30 PARTY JACKPOT RECORDS’S 20TH BIRTHDAY

3 P.M. EAGLES LODGE $5–15, 21+

The Shivas, Ryan Sollee and Kyle Craft celebrate twenty years of independent record store ownership during two of the national music industry’s most difficult decades. Thousands of records will also be on sale.

CABARET BEYLESQUE 8 P.M.

DISJECTA $20–22, 18+

SUNDAY, OCT. 1

FUNK TANK & THE BANGAS, SWEET CRUDE

7:30 P.M. STAR THEATER $15–20, 21+

Tank & the Bangas’s last show in Portland sold out quickly. They’re getting love from everyone from NPR to Afropunk.

THEATER QÍN (CAUGHT) 7:30 P.M. (STAGED THROUGH OCT. 29)

ARTISTS REPERTORY THEATER $5–25, ALL AGES

CABARET CLOAK & DAGGER KABARET

8 P.M. STINGRAY CAFÉ $15–20, 18+

CABARET ISH: A BURLESQUE-ISH REVUE

8:30 P.M. DANTE’S $10, 21+

DRAG QUEENS SAD DAY 9 P.M.

LOVECRAFT BAR $10, 21+

Part theater, part performance art installation, Qín (Caught) explores the lines between fiction and reality in the creation of art and news.

An audience-participatory burlesque show with required semi-formal attire, with performances from La Petit Mort, Maggie McMuffin, Kevin Incroyable and Rocket + Lioness.

Whipped Dance Company fuses contemporary dance with cabaret comedy and striptease. Ish opens for the weekly Sinferno Cabaret (entry included with admission).

Elle Chupacabra, Santee Alley, Kahn, Dee Lyrium, Indigo Calypso and Rakeem pay tribute to Amy Winehouse’s tear-jerking legacy through drag.

Celebrate Beyoncé’s decades-spanning career with tributes to her most iconic looks and songs, as interpreted by Briq House, Kiki Stellina, Lola Coquette, Honey LeFleur, Fannie Fuller, Sandria Doré, Space Papi + Femme Prince, Nikki Lev and Baby LeStrange.

COMEDY 9:30 P.M. BECKY WITH THE GOOD FUNHOUSE LOUNGE JOKES $8–12, 21+ Becky Braunstein’s regular comedy revue’s lineup this month is Adam Pasi, Joann Schinderle, Jeremiah Coughlan and Paul Schlesinger, with musical guest Jenny Conlee (The Decemberists).

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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