The Commuter - October 2023 by The Commuter

T H E

L I N N - B E N T O N

VOL. 55 EDITION 3

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM with Forrest Johnson

MEET THE TEAM! Introducing New Faces

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT with Frankie Hart

C O M M U N I T Y

C O L L E G E

OCTOBER 2023

LETTER EDITOR FROM THE

ABOUT US

all term has finally begun, the campus is alive and full of activity again. Personally, I am so happy to be back in the routine of grinding out homework and projects with my peers. If you missed it, Welcome Day was an absolute blast. It’s refreshing to start the year off with a bang after the long summer days. Hopefully you got to stop by our booth to say “hi.” We’ve got a photo gallery with some highlights in this magazine as well as on our website – LBCommuter.com – so be sure to check it out. With September gone, October is underway, the spooky season has officially begun, a month of commercialized fear and monsters. I have always been a fan of anything spooky or scary. I find there’s something intriguing about fear. Fear is something we all can relate to in some capacity, especially when it comes to education. Fear of not being able to keep up with your classes, fear of not being capable enough to handle the curve balls life will inevitably throw at us, the fear of failure is not something to scoff at. Fear limits us but at the same time it provides a hurdle for us to overcome. By overcoming those hurdles we grow and become a little more confident, a little more courageous. Sometimes fear is not something to shy away from but something to seek out. A challenge to overcome in hopes of becoming a better version of ourselves. A version that’s a little stronger and more capable than we were before.

Other times fear is too much for us. Left unchecked, our fear can turn any challenge into a monstrous road block. With no way around this obstacle, we feel we may buckle under the weight of what’s expected of us. Believe it or not these feelings are common, you’re not alone with these fears. These fears are shared by many others around you. I’ve found that community and teamwork can help lighten the weight of fear. Teamwork is an integral piece of the Commuter. With the outstanding Commuter team we’ve got this year, I don’t think we need to worry about fear creeping up on us and holding us back. Over the summer and into the fall the Commuter has been hard at work building momentum for the coming school year. We hired on quite a few talented new faces over the summer, which has given the Commuter a big boost in productivity and team spirit. This edition features a “Meet the Team” article so you can get to know a little more about the dedicated team of photographers, designers, marketing specialists, sports journalists, media reviewers, reporters, and writers that make up this publication. What makes this publication stand out is its wide range of content and that means we need to have a team with a wide range of skill sets. To make sure our paper truly represents the diverse and talented LBCC community, one of my goals this year is to get more of our student body involved in the Commuter. A bigger team means we have more reporters to connect with more aspects of our campus. As always, thanks for reading. Our loyal readers are what inspire us to continue sharing top-notch content for you to enjoy. Hope you have a spooky October, Roadrunners!

the Commuter is the student-run magazine for

JOIN THE TEAM

LBCC, financed by student fees and advertising. Opinions expressed in The Commuter do not necessarily reflect those of the LBCC administration, faculty and students of LBCC. Editorials, columns, letters, and cartoons reflect the opinions of the authors. LBCC is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

LETTERS WELCOME

The Commuter encourages readers to use its “Opinion” section to express their views on campus, community, regional and national issues. The Commuter attempts to print all submissions received, but reserves the right to edit for grammar, length, libel, privacy concerns and taste. Opinions expressed by letter submitters do not represent the views of the Commuter staff or the College.

Ryan Janowitz Editor-in-Chief

wanna get together? We’re really

nice and fairly cool and we’d love to hear what you have to say. Not big on journalism but love to journal? Perfect. Are you a STEM major with major opinions? Let’s hear ’em. Like writing about ’80s film? Local animals? Snack hacks? Maybe you have a hefty folder of flash fiction on your laptop, just dying to be published and printed. Drop us a line. We’d love to meet you, read you, and support you. Think your ideas might be too weird or too niche for submission? Even better. The Commuter is an award-winning publication because of our wide range of contributions and our unique contributors. So reach out. We’ll be staring at our email inbox in the meantime, not an ounce of chill to be had.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

RYAN JANOWITZ

DESIGN EDITOR

KAILYN MCQUISTEN

PHOTO EDITOR

CONTENTS

STAFF

with Forrest Johnson

Photo Gallery

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

WELCOME DAY

MEET THE TEAM! Introducing New Faces

SARAH ROSE LARSON

FEATURE EDITOR AVERY JADE

NEWS EDITOR

JOSH CANDÉ

ARTS & LIT EDITOR CODI WOOD

SPORTS EDITOR

RYLAND BICKLEY

MARKETING DIRECTOR

CHRIS PATTERSON

REVIEWS

STEVEN PRYOR MASON WILLS

with Jocie Dunmire

with Keegan Turner

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT with Frankie Hart

Courtroom to Classroom

History and Traditions

HENRIETTA LACKS:

HALLOWEEN

ADVISOR

ROB PRIEWE

CONTRIBUTORS

BRENDA AUTRY KACEY MONTGOMERY WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME HERE? JOIN THE TEAM!

cover illustration via KAILYN MCQUISTEN

LB Sports VIP Celebration

Talk to Me (2023)

HALL OF FAME

MOVIE REVIEW Saw X (2023)

MOVIE REVIEW

beyond the

classroom: words and photo by SARAH ROSE LARSON

with Forrest Johnson

he MILL Makerspace is directly above the Courtyard Cafe in Takena Hall 227 and 229. The figure amid the rich purples, oranges, and yellows in the “We Dream of Peace” looks out across the room. The bare cement floor and fluorescent lighting juxtaposed with the free-flowing beauty of the mural communicate that this is a space for both utilitarian problem-solving and creative play. Resources for both line the walls: art supplies, woodworking tools, print-making equipment, 3D printers, a copy machine, a heavy-duty sewing machine, a mat cutter, computers, scanners, the list is long. A severed arm, borrowed from the theater prop shop, sits on top of the chop saw as a light-hearted reminder that these tools are no joke. The soft glow of the lights in the windows comes through the door to the podcasting and photography studios. Forrest Johnson and Austyn Moon bustle around the space, preparing for zine-making classes, giving tours, or building new shelves for even more equipment.

CAMPUS

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your position here at LBCC? Sure. What can I tell you about myself? I have a master’s in library science and a master’s in English. So not exactly a stereotypical STEM kind of person. But I’m really invested in people making things. I think that creative process is really exciting to me and I like to make that happen in whatever way I can. So like I said, I started at LBCC in 2017 and have had students making since then. Then I worked in the library, I started as a reference assistant. The last term that I was there, I was a full-time faculty member. So the library piece, for me, is about resources and giving people the information and resources that they need. It’s really exciting to be able to help people find the stuff they’re looking for and provide it to them in a way that’s accessible and affordable. That’s all really important to me.

What’s your title and role now? Well, I work for the Mid Valley STEM CTE Hub, which is here on campus. LBCC is our financial sponsor. So I’m a STEM hub employee that’s also an LBCC employee. The STEM Hub is a grant-funded organization. So none of our funding comes from the general fund. What made you want to follow this career path? Were there other careers that you were considering? I’ve considered a lot of things. Honestly, doing the makerspace, it was like I had wanted to do something like this, but I didn’t know if it would be like a career or if it would be a side hustle or a passion project. So I started out as a writing instructor. I’ve dabbled in comics, writing, and library science. I’m a librarian and I’ve followed that path. I still have the, “Oh, maybe I’ll do that someday,” kind of thing. That’s the nice thing about a makerspace, you can kind of explore all that stuff. I mean, I don’t think I knew that this was even an option really. I didn’t think it was, but I could see that there’s a need for a place to use tools and resources that are hard to get otherwise. What about your interest outside of LBCC in the MILL? Do you have any hobbies? I have lots of hobbies. I have too many hobbies. What are some of the more interesting ones that people like hearing about? I skateboard, I really love to do that, so that’s been a nice way to connect with folks. We’ve been, in the MILL, we’ve been making skateboards. I’d love to bring that part of me onto campus a little bit more. It’s tricky because skateboarding is not something you’re supposed to do on campus. Maybe that’ll come out another way. I do comics. What else do I do? I build guitars sometimes. Usually folks like cigar box style. What else? Oh, birding would be the other kind of big ones. So yeah, I do a lot of stuff. Somebody was talking about having creative ADHD, and I think that’s about right. Can you tell us a little bit about the MILL and what students can make here? So the MILL is a makerspace. It’s a place for people to have access to tools and resources, materials that are either big or expensive or just hard to get access to otherwise. It’s also a space that’s big enough for people to do work that they wouldn’t be able to do otherwise on campus. Sort of a garage for people that don’t have garages or that sort of thing. The other idea about the MILL is that I’m not going to be the one that teaches everybody how to do everything here. The idea is we’ll

build a community where people can be experts for each other. But as far as resources, we have stuff for doing audio, video, and photography sorts of things in our AV lab. So podcasting or vlogging or taking product photos, that sort of thing. We’ve got lots of resources for what we call rapid prototyping just to have a phrase that’ll encapsulate all of it, but 3D printing, laser cutting, other types of Computer Numerical Control, machining. A lot of these tools kind of overlap in weird ways. We’ve also got printmaking stuff, which includes a heat press and a vinyl cutter and sublimation printer. Pretty soon, we’ll have some screen printing equipment. I want to be careful about how much I promise there. We’ve got woodworking equipment. Our space is big, but it’s not enormous. We don’t have super great ventilation. So we don’t have a table saw down here, but we do have a nice big bandsaw. What else do we have? We’ve got a really nice heavyduty sewing machine. I’d like to get some more machines and also just kind of facilitate people bringing their own machine in and figuring out how to use it. What made you want to start the MILL and was it difficult to collect all the machines and tools? What made me want to start it? I started making weird things. I started making guitars and I made comics and zines and stuff before. I just wanted other people to have those experiences. In my writing classes, students would be making stuff and they were pretty limited in the resources that they had. I had worked in a craft shop during one of my graduate school programs. So I was at a school that had a craft shop that students could go and use. That was another kind of like, “I know this can be done.” So that was one part of the question. What made me want to do it? Was it difficult to get everything? Yeah, it was hard. We had to find a space that was pretty tough. This is the former nursing lab, but it hadn’t been a nursing lab for a long time and the room was just kind of an extra surplus equipment and furniture base. So it was piled pretty high with stuff that had to be taken out. We had to redo the floors, redo the ceiling. That was a pretty big hurdle. When we were getting the equipment, we didn’t have much budget. I was kind of scrounging through campus, finding whatever equipment had been upgraded and what stuff had been set aside. There’s some departments that have closed and those tools were just sitting around with nobody to use them. In particular, the theater, there’s a whole prop shop. I like to say that we’re the foster home for that stuff. If and

when people need that equipment back, they’re welcome to it, but we’d like it to get used and not just kind of sit around. Then we’ve slowly been able to build some funding streams, like finding some grant money. That’s always something that we’re trying to figure out and there’s the question “What do we spend the money on?” We’ve tried to be strategic when buying expensive stuff, to find stuff that’s going to be really useful for a lot of people at a lot of ages, a lot of abilities. Our sewing machine, for instance, we got a really high-end, industrial one, because you can get access to a regular sewing machine in a lot of places for not too expensive, including Goodwill, but a machine that is also able to go through a quarter inch of leather is harder to find. What is the best avenue for students to get involved with the Mill? They could email MILL@linnbetton.edu. We will probably be starting the third week of class. So that would be October, I want to say like 10th or 11th or something like that. We will start having our open hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Yeah Mondays and Fridays will be mostly closed. But yeah, those are going to be good days and then we’ll have events kind of scattered throughout otherwise. There are clubs that are going to be using the space, that’s another way to get involved. One of the tough things with the opening is that I’m the only full-time person here. I’ve got one part-time person. Last year was just me. This year, it’ll be with Austin, who’s parttime in here and then hopefully some student workers as well. Do you have social media for the Mill? Yeah, we do have social media. The MILL has its own TikTok, theMILLmakerspace. We also have a podcast on Spotify, MILL Media. Is there anything else that you’d like students to know about the MILL? I think there are a lot of ideas for ways to make this space open to students. We’re just trying to figure out the best way to make that happen. I’d really love to do a mindful-making session where we could have everyone drawing with 3D pens or wood burning or things. Just need to figure out what day and time works best. So I guess bear with us as we figure that stuff out. We really want people to be here making stuff. And you know if you’ve got a great idea for a podcast, definitely shoot us an email. That’s one that we can make available pretty easily.

COMMUTER

WELCOME DAY photos by SARAH ROSE LARSON and BRENDA AUTRY

Welcome Day was a blast and we’ve got plenty of photos to commemorate the kickoff of a fresh school year! Cheers to a successful Welcome Day, Roadrunners! If you want to see the full photo album be sure to check out our Welcome Day 2023 photo gallery on lbcommuter.com!

CAMPUS

▲ LBCC Basketball players Brooklynn Walters and

Muriel Jones-Hoisington meet the No Drama Llama

▼ Hiram Cervantes, aka DJ H-Ram, keeping music and entertainment going during Welcome Day.

▲ Theo Warren from the LBCC Courtyard cafe serves up BBQ at Welcome Day.

Over the Summer we have been hard at work gearing up for the coming school year. We’ve picked up a lot of new faces at the Commuter and we decided to include a Meet the Team article so you can get to know a little more about the outstanding staff that makes up our publication. 1. Major and career aspirations (yes, maybe boring but enquiring minds want to know …) 2. If you wake up tomorrow with any one quality, what would that quality be? 3. Favorite song and/or artist? 4. Favorite pastime outside of school/work? 5. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t had the chance to yet? 6. What’s a piece of media you’ve been interested in lately? (book, tv show, movie, video game, magazine) 1. I am a business major and I am passionate about marketing. Right now I am gaining as broad of a knowledge base as I can. Career wise, I would love to secure an internship where I could gain experience contributing to digital marketing efforts. 2. I would like to wake up and gain the quality of having every single item from Trader Joe’s in my pantry and it will never run out. 3. “The Gambler” by Kenny Rodgers, saved for Karaoke nights and long drives. 4. Trivia Nights - it can get competitive. 5. I think right before finals week I’m going to try one of those float tanks where I am just soaking in the salt water like a starfish.

chris patterson

6. Right now my wife and I are watching “The Lincoln Lawyer” on Netflix. They really do make me want to buy a Lincoln. Hey! Is that product placement? Thanks Marketing Class!

1. I’m a visual communications major following the graphic design track. Currently my postgraduation plans are to go into logo design or screen printing. 2. I would like to be able to have a longer attention span, I think that’s a pretty common problem for people nowadays. Being able to grind out homework for longer chunks of time would be great. 3. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Cage the Elephant and Queens of the Stone Age. Also a big Pink Floyd fan, gotta make sure that’s in my top three. 4. Outside of school/work I spend a lot of time downhill skateboarding. It’s a bit of a niche sport, not a big community for it, but I’ve been doing it for almost eight years now and I love it. 5. I’ve never been on a backpacking trip. I love the outdoors and hiking but I’ve never been on a real backpacking trip, it’s on my bucket list.

ryan janowitz

6. Recently I’ve been reading the Dark Tower series by Steven King. It’s an interesting read, it definitely still has the Steven King horror elements but sometimes it seems more like a fantasy/adventure series. 8

CAMPUS

1. I’ve been at LBCC for the last 3 years studying Journalism. I’ve also more recently taken up studying Anthropology. I really want to be a freelance journalist, and I wanna take photos as well.

avery jade

2. I’m honestly not sure how to answer this question! I feel confident that I have all of my “desired” qualities? They may not be agreeable as “good/desirable” qualities to other people, but I’m not, nor have I ever been, invested in what other people think about me. 3. I can’t choose just one artist, but my top three are Sade, Janelle Monáe, and System of a Down.

4. I love going to local hardcore punk/noise/folk shows in Corvallis, working with my incredible group of friends providing free stuff to those who need it, writing heart wrenching poems, and creating crazy weird art. I find peace the most when I’m listening to music I love super loud and when I’m being fun and silly with friends of mine. 5. I’ve always wanted to travel to take photos. I’d love to go somewhere with beautiful nature scenery, preferably with lots of dew-kissed flowers and lots of cats. I’ve also always wanted to have my art exhibited somewhere not online, which *hopefully* may come into fruition with a project I’m going to be working on more during breaks between terms. 6. I have a lot of... qualms... with it, but I am really interested in the new season of American Horror Story (the 12th!) that is coming out. I think I started watching the series when their eighth season began airing. I can write an entire dissertation on what I think is severely wrong with it and also why I somehow seem to enjoy it still.

1. I studied under the Visual Communications program here at LBCC. While a graduate and not currently a student, I hope to continue my education in illustration and design at some point in the future. For now, I greatly enjoy being the Design Editor here at the Commuter, especially since it allows me to apply my education in a practical way. 2. A little more focus, a little more discipline, a little more energy. I can definitely enable myself sometimes and avoid things that need to get done. 3. There is quite a range of people I like, and I tend to listen to a few songs by various artists rather than entire discographies; however, the Japanese House is one of my top artists currently. 4. My partner and I are big video game people - Baldur’s Gate 3 has basically been monopolizing most of our free time at the moment! Besides that I like to doodle and play some D&D. 5. More like what have I tried? I definitely think I could use a little bit of getting out of my shell (I tend to be a little insular), and I would definitely like to put myself out there more and try to find some groups of people that are interested in similar things that I am. 6. As previously mentioned, my partner and I have both been basically obsessed with Baldur’s Gate 3 lately, but outside of that, I am just about caught up with the World’s Beyond Number podcast (starring DM Brennan Lee Mulligan and players Erika Ishii, Aabriya Iyengar, and Lou Wilson). I am reading Brandon Sanderson’s latest Secret Project release - The Sunlit Man - and have recently been getting back into the Expanse.

kailyn mcquisten

COMMUTER

1. I am majoring in English. I am currently keeping my horizons open when it comes to my career path, but I am leaning towards pursuing a career in education. 2. I am quite happy with myself as is. There’s definitely places where I can grow, but I would rather see that growth actively happen rather than waking up one day with it already completed.

mason wills

3. Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of the Cocteau Twins, Lamp, and Laufey. 4. I like to read books and comics, I also love to watch movies whenever I get the chance... 5. I really want to travel to a foreign country. I have been to Canada, but it’s so similar to the US that I tend to not count it. I’ve been all over the United States, but never very far outside of it. I really just want to experience the differences in cultures. 6. I decided to give into the hype I’ve seen online and started reading the “Red Rising” books series. I’ve only read book one so far, but as of now it’s definitely worth the hype.

1. Right now I work in marketing but I’d like to go in to get my BA in film and make documentaries. 2. Trusting the process. 3. I’ve been listening to the Black Pumas a lot lately… Curtis Harding too.

kacey montgomery

4. Currently my favorite pastime is trying to master Polaroid photography. 5. Soup dumplings. 6. Anything that Greg and Dana Newkirk put out. I highly recommend watching The Unbinding.

SECTION TITLE

1. To get my BFA in Photography growing, gaining experience, learning, and improving my skills every day. From there I have a thousand ambitions. Some are to use photography in ways that bring awareness and positive change. I love sports photography so to be able to keep doing that would be so cool. I also want to keep my passion for art as a big part of my life. It would be a dream to work in the art world in some way, creative endeavors, working in a gallery, education, any of it, all of it. 2. Benignity - the quality of being kind and gentle. 3. I think “The Only Road” by Rrichard Hawley is one of my favorite songs of all time. Right now I am still not done playing Post Malone’s latest album Austin on repeat and Chance Peña’s catalog. Oh and Adam Larrson & Company is pretty good. 4. Rafting, taking photos, wake surfing, Hatha hot yoga, staring at art, paddle boarding, backpacking, and tacos. 5. Photographing in Tuscany.

sarah rose larson

6. I was reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr before school started this term and was really loving it, but now I am just reading textbooks. When I am editing photos I always need something I can binge, lately that has been Succession.

1. I’m majoring in music production with a minor in applied journalism. I’d like to work in production someday, but I’m very open to wherever life takes me.

some type of media

2. I’d love to be one of those people who can play pretty much any instrument they get their hands on. 3. Radiohead was the band that got me from liking music to really loving it, so they’ll always hold a special place in my heart. But it’s hard to pick a true favorite as that changes by the day — right now I’ve been really into the Black Pumas, The Strokes, and Black Country, New Road. 4. Sleeping, watching football, and listening to music, in no particular order. 5. So many things, but the big one is probably traveling more. There’s about a million places worldwide I want to visit someday and I still haven’t left North America in my lifetime. 6. I’ve been watching the original three-season run of “Arrested Development.” It’s insane how ahead of its time that show was, and the 20-minute episodes are perfect for my schedule.

rylaalnd bickley

1. My major career aspiration is to be a full time travel writer/photographer/journalist. 2. Promptitude. 3. I’m loving The Dirty Heads these days. 4. Travel and photography. 5. Haggis. I chickened out last time I was in Scotland and ate vegan haggis, but it doesn’t count.

brenda autry

6. Bridgerton.

por tr sto aits b y ck pho SAR AH tos R by FR OSE L EEP AR SO IK N

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:

JOcIe DunmIre interview by RYLAND BICKLEY photo by SARAH ROSE LARSON

What is your major and your instrument?

My major is music and my instrument is voice. I want to be a music therapist. So I’m just studying music right now, and then next year I’m going to transfer to Colorado State and I’ll study music therapy there.

What is music therapy?

Basically, music therapists use music to help people achieve their physical, mental, and emotional goals. So if someone has a stroke, learning how to play an instrument will help reconnect pathways in the brain allowing them to be able to move and speak again. Then a lot of music therapy is used in hospice. As people are passing, music therapists will play music with their families to comfort them. You can also have music therapy with teens in schools to help them learn healthy creative expression. My own personal goal is to work at a children’s hospital someday.

What first got you interested in music in general?

I always looked up to my older brother who played a ton of instruments. When I was young he mostly played piano. He also did choir and theater in high school. I would spend a lot of time hanging out with him as he practiced after school. One day, he taught me how to play the song “Build Me Up Buttercup” by the Foundations. He taught me the words and the melody, and then played it on the ukulele. After the first verse he started harmonizing with the melody and I remember how cool I thought it was. I remember thinking it was the most fun that I had ever had. After that I just always worked to make music a huge part of my life.

What made you decide to join the music program here at LBCC?

CAMPUS

I knew that I wanted to do music in high school, which helped a lot. But, I wasn’t really

sure where I should go. I came here and met Raymund Ocampo on Welcome Day along with some of the music students. I could tell that there was so much heart in the program, and everyone genuinely cares about each other. Right off the bat everyone was super supportive. Especially the faculty. Now that I’ve been here a year I know the faculty a little bit more and through that I’ve been able to see how much they all want the best for their students. You can really tell, just from the moment that you meet them, they’re always looking to help you and they want to see you succeed. There’s never a feeling of … you’re not talented enough to be a musician.

You went on a trip with the music program to Europe this summer. Where did you go in Europe? Yeah! We went to England, Wales and Ireland. The cities we visited were London, Camden, and then we were in Dublin. We also were able to visit Oxford and Cambridge. We saw King’s College, which was probably my favorite.

Was it a music-focused trip?

Yes, specifically performance-focused. We had, I think, five different performances. Three were in churches and two were in cathedrals. But almost every place we went we had a performance.

How was the experience traveling abroad with the college?

It was super cool. I’m so grateful we were able to go. I’ve never been out of the country before and I was so lucky to have such great people to go with. We went from Portland to Canada and then we flew from Canada to the UK. I actually lost my passport in the airport and I had to stay in Canada for a night to see if their lost and found had it the next day. They did so I was able to leave for the UK a day late. I’d never been on the subway, I’d never gotten an Uber, I’d never booked a hotel room, and I did it all in one night. It was crazy. But in hindsight I’m really grateful. I ended up gaining a lot of confidence. Everyone had a really good time. And I was a little worried, like, you know, sometimes you hear, “Oh, this group went on tour and now they don’t talk to each other anymore.” And that totally didn’t happen. Everyone was just friends the whole time. And yeah, it was great. It was so much fun.

That’s awesome! Is there anything else that you’d like to add? Join music! It’s the best.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT:

KEEGAN TURNER interview by RYAN JANOWITZ photo by SARAH ROSE LARSON

Tell me a little about yourself and how you got involved in the music program at LBCC?

I am a second-year here at LBCC. I got started with music in middle school. The choir directors I had were Margo Deyoung, in middle school, and Brett Deyoung, husband and wife, at South Albany High. They were very involved in community events and very close friends with Raymond (Ocampo), so occasionally we got to work with him. They participated in an event called “Albany Sings,” which is middle, high school, and college groups from the Albany area all performing together. Raymund leads a big song that we’ve all learned. So I got to work with him before coming to LBCC, but I was always interested in music and I knew I was going to do music wherever I went. I actually didn’t know that LBCC is one of the premiere music programs, especially of community colleges, all over Oregon. So that’s a plus. Yeah, I’m going to a school that’s really good for music and has a really good program.

Do you see music becoming a career for you?

Yeah, I do. I’ve devised my plan. So I want to focus on music production, and I want to move somewhere that’s a big hub for that like LA, or maybe Seattle or San Francisco or somewhere. But that’s more of a gig job. You have to work for yourself. You need to find work and that’s really difficult. So my backup plan is to be a music educator, because that’ll be a steady paycheck.

So you just got back from a trip to Europe, can you tell us about that?

Yes, we went on a tour of the UK, Wales and Ireland. That was all as both of the ensembles, the non-auditioned ensemble and the audition ensemble. A couple of cool things about that was that Raymund started this thing called an equitable payment plan, where at the start of the year, at the start of raising fundraising for the tour, he just asked the students, “What can you pay?” Then he tried his best

to cover all of the rest of that. Students didn’t have to fundraise anything after that. It was him asking the donors of the school and the donors of the music program. He literally said, it is easier for me to ask a donor for a donation of $20,000 than it is for you guys to run a bake sale and make like eighty bucks

So what’s your favorite part about the music program at LBCC?

I can’t believe how I ended up in such a good place for music, especially in Oregon. Because the music program here at LB is so big and so well funded and has such amazing faculty members and it’s all thanks to Raymund. He literally hired every faculty member that is part of the team now. So we have four voice instructors, the music theory instructor is Bill Whitley and he is a fantastic composer in his own right and he’s an awesome teacher. Our voice instructor Sarah Brauer is part of a Grammywinning vocal ensemble called “Conspirare”. Also the school is up for accreditation with NASM, the National Association of Schools of Music, and we’re probably going to get it. It came through I think two years ago. For the first pass, all that we needed was outlining health and safety guidelines in syllabus and stuff, so that’s in every syllabus now, earplugs in the practice rooms, and soundproof practice rooms. The soundproof practice rooms are the only thing we haven’t done yet. So when they come back, we’re probably going to get it. For three days in March, they’re going to come by and be around us, watch what goes on and listen to us.Then we’ll have national accreditation and it’s pretty exciting. There are 30 community colleges in the country that have that accreditation, none in Oregon. There are some universities in Oregon that don’t have that accreditation. OSU doesn’t even have that accreditation right now. So it’s just such a good place to be for music. Every year Raymund has us work directly with the composers of our music, because he programs music from people who are still alive and from diverse voices. So this year, we get to work with the director of the Craig Hella Johnson ensemble. He’s coming in four weeks. So we’re preparing a set of music for him, and then he’s going to teach us, shape it how he wants it, and direct us. Since he’s such a valuable voice, while he’s here he’s going to do a conducting masterclass for the high school conductors around here. He’s going to direct the LB chamber choir and the conductors will watch and be able to ask questions and watch what he does. We have a very, very busy first term because we have that concert with Craig Hella Johnson. That concert is for our donors. I think we’re going to do a preview for friends and family and for the public probably. Then soon after that we have the “One Voice” concert, which is as close to a rock/pop concert as we will get. We bring in someone who runs lights. So we have a light show. We sing and it’s mostly pop songs with the choir singing backup this year. We have an artist who’s from Albany so we’re singing backup to their songs, as well as the acapella group is doing some solo work as well. Yeah, I think that’s it.

Anything else you want readers to know or anything you want to add? Do music! Join the concert choir! Anyone can join the Concert Band.

Artist Spotlight:

Frankie Hart interview by RYAN JANOWITZ photo by SARAH ROSE LARSON

Can you tell me a little about yourself and what you’re studying at LBCC?

Well my name is Frankie (They/Them). The interesting thing about me being here at LBCC is that I actually don’t have my major. So I’m kind of here just getting my basic classes. I’m actually a fashion design student and I’m launching a business soon. I’m just here to get bacc core. Then I’m going to move on to the OSU fashion apparel design program, which is a little scary. Their program is really small. They only have like 20 students that they ended up accepting at a time. We’ll see where else I end up going. I mean, my dream school is the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Right now, I’m just building up my portfolio here and taking the bacc core classes that I need until I can get to that moment. That includes prepping for a clothing brand launch that I was hoping to have officially done by the end of October. 14

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Can you tell me more about the clothing brand?

I had to make all of the clothes I do one on one. It’s not the type of thing where I’ll design something and send it to a company to manufacture those things or items. Instead I meet with you one on one and we talk about the piece and what you want. It’s very tailored to how your body is and everything. Like, let’s say if you have any sort of sensory things, it’s very targeted towards an audience that either experiences sensory things that maybe the clothing doesn’t quite feel how they would like it to feel. Or maybe you just don’t typically see your style in stores. The brand name is called “Whimsy Freak.” I’ve literally been trying to come up with a brand name for probably the last four years. I only came up with this one like a couple months ago, and I was like, oh my God, thank heavens. I finally came up with one before, where I wanted it to have the word dimension in it because it’s like my dimension of creativity. It’s like my own little world, and then I was like “Frank’s Dimension.” Then I was like, wait, that’s my name. I don’t want my name on there. Yeah, but I’ve been really excited. I actually was working with Avery (Jade), one of the people here at the Commuter. They’re actually going to be one of my models for one of the shoots and we’re also developing handcrafted masks by a friend of mine that I’m commissioning to make. So because part of my brand is to make a very safe and definitely comfortable area for people and let’s say you have reasons why you can’t show your face in public or you can’t. I’m not going to tag you in a post if you don’t feel comfortable with it. I’m not going to show your face and anything unless you sign off saying that I can show your face. So I just like the whole goal, the brand is to be a safe place for everyone.

How long have you been an artist and do you have a primary medium? Sounds like that would be clothing design?

Yeah, clothing and jewelry design is my primary thing. I’ve dabbled in some paintings but that’s not my true medium. I feel like when it comes to art outside of fashion design I love using ceramics. In my junior year of high school, a friend and I collaborated and made a life-size sculpture that was really cool. Like I just love sculpting. I love the process of it. It’s very fun, very satisfying. You kind of had to trust the process because at first you’re like this is just a giant blob. Yeah, like I really hope it gets there though. The life-size sculpture, the one sad thing about it is once we didn’t get it fired, like pretty much all of it stayed okay, like all of it was great. Then her butt exploded. We’re like, “Out of all of the things.” The entire butt just like that… it was so upsetting. We had to get some other things and tried to piece her butt back together. It was so funny because anyone that would walk in on the class and see us working. You know, because it’s like a human body and so we’re like, caressing this like, “Oh yeah we’re just sculpting.” It was really fun. I love doing hands-on, physical things. I like drawing, it’s super fun, but I tend to struggle with it like I’m working with a flat surface. Putting something and trying to make it come out of the

page. It’s kind of like I always struggle visualizing that a little bit. I do love shading. Like I love contouring things, it’s very fun and satisfying. I love watching an image like being able to pop out of a page, but actually like physically building things has a lot more depth.

So can you tell me a little about the piece of art? Does it have a title?

I don’t know if it actually has a title. I’ve never really thought about giving it a title. I made it when I was really disassociated. So it was like, one of those pieces where it was kind of therapeutic to make it. Part of the reason why I thought about it for this interview was because I had finished it and then my art teacher Anne Magratten came up to me and what they said was “bloody,” and it was absolutely hilarious hearing that come out of her mouth because she’s such a pleasant and sweet person. It also kind of reminded me of Halloween because there’s a person and then they have these antennas and then you’re like wait, but is it a person? Are they actually kind of a bug creature? I feel like Halloween has so many layers of weird to it. When I look at this piece, I just think that it’s really weird. I don’t know what the process for it was. Just kind of letting it see where it takes me. It was with an art medium I’ve never used before, I worked with inks. So I kind of just got a little dropper and I had little tins and I just explored a little. This one was like a very exploratory piece for me, which I enjoyed. I enjoyed the fact that I also wasn’t fixated on perfection, like this is just what it is. It’s going to turn out how it turns out. I tend to be very far into perfectionism when it comes to creating things and you’re always your own worst critic. But yeah, it’s not paint. With paint, it’s kind of harder to get that effect unless it was maybe like a really intense pigment or like a watercolor. Maybe if you were able to mix, maybe a little bit of acrylic and mix it with a lot of water. You might be able to do that but I actually really enjoyed working with the inks in the way that it kind of pooled up inside of the checkered part.

existing in the world. And so then I think that’s where the insect came from. I’m just like a little piece in this world. Honestly, if you were to look at me from far away, I’m like an ant. Everyone in the world is just little ants, like we just eat our food and we go back to our doors and we do our little nesting and whatever it is. So I feel like that’s kind of where that started. I also have really bad ADHD. I think that comes across in my art. I’m extremely indecisive. I literally started all the way over here on the left and then as you go further along to the right, you can see I start to get really off track.

Is there anything else you want readers to know about you or the piece?

This piece right here, I didn’t submit it because it was my best piece. I submitted it because I thought it was kind of interesting to look at. I feel like you don’t see too many pieces within this realm of whatever this is. It’s not my best piece. I’ve definitely produced better things, but you don’t always have to put out your best things into the world, that can also be a self choice. It was just also very cathartic to make. I enjoyed having that moment of just “who cares” and stuff, you can share art that you’re like “I just made this because I didn’t care.” I had fun with it. I think there’s a lot of pressure to put out your best work and you don’t always have to put out your best work. You can just put out art because you’re like, “I enjoyed making this, like this was so much fun for me to make and I just felt like sharing it because it was a good time.”

Isn’t that kind of the point of art?

Yeah, and you don’t have to think about the pressures of “I have to do this thing,” you know? Just make art because you want to make art.

I notice a lot of different patterns. Do those contribute to the meaning or anything? Or is it more of just a design choice? Honestly I mean, I feel like it kind of does contribute to a meaning but I would say it was definitely more of a personal frustration. I feel like the checkered part kind of reminded me that I was trying to figure out puzzle pieces at the time of my life. So I was kind of like making a little puzzle in my brain, trying to, you know, how can I make these things make sense? How can I organize this in my brain? Then after a while, I just kind of got annoyed with trying to build the puzzle. I’m just a person, why am I trying to solve all these issues when I’m just one human being? So then I started drawing a person and then I was like, but what if I’m not truly just like a person. I’m just a creature

COMMUTER

from the

COURTROOM

to the

words by CODI WOOD

CLASSROOM

ften we scroll through the news, absorbing soundbites of current events whether it be on Instagram or the New York Times. We briefly read titles, not stopping to dive deeper and read more, occasionally forgetting that even the “small” stories have widespread impact on our communities, our lives, and even our classrooms. In August, news broke that the descendants of Henrietta Lacks reached a settlement with Thermo Fisher Scientific regarding the use of her genetic material, gathered without her consent. Her cells named “HeLa” have, since the 1950s, impacted the scientific community and each of our lives. Her cells were used to establish the Polio vaccine, the effects of radiation on the human genome, and were even used to develop the COVID-19 vaccine. The news of this settlement did more than give dues to Lack’s family, it brought Henrietta Lacks’s name to the front page and to the minds of many. At first glance none of this may not seem inordinately relevant to LBCC, but as an educational community most of us are here to further our education. Even

though we may be dedicating our time to different disciplines, with different long-term goals, we share a baseline of spending resources (including our time) increasing our knowledge. Evaluating the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cells yields an interdisciplinary approach. There is blatant science involved of cell biology and genetics. There is a historical and sociological view needed to thoroughly evaluate the political landscape of the 1950s, when Henrietta spent time in the hospital. There are ethics involved, bioethics more specifically and how the topography of biomedical research has shifted since Lacks’s time. As we study at a collegiate level, we are gifted the opportunity to dive deeper into what we know, and what we want to know. We are a realm of possibilities, and given that there are over 50 degrees at LBCC, with over 20 of them being in Science, Engineering and Math or Health and Healthcare and Nutrition, it can be safely assumed that many of our students will come into contact with HeLa cells and assured that all of us have been impacted by her cells in our lifetime. When the bylines of the news cycle are read, the deep impact stories have on us can be overlooked, but when a moment is taken to assess the breadth of what is being read, the widespread impact can be appreciated.

Image via Collection of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History & Culture; gift from Kadir Nelson and the JKBN Group, LLC

SPORTS

HALLOWEEN History and Traditions

words by CODI WOOD

holiday commemorated yearly in the United States and abroad, marked with costumes, trick-or-treating, and carved pumpkins. Can you guess the holiday? Halloween or All-Hallows Eve if you’re feeling historical. The origins of Halloween and the traditions associated with it, have deep roots in Celtic traditions and religious influence. The general tradition of Halloween can be traced back to the Celtic traditions of Samhain, a pagan holiday. It is worth noting the religious definition of paganism is that it is an earth-based religion with pre-Christian Celtic roots. Samhain was a celebration of the turning seasons, as summer was bid farewell and fall with its associated harvest was welcomed. The belief was as this transition period passed, the veil between the living world and the dead waned - allowing spirits to roam. During this celebration, ancestors were honored, bonfires would be lit and costumes were donned that were designed to frighten off evil ghosts and spirits… These costumes were similar to our modern-day fun where children and adults alike dress in various costumes brazen with the joyfulness that comes hand-in-hand with dressing up. Nowadays, our costumes are often accompanied with trick-or-treating. Children go door-to-door delightfully shouting, “trick or treat” and outstretch buckets, pails, pillowcases, anything that can secure the delicious goods of the ‘treat’ - candy. The exact origins of trickor-treating are not fully known. But, similar acts of going door to door can be historically traced. In the ninth century, Christianity

and its many branches had begun to fill the spaces where pagan traditions once laid and November second was decreed as All Souls’ Day, a day to remember the dead. November first was also decreed as All Saints’ Day or All Hallows’ Day, a day to celebrate Saints, hence All Hallows Eve falls on October 31st - what is now colloquially considered Halloween. On All Souls’ Day, non-wealthy individuals would visit wealthy families and would be given gifts of food. In other communities, children would go door to door and perform for families in return to be given money or treats. If only in our modern world we could ask for money as we knock on doors to cry out “trick-or-treat”! Another frightfully fun tradition is that of carving pumpkin! Or Jack-O-Lanterns. Pumpkins adorned with either spooky or fun carved-decorations, skeletons and ghosts, fairies and smiley-faces. Pumpkin carving originally wasn’t done with pumpkins but turnips. In Ireland, scary faces were carved in the turnips to keep families safe by scaring away evil spirits. As with most traditions, with the passing of time they shift. This is evident as now we carve pumpkins instead of turnips and frightening away evil spirits can also be done with smiling fun. Halloween has many different associated traditions and opportunities to have good fun. Whether or not we realize, there is a rich history associated with the traditions of Halloween. graphics via FREEPIK

Anthem of the Month Monthly music recommendations to keep you inspired.

Fearless Pink Floyd “Fearless” by Pink Floyd uses the metaphor of climbing a hill to make a commentary on how fear holds us back from doing the challenges we should be facing. The narrator of the song first claims the hill is “impossible” to climb, then decides they will climb but must “wait around for the right day” before they get to the top of the hill and realize you don’t need to wait around for the courage to find you “every day is the right day” to climb the hill.

The Commuter Recommends: TheCommuter

Fearless Pink Floyd

No One Knows Queens of the Stone Age

The Gambler Kenny Rogers

Make Me Feel Janelle Monáe

Chop Suey! System of A Down

By Your Side Sade

Tokyo Smoke Cage the Elephant

Need Your Love Curtis Harding

Saw You In A Dream The Japanese House

COMMUTER

Joi n a c lub! R eign i t e a Cl ub! Cre a t e a club! Joining clubs in college can offer a wide range of benefits that contribute to personal, social, and academic growth. Here are several reasons why college students should consider joining clubs: Social Interaction Skill Development Cultural Understanding Personal Growth Academic Support Resume Building Reduced Stress and much more!

Research shows that students who spend more time on campus are more likely to succeed !

Wel c om e Wed ne s da y s ! Join us in the Student Union on Wednesdays during Weeks 4, 5, 8, and 10 to socialize with the featured club for that week. You can check out which clubs are scheduled to appear on the campus calendar. The Gardening, Dance, Film, and True Crime Clubs will all make an appearance!

G o t o e ve n t s We always have fun and free events happening on campus! Check out ALL events on the calendar. Join us for a Halloween Costume and Pie Eating Contest on 10/31 from 11:30AM to 12:30PM in the Student Union

vo lunt eer

Did you know you can also volunteer on- and off- campus? 100 volunteer hours earns you 3 FREE credits! Plus, there’s other rewards for all your hard work. Check out noblehour.com/linnbenton for volunteer opportunities. Reach out via email if you have any questions. getinvolved@linnbenton.edu

h an g o u t in t h e S tu d e nt U ni o n We always have free coffee and ramen. Plus, we have a checkers table, board games, arcade games, foosball, and an air hockey table! Come hang out and see what your student leaders are up to. Make new friends and feel connected !

FOLLOW US Forum 120 - Student Union 541-917-4459 https://www.linnbenton.edu/studentlife/student-leadership/index.php COMMUTER

HALL of

FAME

words by CARSYN MEYERS photos by SARAH ROSE LARSON

inn-Benton Community College hosted its third annual Hall of Fame Induction Banquet & Ceremony on Saturday, September 23. Three teams and nine individuals were inducted into the Linn-Benton Athletics Hall of Fame. The LBCC Athletic Department started the festivities with their annual Roadrunner Golf Outing at Mallard Creek Golf Course in Lebanon, where former alumni, players, and fans took the course. All proceeds from the event went towards supporting LBCC student athletes. Following the golf fundraiser, the banquet and ceremony took place inside the Activities Center on the Linn-Benton Albany campus. Linn-Benton honored athletes from various decades, including this year’s oldest inductee: the class of 1972’s Tim Labrousse, who was inducted for his baseball and basketball accomplishments. The youngest inductee was former volleyball standout Chase Bohman from the class of 2016. Bohman was named NWAC Southern Region MVP, NWAC Baden Player of the Year, and an AVCA All-American during her two years at Linn-Benton. Other athletes inducted included Rick Anicker (track and field), Garry Killgore (cross country, track and field), Dave Opoien and Dennis Steinbock (baseball), and Teri Reniker (basketball). Teresa Thomas and Ed Watson were inducted for meritorious service. The team inductees included the 1976 women’s gymnastics team, which captured the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship title in Chicago, Illinois, and the 1979 baseball team, which qualified for the NJCAA World Series. The 1982-83 women’s basketball team was also inducted. The team celebrated the program’s first-ever Region 18 Championship with a conference record of 13-0 and an overall record of 28-5. Six of the eight players on the 1982-83 team earned All-Conference honors. For more information on all individual inductees, teams, and the entire Hall of Fame Class of 2023, visit the Linn-Benton Hall of Fame Website.

SPORTS

▼ The 1979 baseball team.

▲ Linda Schultz from the 1976 gymnastics team. ▼ The 1982-83 women’s basketball team.

A A STRONG STRONG DEBUT DEBUT FROM FROMYOUTUBE YOUTUBELEGENDS LEGENDS MOVIE: Talk To Me (2023) DIRECTOR: Danny Philipou, Michael Philipou STARRING: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen, Joe Bird, Otis Dhanji, Zoe Terakes, Chris Alosio, Miranda Otto, Marcus Johnson RATED: R OVERALL RATING: ★★★★ words by MASON WILLS photo by A24

oing from the podiums of film festivals to theaters this August, Talk to Me directed by Danny and Michael Philipou, also known as RackaRacka on Youtube, acts as an incredibly strong feature debut. With their Youtube repertoire it is no surprise that these young filmmakers have made a gripping story and what may end up being one of the best horror movies of 2023. The movie follows Mia (Sophie Wilde), Jade (Alexandra Jensen), and Riley (Joe Bird) who are introduced to a new way of conjuring spirits through the use of an embalmed hand. Mia and Riley are both immediately hooked on this new “game” and can’t stop using the hand. Until one unfortunate night when they go too far and start being terrorized by malevolent spirits. Although its premise has been told before it has never been told like this. The story as a whole stands as an allegory for drug abuse with the embalmed hand being the drug, Mia and Riley

both become addicted to using the embalmed hand to see spirits and their lives spiral downward from there. It also deals with elements of grief that exacerbates the problems the characters face. Even with the symbolism in the story it leaps over the pitfalls that many “elevated” horror movies fall into by feeling incredibly personal and focusing on the characters before the symbolism. Talk to Me isn’t overly reliant on jump scares to incite fear in the audience, but rather it tends to lean towards small moments of unease. Many of the scariest moments of this movie won’t be in your face, but in the reflection of a mirror or the shadows in a room. The horror in this is akin to something like 2018’s Hereditary because of its slow burn that culminates in a shocking finale. The directing, writing, and acting are all top notch as well throughout the entirety of the film. It exudes an aura of near mastery through the directing of shots and the performances of the actors. This is a movie that calls your attention to the dark reality of the

characters and doesn’t let go of you until the credits start to roll. Using their previous experience on Youtube the directors create some seriously top notch special effects. The movie is very gory and many of those scenes are jaw droppingly horrific because of the masterful effects work done by their trusted team of special effects artists. The makeup for the different spirits shown during the beginning of the movie almost look too real to be makeup effects. With a budget of 4.5 million dollars it is very clear where a good amount of that money went. With top notch effects, amazing directing, and a gripping story it is no wonder why it is such a fast hit in the horror community. If you are looking for a movie to terrify you or you are just a regular horror movie fan you will not want to miss this one while it’s in theaters.

COMMUTER COMMUTER 21 21

THE GRUESOME RETURN

MOVIE: Saw X (2023) DIRECTOR: Kevin Gruetert STARRING: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Renata Vaca, Steven Brand, Joshua Okamoto, Octavio Hinojosa, Paulette Hernández, Jorge Briseño, Michael Beach RATED: R OVERALL RATING: ★★ 1⁄2 words by MASON WILLS photo by @SAW on X

awing its way into theaters this Halloween season, Saw X directed by Kevin Greutert is a mediocre movie, but a great addition to the Saw franchise. After a string of lackluster sequels it is nice to finally see a Saw movie that does the franchise justice. This entry follows John Kramer trying to find a cure for his terminal brain cancer. Early in the 118-minute runtime he finds what seems to be a miracle cure only to learn it’s a high profile scam to take advantage of dying cancer patients. Upon learning this, John, along with his apprentice Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) kidnap the culprits and strap them into the infamous Jigsaw traps. Although it is the tenth movie in the franchise, Saw X takes place between the first and second movies. This leads to the much anticipated return of John Kramer (Tobin Bell), the original Jigsaw and the first time he’s played a major role in a Saw movie since 2006’s Saw III. 22 22

A+E SECTION TITLE

The placement of Saw X in the timeline of the franchise seems to help it a lot and tends to do a lot of the heavy lifting. The beginning of the movie is incredibly slow, but once it picks up it keeps that speed to the end. This also marks the first time that all of the victims felt like they were there for a somewhat valid reason rather than trivial ones like Saw VI’s lifelong smoker trap or Saw 3D’s allowing yourself to be abused trap. The story and characters are very one dimensional and the cinematography and editing looks very cheap. It has the classic Saw twist on a twist on a twist formula and although they were all very telegraphed they were still entertaining to watch play out. Even with all the average pieces one massive plus for this movie is the top notch gore effects during the trap kills. With the expectations that the Saw franchise has held it is definitely clear that this one does not disappoint. They are as gruesome

as ever and there is never a cut away from the great practical effects work. If you are into that you will love it, if not you will definitely get pretty queasy while watching the screen. Saw X, although entertaining, is not what one would call a “good” movie. The trap sequences are a lot of fun to watch, but outside of that it has a lot of mediocre pieces that some may see as negatives. It feels like it’s stuck in a limbo between being a great addition to the Saw franchise and an unremarkable movie. Overall, if you don’t like the franchise or watching gore in movies it may feel like you are stuck in one of Jigsaw’s traps, otherwise you’ll most likely love it.

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so each row, column, and 3x3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit.

ACROSS 1. Movie credits listing 5. Get in the game 9. Put off to the future 14. Garden of Eden guy 15. Minstrel's instrument 16. Banish from the land 17. Vehicle with a siren 19. Farm size units 20. Named time period 21. Far from easy 22. Able to speak easily 23. Rudolph's shiner 25. Afternoon naps 26. "You ___ here" 27. Not so far away 28. Throw with effort 31. Typeface sets 32. "Born in the ___" 35. TV award 36. Engine covers 37. Scored 100 on 38. Massage 39. Sermons or speeches 40. Enjoys 41. Turns over 43. Mideast land (abbr.) 44. Map books 46. In dispute 50. Mariner's maps 51. "Pumped" metal 52. Sch. course with x's 53. On edge, nervous 54. Reason for a siren 56. Event announcer 57. Ditty 58. Ladder element 59. Accomplishments 60. Some resorts 61. Actor's gig “Sirens” by Mark McClain

DOWN 1. Frivolous prank 2. Love to bits 3. Leafy first course 4. Oversharing letters 5. The "magic word" 6. "Filthy" money 7. Just slightly 8. "___ out!" (Ump's call) 9. Showroom owners 10. "Well, ___ me!" 11. Vehicle with a siren 12. Justice Kagan 13. Takes it easy 18. To-do list item 22. Cars from Italy 24. Admiral's branch 25. Ships via UPS 27. Cozy corners 28. That woman 29. Big Aussie bird 30. Vehicle with a siren 31. Gives up, in poker 33. Observe 34. Commercials 36. Big name in briefs 37. Shows on TV 39. Exam takers 40. Twisting the truth 42. Analyzed, in grammar 43. Walmart and Kroger 44. Worked on a stage 45. Coordinated motif 46. Concert venue 47. "Jolly old elf" 48. Stomach problem 49. Land of the pharaohs 51. "My turn to bat!" 54. UFO passengers 55. Mystical power, briefly

DON’T BE SCARED... Wanna get together? We’re really nice and fairly cool and we’d love to hear what you have to say. Not big on journalism but love to journal? Perfect. Are you a STEM major with major opinions? Let’s hear ’em. Like writing about ’80s film? Local animals? Snack hacks? Maybe you have a hefty folder of flash fiction on your laptop, just dying to be published and printed. Drop us a line. We’d love to meet you, read you, and support you. Think your ideas might be too weird or too niche for submission? Even better. The Commuter is an award-winning publication because of our wide range of contributions and our unique contributors. So reach out. We’ll be staring at our email inbox in the meantime, not an ounce of chill to be had.

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