The Puyallup Post | Volume 23 | Issue 2 | November 2017|

VOLUME 23

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ISSUE 2

NOV. 13, 2017

T HE P UYALLUP P OST SERVING THE STUDENTS OF PIERCE COLLEGE PUYALLUP

Cavalluzzi finalist for Olympic College position Daniel Pollock Editor-in-Chief

Puyallup campus President Marty Cavalluzzi has applied to become the new president of Olympic College in Bremerton.

Cavalluzzi announced in an email sent to all Pierce staff on Oct. 29 that he has reached the final round of the application process and is one of six professionals vying for the position.

In the email, he wrote his decision to apply came after much ‘soul-searching.’

“If you have an opportunity to go somewhere, you’re going to have to think about it,” Cavalluzzi said. “I’m genuinely happy here and I’m fulfilled here, It’s difficult to think, ‘do I want to move on?’”

Cavalluzzi also wrote that—if selected—this new position will encourage his professional growth.

At Pierce, Cavalluzzi reports to Chancellor Michele Johnson, who reports to the Board of Trustees. There is no chancellor at Olympic; the president works directly with the Board of Trustees.

“The next step in my career would be (to become) the president and CEO of an

entire college,” Cavalluzzi said.

Cavalluzzi has applied to no other school. In the email, he calls OC his ‘best fit.’

“I like that they’re really focused on equity, I like that they’re really focused on student success,” Cavalluzzi said. “They parallel a lot of what we’re doing here at Pierce College.”

Cavalluzzi was also impressed with OC’s mission statement, values and vision.

“I was going through (the mission, vision and values) and thought, ‘actually, I live all that right now,’” Cavalluzzi said.

“I really like where they’re heading and what they’re doing.”

Cavalluzzi called the application process ‘a time of growth.’

“If I am not the lucky candidate to get the position, staying here I’m already a better president. I can just tell because I’m looking at things differently,” Cavalluzzi said.

The Kitsap Sun reported that every candidate is required to take part in a twoday interview process, which includes a meeting with the OC Board of Trustees

Marty Cavalluzzi poses for a photo in his office.

Cavalluzzi has been the president of Pierce Puyallup since 2013.

and participation in public forums.

Cavalluzzi will attend interviews on Nov. 8 and 13. These two days will include a breakfast with community members, forums with staff and faculty and a dinner with the Board of Trustees.

The OC Board of Trustees will announce their decision in early Decem-

ber.

If Cavalluzzi is selected he will begin at the college on Jan. 2. Around that time, Pierce will open a nationwide search for Cavalluzzi’s replacement.

The current OC President, David Mitchell, is scheduled to retire on December 31.

“He’s as good as it gets,” Cavalluzzi said regarding Mitchell. “To follow in his footsteps would be quite an honor, to be honest.”

Cavalluzzi, who has been the president at Pierce for five years, is thankful for his time at the college. As a community college graduate himself, Cavalluzzi remembers receiving the type of help and mentorship he now provides.

“I’ve been absolutely honored to work here,” Cavalluzzi said. “This has been the best job I’ve ever had.”

If not selected, Cavalluzzi will remain at Pierce.

“I’m in a win-win position right now,” Cavalluzzi said. “If I don’t get (the position) then I stay here and I’m happy. I really like this college. It’s a great place to be.”

Hobby Lobby among new Pierce professor helps developments in Puyallup students fight hunger Nyadeng Mal and Quintessa Waud

Nyadeng Mal

Puyallup’s old Haggen grocery store will be the home to a new Hobby Lobby. The home decor and craft store will fill about 58,000 square feet of the currently empty building at 201 37th Ave. SE. The remaining 17,000 square feet of the 75,000 square foot building will be occupied by Harbor Freight Tool company, according to Puyallup’s Development Services Director Tom Utterback.

“With the positive response we’ve received from our 14 Washington stores, we believe Puyallup will be an excellent location,” Bob Miller, a communications coordinator for Hobby Lobby, said.

The projected opening of Hobby Lobby in summer 2018 may be indicative of greater changes within the Puyallup area recently.

“The last three or four years have been a high level of home building and the development that goes with it,” Utterback said.

“We’ve been busy in terms of permit work”.

Puyallup has been home to many changes over the past year with stores such as H&M opening at the South Hill Mall and current construction on new housing developments such as Sunrise and Wesley Homes.

Utterback attributes this uptake

Professor John Lucas walks to class every day with a Ziploc bag filled with granola bars.

Lucas leads the Granolas Promoting Achievement program for the Puyallup campus; he brings granola bars to class for his students.

English Professor Curt Warmington started the GPA program at the Fort Steilacoom campus.

Warmington noticed that students were showing up to class hungry and it was causing them to lose concentration. He realized that there was a disparity in food and wanted to do something to help. Warmington reached out to Lucas to bring the program to the Puyallup campus.

“For me, it’s about making sure my students aren’t distracted by hunger,” Lucas said.

Lucas empathizes with the busy lifestyles college students live and understands that sometimes, for many reasons, students just don’t have time to eat.

Lucas tries to check out a bag of granola bars every day and take them to his class.

“They now remind me when I forget to bring them to class, it’s a small gesture but you can see it means something to

Reporter/Online Editor

Reporter

The Hobby Lobby storefront in Federal Way. Hobby Lobby, expected to open summer 2018, will replace the Haggen grocery store on 37th Avenue Southeast.

in expansion to the growing economy within Seattle and the surrounding areas. He cites the lower cost of housing in this area when compared to housing in the north, where industry jobs are quickly emerging.

“Housing is less expensive here, so a lot of people are wanting to live here. We would love to get some of those jobs here.”

Many of the jobs that are in Puyallup are centered around the retail and service industry.

“The service industry has had a major interest in Puyallup because the people in Pierce County and Puyallup’s population is growing,” Utterback said.

He believes that the success of

the service industry has contributed to the all-around success of the city of Puyallup. Outside businesses are starting to see the success of the businesses in Puyallup and want to be a part of the growing city.

With all the detours and unpleasant-looking construction sites, it can become easy to see all the new projects as a nuisance but Utterback views it as a positive for the city, as it will bring jobs and provide the community with safety and parks and recreation.

“We have a pretty strong city in terms of being able to have parks and police, whereas a lot of cities tend to struggle with that,” Utterback said.

them,” Lucas said.

GPA is thriving off donations from organizations such as Coordinated Health.

Students and faculty are also welcome to donate and sign out granola bars to distribute to their classrooms at the tutoring center in CTR Room 170.

“If they are hungry they can’t concentrate,” Lucas said.

He also added concentration is vital to the success of students and hopes more professors bring granola bars to class.

The Office of Student Life is also committed to helping students get through the school day without threat of hunger.

College is hectic and sometimes sitting down and having meal is impossible. Students have to commute up and down campus and all the lost calories can make it difficult to get through the school day. The food pantry is available to all Pierce College students.

“If you’re hungry on campus it’s a good resource,” Garrett Bown, ASPCP president, said.

“We don’t make students prove that they are in need because we want students to feel comfortable.”

The goal of the food pantry is to provide students with access to free food and other Continued on page 3

SHOUTOUT

Nyadeng Mal

Do you know what No-Shave November is and will you be participating?

Vito Gikaru: “Yeah I would participate but I have no hair.

You see this?! I barely have any hair now.�

Chatrick Sene: “I’ll be participating because my girlfriend told me not to shave.

She likes how I look with a beard and also because I support the cause�

Michael Saunders: “I don’t know much about No Shave November but if it’s for support with cancer patientsm then yes, I’m totally in. I’m going to do more research on it now.�

Andrew Schartfigure: “No, because homecoming is coming up, I have to shave.�

Torin Schaver: “I mean if I could grow facial hair then yes.�

How about in the future? “Yes, absolutely if I become like a more hairier man.�

Zack Sass: “I just want to and also for people in my life who have battled with prostate cancer. I will do it in solidarity with that community of people.�

Devin Lorentzen: “No, because I grow a really shitty beard and mustache.�

Letter from the Editor

Danielle Taylor: “Yes, because in the winter it takes too much time to shave.�

Daniel Pollock Editor-in-Chief

Dear Readers:

Our headline ‘‘Pierce Professors: ‘Not writing white, not writing right’� was misleading, it was sensationalist, it was uncontextualized.

This is my apology.

To start, sensationalism was not our intent. I would rather have ten readers consuming The Post for unexciting articles which are factual rather than 100 readers for entertaining, exaggerated stories.

I created the headline at 9 p.m.; I had been at work all day; I was blinded by and buried in the context of the story; I wasn’t looking at the article as our readers would; I wasn’t doing my job.

When Professors Edwards and Walker-Stromdahl—as well as tutor Laila Tova—are quoted saying “not writing white, not writing right,� some readers thought this was their conviction.

It is not.

When Edwards and Walker-Stromdahl and Tova uttered this phrase in interviews they were stating a belief held by many members in academia today— not themselves.

We did not provide the context necessary for a transparent story.

The topic covered in the article is complex, my headline added to the complexity.

During my time at The Post, I will continue to make mistakes but I hope I will learn from each one and only improve the paper. And I hope you, as a reader, will keep us in check.

Please reach out to me with your questions, concerns or requests.

My email is dpollock@pierce.ctc.edu. Come to CTR-218 to have a chat, our door is almost always open.

Daniel Pollock Editor-in-Chief

T HE P UYALLUP P OST The Puyallup Post is produced by students attending Pierce College Puyallup. .95=0/(1973:9;4=95=94:<42<2=35=3=0/(197=+;8/-6= /(195.<2 -3:<89315=38<=:.<=5;1<=8<50;459(919:)=;+=:.<=<29:;85 =8<0;8:<85 342=0.;:; 830.<85 =342=38<=4;:=94:<42<2=:;=8<08<5<4:= :.<=7;11< < 5=0;1979<56=

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How to contact us:

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Quintessa Waud

Dana Montevideo

Nyadeng Mal

Ryan Rothman

Sydnee Smith

Derek Goodier

Damien Bamford

James McCraw

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Pierce College Puyallup ready for change Nyadeng Mal Reporter

The Office of Student Life wants to help the campus go greener.

“We just want students to have more sustainable water for students so that they’re not using plastic waste so much,” Bown said.

His team is hoping to have at least one hydration station added to every building. The OSL believes this will help promote health for students.

Another addition the OSL hopes to make reality soon is the replacement of all hand dryers in the College Center and Gaspard Administration Building.

The model that will be used is currently present in the Arts and Allied Health Building restrooms. The hand dryer model is said to be efficient, powerful and more sustainable, the OSL hope to have the project started by the end of the year.

Another addition OSL hopes to bring to the campus is

video camera monitoring for the parking lots. After numerous complaints, the OSL realized it’s finally time to get the ball rolling on getting surveillance for the parking lots.

After talking to the providers of the future camera system, the OSL was shocked to find out that Pierce College Puyallup is one of the few colleges that doesn’t have the camera systems in their parking lots. There is now a sense of urgency to catch up to the rest of the colleges in the state.

“We’ve had numerous complaints related to car problems,” Bown said.

Students complained of door dinging, scratches and— less commonly—car theft. The OSL feels the complaints can be solved with the installation of cameras in the parking lot.

“The cameras are vital to the safety of students,” Bown said.

The OSL wants students to feel safe and have the peace

of mind that their vehicles are secure and protected while they are on campus.

The updated camera system will cost $255,136.37, a hefty price the OSL feels is justified as it will ensure the safety and protection to students, faculty and their property.

The OSL would like to have the cameras installed by the end of the year. They hope the presence of new cameras will help the students feel safe and protect the property of faculty and students.

The last update the OSL wants to achieve this year is installing new hand dryers in all of the buildings. The new model is called the Xlerator hand dryer. It is currently present in the AAH Building.

“We want to install these dryers because they are fast and efficient,” Bown said.

The dryers that take about eight seconds to dry are expected to be a game changer and more efficient than the current models seen throughout the campus.

Campus Safety cracks down on ticketing in parking lots Dana Montevideo Managing Editor

With the start of the new school year, the parking lot has been crowded with an overwhelming amount of students, employees and faculty.

This has pushed memMaureen bers of Campus Rickertson Safety to crack down on ticketing in the parking lots, especially within the carpool, visitor and employee lots.

“We want students who actually have carpooling permits to park in those spots,” Maureen Rickertson, sergeant-supervisor for campus security, said.

Rickertson and Robert Rockey can agree that—with the amount of students needing parking lots in the morning—it is important to focus in on specific problem areas, specifically the carpool section.

A carpool ticket is one of the most expensive parking violations, starting at $25 and if the student doesn’t have a parking permit or has an improperly displayed permit their ticket

“If we see a car in the parking lot without a permit, we’re like, ‘What are you doing here?’”

—Maureen Rickertson

price can increase.

However, if students feel they were wrongfully ticketed, a repeal panel is held monthly.

The repeal panel usually contains a student, administrator, faculty and a staff member.

“It’s like a traffic panel,” Rickertson said, describing the setup of the panel.

At the panel, a student explains why they believe they shouldn’t have gotten the ticket and the panel discusses and agrees if the ticket should be repealed.

It is quite simple to obtain a carpool permit, and even more simple to get a parking permit.

First, to get a parking permit, students need to come to the Campus Security office in the Gaspard Administration Building. They bring with them

their license and registration and are given a permit to go in the left corner of their car. For carpool tickets the process is the same, except the passenger must fill out information and is provided with their own pass.

The driver and passenger both receive a slip that goes on the dash.

Regular parking permits are free and mandatory, and it’s important all students get a parking permit because they serve as a safety measure more than a way to punish students for violating parking.

“If we see a car in the parking lot without a permit we’re like, ‘What are you doing here?’” Rickertson said.

Consideration for students and their safety come before parking violations, so it is important all students have a parking permit so Campus Safety may identify if the undocumented vehicle is a problem or not. If the car has a parking permit, it is clear to campus safety that it is a car that belongs in the parking lot at Pierce and reassures faculty and students.

“It’s called campus safety for a reason,” Rickerston said.

Professor John Lucas tries to bring granola bars to students in his classes every day.

Continued from page 1

essential supplies on campus to combat hunger and other needs.

The food pantry contains a variety of foods from canned goods, to cup-of-noodles, to apple cider.

“One misconception is we only have food in the food pantry,” Bown said.

The food pantry also provides students with access to hygiene products such as lotion,

shampoo, tampons and pads.

“There’s not really a space promoting hygiene products on campus so we try our best to provide that too,” Bown said.

“A lot of students rely on the food pantry so we like to try to keep it filled.”

The food pantry is running on donations and anyone is welcome to donate.

To donate, students can bring non-perishables to the OSL, room C210 in the College Center.

Rats exterminated from campus Ryan Rothman Reporter

Months ago, the College Center Building was faced with a rat infestation, which initially started in the back area of the kitchen and then progressed towards the student life offices.

But the college, aided by a pest company, exterminated the infestation.

“I am happy with the progress we have made with this local pest management company,” Dan Timmons, the N O V .

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building and grounds manager, said. “They have been consistent in their approach to mitigate and manage the rodent issue.”

Pierce College hired this company at the start of the infestation, performing inspections consisting of checking traps, looking for rodent activity and re-baiting traps on a weekly basis.

“After we got a handle on the situation, we tapered the inspections down to twice a month,

and then finally to once a month,” Timmons said.

Timmons is also happy with the response from students.

“After we asked for everyone’s help in making sure food items were appropriately stored in their work spaces, I believe this has helped in mitigating the rodent issue,” Timmons said. “I would like to thank everyone for helping us maintain a safe and healthy campus and we look forward to working together to keep it that way.”

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(Not) living the American dream:

International student enrollment dropping Dana Montevideo Managing Editor

International student enrollment has been down at Pierce College for a few years now.

Student F1 visas are becoming more difficult to obtain, the political climate in the U.S. is changing, it is becoming more expensive to get an education and students across seas are becoming more reluctant to come to the U.S. International students view the U.S. as a safe haven, a place full of higher education, money and a brighter future, but yet they feel uncomfortable pursuing those dreams.

With Donald Trump’s travel ban, some international students feel more anxiety and stress to come to the U.S. to study, according to Susan Taylor, SEVIS and immigration manager at Pierce College. As for students who already have visas, they might be more afraid to travel back home because they are concerned that their visas won’t be renewed and they won’t be able to return to the U.S. “(International students) are concerned about a number of things. They’re concerned about their safety, concerned about what they read about in the news, concerned about the climate in the United States,” Taylor said.

“Even though there aren’t the hard numbers to back it ...

I think it’s definitely affected the international student enrollment.”

Taylor is aware there aren’t many statistics demonstrating the decline in international student enrollment, but has seen it going down for a few years now.

“Back at the beginning of the year, when President Trump issued the first travel ban, we had a lot of students who were worried,” Taylor said.

Pierce had a few students from countries affected from the ban but students from the countries who are more represented at Pierce like Vietnam, China, Japan and Korea weren’t part of the ban.

“Hearing about the immigration ban in the news, our students felt affected,” Taylor said.

Many qualifications are considered when international students apply for visas. Not all countries require a visa, but many of the exchange students at Pierce come from countries where the F1 student visa is required. Issuing visas have been becoming increasingly more difficult for students, which is where Pierce College is down in enrollment.

For an international student to obtain a visa, they must prove they can fully fund their education and housing in the States, have a letter of acceptance from a school and undergo an interview process. For Suleiman Yasin Lima-

International student Suleiamn Limamu from Zambia believed moving to the U.S. was his golden ticket to success.

mu, the process of getting a visa was the most difficult part.

When Limamu attended his interview for a student visa, there were 350 applicants and only 15 could be chosen.

The process doesn’t stop there, though. Lamamy has witnessed people from his country arrive in the states to be turned down at the airport.

When Lamamu travelled from South Africa to Dubai to the states, two men with hijiabs sat near him on the plane. The plane ride was just short of 41 hours and the two men were denied entry in the country at the airport.

Limamu was accepted into the country as a Pierce College student at the beginning of this school year. Limamu, is from Zambia and has always wanted to come to the states to pursue a medical degree.

“When I get my medical degree, I will able to practice wherever in the world I want, especially if it is from a well-known university like U.W.,” he said.

Limamu wanted to experience the education, wealth

and the American Dream that he had heard about all his life, which pushed him to come to the country.

Limamu can agree he feels welcome in the U.S. and feels he is on the way to success but he feels concerned about the political climate in the States.

In Zambia, the nation is far too concerned with their own political issues that they aren’t concerned with problems in the U.S..

Limamu knew Trump was elected President of the United States but was shocked when he realized what he stood for when he arrived in the country.

“The fact that he has the power to do that... What happens if I leave the country to see my family and I want to come back to the states and to find out everything I have studied is not going to be used again because I’ve been refused access to get back into the country,” Limamu said. “Specifically, for me it’s even harder. One, I’m Muslim. And two, I’m black. And that whole combination are the things Donald Trump hates.”

Limamu has observed since Trump was elected, the process to get into the country has become much more difficult but, for him and Anni Huynh, the decision to come to the U.S. was worth the trouble.

Anni Huynh is an international student from Vietnam. She came to the U.S. to study psychology.

In Vietnam, psychology isn’t as widely focused on or used so she is grateful to Anni Huynh be able to study it in the U.S. Huynh feels welcome in the U.S., and appreciates the diversity of people and culture.

“Whoever the president is, I didn’t do anything against the law, so I don’t have to worry about that,” Huynh said.

The travel ban didn’t affect Vietnam, and Huynh feels safe being in the U.S. Although the amount of international student enrollment has been declining for a few years, many international students still look to the U.S. for a higher education and a brighter future.

“I want to live that American dream,” Limamu said. “I knew that getting that paper from (Pierce College) was going to be my golden ticket to success.”

The increase in expenses of education and living, changes in political climate, other countries opening to international education, tight competition and more visas being denied has interfered with international student’s hope for success in the States.

“I think the whole piece of this, where it’s hard to get a number is just, in general, do international students feel welcome here?,” Taylor said.

Too many Mondays: Why Pierce has a six-day Thanksgiving break Sydnee Smith Reporter

Thanksgiving break this year is six days long.

The break will be from November 22 to 27.

It’s unusual to see a Thanksgiving break so long, the normal school break usually consists of two or three days of missed school, not four.

The reason why is there were too many Mondays in fall quarter.

There is supposed to be 10 of each day of the week per quarter, 50 days total in the quarter. Veterans day, which is celebrated on Nov. 10, is on a friday this year, causing the quarter to have 11 Mondays.

Beth Norman, an earth science professor, coordinates the Pierce calendar as she is also the presiN O V .

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dent of the Pierce College Federation of Teachers, the faculty union.

Norman decides when to take or add any extra days, she then puts a proposal together.

“We’re looking at planning an in-service day instead before classes start,” Norman said. “It would still be a day off for students.”

Previously, Pierce took Halloween off but because it landed on a Tuesday this year, that wasn’t possible. Instead of adding the extra day off to a random holiday, the calendar committee have been discussing making it a teacher inservice day before classes start.

The Monday after Thanksgiving was picked because they needed a Monday off and figured it’s an extra day for those who travel.

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FEATURES

Abigail Naze conducts the orchestra students in a class that meets every Monday and Wednesday. Naze gives her students constant reassurance and allows them the experiences within music.

New professor excited to make music with students Dana Montevideo Managing Editor

Abigail Naze loves music because it isn’t easy.

As the new conductor for Pierce College Puyallup’s orchestra, Naze struggled to decide if music was what she wanted to pursue in her future.

Her brother played the violin as a child and she attended all his lessons, wanting to be a violinist just like him. She decided to have her own hand at music and her instructor advised her to try the cello. She picked up the instrument at 5 years old and has stuck with it ever since.

“There were definitely times, there still are times, when I question what I’m doing,” Naze said. “You know, people who say ‘Oh, this one moment at this one concert, I knew I was going to be a musician’, well that’s cool but that never happened to me.”

Naze graduated from Minot University in North Dakota with a bachelor’s degree in cello performance. As an undergrad, she only dabbled in conducting.

At Minot University, Naze decided to audition for the 2014 MSO concerto competition as a cello soloist. She remembers it as one of the experiences that helped her decide she wanted to be an orchestral conductor. She had the opportunity to conduct the piece “Dvorak cello concerto” which she best describes as “the most beautiful and luscious cello concertos of all time” and “a piece any seasoned cello player would for sure know.”

To ensure the winning title, Naze decided to do what most professional soloists do: learn the score for each part in the accompaniment. Naze memorized all 12 parts.

On the night of the concert, Naze went to her conductor and confessed how nervous she was. He simply told her “Abbie, you have been studying the score for weeks now.

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You know your part and everyone else’s more than anyone else on this stage, including me.”

Naze was inspired by this statement, realizing how much work she put into the competition, which paid off when she was announced as the winner.

Winning the competition allowed her to play with the symphony, where her cello professor was sitting alongside her. Toward the end of the song, Naze remembers being overwhelmed with happiness and excitement.

When she peered over to her cello professor, who was tearing up while playing, she felt reassured that she had made her professor, her family, the community and herself proud.

Naze then decided to attend the University of Washington to continue her education as a conductor.

She was offered a full scholarship and the opportunity to work with the director of the Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot. She has been living in Seattle for two years and has earned her master’s in orchestral conducting.

“I love it here a lot,” Naze said. “Except for, I don’t mind the rain, but people change their driving habits when it rains. They get kinda crazy.”

Along with conducting the Pierce orchestra, she conducts an all-adult community orchestra in Seattle called Oak Lake Strings.

“I just know I love doing it,” Naze said with a smile. “And it’s not always easy and you know what, sometimes it’s not always fun. But, it always feels worth it for me. And I think that’s important.”

Naze wanted to learn more about conducting and attended many week-long, focused, masterclass workshops on conducting throughout her education.

She recalls the first one she attended in South Carolina as one of the pivotal points in her journey to becoming a conductor. She

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hadn’t had much experience conducting at the time and was intimidated by the setup.

There were 30 to 40 other conductors and a panel of professionals that were there to help critique and judge.

“There still are a lot of people in the music world who don’t believe females should be conductors and one of the teachers who was there thought that way,” Naze recalled about one of the professionals.

During Naze’s time at the podium, he tried asking her to do something with her gestures that she wasn’t quite getting.

“He was asking me to do something that worked for him, for his body, and one of the biggest things about being a conductor is doing what works with your body,” Naze said. “Whether you’re male or female, it doesn’t matter, it’s what feels natural for you.”

Naze kept trying but was unable to perform the way her teacher was expecting, he said she could leave the podium.

“Respectfully, I said ‘No, I am capable of doing this.’” Naze said.

She finished her time at the podium holding in tears, then ran to the bathroom and sobbed when she finished.

“But it was an experience that made me decide early on what I wanted to do,” Naze said. “Whether you’re a musician, a doctor or an accountant, every career has those moments that push you to your limits, and that day I was.”

That experience pushed Naze to the edge and it forced her to ask questions about her future in music.

“Okay, is this worth it to go through emotional pain to be able to conduct music? I mean, it’s just music. But that is exactly what kept me going, because it is just music,” Naze said. “What a crazy awesome job I have—to make music with people.”

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CAMPUS LIFE Negotiations on union contract helps professors Dana Montevideo Managing Editor

The three highest paid professors at the Puyallup campus are an English professor, a psychology professor and a history professor.

English professor Ann Salak earns $73,116.34 as a base salary for the 2017-18 fiscal year, psychology professor Leon Khalsa-Maulen earns $71,613.94 a base salary for the year and history professor Christopher Vanneson makes $71,501.26 as a base salary that doesn’t include the extra classes—often called moonlights— he teaches each quarter.

Faculty members have a starting salary, which increases as faculty are granted promotions and increases.

Vanneson is tenured faculty, meaning he has a permanent position at Pierce College.

Once a faculty member has undergone the tenure process, which faculty are eligible for after three years, they receive a salary increase of $2,000. They have the opportunity, as well, to increase that pay by engaging in professional development.

For adjunct faculty, however, it’s not as easy.

Besides the tenured faculty on campus, other professors include full time and adjunct professors. These positions determine how much each faculty member makes per year and how much job security each professor has.

The college’s faculty union, the Pierce College Federation of Teachers, has negotiated changes in in the faculty negotiated agreement, the contract between professors and the college. The negotiations included limited opportunities for adjunct faculty to make more money while working at Pierce College.

“Pierce College has done an excellent job in recent years responding to the needs of adjuncts, especially in reference to the ratification of the recent contract,” said Samuel Sloan, adjunct assistant professor for arts and humanities. “However, still the majority of professors at Pierce college are contingent faculty. This is a trend nationwide, and can be seen as troubling.”

Sloan was a member of the union, and stood beside other faculty to support changes to the contract.

Pierce College has recognized a problem in treatment toward adjunct faculty, and the recently updated contract hopes to resolve this.

“The primary goal of introducing the levels is to create an environment for adjunct faculty that promotes the best experience at Pierce by providing increased opportunities for engagement and support,” the contract states.

The opportunities include a heavier course load, increased access to professional development.

“Some of these part-time (adjunct) faculty have been dedicated to our college for many many years, and we want to try to improve that balance a bit,” Faculty Union President Beth Norman said. “We wanted to improve what they were being paid and give them the opportunity to advance.”

Assistant adjunct professors (Level 1) are limited to 50 credits per year, not counting summer quarter. This amount of work usually amounted to less than $30,000.

Adjuncts are making $3,878.90 this fall for each 5-credit class.

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enough to really live off of.” Norman said.

In the faculty contract, levels show how faculty can increase their pay, or initial placement levels. Starting at level one, $50,305, faculty can move up to level five at $54,498. They have an opportunity to move up steps, establishing security and more pay.

“In order to increase the adjunct faculty pay, because we were lower than most of our surrounding colleges, we negotiated away the steps and put everybody on the top step,” Norman said.

These levels are beneficial for adjunct faculty because it gives more opportunity for pay and job security. According to Norman, there are instances when an adjunct faculty is on the schedule, then all the sudden they’re not, and they are replaced by someone else.

“The administration doesn’t have to go through any process to not hire an adjunct faculty. They can just not hire them the next quarter,” Norman said.

When faculty move up levels, it assures credibility and puts him or her on priority for classes.

Faculty have options to gain promotional increases, including something called “moonlight classes.” A professor who teaches moonlight classes are contracted to teach nine classes per year and can teach two additional courses a quarter.

They are also required to do committee work, advise students and have to write a self-evaluation. On top of all this, they still must teach their first three classes that are part of their salary. By moving up, they are able to teach up to 60 credits every two years, and it increases with each level.

“It’s like someone taking an extra job, basically.” Norman said. “The only way we can try to get more money is by calling it a promotional increase.”

Part of the problem is the union is not allowed to increase salaries unless the legislation gives the school money. The steps put in place in the contract regulates where the money goes when it is given from the legislation. Before, the money was evenly distributed.

“We’ve limited how high the administration could offer a new faculty member because we didn’t want them spending all the money on hiring a new faculty member and not have enough for the existing faculty.” Norman said.

Although changes have been made to the union contract this past year, the dependence on adjunct faculty at colleges campus across the nation can be considered a problem to some faculty.

“Nationally, this is the overabundance of reliance on adjunct teaching, rather than attempting to open up new full-time tenure track slots.” Sloan said, “It’s both a trend and potentially a problem.”

Norman doesn’t believe adjunct faculty make enough to support themselves. She’s heard too many stories of adjunct professors living in their cars, living with their parents or using their pay as a secondary income.

“We take advantage of people’s love of teaching,” Norman said.

Adjunct faculty members make $3,878.90 this fall per 5-credit class, and most adjunct faculty teach two to three 5-credit classes per quarter. The graph to the right highlights the top 20 highest paid professors base salary for the 2017-18 fiscal year.

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T H E

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CAMPUS LIFE

From ship to studio: Stan Williams “If there is one musician who inspired me more than anybody it would probably be Beethoven because of what he was able to accomplish while being totally deaf. Just proves that you can do whatever the heck you wanna do if you wanna do it bad enough,” Williams said.

He always says not to restrict oneself to one kind of music or genre because anyone can find something good in any style or any genre of music.

Williams recalls when he was in the Navy, everyone is in close quarters with people and everyone meets so many new kinds of people with different taste.

Williams was also a frequent concertgoer when he was younger. The most notable concert he attended was when he saw the Beatles in Seattle performing their third to last show together as a band.

“I went to one or two concerts every month probably for several years, so 50, 80, 100, a lot,” Williams said. “The last concert I went to was Metallica.”

Williams teaches music production at Pierce. Currently, the program only has a part one, it can only cover very surface level material. Williams would love to have a part two to the program and even a part three because there is so much material to cover.

With a part two, Williams would be able to go deeper into theory of audio mixing, much more into the use of external equipment and spend more time studying the actual software.

“The only thing restricting that is enough people signing up. There has to be ten people in the classroom or they will cancel the class,” Williams said. “I’ve got quite a few that are interested this time around and I’m hoping it might be a possibility this next coming quarter.”

William’s primary interest is composing.

If he could compose for anyone dead or alive it would be Sergei Prokofiev or Leonard Bernstein. He would also love to

Sydnee Smith Reporter

Stan Williams teaches an assortment of music classes at Pierce College Puyallup, including guitar and music production.

He’s a man who's traveled the world and seen it all it may seem.

“I’ve been as far north as Alaska, as south as Mexico, as far west as Germany and as far east as Hong Kong,” Williams said. “I’ve been everywhere in between there.”

Williams grew up as an ‘Army brat,’ being procreated in Alaska and born in Tennessee. He can recount six states he's lived in, as well as other countries.

Williams ended up in Washington state in 1963, as his father was last stationed in Washington before retirement.

Williams himself was in the Navy from 1969-1973 and in that time he did a year in Vietnam.

Finishing with the Navy kicked off his music career.

“When I came home, I sort of sequestered myself for about a year and just played guitar twelve to fourteen hours a day, seven days a week and I became really interested in music theory so I decided to go to Pierce College,” Williams said.

“So I’d take a class there, then I’d take another class over at Green River, then I’d take another class over at TCC, then I went to California State University for a couple years, really just looking to expand my knowledge, not intending to get a degree.”

After Williams moved back to Washington, he realized he had built up so many credits he should really take a shot at going to school for music, thus enrolling at Pacific Lutheran University for his bachelor's degree. He received a bachelor's in composition theory at PLU and a masters in music education at Boston University.

When Williams was attending PLU, he was a student and staffmember at the same time. While he took classes, he also taught

Now a professor, Stan Williams once attended Pierce College as a student.

guitar as an adjunct.

His passion for music started at a young age. When he was younger, Williams had some uncles that would play guitar and show him some things here and there.

During his time in college, Williams had a friend who was a guitar teacher.

Williams would visit him where he taught and would occasionally substitute.

Williams soon befriended the manager of the store at which his friend worked.

Soon, the Williams’ friend stopped showing up to work and after days of substituting for a guy who didn’t show up, he took over the position. Williams has now been teaching since that April in 1974.

“So I fell into that, found out I had a knack for it,” Williams said. “I love teaching, I love interacting with people, I love to watch people grow.”

Williams’ music taste has grown to be extremely wide, ranging from classical to rock to rap. Williams’ current music theory inspiration would be Leonard Bernstein.

The most influential guitarist for him would probably be classical guitarist Christopher Parkening and progressive rock guitarist from the band ‘Yes,’ Steve Howell.

be a Phelps score composer, creating the background music for movies.

“You take the music away from almost any movie and the movie becomes vacant, hollow, empty and you don’t know what’s going on, you don't know what you're suppose to feel, you don't know how you're suppose to react,” Williams said. “The music carries the film from beginning to end, guiding the viewer and how they should respond.”

He is also finishing up the music book for his musical called, ‘Lotto the Musical.”

He doesn’t know if it will be produced but he has Sumner’s Manestage Theater in mind; the vocalists he has in mind will come to his personal studio and record an audio version for him.

He runs his own teaching and recording studio in downtown Puyallup called ‘Studio G’ that he started about three years ago where he teaches 50 to 60 private lessons a week.

As Williams speaks of his personal life, he speaks of his wife, to whom he's been married for 32 years and known for 43.

They met when her mother signed her up for guitar lessons and Williams ended up as her guitar teacher. With 11 years between them, Williams still says she's his best friend. His favorite song he has ever written is a song for her, titled ‘You Read Me Like a Book.”

“We tell each other ‘I love you’ at least a dozen times a day,” Williams said.

From being in the Navy to being a music teacher, Williams says he wouldn’t change a thing; he loves to do what he does. He’d have even more stories to tell but that would be for another time with the recorder off and pencil away.

Williams loves what he does and loves people. With a passion for music and the way it moves people, Williams feels as though he found the right profession nestled in the Arts and Allied Health Building at Pierce College Puyallup.

REVIEW Stranger Things 2 Ryan Rothman Reporter

Stranger Things 2 could have been a rehash, where a conspiracy has befallen Hawkins again and it’s up to the gang to stop the lab once more. Old friends and enemies could have come back to the new season by popular demand. But they don’t. There is a new adventure, still with the familiar characters that the fans have fallen in love with.

The second season begins a few days before the anniversary of Will’s disappearance, and Will is having nightmares about falling back into the Upside Down.

Will is given a chance to become much more involved this season, Noah Schnapp comes up to bat and hits a homerun. The other actors are just as good as before and the new faces are a welcome addition.

The Duffer Brothers, with their writing and direction, seem to know where they want the series to go, it allows the budget to not overshadow the characters and their adventure.

It’s hard not to give spoilers because of what happens in this season. Like the first season, it’s a rabbit hole of finding out what’s happening in Hawkins but what you expect will happen sometimes to pay homage to the ‘80s classics, however, other times the Duffer’s flip the cliché on its head.

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It’s the benefit of being a show that not only is paying homage to the decade it takes place in but it also tries to be a good show in its own right.

Many other types of media have tried doing an ‘80s throwback theme. Some use it to lower their budget or make fun of the movies of the decade. Stranger Things is different. It relished in the fact it was ‘80s while not skimping out on modern techniques of storytelling for their effects. The second season keeps that integrity.

It feels like it could have come out in the ‘80s, but with better graphics: they show the Upside Down, they show the monsters in all their glory and Eleven is able to be a true wizard.

However, this season does acknowledge the strangeness of the concept and uses Meta humor more than a few times. It gets old after the third time hearing, “You realize how stupid you sound” or “This only happens in movies and comic books.” The biggest offender is Bob, Joyce’s new boyfriend.

Bob is played by Sean Astin who played Mikey in the Goonies and he hasn’t changed a bit since he was a child actor. Which is probably no coincidence, but it doesn’t intrude too much and the show doesn’t truly point this out as a “Hey look at me! We got Mikey from The Goonies!”

Being a Netflix original, they can keep the swearing, blood and action without watering it down needlessly. It is TV-14, if viewers are squeamish about language and blood, then this isn’t the show them. But any viewers

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who could handle the first season should be able to handle the second.

Being a Netflix original leaves the show susceptible to spoilers. The day it came out, some outlets had spoiler talks at the end of their reviews, talking about every detail of the season. Sometimes even at the beginning, without warning their readers. Those wishing to not to have the season ruined for themmay find it difficult.

The first season, was a surprise hit but Stranger Things 2 is perfect to binge on an Autumn night with some Eggo waffles. Even viewers not normally into scary movies should give Stranger Things a try.

The two seasons don’t stand alone, but they are both excellent shows in their own right and well worth the watch time.

I give Stranger Things 2:

HHHHH

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Montepotato’s favorite French fries in Puyallup Dana Montevideo Managing Editor

Whether it’s lunch time, 2 a.m. on a Friday night, or a group of friends are looking for something to do, it can be fun to find some simply delicious french fries. They’re cheap, tasty and a bit addictive.

Here’s a list of Top 10 establishments to get french fries in Puyallup:

10. Dairy Queen 7 minutes from Pierce at South Hill Plaza 135, South Hill 3500 #F18 13507 S. Meridian I would stick with just getting ice cream. However, the French fries compliment the chicken basket well.

A meal isn’t a meal without fries.

9. Jack in the Box 3750 S. Meridian, 10 minutes from Pierce Not the best, not the worst. A good ratio of soggy and crunchy fries and excellent paired with a chocolate shake.

8. Sonic 10 minutes from Pierce at 13609 Meridian E It’s not easy to find anything exceptionally good at Sonic but their fries compliment all their hundreds of milkshake combinations. A ‘simply chocolate’ shake with French fries is a great snack for 2 a.m. on a Friday night out.

7. Burger King 4922 Meridian St. S., 7 minutes from Pierce It’s alleged that Burger King has the best fries out of all fast food restaurants in Puyallup. However, the

fries are too crispy and Burger King doesn’t offer many different options for dipping. However, Burger King’s curly fries are wonderful, which is why it’s not ranked lower.

6. Wendy’s Located 6 minutes from Pierce at 4113 S. Meridian Wendy’s is a close second to best worst French fries but McDonald’s beat them out because of consistency. One Wendy’s fry might be crunchy and hard and then the next one will be too soggy and soft.

“We’re experiencing the full spectrum of fries,” The Post Online Manager Quintessa Waud said after trying Wendy’s fries. “Crispy, soggy and everything in between.”

Waud is an advocate for soggy fries and was disappointed with too many crispy fries and fries inbetween. However, the salt was evenly distributed and there’s no better snack than dunking a Wendy’s fry into a chocolate frosty.

5. McDonald’s The closest McDonald’s to Pierce is 7 minutes away, at 804 South Hill Park Drive Out of all the cheap and unhealthy fast food restaurants, McDonald’s takes to prize for best fries.

They contain all the primary components of the perfect fast food French fry: soggy, salty and addictive.

They are exceptionally plain but it never hurts to spice them up by adding ketchup, sweet and sour, ranch or barbecue sauce.

4. Chick-fil-a 104 39th Ave. S.W., 5 minutes from Pierce

Chick-fil-a is ranked number four solely because of the combination of the Chick-fil-a sauce and their infamous waffle fry. When Chick-fil-a moved to Puyallup, the talk of the town was their waffle fries combined with the sauce.

3. Red Robin 6 minutes from Pierce at 3609 Ninth St. S.W. This is for all those out there who like steak fries.

It is a preference but there is nothing better than Red Robin steak fries complimenting a gourmet burger and chocolate shake. The seasoning offered at the table allows you to determine if more seasoning is needed and the seasoning is delicious. Try the steak fries with their campfire dipping sauce, it’s a fry game-changer.

2. Lancer College Center Conveniently, Lancer fries are surprisingly good for school food. They are usually seasoned evenly, however, they can sometimes be too flavored or not flavored enough. When they are seasoned well, they are some of the best fries in town. Their consistency is not too crunchy, nor are they soggy and they taste fresh.

1. Out and About 14214 Meridian E., 8 minutes from Pierce South Hill’s “In-and-Out”, if you will, serves above average fries. Most of their food is exceptional for a food truck hidden on the side of Meridian near Walgreens but customers will be pleasantly surprised by their quality.

Music in the making: Leshawn Jones Syndee Smith Reporter

Leshawn Jones is an up and coming rapper in his second year at Pierce College Puyallup. Jones came to Pierce College because of the schools audio production program.

Originally born in Tacoma, Jones moved to Lakewood when he was 4 and lived there for two years. After that he moved to Steilacoom, back to Tacoma and finally to Puyallup. Jones’ mother wanted to provide a better environment, away from violence and gang activity.

“Ever since I came to Puyallup I went Leshawn Jones on a better track cause from where I was starting I was honestly on a track to not really go anywhere with life,” Jones said. “I was a dreamer as a kid but people didn’t influence me in a positive way so they made me feel like my dreams were worth nothing and so that's how I felt and so coming from nothing you can’t really gain too much, you can only learn from it.”

Jones credits the way he is now to having lived in those areas and sees it as a good thing because without those experiences he wouldn’t be where he is now.

After Pierce, Jones doesn’t know if he wants to continue with college.

For Jones, it's hard even being in college sometimes because a music career doesn’t necessarily require a degree. He thinks he’ll finish out his associate of arts and go onto pursue his music career.

“Music is the only thing I can think about,” Jones said. “When I’m sitting in class I’m thinking about the song that I just recorded and I’m thinking about ways that I can make it better or thinking about new songs that I can record. It's hard for me to stay focused in class because I’m constantly thinking about what I can be doing with music outside of class.”

Jones keeps his own name as his rap name, Leshawn Jones. It's something no one can take from him. He originally wanted to go with Young L, but if googled someone else comes up. ‘Leshawn Jones’ is something that is him, anyone can just look his name up and find his music right away.

“When you make music a lot of it is kind of like a blanket theory for other people to be able to connect to, W W W . P U Y A L L U P P O S T . C O M

even if it's your personal experience,” Jones said. “You got to give it to other people to relate to, so when I get to use my name I get to keep it personal myself.”

Everything started with Jones and his friend Nick. In fifth grade, Nick introduced Jones to T.I. and his first real love of rap music began. Thus began Jones and Nick’s introduction to writing and recording.

“Nick’s mom got this little tape recorder so we set that up, found a beat on youtube, we put the little mic there, we have the beat playing and we just rap into it and then we’d play it back and we’d feel so cool cause we’re all ‘oh we just made a song’,” Jones said. “It was the worst quality. Being able to do that just by ourselves was awesome because it gave you that hope, like we always thought as 12 year olds, ‘yeah we’re gonna be famous by like 14.’ It always kept that hope alive.”

Although music was always important, that desire kind of fell off the tracks in junior high. In 9th grade, he attended Couch Tour - that's when he saw Lil Snupe.

Lil Snupe changed Jones’ entire perspective. Lil Snupe inspired Jones to freestyle and that's when he started wanting to make music professionally.

According to Jones, Lil Snupe didn’t care what anyone else was saying, he believed in himself and that's what Jones wanted to do as well.

During his sophomore and junior year of high school, Jones’ drive slightly deplenished. He recorded but didn’t push himself like he does today. Jones started to heavily pursue music in his senior year of high school. He credits T.I. and Lil Snupe for making him want to pursue rap and be a dream chaser.

Jones speaks about how a lot of schools diminish the arts. They tell students that isn’t how someone is going to make money and support themselves. It kinda puts a stick in kids hearts. It makes kids believe they can’t really accomplish their dreams.

“I tell myself you're gonna be a rapper and it doesn't matter how much your making you don't have to make billions of dollars as long as you're doing what you love, you’re waking up everyday doing what you love, that's the biggest part and, you know, I’d rather live off a salary that provides me a studio apartment and food on the table but I’m still able to get up and go to the studio and hit the stages and see people there for me,” Jones said.“A career is something that you wanna wake up and do every day for the rest of your life, that's what

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a career is and a job is just something that you have to do. That's why I want music to be my career.”

He spoke on how it's hard when he sees 17 year olds who are really becoming something. At 19, he is close to the same age but he gets a fraction of the listens they do. When he thinks what he’s making is amazing but it's not getting as much attention as someone else's music who he doesn’t think is as good, it's hard. It can really affect confidence levels. Those situations of seeing everyone move around oneself will either push that person forward or make them fall.

If Jones couldn’t sing he would want to act. In his senior year in high school he acted in Hairspray the Musical as the character Seaweed. He spoke about how that inspired his love for singing too. If he can strengthen his singing voice he can use that in his music more.

He is also apart of the concert choir at Pierce.

He sports a tattoo behind his ear: a music note with wings. Jones said some of his friends thought such a visible tattoo, on the neck, wasn’t a smart choice. But Jones never let that stop him because, to him, it shows people he's a man of music. He is a man with the dream and passion for music. One day he hopes to grow the tattoo by adding feathers that go down the back of his neck and onto his shoulder with the quote, “May your dreams give you wings.”

He is trying to take this dream and turn it into a reality.

“When people see it, I want them to know music is always on my mind, that I’m a man of creativity,” Jones stated. “When people see the wings they realize I’m trying to take flight with what I wanna do.”

Jones described his desire to perform. Music is the one thing where he can truly be himself. Nothing is fake, music drives him to be the most genuine person he can be. If the artist speaks truth in their music they’ll try to live as truthfully as possible. If it wasn’t for music, Jones wouldn’t even have a drive to go get into his car. It's like a gift no one can take away from him.

“I always imagine: it's pitch black, I got a platform underneath me and I’m getting raised up with a mic in my hand or in my ear and when I look up and it's just a stadium full of people,” Jones said. “If I ever had that opportunity, I’d probably like break down or cry cause that's something that I picture. It's so powerful. Everyone is waiting for you.”

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OPINION

SHOUTOUT

Sydnee Smith

What helps you handle the stress of school?

Daniel Bramhall: “After school I go home and sit on the couch.”

Jadin Bassett: “Getting whatever I have on my plate helps me destress from school.”

Taryn Pinkham: ““I usually listen to music to destress.”

Makenna Strasbaugh: After school, I just sit at home and work on art projects.”

Laurel Anderson: “To destress, I just sit at home with a cup of tea reading a good book. I liked action and mystery, anything I can get my hands on.”

Isaac Zenobio: “What cheers me up after school is talking to friends and playing games.”

Nkole Mwansa: “To destress, I like to work out.”

Esteban Amador: “I like to sleep to cheer me up after school because my schedule doesn’t allow me much sleep.”

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Talking about racism makes white people uncomfortable Nyadeng Mal Reporter

Earlier this month, the Biloxi School District in Mississippi decided to toss the critically acclaimed book To Kill a Mockingbird from its eigth grade reading list.

A mother of a student complained that the book was inappropriate.

Instead of the school removing the child from the assignment, the school chose to remove the book from its curriculum, causing other students to miss out on the great lessons the book teaches.

Biloxi School District is not the only school to remove the book in the United States.

The Accomack County School District in Virginia, Plaquemines Parish in Louisiana and most recently Biloxi school district have all decided to cleanse their curriculum of the book. Numerous schools across the United States use the book in their curricula to teach students a variety of lessons, particularly about the nation's dark past of racism and the treatment AfricanAmericans faced in early American history.

“There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable.” Kelly Holloway, Biloxi school board vice president, said,

As seen with recent events in Charlottesville, N.C. like the ‘Unite The Right’ rally, the South hasn’t come as far as they think and the country is suffering from a racial divide.

regarding why the book was being removed.

The school district is missing the point. When reading To Kill a Mockingbird, the reader should feel uncomfortable to fully understand the content and the reason why the book was written in the first place.

When To Kill a Mockingbird was released in 1960, it was repeatedly challenged by schools as “trashy and immoral.”

Harper herself chimed in on some of the discussions.

“What I wonder is if any of its members know how to read,” she said in response to Hanover county school board challenging the book's place in their curriculum.

Lee’s book came at a time when America was deeply struggling with racial injustice. Just five years before the book was released, 14-

year-old Emmett Till was beaten, mutilated and murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman and making sexual advances toward her.

In Lee’s book, Atticus Finch defends a black man who was accused of raping a white woman.

To Kill a Mockingbird was a reality Africans Americans knew too well and was an America white America chose to ignore and continues to try to ignore.

The real reason To Kill a Mockingbird is being pulled is because talking about race makes white people uncomfortable. What’s ironic is the book sees to keep getting banned in the South, which has the most negative history regarding racial discrimination and divide in the United States.

As seen with recent events in Charlottesville, N.C. like the “Unite The Right” rally, the South hasn’t come as far as they think and the country is suffering from a racial divide.

The truth is America, and perhaps mostly Southern white America, is afraid to be confronted about its past and would prefer to bury To Kill a Mockingbird because it displays the horrors that happened in their own backyard. Instead of conContinued on page 11

Stressed, embarrassed and getting by Sydnee Smith Reporter

I think the overall stress and embarrassment that comes from school is a universal feeling. Although, we kind of have to deal with it our wholes lives, so we might as well get use to it.

Now, if you try to say school doesn’t stress you out I definitely wouldn’t believe you. Stress is basically ‘folie a plusieurs,’ French for ‘madness of many.’ This phrase is used in the diagnosis of shared psychosis; I think the term fits great for the overall feeling of just being a student in today's society.

There is so much pressure on kids to get good grades so that they can get a good job and make lots of money.

Yes, money is technically how the world functions but for real sometimes I wonder if the stress is worth it. I have genuinely cried from getting a B on a test. Now, some people are reading this and thinking a B is seriously no big deal but for many it is.

The hard thing about stress is that your stressor might not be someone else's. Sometimes I feel like I’m not breaking through to my friends when I express how I genuinely just want to bang my head against a wall, it’s because they don’t see it as a stressful situation.

Recently, I was expressing my overwhelming stress of having to miss three days of school and they laughed. They looked at me like I was being irrational. Three days to them was nothing, no big deal.

I kinda realized I do the exact same thing to other people as well. We often times look at each others

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problems and say, “oh that's no big deal!” instead of realizing it’s probably a huge deal for that person.

School stress is something we all deal with and finding a way to manage and deal with it is a huge help.

For instance, I keep a planner so I can keep up with what’s going on. I also write when I’m stressed, or listen to music. Finding what works can alleviate some of that overwhelming feeling.

Now comes that added embarrassment that school always must carry. I swear that one super embarrassing school moment must happen.

If it hasn’t happened for you yet, be thankful and hope it doesn’t ever happen. Recently, I was called to the front of my class for a class example. Right then my worst fear came true. I didn’t know the question she was asking me.

At first I had a confused look on my face. As she repeated herself and I still didn’t understand, my confusion slowly turned into, ‘Oh shit.’

After eventually getting the question wrong and doing the walk of shame back to my seat I realized it's that moment every student dreads. After the fact, I was like, ‘Oh of course this will happen to me of all people.’ But I realized it kinda happens to a lot of people.

There is always that one instance in class where someone fails, answers a question totally wrong, has the teacher tease them or a multitude of other things.

Like in my high school, students would get dress coded publicly in the hallways or classroom—total embarrassment. So just know you’re seriously not alone.

School might be so stressful or something horribly embarrassing might happen to you but you can make it through. School is the folie a plusieurs.

—Sincerely Syd T H E

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OPINION It’s past time to start talking about sexual assault and harassment James McCraw Reporter

“Me too.” Two little words began a viral conversation across social media that should have been started decades ago.

Sexual harassment and assault are real issues today, that shrouded in stigma and shame for the victims.

Commonly, men get away with these heinous crimes and that is something that needs to change in the world that we live in.

After decades of assault running rampant in Hollywood, the allegations against Harvey Weinstein and other high-profile executives have brought this usually silent crime to light.

As college students, there are protections under a Department of Education mandate called Title IX for reporting harassment and assault claims.

Title IX was enacted in 1972 and prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities to include all public and private schools in the US. Title IX states that if a school knows or reasonably should know about sexual harassment or sexual violence that creates a hostile environment, the school must take immediate action to eliminate the sexual harassment or sexual violence, prevent its recurrence and address its effects.

It also states that even if a student doesn’t want to file a complaint or doesn’t request that the school takes action on their behalf, the school should know about possible sexual harassment or sexual violence and must promptly investigate to determine what occurred and then take appropriate steps to resolve the situation.

According to a 2013 University of Texas study, One in five women are sexually assaulted while in college,

yet less than five percent of victims report the crime.

In a separate study conducted by the nonprofit organization Hollaback, out of 282 undergraduate, graduate and part-time college students, 67 percent of students experienced harassment on campus while 61 percent witnessed another student being harassed on their college campuses. Out of those 282 students surveyed, only 18 percent of students had not experienced or witnessed harassment on their various campuses. A larger study, which was conducted by the Association of American Universities in 2015, determined that out of 150,000 students from 27 universities, stated that among female college students, 23 percent said they experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact.

This contact ranged from kissing to touching to rape, carried out by force or threat of force, or while they were incapacitated due to alcohol and drugs.

About 11 percent of women said the unwanted contact included penetration or oral sex.

In 2014, Vice President Joe Biden started the It’s on Us campaign— based on recommendations from the White House Task Force to Prevent Sexual Assault—to engage everyone in the conversation to end sexual violence.

The campaign was aimed to bring the talk to the forefront using tips for students and staff. It also sent guidance through the Department of Education to every school that receives federal funding on their legal obligations to prevent and respond to sexual assault.

In September, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced that her department would be launching “a transparent notice-and-comment process to incorporate the insights of

Racism Continued from page 10

fronting the truth they choose not to see it because it doesn’t fit the image and attitudes of the “new South.”

The old South consisted of antebellum period ideals and the blacks needed to stay in their place.

The new South was conservative, Christian and saw African Americans as equal.

The removal of To Kill a Mockingbird proves that the old South never died, people just ignored it and hoped it would go away.

We’ve all heard the phrase “I don’t see color” which, in itself, is a form of racism. To not see color is to ignore the challenges and adversities minority communities face.

Ignoring racism won’t make it go away and removing an anti-racism book or filtering the type of literature children read is actually counterproductive to combat racism. The only way to tackle the issue of racism is to the study the past and to have a healthy and open discussion about it.

Cleansing schools of To Kill a Mockingbird is white washing academia because if it’s not taught then it never happened. Although the book is based in a fictional setting, the lessons are real and not allowing it to W W W . P U Y A L L U P P O S T . C O M

all parties in developing a better way.”

DeVos said the Obama administration’s guidance for how campuses address sexual assault "failed too many students" and announced that she intended to replace the department's current approach "with a workable, effective and fair system."

DeVos said the system needed to do more for survivors of sexual assault and to ensure fair due process for the accused. There is no word yet on how this overhaul will affect any policies and procedures stated in the Title IX process.

The recent MeToo hashtag revolution has given women a chance to speak up about experiences of harassment and assault on social media. Actress Alyssa Milano started the movement to show how widespread abuse really is.

According to a CNN article, the MeToo hashtag was created over a decade ago by female activist Tarana Burke. Burke launched the hashtag after her own experience with abuse kept her from helping a traumatized young girl.

"I could not find the strength to say out loud the words that were ringing in my head over and over again as she tried to tell me what she had endured," Burke said. "I couldn't even bring myself to whisper, me too."

The hashtag worked. Conversations were started and between Oct. 15 and 30, Twitter reported that the hashtag was pinned more than 1.7 million times in 85 countries around the world.

In order to create a culture of change, not only looking at men specifically, but as decent human beings, we must take away the blinders and realize that harassment is not on the rise. It is a problem that has been around for far too long, and needs to go away.

be taught in its essence is erasing history. It’s saying that blacks have never suffered at the hands of white people and that we should just stop talking about race.

Talking about race has become a nuisance in America and some just want the topic to go away.

What's ironic is that in Mississippi confederate monuments are protected by law, the argument is that the statues reflect the history of the South and it should be preserved. The men in the statues are seen as heroes. It seems like Mississippi cares more about protecting the statues of white supremacists then enriching the minds of students and showing them why it’s wrong to treat people differently because of the color of their skin.

Truth is, white America is still uncomfortable owning the side of history that paints them in a bad light.

No one is asking white America to pay for the atrocities caused by their ancestors but to understand that people of color are still dealing with racism all in aspects of life. It dictates where they live, work or go to school. White America needs to stop dodging the topic and be part of the conversation as to how to handle racism in America.

Books like To Kill a Mockingbird can’t be censored and deserve to make people uncomfortable. Parents should also have the right to pull their students from curriculum that makes the students uncomfortable.

It’s unfortunate and is an educational disservice that all students have to be exempt from critical thinking and thought-provoking topics at the expense of a few

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SHOUTOUT

Sydnee Smith

What are your plans for the Thanksgiving break, considering it is six days long?

Caleb Leverich: “I don’t even like Thanksgiving to be honest. It’s my least favorite holiday.”

Solomiya Fabyanchuk: “I’m probably spending a lot of time with family, with college you don’t get to be with them a lot.”

Kimberly Olivarrias: “Not really sure but I’m hoping to go to Oregon for Black Friday shopping.”

Quinn Landrud: “I don’t have any plans because it’s longer but I’ll probably think of something to do. Sometimes we go to Seattle.”

Laci Ackerman: “I definitely will have Thanksgiving with my dad’s side of the family, maybe my mom’s side and I’ll go see my boyfriend’s mom’s grandpa.”

Autumn Campbell: “My friend doesn’t have anything to do for Thanksgiving, so the day after I’m gonna throw a Thanksgiving party for her.”

Jasmine Handley: “Going to Louisiana to visit some family.”

Jacob Daep: “I’m just gonna be mainly with family. Going to my grandparents and hittin’ the gym more.”

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FEATURES

Morgan made this Belle costume with her mother two years ago. Belle is one of Morgan’s favorite Disney princesses.

The Gandalf costume was a gift from Morgan’s grandma. Morgan is an ardent fan of The Lord of the Rings.

Morgan found this Wonder Woman costume at Value Village before the quarter began.

Morgan has had this elephant outfit since she was about 5 or 6. Elephants are one of Morgan’s favorite animals.

To dress as the Queen, Morgan borrowed a hat from a friend, and the rest is from her grandma’s closet.

Student wears different costume daily Sydnee Smith Reporter

Brittany Morgan has been wearing a different costume to school every day since the second day of class.

When the quarter began, Morgan came in normal attire. She was super excited for the theater class she was joining.

But after talking with a few friends, Morgan decided she would start dressing up. Ever since, she has worn a different costume daily. She’s even dressed up as her drama professor, Sam Sloan.

“I’ve been a ghost, I’ve dressed up as Belle, I’ve been a few animals,” Morgan said. “Some of it is stuff that I’ve had and some of it is stuff that I borrow from my friends and some of the stuff I just throw together with just random clothes that I have. It’s just what I can think of that week.”

Her costumes usually don’t take her much time. She actually stated she didn’t tell her mom about any of the costumes until Oct. 23.

She would keep all the materials in her car and change in her car between her class at her high school and her drama class at Pierce.

“I felt like (my mom) would think I was being ridiculous, which she does,” Morgan said. “But I guess she thinks I’m kind of silly for doing it and thinks it’s funny now.”

Morgan also loves acting, as it was what really inspired her to wear a costume every day.

Her love of theater started when she was in the fifth grade. Morgan tried out for a play with the Mitula Children’s Theater, a traveling theater company.

Auditions were held on a Monday and the play was performed that Friday.

“That was the first play I’ve ever been in and I really enjoyed it so I just kept trying out for plays,” Morgan said.

She performed in ‘Wild Washington’ which was Pierce College Puyallup’s fall play, directed and written by Nichole Nicholson and the cast.

This was Morgan’s first performance at Pierce.

Morgan’s dream role would be in “Chicago.”

After someone downloaded the song “Cell Block Tango” on her cell phone, she fell in love with the play.

Morgan would also love to perform in ‘“Peter Pan” as Peter, as the role is traditionally played by a woman.

Her favorite play she has performed in thus far would be “Rapunzel.” Morgan played Rapunzel’s mother.

“It was a different version of Rapunzel, so it was more focused on her parents then it was on her and that was realN O V .

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ABOVE: Student Brittany Morgan dresses as her drama professor Sam Sloan. TOP RIGHT: Morgan wears an outfit similar to Alastor Moody from the Harry Potter series. BOTTOM RIGHT: Morgan looks like herself for Halloween.

ly fun,” Morgan said. “(My character) was obsessed with rampion, which is like a type of lettuce, also called Rapunzel, and I got to faint a few times.”

She has also been directing plays at Puyallup High School, as she is a Running Start student. “The Jungle Book” was her favorite play to direct.

Morgan says her biggest inspiration is her friend Noah; she's Morgan’s backbone when she needs it the most. She struggles knowing she wants to do something in acting but all she participates in is her school productions, no local or big

theater productions.

“When I was younger my mom used to tell me, ‘oh acting, you don’t get jobs when you’re acting.’ So she was never really like ‘yeah go for it, get a job in this’ she's like ‘you could do this but it's not gonna be something that you know you’re gonna make a career in,” Morgan said. “But I’ve never really given up. I just kept wanting to do it and even if it's not something I make a career in, just like local theater, I’m gonna keep doing it.”

Morgan has considered going down to

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Hollywood, but, according to her, it's hard to break into the business.

She has considered doing the business side of theater as well, which would entail opening her own theater.

As a final statement about wearing a new costume everyday Morgan talked about how it's given her a chance to be more courageous.

“I definitely feel more outgoing when I’m wearing a costume,” Morgan said.

“Normally I’m pretty shy around people I don’t know very well but I guess it gives me a bit more confidence.”

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