Volume 54, Issue 7 November 1, 2019 advocate-online.net
FOR THE STUDENTS BY THE STUDENTS
Rho Theta adviser enjoyed the ride PAGE 2
Plenty of ‘Fallout’ in gaming world PAGE 5
Kanye falls short of hype? PAGE 6
CHATTERTON BRINGS LOVE FOR THE GAME
PAGE 4
‘1619’ project gives fresh insight on freedom PAGE 4
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BETH SAMMONS MOVES ON FROM RHO THETA AFTER 17 YEARS Corwin Benedict The Advocate
This last Spring Term, Beth Sammons stepped down as adviser to Phi Theta Kappa, the honors student society here at Mt. Hood. It was a gratifying 17 years of service, she said. Sammons started her career teaching in the K-12 school system, working there for four years before deciding that, as she put it, “I hadn’t read enough good books.” So she went back to school herself for a master’s degree in English. In 1989, she found a job working part time in the MHCC English department, eventually getting hired full time in 1999. In 2002, one of the previous advisers for Phi Theta Kappa stepped down, convincing Sammons to take his place through some “arm-twisting” and the line, “Wouldn’t you like to be the students’ adviser? The students do all the work!” she recounted. That would bring many experiences that she will never forget working with the students who meant so much to her. At first, there was a lot to learn. Laughingly, Sammons said, “It took me months to figure out the difference between Phi Theta Kappa, and Rho Theta.” The latter is Mt. Hood’s chosen name for its campus chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa organization, which supports two-year colleges nationwide. Sammons organized the traveling of the group to events roughly five times a year, filling out the to-do lists, thinking about things in advance so that they had regalia to sell, finding a location for the formal spring induction, and making sure that the students planned ahead for the projects they wanted to take on. She combined her commitment with the honors society with her job as a full-time instructor, which was sometimes a real chore, she told the Advocate. “Other advisers got used to seeing me at the fall convention. They knew that if it landed on the weekend of the fourth week of the quarter, I was grading papers. “So we might be holding (the convention) at a campus, and I would wander down the hall until I found an unlocked room,” she continued. “While the students were all in these training sessions learning about the Honors in Action project, or how to win the
Hallmark Award, I would be hiding in a classroom somewhere grading essays.” Coming up in 2020, Sammons will be going on a sabbatical to learn more about writing and how instructors should be teaching writing. “Things have changed since I graduated from Portland State University. I will be revamping one of my classes to reflect some of those changes,” she said. “Back when I graduated, we taught students how to write essays, nothing but essays. We didn’t have cell phones, and we barely had computers. Think about how far technology has come, think about how that affects the way we communicate. It’s no longer
Maysee Thao | The Advocate
Beth Sammons, longtime Phi Theta Kappa adviser, balanced her duties with full-time instruction at Mt. Hood.
enough to teach students how to write essays. We need to teach students how to be multi-literate.” During her upcoming break, Sammons also looks forward to traveling to England and visiting family in Arizona. During her advising, what did she enjoy the most? “Working with the students,” she responded immediately. “I got to know students well, I got to see them succeed. I got to congratulate them when they got scholarships, I got to be there when they won awards. That was really fun. Serving as the honors society adviser was the most rewarding thing I’ve done in my career at Mt. Hood. “I hope that Mt. Hood will find a way to support our Phi Theta Kappa chapter, because it serves the students, it’s worthwhile, and students have so many opportunities through Phi Theta Kappa,” she said. “I would like to see a strong Phi Theta Kappa program here on campus, because I think it’s valuable.”
for the students by the students
NEWS BRIEFS with Chloe Collins
VOLLEYBALL
The Saints volleyball team will face off against Chemeketa tonight, Nov. 1, at 6:30 p.m. Concessions will be open, and MHCC students get in free with a student ID. Adult tickets are $5, (non-Mt. Hood) student tickets are $4, and seniors and children get in for $3.
KNOW YOUR STUDENT RIGHTS: PUBLIC FORUM
Learn about your rights and responsibilities as an MHCC student. Associated Student Government leaders, along with Student Conduct Officer Nikki Barone, will explain the process for students to express grievances on campus. The event will be hosted in the Student Union from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 pm. on Monday, Nov. 4, and again from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7.
INTERVIEW TIPS
If you’re preparing for a job change, MHCC’s Career Planning and Counseling Center may be able to help. It will host an event to help students prepare for any job or restricted program on campus, held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in the Town & Gown room (upstairs, next to the Riverview cafeteria).
PHOTOGRAPHING THE NIGHT SKY
Enjoy photos taken by amateur photographers of the night sky with MHCC Planetarium Director Pat Hanrahan. This month’s show
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Editor-in-Chief Chloe Collins
Sports Editor Julia Empleo
Broadcast team Gage Linhares
Ad Manager Parrish Chang
Outreach Manager Melanie Roberts
Associate Editor Omar Saradi
Opinion Editors Sadie Klein Omar Saradi
Graphic Design Team Leydi Perez Carrasco
Staff Writers Brad Le Daniella Young Kel Buell Ash Espinoza Omar Carrillo Carson Koch
Social Media Manager [Position Open]
News Editor Chris Barney Arts & Entertainment Editors Kurt Larson Eli Rankin
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Graphic Design Editor Eli Rankin Broadcast Editor Naethaniel Lile
Photo Editor Maysee Thao Photo Team Bethy Fallgren Landon Spady
Copy Editor Corwin Benedict
Distribution Specialist Julia MacDonald Advisers Dan Ernst Howard Buck
takes place in the Planetarium (Room 1305) on Tuesday and Friday, Nov. 5 and 7. Each night offers two showtimes, one starting at 6p.m. and another at 7 p.m.
APOLLO 11 REVISITED
Fifty years ago, humans left Earth for the first time, and walked on the moon. Join Mt. Hood history instructors Pat Casey and Elizabeth Milliken for a special Historians’ Roundtable event on the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, plus a quick look at the 1960s Space Race. Open to anyone, the event starts at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in Room 2728.
MOUTHS OF OTHERS: LIZ PRATO
The English department will hold its first Mouths of Others speaker series event of the year with Liz Prato, author of “Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege,” a book of essays on Hawaii. This event will be held in the Visual Arts Gallery on from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 7.
FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE CELEBRATION
MHCC will join colleges across the country in celebrating first-generation students in the U.S. The celebration will begin at noon in the Town & Gown room. It will feature refreshments, a keynote speaker, and a panel of Mt. Hood staff, students, and alumni.
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NOVEMBER 1, 2019
CAMPUS SERIES SALMON FESTIVAL TO OUTLINES MICRO- TAKE PLACE ON SUNDAY AGGRESSIONS Daniella Young The Advocate
Zarah Escutia
The Advocate
The Multicultural & Diversity Resource Center held its first meeting of the “Let’s Talk About:” dialogue series on Wednesday, Oct. 23. “Let’s Talk About: Implicit Bias and Microaggressions” was set to inform the community on the implicit biases that can affect us as individuals, and microaggressions that affect our society today. This dialogue series was created in order to educate the MHCC community and spread awareness on topics such as inclusion, equity and diversity. All are welcome to join in, and the first event attracted Mt. Hood students, staff, faculty and community members. The audience heard that everyone has biases, which stem from many different areas in our lives, but some are rooted in our own lived experiences, culture, language and the environment we grew up in, the participants were told. The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University defines implicit bias as the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious matter. These biases can include both favorable and unfavorable assessments, that are activated involuntarily and without an individual’s awareness or intentional control. Due to these biases, people may
to
often assign certain qualities or characteristics to all members of a specific group, whether positive or negative. It is important to recognize our own, personal bias because it can affect the way we interact with people in our own community, the audience was told. Creating awareness of our inner most biases and comprehending where they come from can allow us to communicate and better understand the people around us who may come from a very different background. Discussion then turned to microaggressions, which are daily comments or actions that can be intentional or unintentional that subtly express a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group. Some suggestions made during the meeting were that MHCC should have more culturally specific courses, such as learning about history or literature from different counties and cultures, from their perspective, and having additional texts and or literature from those perspectives. In the end, the event created a safe space for people to talk about how these attitudes and actions have affected them personally. They also discussed what to do when they, or those they know, are affected. Being able to learn and address these topics can help create a more inclusive campus at MHCC, it was emphasized. The next Let’s Talk About: meeting will be held in the Student Union lounge on Dec. 3.
Cover by: Landon Spadey | The Advocate
For any environmentalists or fish lovers out there – specifically, of salmon – check out this event: the Salmon Festival, set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, in the plaza area near the lodge at Multnomah Falls. This festival is sponsored by the MHCC geography and fisheries departments, as well as the U.S Forest Service. Chris Gorsek, Mt. Hood geography instructor, and USFS ranger Matthew Ramich will help run the event, something Gorsek has done for over 10 years now. For children who attend, there will be opportunities to play games, make salmon shirts, and listen to storytelling from Ed Edmo, a Native American storyteller and longtime northwesterner. Gorsek said Edmo “grew up in this area and remembers when Celilo Falls still existed” (before waters backed up by The Dalles Dam submerged the famed salmon grounds). The games area will be operated by the Friends of Multnomah Falls group, said Gorsek. There will be many booths, including those for the Forest Service and the Oregon Department of Fisheries. In addition, there will be displays and access to fish viewing in the creek below Multnomah Falls. Fisheries students at MHCC also will bring hatchery fish to the festival for others to see up close. The event is free and provides opportunities to learn and discuss more about salmon and the environment in general. “My geography students help kids make painted salmon shirts and operate the information booth,” said Gorsek.
“WE HAVE ALL SORTS OF RELEVANT PAMPHLETS AND FLIERS FOR PEOPLE TO TAKE WITH THEM.” -CHRIS GORSEK
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GET TO KNOW THE ADVOCATE
On the cover: Zoe Chatterton soars to spike for the Saints in their 3-1 win over the Rogue Community College Ospreys on Oct. 18.
Contact us! E-mail: advocatt@mhcc.edu Phone: 503-491-7250 Website: advocate-online.net Mt. Hood Community College Room 1369 26000 SE Stark Street Gresham OR 97030
The Advocate encourages readers to share their opinion by letters to the editor and guest columns for publication. All submissions must be typed and include the writer’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be printed unless requested. Original copies will not be returned to the author. The Advocate will not print any unsigned submission. Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words and guest columns should not exceed 600. The decision to publish is at the discretion of the editorial board. The Advocate reserves the right to edit for style, punctuation, grammar and length. Please bring submissions to The Advocate in Room 1369, or e-mail them to advocatt@mhcc.edu. Submissions must be received by 5 p.m. Monday the week of publication to be considered for print. Opinions expressed in columns, letters to the editor or advertisements are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Advocate or MHCC.
Eli Rankin A&E / Graphic Design Editor Eli Rankin is in his third-year at MHCC, working towards an AAOT. He is currently an Arts & Entertainment/Graphic Design Editor for the Advocate, but hasn’t fully decided if he wants to pursue his dream as an art director or carry on his family’s legacy as a biologist. In his free time, he enjoys creating concepts for books, movies, video games, comics, animes, and multi-media, monster-catching franchises (Pokémon knock-offs). He also likes composing music inspired by landscapes and looking after his dog, Nailah. Hyped for the Xenoblade remaster coming out next year!! PA G E 3
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‘1619’ PROJECT REVIEWS LASTING IMPACTS OF SLAVERY Trevor Bascom The Advocate
An ambitious recent undertaking by the New York Times Magazine is determined to set a new founding date for the United States – shifting it from Independence Day, July 4, 1776, to Aug. 20, 1619 – the first day that African slaves were brought to British colonies in North America. Dubbed “The 1619 Project,” the effort is a collaboration between journalists, scholars, and historians who aim to view African Americans as central figures in American history and wish to highlight the often overlooked legacies of slavery and how they pervade nearly every facet of the modern American experience. The scope of the project is broad. The various essays, weaved together by striking images and poetry, cover a wide array of ideas. Some focus on subjects like how old patterns in the politics of
racial discrimination are repeating themselves in 2019, or firsthand looks into America’s deeply prejudiced criminal justice/penal system. Others look at the historical plunder of black wealth and the rise of the continuing racial wealth gap. One essay even sheds light on how the ubiquity of entrenched segregation continues to contribute to something as mundane as poor traffic conditions. Among the more interesting writings is the essay titled, “Why Doesn’t the United States Have Universal Health Care? The Answer Has Everything to do With Race,” by Jeneen Interlandi. The essay traces the history of how race has been intertwined with healthcare in the U.S., from the very first federally mandated health program, set up in the aftermath of the Civil War, forward to the great healthcare debates of the 1950s, and through to the passage of the ACA in 2010. That article demonstrates how, through a blend of ambivalence
from the federal government and outright racial animus at the state level, African Americans were made to bear the brunt of smallpox epidemics in the 19th century, and were pushed out of New Deal and other seemingly progressive reforms throughout the 20th century. However, as the article points out, African Americans have also been actively responsible for providing the some of the biggest movements in healthcare reform. Black-led groups such as the National Medical Association popularized the idea of universal healthcare for all U.S. citizens, and later the idea that healthcare should be viewed as a basic human right. The 1619 Project is the brainchild of renowned New York Times investigative reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, who pitched the idea back in January of devoting an entire 96-page issue of the weekly NYT magazine to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first
African slaves’ arrival. Months after its initial release to broad critical acclaim, the project continues to grow: Not only were hundreds of thousands of extra copies printed and given away for free in some areas, but the project remains free to view online, and also has developed a podcast following select stories. However, the provocative effort hasn’t come without backlash. Many conservative (and, perhaps unsurprisingly, mostly white) voices have spoken out against the project, saying that it provides a distorted and revisionist view meant to serve the narrative of today’s “woke,” self-loathing, liberal elite who rarely miss an opportunity to bash the founders of the country. The project and its authors have taken these arguments in stride. When confronted with such charges during a recent television interview, Hannah-Jones responded, “This isn’t saying that [America] is a country that needs to
be destroyed. This is not saying that this is a country that’s illegitimate. “It’s saying that this is a country founded on ideals that were not true at the time, but that black Americans believed in those ideals and have worked to make those ideals true for all groups,” she said. “I don’t see what is more patriotic than that.” That the project has been seen by some as contentious is reflective of what the project views as a serious need for diversity to play a larger part in the way American history is discussed. Explicit in the magazine is the need to provide black writers and experts with a larger platform. As one of the opening lines in the project states, it is time for African Americans to “finally tell our story”. If you want to find out more about The 1619 Project, it is available for free online at nytimes. com.
SHE CAME FOR THE SPORT AND STAYED FOR THE FRIENDS Daniella Young The Advocate
This is the first year on the Mt. Hood volleyball team for freshman middle blocker Zoe Chatterton, wearing No. 3 for the Saints. And she’s enjoying the experience. Chatterton is 18 and was born in Portland, then moved to Corbett before going into fifth grade. She originally came from Corbett High School and did the Middle College program here at Mt. Hood, where she would study at Corbett in the mornings and MHCC in the afternoons during her junior and senior years of high school. Because of this, she will graduate in Winter Term this year. Currently majoring in general studies, she is thinking about going into the field of humanities, and plans to possibly attend University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Chatterton also played tennis in high school, loves to thrift shop, and especially loves to cook, she said. “I’m gluten-free and vegetarian, so I do a lot of cooking,” she said. She has played volleyball since fifth grade, and played in high school at Corbett, with the exception of her sophomore year. “I was on JV my freshman year, PA G E 4
but I didn’t play my sophomore year because I got really sick the summer before with the start of my gluten intolerance. It took a few months to find out what was going on, and it was really tough to watch my
sophomore year,” she said. Volleyball continues to be a significant aspect of Chatterton’s life. “It’s made me really confident, and it’s really changed me as a
Zoe Chatterton is a first year middle blocker for the Mt. Hood Saints Volleyball team.
friends play volleyball without me,” she said. “I needed the time to heal and I came back and played on varsity my junior and senior year. I also played club volleyball 8th grade through
person,” she said. A favorite volleyball memory took place during junior year of high school in a Pink Out volleyball game, where the players wear the color of pink to support and raise
cancer awareness. “It was a lot of fun. We were playing Estacada, and we beat them,” she said. “The energy from the crowd and my team was incredible. We worked really hard
Daniella Young | The Advocate
to make our goal and it was a great feeling,” she said. Now, her favorite part of being on the Saints team is the friendships she’s made. “I love my teammates so much, they’re my best friends,” said
Chatterton. She decided to join the Saints after she attended an open gym last winter, which she had heard about from a high school teammate. “I found out that I really loved the team. After a few open gyms, ’Tina (Mt. Hood head coach Kristina Crivello) offered to sign me as a middle blocker and I said yes.” One reason she decided to become a Saint is the amount of previous high school credits she acquired here. Another way she found herself playing for the Saints goes back to when she broke her wrist in high school during a Powderpuff game. “It inspired me to continue playing into college ball, because it felt like I had more left to give. My time with volleyball wasn’t finished yet,” she said. “I found this team, and I’m so glad it worked out,” she said. She said the team has grown this year, and is excited for the matches still to come. “I’m grateful for the experience, it’s a really great school.” In another five-to-10 years, Chatterton sees herself possibly traveling, helping people, and continuing her involvement in volleyball. “I do really love the sport,” she said.
NEWS | ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
NOVEMBER 1, 2019
THE EVOLUTION OF TIMEKEEPING AND THE ATOMIC APPROACH Carson Koch
The Advocate
There is a watch that is so accurate that it can redefine time itself: It’s called an atomic clock, and these are nothing to be played with. Often, clocks are talked of in terms of accuracy, like 3 seconds off of a month, or one second off of a day. The most accurate wristwatch is the Citizen Chronomaster at a remarkable 5 seconds off a year. But atomic timekeeping is a whole other demon. Bear in mind that atomic clocks are so precise that they supply time information to the GPS satellites, which use time data to triangulate your
precise location. The time signals travel at the speed of light, so if you were to, say, make a slight error of 1 microsecond, that would translate to a little under 1,000 feet off your location. So how accurate do atomic clocks need to be? About 1 second off of the age of the entire universe. So roughly 1 second off of 14 billion years. How, then, do these clocks work? Well, all clocks work by measuring oscillation, or repetitive motion. Old grandfather clocks measure a swinging pendulum: 1 second was one swing, give or take. But they suffered from one big problem: Changes in temperature or gravity would ruin their accuracy.
Skip forward a few hundred years, and in 1927 the first quartz clock was invented. Quartz has a unique property, that when you hit it with electricity it vibrates at a constant rate, making it shockingly accurate. Quartz clocks are in the same family as the Chronomaster wristwatch and are used by everyday tools such as phones, computers, and pacemakers. But with pressure and temperature changes, these quartz clocks can lose accuracy, very slightly, over time. So, a whole new means of timekeeping was invented – enter atomic time. Physicists knew that atoms oscillate at constant and ridiculously accurate
rates. And atoms of the same element oscillate at exactly the same rate. With that, in 1967, time was officially redefined:
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One second to this day is defined as 9,192,631,770 oscillations of
a Cesium-133 atom. Clocks in this class of timekeeping work by measuring the Cesium -133 at a constant and serve as a means of checking all the other clocks around the world. Millennia ago, humans first measured time by measuring the most constant thing we knew, the sun. For centuries, time was always defined by its rising and setting. But we outgrew the sun itself, and redefined time to fit the needs of our modern world. Time has always been a human construct, but now it is something entirely our own. A construct made by us, and now defined by us.
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‘FALLOUT 1ST’ IS A HUGE SUCCESS...
...when it comes to enraging gamers everywhere Kurt Larson
The Advocate “Fallout 1st” is the “Fallout Worst”! Fallout: It’s one of the biggest franchises in gaming history. Even if you don’t play the games, you’ve heard the name. Cherished by gamers for its unique sci-fi setting, intelligent writing, and satisfying RPG gameplay, the Fallout franchise is a juggernaut of the roleplaying genre. But not everyone is a fan of RPGs, and it would seem not even Bethesda Game Studios enjoys them anymore. If you’ve been keeping up with internet trends over the past year, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the ongoing disaster that is “Fallout 76.” Bethesda Game Studios, once renowned for making some of the greatest RPGs in recent memory, including games such as “Oblivion,” “Fallout 3,” and “Skyrim,” has slowly been transitioning away from its roots with each game release. Before the controversies of Fallout 76, the main debate among members of the gaming community was over the quality of “Fallout 4” and its severe lack of role playing mechanics compared to previous games. While most players were happy to accept the streamlined
gameplay, diehard Fallout fans, especially those who had been following the franchise since before Bethesda purchased the intellectual property from Interplay, were largely dissatisfied. But Bethesda’s mainstreaming of its products has been an ongoing process since its release of Oblivion in 2006. Compared to the previous games in the Elderscrolls series, Oblivion’s RPG mechanics were somewhat pared down, and even Skyrim, despite its massive financial success and critical acclaim, was criticized by longtime fans for its shocking lack of role playing opportunities. MULTIPLE FAILS But 2019 has marked a true fall from grace for the developer. Not only was Fallout 76 completely broken at launch, the game has also suffered from repeated controversies. While audiences understood that Fallout 76 would be a strong departure from previous titles, transitioning from a single player-only experience, to an always online, multiplayer, “RPG” fans were not expecting the drastic changes in gameplay, the removal of RPG mechanics, and the general lack of things to do. The numerous changes, along with the pre-alpha state of the game, the canvas bag controversy,
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the exceedingly cheap Nuka Cola Dark “premium” rum, the $7 digital decorative fridge, the moldy Special Edition helmets, and a slew of other complaints and controversies, have continued to mar the reputation of
Fallout 76 since its release back in late 2018. Two weeks after the game was released, sealed copies of the game that would normally retail for $60 were already being sold at half price, but as of today (October
2019), Bethesda is selling base copies of the game for $40. While you can easily pick up a copy of the game on Ebay or Amazon for less than fifteen bucks, the listing price for the game on Bethesda.net only serves as a slap in the face, especially in the wake of the latest controversies over Fallout 1st. Fallout 1st is Bethesda’s premium subscription model for Fallout 76, coming in at $12.99 a month, or $100 a year. This subscription gives players access to a number of exclusive Emotes, outfits, icons, a travel tent that functions as a movable fast travel point, 1,650 Atoms (the game’s premium currency), a scrapbox that can hold an unlimited amount of crafting materials, and some notso-private “private servers.” FALSE CLAIMS On the face of it, this may not seem like anything to get upset about. But not only is Fallout 1st a complete insult to those still playing the game, there are already multiple other controversies that have been spawned since the service was implemented. During last year’s E3 conference,
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ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T
KANYE TRIES GOSPEL... AGAIN Omar Carrillo The Advocate
After more than a year of teasing and several unfulfilled release dates, Kanye West finally delivered his ninth solo studio album, “Jesus Is King” on Oct. 25. And it is a shame that even after all that extra time, this work is so clearly in need of revision. West has been long-known to be a perfectionist, repeatedly delaying his projects to make sure they are to his very specific liking. He famously did this with his 2016 album, “The Life of Pablo,” which saw major artistic changes even almost two MONTHS after the work’s initial dropping. With this in mind, it can only be assumed that since West clearly took his time with Jesus Is King, it is up to his personal quality standard. Or, at least the closest thing possible, for now or otherwise. So what gives? This album is not awful, not by any stretch of the word; but it is not Kanye West at his best by any stretch of the word either; and this is where the confusion lies. Jesus Is King is a very unique addition to West’s discography. It is a gospel album (arguably loosely), devoid of any of the Kanyebrand rambunctiousness and explosive experience, and it focuses practically entirely on his personal Christian journey and life of worship. It is often brilliant in its composition, and the sampling present is Grade-A classic Kanye, indeed. His dramatic and entrancingly booming use of choir harmonies and singing styles is incredible, and there is no denying that nothing like this has even been done in the history of this genre so competently and uniquely.
The problem is, Jesus Is King is not the most competent or even particularly interesting representation of this faith. Kanye is not the greatest lyricist in hiphop – this is obvious – but he at the very least has always made up for that in spades with his unique poetic style and beyond-masterful production skill. The latter is surely present in this work, that much cannot be denied. While one could argue that every song is certainly not objectively flawless, every second has clearly been carefully examined and constructed by him, with an iconic attention to detail unparalleled by almost no other artist in the industry.
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Unfortunately, this cannot save just how much he insists on leaning further and further toward shallow, mediocre word choice on this album. Say what you will regarding his past projects, Kanye has, at the very least, evidently and thoroughly understood what he writes. Now, it is not any of my concern or authority to speak on the strength or legitimacy of his Christian faith; this is not the issue, at all. In fact, I would sum up this main problem within Jesus Is King with a word: disappointing. It is disappointing to realize that there truly is no deeper, spiritual perspective here.
If Kanye has a powerful, unique view of his faith as he wants us to understand it, which I personally fully believe he does, it does not come across in the slightest anywhere on this tracklist. In the most positive light one can describe it, the values and teachings of this religion and its sister religions are admirable and even beautiful. Had the album touched on this potential at all, Jesus Is King could have lived up and even surpassed its hype in the typical Kanye West-fashion, but it did not. This album is filled only with shallow, empty lines mostly filled with evangelical buzzwords and sometimes, even hypocritical statements. Kanye describes deep, deep love and worship of the Christian God and Jesus Christ himself, but often raps in opposition to their teachings and actions. Of course, both he and these renowned figures are both very much open to interpretation, but frankly he says very little in this work that leaves room for further examination. Even more unfortunately, this seems to have been purposeful. Jesus Is King wasn’t made for Kanye fans’ typical tastes in particular, but is certainly something that we could very well dearly appreciate regardless. It is still very much Kanye, still very much his voice, both literally and artistically. But let us not turn a blind eye to what this album lacks. After all, this justmissed opportunity absolutely serves as a valuable lesson to both him and the endless other artists he has inspired and will inspire indefinitely.
3 out of 5 stars
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Todd Howard, the director of BGS, came out onstage and announced proudly that Fallout 76 would never bring pay-to-win microtransactions to the game. Unfortunately, that claim has already been proven false within the last few months, and now been utterly demolished with the addition of the scrapbox and travel tent items provided as a part of Fallout 1st. Not only does Fallout 1st provide undue advantage to paying players, Bethesda is now charging its fanbase to use simple quality of life improvements such as the private servers, which not only have been reported to be broken, but also aren’t actually that private, as people on your friends list can join you at any time. What’s even more frustrating for fans is that private servers are a service normally provided for free in many other multiplayer games. The problems don’t end there. Even the pay-to-win items don’t seem to work properly! Fallout 1st subscribers are reporting the deletion of all items placed within the scrapbox after loading into a new world. But the real icing PA G E 6
on the moldy cake is the NCR Veteran Ranger outfit. The outfit, which is a 1st exclusive, is based on an iconic design from “Fallout New Vegas,” a game widely considered to be the best in the franchise. However, New Vegas was not made by Bethesda, and was instead outsourced to Obsidian Entertainment during the height of Fallout’s popularity, making this exclusive outfit seem more like putting lipstick on a pig. BACKLASH GROWS To make matters worse for Bethesda, its announcement of the subscription service not only stoked the flames of an already angry fanbase, but those who are still playing Fallout 76 are now actively seeking out and griefing Fallout 1st subscribers, in-game, as a statement of their displeasure with BGS. Humorously, since the griefing of 1st members became known to the wider internet, premium subscribers have joined forces to defend themselves, with one member posting on Reddit, “Fallout 1st players! We need to assemble and build gated communities for ourselves. Piss poor 76ers are targeting us!”
Needless to say, Fallout fans and the gaming community as a whole are incredibly disappointed with Bethesda’s recent track record of mediocre releases and overaggressive monetization of its products. This backlash comes at an even worse time for the developer, as it recently announced that its “Wastelanders” DLC, a piece of content which is proposed to fix a lot of complaints and practically overhaul the entire experience, has been delayed till Q1 of 2020. And with the Halloween season coming to a close, the last notable piece of content coming to Fallout 76 has already been released, seemingly leaving players with nothing to look forward to until next year. Unfortunately for Bethesda, the announcement of Fallout 1st delays only spells greed in the eyes of consumers and serves to raise the price of a game widely still considered to be entirely unfinished. While the publishing arm of BGS still has some promising games coming up for release, it will likely take years and numerous quality releases from the company to repair the trust of its audience.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
NOVEMBER 1, 2019
“HERE’S JOHNNY!”: ‘THE SHINING’ RETROSPECTIVE The classic prelude to the upcoming ‘Doctor Sleep’ Omar Saradi
The Advocate
In preparation for the upcoming “Doctor Sleep” which is a Stephen King adaptation and the sequel to “The Shining” I’ve decided to look back at the Stanley Kubrick classic which revolutionized the art of horror films. The premise for the film’s structure seems generic at surface level, but it stands out due to its unique approach to said genre. For example, there’s almost never a jump scare or a cheesy horror trope throughout the whole thing. Instead, the film drives the stylistic pattern of Kubrick not using quick cuts and cheap jump scares. He views the horror in a similar artistic lens he that views outer space in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” by capturing an aesthetic and a mood that sets the stage for what’s about to be experienced. That’s what separates The Shining from other horror films. Kubrick’s direction invokes a feeling and an experience, not a story tacked on to ride the back of “cheap entertainment.” Kubrick was known as perfectionist who had an eye for the framing of a scene and the lighting of a set, something that he heavily
applied in works such as “A Clockwork Orange,” “Barry Lyndon” and 2001. By the time he got around to The Shining, he was already a master at his craft and it shows in several scenes. Shots like the ones where he frames the mountain lodge hallways and the big room where Jack types out his book were all shot with Kubrick’s own hands, showing a talent other directors and cinematographers don’t have. This gives the movie an edge on other horror movies from that time – it’s an aesthetically pleasing film to look at and the shots are just about as beautiful as scenes from the classic 2001. Jack Nicholson’s turn as Jack Torrance is considered one of the greatest acting performances, in retrospect, for a reason. Nicholson was already an insane-looking guy, and although that comes across as a criticism, that presence really adds to the scenes near the end of the movie, which are unescapably claustrophobic, and a testament to his performance. This directly feeds into the what makes the movie so scary – the feeling of insanity and isolation. The film elaborates on the creepy feeling by never showing the monster, and then pulling the veil away and having the audience look at the monster in a different light, much like other horror movies do. But rather, in this one we’re introduced to Torrance as simply a man with certain past (in that open-
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ing scene, lots of foreshadowing is done). The ‘monster’ is more than one thing – the hotel, the previous caretakers – and Jack is the last creation to emerge out of that. Horror movies tend to use the trope of some big bad monster or killer stalking around the victims of the movie in order to create suspense for when things build up later on, but again, this movie takes a different approach. The victims in this movie are the wife and child of the killer and it isn’t until one cold night in the hotel, months after they’ve unpacked their bags, where the gloves come off and the screws come loose. I notice that horror movies typically structure the plot in a one-day scenario so it doesn’t drag out any other elements that make up their plot, but The Shining builds its atmosphere and suspense a long time before the actual events go down. To accompany all these elements is the music, which was so fitting and innovative at
the time; it really completes the experience. The sound often amounts to loud, brazen noises that drive you to the feeling of eeriness, like a car to a destination. One can say that the music cues the audience on what’s scary and what isn’t, but the acting and on-screen performances say otherwise. Instead, the score really hits deep into a certain place that makes us feel disgusted, physically. The first time watching the scene where Jack enters the infamous Room 237 made me sick to my stomach because everything the movie was striving for hit me, deep, in that it’s both hard to watch and hard to look away from. It’s quite tremendous that all these pieces put together made up a movie that’s been not only impactful for the horror genre, but filmmaking in general. The miracles of this film are both accidental, like the acting and the music choices, and finely tuned like the overall aesthetic and the way the movie differs from the original Stephen King “The Shining” book. All of it comes down to a single causation – Kubrick – who at the time was controversial but in hindsight, for all the right reasons. He wanted to push the medium of film as more than consumable, instead as everlasting. “Doctor Sleep” releases in theatres on Nov. 7.
5 out of 5 stars
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
A D V O C AT E - O N L I N E . N E T
LUKAS GRAHAM GIVES EMOTIONAL PERFORMANCE Sadie Klein
The Advocate
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Photo taken from Gamespot
HEADS UP, GAMERS Parrish Chang The Advocate
October was a great month for the gaming community, no matter what platform you play on. Nintendo put out many amazing and interesting titles last month, including the newest addition to the Luigi’s “Mansion” franchise, coming out on Halloween Day. The company also resurfaced some old series that haven’t seen the light of day for a while, such as “Crash Nitro Racing,” a game from the first PlayStation, and “Super Monkey Ball,” which was always a favorite. It also released original games such as “Little Town Hero,” an RPG that really tests a player’s creativity. Sony has been hot on Nintendo’s tail, with amazing releases such as Tom Clancy’s “Ghost Recon Breakpoint,” and “Persona 5 Royal.” Xbox and Sony didn’t have a lot of exclusives, but the cross-platform games such as “Borderlands 3” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” have been seeing big sales from dedicated fans. The uprise and return of classic sandbox game “Minecraft” has also had a huge influence through the year. It took the spotlight away from popular battle royal game “Fortnite,” but the team over at Epic Games were ahead of this challenge and made “Fortnite: Chapter 2” as an expansion on the original. So, yes, October had many incredible games come out. But what does the month of November hold for gamers? “Just Dance 2020” is coming out on Tuesday (Nov. 5), which PA G E 8
pretty much marks of the end for the Nintendo Wii console. The Just Dance games were the only games that were still being put on the Nintendo Wii after its generation of console began to be phased out in 2012 when the Wii U came out. Also on Tuesday, Mario & Sonic games will roll out their new “at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020” edition, adding to the many Olympics games Nintendo has put out. On Nov. 8, Sony is releasing “Death Stranding,” which is taking place in a dystopian world where players accompany Sam Bridges to save the human race from extinction. Sony is also releasing a street racer game that day known as “Need For Speed: Heat,” where the laws of the world fade as the sun sets. On Nov. 15, Nintendo is releasing the long-anticipated “Pokémon Sword and Shield,” a brand new adventure in a new region. That same day we also are getting a brand new Star Wars game by the name of “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.” The final game rollout in November, as announced right now, is coming Nov. 19: It’s the third installment in the Shenmue series, which is simply called “Shenmue III.” We have a really exciting lineup of games due this month, and the gaming world can’t wait to get their hands on it. Gaming companies are sure to announce even more amazing games soon, more proof we’re living in a great time right now and have a future full of great games.
On Oct. 23, Lukas Graham performed at the Crystal Ballroom in downtown Portland. The Danish soul-pop band, commonly known for their 2015 hit “7 years,” put on a solid, if unspectacular, show. It was their first appearance here for a while. Lead singer Lukas Forchhammer explained the band had stopped touring for a short period so that could he spend more time with his daughter, Viola. The opener, Lauren Duski, prepared the crowd for the emotional rollercoaster to come. Duski explained this was her first tour, with the love of her life on stage, hoping to be making her family proud. She performed with lots of emotion, which was evident in her voice. About an hour into the event, Lukas Graham came on stage. Purple strobe lights lit up the dark room, and the musicians were illuminated from behind. The lights matched the sweatshirt Forchhammer wore on stage, before he gave it to the only little girl in the front of the pit. The girl, who seemed to be around age 10, looked surprised to be chosen and filled with joy; this
Sadie Klein | The Advocate
Lukas Graham is back to touring after lead singer Lukas Forchhammer took a break to spend more time with his daughter.
drove the crowd wild. However, the energy in the room changed. The initial songs were full of excitement and enthusiasm, but as the show continued the mood shifted to be more “sad boys hours” than anything else. A smartphone light wave from the crowd complemented the musical atmosphere. As someone that went to this
concert without knowing much of Lukas Graham’s music, I’d say that it was enjoyable. However, the bouncy floor of the ballroom was not used to its full potential; there just wasn’t the upbeat energy. Still, the event was memorable and I would recommend Lukas Graham to those who enjoy mellow, emotional music.
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