Weekly Issue 15

Monday-Friday, January 27-31, 2020

THE DAILY of the University of Washington | since 1891 | dailyuw.com

Vol. 128, Issue 15 NEWS

SCIENCE

Opening doors

Beep-boob Beep-boob

Black Student Union president

Re-programming the

inspires future leaders

mammogram

PAGE 2

PAGE 4

SELF-LESS Q Center founder makes room for new generation of activists

Pg. 3

‘Celebration is the best form of resistance’ Photo courtesy of Dr. Jen Self Illustration by Milo Nguyen @silverkoolaid

NEWS

Monday-Friday, January 27-31, 2020

ASUW holds town hall to discuss potential changes for Hall Health

By Andrew Ronstadt The Daily

ASUW organized a town hall Thursday to hear student input on upcoming changes for Hall Health Center.

David Anderson, executive director of the Health Sciences Administration, and Jeremy Moon, chair of Services and Activities Fee (SAF) Committee, gave an overview of the situation and potential changes and answered questions and addressed concerns from students.

“Over time, Hall Health’s budget situation has been slowly going downhill,” Anderson said.

This is due to several factors including increasing health care costs, the SAF’s inability to increase funding contributions, and an increasing proportion of patients on Medicaid.

Currently, the SAF provides about $6.6 million or 42% of the Hall Health budget. This comes out of the almost $18 million per year — paid for by a $141 fee per student per quarter — that the SAF Committee allocates to fund critical programs on campus.

However, the SAF can only raise the fee by about 4% each year per state law.

“As everyone’s needs increase, we are an increasingly limited resource financially,” Moon said. This is prompting the consideration of a separate, additional student health fee.

The Hall Health task force was charged by the provost, Mark Richards, to develop recommendations to put the

center on a more sustainable foundation. In developing these recommendations, the task force will look at peer institution comparisons, reevaluate organizational issues, reconsider the scope of services, and potentially redesign the financial model.

The recommendations will ultimately be delivered to senior leadership who will then reach out to stakeholders, including students, to gather thoughts and comments. These recommendations aim to help senior leadership push the discussion forward and define what changes are needed.

In regard to organizational issues, there are two current options. Hall Health can continue to report to the Health Sciences Administration, or pursue a hybrid model where the center would still report to Health Science Administration but align more operationally with UW Medicine.

As for scope options, Hall Health can either maintain, increase, or decrease services, taking into account the determined need for these services and return on investment for students. All these scenarios bring with them cost issues.

“We know Hall Health is a critical service that supports students and non-students,” Anderson said. “How do we manage to put something in place that’s going to have legs, that’s going to keep Hall Health doing its mission for the long

Mo Tilmo The Daily David Anderson (left) and Jeremy Moon (right) give an overview of the situation and potential changes to how Hall Health runs. term and still take into account all of these factors that are coming to the front right now?”

Several students expressed concerns including issues such as insurance acceptance, overall assistance and accessibility, and the potential separate health fee.

Giuliana Conti, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, voiced her hope that through these recommendations, greater consideration will be given to the services students feel are most valuable.

“Personally, I have found that this entity has made a considerable difference in my

well-being on campus,” Conti said. “I am hopeful that this will translate into something that allows Hall Health to grow rather [than] simply manage ways for it to continue to exist.”

One student expressed that these issues require holistic re-evaluation and restructuring rather than just increased funding. Another student talked about her experience with healthcare at the UW as a firstgeneration student, hoping that the changes made will reflect the unique situations of individuals.

The recommendations are intended to be completed at the end of February, but Anderson

believes it will take longer in order to have complete and appropriate discussions.

“Part of the reason that we are having this feedback form and the town hall is to take this feedback to ensure … the issues, the concerns, and the priorities that students have are at the epicenter of these conversations,” ASUW President Kelty Pierce said to wrap up the meeting.

Reach reporter Andrew Ronstadt at news@dailyuw.com Twitter: @AndrewRonstadt

BSU President Safiya Bansfield creates spaces and scholarships for black students

By Kaya Bramble The Daily

Safiya Bansfield, current president of the UW’s Black Student Union (BSU), never actually ran for the position.

When the previous president stepped down, she felt empowered to step up.

“I call myself a leader, so I thought that if I’m gonna call myself a leader, then I should step up when leadership is needed,” Bansfield said.

Bansfield first got involved in BSU her sophomore year after being encouraged to join as a

general member by her friend who was a BSU board member.

“I got a chance to hang out with people who looked like me, talk about topics that we cared about, had a chance to make friends,” Bansfield said.

At the end of her sophomore year, Bansfield’s friends encouraged her to run for a board position. Although she was nervous, she ran for treasurer and was elected to the position. Now a senior, Bansfield has taken over as president and hopes to cultivate a community for black students on campus.

PUBLIC HEARING

“I think it’s really important just to come, just to feel like you have a space,” Bansfield said.

“This is what it is, this is what we’re trying to make it, is a safe space for black students to be who they are, however that may be.”

The BSU meets every Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Ethnic Cultural Center’s Black Room. They also host Black Meet Up, an informal meeting to make friends and play games, every other Friday.

This quarter, for Black History Month in February, they are hosting their Black & series with conversations about Black love, Black feminism, and being Black and queer.

Bansfield encourages undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members to attend at least one meeting a month, or even once a quarter.

She hopes that graduate students and faculty members will come offer their perspectives, resources,

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and mentorship to the undergraduates in the union.

Once in a while, a BSU member will tell Bansfield of the positive impact the union has had on them. They had fun, made friends, built confidence, spoke up for themselves, or were inspired to become leaders themselves. Bansfield feels that becoming president of BSU has given her the ability to create a bigger impact.

“That’s the most rewarding thing, when I see our members blossom and grow and shine,” Bansfield said. “That’s really what motivates me.”

While Bansfield helps other students grow, she herself has also grown through being a board member. Being president has helped her connect to faculty and she has also learned how to motivate and organize students who are often busy with other obligations outside of class.

Overall, learning that she loved doing service shaped her and her direction over her college career.

“I felt like I always had a purpose,” Bansfield said. “It was really, really meaningful working for the black students, and I think it really shaped me and I think I realized how much service meant to me and how much I want to continue doing it.”

As an economics major, Bansfield uses education to further her purpose as president of BSU. “Through economics, I’ve realized how much inequity there is within socioeconomic

status and things like that, poverty, and generational wealth,” Bansfield said. “It’s given me a different perspective on issues in the Black community.”

For reasons like these, Bansfield and BSU have been hosting their Annual Legacy Soiree for the past eight years. One purpose of the event is to fundraise for the Legacy Endowed Fund, which provides scholarships for underrepresented students. Last year was the first time BSU had raised enough money to award one scholarship. This year, they’re awarding two.

The soiree also serves as a celebration. This year, the two recipients of the legacy endowment will be recognized during the ceremony. A graduate student, undergraduate student, community member, faculty member, and 10 high school students from the greater Seattle area will also be honored for their academic achievements and community service.

The keynote speaker is local activist Nikkita Oliver, and the Garfield High School jazz band will be performing. The soiree takes place in the Intellectual House on Feb. 1 and tickets are available for purchase to support future scholarships.

“It’s a night to celebrate Black excellence at UW and in the greater Seattle area,” Bansfield said. “We’re really excited.”

Reach reporter Kaya Bramble at news@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @KayaBramble

Monday-Friday, January 27-31, 2020

The Daily News // 3

Q Center director stepping down, reflects on 16 years of change

Photo courtesy of Dr. Jen Self

By Hope Morris The Daily Over the years, Q Center founder Dr. Jen Self has witnessed the generational evolution of the LGBTQIA+ environment on campus.

“When I first came in, people were still scared to be out as gay, lesbian, trans, anything really,” Self said. “As gender started to be a conversation … more students who come to campus know who they are.”

Now Self is leaving the Q Center and the UW, writing to the UW community in an email earlier this month, “I see, feel, and know we are simultaneously in a moment of transformation, a massive realigning of human ethics, connection, values, engagement, and collusion to heal and radically change.”

Self has served as the center’s director for 16 years since coming into the position in 2004 and has helped define the core values of the center, establishing a strong root in int ersectional racial and gender justice and a described “love ethic.” Self fostered the center’s emphasis on love through its acceptance of all students and programs that encourage “vulnerability and authenticity.”

Since its founding, the Q Center has emerged as a prominent resource at the UW for the LGBTQIA+ and broader community. In fact, the resources it provides have made it stand out nationally, enabling the UW to be ranked last year as the most affordable queerfriendly school in America.

Located in HUB 315, the center offers everything from safer sexual education training to a Queer Mentoring Program and Gender Discussion Group.

The center has been facilitated

by Self and other staff, but is both run by and serves students seeking help.

Self attributed much of the Q Center’s success over the past decade to its collaborative environment and the work of the students themselves.

“The thing that makes UW so special … why it stands out nationally, it’s because of the students,” Self said.

The conversation on gender and sexuality is one Self and the Q Center are still pushing, but it’s driven by the student population as well. Most undergraduates on campus are part of what is known as “Generation Z,” who, according to Self, are more open and vocal advocates for social justice than their millennial predecessors.

“They come with expectations of the university, that the university not be homophobic, not be racist,” Self said, situating the Q Center alongside places like the Ethnic Cultural Center (ECC) that help increase student access and diversity on campus.

The strides that have been made for LGBTQIA+ and student advocacy do not discount future progress to be made. Self remarked that as they are leaving the center, the future is unclear as the Q Center is constantly adjusting its role within the university.

“A lot of people say that the end of structural oppression would be when we don’t need places like the ECC and the Q Center,” Self said. “I disagree … I think these places are shifting to be the majority conversation.”

Self argued for the need for the intersectional values of the Q Center as issues like culture, sexuality, immigration, and gender are beginning to take center stage. The UW is seen to be participating in these discussions as well.

President Ana Mari Cauce spoke recently at the World Economic Forum on ‘Free to Be (LGBTI)’. Whatever the future

of the center may be, it will have to grapple with these issues and how they are treated and discussed on campus.

Ultimately, the legacy and enduring message of the Q Center to Self is not just that of advocacy. The environment helps students develop vital skills they often do not learn in the classroom, including emotional intelligence and increased relationship and human skills.

“To me, that innovation has already been going on,” Self said, pointing to the use of those skills will be for students after they graduate and enter their professional lives.

Self is also leaving their position as a part-time lecturer in the department of comparative history of ideas (CHID) and the School of Social Work, as well as an affiliate faculty member in the gender, women, and sexuality studies department. They plan to work independently in a consulting position while seeking other advocacy positions and opportunities.

Staff at the Q Center confirmed that as they are in the period of transitioning leadership, Self is not an active director and is minimally involved in the hiring process.

Lev Cunningham is taking over as interim associate director until new staff can be found for the next academic year.

The Q Center will host an event honoring Self ’s 16 years as director April 7 from 4-6 p.m. in the Intellectual House.

To Self, a crucial part of the Q Center’s love ethic is celebration.

“We really believe that celebration is the best form of resistance,” they said.

Reach reporter Hope Morris at news@dailyuw.com Twitter: @hopexmorris

Kandace Kimball The Daily A rainbow paper crane chain hangs next to a lamp alongside a portrait of Frida Kahlo in the Q Center. The paper crane chain was created by the Delta Lambda Phi fraternity in recognition of transgender pride.

SCIENCE

Monday-Friday, January 27-31, 2020

Artificial intelligence system increases accuracy of breast cancer diagnoses

By Shannon Hong The Daily Overdiagnosis is a growing problem in the medical community, especially in the field of breast pathology.

Diagnosing patients with breast cancer when they don’t actually have it can lead to stress and unnecessary treatments.

To address this problem, a team of UW and UCLA researchers used artificial intelligence to create a diagnostic support system for medical experts.

This research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was the dissertation of Ezgi Mercan, a doctoral student in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, who is currently working as a researcher at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

She worked closely with Linda Shapiro, professor of the Allen School, and Dr. Joann Elmore, professor of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “I joined the team as an image analysis researcher and I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time to have the resources to work on a topic I was personally really passionate about,” Mercan said.

Breast pathology has a wide spectrum, ranging from benign tissue to atypia, to ductal carcinoma in tissue (DCIS), and invasive cancer. A DCIS diagnosis shows there are noninvasive cancerous cells in the breast tissue, which means they do not grow into normal tissues, whereas atypia does not indicate cancer.

Mercan said the team oversampled atypia and DCIS cases in their diagnostic study because past studies have shown that there is a high rate of disagreement among pathologists when differentiating between the two.

In the study, the team developed a novel image descriptor and used machine learning to model various diagnoses. This new image feature was trained to recognize diagnoses ranging from benign to invasive cancer based on a dataset of 240 breast biopsy whole slides.

The accuracy of this automated system was compared to that of the ground truth diagnoses given by three expert pathologists, and the diagnoses made by 87 other pathologists

across the country. Mercan said humans are able to diagnose invasive cancer cases and differentiate benign cases, but the performance of their system was superior with atypia and DCIS cases.

Shapiro said the system they developed is also distinct from other automated systems.

“This particular system differs from others coming out currently in that the diagnostic results come from carefully designed features, rather than from deep learning,” Shapiro said.

One of the most challenging parts about this project was the many years it took to gather the data, which ultimately revealed how much physicians cared about maintaining a high quality of care in their field.

“We appreciated the busy

Abigail Dahl @abigailgracedahl pathologists who agreed to help out and participate in the study, as they spent up to 20 hours involved in this study without any financial compensation,” Elmore said.

Although the research was unique in and of itself, Mercan said the opportunity to work with two other women on her dissertation committee was special for her, as gender disparity is a huge issue in the field of computer science.

“It was a rare opportunity to have role models and mentors on my committee that supported my personal and professional development as well as my research,” Mercan said. “By simply observing their dedication and work ethic, I came to expect more from myself and eventually achieved more.”

Since the publication of their work last August, Shapiro’s students have been furthering this research by adapting the system to diagnose skin cancer with the help of dermatopathologists. This is much more challenging because these images differ from those of breast cancer.

“We are using some of the basic methods from the breast cancer work, but they lead to a very different kind of structure,” Shapiro said. “We are in the middle of the work so there is no diagnosis yet, but we’re hopeful.”

In the age of technology we are living in today, Elmore said it’s important to recognize that the use of artificial intelligence isn’t new to medicine.

“We already use AI to interpret pap smears, to interpret EKG’s, and we already have computer-aided detection programs in mammography, thus, AI is already in place in the practice of medicine,” Elmore said.

As the team works to make this system publicly available, Mercan said that it is a step toward developing an actual clinical system.

“A number of recent articles published by interdisciplinary research teams like ours prove that both medical and tech communities realize the potential of AI in diagnostic medicine,” Mercan said. “We can expect to see AI slowly integrated into clinical systems.”

Reach reporter Shannon Hong at science@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @shannonjhhong

Using fuel data for wildfire forecasting Researchers create a database for fuel in different vegetation types across the US

By Deborah Kwon The Daily We know wildfires all too well with their growing frequency on the West Coast.

Researchers at the UW and Michigan Technological University worked to create the North American Wildland Fuels Database (NAWFD).

This is a database that shows fuel estimates across different vegetation in the United States, specifically, the variability of fuel estimates in wildfires.

According to the NAWFD website, information came from 271 different data sources from 26,620 different field sites.

Existing maps for fuel estimation only show a single value of the amount of fuel burned in a specific region or vegetation.

“We know that nature’s super variable and there’s a lot of differences out there, so our database was designed to capture the range of variability...of any data that we can get ahold of, which we put into this database,” Susan Prichard, the lead author of the research, said.

Global climate modeling, Prichard said, contains probability distributions for predicting different variables,

like weather for example. With the fuel database, the hope was to find probability distributions for fuel data.

Expanding on this, co-author Maureen Kennedy said they wanted to take from existing data on fuels in wildfires to put some bounds on the values that were given.

“When I say it could be more or less than the map gives you, how much more or less, right?”

Kennedy said. “Is it really really wide, or is it gonna be really really narrow?”

After the values were found, they classified them by vegetation type to take a look at the measured fuels and their distribution. This results in both the expected amount of fuel for that vegetation type and its distribution of range.

This way, people will have access to the best information regarding what fuel is likely on the ground when it’s not able to be measured, Kennedy said.

The idea behind the NAWFD is to be able to estimate emissions in wildfire research, or to be able to estimate the fuels in the ground if we’re expecting a wildfire somewhere.

“If you can measure the fuels before the fire happens, that’s

great because you have the best information that you can get,” Kennedy said.

The use of this database isn’t necessarily operational, according to Kennedy, as it won’t be used for planning during an actual wildfire. However, it can be helpful for “scientific applications of what happens with the fuels relative to the smoke from different wildfire scenarios for example.”

One thing that Prichard and Kennedy both hope to improve is the gaps in the data. The database shows the available data from the United States, but they found that there isn’t enough data for grassland and shrubland.

“It told us what we have, but also very glaringly, what we don’t have so far in terms of observations,” Prichard said.

The researchers are hoping that the NAWFD can be a “living database,” with the intent of continuously updating the database with new fuel information, for where there may be gaps in the current data.

Reach reporter Deborah Kwon at science@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @debskwo

Lauren Abbott @lorin.abot

ARTS & LEISURE

The Daily Arts & Leisure // 5

UW Dance Presents: A new recital of experimental performances Dancers explore the relationship between emotion and movement

By Ellen Cooper The Daily

how we move and perform ballet has been a journey for us all both personally and communally,” Katie Daugherty, a dance In the tiny, black-box Meany Studio major and rehearsal assistant for the Theater, the stage is not on a platform, piece, said in an email. “Getting to work but leveled with the first row of seats. The so closely with the artists and help their lights and extension cords are out in the open and the small fly tower is exposed. It ideas come to fruition has inspired and challenged my own thoughts on creating is intimate and straightforward, but not and directing.” at all casual; this miniature theater still A major component of the concert means business. that resonated across every performance UW Dance Presents, formerly was the explicit deconstruction of known as the Faculty Dance Concert, classical dance. Rather than displaying is a production put on by students, instructors, and professionally recognized something in the likes of a perfected piece of traditional ballet, the five dancers to “question the hierarchies in art pieces challenged movement through and life.” improvisation, spoken word, and even The opening show on Wednesday experimental “role-play” as seagulls. night began with a collaborative duet by The dance collective AVID (A Vehicle choreographers Alethea Alexander and for Improvised Dance) also performed Adele Nickel. “Vita Activa,” or “active in the concert in a piece called “Search life,” used ambient industrial sounds History.” The group moved together and extra-long PVC pipes to display the and alongside each other in everyday human connection to the organic and clothing with mundane props like a inorganic facets of labor. broom, a chair, a fan, and a newspaper.

“Conducting research into the form They moved in segments, sometimes and exploring our own relationships with mirroring each other and other times gracefully falling and fumbling. There was a push and pull with the piece, seemingly relating the common difficulties we sometimes encounter, like tripping on the street or having to bring a giant bag of clothes around all day because you don’t have time to go home and change.

Toward the end of the piece, one dancer tried to sweep up bits of newspaper while the fan kept blowing them back. It was an improvised compilation of Courtesy of UW Dance the everyday awkwardness we

experience and can’t seem to avoid.

In the third piece before intermission, dancers, dressed in matching plastic dresses and with doll-like rosy cheeks, crawled down the crew ladders on either side of the theater. The costumes crinkled and crunched over the enveloping sounds of cranking and slow breathing. “Our Paper Shadow,” directed by assistant dance professor Rachael Lincoln, paired repeated images of “paper dolls, baseball stars, news anchors, and twins” with an unsettling score; something surprisingly evocative of childhood memories or abstract dreams.

UW Dance Presents ended the night with an emotionally-charged follow-up number to the series by Dani Tirrell and “Majinn” Mike O’Neal Jr. called “Pink Matter.” The piece explored different experiences and expectations of love through spoken word, a cappella singing, and movement inspired by the African Diaspora. The group of dancers, dressed in various shades of pink, took turns openly expressing their own stories with love.

Jasmin Etafo, a dancer in “Pink Matter Volume 2: What is Love?,” spoke about her involvement with the piece and about the interpersonal relationship between dance and emotion.

“The theme is love and knowing love, there’s so many aspects to it,” Etafo said.

“It’s very fluid, very encompassing of many emotions like jealousy or fear.”

By the end of the show, the dark studio seating didn’t feel so disconnected from the dancers on stage. Each piece seemed to radiate a message loud and clear, asking the audience to participate in thought and even eye-contact. I can safely say that the concert was an experience I did not expect from the unassuming Meany Studio Theater.

Courtesy of UW Dance The department of dance will be hosting the Dance Majors Concert March 3-8 and will also be holding auditions for the spring quarter MFA Dance Concert on March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

More information about UW Dance performances and events can be found on their website.

Reach writer Ellen Cooper at arts@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @ellenecooper

Review: A (stack of ) toast to Sam Shepard’s ‘True West’

By Sophie Aanerud The Daily The question of who — or what — “killed” the East Coast debut of “True West,” as Frank Rich’s New York Times review asked in response to the play’s dour run at the Public Theater in 1980, has yet to be answered. Whether it was disagreement over casting, or the fact that the playwright, Sam Shepard, refused to travel to rehearsals on account of a crippling fear of airplanes, or the opposing artistic visions of theatrical producer Joseph Papp and director Robert Woodruff, something did not work. With Woodruff resigning shortly before previews and Shepard penning a statement regarding his disdain for Papp’s artistic choices, the production’s failure still sends shivers down many director’s backs; it briefly seemed as if “True West” was dead upon arrival.

And yet the play has since become a classic in contemporary American theater, performed far and wide with such notable productions as the 2000 revival at the Circle in the Square Theater, which garnered several Tony nominations and significant praise for actors John C. Reilly and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who alternated between the two leading roles with each performance.

All this being said, director Braden Abraham and the Seattle Repertory Theater had a massive task before them upon choosing to produce this classic.

The two-act play, which takes place entirely within a single room, revolves around moderately successful screenwriter Austin, who has been tasked with housesitting for his mother while she vacations in Alaska, and his estranged older brother Lee, a beer-guzzling drifter with a penchant for stealing televisions from suburban houses.

It is a script rife with potential both comedic and tragic, and Abraham’s direction does not disappoint.

Opening right after the unprompted arrival of Lee, the audience is privy to a painfully awkward string of dialogue in which the brothers attempt to reconnect after five years apart. The stunted interaction, while jarring, is intentional, highlighting the opposing goals of each brother: Lee picking away at Austin’s calm facade and Austin completing his screenplay, keeping his mother’s plants watered, and ignoring Lee. The tension between the two extends beyond dialogue and into the physicality of the actors. Kevin Anderson’s hulking Lee is in a perpetual state of alcoholloosened motion, looming over Zachary Ray Sherman’s rigid and rail-thin Austin. The performances initially may feel inauthentically exaggerated. Ray Sherman, with his glasses, sideburns, and rheumatic gestures, is one centerpart away from winning a Michael Palin lookalike contest (you know, like from the Flying Circus’ Silly Walk sketch), and Anderson’s bad-boy persona occasionally drifts into caricature territory, but these directorial choices soon prove their worth.

To truly appreciate the play’s brilliance, one has to be acquainted with the late Shepard, who made his name as one of the great American playwrights of the last century, penning pieces filled to the brim with weirdness, introspection, and wit. Shepard’s fascination with the multifarious nature of the human personality is quite evident in his midcareer plays (among which “True West” is his tour de force), with actors often switching personalities on a whim, single characters unfurling into multiple.

Austin, at one point in Act Two, makes a very direct allusion to Shepard’s philosophical preoccupations when he suggests to Lee that his producer, Saul (played brilliantly by Brandon J. Simmons, who oozes Hollywood sleaze in mint green leisure suits and form-fitting polos), “thinks we’re the same person.”

All at once the audience can’t help but wonder … maybe he’s right.

The Austin and Lee of Act One are not fully rounded characters. Their initial verbal disconnect and exaggerated physical opposition demonstrates this fact, crafting the illusion that the set is less the cross-section of a 50s-era openconcept kitchen, and more of a modern and tastefully decorated human skull, with the two brothers bouncing about the cranium as representations of warring traits within a single person (think “Inside Out” but with more alcohol).

As the brothers are fueled by proximity and the prospect of composing a (really terrible) movie pitch to interact, they begin swapping character traits, resulting in two very real and very f ***ed up characters, at once fully interdependent and fully antagonistic.

This poignant transformation is marked by Shepard’s trademark wit and comedic timing, which the production employs to hilarious results. Images as incongruent as a tower of toast wavering

Courtesy of Seattle Repertory Theatre precipitously atop a fiesta ware platter, an old drunk’s dentures in a Chop Suey doggie bag, and one jarring scene involving a makeshift shower and the mystifying body of the middle-aged white American male, all had the audience in fits of riotous laughter. The play is, like much of life, sad and off-putting, and infuriating and oh-so funny.

Frank Rich and the Public Theater be damned: the Seattle Rep’s “True West” is hopelessly, passionately alive; one can only hope the same can be said for Austin and Lee upon their tumultuous story’s curtain call.

Showing will continue at the Seattle Rep through Feb. 16.

Reach writer Sophie Aanerud at arts@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @thesraanerud

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Monday-Friday, January 27-31, 2020

The ‘T’ is for Trans: Campus resources for trans students

By Miranda Milton The Daily Editor’s note: The Gay Agenda is a column about LGBTQ experiences and issues.

When coming to a college as big as the University of Washington, many people feel isolated and alone. This reality can be even harsher for trans students. Trans individuals experience microaggressions, harassment, and added barriers in everyday life, even in a liberal city like Seattle. So with all this added stress, where can trans students turn for a helping hand?

There are two main trans resources at the UW: one for community and one for health. Hall Health offers physical and mental support while the Q Center is a safe space for trans students to relax, unwind, and meet other trans or queer students.

Q Center “I think [the Q Center] is one of the better places on campus for trans students,” Q Center outreach coordinator Jace Reyes said. “[It’s] a space for students to decompress and just get away from the stressors of constantly being seen from a strictly heteronormative and cissexist society.”

Anyone who walks into the Q Center is welcomed with a chorus of “Hello” and “Welcome in” from staff and students alike. The space is on the smaller side and packed with seating, books, and fun

posters, but it has a comforting livedin quality. The UW’s bright colors and uncomfortable chairs (think Odegaard and the West Campus dorms) can be jarring or unsettling. The brown Q Center couches are a welcome change of pace.

The Q Center has great items for your everyday visit, like seasonal affective disorder therapy lamps, snacks, and weighted blankets. But the center also offers events and programs to help

“

[The Q Center is] a space for students to decompress and just get away from the stressors of constantly being seen from a strictly heteronormative and cissexist society.

”

students connect with others in the community. A popular one is the weekly gender discussion group, held every Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Q Center will soon be branching out with new discussion groups focused on queer and trans people of color. These

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Weight Effect on Brain Health Study (WEB study) is a longitudinal study that will examine changes that may occur in the brain following obesity treatment.

Hall Health For the medical side of existing as a trans student, Hall Health has you covered. From mental health therapists on the third floor to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) providers on the first, the Gender-Affirming Care team is a team of several health practitioners dedicated to making the UW health system more accessible and welcoming to all students. It even has its own section on the new UW wellbeing website.

“I think it’s pretty common for students to feel a lot of frustration at how they’re being treated in the medical system,” team co-founder Katie Fredenberg said.

The team helps students with individual things like navigating insurance, but it is also tackling systemic issues. It will soon be implementing a building-wide “Trans 101” training so that

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students will feel safe and welcome from the check-in desk to the exam room.

Several providers at Hall Health can prescribe HRT to patients. Interested students can read up on the different primary care staff members and pick the one they would like to work with.

Fredenberg is also a mental health therapist at Hall Health and runs Let’s Talk at the Q Center every Wednesday.

Let’s Talk is an informal and confidential meeting between students and a trained mental health professional. The sessions are free and no appointment is needed.

“If it feels intimidating to just come [to Hall Health], I think Let’s Talk is a really good place to start,” she said. “We’ve created that intentionally as a way for there to be a really low barrier access point for students.”

Healthcare has a history of being uncomfortable or downright hostile towards trans people, so doing anything with gender healthcare can feel intimidating. That fear, on top of everyday occurrences of misgendering or transphobia, can make it hard for students to seek out resources, but the UW does have people and places ready to welcome and support any and all students.

Reach columnist Miranda Milton at wellness@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @mirandamilton99

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OPINION

The Daily Opinion // 7

Yay or nay-light savings Is it time to give up saving daylight?

By Katelyn Grganto The Daily During my first weeks at the UW, every day felt like it held all the time in the world. I got everything done before dinner and my evening walks home were accompanied by stunning sunsets. These gorgeous golden hour moments were my favorites of the day.

Now, it almost feels like I walk home from lunch in the dark.

By the time I even think about sitting down to do my homework, it feels like 9 p.m. I accredit this miserable existence to daylight saving time (DST), and I am not a fan.

But honestly, what’s the deal with DST anyway?

Its origin story is a bit amusing, as it was pitched originally in 1895 by a man named George Hudson, who actually wanted two extra hours of daylight to pursue his favorite hobby: bug catching. The idea was rejected and re-proposed a few times before it finally stuck in 1916 when Germany implemented it as a way to preserve energy during World War I. The United States followed two years later, jumping on the DST train in March 1918.

Many other countries adopted DST at the same time as the

United States, however, despite feeling quite world-shattering to me — a small American gal who hates walking home in the dark — daylight saving time is not universally observed. In fact, not even all of America observes DST. Since it’s conception, it’s main purpose was to save energy by taking advantage of natural daylight during the warmer months. Additionally, setting our clocks forward brings an extra hour of sun, which no one can complain about. Studies have shown that this extra hour is more than just summer fun though, and actually brings a decrease in crime as well.

The pros start to crumble away when we fall back to standard time. From the first Sunday in November to the second Sunday in March, the few places that still enforce DST feel the effects of the time change.

Research shows that the shortening days and missing hour of daylight is linked to a number of unpleasant occurrences, such as a brief surge in automobile accidents and even an increase in heart attacks. Seriously, you’re 25% more likely to have a heart attack the Monday after the time change. Mondays, am I right?

DST is also closely related to a spike in depression cases. This is

accredited largely to DST’s effect on people’s circadian rhythms, as well as the shorter, darker days.

After discovering all these adverse side effects of the time change, one would hope DST would at least still accomplish the one thing it was created for: saving energy. Sadly, it just doesn’t anymore. In fact, researchers have found that it can actually increase power usage.

So why is daylight saving still in effect? Well, it may be changing soon. Almost 20 states are proposing adaptations to the current DST model, including good ol’ Washington.

Washington is one of eight states hoping to do away with standard time altogether and keep clocks an hour ahead yearround. However, to do this would require congressional change, as maintaining DST year-round is against federal law. On the other hand, nine other U.S. states are hoping to abolish DST and stay in standard time all year. This is completely legal and, in fact, Hawaii and most of Arizona operate solely on standard time.

DST has become quite the controversy, and understandably so. However, in today’s world of violence and political wilderness, it seems fairly low in priority and some people just do not care.

Sophomore Kaylee Mellgren believes that humanitarian issues should be taking precedence over something as seemingly trivial as DST. “It’s not that type of issue where it is something that needs to be changed, I don’t think,” Mellgren said. “Whether, I mean if we’re talking about daylight saving time versus women’s rights or something like that, then it’s just, I don’t think it’s even measurable.”

This is definitely a valid point, and it makes a lot of sense from a student perspective. We have better things to worry about, right?

On the flip side, I’m done walking home from any

Dabin Han @dabiliciouss afternoon activities in the dark.

Say what you will, but 4 p.m. is too early for the sun to set, and I stand by that. In the pecking order of world issues, DST is definitely low, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a change in the near future.

Sophomore Cameron Ford also thinks we could do without DST. Looking past the unpleasant effects and the failing purpose of the time change, Ford’s reasoning is unarguable and true.

“It makes the evening sad,” Ford said.

Reach writer Katelyn Grganto at opinion@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @KGrganto

Kwon: Oh, to be properly represented

Despite progress, Asian representation in the media leaves much to be desired

By Deborah Kwon The Daily Editor’s note: This column looks at how race is portrayed and manipulated in today’s media and in my everyday life as an East Asian-American girl, an identity that typically gives both privilege and struggle. In a supposedly “woke” city, it is important to review the ever-changing intricacies of race.

The Pandora’s box on the issue of representation has been reopened with the announcement of the 2020 Academy Award nominees who, surprise surprise, are overwhelmingly white.

How far have we truly come in film, TV, and overall media representation?

Representation is a bit of a buzzword now, for better or for worse. Some love it and continually advocate for talking about it. Others are oh-so tired of the phrase and don’t understand why people care so much about it.

There’s a lot to be said regarding representation due to the breadth of races, sexualities, abilities, and more. Being a Korean-American myself on top of the UW having a sizeable Asian population, I want to take a closer look at Asian representation in the

U.S. media.

Varied representation is progressing in general, but we definitely aren’t close to the point we should and could be at. Many applauded representation when “Crazy Rich Asians” was released in 2018, which yes, was a step forward in having all Asian people on the big screen, but that was the only thing that was hugely special about the movie.

Mostly, it felt like another American movie about rich people.

“Honestly, it just does a disservice for portraying Asian people in that light, and that their story’s only worth it if they happen to be rich,” senior Marcus Lux said regarding the film. “The U.S. also likes to focus on rich people and that kind of lifestyle, so I guess it was probably the best option for them to introduce more Asian popularity, seeing how the themes are still the same.”

It’s also worth mentioning that “Crazy Rich Asians” embodies the flawed way media tends to categorize Asians. The cast is mostly Chinese, which is a great step in getting more Asian people on the screen, but we could progress further in representing a wide range of Asian people.

To me, this is reflective of the way that we tend to represent

The paper made with help from

Asians in conversations and overall media: light skinned and East Asian. It’s the representation of “one type” of Asians as all Asians.

It’s a homogeneous portrayal of Asia’s 48 different countries.

The hope is that film and media representation would be reflective of the diversity of the United States, but rather, it actually seems to be reflective of our country in re-emphasizing real-life stereotypes that we want to be avoiding and getting rid of.

It’s like when Democratic candidate Andrew Yang stated “I am Asian, so I know a lot of doctors.” It’s a sort of stereotyped generalization that paints Asians in one light, a trope often repeated that I would prefer we stray away from.

It starts to almost make us believe that these things about Asians are true, that we’re all doctors and engineering majors.

Of course, that might sound somewhat juvenile or whiny to some, but that’s not the only reason why this is harmful. Besides the stereotyping, this behavior and portrayal is detrimental to the other ethnicity groups within the Asian identity who might not see as much success as what we consider the “typical Asian.”

Jubilee Cho, senior and

THE DAILY

president of Asian Americans in Media, reflects on this in relation to Seattle’s own large East Asian population and how that translates into how we represent Asians.

“There’s a very huge East Asian population, but oftentimes this means Southeast populations aren’t recognized because East Asians are the ones that … end up in more gentrified spaces, and you can even see that at UW,” Cho said. “Southeast Asians don’t get representation or are not portrayed accurately in media or in conversation, and I think it’s very harmful.”

Media representation is about making sure to really show the diversity of different people, but it goes deeper than that. When it comes to Asian representation, it means showing diversity within the broader Asian community.

It’s important to tear down assumptions of Asians just being a bunch of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese people.

In terms of physical appearance, there’s lots of diversity among the Asian population. But there’s also huge disparities in terms of lived experiences.

Yes, there are definitely some very privileged, wealthy Asians in the United States who make high incomes — there’s

no argument about that — but that most definitely doesn’t characterize all Asian-Americans.

The Pew Research Center reports increasing income inequality within the Asian-American demographic despite reporting Asian-Americans as earning the highest income.

Overall, generalizing is bad, clearly, but it’s especially bad to generalize one narrative onto a multitude of ethnicities, a chunk of whom might be harmed by generalizations of Asians all being wealthy, well-educated, and lightskinned. Especially when said racial group is very much not all that.

I do think that we have made important strides in bettering representation in entertainment and media, but there’s still much work to be done, whether it’s to better support the Asian-American community, or the vast array of marginalized communities who deserve better and more recognition on the big screen.

Reach columnist Deborah Kwon at opinion@dailyuw.com.

Twitter: @debskwo

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8 // The Daily

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