APRIL 25 - MAY 2, 2017
FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
FEATURES
PAGE 5
College Cookbook: This spicy dish is perfect for barbeque season
PAGE 8
Late Hugh McPeck honored in gallery renaming
Strategic Pathways Paint, a brush and the UA introduces Phase Three head of a president Freedom of expression questioned after a controversial painting with Trump’s decapitated head
PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM
After going viral via Facebook and garnering national attention, associate professor Thomas Chung’s painting depicting Captain America, President Trump and a young Hilary Clinton sparked debate regarding the freedom of expression.
By Brenda Craig
features@thenorthernlight.org
With the stroke of a paintbrush, controversy arises over an art piece that was presented at UAA’s facility art exhibition located in the Fine Arts building. The ‘Everything’ piece was created by Thomas Chung, assistant professor of painting, who has been teaching at UAA for over three years and has had his current position since last fall. This painting has brought up the question of the First Amendment and whether or not this piece is appropriate for public display. The painting was inspired by the Greek myth of Perseus and Medusa, which is often shown in artwork with Perseus holding the head of Medusa. Actor Chris Evans, who plays Captain America, is displayed in Chung’s piece holding a protest sign in one hand and the decapitated head of President Trump
in the other, referencing the myth of Perseus and Medusa. However, Chung explains how his piece wasn’t necessarily about Trump, but the ugly side of American Society that Trump has revealed. The protest sign Captain America is holding has a quote by Chief Seattle from a letter he wrote to the US before his tribe’s land was taken by force. The quote states, “Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself.” Chung chose this quote carefully and if given opportunity for Trump to read his protest sign, this is what he would want it to say. Hilary Clinton is also present in this painting, shown as her younger self, clinging onto the hero’s leg to represent how America views women. Chung wanted to make fun of how princesses are portrayed as weak and needing saving by an almighty hero.
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In the background, there is a scene of a buffalo fall, a technique used to hunt buffalo by herding them off a cliff. On one of the dead buffalo, there is a graffiti tag that says ‘Make America White Again,’ a slogan that was seen around the U.S. after the election. This painting was started as a way for Chung to express his feelings after the outcome of the presidential election. “The painting ‘Everything’ came out of my feelings after the election last year, I felt that Trump stood for misogyny, racism, homophobia and xenophobia, and when he was elected, I mourned for the death of my belief that we as a society had made progress in those societal attitudes,” Chung said. “His winning revealed to me a huge segment of the population that still believed in hate, and hated what I, and the people that I love, are.” For about a month, the painting has been displayed without any complaints before it went viral after a Facebook post. This started a debate on freedom of expression and whether or not this painting should be protected under the University. Tom Case, UAA Chancellor released a statement concerning the piece. “We understand that some may not support this exhibit, but universities—including UAA— are a place for free exchange of ideas, diversity of thoughts and of opinions, and ideally, a place for conversation to occur around our differences and similarities. Fre edom of expression is fundamental to our mission and we support our faculty and students in exploring their ideas through creativity, research and scholarship,” Case said. Students are bittersweet about UAA’s decision to keep the painting up until the scheduled take down date, which was Thursday, April 20. It is questioned whether or not freedom of expression applies to professors. “I do not believe this ‘painting’ falls under freedom of expression. Professors are not
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University President and Board of Regents work to implement third and final phase By Alexis Abbott
news2@thenorthernlight.org
University of Alaska administration is currently working on implementing the third and final phase of Strategic Pathways. The Strategic Pathways system involves the review, implementation and revisitation of methods to ensure that all UA programs support mission goals, are of high quality, are cost effective and enhance the student experience, according to University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen. “Strategic Pathways is the process we are going through to understand how we can organize the University of Alaska to more effectively meet the state’s higher education needs while our budget is being cut,” Johnsen said. Strategic Pathways focuses on adjusting and improving the
University of Alaska through the statewide budget crisis. Each of the three phases are analyzed by review teams, who present pros and cons of the process to the UA Summit Team. Johnsen takes the information presented and introduces it to the Board of Regents, who ultimately have the final say. After each phase is approved by the Board of Regents and university administration, implementation teams establish goals, timelines and further details to best apply the strategies to the university. Over 250 faculty, staff, students and community members have served on review teams and have come up with over 100 options in 22 administrative and academic areas. Phase Three aims to achieve better coordination and lever-
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Six gymnasts named to MPSF All-Academic After the finish of the MPSF championships weeks ago, the release of the MPSF All-Academics was announced
PHOTO COURTESY OF SKIP HICKEY
Madeleine Arbuckle performs her floor routine at the Alaska Airlines Center.
By Lauren Cuddihy
sports2@thenorthernlight.org
With the countless hours of training, weekends spent traveling and evenings taken up with second practices, it might seem like a difficult task to balance classes while also balancing a sport. With the commencement of the 2017 gymnastics season, six Seawolves stood out for their impressive grades. For the 2017 gymnastics sea-
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son, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation executive director, Al Beaird, announced the final MPSF All-Academic ScholarAthletes. The list consisted of 35 gymnasts from six different schools including the Air Force Academy, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Seattle Pacific and UC Davis, in addition to UAA. Not only did six UAA gym-
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NEWS
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
| 02
Protect our Privacy initiative challenges Alaskan transgender community
Anchorage bathroom initiative to base public restroom usage on individual’s birth certificates
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
By Alexis Abbott
news2@thenorthernlight.org
A local initiative called Protect our Privacy could limit public restroom use in Anchorage to the gender on birth certificates. The proposed petition is to “protect the privacy” of citizens by requiring intimate facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms to be designated for and used only by people of the same sex. The Protect our Privacy initiative committee sponsor, Kim Minnery, was not available for comment. If passed, facilities owned by the municipality must
follow the city-wide guidelines. The initiative also provides private employers and public accommodations the right to designate bathroom usage to those with the same sex. A person’s sex refers to biological sex, as defined by the Anchorage Municipal Code. The idea of the petition is to protect people’s physical privacy, which “includes the right not to be seen in various states of undress by members of the opposite sex,” as stated in the Protect our Privacy initiative. The intention of the petition is to counter-act the Anchorage law that gave transgender people the right to use the bathroom that matched their gender identity. In October of 2015, the Anchorage Assembly passed a nondiscrimination ordinance to protect the transgender community. The proposed initiative would repeal part of this ordinance. The Protect our Privacy initiative is a new and improved version of a petition that was introduced in January but was rejected for violating provision of local and state laws. Anchorage Assembly member Forrest Dunbar sees the bathroom initiative as a step in the wrong direction. “The nondiscrimination ordinance has been in effect for more than a year, and we’ve had exactly zero complaints or incidents. Transgender people are our friends and family — they’ve been dealing with these issues for much of their lives. Most of them discretely use stalls or just otherwise go about their lives. Let them be,” Dunbar said. “I don’t think any Alaskan wants to carry around their birth certificate and present it to business owners on demand.” Dunbar stated that the passing of a repeal has the potential to be very harmful to the city of Anchorage. Sarah Hyland, a former UAA student and transgen-
der woman, believes that if the initiative passes, violence against transpeople in the Anchorage area will increase, and may even cause severe economic penalties. “This issue has never been about bathrooms or privacy. It’s about legislating transpeople out of existence. Bathrooms have been a battleground for protection and privacy before...during segregation. These days the issue is always biased towards transwomen and not transmen because if you include them, many questions start to come up,” Hyland said. “If this passes the Alaskan community will have been duped into supporting hateful legislation over love and compassion by passing laws that are solutions to nonexistent problems.” Hyland will continue to use restroom facilities for women. Sarah Seifert, a resident of Anchorage and Fairbanks, thinks that limiting restroom usage will have a detrimental impact on all Alaskans. “Alaska has always both embodied and treasured certain ideals — freedom, respect, beauty, nature, bravery, daring — the reality of what a law like this will entail and wreak on not only the most vulnerable and maligned members of our communities but also on the very people proponents of this initiative claim to seek to ‘protect’ flies in the face of every single thing we hold dear. But more than that, it puts a target on the back of the skull of every single one of us,” Seifert said. “This is not merely an issue of transgender rights, which is an important enough matter in its own right, this is about who we want to be — as Alaskans, as Americans, as neighbors, as friends, as family and, above all, as human beings.” The Protect our Privacy initiative was filed in March, and if it garners enough signatures, it may appear on the Anchorage ballot in April 2018.
TRUMP: Painting gathers criticism from all sides on censorship, freedoms and artistic merit Continued from cover
paid to make political statements, they are paid to teach. Freedom of expression applies to individuals, not universities that accept public funding,” Jarod Grice, mechanical engineering major, said. While freedom of expression for students is important, some believe that outspoken political views, especially from a professor, is unprofessional. “Personal politics do not belong in institutions of learning, period. It should be a place of acceptance and tolerance for people of all beliefs and political stance, respect given to all, not just the ones that those in power agree with,” Rachel Yoncher, psychology major, said “It is their job to teach their students how to express what they feel and figure it out for themselves and give them the courage to do so, not to give themselves a platform to push their own.” An issue with the university supporting the painting by keeping it up until the end of the exhibition is that some feel that this reflects UAA’s political beliefs. “What’s most surprising to me is that UAA allowed this professor to display this
painting, appearing as if UAA shares the same political views. It’s embarrassing to be attending a university that encourages staff to reveal their political affiliations to students,” Grice said. “Professor Chung can now be added to the growing list of incompetent professors employed by UAA, in a situation like this I can only say what I believe Donald Trump would say, ‘What a disgrace.’” This is not the first time there has been controversial political artwork on campus. The “Everything” piece, along with other political pieces have been displayed and supported by the university. “I would be really disappointed in UAA if they censored artwork, and this is not the only artwork on campus to focus Trump in a negative light, the same of Obama when he was in office. People have a political voice, and in true artist form you can see that expression all over the fine arts building,” Kayla Anaya, painting major, said. The discussion about the painting being displayed has brought up the topic of censorship. If UAA had decided to take down the piece, some question how that would impact future decisions on
controversial work and conversations on campus. “It does come down to the First Amendment and this should be a place where these kinds of conversations should happen, if I was asked to take it down, where do we draw the line? And what kind of a place would this be if the university could decide what’s appropriate and what’s not or what even a student can say or talk about?” Chung said. College can be seen as a sacred place where discussions on controversial topics can take place in a safe manner. Expressing different viewpoints are encouraged for both professors and students to form their opinions in a respectful way. “I won’t say if I personally agree or disagree with the paintings content, but it is the right of the professor and any student to display their beliefs in a way that doesn’t inflict physical harm on another, and when that happens, it is my right to engage in discussion about it, whether it be for or against the topic,” Clarissa Kyselov, anthropology major, said. “No one, including faculty on campus and the public off campus, should be allowed to take away that right or shut down an
opposing viewpoint.” UAA’s decision to keep the painting up has shown that professors and students freedom of expression is protected on campus. “I hope what students take away from this is that no matter where they fall, college and UAA will be supportive, I know I can speak for this department that we will foster everyone’s point of views no matter what and I think that’s such an important part of this program,” Chung said. “If anything else, I hope that students just know that they should be brave if they believe in something that they can speak up about it here and they’ll be supported.” Although the “Everything” painting was taken down on April 20, the discussion of the painting has gone national. Chung has been receiving nonstop emails and phone calls since his painting went viral. Through the death threats and name calling, Chung has also received great support for painting what he believed in. At UAA, artistic freedom for professors and students is supported by the administration.
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04 | NEWS
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
Microbiology focus is now available for aspiring biology majors
UAA’s new microbiology course is on its road to become a major By Sarah Tangog
stangog@thenorthernlight.org
For many biology majors, a microbiology focus is not only beneficial, but recommended. Due to the high demand for microbiology in various biological fields, being educated in the subject will allow more opportunities for jobs around the globe. “Most states already have some sort of a microbiology program. Microbes are intricately involved in our own lives: how we digest food, there’s research coming out about our own moods, antibiotics, antibiotic resistance in the medical field, to some of the stuff I do out in the environment,” Brandon Briggs, assistant professor for the biology department at UAA, said. The need for microbiology in various fields is growing, the desire for a course in microbiology is becoming more and more of a necessity. “[Microbes] really affect every aspect of our lives,”
Khrys Duddleston, professor in the biology department, said. “A lot of what we learned, especially early on about genetics, we learned by studying bacteria. Because microorganisms are so easy to grow in the lab — many of them are, I should say — so you can grow them overnight, generate a lot of cells, you can carry out a variety of studies in which you can mutate their genomes.” Despite the importance, Alaska is the last state to receive a microbiology course. “We have a lower population in the state compared to others, we don’t have nearly as many universities as other states do,” Duddleston said. “As a consequence of that, I don’t think it’s too surprising then that we were the last state.” Though the end goal is for UAA’s microbiology course to be a degree, it is still only a focus and will be available starting in the fall semester of 2017. Additional information has not yet been posted on the University Catalog.
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
UA: Final phase of Strategic Pathways to be implemented in the fall Continued from cover
aging in the social and natural sciences, arts and humanities and mine training academic programs. Administrative services such as finance, land and risk management and university facilities will also be of focus. John Davies, vice-chair of the UA Board of Regents believes that the university will benefit from this long-term assessment of priorities, but only on the suggested 10-year timeline. “This process can impact the decisions about how to allocate the near term budget cuts made by the legislature, but it is a longer term in focus and would better be implemented with more time to plan than is allowed by the necessity to deal with yearly budget cuts,” Davies said. Sine Anahita, professor of sociology at UAF, says she has “faith” in Strategic Pathways. “Strategic Pathways has identified the necessity to gather data about costs and benefits of
changes, and drives us to make decisions based on data, not untested assumptions,” Anahita said. “Strategic Pathways has encouraged [members of the university] to be creative, both in designing the process and in determining the outcomes and the implementation.” Anahita believes that the proposed methods in Strategic Pathways have great potential to improve the University of Alaska in the near future. “I think that Phase One got off to a rocky start, where participants in the teams were mandated to secrecy. President Johnsen has indicated his willingness to improve the process at every step of the way, and Phase Two was much improved,” Anahita said. Strategic Pathways provides potential benefits such as identification of areas for cost reduction and process improvement through collaboration, consolidation, outsourcing and automation. It also ensures a look at
GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA
Statewide Administration. Although Statewide has taken deeper cuts than the university overall, Johnsen believes there are always opportunities to improve support services to the campuses. “[Strategic Pathways] is a process that brings people
together to develop and suggest options for strengthening how we serve our students and our state during tough times,” Johnsen said. Options involved in Phase Three were presented to the Summit Team on April 11, and will soon be reviewed by the
Board of Regents. Feedback meetings will continue to take place through September, while President Johnsen says the implementation is expected to take place in the fall.
FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
| 05
College Cookbook: Backyard paella
Bring in the summer with this Spanish-style backyard barbecue
By Victoria Petersen
This Spanish dish is vibrant, filling and perfect for big groups. My friends and I cooked this dish to kick off backyard-barbecue season. Inherently, this dish is expensive with the use of saffron and fresh seafood, but if each friend provides a couple ingredients, together you can make an amazing meal. We set up a fire in the fire pit, placed a large cast-iron skillet over the fire and cooked the paella from there. This is a traditional recipe, feel free to change the proteins. We added chopped pancetta to our recipe, which gave it a boost of flavor.
Contributor
Ingredients for herbs • 1 cup chopped parsley • 1/4 cup lemon juice • 1 tablespoon olive oil • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
PHOTO BY VICTORIA PETERSEN
Ingredients for paella • 1 cup water • 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 2 links Spanish chorizo sausage (about 6 1/2 ounces)
• 3 (16-ounce) cans chicken broth
• 2 cups finely chopped onion
• 8 unpeeled jumbo shrimp (about 1/2 pound)
• 1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
• 4 skinned, boned chicken thighs, cut in half
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced • 3 cups uncooked Arborio rice or other short-grain rice • 1 cup frozen green peas • 8 mussels, scrubbed and debearded • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice • Lemon wedges (optional)
Directions 1. Prepare herb blend by combining all the herb ingredients. Set mixture aside. 2. Combine water, oil, saffron and broth in a large cast-iron skillet and bring to simmer. Keep warm over medium heat. 3. Add chicken, sausage and shrimp. Reduce heat to medium-low and add onion and bell pepper, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, paprika and three garlic cloves. Let cook for about three minutes. 4. Add rice; cook for one minute, stirring constantly. 5. Stir in herb blend. Bring to a low boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add mussels to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. 6. Cook for minutes or until mussel shells open. Arrange shrimp, heads down, in rice mixture and cook five minutes or until shrimp are done. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup lemon juice. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.
06 | FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
Radical Recreation: Life in the fast lane Salina Harwood takes pride in her ability to ride and fix her motorcycle
By Brenda Craig
features@thenorthernlight.org
The combination of sunny skies and clear roads is the perfect recipe for motorcyclists to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather. Salina Harwood, journalism and public communication major with a concentration on strategic communications, is eager to get out and ride her bike after being cooped up all winter. This June will be Harwood’s fifth year riding motorcycles and she plans on many more years to come. “I don’t know what there’s not to love about biking honestly, initially it was the adrenaline that I craved, but it turned into a lot more than that. Now it kind of evolved into a stress release,” Harwood said. “Just something about not being inside a car and being outside in the sun on two wheels that makes a really mundane drive seem like an adventure.” Harwood enjoys the feeling of being exposed to her surroundings when she is on her bike. It has opened her perception on the environment, down to every detail. “You notice so much more when you’re exposed to everything on the road, every dip and bump, people talking, music playing, smell from a restaurant or bakery and people next to you laughing in their cars,” Harwood said. “You’re closed off from all those things when you’re alone in your car and in your own world. It’s awesome taking it all in. It’s like seeing a town you know every inch of with new eyes or something.” Riding motorcycles reminds Harwood to appreciate being alive and how precious life is.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SALINA HARWOOD
Salina Harwood sits at a stoplight during a ride through Anchorage. Harwood is eager to get back on the road with her motorcycle this summer.
“When I’m riding, I’m constantly aware that this life is fleeting and that every decision you make could impact the outcome of your life,” Harwood said. Although the ratio of men to women that ride motorcycles is higher, Harwood enjoys seeing other women challenging the standards. “I do wish more women were out there riding, it’s always awesome to see ladies that are doing it for themselves, being independent and adventurous. Besides,
why let the guys have all the fun?” Harwood said. Along with the adrenaline rush and scenic routes, motorcycles require regular maintenance. After Harwood learned how to perform her own tune-ups, it became another part of her love her motorcycles. “Every little tremor, knock, clicking sound or quirk should be something you can identify, whether it’s a problem or not. Familiarizing yourself with your
bike in that way I think is crucial,” Harwood said. “Plus, it feels amazing not needing a guy to fix my things for me, to know I’m just as capable at handling my bike as they are. Besides, I would just feel like a fraud if I bought a bike and had someone else put in all the work into it.” Once spring hits, Harwood takes any chance she can to take her bike out for a ride. Because riding motorcycles has essentially became a part of who she is, Harwood doesn’t plan on quitting, but may lessen the amount of time riding. “I think riding bikes can shape and change who you are as a person. When it becomes a formative part of your life, I think that’s when it changes from a hobby to a lifestyle,” Harwood said. “I don’t have any intentions on stopping, I think maybe some day I might ride less, but I don’t think I could ever quit completely.” Harwood chose to specialize in strategic communications to further her abilities in her current job and to apply it to her future career, whatever it may be. “My line of work involves a lot of promotions and advertising and I’m utilizing everything I’m learning about communications and media to support what I’m doing now with my job, I find it pretty useful,” Harwood said. “I don’t have a particular job in mind, but I know when I find it my degree will be applicable.” With all the fun Harwood has with motorcycling, she wants to emphasize the importance of safety for both drivers and motorcycle riders. “It seems like every year there are a few deaths and accidents in the spring before people wake up and realize its bike season, that goes for riders as well,” Harwood said. “We can get caught up in how much fun we’re having we stop paying attention to things, like how close we’re riding to the car in front of us. [I would] just really love to see less accidents on the road this summer, no accidents would be ideal.” If you see a biker on the road with long, blonde hair, it will most likely be Harwood. As summer approaches, watch for motorcycles and take precautions on the road.
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08 | FEATURES
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
Prof-iles: James Muller, the Richard Gilmore of UAA Political science professor, James Muller, has lived the life of a TV character
By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org
In many ways, James Muller is similar to Richard Gilmore from the popular TV show Gilmore Girls. He has an Ivy League education from Harvard, his daughter is finishing her MFA at Yale and he has traveled all over the world. But, unlike Richard Gilmore, Muller has an established career in academia as a professor of political science at UAA. It wasn’t until college that Muller had his first exposure to a politics class, but he was the kind of student who had enough interest in the subject, that he was able to write a 70-page paper on the expansion of the powers of the presidency. In high school, he took so many AP courses that he started as a sophomore at Harvard and had to choose his major right away. Politics runs in his blood; his grandfather was a mayor, and Muller has made a career out of political science. Despite his political experience, Muller found his home in Anchorage as a professor. As a child, he moved from coast to coast; he lived in California, then the suburbs of Washington D.C; he was in Tennessee for a short stint, then in Germany, Maryland, California again,
New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts for 11 years in college and graduate school. His daughter Helen was also educated in a coast-to-coast fashion when she was in sixth grade after her mother, Judith, completed cancer treatment. “When [Judith] was sitting there doing chemotherapy, I think she was thinking about what she wanted to do after she didn’t have to go through her cancer treatment anymore…and she said she didn’t want to wait till she was retired to get a motor home and go around the country,” Muller said. “When you are sick with cancer you wonder how long you’ll have.” Instead of waiting for retirement, all three Mullers, with their Welsh corgi, packed up, bought a motor home and decided to tour the country. In seven months’ time, they visited presidential houses, 150 national park sites and around 30 Civil War battlefields. “What [Judith] wanted to do was sell our house, quit her job, she got me to take a sabbatical, and we bought a motor home. I’d never even been in one… and we went to all 50 states that year in 2004,” Muller said. “We went to all 50 state capitol buildings.” Instead of being a professor of political science that year, Muller motor home-schooled Helen by taking her to Junior Ranger programs all over the nation. She became nationally renowned for visiting so many of the parks in one year, that Laura Bush the first lady, wrote her a letter congratulating her on her achievement. “After the 100th Junior Ranger award she had won that year,
the parks started making a fuss over her,” Muller said. “They would radio ahead to the next park and say this amazing kid is coming. She’s done a hundred Junior Ranger programs in one year! The rangers would say aren’t you the girl who’s on the national park website this morning? She learned that if you do something that’s really amazing, and a lot of work, and different from what most people do, people will notice.” Before he toured the nation for the second time, he toured the world as a White House Fellow. During one two-week period, the fellows toured the Middle East; they went to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel and Egypt and did exotic activities like drive tanks and rappel out of helicopters. “Saudi Arabia was a revelation too because it is such a strange country,” Muller said. “Very few people except those who have jobs there visit...We went to a camel race, and other kinds of things, we met all of these princes. I had to be a presiding fellow at a dinner where one of the dishes was the famous dish of the Nejd, which is the province where the capital Riyadh is. It didn’t taste very good, and I asked someone what it was and they said it was fermented camel’s yogurt with some kind of grain in it.” After his tenure serving as a White House Fellow, he came back to Anchorage to teach political science. At the time, he said he was excited to come back to Anchorage and really explore Alaska. “After a whole year of writing speeches for the Secretary [of
PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM
James Muller pursued political science after first being exposed to the subject in college. Muller has been to all 50 state capitol buildings and 150 national parks.
Education] and the Undersecretary, and not having my books, I felt as if I had used up what I knew, even though I learned a lot that year from seeing things up close, I’m sure,” Muller said. “I was really ready to come back and start reading again and be a professor, having students, being able to have discussions
about political philosophy, and I was getting really interested in [Winston] Churchill.” Muller has been teaching in Anchorage for 34 years and he is hoping to finish a book on Churchill’s writings next year. He’s also working on a book on P.G. Wodehouse.
The Hugh McPeck Art Gallery stands proud in memory The Student Union Art Gallery has recently undergone a name change to honor the life of a prestigious UAA professor
PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM
Earlier this month, the Student Union Art Gallery was renamed the Hugh McPeck Art Gallery. McPeck was the head of the sculpting department as an associate professor and served on the advisory board for the gallery for many years at UAA.
By Sarah Tangog
stangog@thenorthernlight.org
UAA’s Student Union Art Gallery has been renamed to honor the late Hugh McPeck, an
associate professor of scuplting from 1996 to 2014. The widely viewed gallery now displays pieces of a legacy along with art. “Hugh was a longstanding faculty in the art department, and he served on our advisory
board for the gallery for many years,” Annie Route, UAA’s Student Life and Leadership Director, said. “It was very sad when he passed away.” Last spring, Route brought up the idea of renaming the gallery
to the Gallery Advisory Board, which consists of mostly faculty from the art department as well as several student managers of the gallery. Though the proposal was given positive reviews, it still took a while to get everything ready. “Everyone was thrilled! You know, it’s hard when someone passes away, you go through the grief and the sadness, and I think we’re still feeling that. However, I think this is a way to celebrate,” Route said. “It took longer, because of summer, and the faculty was gone. Then it was the fall semester, and we had shows… we probably could’ve accomplished it in a much shorter time, but it’s been about a year.” Route contacted many individuals, including the art department, UAA facilities and McPeck’s family. “Nothing really happened until last spring,” Ann McPeck Gabler, McPeck’s wife, said. “I think Hugh would have been very humbled and very honored with the renaming of the gal-
lery.” The name of the gallery was officially changed during the Juried Student Art Show earlier this month. “It’s always good to have a name that means something besides just a location,” Route said. As an assistant professor of art, McPeck was the head of the sculpture department. “In the window, the front window, there’s this raven made of iron. Hugh did that, and it’s one of his pieces,” Route said. Instead of displaying McPeck’s portrait in the gallery, Route decided the raven statue would be a better memorial plaque. “He worked maybe 15 years with the students… and he loved it,” Gabler said. “He really expected excellence from his students, of himself and of his students, and it shows in the work of the gallery.” The Hugh McPeck Gallery is open for all students. It now stands as a symbol of honor to a well-known professor who gave his time for his students, his
A&E
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
| 09
Despite appearances, ‘The Mermaid’ is a dark journey
By Jacob Holley-Kline Contributor
The age of Looney Tunes is long gone and with it a class of slapstick comedy that defined a generation. Stephen Chow is one of the few filmmakers working to keep that very class alive. “The Mermaid” is an unapologetically goofy, sometimes visually clumsy, live action cartoon with a wavering sensibility. Sometimes it’s hilarious, sometimes it’s incredibly dark, other times it’s just hard to watch. So while Chow found broad appeal as an actor and director in his previous two features “Shaolin Soccer” and “KungFu Hustle,” “The Mermaid” is much more hit-or-miss. There are a number of cringey overlong gags that rely on even clumsier CGI to work, for example. They break Chow’s characteristic momentum often, but when a bit works, it really works. One thing the movie suffers from is ambition. Sometimes, Chow self-consciously avoids what makes his comedy great: ludicrous violence and misunderstandings. Instead, we get a much darker, angrier Stephen Chow. “The Mermaid” has earnest moments of horror peppered throughout, often bloody and heartbreaking. It pits a wealthy businessman Liu Xuan against a colony of mermaids, including the octopus man, Octopus (Show Lo). Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) and his business partner Ruolan (Zhang Yuqi) has purchased the mermaid’s home, Green Gulf, to reclaim the sea around it. With a bloody history with human beings close behind them, the mermaids lure him to their house using Shan (Lin Yun). Some complications force Shan into Xuan’s life, and the two fall deep in love.
Despite its fantastical exterior, “The Mermaid” is, by far, the grittiest of Chow’s work. In an exemplary scene, the mermaids’ matriarch recounts their history of contact with man using only the water, crafting it into boats and airplanes. What she relays is brutal and bloody, but it’s presented in a beautiful way. The beauty comes in spats, however, most poignant moments are underserved by some flat performances, especially Lin Yun in the lead role. It’s strange. Sometimes she’s on, but most of the time she’s not. Alongside Deng Chao, her performances feel monotonous. That being said, she does have the second best bit of physical comedy in the movie. It’s a wonderfully choreographed and painful dance sequence that recalls the famous knife gag of “Kung-Fu Hustle.” The movie’s slapstick can sometimes feel sloppy or too willfully goofy, but you can’t help but smile watching it. It’s a feel-good movie, at least for a while. Then it shifts gears into something far more tragic. While that could be a good thing if it was utilized well, it’s not utilized well here. It ends up feeling emotionally jarring to start the movie with archival footage of waste disposal and animal slaughter and expect viewers to laugh at the grilling and mutilation of Octopus later. In fact, the movie seems to get less funny as it goes along. It doesn’t muster enough viewer goodwill to earn those abrupt shifts in tone. They just feel abrupt, and in a movie as wild as this, the last thing you want is to feel lost. Chow’s earlier efforts strike a balance between those qualities, but “The Mermaid” overreaches and ends up falling short. When the credits roll, it was admirable to watch it reach at all.
TITLE “The Mermaid”
DIRECTOR Stephen Chow
RELEASE DATE Feb. 6, 2016
COUNTRY China
GENRE Comedy
PAINTING NIGHT AT MUSE Grab a friend, order an appetizer and create art on a birch plank canvas. Taught by artist Christina Wilson. $45 (10% discount for museum members), includes materials. Register online. 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 4
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SPORTS
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
| 10
33 years of gymnastics coaching
The one and only head coach of gymnastics, Paul Stoklos has given UAA an impressive 33 years of gymnastics coaching experience By Lauren Cuddihy
sports2@thenorthernlight.org
With an average of 15 athletes on the UAA gymnastics team and now 33 years of coaching, head coach Paul Stoklos has overseen the collegiate career of over 100 different gymnasts at UAA alone. Stoklos is the only gymnastics coach that UAA has ever had, an impressive comparison that no other sport at UAA can boast. Gymnastics has always been a part of Stoklos’ life. From out of high school until now, he has been coaching. Stoklos originally started off as an assistant coach at the University of Arizona. First, he began as a volunteer assistant coach, until moving his way up to paid assistant coach. The seven years he spent there prepared him for the opportunity to start the collegiate program in Alaska and build it from scratch. “When I came to UAA for the job interview in 1984, I knew that this was where I wanted to stay... why still at UAA? I like to say I married UAA when I came here. This campus and athletes have been my family for 33 years,” Stoklos said. In the time Stoklos has spent at UAA, Stoklos has made many tremendous accomplishments with the athletes he coached. Originally, the program started out
PHOTO COURTESY OF SAM WASSON
Paul Stoklos joins in a group huddle with his gymnastics team. After 33 years of coaching, Stoklos hopes to continue to build healthy, winning teams.
as Division II, but nearly 15 years ago it transitioned into a Division I program that made the largest difference in the progress of the gymnasts. Since then, Stoklos’ athletes have been able to reach 31 program records. He’s been able to qualify 15 gymnasts for the NCAA West Regional all-around competition, as well as securing 10 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation event titles. With many accomplishments, Stoklos has admitted that it isn’t as easy as it may seem.
“The most challenging part — two [actually], is keeping the student athletes from being distracted by all that is going on around them. The other is to get student athletes to want to come to Alaska when there used to be so much disinformation about this place we call home,” he said. Despite the difficulties Stoklos may run into, his gymnasts have preformed exceptionally well in academics. After becoming a part of the MPSF in 2003, the team has managed to average nearly six
all-academic honors per season. The fact that the gymnasts can excel in both athletics and academics is what makes coaching worth it for Stoklos. “The most rewarding part of coaching is the see young athletes mature into adults as they purse a greater education while training and competing in a sport that we all love,” Stoklos said. With the commencement of the 2017 season, Stoklos oversaw six of his athletes make it onto the all-academic list, meeting the yearly average. After the 2016 and 2017 seasons ended, Stoklos saw the departure of many of his most talented athletes. With that, he hopes to see some positive changes in store for the 2018 season. “Next season, I see an increased squad size. We needed more numbers to survive some of the losses of team members. I think the increased depth and strength will allow us to have a more successful season,” Stoklos said. Regardless of size, Stoklos ultimately wants to have healthy athletes. “We had two injuries that ended the season for two of our athletes. Like all coaches, I would like to see a season with no injures,” he said. Like all great coaches, Coach Stoklos only wants the best for his athletes, whether it’s seeing them excel at the sport he’s coaching, their academics or their health.
MSPF: High grades lead UAA gymnasts to academic honors Continued from cover
nasts make the list, junior Madeleine Arbuckle had the second highest GPA overall at 3.91, up from fourth highest in 2016 having a 3.92. Arbuckle only followed the top GPA athlete from Seattle Pacific by 0.01 grade points. Arbuckle is in her junior year at UAA studying environmental sciences. She just completed her third season in gymnastics as an all-arounder. “I chose this degree because I am interested in attending law school to practice environmental law. I figured having a background in environmental issues and policies would be helpful for me before diving into law school,” Arbuckle said. With such a rigorous degree and courses, balancing life with school might seem like a daunting task, but Arbuckle has spent most of her life doing just that. “I have always been used to balancing school and athletics. By grade three, I was training 20 hours a week, and in grade six, I had to start leaving school early to go to practice. At this point, I think it would be weird to not have a full schedule and constantly have to prioritize things,” Arbuckle said.
Arbuckle has found that preseason is time consuming with rigorous training schedules. Luckily, the gymnasts finish their competition season in midmarch to have the remainder of the semester to focus on school. Joining Arbuckle on the AllAcademic standing is junior Morgan Ross, who made it to the top ten, with the sixth highest overall GPA at 3.75. On top of Division I gymnastics training, Ross is pursuing two separate degrees: a B.A. in Spanish and a B.S. in environmental science. “I am an avid outdoor lover and I took AP Environmental Science in high school and loved it. I decided on Spanish because I grew up with Spanish speaking neighbors and I realized how valuable it is to know another language,” Ross said. Ross says the team manages by having mandatory study hall sessions on the road. During the season, as well as off-season, the gymnastics team implemented a GPA rule to help everyone succeed. “Our team rules state that if an individual does not receive a 3.3 GPA or higher each semester, they have to do nine hours of study hall per week,” Ross said. Evidently, the rule seemed to
PHOTO COURTESY OF SKIP HICKEY
Morgan Ross on beam.
help the team as a whole. For a third consecutive time, senior Nicole Larkin made the list with her GPA of 3.48. Larkin is studying to get her degree in biological sciences. Sophomore Kaylin Mancari made it for her first year of eligibility for the academic team. Mancari is studying natural sciences and
holds a GPA of 3.44. The fifth gymnast to make it on the list is junior Kendra Daniels. With her major in technology, Daniels holds a GPA of 3.42. Senior Brice Mizell rounds off the end of the list. Mizell is studying nursing and sociology and made the list with her GPA of 3.35.
To be eligible for this award, the student-athlete must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better, as well as sophomore standing, completed a full academic year prior to receiving the award and competed in 50 or more percent of the respective athletic season.
CONTACT
THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2017
| 11
ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS The Northern Light is a proud member of the ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS. The Northern Light is a weekly UAA publication funded by student fees and advertising sales. The editors and writers of The Northern Light are solely responsible for its contents. Circulation is 2,500. The University of Alaska Anchorage provides equal education and employment opportunities for all, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, Vietnam-era or disabled-veteran status, physical or mental disability, changes in marital status, pregnancy or parenthood. The views expressed in the opinion section do not necessarily reflect the views of UAA or the Northern Light.
LETTERS AND CORRECTIONS POLICY Letters to the editor can be submitted to editor@thenorthernlight.org. The maximum length is 250 words. Opinion pieces can be submitted to editor@thenorthernlight.org. The maximum word length is 450 words. Letters and opinion pieces are subject to editing for grammar, accuracy, length and clarity. Requests for corrections can be sent to editor@thenorthernlight.org. Print publication is subject to accuracy and available space. All corrections are posted online with the original story at www.thenorthernlight.org. The Northern Light newsroom is located on the first floor of the Student Union, directly next to Subway.
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CORRECTIONS
In the April 11 issue of The Northern Light, we misspelled Madeline Tschappat’s last name. The correct spelling is Tschappat.
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