October 24, 2017

OCTOBER 24 - OCTOBER 30, 2017

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Millennial blood donations make up 10 percent of slim totals

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Seawolves fall in first two Gov. Cup games

Taking classical guitar and RED ZONE: #MeToo percussion to another level People around the country unite through the social media campaign and stand up against sexual harassment and assault

‘Mundus Canis: A Guitar and Percussion Concert’

PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM

Percussionist Eric Bliecher rehearses for the upcoming show, “Mundus Canis.” Bliecher will be performing “Draws” by Iván Patachich with guitarist Armin Abdihodžic on Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building at UAA’s campus.

By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org

The combination of classical guitar and percussion isn’t something you often see in musical performance, but “Mundus Canis: A Guitar and Percussion Concert” will be anything but ordinary.

Featuring guitarist Armin Abdihodžic and percussionist Eric Bleicher, the concert at UAA will showcase modern compositions by various composers ranging from guitar serenades to pieces that might challenge listeners’ preconceived notions of what classical guitar and percussion can do.

“It’s always fun to play a variety of pieces, because you get to always discover something new, something fresh,” Abdihodžic said.

The concert is named after “Mundus Canis,” a work by American composer George Crumb, which the duo will perform. “Mundus Canis” — or “A Dog’s World” — is a fivemovement composition where the sections take on attributes of one of Crumb’s dogs, giving each movement its own tonal and rhythmic characteristics.

It’s a fitting title as every piece selected for the performance will demonstrate a unique take on guitar and percussion, as well as the technical skill of the perthenorthernlight.org

formers.

“It’ll be something very new,” Abdihodžic said.

Both he and Bleicher admit that some of the pieces might be challenging to the casual listener, but they’re not trying to scare anyone off.

“You don’t want to overwhelm the audience with a bunch of atonal music, so there’s some music [that’s] sort of easier to get and there’s some pieces that are really out there,” Abdihodžic said.

While Abdihodžic will be staying on guitar, Bleicher will be playing a variety of percussion instruments from snare drum and bongos to castanets and timpani, which is a logistical feat in and of itself.

The duo will be performing pieces that are not only musically challenging, but they’ll be using unusual techniques — notably Bleicher dipping a gong in a tub of water to change its tonal quality.

“What it does is it causes the vibrations off the gong to interact with the water and it actually bends the pitch that you hear. It’s super cool,” Bleicher said.

Both Abdihodžic and Bleicher are musicians following their passion. Abdihodžic fell in love with the guitar as a kid in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He eventually earned a doctorate of musical arts degree and has performed all over the world, both as a solo

musician and in ensembles. He is currently an assistant professor of music at UAA and has earned numerous awards for his guitar playing.

Bleicher got his start playing drums in grade school and metal bands, but was eventually convinced to go to school and study music. Now, he’s graduating this semester with a bachelor’s in music education and a separate degree in music performance.

He hopes to eventually teach music at the university level.

In addition to Bleicher’s senior recital, this concert will be a culmination of everything he’s worked for so far, from excruciatingly close analysis of pieces of music to painstakingly finetuning his skills.

“The challenge of putting something together like this is the most rewarding thing,” Bleicher said.

The concert might not be what people would typically expect and the technicality could fly by unnoticed, but the duo wants to take listeners on a musical journey.

“Hopefully it’ll be rewarding for the audience and ultimately, that’s my goal, is to help people go somewhere,” Bleicher said.

The performance will take place on Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the UAA Fine Arts Building.

Tickets are $9.99 for students, $14.99 for seniors and military and $19.99 for adults.

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@tnl_updates

GRAPHIC BY LEVI BROWN

By Karolin Anders

sports@thenorthernlight.org

The ‘Me Too’ movement experienced a second wave of attention after actress Alyssa Milano used the hashtag on her Twitter account on Oct. 15. Milano used the hashtag #metoo to draw attention to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and how she was affected. Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women, including Milano.

Tarana Burke is the original creator of the ‘Me Too’ campaign back in 2007. Burke created the campaign to reach out to sexual assault survivors in underprivileged communities and wanted them to be able to connect to one another.

Milano shared the following message on her Twitter account; “Suggested by a friend: If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “Me too” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.”

Milano then encouraged others to share the hashtag #metoo.

“If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet,” Milano wrote. A week later, as of publication, her tweet has received more than 68,000 comments, 25,000 shares and was liked 53,000 times.

Today, the power of social media enables people from all @tnl_updates

over the world to do exactly that: find community, encouragement and develop the understanding that they aren’t alone with their experiences. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 130,000 sexual assaults occur in the United States each year, more than 350 per day.

Alaska reports one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the country. In October of 2016, the Alaska Justice Statistical Analysis Center released data regarding UA students, which states that 14.9 percent of female students, 2,183 women, and an estimated 5.8 percent of male students, 610 men, experienced sexual misconduct, sexual assault, or both between January 2015 and the spring semester of 2016.

With these numbers, it is no surprise that numerous Alaskan women have participated in the #metoo movement.

Genevieve Ann Fayette, education major, thinks that participation in the movement is highly important to induce change in society.

“To all the people, men and women, feeling like they cannot participate for some reason or another, I would say to feel comfortable to participate in any way that they feel safe. Whether that’s posting the hashtag, posting the hashtag and talking about

SEE ME TOO

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Millennials: The stingy blood donors

By Logan Harrison

lharrison@thenorthernlight.org

Donating blood used to be a more common practice. Now, younger people, specifically millennials, seem to have brushed donating off to the side. While the generations that have steadily donated are getting older, it could be time for millennials to pick up the some of the slack.

Research done by the American Association of Blood Banks shows that the number of blood donors has dropped since 2013.

According to this research, millennials in the 23-29 age-range make up a mere 10 percent of all blood donations. The majority of donations, about 60 percent, come from people over the age of 40. The drop in overall donors could be linked to older donors not being replaced by younger ones as they phase out of donating.

In the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas earlier this month, people lined up in droves outside of blood donation centers throughout the city.

In some instances, there was a three-hour long wait to donate.

With so many injured, the blood that had lined the shelves at the local hospitals was in need of replenishment.

Banding together and donating blood in order to help those most directly affected seems to be a recurring storyline in the U.S. following a national tragedy. In the aftermath of the Pulse

nightclub shooting in Orlando last June, there were similar reports of long lines and extended wait times, as was the case after 9/11.

While donating blood after a crisis like Las Vegas helps restock supplies, it can take up to 24 hours for donated blood to go through rigorous tests before it can be used in any transfusion.

That’s why having consistent blood donations prior to events like Vegas are important for blood banks and hospitals.

Donated blood also has a shelf-life of about 42 days, and a lot of blood can be wasted if donations come in huge waves.

After 9/11, some 200,000 units, roughly a pint per unit, had to be tossed out because of expiration.

This made donating look unnecessary, which may have contributed to a 13 percent drop in donations between June of 2001 and 2002, according to the New York Blood Center.

Of the 323 million U.S. residents, only about 38 percent are eligible to donate, according to the American Red Cross. Of that 38 percent, only 10 percent actually donate each year.

An individual with Type Onegative blood is a universal donor. This makes O-negative very valuable at hospitals and blood banks, especially in trauma situations where there might not be time to ask questions about blood types. Those who have Type O-negative can only receive their specific blood type.

“It’s pretty simple,” Nate Ro-

GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA

chon, a millennial donor and Anchorage resident with Type O-negative, said. “I have it and other people need it. I come from a family of [cytomegalovirus] negative donors which means the blood can go to newborns and immune deficient people.”

Other millennials are not so open to donating, with many not even knowing their blood type.

UAA art major, Levi Werner, simply said it freaks him out.

“I like to keep that inside me,” Werner said.

The Blood Bank of Alaska has an entire page dedicated to debunking some common fears and misconceptions about donating, but is the issue simply phobic, or is there something

else at play?

The Miller-Keystone Blood Center based out of Pennsylvania started looking at ways to get more millennial traffic by increasing social media advertising and shortening the time commitment of donating blood by implementing an electronic system for registering, which could save up to fifteen minutes of time spent in a waiting room, two details that could catch the eye of a younger generation.

Trying to get younger people to donate more consistently is what most donation centers are striving for, and there can be self-serving reasons for getting them to do so, as well.

“I try to donate a minimum

of three times a year because it is in such high demand and people really do need it to live,” Rochon added. “If you get in an accident of some kind, lose a lot of blood, contact a disease and you need other people who have made a blood donation, you want as many people to have donated as possible. I guess I could say I do it for the selfish reason of making sure there is some Onegative blood in stock in case that ever happens to me.”

If you would like more information on donating blood, to see if you are eligible to donate or to schedule an appointment, you can visit the Blood Bank of Alaska’s website at www.bloodbankofalaska.org.

Students react to tuition increase at forum

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

University of Alaska President, Jim Johnsen, and UAA Interim Chancellor, Sam Gingerich hold a forum with students over increasing tuition rates on Oct. 17.

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

University of Alaska President, Jim Johnsen, and UAA Interim Chancellor, Sam Gingerich, answered questions from students about a proposed 5 percent tuition increase on Oct. 17.

Johnsen said that tuition would increase by 5 percent each year for two years at all UA campuses, with the exception of Kodiak College and Prince William Sound College, which will have tuition increases of 10 percent in academic year 2019 and

9.5 percent in AY2020.

“But in setting the context, you know, the preview was 5 percent tuition increase generally across the board for two years. We have traditionally — and I don’t know exactly for how long — the tuition rates at Kodiak College and Prince William Sound were lower than every other campus in UA’s system,” Johnsen said at the forum. “The regents indicated that they’d like to see those all the same. So those two campuses, under this proposal, would be seeing a bigger increase just to fill that gap, basically that’s been there over

the years.”

While the University of Alaska’s tuition is lower than its peer institutions, Johnsen said the community college costs are higher.

“In some of our programs however... we are high,” Johnsen said. “In our community colleges, tuition is about double the national average. That’s because our tuitions are linked and there’s some really positive aspects of... the linkages between our community campuses and our university in terms of transfer, course availability, all sorts of good things like that.”

Johnsen said he is also looking into a 25 percent discount for students in occupational endorsement and certificate programs to encourage enrollment.

Hayden Niekamp, health sciences major, asked if any other alternatives to a tuition increase had been considered.

“It would be nice just to kind of see a multi-faceted approach or just... some other options being considered other than that.

That was my concern,” Niekamp said.

Johnsen said the increase will offset budget cuts.

“A 5 percent tuition increase per year will generate — and it depends on enrollment of course — but it will generate between $4 and $5 million dollars of revenue university system wide,” Johnsen said. “The last four years we’ve been cut $145 million.”

USUAA Senator, Andres Antuna asked why the tuition was set at 5 instead of 2.5 percent.

Johnsen said a smaller increase would not meet the purposes of the current proposal.

“That’s $2.5 million so that just means you can’t have the goals we have,” Johnsen said.

“We can’t make the investments you feel we need to make because you’re going to have that much less money to make those

investments.”

Antuna asked if the 5 percent increase would “cover the rest of the budget shortfall that UAA’s is experiencing? Or will there be more cuts?”

Johnsen said there is always a possibility of an increasing tuition in the future beyond this proposal, but this increase seeks to cover fixed costs.

“If we’re cut further that’s going to be a serious problem,” Johnsen said. “Right now it’s basically about addressing our fixed cost increases. Everything continues to cost more, but actually, our focus is on investment, investment, investment.”

Gingerich said that this proposal can be used strategically to optimize results in student programing.

“Tuition increases, if I may, can be used strategically to make sure that as the budget reduction have played out and continue to play out — that we are doing — using the money that is available to invest in very specific programming that supports student success,” Gingerich said.

Johnsen has been travelling to all three University of Alaska main campuses to collect student feedback before he proposes the tuition increase at the next Board of Regents meeting.

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ME TOO: Hashtag provides forum for victims to share support, stories

Continued from cover their story or just talking about their story,” Fayette said. “Also, to think about the way you perpetuate a culture of silence and a rape culture. Whether that is through your sense of humor and your reaction to your friends, who have gone through those things. Really listen and think about how the things you say and the way you respond to it is going to af-

fect those people.”

Sofia Fouquet, business marketing and management graduate and former SafeZone trainer at UAA, is a supporter of the movement and has shared the hashtag on her Facebook profile.

“Most women can rattle off a list of times their bodies have been treated like someone else’s property. I wasn’t sure it was going to make a difference outside my usual positive feedback loop, and I’ve been pleasantly proven wrong,” Fouquet said. “A few of my male acquaintances have started honest, thoughtful conversations with me about the nature of sexual assault and how men and women’s experiences shape the way we see our interactions with others.”

Samantha Mack, teaching assistant for the English department, hopes that the movement will encourage bystanders of sexual harassment or assault to take an active role.

“We live in a system where victims of injustice are often afraid to speak out, sometimes because of stigma, sometimes because of fear of retribution, sometimes for one of countless other reasons,” Mack

said. “My hope is that this movement serves as a face-slap for every person who has ever stood by, turned a blind-eye or otherwise pretended not to notice. It’s not okay. We have to do better.”

The uniqueness of the #metoo movement is that it is a public statement indicating individuals’ experiences with sexual assault or harassment without disclosing further details. #metoo creates awareness of the extent of sexual misconducts in the community.

“Starting a conversation doesn’t always feel like a monumental leap, but it’s how you start a cultural paradigm shift,” Fouquet said. “I’ve heard the argument, ‘If you don’t share your stories, how can I learn from them?’ Seriously? If you need me to describe an assault in order to avoid doing it yourself, you are part of the problem. If you feel owed an explanation before being willing to take steps to end rape culture, you are part of the problem.”

Fayette agrees that the hashtag alone can have a positive effect on the community, but also argues that an open approach to the topic will further improve the fight against silencing victims of sex-

ual harassment and assault.

“I think that the nature of the social media hashtag movement makes it a lot easier for people to open up about their experiences,” Fayette said. “But I think the hashtag’s vagueness has some problems because we are still not talking about it openly. It’s still kind of hidden, which is fine because survivors don’t have to talk about it if they don’t want to.

But it is important that they feel comfortable doing so, if they chose so, without being ridiculed or shamed.”

Sexual harassment and assault exist in various extends and can affect individuals differently. Nobody’s experience should be compared to one another or judged.

UAA students who are victims of sexual assault can file reports anonymously on the website of the University Police Department, and can also receive mental health support through UAA’s Student Health and Counseling Center and UAA Psychological Services. UAA students taking six or more credits can schedule appointments at the Health and Counseling Center by calling 907-786-4040.

Edge Update: Real ID, Kelly defends Trump and Russian interference on Brexit

PHOTO BY CHEYENNE MATHEWS

Annie Route receives a legislative citation presented by Alaska State Senator Mia Costello on Oct. 16.

Former director of Student Life, Leadership honored with legislative citation

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

On Oct. 16, former Director of Student Life and Leadership, Annie Route, was honored with a legislative citation presented

by Alaska State Senator Mia Costello. Route retired last June with almost 31 years at UAA, and the citation honored both her time and her commitment to students.

“As we all know, a university and the experience that a student has, and many of you are here today, it’s so much more than the academics. And Annie [Route], you really for over 30 years have, student by student, made students feel welcome here, like it’s their home,” Costello said as she presented the citation. “And you probably have touched as many or more individual lives than you can even imagine.”

Former co-workers and students came to the ceremony to celebrate the citation over cake.

At the ceremony, Costello explained that legislative citations have to be reserved and passed by a vote of the Alaska House of Representatives and the Senate.

“Within literally five min-

utes of this citation being read across on the House floor, my cell phone was imploding, “Can I sign on? Can I be on that? Oh my gosh!” And so Representative Matt Claman and I are the prime sponsors, but I wanted to say to you, Annie [Route], that there were so many of my colleagues that wanted to sign on to this and be right there,” Costello said. “They are all listed because you have been such a huge leader supporting students and you’ve watched many grow and go on to be successful in what they’re pursuing, and the university wouldn’t be the same without you.”

After receiving the citation from Costello, Route encouraged her co-workers to be student oriented.

“The students I’ve met over the years have changed my life and I hope they continue to change yours,” Route said. “I hope that every day you come here, that you imagine who are you going to touch? Who’s going to be the student that you will smile at, who you will stop and say, ‘Can I help you find your way?’ ...that’s what we can do to make a difference to the one student who’s coming here who

may not be sure of their path here.”

One of the students Route helped during her time as director of Student Life and Leadership was current Student Regent, Joey Sweet, who was at the ceremony.

“There was only one project that I worked with Annie [Route] on and that was trying to get all of my application materials submitted in time for Student Regent,” Sweet said. “As per usual with me, I waited until the very last minute and had all these different piles of paperwork that all needed to be put together and mailed to the Governor’s office, and with no advanced notice or anything I just sort of burst into Annie [Route]’s office and was like, ‘I need your help!’ And she immediately dropped everything that she was doing and was super sincere and helpful and instrumental in helping me to get the position that I’m in now.”

In her retirement, Route can still be found at UAA events and even instructing American Sign Language classes. Route summed her continued involvement with UAA in the most accurate way possible by saying, “You can’t get rid of me.”

By Grant Kniefel KRUA

The Edge Update can be heard every weekday on KRUA 88.1 FM The Edge, UAA's college radio station.

Local Alaska will have another year to comply with the federal Real ID Act, state officials announced Oct. 18. The extension was granted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and will last through Oct. 2018. This year, the Legislature passed a bill allowing the state to move forward on meeting the requirements. Previous efforts have been postponed since 2008, when legislation was passed preventing the state from spending money on Real ID implementation. The Alaska DMV will be ready to produce compliant IDs

by Jan. 2019.

National On Oct. 19, White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, delivered a personal defense of President Donald Trump’s call this week to the widow of a slain soldier. Kelly said that he was stunned to see the criticism of the president, after Trump delivered a similar message to the widow of one of the sol-

diers killed in Niger. Trump and the White House were overwhelmed with criticism after the president’s actions this week — first appearing to criticize former presidents for failing to call the families of fallen service members and later for the words Trump chose to use in speaking with the widow of Sgt. La David T. Johnson.

Global An opposition lawmaker called on the British government on Thursday to investigate suspicions of Russian interference in Britain’s referendum on quitting the European Union, adding that there were “questions” about Arron Banks, one of the chief financial backers of the “leave” campaign. Speaking in Parliament, the lawmaker, Ben Bradshaw of the Labour Party, said there were concerns over foreign interference in Western democracies. He asked for assurances that, “all the resources spent in the referendum campaign were from permissible sources.” Those who opposed Britain’s withdrawal, or “Brexit,” argued during the referendum that it would delight Moscow by weakening the European Union, which placed sanctions on Russia. No links to Russian money have been proved.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

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College Cookbook: Thai salmon soup A hearty, healthy soup fit for an Alaska winter day

By Victoria Petersen copy@thenorthernlight.org

The temperature’s dropping, the snow is falling and nothing satisfies your hunger quite like a bowl of hearty soup.

My aunt recently gave me some locally made salmon broth from Alaska Broth Company. A quick Google search led me to a recipe from Woman and Home. The recipe was easy to make and a great use of some frozen salmon fillets.

Ingredients GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA

Clubs, charity and candy at UAA’s Haunted Halloween Fun Night

By Malia Barto

arts2@thenorthernlight.org

With Anchorage’s annual Trick or Treat Town canceled, UAA’s Haunted Halloween Fun Night is expected to be one of the biggest indoor Halloween events in Anchorage this year.

“Last year we had around 2,000-3,000 visitors come through the event. This year we expect it to be bigger,” Rose Kruger, Club Council vice chair, said.

UAA’s Halloween fundraiser is run

by UAA Student Clubs and Greek Life, and has been a large, annual community event for over 25 years. Each participating UAA club hosts a booth with candy and an activity or game. So far, 32 clubs out of the 50-club limit have signed up to participate in this year’s Haunted Halloween Fun Night.

Parking and admission to the event are free and tickets to participate in the different activities are $0.50 each. The number of tickets for each activity is varied per booth, ranging mostly from one to three tickets. The games and activities are all different and usually Halloweenthemed.

“The purpose of this event is to give a safe, warm, indoor trick-or-treating experience to all children,” Kruger said.

An annual activity by children at the event is the cakewalk, put on by the Medical Laboratory Sciences Club.

The Society of Physics and Astronomy Students at UAA will be coordinating a bean-bag “Cassini toss,” where par-

ticipants will throw the bean bags representing the NASA spacecraft Cassini at a board decorated like Saturn.

The UAA Native Student Council will have a giant nose for participants to search in for candy.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon will host a monster attack, letting participants shoot down the members of the fraternity dressed up as monsters with Nerf guns.

The university’s radio station, KRUA, will be hosting a “chuck the chicken” game. Members of KRUA will be dressing up as chefs while the participants throw rubber chickens into buckets.

Seventy-five percent of the proceeds raised during the event are kept by the participating UAA clubs for funding for their organization and 25 percent is donated to a chosen charity. In 2016, the event donated $3,656.38 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Anchorage. This year, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Anchorage was chosen to be the recipient again.

“We chose [Big Brothers Big Sisters] because we want to start a partnershiptype relationship,” Emily Wood, Club Council chair, said. “There’s a ton of really great philanthropies in Anchorage, but we figured that they would benefit from having this reliable donation every year, and it’ll help both of us grow our organizations.”

The event will be held on the second floor of the Student Union, from 1-6 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 28. In true Halloween spirit, all ages are encouraged to dress-up for this family-friendly event.

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

• 14 ounces of salmon broth

• 4 tablespoons of red curry paste

• 1 salmon fillet

• 9 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, sliced • 2 red peppers, sliced • 1 teaspoon of Thai fish sauce • Juice of 1 lime

• 7 ounces of egg, soba or ramen noodles • Cilantro, to taste • Green onions, chopped, to taste • Toasted peanuts, to taste • 1 lime wedge

• 14 ounces of coconut milk

Directions 1. Heat oil in saucepan on medium heat. Add curry paste and stir for two minutes.

2. Add mushrooms, peppers, fish sauce, lime juice, coconut milk and broth to the saucepan. Stir the mixture for a couple minutes.

Add the salmon in small pieces, then let simmer for 10 minutes while the salmon cooks.

3. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on their package.

Once the noodles are finished, drain them and set them aside.

4. After the salmon is cooked, remove from the soup to flake.

5. Divide the noodles and salmon into each bowl, pour the broth over and add the cilantro, green onions peanuts and lime wedge to serve.

PHOTO BY VICTORIA PETERSEN

06 | FEATURES

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

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Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society starts new chapter at UAA

PHOTO BY YOUNG KIM

Karen Andrews, the director of Disability Support Services at UAA, helped to establish a new chapter of Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

By Marie Reis

news2@thenorthernlight.org

A new chapter of Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society was recently launched at UAA. Delta Alpha Pi, founded in 2004 at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, celebrates and supports leadership, academic achievement and advocacy for post-secondary students experiencing disabilities.

The three Greek letters of Delta Alpha Pi stand for disability, achievement and pride in accomplishments, not just as students with handicaps, but as members of the university community. Over 120 institutions of higher education allover the nation have established a chapter of the society so far.

On Oct. 10, 15 students of the university received honors for their academic accomplishments in a ceremony in the Consortium Library. This marked a milestone in the work of the most recent chapter at UAA. Interim Chancellor Sam Gingerich and Dean of Students Ben Morton gave speeches to honor the inductees. Katherine Irwin, a journalism and public communications major with a minor in art, was among the students acknowledged in the first honor ceremony of Delta Alpha Pi in Alaska.

“I think the impact of being an inductee of the ceremony didn’t hit me until a few days later when I realized that this is Alaska’s first Delta Alpha Pi chapter and that I am part of the first group to be inducted,” Irwin said.

Karen Andrews, the director of Disability Support Services at UAA, helped establish the chapter in Alaska. She received a lot of positive feedback about the ceremony.

“We’ve had students say that they had no idea what an honor it was until they actually went through the induction,” Andrews said. “I’ve had other students who have asked, ‘What do I have to do to be in Delta Alpha Pi?’ – and that’s a good thing.”

She highlighted the “beauty of the ceremony” and “how moving” it was to see students of great diversity being honored.

“Isn’t that what UAA is about?”

Andrews is in her third year of working for the university. Before she came to UAA, she launched and supported DAPi chapters at the other colleges she worked at. To her, Delta Alpha Pi was an opportunity to create something positive in order to overcome the negative stigma often associated with disability.

“So many times working with those who experience disabilities or those who serve them, there is always this picture of negativity. And that’s not the case at all. People who experience disabilities

achieve great things,” Andrews said.

“They have great GPAs and go on to incredible careers.”

This is why she began looking for ways to counter this negativity. Eventually, she ran across Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society and was the driving force behind the chapter at the first university she worked at.

“When I came here, I felt like this was the same story. So I said, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do here,’” Andrews said.

Shawnalee Whitney, associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication and Anne Lazenby, ASL interpreter and coordinator at DSS agreed to be the sponsors of the local group.

After the initial induction ceremony, the students are now going to elect their officers and have regular meetings. The focus of the student-driven agenda is going to be on advocacy for people experiencing disabilities in the university community.

Irwin believes that Delta Alpha Pi enriches the student body, emphasizing that diversity is not solely an issue of culture and ethnicity.

“Having DAPi as part of the university shows everyone that all kinds of people matter and it’s a unique trait for the university to have diversity, which goes beyond the colors of the skin and cultures,” Irwin said.

As the director of DSS, Andrews is supporting about 450 students at the moment. However, this number does not include the total amount of students with disabilities at UAA. “Statistics show that 10 to 11 percent of any given student body experience a disability,” Andrews said.

With about 15,000 students enrolled at UAA, the number of students served

by DSS should be significantly higher.

To her, this is another reason making DAPi’s work so important. Spreading the word about the group could help people in need of support services to view it as something positive.

Even beyond their time at the university, the students have the chance to stay active members of the group. Irwin expressed the wish to do that depending on her plans after her graduation.

“It has always been my purpose as a deaf person to represent the deaf community in the best way and remove the stigma that surrounds it,” Irwin said. “Being part of DAPi is a bonus to my endeavor to change things for the deaf community.”

With the launch of the local chapter of Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society, new opportunities to create a more open learning environment at UAA have emerged.

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New Alaska Airlines Center artwork depicts a myth and the sun New York City-based artist Osman Akan was inspired by Alaskan themes

By Malia Barto

arts2@thenorthernlight.org

A new art piece in front of the Alaska Airlines Center, “Lucerna,” requires a few more details and touch-ups before it is finished for viewing. The art is anticipated to be completed by the end of October.

New York City-based artist, Osman Akan, was chosen to be the featured artist for the new project. The large sculpture still needs some extra welding, a paint job and glass before it is complete.

The design was inspired by Alaskan themes, both of the state and of UAA. While Akan said there were many ideas for the design of the sculpture, the first idea he said was the motion of the sun in the north.

“If you were to think, or visualize it, what the sun is doing all year long in [mid-year] months, every day it goes from one side to the other side, and that, around the world, it just generates a ring, let’s call it,” Akan said. “In places like New York, or Istanbul, or Vienna, it goes above you more like a bridge.

In the north, like in Anchorage, that ring starts slanting down, wherein the month of January the ring goes up just a little bit because you barely see the sun.

So [the sculpture’s] curves correspond to a stylized version of the months.”

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

New York based artist Osman Akan’s art piece, Lucerna, being installed in front of the Alaska Airlines Center.

Placed outside the doors of the arena where many Seawolf athletic competitions are held, the second inspiration Akan had for the sculpture was UAA’s own mascot: the mythical Seawolf.

“It’s a Seawolf. [I’m] not really thinking of a furry creature, but something more like a fish or a serpent. So that was partly the idea of placing the glass panels in opposing kind of structures, where they kind of look like scales,” Akan said.

If viewing the sculpture at a certain angle, the sides of the arches are morphed as four lines, similar to the white lines visible on both sides of Spirit the

Seawolf’s head. The glass in the center of the sculpture will be lit with green and gold lights.

“These are, obviously, subtle, metaphoric layers that one may think of it this way, one may not at all. So that’s fine, I think that’s how an artwork becomes more complex,” Akan said. “Some people will like the curves, some people will like the glass, some people will hate the whole thing.

This is how it goes.”

Chris McConnell, a project manager for UAA’s Facilities, Planning and Construction explained the process of choosing Akan to create the new art on campus.

“We get a committee and use the State Council of the Arts to help us facilitate a process.

They develop a proposal and get a whole bunch of information from all these artists, who are interested in building the artwork, based on the constraints of the site,” McConnell said.

“It’s a pretty extensive process.

We had over 100 artists submit.”

Akan was chosen after the process of reviewing and refining, as McConnell said, but is no newcomer to the state of Alaska.

Akan’s first sculpture featured in Alaska, “Fragmenta,” was completed outside of the Anchorage State Crime Detection

Laboratory in the late summer of 2012.

The money for Lucerna was set aside from the funding for the Alaska Airlines Center back when the arena was under construction. The project is part of the Percent for Art in Public Places program, the same program that commissioned the American lion statue by UAA’s Natural Sciences Building and “Inflorescence,” the sculpture in front of the ConocoPhillips Integrated Science Building. Alaska Legislature passed the Percent for Art in Public Places statute in 1975, “requiring the expenditure of 1 percent of the capital construction costs of public buildings for the acquisition and permanent installation of artwork,” as stated in the Alaska State Council on the Arts website.

“The whole goal is to bring more art into our communities,” McConnell said on Percent for Art. “I think it’s a very good program. But there are obvious questions, because of the times we’re in, like, ‘Why are we spending on art?’ We’re spending on it because this is the capital appropriation from the G.O. bond that was approved how ever many years ago [for the AAC].”

More of Akan’s art, as well as more pictures of his vision of Lucerna, can be viewed on his website.

A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

| 09

‘Observed Faces’ coming to the ARC Gallery David Pettibone’s upcoming exhibit features a series of portraits he hopes will show the sincerity behind the act of painting them

By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org

COURTESY OF DAVID PETTIBONE

“Elissa In a Gray Sweater” by David Pettibone from his upcoming show, “Observed Faces.”

While art exhibits often have grand overarching themes or messages they’re trying to convey — sometimes beyond the reach or interest of the casual observer — art professor David Pettibone’s upcoming show will focus on the subjects themselves.

“Observed Faces” will feature a collection of “freshly observed” portraits of Pettibone’s fiancé, friends and acquaintances. The show will run from Oct. 3 to Dec. 8 at UAA’s ARC Gallery next to the Consortium Library.

“As humans, I think we’re attracted to the figure,” Pettibone said.

He hopes his dozen or so small paintings and drawings give an impression of the subject and convey the sincerity behind the act of creating them.

He wants the viewer to be able to appreciate the paintings for what they are and not get bogged down with an overwhelming message.

He likens the idea to a quote

by French painter Paul Cézanne: “The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”

As modern life and art become more complex, Pettibone sees the moments that might

otherwise pass us by have increasing significance.

“It’s the small things — those small moments, the whispers that I think are going to become more and more important,” he said.

As a realist painter, Pettibone said he deals with aspects of the physical world like light, space, texture and volume. He’s also intrigued by the physicality of paint becoming flesh — something oil paints can do uniquely well.

He primarily used oil paints for “Observed Faces,” but Pettibone will also include a watercolor and some graphite drawings. While the latter works are still in the same vein as the rest, Pettibone likes to use different mediums so he doesn’t get too caught up with a single method.

The portraits date back as far as 2016, which Pettibone worked on while completing a project for the Anchorage Museum called “Year with a Tree” where he produced a series of paintings detailing the changes of a single tree over the course of a year.

That project will be on display until Jan. 15, 2018.

Art professor Riva Symko is on the ARC Gallery board and although she hasn’t seen the complete works for “Observed Faces” yet, she expects to see a similarly close observation of his human subjects.

“This is part of a long history

of portraiture in general,” she said.

Originally from Arizona, Pettibone received his bachelor’s degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and his master’s degree from the New York Academy of Art. He first came to Alaska while in high school, which left a deep impression on him. He eventually came back in 2013 to study and paint Iñupiat subsistence whale hunting in Utqiaġvik, the city formerly known as Barrow.

At this point, he knew it was time to leave his home in New York and move north.

Pettibone finds himself inspired by Alaska and said the experience of living here continues to change and influence him as an artist. As an observational painter, the environment is constantly in flux — a single cloud moving across the sky can affect the light and color of a scene, so he’s learned to embrace change and use it in how he constructs his paintings.

“I’m attracted to this idea that wherever there’s life, there’s death and with the extremes of Alaska, you can’t walk out of your house without being immersed in the natural world pretty much,” Pettibone said.

Pettibone teaches Life Drawing and Composition and Beginning Drawing at UAA. For more information, go to www.davidpettibone.com.

Naked comes the ‘Stranger by the Lake’

By Jacob Holley-Kline Contributor

To call “Stranger by the Lake” erotic would be an understatement: the French drama thriller is bursting at the seams with sex, simulated and unsimulated. Set solely on a secluded beach, a cruising spot for gay men, it starts when Franck (Pierre Deladonchamps) meets the recently single Henri (Patrick d’Assumçao) and strikes up a friendship. Their conversations continue as Franck falls for Michel (Christophe Paou). One night, Franck stays late to meet his crush, only to see him drown a man in the lake and leave like nothing happened.

The horror of the act is immediate: Franck is terrified and devastated. The next day, he chats up Michel anyway and the two commit. Figuring out why he goes back is part of the fun.

His feelings for Michel, which are more lust than love, come on strong and leave just as quickly.

Their relationship has a quick half-life and doesn’t have the

impact that Franck and Henri’s does.

Henri, though, is on the sidelines for most of the movie, acting as a sage observer. In his frankest moment, he tells Franck what he thinks about Michel, “You might be too gaga to see it, but he’s weird.” Director Alain Guiraudie lets the movie’s heart show in scenes like this.

What he builds with Franck is a relationship little seen on the big screen and makes this muted tale all the more wrenching.

The warm tone of Franck’s scenes with Michel build a subtle contrast between the two relationships. More than anything, this acute visual sense tells a story all its own. The isolation of the beach, where Franck watches as much as he is watched, sometimes by friends, sometimes not, feels sterile. Even in the woods behind it, where men meet to have semi-anonymous sex, that emotional distance exists. When he’s in the throes of lust, Franck heats the place up with Michel, but with Henri, he cools it down. Both are ill-fated couples. Guiraudie makes no ef-

fort to hide this fact.

Everything that happens, happens. The movie’s fly-onthe-wall style is too reserved to be fantastical, even if it is surreal at times. If anything, this is my one complaint: things proceed too easily to be tense. The fates of Franck, Michel, and Henri are telegraphed early on and play out as you would expect. The ending is ambiguous, certainly less predictable, but there’s no doubting its veracity.

What the movie does best is celebrate the male body. It’s showcased from every possible angle, usually in pairs of threes, sometimes two, blending together like oil paints. It’s a beautiful vision of bodies shifting their physical and emotional identities depending on who’s there to follow. Franck does not lust after Henri like he does Michel, and he doesn’t love Michel like he does Henri, so their bodies don’t interact in the same way.

The shapes love takes and what its absence means is a potent throughline in “Stranger by the Lake,” one that makes all nervous nail-biting worth it.

TITLE “Stranger by the Lake”

DIRECTOR Alain Guiraudie

RELEASE DATE June 12, 2013

COUNTRY France

GENRE Drama

10 | A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

Get off the couch!

Halloween parties, movies and more “The Adventures of Apun the Arctic Fox” with Liz O’Connell, Susan Share and Kristin Link What: Author Liz O’Connell, illustrator Kristin Link and paper engineer Susan Share will discuss “The Adventures of Apun the Arctic Fox,” a popup book that tells the story of Apun, who explores the changing Arctic.

When: Monday, Oct. 30 from 5-7 p.m.

Where: Bookstore, The Loft Cost: Free

Around town

By TNL Staff

At UAA Swahili language lessons What: It’s Swahili Month at UAA, so why not expand your horizons? UAA’s United Global Student Organization is giving beginner Swahili language lessons. You won’t need prior experience as this class is open to everyone.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 25 from 4-5 p.m.

Where: Beatrice McDonald Hall, Room 117 Cost: Free Dr. Steve J. Langdon presents: “Kaalaxchs Endeavors, A Preeminent Jilkáat Tlingit Leader and the Coming of the American” What: Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at UAA, Steve J. Langdon, will discuss Kaalaxch, an esteemed leader of the Jilkáat Tlingit. When the U.S. claimed jurisdiction of his homeland, Kaalaxch worked to sustain Tlingit culture and sovereignty without endangering his people in the mid-1800s.

When: Wednesday, Oct. 25 from 5-7 p.m.

Where: Bookstore, The Loft Cost: Free Death and Grief with Providence Hospice Chaplain Bianca Rauch and Reverend Nathan Rogers What: A discussion of death-related matters and loss with Providence Hospice’s Bereavement Coordinator and Chaplain. Reverend Nathan Rogers has been coordinating the bereavement program at Providence Hospice for five years. Chaplain Bianca Rauch has practiced hospital ministry for over three decades.

When: Thursday, Oct. 26 from 5-7 p.m.

Where: Bookstore, The Loft Cost: Free Biblical Perspectives: Rabbi Michael Oblath and Robert Diamante present their research on the Exodus from Egypt and the Israelite Ark What: Rabbi Michael Oblath will discuss his book “The Exodus Itinerary Sites,” which investigates the biblical account of the exodus from Egypt. Robert Diamante will discuss his article “The State of the Ark” and will look into the composition of the Israelite Ark. This discussion will cover contemporary biblical research, source theory and references.

When: Friday, Oct. 27 from 1-3 p.m.

Where: Bookstore, The Loft Cost: Free David Ramseur presents Lessons From Melting the Ice Curtain: A Look at US-Russia Relations Today What: Author David Ramseur will discuss the status of U.S.-Russian relations 30 years after the “Friendship Flight” between Nome and Provideniya, Russia. Ramseur’s book, “Melting the Ice Curtain” looks at how the superpowers attempted to improve relations with that flight in 1988.

When: Saturday, Oct. 28 from 1-3 p.m.

Where: Bookstore, The Loft Cost: Free

Skalloween with Nervis Rex What: Alaska’s favorite ska band, Nervis Rex, will provide the soundtrack for this Halloween party, complete with a costume contest. Costume categories are: Best solo male, best solo female and best couple/group. $100 cash prize for winners. Ages 21 and up.

When: Friday, Oct. 27 at 9 p.m.

Where: Williwaw (609 F St.) Cost: Free Rabbit Creek Ramblers and the Hannah Yoter Band What: Have a down-home Halloween with the Rabbit Creek Ramblers and the Hannah Yoter Band. Ages 21 and up.

When: Friday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m.

Where: 49th State Brewing Co. (717 W Third Ave.) Cost: $10 “Nosferatu” presented by South Anchorage High School Orchestra What: The German horror classic about a hideous bloodsucking vampire. Nosferatu will get a live score provided by the South Anchorage High School Orchestra. Tickets available at southhighorchestra.org.

When: Friday, Oct. 27 and Saturday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m.

Where: South Anchorage High School Auditeria (13400 Elmore Road) Cost: $10 Rogues and Wenches Halloween!

What: Raise a glass and celebrate Halloween with Anchorage’s resident pirate band Rouges and Wenches as they play a mix of traditional Irish and Scottish songs, sea shanties and other bawdy tunes.

When: Saturday, Oct. 28 at 9 p.m.

Where: Route33 (3300 Spenard Road) Cost: Free Metal Massacre Pt. 2 What: Prepare for a slaughter and bloodbath of heavy metal. Featuring: Distance Defined, Part Time Super Heroes, Beyond the Tides, Everruin, Druj and Devilwitch. Ages 21 and up.

When: Sunday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m.

Where: Koot’s, North Stage (2435 Spenard Road) Cost: $5 “Spirited Away” What: Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film “Spirited Away.” Watch as Chichiro, a young girl, gets caught up in an adventure where she meets spirits and other creatures while she tries to save the day.

When: Sunday, Oct. 29 at 12:55 p.m. (English dub), Monday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. (English subtitle), Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. (English dub) Where: Century 16 (301 E 36th Ave.) Cost: $12.50

SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

| 11

Flag football: A road to nowhere Flag football ranks the highest in participants in the ASD, but there are a lack in opportunities post-high school

By Brenda Craig

features@thenorthernlight.org

Flag football was introduced to the Anchorage School District in 2006 and has quickly become the most popular female sport in Alaska. In 2016-2017, flag football took the lead with 482 female participants. Taking second and third was volleyball with 378 and soccer with 374 players.

In the U.S., there are only six states, including Alaska, that offer flag football. The other states include California, District of Columbia, Florida, Michigan and Nevada. With flag football being added to more high schools, it is questioned what happens to players when high school ends.

Vanessa Tufaga, biology major, played four years of competitive flag football for Dimond High School with three years on varsity. Her positions were running back, offense and outside linebacker on defense.

“A lot of people write off flag as a pansy sport, but it can get physical too. It’s clearly not a complete replica of football where you tackle, but you’re still bumping and pushing with no gear. That’s got to count for something. So, that considered, I really was attracted to the physicality of it,” Tufaga said.

Tufaga has been interested in football since the age of five and was heavily influenced by her family.

“My grandpa played at a junior college in California, my

dad played football at Weber State University and all my uncles played at the collegiate level. Football is practically embedded in my family, so it was a given that my dad would encourage my brothers to try it out,” Tufaga said. “But for me, I think my dad always kind of knew I had a competitive streak to be just as good as my brothers in sports, so when I got older he really capitalized on my desire and self-motivation to play.”

Not only did her father, grandpa and uncles further their football career after high school, but also her brothers.

“My older brother plays for Lindenwood University in Belleville, Illinois and my other brother plays for Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington,” Tufaga said. “I think I was bummed that something I was good at was stopping after high school, but realistically I knew I couldn’t waste my time wishing and hoping for a scholarship that would never come.”

Tufaga decided to continue playing flag football knowing that there would be no collegiate offers because she enjoyed the environment and competitiveness of the game.

“As much as I love and miss flag football, I’ve always known that it’s not my end game. I was prepared to move forward without it, so I am thankful for what it has taught me, it’s all nostalgic now,” Tufaga said.

Some colleges out of state have added co-ed flag football into their intramural sports.

Kathleen Navarre, head coach for Dimond High School’s flag football team, believes adding flag football to intramural sports in universities can have a positive impact.

“The fact that we have flag football in our state it helps kids going into college break the ice and get involved with students at their university so I would say to definitely add that in intramural sports,” Navarre said.

Navarre’s Dimond flag football team recently won championships against West High School. She has been coaching for 12 seasons.

“I’m glad to see it growing, I think its been a real positive thing for Dimond High School and around Anchorage schools.

It would be great if more states would get into it and if colleges also got it going,” Navarre said.

Flag football started in Anchorage to meet Title IX obligations, and Navarre thinks that universities should follow in the same footsteps.

“The university has to be Title IX compliant and rather than cut a sport, because a lot of universities are already to the minimum and have cut wrestling because it wasn’t Title IX compliant, so they had to take it out,” Navarre said. “Flag football is a pretty inexpensive sport to start up, so rather than a university looking to cut something, it might be something they look into adding.”

Around the time flag football was gaining momentum in high school, UAA added flag football to their intramural sports to

GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA

meet the growing demand.

“Our attempt was to see if we could follow up on that by creating a program where kids can continue to play if they choose to, since we didn’t have the facilities on campus, we hooked it to the Dome sports and fielded a team in their league,” Alan Piccard, assistant director of recreation sports at UAA, said.

To participate in the flag football league at The Dome, it cost about $1,700 per team, Piccard said. Students were charged $20 each to go towards the $1,700 and the rest of the fees were covered by UAA. UAA’s flag football team lasted for four semesters, but had trouble gaining enough students to continue to play. “[The Dome] raised the prices, the deciding factors was: one, the low participation num-

bers and two, is they jacked the rates the third year we were going to attempt to do it,” Piccard said. “We assumed that when we ran it, we would get 20 through 30 people and would have to turn people away, when we barely had enough to put on a team.”

The UAA recreation department is willing to start flag football again if there were a high demand of participants, despite the failed program in the past.

“If you came up with that amount of people, we would make something happen, were not opposed to trying it again if it works,” Piccard said. “The big thing on this is that we are going to need the people who are going to want to participate and guarantee that they’re going to participate.”

12 | SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

Gov. Cup gets an early start at the Sullivan Arena

The Seawolves and Nanooks faced off in the first of three rounds of the annual tradition

By Lauren Cuddihy

sports2@thenorthernlight.org

The Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup is an annual event played every year for two separate weekends between the two main University of Alaska campuses: Anchorage vs. Fairbanks.

After returning from the first out-of-state matches, Head Coach Matt Thomas and the team realized those games gained them valuable experience before the UAF and UAA duel.

“We have to make sure we are finding a way to learn from everything that’s going on here early, and [I] think that was certainly the case [on our first road trip],” Thomas said.

These matches are used every year to determine the dominant collegiate Alaska hockey team. Each season, the cup comes down to a total of four games over the course of two weekends. This year, games are played over three weekends and six games; half are played on the ice at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks and the other half at the Sullivan Arena.

“We know how important these weekends are, the rivalry doesn’t really need to be overhyped because we know that it’s an intense one,” Thomas said.

“We know that both communities feel very [included in the ri-

valry] and we’ve been working hard all week, so we looked forward to [playing] at home.”

On Oct. 20, the Seawolves suffered an unfortunate first loss against the Nanooks.

From the Nanooks side, Steven Jandric, Jack Weiss and Justin Woods all scored early on in the game to give Fairbanks a 3-0 advantage just before the end of the first period. UAF would have kept that advantage into the second period if it weren’t for UAA’s Jordan Xavier.

Xavier, a freshmen forward from Calgary, Alberta, was assisted by junior forward Alex Jackstadt to score with only 37 seconds before the end of the period.

The total of four goals between the two teams lasted for the entire second period. A quiet period, there were only two power plays, one from each team, but no other goals.

The defenses seemed to be up and the offense down on both teams, with UAF only attempting 4 shots, 8 less than the first period, and UAA attempting 7.

“We have a young defense; that can get exposed at times in terms of having to be real aware and responsible as a played, but it is good to see our freshmen get those minutes and get that experience,” Thomas said.

The game didn’t start to heat back up until nine minutes into the third period when UAF’s

PHOTO COURTESY OF SKIP HICKEY

Tad Kozun faces off with UAF’s Tayler Munson during the first weekend of the Alaska Airlines Governor’s Cup.

Ryker Leer scored, assisted by Tristan Thompson and Max Newton.

Jarrett Brown from UAA and Woods from UAF scored a point a piece on power plays halfway through the third period.

Brown, a senior defensemen from Alberta, was assisted by Jonah Renouf and Tomi Heikkavirta to score his first goal of the season from the blueline.

Nearing the end of the third period and the end of the game, Woods and Colton Leiter further increased the Nanook’s lead with two more points to finish

the game off at 6-2.

On Saturday night, the Seawolves suffered another loss, this time on UAF’s home ice.

The 3-2 win proved to be a tighter match, however.

For the Green and Gold, Austin Azurdia and Xavier were the only two to make goals on Saturday night.

Azurdia, a senior forward, was able to score at four minutes in the first period, sparking the initial and temporary lead for the Seawolves. He was assisted

by Jeremiah Luedtke, a junior forward.

Azurdia also assisted the second goal in the third period. The second goal, made by Xavier, was also assisted by Tad Kozun.

The lack of points made by the Seawolves was paired with lack of shots and weak offense.

Collectively, UAA made 20 less shots than the Nanooks, ending the game with 17 shots on goal, while UAF attempted 37.

The Seawolves have a break to hone their skills before heading off to Michigan to compete against Lake Superior State on Nov. 3 and 4.

The Seawolves pull together two wins in Washington Weekend away wins provide success for key players, including a 1,000 kill record by Leah Swiss

PHOTO COURTESY OF SKIP HICKEY

Taylor Noga goes for the bump in the Oct. 21 match against Saint Martin’s.

By Lauren Cuddihy

sports2@thenorthernlight.org

Over the weekend of Oct. 19, the Seawolves traveled to Washington to take on two separate teams: Seattle Pacific and Saint Martin’s.

The first match against Seattle Pacific resulted in a long game that came down to five sets, eventually ending with a

win for the Seawolves.

Every single match went up until the last minute, all within several points of each other. The final scores of each match resulted as 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25 with a final match only to 15 points with a 15-6 win for UAA. “This was a difficult match against maybe the most improved team in our league,” Head Coach Chris Green said.

“We did a nice job of withstanding their runs and took control

there in the fifth. Leah [Swiss] was really zoned in offensively most of the night, and it was encouraging to see us come up with a big edge in digs with some improved play along the back row.”

In their match against Saint Martin’s, the Seawolves had another successful win, with a slightly shorter night, of a 3-1 win after a discouraging start (19-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-17).

“We looked slow at the out-

set tonight, but we started playing our kind of volleyball about midway through the second set and continued for the rest of the match. Casey [Davenport] did a nice job of distributing the ball among our hitters and keeping SMU off balance, and she used great judgment when choosing to attack,” Green said.

That weekend proved to be successful for several key players of the team, including junior outside hitter Leah Swiss, junior outside hitter Chrisalyn Johnson, freshmen setter Casey Davenport, sophomore middle blocker Vanessa Hayes and defensive specialist Keala KaioPerez.

Swiss boasts the accomplishment of passing 1,000 career kills against Seattle Pacific on Oct. 19. She went into the game only needing an additional 8 kills to make it on the list, along with the previous seven who have made it. Swiss surpassed the necessary 11 with 23 kills — a season high.

In addition, Swiss’ 23 kills put her on the all-time high list at seventh, holding a tie with Sabrina Bingham (1996-99).

Swiss continued on Saturday with 13 kills and 11 digs.

Johnson also accumulated a high number of kills for during the weekend. Against Seattle Pacific, she managed 17 kills, 13 digs and 5 block assists. Sat-

urday, against Saint Martin’s, Johnson ended with the second highest amount of kills, only trailing Swiss with 11 kills and 13 digs.

As a newcomer and after only a few collegiate games playing as setter, Davenport ended with two impressive numbers of assists. On Thursday, Davenport recorded 46 assists, 5 kills and a career-high 21 digs. She continued her success on Saturday finishing with a final count of 42 assists, which almost doubled Saint Martin’s setter who accumulated 22.

Davenport managed 2 aces, 6 kills, and no service or attack errors. Her 6 kills tied her seasonhigh for the third time.

A consistent key player for the Seawolves, Hayes, helped carry the team Thursday night with a match-best 0.412 attack percentage and 8 kills. In another match-best, she accumulated 4 digs.

Saturday ended with Hayes in a tie with Tara Melton for third highest amount of kills on the game, finishing with 10. Hayes also accumulated 3 blocks and 2 digs.

Seawolf volleyball returns to the Alaska Airlines Center on Oct. 26 and 28 for games against Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.

SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

| 13

Three-time All-American Marine Dusser of France is the new assistant coach for Nordic skiing

By Karolin Anders

sports@thenorthernlight.org

On Oct. 16, Marine Dusser was officially introduced as the newest member of UAA’s coaching staff. Dusser, originally from Villard de Lans in France, is familiar with Alaska and the Seawolves. She competed for two consecutive seasons from 2012-2014.

Andrew Kastning, associate coach for Nordic skiing, recruited Dusser during his first year at UAA back in 2012 and was excited to have her return as his colleague.

“Marine [Dusser] had a very successful career as a Seawolf skier, and I’m excited to have her join our coaching staff,” Kastning said. “She will bring fresh perspectives to our training and race preparation having recently finished her ski racing career.

She is also in very good shape having won the Government Peak and Knoya Ridge runs this past summer, so she should be able to push our athletes during the hard trainings.”

Before joining UAA, Dusser competed for the French National Biathlon Team for seven years. During her career, she represented France at the Junior Olympic Games, Biathlon Junior World Championships, Biathlon European Championships and several Biathlon World Cups. Biathlon combines cross-country ski racing with shooting a 0.22-millimeter rifle.

In 2012, Dusser retired from the biathlon sport and decided to join UAA’s Nordic ski team.

Only having competed in freestyle ski races before coming to UAA, she was skeptical of her

PHOTO COURTESY OF AUDREY MANGAN

Marine Dusser placed third in the classic skiing race at the NCAA championship meet in 2013. She finished the 5 kilometer race with a time of 15:43.0 minutes.

classic skiing skills. But Dusser soon proved her athletic ability and exceptional body awareness as Adam Verrier, volunteer Nordic coach, recalls.

“During a practice at the Hillside trails, Andrew [Kastning] told Marine [Dusser], ‘We want you to change your classic technique. It’s a little complex and difficult, so we can keep working on it throughout the winter.’ Marine gave it a try and executing exactly what Andrew had explained,” Verrier said.

“After Marine skied off, having changed her technique significantly in the space of about two minutes, Andrew looked at me and said, ‘Well... I guess that was easy.’ It still makes me

laugh every time I think of that moment.”

Shortly after arriving at UAA, Dusser became the women team’s most valuable Nordic skier. During her rookie campaign, she collected two AllAmerican honors, finishing third in the classical and freestyle races at the NCAA Championship meet in Vermont. With the help of her strong finishes, Dusser led the Seawolves to a seventh-place team result and earned MVP honors.

During her second season representing the Green and Gold, Dusser earned her third All-American, finishing ninth in the freestyle race at the NCAAs. Additionally, Dusser collected

several podium finishes, conference honors by the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association and experiences that made her seek to return to the 49th state.

While attending UAA, Dusser earned a bachelor’s degree in management and later earned a master’s degree in management from Grenoble Business School.

She returned to France after running out of collegiate eligibility. There, she started working for Rossignol Apparel SAS as a marketing manager. She was in charge of the Nordic apparel and created a team costume line.

Her boyfriend, her love for the outdoors and Nordic skiing drew her back to Alaska.

“Erik [Bjornson] and I have been dating since I first came to Alaska and it was hard to spend time traveling back and forth to see him. We were ready to build our life together – in Alaska,” Dusser said. “He is on the U.S. Ski Team and we think Alaska is one of the best, if not the best, place for Nordic training. So, we decided to live here together and when I saw that UAA was looking for a new assistant coach, I was very excited about the opportunity to start working here.”

Dusser realized her passion for coaching a couple years ago while working for the Anchorage Biathlon Club and the NANA Development Corporation as a Nordic ski coach.

“I love coaching. I actually realized that I like it even more than being an athlete,” Dusser said. “As a coach, you have the opportunity to be a mentor, a teacher and a role model to your athletes – and I like that. I want to give my athletes the tools to get better and help them improve.”

Dusser’s passion for coaching and her incredible knowledge of the various aspects of Nordic skiing, including her strong instinct for the right grind fitting the snow conditions of the day, will enable UAA’s Nordic ski team to reach a new level of success.

“I loved being part of the UAA ski team. Those were the best years of my skiing career and now I want to share my experience to make the ski team stronger,” Dusser said.

Dusser will make her official coaching debut during the Alaska Nordic Cup at Hatcher Pass on Nov. 17-18.

14 | SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

‘Shewolves’ and ‘Hewolves’ place first and second at conference championship The men’s and women’s teams now have a combined 18 team titles and 107 All-GNAC honors

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICK DANIELSON

The women’s cross-country team won their third consecutive team title and overall eighth title in nine years.

By Karolin Anders

sports@thenorthernlight.org

Karolin Anders is a former member of the UAA track and field team.

UAA’s cross-country teams have a long history of success.

Since joining the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in 2001, the men’s and women’s

teams now have a combined 18 team titles and 107 All-GNAC honors after this weekend’s GNAC Cross-Country Conference Championships.

The women’s team, having registered a league-record five straight titles from 2009-2013 and also won the 2015 and 2016 team titles, came away with the win. Led by senior All-American Caroline Kurgat, who won the individual conference title,

Junior Kimberly Coscia earned her second All-Conference after having been named GNAC freshman of the year in 2015.

Junior transfer Jorge Sanchez was named GNAC newcomer of the year after his finish at the conference championship in Bellingham, Washington.

the ‘Shewolves’ used a strong team effort to cruise to victory over the remaining 10 GNAC teams.

Junior Danielle McCormick of Soldotna knows of her team’s strength and can now proudly call herself a three-time GNAC team champion.

“I think we all had confidence in our teammates and in our training and we’re excited to show all of the other teams what we’ve been working towards,” McCormick said. “The first kilometer or so of the course involved a lot of tight turns so our game plan was to get out hard and stay aggressive so we don’t get boxed in, and then just stay tough and hold onto our position for the rest of the race.”

The Seawolves did just that.

In cross-country racing, the runners earn points according to their placing. The winner receives one point and the scoring continues accordingly to the racers’ finishes. UAA’s women’s team was able to register a point score of 28 points followed by runner-up Simon Fraser, which registered 65 points. A gap of 37 points is no casualty. Back in 2013, Simon Fraser edged out the Seawolves by only one point to capture the GNAC title.

The Seawolves’ domination of the field illustrates strong competitiveness. Kurgat took the individual win about a minute ahead of second place finisher Mary Charleson of Seattle Pacific. Kurgat covered the 6-kilometer race in 20 minutes and 49.42 seconds. Also scoring for the Seawolves were Zennah Jepchumba (fourth, 21:53.66), McCormick (fifth, 22:06.72), Emmah Chelimo (eighth, 22:11.26) and Kimberly Coscia (10th, 22:12.28). All five of them earned All-Conference honors,

Caroline Kurgat leads the pack to a strong team finish during the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship in Bellingham, Washington.

while Kurgat was named Female Athlete of the Year and Chelimo was voted GNAC Women’s Newcomer of the Year.

“The team we have right now is such a great team. Everyone has so much individual talent,” McCormick said. “This is my third year and we have won the cross country conference title all three years. I have one year left and I hope we can keep the streak going.”

Assistant Coach T.J. Garlatz was very pleased with his women’s team performance and considers them a strong competitor for the regional meet.

“The women ran awesome. It was the best race we have run in a long time,” Garlatz said. “Everyone in the top seven ran well.

It is a testament to their hard work and passion. As a coach I was proud to see their commitment to on another. They ran for themselves, their teammates and their university. From now until regionals, we will continue to keep focused, train smart and prepare to have another great race.”

The men’s team, which collected a league-record seven back-to-back titles from 20102016, was unable to continue their streak after graduating a great amount of their athletes last year. Still, the ‘Hewolves’ managed to collect a strong runner-up finish.

“Before the race, we were really focused,” junior transfer Jorge Sanchez said. “As far as being excited, none of us showed it, but deep inside we were. The key in racing is to be calm and that’s what we tried to do as we ran our warmup.”

Senior All-American Edwin Kangogo led the Green and Gold with his individu-

al runner-up finish. He covered the 8 kilometer course in 25 minutes and 3.63 seconds, only 9 seconds behind winner David Ribich of Western Oregon. Also scoring on the men’s side were Felix Kemboi (third, 25:18.59). Nathan Kipchumba (12th, 25:51.52), Sanchez (23rd, 26:11.93) and Justin Carrancho (24th, 26:18.25). Kangogo and Kemboi earned All-Conference honors. Kemboi was also voted GNAC Men’s Freshman of the Year, while Sanchez became the GNAC Men’s Newcomer of the Year.

The men’s team scored 64 team points – only 13 points behind first place finisher Western Oregon (51 points).

“The men ran okay. We wanted to win but came up a bit short,” Garlatz said. “Edwin [Kangogo] and Felix [Kemboi] ran really well but we need the rest of the group to continue to improve. We are training hard and preparing to have our best race of the season at regionals.”

Being unsatisfied with a runner-up finish at a conference meet, indicates the team’s great potential and thirst for success.

The upcoming regional meet will give the Seawolves time for revenge. “‘For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.’ This was a quote shared to us by Coach Friess and it was the plan we tried to follow,” Sanchez said.

“The race has just added more fuel to our tanks and all we have in our minds is the race – regionals.”

The women’s and men’s cross-country team will be back in action on Nov. 4 at the NCAA West Regional Championships in Monmouth, Oregon.

OPINION

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2017

| 15

A S S O C I AT E D CO L L E G I AT E P R ES S

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CO R R E C T I O N S In the Oct. 17 edition of The Northern Light, we misprinted the name of the planning and communications manager for the Public Transportation Department at the Municipality of Anchorage. The name of the planning and communications manager is Bart Reynolds.

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