September 19, 2017

SEPTEMBER 19 - SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

FEATURES

UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

A&E

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Deferred Action elimination impacts UAA senior

THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG

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Ketchikan artist Ray Troll opens fossil inspired exhibit

Diversity unrepresented at UA

Proposed plan seeks to hold administrators accountable

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

GRAPHICS BY JIAN BAUTISTA

Faculty diversity has not changed over the last 17 years at the University of Alaska, according to data collected by Human Resource Services Director Ron Kamahele. In his research, Kamahele found that the State of Alaska working population is more diverse than the staff, faculty and administration at UAA. Conversely, he found that white working populations were lower in Alaska than at UAA, meaning white faculty, staff and administration are overrepresented at the university. In particular, Kamahele found that Alaska Native representation was very low in comparison to the working population of the state.

“I did a separate study on applicants to UAA jobs and what I found was, yes, there are very low numbers of Alaska Natives represented in UAA employees and it’s a very low number of Alaska Native applicants for jobs,” Kamahele said. “It’s directly related to there are very few applicants that led us to sort of an action item to encourage

and promote whenever we do have a vacancy among the Alaska Native community to try and attract people to actually apply. I mean, we can’t change that number if we don’t get more applicants.”

On Sept. 12 the, Diversity and Inclusion Action plan was presented to members of the UAA community. The plan seeks to increase diversity in faculty, staff and administrative positions through seven main objectives: Objective 1: Create/Establish Policies and Procedures that Increase Diversity of Faculty, Staff, Administrators Objective 2: Provide a Framework for Advocating and Managing Diversity Objective 3: Develop a System of Accountability for the D&IAP Objective 4: Examine and Support UAA Student Success

SEE DIVERSITY

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Seawolf Rugby and the upcoming season

The newly established rugby club introduces students to the sport and Alaska community

By Karolin Anders

sports@thenorthernlight.org

Tran Dai Phu, property management major, is the president of UAA’s new rugby club. The Singapore native came to Alaska on a backpacking trip before deciding to stay here to continue his education at UAA. As an internationally certified referee for rugby, he joined the community in Alaska and became the vicepresident of the Alaska Rugby Union.

Dai Phu is highly active in the Alaskan and international rugby scene. He knows of the community’s interest in the sport as the Alaska Rugby Union already features three female, four male and five youth teams.

Starting a rugby club at the main educational institution in the local area seemed like the next logical step for him. The Alaskan rugby community became his home away from home.

“It is a sport that a small Asian guy like me can play

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against anyone,” Dai Phu said. “I can tackle a guy that is triple my size. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter how good you are. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are – you can play rugby. All you need to do is run and pass the ball. There is no proper proportion for it.”

Soon after his arrival in Alaska, Dai Phu met Justin Green, the founder of Alaska’s first and only rugby facility. Green built the Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds in his personal backyard right on Finland St. to introduce Alaska to the world of rugby.

“I wanted to put Alaska on the map because if you looked at the whole rugby map, there was a hole where Alaska was.

My plan was to fill that in and that’s what we did by building the field. To grow as a rugby community in Alaska, we had to build a field and a clubhouse that would support a future of rugby here,” Green said. “We just want to bring teams from all around the world up to Alaska, so they

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

The Semiahmoos break from the scrum in their exhibition match against the Old Oosiks.

get a chance to experience rugby here and at the same time what Alaska has to offer.”

Dai Phu started reffing during various tournaments hosted at the facility. It inspired him

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to start the rugby club at UAA. Through the club, he seeks to encourage others to get involved with the rugby community in Alaska.

Dai Phu and Kenny Melin,

@tnl_updates

business major, represented the Seawolf Rugby club during the Midnight Sun 7s Rugby tourna-

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NEWS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

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Student salaries in the UA System continue to fall lower than state minimum wage

By Brenda Craig

features@thenorthernlight.org

Since 2011, the University of Alaska’s student salary schedule has not changed. According to Alaska Dispatch News, in May 2016, 482 student workers have made less than state minimum wage.

The minimum wage for the State of Alaska was increased in Jan. 2017 from $9.75 an hour to $9.80 according to the Division of Labor Standards and Safety. With these recent minimum wage increases within the state, students that work for the University of Alaska are further from earning the state’s minimum wage.

Student pay scales for the University of Alaska are split into three levels. The first level is student assistant A, which starts at $8.50 an hour, student assistant B starts at $9.50 and student assistant C starts at $10.50 an hour. Student assistant C is the only level paid above the state minimum wage.

Each student assistant level can go to the next “step” on the scale, which is a raise of 25 cents after working a year in the same position.

Although student workers are able to advance their pay with time, there are often times when they are promoted to another position and are still unable to reach minimum wage.

“It was actually hard for me to move up positions. I worked for my job for three years before being offered a manager position,” Sarah Haley, pre-nursing major, culinary and business major and manager of the Hugh McPeck Gallery, said. “With 25 cent raises we get every summer, I had made matched the pay I was going to get as a manager.”

Depending on the actual work a student does for a particular job determines what level the student will be paid.

GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA

“More complex jobs are student level C, less complex jobs are student level A, so it’s based upon the complexity of the duties that are called upon for the particular job,” Ron Kamahele, Human Resource Services director, said.

Although student assistant A and B make less than the states minimum wage, it is higher than the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour.

“Our pay scale pays more than federal minimum wage, and the state of Alaska sets different minimum wage, which is higher than federal. The university actually does not have to comply with the state minimum wage,” Kamahele said. “We can decide to do so and we have not.”

The Alaska Division of Labor and Safety exempts the University of Alaska from the state minimum wage, which means that the University is able to decide student wages. The University of Alaska is the only system in the state that the exemp-

tion is being used, according to the Alaska Dispatch News. The question is whether or not this exemption should be used for student workers.

“I think salary schedules need to meet minimum wage requirements mandated by the state, exemption or not,” Kojin Tranberg, Commuter Programs coordinator, said. “I would hope we see student A positions at the minimum wage requirement of $9.80 with subsequent dollar increases for each other class of student labor. For example, student B positions at $10.80 and student C positions at $11.80.”

Students working on campus during the school semester may only work 20 hours a week, which makes them eligible for being exempt from income tax.

“Whereas someone working outside of the University, if they’re making even state minimum wage, they get taxes taken out and so they are making even less but the federal tax code allows educational institutions to

have student employees to exempt them from that tax,” Kamahele said.

With many jobs under state minimum wage, some students have to work two jobs to make ends meet.

“I have to work two jobs to pay all of my expenses, and I still find myself living paycheck to paycheck working 20 plus hours a week. It’s hard to work two jobs and attend school and barely make it by. I haven’t been able to get my textbooks for this semester yet,” Haley said.

According to the Living Wage Calculator, a tool created

by MIT, the living wage for one adult in Anchorage is $12.55 an hour. While the state minimum is far from that, student wages are even lower.

“I believe every student on campus deserves an increase in pay,” Haley said. “Even with no taxes taken out, you can only work 20 hours a week, which isn’t much when you’re getting less than the cost to live in Alas-

ka. The cost of living keeps increasing and we aren’t matching it in pay.”

Despite the student wages on campus, there is an emphasis on flexibility when it comes to students working on campus pursuing a full-time class schedule.

“Whenever a department hires student employees they know from the get-go that the students need flexibility with their work schedules and they do so students get that flexibility,” Kamahele said. “So that’s a really nice benefit because we are sensitive to making sure students can continue to pursue their education and that’s what we’re all about.”

There are many positives to working on campus including professional experience, networking connections and the ability to take on leadership.

“I love my job, I have gained great experience from it, and I am very passionate about the gallery I help run. My hours are flexible, my supervisors are amazing, they are extremely supportive and understanding,” Haley said.

With the changes in the state minimum wage, there are hopes to change the University of Alaska’s student wages accordingly.

“I think the University can move in confidence to meet basic minimum wage requirements without the specter of having to revisit a salary schedule update for some time,” Tranberg said.

“However, as the State institutes minimum wage increases, I would hope the University makes it a priority to meet these new increases in an expedient fashion.”

To raise the pay for students falling under minimum wage to $9.75, it would cost the University $163,904, according to Tara Ferguson, director of classification and compensation for the UA system.

NEWS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

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DIVERSITY: Minorities underrepresented in school faculty Continued from cover Objective 5: Diversify Curriculum and Instructional Strategies Objective 6: Focus on Space and Facilities Planning Objective 7: Include Community Campuses in the D&IAP E. Andre Thorn is the director of the Multicultural Center and one of the tri-chairs of the Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. He said that the 500 plus page plan is unprecedented in the UAA history.

“I think the most comprehensive study of all UAA campuses, including the community campuses, faculty staff and students that we have pertaining to diversity and inclusion issues since I believe, that’s ever been taken on the UAA campus,” Thorn said.

Over the last 17 years, there has been little change in diverse representation in faculty ranks and Thorn said that demonstrates a lack of accountability. The third objective of the D&IAP is to develop a system of accountability with the recommended action being that UAA leadership develops a detailed implementation plan and that they produce and publish an annual progress report tracking D&IAP progress.

“There must be some accountability… If you have 17 years of no growth, that’s indicative of no accountability, right?” Thorn said.

The D&IAP states that 80.4 percent of UAA’s faculty, staff and executive employees are white, compared to the State of Alaska working population at 69.8 percent.

“On almost every measure, white males are overrepresented in every category: faculty, student, staff, administrators. Is that problematic to anybody besides me? Do students feel like they should be able to see themselves in the classroom?” Thorn said.

UAA’s student population is more diverse than its faculty.

The 2016 Factbook for UAA shows that there are more African-American, Alaska Native and Hispanic students in the classroom than professors. The opposite is true of white students; the Factbook states that 58 percent of UAA students are white, compared with 80 percent

of professors.

“That means our white population is overrepresented in those areas and our diverse populations are underrepresented,” Thorn said. “That would identify a gap that would need to be addressed at some point by some measures.”

The D&IAP’s first object is to increase the diversity of employees by targeting recruitment to focus on underrepresented populations with an emphasis on Alaska Native employees.

“Status quo is not good enough,” Thorn said. “We need to kind of shift that up a little bit and get that information to the populations; we say we want to attract to UAA and Alaska.”

Over the last year UAA has had a high number of turnover in the administrative ranks, with many positions being held by interims. “[Many of them] have been interim appointments who happen to be white males, perpetuating that similar kind of scenario. That can’t happen,” Thorn said. “You can’t put white males in interim capacity who the pattern has been then they acquiesce into the actual positions, and then you worry about why we are not diverse when you had an opportunity to put some folks of color, or some women, or some women of color in those positions and have them ascend into the leadership positions.

Jim Johnsen, University of Alaska system president said he would like to see more diversity in faculty because he believes it will help with student recruitment.

“I would like to have more Alaska Native or Asian American or African-American faculty. I think it actually — it’s not a determinate — but I think it would help tremendously in our ability to recruit and retain a more diverse student population,” Johnsen said.

Johnsen said it helps to have diverse faculty recruit diverse students that hopefully become faculty later on.

“If we don’t have a lot of Alaska Native students working through our programs and who are getting graduate degrees and doctorate degrees, then it’s going to be really really hard to hire Alaska Native faculty,” Johnsen said. “The same case can be made for any ethnic group. Years ago, it was women in particular.”

GRAPHICS BY JIAN BAUTISTA

At the D&AIP presentation, tri-chair and professor Maria Williams said having someone who represented her ethnicity in a teaching position changed her career path.

“I never had a native professor until I was a junior in college and it changed my whole career trajectory,” Williams said. “I ended up here because of that.

And you hear that story over and over again from students who move on.”

Zakiya McCummings, journalism major, recalls having only one black professor — associate professor of English, Jervette Ward — in her time at UAA. “I think that kind of inadvertently says academia is not for you,” McCummings said about the lack of diversity in faculty

positions for her ethnicity.

McCummings said that initiatives like D&AIP can’t just be promises but that it must be active.

“It’s hard as a person of color to really have faith in these things happening,” McCummings said. “It really comes down to, ‘show me.’ You say that you care that I’m not represented, you say that you are making it your mission to make sure that I am. Show me… A promise means nothing. Action means something.”

At the University of Alaska the number of staff, faculty and administrators who identify as black or African-American has decreased over the last few years, from 3 percent to 1.97 percent of total headcount, while the Alaskan working-age

population for black or AfricanAmerican has increased from 3.51 percent in 2010 to 4.04 percent in 2015.

“I hear those statistics and I kind of want to laugh, not because it’s funny but it’s one of those situations where if you don’t laugh, you’re crying,” McCummings said. “Not to be condescending, but the question’s kind of ridiculous, people are like, ‘Why is it that white people are more represented?’ It’s because we value white people and white skin over people of color.

It’s not rocket science, it’s just the way the world is.”

From 2013 to 2015, the percentage of black or AfricanAmerican applicants to UAA jobs decreased 41 percent.

04 | NEWS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

New coal-fired plant to replace old boilers at UAF The Edge Update: ADN sale, health care and South Korea’s decapitation team

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 A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday approved the sale of Alaska Dispatch News to the Binkley family for $1 million. The Binkley’s had already lent the paper the $1 million to continue operations. The decision means that the paper will not go through a sudden shutdown. The hearing occurred on Sept. 11, which lasted from the morning and into the afternoon.

Ryan Binkley and Jason Evans have been working as interim co-publishers since the paper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August.

National On Sept. 13, two opposing bills were introduced to Congress in regards to health care.

This follows the failed attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this summer. Democrats have proposed

major expansions to Medicare, whereas the Republicans have introduced a plan that would roll back the ACA. The democratic bill was introduced by former presidential candidate and Vermont senator, Bernie Sanders, and was described as “a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health care system.” Fifteen Democrats have placed their support behind the bill. On the Republican side, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana unveiled their bill, which would take the money spent under the Affordable Care Act and give it to states in the form of block grants.

Global South Korean defense minister, Song Young-moo, told South Korean lawmakers that a so-called “decapitation unit” would be established by the end of the year to assassinate North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

This is the first time such a team has been announced since an assassination attempt was made on Kim Il-Sung in the 1960s. The team is in response to recent missile launches and comes just days after a sixth test.

By Mariah DeJesus-Remaklus mremaklus@thenorthernlight.org

The University of Alaska Fairbanks is building the nation’s only new coal plant, according to Reggie Greathouse, utilities superintendent for UAF. The $245 million project is intended to replace the University’s current main boilers due to possible risks of failure, while maintaining effective financial costs.

“It was determined through an evaluation that our old plant was older and the new construction process on the campus was outgrowing our capacity to provide services,” Greathouse said.

A number of factors played into the decision to build a coalfired plant and among them are the efforts to increase efficiency, decrease emissions as well as avoid high maintenance and potential failure costs.

“We knew we needed to do something,” Charles Ward, director of utilities, said.” So we did a study and some preliminary costs for both operating costs and capital construction cost on about 11 different options before we went down this road, everywhere from burning natural gas in a boiler to burning natural gas in a turbine — we even looked at a nuclear option but that didn’t work out so well.

So we did look at a lot of differ-

ent options prior to selecting this coal option.”

Fairbanks, unlike Anchorage, relies more on the coal industry than the gas industry.

Greathouse says that the University has no reliable and convenient access to a source of gas and coal has been considered to be the most practical option.

“Using an alternative fuel source was considered. Actually, there was a committee formed to determine what fuel source we would use,” Greathouse said. “The findings of the committee determined that coal was abundant, coal was mined here in Alaska and coal was our cheapest alternative to use to other fuel sources. To use something like natural gas with the amount that we needed or fuel oils were considerably [costlier] and to supply us, it would have to come from the Lower 48.”

The decision to use natural gas would pose logistical risks and a shutdown of operations if the transportation of supplies were interrupted.

Instead, the University is working with the Usibelli Coal Mine, who provides the coal by way of train cars.

Efficiency is an important aspect that was considered and Ward says that pollution and carbon emissions are no large concern.

“Fairbanks is what’s called a serious non-attainment area for

PF 2.5, which is particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns. So we were able to permit this facility in Fairbanks by trading the emissions from our older coalfired units,” Ward said. “We’ll basically be shutting down the old ones and starting up the new ones and effectively lowering emissions in the process.”

The demand for coal continues to exist despite the feasibility of a gas plant option. For Greathouse, it will stay this way until Fairbanks finds a way to utilize gas while having the access and cost efficiency.

“We’re pretty unique up here in the interior of Alaska because we don’t have a reliable supply for any of the power plants up here in the area to run anything other than coal,” Greathouse said. “I think that our future for coal here is very bright until natural gas or fuel oil – at the quantities that our power plant needs – can be either done here locally or at least in the state of Alaska and be more reliable. Right now we have to rely on a lot of products being shipped up from the Anchorage area to get to us when we deal with natural gas or fuel oil.”

Progress for the new coalfired plant can be viewed online on UAF’s Combined Heat and Power Plant website along with live video streams and written updates. The Utilities Department hopes to reach completion

Community and Technical College’s transition to University and Technical College

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

The Community and Technical College is transitioning into the University and Technical College according to an email memo Interim Chancellor Sam Gingerich sent out Sept. 12.

Along with the title change, the CTC will be offering tier one general education requirements instead of the College of Arts and Sciences.

“The Community & Technical College (CTC) has worked to create a ‘front door’ for UAA with its recent reorganization around student success, to include the Learning Commons, Writing Center and Math Em-

porium, and its student-centered alternative delivery models,” Gingerich wrote in the email.

“The innovative ways CTC is meeting students where they are in their academic development provides UAA an opportunity to overcome major obstacles to student success.”

Dean of CTC, Denise Runge, said the college’s student success focused programs will only be more centralized under this new organization.

“CTC already thinks of itself as the ‘front door’ or as like to say, the ‘front porch’ of the University, but I’m from the south,” Rungee said. “To me, a front porch is where you’re invited up, you spend a little time getting to know each other and hopefully,

you get into through front door.

In many ways that is CTC’s mission. We already offer services for all students of the University, such as — we’re in charge of the placement testing center, we run the Learning Commons, we run the sites on the military bases and at Chugiak/Eagle River…”

Tier one GERs include what Runge terms as fundamental skills: oral communication, writing and quantitative reasoning, which are math courses below calculus. Runge said the main difference for tier one course under this new organization will be the mode in which they’re taught.

“I think the difference will be partly mode of teaching. A lot of the faculty in developmental education spend a lot of time attending workshops and learning and reading about how to teach people who struggle with writing or how to teach people who struggle with math,” Runge said. “Whereas when faculty are

trained through a Ph.D. program in English or in math, they’re not really taught those skills.”

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, John Stalvey, said conversations around moving tier one GERs to a “University College” began three years again under former Provost Bear Baker.

“They essentially decided — because they couldn’t come down on one model that everyone agreed upon — to keep it the same… The bottom line is the same hasn’t served our students any better today than it did three years ago,” Stalvey said.

Stalvey said the purpose of this reorganization was to focus efforts on student success while integrating resources.

“It has a budgetary impact, however, I’d say the primary motivation is student success,” Stalvey said. “I think really the choice was to move all of the student success infrastructure and support services that CTC

had developed to Arts and Science to integrate it with tier one, or move the tier one to CTC — now UTC — which had all these incredible support services for students so they can be integrated better.”

Runge said there will be few changes in class locations and professors, and she hopes this reorganization will bring more of the UTC to the main campus.

“We might see the ability as the University focuses its resources to pull some of the disparate elements back to the main campus,” Runge said.

“But if you think about it, these courses are currently offered, not because they’re offered through CAS, they’re offered where they are because of the library, they’re close to the computer labs, they’re offered where they’re needed.”

Runge and Stalvey are planning to have this transition ready for the fall 2018 semester.

FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 05

Tai Yen Jimmy Kim and the American dream How one DACA recipient is creating his own life in America

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TAI YEN JIMMY KIM

Tai Yen Jimmy Kim rapping on stage in Anchorage. Kim enjoys collaborating with friends at open mics around town.

By Victoria Petersen copy@thenorthernlight.org

When Tai Yen Jimmy Kim isn’t at UAA studying for his justice and theater classes, one can find him performing in plays across Anchorage, working at Rustic Goat or at a local open mic rapping about institutionalized racism.

Tai Yen Jimmy Kim is a “dreamer.”

When he was four years old, Kim moved from South Korea to New York. Accompanying Kim was his mother and her family. The family hoped to become citizens with the help of Kim’s grandfather, who had moved to Chicago and became a citizen himself before Kim was born. A petition was put forth by his grandfather to help the family gain citizenship, but unfortunately proved futile for the Kims.

“I can’t help but think if we were able to afford an immigration lawyer in New York years ago, we could be citizens by now,” Kim said.

When Kim was 12 years old, his family moved to Alaska where he’s been ever since.

Kim graduated from West High School in Anchorage and is in his senior year at UAA, where he is double-majoring in theater and justice.

“I spent hundreds of hours participating in the Anchorage Youth Court, a specialized court for minors. That’s when I became interested in law,” Kim said. “I hope to work in rehabilitation rather than become a lawyer. Anchorage is unique in that it has specialized courts for domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse, among others. I want to help these individuals reintegrate back into society. I want to find funding for mental health programs for these in-

Kim with his mom and dad in South Korea. Kim has not seen his father in over a decade.

mates who need it most.”

Kim is 22 years old and not a U.S. citizen. Kim is protected from deportation and eligible for a work permit because of an Obama-era immigration policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. The program has offered protection to nearly 800,000 children who were brought to the U.S. illegally, allowing them to remain in the country without fear of deportation.

DACA recipients must have entered the U.S. before 2007 when they were 16 or younger.

The protections of the DACA program are renewable every two years. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced that they would be rescinding the program, although the future of the program is still up in the air and in the hands of the nation’s lawmakers and politicians.

“Why couldn’t he keep the

protections offered by DACA, while pushing Congress to create a more comprehensive bill?

It shouldn’t take putting 800,000 young adults in limbo for Congress to do their job,” Kim said.

“These immigrants are striving to make this country great. We are hardworking individuals.

If you truly believe that we are the reason you can’t get a job, then I can see why you’re unemployed.”

If the Trump administration were to wind-down the program, Kim could be at risk of losing his work permit, or may even be deported back to South Korea.

“I am not worried about deportation. I built an extensive network of kind, intelligent people here. They wouldn’t let that happen. Also, Trump and Homeland Security are a long way from deporting over 800,000 DACA recipients,” Kim said. “I am worried, however,

about my ability to work legally and receive scholarship funds for graduate school down the line. My work permit expires in January.”

Kim’s father stayed behind in South Korea. Due to visa restrictions, Kim has not been able to visit his father in nearly a decade. The two have been able to communicate via text and video chats without costly international fees through an app called Line.

“We thought we would be able to visit Korea regularly, but that’s not how it played out... He pays for my college tuition, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.

I’m proud of him and worried about him. He works hard for a family he can’t be with,” Kim said.

If Kim traveled to South Korea to visit his father, he would not be allowed re-entry into the U.S. “My lawyer has informed me that travelling back to Korea would be dangerous, since I wouldn’t be allowed re-entry into the U.S., something my USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] issued work permit makes abundantly clear on the bottom front of the card, ‘NOT VALID FOR REENTRY TO U.S.’” Kim said.

Besides his father, the only other connection Kim has to South Korea is the language.

Practicing with his mom at home, Kim is able to keep a basic retention of the language.

“It is the only time I get any practice. I can’t speak it at an intellectual level. I won’t be conducting any literary analyses in Korean anytime soon. However, I can keep a conversation for the most part,” Kim said.

One of Kim’s hobbies is rap.

He’s had the pleasure of collaborating with friends at open mics and has even rapped on stage with Inspectah Deck, something Kim has said he is very proud of. Although Kim hasn’t rapped about the DACA policy yet, he hopes to write a rap as well as a play about his experiences as a young American immigrant.

06 | FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

RED ZONE: Annual march returns to battle rape culture, sexual violence

Generation Action's "Take Back the Night" is an attempt to raise awareness and push for education

GRAPHIC BY JIAN BAUTISTA

New club fills gap in LGBTQ groups on campus

By Cheyenne Mathews cmathews@thenorthernlight.org

It has high heels, costumes and longhaired wigs. What is it? It’s UAA’s new Drag+ club. Founder and self-proclaimed drag queen, Robin O’Donoghue, said Drag+ seeks to fill a void in LGBTQ clubs offered at UAA. Jane Mastre, administrative assistant for Student Clubs and Greek Life, said there is only one other UAA LGBTQ related club, and they haven’t been active on campus in the last year.

“I haven’t seen them do anything lately, so I don’t know what’s going on there,” Mastre said. “I think it’s great that people are doing this, but those are the only two that we have that usually does stuff.”

O’Donoghue said the lack of LGBTQ focused clubs was one of his primary motivations for starting Drag+.

“The primary motivation, like I said, was kind of the lack of LGBTQ visibility and representation on campus,” O’Donoghue said. “I don’t think that’s because there aren’t queer people and people who would be interested in this kind of thing, not excluding non-queer people of course. I just think it’s because it’s not something that exists right now. I really am excited to see where this group can go.”

O’Donoghue wants Drag+ to be a fun way of interacting with the LGBTQ art forms.

“We are starting Drag+ which is going to be a club on campus focused on drag and the queer performance art, sharing queer history through performance and events, hopefully just creating this really fun group that is going to be able to in-

volve the campus and the community in what we are about,” O’Donoghue said.

Drag+ is still in its final stages of becoming a club, but once it becomes an official UAA club, O’Donoghue said there are several events he hopes to host in the future.

“In terms of goals, definitely goal number one was starting the group and we’ve pretty much achieved that almost…

Other goals I think would be: want to host several events this school year, hopefully, several successful events. We are planning on partnering with Generation Action for a couple of things in the future,” O’Donoghue said. “One that we’ve been discussing is like, different Halloween events, as well as we want to work with them on some sort of event to raise awareness and protest the Proposition One issue that’s going on here in Anchorage with the discrimination of transgender people. “ O’Donoghue said there are almost 20 people in the club. One of the founding members is Treasurer Teresa Wrobel.

“I’m joining because I was introduced to drag culture and all those other aspects by my friend Robin, the president of the club, and I felt that it was important,” Wrobel said. “It’s not just for if you’re identifying queer person, really anyone can join. I identify as straight, but I definitely find merit and entertainment out of the drag culture, so I felt that it was important to be like, not one of those outlying members, but not what you’d exactly stereotype.”

O’Donoghue encourages anyone of any gender identity to join the club and watch for events Drag+ hosts over the semester.

By Mariah DeJesus-Remaklus mremaklus@thenorthernlight.org

As a club at UAA that strives to raise awareness about reproductive justice, LGBTQ inclusion and other social matters, Generation Action hopes to spread the word regarding sexual violence and education with their second annual Take Back the Night march on Friday, Sept. 29.

“Take Back the Night is an initiative that Generation Action started at UAA last year and it’s kind of grown into something bigger,” Moira Pyhala, president of Generation Action, said. “We’re partnering with the DVSA Coalition [for Change], which is Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, along with the Student Health and Counseling Center. But initially, it was a call to action to raise awareness for the high rates of sexual assault here in the State of Alaska and in turn, also a call to action for sexual education to be implemented into high schools.”

Take Back the Night is also part of UAA’s Safety Awareness Month and brings to light the concerns surrounding the Red Zone. Lasting for about four months from August to November, the Red Zone is a time period during which the most sexual assaults occur on college campuses.

Pyhala attributes a number of factors to this high rate of sexual violence, including the frequency of partying and lack of proper training.

“People come to the university, [there’s] an excessive amount of partying, and really a lack of education, especially if you come from a place that doesn’t offer comprehensive sexual education and you don’t know what the meaning of consent is prior to going into college,” Pyhala said.

Hannah Guzzi is a health promotion specialist with UAA’s Student Health and Counseling Center, and she says that the first-time experience of being on a college campus can contribute to the Red Zone.

“First-year students may be learning boundaries, or even experiencing a new level of independence. It takes a while for students to adjust to their new environment,” Guzzi said. “They are also meeting lots of different people with different backgrounds, experiences and cultural influences.”

Pyhala says that the discussion revolving around rape culture and sexual violence has been starting on campus, even within organizations and groups outside of Generation Action.

“We’re really happy to see this kind of dialogue open up on campus and there’s been a lot of different groups that have been wanting to get involved, including The Northern Light, the Social Work Coalition, the DVSA,” Pyhala said. “So we start to see this dialogue even among Athletics, that people are really starting to open up to talk about sexual assault because that’s really the first step in preventing it.”

It is important for students to have access to resources and education in order to maintain a safe environment, Guzzi says. Organizations such as the Student Health and Counseling Center, Office of Equity and Compliance as well as the Center for Advocacy offer a variety of services.

“Our University provides a lot of wonderful programming as well as resources for not only sexual violence prevention but also for victims when an assault occurs. Our main goal continues to be striving to create a better and safer environment for students,” Guzzi said. “The University departments do a great job of collaborating with each other, and both community and student organizations to maximize our efforts for students.”

Along with the march, participants will have an opportunity to attend a public lecture given by Jackson Katz, who is known for his education and activism on gender violence prevention and other related issues. There will be a workshop with Katz and a poster-making session at the beginning of the event for the march.

Take Back the Night will run from 5 - 8 p.m., starting at the Alaska Airlines Center and ending at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium.

NARRATIVES CONVERSATIONS POLAR NIGHTS ALASKA INTERACTIVE SCIENCE POP-UPS

TOURS

TECH HISTORY NORTH INVENTING DESIGN LED ZEPPELIN INSTALLATIONS CELLULOID HOMESTEADING FILM

UP HERE GLACIERS EXHIBITS SPARK!LAB CHOMPER POETS DJs

ELEVATOR MUSIC

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LUNCH ON THE LAWN

TOURS TEEN STUDIO MUSE

FESTIVALS

WRITERS

ASTRONOMY

ART

FOSSILS GALLERIES CLASSES UNBOUND INDIGENOUS ARCTIC AURORA TECHNOLOGY HANGING OUT CONTEMPORARY INTERACTIVE ANCHORAGE MUSEUM NEW WING AND ALASKA EXHIBITION Grand Opening Weekend Sept. 15-17 more art on view

Media sponsor:

more history in context more than you think anchoragemuseum.org

FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 07

Facebook co-founder visits UAA, discusses universal basic income Chris Hughes sees the Permanent Fund Dividend as an economic model for the rest of the country

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

Forrest Nabors and Chris Hughes address a question by a student during Hughes’ visit to UAA last Friday to discuss the effects of the Permanent Fund Dividend and universal income. Hughes is a co-founder of Facebook and a member of the Economic Security Project.

By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes visited UAA recently to discuss the Permanent Fund Dividend and universal basic income.

Hughes worked on President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and had tumultuous stint as owner, publisher and editor in chief of The New Republic magazine.

On Sept. 15 the UAA Political Science Department hosted a guided discussion with Hughes led by professor Forrest Nabors in Rasmuson Hall.

Hughes is co-chair of the Economic Security Project, a two-year initiative researching implementation of unconditional cash stipends as a means to provide economic stability.

“Unemployment’s low — 4.3 percent — yet wages in this country are not rising.” Hughes

told the audience. “And when you look at the number of jobs that are out there, a job that used to be 40 hours a week, solid pay, heath benefits, vacation time, pension plans. Those are increasingly not available to people.”

His experience with Facebook taught him that hard work matters, but these days luck plays into economic success differently than it has in the past, he said. Factors including automation, globalization and monopolies cause a situation where wealth is consolidated in a “winner-take all-economy.” “[A] very small, select few people — quite frankly people like myself — have access to enormous winnings from the economy while everybody else struggles to make ends meet,” Hughes said.

Research shows, according to Hughes, that cash provides the most economic opportunity.

“It turns out when you give

people money, more often than not, they know better how to invest it in order to provide financial security to their families,” Hughes said.

He told the audience that Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend is a template for providing a base income across the U.S., which has piqued the interest of tech entrepreneurs.

Hughes addressed questions from Nabors including whether a base income has negative effects such as killing motivation.

He defended his position citing research in support of cash stipends, but conceded that there is still work to be done.

After the discussion Hughes took questions from the audience.

One audience member raised the issue of individuals abusing stipends for things like drugs and alcohol. While he agreed with those concerns, Hughes brought up research showing that despite the potential abuse

of stipends, most people use the money for practical purposes.

Another audience member asked Hughes why the government wouldn’t take care of education or public health issues before handing out cash. Hughes acknowledged that there are major problems that can’t be solved by giving out money, but said theres no “pecking order” to these issues and they need to be addressed in tandem with economic stability.

Maggie Lamborn, an English major at UAA, said she supports a universal basic income and found the discussion informative.

“It was really interesting for me, considering I’ve only lived in Alaska for 13 months,” Lamborn said. “I won’t receive the PFD, but I’ve watched how it affects the Alaskan economy and seeing somebody like Chris Hughes, who’s really wellversed in this kind of thing come up and talk about it and talk

about how it changes the whole dynamic of things.”

After the event, Nabors said that when you see people like Hughes spending their time and money championing ideas for the benefit of others, it’s difficult to disagree with their cause.

“The idea of a basic minimum income has its friends on both sides of the aisle, it has its enemies on both sides of the aisle.

Which I think means all of us ought to consider what it is, how it would work without partisan taint,” Nabors said. “We ought to think about it. It is a powerful idea. It’s a revolutionary policy idea in fact, I would say, and it’s worth our time. Even if we don’t agree with it, the question itself will stimulate further thought that could improve our policy discourse.”

KTUU reported Hughes spent his trip touring Anchorage and speaking with locals about their opinions of the PFD.

08 | FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

FEATURES

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

College Cookbook: Lemon poppy seed cardamom rolls

By Victoria Petersen copy@thenorthernlight.org

PHOTO BY AMMON SWENSON

These rolls are decadent.

The moment I saw this recipe scrolling through my Pinterest, I had to make them.

They aren’t classic and they aren’t like anything you can get in a typical bakery.

Treat yourself this fall with cardamom, which goes so well with the citrus flavor of lemon.

Ingredients Dough

Lemon cardamom poppy seed filling

• 1 package of instant yeast

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 2 tablespoon lemon zest

• 2 eggs

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

• 1 1/2 tablespoon cardamom

• 1 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

• 1 pinch of cinnamon • 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon salt

Directions 1. In a mixing bowl, add yeast and 2 teaspoons of the sugar to the warm milk.

Whisk and let sit until the yeast becomes frothy.

2. Once the yeast is proofed, add the remaining sugar and softened butter. Mix with a stand mixer on low, or mix manually. Once the butter is broken up into chunks, add the eggs and mix while adding a half a cup of flour at a time to incorporate.

Mix until a tacky dough forms.

3. Remove the dough from the bowl, it should be soft and not sticky. Knead the dough on a floured surface for two minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a dry towel. Let the dough sit for one and half hours, or up to two hours so the dough can double in size.

4. While the dough is waiting to rise, get started on the filling. Cream butter, sugar and lemon in a small mixing bowl until pale. Add in vanilla, cardamom, flour and poppy seeds until combined. Set aside until ready to use.

5. Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down in the bowl and knead it for several minutes. Divide into ten equal parts.

6. Take the ten pieces and roll them into thin rectangles, about a 1/4 inch thick.

7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the poppy seed filling across the rectangle, leaving about 1/2 inch border at the bottom of each rectangle.

9. Roll each rectangle up jelly-roll style, or “hot dog” style. Cut the roll in half, leaving half an inch at the top in tact. Twist the two cut pieces together and then roll the twisted piece together in a spiral. Repeat the process for the rest of the rolls.

10. Place the rolls in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

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& AE

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 10

By putting characters first, ‘Ixcanul’ becomes a transcendental experience

By Jacob Holley-Kline Contributor

Reviewing a movie a week for three years, and watching plenty besides that, tends to numb the senses. It’d be a lie to say I wasn’t sometimes asleep at the wheel. For the first 20 minutes of “Ixcanul,” this was the case, but then something happened. My critical sense shut off and I watched on feeling alone.

The Guatemalan drama’s pieces creep into place, blindsiding viewers without being jarring.

Calling it a sum of its parts is a disservice, though. The quietude, the ethereal cinematography, and the patience of it work so well together that it feels less like a movie and more like the world itself. We’re just passing observers of monumental change in María’s (María Mercedes Coroy) life. Set to marry Ignacio (Justo Lorenzo) after he comes back from a business trip, she instead looks to the America-bound alcoholic Pepe (Marvin Coroy). A sojourn with him in the woods leaves her

pregnant, threatens to end her engagement with Ignacio and leave her family homeless.

They live at the base of an active volcano somewhere in Guatemala’s countryside, a rarely seen corner of the world in cinema. Despite the setting’s uniqueness, director Jayro Bustamante and Luis Armando Arteaga, his cinematographer, don’t oversell it. Instead, it’s deemphasized, a blurred sea of green and blue punctuating every scene. The characters stand in sharp contrast to it. Often, they’re the only thing on-screen that’s in focus. Every frame is a reminder to consider the person before their world, and only when those people grow, especially María, does Bustamante pull the camera back. In those moments, the characters and the world are one in the same.

Most impressively, the cast is made up of non-professional actors. Besides one upcoming movie, this is Coroy’s only credit. María Telón, who plays Juana, the mother, has the most out of the cast with “Ixcanul” being her third. Both play their characters

with such specificity and depth that it’s a wonder they’re acting at all. Telón especially deserves praise. Her Juana is a fierce matriarch raised as a proud Kaqchikel woman who’s still quick to push her culture’s ways to the side when her daughter comes to harm. Coroy’s understated performance as María is just as complex. Her stony face barely gives anything away, but like the volcano, there’s always something bubbling beneath the surface. She even says so herself later in the movie, hands on her pregnant stomach.

In response, her mom tells her to massage her belly so the baby is born safely. It’s a beautiful moment that illustrates the power of the movie: we can love the things thrust upon us, even if they threaten our lives. Coroy does not ask for a child, she wants to go to the United States.

It’s only when her mother tries and fails to abort the baby with herbs that she decides her child was meant to survive. In a bittersweet way, she’s right, but in “Ixcanul,” being right doesn’t come without consequences.

‘Omnion’ by Hercules and Love Affair: A Different Side of EDM

ALBUM Omnion

ARTIST Hercules and Love Affair

RELEASE DATE Sept. 1, 2017

LABEL Atlantic

By Grant Kniefel KRUA

Dance music in the modern day and age has become a con-

GENRE Electronic

voluted art form. Over the past decade or so, it has expanded from a genre that was fairly formulaic to that of which wholly encompasses music that breaks

the constructs, such as EDM and dubstep.

“Omnion” by Hercules and Love Affair harks back to a simpler time. More like Daft Punk than Calvin Harris, it vibes like your favorite ‘80s electronic album. The bass thumps hard, the synthesizer is used liberally and it’s a rocking good time. One thing that strikes is the lack of vulgarity on the album.

Hercules and Love Affair recognize the fact that rappers have dominated recent charttopping dance records, they choose to go the alternate route and elect to utilize mainly singing on the album. It’s clean and very wholesome, something that is refreshing in a time where rappers throw swear words down over beats that sound like blender noises. The whole thing is smooth, clean and reminds us that not everything has to be explicit to be fun.

Everything from “Controller,” a heavy club banger from the start, to “Wildchild,” a slow burner that evolves into something larger than life, it hooks you in and is a nonstop EDM rush. If you’re looking for something different than what you hear on the radio, look no further than “Omnion.”

TITLE “Ixcanul”

DIRECTOR Jayro Bustamante

RELEASE DATE Feb. 7, 2015

COUNTRY Guatemala

GENRE Drama

A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 11

Artist Ray Troll brings to life long-extinct creatures at the Anchorage Museum “Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline” tells a visual story of Alaska’s fossils with Troll’s signature whimsy

PHOTO BY AMMON SWENSON

Artist Ray Troll and paleontologist Kirk Johnson teamed up to tell the story of Alaskan fossils in their new exhibit, “Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline” at the Anchorage Museum.

By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org

A kid’s interest in dinosaurs typically fizzles out eventually, but for artist Ray Troll, his love of prehistoric creatures seems to only have intensified over time.

The Ketchikan-based artist teamed up with his long-time co-conspirator, paleontologist and director of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Kirk Johnson, on a new exhibit at the Anchorage Museum that tells a visual story of Alaska fossils in a way only Troll can.

“Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline” and its soon-to-be-released companion book document the pair’s adventures and findings as they travelled thousands of miles along North America’s west coast hunting fossils, examining collections and hanging out with researchers.

“I want people to feel that science is accessible, that science is fun — and it is fun,” Troll said.

“I want them to think they can be a citizen scientist too.”

Known well beyond Southeast for his lighthearted, of-

ten punny or irreverent takes on Alaska wildlife and culture, Troll brings a childlike sense of gusto to the topic with a playfulness that might resurrect one’s long-extinct interest in prehistoric creatures or be the spark that ignites a kid’s lifelong passion.

From full-size sculptures and fossil specimens to paintings and maps, the exhibit makes it easy to visualize spans of time, regional scope and creatures’ anatomy in a scientifically accurate way while being uniquely Trollian.

Visitors can hang out on what Troll assumes to be the world’s only trilobite couch while gazing at ammonite wallpaper and listening to songs about fossils.

It would be easy to lose track of time taking a close look at Troll’s excruciatingly detailed maps showing where notable prehistoric animals have been found in Alaska — with a few jokes sprinkled here and there.

Not one to be restrained exclusively to the subject matter, Troll includes symbolic tributes to his family — his sister’s dog Yoda for example — and, if

you look closely, you might see where he’s had some memorable cheeseburgers.

“I came to [paleontology] as an artist, and I’m not a trained scientist by any means. I’m a trained artist, but I think people should not be held back by the lines between disciplines,” Troll said. “I like to break down those barriers.”

Talking with Troll, one could be excused for assuming he is a full stack expert in the fossil record and not an artist with a taste for whimsy.

While Johnson handled the science, Troll is no slouch when it comes to paleontology. He rattles off terms like “paleoceneeocene thermal maximum” with the ease of a man ordering a burger and fries.

He wishes people knew their geologic periods as well as they know their ABCs and tries to make the textbook-like information fun, because he thinks it’s essential to understand what’s happening to the planet right now.

By knowing the geological history of Earth, he hopes people can have a better idea of

what effects humans have on the planet.

“In order to have an informed discussion, you need to know this stuff. I think it’s important,” Troll said.

For Troll, the “big wows” of the exhibit are the life-size sculptures of prehistoric animals done by accomplished paleoartist Gary Staab. There’s a Pachyrhinosaurus, similar to a triceratops, smashing through the wall, a human-sized prehistoric bird Troll nicknamed “The Chickaloon Chicken From Hell” and the upper portion of an Ounalashkastylus tomidai, a member of the Desmostylus genus which resembles a tusked hippopotamus.

“We’re so excited to raise Desmo consciousness,” Troll said before pointing out a painting where he depicted what it might be like to surf alongside the huge animals.

He’s done enough work raising Desmo consciousness that researchers now call groups of the animals Trolls.

While the Desmo and Pachyrhinosaurus are only partial depictions, Troll doesn’t think an

entire sculpture is always necessary to show the scale of an animal. Not to mention the cost and space requirements.

“You got the economy version, and it looks badass-cool,” Troll said.

Throughout the exhibit there are displays of fossils, most of which were provided by the Museum of the North at UAF, which Troll presented like a proud kid showing off his dinosaur toys.

“It was like a childhood dream come true to dig up dinosaurs,” Troll said. “I mean, I’ve been dreaming about it since age four — drawing dinos all my life.”

Patrick Druckenmiller, professor of geology at UAF and the Earth sciences curator at the Museum of the North, assisted Troll and Johnson in their fossil selection and has had them out on past digs.

Alaska is unique when it comes to paleontology compared to heavily studied areas like Montana, according to Druckenmiller. The huge size, difficult access to dig sites and resulting costs has left much of the state unexplored.

“We are — in Alaska — where say, parts of the American west were maybe 100 years ago,” Druckenmiller said. “And so when you go to new places, it’s not really surprising that you’re finding new things that have never been seen before. So we have this really kind of important place in the big picture of paleontology.”

Since paleontologist don’t always have the complete remains of a specimen, he said working with artists can be essential to helping the scientific work come to life.

“They’re the ones who make our ideas tangible to the public,” Druckenmiller said.

Hoping to share his love of art and science, Troll wanted to reinvigorate a childlike sense of wonder in visitors. He even made sure to include a drawing table in the exhibition — possibly inspiring the next generation of paleoartists.

“It all started for me as a kid picking up a crayon,” Troll said.

“Cruisin’ the Fossil Coatline” will be on display at the Anchorage Museum from now until Sept. 1, 2018.

12 | A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Extracurriculars: Trivia, open mic night and art exhibitions to entertain your week

By Ammon Swenson arts@thenorthernlight.org

Around town “Silver Thaw” What: A brand new murder mystery directed by Sara Athens. This play promises intrigue, misdirection, and maybe even some laughs along the way. If it leaves you a little more confused than when you started, don’t worry. That’s the point.

When: Sept. 15 - Oct. 8, 2017: Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7, Sunday afternoons at 3. Buy one get one free tickets on Sept. 21 and 28.

Where: Anchorage Community Theater (1133 E 70th Ave) Cost: $13-17 Geeks Who Drink pub quiz What: Eight rounds of trivia topics projected on the big screen. Order food and drinks while you test your mental mettle and have the chance to win prizes every round. Ages 21 and up with a valid ID. When: Tuesday, Sept. 19 from 8-9 p.m.

Where: Williwaw (609 F St.) Cost: Free Great Alaskan Cypher What: Love hiphop? Check out the first Great Alaskan Cypher, an event created to help promote local musicians and celebrate freestyle, featuring performances by Local artists LOEKKY, Rozi Delgado, LivefromtheNorth, & DoubleDose and more. Hosted by Kevin DeBoord with DJ Rafiki Frey.

When: Saturday, Sept. 23 from 7-10 p.m.

Where: Frozen Founders (529 W. 3rd Ave.) Cost: $10

At UAA Open Mic Night What: Have a skill worth showing off? Come sing, dance, read poetry or juggle to your heart’s content at the monthly Open Mic Night.

When: Wednesday, Sept. 20 from 7-8 p.m.

Where: The Den in the Student Union Cost: Free “Hickory Cartoon Show” opening reception What: An art exhibition featuring first-time students to trained professionals expressing their personal styles in an abstract or cartoon esthetic. Curated by UAA student club The Hickory for Animation and Cartooning, this show hopes to set itself apart by featuring pieces that might not otherwise have the chance to be viewed under gallery lights.

When: Thursday, Sept. 21 from 4-6 p.m.

Where: Hugh McPeck Gallery, in the Student Union Cost: Free “Grandmothers” exhibition opening reception What: “Grandmothers (I come as one, but I stand as ten thousand)” is an exhibition by artist Wendy Red Star featuring work inspired by Richard Throssel’s photographs of Crow women circa 1911. Enlarging Throssel’s work Red Star added mirrors to the images connecting them with the present time and location, as well as the viewer.

When: Thursday, Sept. 21 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Where: Kimura Art Gallery, second floor of the Fine Arts Building Cost: Free Banff Radical Reels What: Check out the best films the Banff Mountain Film Festival has to offer. Watch skiers, bikers and paddlers get gnarly on the big screen in over half a dozen films featuring some of the top action sports athletes and filmmakers in the world. Tickets available at uaatix.com.

When: Friday, Sept. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Where: Wendy Williamson Auditorium Cost: UAA students: $5 advance / $10 door (Must have valid UAA ID). Youth (12 and under): $5 advance / $10 door. General public: $13 advance/ $18 door.

A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

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SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 14

Radical Recreation: Higher the climb, greater the scenery Elementary education major joins his two passions: photography and rock climbing

Jackson Ursin training at the local indoor rock gym.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JACKSON URSIN

One of Jackson Ursin’s adventures took him to Yosemite National Park. One of Ursin’s goals is to climb El Capitan in the park.

By Brenda Craig

features@thenorthernlight.org

When Jackson Ursin, elementary education major, started college, he also picked up rock climbing. Over the years, Ursin has participated in a wide variety of hobbies, but the ones that will stick around is photography and rock climbing, going hand in hand through his many adventures.

His interest in photography began in high school for fun with his friends or when he went on trips with family. It wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he was inspired to become a “hobby photographer.”

“I shot different things for a

while but what really inspires me is landscapes, especially here in Alaska,” Ursin said.

“Having your own perspective is what keeps me inspired with photography, it’s the idea that a landscape can be seen differently depending on the person and timing.”

Many of Ursin’s friends would say that his dedication to his shots and the value of each photo differ from many other photographers.

“Many photographers will charge people for portrait sessions, Jack doesn’t do that because he recognizes the value of a good portfolio over a shortterm buyout,” Jamison Rust, Ursin’s friend and roommate, said.

“He and I have driven all over

Alaska for landscape shots, portraits and whatever style of photography he feels he should be focusing on at the time.”

Ursin has spent most of his climbing career training indoors preparing to climb outdoors.

This was his first summer rock climbing outdoors at places such as Turnagain Arm, Hatcher Pass and Anchorpoint. After climbing this summer, Ursin has planned several goals he would like to fulfill next summer.

“My plan is to train [at the rock gym] for the winter to prepare for some big climbs this summer,” Ursin said. “I plan on climbing outside here in Alaska, but I want to make trips to Smith Rock in Oregon, Moab in Utah and Yosemite in California to

get some epic climbs under my belt.”

Ursin became hooked on rock climbing because of the challenge, but his favorite aspect that keeps him going is the community.

“I have met so many cool people climbing and have made lasting friendships through the climbing community, Ursin said. “Without the community, a lot of the drive to push myself wouldn’t be there. A lot of climbers are really open, encouraging and equally psyched.”

Ursin’s go-to for climbing outside is his friend Tyler Bernier. Ursin and Bernier met at the local rock climbing gym, and as the weather got better they moved to the outdoors to continue their friendship and climbing.

“His abilities have definitely improved a lot, his footwork is more precise and you can tell he thinks about how he fits on the wall a lot more than he did before,” Bernier said. “His climbing is more powerful, fluid and aesthetic which creates an interesting style.”

Not only has Ursin’s climbing ability improved, but also his photography has seemed to take on another style during adventures.

“He’s always had a good eye for photography, there is no questioning the quality of his shots but I do think the type of photos have changed recently, Bernier said. “I feel like he’s kind of taken this approach of ‘let’s be in the moment,’ which I think is awesome. He’s spending less time worrying about getting

the perfect shot and more about enjoying the adventure that’s unfolding.”

Although Ursin’s love for rock climbing is recent, he has made goals for the future that inspires him to make climbing a lifelong activity.

“I plan on making it a lifetime hobby for sure, my biggest goal is to climb Half Dome and El Capitan in Yosemite, I need to get on some bigger walls before doing this and definitely train for it,” Ursin said. “This goal is definitely many years out, but it does keep me going.”

The main goal behind Ursin’s career is to make a difference in the world.

“I struggled to find what I really wanted to do for my major for a while. I knew I wanted to make a difference in this world in any way I could,” Ursin said.

“Being a teacher was the most obvious to me. Education is so important in today’s society, and will definitely make all the difference in the future.”

Ursin plans on moving at the beginning of his career to either Seattle or Bellingham to teach the third or fourth grade.

He favored the idea of moving to Bellingham because of the rock climbing and scenery in the area.

“Persistence is key to both [activities]; if you want to take good photos, you have to use your camera every day. If you want to climb hard, you have to train hard. Work hard to better yourself,” Ursin said.

SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 15

RUGBY: Club has sights set on growth to NCAA sport

PHOTOS BY JAY GUZMAN

The Semiahmoo Old Boys in a scrum with Alaska Old Oosiks as the audience watches from above. The word ‘Old’ in the team names indicate that they are an old boys team with players from ages 35 and up.

An Oosik tackles the ball carrier before he passes it off.

Continued from cover ment on Sept. 9 at the Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds. The tournament featured the Semiahmoo Old Boys RFC, a team of former Canadian national team players vs. Alaska Old Oosik Ruby.

Dai Phu’s involvement with both organizations allows a close cooperation between the two institutions and connects the club to national and international tournaments hosted at the facility. Melin hopes to further increase his involvement with the Alaskan rugby community through Seawolf Ruby.

“Tran [Dai Phu] decided to

start a rugby club and he asked me to join, so I did. This last summer was my first full season playing rugby in Alaska. I played for the Turnagain Bore Tides and it was awesome,” Melin said.

Playing on Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds is a unique experience for players.

“We played up here in the last tournament. It was so much fun, I had never played up here on this field. I played around Anchorage before, but it was really special playing up here,” Melin said.

Dai Phu is trying to establish rugby as a year-round sport in Alaska. During the winter, play-

Tran Dai Phu, president of UAA’s Rugby Club with Justin Green who owns and operates Alaska’s first rugby facility; Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds.

The ball carrier makes a break past several of the Semiahmoo players.

ers usually play touch rugby, a game in which players don’t tackle each other but instead touch their opponents with their hands. That way they avoid injuries due to most facilities’ unsuitable floor surfaces for playing rugby.

Dai Phu and the Alaska Rugby Union are discussing the possibility of integrating a rugby field in the Sullivan Arena, which could be set up during weekends around the Seawolf hockey team’s schedule. The field would provide level four certified turf for rugby games, which replicates grass of high quality to prevent injuries. That way players, including the Sea-

wolf Rugby club, would have the opportunity to play during the long winter months. Another place for possible games would be The Dome after its reinstatement this winter.

“I’m really excited for it to be all year around. Up here, you can’t really play outside during the winter, but it will probably expand the game a lot more and also be a nice experience to play all year round and get more experience,” Melin said.

The Seawolf Rugby club seeks to promote rugby for women and men, especially with the prospect of women’s rugby becoming an official NCAA sport. This could put rugby on

the radar to be added as an official NCAA sport to the UAA Athletics Department, which the club and the Alaska Rugby Union aims for.

Seawolf Rugby will meet every Monday and Thursday at the Delaney Park Strip at 7 p.m. and transfer to the Wells Fargo Sports Complex at UAA’s main campus for touch football when winter arrives. They will play at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex Thursdays at 5 p.m. For questions regarding the club, contact Kenny Melin at klmelin@ alaska.edu.

16 | SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

The team that’s been hiding in the Wells Fargo Sports Complex for 11 years The Anchorage Water Polo Club brings together a wide range of Anchorage residents

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN QUIMBY

Part of the Anchorage Water Polo team in Seattle for a tournament in Feb. 2017.

By Lauren Cuddihy

sports2@thenorthernlight.org

Beginning in fall of 2006, the Anchorage Water Polo Club has sprouted to well over 100 members, an impressive increase from the four or five friends who founded the club.

The original group put together a flyer and spread it around Anchorage, hoping to increase awareness of the sport. However, this group only loosely understood the game and rules of water polo; that was until Scott Geuss saw the flyer and attended the next practice.

Geuss, a financial officer for local Native Corporation, brought the team together using his water polo experience.

In high school from 1991-94, Geuss was a member of the varsity water polo boys team at Cate Boarding School in Carpinteria, California.

During 1994, he also made the AllCalifornia Interscholastic Federation First-Team selection and was the leading scorer that season. He then moved on to play club polo at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for two years until picking the sport back up in 2006. “[In the beginning], we were at West High and playing with small plastic soccer goals that had to be reset each time you shot because they’d get knocked over.

I taught everyone the rules and started setting up drills so that we could actually play the game,” Geuss said.

West High didn’t exactly cut it for their

team practices, so once the club started gaining members and experience, Geuss was able to make some changes. After being put in touch with UAA Assistant Director of Programs, Alan Piccard, the team got a contract set up for the WFSC pool and have been playing every year from September through April.

After several years of practice and organization, the club had what they thought would be an official first tournament in Fairbanks.

“In April of 2010, we played our first tournament against the UAF intramural club. Anyhow, it turned out they didn’t have a lot of experience and after a blowout game, we mixed the teams up to make for fairer play,” Geuss said.

It took another six years before getting the ball rolling with USA Water Polo with a tournament in February of 2016.

After officially being affiliated with USAWP, the team has expanded their horizons and gained considerable attention, including having 143 members on their Facebook group.

Of those 143 members, the group has become very diversified: several school teachers, some students, a urologist and ages ranging from 18 to 73. There was at least one person on the club who went on to Navy Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL training and used the polo workouts to prepare. A former special forces commander played for several years, and Dr. George Stransky, the former Olympian, participated as well.

Stransky, the team goalie, now 73

PHOTO BY JAY GUZMAN

The Anchorage Water Polo Club practicing at the Wells Fargo Sports Complex on Sept. 10. The team practices every Sunday night at the WFSC.

years old, played in the 1964 Olympics as a water polo goalie for the USA Olympic Water Polo Team. In addition, Stransky boasts an impressive athletic history including being on the USA All-American water polo team for three years, 31 marathon completions and has competed in the FINA Masters World Champion in water polo in both 2008 and 2014.

“Water polo is a team sport. That means you work with fellow athletes toward a goal of doing your best. Your teammates motivate you to be a better person and they add quality and friendship to your life,” Stransky said.

In addition, Stransky stays busy as the WWAMI/University of Washington Medical School professor of OB/GYN, as well as working at Alaska Women’s Cancer Care.

Another notable team member is Dr. James Brant Darby, a pediatric dental oral surgeon, who started playing water polo 30 years ago.

He played as a goalie for four years at Monache High School in Porterville, California and then in 1990 was selected as the EYL First-Team goalie, as well as the CIF All-Star team. He played several years in college but didn’t compete again until 2012 when he joined the Anchorage team.

Darby’s dedication to the sport is proven by his impressive experience, including participation in thirteen separate masters tournaments spanning from Seattle to Croatia.

“I play water polo for the following

reasons: it is a fun experience, you’re able to make good friendships and meet interesting people, it is motivation to stay fit, as well as challenging. We need challenges in our lives to stay sharp,” Darby said.

With a consistent trend of doctors and dentists taking participation on the team, the diversity continues with Chris Seipp, a South African local.

Seipp began his water polo career in high school during the years of 1992-93 at Durban High School in Durban, South Africa. During that time he boasts the recognition of being awarded First-Team Water Polo.

For six years, Seipp he was a referee in Western Province, RSA and even won Wester Province Referee of the Year in that time frame. Seipp has also worked as a Provincial referee trainer and coordinator for five years.

With all the diversity and connections on the team, it is no surprise that Anchorage Water Polo Club is able to bring up a former Team USA Player, Greg Enloe.

Enloe used to also play professionally in Europe and has coached over six different clubs and school teams. He will be in Anchorage to host a water polo clinic targeting former players and those who have strong swimming skills to come learn some valuable water polo skills.

The clinic will take place on Oct. 7 - 8 in the UAA pool from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. For more information on the club or the clinic visit their Facebook group Anchorage Water Polo Club, or contact club manager Scott Geuss at scottgeuss@hotmail.com.

SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 17

Ryan Orton begins fourth year coaching for the Seawolves Orton returned to UAA with ample experience in recruiting and academics

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOSEAWOLVES

By Lauren Cuddihy

sports2@thenorthernlight.org

New men’s basketball assistant coach Ryan Orton will replace Cameron Turner after his departure from UAA. After six years of dedicated coaching, Turner took a position as head women’s basketball coach in Thatcher, Arizona at Eastern Arizona college. During his time at UAA he helped the Seawolves obtain a 116-61 overall record and, for every one of

his six seasons here, Seawolves finished among the top four teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

“While I’m happy to be taking the next step in my coaching career, it will be difficult to leave behind all the friends we have made here at UAA and throughout Alaska,” Turner said.

During his time at UAA, Turner was well known for his successful recruits such as AllAmerican Suki Wiggs, Spencer Svejcar and Brian McGill.

Osborne was left as the

sole remaining men’s basketball coach, and began actively searching for an assistant.

“Although losing assistants is always bittersweet, I truly believe it is a priority for any program to help qualified, loyal assistants become head coaches.

Cameron is now the fourth former assistant in the last eight years to become a collegiate head coach, which is a compliment to our program,” Osborne said.

Ryan Orton was Osborne’s assistant coach of choice for the 2017-18 season. Orton returned to UAA for the second time, switching back from his head coach position at Western Wyoming College in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Orton played basketball as a team captain and earned MVP and All-Cascade Conference honors in 1996. He moved on to play more collegiate basketball at Northwest Christian University from 1991 to 1993 His early beginnings of coaching took place in Washington state at D-I Eastern

Washington from 1998-2003.

Orton coached on the staff that produced the Big Sky Conference’s best overall record over four seasons.

After that, Orton moved to Northwest Nazarene from 20042006 and was intensely involved with the program. He also boasts the accomplishment of being one of GNAC’s top young recruiters, signing the league’s 2007 Newcomer of the Year and the 2006 Idaho High School State Player of the Year.

From 2006 until 2008, Orton coached at D-I program Montana State. His athletes had a 100 percent graduation rate, and he assisted in producing five Academic All-Big Sky honorees.

Orton originally began with the Seawolves in 2009, where he assisted Osborne for three seasons until departing for five years.

“We have maintained a close relationship over the last five years, and when he indicated a desire to return, it was an easy decision,” Osborne said.

Orton returned to UAA with

ample experience in not only coaching, but recruiting as well, which he exemplified during his previous run with the Seawolves.

“He was an outstanding assistant his first three years, and with five years of head coaching experience, I’m sure he will make even more of an impact this time around. He knows UAA, he knows the Alaska basketball community, and he understands what we value in our program. I don’t think we could have found a better replacement,” Osborne said.

With the 2017-18 training season now well underway, Osborne and Orton have been actively working on the team to prepare them for the season.

“I am excited to welcome Ryan back to the Seawolf family,” Osborne said.

The Seawolves will debut their season on Oct. 28 for an alumni game at the Alaska Airlines Center. After that, they will head to Lancaster, California for their first regular season game on Nov. 4.

Nationally ranked cross-country team off to early success

By Karolin Anders

sports@thenorthernlight.org

Karolin Anders is a former UAA Track & Field athlete The men’s and women’s cross-country teams are off to a great start for their 2017 campaigns. Entering the season, both teams are predicted to defend their Great Northwest Athletic Conference team titles and finish in the top-10 nationally.

The highly successful men’s team comes off their sixth consecutive team title, while the women have two straight titles and seven of the last eight altogether.

According to the U.S. Track and Field & Cross-Country Association’s Div. II preseason polls, the men are predicted to finish fifth and the women seventh at the national meet on Nov. 18.

During their first two meets of the season, the Seawolves presented themselves in excellent shape. Both teams opened the season at the USF Invitational in San Francisco, California on Sep. 2 followed by the Ash Creek Invitational on Sep. 8 at Monmouth, Oregon.

Michael Friess, head coach of the Seawolf’s cross-country programs for 28 years, knows of his teams potential and expects them to exceed the expectations set for them.

“We are just getting rolling.

Obviously, it is a very young season that’s part of a very young year and combine that with a lot of new athletes. We are excited.

We are just getting rolling,” Friess said.

The UFS Inivitational, hosted by the University of San Francisco, featured a 6-kilome-

ter course for the women and an 8-kilometer course for the men.

The lone Div. II team in the field, finished in the top ten with the women placing third and the men placing fourth.

Caroline Kurgat was the top Seawolf finisher placing fifth in 21:39.29 minutes. Her placing in the competitive field earned her USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week and GNAC Women’s Cross-Country Athlete of the Week honors. Kurgat’s fellow teammate Emma Chelimo was the second Seawolf to finish the race in a time of 23:16.1 placing 18th. Kimberly Coscia successfully returned to action after a long streak of injuries. She finished third for the Seawolves, placing 20th in 23:20.3. Also scoring for the Seawolves were Zennah Jepchumba, 26th and Maria Burroughs, 27th.

“I am so grateful to be back healthy and competing with my team. Injuries suck, and knowing that I couldn’t contribute to the success of the team was heartbreaking,” Coscia said.

Felix Kemboi, freshman, was the top finisher on the men’s side. Kemboi finished the course in 25:46.5 placing fifth. Kemboi was accompanied by Jorge Sanchez, who placed 26th in 27:03.6, Edwin Kangogo, 27:12.3 placing 30th. Also scoring for UAA were Kaleb Korta and Nathan Kipchumba.

Sophmore Korta of Galena, Alaska contributes to the team as a local powerhouse. Korta feels confident in the team’s success this season due to their support of one another and desire to successfully compete at the national championship.

“I think that we have a great opportunity to have a successful season. We’ve got a good group of guys that I know will

PHOTO COURTESY OF GOSEAWOLVES

Kimbery Coscia placed in the top-5 during the first two races of the season, along with GNAC runner of the week Caroline Kurgat.

be working hard, so I’m excited about the possibilities. The team is doing awesome together. I feel that the smaller size of our cross-country team, compared to others, allows us to have a pretty tight knit group and we love being around each other,” Korta said.

The second meet, Ash Creek Invitational, featured a 4.6-kilometer course for the women and a 6.2-kilometer course for the men. The Seawolves took this meet to gain race experience and practice some of their tactics for the big upcoming meets.

“Our focus this week was to work on some tactical strategies that we feel will help us in our more important meets later in the season,” said Friess.

The women’s and men’s team finished runner-up behind GNAC opponent Simon Fraser.

Kemboi was the top finisher

for the Seawolves as he claimed his first collegiate victory in 18:41.8. Kemboi’s performance earned him GNAC Athlete of the Week honors. Kemboi was followed by teammates Kangogo (3rd), Sanchez (12th), Korta and Justin Carrancho.

The women’s team was lead

by Jepchumba placing sixth in 16:53.8. Also scoring for the Seawolves were Mariah Burroughs (8th), Coscia (9th), Chelimo and Jordyn Block. Kurgat was not in action during this meet.

“The Ash creek Invitational went well, we had a strategy for the race and executed well,”Coscia said. “The main focus is still the more important meets like conference and regional, which will earn us a spot at nationals. It’s hard to predict anything so early in the season, but I trust in the process and the training coach [Michael Friess]

has laid out for us the next few weeks. We have a strong group of ladies who are tough and willing to put in the work for a strong finish at the national meet among the best teams in the country.”

Korta agrees with Coscia on the progression of the next couple of weeks. The women’s and men’s teams’ focus is directed towards the ultimate goal of succeeding on the national stage.

“We’ve got a couple weeks where we’re not traveling ahead of us and it’s going to be a good time for us to focus in and train our butts off,” Korta said.

Both teams are preparing at home for their next meet on Oct. 7 at the Div. II Conference Cross-Over at Romeoville, Illinois. Before traveling to the GNAC Championships later this month on Oct. 21.

OPINION

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 18

Letter to the Editor: ‘Diversity is an institutional responsibility’ I hate to say it, but I feel compelled to say it anyway. Bigotry, racism, hatred, and many other “isms” are alive in the United States of America. I will not say alive and well because there is nothing healthy about hating others. As a child, I took the Statue of Liberty and the saying inscribed on its pedestal seriously. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore…Send them the homeless, tempest tossed to me.” After all, we live in the United States of

America and this country was built on immigration and diverse people, languages, cultures, and religions. Our diversity is a monumental strength, even though it was also shamefully built on the massacre of Native people. Having traveled to China and many other homogeneous countries, I can assure you that many of them are amazed that we manage to be a united country despite and because of our diversity. They value our strength in diversity more than we do. Or, they used to…

Having fought for civil rights

and social justice since the age of five years old, I watched aghast as the events of Charlottesville unfolded. It was just another indication that everything I fought for my entire life seemed to be in vain. It was the culmination of a shameful presidential campaign that was introduced by defaming an entire group of people, calling Mexicans horrible names and completely misrepresenting the majority of this amazing group of people. And let’s call it what it was…making fun of a disabled reporter. I watched as attendees of rallies

at the soon to be president of my country called President Obama a n-----. Yes, I put the word out there. If you can hear that word and not be ashamed then go back and study the history of the slave trade, Jim Crow, lynching, and ‘separate but equal’ in this country. And no, I do not want to hear that Africans sold their own people into slavery. That will never be a justification for what we did here.

In high school, I did a research paper on the differences between overt and institutional racism. Overt signs of racism are a reflection of the inner person, the heart of the person. The Bible says in Matthew 12:34 that “out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Stop making excuses for political representatives that say things and then act as if their intent was entirely innocent and, poor things, they are being slammed by the media and misunderstood, thinking that their superficial apologies are acceptable.

No, I am not misunderstanding a thing!

Institutional racism is even more deadly because it is often shielded and embedded in the social and political institutions of the nation. What minority groups can have the political power when gerrymandering, redistricting, segregated neighborhoods still abound and wealth buys elections and political representatives are cowards afraid to speak out because they

could lose funding and elections on both sides of the aisle?

When are we the people going to say enough? When are we, once and for all, going to teach our children that love is more than just a cliché? Do we even live what it says in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution of the United States? We should have those words plastered on the walls of every building on this campus that is rich in every area of diversity. When are we going to post and recruit for all positions, especially at the highest levels of leadership where decisions are made. No more interim…every position from top to bottom needs to be posted allowing at least a superficial opportunity for diversity. Even if we had a Chief Diversity Officer, diversity is an institutional responsibility, not just the responsibility of one person or department.

Yes, I have had it. I will not accept that the things I have fought for all of my life are not possible in this country. But it takes every individual and every institution, and yes, this University to say enough and to stand up for what is right. Abraham Lincoln said, “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Karen Andrews – Citizen of the United States of America

CONTACT

THENORTHERNLIGHT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

| 19

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CO R R E C T I O N S In the Sept. 12 issue of The Northern Light, a graphic mispelled Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Bruce Schultz’s name.