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SCIENCE & TECH EXTRAS ARTS & CULTURE WHO WE ARE
FEATURED
The Pacific Sentinel is a studentrun magazine that seeks to uplift the diverse cast of voices here at Portland State. We offer a space for writers and artists of all skill levels to hone their craft, gain professional experience, and express themselves. We are inspired by publications such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic. We advocate for the underrepresented and the marginalized.
OPINION
We are always looking for new students to join our contributor team as we can’t do it without your help. If you’re interested in working with us, visit our website at pacsentinel. com or contact our Executive Editor at editor@pacsentinel.com.
COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILL BOECHLER
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT by Hannah Althea DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE CO-HEADLINE WITH THE POSTAL SERVICE FOR A TWENTY YEAR ANNIVERSARY RELEASE by Becky Phillips WHEN THE WRITERS COME OUT AT NIGHT by Eva Sheehan FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER by Will Boechler
A PROFESSOR’S LITERARY LIFE by J.M. Vincent
DONUTS & CRYPTO by Lillian Kennedy
SEEING STATIC IN JANE REMOVER’S CENSUS DESIGNATED by Will Boechler WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING
EVENTS CALENDAR & EXTRAS
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FEATURED THIS ISSUE hannah june althea is a first year
graduate student pursuing a degree in Urban and Regional Planning, with a focus on environment and design. She is inspired by natural history and contemporary ecological realities, and how our built and rural environments shape our lives. Lately when she’s not doing school or work, she loves eating pasta and hanging out with her fiancé and cat, or drawing.
will boechler is an author from
Fargo, North Dakota. He currently lives in Portland, Oregon, pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing and watching the rain fall by his window.
courtney jeffs is from Coos Bay
Oregon and moved to Portland to finish her bachelor’s degree in business advertising and marketing at Portland State University. She enjoys illustrating, story writing, and design.
lillian kennedy (she/her) is a pre-
law social science major who writes about the people, tech, philosophy, global ecosystems, politics, and facts of blockchain related issues.
yomari lobo is a creative originally
from Las Vegas, NV and now lives in Portland, OR studying book publishing at Portland State University. You can find her staring out her window waiting for the rain and inspiration to strike for her future best seller.
becky phillips is originally from
Rochester, NY but has lived in Portland, OR for seven years. She studies nonfiction creative writing and is currently pursuing a career in music journalism.
laura renckens is a publishing
student and book designer compelled by work that connects art, ideas, and community. Hailing from the chilly lands of Minneapolis, Minnesota, she is a constant provider of midwestern energy and an avid road-tripper.
eva sheehan grew up in Atlanta,
Georgia and moved to Portland to study book publishing. She loves poetry and exploring new coffee shops around the city.
executive editor eva sheehan | associate editor sarah samms arts & culture editor yomari lobo | opinions editor rebecca phillips production editor courtney jeffs | MULTIMEDIA editor laura renckens
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j.m. vincent is a grad student
studying climate dynamics at Portland State. When he’s not studying, he is writing and taking photographs for student media or taking a long walk and listening to a podcast.
peyten woodruff grew up in
Meridian, Idaho. She is currently a freshman majoring in Graphic Design. When she is not drawing, she enjoys running for the PSU track/cross country team, reading and watching horror movies.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear Readers, Welcome back to our magazine! We are excited to share this issue with you. This month’s issue reflects on and celebrates the literary arts that have become the bones of Portland. From the Land of Books to the City of Roses, the city was a breeding ground for all things literary. Within our Arts and Culture section, we have Hannah Althea setting the stage with her review of the 2023 annual Portland Book Festival held in the Portland Art Museum. Will Boechler then discusses the literary themes that permeates in Mike Flannagen’s new series “The Fall of The House of Usher”. Lastly, I write about my experience attending the Portland Lit Mic’s Literary Seance. Our featured piece, covered by J.M. Vincent, discusses a Portland State faculty member’s introduction to literature and writing. We’re able to see how writers are constantly changing and morphing their craft in tandem with their life. Rebecca Phillips, our music-review superstar, brings us inside the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington to experience the nostalgic show “Death Cab for Cutie” performed. Will Boechler reviews the musical artist Jane Remover and her most recent album. Boechler analyzes the sounds and lyrics within this album and how it adds to the messages Jane wants to communicate. Lastly, our science and tech section concludes Lillian Kennedy’s final part to her Crypto & Donuts series. Her series is a tech review disguised as a creative nonfiction series in order to uncover the full range of crypto behind the scenes.
This issue brought out a lot of passion in our writers and staff as we have a soft spot for the arts and the literary world. We hope these pieces bring rediscovery, likeness, and inspiration to the literary arts community that pumps through the heart of Portland. As always, thank you, dear readers, for all your support. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. We will see you in the next issue in January!
Until next time, Eva Sheehan
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In Case You Missed It Portland Book Fest 2023 BY HANNAH ALTHEA
Literary Arts’ Portland (PDX) Book Festival took place once again this November in the full literary glory of its 29th year. The event was rife with publishing and bookselling names both big and small, local and out-of-state, including the country’s largest bookseller, Powell’s Books, the Hobsford-Abernathy’s comic book store Books with Pictures, and representatives of Portland State’s very own Creative Writing program, and others such as Propellor Books, Luminare Press, and Ooligan Press.
Against the backdrop of a rainy fall Saturday, it was a slough of artist talks, rooms brimming with tables of books ‘a la Scholastic Book Fairs of the 2000s’, and there was truly something for everyone. Portland Book Fest is a true book-lover’s paradise. Spread across several buildings along the Park Blocks, including the Portland Art Museum and beyond. Against the backdrop of a rainy fall Saturday, it was a slough of artist talks, rooms brimming with tables of books ‘a la Scholastic Book Fairs of the 2000s’, and there was truly something for everyone. The Portland book-lover could pick up a discounted anarchist manifesto from PM press, flutter over to Kitchen Table Magazine for some culinary arts ephemera, and then secure a slim copy of a feminist-bicycle themed-fantasy from Microcosm Publishing, then wait in line to get PHOTOS BY WILL BOECHLER
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one of the event’s featured author’s books published. A defining feature of this event however, is the vast array of over 100 authors and speakers presenting talks or signing books— including current Poet Laurette of Oregon, Anis Mojgan, Artemis Fowl series author Eoin Colfer, Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate and novelist Ayana Mathis, and PSU MFA alumni Charity Yoro.
If, like me, time slips through your hands and you didn’t catch the Book Fest this year, don’t fret! The next PDX Book Fest is already slated for next fall, returning Saturday November 2, 2024. If the $15-25 admission cost is too hefty, SNAP/EBT recipients qualify for the discounted Arts for All ticket price at just $5 each - just don’t forget to bring a bag for all the books you’ll buy!
My wallet only granted allowance to get four out of the many many books I wanted: The Northport Stories by Sheila Evans, published musings about a mother and daughter fraught with conflict in a fictional small town on the Oregon coast. Patriarchy of the Wage by Silvia Frederici, which takes a feminist lens to the work of Karl Marx in understanding subjugation in relation to both sex, class, and labor. Late in the Day a collection of poems by Ursula K. Leguin, of feminist and speculative science fiction fame. Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology featuring writers new and familiar to me: Octavia Butler, Pamela Sargent, Pat Murphy, Rachel Swirsky, Rose Lemberg, Susan Palwick, Tanith Lee, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Vandana Singh. Getting new-to-me books is both one of life’s greatest pleasures, and as a very busy adult who once spent hours reading as a child, a reminder of all that I do not yet know and may not have time to learn.
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A Concert Review BY BECKY PHILLIPS
“I then began observing everyone around me and saw another handful of people also wiping their tears away. When the band finished their set loudly, shouting more thanks to the crowd, all members of the band stood looking out towards the audience bowing and also shedding tears and wiping them from their eyes.” ILLUSTRATION BY COURTNEY JEFFS
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For anyone who loves music, there’s nothing better than a great reunion show by a band that influenced a portion of their youth. Certain music can be the reason why our personal molds are shaped the way they are, and years later, when that song comes on at random, we are instantly transported back in time to where we were when we fell in love with it. On October 7th, I was inside of the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington watching Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service perform, but in my mind, I was a teenager again driving around with my friends and singing along to the songs by these bands.
Halfway through, I had tears in my eyes as I could feel the power the music had over me, and in that moment, I heard the stranger next to me sniffling. The large stadium arena holds over 18,000 people and I was lucky enough to catch a seat. The arena was filled with people swarming in and out, either finding their seat or exiting for beers and to buy band merch. Although I was seated far away at the top in ‘the nosebleeds,’ I wasn’t phased, as this show in particular was a special one. Death Cab For Cutie was co-headlining with frontman Ben Gibbard’s old side project, The Postal Service. Death Cab For Cutie has released multiple albums and toured consistently since 1997. The Postal Service on the other hand released only one album, Give Up twenty years ago, and this performance marked the anniversary for their debut release. As no surprise, Death Cab For Cutie played first, as to build the anticipation for the long awaited Postal Service reunion. The DCFC members entered the stage in all black and began playing their beloved indie rock hits. After playing a few songs, they addressed the crowd, expressing how grateful they were to be performing for such a monumental crowd in the city where they began their musical journey. Ben spoke with such humble words as he thanked everyone for being present at one of two back to back sold out shows in their hometown. They began again and soon after played “Transatlanticism,” a slow and melancholy song. Halfway through, I had tears in my eyes as I could feel the power the music had over me, and in that moment, I heard the stranger next to me sniffling. I looked over as they wiped
opinion tears from their face. I then began observing everyone around me and saw another handful of people also wiping their tears away. When the band finished their set loudly, shouting more thanks to the crowd, all members of the band stood looking out towards the audience bowing and also shedding tears and wiping them from their eyes. I thought, what a different kind of musical experience, to share the same heartfelt emotion simultaneously with the strangers around you.
The roar from the audience seemed much louder than at any other point in the night. I myself was overflowing with excitement as I knew this was a special event to be a part of. Not even thirty minutes later, The Postal Service members entered the stage one by one, all in white. The roar from the audience seemed much louder than at any other point in the night. I myself was overflowing with excitement as I knew this was a special event to be a part of. They started the set with “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” and I could barely hear Ben’s vocals as the crowd was just as loud singing along. There was an intense energy being conjured from the performance. During the middle of the set they played their biggest hit, “Such Great Heights,” and something I’ve never seen before, they ended the set with an acoustic version as well. The crowd seemed pleased to hear the song twice. After they exited the stage, of course everyone waited for an expected encore. I was curious as to what it would be since Death Cab For Cutie never came back out for theirs. After hollers from the audience, every member from both bands entered the stage again and performed a cover by the popular eighties New Wave band Depeche Mode, “Enjoy The Silence.” I don’t think anyone was expecting such an ending that held the powerful energy it did. This concert was a definite ‘grade A’ performance and one of a kind musical experience.
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arts & culture
Seance Hosted by Portland Lit Mic BY EVA SHEEHAN Most think it’s the monsters that hide at night, but it’s the writers! They linger in the depths of an old cellar. They sit around a small table clothed in a white sheet and an oil lamp sits atop. I had the honor of being witness to a literary Seance hosted by writers. When I first heard about the Portland Lit Mic Seance, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I didn’t know if we were going to sit around and hold hands as a medium summoned spirits before our eyes. Rather than spirits, the host, Jordan Marzka and his reading crew summoned words of horror and terror. When I first arrived, Jordan ushered the audience to a living room with ravens adorned to the walls and the smell of apple cider in the air. Horror themed zines were spread out across a table for purchase. I ended up buying an ethical monster-hunting zine to slip into my purse. After some chit-chat around the living room, we were brought downstairs to the cellar of the home. Four readers sat around a small table with their eyes fixed on the lamp
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light at the center of the table. The rest of the chairs were laid out around the perimeter of the small room. Spider webs, saws, creepy clown dolls, and an odd shrine to horses decorated this room and I knew this was going to satisfy my craving for spooky content. Jordan came down and gave his spiel on what to expect tonight. After he told the crowd this event was to be in complete darkness, looks were shared across the room and eyes widened–my heart sank a little. The lights went out and Jordan began his story.
“I wanted to argue with that voice, with *my demons*, and shut it the fuck down with equal sarcasm and some humor”
He would give us about ten minutes of his story and then leave us on a cliffhanger. One of the readers at the table would tell their spooky short-story and then Jordan would start back up again. This went on until the last reader. They told a gruesome story of a dog seeking vengeance against the man who killed him. Jordan stepped into the darkness once again to finish the ending of his story. Only, this ending had a twist. I won’t spoil the end of the show, but the story ends with Jordan maniacally laughing for about five minutes straight while the audience sat silently listening. I had the honor of interviewing one of the table readers named Anic for the Saturday showing to get their perspective on the event. 1) What piece did you decide to read at the Seance? Why did you choose that piece? “I’m calling it ‘Creature’. I wrote it to invoke a spirit in myself that I believe is a shared consciousness and imposter phenomenon narrative of writers: ‘Am I good enough?’ ‘Are my words authentic?’ I wanted to argue with that voice, with *my demons*, and shut it the fuck down with equal sarcasm and some humor. My hope is that other writers and creatives will be inspired to take back the narrative with curiosity in place of questioning.”
“Seance invited the performer in me to come out and hysterically laugh, cry, which I did loudly and maniacally”
for somatic performance and the audience to consent and reckon with fear rather than just being scared shitless.”
3) What was it like reading with just the light of an oil lamp? What did you feel when the Seance was in complete darkness? “I quite liked it! I prefer to write and read with low or candle light so I felt very comfortable. HA! I thought this would stay a secret but in the pitch dark I was pulling and stretching my cheeks into all kinds of wacky faces.”
4) What did you enjoy about this reading? Would you do it again? “I love the intimacy and performance of it. Especially in the recent location which is a house full of stories and histories, it wouldn’t surprise me if a seance took place there 50-60 years ago. It actually reminded me of my grandmother’s basement in Jersey, with the small bar tucked in the back and the sturdy walls. It was my second time performing with Seance and I would definitely do it again!” Perhaps spirits were summoned as the words of the readers hung in the pitch black air. All we know is to never underestimate when the writers come out at night. If you enjoy the thrill of being scared and literary performances that bring you to the edge of your seat, then this Seance may just be the perfect Halloween outing.
2) Is there a difference in reading something to an audience that is meant to be scary than something that is meant to entertain or evoke other emotions? “Oh definitely! I’ve been doing more poetry open mic nights which are come- as-you-are, bring your unfinished work, read whatever, etc. But Seance invited the performer in me to come out and hysterically laugh, cry, which I did loudly and maniacally. This makes me think about the difference between being scared vs feeling fear. I wonder if ‘being scared’ is a contract between the scare-er and the scared. Like watching a horror movie, you know what you’re in for, right? But being afraid or full of fear, I don’t think there’s a trigger warning for that. Much of my poetry acts as a container or sound board for processing trauma and while “Creature” holds those themes, Seance allows
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
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Exploring Mike Flanagan’s Gothic Vision
LOGO COURTESY OF NETFLIX
BY WILL BOECHLER
What would you do to make your dreams come true? That is one of the many questions at the heart of Mike Flanagan’s newest horror series on Netflix, The Fall Of The House Of Usher. Premiering just before this October’s Friday The 13th, House of Usher adapts several Edgar Allen Poe stories into hour long interconnected horror tales about the titular Usher family and their demise. It manages to weave heavier, darker concepts of our modern world into each episode without sounding too heavy handed and ultimately cements itself as another touchstone in Flanagan’s cinematic canon.
In a way, it’s Final Destination meets Succession. The cast of House of Usher is the heart of the series, with Flanagan employing a rich, diverse cast with deep complex backstories. Among the cast is Bruce Greenwood (Gerald’s Game), as well as a number of actors that Flanagan has frequently worked with on previous projects such as Midnight Mass and The Haunting Of Hill House like Rahul Kohli (Bly Manor)
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Samantha Sloyan (Midnight Mass), Carla Gugino (Hill House) and Kyleigh Curran (Doctor Sleep). Each character in the Usher family has a unique angle to their personality that makes them not only memorable but likable in a strange tragic way.
Each episode adapts a different Poe short story to its runtime while also expanding and deepening the questions we have about the Usher family’s past, bringing us closer and closer to the known fact that the entire family will soon crumble and wither away. It’s all about how and when the Ushers will meet their demise that keeps the show so interesting. In a way, it’s Final Destination meets Succession. In “The Masque Of The Red Death”, we swap out the castle party for a warehouse party, still with a protagonist named Prospero, now Perry for short, and in “The Tell-Tale Heart” we explore a ticking noise that torments one of the Ushers that specializes in a new heart implant that isn’t ready for human testing. Each of these twists and others modernizes the Poe tales without losing what made them so effective. One of my favorite things about the show was how it chose to commentate on each subject’s relevant real life counterpart. It’s established that the Usher family is a pharmaceutical company that was a key player in the Opioid Crisis, which mirrors the infamous Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, and explores the damage that the
Usher family’s distribution of their drug, Ligadone, does to people all around the world. The family has gained a reputation for their corrupt deeds, and their secrets are mostly out in the world, yet their corruption is almost what gives them power.
From a writing perspective, another element I enjoyed throughout the show was the monologues. Flanagan is known for writing dense monologues in his projects that often allow the viewer to meditate on the themes and ideas of the series between the horrors and the bloodshed, and House of Usher is no exception. Characters give almost gothic soliloquies in the manner in which they speak their deepest desires, digging into morality, power, self-hatred, and what it means to have a meaningful life. Flanagan has been making films and series that have been causing viewers to speculate about their own place in the world time after time, with Hill House inviting viewers on a journey into grief, Bly Manor being an adaptation of The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James, and Midnight Mass being a meditation on religion and the meaning of God. To me, House of Usher is a tale about morals and the lengths that people will go to in order to achieve success, fame, and fortune. As of this fall, Mike Flanagan is currently filming an adaptation of a Stephen King short story called The Life Of Chuck, starring Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, and a slew of Flanagan regulars, due to release sometime in the near future. But for now, we’ll have to take a seat at the table of Roderick Usher and listen as he explains the horrifying demise of everything he held dear to him.
ILLUSTRATION BY COURTNEY JEFFS
arts & culture
A Professor’s
LITERARY LIFE
Paul Collins discusses his introduction to literature and the ways in which it’s changed over time. BY J.M. VINCENT Paul Collins’ literary life spans decades. It was ignited by two things: his (paradoxically) non-literary parents and his rural-valley isolation during his youth. Collins grew up in small-town Pennsylvania where he passed the time reading and walking in the woods. It seemed inevitable that he would begin writing, and he did. Fiction was his forte, though while waiting for a manuscript of short stories to be published, he was drawn to a new form. He decided to explore nearlyforgotten figures from history and write about them. Those stories turned into Banvard’s Folly, published in 2001. Since then, Collins has written ten books. He’s written extensively for magazines as well, those which include McSweeney’s, The Believer, The New Yorker, and Lapham’s. He became a Portland State faculty member in 2006 and has since taught courses on creative writing and memoir writing. I sat down with him recently to discuss his career, his style, and his life outside of academia.
case wherever I lived, but the fact was I lived in an area in which there, frankly, wasn’t much to do. I grew up in a place called – and this is a real name – Perkiomenville. There was basically nothing. I think there’s a gas station and a convenience store now, but not when I was growing up. Even my friends from school weren’t within walking distance. So I just spent a lot of time hiking around and reading. The other thing is sort of the inadvertent influence of my parents. They weren’t big readers but they liked to collect antiques. They used to go to antique sales and buy these huge lots of stuff. My parents often only wanted one item from the lots, and there would always be books in the lots that they’d hand off to me. That meant that I’d get random piles of books every once in a while. In a way, it was actually ideal because I was just reading omnivorously.
Interviewer
Interviewer
Which books stand out in your memory?
You grew up in Pennsylvania, is that right? Not far from Philadelphia?
Collins
Collins
A few come to mind. I don’t know if I understood them as being influential in any way. John McPhee’s Coming Into Country. It stood out to me in part because it wasn’t like anything I’d ever read. In fact, I just recently teached an excerpt from it. He had this long account of a random chef in Pennsylvania. I just hadn’t read anything like it, 80 pages hanging out with a chef in his kitchen. That’s not really something you read when you’re a kid. I probably would have chosen Star Trek novelizations. But I read anything.
Yeah, It’s about 35 miles away from Philly.
Interviewer Do you think the place in which you grew up shaped your interest in writing?
Collins It very directly shaped it. Maybe in two ways. One is that I spent a lot of time reading. That might have been the
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A few more stand out. My brother gave me Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. I was really confused by it. That was when I was still in elementary school. What I knew about it was that someone turns into a cockroach, so I was expecting sci-fi. I was wondering when the alien
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that did this to him would show up, but it just ends. I was confused, but it gave me the first insight into the idea that plots don’t have to operate in a certain way.
Interviewer Did you gravitate towards fiction or nonfiction in your youth?
Collins Oh, fiction. Absolutely. And as a writer, I just assumed I was going to write fiction. The courses I took as an undergrad were in fiction. And through most of my twenties, I was writing fiction. Actually, what happened was, in my late twenties, I finished a short story collection and sent it to a bunch of publishers. One, a small independent publisher in San Francisco called Mercury House, was interested in publishing it. I wasn’t hearing from them and I continued to wait, so much so that it took away from my other writing. So, almost just to pass the time, I decided I was going to write a nonfiction essay. That turned out to be my first piece for McSweeney’s. Eventually it turned into my first book, Banvard’s Folly.
Interviewer Did that collection of stories ever get published?
Collins No. I haven’t even looked at the manuscript since then. I’m sure I’d be horrified.
Interviewer In what ways have you become a better writer since then?
Collins I’ve become a better researcher. The tools are better too. I also have a better sense of deliberateness and craft, in terms of thinking about structure for example. Some of that just came from experience, in doing lots of books. Some of it’s come from teaching. When I started writing, a lot of it was just instinctive – I knew what a good story was and what wasn’t. Or a good paragraph. Or what sequence to put things in. But if you would’ve asked me, “why?” I’d say, “I don’t know. It just works better that way.”
Once I started teaching, I had to do better than that. I had to be able to go over a piece with a student and say not just, you should consider doing X, Y, and Z, but also explaining why. That allows a writer to be more in control of their abilities.
A good example of that is my first piece for McSweeney’s. It was about the Great Moon Hoax which happened in the 1830s in New York. This newspaper published a story about how astronomers with powerful new telescopes had discovered living beings on the moon. It made a big splash at the time, but eventually people started realizing that it was a hoax. So I wrote a story about it and when I sent it to McSweeney’s, Dave Eggers said it was great, that there really wasn’t much of anything that he wanted to change except one thing – the final paragraph. In it, I tried to reach for a big philosophical, overarching point to it all. He said, “I don’t know if you need a big finish here. Just end it one paragraph earlier.” So I just chopped the paragraph off, and it worked better.
Interviewer It was too clean?
Collins That kind of explains it. One thing I’ve come to learn over time is that you have to let the reader own the meaning of the story. You have to turn it over to them and let them draw their own conclusion, let them figure it out. Otherwise, it’s just not going to move them. If the author is doing all the thinking for the reader, there’s no interpretive space, no space for the reader to take ownership. Sometimes a moral-of-the-story can be detrimental to the piece.
Interviewer How do you approach editing?
Collins In a few ways. Reading a piece twice, for one. The first time you’re reading something, you’re almost like a passenger in a vehicle. You don’t really know where it’s going. You’re not in charge. When you read a piece a second time, though, you already know where it’s going
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so you can see things being laid out by the writer.
Interviewer
Secondly, I edit with the understanding that what’s in a piece and how it’s sequenced isn’t necessarily the way it’ll look in its final form. It’s sort of a running joke among my students. I often draw a rectangle around paragraphs and put arrows saying, “move this here,” “try moving this down there,” “cut this,” “move that.” And I don’t do this because the student’s piece is a train wreck. It’s because I want my students to have a sense of fluidity in their work. I want them to know that they can actually rearrange the structure in a number of ways. And depending on the student’s intention, those structures may actually work better.
Your book Not Even Wrong, which recounts your son’s autism diagnosis, stands out as quite unique among the list of your many published works. Yet you seem to have approached it using a similar framework as in your other books, one of a historical investigation. Would you say that’s accurate?
Interviewer What makes a good writer?
Collins Curiosity. Very specific kinds of curiosity. It’s a readiness to note details that stand out. Even if they don’t know why those details stand out to them. It could be a particular person or a particular event or an object even. It resonates for some reason. It’s pursuing that, asking questions about it.
Interviewer Do you think curiosity plays into a writer’s voice?
Collins I think so. John McPhee is a good example of this. He can write about almost any subject in a way that will carry the reader along. He has this thing about geology. He constantly wants to write about geology. He did a really long piece for the New Yorker about 20 years ago about gravel. As soon as I saw it I thought, really? Am I really going to read this many pages on gravel? But I did, and it was actually quite good. Not because I had any particular interest in gravel, but because he did. And he really ran with it. Watching someone else get really fascinated by a subject, that’s really reflected in their voice. And the reverse is true, too. If someone is writing a paper about a subject which they don’t care about, it’ll be reflected in their voice.
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Collins Yeah. And that came about partly because that’s the kind of thing I’m interested in. But, also, there was a practical element to it. At the time, my second book had just been published and I was starting to kick around. I was thinking about writing another book about Peter the Wild Boy which interested me, though I wasn’t sure why. Then Morgan got his diagnosis, and at some point it just dawned on me. It felt like they were, in some way, parallel tracks. I wanted an almost braided structure to the book where I went back and forth between the family story and the history of autism.
Interviewer What were you thinking after he got his diagnosis? Did you know right away that you wanted to write a book about it?
Collins I spent a couple weeks just in shock. As we pulled ourselves together, we said, “okay, now what do we do?” I realized that this was a big deal. I didn’t know If I was going to write about it, but I figured I should probably take notes. At some point I started to think that it would actually make a lot of sense to write about it. One thing that stood out was that, in those first couple of weeks of really not knowing what to do and not fully understanding what autism was, I was wondering what people even do after a diagnosis. I remember thinking, what would have been a good book that someone could have handed me in that initial period? Not necessarily a guide, but a literary work about autism. So that’s what guided my writing it.
Interviewer Do you think that process informed the way you parent?
Collins
more focused.
I don’t know if it informed how I parent. But, it’s funny, it probably did inform how I approach memoir, in writing about it and also how I teach it. I really had to think about, what does it mean to write about a kid? What does it mean in terms of privacy or how it affects them? In his case, I have to admit that it wasn’t that difficult of a question. His condition is so apparent when you meet him. He may have a vague sense that I write things, but I don’t think he’s aware that I’m an author or that I’ve written books or anything like that. He doesn’t really have a concept of how other people see him necessarily. His disability is pretty severe. He’s only just barely verbal. So I thought, there is a real purpose or service to writing about this, about him. And I don’t think it was intrusive on his sense of privacy. But writing about him did make me think, what if I were writing about another family member?
Interviewer Do you see any major shifts in writing that have happened over the last decade?
Collins
Interviewer
Structurally, it’s gotten a bit more diverse. I think part of that probably has to do with the influence, not just of literary quarterlies, but also being able to write online where length restrictions are not as much of an issue. Also, so much has become digitized. When writing about history, you often really depended on cataloging. That relied on someone having thought a particular thing was important enough to note in an index. But when something is digitized, it treats all text equally. Suddenly there is a depth of detail. It can be a bit overwhelming. But it also has an equalizing effect.
Do you think being a parent has changed you as a writer?
Afterword
Collins
My conversation with Paul lasted just over an hour. Outside were chants of a pro-Palestinian rally that roused our attention. Though fascinated by his life and holding still more questions for him, I promised not to take anymore of his time. He shooed off my concern with a smile and his insistence that he’d been happy to sit down for a chat, holding to an ever-present bonhomie.
Yeah, in a couple of ways. For one, it forced me to become a lot more efficient. I used to get up really early, knowing that no one would be up at 5a.m.. That’s when I would do a lot of my writing. I wrote as quickly as I could for about an hour and a half. I’ve also become much
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
NOVEMBER 2023 | 17
2027: One Potential Reality ILLUSTRATION BY PEYTEN WOODRUFF
18 | THE PACIFIC SENTINEL
A semi-fictional tech sci conversation in a creative nonfiction series BY LILLIAN KENNEDY
science & tech
This three part series has been inspired by current events and “sci fi--ized” to create an improbable space-- to urge your curiosity of the problem. H.R.1747 is an active bill but in this story is an evil poison-this is to make it memorable--it is an (active) GOOD bill that defends financial freedom. Asset values are fiction. Names are obfuscated except real American politicians and real news clips that are either fighting for or against your financial freedom. For full deciphering, a sample letter to congress, blockchain deep dives, as well as the previous parts to the story, visit: buttondown.email/lilken
PART III The key stuck in the door again. I jiggled it free. The smell of my orchid welcomed me into my apartment. Work was only downstairs, my job only allows me to work close to home, but my cortisol rises quickly like I had some sort of trauma...but I don’t remember... Ah..Sweet spice. Cortisol dissolving.... I flopped on the floor and turned on the screen. ..”a call for reforming the institutions and rules governing multilateralism. The principles underlying it ought to be consolidated. The spirit that drives multilateralism revitalized...”
CLICK ..” I spoke at the National Security Commission on AI Summit about the critical role that diplomacy can play in shaping the terms of our technological future...”.
CLICK ...”as we are doing in Europe, you build environments in which you create industrial dataspaces for open innovation and AI development...but for me there is a more important premise, nobody should impose which technologies or applications developing countries should develop, to avoid a technology colonization....”
CLICK OFF
“Jack?” Yes love. Jack was sitting so quietly behind me, I didn’t even see them! “Oi! You scared me!” “I was not meaning to. I was just enjoying watching you flip though the entertainment options.” “ha! I miss TV, remember when we took all that junk for granted? It was so much more entertaining than NON STOP POLITICS and I swear I’ve heard all of this before! I would give my right arm for just one infomercial trying to sell me some stupid gadget for 19 dollars and 99 cents. “ I howled--too loud I think. Although, I never know why I’m anxious about being loud. “If you gave your right arm you wouldn’t get access.” “Oh, right, well, my left arm.” I sat on their lap and snuggled. “At least I didn’t lose you.” I said, closing my eyes...as I drifted off, I saw two blue butterflies flying away....”
meanwhile 2.7432 meters away: “Are you going to eat that?” Without taking his eyes off of the surveillance screen, Graf almost took a bite out of his donut but stopped with his teeth jutting out like a hyena. Pater had to say that. Graf chomped into his donut and punched him in the arm without taking his eyes off the surveillance screen. The scuffle caused a lot of noise. The red light went on. Each interval it blinked, white lettering on red plastic seared PriSm5, PriSm5, PriSm5 into one’s cornea. Graf threw his donut in the trash, turned and stood up to salute. Pater was already saluting. The metal door opened. Captain Lydia entered. Her two guards stood on either
NOVEMBER 2023 | 19
side of the door facing the privates. She walked past them. She walked right up to the glass. “Look at those love birds....so nice to see my handiwork!” She made a sound like she had just taken a bite out of a decadent cake and walked back towards the door. Without turning around she said, “Launch protocol H.R.1747 immediately.” She left. Graf and Pater looked at each other, Graf in relief. Pater hiding his alarm... “I got this man,” Pater insisted, turning to the screen, scanning his hand, bringing up the command prompts. Graf took the hint...”Ok, thanks! I’m having lunch then, have fun with HR whatever.” Graf leaves to request lunch. Pater begins frantically building an encrypted pg outlet using HR 1700, a protocol that didn’t exist in the system but which he was trained to build quickly by Zolkadot, four years ago, before he was deployed to the mission to Portland to find Jack and Iolaus and protect them. This escape signal was to be implemented when HR 1747 was requested--if it ever was. HR1747 to Captain Lydia meant a lethal dose of their usual amnesia control but to Pater and all of Zolkadot, It hearkens back to 2023 when US senator Emmer proposed legislation HR 1747: Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which had all the intentions of what America stood for, freedom. Pater was recruited in 2024 by a European Decentralization Protection Activist Group: AtlasZolka. It used to be funded by Dr. Zavin Good, the founder of Zolkanot. But now, he doesn’t know who will answer, if anyone will. His lack of contact did not change his commitment to the mission to protect Jack and Iolaus. Jack is the only agent who was entrusted with memorizing the private key of the US Treasury bonds that were put on the blockchain in March 2023. Hazy Zingler, the Czar of the Master Keys, had hired them to be a human keylogger. Back then, obfuscation was best implemented in human memory. But Jack’s contract was canceled suddenly in 2025 without reason and mercenaries were sent after them. This was how the PriSm5 Chronology started. PriSm5, is one of hundreds of simulations that prevented mass
20 | THE PACIFIC SENTINEL
protest and ushered in centralization without a blink of an eye in 2025. Numbered for their consecutive openings, 5 was the first non speculative simulation prison.(Pri Sim 5) Jack hid from injustice in downtown Portland above a donut shop ...and built a decentralized exchange. They mysteriously disappeared in 2025 after a Zingler minion hacked their central key and caused them to redfault one day when they risked everything to go on a date (and go online) and take beautiful Iolaus to a Dim Sum restaurant. It was worth it.
They placed agents in each one with the same instructions. Find and protect, wait for HR 1747, send an encrypted signal, be rescued. Iolaus had sent for help to every ecosystem and AtlasZolka responded. But then they also disappeared. AtlasZolka traced both kidnappings to PriSm5 and suspected they were together in some simulation prison. They placed agents in each one with the same instructions. Find and protect, wait for HR 1747, send an encrypted signal, be rescued. Pater typed: gpg --encrypt --sign --armor -r Zavin@ Zolkadotisasupercomputer.xyz HR 1700 GNUPG alongside shortwave were the only systems of free communication in 2027 and it still was able to use the email server protocols because they were simply used as address specifications.
meanwhile 8803 kilometers away Casper awoke to the sound he hadn’t heard in two years. The PriSm Agent Beacon. In quick response he thought of a sky map and BLACK COG turned the interactive sky map on the ceiling. (BLACK COG is the 2027 professional AI system
discovered in 2025 as a synthesis of GPT 12 language models, ACT-R cognitive architecture, Open Cog GUI and the Blue Brain project. ) He could see the beacon was coming from Portland, Oregon in the US.
meanwhile in the nextdoor pod Dr. Zavin Good was watching the Eurasian ticker. His token is still leading since he launched his supercomputer concept. >>>>ZTC 500,567 >>>ZTH 257,895 >>>ZDA 400,543 >>>ZOT 503,849 >>>ZLM 284,342 >>>ZBAR 382,343 >>>ZRP 499,233>>>> Casper interrupted on his lower left visual field, “boss, today is the day. The beacon is lit.” Zavin jumped up in excitement, “Who is it?” “We think it’s Iolaus and Jack.” “Oh Iolaus knew this would work...they were right. They have always been so right...do you see any interference in the signal?” “no. none. But it’s HR 1747 alright.” “Rip good old 1747, if only the Americans hadn’t forgotten how to fight. Now it’s all amnesia syringes.” He took his hat off in honor of Emmer, Lummis, Long, Gillibrand, Boring, and Kennedy. Zavin ordered: “Put the rescue team together. Those visionaries belong in reality, where the sky is still blue and we can make a better strategy to slay the monster together.” ______________________ Iolaus helped Heracles free Sardinia from many ills (Beheading Hydra) & A genus of the Lycaenid butterfly has been named after Iolaus: “Iulus”
Thanks for reading. Free Palestine.
NOVEMBER 2023 | 21
Seeing Static in Jane Remover’s Census Designated
opinion
A fuzzy and glitchy nostalgia trip BY WILL BOECHLER
As the sun sets over the southwestern skyline, I press play on Census Designated, Jane Remover’s newest album. The tips of the trees poke holes in the sky, letting orange yellow light spill out from behind the clouds. I can feel my thoughts drifting back to the Midwest and back to my own beginnings; teenage angst, anger, fear, change, all rushing over me like a rogue wave. And I’ve only made it three minutes into the first song. Jane Remover is an artist from New Jersey that pioneered a popular subgenre in emo and dance music called Dariacore with her many different projects, working as Leroy as well as Dltzk, releasing music in the EDM genre from 2019 to mid June 2021. Following this, she released her debut studio album Frailty via DeadAir Records as Jane Remover, which features glitchy, bit-crushed vocals and instruments laced with a hyperpop edge that made it equal parts danceable and relevant to today’s sound. Frailty was well received for its digital fuzz and charming character, but on September 20th, 2023, Jane released the title track to promote her next album, “Census Designated.” This song was an emo tinged, electrically strung love ballad about betrayal, abuse, love, and personal identity. With lyrics like “And I bet she’s so lucky to have a voice like that, I’m young blood fresh meat and I like that”, Remover explores the trapped, insecure, inexperience that the narrator has in this relationship, perhaps a jealousy that someone else is more able to speak freely of than her. As the track continues, we get this guitar riff accented with amp feedback, sinking us into this stimulating experience that Remover created, “The way it ends, you hold me like fifty thousand bills in your hand, like I’m the princess of Ocean City.” “Census Designated” ends with a cacophony of noise, glitch, and feedback, building into a climax of euphoric, distorted pleasure. Remover’s screams and vocals blend into the noise to create a unification of the digital and the real. This is a concept Remover explores throughout her discography; the blending of real life and the online world,
22 | THE PACIFIC SENTINEL
and the troubles, dangers, and tribulations that can come from that both on and offline.
The album itself, also titled Census Designated, released October 20th. This album, in contrast to Frailty, offers less digitally obscured ballads, and instead spends a lot more time with cleaner vocals from Remover as well as these heavy walls of guitar that lead the entire album, giving it an emo and shoegaze-like edge. The opening song, “Cage Girl/Camgirl,” opens with a low, effect heavy moan from Remover, which then descends into themes about connection in a toxic relationship, and feeling trapped and objectified, before being ultimately discarded after being used for fulfillment. The refrain “Chew me up, spit me out before I can swallow” reinforces this idea, signifying our protagonist’s search for connection results in a consumption of the goodness of our narrator. One of my favorite songs off the album, “Idling Somewhere,” is a much different track, much more of a rock ballad with digital elements in the periphery that explores self destructive behaviors and the role of power in relationships. This repeated line in the opening, “He can’t stop watching me, I dance, I dance, I dance,” suggests the narrator is oddly aware that they’re being manipulated by someone who has more power over them. The chorus explores themes of a desire for control and agency but also explores self deprecation; lyrics like, “Half a mind, half a brain, but just enough so it’s hard” and “Watch me down, know I’m bad, I always get what I want” feel that the narrator knows the wrongness of their desires to be with this person, but that doesn’t stop them. This track delves into the complex exploration of power dynamics and the consequences of toxic relationships, with haunting lyrics at the end representing a complete loss of body autonomy. “Video” opens with a near minute long harsh noise section, almost playing off the end of Census Designated’s ending, before it fades into much gentler vocals from
Remover. She said of the song, “Video is about striving and running towards the light at the end of the tunnel. But it’s told through this story of a guy and a girl, the girl’s watching the guy play with himself online, and she tries to track him down and look for this guy in real life. But when they meet, he ends up taking advantage of her.” This idea of a one sided online relationship being initially perceived as good but devolving into abuse plays out throughout the song with desperate lyrics like, “If I could write a pop song, I’d get you to steer in my direction, I’d get you to start chasing after me like it was already in your head.” This song is about the idea of following light, but the following of the light is what ended up hurting our narrator. Census Designated is a much more large scale album about coming out of the tunnel of power struggle and perseverance with a triumphant victory, while still remembering the scars brought on by circumstance, whereas Frailty resembles a bright young mind ready to face the world, dominated by an upbringing on the internet and a mild disconnect from social structures of real life. If these two albums are the same person, Census
Designated is Frailty after having spent time away from home, and realizing that place doesn’t fit you anymore. For me, Census Designated by Jane Remover is an album about being of age. Of seeing the world after being sheltered for so long, and making mistakes, and being used, and the complexities of toxic and controlling relationships. But it’s also about finding your way out of that darkness, knowing yourself and your identity, even if it may seem like the end of the line. The closing track, “Contingency Song,” seems to signify succumbing to this toxicity and abuse, but on the other hand, I feel the narrator has begun to realize that the cycle of use, abuse, and discarding of the narrator is a downward spiral that will only hurt her more and more. With the last line of the album, “I don’t think I can do it anymore” we begin to see a hopeful break in the pattern of youthful tragedy. Jane Remover’s Census Designated is available now everywhere.
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
NOVEMBER 2023 | 23
WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING WHAT WE’RE ENJO The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo (2023)
Courtney’s Score:
*****
Crafting, foraging, combat, even cooking, how you choose to wander and explore the land and sky of Hyrule is up to you. In this highly anticipated sequel to the ultimate hero’s journey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the sky is the limit, literally and figuratively. With a new story arc, characters, and multi-leveled world exploration, this 3D open-world adventure has hours upon hours of material to delve into. Whether new to the Legend of Zelda franchise or a returning fan, this game series is a must-play.
Demon Copperhead Sarah’s Score:
Image courtesy of IGDB Press Kit
Barbara Kingsolver (2022)
*****
Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is a unique spin on the classic tale of David Copperfield. Only in this adaptation, the main character lives in rural Kentucky, comes from generational poverty, and is in the midst of the opioid crisis. Kingsolver’s unique ability to capture demon’s voice will suck you in for a wild ride as Demon faces an abusive step dad, foster care, and drug addiction. This is not a book to miss out on!
Gen V Yomari’s Score:
Amazon Prime (2023)
*****
This college aged spin off of The Boys is a fresh start to familiar ground. Gen V is finally a show targeted towards an underrepresented audience, college aged individuals. This show is successful at illustrating the horrors of generational trauma, being nonbinary, eating disorders, and the pressure to be the best no matter the cost. If you’re a fan of Sky High, you’ll love this edgy and violent take on this superhero coming of age story.
24 | THE PACIFIC SENTINEL
Image courtesy Amazon Studios
OYING WHAT WE’RE ENJOYING WHAT WE’RE Tarot Cards Laura’s Score:
****
Trust me, I was a skeptic, but Tarot has been slowly wooing me ever since I first read about Patti Smith’s card pulls in M Train. I’m far from convinced that these cards actually tell my future, but I’ve found that a daily practice interrupts the broken record of my inner monologue in a way that is nothing short of therapeutic, encouraging me to examine situations through a different lens represented by each card.
The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart
Illustration by Courtney Jeffs
Amazon Prime (2023)
Becky’s Score:
****
As a fan of suspense, I usually gravitate toward thrillers when I decide what show to watch. Something about the whimsical nature of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart trailer had me pressing play. With just enough mystery and plenty of family drama without the cheese, this show can definitely be a binger. Not to mention Sigourney Weaver stars as a wildflower farmer in this powerhouse role. Who can resist that?
My Mom Spotify Playlist Eva’s Score:
Image courtesy of Amazon Studios and Hugh Stewart
*****
This is a playlist of my own creation in order to epitomize the feeling of riding in the backseat of your mom’s car during the early 2000’s. I’ve added songs like “Thank U” by Alanis Morissette and “Soak Up The Sun” by Sheryl Crow. My mom lives across the country in Atlanta, Georgia and giving this playlist a shuffle makes her feel a little closer.
NOVEMBER 2023 | 25
The Nutcracker $55+ @ Oregon Ballet Theatre
Christmas with CS Lewis
$85+
@ Portland Theater
FRI. 12/8 - SUN. 12/24 (TIME TBD)
SAT. 12/23 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
Hosted by the Oregon Ballet Theatre, this Christmas classic is just what Portland needed to feel the magic of the holiday season. The showings will run from December 8 - 24.
Many know CS Lewis for his works of fiction, primarily the tales of Narnia. Now, you can hear about stories of his life during this Christmas themed show.
PSU Farmer’s Market
Cirque Dreams $55+ Holidaze
FREE
@ Portland State University
EVERY SAT. 8:30AM - 2:00PM
@ Portland Theater
SAT. 12/23 - SUN. 12/24 SAT. 8:00 PM and SUN. 3:00 PM
Every Saturday, vendors set up shop at the PSU Park Blocks to sell their crafts. Grab locally grown produce and hand-baked goods at this wildly popular Portland Farmer’s Market.
A specially themed holiday show, with a troupe of 30 performers from over 12 different countries combine their talents into 20 acts, transforming themselves into costumed characters and perform astonishing feats.
Festival of Lights
Southall in Portland
$12
$39+
@ NE 85th & Sandy Blvd.
@ Hawthorne Theatre
FRI. 11/24 - FRI. 12/30
FRI. 12/8 @ 9:00AM - 11:00PM
Celebrate the time of the season by witnessing a display of colorful lights. This festival of lights is bound to make you cheery for the holiday season.
Southall are a blues-rock band from Atlus, Oklahoma, making their way to Portland during their tour. Whether you’re a fan or looking to listen to some live music, this one’s for you.
events calendar 26 | THE PACIFIC SENTINEL
extras! NIM: HOW TO PLAY 1
Grab a friend and 2 different colored things to write with.
2
First player crosses out as many sqaures as they want. Squares must be from the same row, and at least one must be crossed out.
3
Second player does the same. The person who gets to cross out the last square is the winner.
COMIC BY PEYTEN WOODRUFF
NOVEMBER 2023 | 27
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