Circuit Issue 6 by Whitman College Wire

A PUBLICATION OF THE WHITMAN PIONEER

THECIRCUIT SPRING 2013: THE PROGRESSION ISSUE

FROM THE

EDITOR

hen The Pioneer’s editors sat down to plan this issue, we thought about doing a magazine focused on the future. After brainstorming article ideas, we quickly realized that focusing only on where the world is going is nearly impossible without discussing the past. So instead of an issue on history or the future, we’ve made this issue about progression: the changes over time that are shaping our campus and the culture and community it’s situated in. In this issue, we delve into the serious and not-so-serious progressions of culture and life, at Whitman and beyond. Catie Bergman and Shelly Le take us through four years of residents in campus dorm rooms (pg. 7), while Aleida Fernandez and Adam Brayton predict which trends will be out of style in ten years (pg. 32). Lachlan Johnson has looked into our own history, exploring issues of the Pio from the early 1900s to the present day. We also uncovered the origins of Whitman’s Greek system (hint: cockroaches are involved) and tracked down the college’s oldest living alum. As a senior getting ready to graduate, the idea of progression seems especially appropriate for this time of year. Whitman has shaped the person I am today in ways that would have been unimaginable to the nervous freshman who first unpacked her suitcases in Jewett 4-West, and, like my fellow seniors, I’ll be leaving campus for the wider world in a few short months. The next progression in my life seems like a bit of a black box, but it’s comforting to remember that setting foot in the halls of the Science Building for the first time freshman year felt more or less the same way, and that generations of seniors before me have taken the same step in life and, presumably, survived. Even if you’re not graduating, you’re probably facing choices about shaping your identity at Whitman, whether it’s choosing a major or getting involved in a campus organization. I hope this issue can offer those of you who have a bit more time than I do some perspective on this campus: how it’s become the place it is today, and where it might go from here. Rachel Alexander Editor-in-Chief

EDITORIAL

PRODUCTION

Rachel Alexander

Sean McNulty

Editor-in-Chief Editors

Libby Arnosti Aleida Fernandez Shelly Le Emily Lin-Jones Kyle Seasly

Web Editor

Blair Hanley Frank

Photography Editor Marie von Hafften

Illustration Editor Julie Peterson

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Production Manager Production Associates Callan Carow Maddi Coons Molly Johanson Madison Munn Annie Robison

Chief Copy Editor Marisa Ikert

Copy Editors Chloe Kaplan Matthew Nelson Katie Steen

The Circuit is a publication of the Whitman Pioneer.

THE CIRCUIT

The Pioneer is an entirely student-run publication published under the auspices of the Associated Students of Whitman College. Questions and letters to the editor can be submitted to editors@whitmanpioneer. com. All submissions must be attributed and may be edited for concision and fluency.

The Pioneer operates under the guidelines of its code of ethics, a document that is reviewed at least once per semester. To access the complete code of ethics of The Pioneer, please visit whitmanpioneer. com/about. For information about subscriptions or advertising, please contact business@whitmanpioneer.com.

IN THIS ISSUE 4

unless they have a good day job.

“

I’ve never seen a wheat farmer that’s small,

PIO THROUGH THE AGES 10

“The entire process takes place in about three weeks.”

E-SPORTS

SO TEN YEARS AGO 32 THECIRCUIT | 3

4 | THECIRCUIT

The Greeks in Walla Walla

Arrival

by QUIN NELSON

he bustling Whitman College campus is bookended by two essential social hubs: to the south, Prentiss Hall, home of Whitman’s four women’s fraternities; and to the north, Whitman’s four fraternity houses. These Greek chapters have peripheral locations but are of central importance to life at Whitman, with occasional recklessness that divides the campus over controversial issues as well as tremendous fellowship that brings Whitties together. To properly understand how the Greek system has taken such a strong foothold in Whitman’s social life, it is imperative to start from the beginning.

As would be expected of a small liberal arts college, the Whitman administration was quite apprehensive of bringing in Greek life and its troublesome reputation. However, students at the beginning of the 20th century were increasingly eager to have chapters, at first creating hometown clubs and then making their own Greek chapters with names such as Kappa Gamma and Delta Phi Delta. Fraternities as well as women’s fraternities were becoming more prominent on campus. “At a lot of schools, the men made fraternities first, but something that’s unique about Whitman is that the women were right there with the men, making sororities,” said Associate Dean of Students Barbara Maxwell. These fraternities and women’s fraternities were created for a variety of reasons, one being that Whitman’s housing was in poor condition and short supply, especially for male students. They found themselves having to live in off-campus houses together and, finding it enjoyable, wanted to make a fraternity out of the experience. By 1910, the administration agreed to a two-year probationary period to see if Greek life would work. The observations went well, and with the endorsement of major Greek supporter President Stephen Penrose, chapters were allowed under one condition: They had to be national chapters. Thus began the process of Whit-

man’s various made-up groups having to petition national organizations to come to campus, a process that was as unique as one would expect from a school like Whitman.

Toy the Cook G. Thomas Edwards’ book “The Triumph of Tradition,” which chronicles Whitman’s early years, names a certain employee who helped make housing an issue for male Whitman students. Professor Norman Coleman, who was in charge of Billings Hall, the only male dormitory on campus, “blamed Toy, the Chinese cook, for some basic problems.” The bedbugs and cockroaches that infested the hall “came from the kitchen and Toy’s room.” The conditions were so bad that many students sought off-campus housing. If there is one man to thank for inspiring Whitman to go Greek, it may be Toy.

Phi Mu The first Greek chapter at Whitman came in very unexpectedly. While the Illahee Club, Delta Phi Delta and Kappa Gamma were publicly petitioning to become national chapters, a group of 14 women confidentially asked the college for permission to petition to be a chapter of Phi Mu. This was kept confidential until this small group became a chapter in 1913, beating the other larger, more public groups to the punch.

THECIRCUIT | 5

HarryPotter Potter Harry

COLONIZATION DATES 1915 Phi Delta Theta 1916 Beta Theta Pi, Delta Gamma 1918 Kappa Kappa Gamma 1923 Sigma Chi

1930 Tau Kappa Epsilon

Among many of the hometown clubs made at Whitman, the Spokane Club was very unique. Many Whitman students were from Spokane, and the city only had one high school at the time. This meant that any petty arguments from high school carried over to college, and this inspired a rift within the Spokane Club. Both sides wanted to become chapters of Beta Theta Pi, and each had an initiated member. One side, the Illahee Club, became a chapter of Phi Delta Theta, allowing the other group, Delta Phi Delta, to become Beta Theta Pi.

“Something about the Greek organization creates intense loyalty. They’re loyal not just to the organization and its members, but after graduation, to Whitman as an institution as well.” Barbara Maxwell

Associate Dean of Students

The Commoners and AOK

1948 Alpha Phi

1957 Kappa Alpha Theta

After Beta and Phi came Sigma Chi and Tau Kappa Epsilon to round out the four fraternities Whitman has today. Sig was originally known as the Commoners, a group created as a populist answer to the allegedly elitist Beta and Phi. TKE didn’t arrive until seven years later in 1930, choosing to petition as TKE after originating as the comically named AOK.

Hard Times After the trying process of petitioning, the Greek organizations have since had to deal with plenty more adversity. Former college President Chester Maxey noted during Beta’s 50th anniversary in 1966 that the houses had to endure the Great Depression and World War I, but were able to do so with commitment and unity. During World War II, fraternities often had to house soldiers, cramming more bodies into what little space the houses had to offer. It is a testament to the tight bonds created by the fraternities that many Whitman servicemen returned to their houses when their service was over. The civil rights era does not reflect as well on the Greek chapters. Several frater-

2012 Alpha Phi reinstalled

6 | THECIRCUIT

nities and women’s fraternities were investigated for their discrimination practices during initiation, including a story on Kappa Kappa Gamma in a 1967 issue of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. While no formal punishments were handed down, the Greek organizations did a poor job as campus leaders of championing civil rights. Since then, there have been isolated incidents of irresponsibility. A Beta member stabbed another Beta member in the house in 1992, and TKE was accused of hazing in 2011. However, most consider the positives of the Greek organizations to far outweigh the sporadic occasions when they slip up. “Do Greek organizations goof up from time to time, just as all student groups goof up from time to time? Sure, and we deal with it. But this does not diminish their overall value,” said Maxwell.

Loyalty Ever since the Whitman students in the early days started chapters, Whitties have made sure to get the most out of their Greek life experiences. These groups not only provide great weekend parties but scholastic excellence, commitment and loyalty. Students in Greek chapters have routinely had higher retention rates and graduation rates than students outside the Greek system, showing that Whitman’s fraternities and women’s fraternities actually live up to their preaching of academic focus. Also, Whitman’s Greek organizations put forth tremendous philanthropic efforts, regularly serving the Walla Walla community in a variety of ways. Perhaps most impressively, alumni who were members of Greek chapters donate more money to the school than non-Greek alumni, and Greek alumni far outnumber non-Greeks at reunion events. “Something about the Greek organization creates intense loyalty. They’re loyal not just to the organization and its members, but after graduation, to Whitman as an institution as well,” said Maxwell. The Greek system has brought a great deal to the Whitman campus, simultaneously putting its mark on the college while also letting Whitman’s unique qualities shape the chapters. From their quirky beginnings to where they are today, the fraternities and women’s fraternities have been there for nearly all of Whitman’s history, both as witnesses and central characters. C

4 RESIDENCE

photos by CATIE BERGMAN text by SHELLY LE

Years of

First-year rooms become a home away from home for most Whitman students—a chance to redecorate and create lifelong friendships. Though most Whitties only live in a particular room on campus for one year or less, unforgettable memories are created. The Circuit tracked down students who lived in one specific room at one point in time in all of the first-year dorms and documented their favorite moments from the experience. While some students have transferred out of Whitman or are currently studying off campus, their memories in the room live on.

“We spent a lot of nights staying up until three in the morning, having heart-to-heart talks, watching YouTube videos, playing games on the Internet,” Merali said. “We had a punching bag that we hung from the ceiling, which looking back probably wasn’t the best idea.”

Ethan Robertson and Al-Rahim Merali, ‘13

Anderson Hall D104

THEN NOW

Colleen Bell, ‘14 “My favorite thing about the room was that it had a great creeper window, so you could see everyone leaving the building and they could say hi to you.”

Claire Arnold and Allison Eggert, ‘16 “We’ve had multiple sleepovers, where we shove the beds together and cram as many girls in together as we can,” Eggert said.

THECIRCUIT | 7

Lyman Hall A105 “I really liked living right next to the RD and the bathrooms. One of my favorite memories freshman year was playing Humans vs. Zombies with our RD.”

Vy Cao-Nguyen, ‘13

“I loved my room, especially since Aleks and I split the rooms. He had his own space, I had mine,” Davies said.

Nick Davies and Aleks Maricq, ‘14 “Lyman is a pretty happy place; everyone was really friendly our year,” Gardner said.

Allison Work and Franny Gardner, ‘15

THEN NOW

Hannah Frankel, ‘16 “Kelly [my roommate] and I just have a lot of fun together—covering our door in wrapping paper, decorating each others’ rooms for our birthdays; we didn’t really know each other before we moved in together, and it’s been a fantastic combination.”

8 | THECIRCUIT

Jewett Hall 406

Shannon McCarty and Heather Domonoske, ‘13

Chase Martin, ‘14 “Jewett does have its downsides, like there was virtually no privacy from your roommate, but as soon as you close the door to your room, it was like having your own private space. It was almost good that the room was kind of small; it was kind of cozy.”

“Both of us spent a lot of time in our room; we didn’t like going to the library. I wouldn’t say we had a ‘party room,’ just a more social room in terms of people knew we would always be there,” said Domonoske.

THEN NOW Lydia Kautsky, ‘15 “I’m still pretty close friends with my section. My section was co-ed and there were two guys living on either side of me, and in that way made me closer to my roommate but at the same time diversified the people I knew and talked with.”

Quinn Gordon and Emma Thompson, ‘16 “When I had been a prospie last year, I had stayed in this room, so it was really exciting to know exactly what my room looked like before I left for school,” Thompson said. “We tend to keep our beds pulled out; sometimes we push them in if people come in.”

THECIRCUIT | 9

Photo Essay

North Hall 245

Bailey Richards, ‘14

Check out photos of Prentiss

NOW

“I raised my bed and put a mat, a blanket, cool lights and a big bean bag doggie underneath, creating a cozy, cocoon-like hang out place. For absolutely no reason other than the cool layout, my friends have named it the opium den.”

10 | THECIRCUIT

“It never really got lonely in my section, because the people in my hall, we were really close friends.”

John Brewer, ‘15

THEN

Olivia Kinney, ‘16

“Sometimes people think North is haunted since it was an old hospital, but there was only really one creepy moment for me there. My soap bottle was full one minute, and then it was empty the next morning, and there was no leak in it, so I have no idea what was going on there.”

Look online at whitmanpioneer.com/category/media-2

FARMING in the

VALLEY

by Rachel Alexander

Walla Walla’s agricultural history is kept by the people who live it.

“Y

ou want to know how farming has changed? Come here.”

Bob Hutchens motions for me to follow him into a large, grayish-blue shed that sits on his wheat farm just outside of Dayton, Wash. The ground is littered with wood shavings and other detritus which gives the impression that serious work happens inside. Bob opens a door and takes me into a gigantic room which seems tiny, because almost every square inch of it is filled with a massive tractor. “Climb on up there,” he directs, gesturing to the small metal steps leading up to the tractor cab. I comply, walking 10 or so vertical feet, and he follows, telling me to sit down. Inside the cab, he shows me a GPS and a screen which allows you to digitally control everything from the amount of fertilizer spread over the field to the route the tractor drives. You can fully automate the planting and harvesting of an entire wheat farm from inside the air-con-

ditioned tractor cab. It’s a state-of-the-art machine which costs tens of thousands of dollars new. This, Bob tells me, is what modern wheat farming looks like.

bout 30 miles east of the Hutchens’ farm, two nondescript red buildings, built to look like barns, sit on the fairgrounds outside of Pomeroy, Wash. Pomeroy is both the county seat and the only town in Garfield County, which has the honor of being the least populous county in Washington State (population 2,266 as of the 2010 census). The county is home to about 200 farms, the majority of which grow wheat and are individual or family-owned. It’s a fitting place for the Eastern Washington Agricultural Museum, which has recently expanded into its second building. Upon getting out of my car I am immediately greeted by David Ruark, who acts as secretary and treasurer for the museum. He’s thrilled that I’ve come all the way from Walla Walla, 66 miles down the road, to have him show me around. The museum’s president, Jay Franks, is my other tour guide, and the two of them are passionate about preserving the history of agriculture in the region.

Jay tells me that some people in the county were a bit skeptical when the museum first got started: “Some people said it was an idea for a place for some guys to put their tractors,” he laughs. Inside the museum’s main building, there’s an impressive and diverse assortment of equipment. As expected, an old tractor, as well as a massive combine built in the 1930s, take up a good chunk of the room. But it’s not all farming equipment: A collection of horseshoes hangs on one wall, and there’s a replica of a farmhouse kitchen, complete with a wooden stove, an old washing machine and even a jar of marbles in the cabinet. Everything works by hand, it seems—the sewing machine, the vacuum, the washboard. There’s a model of an old tractor being hauled by a team of 34 horses. David and Jay are eager to show me everything in the building, especially once I confess that I’m originally from Seattle, a city slicker still learning her way around wheat farming country. David leads me to the table of mystery artifacts, taking great delight every time his “What do you suppose this does?” is met with a look of strained confusion from me.

THECIRCUIT | 11

equipment so the knowledge doesn’t die out with that generation. He hopes the museum can be at once an archive and a form of living memory, that in the absence of elders, some measure of farming spirit and a love of hard work can be passed on to whatever segment of the younger generation is willing to learn their way around a tractor. But I see worry in his eyes as he tells me what every farmer of a certain generation knows: that the average age of the American farmer is rising, that fewer and fewer children are coming back to make a home amidst the spring wheat. The county, the two of them explain to me, used to have a tram for hauling wheat from the road down to the river, where it was shipped out by barge. It ran without power, just the weight of the grain pulling full buckets down to the river and empty ones back up. Like most of the things in the museum, the tram has been replaced by a more efficient, modern and mechanical system. Jay tells me it’s important to remember this history. “It’s kind of going by the wayside,” he says, shaking his head just a little. The museum is run by volunteers, and many of them are old enough to remember the days when horses pulled tractors and soil was tilled more or less by hand. Jay says they’ve been trying to videotape older members of the community telling stories or sharing information about how to use

12 | THECIRCUIT

t’s a story Bob Hutchens knows all too well. He’s over in Columbia County, Garfield’s slightly more populated neighbor, but the outlook isn’t too different from where he sits. His great-grandfather Tyra moved to the Walla Walla Valley in 1873, heeding the “call of the west,” according to the obituary published February 13, 1920. Of his 11 children, Bob’s grandfather Chester (or Chet, if you’d rather) was the one who decided to try his hand at farming outside of Starbuck. He went broke the first time he tried, got himself some more money and started up another farm. By this time, he’d had a few children, including Bob’s father Dale. “He put some money on another place and darn if the Great Depression didn’t happen and he went broke again,” Bob said.

When Dale first started helping around the farm, equipment was pulled by horses—a far cry from the state of things just a generation later, as Bob points out to me. Dale joined the service and later became an insurance salesman in St. Louis, but his heart was always in the valley, and he was eventually able to come back. Bob was raised on the farm and loved it. After studying agronomy at Washington State University, he bought the family’s current farm in 1980, and in 1989 he moved into the farmhouse where he lives now. Bob has a passion for science, and he’s especially excited about the advances which have given farmers the information they need to better conserve soil and practice crop rotation. He tells me he used to write a column for the Dayton Chronicle called “Soils and Men,” but that farming well takes more than scientific aptitude. The label “farmer” transcends occupation to become an identity. He knows this from watching his father, who had farming in his blood and who was still at it until he died at age 93. “You walked into the room and that was what he wanted to talk about. He would have wanted to be on the tractor at 93 if he was physically able,” says Bob. Even that passion isn’t enough to keep a farm going. As machinery has made farm work more efficient, it’s also raised the bar for getting into the game. A brand new combine runs almost half a million dollars

these days—enough to buy you a house or two in a town like Dayton. This shift means that farmers have had to choose between going big or getting out if they want to stay economically viable. “I’ve never seen a wheat farmer that’s small these days unless they have a good day job.” Bob’s tone was lighthearted, but grows thoughtful. “When I was a kid, there was a lot more houses in the county than there are now.” I ask him how common it is for children to go to college and study things like agronomy before coming back to the farm. He pauses for a long time, then shakes his head slightly before answering me.

“I think there’s a lot of them going to college, but not a lot are coming back,” he says. “It’s so capital-intensive, it’s frightening.”

he kids-leaving-the-farm narrative is an old one, and it has some truth to it. But farming in Dayton, much less farming on the Hutchens’ place, doesn’t seem to be in its death throes when I visit. After chatting with Bob in the kitchen, I spend a few minutes roaming around his shop snapping photos. Bob’s son Clay, who’s older-butnot-too-much-older than me, waves, and I walk over. Clay was welding when I arrived, and has since switched to cutting metal chains off a complicated piece of machinery, apparently called a chisel, which is used for primary soil tillage. Glancing from Clay back to myself, I notice the obvious differences between our environments. I’ve driven out to the farm in a red two-wheel-drive Kia, and every other vehicle in sight is a good couple of feet taller than I am. I’m clad in the standard northwest college student outfit of jeans and a North Face jacket, barely sufficient to keep me from shivering in the unusually cold February wind. Clay’s coveralls are streaked with grease, and he chops pieces of chain off of the machine effortlessly. It looks to my untrained eye like he understands the way each and every piece of equipment works in intimate detail. His eyes remain laser-focused on his work even as he talks to me. He asks me what I’ve learned

about farmers. I tell him that the individuals I’ve met are different, but they all seem a little crazy, trying to make a life like this in a world where that seems to be getting harder. He considers this for a minute and nods with a smile. “You’re probably on to something,” he laughs. We talk for a few minutes and end up discussing what I’m doing out on his dad’s farm in the first place. I tell him that I’m hoping to stick with the journalism thing and get a job in the field, maybe even one paying enough to get me a roof over my head. He laughs, because it’s 2013 and we both know what the Internet has done to newsrooms across the country. I offer, “I guess that makes me a little crazy, too.” “But you do it because you love it and you’ve got a passion for it,” he says, and turns back to the chisel, which he thinks he’s almost fixed. It’s a giant piece of equipment, and when it’s ready, it will be dragged across acres of field by another massive tractor, not too different from the one Bob sat me in to show me the changes he’s seen. Though Bob is getting to an age where most men think about retiring, the family’s future seems solidly tilted towards farming. Clay will be responsible for more acres of ground than his grandfather and great-grandfather were, and he’ll watch over the wheat with a combination of scientific knowledge and agricultural technology that was unavailable to previous generations. His love for the farm is clear, the kind of love that lets you shrug off 60-hour work weeks during harvest and settle for a life you know will never make you wealthy. As I’m driving home, I pause to snap pictures of the farm from the road, and I see where they’re building a new shop to house the larger pieces of equipment, changing the farm to fit the world outside of it. I think back to what Bob told me about his father wanting to ride tractors at 93, his grandfather going broke twice but not giving up, and I see them making it work, finding a way to grow some kind of a life out of the soil in this valley. C Pg 11: The Hutchens farm outside of Dayton, Wash., as seen from the road. Pg 12 (from left): An old windmill sits outside the Eastern Washington Agricultural Mseum; a collection of century-old cattle brands in the main building; a model farmhouse kitchen; tractors fill the newly construceted second building. Pg 13 (from top): Old agricultural tools line EWAM’s walls; starlings fly over the Hutchens farm; Clay Hutchens repairs a chisel.

THECIRCUIT | 13

Photo Essay

Pearl Allan Teeter ‘32

Whitman’s Oldest Living Alum

ighty-one years ago, a woman with short dark hair and a pearl necklace sat at a desk with a stack of papers, combing carefully through each sheet with a red pen. Her name was Pearl Allan, and she was a proofreader for the Whitman College Pioneer. At 103 years old, Pearl Allan Teeter is now the oldest living Whitman alumna. In the eight decades since her graduation on the steps of Memorial Hall, Allan Teeter has raised four daughters with her husband, fellow Whitman graduate Kenneth Teeter ‘32, and made her life in Medford, Ore. An English major with a minor in music, Allan Teeter made her love of words and piano central to her life at Whitman. Working as a department head for Waiilatpu and proofreader for The Pioneer, she sharpened her reading and writing wit. Later in life, this enthusiasm for words helped her master the game of Scrabble, and even at age 100 she could still beat her daughters at it. While studying music at Whitman, Allan Teeter frequently accompanied voice students on the piano. Allan Teeter’s love of music and words helped her to memorize the words to countless songs, which she sang and played throughout her adult life. “She was a very good student, and she was an outstanding pianist,” said daughter Sylvia Parks in an email. One of the students Allan Teeter accompanied was Kenneth Teeter, though the two only began dating after both had graduated and moved away. In the biography that Parks wrote for her mother’s 100th birthday, she discussed her parents’ musical talents: “The greatest blessing she and Ken gave their daughters was the gift of their music. Our house was filled with Mom’s

14 | THECIRCUIT

beautiful piano and Dad’s glorious baritone voice. When friends came for a party, they often joined in around the piano.” In addition to taking part in activities related to her academic interests, Allan Teeter was as socially involved on campus as any busy Whittie is today. While a student, she also served as secretary of the YWCA Club and treasurer of the Panhellenic Council representing her chapter of Phi Mu, which was an active women’s fraternity at Whitman until 1951. Despite being somewhat shy in character, Allan Teeter took great pleasure from her social life with her Phi Mu sisters. “She really enjoyed her sorority,” wrote Parks. After filling her years at Whitman with music, books and an active social life, Allan Teeter graduated in 1932 into one of the greatest economic crises in American history. Finding no immediate teaching

by LIBBY ARNOST opportunities, Allan Teeter moved back to her hometown in Anacortes, Wash. to work as a grocery store clerk before enrolling in business school in Seattle. While in Seattle, she became reacquainted with Kenneth Teeter, and they were married in December of 1935. Once married, Allan Teeter threw herself into home life and the job of raising her four daughters: Jeannine, Sylvia, Linda and Virginia. “Mom’s philosophy of life was that she was first and foremost a wife and mother,” remembered Parks in an email. “She was always there when we got home because she didn’t work outside of the home.” Teeter was a golfer and Allan Teeter often accompanied him to the course. “She was walking around the course with him one day and picked up a club, swung it and decided that she could do that too,” wrote Parks in Allan’s biography. Once she picked up the game, together she and Teeter traveled all over the state to play and watch tournaments. They also played many tournaments at the Pebble Beach Golf Course in California, regarded as one of the most beautiful and prestigious golf courses in the world. Though Teeter passed away in 1997, Allan Teeter continued playing golf well into her eighties. Allan Teeter now lives in Medford, Ore. in the home in which she and her husband raised their daughters. She now boasts 13 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren. “Pearl celebrated her 103rd birthday on November 26, 2012,” wrote Parks. “She would love to be able to get out on that golf course again.” C

ProďŹ le

Photos: LEFT: Allan Teeter during her time at Whitman ABOVE (CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT): Allan Teeter as a child, current photo of Allan Teeter, the Teeter wedding. PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY Sylvia Parks

THECIRCUIT | 15

THROUGH THE YEARS Most Whitman students stay in Walla Walla for four years before leaving to pursue grad school or a career elsewhere. Students might hear about Whitman’s past or speculate about its future, but few of us get a chance to observe the college over the long haul. For people who have spent years working at Whitman, the changes over time are more visible. For this issue of The Circuit, we asked alumni, faculty, administrators and staff to reflect on the Whitman they know, and how it’s changed (or hasn’t) over time.

GILLIAN FREW ‘11 Media Relations Ofﬁcer

t’s definitely a different experience being at Whitman as a student versus a staff member. It’s a different schedule, a different set of responsibilities, a different social circle. I don’t really go to student buildings anymore unless it’s for an assignment; I don’t know very many students and the interactions I have with professors are more colleague-client as opposed to student-teacher. There is a very cool alumni community in Walla Walla, though, which is something I didn’t realize as a student. I think Whitman as an institution has always been really focused on the student experience, which makes sense given the fact that it’s a small liberal arts college. Everything we do as staff members goes toward enhancing that | THECIRCUIT experience, or reflecting it

to an external audience. I also appreciate Walla Walla a lot more as a nonstudent. I feel more a part of the larger community as opposed to just the Whitman community, and I think I see the big picture more than I used to. I’ve definitely come to realize the cyclical nature of campus life, and how so many things stay the same year after year; it’s just the student body that’s constantly changing. It’s kind of weird having conversations with my student interns about their classes, dorms, study abroad plans, etc., because it doesn’t feel like THAT long ago when that was all that consumed my life, too. Looking back, though, I think sometimes students just need to take a deep breath and realize that no matter how huge it may seem in the moment, their next big presentation or group project or test isn’t going to make or break the rest of their life. It’s really just about taking advantage of all the opportunities you have as a Whitman student, and enjoying it while it lasts!

NOAH LEAVITT Assistant Dean for Student Engagement

oth students and alumni tell us that community service and engagement is a critical part of their Whitman experience and an essential component of their education. Accordingly, the past 10 years have seen a dramatic increase in the way the college helps students participate in the world beyond campus in ways that help them develop their personal values, their professional skills and their engaged citizenship. During the past decade, the college has worked to support students who wanted to “make things happen” in Walla Walla by creating student-led volunteer programs that assist but not direct students’ offcampus involvements, and then helping them see how those involvements are both personally satisfying and professionally relevant. The next 10 years will see greater emphasis on helping students understand what it means to be active, thoughtful citizens, leaders and community members. We plan to do this by

creating more opportunities for off-campus engagement, in more powerful ways and with more entrepreneurial zeal. We will strengthen students’ interaction with alumni and friends of the college, to allow them to understand how their experiences in Walla Walla (and elsewhere, of course) are valuable professional development assets. Finally, we will expand students’ exposure to the social and economic opportunities that exist for them coming out of Whitman with the fantastic education they receive and the experiences they have here.

JASON ARP ‘94 Assistant Director of Alumni Relations

ow do you measure a place? I was a student at Whitman in the early ‘90s and came back to work here in 2003. Whitman has continued to change across all that time— the faculty has grown, the student body has grown, buildings have risen, the tuition has definitely risen and Whitman enjoys a place on the national stage of higher education that we never would have foreseen 20 years ago. But is Whitman more different in the minds of students today than it was for students in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘80s, etc? And how about for those alumni looking back at their time here fondly while at the same time seeing the school from the outside in? I speak with alumni all over the country. They tell me their stories and memories, but they always want to know if Whitman is the same place they love so much in their minds’ eye. For a long time I struggled with this question. Whitman is more prestigious than anytime in history. We have more programs,

more opportunities to offer and a better sense of our direction as an institution of higher learning, but to me it hasn’t changed. I just couldn’t figure out a good way to articulate my thinking. About a year ago I was having a conversation at The Green with someone I’ve considered a friend for over 20 years. He was also my thesis adviser and favorite professor. We were talking about how the faculty, the administration and the student body have all changed—mostly how all three have gotten bigger and what that means for “The Whitman Experience.” He asked me, “How big can the school get before Whitman stops being Whitman?” At that moment I knew the answer to both that question and the earlier one. The measure is IN the stories. Whether it’s class of 1964, 1994, 2012 or soon-to-be-alumni from the class of 2013, the stories always demonstrate the same things. It’s the professor that gives a little extra effort to make sure you passed a test, the staff member that went out of her way to make sure you

got into the dorms a day early because you had nowhere else to go, and the president that invited you into his home. It’s the classes in the professors’ homes and the time spent as equals with faculty and staff working through issues on campus. These and other examples are the measure of Whitman College, the reason students love being here amongst the wheat fields and why alumni are still SO interested in this place decades later. Since that conversation a year ago, I’ve had no problem articulating to alumni about how Whitman is exactly the same as when they were students. Some of the names on the buildings and doors have changed, we’re higher in the rankings than we were and the world Whitman exists in

is drastically different, but the place and people and experience are still the same. To its alumni Whitman will never be better than during those four years they attended. We support this place with our energy and dollars because we know Whitman runs just like it did when we were here. We know how to measure this place.

2003 vs. 2012 What else has changed? Whitman applicants come from... WA OR CA Other

31% 19% 20% 30%

25% 15% 27% 33%

•

Enrolling students Students of color 18% International students 2.8%

20%

3.84 670 660 * 29 % in top 10% 62%

•

Academic Proﬁle (medians) HS GPA SAT CR SAT M SAT WR ACT comp.

•

3.82 680 660 670 31 63%

•

No more paper applications: Admission staff members read applications on their screens and complete comments and ratings online The advent of social media has meant that Facebook, Twitter and blogging are now parts of the communication strategy for admission offices There seems to have been a trend with more students interested in life sciences and environmental studies There’s also been a trend to more interested in global issues (increased study abroad)

according to TONY CABASCO Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid

*not in use

THECIRCUIT | 17

he branding of an organization is key to its marketing, and Whitman conducted an effort to sharpen and better define its brand. The brand expression serves to help distinguish and differen-

tiate Whitman, first from other liberal arts colleges and second from universities. The essence of Whitman’s brand lies in what it combines—its attributes and its location. Whitman combines a focus on the highest levels of academic excellence and achievement with what we know to be the unpretentious culture of the Northwest and with an engaged community focused more on collaboration than competition. Taken together, those elements help distinguish the college.

I came here in 1975. I was used to being on campuses where there was a lot of activism by students; there had been Earth Day in 1970 and Vietnam War protests in 1970, so this place seemed kind of passive. I think it’s still relatively passive; I think the students are relatively passive environmentally, and relatively passive about divesting. I think a few students, sometimes with overlap, do most of the things ... in terms of being socially active. That is, it’s probably the same students that are into divestment, into stopping the coal trains, and Whitman not using as much energy. It’s a relatively small group. In terms of communication skills, the writing is getting better—noticeably better. I don’t know why. The oral communication I was disappointed in when I first got here, and it’s gotten better and better, sincerely. I think one of the factors is PowerPoint. I think it has helped a lot of people who weren’t very good

with overheads or weren’t very good without any props at all. Sports have had some interesting changes. In ‘77 we killed the football program and we put the funds into other sports. In ‘75 women’s soccer was just getting started. We’ve started a lot of new club sports while I’ve been here: women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rugby ... because students in general—or maybe only Whitman students in particular—are multi-talented to an extent which I can hardly believe. When I compare them with what I know—which is not that much—about other universities, those students are either athletes or musicians or they write for the school newspaper, or they study. I just think that so many Whitman students just do it all: that’s one of the reasons they’re coming to Whitman, and that’s one of the reasons they like it when they’re prospective students. I think perhaps because of my age or maybe the level of my voice or something like

RUTH WARDWELL

Director of Communications

18 | THECIRCUIT

One website overhaul, one design evolution and the transition to a contemporary content management system have focused on architecture and navigation that meet the needs of external audiences as well as internal stakeholders and an attempt to reflect the Whitman brand of liberal arts education through meaningful content and design. Overall the college as a whole is a little behind the curve on social media, as, understandably, the organization

that, as the years have gone by the students have this initial anxiety about taking a class from me. How much have the students changed? It’s probably obvious to most people that I didn’t retire at age 65. But I just love it. We often say to each other, at least in the geology department, that Whitman’s the best thing that ever happened to us. The students are so wonderful, our colleagues in general are so wonderful. Walla Walla’s a nice town. I get to go out of town at least once a week if not three times a week on field trips, so I don’t even know why they’re paying me. I have so much fun. I mean, you gotta eat, but really—I think you students are very lucky to be here, most of you, and I know that most of the faculty are very lucky to be here.

has not been able to keep pace with the rapid developments in the social media world. But the expansion of the web and online team based in the Office of Communications will help in the effort to harness the potential that social media offers in reaching and engaging external stakeholders. Perhaps the Office of Admission has made the most strides in using social media to reach specific objectives. Also, individual athletic coaches use blogs and other tools effectively.

BOB CARSON Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies since 1975

MEGAN MEDICA ‘81 Trustee

any aspects and parts of Whitman College have changed and continue to evolve as time goes by, ranging from new buildings and renovations to curriculum and people. The general physical structure of

both the campus and educational core has remained similar since I graduated in 1981. To me, the footprint of the college looks and feels remarkably the same now as it did in the early 1980s, albeit new and renovated buildings and an extensive outdoor sculpture collection. Even with the Reid Center replacing the SUB, the additions of Hunter and the ultracool Fouts Center, as well as the “new” (now not-so-new) science building and renovations to the library and HJT, I still feel right at home each and every visit. The overall stability and strength of the liberal arts curriculum also continues to enjoy a

long history which I only see as strengthening in its continuation: rigorous coursework, small class sizes, phenomenal professors. And while departments and course offerings have changed and evolved due to differing student interests and demands, it is as common today to be invited over to a professor’s home for dinner and for conversation to follow a grueling final exam just as it was when I was a student. Further, innovative and challenging programs (Semester in the West and international study abroad) continue to be an integral part of the Whitman experience. On the horizon, however, I see the next wave of important

cornerstone programs, studies and events coming from our Student Engagement Center as more students desire to have external experiences mesh with their interests and studies in preparation for life after Whitman while still attending Whitman. The evolution of the college, and its future, is largely a reflection of the interaction between the people who run it and those who attend it ... it is a unique combination and catalyst of people and events that when put together over time is what drives forward progress. The Whitman community is blessed to have had—and continues to attract—incredible students, faculty and staff.

GEORGE BRIDGES President

hitman has a remarkable history of both continuity and change. Over the past decade our faculty and staff have exhibited the same continuity of commitment to offering an educational experience that is challenging, supportive and personal that faculty and staff have offered at Whitman for generations. Likewise, the campus culture remains friendly and welcoming just as President Stephen Penrose hoped it would be in 1934. Finally, the alumni today are as committed to supporting the school with their time, energy and treasure as they have for many decades. One of the most impressive features of Whitman alumni, regardless of their ages, is that their very best friends are often their former Whitman classmates. But like many colleges, Whitman has changed as the society has changed. Since 2000, the campus

has become more racially and ethnically diverse. Faculty members are now active scholars in addition to being dedicated teachers. Advances in technology have dramatically changed how we acquire knowledge and the ways we connect with one another. New social media have transformed our interactions and the networks of which we are a part. Further, the contexts in which students learn and develop at Whitman are changing. Increasingly, experiences directly linked to the scholarly work of faculty or internships and service projects in communities supplement and enrich learning in our classrooms. There are more opportunities for our students to conduct research with faculty and to receive funding for internships than ever before. Finally, the appearance and facilities of the campus have changed in the last decade, with a number of renovations

to academic buildings and campus facilities. The words that many alumni have shared at their reunions describe this pattern of continuity and change at Whitman quite well: “The campus looks very different now than it did when I was a student but it feels just the same—I am glad to be back.”

THECIRCUIT | 19

Opening the

VAULT:

by LACHLAN JOHNSON ince opening its doors in 1896, the Whitman Pioneer has had a long and diverse history of reporting on campus. While it began its life in an era when there were few enough students to cover each one’s comings and goings in a week’s issue, it gradually transitioned into a record of campus events and competitions and a calendar for annual traditions. In the 1960s it became a bastion of radical politics and the arts, agitating for reform on campus, before taking on a more formal air in the 1980s. Today, photographs and graphics play a large part in the paper, while quotes and hard news are the foundation of Pioneer reporting. We took a look into our archives to get some perspective on where today’s Pioneer is coming from. Here are some samples of headlines from the archives of Whitman’s oldest publication.

1896, November:

1898, June:

1902, 3. 2nd:

1912, Nov. 5th:

The Pioneer’s first issue was published 117 years ago. No pictures or quotations are included in the publication, and news is written in a narrative manner. News pieces include short snippets of information from the personal lives of students, such as when they changed their preferred flavor of tea— small-campus news at its best.

Foreshadowing its future in addressing controversial issues around campus, The Pioneer publishes a list of “Gripes,” including the complaint concerning professors skipping class to pursue relationships. Despite The Pio’s reasonable request, no evidence can be found that the administration ever took serious steps to ban falling in love on campus.

By the turn of the century The Pioneer was finding its place at the college, reporting on regular campus events such as sports meets, debate and glee competitions and social occasions. Once ASWC was founded, The Pioneer began regularly reporting on the organization’s meetings and goals. The relationship between the two organizations would evolve over the years, with the two bodies eventually being joined by financing and relations swinging between partnership and rivalry.

“Handsome Stags Get Together on the Whitman Wax.” Throughout the early 1900s The Pioneer reported on an array of campus competitions, sports, activities, social events and student elections. Though The Pioneer has only ever been published in English, the language used has changed significantly over the years. This description of a party provides a glimpse into slang used 101 years ago.

20 | THECIRCUIT

PIO THROUGH THE AGES 1921, Nov. 18th:

1928, Nov. 16th:

1942, Jan. 8th:

1949, Sept. 22nd:

“Justice Must Be Meted”— Koed’s Kangaroo Kourt.” While profiling groups on campus is now a regular occurrence at The Pio, the practice took several years to develop. Then again, modern groups don’t have the acronym KKK or carry out vigilante hazing on campus.

“Tough Looking He-Men Seen on Whitman Campus.” Unfortunately, illustrations, pictures and graphics were nonexistent for the first several decades of publication. Front-page articles sometimes tried to make up for this through vivid language; this headline described a beard-growing competition in the late ‘20s.

“Serenades to Campused College Gals.” Despite some of the saucy articles printed by The Pioneer, for many years the campus had strict rules concerning morality. Girls who missed the bedtimes set by the college had the hours they could be out of the dorms restricted.

“Sidewalks of Whitman.” As Whitman entered a stage of building and development after WWII, The Pioneer kept up to date, covering construction around campus. Sometimes modernization conflicted with tradition, though radical projects such as sidewalks eventually were pushed through.

1955, Sept. 15th: “Tug of War Regulated By Executive Council.” In the ‘50s, annual tradition was the focus of the paper. From the tug of war at the beginning of every school year to homecoming to campus dances organized by the Greek system, traditions which have disappeared in the last 50 years were recorded in history by The Pioneer.

1962, Jan. 11th: “Hike in Tuition, Board Announced by President.” As the 1960s began, The Pioneer gradually started covering more controversial issues. From rising tuition to sexual freedom and civil rights, The Pioneer took the lead on reporting issues on campus.

1967, April 27th: “Vigils Upset Status Quo” and “Y To Investigate Marijuana Arrest.” As student activism grew around campus, The Pioneer began to blur the lines between news and opinion. Reporting on traditions, clubs, competition and Greek life began to disappear as arts, drama and dance moved to the front page, and the journalism began to take a more informal approach, as opinions on drugs and sexual freedom began to appear in hard news.

THECIRCUIT | 21

1973, March 1st: By the early ‘70s The Pioneer resembled an alternative newspaper such as Seattle’s The Stranger or The Portland Mercury. If dance, drama or activism weren’t on page one, it was often because it was taken up by a full-page illustration or photographs. Actual news was relegated to a small portion of the paper, as editorials and letters from readers dominated print space.

1983, Feb. 17th: By the ‘80s The Pioneer had recovered its formality, and news—not opinion or the arts—was back on the front page. Though some comparisons may be made between the new format which was composed of uniform blocks of text and modern real estate pamphlets, the organization helped make the paper more professional. It was at this point that the paper began to be divided into concrete sections, such that the

editorials which once composed the entire publication were restricted to a limited number of pages.

1994, Oct. 6th:

2007, Oct. 11th:

Quotations began to appear regularly in The Pioneer in the 1990s, and articles began to focus on unique news events rather than regular events such as competitions and traditions.

The quality of The Pioneer’s journalism increased dramatically in the new century. Not only had quotations become common practice, but the writing became more journalistic and formal. The layout, while still somewhat limited due to space, was a vast improvement over the last century’s.

22 | THECIRCUIT

1989, Feb. 16th: “Mascot change committee named.” Though The Pioneer once printed the Whitman Missionary on the front of every edition, the mascot fell out of favor towards the end of the 20th century and The Pioneer abandoned the

tradition. While the Missionary is still technically Whitman’s mascot, it is no longer widely used or promoted by the administration, as the term “Whitties” and the Memorial Building have become informally accepted as representative of Whitman.

2012, March 1st: In recent years, The Pioneer has been winning major awards for college journalism. Two articles, one on Whitmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sexual assault policy and the other on diversity on campus, won second and fifth place in a national competition, besting entries from larger universities with established journalism departments and majors.

THECIRCUIT | 23

BEHIND THE SCENES of the

One Acts photo essay by CADE BECK

Every year the Harper Joy Theatre produces the One Act Play Festival, a series of three singleact plays written by Whitman students. The plays are selected by a committee of theatre and literature experts, many of whom have been involved in the process for all 24 years of the contestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence. The One Acts are, in many ways, a miniaturized version of a full-season show. The entire process takes place in about three weeks, which limits the amount of set building, costume construction, lighting revisions, sound creations, props searches and blocking changes. However, the entire process is in the hands of students; the only department involvement is

24 | THECIRCUIT

in the form of a small budget allotted for the shows. Just like all shows, though, the most interesting moments take place where the audience canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see: backstage. This body of art looks at the elements of a show through the eyes of a backstage technician, from mopping the stage at the top of the show to striking the entire set after the last show. It is backstage that one finds actors applying their makeup, dancing in the dressing rooms, running crew taking naps in the wings, dressers helping with quick costume changes, stage managers and board operators on headset and more. It is through these aspects that it is possible to really understand the theatre experience.

THECIRCUIT | 25

26 | THECIRCUIT

ITH THEIR BACKS AGAINST A WALL, the purple team sends one of their own with a lastsecond clutch play. The competitors take off their headsets and stand up from behind their computers.

THE CROWD GOES WILD.

e SPORTS

BY BLAIR HANLEY FRANK THECIRCUIT | 27

elcome to competitive video gaming, or eSports, as it is known to its enthusiasts. Week after week, millions of fans follow the exploits of their favorite professional gamers both in major tournaments and on professional ladders. As of this writing, a petition to get competitive gaming into the Olympics boasts more than 80,000 signatures from over 200 countries. Thanks to the Internet, it’s possible for anyone with a computer and a decent connection to hook themselves into international competition. The developers of games in the modern eSports scene maintain ranked ladders that track the performance of every player in every region of the world that plays the game. Playing competitively isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for a certain subset of gamers, the challenge of putting your abilities to the test against an opponent is irresistible. That drive is not all that different from the same competitive spirit that drives others to be successful in their fields, it just happens to involve video games in this case. Live streams of major tournaments can often garner hundreds of thousands of concurrent viewers, with organizations like Major League Gaming and the Global Starleague fielding large production teams complete with groups of broadcast commentators to bring viewers expert opinions on the fast-paced action on their screens. Whitman fields teams that compete in the Collegiate Starleague, or CSL, which pits colleges and universities from around the country against each other in digital competition. In essence, the CSL allows schools like Whitman to field club eSports teams, alongside their meatspace-based brethren on campus. For the members of those teams, there are clear parallels between eSports and more traditional, physical sports. “Pretty much all the same principles of a regular sport apply to any type of eSport,” said Jamie Edison, the captain of Whitman’s Starcraft II team. “You obviously have to have a lot of motivation and dedication to get better and play well.”

THE HEART OF THE SWARM For Edison and others, their game of choice is Activision Blizzard’s Starcraft II. A member of the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre, Starcraft places players in the role of a military commander who has to manage resource gathering, unit construction, combat and overarching strategy, often all at the same time. Starcraft features three races for players

28 | THECIRCUIT

to choose from: Terrans, the last remnants of humanity; the Zerg, a swarm of monstrous creatures; and the Protoss, a race of psionically powered alien humanoids. Each race comes with its own unique units and strategies, but the objective for all three is the same: Wipe your opponent off the map. Players are judged by their ability to manage their army’s growth and to control individual units in combat with split-second timing. Top players are able to use keyboard shortcuts to control their production while simultaneously controlling units in combat. Edison, who describes himself as naturally competitive, found the game after he stopped playing water polo. “I was really grasping for any sort of competition I could get at,” he said. “It’s the same type of excitement I’d experienced in water polo.” That same competitive drive is what brought sophomore Natty Baird to the game. Baird is a Zerg player in Master League, which places him among the top two percent of North American Starcraft players. For him, the skill-intensive nature of Starcraft makes for a worthwhile experience. “If you can just control more units in more places at once, you can feel your opponent just collapsing,” Baird said. While that may sound simple, the mental agility needed to pull off such feats is what makes Starcraft enjoyable. “It’s hard, honestly,” Baird said. “I think part of the reason I like it so much is because it’s hard and so unforgiving sometimes. It just makes it really rewarding when you succeed at all.”

THE FIELDS OF JUSTICE League of Legends, developed by R i o t Games, is another popular title among eSports enthusiasts. Unlike the army management and large-scale combat that defines Starcraft, LoL gives the player control of only one character, known as a champion. The game is played by two opposing teams of five players each, fighting to be the first to destroy the other team’s “Nexus,” on one of three maps, known as Fields of Justice. In order to get to the nexus, players have to build up their champion’s power by earning experience points from killing AI-controlled minions and opposing champions, and using gold from those kills to buy items from an in-game shop to boost their characters’ stats. Games will often take upwards of a half-hour to complete, and often hinge on “teamfights” with both teams bringing their champions’ powers to bear in an at-

“

IN ELEVENTH GRADE, MY MOM WAS GETTING REALLY CONCERNED ... I would go to bed at 8 p.m. so I could wake up at four in the morning to watch my favorite player play in the GSL.

AND IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT TO ME; IT WAS THE MOST EXCITING THING EVER. Natty Baird, sophomore

tempt to kill members of the other team and keep them off the map until they respawn. While there isn’t quite as much to micromanage in League as there is in Starcraft, teams’ success is often dictated by how well they can successfully execute their strategies. Sophomore Ethan Scardina, the captain of Whitman’s LoL squad, said that the multifaceted nature of LoL is what keeps him interested. “It’s like a test of skill, I get to be social, [and] it’s got a good balance of individual creativity and team play,” he said. For Scardina, that social aspect of the game has helped him keep up with friends from high school because they get together to play LoL. As he puts it: “The only thing that changed when we went to college is that we all have better Internet connections.” Ethan’s roommate, sophomore Peter Segre, found the social connections beneficial to his development as a player. “I started playing with [Ethan’s] friends, and his friends were a lot better than me,” he said. But that skill disparity helped motivate him to push himself as a player. “As I progressed, I constantly wanted to get better, and through that, I started to get better,” he said. While teammates can make for good motivation, they can also prove to be a liability. “You can do well, and then your teammates can do horribly, and it’s frustrating because you can only do so much for your team,” Segre said. But, according to Segre, a team’s lowest lows can also lead to some of the most worthwhile moments in the game. “You can get incredibly frustrated, but then if you feel like your team’s behind and you make a good play, it’s very satisfying,” he said. For Scardina, part of the challenge is not just playingthegamebutalsoplayinghisopponents. “It’s definitely satisfying to predict what the enemy is going to do and respond to it and be successful,” he said.

GETTING STARTED Of course, getting to the point where you can predict your opponents’ actions takes work. But Edison says that the lack of a strenuous physical requirement makes it a bit easier to join the world of competitive gaming. “It’s just so much more approachable and so much more accessible than traditional sports,” he said. That approachability helped Edison in his growth as a Starcraft player,

when his practice regimen finally clicked. “I [realized I] can actually get good at this game; all I have to do is sit and focus and play and figure out what’s going wrong and analyze my mistakes and then build from them,” he said. For Segre, his experience playing League of Legends got off to an auspicious start. “The first time I ever played a game of League, I played Fiddlesticks, and I couldn’t figure out that right-click is for moving, and left-click is for using your abilities, so I’d try to use an ability and then right click towards a person and then just die,” Segre said. Over the course of his past two years playing LoL, Segre has greatly improved. He now has his eyes on continuing his progression up the ranked ladder towards tougher competition.

THE PRO CIRCUIT For those who can turn pro, eSports is serious business. Major tournaments often boast prize pools in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the Season 2 League of Legends World Championships holding the current record for largest total prize pool at $5 million. The most popular stars also support themselves by live-streaming their practice time on sites like Twitch.tv to thousands of fans. Teams of players will sometimes get together to live in a “gaming house” in order to hone their skills with one another around the clock. While their salaries certainly don’t rival those of professional athletes, pro gamers are able to make a comfortable living at playing video games. But in addition to being a day job for the lucky few who can make it pay, the professional side of Starcraft and LoL make for excellent inspiration. “You see [pro players] do these amazing things with this game that you yourself can’t even do, and you can barely think of how it could be done, and it’s amazing to watch,” said Edison. Baird’s experience watching professional eSports led him to some rather strange sleeping habits. “In 11th grade, my mom was getting really concerned because I would go to bed at 8 p.m. so I could wake up at four in the morning to watch my favorite player play in the GSL,” Baird said. “And it was totally worth it to me; it was the most exciting thing ever.” Along with the high levels of competition, the personalities of players also play a major role in how they’re per-

ceived by the overall eSports community. “At this point, there’s practically tabloid drama,” Baird said. For Whitman’s eSports enthusiasts, reaching the bright lights and massive stages of the professional circuit isn’t necessarily what motivates them, especially with the pressures of Whitman’s academics. For competitors like Edison, the time commitment needed to excel at a game can prove difficult. “It really is like any other sport; you truly do need to devote two to three hours a day just simply to practicing, or else you just can’t compete because you’re just too far behind anybody else,” he said. But carving out that practice time while staying on top of the other commitments in their lives is sometimes a difficult choice to make when faced with everything else Whitman students have on their plate. “Because ‘eSports,’ with some fingerquotes, is such a blossoming new thing, it’s really hard to even convince yourself that it’s a worthwhile investment of your time,” Edison said. Baird, who is on the border of the highest tier of the North American Starcraft ladder, said that the time commitment plays a huge factor in his decision to not actively seek a professional career at the moment. “Trying to do anything pro is an enormous sacrifice. I’m not really sure I can devote that kind of time, or if I even want to,” he said. While he doesn’t plan on turning pro either, EdisonsaidhispassionforStarcraftwillendure. “I’ll probably follow it for as long as it’s around,” he said. “I just feel like I won’t ever not care.” C

IF YOU THINK COMPETITIVE GAMING IS FOR YOU, HERE’S HOW TO GET INVOLVED:

To download League of Legends, check out bit.ly/piolol For a free trial of Starcraft II, visit bit.ly/PioSC2 To get involved with Whitman’s CSL teams, contact Jamie THECIRCUIT | Edison

1920193019401950196019701980200020102012

Twinkies:

1931

A Twinkie is born, one year after Hostess was founded in 1930.

1945 30 | THECIRCUIT

The original banana-cream Twinkie becomes vanilla-ďŹ&#x201A;avored due to WWII fruit rations.

A Retrospective N

by HANNAH BARTMAN

ovember 2012 marked the end of an era. It was the death of a snack that became an unofficial tag of American patriotism. It was the end of a cultural icon, a recognizable treat that held unsurpassed societal significance. Now, no 7-Eleven junk food aisle will ever be the same. This cream-filled, sugar delicacy that our generation has had to put to rest is the Twinkie. “Twinkies were an icon and a staple of America—at least in my part of the world,” said Peterson Endowed Chair of Social Sciences Keith Farrington. The original bananacream-filled Twinkie was crafted in 1930, until the advent of WWII forced the rationing of bananas. Hostess made the momentous decision to switch to vanilla cream, and has since never turned back. Twinkies rose in popularity in the 1950s with the increasing number of American suburban families, filling the ideal school lunch. “I would argue that Twinkies, Hostess snacks and the like were geared towards a certain generation and that was the youth,” said Farrington. Likewise, they were advertised as a nutritious family snack. One 1957 adver-

1954

tisement wrote, “Housewives have told us their families eat even more [fruit] when Twinkies are perched on the side of the plates!” In the 1960s they became an even more popular snack due in part to the increase in family bomb shelters. This began the still prevalent myth (yes, it’s a myth) that Twinkies would last the apocalypse, as Hostess sold them under the slogan that they would “stay fresh forever.” This myth has continually resurfaced, as Bill Clinton even put a Twinkie in the nation’s millennium time capsule (it was later removed for fear of mice infestation). “It’s the prototypical indestructible junk food. It was the sort of height to which American technological ingenuity could go to create a product that was almost entirely artificial, but gave the appearance of eclairs,” said Marion Nestle, a New York University professor of nutrition and food studies. Hostess is known more as an icon to this generation simply because it is nothing more than that. An outcry emerged from the public when Hostess admitted bankruptcy in 2012, and consumers flocked to the shelves and bought Twinkies at an unprecedented rate.

The Twinkie mascot, Twinkie the Kid, makes his appearance on television when Twinkies become a sponsor of the Howdy-Doody Show.

1999

A whole box of Twinkies is now being sold on eBay for a staggering price of $200,000. Apparently, America had suppressed this Twinkie admiration before Hostess announced its discontinuation. Hostess Twinkie filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May of 2012, and stated on Nov. 12, 2012 that “bakery operations have been suspended at all plants.” Hostess explained their failure as due to American’s heightened interest in more healthy and natural foods. The simple truth is that the American public loved the cultural stigmas that surrounded the Twinkie, but could really care less for the Twinkie itself. “They are pretty good for the first bite, but I can’t stand eating any more of them,” said sophomore Quinn Piibe. First year Aaron Stern is of the same opinion. “Of all the Hostess snacks, Twinkies are my least favorite,” he said. Media has of course done nothing more than perpetuate this stigmatized product. Movies such as Wall-E and Zombieland bring about the cultural significance of the Twinkie. It also holds a political significance; the “Twinkie-defense” is now a term originating from the 1979 trial of Dan

2012

White. White was accused of assassinating both gay activist Harvey Milk and mayor of San Francisco George Moscone. White defended himself on the grounds that his depression had led to an increase in sugary foods, such as Twinkies, which inhibited his mental capacities. Now an object of history, the Twinkie has become a keepsake only fully understood by our generation. It’s a blow to the few Twinkie devotees, but mostly the loss is an opportunity missed by the public to taste an icon of their generation. “I have never had a Twinkie, just because it hasn’t appealed to me, but it’s definitely something that is recognized by everyone,” said first-year Andrea Berg. Apparently the end the Mayans predicted was not the death of the human race, but rather the death of an American icon. The product that was supposed to survive us all shocked society with its abrupt irony. However, it must be recognized that the Twinkie cannot and, as of yet, has not died. It is etched in our political, social and cultural consciousness and will continue to live until there is a generation whose people are ignorant of the true significance of the Hostess Twinkie. C

Hostess ﬁles for bankruptcy on Nov. 12, and Twinkies stop being made for the ﬁrst time in 81 years.

Bill Clinton places the iconic everlasting Twinkie in the millenium time capsule. It is soon taken out for fear of mice infestation. THECIRCUIT | 31

SO 10 YEARS AGO.

32 | THECIRCUIT

text by ADAM BRAYTON & ALEIDA FERNANDEZ

photos by MARLENA SLOSS

emember “Survivor”? When Arnold Schwarzenegger became governator of California? Limp Bizkit? “Bad Boys II”? If you laughed or cringed at any of those, imagine what you’ll be laughing at 10 years from today; imagine the things that were so cool and trendy today that will make you smack your forehead with regret in the future. If you’re having trouble with your imagination today, we’ve got you covered. Here’s what you’ll be regretting 10 years from now.

Mannerisms YOLO: Assuming you live long enough while shouting this motto, you’ll find that YOLO only lived once (or rather, lived only once). Heck, Drake will probably be back in Canada for the free healthcare after overdosing at his re-re-Bar Mitzvah, and Zac Efron will have had his tattoo laser-removed. We can’t say that we’ll be disappointed that this phase died out along with its obligatory “hang loose” hand motion that accompanies it. In fact, the phrase will gloriously win a Darwin Award.

Reciting “Call Me Maybe” lyrics: We know you have it. That secret urge. That urge, when someone starts saying, “Call Me,” to finish it with a “Maybe.” In the future, people won’t soften their commands with cushion words like “maybe.” Everything will be direct and to the point. That, and we’ll probably have completely forgotten about Carly Rae Jepsen. Swag: We may be guilty of using #swag from time to time—or all the time— as a substitute for the word “cool,” but a

word that formally means “a suspended wreath, garland, or drapery” should never stay longer than its welcome. And its welcome is very close to ending. Like the hashtags before it, #swag needs to #go.

Fashion Yoga pants: Yes, they’re form-fitting. Yes, they’re comfortable. But so was every new fashion ever. Eventually it will go out of style to look like you

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just walked out of your yoga class, or maybe Lululemon will get even more expensive than it already is. Whatever the cause, there will be fewer yoga pants and more of some other active-lifestyle-wear. Also, there will be less cameltoe. Dressing like a grandma: We blame Zooey Deschanel. She’s just so perfect and quirky and adorkably fashionable that it spun out of control and now we all dress like grandmas. Perhaps this is part of an age-old cycle that won’t run its full course until grandma dress-alikes become grandmas themselves. Or it’ll just go out of style in the next 10 years. Skinny jeans: The breakdown of tra-

but could there be hope that it will return to its content namesake in 2023? If the ratings for “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Long Island Medium” have anything to do with it, then no, no it won’t. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if they come up with even crazier fringes of society to highlight. All things Kardashian: Kris Jenner and her motley krew of K-named family members/kash kows have infekted our TVs and entertainment magazines since 2006. If there is a higher being, we hope that he or she will be kind enough to make them quietly go away faster than Kim kan get a divorce from Kris Hum-

ditional gender norms will continue to happen until gender actually turns into a spectrum. But God, the skinny jeans have to go. There are better ways to be more sensitive male figure in our brave new world than walking around in jeans with inseams smaller than a child’s neck. We’ll learn that soon enough.

phries. Which, kome to think of the pace of that partikular endeavor, might happen in about 10 years’ time.

Pop Culture #hashtags: While it’s been amusing while it lasted, we can’t imagine this trend lasting more than five years. The hashtag will go back to being just a plain, ordinary, useless pound sign. We predict that it will fade proportionately with Justin Bieber’s innocence. Let’s just face it, everything wrong with pop culture is Justin Bieber’s fault. ***poundsignseey awouldn’twanttobeya TLC: TLC as the “The Learning Channel” went out of vogue years ago,

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Technology Auto-tune: While this trend created the ability to make anyone sound remotely all right at singing (see: Rebecca Black), auto-tune will most likely die out and be replaced by people who can actually sing. Singers who can actually sing, like Adele, seem to be all the rage now (see: all of her Grammy trophies). Auto-tune will soon be as distant a memory as dancing to dubstep in the TKE basement. Televisions: Who in our lifetimes has ever said that televisions are the future? Probably only television salesmen. While TV shows are becoming increasingly digital, the only thing that stands in the way of a purely digital

computerized television experience is how advertising would work. TV probably wouldn’t even exist without advertisements—just think about that the next time you see a Billy Mays knockoff ad. DVDs: With Netflix Instant Watch, Hulu and all different manners of streaming stealing the spotlight, the Digital Versatile Disc is becoming less and less versatile. Why bother with hard copies anymore? Everything is going to the cloud, man. That crazy nebulous cloud where all of our movies will come from for the rest of forever.

Politics Hating on women: While hating on women should have gone out of style around the same time it became unfashionable to not give women the vote, it is our hope that the anti-women comments of the Todd Akins, Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of the world will be pushed out of the political arena. If the national backlash against Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment is representative of how this country is moving, feelings like theirs will be a distant memory in 10 years’ time. Hating on gay people: Like hating on women, this trend seems to be on its way out. And similar to our feelings about hating on women, we’ve been over this trend for years. This trend can let the door hit it on the way out. Hating on underprivileged people, period: ‘Nuff said. C

Whitman and Mainstream Hip-Hop: Gender Battlegrounds by MATT RAYMOND

520 Sedgwick Avenue is, by most accounts, an unremarkable apartment complex, an imposing brick-andsteel reminder of New York’s failures in public housing, a specter looming and mute cast over the Cross-Bronx Expressway. It is the Bethlehem of hip-hop music. Inside 1520’s recreation room, Clive Campbell, the oldest of six siblings who immigrated from Jamaica to the Bronx, became Kool DJ Herc, the man who extracted hip-hop’s sonic revolution from soul records and turntables. Herc’s exercises in musical curiosity filled the rec room, city parks and schoolyards with crowds who danced maniacally to the sounds he uncovered. In 1973, hip-hop was as humble as the high-rise that give birth to it. Fast-forward 30 years—the highly controversial music video for “Tip Drill.” There’s Nelly, a rapper from St. Louis, throwing

dollar bills on a scantily-clad woman, her already hard-working bikini bottom poised to snap and break as she stretches her legs behind her head. This is popular hip-hop in the new millennium. “Must be your ass, ‘cause it ain’t your face,” Nelly raps. The one-dimensional, oppressively masculine heterosexuality of a genre emerges from his growling timbre, punctuated by his staccato demands. He wants more from the women on the screen. Nelly’s braggadocio refrains reflect an identity crisis hip-hop has become slowly acquainted with over a decade. In 2003, Herc must have felt like he had been mocked. His experiment in percussion has mutated into a misogynistic, predatory monster wearing an enormous football jersey, a bandana and a pair of $500 Jordans. Hip-hop now feels more comfortable throwing dollar bills in a strip club than putting pen to paper. Aesthetic objectification in popular hip-hop music videos has compounded to this change.

Several years later, filmmaker Byron Hurt expressed this pushpull between getting radio spins and keeping the music real, assuming the voice of jilted hip-hop listeners everywhere: “I would always defend hip-hop. But the more I grew and the more I learned about sexism and violence and homophobia, the more those lyrics became unacceptable to me, and I became conflicted about the music I loved.” At Whitman, where spirited discussion of gender equality abounds, the very mention of hiphop can outrage our sensibilities. Understandably so—the Whittie unacquainted with the larger canon of hip-hop music is much more likely to learn that “bitches ain’t shit” before discovering hip-hop’s inspiring messages—those of unity, political change, love and sincere appreciation for the music’s creative power—beneath the layers of dust. But the music’s rhythms are as surprisingly pervasive as its lyrics are insidious. Mainstream hip-hop pumps unapologetically through

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speakers in frat basements. We hear it, but we don’t always listen to it. Sometimes, we’re desensitized, removed from the lyrics. The hiphop industry quietly performed a massive marketing coup, mandating an ethos of hypersexual masculinity as a mainstream standard. We’ve been gently rocked to sleep. We’ve become used to this conception of mainstream hiphop. It’s been like this for so long. “Whitman students talk a lot about gender and they point it out in the music, but that doesn’t stop anyone from playing it. People keep going back to it anyways— that’s the problem”, acknowledges junior Claudia Sanchez-Ayala. Hip-hop has been a multitude of things since its accidental conception: It has been challenged, screwed, chopped, remixed, cut, mashed up, slowed down, absorbed by various regions, recycled, regurgitated and reinvented. It is diverse beyond classification—it is political and intentional and sometimes it is a display of linguistic gymnastics, the peacock flashing its feathers triumphantly. At its core, hiphop liberates and speaks for the multitudes. Now, mainstream hiphop is defined by its misogyny. How the f--- did that happen?

“Whitman students talk a lot about gender and they point it out in the music, but that doesnt stop anyonefrom playing it. People keep going back to it anyways—that’s the problem.” Claudia Sanchez-Ayala ‘14 In 1986, female rap trio SaltN-Pepa released their debut album, Hot, Cool and Vicious, to an incredibly perceptive America— the album went double platinum. Such commercial success was almost unimaginable even for male rap artists in the mid-’80s. As a result, women rappers began to receive record deals at a far greater rate, carving out an important cultural space in which the conventions of sexual subordination and commodification of the body were challenged before an audience.

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“Some think that we [women] can’t flow/Stereotypes they got to go/I gonna mess around and flip the scene into reverse/ With a little touch of ladies first,” Queen Latifah rapped, asserting the credibility of femininity in a rapidly evolving genre. In 1989, three years after SaltN-Pepa demonstrated the possibility of female commercial success in hip-hop, 2 Live Crew dropped their album As Nasty as They Wanna Be. In the album’s leading single, “Me So Horny,” Fresh Kid Ice exemplifies a disturbing facet of hip-hop’s sexism: The song does not merely configure sex as a masculine obsession; it promotes sex as an act of violence towards women. “I won’t tell your mama if you don’t tell your dad/I know he’ll be disgusted when he sees that pussy busted,” he raps in the song’s second verse. The next year, U.S. district court judge Jose Gonzalez ruled that the misogyny in As Nasty as They Wanna Be reached illegal levels of obscenity and thus could not be sold. The members of 2 Live Crew were arrested shortly thereafter for performing the obscene material live. They were cleared of all charges, however, after Henry Louis Gates, Jr. testified on their behalf, defending their lyrics. Perhaps the most renowned researcher in his field, and a professor of African American Studies at Harvard, Gates visited Whitman College in 2011 and elucidated his fascination with African-American genealogies. The album, like Salt-NPepa’s debut, went double platinum. Sexism in hip-hop undoubtedly reflects and derives from sexism in prominent American institutions, but the severity and the violence reflected in mainstream hiphop’s treatment of women suggest an ideological shift in the music industry. Perhaps the example of 2 Live Crew showed rappers and record execs that violent masculine sexuality could not only be produced, but engender major commercial success. The resulting popularity of G-Funk—the West Coast’s response to the emergent political gangsterism of New York hip-

hop—gave us Dr. Dre’s “Bitches Ain’t Shit” and Too $hort’s “Gangstas and Strippers,” confirming this suggestion. Additionally, Michael P. Jeffers points out that record labels provide another space for sexism: “The most famous and influential hip-hop labels, such as Def Jam, Interscope and Bad Boy, were founded and are run by male executives who sign and develop male talent.” The performance of masculine hegemony has been augmented by an ethic of disrespect. Tricia Rose suggests that men become hostile towards women in large part because the fulfillment of heterosexual male desire is challenged by women’s defense of their own bodies and sexual agency. For over 20 years, then, hip-hop has been embroiled in a self-reflexive crisis of masculinity. Not long after they arrive on campus for their freshman year, Whitman students are taught in residence hall workshops that gender and sexuality are spectra. These workshops, along with a thriving Gender Studies program, engender a vibrant discourse and encourage Whitties to look critically at both gender roles in mainstream institutions and the way they themselves perform gender and sexuality. Students at Whitman acknowledge the willful and unrelenting sexism within American culture at large, and the same issues translate into the misogyny of hip-hop culture—at least how it is experienced visually and musically. Whitman decries the paradigms of hegemonic, hypersexual masculinity, condemning both public operations of violence towards women and the silent operations of reducing women to their aesthetic appeal. These operations are not simply paradigms of hip-hop. Misogyny in hip-hop is not merely the normalized action of African-American men with microphones and money. Eminem’s The Marshall Mathers LP sold nearly two million copies in the week after it was released, and nine of the album’s 14 songs discuss killing women. Professor George Armstrong from Murray State University estimates

that The Marshall Mathers LP contains four times as much misogynistic lyrical contact as the average gangsta rap album from the early ‘90s. It’s not just black rappers. It’s not just rappers—misogyny in hip-hop is a microcosm of a deeply entrenched institutional failure. Whitman senior Diana Boesch agrees that American culture and hip-hop culture reflect each other. “Songs, especially immensely popular songs, can have a large impact on our society, the way we view and treat women, and the way women view and treat themselves. I think that hip-hop artists need to take more responsibility with the language they use, as well as the messages they are sending about women,” Boesch suggested. “I think that there is a potential for a media like hip-hop to have a positive impact on our culture and to send positive and reaffirming messages about women, but that requires thoughtful action from both artists and listeners.” Hip-hop’s gender problem is undoubtedly more complicated than blatant expressions of sexism. Inevitably, mainstream rap’s social position is subconsciously and subversively connected with masculine domination. The music could not conceive of itself as masculine if men and women were represented as “enjoying” hip-hop in the same way. Whitman has in abundance something mainstream hip-hop lacks almost entirely: a space for discussion about the performance of gender. Whitman teaches its students to recognize the multifarious effects that gender has on them. Mainstream hip-hop teaches its students to adhere to hyper-masculine dogmas. This said, Walla Walla is by no means a hotbed for hip-hop culture. Ian Andreen, a first-year, suggests that “the majority of people who listen to hip-hop at Whitman listen to what their friends refer them to. There’s only a small group of people who really find their own music.” Similarly, senior Gus Friedman acknowledges that “hip-hop music isn’t shared around Whitman very much. There are only a few radio stations in Walla Walla that play

hip-hop, and the type of hip-hop they choose to play sucks in a lot of ways. The sense I’ve gotten around campus is that people at parties just want to listen to Top 40 music.” Far removed from a city with an influential local hip-hop scene, Walla Walla is left floating upside down in the mainstream. Friedman grew up in Seattle, listening to local hip-hop artists like Blue Scholars and Common Market which avoid misogyny and instead provide uplifting messages that transcend issues of gender. The relative paucity of hip-hop at Whitman correlates directly to the lack of options readily available. It is wholly reductive to suggest that the whole of hip-hop is misogynistic. It is undeniable that hiphop’s Columbus-like crossover to the mainstream consciousness was followed by an affirmation of masculine hegemony, but the history of the music is just as full of rappers who have delivered positive messages and heart-rending narratives. There are producers who embody Kool Herc’s childlike curiosity and excitement with pushing generic boundaries. The truth is that brilliant and affirming music abounds behind this veil of oppressive mainstream masculinity. It always has. From Nas’s stunning and ultimately uplifting delivery of social conditions in the Queensbridge Projects in Illmatic to Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s offerings of leadership in the wake of Biggie’s and 2Pac’s death to Common and Lupe Fiasco and The Roots and Zion I and Little Brother and Gang Starr to stagerocking women like Jean Grae and Lauryn Hill to alternative rap groups like A Tribe Called Quest and Madvillain and Jurassic 5—so much of hip-hop defies the destructive trends that the predatory and exclusive industry has proliferated. It is also reductive to say that Whitman students hold a completely negative attitude about hip-hop music. Those willing to delve deeper into the canon of hip-hop have found that artists old and new have so much else to say that isn’t misogynistic. “Some artists are bringing back

the storytelling aspect of hip-hop— I think of Joey Bada$$ and the Pro Era Crew from New York, or more experimental artists like Shabazz Palaces, but even Kendrick Lamar avoids misogyny,” Andreen says. Kendrick’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City accomplished massive commercial success while offering a spirited and ultimately affirming story of his childhood and maturation in Compton. Devoted hip-hop listen-

“Songs, especially immensely popular songs, can have a large impact on our society, the way we view and treat women, and the way women view and treat themselves.” Diana Boesch ‘13 er and rhyme-writer Zac Shaiken, a first-year, has his own favorites. “I love Qwel and the Typical Cats— they stay away from overly misogynistic themes. They focus more on the poetry of hip-hop,” he says. It’s hard to know whether to actually take “Tip Drill” seriously. Maybe Nelly’s “joking” when he swipes a credit card between a voluptuous woman’s buttocks. Maybe he isn’t joking. Does it matter? “There’s a difficult balance between enjoying music for music’s sake and criticizing the values the music puts forth ... The music video to ‘Tip Drill’ makes me more uncomfortable—that’s where you can see that misogyny is really perpetuated,” says senior Martha Russell. Jokes aside, the best policy for hip-hop is equality. Whitties are familiar, undoubtedly, with the ageold cliche that our college teaches us how to think; the best we can do is to consider the implications of our own choices in hip-hop music and encourage others to do the same. Globally, though, the gender problems of mainstream hip-hop and the profiteering industry which packages it must be considered and addressed alongside the gender problems of other institutions and taken just as seriously—the unfortunate fact remains that misogyny in hiphop is not, and will never be, simply a hip-hop problem. C

THECIRCUIT | 37

QUIZ

WHICH

CAMPUS SCULPTURE ARE YOU?

QUESTIONS 1. Out of the following, which movie would you most prefer to watch? a) “Ice Age” b) “Seabiscuit” c) “Frida” d) “Saw III” 2. What ethnic cuisine most suits your fancy? a) French b) English c) Brazilian d) Italian

COMIC by Julie Peterson

3. Where do you spend the most time during your daily life? a) studying at the library, of course b) playing Frisbee or soccer on Ankeny c) walking to go visit your friends on the other side of campus d) chillin’ at the dorm with all the homies 4. What is your favorite time of day? a) morning b) afternoon c) evening d) the dark of night

ANSWERS Mostly A’s - “Balancing Act” (Yellow thing behind the library.) Filled with whimsy, you are a child at heart and tend to be more lighthearted than most of your companions. While some say you are precariously perched, you actually have remarkable balance between academic work and having fun.

Mostly B’s - “Styx” (The famous horse on Ankeny, duh.) You are both the center of attention and the life of the party and you wouldn’t have it any other way. While you love to hang out with people often, you also devote time to being alone and standing regally.

Mostly C’s - “Carnival” (The multicolored reworking of Venus.) You have a very unique blend of interests and activities. Sadly, you are often stereotyped as exotic. However, to get over this labeling, you usually feel better after doing a zumba or salsa class.

Mostly D’s - “Students playing 4d tic tac toe” (The statue of children on a bench on the Jewett terrace.) You tend to creep up on people and are known for your hobby of looming in the shadows. However, you’re not fully socially awkward and often suggest to your friends that you guys ought to start a round of Monopoly.

38 | THECIRCUIT

HOROSCOPES by Elena Aragon TAURUS When someone confronts you about one of your offensive tweets, you adopt the “if you never offend someone you ain’t tweeting right” philosophy. GEMINI You come to a significant realization next week by noting that the time it takes to lock up your bike from Olin to the science building is longer than it takes to walk over. CANCER When you forget your swipe on a late night library trip, you are forced to stand outside the windows and wait until the night librarian finally sees you, a good 25 minutes later. LEO Your choice to adopt dreads evokes mixed responses, including several people confusing you for T-Pain. VIRGO You develop a newfound passion for satsuma oranges, causing you to eat two bags in one sitting and any room you enter to smell immediately like orange pledge. LIBRA A kid in the elementary school that you volunteer in propels you into a midlife crisis by asking you if you’re 35. SCORPIO This week you end up watching a Canadian political mockery TV show, and understand absolutely none of the references. SAGITTARIUS Although you love Macklemore as an artist, you snap this week when “Thrift Shop” comes on for the 400th time and chuck the bathroom CD player out the window. CAPRICORN We all have that friend who obnoxiously starts talking in a foreign language they don’t really know that well—for your friends, it’s you. AQUARIUS You find your stint as a cupid quickly escalating into an acupuncture career after you accidentally shoot an arrow right into the pressure point of someone’s trapezius.

ARIES

March 21 - April 19

An unfortunate henna accident will cause people to ask you w hyy they never noticed your skin why disorder before. PISCES As your birthday comes up you ﬁnd yourself identifying more with 2 Chainz than you ever have before.

CREDITS?

Front and back cover: Photo by Faith Bernstein Pg. 2: Photo of Rachel Alexander by Faith Bernstein Pg. 3: Photo of wheat by Rachel Alexander, video game screenshot by Blair Frank, YOLO photo by Marlena Sloss Pg. 11-13: Photos by Rachel Alexander Pg. 14-15: Photos contributed by Sylvia Parks Pg. 16-19: Photos contibuted by respondents Pg. 20: Photo contributed by Al-Rahim Merali Pg. 21: Photo contributed by Vy Cao-Nguyen Pg. 22: Photo contributed by Shannon McCarty Pg. 23: Photo contributed by Shelly Le Pg. 27: Screenshot by Blair Frank Pg. 30: Illustration by Julie Peterson Pg. 35: Illustration by Julie Peterson Pg. 39: Horoscope graphics by Katie Berfield

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