Whitman Pioneer Fall 2012 Issue 2

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ISSUE 2 | September 13, 2012 | Whitman news since 1896

SHEEHAN

The Donald Sheehan Gallery, created in 1973 and located in Olin Hall, features contemporary exhibitions on issues in art history and human culture. The gallery works to host symposia, films, lectures and workshops that will enrich the artistic and cultural experiences of Whitman College and the community.

The latest exhibitions are works

by Whitman studio art faculty.

“Dynamic Convergence” is by new painting professor Richard Martinez, “[re]producing desire” by new printmaking and book arts professor Nicole Pietrantoni, and “Domestic Debris” by photography professor Charly Bloomquist. The exhibition runs from August 24 to October 8, 2012. Photos by Allie Felt.

Firstyears find each other on Facebook

by SARAH CORNETT Staff Reporter

For many first-years, the day acceptances arrived was marked by excitement and eagerness for something new. As students looked through the cream-colored folders and learned more about the school they would eventually attend, many wanted to see the more personal side of Whitman: the people with whom they would be sharing their four years. The Whitman College Class of 2016 Facebook page is where hundreds of incoming students ended up, learning more about the school and each other.

Joining the Facebook page meant something—joining a forum of future classmates and friends, and for some, literally joining the Whitman Class of 2016.

Questions were answered, connections were made and introductions began months before the firstyears would be together as a class.

For some students, joining the page and communicating with students online was a comfort before starting school.

“It’s made things so much better, especially as someone coming in from the east coast,” said firstyear Kevin Gardner, an active contributor to the page. “It broke the ice before the ice needed to be broken.”

Although many students shared these sentiments, some chose to observe.

“I was thankful people posted questions I was too afraid to ask,” said first-year Natalie Lyons-Cohen. “It was intimidating at first, knowing that these people were the ones I would spend four years with.”

Though the page obviously had positive effects, its existence seemed rather unnecessary to some.

Garnering ideas about people you will know for four years months before you meet them seemed to be a tool to create preconceptions.

With students making countless introductions in the first weeks of school, recognizing a name from the page could seem awkward.

“It’s funny to meet people and recognize their names from their posts,” said first-year Catherine Bayer.

Many first-years didn’t know of the page’s existence until recently. Still, that hasn’t hindered their experiences.

“I didn’t join until a few weeks ago,” said Bayer. “I wanted to get to know people the right way, and I’ve been able to do that now.” see FACEBOOK, page 5

Swipe access system updated

by EMILY LIN-JONES News Editor

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hitman College Technology Services (WCTS) updated Whitman’s swipe access and ID card systems for the new academic year, allowing for faster and more efficient programming of new cards. The switcho-

ILLUSTRATION BY ZINSER

ver to the new swipe system happened in March, with the new system going live on May 25.

Although the update happened in the wake of last fall’s security breach, Chief Information Officer Dan Terrio said that it was unrelated. According to Terrio, an update was long due for the system, which was around 15 years old and no longer support-

ed by the company that created it.

“It was more or less an upgrade that we had to do,” he said.

The new system’s main benefit is better efficiency behind the scenes for both WCTS and campus security.

“It’s easier to use. Imagine technology changing in a fifteen year period [It’s easier] for us to manage, for campus secu-

rity to use the system to generate [ID] cards,” said Terrio. “It’s also allowing us to automate things in a much greater fashion.”

The technology for creating new ID cards is now better aligned with the door access system for campus buildings, making it a much simpler process for security to program door access permissions into students’ cards. Terrio said that the improved system will allow a faster turnaround in the event that a student needs a replacement card, and will result in fewer errors in the programming of new cards.

The new ID card printing and programming machines were tested during first-year check-in.

“It was seamless,” said Terrio. “I think we got through the day with absolutely no errors on the cards produced.”

The new magnetic swipe system marks one of several changes made to Whitman’s security system in the past year, along with the re-encoding of ID cards to use encrypted unique ID numbers to discourage any future breaches.

According to Terrio, WCTS and campus security are also looking into the possibility of implementing a “two-factor” authentication system on some areas of campus. This would ask students to pass two checks when entering a building, like swiping their card and entering a PIN. “We don’t know if we’re going to go that direction or not,” said Terrio. “We feel we’ve mitigated the risk well enough right now, but it’s something we’re exploring.”

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Library implementations focus on student needs, suggestions

by LACHLAN JOHNSON Staff Reporter

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enrose Library has made several changes to help serve students this fall. Six new study rooms will help meet the needs of students seeking a quiet place to study alone or in groups, and Whitman College Technology Services (WCTS) will begin providing services from the desk space in the atrium of the library.

Library Director Dalia Corkrum has overseen many of the changes to the library.

“Students want more comfortable places to study,” said Corkrum. “They want to have more flexible spaces and to be able to move furniture around so it meets their study group needs.”

Six more study rooms will be available this fall. Three of the new study rooms were previously reserved for visiting faculty and faculty on sab-

batical. These rooms—which have not been utilized in several years—are being converted for student use until the faculty has need of them again. New group study rooms, which were previously seldom-used conference rooms or storage spaces, are also being added, along with 24 new ergonomic study chairs.

“Study rooms are nice because they kind of isolate you, and the library can be kind of noisy.

It also isolates others from your noise, especially if you’re with a group,” said junior Tom Potter.

The demand for study rooms is very high and the library often struggles to meet the needs of students.

“If there’s ever any kind of reconstruction or reconfiguration of the building my sense is that one of the things we’d really have to look at carefully is how we could put even more study rooms in,” said Corkrum.

Another improvement Corkrum was involved in was the installation of Dyson Airblade hand dryers in the library’s bathrooms. When students insert their hands into the gap in the Airblade, warm air is blown out at high speeds and dries both sides of their hands in a matter of seconds, ensuring water from the sinks does not damage library materials.

The Sustainability Revolving Fund Loan partnered with the library to install the Airblades to cut down on use of paper towels.

“We’re very conscientious of trying to keep as green an environment here as possible,” said Corkrum. “Rather than paper towels that have to be manufactured from trees and then trucked over, and then custodial staff has to put them into the restrooms, and then the custodial staff has to take the trash out of the restrooms, and then the trash

has to be dealt with, why don’t we put some of these hand driers in the library? Because it’s a building that uses so [many pa-

“We’re very conscientious of trying to keep as green an environment here as possible.”

Dalia Corkrum

per towels], it really felt like this would be an appropriate use [of the Sustainability Fund].”

Students seeking technological assistance will also be better served by the library this year. The Whitman College Technology Services (WCTS) technology support is now located at the desk directly off the atrium which previously provided reference assistance. Reference services are available from re-

search librarians whose offices are next to the circulation desk.

The WCTS, which was previously located in a small office on the ground floor, is finding that the change helps it provide services more efficiently while also enjoying an increase in traffic due to its more central location.

“We’re in a more visible location,” said sophomore Greg Dwulet, WCTS student consultant manager. “It takes less time for things to get reported to us so it takes less time for us to go out and fix them.”

Penrose Library aims to continue to serve students’ academic needs and is open to feedback from students regarding improvements that could be made to its services.

“A lot of what we do is very much based off student feedback,” said Corkrum. “Anything we can do to help the building help students.”

Facebook interactions color first-year campus relations from FACEBOOK, page 1

Members of Club Latino are incorporating more events into this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations. Photo by Woletz

Hispanic Heritage Month emphasizes collaboration

by ELISE TINSETH Staff Reporter

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eginning Sept. 15, Club Latino, the Intercultural Center and La Casa Hispana will be hosting a plethora of events on campus to celebrate and raise awareness for Hispanic Heritage Month.

In past years, Club Latino celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a tradition called grito de independencia on the steps in front of Penrose Library.

“At midnight on September 15, Mexico’s Independence Day, we come to the library to do a traditional grito de independencia, which is like a yell for independence,” said Co-President of Club Latino sophomore Fabiola Ochoa. “In Mexico at midnight the president goes to the socolo— the presidential building—and rings the bell. That is tradition.”

This year, the club will be including traditions and information from more than just Mexico, along with guest speakers, dancing lessons, food lessons, feasts in Prentiss and a closing ceremony on Oct. 13.

“We kind of want to encompass other Latin American countries versus just Mexico. That way the club feels a little more open,” said Ochoa.

Helping them with these endeavors are the Intercultural

Center and Matt Ozuna, interim director of the Intercultural Program and Club Latino’s adviser.

“I help Club Latino think big, bold and budgets. For instance, I encouraged Club Latino to engage the Whitman and Walla Walla communities in a variety of different mediums,” said Ozuna.

Club Latino is also working with La Casa Hispana for the closing ceremony to Hispanic Heritage Month on Oct. 13.

“We are collaborating with them and I am really excited for that because we didn’t really get to do a lot of events there [in the past],” said Ochoa.

The kickoff event is on Sept.

15, the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month. Club Latino will be working with Bon Appétit to serve Latin-inspired food in Prentiss Dining Hall. Then, at midnight, everyone is invited to join in grito de independencia.

The highlight of the celebrations is guest speaker Olga Loya, who will be speaking on Sept. 25 in Olin Hall 130. Loya will be presenting folk stories for both the school and the community.

“I think that she is going to give a kind of workshop. I think she is going to give tips on public speaking and how she got into storytelling. So basically we get to ask her what we want,” said Ochoa.

Club Latino hopes that bringing Loya to campus will engage the wider community.

“In Walla Walla there is a heavy population of Latinos.

We’re hoping, through Olga Loya, to especially get a lot of community involved in that,” said sophomore Leslie Rodriguez, co-president of Club Latino.

Other events include collaboration with a music station and informational biographies about people important to Hispanic Heritage Month.

“The Intercultural Center and Club Latino hope to educate and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with members of the Walla Walla and Whitman communities so that they become aware of the histories, cultures and contributions of American Latinos whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America,” said Ozuna.

Another goal of Club Latino’s participation in Hispanic Heritage Month is to raise awareness of the club and to get Whitman students involved.

“There is the understanding that we all have to be Latino or we all have to speak Spanish in order to join Club Latino and that is not at all what we represent,” said Rodriguez. “I want Whitman to understand that and know more about our culture.”

As the few weeks have gone by, pre-Whitman interaction on the page has not gone unnoticed.

“Coming in, I know all these people,” said Gardner. “I don’t think it’s awkward, but it’s definitely interesting.”

Meeting the class in person as opposed to talking online has taught others the importance of building personal connections.

“It’s impossible to be completely yourself on the internet. You may know random details about their lives, but you don’t know who they genuinely are,” said Lyons-Cohen.

The page also served a key role from an admissions point of view, as bonds formed prior to school starting.

“The page began building the community before students stepped on campus,” said Dean of Admission Tony Cabasco.

“It helps ease the transition to Whitman, answering questions and easing some of the anxiety that firstyear students can have,” said Robert Street, assistant director of admission and the page administrator.

Throughout the year, students put the page to a variety of uses, offering everything from in-

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NEWS

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PIONEER

EDITORIAL

News Editors Emily Lin-Jones Allison Work A&E Editor Alex Hagen Sports Editor Pam London Feature Editor Adam Brayton Opinion Editor Alex Brott Humor Editor Kyle Seasly Photography Editor Marie von Hafften Illustration Editor Julie Peterson

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quiries (“Does anyone know what the inside of Anderson actually looks like?”) to sage advice (“Ordering all your Encounters books is kind of a huge pain, so you might want to start now”). Questions often yielded dozens of answers from returning students, making firstyears feel prepared and comfortable by asking in an informal setting.

Even now, the page is as active as ever, whether it’s a TwoWester offended at a Three-Wester’s fantastic portrayal of their lively section at dinner, or people posting events that students can now actually go to. And how else would the Class of 2016 have seen firstyear Ben Ames as a child star?

Students, whether they were active on the page or didn’t even know it existed, still can say that they’ve gotten through these first weeks. Though many students valued the Facebook page to gain a level of comfort with Whitman, first-years are now ready to get involved and make connections.

“The page made me excited, but that can’t compare to everything we’re doing and starting now,” said Gardner.

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EDITORIAL POLICY

The Whitman College Pioneer is a weekly student-run newspaper published under the auspices of the Associated Students of Whitman College. The purpose of The Pioneer is to provide pertinent, timely news and commentary for Whitman students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents, as well as the Walla Walla community. The Pioneer is dedicated to expanding open discussion on campus about the issues with which students are most concerned. We provide coverage of Whitman-related news as well as featured local and regional events, and strive to maintain a standard of utmost fairness, quality, and journalistic integrity while promoting freedom of the press. In addition, The Pioneer strives to be a learning tool for students who are interested in journalism. The Pioneer welcomes all feedback and publishes Letters to the Editor in print and online.

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The code of ethics serves as The Pioneer’s established guidelines for the practice of responsible journalism on campus, within reasonable interpretation of the editorial board. These guidelines are subject to constant review and amendment; responsibility for amending the code of ethics is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief in conjunction with the editorial board.

The code of ethics is reviewed at least once per semester.

To access the complete code of ethics for The Pioneer, visit whitmanpioneer.com/about.

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Grievance policy provides recourse

NUMBERS IN THE NEWS

by EMILY LIN-JONES

New policy gives faculty, students and staff a formal method of addressing misconduct

by EMILY LIN-JONES News Editor

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ccording to the Statement of Rights included in the Student Handbook, all students have “the right to redress grievances”—but it wasn’t until this year that they were given an official means to do so. The college has published online this year an interim grievance policy, which gives students, staff and faculty the ability to formally lodge a complaint against another member of the Whitman community.

According to the policy, possible grievances could include violations of academic freedom, discrimination and any type of sexual or discriminatory harassment.

Under the new policy any student or employee can bring their concerns about another individual’s behavior to the Dean of Students or Director of Human Resources, respectively. There they may choose either to informally resolve their complaint by allowing an administrator to mediate between the involved parties, or transition to a formal complaint process which involves an investigation and a potential hearing. The grievance process is entirely confidential and includes protection from retaliation.

“It puts everyone on equal footing and it makes students, faculty and staff feel that if there is ever an issue or concern, there is

a form of recourse,” said ASWC President Kayvon Behroozian.

Members of ASWC and the student body at large have long advocated the creation of the policy.

The policy itself has been almost seven years in the making, according to Associate Dean of Students Clare Carson, although much of the work in actually assembling it has happened over the past two years. “[It was] mostly for students; where do students go if they think they’re being treated unfairly?

We do say that students have a right to be heard, and we didn’t really have a means for that.

There wasn’t an official mechanism for the college to deal with these grievances,” Carson said.

In the past, student and staff complaints have mostly been dealt with separately according to different codes and policies depending on the nature of the allegations.

Carson said the grievance policy attempts to provide a more unified and clear way for any member of the community to speak out about the actions of another.

“This is a universal policy that affects everyone,” Carson said. “That was what was missing [before]. We had different ways of addressing and resolving problems but we didn’t have a universal plan.”

Though certain policies were already in place to address specific types of harassment—such

as the sexual misconduct policy covering situations involving two students—some avenues of potential harassment had been left open. Until the grievance policy’s creation there was no way for students to formally file allegations of harassment or discrimination against a faculty member, a particular point of concern for student advocates of the policy.

“Sometimes if students encounter a problem with faculty, with the power dynamics it’s difficult for students to speak up. If there’s a policy in place it’s easier for them to start the process,” said senior Marcial Diaz Mejia, ASWC vice president.

According to Carson and others, a major driving force behind the development of the new policy was Title IX, a federal law which prohibits gender- or sex-based discrimination in educational institutions. Last year Whitman received notice that it needed to take certain steps to be in compliance with Title IX, including having a definitive policy in place that would allow students to file complaints of harassment or discrimination against a faculty member.

As Whitman’s Title IX administrator, Carson was heavily involved in overseeing the policy’s development. Other contributors included the student and faculty members of the Student Life Committee, who played a key role in helping draft the policy.

Associate Professor of English Scott Elliott, who has served on the committee for three years, observed that the lengthy development time was likely extended by staff and student turnover and its increasingly ambitious scope.

“When you’re dealing with something that potentially impacts so many people’s lives, there’s a lot of care taken [in developing it],” Elliott said.

The policy, in its current form, has been reviewed and approved by the Committee of Division Chairs. If it gets the goahead at an upcoming all-faculty meeting and is approved by the Board of Trustees, the policy will be made official, losing its interim status and gaining a place in next year’s Student Handbook.

“Before, we were very lucky that something major didn’t blow up, because easily someone could have pointed out that we didn’t have a system in place, and that would have not looked very professional,” said junior Brian Choe, a member of the Student Life Committee who helped draft the policy. “I think this is a good step forward.”

News Editor

164,840,500 Number of Facebook users in the United States as of Sept. 8 SOURCE: SOCIALBAKERS.COM

229

Average number of friends for a Facebook user SOURCE: PEWRESEARCH.COM

49

Percentage of Facebook share value lost since its May debut SOURCE: BBC

422

Number of users in Whitman’s Class of 2016 Facebook group SOURCE: FACEBOOK

1,559,880

Number of new Facebook accounts created in the United States last week SOURCE: SOCIALBAKERS.COM

386

Number of students in the class of 2016 SOURCE: WHITMAN.EDU

Corrections to Issue 1 In last week’s article “Case closed: Former student Simon Van Neste to pay restitution” on page 1, Dan Terrio’s name was misspelled.

1,049

Number of members in the “Overheard @ Whitman College” Facebook group SOURCE: FACEBOOK

New professors talk life, post-grad experiences Erin Pahlke

by EVAN TAYLOR Staff Reporter

The Pioneer interviewed four of the 12 new tenure-track faculty to get a better idea of who the new faces on campus are. The professors discuss past professional experiences, their hopes for the upcoming year and details the Whitman community should know about them.

Nicole Pietrantoni Assistant Professor of Art

All photos by Bowersox

Pio: What’s one interesting professional experience you’ve had before coming to Whitman?

NP: My background in the arts is somewhat diverse. I’m an artist and I teach printmaking and book arts. However, before I went to graduate school I was the director of a visual art and media program at the Tennessee Arts Commission. So for about four years I was serving in this role, I was managing a multi-million dollar grant program, I was curating a gallery and working on the state’s public art program. I loved my job and I loved working with artists and helping them get funds for projects, but I too was an artist and I decided that I wanted to take it to another level and make art my career.

I knew it was a big risk, and I remember thinking, “I have to know; I have to try this out and see where it could go.”

Pio: What are you most looking forward to about the coming year?

NP: The opportunity to work at a liberal arts school—a small school that

really believes in students and faculty working close together—really got me excited about coming to Whitman. I went to a liberal arts school for my undergraduate, and I think my experiences having had art professors who worked really closely with me, and with whom I continue to have friendships today, [have helped me and] they’re now professional mentors for me. Another is my artistic research and work; I’m very interested in landscape and nature. I lived in Iceland for a year on a Fulbright Grant. I was in a town of about 250 people out in the middle of nowhere on an artist residency. For me, the opportunity to live in small towns or places that are rural offer a lot of opportunities to explore landscape and nature, which is what I’m into in my work.

Pio: What is one thing that you would like everyone on campus to know about you?

NP: I’m really interested in finding ways to collaborate and work with other areas on this campus. I see print and book arts as areas where there could be a lot of intersections between, say, the English department or the library.

Who knows what we could imagine or dream up? That’s one of the reasons I’m excited to be here: I see so much potential for what the printed image and what the book is capable of doing.

Kristen Kosmas Assistant Professor of Theatre

Pio: What’s one interesting professional experience you’ve had before coming to Whitman?

KK: This s u m mer I got to spend a week in upstate New York working as a dramaturg on a performance called “Struck,” which is inspired by the experiences of one of the actors who’s making the piece. She had a stroke a couple of years ago and has some permanent brain damage as a result. The play is telling a fictionalized version of her story on the one hand, and on the other hand it’s looking at and describing how the brain functions. It’s great. There’s

all this language from neuroscience in it, which is thrilling and mindboggling to listen to. Also, I’ve never worked as a dramaturg before, and I’m finding it extremely rewarding.

Pio: What are you most looking forward to about the coming year?

KK: I’m honestly looking forward to all of it. I’m very excited at the moment about the Instant Play Festival, which is coming up in a couple of weeks on Sept. 22 & 23. The festival produces 14 brand new plays in a 48 hour period, which is pretty remarkable. And a little terrifying! And always a lot of fun.

Pio: What’s one thing you’d like everyone on campus to know about you?

KK: That I’m genuinely happy to be here. And that I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to work with such a wonderful staff, faculty and student body.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Pio: What’s one interesting professional experience you’ve had before coming to Whitman College?

EP: I did Teach for America, which I think is interesting to a lot of Whitman students because it ties in with a lot of people’s interests, either with regard to education or with social justice and wanting to get out and make a difference. I taught fourth grade in Washington D.C. public schools for two years after I graduated from college. The idea [behind Teach for America] is that you take people who aren’t necessarily interested in education or who aren’t necessarily interested in being teachers for the rest of their lives in a K-12 system, and you put them in schools [which are] some of the worst schools in the country, schools that are struggling to find quality teachers for their students. You get thrown in and see if you can work to make a difference in the kids’ lives.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but also incredibly fulfilling and thought-provoking. I did Teach for America for two years and then realized

I’m really passionate about research.

Psychology is [what addresses] some of these questions that I’m passionate about.

Pio: What are you most looking forward to about the upcoming year?

EP: The opportunity to dig into research and theory related to psychology with students who are really excited about it is incredibly exciting. I’m looking forward to working with students on their own research projects and getting students who are interested in psychology research. I think that’s what’s exciting about Whitman: There are students here who really want to dig in and then apply what they learn to problems that they see in the world.

Pio: What is one thing that you’d like everyone on campus to know about you?

EP: I’m really interested in issues surrounding the way psychology helps to address issues in families and in educational settings, so if anyone else is interested in that I’d love to chat with them. Also, I love moose. I’ve gone on trips to try to find them in nature, I always stop to take pictures of moose caricatures and I keep funny moose videos on my computer to watch when life gets too stressful. Stop by if you want to see moose playing in the sprinklers—that’s a current favorite.

Arielle Cooley

Assistant Professor of Biology

Pio: What is one interesting professional experience you’ve had before coming to Whitman?

AC: I took a year off in between college and graduate school. I went to a liberal arts college and I specialized as little as possible, so I wasn’t entirely sure after that if graduate school was what I wanted to do. I [worked] at a biological station in Costa Rica where I was the field assistant in a wet tropical rainforest reserve.

I spent most of my year hiking around and making measurements on plants and trying not to fall in the mud. But it was really great; the data turned into a paper, so it was my first experience writing a scientific paper and I was working with a post-doc, so I got to see a little bit about what the post-doc research life was like. That year gave me some time to take a break from classes and think about biology and whether it was something I really wanted to pursue. I felt a lot better about going to grad school after having that time.

Pio: What are you looking forward to most about this upcoming year?

AC: This is a really fun year in a way because it’s a very creative year. It’s my first year of teaching classes, so I’m figuring everything out for the first time. I’m setting up my research lab and deciding how I want it to run and what kinds of scientific questions I want to be asking. I feel like, maybe more than any other year in my past, this is really an open slate where I can decide what directions I want to go. I have two major activities. One is teaching, and that is a little more laid out for what I want to accomplish, but I’m still deciding how best to do that. Then, in the sciences we also run research labs.

For that I have lots and lots of research ideas. So I’m thinking about which ones I want to do first, which ones I might want to invite students into the lab to start working on. It’s been really fun to consider all the possibilities and think about what I want to do, research-wise as well as teaching.

Pio: What is one thing that you’d like everyone on campus to know about you?

AC: I do biology because it’s a lot of fun and I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s interested in tackling those kinds of intellectual problems. Also, I enjoy salsa dancing and ballroom dancing, and if there was a little more of that on campus, that would be super fantastic.

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4 WEB brings The Head and the Heart to campus 13 2012

outside,” Holoboff said.

However, she cited security issues as the main reason for using the indoor venue.

In the Reid Ballroom, a barrier between the crowd and the band can be easily enforced, providing a greater level of security for the band. Martin also cited issues like weather and auxiliary power as being deciding factors for using the ballroom instead of the side lawn.

Tickets were sold in the Reid Ballroom Sept. 10 from 12 p.m.-1 p.m. and 4 p.m.-5 p.m. The number of tickets was limited to 500 for fire

safety reasons. Unlike the Macklemore concert last March, students were allowed to bring one other student’s ID card to acquire a ticket for them in the case of their absence.

Due to the band’s popularity on campus and word-of-mouth promotion, all 500 tickets were sold on the first day of sales. Non-ticket-holding students may be able to attend if they show up on the night of the concert, but there are no guarantees.

At this point the question remains, which band will visit Whitman next? Holoboff and Martin are open to suggestions.

Fine arts departments welcome new professors

101 best books: ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’

by EMMA DAHL Staff Reporter

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y now, it is well known around campus that Seattle-based indie band The Head and the Heart will give a show here at Whitman on Sept.

13. With a feel-good sound reminiscent of The Lumineers or Blind Pilot, The Head and the Heart will fill the Reid Campus Center Ballroom with their soft jams.

The band got their start selling self-burnt CDs in hand-sewn denim covers in Seattle record stores and

by MALLORY MARTIN Staff Reporter

T

he performing arts around campus just got a facelift with three new professors joining the Whitman team. Coming to us from around the country and the world, these gentlemen will have plenty to contribute to the campus.

Alumnus Jimmy Maize ‘02, recipient of the Pete Reid Award for Young Alumni in 2010, is returning to campus as a visiting theatre professor. Here for the semester, he offers a lot to students interested in pursuing performance and production with his paired experience and approachability.

After graduating from Whitman, Maize moved to New York, where he began working with famed director Moisés Kaufman and his Tectonic Theatre Company. Over the past ten years, he has

spreading their music by word of mouth. They eventually signed with Sub Pop Records, who re-released their self-titled album in 2011.

What does it take to bring such a band to campus? Whitman Events Board’s music directors, sophomore Nicole Holoboff and junior Andy Martin, had an answer.

Holoboff described the typical process of elimination used to find the prime band for Whitman: First, she compiles a list of bands “[whom] Whitman students just want to see.”

From that list, three main factors are taken into consideration.

worked as a dramaturg on Kaufman’s Tony Award-winning play “33 Variations,” assisted in the creation and direction of “The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later,” and assembled and directed the 100-castmember production “Spoon River Anthology,” based on the book of poems by Edgar Lee Masters.

Make sure to check out the Harper Joy Theatre’s final fall production, “Camino Real” by Tennessee Williams, which he will be recomposing and directing.

Florida native Dr. Paul Luongo has lots of excitement and ambition for his first year at Whitman.

The assistant professor of music, orchestra conductor and french hornist comes to us from a teaching position at Valencia College in Orlando, where he not only instructed in music but also humanities.

He hopes that with his time at Whitman he will be able to

“[We take into account] the price, and if their days are going to work, and if the spaces are going to work,” Holoboff said.

“It’s just a boatload of emails,” Martin said.

Many students have questioned the decision to hold the concert in Reid Ballroom rather than outside on Reid’s side lawn, like last year’s well-received concert by St. Vincent.

“A lot of people prefer outdoor concerts—as do we— and it would be great to have every person we bring here

bring a heavier focus to the historical and cultural side of music in the department’s classes.

“Music can get a bit compartmentalized. Musicians say, ‘this is performance’ or academics say, ‘this is music history,’” Luongo said. “But performance is really the application of theory, history and literature. If you’re doing one without the other, you’re missing half the story. I feel like that really fits with the Whitman mentality.”

He encourages the student body to come support their peers in the Fall Orchestra Recital on Nov. 8, where they will perform under their new leader for the first time.

Idalee Hutson-Fish’s retirement left a large hole in the dance department. However, her replacement, Peter de Grasse, whom she recommended, will be a wonderful addition to the school. Born in Walla Walla, de Grasse studied at Juilliard

in New York before moving to Germany to perform in the company of the Tanztheater des Staatstheater Darmstadt. De Grasse’s love for dance actually started at Whitman, with a childhood performance in Harper Joy. Recommended to try dancing, he was taken under Hutson-Fish’s wing and soon discovered his passion. He returns to us with hopes of instructing students in the European mentality and style of dance as well as classical American.

“Whitman is an incredible place, and it’s remarkable for the talent and the intelligence of the students that are here,” de Grasse said. “But what is almost overwhelming to me as a teacher is that there are these big groups of people, they are so open and courageous, and they are so willing to learn. Right now, I am trying to rise to the level of the students that are in the room each day.”

Every week, The Pioneer searches out Whitties who bring an extra splash of fashion consciousness and sartorial daring to campus.

This week’s style spotlight: senior environmental studies–sociology major Marcial Díaz Mejía.

matching what I have. I like color.

I like wearing a lot of colors. Even if it’s kind of formal, I like adding a little bit of color, so, you know, having a black suit and everything but having like a pink tie ... I just think it makes my day brighter.”

Style Soundbites:

“I like wearing things that other people don’t think of wearing. I guess I like to be more daring with what I wear or when I decide to wear it.”

“My shoes ... they’re handmade, which sounds more fancy for this country, but back home it’s cheaper to have shoes tailored than to buy shoes within a specific brand. Most of my clothing I get back in Guatemala. The tie is one of the few things that I bought in Walla Walla.”

Marcial Díaz Mejía ‘13 uses bold colors and a daring blend of apparel to enhance his wardrobe, and often sports clothing from his native Guatemala. Photos by beck

STYLE SPOTLIGHT ‘Gallery Girls’ looks at value of internships in arts

by CLARA BARTLETT Staff Reporter

T

his summer, Bravo, an American cable TV network known best for its reality content and mafia of “Real Housewives,” launched yet another reality show called “Gallery Girls.”

Bravo’s website describes the docu-series as a show that “follows the lives of seven dynamic and ambitious young women in New York City who tackle the cutthroat environment of the art world while vying for their dream jobs.”

Pay special attention to the “vying for their dream jobs” part. Yes, zero out of the seven young women on “Gallery Girls” occupy professional positions they would like to maintain in the future. In fact, four of the seven women are working unpaid internships for prestigious galleries and auction houses, all in the hopes of learning the business, building connections and finally landing the “dream job.”

While the experience garnered from an internship in the arts seems to be a necessary components of ultimate success, is the slavish mistreatment really worth it?

In answering this question, one moment from “Gallery Girls” stands out.

Looking to get her internship

back after a break, gallery girl Maggie returns to Eli Klein Fine Art. Maggie is brought to tears when she must beg to come back to her menial unpaid job. Upon her arrival, Maggie’s boss, Eli, humiliates her by making her fold plastic bags into prefab dog poop receptacles and count pebbles for a bonsai tree container.

While we must take into account the dramatizations associated with reality TV, it’s worth considering the questionable worth of competitive internships.

In a study published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, researchers found that 60 percent of 2012 graduates who worked a paid internship received at least one job offer, while just 37 percent of those in unpaid gigs got any offers.

That’s only slightly better than the offer rate for graduates who skipped internships entirely (36 percent).

An article in The New York Times adds that “Lucrative and influential professions—politics, media and entertainment, to name a few—now virtually require a period of unpaid work, effectively barring young people from less privileged backgrounds.”

So the question remains: Are the costs of being a gallery girl, both personal and widespread, worth the minute potential payoff of becoming a gallery boss?

be

“When I got my tongue pierced, it was probably one of the most painful experiences that I’ve had, but at the same time it was so exhilarating and exciting ... It’s a positive memory. In my school you couldn’t have any piercings, so that’s why I pierced my tongue, because you could hide it.”

“I like to borrow things from different places. I guess, like, you know, you always look at people and you’re like, ‘oh, I like how that looks,’ but I like mixing and

Lazy writing leads to forgettable ‘Words’

by NATHAN FISHER Staff Reporter

A

fter a long week with, go figure, lots of homework, I welcomed the escape to my “job” at the movies. Like last week, none of the options grabbed me, so I succumbed to seeing “The Words,” a story-within-a-story, within another story or two. Unfortunately, all the stories sucked.

“The Words” opens with Clay Hammond (Dennis Quaid) reading his new book to an adoring audience. In a slight twist on the “Inception” concept, the movie delves into Clay’s book, not his dreams. The novel’s main character is the handsome Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), an aspiring novelist living in New York with his hot girlfriend Dora (Zoe Saldana). Rory unsuccessfully tries for years to get his work published and has to borrow money from dear old dad to pay the bills, and he finally gives up his writing aspirations for a real job. Cooper, as Rory, was a forgettable lazy slug who needed a kick in the butt.

Clay periodically reappears in the book gatherings and meets Danielle (Olivia Wilde), an aspiring writer who convinces Clay to keep telling her the story when they are alone. Rory and Dora get married and spend their honeymoon in Paris where they buy an antique briefcase. That’s right, you know what’s coming ... something is in the briefcase!

Back in the States, Rory opens the briefcase and finds a manuscript written during World War II. Yup, you know what’s coming again—it’s the Pulitz-

er that Rory has always dreamed about writing. Rory types up the manuscript, verbatim—hey, he types it himself, isn’t that enough work?—the book is published and becomes an instant sensation. Rory lives the good life until an old man (Jeremy Irons) approaches him claiming Rory stole not only his manuscript, but also his own life story! Another story starts, leading to another story as the young and old men tell their stories.

Ultimately, “The Words” falls flat, and the twist at the end can be seen from a mile away.

It’s a shame that the cast of great actors just doesn’t seem to have much room to act. “The Words” offers too many “stories,” and this “bookception” fails to offer a seamless serious drama.

by DANA THOMPSON Staff Reporter

I

’m a list person. You know the type: those slightly uptight hyper-organizers with categorized Moleskines and Evernote synced to both their laptop and their smartphone. People to whom sticky notes are tiny, multi-colored deities and whiteboards are the altars upon which they are worshipped. People who actually got a little mistyeyed at the sheer number of books in the “Listography” series (Film Listography. Love Listography. Music Listography).

I identify myself with these people. That fact, combined with my love of reading, makes any reading list a dangerous black hole that can be printed out and meticulously notated with which ones I have read and which I have still to conquer. They’re all the same: an enthralling, lovely time-suck.

Except the ones that have deadlines. That’s right. Collegeboard.com’s “101 Books to Read Before College”.

Aha! says my neurotic list maker. A challenge! I will rise to the occasion! (Three years later and I’m a sophomore with less than half the list checked off...) But really, who has the authority to tell us what to read?

What makes these 101 books so vital to a successful college career? LET’S FIND OUT. Going in no particular order, I’m going to start with a favorite of mine and one of the few on the list that I had already read: “To Kill a Mockingbird.” My dad read this to my sister and me when we were eight and twelve, entirely forgetting that an essential theme of the book deals with the rather confusing issue of rape.

“What’s rape?” asked my sister.

I, the seasoned twelveyear-old, looked away in mortification of her ignorance.

My dad stumbled over some obscure definition that neither of us understood and closed the book, muttering, “How did I forget about that?” to himself. Little did we know that we were pretty much acting out a scene in the book in which Scout asks Atticus the same thing and he responds in a similar way.

But now that I’ve gone back and read “Mockingbird,” I don’t blame my dad for forgetting. It’s a disjointed book, written in a very choppy, episodic manner.

Like “The Jungle Book,” every chapter is its own separate entity. It’s like a photo album: a collection of snapshots. And, like all great books, it has the ability to keep growing and leaping out of the pages even when you close it.

Rape, racism, murder and lies viewed through the equalizing eyes of children: definitely a good book to read for people transitioning from youth to adulthood but inheriting what (sadly) appears to be the same world. If we don’t have Atticus to protect us anymore, the book asks, what do we do?

ILLUSTRATION BY ZINSER

SPORTS

Sep

13 2012

PAGE

IM AND CLUB SPORTS

by KYLE HOWE Staff Reporter

ILLUSTRATION BY HWANG

prove to be a lot of fun.

“You meet new people through IMs, you make teams as [first-years] that end up sticking together to senior year, you get a fun way to be active and get some exercise, and you get some great memories. The way I see it, there doesn’t seem to be much of a downside in participating, but there sure is a hell of a lot of upside,” said Friedman.

Some clubs on campus also reflect this laid-back, fun-focused atmosphere; others maintain this attitude but come with an extra level of commitment.

Whitman’s Ultimate teams are one example.

“Ultimate is a super relaxed sport,” said sophomore player Russell Arkin. “We don’t require any experience at all to come out and play, as we are more than happy to help any beginners get a grasp of it and start figuring out how to throw or play. That being said, the sport isn’t like most club sports where you can come whenever just to have fun. We consider ourselves a serious team if you want to play on the team. You have to be willing to be committed.”

Whitman’s Ultimate team’s talent matches the teams’ high competitive expectations. Last year in Division I Regionals, both the men’s and women’s teams barely missed nationals cuts.

“We are the only [Division I] sport at Whitman that I know

of, so it’s high-level competition at tournaments. Even it being so competitive, the team and the sport itself [are] super relaxed and welcoming. The Ultimate community is like a family, and the team is like your immediate family,” said Arkin.

The Ultimate teams practice three days a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, typically around 4:20 p.m. In the spring, the practices go up to five times a week.

“I really would encourage [first-years] to come out because it is a fun environment, a great sport to learn and if nothing else, a great way to meet new people,” said Arkin.

Another sport that is starting to gain popularity is club soccer, which has pick-up games throughout the week and occasional local tournaments.

The team is open to all players who want to play soccer. “[We have] high energy, [we are] welcoming and everyone just loves the game. It’s for anyone and everyone; we have some regulars, some people who come occasionally and always at least one new face,” said sophomore Emily Ford. “This year we’ve had full-on 11 v. 11 games because of a wonderful turnout.”

One of Whitman’s favorite IM sports is flag football, which has already gotten players out practicing on Ankeny Field. Let the games begin!

prove on last year’s record and continue their climb up the Northwest Conference. Even though the team will be going through someby PETER CLARK what of a transition, third-year Staff Reporter coach Heather Cato stressed that the team’s goal has not changed.

“Our expectations are always to win the Northwest Conference.

We’ve decided as a team that we’re espite losing seven sen- going to try to do the little things iors from last year’s team, perfect, which will hopefully rethe Whitman women’s soc- sult in realizing our ultimate goal,” cer team believes they can im- said Cato.

T h e M i s s ion a r ies will be led by senior co-captains 2011 NWC Seco n d -Te a m All-Conference selections defender Erin Flannery and m idfielder Jaclyn Rudd.

In addition to Rudd and Flannery, the Missionaries also return All-Conference honorable mention selections in junior midfielders HalSophomore Jade Anderson volleys the ball past a Whitworth defender lie Swan and in the second half of Wednesday’s 1-0 Pirates win. Photo by Woletz MacKenzie Hughes.

Cato believes that in order to be successful this year, the Missionaries will have to count on contributions from every player on the roster.

“We talk a lot about how it takes 23 players to win games.

That means the people on the bench have roles. You never know when your number is going to get called,” said Cato.

Look for the Missionaries to get the conference season rolling when they square off against Willamette University on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12 p.m. and then against Lewis and Clark College on Sunday, Sept. 16 also at 12 p.m.

A

fter a long day of classes, many students like to find a way to relax and recuperate. At Whitman College one popular way to do this is through sports.

At Whitman, however, you don’t have to be a varsity athlete to have fun and be competitive. Soccer, men’s and women’s rugby, men’s and women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s Ultimate Frisbee, alpine skiing, men’s and women’s lacrosse, Nordic skiing, and cycling are just a few of the clubs on campus.

All of them are open to individuals of a variety of skill levels and will welcome any newcomers.

For those who aren’t ready to commit to one sport, IM sports teams are organized throughout the year, and include flag football, tennis, soccer, dodgeball, basketball, Ultimate, softball, volleyball and mini-golf.

“The atmosphere of IM sports is pretty varied depending on what you want out of it.

If you have never played a sport before but want to give it a shot with some of your friends, then you can do that in the lower division,” said senior Gus Friedman, a member of the IM committee.

“If you are more experienced and want a more competitive IM experience, then you can find that as well in the upper division.”

Regardless of the competitive intensity, IM sports

SOCCER

WOMEN’S D

CROSS COUNTRY WOMEN’S

by PAM LONDON Sports Editor

L

ed by strong senior leadership on both sides, the Whitman men’s and women’s cross country teams are already full steam ahead on the road to regionals in late October.

Each team was tabbed for a fifth-place finish in the West Region in preseason polls, and Head Coach Scott Shields is looking to meet and potentially exceed expectations. “[Finishing fifth in the region] is a realistic goal for the men’s team,” said Shields. “The women are hoping to finish much higher and potentially qualify for the National Championships by finishing in the top two [in the region].”

Despite losing 2011 standouts Mollee Huisinga and Kelly Jensen to graduation and junior Skye Pauly to a year off for travel, the Whitman women’s cross country team has high expectations for 2012.

“While losing those three from last year’s team was a big loss, I feel we should not miss a beat because the returning and

first-year runners are going to fill those gaps in potentially a bigger way,” said Shields. The women have six first-years on their 24-runner roster that spreads out collegiate running experience across all four classes.

Along with McCarty and Gilbert, expect big performances from seniors Katri Gilbert— Emilie Gilbert’s twin sister—­ and Lori Mendelsohn, juniors Allie Willson and Annie Watters, and sophomore Erin Campbell. However, do not be surprised to see impressive times

Did you know?

When the Whitman cross country teams travel to Seattle, Wash. for this weekend’s annual Sundodger Invitational, they will be competing alongside some of the best runners in the region. The Sundodger Invitational, hosted by the University of Washington, hosts teams from all divisions of NCAA competition, from DI to DIII.

MEN’S

A

s the 2012-2013 season begins, the Missionaries look to take their steadily rising program to the next level and seize the Northwest Conference crown.

Coming off a season where the Missionaries finished tied for third with the University of Puget Sound, head coach Mike Washington believes his team has the personnel to contend for a championship.

“We have the base of probably one of the best returning teams. We have senior leadership and some juniors and sophomores who could really step up and play,” said Washington.

Notable players include four 2011 NWC All-Conference performers: senior forward Leland Matthaeus, junior defender Cooper Schumacher and junior midfielders Junput up all season throughout the team: Only 40 seconds separated the top 12 runners at Whitman’s team trials earlier this season.

That depth will be key for Whitman throughout the fall, as any number of runners can compete in the top group at each weekend race.

For both the men’s and women’s teams, the next chance for competition is Sept. 15 at the annual Sundodger Invitational at Lincoln Park in Seattle, Wash.

Athletes from across the region and at all levels of competition—DI through DIII—will be running in one of the more well-known races of the season.

MEN’S In order to make the most of the season and perform well at Regionals, both teams will have to rely heavily on their senior leadership. Led by co-captains Taylor Mesojednik and Cory Rand, the men’s cross country team has three seniors on its roster.

On the women’s side, six sen-

VOLLEYBALL

FALL PREVIEWS

5

After finishing off their preseason games, the Whitman volleyball team turns their attention to the NWC season opener against PLU. Photo by McCormick

by TRISTAN GAVIN Staff Reporter

A

lthough Whitman College’s women’s volleyball team did not graduate any seniors from their 2011 squad, they are a far cry from the team that won just four of 22 games last year.

The team has not had a senior on the roster in either of the last two seasons, nor have they had a winning season for five years, but they maintain hope that new coach Matt Helm and the leadership of four returning seniors will be enough to get the program going in the right direction. The girls are not willing to settle for small improvement.

“Coach Helm told us early on that if we weren’t here to compete for a conference championship, we shouldn’t be here at all,” said senior Olivia Nielson. “[The team] recognize[s] the goal as a challenge, but not an unattainable one.”

“We’ve got all of the pieces to win. We just have to play the way we are capable,” said senior Corie Brewer, referring to the combination of youth and experience that the team has lacked for years.

The last time Whitman volleyball had seniors on the team was when Nielson, Brewer, Ra-

pei Tsuji and Jesse Mirman.

In order to prepare themselves for a run in the Northwest Conference, the Missionaries stacked up their non-conference schedule with a heavy dosage of quality teams from the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).

On Aug. 31, Whitman defeated the defending SCIAC champions, University of Redlands, on their home field by a score of 1-0.

Being able to play such good teams on the road only benefits the team, according to Washington.

“I think we’re in a good place. Anytime you can go away with your team is good. It’s always more fun than staying on campus,” said Washington.

The Missionaries begin their conference schedule at home next weekend on Saturday, Sept. 15 against Willamette University, followed by a match-up with Linfield College on Sunday, Sept. 16.

Both games begin at 2:30 p.m. iors highlight a roster that includes senior co-captains Shannon McCarty and Emilie Gilbert.

The focus of each team’s season is not necessarily on the NWC Championship meet, but rather two weeks later at the NCAA Division III West Regionals. Here, runners can qualify individually and as a team for the National Championships. “[T]he focus is never having our best race be at the Conference meet,” said Shields. “We are saving our best race for Regionals. I feel if I want to have a quality program, I want my runners to run their best at the biggest race.

So our tapper is strategically set to run our best two weeks after Conference at the Regional meet.”

Last year, both teams finished in the top 10 in the West Region and Shields believes they “can repeat that effort again this year, if not a few places higher.”

Whitman admittedly lost a lot off of last year’s team that finished sixth in the NWC. 2011 captain Brendan Boyer graduated last spring and senior Oliver Wood, an all-region runner in 2011, decided to spend the fall semester doing research in an off-cam-

chel Shober and Carrie Cecil were first-years. Now seniors and team leaders, they are joined by healthy junior Jill Davis. Davis, who was selected to the AllNWC Second Team in 2011, led the team in kills last year.

“Jill’s a beast,” said sophomore Jazmin Moledina in reference to her teammate’s ability to step up from the back row and end rallies.

The team also returns three of Davis’ classmates, two sophomores, and welcomes three first-years. The diversity of experience brings a welcome competition to the team.

“With a new coach, the competition for playing time has driven us all to get better, but we all compete with the same end result in mind: wins,” said Davis.

In a tournament at Elmhurst College in Illinois, the girls bounced back from losses in the first two matches of the year to win their next two, each in only three sets.

“We were rusty and jittery in the first two games but really found our groove by the third and played the way we know we can,” said Nielson.

The girls look to build upon the wins as they approach their home opener on Sept. 21.

SCOREBOARD SOCCER

Men’s v. Occidental College Sept. 7: L 1-0 v. Chapman University Sept. 9: 3-2 Women’s v. Warner Pacific College Sept. 8: W 6-1 v. Whittier College Sept. 9: L 1-0 v. Whitworth University Sept. 12: L 1-0

VOLLEYBALL

v. Whittier College Sept. 7: L 3-2 v. Luther College Sept. 8: L 3-1 v. Whitworth University Sept. 8: L 3-1

UPCOMING SOCCER

Men’s v. Willamette University Sept. 15, 2:30 p.m.: HOME v. Linfield College Sept. 16, 2:30 p.m.: HOME Women’s v. Willamette University Sept. 15, 12 p.m.: HOME v. Lewis & Clark College Sept. 16, 12 p.m.: HOME

VOLLEYBALL

v. Pacific Lutheran University Sept. 15: AWAY v. Whitworth University Sept. 19: AWAY

CROSS COUNTRY

Sundodger Invitational Sept. 15: AWAY

GOLF

Women’s O’Brien Invitational Sept. 16-17: AWAY

pus program. However, Shields’ roster of 19 runners has the potential to achieve its goals of a high team finish at Regionals.

Mesojednik placed first in the team time trials earlier in the season, demonstrating his consistent improvement by pulling away from the group towards the end of the race. Junior Joe Mayo finished second, followed by Rand in third.

In addition to those top three, the Missionaries are led by senior Whitney Griggs, juniors Spencer Corwin and Taylor Nelson, and sophomore Colin Domonoske. Shields hopes that his firstyears and other runners across the roster rise above expectations.

FEATURE

Sep

13 2012

PAGE

6

Working

OUT

ILLUSTRATION BY HWANG

Students take fitness elsewhere

by HANNAH BARTMAN Staff Reporter

It would be hard to find a student on campus who would disagree that the two-story, 38,000 square-foot Baker Ferguson Fitness Center is accessible. With eight treadmills and ­­12 ellipticals, there is seemingly no excuse to avoid burning off those five excellent Bon Appétit brownies you just had. However, some Whitties have been more inclined to find their outlet for exercise off campus.

They travel to a place that requires a bit more booty-shaking and shimmying than would normally be seen at BFFC. They go to Jazzercise classes at studios in town.

“It’s a really affordable option,” first-year Gilly Friedman said. “They [the Jazzercise studio] are clearly running a really great business because the cost and times are really not prohibitive at all.”

Jazzercise is but one of many

options available to both Whitman students and the Walla Walla community, and one of the many recent exercise-oriented business that have recently opened downtown. And students are going for it.

The low cost and varied times are not the only reasons that students have decided to exercise off campus. Whitman students who participate believe that the atmosphere of Jazzercise holds a therapeutic quality that cannot be found by simply running on a treadmill or lifting weights.

“What I really like about dance [Jazzercise] is that it’s completely consuming of your mind,” Friedman said. “It’s a completely different skill than reading for a class, so it gives your mind a really productive break.”

This feeling is also shared by other Whitman students who enjoy Jazzercise. The environment created in a class by a diverse group of people is more

motivational for some students.

“I just don’t have the discipline to just go to the gym and run on a treadmill by myself,” said firstyear Anya Tudisco, a recent Jazzercise attendee. “I have to be having fun if I’m going to exercise.”

Jazzercise as a mode of exercise provides a mixture of aerobic fitness along with jazz or Latin dance moves. Jazzercise, which features old and new pop music (ranging from Madonna to Lady Gaga), incorporates a mix of weightlifting with jazz dance moves. Through this method, the participant is able to focus on and tone certain muscles of the body. This is very similar to Zumba, perhaps a more familiar name, in that it incorporates many Latin dance moves along with popular and Latin music. This dance is more focused on cardio and full body muscle development.

“You’re going to look funny, but that’s just part of the ex-

perience,” Friedman said.

Taking dance-oriented exercise classes can give a complete workout in that many muscles in the body are being used while doing the exercise. Dancing in these ways, some would argue, works muscles that would otherwise be ignored when working out at a gym.

“I can go for an hour and a half and get a full body workout and it is more fun,” Friedman said.

While these classes are affordable and relatively close, the question remains as to why Whitman has not set up classes on campus. Classes offered for credit at Whitman include yoga, pilates and step classes, but some believe that these classes lack the flexibility that noncredit courses would offer students.

“A thing about the classes for credit is that you have to show up, whereas with somewhere off campus I can decide to go whenever I want and

whenever I can,” Tudisco said.

While this may be a liberating fact for students seeking programmed exercise, the downside is the need to pay memberships.

In the case of Whitman SSRA classes, the cost is typically covered by the college just as any other class, and in exchange the participant gains credit that can be counted toward graduation. Baker Ferguson remains a free amenity for students as well, providing a wide variety of exercise opportunities for those who seek them.

For their buck, however, students who go downtown to work out do receive a unique service.

Programmed yet optional exercise routines don’t need to be planned by the students themselves. With the burdens of organization and obligation lifted from their shoulders, students get a completely different, though roughly equal, experience from their peers who exercise on campus.

Meet the new trainers in town

by KAILI MASAMOTO Staff Reporter

We are currently experiencing a fitness revolution; with better health education, people are exercising now more than ever.

According to the International

Health,

Racquet,

and Sportsclub Association that publishes yearly health club trends, “[gym] membership has increased more than 10 percent over the past three years to over 50.2 million members [in America].”

While

some

Whitties choose to stay on campus and exercise via SSRA courses or campus sports, others pursue their exercise off campus, joining the millions of people who choose to pay to exercise. So, where exactly is everyone going, and to whom are people turning for their exercise needs?

Downtown studio jazzes up exercise 3, 2, 1 ... GO! Walla Walla gets CrossFit

W

hile Zumba is synonymous with trendy Latin dance workouts, the tried-and-true Jazzercise owns a place in many people’s hearts–including Janet Byerley’s.

Byerley is a Jazzercise instructor and also the owner of Jazzercise Walla Walla. She first got into Jazzercise through ... BMX racing.

“When my boys were young, they liked riding bicycles a lot and we have a really nice BMX track out here at Fort Walla Walla. I started racing bicycles too and needed some kind of cross training exercise program to help out in the winter and just keep active. A friend of mine got me coming to Jazzercise and it was just a great workout,” Byerley said.

Her passion for Jazzercise led her to train to become an instructor when they needed an extra one, and shortly after, she purchased the franchise after the previous owner got a job as a nurse for a public school district.

Byerley works hard to encourage all students to come out and try Jazzercise.

“We have a reduced fee for tickets, so whereas a normal ticket is $42 a month for unlimited classes, a student’s pass is $25,” Byerley said. “Time and money keep people from exercising, or motivation.

We can’t schedule your time for you, but we can give a price break.”

Byerley loves Jazzercise and this passion drives her outreach efforts because she wants everyone to experience Jazzercise. Some of her older, more dedicated students have actually been going there for ten years now. They enjoy it so much they have actually incorporated it into their lifestyle.

Jazzercise offers a wide variety of music from Latin to jazz, Top 40 hits to techno. The musical foADVERTISEMENT

cus is broad, and the workout itself also includes strength training.

“Typically, we’ll do dance songs for about 35 minutes, and then go grab

weights and mats and do an abdominal routine, an upper torso routine, and one or two leg routines,” Byerley said.

B e sides providing people with a wonderful workout, Jazzercise Walla Walla above all gives people “a really fun, supportive atmosphere” where camaraderie and laughter flows freely.

ILLUSTRATION BY BRAYTON

“Really, there are lots of neat people that come [to Jazzercise]—totally talented—and if you miss your mom, you can come and meet someone else. [It’s] like Adopt-a-Mom!”

M

eet Chuck Amerein, instructor and owner of CrossFit Walla Walla.

Amerein was first exposed to

CrossFit by some members of the military while working as a contractor in Iraq. After returning to the United States, he began helping train kids for free who were interested in enlisting.

“Someone ment i o n e d maybe I s h o u l d get certified because it might be a liability issue,” Amerein said. “I got certified in CrossFit, and because it was kind of pricey, it didn’t make sense to only prepare people for the military.”

His next move was to open up a gym in Dayton, WA for a year and a half until, seeking a larger clientele, he moved to Walla Walla and set up a CrossFit “box,” which is slang for a gym, right here in town over the summer. Based in a warehouse in the industrial part of town in the common CrossFit style, he is continuing to build

up a Walla Walla constituency.

Unlike some gyms which attract a wide range of ages, the majority of people working out a CrossFit Walla Walla are post-college students. In the past years, Amerein has noticed an increase in popularity of CrossFit after ESPN started broadcasting the CrossFit Games.

“It used to be mostly firemen, soldiers, police officers–the type of people who needed functional fitness,” Amerein said. “Now there are other people into CrossFit, probably because it can make you capable of amazing things.”

Amerein likes CrossFit because it is a constantly challenging workout, easily scalable up or down depending on an individual’s fitness level.

“It’s a little different and a highly effective, almost extreme, non-traditional form of exercise,” Amerein said.

CrossFit utilizes traditional exercises such as running, kettlebells, calisthenics and plyometrics, then combines them in innovative ways designed to challenge the entire body. Anyone who wants to enter a profession which requires a high level of functional fitness, or simply wants to get in great shape, would benefit from CrossFit. “You can become as flexible as a gymnast, with the endurance of a marathon runner and the strength of an Olympic weightlifter,” Amerein said.

However, do not think that CrossFit does all the work for you. An investment of personal effort and perspiration is of course required on the part of the participant. Amerein stresses it is impossible to ever become the “bee’s knees” at CrossFit since no matter how long a person does CrossFit, Amerein can always think up a bigger, better, and let’s face it, more painful workout.

Fun Fitness Facts!

by ADAM BRAYTON Feature Editor

Jazzercise was founded in 1969 by fitness pioneer Judi Sheppard Misset. This came only one year after the 1968 seminal work of Kenneth H. Cooper, M.D.: aerobics. Talk about being at the forefront of the exercise revolution!

SOURCE: NETWELLNESS.ORG, JAZZERCISE.COM

A major cornerstone in CrossFit is the concept of the named workout. There are workouts named after women that serve as benchmarks, nicknamed “The Girls.”

There are also “Hero Workouts,” named after soldiers slain in the call of duty.

SOURCE: CROSSFIT.COM

Marcus Tullius Cicero once wrote: “It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.”

SOURCE: INSPIRATIONAL-QUOTES-AND-QUOTATIONS.COM

OPINION 7 Increased direct action key to Candid discussions lead to green activism more complete view of sex Sep

PAGE

13 2012

SAM CHAPMAN Sophomore

SPENCER WHARTON Senior

SEXCETERA

F

reshman year, I never talked about sex. Convinced it was inappropriate and awkward, I kept it to myself, only on very rare occasions sharing my thoughts with my neighbor across the hall. As a whole, I tried hard not to be “that sex guy.”

Needless to say, I got better.

As I’ve learned, talking about sex is crucial because it makes us think. Here at Whitman, we’re supposedly all about critically examining the world, but when it comes to sex, most of us let that slide. However, the less we talk about sex, the fewer opportunities we have to think about it—and there’s a hell of a lot to think about.

For instance, take our sexnegative culture, which keeps us afraid to talk and learn about sex in the first place. Our culture stigmatizes expressions of sexuality, treating sexual desire as crude and shameful. We don’t talk about sex because it’s “inappropriate,” but our taboo on the topic leaves us

ill-equipped to discuss, let alone ask questions about, our personal experiences with sexuality, even when doing so would help us.

What’s more, that shame is very easily internalized. In a culture that won’t discuss sex, people concerned that their sexuality is “abnormal” have few opportunities to learn otherwise, leading them to believe there’s something intrinsically wrong with themselves. The more we talk about sex, the more we can erase its cultural stigma, helping people embrace and enjoy their sexualities.

And it’s hardly only vanilla heterosexual sex that’s stigmatized.

There’s a world of sexual diversity that is completely sidelined. If talking about two straight cisgender (as opposed to transgender) people having sex is hard, talking about the relationships of transgender, queer, polyamorous or asexual people, to name a few, is damn near impossible. We need to open the discussion on sex, and do so in a

way that recognizes the broad diversity of sexuality.

We also need to talk about sex because sex is powerful, and as such, potentially dangerous. Sharing your body with someone else is an act of trust and vulnerability; done right, it can lead to affirmation and mutual satisfaction, but done wrong, it can be anything from frustrating and unfulfilling to physically and emotionally damaging. Good sex can be empowering; bad sex can be dehumanizing. If we want to fundamentally respect the people with whom we interact sexually—including ourselves—we can’t hide these important conversations behind the veil of propriety.

Finally, when it

comes to sex, no discussion is more important than that of preventing sexual assault, but we can’t have those conversations if we keep sex a taboo topic. By talking about sex openly and frankly, we can better discuss subjects like consent and hook-up culture.

We can challenge our assumptions and expectations about who’s entitled to what during sex. And taking the shame out of sex helps us communicate, making us better at expressing our wants and hearing our partners’. It’s hard to do any of this when sex is still in the closet.

I’ve changed since freshman year. I want to be “that sex guy.” I want to answer your questions and give you advice. I want us to talk, and hopefully challenge our assumptions. More than anything, I want to get this discussion started, so please send me your questions by going to http://is.gd/sexplus.

Don’t worry, it’s entirely anonymous.

Let’s talk about sex.

ILLUSTRATION BY PETERSON

Opposition to bison relocation raises questions of motives DON SNOW

Senior Lecturer of Environmental Studies

M

arch 19, 2012, around 8:00 p.m. on a cold, blustery night, a string of livestock trailers opened their doors to disgorge 63 American bison onto the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeast Montana. Tribal members, along with a motley crew of wildlife biologists, representatives from the National Wildlife Federation, and the governor of Montana were there to greet the animals, who had survived a grueling 500-mile road trip from Yellowstone National Park.

Within a day or two, the NBC Nightly News, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and a host of other media heavies jetted into this remote corner of Montana to cover the event. Why such a big deal over a few dozen buffalo?

That question could be answered in a number of ways— in fact, one could write a lengthy book about it—but I’ll try to sum it up in two words: genetic purity.

The five dozen bison transported across Montana are reported to be among the only purely wild bison left in the United States.

The accidental blessing of isolation in the Yellowstone ecoregion during the decades of wanton commercial slaughter, which reduced herds from 30 million to a few hundred, left these animals as the final descendants of the vast aboriginal herds. The sheer isolation of Yellowstone Park, not the will or work of any dedicated federal wildlife agency, somehow kept this one remnant herd of buffalo immune from the importation of cattle genes.

They are pure, wild bison, and native people have long awaited their return to the Great Plains. However, the March transplantation did not occur without storms of conflict and controversy.

It may seem like a harmless thing—indeed a boon—to move wild bison from forest to plains, from national park to Indian reservation. Wildlife conservation groups have long decried the Park policy of allowing the slaughter of any buffalo who wander beyond Yellowstone boundaries. The animals transplanted to the reservation will not be killed but coveted, becoming the seed stock for future generations of bison as the Assiniboine-Dakota people of Fort Peck seek to reestablish thriving herds on the Plains.

The restoration of non-predatory wildlife has been the greatest success story of the American conservation movement.

From a few hundred elk remaining after settlement, over-hunting and land development depleted their range, elk numbers in Montana have risen to nearly 200,000 today. Bighorn sheep are back on their original range.

Pronghorn antelope were rescued from the brink of disaster across Wyoming, Colorado and Montana. Modern society has thrived amid these recoveries, which have been largely without controversy.

But not bison. The instant a sympathetic Montana governor seals a deal with an Indian tribe to rescue bison from their accidental incarceration in a national park, the cow pies hit the fan. The day after the relocation, a Montana state judge issued an injunction against the removal of any more animals— to Fort Peck or anywhere else.

At present, amid a storm of lawsuits filed by various livestock and property rights groups, the injunction stands, and Yellowstone bison, which have been specifically quarantined to prove their diseasefree status, have to await the slow machinations of American counts

before any more can be relocated.

Now why is that?

It is their very wildness— the rich purity of it—which puts many in the ranching community on edge. Perhaps more importantly, the rhetoric of wildness, especially in the wake of wolf reintroduction, raises fears that buffalo will become the next environmentalist icon, a juggernaut that will race out of control across the western prairies, erasing boundaries and property claims in an orgy of “ecological restoration.”

Here is what ranchers Rose and Sierra Stoneberg told NBC Nightly News: “What we oppose is the bison being called wild so that they can go out and take over the ranges. If there’s no population control, ultimately they will take over everything.”

Not to pick on the Stonebergs, but I wonder what lies at the root of

these fears. Fort Peck wildlife managers have no interest in allowing the buffalo to leave the reservation and repopulate the Plains willy-nilly. The recently delivered animals are carefully contained within a vast fenced compound. But with wolf recovery racing ahead amid no real traces of “confinement,” bison relocation may feel like déjà vu to a cattle industry which already feels embattled by the realization of someone’s ecological dreams.

What do ranchers really have to fear from wild buffalo? How secure is the grip of livestock agriculture in the West? What does it mean to non-Indian society when a Dakota leader from Fort Peck announces that eventually he wants to see bison restored to the center of his tribe’s cultural life: the Sun Dance, the Sweat Lodge, the powwow? What, after all, is really being threatened here?

Political Cartoon by Maggie Appleton

Voices from the Community

A MOVING FOREST

W

hen I began this piece, three courageous men and women—I’ll call them heroes—were chained to a piece of construction equipment in the woods of East Texas. They were putting their bodies on the line to halt work on a southern portion of the Keystone XL pipeline. According to a spokesman for Tar Sands Blockade, about two dozen construction workers and at least three sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene and eventually left. Amazingly, no one was arrested, and the construction of the pipeline that would not die was delayed for a day by civil disobedience.

This event exemplifies my favorite tactic of the large and nebulous movement I back. Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) and its oft-used synonym civil disobedience have been effectively used by green activists in the past: Think of tree-huggers chained to redwoods or Greenpeace blocking the paths of whalers.

Its effectiveness stems from bypassing its enemies’ advantages; an energy company cannot funnel money to buy legislation to remove people from the paths of its bulldozers.

NVDA making the news is extraordinarily significant, but I’m not yet satisfied. If we want a hope of saving the Earth this way, we need a tidal wave—and I can’t shake the feeling that this good news is only a few drops. I don’t mean to suggest that the shutdown mentioned above is an isolated incident. The website democracynow.org reports that a mountaintop removal project in West Virginia was shut down in July with similar tactics. The story describes “a series of coordinated lock downs, tree-sits and banner drops” and states that “about 20 activists were arrested and most of them charged with trespassing.”

There are other stories out there—some of which resonate with the feeling of real rebellion. However, I’m agitated that this purest form of objection should be our bread and butter as a green resistance, and yet, it’s not. When negotiation and conversation with your opponent have failed to make clear the choice between profits and lives, NVDA offers a last resort that bypasses their crooked values. It’s elemental—the purest possible way to say “enough.”

The people are beginning to turn that formidable weapon on the oil and gas companies that are the real enemy, but some reluctance remains.

The successes I’ve described are exhilarating but disparate. Part of it stems from the belief that the battle can still be fought in legislatures and courts. I understand this, but these people have it backwards—a fight for change must start on the streets and end in the courts. If it is fought the other way around, progress will be too slow, too shaky and too susceptible to subterfuge by the polluters.

This direct action is not happening fast enough. We need a world in which a coal train can’t leave the station for people standing on the rails, where oil is so hard to transport due to constant interference that the dirty energy corporations start to post losses. We need a real revolution, an Arab Spring for the planet—a resistance not against a corrupt government (though they’re far from blameless) but against the altar of money. I want to read about a new protest on the front page every day.

It’s not going to happen unless we make it happen. A mass shift to NVDA is important because, at this point, nothing else is going to be nearly as effective. We are at war—a cold war, perhaps, but clearly a war—with amoral forces who seek to grind our planet to rubble for their own gain. To stand against them with anything other than a titanic raised voice is futile.

How comfortable are you talking about sex?

CHRISTOPHER FARLEY

MARGARET YANG

JACK COPPINGER

JESSOCA LAWRENCE

Junior

Senior

Sophomore

Sophomore

“I’m fine with joking about sex, but if you want to have a frank conversation about it, I’ll put on my uninterested-but-attentive face and start wishing I was somewhere else.”

“To talk about it or not to talk about it, this is the question! I spend almost as much time joking with my friends about sexual relationships as Barney wears a suit in ‘How I Met Your Mother,’ so you tell me.”

“I feel very comfortable. We are all adults. Regardless of your views on modesty, you gotta admit sex is a really common, and dang popular, topic.”

“I’m pretty comfortable talking to my friends about sex, especially my close friends.

If an issue were to come up, it’s great to have people like that to confide in because usually they’ve gone through something similar and can offer good advice.”

BACKPAGE

Sep

13 2012

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GOP Vice Presidential nominee tests positive for PEDs

I

n a surprising turn of events, Mitt Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan has been suspended from four debates, two fundraising events and his biannual goat milking meetand-greet in his home state of Wisconsin.

Further, he has been stripped of his marathon completion certificates and all of the medals he never won.

The punishments come following a posi- “I’ve never done anything weird with tive drug test by the politi- cats, I swear,” winked Paul Ryan as he cian following his speech spoke with The Pioneer. in Tampa for the Republican National Convention. as well as large quantities Ryan tested positive for of a hormone secreted by high levels of testosterone pregnant house cats. The

motives behind the latter The U.S. government are yet to be determined. has a strict drug testing Congressman Ryan has policy that has been trying been praised for his fitness. to keep Capitol Hill clean He is said to train using the P90X program. Between sips of a protein shake after a recent debate, Ryan pointed to his clean past.

“I never tested positive when I was playing football for the University of Miami Hurricanes in college,” Ryan said in an impromptu interview with The Pioneer.

School files show that Ryan attended MiRepublican Superdrug was ami University in Ohio, This developed to help their “up-and where he did not play foot- -comers” look like true “All-Americans” ball, but did attend sev- that participate in marathons and eral of the home games. spend more time with their families.

Whitman’s new shirt has students up in arms

for the last couple of decades after a growing level of competition and lack of a formal penal system led to the debasement of America’s political structure.

If Ryan regrets his abuse of testosterone-raising drugs, he does not show it.

“I am better off now than I was four years ago,” Ryan said in an interview.

When pressed further for the source of his drugs, he simply said, “We built it.”

Further investigation unveiled that the drug was, in fact, contrived by the Republican Party under the false assumption that running for president involved an actual footrace.

Paul Ryan conducted experiments on me when I was pregnant! I demand poetic justice!

“Snickers” the cat sat down with The Pioneer and told of the horrific experiments in the Republican Party Laboratory in the depths of Tampa, Fla. We had our best cat translator interpret the meows and tears the best he could.

DIVERSE (not racist) Whitman college

S

tudents across campus have been ranting and raving about the new Whitman shirts available in the student bookstore.

Last year’s shirt— with simply the word “unpretentious” scrawled across it—sold like hotcakes, some estimates putting total sales upwards of $3 million nationwide.

The new shirt—with the word “diverse” and the subtext “not racist”—is selling even more quickly, as Whitties scramble to show off their open minds and colorblind eyes. The shirts, coming in either black or white, have led some groups of students across the nation up in arms as they seek to get them banned.

On Whitman’s campus, the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is perhaps the most vocal group.

Almost nightly, members have been heard shouting, “Wake up, Jewett!” as if trying to make firstyears open their eyes to the travesty of the shirt.

More radical groups of students have even deigned to remove any words associated with colors from Whitman.

“Imagine our frustration with TKE’s Charlie Brown rush shirt. How can a student at this college really be unracist and still use words like ‘brown’?

Don’t even get me started on the White Party,”

said the leader of one of these radical enclaves.

Perpetuating the shirt crisis even further, debaters have begun creating their own shirts with the text “U.N.racist” written on the front in Sharpie.

Not only is this not a word in the English language, it is a blatant rip off of the “not racist” shirts. It is also a blatant attack on the United Nations. It has prompted the Model U.N. team to call in the Model NATO to quell the debate insurgency.

The Whitman administration has decided to remove anything that could be considered offensive or racist from campus.

“We are considering spray painting Ankeny Field grey and changing the name of the school.

How could we not have realized that ‘Whit’ is too close to ‘white’ and ‘man’ is offensive to females and gender-neutral people everywhere?” said the de-facto leader of the movement. The school, which is going to change its name to Diverse College, is already printing cups, sweatshirts and bumper stickers.

The shirts, which currently sell for $15 in the student bookstore, are still available. Next time you’re in Reid getting a coffee or sweet potato tots, consider picking one up.

Puzzle of the Week

TO FIND ICHIRO GLACIERS HAMLET

CURIOSITY ROVER SUMMER FRANKENSTEIN

Comic by Emily Jones ADVERTISEMENT

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