IN THIS ISSUE
Tennis team hosts championship Women prepare to take on local rivals in the only tournament of the fall season. page 7
Instant play festival
The injustice of capital punishment
The product of student participants’ three-week workshops hits the Alexander Stage this weekend. page 4
Columnist Allison Bolgiano questions the legitimacy of the death penalty. page 6
WHITMAN COLLEGE Walla Walla, WA Volume CXXVII Issue 2 whitmanpioneer.com S ,
Policy ends unaccompanied international student travel A lack of resources to properly screen programs means that any Whitman-funded international travel must now include a faculty or staff advisor by HADLEY JOLLEY Staff Reporter
BOWMAN The new Inland Octopus toy store mural, completed Sept. 7, breaks tradition by veering away from the typical exterior style of mainstream storefronts.
New mural differs from downtown color palette by MOLLY JOHANSON Staff Reporter
If you’re walking down Main Street, you may notice that the predominant palette of Walla Walla’s buildings appears to be muted wine colors—that is, until you reach the storefront of the Inland Octopus toy shop. A big, bright new mural covers the 650-square foot front of the building, depicting a whimsical scene of a large purple octopus scaling a blue and green castle with a rainbow illuminating the background. “It could have been brighter,” Bob Catsiff, the store owner, said with a smile. “I wanted the outside to show how cool the inside of the store is.” Catsiff has been planning the mural ever since the store moved to its new location at 7 East Main at the end of March. The mural, a collaboration between Catsiff and local artist Aaron Randall, was completed on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and took 37 hours for Randall to paint while Catsiff mixed the colors. “Most people who look at it smile, when they otherwise wouldn’t have,” said Catsiff. The store’s location next to Bright’s Candies in the heart of downtown makes
the mural a prominent focal point in the city. But the bright colors may also pose a problem. The City of Walla Walla’s design standards discourage downtown buildings from being painted “bright, heavily saturated and/or reflective shades of red, blue, green, orange, yellow, or black.” However, these recommendations are for building colors alone. According to Elio Agostini, executive director of the Walla Walla Downtown Foundation, there is no actual code in regard to murals. If the painting was to be declared a sign, however, it would be classified as too big. “I’ve talked to building and business owners alike and found about a 70 to 30 percent split on the positive side regarding who likes the mural,” Agostini said. “The decision of the mural lies in the hands of the city, though.” Many citizens, including the store’s target demographic—children—enjoy the mural, especially compared to the blank white wall that was there before. Jim McGuinn of Hot Poop thinks that the mural is “a breath of fresh air.” Rachel Kline, co-owner of the Walla Walla Bread Company, agrees. “Bob did exactly the right thing,” she said. “The way it’s painted gives it depth. It couldn’t have been more tastefully done.”
A new Whitman College policy suspending unaccompanied international travel has sophomore Maggie Appleton, co-president of Whitman Direct Action (WDA), worried about the future of the group. This policy suspends Whitman funding of unaccompanied international travel by students, which means that WDA will not receive financial assistance from the school to go abroad and volunteer. Last year, WDA traveled to Guatemala on a service trip to encourage sustainable agriculture. Members have previously participated in clean water projects in Mexico and India, a biodiesel project in Central America as well as other international service trips. “The new rule change undermines the club entirely,” said Appleton. “We’re not quite sure how we’re going to function this year under these rules, because our whole premise is that students independently plan their own trips and are able to travel, and under these rules, we’d need a professor to accompany us. So first we’d need to get a professor to agree to give up the research they were going to do that
summer.” Last year marked the first attempt of Whitman to routinely fund international programs. Since then, the administration has discovered that they do not have the resources to properly ensure the safety of the students going abroad. Prior to last year, ASWC funded WDA’s projects. “We had a lot more interest than anticipated, and it became pretty quickly apparent that in order to properly look at the various trips that students wanted to engage in we had to do a lot of research to screen them and make sure they were safe,” said Susan Brick, director of offcampus studies. A total of 13 groups applied for funding last year, with all but two being funded, according to Dean of Students Chuck Cleveland. Besides Whitman Direct Action, other applicants included the International Students and Friends Club and individual students who wanted funding for international internships or research. “The two that didn’t get funded were the ones at the very end, because by this point we’re going, ‘Oh my God.’ There’s just so many things we don’t know, and retroactively we were concerned with some of the TR AVEL , page 3
Alumni share stories at Visiting Writers Series by MCCAULAY SINGERMILNES Staff Reporter
This evening Whitman College alumni Bonnie Rough and Janna Cawrse Esarey return to their alma mater to participate in the Visiting Writers Reading Series, an event designed to expose students and the community to various types of literature and to inspire them through intimate gatherings with published writers. When organizing such events Schwabacher Professor of English and Creative Writing Katrina Roberts and the rest of the English department try to find upand-coming authors of various genres and styles who are also willing to share their wisdom with students. “We think about bringing a diversity of voices to the college,” said Scott Elliott, associate professor of English. “We also think about people who will interact well with students and who will do well in smaller more intimate question and answer sessions.” These events have proved to be valuable experiences for Whitman students,
especially to English majors looking to pursue careers in writing. “It is inspirational to hear actual people speak about their stories and listen to them reading their own work,” said senior English major Paloma SuttonBarnes. “[The authors] never hesitate to answer questions we may have about form, technique, inspiration or what have you. It is an invaluable opportunity.” As authors of nonfiction memoirs, Esarey and Rough are sure to bring unique perspectives to the series. Rough’s book “Carrier: Untangling the Danger in My DNA ” is an account of her life after the discovery that she is a carrier for the gene that causes hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia, or HED. Given this knowledge, Rough and her husband must make the difficult decision of whether or not to have children. Rough must also confront the intimate details regarding her family’s genealogy, including devastating effects of HED upon the men in her family who have suffered from the disease. The novel is also interesting in terms of genre conventions. VISITING WRITERS, page 4
Men’s soccer goes to England
by PAMELA LONDON
ALFORD
Staff Reporter
“Stepping into [Old Trafford] pretty much brought me to tears.” These are the words of Whitman College senior John Fleming who, along with 13 of his teammates, traveled over 4,000 miles this past August to England, the homeland of Whitman men’s soccer coach Mike Washington. The trip has become somewhat of a tradition for the Whitman men’s soccer program. Every four years, Washington takes a group of returning players to England for two weeks to experience the English soccer lifestyle, bask in the glory of Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium and play some soccer along the way. This was the third year that Washington brought his group on the trip and, suffice it to say, every player had a oncein-a-lifetime experience. While the team did get the chance to experience the culture that is English futbol, the team’s main intention for going was, of course, to play soccer. The players that went on the trip were all returning students, giving them a chance to come together as a team before preseason began at the end of August. “We were able to take two weeks out of our summer where all we had to focus on was soccer,” said sophomore Devin Kuh. “This let us begin to form a bond off the field to play better on the field. A lot of the time you get caught up in playing, and you can’t really be together off the field.” “The day-to-day living was probably what brought us together even more than just playing soccer together over there,” said Fleming. “Soccer is a common pursuit. The fact that we lived together, had all of our meals together, we had to endure the monotony of the day [as a team].” Both Fleming and Kuh believe that being together and playing together for two weeks has already translated to greater continuity on the field just eight games into the season. In addition to coming together as a core, the players were able to experience a totally unique style of play in England, completely different from what is typically found in the United States. According to senior Tim Shu, the playing style in England is much less physical and “based more on skill than just booting SOCCER , page 7
Professors battle for spot on ‘Life Boat’ ‘Zeitoun’ author Eggers to speak at Whitman by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter
Author Dave Eggers and Kathy and Abdulrahmen Zeitoun, subjects of “Zeitoun,” the summer reading selection for the class of 2014, are coming to Whitman College on Tuesday, Sept. 28. This book of nonfiction entails one family’s struggle that begins in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and expands to detail events in both Spain and Syria. Eggers and the Zeitouns will be speaking about the book and the couple’s experiences during a public event in Cordiner Hall. Instead of a standard author lecture, this year’s presentation will be format-
BOWMAN Michelle Jenkins argues that she, as a philosophy professor, should be chosen for the one spot in a life boat. Students selected Keith Farrington, from the sociology department, as the event’s winner.
by JOE VOLPERT Staff Reporter
There has been a catastrophic disaster and there is one life boat with only one space left. Five professors, from the departments of studio art, mathematics, philosophy,
sociology and theater, are debating to win that spot. This was the premise of Life Boat, a WEB event on Wednesday, Sept. 22 dubbed as a battle of the disciplines. “The goal is for the professors to argue why their discipline and their knowledge is essential to the survival, well-being or
happiness of the people on the life boat,” said Kelley Hall, the WEB special events director. WEB came up with this idea after hearing about it on NPR’s program “This American Life.” The original life boat LIFE BOAT, page 2
ted as a moderated discussion. Jocelyn Hendrickson, assistant professor of religion, will be asking questions to facilitate discussion between Eggers and the Zeitouns. “I think this style is more appealing to the audience than a standard author talk. Because it allows me to direct questions to the Zeitouns, we can hear more of their comments and get a better backand-forth between the author and the subjects,” she said. Juli Dunn, director of academic resources, has been working with Eggers’s agent to organize the event. She feels that this format will give insight on more than EGGERS, page 2
ASWC announces First Year Senators Kayvon Behroozian
Bella Zarate
Brian Choe
Chelsea Darlington
62% of the first year’s voted with 262 votes total