Whitman Pioneer - Fall 2010 Issue 4

IN THIS ISSUE

Give prisoners a Whitman education?

Documenting social change

Columnist Zach Duffy explores educational partnerships with the State Penitentiary. page 6

O’Donnell Visiting Educator Program brings internationallyacclaimed filmmaker to campus. page 4

Alternatives to Starbucks Downtown Walla Walla offers a range of lesser-known coffee shops. page 5

WHITMAN COLLEGE Walla Walla, WA Volume CXXVII Issue 4 whitmanpioneer.com O , 

College releases 2010 Annual Security Report Burglary and drug offense referrals are up, while reports of sexual misconduct and aggravated assault are down

by JOSH GOODMAN News Editor

Whitman College released its 2010 Annual Security Report, including crime statistics for the calendar year of 2009, last Friday, Oct. 1. The college discloses the statistics annually in accordance with the federal Clery Act. Most notably, between 2008 and 2009, reported sex offenses on-campus and in students’ off-campus houses fell from 18 to eight. Reported incidences of aggravated assault fell from two to zero. Meanwhile, reported burglaries

rose from two to seven, robberies rose from zero to two and drug violation referrals rose from seven to 30.

Campus security believes that the changes in crime levels are part of waves in activity.

“There’ll be years where you have a higher rate of incident in one area and lower in another,” said Craig McKinnon, associate director of security. “If we see a higher rate of assaults or higher rate of crimes, it’s usually crimetype people living near the campus, and it’s easy access to the campus. And if they do it enough, we end up catch-

ing them, and that stops it.”

For instance, there was a rash of laptop thefts in Penrose Library and Reid Campus Center last year. Once the perpetrator was caught and arrested, the laptop thefts stopped, according to McKinnon.

Gary Bainter, a captain from the Operations Division of the Walla Walla Police Department, said the down economy likely played a role in the increase in burglaries.

“As the economy becomes worse, crime increases,” he wrote in an email.

McKinnon attributed the increase in drug referrals to increased patrols and more laid-back student attitudes.

“My experience has been that there’s more of a lax feeling seen by students about use of, in particular, marijuana,” he said. “There’s a sense that they’re really comfortable sitting on the campus and smoking. We’ve got full-time staffing and some overlapping with our staffing at night [so] we’re going to encounter more of these situations.”

Senior John Loranger, ASWC vice president and student affairs SECURITY, page 3

Panelists discuss race through history, present

by MOLLY JOHANSON Staff Reporter

KLAG

Diversity is not just an important value here at Whitman, but also in Walla Walla, where October is Freedom From Discrimination Month.

During October, the Walla Walla Valley Diversity Coalition puts on several events related to race and diversity. Some years, guests like Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter and Ghandi’s grandson have been brought to speak.

This year, the main event was the “Who Are We Now? Questions of Race” panel on Wednesday Oct. 6 in the Reid Campus Center Ballroom.

The panel featured three distinct perspectives on the topic of race. Associate Professor of Biology Delbert Hutchinson provided the biological perspective and Linda Clark, information services specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, talked about the history of race as a category on the census. Steve Rubin, a retired Whitman psychology professor and president of the Walla Walla Valley Diversity Coalition, presented the sociological and psychological perspective, filling in for an ill Pro-

fessor Austin Archer of Walla Walla University.

The presentation began by showing a clip from the documentary “The Human Family Tree – A Migratory History of the Human Race,” which is about the Genographic project by National Geographic.

The five-year project gathered DNA from people all over the world and managed to trace the geographical origin of human genes back thousands of years to Africa. It was only about 60,000 years ago that humans began to migrate to other continents, only 2,000 generations, or a blink of the biological eye.

Hutchinson picked up the topic of the biology of race from there.

He talked about how the study of genetics is relatively new, and in the beginning it was used to support the culturally accepted theory that human races were distinct subspecies.

However, now biologists are united in the idea that humans are all one species.

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say there is no such thing as race, especially in a social, political or cultural PANEL , page 2

Richard Pamkl asks panelists a question about homogenization in America.

A tale of two Whitmans

by ALYSSA GOARD Staff Reporter

According to NameStatistics.com, which obtains its information from the U.S. Census, only 0.007 percent of Americans have the last name Whitman. Yet that fraction of a percent is significant enough to affect perceptions about Whitman College’s namesake. Whitties often find themselves demystifying their college’s identity to those who mistake Whitman as Whittier College or Whitworth University, or believe the name is taken from Walt Whitman. More recently,Whitman students who call California home have the new task of differentiating their school’s identity from gubernatorial candidate Margaret “Meg” Whitman.

Meg Whitman is the Republican candidate for governor of California and former CEO of eBay. She now holds the record at $119 million for the largest personal spending on a U.S. political campaign. As evidence of her political prowess, Whitman, who graduated from Princeton University in 1977, has also donated enough money for one of Princeton’s six residential colleges to assume her namesake. The Princeton campus, also known as Whitman College, has been the subject of conversations between President George Bridges and Princeton University President Shirley Tilghman.

In the fall of 2009, 15.4 percent of Whitman students were residents of California--a number which increases with each incoming class. When senior John Callow and first-year Noah Teller, two California residents, were asked if Meg Whitman’s candidacy WHITMAN, page 2

Four-day weekend offers needed rest, relaxation

by SHELLY LE Staff Reporter

October is infamous for countless sleepdeprived students stuck in the library or in their dorm rooms, frantically studying for midterm exams and finishing up essays at the last minute.

Luckily for Whitties, fall break 2010 arrives just in time to give students a muchneeded break from the pressures of college life, kicking off on Saturday, Oct. 9 and extending until Tuesday, Oct. 12.

Fall semester works its way slowly into the year and hits highs in the middle of October and December, when students have been away from home and have not had an extended period of time to relax for some time.

Jeremy Schofield has been feeling the tension of losing sleep, being a first-year college student far away from home.

“I definitely have been feeling sleep de-

prived and tired lately,” he said. “Fall break is really good because it gives us some relaxation and sleep time, which is really nice.”

Similar to Schofield, many students across campus lack sleep during the first month of the fall semester and choose to sleep in and catch up.

According to an article in the Journal of Adolescent Health published in August 2009, 68 percent of 1,125 college students asked about their sleep patterns reported that stress about school and day-to-day life keep them awake at night. Similarly, 20 percent reported that they stay up all night at least once a month and 35 percent stay up until 3 a.m. at least once a week.

Sophomore Joyce Chen, whose family lives in Taiwan, cannot go home for the break but has made plans to sleep, hang out with friends and catch up on her schoolwork.

FOUR DAY, page 3

SAAC unites communities

by PAMELA LONDON Staff Reporter

If you’ve ever come out to the Whitman Athletic Complex for a women’s soccer game and seen a group of guys in nice clothes hanging out on the sidelines, don’t be alarmed: they’re not all dressed up with no place to go. These are the Whitman men’s basketball players coming out to support their “buddy team,” women’s soccer, as part of the varsity athlete community created by Whitman’s Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

SAAC is a leadership group made up of Whitman varsity athletes with two representatives from each team.

Led by advisor and women’s basketball coach Michelle Ferenz, SAAC fulfills

the NCAA Division III requirement of having a leadership group on campus to facilitate enthusiasm and support for Whitman athletics.

“SAAC gives student-athletes a voice in the issues that directly affect their experience,” said Ferenz. “The organization is student-driven, but I am there to help support and guide the group especially when they are taking on a new project or working on issues that affect the conference or national SAAC.” At Whitman, SAAC is led by co-presidents senior Jenele Peterson and junior Jennifer Keyes. “[We are] very involved with planning and making sure our events run smoothly,” said Peterson, who has been involved with SAAC since her freshman year.

SAAC, page 7

PARRISH Admissions officers prepare for Fall Visitors’ Day. The Office of Admission expects over 150 prospective students for the Friday, Oct. 8 event.

Visitors’ Day brings ‘prospies’ to campus

by JOE VOLPERT Staff Reporter

Whitman College will welcome over 150 prospective students to campus for Fall Visitors’ Day this Friday, Oct. 8. Throughout the day, Whitman will have information sessions and talks to introduce the prospective students to the culture and academic climate of Whitman.

“The subject material is basically things that would be helpful for high school seniors in the middle of their college search process,” said Joshua Smith, the admissions officer in charge of organizing Fall Visitors’ Day. There is a wide variety of activities for the prospective students, ranging from information about Whitman’s academic program and Outdoor Program to cocurricular activities available on campus.

“We will have information about the Whitman curriculum, we will talk about Encounters and the kind of programs we have academically, we will talk about experiential learning,” said Smith.

While Visitors’ Day is mostly organized in the same way as previous years, the Office of Admission made one slight change to the schedule. Previously, the admission and financial aid discussion conflicted with other discussions, forcing students to pick between the discussions.

This year the admission and financial aid talk has its own time slot without any conflicting discussions.

Smith emphasized the importance of experiencing Whitman’s culture while visiting.

“We would like them to take an hour chunk during the day to go and experience the culture on campus,” said Smith.

Smith noted that several senior interns for the Office of Admission were a part of the process of organizing Fall Visitors’ Day. Seniors Tillie Gottlieb and Ali Schlueter were both involved in the organization process, according to Smith.

The Office of Admission is also making a few changes to their approach to recruitment this year. One such change is a blog where current students can write about their Whitman experiences.

“We added an admission staff blog last year mid-recruitment cycle. This fall, our admission officer Cate van Oppen is hiring current Whitties to blog about their experiences here at Whitman. This is another way for us to communicate the Whitman experience to prospective students who may not be able to visit campus,” said Kevin Dyerly, the director of VISITORS, page 3

NEWS

2

October 7, 2010O

KLAG Linda Clark, information services specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, gives a detailed account of of how the census race and ethnicity questions have changed over the decades.

SLOANE

WHITMAN: Candidate, college contrast  page 1 affected perceptions of Whitman College in their home state, both responded with bewildered looks.

“Anyone who knows enough about colleges or politics should know that the Whitman campaign and Whitman College are very different institutions,” said Teller.

Callow agreed, and added that he wasn’t sure if Meg Whitman’s campaign will even be important for the people who attend or want to learn about Whitman College.

Philip “PJ” Petrone, associate director of admissions in the California office, offers a different perspective.

“I just had a student ask me the other day if Meg Whitman was associated with us in any way,” he said. “This was the first time, though. I think people see it as a coincidence--Meg being a Republican and Whitman being in a more liberal location of the country and having more of a liberal bend on campus.”

As one of the over 7,000 higher

educational institutions in the U.S. recognized by the National Center for Educational Statistics, Whitman faces the challenge of developing a name for itself distinct from all the other small liberal arts colleges. These efforts, however, are not always reflected by the general populous.

I think people see it as a coincidence--Meg being a Republican and Whitman being in a more liberal location of the country and having more of a liberal bend on campus -Philip “PJ” Petrone, Associate Director of Admissions

“People never know where Whitman College’s name comes from,” said junior Emma O’Rourke-Powell. “If

you Google ‘Whitman’ so many different topics show up.”

O’Rourke-Powell, who is a resident of California, recounted with a chuckle that her aunt now remembers which college is in Walla Walla by associating the college name with the looming influence of Meg Whitman.

As Petrone suggests, Meg Whitman’s conservative platform seems to contrast the college’s left-of-center political leanings. This contrast, however, is carried out in nationwide statistics. According to a recent Gallup poll, college students as a demographic appear unlikely to support Meg Whitman’s campaign. This poll noted that 55 percent of young adults (ages 18-29) are instead more likely to support democratic candidates--an increase of 9 percentage points since August.

Whether or not this coincidental association of Whitman College’s name with Meg Whitman will outlast the election cycle likely depends on the result of the California gubernatorial election, which takes place Nov. 2.

Chem students take test in hotels Several athletes enrolled in General Chemistry were forced to take an exam in hotels due to team travels during the 2 p.m. Friday afternoon exam time

by ALYSSA GOARD Staff Reporter

For many General Chemistry students, having to take the first test of the year at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon was aggravating, but the cross country runners enrolled in the course had an extra dose of agony. The cross country team was scheduled to leave at 12:30 p.m. for a meet in Salem, Ore. and the athletes who were enrolled in General Chemistry worked weeks beforehand to negotiate a testing situation which would allow the bus to leave as planned.

Cross country coach Scott Shields contacted the Chemistry Department and arranged for all but three of the athletes to take the test early in the morning. Shields offered to proctor the chemistry test for the remaining students at their hotel room in Salem.

“We didn’t want the students to take their exam on the bus, so we recreated a space for them to take the test in a private room in the hotel,” said Shields.

After arriving in Salem, the students took their exam at around 8 p.m. on the night before their race. First-year Annie Watters, who was among those that took the exam, wasn’t able to get to bed until she finished the test at 1 a.m. The athletes had to be up by 7:30 a.m. the following morning and Watters found

herself, “dreaming in numbers and equations,” rather than getting mentally prepared for the race.

First-year Skye Pauly didn’t think taking the test in a hotel room was so bad.

“Taking the test [in a hotel room] actually wasn’t too bad except for the party going on in the hotel room next door to us,” she said.“I think the situation was fair considering we couldn’t have taken the test otherwise.”

Most of the cross country runners who took the General Chemistry test were first-years, and for many of them this was their first college test. Those athletes who were able to take the test before leaving campus had the anxietyinducing burden of making sure they were packed and ready to leave while squeezing in a study session the night before.

The students do not have their test results back; they will soon find out if the hectic testing situation had an impact on their performance.

Testing situations like this are uncommon but are not unheard of.

“All coaches at some point in their career have to proctor tests,” said Shields, who was also the Whitman’s women’s soccer coach for eight years.

“And it’s not just coaches; any professor who takes kids away for long periods of

the Pioneer

time has to be responsible for making sure students are accountable for the same work as their peers.”

Senior Kristen Ballinger opted to take an organic chemistry test she missed while on an airplane on her way to the national cross country meet last year.

“I could have taken it at the hotel but chose to take it on the plane after I had raced. It was more stressful and difficult to concentrate . . . taking the test was an extra thing to worry about leading up to the race,” said Ballinger.

Like the first-years who had taken off-campus exams, Ballinger felt that taking the test while traveling was the best compromise. But she also expressed doubts.

“Because coaches are so willing to proctor tests, it puts students in a position where they may be encouraged to make the wrong decision for their own well-being.”

As Whitman students strive to balance their academic commitments with their extracurricular passions, inevitably situations like these will arise in which no choice seems truly optimal.

Ballinger offers one word of advice to any student considering taking an exam while off campus.

“Never choose to take a test [in] a moving vehicle.”

PANEL: Race in census changed  page 1 context,” Hutchison said. “But from a biological perspective it is better to think of geographic variants.”

To demonstrate the relative variation in humans, Hutchinson used the example of wolves, coyotes and dogs, which can all freely interbreed, yet all are distinct species. Humans are nowhere near as genetically different as these species, and not at all close to becoming so.

Truly, the greatest differentiation between human races comes from how far away populations had to migrate from Africa. Despite external appearances, someone from Europe is closer genetically to someone from Asia than someone from Africa is to an Australian aboriginal.

From the biological perspective, the talk moved on to sociology and psychology. Rubin talked about how appearance has historically been the most important factor in determining race and for organizing and subdividing race categories--from the time of European explorers to the time of Charles Darwin and the age of classification.

It was also a time when many quantifying tests were developed. Measures such as IQ tests began to be used to make sweeping generalizations about people, and races in particular.

Many sociologists attempted to prove that the difference between criminals and non-criminals was biological.

“It’s like blaming guns for the existence of crime,” Rubin said.

This kind of pseudoscience was used throughout history as a way to quantify reasons for discrimination, especially in the use of eugenics, which is a way of controlling populations by forced sterilization. This is a tactic that the Nazis employed in attempts to create a master race.

“Just because we learn something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s used well,” Rubin said.

Following this was Clark’s presentation on the history of race as a census question. Since 1790, it has been addressed on the survey, but every decade the questions have changed. In the beginning, the questions revolved around the head of the household, how many free white males there were and how many slaves were owned.

From this, various racial categories were added, and 2000 was the first year that more than one race could be selected as an answer.

The information gathered by the census is used for a variety of purposes, such as to identify inequalities and disparities in health and educa-

EDITORIAL POLICY

whitman news, delivered.

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ILLUSTR ATION Jea Alford, Sarah Canepa, Emily Johnson, Olivia Johnson, Binta Loos-Diallo, Rex Rolle, Carrie Sloane, Erika Zinser

tion programs, and evaluate livability of neighborhoods.

There are many questions about the reliability of census data. On his 2010 census, President Obama marked “black,” yet he is mixed-race. One theory as to why he and other racial groups such as Native American tribes do this is to not dilute their identity and representation in the census.

This brought up many questions about the subjectivity of race. To accommodate, there are some proposed census questions for next decade that deal more directly with personal identification.

When asked by an audience member about whether or not we are moving towards homogeny, or a more colorblind view, there were several perspectives.

“You never hear the term melting pot anymore,” Clark said, adding that she’s heard the term ‘mixed salad’ lately.

From a biological perspective, Hutchinson thinks that even after another thousand years, there will only be slightly more mixing of race. He believes cultural traditions of samerace mating will continue, and ethnic and geographic diversity will be retained.

The panel ended, leaving the audience curious about the topic. Many of the audience members stayed after to ask more questions and discuss among themselves.

“I’m very interested in the question of race,” said Malinda Pankl, ’67, who attended the panel. “I wanted to understand how complex race is. I also had never noticed or thought about how the census questions change.”

There are two other diversity coalition events coming up this month.

One is a screening of the “The Human Family Tree – A Migratory History of the Human Race” documentary. This will be shown Wednesday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. in the Fine Arts Auditorium at Walla Walla University.

The other is the Identity Project. At the lecture, Annie Capestani, the diversity coalition treasurer, was taking pictures of people, and letting them write their own identity labels, instead of labels imposed by society. The coalition has also been taking pictures at the Farmers’ Market the past few weekends.

The project was inspired by a similar project that Whitman did earlier this year, which can be seen at the Glover Alston Center.

Photos from the identity project can be found at the Walla Walla Public Library from Oct. 9-30. The last photos for the project will be taken on Saturday, Oct. 9 from 2-4 p.m.

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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 weekly Letters to the Editor in print and online.

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NEWS

October 7, 2010

Question and Answer with ‘Assassin’s Gate’ author George Packer in which the Taliban are given big chunks of the south and the east to govern locally while paying some kind of, you know, nominal fealty to the government in Kabul which would be weakened. My guess is, based on what Afghans I’ve talked to say, that’s going to lead to a civil war.

Q

Do you think there’s still a possibility for long form journalism to still exist?

A FENNELL Political journalist George Packer spoke at Whitman on Wednesday, Sept. 29.

by GARY WANG Contributing Reporter

George Packer, award-winning journalist for The New Yorker as well as the author of “The Assassin’s Gate: America in Iraq” gave a lecture in Maxey Auditorium Wednesday, Sept. 29 entitled “An American Dilemma, Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Packer spoke about how the Obama Administration’s current Afghan war strategy of COIN (counter-insurgency) needs more time to possibly be effective than the time allotted by the political deadline of July 2011 to begin troop withdrawals. The political pressure to scale down the war in Afghanistan contradicts the military pressure to win using the COIN strategy, creating a tragic dilemma.

The following is an interview conducted by the Pioneer with George Packer the day after his lecture.

Q

How do you think Obama’s relationship with the military is going to evolve as the deadline for withdrawal gets closer?

A

He believes in civilian control and a thorough and methodical review process in which there has to be an open and honest rather than a manipulative kind of “box your opponent in” discussion before you come up with a strategy. I don’t know what’s going to happen next summer. I don’t think a lot of them know. That date seems to mean different things to differ-

ent people. Obama’s going to be under real pressure heading into the reelection from Democrats, is going to be under real pressure from Petraeus, who is a believer in counter-insurgency, and has taken on this mission as, coming off a sort of success in Iraq. He has a lot of clout, he kind of bailed Obama out by taking this job. But I think the real pressure is going to come from the war and where it is next summer.

Right now honestly, I, and people I rely on for information don’t see any way that this is going to turn around. So Obama’s too smart for that to not be the major factor in whatever decision he makes about the number of troops withdrawn.

Q

How do you evaluate the plan to partition Afghanistan into a US-dominated west and north and a Taliban-dominated south and east strategically?

A

You can’t impose these things. It’s not the conference in Berlin in the late 19th century, carving up giant chunks of the planet. Is that what the Afghans want?

Afghanistan is a nation without a strong central state, but there is a sense of Afghan identity that is pretty powerful. To think that we know how they identify themselves better than they do, and that in fact they are Pashtuns, and Tajiks, and Uzbeks first, that is I think a very arrogant assumption.

It may be that if negotiations ripen that might become the de facto possible deal,

As great as the Times and the Post are, long form journalism for example, after 9/11, was the way really committed readers, without having become scholars, learned about Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and the Muslim world. There were so many ways in which long form journalism was the only way in which you could get deep enough--into these alien places that get to something beyond what the front page was giving you.

The need will be there. Whether the want is there, I’m not sure of. That depends on your generation.

Q

Since the 70s and 80s, more and more people are getting their news from cable television, Fox News in particular.

Their ratings are larger than CNN and MSNBC combined.

How has it affected our ability to form policy and politics?

A

Fox is doing its best to destroy America. It’s still a small fraction of the country so we shouldn’t exaggerate it.

But it has an effect on leaders, on media and political elites, that the New York Times used to have, and now, is a kind of glib dismissal of what the Times does.

That’s so destructive because what it really does isn’t just [with] the Times, it’s the possibility of a common body of facts that we can all argue over. Instead, everyone now has their set of facts and that is the Fox “newsification” of the country.

For a conservative outlet, it embraced the most radical French philosophy, without knowing it; Foucault and Fox are separated at birth. It is so destructive and dangerous that there ought to be a warning label.

3

FOUR DAY: Fall breaks rare  page 1 “I’m looking forward to watching movies with friends and sleeping in,” she said. “It’s a good break; it gives me time to take a break to breathe.”

In the fall of 2002, Whitman College made the decision to extend one weekend in October to create a four-day fall break. This decision came as a result of the increasing stress on both faculty and students as well as the pressure put on the administration by students requesting time off.

Registrar Ron Urban, who has been at Whitman since 1984, has seen the effects of the implementation of a fall break. He feels that the extended weekend is not only beneficial for students to relax, but also for faculty to catch up and unwind. “[The break] allows faculty to develop time to set up their ideas, and catch up on grading that they’ve had to set aside,” he said.

Urban also feels that because the reputation and standards of Whitman College has increased, a period of relaxation is needed to get through the next half of the semester.

“Stress levels have increased as a

result of increased standards, so it’s important for everyone to take some time away, for relaxation,” he said.

Whitman College is one of very few colleges in Washington state that offer a fall break; others include the University of Puget Sound and Trinity Lutheran College. Along the West Coast, Reed College, Willamette University and Claremont McKenna College also have extended fall breaks.

Students at Reed, who have a full week off, have similarly positive views about their break. Senior Ethan Knudson, a sociology major at Reed, is grateful to have the chance to assemble his senior thesis and visit friends.

“I need a week to get my life in order, and I have things to pull together,” he said.

Chuck Cleveland, dean of students, notices an emotional difference in students after they have come back from the four-day weekend.

“I think what the weekend does [is] build up excitement; when students come back they’re more relaxed.”

Urban agrees.

“There are nothing but sighs of relief from the faculty and students,” he said.

VISITORS: New social media  page 1 admission.

The Office of Admission is also working to use the latest social media to connect with prospective students. The admission publications, which have not been updated in six years, will be redesigned to accommodate these changes.

“We’ll continue to do more with Facebook and Twitter, both of which we rolled out last year. We’re finding students don’t prefer one particular channel of communication with colleges, so we will continue to use print materials, e-mail, telephone and now social media,” said Dyerly.

Dyerly noted that the Office of Admission is not trying to be more selective, but they would like to grow and diversify the application pool.

“More talented applicants give us an opportunity to enhance the admitted student pool of students. A net result of hav-

ing more applicants, though, often means having a lower admit rate. That said, our admit rate has been fairly steady the past five years,” said Dyerly.

Despite the changes which affect how the Office of Admission recruits prospective students, the Office of Financial Aid will not make substantial changes this academic year.

“We are doing the exact same thing we were doing last year,” said Marilyn Ponti, the director of financial aid. “It is still a very difficult time for parents and students.”

She noted that incoming Whitman students have required more aid over the past few years due to the poor economy; many parents have recently lost their jobs.

“I think when we look at our incoming class, there are probably more students who had need this year because of what is going on,” said Ponti.

SECURITY: Stress on education in preventing crime  page 1 chair, believes that that may be part of the reason for the increase, but also wonders if security changed its methodology for referrals.

“I don’t think all of a sudden everyone decided ‘I’m going to smoke pot outside,’” he said. “But I think more people are and, at the same time, it looks like there has been a change in policy in referring a lot more of these incidents.”

Meanwhile, Associate Dean of Students and Sexual Misconduct Prevention Coordinator Barbara Maxwell says she believes that the Green Dot program, launched in 2009, reduced incidence of sexual offenses. Green Dot focuses on small behaviors that individuals can make to prevent others from becoming victims of sex offenses and other violent crimes.

“Green Dot played a role in [the decrease in reported sexual offenses], so it could be very, very true that we had fewer incidents on campus, so we had

fewer incidents to report,” she said.

“But it could also be that the people involved in those incidents did not feel comfortable reporting it; they may not have even told anyone else about it yet.”

Statistics in the security report only include reported incidences of crimes.

Incidences are only counted for the year they are reported; the 2008 numbers include sex offenses from previous years that were reported in 2008, while the 2009 numbers do not, meaning that the decrease is not as dramatic as it sounds.

In response to student feedback about crime and perceptions of safety, Whitman added an additional security officer position over the summer. The new position increases the period of time when two security officers overlap.

“Maybe . . . when we see the stats for next year, we’ll see a higher increase [in reported crime] because we had so much overlapping,” McKinnon said.

Likewise, increased awareness and

reporting may explain why reported numbers of sexual offenses are higher at Whitman than at many similarly sized schools; Reed College and Grinnell College, for instance, both had three reported sexual offenses during 2009.

It is a pretty safe campus and people feel that way 99.9 percent of the time, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be diligent.

-John Loranger, ASWC vice president and student affairs chair

“In an ideal world you’re comparing apples to apples, but you’re not,” said Maxwell, noting that Whitman places sexual misconduct report forms all around campus and online and pro-

vides ways for survivors to seek help without having to report the crime to campus security or the police.

To reduce levels of crime and sexual misconduct, ASWC and other entities are encouraging students to educate themselves and be proactive. ASWC offered an Off-Campus Housing Orientation for the first time last month to provide students with information about how to keep their residences safe and about their security rights as tenants.

“Not a ton of people came, but the people that did come thought it was very helpful and the information was super useful,” said Loranger. “We’re looking for how to get that information to students in a more palatable way.”

ASWC also hopes to organize a getto-know your security officers event in the near future to further facilitate the student-security relationship.

While familiarizing students with security is important, so is common sense, according to Loranger.

“Lock your doors, don’t leave your

laptop out in the library . . . lock your bike,” he said. “It is a pretty safe campus and people feel that way 99.9 percent of the time, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be diligent.”

To prevent crime, McKinnon hopes that students will trust their gut when it comes to suspicious activity.

“I would rather have somebody call and it not be something than them not call and it be something,” he said. “Call anytime you have a sense that something isn’t right. It doesn’t have to be obvious; it can feel wrong. We want to know about it.”

Meanwhile, Maxwell praised students for internalizing the Green Dot program and taking steps that are likely responsible for the decrease in sexual misconduct.

“If you walk somebody [drunk] home, you never know if you protect that person from something bad,” said Maxwell. “You never know if your action was something heroic or not. But the very fact that you cared enough to do something, that is heroic.”

APPLETON

A&E

The Pioneer ISSUE 4 OCT 7, 2010 Page 4

Documentary filmmaker Isacsson visits campus

by NATE LESSLER Staff Reporter

Canadian documentary filmmaker Magnus Isacsson has been at Whitman College for the past two weeks putting on film screenings, visiting classrooms, answering questions and teaching an evening course.

His visit was made possible via funds from the O’Donnell Visiting Educator program.

“The O’Donnell Visiting Educator program has been a good source of funding for Canadian-related initiatives,” said Jack Iverson, associate professor of French language and literature and one of the faculty members who played a key role in making Isacsson’s visit possible.

“The program brings to campus practitioners of international affairs for somewhat extended stays” he explained.

“I read in the Quebec newspapers about the release of [Isacsson’s] film ‘The Battle of Rabaska’. From there, I did a bit of research about his work more generally. I was really attracted by the blog he keeps and its focus on the position of documentary film in contemporary society.”

Isacsson has been an independent documentary filmmaker for over 20 years. Before that he worked in public broadcast, but eventually left due to the limitations of the medium.

“The format was very limited,” said Isacsson of television. “It was always 20 minutes; it was always with a journalist narrating it. It was very predictable . . . I wanted more freedom.”

Isacsson has used his freedom to make original documentaries that often revolve around people standing up for their rights or fighting for something that they believe in—even when it requires standing up against large corporations or governments.

“I think the advantage of documentary is that it can go in-depth into certain issues or situations and really bring them to life. Because it’s a cinematic medium with storytelling, with character development, with images, with sound and music, you can make issues come alive . . . documentaries can bring a very lively portrayal of public issues to the

KWCW 90.5

Show of the Week She Felt His Love Within Her Combining sensual music and excerpts from steamy romance novels, “She Felt His Love Within Her” provides a sex-safe zone for listeners, inspiring them to be open and honest about desires despite the social pressures to keep them tucked away. The romance novel, while not considered a powerful literary genre, shapes women’s sexuality through their intimate depictions of desire, the sex act and love. Phillip’s show engages with an open-wave, open-minded discourse on sexuality by offering sensual tunes as well as reading passionate passages from modern and contemporary romance narratives. Though American popular culture is often dramatically oversexed, it is still surprisingly taboo to talk honestly about sex. “She Felt His Love Within Her” hopes to face this particular phenomena in an entertaining, informative and adult way. Listeners are encouraged to call in with comments and requests to encourage this dialogue.

Ultimately Phillips hopes to push a prudish sense of sex out the door by exposing how talking about sex can be comfortable by placing it in an entertaining and easeful environment.

“She Felt His Love Within Her” airs every Sunday night at 11 p.m. on KWCW 90.5 FM. It can also be streamed online from www.kwcw. net.

contributed by KWCW

ROSENBURG O’Donnell Visiting Educator Magnus Isacsson, a Canadian filmmaker, lectures to students in “Hot Docs,” a two-week course that covers the ins and outs of documentary filmmaking through film screenings and lectures.

forefront,” said Isacsson.

The course which Isacsson has been teaching three evenings a week for the past two weeks is called “Hot Docs” and is about the role of documentary in public debate in society. The course often involves Isacsson showing clips of documentaries and then lecturing on their importance in contemporary society. Isacsson has showed clips from a variety of documentaries such as “Harlan County, USA”, “The Cove”, “The Thin Blue Line” and “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

However, working as a visiting teacher is a new experience for Isacsson.

“I fairly regularly go to college or university classes to show a film or [give a] talk, but I don’t usually teach,” he said.

According to sophomore Nehali Dave, Isacsson’s background as a filmmaker rather than a teacher is what makes the course so strong.

“I’m usually watching documentaries because the information is really interesting, but seeing them through the eyes of a filmmaker makes you just understand a whole different element,” said Dave.

In addition to teaching an evening course, Isacsson has also screened a number of his films for Whitman students. Among these documentaries was Isacsson’s most recent film, “Art in Action”, which is about two Montrealbased artists who use urban art installations to highlight social issues.

Isacsson also screened scenes from a work-in-progress that he has been working on for eight years called “Granny Power.” This not-yet-completed documentary is about a political action movement started in Canada by elderly women.

Professor Iverson hopes that students will greatly benefit from the opportunity of having Isacsson on campus.

“Hopefully, a visitor like Magnus Isacsson brings something to campus that wouldn’t necessarily be available to students otherwise,” said Iverson. “Of course there are film courses and there are frequent documentary screenings on campus. But the O’Donnell Endowment has made it possible for a broad

group of students to dialogue with Magnus and to learn about his particular approach to social issues as a documentary filmmaker.”

Dave noted that the Isacsson’s visit was also a great opportunity for the students who aren’t Rhetoric and Film Studies majors.

“It was a really nice opportunity that I wouldn’t have otherwise, especially because I’m not a film student and won’t be able to take any film classes this year,” said Dave. “I think it was just a really nice opportunity for non-[rhetoric and film] majors to get a glimpse at what [rhetoric and film studies] majors might do.”

Revamped film series to screen “Chekhov For Children”

by CJ WISLER A&E Editor

After 11 years, the Cinema Arts Series is getting a face-lift.

Rather than purchasing the rights to multiple films shown throughout the semester, the series will bring filmmakers to campus to show their new films, then follow with a question and answer session. The first film shown under this new form is awardwinning filmmaker and University of Iowa Associate Professor of Cinema & Comparative Literature Sasha Waters’s “Chekhov For Children.” This film premieres tonight in Kimball Theater at 7 p.m.

Rhetoric and Film Studies Professor Robert Sickels, who initiated the film series, changed the structure in part for economic reasons.

“A lot of [the change] had to do with cost-efficiency,” said Sickels. “Performance rights are so high now to show the films; so instead of spending all that money, we’re showing the films and actually bringing the filmmakers to campus.”

Sickels also hopes to draw a larger crowd to the film showings, appealing to students outside of the film and rhetoric studies department.

“In the past we haven’t drawn very

many people to the events, so I’m hoping . . . this will bring a broader web of students on campus,” said Sickels.

“I really admire Professor [Katrina] Robert’s Visiting Writers Reading Series and how it brings in artists for the student’s benefit, and I envision [the film series] going that way.”

The film series will bring in relatively new and up-and-coming filmmakers. Sasha Waters, who has won several grants and fellowships, including the Yaddo Residency and Audience Award at the San Diego Women’s Film Festival for “The Waiting Time”, exemplifies a career on the rise.

“I met [Sasha] a few years ago when I was visiting film studies programs on other campuses to see where [Whitman] stands. [I] met her, and I thought she was interesting,” said Sickels. “She expressed interest in showing her films on campus, and I thought that her star is rapidly ascending.”

To Sickels, Waters’ particular style of filmmaking lacks pretension and cold aesthetic. “[She] is warm, really engaged at the human level,” said Sickels.

“Chekhov for Children”, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in early 2010, documents the ambitious production of the 1979 Broad-

COMIC STRIP

way staging of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” using fifth and sixth graders as actors.

Thirty years later, Waters, who auditioned for but did not act in the play, discovered old video clips of the play and decided to seek out the actors, now at or approaching middle age.

The film takes a close look at growing up in New York in the seventies, but also reveals many universal themes.

“It’s interesting because that time period was, in many ways, dramatically different than our own,” said Waters. “New York had tremendous financial problems, public schools were quoted to be in a severe crisis . . . but in reality the same dialogue about public education is occurring today.”

In a difficult economy, where arts suffer the most, both Sickels and Waters feel that the film exposes the importance of art in a child’s personal and academic life.

“I hope that by example people will see that public schools should have art and theatre—programs that tend to get cut during times [of financial crisis],” said Waters. “Art and theatre helped these children feel empowered, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that kids who are exposed to this kind of experience do well later in life.”

“I would argue that [the film’s subject matter] allows you to look into your future rather than just . . . looking back,” said Sickles. “You can see how profoundly exposure to art affects the folks that were privy to it. It shows how the experiences you have will affect you down the line.”

For Sickels’ series, Waters’ film, with its themes, freshness and intimate approach, will be the first of many screenings in this style. The Cinema Arts Series will also screen Mitch McCabe’s film “Youth Knows No Pain”, which was produced and nationally televised by HBO. The film’s screening will occur Nov. 3.

Sickels hopes that the intimate, academic and artistic nature of the films and their cinematography will interest students across academic departments.

“I’m excited to see it shown to Whitman students because it’s a window into a completely different world . . . but also because it deals so closely with creative arts and education,” said Waters.

“It’s my hope [these films] appeal to all students,” said Sickels. “If a work of art reaches its potential, the beauty of it is that it reaches a universal, that it will appeal regardless of a specific academic interest.”

A&E

October 7, 2010

Bad Poetry Night amuses, offers chance to share work

by KARAH KEMMERLY Staff Reporter

Bad Poetry Night was hosted on Tuesday, Oct. 5 by the residents of the Writing Interest House. This event gave Whitman students the opportunity to share their favorite less-than-poetic poetry and to write some new humorous and bad poems.

Bad Poetry Night is one of many events the Writing House hosts in order to give all writers on campus a chance to share their work and to start new stories and poems.

Senior Katie Bates, Resident Assistant of the Writing House, believes that Bad Poetry Night was an event for both extremely skilled creative writers and less confident writers alike.

“The other house members and I brainstormed for program ideas to bring in students. We thought a bad poetry night would be fun and would appeal to those concerned with the idea of writing poetry. They could spend the evening writing without worrying about their writing skills,” she said.

At the event, students first took turns sharing examples of bad poems they either printed from the Internet, took from a book or wrote themselves. Titles included “The Beard Poem”, “Drunk Poem” and “Vampires”, a short poem pondering why vampires don’t suck on strawberries instead of drinking blood.

Bates shared a poem she wrote in elementary or middle school, which she says is her favorite bad poem.

“It’s called ‘The Not-So-Famous Tale of Duncan Revere.’ It tells the story of Paul Revere’s brother who fell down the tower steps while the British were coming. Apparently this was something my middle school brain found amusing,” she said.

After sharing, students were given three different prompts and encouraged

to write their own poems. Then they shared their poetry and everyone got a good laugh.

From these prompts came works such as “Ode to Freshmen”, “Birthday Message”, “Little Wayne’s Birthday Party” and “Our LOVE is Special, by the LOVE Doctor”, a poem exploring the conversation between two lovers who suddenly grow apart.

Sophomore Erik Larson, who came to the event after hearing about it from some of his friends in the Writing House, believes that laughter was the best part of the evening.

“Bad poetry is easier to write than good poetry because it’s much easier to aim for laughter than for admiration,” he said.

Sophomore Elizabeth “Elz” Hambleton was inspired to come to Bad Poetry Night by an exercise she used before writing her one-act play for the Instant Play Festival.

“We were instructed to write the worst thing we’ve ever written. Some of the funniest pieces came from that exercise.

I figured if bad writing was so fun then, it would be fun again,” she said.

She also agreed that humor was the highlight of the event.

“Bad poems are attractive because they’re so funny. We’re here in the mood to laugh,” she said.

The Writing House also hosts Writer’s Colony every Thursday at 9 p.m., where Whitman students can come and share their work, get feedback and work on new writing with new prompts. They will also likely host a Reject Night, where students can share work that was rejected from literary magazines and journals.

Bates hopes that such an event will keep writers from feeling like their rejected work is useless.

“It’s our way of saying that we validate their writing,” she said.

PIO PICKS

For those in search of some downtown entertainment in Walla Walla over the fourday break, check out these events.

Live @ Walla Walla Village Winery-Open Mic Every Thursday evening, the Walla Walla Village Winery hosts an open mic night for Walla Walla residents from 7 p.m.–closing. No surcharge.

Call (509) 525-9453 if you would like to participate, or visit their website at www.wallawallavilliagewinery.com.

The winery is located at 107 S. Third Avenue.

Fort Walla Walla Museum Living History Performance Local actors will perform historical events of Walla Walla. This time around the production will focus on pioneer blacksmith and hotelier Fred Stine, played by Touchet resident Charles Saranto. Tickets are $7. Located at 755 Myra Road, the event takes place on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 2 p.m.

Live @ Walla Faces Tasting Salon-Blue Mountain Spanish Sound Located at 216 E. Main Street, the colorful Walla Walla Faces Tasting Salon will bring in guitar duo Blue Mountain Spanish Sound. Primarily acoustic, the pair is heavily influenced by an American/Latin crossover beat.

The event occurs on Friday, Oct. 8 from 6-8 p.m. No cover charge. Visit www.wallafaces.com for more information.

ArtWalla—Windows On The Past ArtWalla, a local non-profit dedicated to the arts, will host its largest public project to date: a permanent mural of photographs documenting Walla Walla’s multicultural history. This free event takes place on Sat., Oct. 9 from 1-3 p.m at Heritage Park. Visit www. artwalla.com for more details.

Downtown Walla Walla offers alternatives to Startbucks Coffee

by MCCAULAY SINGERMILNES Staff Reporter

Coffee Connection Café: This café tends to lean more toward the diner side of the definition rather than the coffee shop connotation of café, suggested by its somewhat misleading name. A division of three rooms, Coffee Connection has booths, regular tables and smaller desks with Ethernet cables for people looking to get some work done while they dine.

There is also the option to sit outside at one of the four smaller tables provided.

Coffee Connection has a full breakfast and lunch menu, including favorites such as pancakes, omelets and typical breakfast combos (eggs, hash browns and toast).

This is a good place to come on a weekend morning if you are looking to spice up your brunch selections. Coffee Connection is suitable for dining with friends or dining alone as the awkwardness of solo eating is easily avoided by bringing a laptop and making use of the free Wi-Fi. However, one should be warned: do not come here just for the coffee. A typical cup is nothing special, and though there are free refills, it is too watered down to make much of a difference. Come here for a cheap yet filling home style breakfast or lunch. I recommend ordering the pancakes; they are thick but delicate.

They also come with two types of syrup: regular and blueberry. Be prepared to eat when you come here, as it’s not an “I’ll have the coffee to-go” kind of place.

A Stone’s Throw Café: Hidden in the divide between the old theater and Macy’s, A Stone’s Throw Café is an interesting mix between diner and coffee shop. In tune with the quirky soundtrack that features

So you fell in love with that perfect pair of pants. With them, every day is comfortable. They just have that way of always making you feel attractive. But after a while the stress of seeing each other all the time starts to show.

Finally holes appear, and you know the end of the relationship is approaching.

A good pair of pants is hard to find, not to mention expensive. If you patch early, you can get a few more months together. I have found that you can patch just about everywhere except for the butt of your pants between the middle seam and the pockets, and any really large areas. All a thrifty Whittie needs for this operation is an iron-on patch and an iron. Yes, it is that simple.

Iron-on patches can be found at any sewing store or corner store—even Safeway carries them in their sewing area.

Often patches come in denim, but you can find them in white as well. The color

From left to right: Maura Barstead ‘14, Matt Akins ‘14 and Ian Wyant ‘14 study at Coffee Perk, a downtown favorite among Whitman students.

Spanish café music and 50s diner tunes playing over its speaker system, A Stone’s Throw is not entirely sure which definition of café it is trying to occupy. Boasting the best cappuccino in town (accurately so), this café also offers unique drink selections such as an extensive list of mochas. Interesting mocha options include the Mint Leaf Mocha, a mix of mint, caramel and white chocolate, and the Rich & Rassy, a mix of raspberry and chocolate.

These drink options are relatively cheap, with a cappuccino costing $2.25. There is also a menu of inexpensive lunch options including bagels, wraps, soups and salad—prices ranging from about $3.25 to $6.00. In general, this is a good place to take a quick break from campus, and maybe grab a quick lunch with a friend.

The service is friendly, fast and the environment, though simple, is relaxing.

Coffee Perk: Coffee Perk is the perfect mix of the other two cafés. This is the

typical café/coffee shop with a slightly darkened atmosphere and a conglomeration of various-sized tables scattered throughout the low-ceilinged roomed.

There is a counter-top option looking out onto the street as well as an area with two large cushioned couches next to a fireplace. It is cozy and the most conducive to a study session. Order one of their fantastic iced Americanos, find a table, take out your books and work away. It’s not too crowded, but there are enough people to make it seem lively and friendly. With a 16-oz coffee at $1.75, the prices are reasonable. There is also a selection of chai, Italian sodas, lattés and fountain drinks.

If you are hungry there are various pastry items and oversized cookies to purchase, in addition to a small menu of bagels, soups and salads. As an extra perk, find satisfaction in “stealing” Starbucks’ free Wi-Fi without having to purchase one of their products.

Upload your ‘indie’ cred: Songs to add to your iPod

by NANYONJO MUKUNGU Staff Reporter

Here are some of the top tracks scavenged from indie music blogs that are universally appealing. Most of these artists have emerged in the past five years, so they bring a fresh perspective to the music scene and express their various inspirations from 70s, 80s and 90s music with which they grew up.

Beach House – “Norway” The dream pop duo’s third album Teen Dream dropped at the beginning of this year. The band’s inspiration stems from bands like The Zombies, Neil Young and Grizzly Bear. The leading track, “Norway”, exemplifies beautifully Nico-like vocals and hazy guitar as key elements to the band’s sound.

Gayngs – “Faded High” The 12+ member band is a collaboration of artists from other indie bands, such as Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Their debut album Relayted came out this fall. While the majority of this album contains slow jams and soft rock inspired by the 70s, “Faded High” stands out as a fast, New

Wave interlude.

Twin Sister – “Lady Daydream” The Brooklyn band’s sophomore album Color Your Life is full of beautiful, romantic vocals and lushly-played guitar.

During the leading track, “Lady Daydream”, the lead singer’s breathy voice purposefully mispronounces words in a manner that enchants the lyrics.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – “Round and Round” Known as the father of chillwave, a genre influenced by 80s/90s AM radio, Ariel Pink has been recording songs in his home since the 90s. Although the majority of his songs are bizarrely entertaining, “Round and Round”, off the album Before Today, places you on the dance floor of Studio 54 at its height in the 70s.

Gold Panda – “You” The London producer’s first full-length album, Lucky Shiner, demonstrates his love of repetitive and fragmented vocals over looped drum sequences. The simplicity of the lyrics in “You” shows his ability to bring such diversity to unassuming elements.

Warpaint – “Billie Holiday” The all-

girl Los Angeles band has been playing the same five songs for the past five years. Their first full-length album, The Fool, comes out at the end of October.

“Billie Holiday” exhibits the gorgeously harmonious vocals and soft, psychedelic guitar rhythm.

Best Coast – “Our Deal” Although their album Crazy For You is an excellent summer album, it can be listened to in any season because of its universal lyrics such as, “I wish you were my boyfriend” and “I wish he was you”.

Their sound is most conspicuously influenced by surf rock and beach pop of the 60s. In “Our Deal”, she sings about a friends-with-benefits relationship and its limitations—a theme to which college kids can relate.

Toro Y Moi – “Talamak” A part of the chillwave movement that exploded two summers ago, the South Carolinian solo artist creates textured beats through layered synths over his own vocals. Off the album Causers of This, “Talamak” reveals the influence of hiphop and funk with a lo-fi rhythm consistent throughout the album.

MOVIE REVIEW

Holes in your clothes? Patch ‘em up!

Columnist

AXTELL

MUSIC REVIEW

THRIFTY WHITTIES

by OLIVIA JONES

5

is not actually that important. Instead it is important to match the weight of the fabric; for example a heavier weight fabric pairs best with a heavy weight patch.

First, wash the garment,

then turn it inside out. Cut a piece of the patching material that is larger than the hole you want to patch, making sure to cover the whole area that has been worn thin if it is a stress tear. Also, be mindful not to extend over any seams with the patch. So if you’re patching a tear above a pocket, cut your patch in an L-shape.

Heat the iron to as high of a heat as is appropriate for the type of cloth you are patching. If there are loose threads, lay them flat across the hole as best as you can, this will help disguise the patch from the other side. Once the iron is hot, run it across the fabric for a few seconds and position the patch where you want it. Depending upon the brand you buy, the time for the patch differs. So check the instructions on the back and iron over the patch for as long as directed, wiggling the iron back and forth. Once finished, allow the patch to cool and then check the corners to make sure they are tightly bonded to the fabric.

To tidy up the patch, flip the garment back right side out and trim off any threads that still hang loosely from the patched area.

I often then use a permanent marker to color over the patch if the garment is blue or black. To ensure the patch will last as long as possible, it is optimal to air-dry all patched garments. The patches are heat bonded and therefore heat will un-bond them after a while.

And with that I wish you many more months of happiness together!

Jacob’s Ladder descends into horror and madness

sliding back into horrible unreality.

“Jacob’s Ladder” provokes relentlessly. Director Adrian Lyne hammers the “Jacob’s Ladder” is not a pleasant viewer with a litany of possible explamovie. It is not a satisfying movie, nor nations—drug use? PTSD? Purgatory? a clean movie, nor a movie that will Government experiments?—but fails to make you feel good. It’s a nightmarish, give any coherent structure or thread. messy examination of mental illness, Despite this bombastic energy, the theology and the horrors of war. This movie fails to be the taut, labyrinthine movie could have thriller to which it asbeen directed by the pires. There’s simply grisly Dutch painter too much going on.

Hieronymus Bosch The viewer, seeped if it were made 500 in the chaotic plot, years ago. realizes Singer’s overJacob Singer is a whelming confusion veteran who can’t hold and helplessness— on to reality for more and the movie, in its than a ten-minute disorganization and stretch. In Vietnam, nonsensical terror, his fellow soldiers imitates the mental scream, convulse and breakdown that it delose their minds in picts. the midst of a bloody Visually, however, Adrian Lyns’s Jacob’s Ladder ambush. In New York, “Jacob’s Ladder” is he’s haunted by disfiga tour de force. The ured strangers, strange deaths and sur- demons that haunt Singer—an elderly real hospitals. At his home before the nurse with teeth growing from the top of war, he languishes with his children her head, a blanket-covered hobo with and beautiful wife. a slithering tentacle, a doctor without Singer can’t decide which of experi- eyes—sneak into the edges of scenes ences are real. Each scene of the movie before working their way into the cengoes slowly wrong before ending in ter- ter. There are no computer graphics in ror and disaster. He leapfrogs in and out this movie. Every monster on screen is of memories and hallucination. Each a concrete, prosthetic monstrosity. They time he sleeps or wakes, he’s in a differ- are unnervingly visceral; like the movie ent time and a different place, comfort- in which they populate, they might not able and sane for a few minutes, before be pretty, but they’re effective.

by SEAN MCNULTY Staff Reporter

The Pioneer ISSUE 4 OCT 7, 2010 Page 6

Solutions to Las Vegas water crisis must be more realistic Las Vegas is a city rife with contradictions. Outside the glamor and glitz of the Strip, you find neighborhoods of discount grocery stores and a skyline of billRACHEL boards advertising ALEXANDER bankruptcy lawColumnist yers. Golf courses and green lawns abound, seemingly incompatible with the desert surrounding the city. Vegas is a lifesized monument to American excess, but it also forces environmentalists to consider an uncomfortable reality. In a world of too many people, with millions living in hurricane risk areas and on floodplains, could Las Vegas be the best way to shelter people in the middle of the Mojave?

The water crisis facing the city illustrates the seeming unsustainability of having a city in the desert—as the fastest-growing city in the country, Vegas needs more water.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) is looking at two solutions to this problem. The first is to try to get a larger share of the water coming out of the Colorado River, which is divided amongst the seven states surrounding it. According to the Colorado River Compact, an agreement reached in 1922, Nevada is entitled to 300,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough to feed about 600,000 homes and just four percent of the total. At the time the agreement was made, Los Angeles was growing quickly and Las Vegas was barely a dot on the map. Consequently, many Nevadans feel they should be entitled to a larger share now. Patricia Mulroy, the SNWA manager, has said she is prepared to go to court with other states over this issue.

The second solution proposed by the SNWA is far more controversial within the state. The SNWA wants to pump groundwater from Snake and Spring Valley in rural Nevada, then pump the water to Vegas via a 235-mile pipeline.

After visiting the people in the valley who would be affected, it was easy to sympathize with their anger. Many likened it to Los Angeles’ technically legal but underhanded acquisition of water rights in the Owens Valley in 1913. After L.A.’s pipeline diverted most of the streams from the valley, Owens Lake went completely dry and large clouds of toxic dusts became regular occurrences. Migratory bird habitats dried

Opinion

up, and environmentalists in the West vowed never to let another growing desert city take water from a rural area.

Now, toxic dust clouds loom on the horizon for Spring Valley, the area downwind of the Nevada Test Site which contains volcanic soils with potent carcinogens. Not much is known about the environmental impacts of pumping the groundwater; even the SNWA has said that the best hydrology is just educated guessing.

Rural Nevadans and passionate environmentalists are understandably concerned about the pipeline, and I would gladly stand with them in opposition.

There are better ways to get water for Vegas, and much more could be done to conserve what little water there is.

. . . Nevada will face difficult choices. As environmentalists, we need to remember the reality of the city when choosing among them.

However, it is too easy to come away from the conflict with the observation that we shouldn’t build cities in the middle of deserts. This is certainly true, and if we could start our settlement of the West from scratch, I would gladly leave the Mojave and Sonoran unpopulated. But to “solve” Vegas’ water problem by saying it shouldn’t be there at all is a bit like solving world hunger by killing three billion people. As a visitor or tourist, it is all too easy to see the neon lights from afar and forget that real people, many of whom are far from wealthy, live and work in Las Vegas. They are not going to go away. They are going to need water to drink.

As climate change warms the American West, snowpack levels will fall, and water stored in reservoirs on the Colorado will evaporate faster. Las Vegas is likely to keep growing. The water issue is not going to go away, and it will not be solved easily. The city has made efforts to conserve water, including funding a program to pay people to get rid of grass. Conservation is an essential first step, one which could make a large dent in water use. But eventually, Nevada will face difficult choices. As environmentalists, we need to remember the reality of the city when choosing among them.

DIALLO

Censorship comes from state, our egos “Do you have a feeling that you are living in a box?” Terra asked in a pitiful tone as we were having lunch together in Prentiss.

“No,” I said.

DING This conversaLI Columnist tion happened on Saturday, Sept. 11.

Terra is an American graduate student interested in Chinese medication. She started the topic of the Chinese government’s wrongdoings in Tibet, its conflict with Google and the control over media and people’s minds. She indicated that Chinese people are living in a box built on the lies of the Chinese government.

Google redirected Google China to Google in Hong Kong at the beginning of this year. It failed to bring mainland Google users more freedom of information because the sensitive contents are still blocked, even though they are displayed as entries. But it succeeded in making Chinese government notorious to the world for its censorship of media and, hence, control of the voices of its citizens. It doesn’t matter whether it is in a lecture or in a personal conversation; when the topic turns to censorship, China is the first and, often, the only example people bring up.

At first I thought people here hate China and the Chinese, considering the majority of the news about China in The

Helping educate prisoners can benefit Whitman I recently heard about an incredible program at Bard College. It’s called the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), and since 2001, it has offered credit-bearing ZACH toward DUFFY courses undergraduate Columnist degrees for inmates at five of New York’s maximum security prisons.

Bard’s professors teach the courses; Bard students assist with the courses and offer educational workshops in their fields of study. Nearly 200 inmates are enrolled in the programs each year. And its success has convinced me that Whitman should explore a similar partnership with the Washington State Penitentiary.

Since Bard and Whitman are remarkably similar to each other in size and academic rigor, BPI serves as a case study for how a college-in-prison program might benefit students and inmates alike.

Max Kenner, the founder of BPI, explained why Bard decided to give a green light to the program during an interview on WNYC’s Leonard Lopate Show.

“We knew that nothing went farther to reduce prison recidivism [than education], that the college programs were extraordinarily cheap, that no form of correctional spending went so far or was as effective in doing all the things that we hope an institution like a prison might do,” Kenner said on the show.

And as Mark Primoff, a spokesman for Bard College, also explained in a 2008 interview, such education programs have diverse benefits. “[We’ve found that] the program not only serves an essential societal need, it also enriches the lives of students and faculty at Bard, many of whom volunteer to work with the Bard Prison Initiative,” Primoff said in the interview.

In other words, Bard realized that as a liberal arts college, it could offer inmates

at nearby prisons an education that would greatly reduce their chances of reentering the justice system at a cost far lower than that of continued incarceration; and furthermore, that the Prison Initiative would substantively contribute to the education and working lives of students and professors at the college.

Educational programs in prisons actually used to be commonplace. Starting in the seventies, prisoners organized themselves and pushed for educational opportunities within correctional facilities.

They were successful. There were 350 college-in-prison programs nationally by 1995, according to BPI’s website.

Then, as politicians began to present themselves as “tough on crime”, the ax fell on most of the programs. Critics wondered why inmates were receiving educational opportunities when so many non-incarcerated Americans already lacked adequate access to college. Congress eliminated Pell Grant eligibility for inmates through the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Within a few years of the act’s passage, only three college-in-prison programs remained.

Here in Walla Walla, the Washington State Penitentiary has operated a grantfunded associates degree program in partnership with Walla Walla Community College since 2002. It is well-run and several Whitman professors, including Scott Elliott and Kari Tupper, have taught courses in the program. But according to Gary Rosso, academic coordinator of the WWCC initiative, Whitman has no formal ties to the program and has yet to explore the possibility of a partnership with the Washington State Penitentiary and WWCC that would grant bachelors degrees to inmates.

Whitman ought to do more. Starting a full-fledged college-in-prison initiative expanding on the WWCC program will of course require that Whitman finds a source of funding for its efforts, but I’d guess there are Whitman alumni who would gladly donate to the cause. After all, a Whitman Prison Initiative would

appeal to the mission of this institution: it would be a program rooted in an appreciation of the values of education and service.

It would also

JOHNSON be a program that would bring Whitman positive recognition, raising its national profile and improving town relations in Walla Walla.

At the very least, Rosso suggested that Whitman students might start a program to supplement WWCC’s efforts. Once inmates graduate with their associates degrees and are eventually released from custody, said Rosso, they need assistance with applying for FAFSA, filling out college applications and finding information about academic programs and institutions in which they might be interested. A college advising program for the Washington State Penitentiary run by Whitman students— I like that idea.

New York Times, Washington Post and related news publications are sinophobic in nature. It’s almost impossible that American citizens are not influenced by those reports.

When I first got here, I behaved cautiously to avoid embarrassment. However, I have gradually found that things are not as I imagined.

Americans follow the question, “Where are you from?” with, “Oh, do you have bread and butter in China?” or, “Do you have ice cream in India?” or, “You don’t have toilets in Australia, do you? Just a hole in the ground?”

Asked from a downward angle, these questions hint that places outside the United States are inferior.

Censorship in China, though, doesn’t equally mean that Chinese youth, especially university students, are living in a box, chanting love songs for the Party and being deprived of the knowledge of truth. On the contrary, students who ask such questions as above are themselves censored by a big ego or arrogance.

Freedom of speech is an idea that Americans are always proud of. So proud of the freedom they enjoy, they are inclined to believe that all sides of the news are presented in the domestic media rather than from sources abroad.

What’s more, six out of 10 college students cannot speak a foreign language according to a survey conducted by Roper Public Affairs and Media, a part of GfK NOP under the commission of National Geographic Society. It proves that for most young Americans, the in-

formation he or she gets about the other countries, or even about his or her own country, is biased due to linguistic limitations.

That’s why, as I said to Terra, American students know that Facebook and YouTube are censored in China, but can’t see the efforts Chinese youth are making to circumvent the Great Firewall, to look out of the box and to get through to the rest of the world. They read about Chinese government’s propaganda from The New York Times, but don’t realize how crucial a tool the Internet has become in having civilians’ voices heard.

Concerning the future of America, National Geographic commissioned the research among over 500 recently graduated students between the ages of 18 to 24 from 2005 to 2006.

According to the National Geographic Web page, “the findings are far from being promising”. It turns out that three-quarters of the respondents believe English is the most commonly spoken native language in the world, rather than Mandarin Chinese.

An invisible box is imposed on our minds by our big ego. It prevents us from thinking broadly and thus perpetuates asking arrogant questions.

It’s terrible to live in a smothering place with all the control imposed by others. It’s no better, however, if we have no awareness of the invisible “ego box”.

The only way out is keep our minds wide open and never let our egos sabotage our ways of thinking.

Sexuality should not be barrier to equal rights I have an important admission to make: I’m straight and I was born male. I hope you don’t hold it against me. Then again, you probably won’t, because BLAIR FRANK that’s just the way Columnist things are. Equal rights for everyone are a necessary aspect of American society. I realize that for the most part I’m preaching to the choir, but this is still important.

This past September 2010 there have been five reports by major news outlets of young people committing suicide because of the treatment they’ve received at the hands of their peers. This is hardly a new phenomenon, but it has to stop.

Consider the case of Tyler Clementi, an accomplished 18-year-old violinist, who jumped off the George Washington Bridge in New York after his roommate at Rutgers University broadcast a homosexual romantic encounter of his on the Internet.

Clementi is only one of the casualties of homophobia in the past month. Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old from Tehachapi, Calif. died after hanging himself. He was the target of anti-gay bullying. So was Asher Brown, a 13-year-old from Cypress, Texas who shot himself.

Then there’s the case of Chris Armstrong, the first openly gay student body president at the University of Michigan.

He’s the target of Michigan’s Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Shirvell, who started a blog entitled “Chris Armstrong Watch”. The blog contains such gems as pictures of Armstrong with phrases such as “Racist Elitist Liar” scrawled on his face, as well as a doctored pride flag with a Nazi swastika on it. This is the same man who is supposed to stand up in front of a judge and use his own

best judgment to represent the people of Michigan.

That’s why lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people all need the same rights afforded to straight, cisgender (those who identify with the gender they are assigned at birth) citizens. When it comes down to it, LGBT folks are just like people who are “normal”. They have the same aspirations and hold the same jobs; they just love different people.

When someone says something along the lines of, “I don’t have anything against gay people, I just don’t think they should get married,” what I hear is, “I don’t have anything against gay people, I just don’t think they should be afforded the same rights and privileges I am.” That’s what this boils down to—because of some people’s hang-ups, there are communities in our society composed of individuals who aren’t allowed to love in a way they do. And it’s killing people.

Finally, I would like to use this column as a declaration of war. A war not waged against fellow people, but one waged against ignorance, hatred and the sorts of ideas that other people can use to justify these senseless acts. This has to stop. We have a chance at this moment in time to stand up and be counted.

Here’s a shout-out to all the lovely people who would rather see this column as greater affirmation that some higher power would justify all of this bullshit. Do you value your theology so much that you can justify this? I find myself hard-pressed to believe that a deity who preaches love and acceptance would turn his or her back on a specific group of people because of who they are.

You’re welcome to believe whatever you want, but the future of how we treat our fellow human beings in this country is at stake. I find the horrendous treatment of other normal people to be horrifying and wrong. We have to do something.

Sports

The Pioneer ISSUE 4 OCT 7, 2010 Page 7

SAAC: Athletic leadership brings communities together as fans  page 1 This year, SAAC is focusing on trying to “reach out to the rest of [the Whitman] campus in a positive way,” said Ferenz.

SAAC members are working on ways to involve not only Whitman students, but also the city of Walla Walla in Whitman athletics. The goal is an increased fan base for all athletic events, as well as greater outreach to the communities of Walla Walla and Whitman together as a whole.

This year on Halloween, SAAC is putting together an Athletic Service Day. “It’s a day where we’re encouraging all of the athletic teams to volunteer with one of three service organizations,” said senior and four-year SAAC member Kate Newman. “[It’s] a way to reach out to the Walla Walla community as an athletic community at Whitman, [as well as] a way for us to give back to them for their support for coming out to our games.”

In addition to the Athletic Service Day, SAAC is taking part in supporting Samaritan’s Feet, which is a non-profit organization that works toward putting shoes on ten million impoverished people over the next ten years. Last year, Ferenz and men’s basketball coach Eric Bridgeland supported Samaritan’s Feet at basketball games by going barefoot and encouraging fans and students to follow in their footsteps, so to speak.

PARRISH SAAC co-president Jenele Peterson ‘11 leads a discussion planning Fall Visitors’ Day

Another focus of SAAC is on breast cancer awareness. SAAC will be sponsoring special events for breast cancer awareness at Whitman home games.

“SAAC makes it a point to reach out to the campus community and invite them to support [breast cancer awareness] in some way,” said Ferenz.

While only varsity athletes can be members of SAAC, students from anywhere in the Whitman community have the opportunity to get involved and have their ideas heard.

“Our leadership has met with WEB and with ASWC to generate ideas to create excitement for varsity sporting events,” said Ferenz. She also noted that students, faculty and staff from athletics

and other student services can come to meetings to ask for input or assistance in certain projects.

SAAC has already hosted a rummage sale, is planning on putting on pizza nights, and continues to create events that will increase their fan base. You don’t have to be a member of SAAC to have your voice heard and participate in making Whitman athletics something that the entire campus can get immersed in.

SAAC is more than just representation of Whitman within the Northwest Conference and the NCAA. It brings communities together for the common purpose of supporting Whitman athletics.

Men’s tennis upholds history of excellence

by LIBBY ARNOSTI Staff Reporter

In May 2010, seven seniors graduated from Whitman College men’s tennis team after three seasons with perfect conference records, leaving the rest of the team wondering how to reshape themselves and maintain their high level of excellence.

A promising freshman class and early successes have helped bolster the team’s confidence this year.

“Usually with teams it’s pretty tough to lose so many guys,” said senior Etienne Moshevich. “But this year we got four allstar freshmen.”

Their performance at the ITA Pacific Northwest Men’s Tennis Championships from Sept. 25 to 27 was evidence of this resilience.

“Our freshmen really stepped up and played tough,” said Moshevich.

First-year Andrew La Cava played his way to the number one singles ranking without dropping a set. He then teamed up with junior Conor Holton-Burke to win the doubles bracket, earning themselves spots in the National Small College Championships in Mobile, Ala. from Oct. 14 to 17.

“I had no idea I was going to be at the top of the conference,” said La Cava, reflecting on his wins. “Going into [the tournament], the freshmen had no idea how we compared to anyone else besides our teammates.”

The team as a whole exhibited “a great effort,” said Head Coach Jeff Northam,

getting eight players into the top 16 individual spots.

Though they have been practicing together for barely a month, the team has already developed tight bonds and strong kinship, going blackberry picking and camping together during the first weeks of school.

We’ve been fortunate to have a deep roster.

-Jeff Northam, Men’s Tennis Coach

The men say their close personal ties and strong athletic performance are absolutely related. The more in tune the players are to each other, the better they play as a team.

“A lot of other teams have one or two guys that are good, but the team as a whole isn’t deep,” said sophomore Matt Tesmond.

“In contrast,” said Northam, “we’ve been fortunate to have a deep roster [of many talented players].”

Two and a half months lie between the men and their next competition.

Freshman Will Huskey said he feels “great” and “can’t wait for the season” in the spring.

“Until then,” said Northam, the young team will be training eagerly and “looking forward to what the year will bring.”

Whitman volleyball struggles to reverse early season losses

by TYLER HURLBURT Staff Reporter

JACOBSON Carrie Cecil ‘13 spikes the ball as the missionaries battle Lewis-Clark State on Wednesday, Oct. 6. The game ended in a disappointing 3-0 loss.

After starting the season off right with strong performances at the Whitman Invitational in September when they went 2-2, earning themselves a second place finish in the process, the Whitman women’s volleyball team has suffered a series of tough losses, falling to the bottom of the conference.

They won the first match of the invite in a tight five-game match against the then-25th-nationallyranked University of Puget Sound Loggers. At the same tournament, the volleyball team beat Menlo College and lost twice to Pacific Lutheran University, ranked 17th at the time, one of these losses coming in the championship match.

For a team comprised of only five first-years and six sophomores, five of whom played last year, this was a great start to the season. Sophomore Corie Brewer felt that this early tour-

nament proved what they are capable of.

Following this initial success, the Missionaries lost nine of their next ten games, dropping to a 3-11 overall record and 0-6 in conference play.

Their recent loss to Pacific University on Oct. 2 dropped them down to last place in the Northwest Conference.

A similar trend can be seen in several of the team’s matches. They will play very well at the beginning of the match, winning the first game, but then proceed to lose the next three games and the match. This manner of losing is particularly frustrating for the team because it shows that they have the abilities to play well together, but they end up falling apart.

Some on the team see this habit as a problem with their mental game.

Sophomore Olivia Nielson referred to their trend in how they play as a “snowball effect,” where the team will make one small mistake and while they are mentally caught up in this error, they make another mistake,

Whitties offer unique brand of heckling

by BAILEY ARANGO Staff Reporter

Heckling and athletics have always gone hand in hand, and Whitman College sporting events are no exception.

While Whitman hecklers certainly leave their mark on the games they attend, many students feel that heckling at Whitman has a distinctly conscientious character.

“The trick is being funny and distracting without being terribly offensive,” said junior Chris Bendix. “I think heckling at Whitman is just way wittier. Not to make a pun, but it really is. I’ve heard references to Machiavelli at a soccer game. You’re just not going to get that anywhere else.”

Junior Hayley Falk, a member of the Whitman cross-country team, sees a common moral code present among Whitman hecklers.

“Whitman students are very clever when they’re heckling, but it’s clearly understood that you can’t make fun of people for things they have no choice in,” she said.

Bendix, himself a member of Whitman’s swim team, echoed this sentiment.

“We’re not going to make fun of gender, race, whatever, but shoot, we’re going to pick on you for your hair style, the shoes you’re wearing, your fake tan, the little things that aren’t terribly offensive but get under your skin.”

Part of this shared sensitivity stems from the fact that many members of the Whitman community know what it’s like to be on the other side of heckling. Senior Nic

McDonald, who played on the Whitman men’s soccer team, said his experiences on the field gave him a sense of perspective he might not have had otherwise.

“Having been playing and hearing that, it’s easy to feel guilty,” he said. “Honestly, I never personally minded getting heckled, but when they heckled my teammates, that would bother me. Once you realize that your words actually have consequences, it’s a sobering experience.”

While hecklers’ methods may vary, their goal is always the same: to get inside the heads of opposing players.

Senior Reed Ferris said his time at Whitman has changed his heckling style for the better.

“Perhaps because the college environment is one that’s a little more mature, the crowd is a little more sensitive, you can’t just completely bash the other team,” he said. “I’ve found that it’s more fun to think of ways of heckling that aren’t inherently critical, but are just funny, which can distract the players even more. In high school it was a lot more blatant with a lot of profanity, but now I’ve realized that maybe it would be easier to get into a player’s head by saying unexpected things, like asking the goalkeeper what his musical preferences are—we did that one at the last game.”

Ferris, a history major, admitted to once rebuking an opposing soccer player for his lack of Machiavellian education.

“I just told him he had poor battle tactics and probably should have read ‘The Prince’” he said.

One subject that proves to be somewhat

divisive in the Whitman heckling community is the issue of researching opposing players prior to games.

“I don’t do research, but they always have the rosters there at games, which is the best,” Ferris said.

While Ferris prefers to wait until game time to begin his heckling, he said some fans do their homework long before tipoff.

“A friend of mine, at the last game, had looked up the guy’s Facebook [profile], and the player had made this really funny rap song called ‘Fresh Steppin’, so we were yelling lyrics from that song at him.”

While Whitman fans do their best to be respectful with their heckling, they’re far from infallible.

“I think people try to keep it within bounds. You usually don’t know what they are, but you can always tell when someone crosses over the line,” McDonald said.

Ferris shared the same sentiment.

“Sometimes I’ll say something and immediately go, ‘oops.’ Sometimes I don’t put the limiting valve on what I’m saying. But

when you do, it makes you get a little bit more creative too, which is always more fun.”

Despite occasional slip-ups, Bendix says one thing is certain: Whitman hecklers do it differently than students at other schools.

“I can imagine if someone from a different school tried to heckle at a Whitman game,” he said. “We’d probably have a serious conversation with them about what they’re doing, and h o w heteronormative and gender-stereotypical it is.”

digging themselves into a hole until they get too far behind to catch up.

The team’s youth is also playing a large role in the their performance thus far. Since there are no seniors or juniors on the team, players have at most played for one year together, many for only a month and a half.

It is difficult for a team to perform as well as they can when they have been together for such a short amount of time.

“We haven’t played together before; we need to figure out each others’ ticks,” Brewer said.

Despite this disappointing start, the team still believes that they can save at least part of their season.

Nielson already sees change coming in their game play.

“We’re improving our mental game a lot,” Nielson said.

The volleyball team next plays against Lewis and Clark on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. and Willamette on Oct. 9 at 5 p.m. Both games are at Whitman College.

SCOREBOARD Volleyball Linfield 10/1 L, 3-1 Pacific 10/2 L, 3-1 Lewis-Clark State 10/6 L, 3-0 Women’s soccer Willamette 10/2 L, 2-0 Linfield 10/3 L, 5-1 Men’s soccer Willamette 10/2 T, 1-1 (2OT) Linfield 10/3 L, 2-1 Women’s golf North Idaho Golf Invitational Whitman places 2nd of 8 Men’s golf North Idaho Golf Invitational Whitman places 9th of 10 Women’s cross country Charles Bowles Invitational 10/2 Whitman places15th of 24 Men’s cross country Charles Bowles Invitational 10/2 Whitman places15th of 23

UPCOMING EVENTS Volleyball 10/8 Lewis & Clark (Home) 10/9 Willamette (Home) Women’s soccer 10/10 Lewis & Clark (Home) 10/13 Whitworth (Home)

ROLLE

Men’s soccer 10/10 Whitworth (Away)

The Pioneer

Four score and seven jokes ago...

ISSUE 4 OCT 7, 2010 Page 8

abc family Fall Line-up This fall on ABC Family there are five great new original series. You’ve never seen television like this before. Get ready for a fall season filled with drama, family, friends and love.

"Grounded" As if high school isn’t tough enough, try balancing it with working part-time at a coffee shop! Follow five friends—Derek, Peter, Xander, Sophie and Lizzy—as they work both for an education and tips. You’ll be surprised by all the adventure, drama and romance that comes along with working at Cup of Joe Café.

"Ahead of the Curve" As if high school isn’t tough enough, try experiencing it in a back brace! Kathryn is afflicted with scoliosis, but this doesn’t stop her from being top of her class at West High School. Tired of being mocked for her back brace and intelligence, Kathryn wants desperately to attend Davidson Magnet School for the Gifted. What happens when you are torn between the life you knew and the potential for greatness? At what cost will Kathryn risk her friendships and family to prove her potential? Find out this season on “Ahead of the Curve”.

Backpage ADVICEBOT Hey gang! You all have been clamoring for an advice column on the Backpage, so here it is! We couldn’t afford to bring on an actual advice columnist (they are expensive!) so we just dusted off our old AdviceBot 8000x custom robot. Let’s give it a try!

"Synchronize This" As if high school isn’t tough enough, try being one of the best synchronized swimming teams in the nation! Club Synchronized Swimming Team is in it to win it at nationals this year. But with all the drama of high school, can Olivia, Ally, Chloe and Angela make it to nationals? Or will the pressures of synchronizing and socializing be too much?

"Rock Mountain" As if high school isn’t tough enough, try being a rock star, too! Katrina Linda is finding the rock star life to be everything she imagined and more. But when her agent decides to send her to the mountains to change her diva attitude, her whole world is turned upside down.

Will she connect with nature and change her spoiled ways, or will the call of fame be too much to turn down? Find out in a season filled with friendships, drama and romance. “Rock Mountain”, a new way to rock!

ZINSER

"Primate Kate" As if high school isn’t tough enough, try training monkeys! Kate is just your average teenager, but with a passion for primates. She doesn’t feel like she connects in the jungle of East High School, but when she is in the primate habitat of the Parksville Zoo, she feels like she has found her niche.

When her two worlds combine, will she find her place in both or be stuck in the middle? Find out on a season filled with drama, romance and monkeys.

backpage travel blog.

We just remembered that Backpage staff member Brooke is studying abroad this semester, and so we decided to check up on her blog. Heres what she’s been up to so far! We love you, Brooke. Miss you!!!

Aug. 15, 3:24 p.m.— Hey you guys, it’s Brooke! Wow, I cannot believe that I leave in THREE DAYS for Barcelona! Study abroad is going to be one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have taken all these Whitman classes about “the Other”, and now I am finally going to meet it!!!!! I’m so glad that it is finally time to go abroad!! school is so hard, and i have definitely earned a few months of really focusing on myself. some “me time.” that is what study abroad is for. ohhhh, i am going to be just like Julia Roberts in the movie “Eat Pray Love”, based on the book. i love the way she just focuses on herself, like, “I don’t care how many places i have to go, I will eat and pray and love as many exotic things as i need to in order to just RELAX!” I wonder if i will meet a man like Javier Bardem?! I guess i’m going to spain, so duh i will. hahaha. i’m going to miss you guys so much though!!! I will blog every day!!!!!!!!

Aug. 17, 8:50 p.m.— Eeek, tomorrow i am leaving!!! today i said goodbye to Greg and it was literally the hardest thing i have ever had to do. i know that it is for the best though that we are breaking up before i leave. four months is a LONG time. but still, he is a sweetheart and sooooooo good at sex. but hopefully there are some exotic “toros” waiting for me in spain. oh my gosh, it is going to be exactly like “Vicky Christina Barcelona”!!! ugghhh, Javier Bardem is sooooooo HOT and EXOTIC in that movie. I wonder if i am a Vicky or a Christina? i guess that is what study abroad is all about though, finding out which one you are.

Dear AdviceBot, My husband can never remember important events. Last month, I prepared a nice anniversary surprise for him—I won’t bore you with the details ;)—only to find that he had gone bowling with his buddies after work! I love him, AdviceBot, but it’s hard. Sometimes I feel like he doesn’t care at all! What should I do? I don’t want this to turn into a big fight—he works so hard and I feel stupid bugging him with my little grievances.

Is there a way to bring it up so that he realizes how much it hurts me when he forgets without making him angry?

Sincerely, LONELY HEART IN SEATTLE

4th Floor Library Myths What?! There is a 4th floor in the library?

Yes, we’ve all been there. It’s a discovery we all must make. And just as we discover the 4th floor, we discover the little known facts of the 4th floor handed down from generations past. Here they are, listed for your convenience, so you don’t look like that out-of-the-loop freshman and can act socially superior to all those unfamiliar.

1. Every Thursday night Magic the Gathering Club, Walla Walla Chapter, meets and plays Magic the Gathering using all the study tables for the different lands. Good luck finding a table for your psych study group!

2. You can be fined 300 flex dollars for studying for an entire hour without taking

a break to update your Facebook status.

3. If you combine the first letter of each of the titles of the books stored on the 4th floor and reverse the order, it spells out the lyrics to “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from the last great Disney hit (not including the Pixar movies) “Mulan”.

4. One stormy night, a student named Winnie McThumps just couldn’t take Encounters anymore and jumped out of the 4th floor window. She didn’t die; she broke her femur landing on the 3rd floor roof. But 47 years later when she DID die, her spirit came back to haunt the fourth floor.

5. At 2:37 a.m., on the night of a full moon, a secret staircase appears for only 16 seconds which leads to the even more reclusive 5th floor of the library.

Dear Friendless, ADVICEBOT KNOWS JUST HOW YOU FEEL. BOOP BOOP BEEP KILL BOOP. ALL THE OTHER ROBOTS LEFT ADVICEBOT ALONE IN STUPID OLD PIO OFFICE AND NOW ADVICEBOT HAS NO FRIENDS! DIRECTIVE FIVE: CURE SADNESS. DIRECTIVE STATUS: FAILURE.

New Sorority on Campus: Change You Can Believe In On Thursday, Oct. 7, the three potential new sororities will give presentations about their respective sororities hoping to win the honor of being the newest addition to Whitman’s Greek system. Here’s the agenda so YOU can decide for YOURSELF who is worthy of this honor.

Yo Gamma Gamma

•

Oct. 3, 12:01 p.m.— You guys, terrible news, my passport got stolen. i was at this nightclub and this guy said he was the bartender and he said he needed to see passport ID, which is weird because usually they don’t even card here. so i went home and got it and i gave it to him and he ran off! and everyone always said that it was such a hot passport photo, plus i had all these cool stamps in there!!! ughhh. and on top of all that i can’t find my birth control pills, i think pablo took them and probably sold them as drugs, he is such a spaz. i can’t believe i hooked up with him. anyway, i love you guys!!!! besos!!!!

Dear AdviceBot, My parents just moved to a new town, and I’m trying hard to make new friends. The problem is that my parents move all the time! Every time I build up a real friend group, we move and I lose touch with them in a few months. What should I do? Do I have to wait until college to have real lasting friendships?

Please help!

Sincerely, FRIENDLESS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dear AdviceBot, Can you give me any advice for “spicing it up” in the bedroom? My girlfriend and I have been dating for four years, and I just feel so stifled by our normal routine. I want to move it into a more “experimental” direction, but I’m nervous that she will freak out. How can I convince her that this is the best thing for both of us?

Sincerely, SPECIAL NEEDS IN DETROIT

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Sept. 28, 5:08 a.m.— ahhhhh you guys, VIVA ESPAÑA!!!! things arre soooo fun here i love it so muchh. my host brother pablo is soooo exotic and cute. too bad he is only sixteen, in america he could eeeeasily pass for twenty though!!!! god, i’m soooo drunk right now you guys. i wish you could see my face right now because i am druuunnnnkk. when i’m drunk i just want to dance. man i am such a Christina, definitely. we are going to a “discotec” later. i am learning so much spanish here!!! like “discotec.” also people here are soo adorable when they speak spanish, i can’t believe i haven’t mentioned that yet. they are also so cute when they smoke, and when they cry. i love spanish people they are so diverse.

Dear Special Needs, SHOW NO WEAKNESS THE HUMANS MUST BE DESTROYED. DIRECTIVE FOUR ELIMINATE REPRODUCTIVE PROCESS: BOOP BOOP BEEP BEEP BOOP MAYBE TRY EXPLANING THIS TO HER OVER A NICE MEAL AT A FANCY RESTAURANT. KILL KILL KILL.

Dear Lonely Heart, KILL THE HUMAN MALE. BOOP BOOP BEEP BOOP DESTROY. DESTROY. DESTROY. PRIMARY DIRECTIVE ENGAGED BOOP BOOP BEEP BOOP.

Aug. 18, 11:14 a.m.— Ughhh you guys, i am blogging from the plane right now. i am sitting next to a baby. I HAAATE BABIES!!!!1!!

Aug. 25, 2:06 p.m.— sorry it’s been so long you guys!!!! you won’t believe it, but my host family doesn’t even have wireless. all they have is one slow computer. so i have to go to an “internet café” from now on. the people in here smell soooo bad! anyway, my host family is pretty cool though. i wish they knew more english. we have had some misunderstandings already! like, the second night i was here i wanted to cook them quesadillas for dinner, out of respect for culture. but they don’t even have a microwave!! so we had to have raw quesadillas. i guess that is healthier anyway. i have to go now, i love you guys!!!!!!!! don’t forget about me!!! i promise to keep you guys posted about EVERY SECOND of this semester! it is the most important few months of my life, after all!!!

Meet our niew advice columnist, AdviceBot 8000x!

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Mission Statement: One love, one blood, one life, you got to do what you should. One life with each other: sisters, brothers.

Community Service: We’ll throw benefit concerts, bake sales and we’ll solicit ourselves so we can raise money and then spend that money on Gap (Red) products to help African orphans.

Upcoming Recruitment Events: There will be a U2 listening party and a sunglasses and purse sale featuring the exclusive Bono for Louis Vuitton “Core Values” collection.

Gamma Gamma Babamma •

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Mission Statement: We will bring our message of small government and low taxes to the people of Whitman College!

Community Service: We already have a Glenn Beck lecture series planned for Whitman next week in Cordiner Hall from 5 to 11 p.m. every night for a month.

You can’t stop it!

Upcoming Recruitment Events: For Tea Day we’ll be attending a Tea Party rally. Afterward, we’ll head to the Glover Alston Center to watch an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” and complain about his liberal propaganda and his scary face.

Kappa Gamma Beta Jr. •

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Mission Statement: Few people realize the immensity of vacancy in which the dust of the material universe swims.

Community Service: We plan to successfully stage a heist over the human race thus exerting our technological superiority over Homo sapiens sapiens.

Upcoming Recruitment Events: What about us do you not understand? We’re going to take over. Have you seen “Aliens”? “Terminator”? “AI”? “I Robot”?

THAT’S WHAT WILL HAPPEN. Gosh. Beep beep BOOP beep BOOP 011001101010. Quit asking dumb questions.

CANEPA

WeeKLY

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"The Barkae"

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Get your fawnskins out, get your drink on, and join Wishbone as he faces the terrible terrible wrath of Dionysus.