Ode to an ‘image wrangler’ Professor Susan Kirtley talks Lynda Barry, girlhood and comics Arts & Culture Page 7
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College Republicans VP declares candidacy
Archive empowers women
Student to run for party chair position Matthew Ellis Vanguard staff
After last week’s general election put the presidency and many long-held congressional seats firmly in the hands of Democrats, many Republicans have started to question the future of their party. Michael Garvin, a Portland State biology major and vice president of the College Republicans student group, believes he may have the answer. Garvin announced Tuesday that he will be running to replace Allen Alley as chairperson of the Oregon Republican Party in January. Alley announced his resignation on Oct. 21. “Mr. Allen Alley has done an absolutely horrible job at getting out into the communities and talking about who the Republican Party really is,” Garvin said in an email. Alley has helmed the Oregon GOP since January 2011, when he ran unopposed after losing the 2010 Republican primary for governor to Chris Dudley, a former NBA athlete. Since then, Alley has faced criticism for his handling of Ron Paul’s delegates leading up to this year’s Republican National Convention, and eventually tendered his resignation after a controversial election mailer sent out by the Oregon Transportaion Project backed around 30 Democrats in Oregon elections. See College Republicans on page 4
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Barbara Roberts, former governor of Oregon, speaks at the Center for Women, Politics and Policy for the digital archive launch event. Roberts was Oregon’s first female governor.
Leaving a legacy Mary Breaden Vanguard staff
After the game-changing role women played in the recent election—67 percent of single women voted for President Barack Obama—numerous news articles and pundits have hailed 2012 as a landmark year for women in politics. On Tuesday night, a joyful group celebrated women’s success in the state of Oregon. Women from the PSU Center for Women, Politics and Policy pro-
gram and a who’s who of Oregon’s female politicians gathered to mark recent victories and launch the center’s new digital archive of personal political documents of some of Oregon’s most high-powered women leaders. The online tool allows the user to flip through the historic documents. Sunny Petit, the director of the CWPP, said that she wanted to create an archive that would “add to the texture” of the center’s efforts to promote young women to political leadership roles. “Our focus is on looking at how we create more women leaders and [how we] connect women to history so that they see themselves in leadership [roles],” Petit said.
The collection includes papers from activist Eleanor Davis, former Oregon state Sen. Avel Gordly (the first African-American woman to be elected to the state Senate), former city commissioner and PSU instructor Gretchen Kafoury (an Oregon legislator who fought to have Portland’s City Club include women), former Portland Mayor Vera Katz, Honorable Justice Betty Roberts (the first woman to serve on the state Supreme Court), and Oregon’s first woman governor, Barbara Roberts. The colorful, user-friendly archive features a drop-down menu where viewers can examine documents by
issue, such as “multiculturalism,” “education” or “gay rights,” or by the woman leader. Portland State sophomore Lea Woods was instrumental in bringing the digital archive into being. Woods works at the center and assisted with preparing the archive. Woods went through CWPP’s leadership development program, called NEW Leadership Oregon. “[It] really changed my life substantially,” Woods said. Women should not question their abilities to lead, Kafoury said. She has held numerous leadership See DIGITAL ARCHIVE on page 2
Inspiring young creatives Cassandra Moore Vanguard staff
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Hannah Mickunas (left) and Devon Mitchell, cofounders and executive directors of the Portland Child Art Studio. Both women are PSU students.
At Portland Child Art Studio, white walls are splattered with primary colors and plastered with small green and blue handprints. On metal shelving, alongside sculptures made of toilet paper rolls and green strawberry baskets, thick stacks of clean drawing paper lie next to bundles of children’s artwork. The colorful space belongs to PCAS, an emerging nonprofit located inside the Northwest Children’s Theater and School building at Northwest 18th Avenue and Everett Street. The studio offers children’s dropin classes and 10- and four-week sessions.
“If you want a career in the arts—and not just to be a painter on the side— I think you have to create your own thing,” said Devon Mitchell, a Portland State graduate and cofounder of the studio. Mitchell, along with PSU senior Hannah Mickunas, created their “own thing” when they founded PCAS in June, just after Mitchell obtained a second bachelor’s degree in art from PSU. In their self-built studio space, the two speak softly and slowly; the bright-eyed Mickunas often completes Mitchell’s sentences. Their sister-like dynamic is calming. Comfortably dismissing a recent report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce that called the arts one of the most
monetarily worthless fields of study, both Mitchell and Mickunas make confident arguments that art is not about money, and neither is it by any means useless. “I’m of the feeling that you have to spend your life doing what you love the most, even if it means you don’t make a lot of money,” Mitchell said. “There are always ways to make enough money to survive, and if you’re doing what you love the most then that equals quality of life, and you can’t put a price tag on that,” she added. The two women are, in fact, prime examples of young artists finding a way to make a living in an increasingly See CHILD ART on page 2
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roles across Portland and was elected to the Oregon Legislature beforeteaching at PSU. Kafoury noted that fewer women today are elected to leadership positions than they were 30 years ago, a period she called “the glory days” of women in politics. “We were in a unique time,” she said of her stint in the Legislature. “We need to get back that sense that change is possible.” Roberts said the digital archive underscores the importance of publishing documents and books that reflect how women have lived. Publishing the histories of women leaders signals that “we’ve lived it again and [are] making sure we’re capturing history for the generations that follow us,” she said. “We will have these books,
these records, these papers and these photographs,” she added. Petit is optimistic that PSU instructors as well as colleges and young leaders across the country will use the archive to further education. She expects to see use increase after Women’s History Month in March, and hopes the archive will explore “watershed moments” for Oregon women in politics, particularly during the 1973 legislative session. Looking forward, CWPP plans to bring more young women leaders to campus for the Elect Her—Campus Women Win program, with trainings that will occur early next year. Trainings will happen over several weekday evenings and serve to encourage and train female students to run for student government
Old fish bones give new perspective Using archeology for environmental conservation Maya Seaman Vanguard staff
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positions. One of the trainings will be open to women students across the state, while another will focus on female students from the PSU campus. Petit said that 24 percent of leadership roles in academia are occupied by women, a higher rate than the 18 percent of wom-
The Interactive digital exhibit at the Center for Women, Politics and Policy provides a history of Oregon’s women leaders.
en in leadership roles nationally. “We have a president at Portland State that is really interested in seeing women leaders recognized,” she said, also emphasizing the center’s dedication to increasing the number of women in national leadership roles.
Kafoury also voiced her confidence that the low representation of women in leadership roles will soon change.“I’m an optimist,” she said. “I have three grandchildren, I have to be.” To view the online archive visit cwppdigitalexhibits.com.
Susan Castillo, Oregon’s superintendent of public instruction from 2003-12 speaks at Tuesday’s digital archive.
Archeology is more than running from giant boulders and dodging poison arrows, as Indiana Jones films would have you believe. It is a discipline whose purpose stretches beyond simply understanding the past; it can inform our decisions for a better future. By examining animal bones from extinct human settlements, archeologists can see which species historically thrived in certain areas. This data can help conservationists plan accurate habitat restoration and make informed policy decisions based on historical ecology. It’s a matter of “putting old bones to work in terms of addressing conservation problems,” said Virginia Butler, professor of anthropology at Portland State. “It gives us a baseline of what the world
was like before the enormous changes that came with EuroAmerican arrival.” One place old bones are getting the detective treatment is the Klamath River Basin. The Klamath flows through Eastern Oregon and Northern California, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. It was an important migration route for anadromous fish—fish that travel back and forth between the ocean and the river to spawn. Four large dams now divide parts of the Klamath, the first one constructed in 1917, before biological data surveys were common practice. In the last 10 years, the Klamath has experienced a major fish die-off and many of the fish, including Coho salmon, are on the endangered species list. Recently, people have suggested that these dams have had a negative ecological impact, including blocking the passage of anadromous salmon that used to go to the upper basin of the Klamath. The only problem is, they have no record of whether salmon actually lived beyond the dams. The Department of the
Interior is evaluating the possibility of removing the dams, which would happen in 2020, followed by a 50-year review process to determine whether removing the dams served its intended purpose. It could cost billions of dollars. “We don’t have a basis for what [fish] used to be up there, so using it as a reason to remove four large dams is pretty irresponsible,” Butler said. “Our job was to go though all the archaeology records of fish remains—try to get the ancient DNA from the bones to decipher the species.” By examining Native American archeological sites along the Klamath and its tributaries, Butler is able to deduce which fish were being caught and used as food as early as 1900, before the dams were built. Once the species is determined, the next step involves determining if any fish in the upper Klamath Basin spent time at sea and confirming theories that the dams are blocking native fish passage. To do this, Butler collaborated with Jessica Miller, an assistant professor at Oregon State University and a ma-
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CHILD ART from page 1
Portland Child Art Studio a testament to art’s value as a field of study competitive and do-it-yourself culture. “There are so many creative young people in Portland,” Mitchell said. “If you’re in the arts, you have to do it yourself.” Having done just that, the two express gratitude for the help they found along the way and to the serendipitous events that brought them together. “I feel like [PCAS], the way it came together, was very mystical, like poetry,” Mickunas said. The chain of events that created PCAS goes back decades to when Mitchell was a child attending the Berkeley Child Art Studio, founded and directed for 30 years by Miriam de Uriarte. Mitchell still vividly remembers the drippy painted walls in the Berkeley studio and how they felt bumpy under her fingers. Even now, her paintings often feature drippiness, a lasting remnant of that formative studio experience. Before she conceived of PCAS, Mitchell reconnected with Uriarte and stayed with her while traveling in Mexico, where Uriarte is now retired. “Never in my mind did I think I was going to Mexico to talk to [Uriarte] about opening a child art studio. But
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then, through the course of the week, she started bringing out my childhood art, and other child art, and even pieces of the wall,” Mitchell recalled. “By the end of the week, I found myself in this room filled with all her materials and books and it was almost like she was handing them to me.” In an email from Mexico, Mitchell reached out to thenclassmate Mickunas, writing that she wanted to bring Uriarte’s vision for childhood perceptual development to Portland. “I realized that, as someone who was graduating as a painter, as a mother, as someone who engages with this crazy, messy artistic process, it only makes sense to reinvent that place,” Mitchell said. “It seemed like the perfect next step.” In Portland, Mickunas received the email and couldn’t believe the opportune timing. On her own, she had been musing over ways to be a child art advocate. “I just jumped in the boat and we started doing the paperwork,” Mickunas said. Serendipitously brought together, the two women are building a rich community around them and that, said Mitchell, is the point of art.
COURTESY OF VIRGINIA BUTLER
Fish ear bones, or otoliths, modern and ancient, were used to determine which ancient fish spent time between the upper Klamath and the sea.
Cassandra Moore/VANGUARD STAFf
DEvon Mitchell, PSU graduate and Portland Child Art cofounder, realized her vision for the studio while traveling in Mexico. “There’s something vacuous about art when it’s only about a surface on the wall. But when you bring community or teaching into that, it becomes richer and more meaningful,” she said. Here to stay for a long time, PCAS is developing a scholarship and sliding scale tuition program. The studio is a space for children, ages two to 12, to explore tactile art creation without there parents In March, Mitchell and Mickunas will have a collaborative benefit show for PCAS, using leftover art materials from their own students in the studio.
THE iron gate dam on the Klamath River could be blocking salmon passage.
COURTESY OF VIRGINIA BUTLER
rine fisheries ecologist. Miller specializes in looking at the chemical makeup of microscopic fish bones called otoliths. Otoliths are ear bones in fish that essentially help them to keep their balance in water. Made of calcium carbonate, the bones grow in rings like a tree as a fish develops, and store different chemical elements for each water system the fish lives in. Through examining the chemical properties inside otolith bones, Miller was able to determine if these ancient fish spent time traveling between the upper Klamath and the sea. According to Miller, it’s a great technique for understanding prehistoric communities, and “the best bet for understanding what was happening before we altered the system.” From 7,000 fish bones, Butler found two anadromous species: Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, making this the first scientific confirmation that the dams along the Klamath River are indeed blocking native fish passage. “Her work is probably most critical in that regard—demonstrating beyond any reasonable doubt, using the tools of Western science, that salmon
were simply present, and that they were utilized for very long periods of human history,” said Douglas Deur, a research professor in the Anthropology Department at PSU. As an anthropologist, Deur finds Butler’s work important beyond the scope of environmental conservation. Deur works with the Native American tribes in the Klamath Basin. One of his jobs is to record the traditional importance of salmon and historic fishing sites for the Klamath Tribes. While he does not work with Butler directly, their areas of study in the Klamath overlap. According to Deur, Butler’s discovery of anadromous fish in the upper Klamath Basin “confirms the oral traditions that I have documented, right down to the specific fishing sites that she has documented using bone analysis.” Since policymakers don’t regard tribal oral history as a reliable tool for environmental decision-making, Butler’s work is helping to validate the stories of the Klamath Tribe elders. “It is very nice when tribal oral tradition and hard science give us exactly the same result,” Deur said.
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At Portland Child Art STudio, parents are asked to leave so children can explore art-making on their own (with the studio founders).
Historically, the Klamath River was the third-largest producer of salmon in the West. When the first dam was built, it significantly changed the landscape for the Native American tribes living along the upper basin. “The Klamath Tribes, whose traditional territories consisted almost entirely of the areas upstream from the dam, were the ones who suffered the most from these changes—losing a staple food and a way of life almost instantaneously,” Deur said. Butler has spent a lot of her time convincing the world of conservation biology that old bones have a story to tell—a story that can help us understand what our lands looked like and what they provided before major human settlement. “This use of archaeology for conservation questions— people don’t do it,” Butler said. “Things change gradually and you get used to it. A lot of the losses we are experiencing with these animal and plant populations—whole ecosystems— those are going to have consequences for us and our own health and survival. Archaeology gives you a way to see how dramatic the changes are.”
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Aging institute reaches out Data shows increase in Portland’s elderly population Josh Kelety Vanguard staff
Portland is known to many as the place where young people go to retire, but spikes in the city’s elderly population may soon boost its reputation as the place where old people go to retire, too. Overall, Portland is a younger city than the rest of Oregon and other comparable cities in the U.S. As people from past generations grow older, however, the rate at which Portland’s elderly population is expanding is significant, said Alan DeLaTorre, a researcher at Portland State’s Institute of Aging and the project manager for Portland’s Age-Friendly Cities Project. “We are going to witness aging here pretty substantially,” DeLaTorre said. In 2006, the institute was invited by the World Health Organization to be part of the global Age-Friendly Cities Project, which is designed to look at how cities can be made more livable for people from all generations. Researchers from 22 countries worked on the global project; PSU’s researchers were the sole U.S. representatives.
Since then, the institute has conducted extensive research on Portland’s aging population, and is currently working with the city’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to craft policy recommendations for the city’s future seniors. “It’s important to look at them [seniors] when planning for cities because they are vulnerable and really need particular care,” DeLaTorre said. A comprehensive plan, known officially as the Portland Plan, will later be presented to the city council for implementation. Bill Cunningham, who works at BPS in neighborhood development, discussed the importance of research in carrying out a city project like this. “The Institute of Aging at PSU has been a key partner in this. By ourselves, we don’t really have the capacity to look at some of the aging society issues in all the detail they really merit,” Cunningham said. “They [the institute] have been really critical,” he added. The institute’s recommendations were negotiated by an advisory council made up of representatives from the institute, the BPS and various other agencies both public and private.
Alan delatorre, a PSU researcher, is the project manager for Portland’s AgeFriendly Cities Project.
Kaela O’Brien Vanguard staff
Two Portland State master of public health programs are in the midst of a potentially transformational accreditation process. They’re undergoing accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education—a rigorous voluntary certification that hasn’t yet been earned by any other institution on the West Coast. The distinction will set PSU graduates apart, said Jill Rissi, a former CAHME fellow and head of the accreditation process. Two programs are undergoing the rigorous process: the Master in Public Health: Health Management and Policy and the Master in Public Health: Health Administration. Both degrees focus on health management in public administration, while MPA:HA also concentrates on policy. Sherril Gelmon, professor of public health in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government and chair of the divi-
sion that houses the two programs, agrees. “Students in our MPH:HMP and MPA:HA programs will benefit from specialized program accreditation by knowing that their programs have undergone rigorous external peer review by experts in both health management and policy education and practice,” Gelmon said. But if it’s voluntary, why do it? Rissi explained that the two programs have been accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health and the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, respectively, for several years. By seeking new accreditation from CAHME, the quality of the programs will be reassessed and validated. The process takes several years and begins with a preliminary review to ensure the programs meet basic criteria, Rissi said. Having passed the first few steps, the programs underwent a year-long self-study, during which documents,
PSU’s College Republicans are ready to put election behind them
Needs range from accessibility to buildings and transportation, and the proximity of grocery stores and medical centers to neighborhoods and housing. The institute’s advice has already been heeded for new development in the Hollywood District, where city officials worked with the developers to make an apartment building more senior-friendly. “Our housing planner was working with one of the developers there to encourage them to incorporate universal accessibility features,” Cunningham explained. There has, at times, been tension between the various agencies. “When the draft Portland Plan came out, it was lacking the suggestions that we had made during the Portland Plan Advisory Council meetings,” DeLaTorre said. In an effort to make their point, DeLaTorre recalled how representatives from the institute put paper bags over their heads during an
advisory council meeting to illustrate the perceived lack of inclusion. Deborah Stine, a BPS representative on the council, said that advocates for the elderly thought the plan’s language was too general and didn’t specifically mention seniors when talking about the Portland population. “They [the elderly advocates] didn’t see themselves reflected in the plan as much as they had wanted. In the earlier draft, in many cases staff used terms like ‘all Portlanders’ rather than listing out everyone included in that description,” Stine said. “By generalizing, we didn’t directly speak to many communities who wanted to be explicitly recognized, despite the fact that the intent was to be fully inclusive,” she added. Stine said the language was later reworked to be more specifically oriented toward the aging population. The final draft of the plan is set to be reviewed by the city council in June 2013.
final papers and projects were collected to provide examples of students’ work. Also, to better represent the two programs, faculty and students filled out several surveys while the programs’ curricula were evaluated. Rissi then authored a final write-up covering how these programs illustrated the more than 50 criteria specified by CAHME. The criteria addressed by CAHME can be divided into several major categories. The first concerns a program’s goals, vision and objectives. Then, student demographics and the program’s curriculum are assessed. And finally, faculty teaching, research and scholarships are considered. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the MPH:HMP and MPA:HA programs were visited by CAHME. At the end of the visit, CAHME hosted an exit conference, during which the visitors went through each criterion and stated whether the programs met their standards. Next, findings recorded by the CAHME team will be sent to Gelmon, who is also the senior faculty member in the health management and policy track. Gelmon will then, using faculty input, draft a response to be sent to the CAHME
Accreditation Council for review and action in spring 2013. A final decision is expected in June 2013. PSU President Wim Wiewel said the certification is key to students’ success after graduation. “Accreditation is essential to ensure our students know they will receive a quality education and will be employable,” he said. Gelmon, also, is an advocate of accreditation in general as a strategy for assessment and improvement of higher education. “The entire process is a wonderful opportunity for reflection, and to identify opportunities to improve the programs to better meet the needs of students, faculty and community stakeholders,” Gelmon said. With the massive amount of effort and preparation offered by the faculty of PSU’s public health and health administrative programs, it will be worth the wait to hear the official decision later this year. The process is welcome, Wiewel said, because it helps the university continue on the right track. “We are very proud of our public health and health administrative programs.”
CPSO patrol sergeant makes safety a priority
Every week, the Vanguard interviews members of the Portland State community in the Park Blocks and asks them a timely question.
Stephanie Tshappat Vanguard staff
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Health programs seek certification PSU’s public health and health administration programs aspire to set their graduates apart
College Republicans from page 1
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COURTESY OF michael garvin
michael garvin, vice president of the College Republicans student group, would like to replace Allen Alley as the chair of Oregon’s Republican Party.
But to Garvin, Alley’s problems are only a shadow of the bigger issues that now face the party. “The Republican Party is not the party of our parents, grandparents or even our great-grandparents any longer,” he said. “[It] has been hijacked by the elitist, older, white male population.” Like Garvin, Republicans find themselves facing an increasingly complex electorate, one of the first to truly represent a minority-majority nation. Julia Rabadi, president of the PSU College Republicans, believes this is one of the main reasons Republicans lost the race for the presidency. “It’s like what Condi [Condoleezza Rice] said the other day. Republicans forgot about minorities, women and the youth vote, and seemed to only focus on white America,” Rabadi said. “She was calling for a bigger tent.” Despite feelings of disappointment, the College Republicans are ready to put the election behind them. “Now we will, obviously, have to focus on other things moving forward,” Rabadi said. “Primarily Israel and Iran.” Other issues Rabadi said would become the focus of the College Republicans group centered on national issues like the growing movement to impeach President Barack Obama and the encouragement of citizen journalism— something Rabadi sees as one of the most viable solutions to combating bias in the media. Rabadi and Garvin both stressed the importance of blocking what they feel is a growing tendency in the American public to look for “handouts.”
The push for personal fiscal responsibility is one of the major points of a press release Garvin issued announcing his candidacy for chairperson. But aside from that, all bets are off. The battle between what Garvin calls the “old guard” and the “new blood” of the Republican Party is clearly one in which new lines are being drawn up daily. Garvin has pledged to stand by the gay and lesbian community as they seek marriage rights, as well as affirming his support for women in their fight for authority over their voices and bodies. Stances such as these might have stirred more controversy within the Republican Party a year ago, but to Garvin, it is the only logical step in moving forward and defeating what he sees as a discriminatory mind-set. “Either they will conform to who the Republican Party now is or they can leave,” Garvin said. “But I am calling all of them out, be it Allen Alley, Rep. John Boehner, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Orrin Hatch.” Perhaps an apt anaology for Garvin’s candidacy is found in the efforts of the College Republicans on a campus some see as overwhelmingly liberal. Although Rabadi believes some student groups are hesitant to work with the College Republicans, she reiterated her desire to maintain an active role on the PSU campus and to continue to engage in civil dialogue with various student groups. “There is such a lack of diversity of thought on this campus—if you don’t have diversity of thought, you have nothing.”
Portland State Campus Public Safety Office Patrol Sgt. Joe Schilling was a young man looking for a rewarding career that would provide for his family when he went into the field of law enforcement with the Portland Police Bureau. He found it—Schilling’s career with PPB lasted 26 years, and he was the department’s field training coordinator for 10 of those. After retirement, Schilling came to PSU eight months ago because the chance to do something new piqued his interest. “We have the opportunity here to do community-oriented policing the way it should be done,” Schilling said. “So many people have a good goal in mind here. That’s why we’re here, to make that opportunity safe and make it happen.” CPSO has a mandatory minimum staffing requirement of one patrol officer and one supervisor on duty per shift, but generally there are two patrol officers and one supervisor per shift. After working for PPB for so long, Schilling knows there is no such thing as a typical day in law enforcement, but says certain times of day do tend to deliver certain types of calls. For instance, the day shift will respond to lots of cold calls— calls reporting a crime after it has occurred. This is because nighttime crimes can go unnoticed until the morning, when people are waking up and getting ready for class or work. As a patrol sergeant, Schilling’s duties include supervising, watching and assisting the patrol officers in their daily duties. He says the most common calls that CPSO deals with are car prowls and thefts of student property such as laptops and bikes, as well as dealing with the larger community that surrounds PSU, including the transients who are a constant presence on and around campus. CPSO also monitors open areas in the dorms, such as the classrooms on the second
This week’s question:
“What do you eat when you’re on campus?” Carissa Grady, 18, a freshman biology major, usually eats a bagel from the bagel stand in Smith Memorial Student Union’s food court or a granola bar to go rather than packing a lunch. “I guess it’s quick and easy to go because I’m on the run all the time,” Grady said. “I’m not on campus very long, so usually I just go home. And there’s usually food there, so I usually just go home to eat.”
Katie Whitaker, 26, a geography junior, appreciates the vegetarian options at Food for Thought Cafe. She also enjoys the Asian Noodle House and Loco Locos Burritos on Broadway. “I’m from Texas, so I love Mexican food,” Whitaker said. “Asian is usually what I make because it reminds me of home, so it’s really comforting, and Food for Thought is really healthy and has a good atmosphere to hang out and do
Adam Bird, 24, a junior psychology major, eats at a variety of restaurants off campus, including a Vietnamese restaurant called Thanh-Long Bakery and Restaurant. Bird mostly eats snacks, however, thanks to a tight schedule. “On those long days where I have go from class to class to class—I have math, then Spanish, then statistics, then meditation—they all add up,” Bird said. “Instead of waiting until the end and gorging myself, I just get a snack and that usually sustains me.”
corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFF
sgt. joe schilling of the Campus Public Safety Office patrols campus.
floor of the Broadway Housing Building, for transients or criminals who may victimize students. “If we want to be safe in our urban environment we have to look at our own safety and responsibility,” Schilling said. CPSO officers patrol unarmed, save for a baton and pepper spray. Every time an officer goes out on patrol and contacts someone in the larger community, this lack of adequate tools and resources concerns Schilling. Schilling sees no downside to changing CPSO from a campus security force to a sworn law enforcement agency. He knows that one of the main concerns regarding this change is the idea of CPSO officers carrying guns. Many people don’t realize, however, that guns are already present, like when PPB officers respond as backup to calls on
campus or when they handle calls CPSO is unable to handle, Shilling explained. CPSO officers would benefit greatly from the extra training a sworn officer receives, Schilling said. Currently, CPSO officers get one week of basic training before they begin at PSU, and Schilling is concerned that there are few ongoing training requirements. In becoming sworn police officers, each CPSO officer would be required to attend Oregon’s police academy in Salem for 16 weeks, which includes firearms training and defensive tactics training. Officers would then be required to update their certification every year. More training to handle the situations that arise and to more up-to-date skills would better prepare officers to do their job, Schilling said.
bonnie jensen, CPSO dispatch officer, answers emergency calls from students.
Dave Rosenberg, 23, a non-degree student, either eats protein bars or ventures to various food carts like Soup Cart. Rosenberg feels that Smith Dining Hall’s food isn’t fresh and doesn’t offer big enough portions. “The food tastes better and the portions are bigger from the food carts,” Rosenberg said. “I need a lot of food because I bike here everyday from North Portland, which is four or five miles. I need that fuel.”
Brandon Lee, 19, an undeclared freshman, brings his own lunch, and occasionally goes to a tea bar on Broadway and Sixth Avenue. “I usually bring my own foods; I usually have a bagel sandwich and some granola bars, and keep it simple because it saves money. It’s easier to bring food instead of buying it here,” Lee said.
Austin maggs/VANGUARD STAFF
HOLIDAY GUIDE COMING! Friday, nov. 3O, 2012 corinna scott/VANGUARD STAFF
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Arts & Culture • Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 • VANGUARD
VANGUARD ••Thursday, Thursday, THURSDAY,OCTOBER TUESDAY, JANUARY Nov. Nov. FEBRUARY JANUARY 15, 8, 2012 10, 25, 26, 2, 2012 2011 •2012 ARTS •• •OPINION OPINION &ARTS CULTURE & CULTURE
ARTS & CULTURE
EDITOR: Louie Opatz ARTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5694
Film frenzy Northwest Portland Art Museum film center hosts 39th Filmmakers’ Festival
Festival Director Thomas Phillipson teaches at a NWFC workshop in this file photo. The 39th Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival ends this weekend.
Jeoffry Ray Vanguard Staff
If you’re interested in checking out the Northwest Film Center’s Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival, time is running out. But don’t fret: In this, its final weekend, the center will continue to screen a wealth of regionally produced films, and tickets remain readily available. The festival, in its 39th year, is attended by a mixed audience of filmmakers and curious patrons, offering an opportunity for artists of all skill levels to mix and share ideas. In addition to the films themselves, the festival offers several programs over the course of the week, giving filmmakers opportunities to host discussions and workshops. Last Friday’s opening was well attended, with festivalgoers gathering from throughout the region over food provided by the Pink Rose restaurant and drinks provided by MacTarnahan’s Brewing Company. In the central room at the center, a film depicted a drive across Pacific Northwest highways through various seasons while patrons crowded the space, from the side rooms to the center’s various halls. “I think the excitement here mirrors the film scene in the Northwest,” Thomas Phillipson, the festival’s director, said. “Filmmakers are making great movies here. Filmmaker turnout is doing great. There are more people coming out.” The festival will run through Sunday with screenings of short films and award-winners by artists of both local and regional renown. The films will be shown at the Portland Art Museum’s Whitsell Auditorium, though previous evenings have included screenings in Northwest Portland’s Mission Theatre. The festival features a variety of short and feature-length films with a range of run times, from several minutes to an hour or more. Many of these films have a direct narrative, while others
COURTESY OF Northwest films
follow more abstract or documentary themes. Among the latter is a two-part video study of a wood chip pile by Portland filmmaker Orland Nutt. Titled Dear Peter, Wood Chips I and II, the films explore the pile’s lifespan and changes over the course of a year, as it decomposes, dries out and eventually develops signs of human habitation and manipulation. Nutt narrates the works as open letters to a friend named Peter, to whom he describes his attempts to reconcile his sentiments toward the heap. “I wanted to find something I could appreciate about this thing that was initially disgusting to me,” Nutt said. Though he also works on longer projects, Nutt explained that he often works on short projects like the Dear Peter films in tandem with the more ambitious scripts he has in development. “These sorts of videos are more like quick side projects,” Nutt said. “It’s just collected footage from my walk-around camera. I just try to find the story and share my perspective.” Many short films like Nutt’s will be screened over the course of the weekend, joined by longer films such as Steve Doughton’s Buoy. The 90-minute Buoy follows a phone call be-
tween a suburban woman and her estranged brother, who has recently survived a shipwreck. Their phone conversation shapes the narrative, in which shared memories and the challenges of their emotional distance inform the story. “My Dinner with Andre meets The Deadliest Catch—that was my pitch when I was looking for funding,” Doughton said. “It’s a story about a brother and sister that haven’t been in touch for years. He goes through a tragic event, which compels him to call his sister. The story revolves around their attempt to reconnect.” But the screenings are not limited to works created by seasoned filmmakers like Nutt and Doughton. Saturday’s screenings will begin with a collection of winners from the center’s Fresh Film Northwest festival, which features submissions from aspiring filmmakers between ages 13 and 19. “We’re really excited to bring in some of the work from Fresh Film, which used to be called the Young People’s Film Festival,” Phillipson said. “We wanted to make something bigger out of that. We’re hoping to give younger people a platform as well.” The festival’s closing weekend promises
Ode to an ‘image wrangler’
something for everyone. Aside from the works of Nutt and Doughton, the center will show films as diverse as a documentary about an early-1900s doctor who starved her patients, a romantic comedy about a man’s chance run-in with his friend’s sister and an open letter to the dwarf planet, Pluto. Sunday’s final film, The Great Northwest, features local filmmaker Matt McCormick’s retracing of a 1958 road trip by four Seattle women based on the documentation in a scrapbook he found in an area thrift store. “The Great Northwest is really a must-see. It’s one of my very favorite films,” Phillipson said. The center will throw a wrap party at the Pink Rose in Northwest Portland following the screening of The Great Northwest. The Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival offers a unique weekend experience for any lover of film, but aspiring filmmakers in particular will have the opportunity to meet and draw from the knowledge of those who have put years of work into the field. Doughton, who worked in New York for years as a production assistant, lauded the Northwest film scene. “They’re very supportive,” Doughton said. “People are helpful on all levels, from funding to helping provide locations. There’s an incredible pool of technical talent, as well.” Asked what advice he might offer a student interested in film, Doughton suggested that any filmmaker should spend time as a production assistant. “Also, devour the movies,” Doughton said. “Watch everything you can. And if you want to be a director, write constantly. “And don’t ever buy a boat or a pricey car,” he added, laughing.
The Northwest Film Center presents The 39th Northwest Filmmakers’ Festival Thursday, Nov. 15 and Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $9; $8 for students; $40 for a festival pass For specific showtimes, go to nwfc.org/nwfest39
1984: The year of Big Brother and The Brother The Brother from Another Planet comes to Fifth Avenue Cinema Tess Anderson Vanguard Staff
The year 1984 was a good one in cinematic history. It yielded many memorable films: Ghostbusters, The Terminator, The Karate Kid, The Neverending Story and, of course, 1984. It also spawned the cult classic The Brother from Another Planet, written and directed by indie film legend John Sayles and playing this weekend at PSU’s Fifth Avenue Cinema. This charming science fiction tale follows a mute fugitive alien—known only as The Brother—trying to survive the streets of Harlem while evading arrest by space bounty hunters. One of the most beautiful aspects about this movie is its dialogue—or rather, its lack of dialogue. The Brother never makes a sound in this movie: He never talks, screams, yelps or laughs. He mimes, opens his mouth wide, jumps and smiles instead. Joe Morton (Terminator 2, Speed, Eureka), the actor who portrays this silent character, was given the difficult task of giving personality and emotion to an alien who cannot make sounds, scarcely understands English and is constantly befuddled by human customs and traditions like shaking hands or cutting a deck of cards. With such a different approach to communication, so much of how The Brother acts can be left to interpretation. People he comes into
contact with are confused by his lack of response and blank expression at first, but after a minute or two they feel free to project their emotions onto him. The Brother listens to them, and people are left to their own monologues, which garner him friends of the male and female variety. The fact that The Brother listens to and respects what people have to say gains him friends in an otherwise-hostile neighborhood. Other times, people ascribe feelings to him and, because he never corrects them, they assume they are right and react accordingly. The film’s choreography is another unexpected gem. There is no dancing in this film, but there are fight scenes and disturbingly synchronized alien bounty hunters. (The fight scene might as well be a dance.) The actors punch, kick and flail as if they were on Broadway, and at one point The Brother leaps over two men. It’s a truly beautiful thing to witness. The two bounty hunters (one of whom is played by Sayles), on the other hand, leave an unsettling impression. Everything they do is in tandem: They walk, they run, they drink beer, they even put their sunglasses on together. Unlike many quirky science fiction movies to come out of the ’80s, Brother’s soundtrack is surprisingly unique. A good portion of the soundtrack consists of steel drums, an unusual instrument outside of movies set in tropical locations. In fact, Sayles said that he chose the steel drums for their technological yet organic sounds. Sayles also said he was musically influenced by the zither music in Carol Reed’s The Third Man. Traditionally speaking, neither the steel drum nor the zither is used in times of anxiety,
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Brother Knows Best: Joe Morton stars in The 1984 cult classic The Brother from Another Planet, which is currently playing at Fifth Avenue Cinema.
COURTESY OF Anarchist’s convention Films
suspense or action, yet somehow they do an even better job than the orchestra. It would be unfair to classify Brother as of any one genre, as it exhibits a variety of genre elements. The film is comedic in that some scenes, actions or reactions are so outlandish one can’t help but laugh out loud. Brother could even be dubbed subtly satiric, the way it addresses social issues from the ’80s—mostly those pertaining to race and social class—from the perspective of a complete outsider. More than anything, though, it’s the little cult classic that could: Brother grossed more than 12 times what it cost to make. Compare that to James Cameron’s Avatar, which grossed 11 times its budget. Sayles has been a rather prolific filmmaker in the 34 years he’s been making movies. He’s
directed 17 films and written 33. Two of his films, Passion Fish and Lone Star, were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. The Brother from Another Planet is a heartwarming, frequently hilarious sci-fi cult movie that showcases phenomenal acting from Morton and a unique soundtrack.
Fifth Avenue Cinema presents The Brother from Another Planet Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. 510 SW Hall St. Free for PSU students, faculty, staff, alumni w/ ID $2 all other students and seniors, $3 general admission
Susan Kirtley talks Lynda Barry, girlhood and comics Tristan Cooper Vanguard Staff
Comics have often been perceived as young boys’ territory—it’s been said that a large part of the reason the Walt Disney Co. bought Marvel Entertainment Inc. was to aid in targeting that demographic. Both in the movies and the funny books, most of the popular superheroes are male, with heroines like Black Widow left in the unsung “token female” position. Girls unhappy with the portrayal of their gender in comics do have alternatives to those spandex supermodels. Take Lynda Barry, artist and author of The Good Times are Killing Me and the weekly strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, who is known for her frank and realistic female characters. Susan Kirtley, an associate English professor at Portland State, has written a book on the author, titled Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass. Kirtley will be speaking about her book tomorrow as part of the Faculty Lunch and Lecture series sponsored by the Portland Center for Public Humanities. Kirtley sat down with the Vanguard ’s comics aficionado, Tristan Cooper, to discuss Barry’s work and the world of comics. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Vanguard: Tell me, in your own words, what your book is about. Susan Kirtley: Well, it’s about, obviously, Lynda Barry and her collection of works. It’s the first full-length critical book about her work. There have been a few articles here and there, but for the most part she’s been, I would say, somewhat neglected as a comics artist. She works in a lot of genres, and that’s one of the things that the book is about. She’s famous for Ernie Pook’s Comeek, but she writes novels, she does plays, she writes essays and articles. She’s unusual in that she works in a lot of different genres. As I was reading all these genres, the figures that kept coming back were these figures of girls—little girls on the transition, moments of crisis. What I wanted to think about was, if an artist keeps circling around this figure over and over and over across all of these genres, well, obviously, that’s significant. I wanted to think about that and consider that and explore what these representations of girlhood might mean to her and to…us as readers. VG: You said, I think in the intro [of the book], that Lynda Barry describes what she does as “image wrangling.” Why do you think she used that particular technique, and what does it bring to the portrayal of girls on the verge of adulthood? SK: That’s a very interesting and complicated question, in that she calls herself an “image wrangler,” and she talks about how she works in all these different forms. She doesn’t care what form it is, but she’s trying to capture an image. She now teaches classes, these sort-of workshops throughout the country. In those workshops, she’s trying to get people to, what she calls, “capture an image.” And for her, the image is often about girls, girlhood. For others it might be the image of, you know, grandma’s kitchen, or whatever’s significant to them. What does she say about these girls? We were talking about how she often shows girls at sort of a precipice, or transitioning into adulthood, or on one side of adulthood or the other. One of her characters she’s most known for is called Marlys, and she’s 8. She also talks about her sister, Maybonne, who’s 14. She talks about how, you know, at 8 years old, Marlys is full of whimsy, and excited and enthusiastic. When you transition to adulthood, that gets lost; all that magic is gone.
Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf
Susan kirtley, a PSU professor of English, holds her recent book Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass.
One thing that I noticed across the genres, amongst her many images of girls, is that they’re much more diverse and realistic. Her comic
that. People often accuse her of being bad at drawing or not good at drawing. And I think, really, she takes issue with that, because she’s
“I think [Portland’s] rebellious, avant-garde spirit translates into being open to reading a lot of different types of texts, including comics.” Susan Kirtley PSU professor of English
strip characters are unattractive. They have freckles. They’re warts and all, pockmarked. I think that’s contrary to a lot of “sugar and spice” representations of little girls. You know, those little images of pigtails and things like
very intentional. She says, “Just because I’m drawing”—and this is her word—“a homely girl, it doesn’t mean I can’t draw. I’m choosing to represent them in that way.” She also shows these girls in these really
Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf
Kirtley’s book tackles the work of comics artist Lynda Barry, who shows readers a “realistic, diverse and...terrifying world,” according to Kirtley.
dangerous situations, and she deals with these really taboo subjects like incest, rape, poverty— these girls are really left to take care of themselves. So she’s showing us this very realistic, diverse and sort of terrifying world, I think in contrast to a lot of idealized notions of girls that we often see. I think it’s a very different representation of girlhood than is often seen in popular culture, and it’s darker, which is interesting because it’s often a comic, which we associate with “lighthearted” and “funny.” Hers are often funny, but I think it’s more about the story and getting that image across rather than being funny, making people laugh. VG: Aside from the realism, the heavy issues the girls are dealing with, was there anything in your research that surprised you? Something that you learned that you didn’t know or think about Lynda Barry before? SK: I think the whole process was a surprise in many ways because…my major area of study in school was rhetoric and composition. And I’ve always been interested in visual rhetoric. I worked in television a little bit before I went back to school, and I’ve always been interested in how we pair text and image to make an argument. I’ve always been a closet comic book reader—that’s my hobby, something I love to do. They weren’t things I did together. I read comics. I’m an academic. I was at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, which is where I was teaching before I came here, and I was teaching a class on memoir. I decided to teach [Barry’s] sort-of memoir One! Hundred! Demons! in class. I went to a conference, and I gave a presentation about how I use this book in class, and I met a guy and he said “You should really write a book about Lynda Barry.” And I actually didn’t know much about her. I was like yeah, OK, whatever, but it turns out that he was the series editor for the University Press of Mississippi, and then they gave me a contract. VG: So when they say, “You should write a book,” they literally mean it: “You should write a book for us.” SK: [laughs] Yes! Exactly! So it wasn’t something I had planned to do. It wasn’t something in my grand plan for the universe. It was a wonderful, happy accident. For me, in some ways, it was the best thing about being an academic. I got to ask questions like “What is she doing? Why is she doing it?” and answer those questions through research. So…I had to read everything she’s ever written. Which was a wonderful surprise, because I learned the depth and richness of her scholarly works. I knew her comic art, but I didn’t know everything else. As someone trained in literary studies in an English department, I had to study visual art. I had to learn about American studies. Of course I’m very interested in gender studies and things like that, but because she did a play, I had to learn and study drama. For me, it was a real learning curve. To deal with something that’s sort of interdisciplinary means you have to go out and learn about all these different disciplines. So I’m certainly by no means an expert, but I feel very lucky and excited that such a project presented itself. It was a challenge, because it was pushing me beyond my comfort zone, but I’m glad that I did it because, you know, that’s what it’s all about. Learning, and pushing yourself in new directions. It was very much a big surprise in many ways. VG: Has anyone told you to “write a book” since then? SK: [laughs] Uh, not specifically. I have a few ideas for my next book, though. VG: Are you not ready to share those yet, or do you have an inkling? SK: Because I learned so much and I was so interested [in] this project, I’m interested in looking at some of the strip comics created by See Kirtley on page 8
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VANGUARD ••Thursday, Thursday, THURSDAY,OCTOBER TUESDAY, JANUARY Nov. Nov. FEBRUARY JANUARY 15, 8, 2012 2012 10, 25, 26, 2, 2012 2011 •2012 ARTS ARTS •• •OPINION OPINION & &ARTS CULTURE CULTURE & CULTURE
Droppin’ dollars on dazzling designs Portland designer Ms. Wood shows spring line Tamara Alazri Vanguard Staff
Over the last two years, designer Alicia Wood has built a successful name for herself in Portland’s fashion scene. In 2010, she launched her brand, Ms. Wood, and has since shown at Portland Fashion Week, Portland Mercury’s Open Season fashion show and Fade to Light fashion show (where she will be showing again in February). Wood’s designs have graced the cover of About Face Magazine, and she recently launched a successful trunk show featuring her cool and modern designs at Portland’s Rhapsody Boutique. Wood showcased her exclusive, Japanese-inspired spring/summer 2013 collection, “Ikuru,” last week at Masu Sushi, where Project Runway contestant and designer Bryce Black was in the house. It was an intimate night of models, music, fashion and sake. Wood’s clothing demonstrates that fashion can be comfortable, stylish and accessible. “You wouldn’t believe it, but many of my clients are young fashion students who just love clothes,” Wood said. “They have no problem dropping $350 for an investment leather handbag, and I love that.” After studying design at Seattle Central Community College, Wood went on to study at one of fashion’s most reputable schools, Parsons The New School for Design in New York. Wood now collaborates with her husband, Ben Wood, a woodworker specializing in accessories, furniture and shoes. At Masu Sushi, models stood gracefully around the candlelit room while an intimate crowd assembled to watch the show. The clothing color palette consisted of black, white and gray, featuring knee-length leather skirts and an off-the-shoulder, smoky-gray knit dress cinched at the waist and topped off with a black leather clutch. During the show, Wood explained her design process for a new collection. “I typically start off a collection while listening to a song. It’s the salt to the soup. I just feed off of it,” Wood said. “From there, I often imagine the colors, shapes and theme that I want.” She almost always uses a neutral color palette and adds one pop of color to tie the collection together. At Masu Sushi, Wood’s colors especially popped with a wooden platform pump with blue fringe accents. It’s a sexy shoe for any woman and totally makes the outfit come alive. While taking a minimalist approach to her designs, Wood often incorporates leathers, organic
Kirtley from page 7
PSU professor discusses cartoonist Lynda Barry this Friday women, specifically from 1979 to about 2010. I’m thinking about calling it something about the rhetoric of domesticity. There [are] a bunch of comic strips created by women started at that time and ended—started within a few years and ended within a few years. I’m interested to look at these closely and think about what are they saying about domesticity, about life, about everything. It’s sort of a divergent group. There’s Cathy, which is much lambasted as, you know, sort of ridiculous. But we all know Cathy. For Better or For Worse, which we know as sort of this domestic family comedy comic strip. And of course [Barry’s] comic strip, Ernie Pook’s Comeek, which is about children, primarily. And then Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For. They all started within a few years. What does that say about the cultural zeitgeist of the moment? It’s another project where I have questions
Riza Liu/VANGUARD STAFf
MS. WOOD’S MODELS pose in the designer’s most recent creations at Masu Sushi last week. Wood “designs for the everyday woman who enjoys clothes.”
fabrics and woods into her collections. Continually inspired by Japanese culture, she uses structure and simplicity to create a bold statement. Kimono sleeves have become a signature look of Wood’s, as she incorporates them into each collection. “I like combining an earthy, drippy effect with a rock ’n’ roll appeal,” Wood said. Her recent collection shows a hint of modesty, as she uses asymmetrical tank tops, tunics and dropped hemlines. “I want my clothes to show a woman’s sexiness without being overly vulgar,” Wood said. Believing that accessories are a fabulous element of any outfit, Wood often pairs bold, geometric jewelry with her designs. You can expect to see wood and metal bracelets, necklaces and earrings. “My clothes are understated yet maintain a
strong point of view,” Wood said. “I design for the everyday woman who enjoys clothes. My clothes offer a mix of balance and versatility, so my clients range [in age] from early 30s to late 60s.” Portland Fashion Week’s associate producer and backstage manager, Elizabeth Mollo, was also in attendance. After graduating from the Art Institute of Portland in 2005, Mollo has become a fierce figure among Portland’s fashion scene. Mollo appreciates Wood’s work because “she doesn’t really follow any trends and does what she feels like,” Mollo said. “Other than the fact it can be a bit cliquey, this is a city of many creative talents, and it’s what sets Portland designers apart.” Wood’s simplistic approach to fashion is
refreshingly modern, and her clothes offer great flexibility. She describes Portland’s fashion scene as flavorful, hip and playful. “People here like to have fun with clothes, and don’t take it too seriously,” Wood said. “I like that because you can find a lot of inspiration in that type of environment.” While always striving for an artistic take to her designs, Wood understands the commerciality of fashion. “I love designers who are true artists in their work, but I also look up to people like American designer Michael Kors, because he’s smart,” Wood said. “He understands what women want and knows how to sell clothes. That’s what I hope to achieve with my business.”
and I don’t have answers, so I want to find out. VG: You’ve said you’ve always been a closet comic book fan. When did that start? SK: It’s like an addiction, isn’t it? Like when did your problems start? VG: “When did you first know?” SK: [laughs] I actually do know the exact moment, because I was at the playground in sixth grade, fifth or sixth grade. I remember Sean Robertson was reading comics, and I wanted to read them, and he said: “Girls don’t read comic books.” And I have a very contrary personality. So whatever somebody tells me I can’t do, I have to do it. But he told me that and I was like “Oh, well then, I’ll show you.” So I started reading comic books. The superhero comics, they’re soap operas, in a great way. There [are] these compelling characters, lots of action. So, growing up, I loved the superhero comics, particularly Marvel. I mean, I have grown to love DC, but at the time I loved Marvel, you know, the X titles. And then as I got older, and I started going to school and college, [and] I started becoming more interested in alternative comics, [like] R. Crumb, Art Spiegelman—more raw, avantgarde, more underground comics. And I love
those, but I still like the superheroes. So it’s been a lifelong interest. VG: Portland’s a pretty big comics city in general—there’s Oni Press, there’s Dark Horse, Top Shelf, all that. What do you think draws comics and cultivates the community it like it has here? SK: That’s a great question, and honestly I hadn’t thought about it. I have to admit I was excited to come back because it is such a comics city. I think that Portland has something of a rebellious spirit or—I’m afraid to even use that word—but maverick sort of influence or excitement about it. I think more people are more open to reading comics sort of openly and talking about them and celebrating them. Portland is a very literary and very literate city. And so people are always talking about books and reading and writing, which is fantastic. I think that sort of rebellious, avantgarde spirit translates into being open to reading a lot of different types of texts, including comics. VG: What can students hope to get out of your lecture that they couldn’t [get] by just reading your book? SK: Well, you can ask me questions. I’ll be right there. So if you have any questions or concerns or things like that, or your own theories, or things you want to talk about…It’ll be,
obviously, much more interactive. I’ll show some images and, I have to say, the images will be projected and they’ll be in color, which is— my book is not in color. So we’ll be able to look at the images. I’ll talk about some of the themes, of course, that I bring up in the book. We’ll be able to see the images, look [at] them, talk about them in person and hopefully have more of a dialogue. I’m curious to know what other people are reading and thinking about and what they want to know. I certainly want to present some of the information, but also get people’s feedback and have a real discussion. And there’ll be food. VG: Was there anything else you wanted to add? SK: I’ll think of something really smart as soon as you’re gone.
The Portland Center for Public Humanitites presents Lynda Barry: Girlhood Through the Looking Glass, a lecture by Susan Kirtley Part of the Faculty Lunch and Lecture series Friday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m. Neuberger Hall 407
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OPINiON • Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 • VANGUARD
VANGUARD •• Thursday, THURSDAY,Nov. NOVEMBER 15, 201210, • 2011 OPINiON • SPORTS
OPINION
EDITOR: Meredith Meier OPINION@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5692
What’s in our food?
Paying the price of convenience
Proposition’s failure serves as a rebuttal to the labeling movement Art of the Possible Joseph Kendzierski
O Suraj Nair/VANGUARD STAFf
A man’s manly diet soda Dr. Pepper makes a joke— a really bad one Everywhere and Here Eva-Jeanette Rawlins
I
f you’ve watched football at all this season, no doubt you’ve seen the Dr. Pepper 10 commercial. I’m used to Monday Night Football, with its big truck and beer commercials complete with growling voice-overs and token hair-flipping girls. It comes with the territory. If you’re gonna watch three hours of giant men engaging in gladiatorial combat, you’ve got to have the predictable machismo-glorifying accompaniment. Just so all the men watching can feel like they’re equally as manly by drinking and driving what Tom Brady drinks and drives (not at the same time, of course). Dr. Pepper has taken this stereotyping chauvinism to a whole different level, and without an ounce of pretense to boot. The ad for its new diet drink boldly declares that it’s “not for women.” Well, for one thing, Dr. Pepper tastes like medicine to me, so I’m not worried I’m missing anything special. It’s not the actual drink I’m bothered about, though. What’s concerning is that Dr. Pepper felt that in order to appeal to men, it had to not only discount but actively and explicitly exclude women. It’s destructive enough that the representations of masculinity projected everywhere are disgusting, one-dimensional hegemonic constructions, but the fact that a soda company decides it’s funny or
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clever to state for the record that women don’t qualify as customers is unbelievable. They might want to take a look at what happened to another recent campaign— ahem, Romney—that refused to acknowledge and cater to women’s issues. Why the overt gender discrimination? It’s simple. For Dr. Pepper to successfully market a diet drink to men, it’s absolutely necessary to remove its message as far from the “fairer sex” as possible in order to convince men that a 10-calorie drink is manly all the way. In one version of the ad, muscular men in military fatigues, holding huge guns (hmm), fight off snakes and each other in the jungle. The main character yells at the viewer about “the 10 manly calories” he’s about to drink as he drives wildly around in his off-roader. Then, after crushing the can with one hand, he ends with, “keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We’re good.” Just in case men aren’t fully convinced, the normally recognizable red-and-white Dr. Pepper colors were replaced with what a USA Today report described as “gunmetal grey packaging with silver bullets.” The report also details a Facebook page “with an application that allows it to exclude women from viewing content.” Someone pinch me. It feels
like we’re caught in a 1950s Twilight Zone episode and we can’t get out. Those old sexist ads of the early-20th century don’t look so ridiculous now. Dr. Pepper (almost) successfully repackaged the “buy your little lady a turkey baster” ad—they just failed in one respect: no barefoot and pregnant women anywhere. Oh, wait! They must have been at home watching romantic comedies. Dr. Pepper achieved the double-whammy: the degradation of both men and women in a single one-minute time slot. In these ads, the men look like wild-eyed buffoons so entirely insecure in their masculinity that they require the trappings of war to justify their 10-calorie taste. Any woman—like myself— watching her favorite team hears loud and clear that, frankly, shouldn’t she be watching a soap opera? It’s often said that only women feel the effects of a misogynistic, patriarchal society. But ads like these explicitly confirm the sad truth that the warm, fuzzy capitalistic blanket wrapped so tightly around us all serves only to perpetuate stereotypical depictions and standards of both genders. Problem is, that blanket’s so comfortable and inviting we forget how suffocating it really is. Jim Trebilcock, Dr. Pepper’s executive vice president of marketing, told USA Today he’s not worried about offending anyone. “Women get the joke,” he said. Yeah, we get it all right. It’s just not funny.
n Election Day, while the rest of the country was watching to see who was going to be the next president, I was watching for the results of a different campaign, one that could’ve potentially changed how the food business does things and forced a conversation about our food into the national eye. I’m talking about California’s Proposition 37. A ballot referendum, Proposition 37 would have required the labeling of all foods or foodstuffs that contain genetically modified organisms. While it ultimately failed, the referendum poses a larger question: Should we use GMO foods in our supply chain? Supporters of GMO foods have two main arguments: One, they’re safe, and two, they’re necessary to ensure that we feed the world. There have been numerous studies on both sides of the argument regarding GMOs. The Food and Drug Administration—responsible for ensuring our food supply’s safety—has said that evidence of negative effects from eating GMOs is nonexistent, but all of the completed studies have been short-term and limited in scope. The Union of Concerned Scientists found that these tests paid little attention to the environmental costs of GMOs and focused more on whether the plants would grow in the intended manner and not if they were really safe. The major crops grown in the U.S.—corn, soybeans and wheat—are now largely GMO crops. When you buy a box of
crackers, the chances are very good that your purchase contains these organisms. Given that there has been little verified testing regarding the safety of these crops, we should at the very least be cautious and offer people a clear and transparent choice between eating GMOs or not.
We need to take our food’s safety into our own hands and not allow bureaucrats to make our most important decisions for us.
In respect to the argument that genetically modified foods are necessary to feed the world, numerous studies indicate that these foods are no more productive than native crops grown using commonsense farming practices like crop rotation and crop diversity. According to the Institute for Responsible Technology, crops of Bt corn—corn that’s had the botulism toxin inserted into its gene structure—have dropped 12 percent when compared to nonmodified crops. Originally intended to fight the growing problem of instability in the food supply, GMOs supposedly allowed for safer and more productive crops. But this hasn’t
PSU needs to implement a ban on bottled water
happened. Despite the more than 20 years of increased use, the global food supply is still at risk. Why do we continue to allow this experiment to continue? There hasn’t been any proven benefit to using GMOs with regard to increased productivity, or have they been proven safe? When we ask ourselves these serious questions, it’s important to know who’s paying for certain information. For example, agribusiness went ballistic when California asked voters to decide if GMOs and genetically modified food products should be labeled. The campaign to stop Proposition 37 spent $47 million to defeat the measure. The measure’s supporters spent slightly more than Monsanto’s opposing contribution of $8 million. The campaign for safer food should continue, but it should be done using practical, scientific procedures. Instead of allowing agribusiness to continue injecting our food supply with unproven and potentially dangerous GMOs, we should demand transparency and accountability. We need to take our food’s safety into our own hands and not allow bureaucrats to make our most important decisions for us. Nor should we allow the interests of major businesses dictate what’s safe. Labeling can play a major part in understanding where our food comes from and what it’s made of—two points about which we all need to be more knowledgeable. We can start by demanding that all genetically modified foods be clearly labeled. We should demand further testing to prove the safety of these products, not just in terms of health but also with regard to long-term environmental impact.
Sans the Salt Alyck Horton
P
aying outrageous markups for the sake of “convenience” is common practice in the U.S., but we tend to forget that we set aside quality, safety and morality in the effort to save a couple seconds of extra “work.” The epitome of this phenomenon is an American staple: bottled water. Here in the U.S., where we enjoy virtually unlimited clean and pure drinking water free from our kitchen taps, the bottled water industry is worth a hearty $22 billion. Moreover, Americans consume an estimated 29 billion bottles of water per year. I don’t care what you waste your money on, frankly. What does put a snake in my boot is the impact the billions of nonreusable resources have after they’ve served their 15 minutes of purpose. National Geographic reported on its website that the amount of oil required to make 29 million plastic bottles—17 million barrels— is enough to fuel 1 million gas-powered vehicles for an entire year, and that “if you were to fill one-fourth of a plastic water bottle with oil,
you’d be looking at roughly the amount used to produce that bottle.” The Earth Policy Institute estimates that the bottled water industry uses 50 million barrels of oil to pump, process and transport what’s been flowing through people’s pipes via gravity since the Romans. People who drink bottled water have fallen victim to a brilliant marketing campaign by the bottled water companies. There’s this theory on bottled water that Americans possess: Ask any teenage girl why she would rather pay $3 for a bottle of water than use the tap, and she—like millions of Americans—will tell you that tap water is dirty and has an unpleasant taste. The real reason people drink bottled water is ignorance. A four-year study of bottled water conducted by the National Resources Defense Council found that 22 percent of the water failed to meet some states’ contaminant limits. If you try reusing your emptied bottle, or let it sit in any warm climate, you’re subjecting yourself to harmful petrochemicals,
Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFf Kayla Nguyen/VANGUARD STAFf
including the carcinogen Bisphenol A. What’s more, companies such as Dasani (Coca-Cola Co.) and Aquafina (PepsiCo Inc.) get their water straight from municipal tap water systems anyway. People assume recycling those plastic bottles fixes everything. While recycling is a fantastic alternative to throwing the bottle away, it doesn’t help as much as you may think. The recycling process takes a considerable amount of energy, and the raw material gained from recycling plastic is essentially worthless. According to National Geographic only 12 percent of plastic water bottles even get recycled, though, leaving about 40 million bottles going into landfills each day. Once they’re in that landfill they’ll stay there for the next 700 years. The solution: Don’t create the bottles in the first place. To initiate this, I call for a ban on all bottled water sales at Portland State. Then our school can join the 90-plus American universities, including Harvard and Brown, that have banned the sale of bottled water. If the convenience factor is eliminated, then not only will we not violently rape the Earth, but PSU can add one more checkmark to its prosustainability column. PSU is always boasting of its “eco-friendliness,” but it’s completely hypocritical for us to sell such an environmentally harmful product. The university claims its hydration stations reduce the use of water bottles, but I don’t see much of an effort to stop the sale of a profitable product. It’s true that banning bottled water would forfeit money in contracts with the soda companies, but all things considered, a couple grand out of a PSU’s projected revenue of $259,730 for the 2011-13 biennium isn’t going to shut the school down. You might wonder how people are supposed to get water on campus, and the answer is quite simple: Walk to a fucking bottle-filling station. We need to take action, and sooner than later. We can’t expect to topple the entire industry, but as individuals we can work to reduce our own impact. The decision to ban bottled water sales would help promote responsible consumer habits and foster awareness of what we buy and how it affects us and nearly every aspect of life on Earth.
Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf
Stop knocking up the ladies Groundbreaking research reveals effective, reversible male contraception Ms. Fudge’s Sweet Nothings Stephanie Fudge-Bernard
I
n a world where women have pills, patches, implants, diaphragms and a slew of other hormoneladen products, it’s puzzling that we haven’t developed a reasonable non-barrier contraceptive for men. Considering that condoms have an archaic ancestry— animal intestines used as a barrier—an updated form of contraceptive is necessary to enable men to have a higher level of responsibility in the area of birth control. There is one. It’s just not available yet. When will it be? Maybe 2015. Indian researcher Sujoy Kumar Guha developed a male contraceptive method that’s reported to be both 100 percent effective and completely reversible in test subjects. It’s called RISUG, an acronym for the long-winded name Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance. Guha has been working on RISUG for decades, and the research is currently in the third phase of clinical trials in India. Essentially, RISUG is a polymer that’s inserted directly into the vas deferens. Much like a vasectomy, a patient goes in for a 15-minute outpatient procedure in which a small incision is made on both sides of the scrotum. Unlike a vasectomy, however, a shot of clear liquid is injected—no snipping involved. The nontoxic polymer coats the vas deferens and chemically debilitates sperm as they pass by. Patients who’ve undergone this
procedure then become azoospermic, meaning they don’t have viable sperm. As horribly uncomfortable as that all sounds, the side effects are reportedly milder than a vasectomy, with only some initial swelling that recedes within a week or so. The best part of RISUG, though, is not how quickly it can be done or the surprisingly limited side effects. The best parts: It’s reported 100 percent efficacy, easy reversibility, and how long it lasts—up to a whopping 10 years. To put that in perspective, the only current, similarly effective contraceptive for men is sterilization through a vasectomy, which is rarely reversible. Well, that and abstinence, but most people, for some reason or another, aren’t very fond of that one. Having an option for longterm reversible and effective male contraception is a pretty big breakthrough. For many men, the permanence of a vasectomy isn’t attractive, leaving less effective methods like condoms and withdrawal as poor alternatives that can lead to unfortunate or unintentional side effects. Despite the potential of his research and the positive results he’s had, Guha has faced difficulty getting his groundbreaking research accepted. The third phase of the testing started back in 2000, but when a new health minister took office, trials were halted to retest toxicology reports. Shortly thereafter, Guha hit the mandatory retirement age and had to leave his post at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
Elaine Lissner, a Stanford graduate interested in Guha’s work but frustrated with its sluggish progress, started the Parsemus Foundation in 2009 and then bought the rights for RISUG in 2010. The foundation renamed the procedure Vasalgel and is currently recreating Guha’s work. Despite decades of research in India, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the research be redone in its entirety, meaning that the team has to start from the very beginning. Still, researchers hope that Vasalgel will be available to the U.S. market as early as 2015, though its future is still up in the air. Guha has voiced concerns that companies selling contraceptives are threatened by his long-lasting method and have tried to tarnish his research with misleading news reports. While a global conspiracy by contraceptive companies might seem a bit far-fetched, finding backers for Vasalgel has proved difficult. The relatively low cost of the actual polymer paired with the infrequent need to administer it means that companies won’t be able to make much of a profit. And right now, profit is everything. Never mind how much good could come from the procedure. Vasalgel promises to provide men with a more reliable form of birth control. It could be used with a condom to prevent sexually transmitted infections and would allow couples to go years without needing to worry about contraception. The responsibility of birth control too frequently falls on women. With the many side effects associated with female contraceptives, it’s about time that men were allowed to share some of the burden.
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ETC. • Thursday, Thursday,Nov. Nov.15, 8, 2012 • VANGUARD
VANGUARD • Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 • Opinion
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Erick Bengel EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-5691
Backing down on Iran Tougher sanctions aren’t the answer That’s What’s the Matter Kevin Rackham
O
ne of the big questions of President Obama’s second term is how his foreign policy will change, especially with regard to Iran. Obama indicated during the presidential debates that he thought sanctions imposed on Iran were successful, and he would continue pushing for them if Iran didn’t suspend its enrichment program. Imposing harsher sanctions on Iran is a bad idea. First of all, statements from Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Benny Gantz show that they don’t believe Iran has decided to create a nuclear weapon yet. And Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran’s nuclear material hasn’t been diverted for military use. The country’s uranium enrichment program, however, seems to be the reason we keep sanctioning Iran and assuring everyone that we’d have Israel’s back. Still, the U.S. intends to keep to its current path. Americans seem to think that Iran is simultaneously a big threat and no threat at all. We all remember John McCain’s lovely “Bomb Iran” ditty from 2008, which seemed to typify how a lot of people feel about the nation. We seem to think we could easily take Iran, as long as it doesn’t have nukes. Iran getting nukes is a big deal, but Iran without nukes is easily dismissed. This is a stupid attitude. Iran has the sixth-largest
active army in the world and the eighth-largest reserve army. It produces thousands of its own missiles, planes and weapons. Iran isn’t the kind of place we can just fly over and bomb into submission like McCain suggested. It’s one of the strongest nations in the Middle East and could be considered a threat in its own right even without nuclear weapons.
Iran getting nukes is a big deal, but Iran without nukes is easily dismissed. This is a stupid attitude.
It doesn’t make sense, then, that so many people seem intent on setting us on a path that would lead us directly to war with Iran. Romney called for even stricter sanctions during the debates, and that seemed to be one of his and Obama’s few points of agreement. Right now there’s a bipartisan committee in Congress working on rolling out new sanctions. Crippling Iran’s economy isn’t going to solve anything, though. Sanctioning Iran’s trade isn’t going to make the people in charge of the government or the enrichment program back down from what they’re doing. As we see over and over again, the people most
affected by a bad economy are the middle and lower classes. They aren’t the ones pushing for more enrichment or more hostility. They are the ones who occasionally take to the streets over massive human rights violations and are violently taken down. Sanctions against Iran are only going to make their lives worse. The regime in place in Iran is objectively bad. They used child soldiers to put down the Arab Spring demonstrations in Iran. They’ve engaged in across-theboard censorship and denied their citizens many basic rights. But they’ve also been successful in improving living conditions, they’ve used their enriched uranium in a medical reactor and they’re (sort of ) allowing elections again. Despite its many flaws, the Iranian government has become more open to diplomacy in the past few months. It was one of the few nations that agreed to participate in upcoming talks in Helsinki to make the Middle East a nuclear-weapon-free region. Iran should be allowed to keep its enrichment program. Sure it has oil, but we know that becoming dependent on oil doesn’t work out too well. Rather than bringing Iran’s economy to the ground because they might be developing nuclear weapons, we should be working with them to make sure they still aren’t and don’t have a reason to. We shouldn’t be letting our dedication to Israel blind us to the opportunity of finding a diplomatic solution with Iran while one is still possible. Above all, we shouldn’t be using sanctions to punish a nation for things we disagree with, because that gives the nation even more reason to dislike and distrust the U.S. It’s time to back down and find a solution that will actually work.
Online comments The story doesn’t stop when the print hits the page. Don’t like something you read in the Vanguard? Want us to cover a story? Do you feel there’s more to be said? You have the opportunity to praise us or rip us apart here at the Vanguard. Post a comment online or write us a letter. Tell us what you think. Here are some online highlights from psuvanguard.com.
Fifth Avenue Cinema. For more information contact permias@pdx. FREE edu.
Unapologetic ignorance
Monday, Nov. 19
Asian-Americans: Achievements Mask Challenges 6:30 p.m. Academic and Student Rec Center 1800 SW Sixth Ave.
Ann Coulter is rude, no surprises there One Step Off Emily Lakehomer
“W
ith great power comes great responsibility.” Whether you’re a Spider-Man fan or not, that ubiquitous phrase pretty much applies to nearly everything in our lives. It’s always surprising when someone with vast political sway does something incredibly immature and unwarranted. That’s precisely what happened a few weeks ago on Ann Coulter’s Twitter account. After the final presidential debate, Coulter tweeted: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.” Shortly after, she used the word a second time while reprimanding Obama for using the term “Stage 3 Romnesia,” saying that he was making fun of cancer. With a Twitter audience of more than 200,000, it’s no wonder Coulter’s tweet didn’t go unnoticed. Shortly after the first tweet, Coulter came under attack from every angle. As is tradition when a celebrity says something not-so-nice, Twitter users, concerned parents, doctors and many others came together in an attempt to persuade Coulter to acknowledge that her words were both inappropriate and rude. Rather than acknowledge a fault, Coulter responded to her critics by saying, “Screw them” on a Fox News Radio show. The Huffington Post reported that Coulter didn’t regret what she said be-
cause “she wasn’t referring to someone with a disability.” Whether or not she meant it as a derogatory slur, Coulter shouldn’t have used the r-word in the first place. Instead, she’s defended herself, saying she’s a victim of “authoritarian bullying.” Her defense? She said, “Look, no one would refer to a Down syndrome child, someone with an actual mental handicap, by saying ‘retard.’ Where do you think the words ‘imbecile,’ ‘idiot,’ ‘moron,’ ‘cretin’ come from? These were all technical terms at one time. ‘Retard’ had been used colloquially to just mean ‘loser’ for 30 years.” Which she followed with, “But no, no—these aggressive victims have to come out and tell you what words to use.” Real mature, Ann. Just because society’s changed a word’s meaning doesn’t make it all right for someone to throw it around with no regard for the audience. Sure, we have the right to free speech, but we should know better than to feel comfortable using offensive words and terminology. Since the Twitter scandal, a petition calling for Coulter to apologize has made the rounds. An Arizona man who signed the petition said, “My special needs nephew is one hundred times the human that Ann Coulter will ever be. She should make a public apology and save us from ever having to listen to her insipid harangues ever
again,” according to the Huffington Post. The public’s general response mirrors that of this man, and many Special Olympics athletes have come out against Coulter as well. John Franklin Stephens, who has Down syndrome, posted a blog that said Coulter and the rest of society need to learn that “being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor,” and that “no one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much.” When it comes down to it, Coulter is a major player in the world of political commentary. Whether we like her or not, there will always be people who agree with the wacky, inappropriate and just plain rude things she says. Even if she didn’t have the strange amount of support from people all over the U.S. that she does, she’d still say questionable things. We can’t control what she says or does, and even if the petition gets enough signatures, it’s no guarantee that Coulter will make an apology, or that it will influence what she says in the future. We need to remain incredibly critical of this level of ignorance and blatant disregard for others, but we also have to remember that Coulter is only human. Humans make mistakes, and we don’t have much control over what other people say. That’s life. By being conscious of the things we say and do, however, we can avoid becoming insensitive, rude and downright foolish. You know, like Coulter.
smoke in that area. Smokers with consideration don’t need to be monitored. It’s the self-centered “Ill do what I want” smoker that should be fined and heavily. I’m sure an answer can be found. Most problems have a solution. It’s up to PSU to figure it out and get on with it. “Broke? Sell plasma” Anthony Nov. 8 You forgot one donation restriction: men who have had sex with other men, and women who have had sex with men who have had sex with men, cannot donate blood or plasma. It’s federal law.
“Clean air and smoking bans” Michelle Reed “Scared vikings” Nov. 8 Shaun You might ask the PCC campuses how they did it. I was there during the change and except for a few Nov. 8 exceptions,most smokers adhered to the rules. I find on this campus a no-smoking sign is ignored by It is most definitely NOT the job of a police force to be proactive. It is their job to protect citizens. You’re smokers as they sit on the benches that are labeled no smoking. I don’t care if someone else smokes–their thinking of a military dictatorship. life, their business–as long as they aren’t blowing it in my face. As far as the park blocks, perhaps making the block at the far south end a smoking area could provide a place for the smokers. This is the 21st “Beer snobs” century and PSU is lagging way behind in this health issue. What is required here is responsible smokers Andrew like yourself who don’t blow their smoke out into people’s faces and make nasty remarks if someone tries Nov. 9 to wave the smoke away. This issue speaks to a person’s character. If the sign says “no smoking” then don’t Hilarious! Nice work.
The latest research findings on challenges facing Asian-Americans are presented in this lecture with a heavy focus on Asian men involved in the correctional system and the feelings and frustrations of Koreanimmigrant parents. COURTESY OF arbiteronline.com
Get your Thanksgiving holiday week started by enjoying a selection of traditional indigenous foods and exploring cultural traditions at the Native American Student and Community Center Monday, Nov. 19.
Thursday, Nov. 15
Lunch and Learn: PostRevolution Tunisia Noon East Hall, room 109 632 SW Hall St.
The Middle East Studies Center invites you to bring your lunch and become part of an informal discussion of contemporary Tunisia with Mohamed Daoud, an expert on the FREE subject.
Healthy Relationships Workshop 3–5 p.m. Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.
The Women’s Resource Center is celebrating Sustainability Month with a workshop that offers instruction in building healthy relationships and learning how to apply them to create FREE sustainable communities.
Territorial Disputes Between China and Japan 6 p.m. Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.
Dr. Hiro Ito, associate professor of economics at PSU, discusses the history and economics behind the longstanding territorial disputes between FREE China and Japan.
Friday, Nov. 16
Interrupting Oppression: Transformative Theater for Social Change 4:30–7 p.m. Multicultural Center 1825 SW Broadway
Learn how to use Theater of the Oppressed techniques in this workshop which examines the impact of oppression on us both as individuals and as a community. The workshop will examine power, build connection and create interventions that deepen our activist work both personally and institutionally. No previous acting experience is required! FREE
Emotional Sustainability Workshop 3–4:30 p.m. Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.
Come to the WRC for the chance to learn techniques to better your emotional wellness, expand your notions of personal sustainability and explore ethics and values within FREE self-care.
Lynda Barry: Girlhood through the Looking Glass Noon Neuberger Hall, room 407 724 SW Harrison St.
PSU English department faculty member Susan Kirtley offers a look at her recently published book on the art of Lynda Barry, best known for her long-running comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, focusing on her recurring images of young girls in a variety of mediums and genres. Free lunch will be provided; please RSVP by emailing FREE publichumanities@pdx.edu.
Saturday, Nov. 17
Active Citizen Anthropology 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Wisdom of the Elders 3203 SE 109th Ave.
Enjoy an opportunity to take part in a unique service learning opportunity with Portland State undergraduate students studying anthropology and share a potluck-style lunch. Please register with Rob Duren at robduren@gmail.com for this event. FREE
Santa Arrival Parade 10 a.m. Pioneer Courthouse Square 701 SW Sixth Ave.
Santa arrives at Pioneer Square this year on Nov. 17! Come to welcome him and enjoy the festivities as he leads a parade to Pioneer Place. FREE
Sunday, Nov. 18
Indonesian Movie: The Angel Song 3 p.m. Fifth Avenue Cinema 510 SW Hall St.
Come enjoy a screening of the Indonesian film The Angel Song at
Thanks Giving: A Celebration and Exploration of Indigenous Traditions and the First Foods 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.
The SLC Food Systems Task Force, along with community partners, hosts a meal of traditional indigenous foods at Portland State. Come taste a sampling of the “first foods” and learn about different ways of giving thanks and why this tradition and food itself are important to FREE indigenous cultures.
Tuesday, Nov. 20
Transgender Day of Remembrance 6 p.m. Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom 1825 SW Broadway
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ETC.
The Queer Resource Center welcomes transgender activist and author Janet Mock for a special presentation. Mock will salute and honor women who have triumphed and dealt with tragedy within the transgender community. Tickets are $5 presale and $8 at the door. No one will be turned away, however, for lack of funds. For advanced tickets and more information contact psutrans@pdx.edu.
nity in any way or simply curious about native culture at PSU, join UISHE for weekly meetings on Wednesdays at noon. FREE
“Let’s Talk” Drop-In Counseling
If you will be staying on campus for the Thanksgiving holiday you are invited to come and enjoy a dinner hosted in the Montgomery Lounge. FREE
2–3 p.m. Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.
Come to the Women’s Resource Center for a free consultation with a SHAC counselor about any questions you may have or stresses you FREE may be dealing with.
Ivy Pull 3–5 p.m. Women’s Resource Center 1802 SW 10th Ave.
Join the Environmental Club in helping to keep the landscape at the Women’s Resource Center entrance maintained. Light refreshments and FREE tools will be provided.
Wednesday, Nov. 21
United Indian Students in Higher Education Meeting Noon Native American Student and Community Center 710 SW Jackson St.
If you are a member of an indigenous nation, a part of the commu-
Thursday, Nov. 22
Turkey Thursday 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Montgomery Court 1802 SW 10th Ave.
PROPER’s Annual Free Thanksgiving Day Feast-ival Noon–4 p.m. Celebration Tabernacle 8131 N Denver Ave.
Live music and storytellers as well as free food—with vegetarian and vegan options available—are offered at this community-organized Thanksgiving celebration. FREE
PSU Opera Program: French Baroque Opera Noon–1 p.m. Lincoln Hall, room 75 1620 SW Park Ave.
Portland State presents, as part of the Performance Attendance Recital Series, a free concert featuring the French baroque opera style of FREE performance. = on PSU campus FREE = free of charge = open to the public 21+ = 21 and over
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SPORTS ETC. • Thursday, • Tuesday,Nov. Nov.15, 6, 2012 • VANGUARD
VANGUARD ••Thursday, TUESDAY, JANUARY Nov. 15, 2012 10, 2012 • SPORTS • ETC.
SPORTS
13 15
EDITOR: MARCO ESPAñA SPORTS@PSUVANGUARD.COM 503-725-4538
Vikings stumble on the road Bad start proves costly for Portland State Alex Moore Vanguard staff
Portland State fell to the University of Oregon in Eugene on Monday night, after eight turnovers in the first four minutes paved the way for a 32-12 lead for the Ducks early in the first half. The slow start was just too much for the Vikings to overcome. Sophomore guard Dre Winston Jr. and senior forward Renado Parker led the Vikings’ offensive attack with 15 points each. After a poor first half, the Vikings found themselves down by 18 points. The team came out stronger in the second half but trailed throughout, failing to find an answer for the Ducks’ relentless attack. A combination of full-court pressure and a wave of threepointers sparked Oregon’s
early run. The Ducks hit seven shots from behind the arc on 70 percent shooting in the first half. They cooled somewhat after the break, but maintained a rhythm on offense that the Vikings were unable to match. At one point in the second half, PSU went on a run and found themselves within nine points after a pair of free throws by sophomore guard Gary Winston. That was as close as the Vikings would get, as Oregon senior E.J. Singler responded immediately with a three-pointer and the Ducks coasted from there. The loss against Oregon dropped PSU to 1-1 on the young season, while the Ducks improved to 2-0. The Oregon matchup was the first in a four-game road trip for PSU. The team will face off against their crosstown rivals at the University of Portland on Nov. 21, followed by games against Oklahoma State University and Loyola Marymount University before returning home to the Stott Center.
All Photos Karl Kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf
Home Stretch: Seniors Renado Parker (left) and Lateef McMullan (right) look to finish strong in their final season at PSU. COURTESY OF wallpaperhi.com
Young guns Trout and Harper prove that age is just a number Gino Cerruti Vanguard staff
I wrote extensively about the role of rookies in the 2012 Major League Baseball season in a previous Between the Horns piece entitled “Year of the Rookie.” I highlighted the accomplishments of Yu Darvish, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout and a few others, but perhaps I didn’t go into enough detail about their youth, or their nascent potential. Weighing the impact of a rookie player in the MLB is different than weighing a veteran’s stats—a veteran player has a certain (albeit inequitable) obligation to be consistent or excel. Regression is expected after 15 or so years, but if one’s batting average should slip drastically, then it’s typically a trip to the manager’s office or another stint in Triple A. A rookie, on the other hand, plays in a completely unfamiliar world. Whether he comes from years of playing Triple-A ball or is already a legend in a foreign country, playing in the majors is a completely new arena, and projecting a rookie’s success is much more difficult than predicting the next year of an established player. So it always comes as a surprise when a rookie not only thrives in the majors but actually manages to outshine the veterans around him. The winners of this year’s Rookie of the Year awards are prime examples of this phenomenon. American League Rookie of the Year winner Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels won the award unanimously in 2012, with every first-place vote going in his favor. Despite being up against the tremendous young talent of Yu Darvish and Yoenis Cespedes, Trout easily dominated the vote—a feat
that underscored the significance of his first year in the majors. In the National League, Rookie of the Year award-winner Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals beat out some tough competition, pulling ahead of pitcher Wade Miley by just a few votes and overshadowing an exceptional year by third-place finisher Todd Frazier. Harper’s hot streak during the last third of the season is said by many to have been the difference in an extremely close race. What’s truly remarkable about the winners of this year’s Rookie of the Year awards is the fact that both Trout and Harper were under the age of 21 this season (and Harper was still a teenager). Although youth affords those who possess it greater energy and faster recovery, excelling in the majors is a skill that requires patience, proficiency and determination—characteristics typically gained through years of experience. Trout and Harper both proved that adroitness and youthful exuberance can in fact coexist and, at the end of the day, astound. When assessing Trout’s or Harper’s accomplishments this season, I can’t help but mention how deflating it is to the ego of a 26-year-old watching it all unfold in a La-Z-Boy recliner while eating cheese puffs and leftover Halloween candy. Sarcasm aside, the point is that at the age of 20 I was still figuring out how to become a well-balanced, functioning adult, while these two are eclipsing the achievements of their much-older peers on a regular basis. To dismiss any notions of jealousy would be disingenuous, but it’s easy to recognize that their talent exemplifies something truly special in their personas. Juvenility, it seems, exists for them as just one of the vital components that fuels their performance. Regardless of age, they wear the seasoned skin of a veteran.
Cross country profile: Amber Rozcicha Senior runner putting finishing touches on fine career
Drew Lazzara Vanguard staff
Vanguard staff
courtesy of Goviks.com
her career at PSU. Highlights include a first-place finish in the 5k at the 2011 Willamette Invitational and another win at the MONDO Challenge earlier this year. She also finished second at the Warner Pacific Invite in October and ran a career-best 5:02.08 in the mile at the Cherry and Silver Invitational in January. Rozcicha led a talented cast of runners during this year’s cross country season, and was
in the mix for a spot in the national championships when she competed in the 6k at the West Regionals this month. She will exit her career as one of the most successful athletes at PSU in the past four years. The Vikings cross country team now transitions to the indoor track and field season, which kicks off on Nov. 30 at the Jacksons Open in Boise, Idaho.
COURTESY OF kfoxtv.com
Breaking Through: LeBron James won his first NBA championship last season after nine years in the league.
The flickering torch LeBron James and the ascension to greatness
Travis Kremer
Amber Rozcicha has covered a lot of ground as a Viking. She came to Portland from Newberg, Ore. in 2009 and immediately began making her mark. Rozcicha excelled at 800 meters, finishing with a time of 2 minutes, 16.73 seconds at the University of Washington Indoor Preview in her freshman season, and was the Vikings’ top finisher in three races for the cross country team that year. Her best long distance result was a 13th place showing at the 4,800-meter Pre’s Trail Run event. Since then, Rozcicha has continued to move up, both in distance and performance. In her senior year, she beat her 2009 best time in the 6k by just over two minutes, coming in at 21:28 at the NCAA West Regional Cross Country Championships, where she placed 89th out of 207 runners. Rozcicha has frequently been the Vikings’ top finisher in a number of meets during
The Standard: Michael Jordan won six titles and five MVP awards during his hall-of-fame career.
Growing up, I hated Michael Jordan. And I regret it deeply. The career of the “Greatest of All Time” is an exceedingly rare and precious thing. By definition, there can only be one in all of history, and, arrogant though this line of thinking is, Jordan’s probably was that career—it casts a deep and seemingly inescapable shadow over anyone attempting to eclipse his accomplishments. Even Halley’s Comet will stroll through the neighborhood every 75 years or so; the greatest basketball career in history has, in all likelihood, come and gone forever. When you look at it statistically, taking into account all people who have or will ever live, it’s astronomically unlikely that any one human being would be alive during such a singular moment in history. Yet I was there, an avid basketball fan throughout Jordan’s reign. And I couldn’t stand him. Out of sheer spite for his unprecedented success, I failed to properly appreciate just ex-
actly what I was seeing. Too late did I realize my mistake, and my retroactive love for Jordan is now confined to a YouTube-mediated kaleidoscope of fragmented memories. I promised myself I would never take greatness for granted again. Which is why I have struggled so mightily to love LeBron James, even though I don’t. Look, greatness is polarizing. It’s probably only possible to take an extreme position on people like Jordan and LeBron; I imagine that most people either absolutely love them or vehemently hate them, and LeBron in particular has given us plenty of fodder for vitriol. But it isn’t “The Decision” that has made it so difficult for me to bask luxuriantly in LeBron’s breathtaking talent. Hating LeBron for exercising free will is really just small-market sour grapes, a manifestation of the hopelessness of fans in places like Portland, Indiana, Minnesota and, now, Cleveland. Instead, there is a subtlety to my instinctive dislike for LeBron that begins on the court. I’ve never loved to watch “King LeBron” play basketball. He is an athletic miracle, a genuine freak of nature capable of some truly staggering feats whenever he steps onto the hardwood. LeBron is an electric dunker,
an exceptional defender of five positions and an unselfish and gifted passer. When his jumper is on, it rips the net with a velocity and viciousness that makes you certain that he has placed that ball and all its accompanying spin in the mathematical center of the hoop. But all this precision bleaches out any semblance of aesthetic appeal from his game. It’s like watching the robots shape-shift in Michael Bay’s soulless Transformers movies: too fast and too clean to be beautiful. Jordan’s game, by comparison, was as graceful and delicate as it was athletically transcendent. He could overpower when he had to, but he possessed a litheness that was manifest in a flawless midrange game, smooth and fluid, moving like liquid through cracks in the defense. Jordan became even more fun to watch as his athleticism waned, as he developed and eventually perfected an unstoppable turnaround and a mastery over the pivot foot that allowed him to create space at will. If LeBron is the straight line between two points, Jordan is the arc. LeBron also fails to embody those intangible elements of sport that are so critical to a fan’s comprehension of greatness—abstract but unmistakable notions like killer
instinct, a refusal to lose, the will to win at all cost in the biggest moments. These are cliches, to be sure, and the serious contemplation of them in a 24-hour sports news cycle can seem a bit overwrought— even absurd at times. But they are important because they are the only aspects of professional athletics that the fan can intuitively understand. Most fans will never know the feeling of flying through the air in the NBA, but they can grasp passion. It is the part of themselves that they
recognize in the game, and they demand it as one of the conditions of greatness. It’s totally unfair to argue that LeBron is devoid of passion, and his career is already full of memorable, fortitudeasserting “clutchness.” It’s just that he doesn’t personify our emotional understanding of the game in the same pure way that Jordan did. LeBron’s accomplishments have appeared all but preordained, and that very sense of inevitability feels totally independent of him. We don’t get to witness his
struggle against impossible odds because the odds are in his favor. We don’t ever see him “digging deep”—his talent is so apparent, so completely literal. We see nothing of LeBron in his achievements. So we see nothing of ourselves. I’m projecting, of course. The argument over the “Greatest of All Time” always comes down to what we mere mortals are willing to invest of ourselves in the accomplishments of strangers. And LeBron’s potential to inspire that investment and assert that greatness is infinite but elusive. I hope he taps into it fully in the years to come, because I’m trying to like him. I can’t afford to waste another unlikely brush with a legend.
16
VANGUARD • Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 • SPORTS
PSU football falls in Bozeman
Bobcats pounce on Vikings’ mistakes
Upcoming Games Thursday, Nov. 15
Volleyball
vs. Vikings vs. Weber State University Peter Stott Center 7 p.m.
Zach Bigalke Vanguard staff
Six minutes into the first quarter of their matchup with Montana State University, Portland State tailback DJ Adams broke free and raced 69 yards for a touchdown to cut the Bobcat lead to 10-7. The score erased the early advantage Montana State had gained after converting a fumble by quarterback Kieran McDonagh into a quick touchdown. After the Viking defense forced the Bobcats to punt on their next possession, it appeared that PSU was poised to seize the momentum. Then the Bobcats showed why they are the top-ranked team in the Big Sky Conference. Cornerback Darius Jones intercepted McDonagh on the next PSU drive, and Montana State scored three plays later to regain a 10-point lead. It was the first of seven straight touchdowns by the hosts in the first half on their way to 65-30 win McDonagh’s struggles were indicative of the difficulty the Vikings had all night against what is also the top-ranked defense in the conference. The freshman quarterback was pulled in the second quarter shortly after Montana State free safety Steven Bethley returned McDonagh’s second interception 32 yards for a touchdown, increasing the Bobcat lead to 45-7. McDonagh completed just two of his nine
Women’s Basketball
@ Vikings @ University of Oregon Matthew Knight Arena 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 16
NBA
vs. Blazers vs. Houston Rose Garden 7 p.m. karl kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf
stampeded: Portland didn’t have much room for error against conference-leading Montana State University. The Vikings kept the score close early on but ultimately lost 65-30. pass attempts for a total of two yards, with two interceptions and two sacks, before being replaced by Collin Ramirez. Ramirez, the transfer quarterback who broke Aaron Rodgers’ single-season touchdown record last season at Butte Junior College, eventually managed to move the Viking offense downfield. But the damage was done—by the time Zach Brown struck a 25-yard field goal at the end of the second quarter, Montana State had already built a 59-10 lead. The Vikings heated up in the second half, putting together four scoring drives and accounting for the final
17 points of the game against the Bobcat reserves. Ramirez finished the game with 130 passing yards, completing seven of his 14 attempts in relief and connecting with Justin Monahan for a touchdown. After the game, Viking head coach Nigel Burton insisted there was no quarterback controversy. “I was worried that the game was getting out of hand for [McDonagh] and he was reaching,” Burton said of the switch. “But he’s still the starter. He’s still our guy. Sometimes you have to go through that adversity.” Despite the rout, there were some positive aspects of Portland State’s performance. The
Vikings roll at home Balanced attack is key to victory over George Fox
Rosemary Hanson Vanguard staff
karl kuchs/VANGUARD STAFf
on fire: The women’s basketball team got off to a great start in the Stott Center.
With a tremendous team effort on both ends of the floor, the Portland State women’s basketball team kicked off their regular season with a 55-35 win over non-conference competitor George Fox University. Junior forward Angela Misa led the way for the Vikings, pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with four steals and one block. Misa and the rest of the Vikings defense forced 22 turnovers overall and forced the Bruins to settle for deep outside shots for large portions of the game. Portland State took the lead early and stayed ahead the rest of the way. They went into the locker room up 2916, capped by a three-pointer from senior guard Karley Lampman, and then kept that
running game notched 295 yards, 75 more than its season average and 200 more than the Bobcats allow on average. DJ Adams had his fourth game with more than 100 yards, and senior fullback Ben Bowen went off for a 61-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. In the end, though, the Bobcats dominated in every facet of the game, retaining the number-two ranking in the Football Champion Subdivision polls behind North Dakota State University. But they still need some help to win the Big Sky Championship. On the final Saturday
of the regular season, the Bobcats will be one of PSU’s biggest fans as the Vikings host conference leader Eastern Washington University in the battle for the Dam Cup. Since the Eagles beat Montana State earlier this season in Bozeman, they’ll claim the tiebreaker in the event that both teams finish the season with one conference loss each. Should the Vikings upset Eastern Washington on Saturday, the conference title goes to the Bobcats. Even though the Vikings are well out of the race themselves, they still may end up deciding who gets crowned Big Sky champion.
momentum going throughout the second half. “We played really well, defensively,” head coach Sherri Murrell said. “I was really pleased with how we handled the pressure [on offense], but our defense was the best I’ve seen in I don’t know how many years.” Faced with that full court press by George Fox, senior point guard Courtney VanBrocklin took control. She kept the Viking offense in rhythm and never let the Bruins disrupt the team’s game plan, finishing with 13 points and three assists. “We worked a lot on it over the week in practice, on how to beat the full court press,” VanBrocklin said. “Basically, once we beat it, we needed to make sure we didn’t rush into our shot—we put it down and ran our plays, and we got a couple shots that way.” The leadership of Portland State’s seniors also played a big role in the win. Lampman chipped in eight points and added three steals. “It’s important for us [seniors] to stay calm, because
if we’re not staying calm then no one is going to stay calm,” VanBrocklin said. With the older players leading by example, Murrell said the younger players have begun to pick up the cause, and team chemistry has been a major factor in the Vikings’ solid play thus far. The team will now get ready to hit the road, to take on the University of Oregon in Eugene. While the matchup will present new challenges for Portland State, Murrell said that the two teams run a similar offense. “I am kind of happy we got pressed the whole game, because that is what Oregon does,” Murrell said. “They are the type of team that will say, ‘If you get 100 points, we want 105,’ so we have to make sure that we have good legs under us. This is going to be a track meet, and we need to finish well.” The Vikings face Oregon tonight at 7 p.m. A live stream video is available by going to goviks.com and clicking on the Oregon game information.
WHL
@ Winterhawks vs. Kamloops Interior Savings Centre 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 17
Volleyball vs. Vikings vs. Idaho State University Peter Stott Center 7 p.m.
football
@ Vikings @ Eastern Washington Jeld-Wen Field 1:05 p.m. Forecast: High of 54 degrees, few showers
WHL
vs. Winterhawks vs. Medicine Hat Rose Garden 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 18
NBA vs. Blazers vs. Chicago Rose Garden 6 p.m.