On Monday, Comedy Central premiered their newest nightly comedy news program, “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.” Filling the time slot after “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” that has for the past nine years been dominated by “The Colbert Report,” Larry Wilmore’s show tackles serious issues such as race, class, and social injustice, but in an expertly comedic way.
In just his first week, Wilmore has gone straight for the throat, addressing controversial topics such as the Bill Cosby rape allegations and the Ferguson riots.
While not as light in tone as “Colbert,” “Nightly Show” is still satirical and fun at heart (the first episode commented on “The Lego Movie’s” recent Academy Awards snub).
Wilmore previously appeared on “The Daily Show” under the moniker of the “Senior Black Correspondent.”
Will “The Nightly Show” draw the same immense viewership as “Colbert”? It’s too early to tell, but Wilmore is a terrific host, and hopefully he and his show are here to stay.
“The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” airs every weeknight at 11:30 p.m. after “The Daily Show.”
This past week at Western has been dedicated to the memory and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and with Black History Month coming in February, memories of the Civil Rights movement are in the air.
For the last five years, Dr. Dean Braa, sociology professor, has presided over the Civil Rights Film Series: an open class dedicated to educating the greater community about the Civil Rights Movement through film.
“We were talking at one of our organizational meetings, and we were commenting on how most students know very little about Civil Rights, that social studies in high schools particularly are doing a very poor job,” Braa said.
“People hardly knew Dr. King, let alone the greater Civil Rights Movement.”
He suggested that showing Civil Rights-centric films would be great for providing “a very good general education through film about Civil Rights.” He offered to go further, suggesting a full class be developed around the film series to be offered during January and February when we celebrate the fight for Civil Rights. And thusly, SOC 407 was born.
The series always screens some of the 14 episodes of “Eyes on the Prize,” an Academy Award nominated documentary and personal favorite of Dr. Braa detailing the Civil Rights movement from 1954-1965, and then the struggles of a post-integration America from 1965-1985.
About three years ago, the series added several films about Native Americans and their own ongoing, oft-overlooked civil rights battle, dealing with issues like control of their land and treaty violations throughout the years that still impact their lives today, many years after the initial forced exodus of Native Americans.
The best part of this class is that it is available to everyone, regardless of whether or not they’re taking it as a class or are even a student.
The series runs every Wednesday until the end of winter term, showing a different film.
“Come as you are interested, enjoy some good films, bring some popcorn, bring your dinner, come and sit with us and watch a good movie,” Braa said. “Enlighten yourself!”
I went to see “Selma,” the recently released Martin Luther King Jr. biopic, assuming the horrific end to such a powerful man would be the main focus of the film, but I was wrong.
This movie is a breath of fresh air, in regards to the presentation of someone so prominent. It is beautifully written, teemed with a core of talented actors, and wonderfully carried out via unique cinematic photography.
Directed by Avery DuVernay, Selma is set in Alabama in 1965. The audience follows Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo, “Interstellar”) as he, his wife, Coretta (Carmen Ejogo, The Purge) and both the black and white communities fight for equal rights and, ultimately, the right to vote, focusing especially on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Oyelowo’s portrayal of King Jr. is spectacular; everything from the way he carries himself to his speech is a genuine and true depiction of who King was.
Ejogo is a wonderful supporting actress and introduced the audience to a small glimpse of what it felt like to be the wife of such a known, powerful and hated man – information not always talked – or thought about – when on the topic of Martin Luther King Jr.
The emotions in the film are penetrating and palpable, due to the unique and constant close up shots displayed throughout the movie. And even though the film is slow at times, I never felt bored. Each word seems to be precisely chosen, each scene deliberate.
The tension felt between political powers, such as the President, and King Jr. are also displayed, from which the audience can extrapolate how complicated, how nearly impossible, the fight for equality was.
There were some violent scenes, scenes that made me cringe. “Selma” does not shy away from demonstrating how it was back then, how violent and painful living in that time was. But that is how the whole movie went: a realistic depicture of America’s messy and violent history and the powerful men and women who fought hard to create peace.
Go see “Selma”. This film gave me a new appreciation for the legendary figure and those who fought beside him. It is intense, painful and sad. But it is also riveting and exciting. If those are not good enough reasons to see it, then, ultimately, it is an honorable dedication to Martin Luther King Jr. and what he stood for and what we can still stand for.
The men and women of the Western Oregon track team showed just how hard they’ve been working during the offseason in what was a historic day at Dempsey Indoor Facility in Seattle for the teams’ opening meet of the year, the UW Indoor Preview.
The highlight of the afternoon for the men was when the 4×800 meter relay team comprised of Brady Beagley, Josh Hanna, Sam Naffziger and Josh Dempsey put together a school-record breaking time of 7:54.22 en route to a 5th place finish.
Meanwhile, Cody Warner posted the second fastest time in school history in the 60-meter dash, running it in 6.96 seconds.
On the women’s side, Stephanie Stuckey set a school record herself, completing the 1,000-meter run in 3:02.96, narrowly beating the previous record by 1 second, to take home 16th place.
“I felt great. It was one of the first good races that I’ve had in a long time. I didn’t even know what the record was because I didn’t want to worry about time. This season, I’m all about having fun and running well. That race was a great example of how important that is,” Stuckey said.
She added, “I’m really looking forward to seeing my teammates compete and represent Western. Being a student athlete is hard. Heck, being a student is hard. It’s all about doing what you love. If you don’t love it, it gets really hard to keep going.”
In the 600-meter run, Suzanne Van De Grift finished in 1:41.14, not only cracking the top 10 all time at WOU, but also finishing 4th amongst non-Division 1 or club runners.
It was a big day for the throwers, as Emmi Collier and Alex Green finished 11th and 15th, respectively. Green’s throw of 12.45 meters was a personal best and with that, she joins Collier in the all-time top 10 for women’s indoor shot put.
The Wolves will take a week off before they look to build on their performance Jan. 30, at the Husky Invite in Seattle.
Western Oregon men’s basketball team showed their true colors in an impressive win against their conference rivals Saint Martin’s University last Thursday in the New PE Building. This Great Northwest Athletic Conference win extended the Wolves home win streak to nine games as they found themselves on top by 14 (82-68) at the conclusion of the game.
“Tonight’s win feels good,” said head coach Brady Bergson.
Thursday, Jan. 15, the Wolves doused the Saints with shots from beyond the arc hitting 12-23.
Late in the fourth, four Wolves players contributed to make five straight three-pointers in a row.
Guard Jordan Wiley made two of the five in a row and also shot 5-of-9 from beyond the arc for the night. Wiley led Western Oregon (14-3, 6-1 GNAC) offensively with 21 points and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
Fellow guard Julian Nichols continued his outstanding free-throw performance for the season by hitting a perfect 10-for-10 from the line; he also contributed 17 points and seven assists.
Guard Devon Alexander tallied up 12 points of his own to help the Wolves. Forwards Andy Avgi, Lewis Thomas and Marwan Sarhan held down the paint.
Avgi scored in double figures for the 15th time this season with 16 points. Thomas put in major minutes playing for 28 and contributing seven points of his own. Sarhan came up big on the boards to grab a game-high tying six rebounds.
“It felt good,” Wiley said. “The ball was going in tonight so that is always nice. We have a nice zone play that gets me open quite a bit and Saint Martin’s was shagging off a little bit resulting in a 2-on-1 on the back side that turns into a wide open shot for me or one more pass results in a wide-open shot for the next guy.
“My teammates did a good job finding me,” he added.
During the win, the Wolves combined to shoot 24-for-50 (48 percent) from the field.
That number improved in the second half, 12-for-22 (54.5 percent).
The Wolves made half of their shots from behind the three-point line 12-for-23. They impressively made 22-of-26 (84.6 percent) of their shots at the free throw line. The Wolves have won four straight games and 12 of their last 13 games, which contributed to their unbeaten home stretch of nine.
“Each week is a new week,” Bergeson said. “The streaks are for the fans and the people on the outside to enjoy and talk about. We don’t talk about it. For us, the streak ends at the end of the week.”
Western Oregon traveled across the border Thursday, Jan. 22 to play the highest scoring team in NCAA Division II, Simon Fraser of Burnaby, British Columbia before traveling to Bellingham, Wash. to take on Western Washington University Saturday, Jan. 24.
The women’s basketball team traveled north this past week to face a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference contenders at Western Washington and Simon Fraser University. Unfortunately, the Wolves returned home without a victory as their losing skid extended to five games.
The Wolves faced a tough task Thursday, Jan. 15, taking on a Western Washington team that has only lost twice at home this season.
The Wolves were able to battle early on to keep it close, but the Vikings (10-5, 4-2 GNAC) simply had too much of an inside presence and out-rebounded the Wolves 32-18 while outscoring them 42-30 in points in the paint en route to a 80-64 victory.
The lead ballooned to 32 points midway through the second half but the Wolves (4-11, 1-6 GNAC) were able to close strong, holding Western Washington to a mere 10 points during a 26-10 scoring run.
Forwards Angie Titus and Sami Osborne led the Wolves in scoring with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
On Saturday, Jan.17, Western Oregon traveled across the border to Canada to face the Simon Fraser Clan.
The Wolves faced a tough test having to play against the GNAC’s leading scorer Erin Chambers (22.9 ppg) without their own leading scorer, forward Dana Goularte, who missed her fourth straight contest due to injury.
The Clan (9-6, 5-2 GNAC) jumped out to an early lead, opening the game on a 16-3 scoring run, before the Wolves settled in and closed the gap to nine points by halftime.
They carried that momentum over into the second half and managed to close the gap to four points before Simon Fraser answered with a back-breaking 11-0 run that pushed the lead to 15 points.
The lead grew to as many as 23 and the Clan eventually took home the 76-56 victory.
Forward Sami Osborne once again stepped up in Goularte’s absence, leading the team with 15 points and grabbing four rebounds while guard Jordan Mottershaw chipped in 12 points.
The Wolves will return home this week as they played host to Seattle Pacific on Thursday and Montana State-Billings on Saturday in Monmouth.
For most sports franchises, the two most exciting dates on the calendar are the championship game and draft day. With MLS moving more toward the youth academy system of talent development used in the English Premier League and others like it, the super draft may soon be a thing of the past.
For now though, 2015’s draft was still front and center in the growing league. The creation of two new expansion teams, Orlando City SC and New York City FC, in addition to the recent restructuring of Chivas USA, combined to create higher than usual demand for the available young players.
The Super Draft structure is similar to drafts in other American sports and the players are still attending university at the time of the selection, although many are also attached to USL (United Soccer League) teams as well.
Orlando City SC was granted the first pick in a coin toss and selected Canadian national team regular and UConn Huskies star forward Cyle Larin. The second overall pick — forward Khiry Shelton — chosen by New York City FC has been playing for Oregon State since 2011, and he has even made several appearances for the US Men’s National team.
When Shelton begins training with his new teammates, he will join the likes of former Chelsea hero Frank Lampard, and David Villa of Barcelona fame.
Local favorites Portland Timbers FC acquired the fifth overall pick in the first round as a part of a trade deal with the Colorado Rapids for Portland native Danny Mwanga (forward).
After a disappointing 2014 campaign plagued by injuries and poor results, the Timbers looked to make waves in the off-season with their highest selection seed since 2011.
Timbers’ first pick, Nick Besler (midfield), was a regular starter of Norte Dame’s 2013 national championship team and was named to the 2014 NCAA All-American team.
With an eye for bolstering all areas of play, the Timbers also selected University of Washington’s Andy Thoma (defender), Southern Illinois’ Christian Volesky (forward), and Virginia Commonwealth’s Kharlton Belmar (forward).
With the first and second rounds of the Super Draft completed in Philadelphia, and the third and fourth rounds set to occur via conference call on Jan. 20, there is still plenty of room for new players to make their entrance into America’s premier soccer system.
The question for the MLS moving forward though is whether or not the Super Draft is really the best approach.
Instituted in 2000, the draft was an attempt to streamline the development of America’s underserved soccer talent. The league has benefited as the draft has grown alongside it, but the US Men’s National team has not benefited much and the MLS is still considered by many to be a farm league on the international scene.
There has been talk of switching over to a strictly academy style system with a draft becoming a secondary approach. For example, in England players can be selected to play in a club academy from a very young age (as young as 9). This allows the coaches of both major clubs and international teams to observe players as they develop, and it means that a wider scope of talent can be recognized and nurtured to greatness.
However, this system is greatly aided by the fact that England has roughly the same land area as Washington State. Even if an academy on the other side of the country is looking to sign a player, the transportation is still achievable. Frequently, younger players in America just don’t have access to the same level of development programs.
Regardless of where you fall on the draft, however, you can look forward to great season of MLS in 2015. The strength of the players and size of the draft pool this year indicates that soccer’s participation and fan bases are growing in America, and with the larger fan base comes a bigger group of people willing to help youth players achieve their dreams of success.
