Mount Hood

Softball opens season

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

Wolves softball traveled to Las Vegas for their first taste of competition in 2017. The season started hit-and-miss, and after three days of gameplay the Wolves are now at 2-3.

The first day was the hardest, as the Wolves suffered two losses. The first was a tight 1-3 to Azusa Pacific. In the second game, playing Chico State, Western Oregon went into the seventh inning with a 4-2 lead. But Chico State was able to capitalize on final mistakes, and won 7-4 in extra innings.

A high scoring second day saw Western Oregon win one and lose one. The win against Minot State came courtesy of a big fifth inning, where the Wolves scored three runs to take the lead and close out 5-4.

Senior Ashlee Lynch scored a homerun in the game, while first year pitcher Chandler Bishop recorded the win in relief.

The final loss came at the hands of Cal State San Bernardino, who scored the winning run on an RBI double in the home half of the final inning.

Senior Sammi Cadwallader pitched a shutout against Cal State Monterey Bay for the final win. Senior Kelsie Gardner scored the only run of the day in the first inning.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

Creating an inclusive community

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

Inclement weather and blustering winds showed a small but intimate turn out for speaker Kerani Mitchell’s community discussion “Exploring What Makes Us Oregonian.”

Ten people total showed up to talk about community inclusion and how they can, as a group, share stories of how they have all felt included or excluded from their particular community, and explore options to help those who may not feel welcome to be a part of their surroundings.

Kerani Mitchell, a graduate of Seattle University with a degree in international studies, started the group by leading them through a quick reflection and having them consider what brought them to the discussion. By laying out the guidelines of creating a safe inclusive space and keeping an open mind, Mitchell got the audience thinking.

Introductions led way with participants stating their name and one thing they love about their community in Oregon.

During introductions, one audience member prompted the question, “When can someone call themselves an Oregonian?” As participants pondered on what makes someone an Oregonian, they all came to terms; an Oregonian is one who lives in Oregon.

Mitchell had the audience break up into two groups to discuss times they felt included in their community, and how they can identify ways to help others feel included in their daily lives.

One member, a teacher within the community, spoke about the difference between the “golden rule” and a different concept called the “platinum rule,” giving a description of treating others how they wish to be treated, rather than how one would want.

Mitchell ended the conversation with a recording of Maya Angelou’s poem “Human Family.”

By the end the group came back together to discuss ways they can help someone who may feel excluded from their community feel more welcome. Several of the ideas discussed included having themselves step outside their comfort zones and immersing themselves in a new culture, or searching for community involvement opportunities and above all treating everyone with human decency. As the conversation died down, the words of Maya Angelou resonated over the crowd: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

Oregon Humanities Conversation Project continues Thursday, Feb. 16 with the next installment, “The Space Between Us, Immigrant Refugees, and Oregon” by speaker Manuel Padilla. Starting at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Room at the Salem Public Library
Contact the author at tlayman16@wou.edu

Editor’s picks

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Editor’s Recommendations

“Runescape” is a special kind of game. It’s one that has lasted the test of time, still going strong after 16 years. With over 80,000 players still actively playing, “Runescape” is still an increasingly popular game.
“Runescape” is an online fantasy game where your options are endless. You can take on almost

Photo from the episode “Wayne Dream Team”

any fantasy role imaginable, levelling up your many skills as you go. The game also features hundreds of quests to take players on journeys and adventures throughout the world.
Having played “Runescape” for over ten years on and off, I can fully recommend playing. Even in college, chopping some trees after class is a great way to wind down.
While Runescape’s playerbase has significantly decreased over the years, updates are still being made and new players are joining all the time.

Editor’s Disparagement

The new DC comics show “Powerless” on NBC has a lot of potential. Set in the DC Universe, “Powerless” follows the powerless employees of Wayne Security in Charm City.
The premiere was nothing but a tacky workplace comedy. With cheap jokes and poor performances, “Powerless” makes terrible use of its star studded cast, which includes Alan Tudyk, Vanessa Hudgens and Danny Pudi.
With every bad joke the show also threw in the name “Bruce Wayne” or “Batman.” Fully aware that the DC aspect is the only selling point, “Powerless” drowns viewers in poorly timed references.
Only the premiere has aired, but if the show doesn’t improve greatly, it’ll get cancelled in no time. For those curious about watching it, I’d say it’s a complete waste of time at this point.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

Comedy comes to Western

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Western students have been hard at work on the upcoming theater production “All In The Timing.” Written by David Ives, “All In The Timing” is a set of six one-act plays that focus on wordplay. The play is directed by Western’s own, Dr. Kent Neely, and also stars six Western students.

Each one-act has its own characters and comedic style, so each actor gets to play multiple characters throughout the production.

“Each of the one acts heavily relies on the absurdity of language, specifically talking about [Universal Language] we literally speak gibberish for about half of it,” said Lindsay Spear, a junior in the Bachelor of Fine Arts acting program and cast member.

The one-acts featured in “All In The Timing” include “The Philadelphia,” “Universal Language,” “Mere Mortals,” “Sure Thing,” “Words Words Words” and “Variations on the Death of Trotsky.”

“They’re all really funny. David Ives was a smart guy and he really used that to create comedy. That’s a big part of it. It’s just a really enjoyable show,” said Nick Hulscher, a sophomore in the Bachelor of Fine Arts theater program and cast member.

Asked about working with the rest of the cast, Spear responded, “Everybody has brought their own style of comedy to it. Since we’re all playing different characters, it’s nice to see how everyone handles different characters and different one-acts.”

“There’s only six of us, so we were almost all there every night for rehearsals and since we all already knew each other and it was such a small group, we got close really quickly and that let us connect on more of a personal level in the scenes,” added Hulcher.

Recounting her favorite part of being on the cast, Spears adds, “‘Universal Language’ is probably one of the the hardest plays I’ve ever been in because I start off speaking English, but as it goes on I speak more and more of this gibberish language Unamunda and at one point we’re supposed to scat in this Unamundan language and the one day we finally got it right we both started screaming. It was so much fun.”

“It’s not a series show. You should go into it expecting to laugh. Don’t expect some serious tragedy because it’s really the opposite,” said Hulcher. He describes the set as a comedy club with a brick wall in the background.

“All in the Timing” runs in the Rice Auditorium Black Box studio Feb. 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. with an additional 2:00 performance on the 11th. Tickets are $14 or $8 for a Western student.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

Bump, set, spike, slide

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

To continue the beginning of WOU Accessibility Awareness Month, members of WAAM held an event in the gym of the Health and Wellness Center to play seated volleyball. Seated volleyball is a paralympic sport for athletes with disabilities. The rules and scoring aspects of the game are still the same as in volleyball. The court is the same size as a badminton court, and the net is lowered almost all the way to the ground. The ball can be hit with any limb as long as the buttocks is on the ground, the buttocks also includes laying on the back and shoulders. The movement of the sport consists of sliding back and forth across the court by using hands or elbows.

Jennifer Taylor, an assistant professor in the Division of Health and Exercise Science, led the event. Although the event was small in numbers, those participating were smiling and enjoying the activity. To begin, Taylor had the participants run drills by sliding themselves through small cones so they could get used to the movement. Then, after explaining the rules, they jumped in for a few practice games. It began with only four players on each team, but as they played, a few people began to join making each team a little bigger. Although the group that attended the event was small, that did not affect the large amount of fun the participants had while playing Seated Volleyball.

WAAM is going to be having events all this month. To find schedules and to see posts made by WAAM follow them on instagram @wou_waam.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu

Get amped for baseball

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Wolves were ranked second in the GNAC preseason poll, and pitcher Brady Miller was named an All-American as high hopes were extended to Western Oregon Baseball.

The college baseball season is upon us. It would already be here, but Western Oregon’s opening pitch was delayed on account of weather. Last weekend’s rain postponed a double-header against Corban.

And so excitement continues to build as the Wolves wait to get the 2017 season under way.

The preseason coaches’ poll placed Western Oregon second in the GNAC, with one vote for first place. Northwest Nazarene, the team that beat the Wolves for the GNAC championship in last year’s 8-9 title game, remain on top.

Then the National College Baseball Writers released their preseason rankings, where the Wolves and Northwest Nazarene tie for 10th place in the western region.

The Baseball Writers also named their preseason All-American rosters. Junior pitcher Brady Miller made the All-West first team and the All-American third team.

Miller was last year’s GNAC pitcher of the year, going 10-2 with a 3.14 ERA.

The Wolves will open their season this weekend in Fresno. After some time on the road, their first game at home is a double header on March 4.

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu

The women’s march doesn’t stop here

By: Zoe Strickland
Managing Editor

The past 19 days have been full of marches and protests. From the National Women’s Marches across the country to the Science March that’s being planned planned for Earth Day, people are trying to make sure that their voices are heard.

The National Women’s March was one of the largest marches in history; people of all genders and nationalities came together to express their opposition to the inauguration. Among those protesters was a large volume of white, able-bodied, cisgendered women. Hell, the hats that were being knitted for the Women’s March were essentially a representation of cisgendered genitalia.

I get that people tend to feel attacked when you bring this up, but this is something that should be brought up. My problem with white cis-women showing up in droves to march comes when you compare the crowds at the Women’s March to the crowds at nearly every other protest or march around the country – crowds that get less attention because this section of the population isn’t there. The public are more likely to reflect positively about an event if white women are there; it makes no sense, but that’s institutionalized prejudice for you.

The amount of people marching across the country was massive; it was great. But where are those crowds of people during Black Lives Matter protests? Where are they during the uprise against the Dakota access pipeline? What are they doing to help the Flint water crises?

If you marched or wanted to march at the National Women’s March, remember to keep your views intersectional. Remember that there are people who may not have an identity similar to yours that still need to be supported. Transgender and gender-nonconforming people need to be supported. People with disabilities need to be supported. People of different races need to be supported. Just because a protest or march may not apply to you, doesn’t mean you can dismiss it and just not pay attention.

When you look at how many people protested in Portland after the election and then look at which of those people actually voted in the election, there’s a massive disconnect. The Oregonian reported that of the 112 people arrested at the protest, only 28 percent of them actually voted and that 32 percent voted but didn’t turn in their ballot.

Even though the Women’s March exists as a result of the anticipated anti-women policies of the current administration, CNN reported that 52 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump. This half-hearted attempt at showing discontent won’t get things done.

The people who are against the Trump administration and their policies have four more years- activist efforts shouldn’t be confined to just the months surrounding the election and inauguration.

All of these marches and protests mean nothing if you pick and choose which causes to support. Just because you obtain rights that you’re comfortable with, doesn’t mean the job is done; it just means that you are currently more privileged.

Protests and activism are a vital part of our rights as citizens – why not take advantage of that right? In our current digital age, you don’t have an excuse for not being an active member of society. If you can’t make it to a protest, you can still talk about it. You can still stay educated, you can still educate other people.

Contact the author at zstrickland14@wou.edu

Weekly update: IFC Meeting #3

By: TK Layman
Staff Writer

Friday, Feb. 3 the IFC meeting took place in modular 101 outside Rice Auditorium. After the committee saw presentations from all other campus organizations, the remaining – Athletics, Student Engagement and ASWOU, presented their budget proposals for the 2017-2018 school year.

Student Engagement included budget proposals for campus structures such as operations and student employment, leadership, inclusion and the Student Activities Board. With their proposed budgets for the year, they look to re-up their contract with OrgSync, the web application hosting all on-campus organizations.

Athletics holds the highest budget on campus and is looking to add safety improvements to the Women’s Softball field, adding an NCAA required safety netting to the dugouts. Their fear is that if the IFC cuts funds, they will have to reallocate funds to make sure equipment is kept up to date in terms of safety standards, as well as reducing the number of athletes who attend road games. Teams attending road games typically fly to their locations. The Athletics department stated if the budget was reduced, they would have to travel by bus, increasing the number of hours traveled and the amount of class missed for student-athletes.

Before ASWOU gave their presentation, they asked to reallocate funds from their non-specified account to cover their trip for Student Lobby Day, a day for student’s to speak with state representatives about their school experience and encumbrance of student loans. ASWOU asked for $500 to cover the travel costs, and it caused some trepidation from the IFC Committee. After discussion, the motion passed to reallocate travel expenses for Student Lobby Day 7-1-0.

The next meeting is Friday, Feb. 10 where the committee will make their preliminary decision on the budget before opening the floor to hearings.

Contact the author at tlayman16@mail.wou.edu

Don’t believe the myths, learn the facts

By: Jasmine Morrow
Staff Writer

The College of Education, the Spanish Department and the Bilingual Teacher Program at Western asked Kim Potowski, a professor of the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago, to present her session: “Spanish in the U.S.: Myths and Realities,” in the Richard Woodcock Education Building. On Feb. 3, professor Potowski began the seminar by asking the group of people attending five facts or myths about the Spanish language.The trick was that they were all myths. The questions/statements included: “The United States is the fifth largest Spanish-Speaking country in the world,” “Spanish is not recognized in the ‘Diccionario de la Real Academia,’” “Some things that people say in U.S. Spanish is ungrammatical,” “Spanglish is a random mishmash of English and Spanish and is destroying Spanish,” “The goal of Spanish teachers should be to eliminate ‘Spanglish’ and have students pass for monolingual.”

Professor Potowski then explained why these were all myths. To begin with, the U.S. is the second largest Spanish-speaking country. It’s impossible to be agrammatical when a whole community says it the same way, this is only possible with the first rule of grammar. Second, the first Spanish word was put in the dictionary on Sept. 30, 2012. Third, Spanglish is rule governed and there is code switching, word borrowings, extensions and calques.

People usually think of U.S. Spanish as ungrammatical because it’s not preferred. The reason why people who are fluent in both Spanish and English sometimes use both languages in a single sentence is because it is a marker of their identity. Sixty percent of the population is bilingual/multilingual and 20 percent of the bilinguals are in the U.S. Studies show that two-way bilingual is the better way to learn English and Spanish, they can also be better readers and speakers. Professor Potowski concluded the presentation by saying, “Respect the language and culture of U.S. Latino Communities.”

Contact author at jmorrow16@mail.wou.edu

Activism through education

By: Ashton Newton
Entertainment Editor

Western Accessibility Awareness Month started off with a presentation from Dr. Kathleen Bogart, assistant professor of psychology at OSU, called “Looking Beyond Face Value: The Psychology of Disability and Ableism.”

Dr. Bogart opened with a discussion of what disability was and ways that society views it. She asked the audience to imagine a community where everyone had the same disability and how society would then view someone without that disability.

Dr. Bogart went into talking about facial expression disorders. Having facial paralysis herself, Dr. Bogart has had the drive to study the psychology behind facial paralysis for most of her life.

Dr. Bogart has conducted and published research studies using focus groups to try pinpointing the emotions of individuals with facial paralysis.

One goal is to raise public awareness of facial paralysis and moebius syndrome, to teach people to see past it. Dr. Bogart talked about the idea of activism through education. Part of this idea is Moebius Awareness Day on Jan. 24, a day dedicated to educating and spreading awareness about moebius syndrome, a rare condition that causes facial paralysis.

The take home message of the presentation was to be both a thoughtful and an adaptive communicator to everyone everyday.

Contact the author at journalentertainment@wou.edu

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