On Oct. 31 and Nov. 2 volleyball action shared many woo’s and woe’s, but the Wolves fell short both games, finishing at 3-0 and 3-2, respectively.
Playing at home on Oct. 31, the 3-0 overall set scores against Concordia was a recurring deficit through half of the first set.
Whenever the game was tightly contested, Concordia would nudge just a little bit ahead in the score. At times the scores would be 5-8, 8-8, 9-12, 14-17, then 17 all. But, inevitably, Concordia had the advantage.
It seemed whenever the Wolves would tie it up, a service error, a faulty set or simply someone making illegal contact with the net would eat at the Wolves’s chances. Indeed, the blocking of Concordia at the net would make all the difference needed to edge out the Wolves in the first set 25-23.
The second set was tight, back and forth action throughout but Western would only see their largest lead of the game at two when they went up 4-2 in the score. With the game as tight as it was at 15-16 in the second set, the Wolves would see their deficit slowly evaporate until Concordia blew the score open onto a 17-25 win.
The Wolves also had their chances at taking advantage in the score when similar mistakes made by the Wolves would make its way onto Concordia’s end. But Wolves failed to realize any positive outcome in the end and would lose the third set in similar fashion to the previous set with a score of 19-25 and a 3-0 loss to Concordia.
November 2’s second match and the first set at Montana State would take a roundabout turn to the similar sets given up to Concordia. Western would lose the first set, but was more valiant in its efforts.
Western showed promise in the heart of their senior outside hitter, Alisha Bettinson, when she surpassed a school record of 1,065 kills — set by former Wolf Danielle Reese — in the second set to tie the knot in the match at 1-1. Bettinson would end the night with 18 kills, and for her volleyball career thus far: a DII school record of 1,075 kills.
Montana State would win the third set by a hair at 25-23. Western then battled back to even up the match at 2-2.
In the final set, MSU would prevail in the clinch winning 16-14 to a match total of 3-2, surrendering the Wolves winless through three days.
Next up, on Nov. 9, the Wolves schedule a trip to Alaska where they will face the University of Alaska Anchorage. Toss-up is set for 7 p.m.
On the mainstage of Rice Auditorium currently sits a simple set of three platforms and a plain black backdrop, obscured by a massive, reflective window. It’s on this little set that a big story is going to be told: “Radium Girls” by D. W. Gregory.
The premise is less simple.
“Three girls die and sue a company,” said Mindy Mawhirter, a junior acting BFA major who plays Kathryn at the start of the show.
“In that order,” added first-year theatre and mathematics education major Andi Moring, the play’s lead.
The play takes place over the course of 20 years but begins in New Jersey in 1921, following a small group of girls who work in a factory painting watchfaces with glow-in-the-dark paint for the soldiers of World War I. It’s the radium which makes this paint glow, and claims the lives of so many workers in this factory.
In one of the opening scenes of the play, the forewoman informs the girls that they have to go back to licking their paint brushes to form a point rather than wiping them in cloths due to their budget. When Grace, portrayed by Moring, objects, saying that her doctor warned her not to, she is snapped at and told that she must have misunderstood the doctor.
“We know now that (radium) is very poisonous and radioactive, but they didn’t know that back then,” explained Moring. “It was the miracle drug, it was incredible.”
This point is further driven home in the show when Marie Curie claims that radium is the cure for cancer. And so, the girls continue to radiate themselves, making them sick and ultimately driving them to their graves. This same event sparks a lawsuit, the main focus of the show.
“It’s kind of just the story of the first real lawsuit against a company for how they’ve been treating their workers, and work conditions,” said Moring. “I don’t want to give away too much but, yeah. That’s our show.”
“This is a very different show than what we did last year — we did ‘Machinal,’ which was an expressionistic piece, and this is more of realism,” said Mawhirter. “So that’s been interesting to see: the differentiation between the two styles of theater — especially with having the same director (Michael Phillips).”
While the show isn’t expressionistic, it is a touch abstract in terms of its performance. The set, as mentioned, is fairly minimal, and so is the cast. The show is performed by 16 actors who portray a total of 36 characters on a single set.
Molly Duddlesten, junior theatre and English major, commented, “I die on page 27 so like, that’s cool. And then I’m other characters in the show, which is fun.”
The show opens on Thursday, Nov. 9, and runs for two weekends. Nov. 9-11 and 15-18, the curtain opens at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee performance will take place on Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. There will be no late seating once the show starts. Friday night performances will be interpreted.
Adult admission is $14; senior, faculty and staff admission is $10; for Western students with ID, admission is $8. Visit the box office at Rice Auditorium or call 503-838-8462 to purchase tickets.
Saturday evening, Nov. 4: cool, calm and then collected were the Western women’s rugby team as a few of the members, coaches and players, coalesced into a group to watch the men’s team rally to get a tough home win against Willamette University. Despite the ladies losing earlier that morning to Willamette, spirits were high as both Wolf clubs have recently returned to the field from an offseason with lots to look forward to. But even with the difference in outcome between the two teams, what was seen on the field on Nov. 4 was rather a family affair as the women’s team cheered the boys on. While the men played, plenty was happening on the sidelines.
A confident expression of “no worries” was uttered by senior lock of the women’s team, Maddi Fagnani. Many of her teammates and coaches wore cheerful countenances, as did she. Many of them huddled together two or three at a time to keep warm in the frigid cold with large blankets. And still, there was a battle, a game plan, something to work on and keep in mind for on and off the field. “We need to improve on our defensive structure,” said assistant coach Emily Applegate. “(Willamette) didn’t break through our defensive line, but they beat us on the outside, and we need to improve on our scrums; we need to get a little bit lower.” Perhaps something of a weapon for future foes, however, was the tackling.
“We were really nailing our tackles,” said Fagnani. “We had a lot of light bulbs click, and in rugby, it takes a lot to get the light bulbs to click. For that, I’m proud of my team.” Chalk up a win from their spirits and motivation, but the battle was only half won until the men made due. Close, up until the end, the boys would seal their victory with a final try, with two minutes left in play. “This is a good starting point, and we’re going to build on it and hopefully become better each week,” said sophomore forward Matthew Cornish. Still room for improvement, junior fullback Bernard Barber felt that the spreading needs to improve and that Willamette “capitalized and got out on the outside. But we were able to stop them and rally back.” For what was a fight, battle, tooth and nail and eventual win, so too was a moral victory spread around to everyone that night.
Western got off to a strong start against the Azusa Pacific Cougars, scoring on two early drives of the game for a 13-7 lead. The Cougars would eventually get back on track en route to a 41-16 win. The first scoring drive was quick, with the Wolves going 79 yards in 48 seconds. Sophomore running back Devon Fortier scored on an eight-yard run. Azusa answered back right away, going 72 yards in just under two minutes with redshirt freshman quarterback Tyrone Williams Jr. finding sophomore wideout Darrell Adams Jr. for a 58-yard touchdown. At the end of the first quarter, the Wolves struck again, with senior quarterback Nick Duckworth connecting with senior receiver Paul Revis for a two-yard touchdown pass, completing a drive that lasted seven and a half minutes. The Wolves were outscored 21-0 in the second quarter, making the total tally at halftime 28-13, and Azusa never looked back. The only score in the third quarter came on a 27-yard field goal by Wolf junior Adrian Saldana. The Wolves headed into the fourth quarter down 28-16.
Azusa struck quickly in the fourth, scoring on their first two drives and putting the game out of reach. Junior tailback Kurt Scoby would score both touchdowns, the first on a 19-yard run and the second on a one-yard run. Duckworth finished with 243 yards on 20-47 passing with one touchdown, while Fortier had 105 yards on 18 rushing attempts.
Western looks to bounce back on Nov. 11 against Simon Fraser on senior night.
Being a journalist with disdain for Donald Trump is not a new phenomenon. However, I’d like to take these few column inches to give a fuller explanation as to why I — as a journalist and not as anything else — have a particular problem with him.
Donald J. Trump has no respect for the press and its role in society but, even worse, he has no respect for the First Amendment.
His list of assaults on the First Amendment is almost as long as the list of his assaults on women, so I can’t enumerate all of them. However, for some context, in February of 2016, before his election, Trump stated, “one of the things I’m going to do if I win — and I hope I do, and we’re certainly leading — is I’m going to open up our libel laws, so when they (the media) write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”
Okay, so he wants to partially repeal the First Amendment. But hey, that was pre-election. He said lots of things before the election. But what has he said now that he has been elected?
Most recently, he tweeted that NBC should have their broadcasting license revoked because the stories they report are damaging to his reputation and, he claims, false.
On Oct. 11, Trump started the day by tweeting, “with all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” Later in the day, he continued, saying, “network news has become so partisan, distorted and fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not fair to public!”
Not only is shutting down news sources simply because they don’t help the agenda of the government absurd and a blatant violation of the First Amendment, but him threatening to do so is, too.
In 2015, the Seventh Circuit stated that “a public official who tries to shut down an avenue of expression of ideas and opinions through ‘actual or threatened imposition of government power or sanction’ is violating the First Amendment,” in the case of Backpage.com v. Dart.
Either our president is completely unfamiliar with our Bill of Rights, or he simply doesn’t care. Given how vocal he’s been about the Second Amendment, I would guess the latter. And that should scare the daylights out of every citizen in our country.
Even Thomas Jefferson, the slave owning, rapist, P.O.S. that he was, recognized that “our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
Since the term “fashion” was first keyed, it has always been centered around the craft and artistry of skilled seamstresses and how they could manipulate their materials into wearable pieces of art.
In the 1800s, women’s and men’s clothing were made exclusively out of natural cloths, such as cotton, wool, leather and silk, so the only way to show the level of fashionability was through intricacy of design. This intricacy meant that clothing was heavy, unwieldy and uncomfortable when compared to today’s standards. But with the turn of 20th century in sight, the discomfort that fashion posed began to change.
In 1884, rayon was invented: the first synthetic clothing material. Later, when rayon was released to the masses, it was praised because it was a cheap stand-in for silk, something that was very spendy at the time. This new wonder material ushered in a new age of material science breakthroughs because people no longer wanted to feel restrained by their clothes, and they now knew that that request was not unreasonable. Materials like nylon, polyester, velcro and spandex along with other production techniques were created soon after.
With this change from natural to artificial materials, fashion was forever changed. One could make statements about their fashionability without super complicated patchwork; all a person needed now was a shirt that could be anything with one screenprint.
With the turn of a new century, the process of creating new and more desirable science fiction materials into science fact is accelerating. Materials, and the production of those materials, is quickly becoming an equal or even more important part of fashion than the style of the clothing itself, which is a change from the past.
In the last decade, the most coveted and acclaimed pieces of clothing have not been known for their cut or style; they have almost exclusively focused on the material used. Yeezy Boosts, a shoe that can resell for up to $1,300 even though it has a simple silhouette is rather coveted for their sole material: Boost. This material claims that it has the highest energy return of any sole ever invented. In addition to the Boost’s high energy return qualities, these shoes have been credited with re-establishing Adidas atop the sportswear sector, a spot they were quickly beginning to lose.
Another material that created excitement in the fashion industry was created in a collaboration between Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Reebok, a material called Biologic, the first bio-dynamic material to be integrated into clothing. Biologic is bacteria culture sandwiched between two layers of latex cover that when exposed heat will begin to fold due to a size increase in the bacteria. This folding property, when combined with another fabric, can create a material that will actively cool off the user and warm the user when temperature is correct.
In the near future, materials will be the only thing that matter when choosing fashion and we will soon scoff at the fashion of past for its ridiculous over-complication a future that we all should look forward to.
When the fire burns in the shape of a “W,” students gather to touch-up Western’s logo on Church Street and hundreds take to the bleachers to cheer on the Wolves, it can only mean one thing: homecoming.
The theme of the week, “Feels like ‘97: 20 years of WOU,” referred to the change from Western Oregon State College to Western Oregon University in 1997. The ‘90s theme spread throughout the week, from a throwback office decorating contest to a ‘90s trivia night.
Matthew Ciraulo helped plan the homecoming events in his second year as Director of the Student Activities Board.
When asked what his favorite thing about homecoming is, he replied, “I love that it’s one week of events jam-packed and we always try to make something for everyone. It takes a lot of skill to put on a whole week and make it go successful, but I think everyone’s doing a great job.”
“It’s a really great time to show your WOU spirit and show all the reasons why you chose to go to WOU and why you love WOU,” Ciraulo added.
Though the week culminated at the football game on Saturday, there were several events that all students, including the non-sports enthusiasts, could engage in.
Photo by Madison Hocker
Carnival
The festive week kicked off with the carnival. This brand new event set the tone for the rest of the week featuring carnival games, food and, most importantly, prizes. Games like plinko, ring toss and bingo created a genuine carnival feel. A “test your strength” hammer game inspired competition and determination to ring the bell at the top of the tower. The ‘90s theme prompted a “pin the crown on Biggie Smalls” game and a Central Perk sitting area.
“Honestly, I love any event that has free food,” senior Amy Watkins remarked. “SAB always does a great job with trying new traditions … and I love that the whole event incorporated the ‘90s.”
Paint the Town Red
Paint the Town Red was a new homecoming tradition that encouraged clubs and organizations to help decorate windows in businesses around Monmouth. 14 businesses in downtown Monmouth displayed the spirit of homecoming for the whole town to see.
“I know that businesses want to be more connected with the university,” commented Kelsey Elam-Geuting, Coordinator for Organization and Activities at Western.
Miriam Haugen, owner of Haugen’s Galleri, enjoyed the event; “I think it’s really a great way to increase the connection between the business community and the college and show support. We’re all in it together,” she said.
Haunted House
Oct. 31 has come and gone, and the giant sequoia is being ornamented with lights, but it’s never too late for a spooky haunted house for those who are feeling the post-Halloween blues. A traveling haunted house company set up the spine-tingling attraction in the Pacific Room, and a line almost out the door was filled with eager students ready to be spooked. Frightening jump scares, creepy dolls and terrifyingly tight paths intensified the fear.
Theatre students and other volunteers played “haunters” in the dark and creepy maze. “It was fun,” senior Lindsay Spear commented. “Even for someone like me who is terrified by haunted houses.”
The haunted house was a good opportunity to connect the fun of homecoming week with the terror of Halloween.
Photo by Paul F. Davis
Bonfire
Despite the bleak and rainy weather that troubled Monmouth during homecoming week, the annual bonfire raged on after Friday’s Powderpuff game. The event, which usually occurs at the beginning of the week, deliberately took place on Friday evening to increase excitement and spirit for the next day’s homecoming football game.
“The one thing I want to make sure we do is get the whole school involved,” Ciraulo remarked.
The football team attended the bonfire to light the “W,” cheerleaders pumped up the crowd for the game and the annual pie eating contest provided hilarious entertainment.
Photo by Paul F. Davis
Royalty
Not only did Saturday bring the much anticipated homecoming football game, it also brought the crowning of the Wolf Royalty.
Efra Quevedo and Poka Matagi had the honor of being selected as Wolf Royalty for Homecoming 2017. Quevedo is the Treasurer of Omega Delta Phi fraternity and President of the Fraternity and Sorority Council, the Student Coordinator for the Upward Bound program and volunteers as a Multicultural Representative mentor. Matagi is Vice President of Western’s Kappa Delta Chi chapter, as well as a Multicultural Representative mentor with the Multicultural Student Services and Programs office. Both Quevedo and Matagi are serving in Costa Rica this December and volunteering with at-risk youth in impoverished areas.
The crown was awarded to current Western seniors who have been nominated by students, organizations and staff members. In years past, the two Wolf Royalty individuals were chosen solely by popular vote. This year, however, the nominees underwent an interview process to be eligible for Wolf Royalty. The nominees were given scores in the interview based on the core values that Western leaders should possess: excellence, diversity and respect, and sustainability and stewardship. The score from their interview combined with the popular vote score decided which individuals received the crown.
