The Western Howl, Author at The Western Howl

Ashlynn Norton | Digital Media Manager

For a very long time, self-care felt like a very elusive thing to me. What I heard from the majority of society and my friends was that it consisted of taking bubble baths and binging on Netflix. I didn’t know how to start my journey or what it would look like for me. I tried doing things that I had seen others do: cooking, watching Netflix or drinking tea. Even today, I don’t fully know what works for me. There are so many things out there to try, what if I pick the wrong thing?

I recently — and by recently, I mean two weeks ago — started to learn one way to perceive self-care. The little sliver of information I have regarding self-care came from my learning seminar class taught by Lizzy Harman. Harman, the Assistant Director of Student Success and Advising at the Student Success and Advising Center, has been studying self-care for a little over two years now. With a master’s in rehabilitation mental health counseling, Harman wanted to see how self-care related to advising students.

Harman thought she knew what self-care was since she has a background in counseling. She soon discovered that she was wrong, and did not understand the subject as well as she thought she did.

“It started as a research fascination and then became a personal fascination because it wasn’t going so well for me,” Harman said. “But also it was important to me that we could kind of talk about it in the field of advising because I think it has been seen as a weakness or a shameful act in a lot of ways and I really wanted it to be a part of the conversation of how we train new advisers.”

Self-care can be defined in many different ways. Harman’s favorite definition is “Any act or experience (that) maintains or enhances your wellbeing.”

“That’s very highly individualized and based on who you are as a person, and the things that you value and the things that are important to you,” Harman added. “I also prescribe to this belief that self-care is not just about yourself, it’s about the people around you. That the ability to care for yourself means that you are better able to be present and show up for the people around you.”

Harman also believes that self-care has to be preventative and treatment-based.

Further expanding on the idea, Harman explains “Where you are doing things to get through stress and challenge, but you’re also taking care of yourself in the long term of building things in your life so that you don’t have to take an escape or take a break from your life,” she said.

Harman has taught me that “escaping” is not the best route to take when life gets a little too hard and you need to take some time for some self-care. Self-care is about creating a strong base (prevention) and then occasionally doing something to realign yourself if you get a little off track (treatment).

So, for those who are like me and are stuck at the fork in the road not really sure which path of self-care to take, I hope this sheds a little light on the best path for you. As for me, I’m going to stick with my salt baths and regular beach trips.

Contact the author at anorton17@wou.edu

Photo by Rachel Hetzel

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Spice up your pumpkin pie with this recipe

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Family recipes are something that are often protected and cherished – this is true for my family as well. Once fall rolls around, my mom takes the time to start baking fall inspired goodies for the next three months. One dessert she never fails to prepare is a delicious pumpkin pie, here’s the recipe she follows. Happy baking season.

PUMPKIN PIE

Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes

1 (9 inch) unbaked deep dish pie crust

¾ cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of ground ginger

¼ teaspoon of ground cloves

2 eggs

1 (15 ounce) can of 100% pure pumpkin

1 (12 fluid ounce) can of evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F°

Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in a larger bowl. Stir in the pumpkin and the sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk. Pour the finished mixture into the pie shell.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F°. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Do not freeze — this will cause the crust and filling to separate.

To create a more festive Halloween pie, try using cookie cutters to create some spooky shapes to place on top of the pie, such as a ghost, bat, spider, or pumpkin. Cookie cutters in the shapes of various leaves are an alternative for a general fall look.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

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Pick the perfect fall pumpkin patch near Monmouth

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Need to grab some last minute pumpkins to carve? Want to get into a festive fall spirit and potentially decorate for the holidays? Check out these nearby pumpkin patches to satiate that gourd-geous desire.

Davis Family Farm not only has pumpkins galore, but customers can also enjoy hayrides directly to the pumpkin patch and a trip through their corn maze. Located in Corvallis at 4380 NE Highway 20, the pumpkin patch stays open from Sept. 30 to Oct. 31, but stays open further into the year.

Various seasonal fruits and vegetables can be bought after pumpkin season has passed, and are available to be hand picked directly. In addition, it has cider and doughnuts available to purchase.

Admission costs $4, and can be found on Facebook, on Instagram (@davisfamilyfarm.inc), and Twitter (@RussellDavis4).

Vince Woods Farm is located at 6435 62nd Ave NE in Salem and stays open for pumpkin picking during the month of October. Pumpkins, gourds, squash and wheat are available for low prices.

Along with their Pumpkin Forest, the farm has a corn maze and a caboose. The corn maze takes up two-thirds of an acre, and, according to their website, is deceptively simple. The caboose goes in hand with the Pumpkin Forest, and is supposedly “gently haunted,” according to their Facebook page.

Admission for this year is $1 for the Pumpkin Forest and an additional 50 cents for the corn maze. Vince Woods Farm can be found on Facebook and at their website vincewoodsfarm.com.

EZ Orchards, open year-round, is located in Salem at 5504 Hazelgreen Rd NE. Pumpkins are located across a field outside of their corn maze adorned with pumpkin-themed decorations.

A shop filled with produce and various Oregon novelties is located outside the field of pumpkins where customers can buy fresh, homemade pumpkin and apple cider doughnuts. Several seasonal crops are available for purchase during and after pumpkin season.

Admission costs $3 per person, which goes towards a discount for final pumpkin pricing; EZ Orchards can be found at their website www.ezorchards.com.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photos by Cora McClain

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Spirits you don’t need sheets to see

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Haunted houses begin to pop up once October rolls around, just in time for Halloween. However, there are locations near Monmouth that stayed haunted year-round.

Western’s own Todd Hall is said to be haunted. The legend at Western says it’s haunted by the former Dean of Women and Dean of Dormitories and the namesake of the building, Jessica Todd. According to current and former students, she doesn’t like males being in the building since it used to be a strictly female residence hall.

People have reported hearing footsteps in the hallway and see the lights flicker on and off. Objects such as paper are supposedly moved when no one has touched them.

Todd is also said to move locations to the Cottage, which was where she lived while working on campus according to the Hamersly Library Instagram. Supposedly, she moves there to scare people who have stayed out past dark.

Travel to Salem and visit the Elsinore Theater at 170 High Street SE, where visitors are said to feel an eerie presence when entering the building. It’s considered a historic 1930s landmark, and is a popular location for many modern theater productions.

According to traveloregon.com, there’s a girl in a white dress that is frequently spotted on the upper balcony. She’s said to be the original owner’s daughter, and fell from the balcony where she’s seen. A ‘ghost light’ stays lit on the stage, and workers and visitors have said they see shadows when no one is walking across.

The Bush House Museum is another location in Salem that’s reportedly haunted by Eugenia, the daughter of Asahel Bush II, the one who built the mansion. According to hauntedrooms.com, she’s said to be keeping watch of the building, where her apparition is seen often. Visitors have reportedly said a disembodied female voice can be heard throughout the house.

Salem Ghost Tours offers official history walkthroughs of locations that are considered haunted throughout the year which take place on Friday and Saturday evenings. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for youth aged 7–17. More information and bookings can be found at their website salemghosttours.net.

Independence hosts a Ghost Walk each year on Oct 5, which tours haunted spots such as the Pink House. Dallas has recently begun the History and Mystery tours of buildings that hold chilling stories throughout the town. It costs $25 a person and takes place Oct 1–Nov 1. Monmouth also hosted their first History and Mystery night this year where they talked about the ghosts of the town.

NW Ghost Tours hosts a Walk with Spirits tour that takes place in Oregon City from June–December every year, and can be found at their website www.nwghosttours.com.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@mail.wou.edu

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Check out Haole Island Grill for another food truck option

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Haole Island Grill is located in Independence at 1350 Monmouth St in the parking lot near Roth’s. It’s owned and operated by Christopher Savignard, who started the food truck in February.

Savignard is a graduate from the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, and is a classically trained French chef. He wants to own his own restaurant someday, using the food truck as a step towards reaching that goal.

Savignard and his wife initially lived in Las Vegas, Nevada before moving to Monmouth in June 2018. He picked the area based on the size of the town and the desire to slow down his fast-paced lifestyle.

“We love small town living and wanted to stay local and offer a unique dining choice for the wonderful people in the Monmouth/Independence Community,” he said.

He got the name for the food truck from a previous term used by his coworkers while he worked in Las Vegas.

“I used to work with quite a few Hawaiians in Las Vegas,” said Savignard. “I would often cook family meals for my crew, and they would say ‘Wow! This Haole can cook!’ They said it with love & affection and I never took it any other way.”

Their menu consists of island inspired dishes; Savignard and his wife had travelled throughout the Hawaiian Islands, Polynesia and the Caribbean, which is where he got his inspiration from.

For first-time customers, he recommends a few items based on the customer’s preference or current mood. Usually, the Hawaiian-inspired Haole-Huli Chicken or Mojo Steak topped with homemade Chimichurri sauce is what he recommends. The Haole-Huli Chicken is chicken with Hawaiian-style BBQ, and the Mojo Steak is made with a Cuban Citrus Marinade.

If a customer is craving something with a little heat, Savignard recommends the Jamaican Inspired Jerk Chicken. In addition, he suggests the Tropical Chips and Pineapple-Mango Salsa as a beginning appetizer along with a Marionberry Mock-Mojito as a beverage choice.

According to Savignard, their signature dish is the Haole-Huli Chicken Island Plate on a bed of Coconut Rice with Polynesian Macaroni Salad & Tropical Mango Coleslaw, and he recommends that it be paired with the signature drink: the Marionberry Mock-Mojito. For customers that don’t prefer meat, Haole Island Grill offers a few vegan dishes, such as tofu and Caribbean Spiced Black Beans.

“Our goal is to provide the best of the best while creating something special for our guests,” Savignard said. “Every detail, every component is made with passion and pride in order to craft a delicious meal that will keep them coming back for more. As we like to say, Come and Get Your Grub On!”

Haole Island Grill is open from 11:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and from 12–6 p.m. on Saturdays. They also travel for events, which are posted to Facebook and their Instagram at the handle @haoleislandgrill, and can be found on their website www.HaoleIslandGrill.com as well.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@mail.wou.edu

Photos by Cora McClain

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Album review of “Mala Santa” from the impressive Becky G

Never Retallack | Entertainment Editor

Those who are ready for an album to dance to, take a listen to Becky G’s new album released on Oct. 11, “Mala Santa.”

Rebecca Marie Gomez, known as Becky G, is only 22 years old and was discovered in 2011 while covering songs on YouTube. She initially released songs in English, some well known such as “Shower” and “Can’t Get Enough ft. Pitbull” before she switched to her Latin roots in 2017 and released songs solely in Spanish.

Just this month, Becky G was awarded the Extraordinary Evolution Award at the Latin American Music Awards, a result of the success she has achieved and a prediction of all that is to come from this star.

She is also an actress, starring as the Yellow Power Ranger in the 2017 film “Power Rangers,” and some animated movies as well. Currently, Becky G is more focused on her music.

Her album “Mala Santa” is a reflection of her journey in the spotlight — being signed onto a contract at only 14 years old, she went through that challenge of growing from a young innocent teen to a woman while the world watches.

She decided to name her album “Mala Santa” because she felt as if she is the music industry’s mala santa. In Spanish “mala” means “bad” and “santa” is referring to the concept of “holy” in her lyrics. So in essence she is a singer who is neither bad nor holy, but something in between.

“I think people now understand and see that I am still very much so that sweetheart, that little angel that they first met, I’ve just grown up into a woman,” Becky G said in an interview with Billboard.

Out of the 16 songs on her album, nine of them feature other artists; a great amount of collaboration went into completing this. Every song has a catchy chorus, an undeniable beat, and Becky G’s amazing voice serenading listeners. Most of her songs have themes such as love, drinking, partying, heartbreak and misunderstandings.

While these themes are quite similar among most pop, the catchiness and fast-paced songs are enthralling. Each bop on the album encourages listeners to dance along.

Her song “ME ACOSTUMBRE” featuring Mau y Ricky is one of my favorites on the album, really showcasing her vocals with bigger runs and more focus on her voice.

The must-listen song will have to be “MALA SANTA” as it is a sensual play discussing essentially her naughty and nice side, which ties to her album cover of her in all black on one side and all white on the other: a balance between her devilish and angelic aspects.

Overall Rating: Regardless of your Spanish comprehension, this album is a crowd pleaser for anyone needing an album to dance to.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of iambeckyg.com

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An exploration of the popular haunted house Fear PDX

Never Retallack | Entertainment Editor

Haunted houses — a Halloween classic, and a way to be terrified that is safer and more interactive than a horror movie.

I am personally a huge fan of these events and I go to at least two or three different spooks every October. Fear PDX is a particular haunted house that I have been going to for the past few years. Based in Portland, they offer a collection of different themed houses on one site.

We waited approximately 2.5 hours outside before even getting inside the venue. A notable difference this year while waiting in line was the inclusion of a DJ. While that may sound weird or out of place, dancing to the early 2000 bops he was playing, it was a perfect way to kill the time.

There was also a good number of scary actors going around and interacting with the masses — jumping, crawling and revving a chainsaw as they went.

Up until this year, Fear PDX was typically held in the Moda Center and the eager crowds had to wait in a large line for at least an hour before entering the floor where the different themed “houses” were. Then, they’d wait in those individual lines for about 30-40 minutes.

This year, they held their attraction on Glisan Street in an empty building where they combined all of the themed houses into one seamless walk. The four houses set up were: Doll Factory, Dead City, The Mansion and Dark Carnival.

By far, the Doll Factory was the scariest, with actors delivering each line with an eerie voice and looking at us with unblinking eyes — not breaking character at all.

The actual experience of going through the house was full of strobe lights, fog machines, loud sound effects and a lot of screaming, but the amount of time spent walking through each house took a total of 30 minutes.

The general admission ticket cost $28, while the VIP pass that allowed you to skip the lines cost $50. There was a bonus house that cost an additional $8 and was “interactive,” meaning the actors were allowed to grab you. I personally am not a fan of houses such as these so I don’t know how scary this particular portion was.

Overall rating: The spooks provided by Fear PDX were decent enough for the amount paid; the wait time was a little ridiculous — also typical for a successful haunted house. The added touch of a DJ did not go unappreciated, and there was enough happening in the actual haunted houses to keep me jumping in fright and eager to escape back into the night.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photos courtesy of fearpdx.com

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Opinion: Is there more to self-care than Netflix and bubble baths?

Spice up your pumpkin pie with this recipe

Pick the perfect fall pumpkin patch near Monmouth

Spirits you don’t need sheets to see

Check out Haole Island Grill for another food truck option

Album review of “Mala Santa” from the impressive Becky G

An exploration of the popular haunted house Fear PDX

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