Mount Hood

Journey towards success after loss of motivation

Karlene Curtin | Staff Writer

“Failure is not the opposite of success, failure is simply apart of its journey.” This quote was said by business woman Arianna Huffington, creator of Huffington Post. Huffington is one of many who have worked hard for their dreams to become a reality.  
Choosing to continue one’s dreams despite the obstacles and defeats are related to courage and pushing forward. Whether the goals are in relation to a career, academics, athletics or any other reason, the fear of failure or the feeling of failure can affect motivation and stamina towards one’s progress.
There are many solutions to push forward. Here is a list of  ways to regain motivation, even if failure or the loss of motivation have occurred.

 

Change perspective:

Mistakes or some sort of set back may have occurred. Take a step back and reflect on what happened. I suggest writing down a checklist to account for what went wrong.

Learn from it:

Change your perspective on mistakes. Understand that faults happen and it is a natural part of the learning process. When it comes to trying new things, mistakes are inevitable. It is better to learn from them than to dwell on them.

Grow from it:

A major part of growing is learning from mistakes and realizing what works. Mistakes and failures are a major part of life; learning from these setbacks can make one a better version of themselves.

Look for inspiration:

Find inspiration through others. Seeing how others complete their goals can help create a new strategy. New techniques and a new mindset can help complete goals that could be beneficial for reaching success.

Remind yourself why you started:

Asking the “why?” question is super important when trying to complete a goal. Whether it is career, school or even the beginning of a new project or health plan, reminding oneself “why?”  can remind us why we begin this journey in the first place. It can possibly bring back loss of motivation too.

Try again:

Don’t ever give up on dreams. Push through the unique journey, even if it takes more than a second time to try.

 

Contact the author at kcurtin14@wou.edu

Photo by Rebecca Meyers

Tools and resources to improve your writing

Rebecca Meyers | Lifestyle Editor

Writing is one of those things that is inevitable in college for just about any major. Even those opting to study completely different subjects have to do it, and some students even have to face the daunting task of writing a thesis. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of tools and resources to help tackle writing assignments, both on-campus and off.

 

Writing Center

Western’s Writing Center is where students and their work can receive one-on-one attention from tutors that can help with any kind of writing purpose. A full list of their hours, services and contact information can be found at wou.edu/writingctr.

Writer’s Crucible

One of Western’s newest additions, the Writer’s Crucible is a group on campus for regular writers who want to improve their overall writing in an environment of other writers. For more information, contact Natalie Dean at ndean17@wou.edu.

Grammarly

This online tool is a free and simple way to do basic grammar checks while writing any important paper. It’s not necessarily a substitute for proofreading, but it does help eliminate a lot of basic mistakes.

Google Scholar

Tired of having to sort through results on Google to find credible sources? Google Scholar narrows your search to academic and peer reviewed sources only.

Mendeley

This free online tool helps store research and organize papers. It allows users to upload almost any document to use later for reference or storage and even has a bibliography tool.

Writer’s Diet

This quick and easy online tool will analyze a segment of writing and analyze the ways in which it may be too wordy. Students should note, however, that most academic papers tend to score poorly in the abstract nouns section due to the nature of research papers, but it’s a good way to check unnecessary words in the other categories, such as use of adverbs.

Easybib

This online tool is a go-to for many students in creating or learning how to create the different types of citations. Results usually have to be double-checked and occasionally edited, but it creates a good initial framework either way for creating citations.

 

Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu

Photo by Rebecca Meyers

How to make gluten-free teriyaki chicken with ramen noodles

Morgan Taylor | Freelancer

A simple recipe that can easily be altered to your liking, this dish is full of hidden vegetables and can basically be made with any that are on hand. Also, if gluten-free isn’t your thing, this recipe works with any type of instant ramen noodles as a cheap and fast alternative.

 

TERIYAKI CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES WITH RAMEN NOODLES

Start to finish: 40 minutes

Servings: About 4 portions

 

Ingredients:

2 medium-to-large chicken breasts

1 tablespoon avocado oil or olive oil

Poultry seasoning — a few pinches

1 medium onion — sliced

1 yellow pepper — sliced

1 orange pepper — sliced

1 ½ cups of snap peas

2 cups of cabbage (pre-shredded works)

2 minced garlic cloves

3 packs of gluten-free ramen noodles

3 cups of water

3-4 tablespoons of gluten-free teriyaki sauce

 

Instructions:

Chop up chicken into either strips or chunks, using a separate cutting board for the raw chicken, and slice onions.

Heat up oil in wok or large pan on medium-high heat and then add chicken, onions and garlic. Season chicken with poultry seasoning. Cook until chicken turns white on the outsides.

Add half of the teriyaki sauce. Simmer until caramelized.

Reduce to medium heat. Add peppers and snap peas. Cook for about one minute.

While the peppers cook, begin to boil water in separate pot. Add noodles in and cook for approximately 2 minutes. Separate noodles with fork as it cooks.

Drain noodles and add to stir fry. Add cabbage and the remaining teriyaki sauce. Cook for one minute.

Serve and enjoy.

 

Contact the author at  mrtaylor14@wou.edu

Photo by Morgan Taylor

Spring festivals and events near Western

Rebecca Meyers | Lifestyle Editor

One reason spring is so great is that it feels like a build up to summer festivities and outdoor activities. As the sun starts to come out, so do many of the annual events near Western. Almost all of them occur on the weekends, making them fairly accessible to students. Here’s a short list of upcoming events to get you started when festival season starts to roll around.

 

Food Truck Frenzy:

Put on by the Willamette Humane Society, this pet-friendly event featuring music, food and drinks will be happening this May.

Date: May 17

Address: 4246 Turner Rd SE, Salem

 

Willamette Valley Wine Festival:

This is an event held on the Salem riverfront, a beautiful place during the spring. The Willamette Valley Wine Festival is a great chance to enjoy one of the Willamette Valley’s famous products, and a great chance to support local businesses while enjoying Salem in springtime.

Date: May 19

Address:  Riverfront City Park: 200 Water St SE, Salem

 

Portland Rose Festival:

Nothing says spring like a festival celebrating flowers. The Rose City’s annual Rose Festival is one of it’s most famous events, located in downtown Portland near the riverfront.

Date: Begins May 24

Address: Tom McCall Waterfront Park: 98 SW Naito Pkwy, Portland

 

Canby Wine, Food and Brew Fest:

Part of Clackamas County’s annual Fair and Rodeo, this Canby festival at the Clackamas County fairgrounds is another great event for experiencing the Willamette Valley’s signature tastes. While you’re at it, you can also experience a classic county fair rodeo.

Date: May 31

Address: 694 NE 4th Ave, Canby

 

Oregon Renaissance Fair:

Period costumes, music, vendors and entertainment are all part of Canby’s annual Renaissance fair. This event will be happening two weekends, so there’s two chances to experience this medieval Scotland inspired festival.

Date: June 8-9, 15-16

Address: 694 NE 4th Ave, Canby

 

Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu

John Vanderslice visits the Space Concert Club on tour for new album “The Cedars”

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

John Vanderslice could be described many ways, but the label “influential” is one that everyone can objectively agree on. According to johnvanderslice.com, Vanderslice has produced and collaborated with bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, St. Vincent, The Mountain Goats, Grandaddy, Teen Daze, Sleater-Kinney and many others.

Vanderslice came to Salem on a tour promoting his new album, “The Cedars.” Released April 4, this album has broken the musician’s five-year-long solo career hiatus. In November 2013, while on tour in Ohio for his album “Dagger Beach,” Vanderslice was in a high-speed car accident.

“After that happened, maybe a second later, I was like, I’m done. I don’t want to die in a van. It wasn’t sad, it wasn’t celebratory. It was just like, eh, I had a good run,” Vanderslice was quoted in a New Yorker article written by Jason Fagone. Afterwards, Vanderslice’s hiatus commenced.

“The Cedars” album was inspired by a piece of land in West Sonoma, California. The Cedars is an 11 by 11 square mile canyon near a piece of land owned by Vanderslice.

“It’s only 6 miles away but it takes up a mythic space in my mind, like the perfect sound, the perfect lyric. It is unreachable. A lot of this record was written on this land, under the heavy influence of this place,” Vanderslice wrote in the album notes on his website.

Vanderslice has been writing music since he was a young teen. Flash forward to 1989, and Vanderslice moved to San Francisco and made three records with the band MK Ultra. In 1997, the musician opened Tiny Telephone Recording, providing a recording space to the indie rock community of the Bay Area. Since the beginning of his career, Vanderslice has released 11 albums, a handful of singles and is credited on 186 albums on allmusic.com.

“The songwriting process of this record was so radically different … we kind of entered into this irrational machine world,” said Vanderslice in a mini-documentary directed by Cooper Kenward about the making of “The Cedars.” Vanderslice favors analog, which is strongly apparent, especially in this new album. This is a style Vanderslice labels “sloppy hi-fi” in the same New Yorker interview.

On April 24, in the basement of the Space Concert Club, Vanderslice played a show with opening band Meerna, who also hail from Southern California. The 51-year-old musician’s eccentric purple hair matched the cool-hued show lights. After a handful of solo-songs by Vanderslice, he was joined by Meerna and they played a selection of songs, most from “The Cedars,” including “Will Call” and “I’ll Wait for You.”

Vanderslice has a passionate and captivating stage presence, and although his dancing skills aren’t the best, they definitely enhanced the performance. The venue was full of dedicated fans, and the kitchen even named a pie after the headlining musician. The love for Vanderslice in Salem was easily observable and made the performance that much more enjoyable.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo by Chrys Weedon

Graphic Novel Review: “The Nameless City” Trilogy

Cora McClain | Copy Editor

“All called the City their home. And who could say that any of them were wrong?” This text ends the introductory panels of “The Stone Heart,” the second of the “Nameless City” graphic novel trilogy. Those two panels illustrate the core theme author Faith Erin Hicks explores — identity.

The story follows Kaidu, a young boy from the warrior nation occupying the Nameless City. Along the way he makes an unlikely friend in a girl named Rat who was born in the city and orphaned by the occupying forces as a young child. With the city as their backdrop, our two protagonists explore what it means to identify with a people while stumbling onto a nefarious plot to overthrow and destroy the city.

While the plot and villains introduced in the second and third books might fall a bit flat for me, the cultural tension which sparks the plot is far more interesting. It’s a bit uncanny to see a city filled with all sorts of different people from many different nations look at an individual and judge them solely on the nation they belong to. Kaidu’s nation even has a word for people who are not of the nation, literally meaning they are not a person. Let’s just say Hicks is pretty heavy-handed with getting her message across.

Regardless of the thick metaphors, exploring identity on the basis of nationality and where a person is born allows for a juxtaposition with the world outside of the pages of the books. Meant for young teens, the trilogy does its job of trying to show the reader inconsistencies in that sort of judgement. However, I think the first book “The Nameless City” does that better alone, whereas the two others just complicate the message with the introduction of “dangerous knowledge plot device” and villains whose motives are not clearly set from the beginning. The one saving grace would be the satisfactory ending that leaves no loose ends.

Besides my obvious contempt for the overarching plot, the artstyle and fluid action scenes are glorious. Invoking an artstyle similar to “Avatar the Last Airbender,” with thick expressive lines and facial expressions, there was never a moment when I wasn’t absorbed in the colorful world of “The Nameless City.”

Altogether, I don’t hate the trilogy, but I appreciate “The Nameless City” as a standalone novel far more than the addition of the other two books and their shaky plotline. It just kind of feels like there’s a disconnect from the first novel and the other two, and I enjoyed the complexities, characters and plot of the former over the latter.

 

Overall Rating: I would recommend “The Nameless City” for anyone, especially as an introduction to graphic novels or comics. I would suggest only reading the rest of the trilogy if you want to learn more about the City Builders.

 

Contact the author at howlcopyeditor@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of us.macmillan.com

“The Silence” anaylsis

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

There seems to have been an uptick in pieces of media that feature characters with disabilities, and storylines that depend on them, in post-apocalypse worlds. “A Quiet Place” was immensely popular — popular enough to warrant a sequel, according to vanityfair.com. Recent Netflix release “Black Summer” features a Deaf character who is challenged by his “disability” in a world infested with zombies. “Bird Box” is based on the premise that being “blind” is the biggest asset one can have when looking at a monster can kill you. Netflix’s newest release, “The Silence,” follows this trend.

Released April 10, “The Silence” follows a family, who happens to have a deaf daughter, through the onset of an apocalypse wherein ancient bat-like beasts escape from caves deep within the Earth and viciously attack anything that makes noise. Sound familiar?

Similarities between “The Silence” and “A Quiet Place” seem to end there, however. The main character of “The Silence,” Ally, is recently deaf after a severe car accident that led to her deafness. Ally still speaks clearly, has some residual hearing, favors speaking with her voice to her family and even narrates bits of the movie. Ally’s rudimentary signing skills and her preference for speaking aloud fit in well enough with the storyline, since it is mentioned that only three years have passed since she became deaf, but it’s more apparently related to the fact that her actress, Kiernan Shipka, is hearing.

Other than the disappointing fact that a Deaf actress wasn’t hired — of which there are many — there were other inconsistencies and unfortunate stereotypes that “The Silence” seemed to play into. Whenever the perspective switched to Ally’s point of view, sounds were muffled — because apparently there’s no other way to show that she is deaf — and there was always a sharp ringing noise that overpowered everything else. The ringing noise had no obvious or necessary reason to exist, as it didn’t tie into the storyline or character development. Although “The Silence” was technically a book before “A Quiet Place” even came out, the film used a lot of the same storytelling techniques that “A Quiet Place” used, with more of the “can you only believe if having a disability wasn’t the end of the world?” sentiment.

Other than the tired tropes about disability, “The Silence” used very quick and convenient plotlines to move the story, which is understandable since the movie only runs an hour and 30 minutes. Stanley Tucci did a great job, but the film overall left much to be desired.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Netflix.com

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