Mount Hood

Student veterans hosts campus-wide Easter egg hunt

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

Brightly colored orbs are being carefully placed all around Monmouth Avenue — waiting to be found. All throughout the week leading up to Easter Sunday, students might notice the ongoing Easter egg hunt that is being hosted by WOU Student Veterans of America from April 15-18.

Just by returning any eggs that they find to the Veterans Resource Center in the lower level of the Werner University Center, students will win a prize.

“We hide eggs on Monmouth Avenue on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and students have all week to come in and win a prize,” said Cole Hendren, Communications Officer for SVA. “Each person is allotted two eggs per day, and then you can only win one of the major prizes.”

While the majority of the prizes are smaller things like candy, the club is also giving away board games, sporting equipment, gift cards to local restaurants and more. Some of their bigger prizes include a 55-inch Smart TV and a Roku.

How can students win prizes like the TV, then?

“You’ve got to find the right egg,” said Hendren. “Each egg has a little note inside, and the note has a number. Then the number corresponds to a list that we have where the numbers are connected to each prize… so we have no idea putting them out which ones they are.”

Reflecting on their hopes for the event, Stephanie Mahoney, SVA Chapter President, shared that the club is trying to make this one of their biggest community events of the year.

“We’ve been trying to make this one of our club traditions to make this an annual event to let people know that we’re here as well as to connect with other students,” said Mahoney.

Hendren also shared how this event is strategically placed to reach out to students at a time of the year when many might feel sad at not being able to go home to their families.

“I think, for a lot of kids who can’t go home for Easter but who do celebrate it, this is a cool deal,” said Hendren. “It’s a nice ‘hey, you’re not alone.’ We’re all here together, and if you can’t go home, that’s okay.”

Looking forward to the rest of the year, a few of the SVA events that Mahoney and Hendren are excited for are a headstone cleaning on Memorial Day, a banquet with the Veterans Resource Center and a panel during Diversity Week where student veterans share their experiences.

One final thing that Mahoney and Hendren emphasized is that the WOU Student Veterans of America is not exclusively a club for veterans — anyone can join.

“When you have a group like this where a bunch of veterans get together, it gives you a sense of family again,” said Hendren.

Students can learn more about the Student Veterans of America by visiting them in the Veterans Resource Center of by attending one of their biweekly club meetings that take place on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. in WUC 108.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Ashlynn Norton

Stonewall Center hosts “Queer People of Faith Panel”

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

For many people in the LGBTQ community, it is challenging to continue associating with the religious groups they grew up with because they no longer feel like they are accepted by those communities. A common narrative says that LGBTQ identities and religion are mutually exclusive, but this is not something that all people believe. To talk about this further, the Stonewall Center organized a “Queer People of Faith Panel” on April 9 in the Werner University Center to discuss common issues that people who identify as both religious and LGBTQ experience.

With students of Muslim, Christian, Spiritual and Jewish faiths represented between the six panelists, a variety of perspectives were present at the event. In terms of sexuality, these students primarily identified as pansexual, gay and lesbian — although some of them acknowledged that it was not that cut and dry.

When panelists talked about their relationship with their respective religions before coming out, they largely echoed positive experiences of tight-knit communities and family traditions. However, this generally changed for people once those who have done so came out.

“I knew I was gay since I was probably like 8, but because of my faith and what I grew up with I didn’t talk about it,” said one of the panelists.

Another of the panelists shared that they had a similar experience of distancing themselves from the church because they did not feel welcome.

“When I came out, I felt that religion and spirituality wasn’t for me and would never be for me because I had been so hurt by it,” said the panelist. “And it was a process of one to two years for me to discover that religion and spirituality is what I want it to be, and it’s still a process. Those conflicting things is a really central part of me and it’s something that I’ve really worked to heal in myself.”

From a different perspective, a couple of the panelists who described growing up in a more liberal community did not feel the same severity of judgment that these first panelists did.

“Where I grew up and how I was raised it was never a big thing, but it was also never really spoken about. So, there is some work to be done there,” said a panelist.

One thing that the panelists agreed upon was that it is important for queer communities to be having more discussions around religious identities and religious communities to be having more conversations about queer identities, since both of these will help to bridge the gap that currently exists in many places between these two groups.

“I am so grateful for having grown up religious and having come out as queer,” said one panelist to conclude. “It’s been real s—– sometimes, but it has given me such depth and such perspective about what it means to grow up and think one way and to entirely shift my perspective.”

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Bailey Thompson

Q&A: Welcoming Lisette Cervantes to Abby’s House

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

Can you tell me a bit about your new position?

I work with both Abby’s House and the Food Pantry. So, for Abby’s House, that is the Bilingual Advocate part. And that’s giving direct service to victims and survivors. And for the Outreach Coordinator part, it’s through the Food Pantry — supervising and helping with food insecurities around campus.

What is one fun fact about you that people might not expect?

I love skateboarding… I’ve been practicing at it, and I really enjoy that. Also, I used to want to be a pastry chef.

What did your life look like before entering this position?

I recently just graduated this last term. So, it’s pretty fresh right now. Starting my freshman year, I did mentoring for two years with the MCR (Multicultural Representatives) program, and that is being a mentor for two to three incoming freshmen who are low-income, first-generation or (have) diverse backgrounds… And then I’ve been an advocate with Abby’s House for three years and two of those where I was the office coordinator here. And I was a research assistant with the suicide prevention grant here on campus. I also did an internship at Sable House, so that definitely helped prepare me for this position.

What about this position drew you to apply and stick around after graduating?

I’m very passionate about advocacy and helping underrepresented people — just bringing more inclusivity and resources to our campus. Being bilingual is a new thing for us, and I think that’s a great thing to have to support people even more.

What are some of your favorite things about Monmouth and the Western community?

I really like that it’s a small community, so we’re able to just be more personal and help more people. It’s very welcoming. Also, I’m an undocumented student, and I’ve found a lot of support from Western and their different programs.

How do you think that this position will challenge you moving forward?

I think it’s a challenge going from someone who is a part of a team … to now being more of a leader and being in charge. But, I think also doing more outreach because a lot of people don’t know about our services — so getting the word out there is important.

What is one goal that you have for Abby’s House or the Food Pantry in the future?

I think I would just like us to be even more inclusive. We’re adding these roles that I think will help to just house things in one place instead of having to navigate through this whole system. So, definitely just being a place where people can come to be safe and welcome and to get the support that they need.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo by Bailey Thompson

A look inside Spring Term at Abby’s House

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

Of all the things happening at Abby’s House this term, one of the biggest piece of news is the addition of Lisette Cervantes to the Abby’s House professional staff. After receiving a grant last March, Aislinn Addington, Abby’s House Director, initially struggled to find someone to fill the position; however, it worked well to hire Cervantes because of her unique perspective as a student, her training and her experience at Western.

Moving forward, Cervantes will spend 60-70% of her time at Abby’s House and 30-40% with the Food Pantry. Addington shared that her duties will be beneficial because she will provide direct support to Spanish-speaking students as well as reach out to traditionally underserved populations like LGBTQ students and students with disabilities to see what ways they can be better served at Abby’s House. This will also be the first time that professional staff hours have been dedicated to supporting the Food Pantry.

On top of welcoming Cervantes, there are a number of events coming up during Spring Term that students can put on their calendars.

“April is traditionally Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but in Oregon we’ve switched that up a little bit so it’s Sexual Assault Action Month,” said Addington.

Coming up, Abby’s House will be promoting their Start by Believing Campaign, which urges students to be loving and supportive of individuals who come to them about sexual assault.

Another event Addington is excited about is called “The Truth about Trafficking,” which will be held on April 18 in Abby’s House.

“Ashley Anstett from the Sexual Assault Task Force is coming to campus to talk about human trafficking in Oregon,” said Addington. She will be talking with the Western community about the issue locally as well as what people can do to be supportive to survivors.

On April 25, Abby’s House will be collaborating with Alpha Chi Omega to have a Denim Day table where they will have students make DIY denim crafts. They will also tell them about Denim Day — a day recognized every year which commemorates an instance in Italy in 1992 where a young woman was sexually assaulted by her drivers ed instructor, but where the court initially ruled that she had given consent because she was wearing tight jeans.

“Jeans are just a reminder of the amount of victim-blaming that goes on and the difficulty that we have in prosecuting these crimes everywhere,” said Addington.

A couple of other things that students can look out for in the upcoming term are the Student Health and Counseling Center beginning to offer forensic exams for students and Abby’s House putting on an event about alternatives to traditional menstrual products.

If students would like to learn more about any of these events or if students are interested in becoming an Abby’s House advocate for the 2019-2020 academic year, they can email Addington at addingtona@wou.edu or Cervantes at cervantesalmontel@wou.edu. They can also contact a new confidential advocate email address, confidentialadvocate@wou.edu, if they would like to share something with a confidential advocate like Addington or Cervantes.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

“Harry Potter” drag show puts a spell on audiences

Mikaela Wong | Staff Writer

In what has become arguably one of the most anticipated events of the school year, the Western Oregon University Drag Show lived up to its hype. The 23rd annual drag show broke records as it became the first time that the show held two production nights and both completely sold out.

This year’s theme: “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of the Gender Binary.” A gender binary is defined by Wikipedia as “the classification of gender into two distinct, opposite, and disconnected forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system or cultural belief.”

The main overarching themes in the show were inclusiveness, representation and acceptance.

Dancer Seraphim Benoist said, “We really focused on making this show a safe and inclusive space for absolutely anyone, no matter how you identify. No matter what you think, you’re here to dance and be beautiful.”

Susannah Doepken wrote and directed last year’s show, and played the role of Lupin this year.

Doepken added, “I think there’s a really wide range of characters and it’s written in a way where a lot of people can feel represented. Hopefully someone in the audience who has never seen representation of themselves can feel represented in the show.”

At one point in the performance, many of the characters stood at the front of the stage holding flags that represented people of different identities such as asexual, bisexual, allies and of course, the rainbow pride flag.

Rhianna Salman, who wrote and directed the show, dedicated it to Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender women who were one of the first to fight back during the riots in New York City in 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, which later became known as the place where the Pride parade was born.

“We literally have them to thank for being able to be here,” said Salman, “the Stonewall riots and the first pride march … that’s why I choose to represent Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson… I also want to thank Shelby Wanser, Sam Fennell and Rory Krehbiel for contributing to the script writing.”

Rarely during the show was there silence in the audience. Bouts of screaming, whistling, cheering and shouting were continuous throughout the various numbers that consisted of choreographed dances, lip syncing and lots of pelvic thrusting. The energy in the room was electric, with sexual jokes being cracked every other line.

Daria Keidar, who played Harry in the show, heard about the show through friends she met in dance class.

“I just wanted to be a part of it and part of the show so I just auditioned,” Keidar said. “I’ve been dancing since I was five years old and I’ve been doing theater since I was in middle school.” When asked how she reacted when she realized she got the lead role as a first-year, Keidar replied, “when it finally hit me I was just like ‘oh f—, I’m the lead.’”

The bold personalities that filled the stage were welcomed with cheers and applause that inspired everyone to own their identities, no matter what that looked like to others. The narration encouraged people to accept each other wholeheartedly, and challenged them to stray away from the social constructs that constrict growth and love of one’s individuality. The drag show provides an opportunity to claim the true identity that calls and encourages people to own every aspect of it- even if it changes over time. After all, as the show said, “You might find yourself in a new closet everyday, it just means you get to find a different outfit to come out in.”

 

Contact the author at mwong16@wou.edu

Photos by Ashlynn Norton

 

This week in completely made up horoscopes

[fruitful_tabs type=”accordion” width=”100%” fit=”false”]

[fruitful_tab title=”Aries 3/21-4/19″] It is your birthright to celebrate your birthday every day of Aries season. If you’re not, then you’re doing something wrong. [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Taurus 4/20-5/20″] The stars have heard whispers of a Star Wars club forming… [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Gemini 5/21-6/20″] Ok so can we bring back light-up shoes [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Cancer 6/21-7/22″] Okay, that’s enough Oregon — can we get some sun now? [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Leo 7/23-8/22″] MAKE SURE TO BREAK DOWN YOUR NACHO THOROUGHLY. It hurts when you swallow a big piece D; [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Virgo 8/23-9/22″] Let me blow your mind real quick: It’s only Week 3. *Mind = blown* [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Libra 9/23-10/22″] Sure, Libra, keep complaining about the rain. We know in a few weeks you’ll be complaining about the heat. [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Scorpio 10/23-11/21″] T A K E T H E L E A P. [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Sagittarius 11/22-12/21″] Sooo, pizza for lunch again? Okay, cool. Good call. [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Capricorn 12/22-1/19″] Due to unforeseen circumstances, Capricorn will not be attending class today. (Unforeseen circumstance: stayed up until 5 a.m. watching Netflix.) [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Aquarius 1/20-2/18″] Do you even have time to be reading this Aquarius? [/fruitful_tab]

[fruitful_tab title=”Pisces 2/19-3/20″] Goes to college. Graduates from college. Still isn’t qualified for any job. [/fruitful_tab]

[/fruitful_tabs]

Opinion: Critical Role Kickstarter campaign raises $9 million to fund “The Legend of Vox Machina”

Cora McClain | Copy Editor

How much does it cost to fund an animated series? Well, according to “The Legends of Vox Machina Kickstarter is LIVE!” it takes $750,000 to make just one 22 minute episode. This was the initial goal Critical Role, a Dungeons and Dragons web series with an all-star cast of well-known voice actors in the video game and animated world, set in their Kickstarter campaign in order to fund a 22 minute animated special entitled “The Legends of Vox Machina.”

As stated on the project’s Kickstarter page, the team initially pitched the special to traditional media studios. However, they soon changed their strategy after finding little to no success with these studios and networks. In order to “stay true to our beloved characters and tell the stories (their fans) want to see,” they decided to turn to their fans (a.k.a Critters) to make it a possibility.

The Kickstarter launched March 4, and within 40 minutes, the community gave them $1 million. By 5 p.m., the community smashed through the original stretch-goals, giving the project $3 million.

“The target was $750,000, but that was because we thought we might hit it,” Travis Willingham, Critical Role CEO and cast member, stated in their eighth Kickstarter update on March 7. Dungeon master and cast member Matthew Mercer added that they hoped they’d  “hit it by the end of the campaign.”

After reworking their plan for the campaign, they changed the project from a four-part special, to a complete 10 episode season. The first two episodes would follow the original arc for the special, with the last eight following an arc in their original campaign.

However, funding all 10 would take $8.8 million. On April 4, the community heeded the call. During the first half of their regular stream after a week-long hiatus, the community raised $400,000 to ensure they would get that 10 episode series they wanted.

As of April 9, the project stands at $9,199,756 with 66,634 backers and nine days left.

Now, what does this film project tell us about the future of entertainment?

“The Legends of Vox Machina” isn’t the only entertainment based project smashing records through crowdfunding. “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” a film project that revived the original show, ended their campaign with $5.76 million and Netflix picking up the series.

Entertainment other than film also follow this trend. “Goodnight stories for Rebel Girls,” a children’s book series, previously held the title of fastest funded project on kickstarter — earning their goal of $40,000 in 30 hours — and ended their campaign with $675,614. Along with the critical success of “The Legends of Vox Machina,” these projects and the overwhelming support for them illuminate just how viable crowdfunding can be in creating entertainment.

A trend is brewing in the industry: give the power back to the consumers to pick the entertainment they wish to consume. Coupled with the popularity of streaming services over major media networks, it’s easy to see that the entertainment field is beginning to shift away from traditional media towards a new and exciting partnership between creators and consumers.

As an avid consumer of online content (including that of Critical Role) seeing projects funded by a community in support of their favorite creators thrills me to no end. I felt for a long time that the mainstream entertainment industry has been out of touch with the audiences and communities that flock to the screens. However, online content made by smaller creators who have a close tie with their fanbase can lead to better content made by bigger budgets and an end product that services the wants and needs of not only the fans, but also the creator. I believe that we need more of these partnerships to revamp the entertainment industry and give new people the opportunity to release their creativity and provide people with content they want to see.

Fanbases are powerful entities that breathe life into the entertainment industry and would easily do their part to aid the creators they love. “The Legends of Vox Machina” is just one example of what a world of community supported content can create.

 

Contact the author at cmcclain17@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Critical Role

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