Mount Hood

Polk County 4-H hosts 56th Annual Holiday Fair

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

Walking into the Polk County Fairgrounds and Event Center, a number of local children called names for door prizes and those involved with Polk County 4-H sat at a greeting booth in the entryway. Roughly 130 vendors gathered on Nov. 2-3 for the 56th Annual Polk County Holiday Fair — a time to share homemade items and help support the local 4-H program.

Paintings, dolls, holiday decorations, wooden items, jewelry and ceramics: all things that could be found at this year’s bazaar. Along a multitude of rows sat vendors of all ages, talking with prospective customers about the products they had made.

Back at the entrance to the fair, however, event organizer Suzi Busler sat and managed several volunteers in order to make sure that the event was a success.

“We’re a holiday fair that started before Christmas bazaars were the in-thing to be,” said Busler. “About nine years ago (an extension study group program) turned it over to the 4-H program. And we’ve expanded and added quite a few things to the program since then.”

In discussing the impact that this annual event has on the local 4-H children, Busler remarked that the holiday fair is one of their biggest fundraising events — drawing close to 3000 people from the community — and it also helps the kids to grow and develop in their leadership skills.

“This is an opportunity for them to be able to market and use those skills that they’re learning in the 4H program,” said Busler.

When asked about whether or not groups of college students are able to rent booths in future years, Busler responded, “Absolutely…maybe a college student doesn’t have enough time to be able to have enough product to staff their own booth, but a collection of students could easily join together to be able to have enough products to sell.”

If any Western students or organizations are interested in being a part of the Holiday Fair next year, Busler advised that they contact the Polk County Extension Office at (971) 612-0028 after information comes out next August. It costs $40 for crafters to participate in the fair, and this money goes to funding the Polk County 4-H program.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Update: The results of Oregon’s Midterm Election

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

[fruitful_tabs type=”accordion” width=”100%” fit=”false”]
[fruitful_tab title=”National Offices”]U.S. Representative District 5: Kurt Schrader [/fruitful_tab]
[fruitful_tab title=”State Offices”] Governor: Kate Brown

State Representative District 20: Paul Evans

State Senator District 10: Jackie Winters

[/fruitful_tab]
[fruitful_tab title=”Local Offices”]

Monmouth Mayor: Cecelia Koontz

Monmouth City Councilors: Roxanne E. Beltz, Jon Carey and Stephen Howard

[/fruitful_tab]
[fruitful_tab title=”Ballot Measures”]

Measure 102: Yes

Measure 103: No

Measure 104: No

Measure 105: No

Measure 106: No

[/fruitful_tab]
[/fruitful_tabs]

[fruitful_alert type=”alert-success”] Stay tuned for more information on these results. [/fruitful_alert]

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Wolves’s rugby shuts out the Willamette Bearcats

Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

The post-season was at stake for the Wolves as players took the field for Western’s last regular season rugby match. Willamette entered the game with the ability to slam the door on the hopes of a playoff berth for the Wolves. But Western had other plans.

Prior to the game, the Wolves sat at second place in National Small College Rugby Organization standings behind Central Oregon Community College. If they beat the Bearcats, the Wolves would clinch a second place spot. And if COCC or Western wins the bid to host the playoffs, the Wolves will extend their season into postseason. With this in mind, Western rugby knew this match was a must win.

The first minutes of the game were a defensive slugfest as neither team wanted to give an inch. Through the use of brute force, Western broke the stalemate, fighting their way down to score the first try and nailed the conversion to make it 7-0.

Time ticked away as both teams defenses refused to give an inch to each other. After another defensive chess match, Western broke out of a scrum and battered their way to another score with a conversion. After this, the floodgates were opened.

Back to back to back breakaway runs from the Wolves led to three more tries, bringing the score to a lopsided 33-0.

“We were really fluid and we had a lot of compatibility between us so we were just feeding off each other. We just had a strong connection through the game,” said senior exercise science major Riley Bardes on the offense’s play.

However, this utter domination from the Wolves offense perhaps overshadowed the stellar defensive play from the Wolves.

“I think we did better on defense than we did on offense,” said Bardes. “We held them to nothing.”

Western’s defense gave up zero points and never even let the Bearcats past the half.

Going into halftime, signs of the physicality of the game started to show. Willamette, who already had a small bench of reserve players, started to see athletes fall victim to injury.

After the half the referee announced that Willamette would be unable to finish the game due to their not having enough players healthy to field a full team. After this announcement, Western broke their huddle, looking at the scoreboard with smiles, knowing that the 33-0 shutout in the final game of the regular season may pave the way for the Wolves to the playoffs.

 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Western’s LGBTQ+ club holds their fall dance

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

While some people might have expected the middle of the term to involve overwhelmed college students staying in their rooms and eating instant noodles, this wasn’t the reality for all — a fact which Triangle Alliance recently proved. Dancing under a disco ball and playing card games with friends, the Western club hosted Pajama Jammy Jam on Nov. 2 as a time for LGBTQ+ community members and allies to come together and enjoy a night of wholesome fun in the Werner University Center.

With a fairly open structure to the event, attendees were free to socialize, dance, play games and enjoy a variety of refreshments. During the second half of the event, club members held a drawing and gave away five different prize bundles to those in attendance.

When asked what the goal of the event was, Triangle Alliance Club President Sam Shoemaker, a sophomore theater history major, said that their aim was pretty simple:

“It’s to get people from Triangle Alliance, our club, out and having fun on a Friday night where we would not normally be out and about and partying,” said Shoemaker.

Shoemaker shared that the club is always looking to involve new members. If someone goes to Pajama Jammy Jam who doesn’t normally go to Triangle Alliance, Shoemaker hoped that they would meet people and want to get more involved.

“If you like the people you should come to the club,” Shoemaker said. “It broadens the horizons of the club members and it gives more opportunity for people who might be like, ‘I don’t know if I would like this club’” to get involved.

In addition to social events like Pajama Jammy Jam, the Black and Red Ball and Triangle Alliance’s Annual Drag Show, Shoemaker expressed that there are also a number of informative events that Triangle Alliance has been hosting in order to educate its member about important issues in the LGBTQ+ community.

“Last Thursday (Oct. 25) we put on a talk with the LGBTQ+ class about the trans memo that came out that weekend about what President Trump allegedly might do in the trans community,” said Shoemaker. “There’s a really good quote that I heard from somebody: ‘Being gay is being political. Being queer is being political.’ And so, first thing for me this year with the club is that I don’t want to just be a fun social club — I want to talk about the issues.”

For anyone who might be looking for resources to learn more about the LGBTQ+ community, Shoemaker had a couple of suggestions for where to go.

“The Stonewall Center is the resource center for the LGBTQ community. Suse Doepken is the coordinator of Stonewall, and she’s amazing,” said Shoemaker. “If somebody wants to know about things, go to her. Also, Abby’s House is a great resource about advocacy and the feminist mindset.”

If Western students are interested in becoming involved with Triangle Alliance, Shoemaker advises that they start by going to Triangle Alliance’s Midnight Movies event on Nov. 16, which will be showing Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, and looking out for auditions to be in the annual drag show, which will occur during Winter Term.

For more information, Sam Shoemaker can be reached at sshoemaker17@wou.edu and the club can also be contacted through trianglealliance@wou.edu. Triangle Alliance meets on Thursdays in Ackerman 141 from 4:30-6 p.m.

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Humor: The eternal debate: do cats have elbows or knees?

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

CATS HAVE ELBOWS AND KNEES

Cats are quadrupeds, meaning they walk on all four limbs. Some mistaken people would argue that because they have four legs, cats have four knees. This, however, is not an anatomic fact.

Bridget Parker, a senior studying biology with an zoology emphasis and an intern at Wildlife Safari specializing in big cats, knows that cats have elbows.

“Cats have two sets of joints in their forelimbs: an ankle and an elbow. Their ankle is just above their toes and are fairly similar to human wrists. The second joint is their elbow and is located about midway up their forelimb,” said Parker.

A more in-depth look that the anatomy of feline limbs — discussed on pets.thenest.com — shows that they have two different types of joints: hinge joints and condylar joints. Hinge joints are like human elbows and ankles, and condylar joints are similar to human knees. Cat’s elbow and knee joints are located further up on their limbs than human limbs. Felines have a elbow-like hinge joint on each front limb and a condylar knee-like joint on each back limb. This means that a cat has two elbows and two knees. Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Greg Martinez even acknowledges that cats have elbows in his videos on YouTube.

Miseducated people may also say that since the front limbs bend in the same direction as the back limbs, they must all be the same kind of joint. These people are mistaken. What looks like the knee on the lower hind limbs of a feline are actually the tops of their elongated feet. Their actual knees are located closer to the hips. Therefore, the hind leg knee joint bends a different way than the front limb elbow joint.

Just because cats have four legs does not automatically mean that they have four knees — this would mean that each limb had the same kind of joint. This is simply and scientifically not true. Furthermore, cats have patellas, or kneecaps, on their hind legs. They do not have kneecaps on their front legs. This clearly proves that cats have two elbows and two knees.

Contact the author at cweedon16@wou.edu

 

Ashlynn Norton | Photo Editor

CATS ONLY HAVE KNEES

When you look at a cat, a lot of things come to mind. Such as “ball of anger”, “pure evil”, and “the furry animal that is cute, but could shred you to pieces” — just to name a few. There are many things about them that are odd. Cats could even have their own conspiracy theories centered around them because everything related to them is questionable.

It wasn’t long ago when I came to the profound conclusion that cats in fact don’t have elbows, and only have knees. When you watch a cat walk, their legs all bend in the same direction. If you look at a human, their knees and elbows bend in different directions. So who is to say that cats have both knees and elbows?

In my scientific research and opinion (from watching my cat) feline creatures only have knees. I mean, who just looks at a cat and says, “Yeah, that animal has elbows”? When I look at a cat, their appendages all appear to be knees. If you think of a knee as a weight bearing joint, then that proves my point of cats only having knees, instead of having both elbows and knees. People don’t call cat appendages “arms”, they’re called legs, and legs have knees. Therefore, again, CATS ONLY HAVE KNEES. It’s like arguing about cereal being a soup, or whether or not Lighting McQueen has car insurance or life insurance.

People who like to flex their researching skills would quote a person who is studying biology, or even veterinarians who post on YouTube. They would use quotes from these people who claim that cats have elbows, clearly spreading FALSE INFORMATION. We all know that false news is the worst.

It makes no sense, but also complete sense at the same time. I just have this deep gut feeling from being a “cat expert” (I have three cats, so I can give myself that title) that cats only have knees. You wouldn’t question a mathematician when they say that one plus one equals two. So why would you question me, the cat expert?

Contact the author at anorton17@wou.edu

 

 

Illustrations by Rachel Hetzel

The benefit to understanding Myers-Briggs personality types

Bailey Thompson | News Editor

In a world consumed with Buzzfeed quizzes like “Pick Some Donuts and We’ll Reveal Your Personality Type,” it can be easy to forget that there are real resources available to help you learn more about yourself, and they aren’t concocted by random people online. Amongst these resources, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI, is a prominent and useful tool with the power to help people understand themselves and the ways that they interact with the world around them.

Being an advocate for knowing your MBTI type, it frustrates me to hear the way some people scoff at MBTI in a similar way that they might with astrology, since Myers-Briggs is determined solely by your self-reported psychological preferences, thereby serving as a descriptive tool and not a predictive one.

If you are interested in learning your MBTI type, there are a number of questionnaires online, which ask about attitudes and behaviors you have in different situations, that help to determine your type. In the end, the result will be one of 16 four-letter acronyms that stem from four letter pairings: Extraversion or Introversion; Sensing or Intuition; Feeling or Thinking; and Judging or Perceiving.

In my life, I have taken this test several times, and each time I have been categorized as an ESTJ — a type known for its dedication, honesty and organization, but also its stubbornness, difficulty relaxing and difficulty expressing emotion.

At first, I mostly thought, “Hey, that does sound like me. Cool,” letting the basic description of my type’s characteristics serve as the extent to which I used Myers-Briggs. In time, though, I found that the most fascinating part of this personality assessment for me was in learning more about the types of my friends and family.

The first people I made take the test were my parents, and it was enlightening to learn that my mom was the complete opposite type from me, being an INFP, but that my dad and I were both ESTJs.

Reading more about her type, a number of connections started to form in my head about why my mom and I approached things in such different ways, and it helped me put myself in her shoes in a manner I hadn’t before.

In alignment with my type, I am a realist — instinctively reflecting on things as they are, without putting a positive or negative spin on them… at least most of the time. On the other hand, INFPs are highly idealistic, so events normally impact people like my mom more deeply than they impact me. While I’m often inclined to laugh when someone posts a ridiculous opinion in social media, posts like this tend to affect her with more weight.

Once I realized that, I found it easier to be patient with both of us. We are wired pretty differently — but that’s okay.

In addition to the element of self-discovery, Myers-Briggs can also be helpful in trying to figure out what careers could mesh well with your strengths, or in evaluating relationships with friends and romantic partners. These things can be fascinating to ponder; however, I definitely wouldn’t suggest basing important decisions solely off of their insights.

One fun and easy way to get an idea of the personality types you naturally connect with is to create a list of friends and family’s types as you learn them. I have one that I add to regularly in my phone, and I’ve found that comparing people with the same types has helped me to recognize common characteristics of the different personalities.

With that in mind, there is certainly something to be said for the fact that there are more than sixteen distinct people in the world — no one is a stereotype, and I’m not suggesting that people be confined to their type’s typical qualities. Growth is always something that should be encouraged, but it can help to know where you’re starting.

At the end of the day, the most beautiful thing about Myers-Briggs is that it can be used in whichever of these ways are helpful to you.

Contact the author at bthompson15@wou.edu

Guest Editorial: ASWOU endorses ballot measures

Nathan Soltz | ASWOU Senate President

Two weeks ago, ASWOU became the first student government in Oregon to endorse on ballot measures. We recommend the following: YES on Measure 102 and NO on Measures 103, 104, 105, and 106.

Before the ASWOU Senate considered endorsing, I reached out to the Oregon State Legislature Legislative Counsel. Legislative Counsel is the team of attorneys who draft legislation and answer legal questions for legislators and their staff. As I work for Senator Frederick, I asked them during the September legislative days if a public university’s recognized student government was legally prohibited from taking positions on ballot measures and I was told, essentially, that there shouldn’t be a problem. After that, we received a legal opinion from the Attorney General also stating that student governments have the legal ability to endorse ballot measures (Department of Justice opinion no. 8289). The Attorney General’s opinion referenced an opinion from the Attorney General in 1985 which stated that student governments could not take positions on ballot measures; however, it continued that since then, Oregon law has changed and the law in question no longer exists. Therefore, student governments are no longer prohibited from taking these positions.

With this guidance, on Monday, October 15th, the Senate unanimously passed the resolutions. On Wednesday, I received an email from WOU’s general counsel telling me that it was illegal for ASWOU to take positions on ballot measures. I responded with the Attorney General’s opinion and he said, in effect, that he doesn’t care what the Attorney General says. I then met with the ASWOU President, Vice President, and Senate President Pro Tempore and we all signed a letter I wrote stating that we are proceeding with the endorsements, as is our legal right and ethical duty. On Friday, we met with the general counsel and during that meeting, he essentially conceded that yes, the law in question has been changed, but he is still upholding an old legal opinion even though the Attorney General’s updated legal opinion is directly contrary. So, after about an hour, we presented him with our letter.

The ASWOU government is steadfast in its defense of student rights. The WOU Administration has also taken the stance that our student clubs and organizations cannot take action on the ballot measures either. However, in the opinion of the State of Oregon, we do have that right. If your club or organization would like to take action, please do and reach out with questions. ASWOU is leading this effort and other universities are looking to follow suit.

More information on the election – including our recommendations on measures and neutral information – is available at the ASWOU table upstairs in the WUC and in the ASWOU office downstairs in the WUC. The ASWOU government is your student government. If you want further information, including any of the documents I’ve referenced, would like to get involved in Senate, or want to learn more about ASWOU, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And don’t forget to VOTE BY NOVEMBER 6th!

Contact the author at aswousenpres@wou.edu

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in guest editorials are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Western Howl.

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