Mount Hood

Soft rock for the soul

Written by: Liberty Miller | Lifestyle Editor

“Everlong” — Foo Fighters

“Photograph” — Nickelback 

“100 Year” — Five For Fighting

“Where The Streets Have No Name” — U2

“Lovers in Japan – Osaka Sun Remix” — Coldplay

“My Hero” — Foo Fighters 

“Stop and Stare” — OneRepublic

“Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” — Train 

“Use Somebody” — Kings of Leon

“Viva La Vida” — Coldplay 

“Bitter Sweet Symphony – Remastered” — The Verve 

“Sweet Disposition” — The Temper Trap 

“Wonderwall” — Oasis 

“Yellow” — Coldplay 

“For the First Time” — The Script 

“She Will Be Loved” — Maroon 5 

“With Or Without You” — U2

“Iris” — The Goo Goo Dolls 

“Clocks” — Coldplay 

“Wherever You Will Go” — The Calling 

“You And Me” — Lifehouse

Contact the author at howllifestyle@wou.edu.

Most anticipated reads of 2024

Written by: Claire Phillips | Entertainment Editor

If you’re a reader who’s looking for new books to add to an already-long reading list, here’s a few more to add that are being released throughout the year.

“Dungeons and Drama” by Kristy Boyce — Musical lover Riley has aspirations to become a director on Broadway, and Nathan is a nerdy employee at Riley’s dad’s game store. When Riley is grounded and has to work at her dad’s store, she doesn’t realize it meant joining Nathan’s D&D game… or flirting with him. Look for this new release on Jan. 9.

“The Color of a Lie” by Kim Johnson — In the 1950s, a Black family passes as white and moves to a “Whites Only” town. Caught between two worlds, teenager Calvin puts his family at risk as he uncovers the racist secrets of the suburbs. Look for this new release on June 11.

“These Deadly Prophecies” by Andrea Tang — Tabatha Zeng, a sorcerer’s apprentice, finds herself caught up in the sorcerer’s death — that he predicted. In order to prove her innocence, she must solve her boss’s murder. Look for this new release on Jan. 30.

“Tehrangeles” by Porochista Khakpour — The four daughters of wealthy reality-TV stars are on the verge of landing their own TV show — until they realize their deepest secrets are about to be revealed to the public before the cameras even roll. Look for this new release on June 11.

“Just Another Epic Love Poem” by Parisa Akhbari — Mitra’s two best friends are Bea and the journal they share, containing an epic, never-ending poem. Nothing is too messy or complicated for “The Book” — except for the fact that Mitra is hopelessly in love with Bea. Look for this new release on March 12.

“James” by Percival Everett — In an action packed reimagining of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” told from the perspective of Jim, Jim is hiding on Jackson Island while Huck Finn is faking his own death to escape his father. Look for this new release on March 19.

“Not in Love” by Ali Hazelwood — Rue has a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, and Eli and his business partners want to take over Kline — no questions asked. The one thing that is getting in Eli’s way is Rue — the woman he’s not supposed to want. Look for this new release on June 11.

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Netflix policy change causes chaos

Written by: Sierra Porter | Staff Writer

Netflix is an American subscription streaming service that was created in 1997 by founders Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph. By 2007, they launched their streaming service to compete with Blockbuster which implemented several different family plans. Recently, Netflix has been cracking down on their single household and password sharing policies — making it an absolute nightmare for travelers, large families and especially college students.

The cheapest plan is the standard plan with ads which allows for two devices to watch TV shows and movies for $6.99. 

The standard plan is ad-free, full HD, allows for access among three devices and has the option to add an extra member– for an additional cost of 7.99 a month. The premium plan is also ad-free but offers ultra HD, is accessible on four devices and has the option to add two extra members for $7.99 each. 

The new ability to add members at an extra cost has encouraged Netflix to crack down on password sharing outside of a single household. This means that if one attempts to log in to their Netflix account outside of the designated household, it will log out all other members; regardless of if it is still within the device limit. This policy seems to be a desperate money grab, as it forces members to either buy more expensive plans or pay additional costs. 

Why is this a game-changer for so many? For many students, the full college experience includes living in the dorms, but that also means all funds usually go towards those expenses. Tremendous amounts of students report being forced off their family plans during the months they are on campus — either forced to live without the streaming services or ponying up the extra cost to be an additional member. 

Avid travelers also face this issue from time to time as they lose the ability to log into Netflix in the many places they stay while traveling. Again, one will have to log out the rest of the family in the household and deal with the wrath of streaming rights rage, ball up the extra fees or drop Netflix overall. 

This policy change has been a pain for many and up to 62% of password borrowers said they would rather stop using the streaming service in total than purchase their own account. Netflix’s attempt to force watchers to buy their services, especially the more expensive services, has thus far not been as successful as they hoped. Immediately after these changes, Netflix lost almost 1.2 million subscribers — their biggest loss in over a decade. 

Many are canceling their subscriptions and switching to other streaming services, and we can’t blame them. 

Contact the author at howlstaffwriter@wou.edu

What’s going on for athletes?

Written by: Jaylin Hardin | Sports Editor

Thursday, Jan. 18

5:15 p.m. — Women’s Basketball, HOME v. Simon Fraser University B.C.

7:30 p.m. — Men’s Basketball, HOME v. Seattle Pacific University

Friday, Jan. 19

All Day — Track and Field at Lauren McClusky Invite, Moscow, Idaho

Saturday, Jan 20.

All Day — Track and Field at Lauren McClusky Invite, Moscow, Idaho

2 p.m. — Women’s Basketball, HOME v. Western Washington University

4:15 p.m. — Men’s Basketball, HOME v. Montana State University Billings 

Sunday, Jan 21

All Day — Track and Field at Portland Indoor #1, Portland, Oregon

Thursday, Jan 25

6:15 p.m. — Women’s Basketball at the University of Alaska Anchorage

8:30 p.m. — Men’s Basketball at the University of Alaska Anchorage

Friday, Jan 26

All day — Track and Field at UW Invite, Seattle, Washington

Saturday, Jan 27

All day — Track and Field at UW Invite, Seattle Washington

4 p.m. — Women’s Basketball at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

6:15 p.m. — Men’s Basketball at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Wildcard weekend matchups

Written by: Jaylin Hardin | Sports Editor

Wildcard Weekend offered up a small number of matchups, with teams facing each other in hopes of making their way into the NFL playoffs and the road to the Superbowl. Before the weekend started, only two teams had secured their spots in the playoffs: the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC North and the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC West.

With the wildcard matchups, some players ended up facing their former teammates and coaches, and some teams met their match following their program’s history.

Houston Texans v. Cleveland Browns, Jan. 13 — In March of 2022, the Browns announced a trade for Texans’ quarterback, Deshaun Watson. During the 2023 season, Watson was injured and replaced with backup quarterback, Joe Flacco. Since starting, Flacco has led the Browns to their eleventh win and has led the Browns to victory in four of five games. Had the Browns won, Flacco would have faced his old team, the Baltimore Ravens.

Kansas City Chiefs v. Miami Dolphins, Jan. 13 — Historically, the Miami Dolphins have lost eight straight games in weather colder than 40 degrees. This is not anything new for the team, as their record in cold weather temperatures is 25-46-1, and all but one of those games have been on the road. With a projected high of six degrees and a low of negative seven degrees, the Dolphins fell to their odds of loss. 

Dallas Cowboys v. Green Bay Packers, Jan. 14 — The last time the Packers lost to the Cowboys was in October of 2016, and the team has not lost to the Cowboys in Dallas in recent history. The Packers even lead their matchups in NFC divisions and playoffs 5-4, and with this win, the matchup record comes to 6-4.

Detroit Lions v. Los Angeles Rams, Jan. 15 — In 2021, the Rams and the Lions traded their starting quarterbacks, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff — Stafford to the Rams and Goff to the Lions. Since the trade, the two quarterbacks have maintained similar stats in their seasons. The Lions have gone 13-5 and the Rams finished 10-8. This was also the Lions’ first playoff game in thirty years, and Stafford’s first time playing in Detroit since the trade was made. 

Saturday Night Football — Houston Texans 45, Cleveland Browns 14; Kansas City Chiefs, 26, Miami Dolphins 7

Sunday Night Football — Green Bay Packers 48, Dallas Cowboys 32; Detroit Lions 24, Los Angeles Rams 23

Monday Night Football — Tampa Bay Buccaneers 32, Philadelphia Eagles 9; Buffalo Bills 31, Pittsburgh Steelers 17

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Mens rugby participate in Pacific Coast All Star

Written by: Sierra Porter | Staff Writer

Every year, National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) hosts men’s and women’s Collegiate Rugby All Stars, where skillful and dedicated players are selected to represent their schools on an all star rugby team. 

The NCR evolved from the National Small College Rugby Organization, NSCRO. Its goal was to support the growth and development of small college rugby, as well as having equal opportunities for men’s and women’s rugby. They still support this goal, but also focus on furthering the growth of collegiate coaches, players and teams. 

The NCR runs five major national championship events, including the men’s and women’s XVs National Championship after the Fall season, the Collegiate Rugby Championship 7s in the Spring and the mid-year All-Star Tournaments, bringing in the best players from around the country. 

All star players are observed playing in clubs or colleges throughout the year and those selected are considered to be some of the best; this year, three members of Western’s very own men’s rugby team were selected to demonstrate their skills on the Pacific Coast Grizzlies all star team. 

Junior, Isaac Bare, Senior, Braedon Eltagonde and Senior Sangato Letisi, were among the best when selected to be part of the Grizzlies. The three traveled down to Austin, Texas last weekend, Jan. 6-7, with the help and contributions of people in the Western community. 

The Grizzlies started out strong with their first match on Saturday against the Independent Whites — high energy, hard hits and motivation made for a successful first game with a 12-0 win for the Grizzlies. Letisi holding down every scrum, Eltagonde’s efficient defense and Bare with a beautiful catch in the lineout, were no doubt essential in this win. 

The Grizzlies had a difficult battle the next two matches and ended the weekend 1-2. Regardless of the end score, it was clear that Bare, Eltagonde and Letisi represented Western with pride and showed why they deserve to be all stars. 

Contact the author at howlstaffwriter@wou.edu 

Division I changes and what’s going to change

Written by: Jaylin Hardin | Sports Editor

Fans of college athletics are no stranger to the conference realignments announced back in October 2023 — changing the way the Division I matchups would look this coming fall. Western itself is no stranger to conference changes: the 2022 football season was the first year of play in the Lone Star Conference. 

These conference changes come in the wake of the networks and conferences paying their student-athletes for using their names, images and likenesses in various settings, such as advertising. This isn’t saying that student-athletes could be paid for their performance; however, it does mean that student-athletes could now sign partnerships with companies such as Reebok and Vuori, an athletic clothing brand. These two brands have both signed Louisiana State University athletes Angel Reese and Olivia Dunne as ambassadors.

This new ability to be paid for name, image and likeness, rather than performance, allows student-athletes to pursue business interests outside of their university and their respective athletic programs. However, even within this, there are issues.

The NIL — name, image and likeness — deal takes away the amateurism aspect of college athletics, pushing it closer toward the professional side of athletics. In their long-standing history, college athletes had not been able to accept payment surrounding their sport, to remain amateurs in their field — amateurism defined as only playing the sport in which they were recruited and not receiving payment. That being said, a college football player could also play pro baseball and be paid for baseball.

When the new conference changes are discussed, they are usually only looked at in how college football will be affected, meeting mixed reactions. Many fans have stated that the PAC-12 conference, consisting of the majority of West Coast Division I universities, had only been kept relevant due to the football programs at the University of Oregon and the University of Washington. On Jan. 8, X user @tpuffer18 posted to the social media platform: “So the Pac12 never won a national championship?”

This mindset of the conferences being only recognized for their football program is a large issue. Within the last seven years, the PAC-12 has won 38 national championships, in sports varying from indoor track and field, and beach volleyball to soccer. Many PAC-12 athletes also go pro; the most famous of these athletes is Adley Rutchsmann, one of two starting catchers for the Baltimore Orioles. 

The PAC-12 is not the only conference that has member schools leaving; the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas are both joining the SEC, the Southeastern Conference, in lieu of the Big 12 Conference. The SEC boasts member schools such as Auburn University, the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi, commonly known as Ole Miss. 

So why is this such a big deal? With these new conference realignments, student-athletes now have further to travel for competitions and new weather environments they would not initially encounter in their home states. An example of this is the PAC-12 schools transferring to the Big 10 conference. Members of the Big 10 often play in heavy rain and snow during the playoff and Bowl season, something PAC-12 athletes are not accustomed to. 

In the College Football National Championship, this was not a problem as it was played in Houston, Texas at the NRG Stadium — home of the Houston Texans. During this game, Michigan, a Big 10 school, faced the University of Washington, and won 34-13, falling as number one and two nationally. 

However, these gridiron conferences, while boasting strong football programs and truly proving the saying “any given Sunday,” do not bode well for other sports and programs within these conferences. 

An example of this lives in college softball. For three years in a row, the University of Oklahoma has won the National Championship for Softball, with big competitors coming from Texas, Alabama and Georgia. Originally, Texas and Oklahoma were both parts of the Big 12 Conference, with Alabama and Georgia in the SEC. 

However, these four schools now being in the same conference makes for a less competitive Softball World Series; these programs may end up being knocked out of the bracket in early play, due to each team knowing how they play. This could very much be the reality for many of the sports programs.

There is, however, a perk to these conference realignments. The lesser-known Division I schools, ones that never initially had a dog in the race, now have a higher chance of participating in the National Championships. Fans of college softball can never forget the time James Madison University nearly beat the University of Oklahoma during the 2021 Women’s College World Series.

There are pros and cons to the NIL deal and its change for the college athletics landscape. Athletic programs that were once strong can now meet their downfall in its first season; similar to how Western’s football team has not had a winning season since they joined the Lone Star Conference. 

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu