Mount Hood

Horoscopes

Aries 3/21-4/19
Only Drake knows.

Taurus 4/20-5/20
I spoke with Jupiter and she told me to pass this info along; go on and explore your sexuality with that kid from Bio that you keep eyein’.

Gemini 5/21-6/20
On Friday, keep looking in the mirror. Half of your eyebrow (because I know you always do your eyebrows) will wipe off. Be warned. No one is going to speak up about it, Gemini, that’s why I’m warning you.

Cancer 6/21-7/22
Ever swim in a pool full of adorable Corgis? No? That’s about to change this week, Cancer.

Leo 7/23-8/22
It’s not herpes, Leo. Congrats!

Virgo 8/23-9/22
Virgo, I predict good fortune on the horizon. Go to a bar this weekend and start a tab, the bartender will accidentally put all your drinks on another person’s. Sucks for them, but a night of free drinks for you!

Libra 9/23-10/22
Password to your ex’s phone: 5331.

Scorpio 10/23-11/21
Go ahead, Scorpio, celebrate taco Tuesday- you’ll regret it immediately.

Sagittarius 11/22-12/21
I’m predicting a literal mental break down for you this week, Sagittarius, over the fact that you can’t get your eyeliner in check. Prepare for this. I prescribe a fat of bottle of wine. (For the 21 and over crowd. Or, like, drink Martinelli’s and pretend it’s champagne if you’re of the younger variety.)

Capricorn 12/22-1/19
With child.

Aquarius 1/20-2/18
Not really advice, Aquarius, but I’m sensing you need to be salty. Make dinner plans with all the people you hate and cancel 15 minutes prior.

Pisces 2/19-3/20
Go to Yang’s, order an extra side of cabbage, and see what happens.

Local woman receives wrong order at Dutch, “barely lives” to tell tale

By: Katrina Penaflor 
Managing Editor

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.59.23 PMJessica – or maybe it was Rachel – Smith spent last Tuesday in a panic during her Intro to Psychology course when she discovered the drink she had ordered from the local Dutch Bros. in Monmouth was, in fact, wrong.

Smith had ordered her usual non-fat, sugar free, iced Caramelizer with no whipped cream, only to discover later in class that the drink was “completely wrong.”

“First of all, the drink was hot,” said Smith. “I wanted it iced.”

When asked how she didn’t notice right off the bat that the drink was served in a hot to-go cup instead of the clear plastic one used for iced drinks, she replied, “I told you, I didn’t try it until I got to class.”

Smith also explained that the drink was actually a chai latte, and not at all a Caramelizer.

To investigate further, I travelled to the Dutch Bros. of said incident to speak to the barista who served Smith her drink. (Because, really, what else did I need to spend my time doing?)

I arrived to Dutch and was greeted by a man who was in a much better mood than I was. Taylor Swift was playing on the stereo and I immediately regretted my decision to take on this unnecessary investigation.

The man at the window, Marco (I didn’t actually ask his name but he definitely looked like a Marco) told me that he was the one who served Smith. It was his first day on the job and he accidently served her the drink that was meant for the opposite window.

“I realized my mistake right after I handed it to her, I tried to called for her but she had already driven away.”

Marco graciously offered to remake the drink he had gotten wrong and asked me to hand it off to Smith, to which I replied, “absolutely.”

While singing to “Shake It Off” Marco passed off the corrected Caramelizer and continuing to repeat, while I re-answered, the question of what my plans were for the day.

After receiving Smith’s fixed drink, I waved goodbye to the chipper barista, and drank the Caramelizer on my way home.

Case closed.

Re-Opening “The Jungle Book”

By: Declan Hertel
Entertainment Editor

From the moment the first trailer for “The Jungle Book” dropped, I wanted it so freaking badly. I have no especially great love for the 1967 version, beyond enjoying it as a child, but this new take on it looked gorgeous and had a killer voice cast, and I’d been super stoked for it since. So as the lights went down on a Friday afternoon screening, I found myself giddy, hoping that this movie would be as awesome as I had imagined it would.

And you know what, it came pretty darn close. This is a solid flick.

My favorite thing about this new version, directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”), is that it doesn’t care that it’s gorgeous. James Cameron’s “Avatar” blew us all away in 2009 with its spectacular visuals, but honestly, it knew that’s really the only thing it had going for it: it looked stupid good.

“The Jungle Book,” for my money, looks better. But it doesn’t care. Painstaking effort was put into making it seem like this movie was shot by real people in real places with real cameras starring real animals. It’s not out to show off, it’s out to tell a good story, and just happens to feature visuals that would have been unthinkable five years ago.

As for telling a good story, this is where the movie falls slightly (but just slightly) short. In this age where blockbuster films are—seemingly as a rule—two and a half fugging hours long, I feel weird saying this, but here goes: I wish “The Jungle Book” was longer.

Coming in at a tidy one hour and 40 minutes, “The Jungle Book” certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it also leaves too soon. When I say I wish it was longer, I don’t mean they should tack on another 20 minutes; I mean that I wanted another 30 seconds here, two minutes there, so that they could flesh out the great, great stuff they’ve got. Not more content, but fuller content. All the makings are there for a wonderful epic: it’s just not epic enough. I have fantasies of a director’s cut, but I realize that’s kind of a silly notion.

Personally, the visuals are worth the price of admission; just because the film doesn’t draw attention to them doesn’t mean they aren’t attention-grabbing. The voice performances are invariably great and delightfully understated (particularly Christopher Walken as a big-ass ape), and newcomer Neel Sethi—merely 10 years old—does a truly admirable job of carrying the film. I would love to see him get more work and improve his already pretty notable abilities.

I could say an awful lot more about the film, from the individual characters, to the perfect inclusion of “Bear Necessities,” to the slightly weird inclusion of “I Wanna Be Like You,” to the multiple questions raised by basing a mass-market movie in 2016 on a work steeped in the attitudes of a deeply racist time (next week in editorials), but alas—I’m almost out of words. Suffice to say “The Jungle Book” is a solid, highly enjoyable flick.

Contact the author at dhertel11@wou.edu or on Twitter @JournalFunTimes.

This is the Junk You Are Looking For

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.49.15 PM

By: Ashton Newton

There are few bands that give me the same feelings that M83 does. It’s been that way for longer than I can recall. Something about listening to their mellow synthpop sound, deciphering their poetic lyrics, and jamming out to their fast danceable tunes grabbed hold of me and refused to let me go.

That said, when “Junk” was announced I could barely contain my excitement. M83’s 2011 LP “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” was one of the most breathtaking things I’d ever listened to, and shaped the way I look at music.

“Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” was a very cinematic record; the songs went with each other and flowed perfectly. The album was hugely inspired by movies. But “Junk” is different in that the songs are meant to stand alone, yet work together in an unrelated way.

The first song to release off of “Junk” is “Do It, Try It”, and it’s apparent that M83 was trying something entirely new with their music. The song is weird, completely on purpose. The pop sound is so upbeat and all over the place that it’s so weird it’s danceable.

Weird and different sounds are very present in “Junk.” The songs “Bibi the Dog,” “Walkway Blues,” and “Road Blaster” are all very fast paced dance songs that rely on unrecognizable synthpop sounds to create a groovy beat that the queen would have no choice but to dance to.

“Junk” also has its sweet side. Susanne Sundfor lent her voice for the song “For the Kids,” a more traditional sounding ballad. “Atlantique Sud” is a beautiful French duet with Mai Lan that is the most sentimental song on the album.

Beck also makes an appearance on “Junk” in the song “Time Wind.” Beck’s vocals with M83’s music make for a really cool song. Rock artists and M83’s music go very well together.

There are some songs that are a bit underwhelming for me. M83 is known for long and epic instrumental songs like “Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun” off of their album “Before the Dawn Heals Us,” but on “Junk” the instrumentals like “Moon Crystal” and “The Wizard” just feel too short and rushed for their style.

The album ends with “Sunday Night 1987,” one of the most calming songs on the album. M83 ends their albums with songs that leave you thinking and with a smile, and “Junk” is no exception.

“Junk” is an extremely satisfying album to listen to. M83 gives a new, unique sound with songs for every mood and person.

Contact the author at anewton14@wou.edu.

Democrats on the issues

By: Conner Williams
Editor-in- Chief

There’s no doubt that much of the two Democratic candidates’ political rhetoric (and personal antics) are aimed towards younger generations. After Obama’s overwhelming success that was directly related to his use of social media and web analytics that allowed his team to create targeted messages to voters, Sanders and Clinton have developed platforms that largely spread through the use of social media communication. The two have certainly gone to extraordinary lengths to present themselves as relatable to younger generations, but just what do they stand for? Despite many media outlets portraying political figures as celebrities, there’s still the actual policies to focus on. Here are the Democrats on the top five issues, as per their campaign websites.

Bernie Sanders – berniesanders.comScreen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.26.59 PM

  1. Income and wealth inequality – closing the gap between the upper and lower economic classes
  2. Tuition and debt free college – ending for-profit student loans and subsidize tuition through taxes on Wall Street speculators
  3. Campaign finance reform – repealing the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling and outlawing Super PACs
  4. Rebuilding infrastructure through increased jobs – investing $1 trillion over 5 years to “modernize our infrastructure”
  5. Higher wages for workers – increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour nationwide

Hillary Clinton – hillaryclinton.com (issues are listed in alphabetical order on website and may not reflect level of importance)

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.29.14 PM

  1. Alzheimer’s disease – providing a cure for the disease by 2025
  2. Campaign finance reform – overturning Citizens United, eliminating unaccountable sources of money, and establish a federally-funded system to match small donations
  3. Campus sexual assault – providing support to survivors and increase prevention programs
  4. Climate change and energy – creating jobs in clean energy, install 500 million solar panels, and bringing greenhouse gas emission to 30 percent below the 2005 levels
  5. New College Compact – refinancing current student loans at lower rates, enforce affordable tuition rates, and ensuring no student “has to borrow to pay for tuition, books, or fees to attend a four-year public college in their state.”

Many of the programs proposed by the Democratic candidates have been shunned by those on the right because of their inevitable cost to the taxpayers. Reducing college tuition, addressing greenhouse gas emission standards, and rebuilding the infrastructure do call for a significant investment in the future. And that’s the way we should be thinking of it: as an investment, not a cost. Investing in education, infrastructure, healthcare, and other public-interest programs will benefit huge denominations of people. Economically speaking, building a giant wall will do nothing to improve the American economy, even if Mexico were somehow coerced to pay for it. We need to address large-scale economic issues that affect people all across the country from all denominations and levels of income. The catch, however, is that the Democratic candidates promise that much of the bill for these investments will be footed by those at the top-end of the income spectrum.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalEIC

Campus Voices

By: Jenna Beresheim

Question: How do you feel about gender neutral restrooms?Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.29.34 PM

  1. “I think they’re great – you can use them whenever you want without worrying about a line for a specific gender bathroom.” Jesus Hernandez, junior early
    childhood special education major.
  2. “I like them better because they’re more private.” Mark Drevdhl, first year education major. (*We have already had him in an issue, I believe, so let me know if this is still acceptable or not. Thanks!)
  3. “Genderizing single bathrooms is stupid.” Asia Cohen, junior ASL studies major.
  4. “I don’t even know.” Shelby Keesler, junior pre-interpreting major.
  5. “I think all bathrooms should be gender neutral, everyone has to go to the bathroom – it doesn’t matter which parts you’re using to do so.” Jenesa Ross, senior biology major.
  6. “Great idea. I think we need to be an all-inclusive campus.” Martha Kools, fifth year criminal justice major.

Humans of Western

By: Rachael Jackson
Campus Life Editor

Brandt Van Soolen, senior philosophy major and veteran.

“… Whatever you may study, be it earth science, political science, at the base of all those things is philosophy. Philosophy is a way to understand the world.Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.06.34 PM

… I really love [Martin] Heidegger, the German philosopher. He comes with baggage because he became a full-blown Nazi there at the end. His idea of what philosophy is is a good starting point. He says that philosophy is the study of beings, so I think it is a good place to start.

… A lot of the time when I say I study philosophy, people will start asking me questions on religion. They are thinking about moral philosophy – ethics – but before you can even start that discussion, you need to try and understand what a human being is so you can discuss these things.

… There are [existentialist] ideas that your life’s goals are achieved after you die, so really your life here doesn’t have a purpose until you die. But what if we are born with certain things that are basic knowledge to being human, like you understand certain things and that is how you perceive the world. It is when you recognize the person besides you as a human being that you start to understand yourself, start to ask questions about what it is to be human.

… [Dr. Hickerson] teaches classes that other people won’t teach, like phenomenology and continental philosophy [which is defined by its opposition to analytic philosophy]. But, more than that, he makes it accessible and really tries to help his students.”

… In the military, you get trained to focus less on yourself and more on protecting the group. What is good for the whole is most important. A person jumping on the grenade to protect five other people and sacrificing himself is seen as heroic … but really they are just reacting to their social training. They are trained that that is the right thing to do. The actual desire is just a result; the person has been trained to sacrifice themselves. One person suffering so everyone can be happy is not the world we should want to live in.”

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Western Oregon University’s Land Acknowledgement
Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR is located within the traditional homelands of the Luckiamute Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (Kalapuya etc. Treaty), Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are a part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.

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