Mount Hood

Adam Carter Sets out to find America’s Sound

By: Declan Hertel
Entertainment Editor

I sat down with WOU Student and musician Adam Carter over a pint this weekend to talk about his upcoming documentary project.
Declan: So what is this documentary all about?
Adam: Me and my friend JT [Mozingo], we’re going to go around the country, trying to find amateur musicians, and professional musicians, we’re going to do everything music. We’re going to go to recording studios, talk to teachers, talk to students, and we’re going to try to record intimate sessions with them, interviews, and live performances of songs. We want to give exposure to amateur artists, and we want to show everybody that there’s a lot of hardworking people out there that have a lot to offer, but aren’t going to get the exposure.
D: So the super underground?
A:Yeah, the super underground and the super popular. We want to do everything. Doesn’t matter who it is, we want everybody.
D: How did the idea come about?
A: I was walking home from school, and I was thinking about the road. Last summer, I went on a trip for a month last summer, we went all around the west coast. And I was thinking about life on the road, and how I missed it, because it’s different, you know? There’s no routine, something new every day. I was thinking about how I could do something like that for the rest of my life, or make some kind of career out of it, something like that. And I thought, “wouldn’t it be cool to make a documentary about a road trip?” But that’s really not enough, and I love music, and everybody around me loves music, making it, listening to it, so why not put the two together? Go on a road trip for a year, interviewing amateur artists from all over the place. It’s a travel documentary, people like traveling, people like music, there’s a market for it, and this is the kind of thing that doesn’t happen that much, people don’t really go around doing this. And what really inspired me: Alan Lomax, in the 30s and 40s, him and his dad would go around in the south and record a bunch of blues musicians, blues was their favorite I think, but they went all over the world, at least Alan did, and recorded music that wouldn’t have been documented if he didn’t do that. A lot of my favorite songs were recorded by him, and we wouldn’t have them if he didn’t go around and do that. So I think it’d be cool to discover some stuff that wouldn’t normally be out there, and turn people onto some new things.
D: I love that. The idea that there’s so much music that’s beautiful and worth listening to in the world, and I’m not going to hear even half of it…
A: Yeah! And even if I’m not a fan of it, other people will be. What we want to do is give exposure to every single person that records with us. We don’t want to take ownership of any songs or anything.
D: What’s the time frame for getting started in earnest?
A: We want to be on the road in spring of 2017. We have a lot of work to do though; we need to get experience with cameras and editing. We just got a couple cameras; we’re hoping to start shooting pretty soon. We’re going to start shooting locally before we branch out, so Portland, Salem, even Monmouth. Another thing we want to do is go around to bars in the Salem area, and if they have live music, interview the musicians there, the owner, the patrons, just to get some sort of a following first. I think just even locally there’s so many people working hard and making music, and they deserve some exposure.
D: Amen. Speaking of support, are there plans for a Patreon or something where people can support your efforts?
A: There’s not right now, but we’re going to do a Kickstarter when it’s closer to being time to go. We’re gonna be saving up ourselves, a lot. The main thing you can do to support us right now is share. Tell your friends.
D: If we know people, send them your way?
A: We would love to hear from everyone we possibly can. We want to answer questions, we want to give no misconceptions that we’re trying to screw anybody over. We’re in it for, I mean obviously it’s selfish in some ways, but we really do want to give exposure [to artists] and have an adventure while we do it.
We’ve got connections so far in a few different places around the country; we’ve heard from a lot of people in Indiana, we’ve been talking to a guy who lives in Georgia, [some people in] Arizona, Utah, New Mexico. We’ve got a lot of different prospects going on, and we want to get as many people [as we can], all around the country. So we want to advertise and make it available for people.
D: Do you know of any places that have a super vibrant indie scene? I know San Francisco’s got a crazy scene.
A: I’ve heard Austin, Texas has a lot, they’ve got some good stuff going on, San Francisco like you said. I don’t know about indie, but I know Chicago’s got a big urban blues scene, I believe that they are the blues capital currently. And I have family in Chicago, so that’ll be nice. What I’m looking forward to most is Mississippi, I love that Delta Blues.
D: Are there any other places you’re especially looking forward to?
A: The whole south I’m looking forward to, just because I’m such a huge blues fan. But I want to try to go to as many national parks as we can too, because I love national parks. Our country is very beautiful, and a lot of people don’t know just how insane some of the natural wonders are. We want to document those too, that’s part of the adventure. We visited seven of them last summer, it’s amazing. Yosemite National Park, if you’ve ever been there is just… I think we went to seven national parks and Yosemite was by far my favorite. Grand Canyon’s got nothing on it.
D: How do you think the acoustics are at the bottom of the canyon?
A: Echoey. Maybe we’ll do a session down there, ride the mules down.
D: Do you have any plans to shoot in cool locations like that, or mostly living rooms?
A: We want to be able to record outside, definitely. We also want to rig the video we have to have a little studio so we can record if we don’t have anywhere else. We’re also probably going to be renting a studio. One thing I’m really excited for is, apparently, JT knows a guy[…] who runs this bus in San Francisco, and it’s like a punk bus, there’s a stage in the back and there’s punk shows on the bus. They drive around San Francisco with a punk band playing in the back. That sounds really, really cool and I can’t wait check that out.
I’m really excited to shoot the WOU too. As many people as want to do this, I want to do it with them. Just shoot me an email, we’ll set up a time. I would love samples, I can’t get enough of them.
D: You’ve already got some people, yeah?
A: Yeah, we want to do a few practice sessions by ourselves [first], and then we want to start doing that. We’ve got access to microphones and editing equipment through the recording studio. We’re probably going to do our first session […] within the month, then make the Facebook page live. Our goal is to start putting out weekly videos, after we get a few videos, so I want to get three or four before we start. We want to keep people updated and keep them into it; we want to have content coming out at a consistent rate.
D: Do you have a route planned?
A: We’re going to go down south through California, the same route we took on our trip last year. We’re going to go all the way to the bottom, there’s this place called Slab City, you know where that is?
D: Yeah! That’s kinda like a… commune or something? Lawless?
A: Yeah, it’s a squatter’s community. We met some cool people there last time we went, we want to go back. They have concerts every Saturday night. There’s this place called the Range, it’s a bunch of buses put together with a stage. We met some people there, you know, we hung out with them for a few hours, but when we were leaving it felt like we were leaving our family a little bit. It was amazing. We want to go back and connect with them, and that’s going to be interesting to shoot. There are so many crazy people down there. Insane. Meth-heads, their pastor came while we were there to say a prayer over Mariah, the woman’s foot… fun fact, Mariah is, if you’ve seen the movie “Into the Wild”, the girl that Kristen Stewart plays is based on her. But anyway, he was this guy, he was really skinny, he had his shirt off, he looked like a miner. He had this huge beard and this hat, and he was the pastor! I’ve never seen a pastor like that. Everything down there is pretty crazy.
D: Then down through Arizona?
A: Through Arizona, through Texas, there are a couple places in Texas like Austin and Houston; Lightnin’ Hopkins is from Houston and I want to try to delve into that, see if there’s anything about him down there because he’s one of my favorite performers. And then make our way into the South, kind of zig zag through the Midwest, go up the East Coast, then head back through the North. I’m from Illinois originally, I have some family, southern Illinois and Chicago, so I hope to visit them. A guy that’s going to be one of our camera men, he’s from Indiana, so he’s got connection out there. We’re going to try to hit as many states as possible. And we have a year, that’s what we’re planning on doing it in.
D: This is super cool. I’m guilty of this, people talk about big plans, and like “I’m writing a novel!” or something like that, and you never do it. And to see a couple of dudes who said, “let’s do a thing,” and then are going to do the thing, it’s reassuring.
A: My whole life people have been telling me “follow your dreams,” right? And then whenever it’s time to do that, people say, “well, is that really realistic? Is that really going to work, you’re kind of going out on a limb here.” But my whole life people have been saying follow your dreams. So let’s do it! We would regret it if we didn’t, so we’re going to do it. That’s what it’s about, you know. Not having any regrets, looking back when I’m thirty and saying, “wow, I wish I had made that documentary, I wish that I had done that. That would have been a really great life experience but I can’t really do that anymore.” I have a kid or something, you know. I don’t have any kids! I’m 21 years old, I don’t have anything really tying me down. So we’re going to do some cool stuff. Try to travel as much as I can, see as much of the world as I can before I settle down.

Students gather together for bonfire

By: Megan Clark 
Campus Life Editor

The annual Bonfire Kickoff to Homecoming Week occurred on the lawn outside the math and nursing building the evening of Oct. 12, 2015.

The bonfire was accompanied by the school pep band, a KWOU DJ, and Western’s cheerleading squad.

The Western “W” shaped effigy fire blazed for a good hour and a half before burning the separate pile of stacked wood to cinders. During the fire, students could watch a pie eating contest and snacks were offered to students at no cost.

Marilisa Peña, a senior forensic science major said, “I didn’t come the last few years, so I thought I’d come out. I think it’s pretty awesome, I don’t normally go to bonfires as large as this.”

The bonfire was a successful way to start off the week, pulling in a large crowd of observers brimming with school spirit.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve always been disappointed in our school spirit, but there’s quite bit [tonight] … I’m hoping we can amp it up,” said Shannon Haas, a senior computer science major.

Barbara Dearing, executive director of intercollegiate athletics, and Arne Ferguson, head football coach, were also in attendance.

Dearing urged students to keep the spirit going for the upcoming football home game against Central Washington, Saturday, Oct. 17 after their huge victory last week over the previously no. 6 team in the nation.

“We need you to come out and root us on,” said Dearing.

Campus is blushing

PANKPANKPANK

By: Brianna Bonham 
Staff Writer

Pink is the official color to promote breast cancer awareness. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, Western decided to name Wednesday, Oct. 14 Pink Out day, on which students are told to wear pink.

According to cancer.org, 231,840 women are expected to develop new cases of breast cancer in 2015, and 40,290 of those cases are expected to result in death.

Many students are affected by breast cancer in some way, and Pink Out day is a day to raise awareness and ask questions about something so insidious and impactful.

“Breast cancer awareness is very important to me because I had a mentor that became ill with breast cancer. It was scary to watch someone I look up to go through that,” said Daniela Diaz Rodriguez, a first year elementary education major at Western.

When asking Brayde Rothe, a first year majoring in public policy, what hope meant for him as his mother went through treatment, he replied “It means survival. I’m glad we have a day for it because I was told by the doctor to give up hope. Never give up hope.”

When asked what advice he would give to someone dealing with breast cancer, either personally or by affiliation, Rothe replied, “Always think the glass is half­full, there’s always the next day and the day after that … As long as you stay hopeful, everything is going to be okay.”

Dead by dawn

By: Darien Campo 
Freelancer

Continuing my October horror movie marathon, this week brought me … “Coraline” (2009), “House on Haunted Hill” (1999), “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984), and “The Babadook” (2014).

I also had a chance to re-watch my favorite trilogy of movies — and just in time, because with a brand new television show premiering this month, Sam Raimi’s “Evil Dead” series is about to come back in style.

I watched “Evil Dead” at a young age, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The original “Evil Dead” (1981) is a testament to perseverance, brimming with the potential of fledgling director Sam Raimi and actor Bruce Campbell.

Reading Campbell’s autobiography “If Chins Could Kill” gives a great insight into the impossible odds these college students faced trying to make their first feature-length film. It may stumble in its delivery, but “Evil Dead” is an accomplishment in gore cinema.

“Evil Dead II” (1987) is by far my favorite of the series. The sloppy mess of violence that made the original Evil Dead great is now mixed with Bruce Campbell’s unique style of Three Stooges-esque slapstick overacting.

This sequel/reimagining takes a more comedic turn on the genre, giving us a hilariously twisted romp that has you gasping in shock between peals of laughter. “Evil Dead II” knows you’re not taking it seriously, so it doesn’t bother either.

The final film in the trilogy is the funny and endlessly quotable “Army of Darkness” (1992). While “Evil Dead II” strikes a perfect balance between scares and shticks, the third movie has made it all the way to other side of the spectrum, where it is now a straight comedy with horror elements.

The second film may have had its over-the-top moments, but “Army of Darkness” is an over-the-top film. The entire setting of the series is flipped on its head and our hero, Ash, becomes a cheesy one-line spewing powerhouse of hilarity.

But true to its themes the “Evil Dead” series lives on.
2013 brought us a fantastic remake that had all the heart of the original and all the special effects of today. A hilariously messy musical has also found its way to the stage, which you can see at the 2nd Street Theatre in Bend, Ore. every year.

Finally, you can catch the fast-approaching “Ash vs. the Evil Dead” series on STARZ, premiering Oct. 31, 2015. It is a terrific time to be a fan of “Evil Dead.”

Speaker on campus: Tim Wise

By: Emily Pate 
Staff Writer

Anti-racism activist Tim Wise came to Western Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015 to speak to students in the WUC Pacific Room about racism and inequality in modern day America.

His website, www.timwise.org, describes Wise as “among the nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators.” Wise has written six books, covering topics including poverty and racism.

Wise’s website states that he has spoken at over 1,000 high school and college campuses. This week, it was Western’s turn.

As Wise explained during his talk, this was his second visit to Western.

The first visit, where he spoke before a small class of only eleven students, took place in Oct. 1995, almost twenty years to the day before his 2015 return.

In the two decades since his last trip to campus, much has changed with regards to racism, but much has also stayed the same.

Wise brought to attention the fact that, though the United States now has an African American as president, we are not living in a “post-racial America.”

Barack Obama’s presidency and the current debate over immigration have only intensified the nation’s attention towards issues of race.

Melissa Evangelista Vargas, a first year student studying pre-nursing, though attending the event primarily because her diversity class required it, said, “I also wanted just to hear the speaker and his opinion on racism.” She also stated that racism is “still a huge problem today.”

While Wise focused his talk on racism, he also discussed its intersectionality with poverty, sexism, ableism, and the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community.

When asked if the issues Wise discussed are important today, Shelby Brooks, a first year majoring in elementary education, said, “Yes, extremely. Growing up low-income as a child … a lot of issues he talked about hit home. I’m also a feminist so a lot of things he talked about apply to my life.”

Truth was also one of the overarching themes in Wise’s talk.

He stated that one of the ways to begin fighting racism is to interrogate our position in the world and share stories with honesty and belief in the experiences of others.

After his talk, Wise accepted questions from the audience.

The final question Wise asked was, “What information do you trust? How do you find the truth?” He answered that the key is to be critical of all information, even his, and especially the information that you are inclined to believe.

The fight against inequality, Wise said, needs people who are willing to seek out the truth for themselves, and then have the courage to speak up.

Campus Blotter

The following information is from the public records of Campus Public Safety.

ALCOHOL VIOLATIONS

At 1:51 a.m. Oct. 10, in the Sequoia Commons, Public Safety was contacted about an intoxicated individual. Officers were clear at 2:28 p.m.

At 2:29 a.m. Oct. 11, in Ackerman Hall, Public Safety was contacted about an alcohol violation. Officers were clear at 2:57 a.m.

MENTAL HEALTH

At 11:52 p.m. Oct. 10, in Heritage Hall, Public Safety was contacted by Salem PD in reference to an individual’s welfare.

At 9:04 p.m. Oct. 11, in Landers Hall, Public Safety was contacted by a concerned roommate.

At 12:35 a.m. Oct. 12, in Ackerman Hall, Public Safety responded to a suicidal individual.

At 11:28 p.m. Oct. 13, in Ackerman Hall, Public Safety was contacted regarding a mental health concern.

At 10:22 a.m. Oct. 14, in the Sequoia Commons, Public Safety responded to a mental health issue.

WEAPONS VIOLATION

At 12:05 p.m. Oct. 11, in Ackerman Hall, Public Safety was contacted about a possible weapons violation.

What are you really funding?

By: From the desk of the Journal Editorial Team

October has been branded National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in America.

All month long, we are provided with endless opportunities to support those in our country affected by breast cancer, and even more opportunities to buy pink merchandise that purports to support further research into the disease.

The force behind the Pink-Out cause is noble, and it is building. The ravages of a disease that will affect one out of every eight women in America (according to the breast cancer society) can be debilitating for friends and family as well as the actual patient.

Creating a network of survivors and supporters who drive a fundraising machine aimed at eliminating a possibly lethal disease sounds like a great plan, but the leaders in the charity research movement are frequently less scrupulous than their cause.

The most prominent example of research money going astray in recent memory is the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure.

It has been reported by Reuters that in 2011, a mere 15 percent of the money donated to the foundation actually went to fund research, with 43 percent going to education, 18 percent going towards fund-raising and administrative costs, and 17 percent to help with screening and treatment of the disease.

Even if this report isn’t 100 percent accurate – not-for-profits are subject to more relaxed financial reporting standards than for-profits – it still points to a larger, disturbing trend of misdirection used by large-scale charity organizations.

In fact, some of the most trusted charitable organizations like the American Red Cross have been embroiled in funding mismanagement scandals recently.

National Public Radio exposed the American Red Cross’s financial misdoings in a 2015 article. According to the article, after raising around half a billion dollars to build homes in Haiti following the devastating earthquake of 2011, they reported that they had built 130,000 homes, but in actuality, the total number of homes built by the Red Cross in Haiti totals just six.

Where did the rest of that money go? The debate falls somewhere between wildly out of control administrative spending, and simply an increasing cost of purchasing materials and labor to build.

Whatever the reason, it doesn’t even begin to make up for almost half a billion dollars in missing funds.

However, a few bad apples doesn’t mean that there is a shortage of reliable ways to donate to charity knowing that your contribution isn’t simply going to pay for administrator’s expenses or producing more charity gear for you to buy.

Our intention is not to dissuade you from making a donation, but we hope that our suggestions below will help you make the most impact you can.

Donate your time, not your money.

One of the simplest ways you can make a safe donation is donating your time and your abilities to charity. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and The Special Olympics are always in need of able-bodied individuals to help in construction of houses, and set-up/breakdown of sporting events.

Donating your time is especially valuable because you get to experience your effect first hand. You know exactly what you did, and you can work confidently that your contribution made a difference. Conversely, you can simply leave if you become uncomfortable with how a charity is using its resources.

Donate physical goods when you can.

Places like the American Red Cross frequently ask for money because it is easier for donors to simply send a text or make a quick phone call to complete their donation. However, disaster relief organizations, halfway houses, and family shelters are always happy to accept physical items like canned or non-perishable food, blankets, and sealed personal hygiene items.

Playing devil’s advocate, it is difficult for physical items to be misused in the same way that money is. While money can be funneled around under the guise of “administrative expenses” or “education,” physical goods are of little value to the organization but they hold high value to the individuals on the receiving end of your charity.

Look at the publicly posted financials for charities.

All charities and not-for-profits are required to post their financial statements like any for-profit company. While these statements can be confusing at times, it is important to consider the proportion of donations that actually go to the mission of the organization.

Financial statements can be doctored to show a higher proportion of cash donations going to the cause like with Komen, but most local charities do not have the time or the resources to create the same detailed level of smoke and mirrors. This brings us to our final suggestion.

Donate to local charities rather than large-scale organizations.

Once you decide to donate, look for a charity in your area that deals with the issue you wish to address. For example, if you want to help with food insecurity, consider donating to the Marion-Polk County Food Share rather than the national Meals-on-Wheels program.

While Meals-on-Wheels is a reputable charity, their large-scale focus can create difficulty in reaching local communities. This is where Marion-Polk County Food Share steps in, and they are better able to address the specific needs of a Salem and the surrounding area.

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