Mount Hood

Helping Western students help others

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

On May 16, the Alternative Break Teams and Service Learning and Career Development Center teamed up to put on the Flea Market for a Cause on the Werner University Center Plaza. The Flee Market contained gently used, donated professional and semi-professional clothes for students of Western to buy.

“This event specifically is to help students who are trying to enter the professional world,” said Courtney Cunningham, a junior early childhood education major. “It helps them start off with a set of attire that’s going to help them be successful in the professional world. It really helps out the students, and we’re thinking of them when we hold these events. Like, ‘what do they need, what do they want and what is going to help them the most?’”

All of the money made from the Flee Market will go towards sending students from the Alternative Break Team to help in different countries around the world. Along with reselling clothes, the Alternative Break Team also made baked goods to sell.

“We have three teams,” explained Cunningham. “We have our Costa Rica team, a Peru team and a Thailand team. The Costa Rica team works with at risk youth, in one of the poorest communities in Costa Rica, and then Peru works with animal care and Thailand specifically helps with education. These events in general are to help our students who are on the teams, be able to go on these trips and experience these new things, and help people all over the world.”

If one felt like they missed the chance to donate or help the Alternative Break Teams travel around the world, it’s okay, because they are always accepting donations.

“This happens every year, so if anyone else still wanted to donate, they can contact Kathryn Plummer in the Service Learning and Career Development Center,” explained Cunningham. “She’s kind of the one running this. You could also contact any of the Alternative Break Team Leaders.”

All clothes donated now can be used for next years Flee Market for a Cause, so feel free to get rid of professional and semi-professional clothes that are no longer needed, to help Western students help others.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu

Fighting to improve the lives of Oregon women and girls

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

On May 11, Abby’s house hosted guest speaker Emily Evans, the executive director of the Women’s Foundation of Oregon, to present her lecture, “Count Her In.” The director of Abby’s House at Western, Dr. Aislinn Addington, introduced Evans to the full crowd of the Willamette Room, who were eager to hear the presentation.

The Women’s Foundation of Oregon’s “mission is to focus the power of women’s collective resources to improve the lives of women and girls throughout Oregon,” explained Addington. “The ‘Count Her In’ report is the first comprehensive research on this topic for more than 20 years, and now is the most expansive, actionable and inclusive analysis of Oregon women and girls to date.”

Evans explained that the “Count Her In” report was information compiled from different towns in Oregon.

“We made 14 different stops all around the state. We heard from a thousand women and girls. We had sessions in Spanish, Somali, Russian and we heard from a really good cross section based on race, education level, income, geography and age,” explained Evans. “What we heard was a really resounding understanding of what the challenges are for women and girls in Oregon. Turns out women and girls in Oregon know exactly what’s wrong, and what they told us matched up perfectly with the data.”

“If there is one thing, one single sentence that you take away from this session here today, it’s this: women and girls in Oregon are contributing an extraordinary amount to communities all across the state, and in return they’re facing some of the starkest gender inequities in the country,” stated Evans.

Evans wanted to begin with the great things that Oregon women and girls excel at in comparison to other states, rather than begin with the things they lack. So Evans began discussing the, “Eight to Celebrate,” which include: civic engagement, caregiving, minimal violent crime, highest rate of physical activities than any other state, education and health care jobs, generosity with money and time, elected at higher rates in public service than other states and Oregon girls met the state’s 2025 goal for college graduation rates in 2014.

Though these eight achievements are something to celebrate, there are still many things that need to be worked on to improve the lives of women and girls in Oregon, and those are “The Eight that Can’t Wait,” which include: violence against women, systemic racism, the cost of caregiving, gaps in reproductive health access, wage and wealth gap, economic fragility, mental health challenges and the public/private glass ceilings.

“These are the eight issues that rose to the top in three ways,” said Evans. “The first is there was a discrepancy between how men and boys in Oregon were doing, and how women and girls in Oregon were doing. The next is there was a discrepancy between how women and girls in Oregon were doing versus women and girls nationally. And the final one is that these eight were the ones that rose to the top in every single community we visited.”

The “Count Her In” report has put together a list of five things that every Oregonian can do to help make life for Oregon women and girls better, and they are, asking questions, voting, donating, sharing information and recognizing the struggles Oregonian women and girls face.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu

Interaction and understanding

By: Jasmine Morrow
Staffwriter

The Community Lecture Series is an event that happens every month on Western’s campus where many of Western’s professors get the opportunity to lecture and discuss issues that they think need to be brought to the attention of Western students.

This month, Dr. Robert Troyer presented his lecture entitled, “Global Learning: Bring the World to WOU Students.” Troyer is an associate professor of linguistics and the academic advisor for international students at Western. In his lecture, Troyer discussed why diversity is so important to have on campus and in one’s life.

With diversity, everyone can grow and learn from one another. Interaction can be helpful to understanding different cultures, by communicating with different students and faculty, taking multiple types of coursework, studying abroad, joining clubs and going to events on campus. Everyone comes from different backgrounds, different countries and speaks different languages. Comprehending different languages can be difficult, because of everyone’s individual dialects. During the presentation, Troyer had the group do a listening practice, where he played a Hong Kong woman speaking English. With that exercise, the audience was able to hear the differences between an American accent and the woman’s accent.

Listening to different accents can help one become more confident with listening and comprehending other people’s ways of pronouncing words. Sometimes there is a subconscious stereotype with accents and it can be harder for the participating speakers and listeners. Familiarity leads to an increased comprehension. It’s a two-way street, it all depends on the attitude of the two people listening and speaking.

Understanding language diversity can be extremely helpful for future knowledge, because the world population is growing, and everyone has to learn to live with each other. Within the Global Community, understanding can go a lot more smoothly if those who live in it strive to truly understand one another.

Troyer wanted people to get an idea of diversity at Western and help the students understand diversity. Diversity is extremely important to him because his family is bilingual and multiethnic. His research is on different minorities and languages that are in multilingual situations.

Learning diversity is all about seeing different perspectives. People in different cultures are going to do things differently than what one is used to seeing, and accepting that is crucial. Troyer had the group he was presenting to read an article titled, “Seek Out Strangers” by Dan Everett. In the article, Everett explained how it’s difficult for someone to learn something from the people around them – people who are culturally the same as them. They have to go out and learn from different cultures and accept diversity.

Contact the author at jmorrow16@wou.edu

Filling stomachs with food and minds with knowledge

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

As part of the Associated Students of Western Oregon University’s Diversity Series, food was served in the Werner University Center plaza for their event: Food from Around the World.

This event was put on to help bring students together and educate them on different cultures.

“Along with the foods, we also made flyers that talk about different important aspects of cultural diversity, and why cultural competency is important,” said Desi Root, junior interdisciplinary major and co-coordinator of the event. “So, it’s a little bit of an education and a little bit of a fun thing to help you remember it, but it also gives you a taste of what different cultures are like, and in a way that everyone can feel comfortable and can relate to, which is through food a lot of the time.”

“This week, we’re really focusing on different types of cultures and the importance of diversity,” explained Ami Diaz, senior criminal justice major and co-coordinator of the event.

For their foods from around the world, ASWOU served Mediterranean couscous, orange chicken, spring rolls, tacos, German sausage bites and mozzarella sticks.

“We would of liked to make it a little bit more unique to each culture,” said Diaz. “But since we have to go through school catering, this is what was available to us.”

Despite this, ASWOU made the best with what they had, and the food was served on campus for free to anyone who was interested in eating different foods and learning about different cultures. The pamphlets that ASWOU gave out explained that to understand diversity, one must learn about culture first. They reminded the hungry students that all people come from different backgrounds, and that diversity, inclusion and cultural competency are important to know to have a true understanding of others.

“We work to represent some marginalized groups within the school, such as the LGBTQ community, a lot of different identity and cultural based communities that are sometimes overlooked,” explained Root. “They are a huge and important part of our school’s population, so we want to highlight those, we want to bring awareness to all students that we are a diverse campus, that celebrates diversity and celebrates cultures and identities.”

ASWOU will continue to have events like Food from Around the World on campus as part of their Diversity Series. Keep an eye out for more upcoming ASWOU events that discuss diversity.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu

21 and up

By: Paige Scofield 
Campus Life Editor

Remember when you were a kid, and all you wanted was a Capri Sun? You’d see the commercials of those teenagers drinking a pouch of that delicious juice, turn into silver liquid-people and then do something athletic, like surfing.

Well, now that you’re older, you can buy Capri Sun whenever you want. Despite this, as you get older tastes change and sometimes cravings turn a bit more alcohol-y. The Main Street Pub & Eatery in Monmouth can give you exactly what you’re looking for with their original drink, aptly named the Capri Sun.

The cocktail includes cherry vodka, amaretto, cranberry juice, a splash of Sprite and lime. Believe it or not, it tastes exactly like a fruit punch Capri Sun. It’s sweet, but not sugary, easy to drink and hides the flavor of the alcohol well. That last part can be a blessing and a curse, so be sure to know how much you are consuming. Just six dollars, and you’ll be on your way to becoming a liquid silver-surfer.

This cocktail receives five stars from me, an ametuer drinker and college student, because of its sweet and easy to drink qualities.

The Main Street Pub & Eatery is located at 169 Main St. West in Monmouth. They’re open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. If you’re of age, be sure to pop in and give the Capri Sun cocktail a try.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@eou.edu

Come one, come all, to the Carni-Ball

By: Paige Scofield
Campus Life Editor

Bungee run, obstacle course, dunk tank, strength tester, plinko, raffles, potato sack races and free food. All of these were available at the Landers and Barnum Hall Government’s Carni-Ball. On May 6, the Carni-Ball was held in the Grove for Western students to play some games, eat some food and have a good time. Even though the carnival only lasted from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., there was the Afterglow dance at 8:30 p.m., so students could continue to have fun even after the carnival was over.

“We decided we wanted to pull a double whammy to reach out and create a sense of community in a way,” said Leah Coyle first year communications major, “We’re doing a carnival by day and a dance by night to reach out to introverts and extroverts, and we really made sure all of our food options were available for everybody too, so everyone feels welcome.”

When asked why it’s important to have events like this on Western’s campus, Coyle replied, “We wanted to show that we are all one big community, and we believe that is super-duper important to have on our campus.”

Not even 15 minutes after the event was open for the public, the grove was flooded with people. Participants enjoyed free food, including burgers and candied apples, played games, and had the chance to win different raffles. When entering the the raffle, participants had the chance to win a basket of goodies including popcorn, candy, “La La Land” and other movie watching treats. As well as a chance to win a 32 inch flat screen television. The Landers and Barnum Hall Government did not cut short when planning this carnival.

“We just wanted to have something for everyone, and we thought a carnival seemed like a thing that has little things that everybody can enjoy,” explained Coyle, “Whether they want to run an obstacle course, or try one of the little carnival games, we think and hope that everyone has the chance to enjoy it, and that everybody can have good time.”

The grove was filled with chatter and laughter, and the occasional sound of someone falling into the dunk tank. Students were enjoying themselves on a nice sunny day on Western’s campus.

“We really enjoyed putting this on, and we hope everybody will base their future events off of community and inclusion,” concluded Coyle.

Contact the author at journalcampuslife@wou.edu

A night of bravery and support

By: Jasmine Morrow
staffwriter

The Coming Out Monologues can be summed up in one word: powerful. On May 2, The Stonewall Center hosted the Coming Out Monologues in the Pacific Room. The live monologue performances left the audience members in awe.

There were 18 speakers in total who spoke in front of the crowd and told their stories of how they came out or simply how they feel about the LGBTQ+ community. The speakers consisted of students, faculty, alumni and staff of Western. The entrance fee was only $2, and all of the revenue went towards the Safe Zone scholarship and teaching Western students about the LGBTQ+ community.

Before the monologues began, 75 of the LGBTQ+ Western alumni got the chance to meet up at a reception held in the Willamette Room.

The coordinator of the Coming Out Monologues, Western alumni and faculty member, CM Hall, with the help of the Alumni Association, hosted a pre-show reception to celebrate and support show participants, as well as connect and reunite alumni and supporters within the LGBTQ+ community. The alumni and supporters enjoyed appetizers, drinks and had the chance to connect with friends from the past.

The Coming Out Monologues aren’t annual, the Stonewall Center likes surprises. The last time the Coming Out Monologues were performed was in 2015. So, when the event does happen, it isn’t anticipated and people appreciate it more.

Many people who showed up to listen to the speakers’ stories and support them in any way they could. The 18 speakers were incredibly brave, as sharing personal stories to a crowd can be difficult and intimidating.
Their monologues were touching, some drew tears of sadness, while others from laughter. Javan Davis, a Western student, said a line in his monologue that summed up how to help the LGBTQ+ community be more comfortable: “Just support and validate.”

At the end of the last monologue, there was a standing ovation to the whole cast. Noah Seiber, another Western student, said in his monologue, “My identity doesn’t define me, but it does matter.” The line was incredibly powerful and truthful.

Everyone who spoke that night was truthful and brave. Each story was different, just like every person is different. We all have our own experiences and the LGBTQ+ community has been holding events like this on campus in the hopes that the Western community will continue to show support, as well as listen to their show.

Contact the author at jmorrow16@wou.edu

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