Campus Life – Page 21 – The Western Howl

Dear Esmeralda,

I want to get involved with some clubs on campus, meet some people with beautiful, sculpted faces and equally beautifully, sculpted future plans, and build up my resume — but I don’t know where to start! There are so many to choose from, so are there any good places you would recommend to get the gossip on them?

From,
Beautifully Sculpted Gossip Girl

Dear Beautifully Sculpted Gossip Girl,

What an eloquent and oddly poetic question! There are many places you can go, where you can meet all sorts of people, it depends on what you are looking for. I hear there are many as you so fantastically put it “beautifully sculpted faces” at the gym, however, as the beautiful and perfect human that I am, I have no need to go to places like that.

If, like me, exercise isn’t your thing, there are a lot of clubs you can join: Triangle Alliance (the LGBT* club on campus) is a good one to attend, plus the gays are a friendly and practical people. (I hear they even have a fairy princess mermaid there from time to time!) There is also the Multicultural Student Union (MSU for short) they do all sorts of events all around campus. Even if you don’t join the clubs, go to the events! Sometimes there are even people there (weird, I know!). Many clubs also coincide with academic interests, so find one for yours. Protip: many, if not all, of these clubs have Facebook pages, so look them up on there!

Finally, the best way to meet the perfect human specimen is to simply hang out on campus. It’s a small school, and you will always start to recognize someone.
Try the old razzle dazzle! If this fails and you still have no friends, just adopt thirty or so cats, dogs, or both, and join the cat/dog-person life. Cats and dogs are always solid, and beautiful, future plans! If animals aren’t your thing I remember hearing of a tale where a beautiful young girl was kidnaped and fell in love with her captor. What can go wrong with trying out what you see in movies or tv? Good luck on your résumé building work!

XOXO Gossip Gi… Wait that’s not me!

XOXO Esmeralda

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Chin Up, Dreamboat!

By: Rachael Jackson
Staff Writer

Nawwal Moustafa, a Western graduate, brings a fresh page to the adult coloring book genre. Rather than mandalas, Moustafa explores lost loves and broken hearts with her companion piece for lesbian breakups, “Chin Up, Dreamboat!”

The book, slated to release in May, focuses on lesbian relationships because they are rarely represented in popular culture.

“I have never seen a Disney coloring book with two princess. There is always a glass in between you and pop culture in the sense of straight media,” explained Moustafa. “If you’re like me, if you’re gay, then with this at least you have something there for you in your corner.”

Moustafa has been gaining national attention with a Buzzfeed article and support coming from across the Atlantic.

“The Buzzfeed article was unreal to me. That was kind of a dream situation,” Moustafa admitted. “I thought in the 30 days I could reach my goal of 1,200… I didn’t know it would happen the first day!”

Western also played a part in the creation to this book; during her junior year, she came out.

“It was all brought to my attention and I figured it all out very quickly. Probably a year before I came out,” she said.

“It was a little scary, but I knew there was a lot of support with Triangle [Alliance] and Safe Zone. When I did come out, it was the best decision I ever made,” she said. “I remember right after I came out and a professor walked by and I said, ‘Hey man, I’m coming out!’ and he came and gave me a hug. It was a great feeling.”

Donate to her Kickstarter by March 13 by way of her website: http://chinupdreamboat.com.

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Eating Disorder Awareness Week

By: Megan Clark
Campus Life Editor

In 2011, over 30 million people suffered from eating disorders and have the highest mortality rate out of any mental illness.

Abby’s House and Project HEAL presented on eating disorders this last week. There was a large focus on how society impacts body image and beauty ideals. They used Chinese foot-binding and ‘the cult of thinness’ as examples.

“From a young age, we are bombarded with images of ‘perfect bodies’ and learn to hate our own,” Andrea Coffee, senior education major, said, “I struggle with my own body image daily. It’s expected though if you’re called thunder thighs your whole life.”

The pressure felt by individuals in conforming to societal beauty standards is perpetuated in the general positivity surrounding weight loss and thinness.

Coffee said, “I have a few friends that have struggled with eating disorders. I remember one in particular lost a lot of weight really quickly and I complimented her on it. Then I realized that for lunch everyday she would only eat crackers.”

While bulimia and anorexia are relatively well known eating disorders, there are various other eating disorders that go unnoticed by the general public.

Sam Hughes, senior social science major, has an eating disorder called Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). ARFID results in food aversions, meaning that Hughes is limited in what she is able to eat.

“It makes it hard to go out, most social functions revolve around food and when you can’t bring yourself to eat what’s being served, people get frustrat[ed] when you won’t eat it. They get either angry or worried for your welfare or think you’re weird,” Hughes said.

She also mentioned that she detests when people call her picky. “It feels infantilizing and like it belittles what I go though,” Hughes continued.

Another point the presenters touched on was the importance of being kind, caring, and supportive when confronting someone about their eating disorder.

If you or anyone you know is suffering from an eating disorder, the Student Health and Counseling Center can be called at 503.838.8313, or you can visit Abby’s House in the WUC or reach them through their email: abbyshouse@wou.edu

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HoW

By: Megan Clark
Campus Life Editor

Javier Garcia, junior business major

“Living poor has made me motivated to go to college and want something better for my life instead of living paycheck to paycheck […] Hopefully I can travel, I really want to travel.”

“I went to San Francisco for an alternative break and I went to chinatown and randomly bought a Ninja sword […] I thought, ‘Oh, why not, we’re here.’”

What do you do with it?
“Oh it’s just decoration really, but sometimes I play with it and try to break things with it or pop things with it.”

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Why not ask a Black person?

By: Rachael Jackson
Staff Writer

The “Ask a Black Person” panel consisted of 6 black students ready to discuss what it is to be black in today’s society. They discussed a wide array of topics including: experiences on campus, misconceptions of hair, and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Due to low attendance from those students outside of the club, the panel turned more into a discussion among them and the group. 

One student that came out, Rachel Danskey, junior and public policy and administration major, saw how important it is to listen and discuss race issues. She appreciated having the chance to listen to the diverse panel.

“[These events] are a segue for me into different perspectives,” Danskey said. “I see how white people have more of a voice than they do, and I think hearing it rather than just reading about in a book brought it all to reality.”

Thelma Hale, senior and communications major, explained how the possible perceptions of her hairstyle kept her from wearing it short and natural. 
“I really didn’t want to come back here [to WOU] with my hair like that, I didn’t think I would feel comfortable. But they love it here; the people here love it. They always have something good to say.”

Contact the author at rjackson13@wou.edu or on Twitter @rachaelyjackson

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WAWA WAAM

By: Joleen Braasch 
Staff Writer

If you’re looking for a fun night, check out the hip hop concert on Friday, Feb. 26. As part of Western Accessibility Awareness Month (WAAM) and Black History Month Activities, WAWA will be performing in the Pacific Room at Werner University Center with his DJ, Nicar.

Don’t know sign language? No problem; WAWA voices the lyrics that he raps, and the concert will be interpreted.

WAWA, Warren Snipe, cannot hear, but he wears hearing aids, speaks, and signs. The rapper has been performing in many mediums of entertainment since childhood, and has been traveling the world to perform in the last dozen years.

As part of the emerging music genre Dip-Hop, deaf hip-hop, WAWA stands among other deaf rappers who are working to get Dip Hop into the mainstream music scene, including Prinz D The First Deaf Rapper, Signmark, Sean Forbes, and Survivor C.

Ensuring that the deaf community is heard and pushing back against oppressors, WAWA raps about equality. In his single, “Vendetta,” WAWA states: “You can’t hold me down ‘cuz I’m busy givin’ love … Bully Bully Bully, how nice of you to visit me, now you in my world, consider yourself history.”

These lyrics ring to the goals of Western Accessibility Awareness Month. As stated by Madison Malot, a senior English major and ASL minor as well as a student worker in the Office of Disabilities, “WAAM is a time where the WOU community can come together and learn about how to be accessible and how to bring inclusion to our campus.”
Contact the author at jbraasch12@wou.edu

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Picking on the Banjo

By: Megan Clark
Campus Life Editor

The banjo, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, has been making a comeback. With bands like Mumford & Sons and Punch Brothers comes a slew of new appreciation for the five-stringed, twangy instrument.

It’s become so popular that its snappy strums have even graced WOU’s Smith Recital Hall. Noam Pikelny played for a gathered crowd, a performance made possible by a donation from Western’s own Dr. David Hargreaves.

Pikelny, of Punch Brothers fame, sang and played the banjo and various types of guitars, but really, his banjo playing was the highlight of the evening due to its earnest melodies, fast paced plucking, and old timey charm.

Though it seems like the hot new instrument, it’s not as common as the guitar and more technically difficult than a ukulele, another instrument that has been gaining traction in recent years.

But why is it becoming so popular? The obvious answer is that it appeals to the hipster in all of us. Perhaps it evokes a simpler time when we didn’t need found footage films to scare us, but instead found horror in an overall-clad boy playing Dueling Banjos, a la “Deliverance.”

The audience for Pikelny seemed to eat up his fiery playing style. Hannah Williams, first year music major, stated that, “The banjo is more versatile than I originally thought […] I could relate to the banjo in a way that caught me off guard in the most delightful way.”

“[Banjo players] have these ring type picks for their fingers so they can fingerpick,” said Thomas Licata, senior interdisciplinary major. He continued on to say, “using a pick instead of the fingertip gets a harder heavier sound which I generally prefer.”

With its sweetly sharp sound and its emotive melodies, the banjo is an instrument that probably won’t be going away any time soon. If the ukulele trend is anything to go off of, then pretty soon there will be Youtube covers of Adele’s “Hello” on banjo. Oh, wait, there already are.

Maybe it will eventually even overtake the guitar in popular culture. Don’t be surprised if, at your next party, a mustachioed, bow-tie-wearing young man sits down with his banjo and starts fingerpicking Oasis’s “Wonderwall.”

Contact the author at meclark13@wou.edu or on Twitter @WOU_CampusLife

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.

Accessibility Public Records Privacy Student Consumer Information

WOU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by WOU.

Dear Esmeralda

Chin Up, Dreamboat!

Eating Disorder Awareness Week

HoW

Why not ask a Black person?

WAWA WAAM

Picking on the Banjo

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