Mount Hood

Wolves Celebrate Literary Creativity

By AMANDA CLARKE
 Staff Writer

The Northwest Passage held the Fall Release Party on Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the Calapooia room of the Werner University Center from 7 to 8 p.m. The event was DJed by KWOU radio.

Twenty-six audience members heard published writers reading their works, including fiction by Jesse Poole and poems from contributors such as Stephanie Stuckey. A song by one contributor was also played, and contributor’s photos were acknowledged.

“I’ve never shown my work to peers outside the classroom,” Stuckey said. “I think it’s a way for fellow Wolves to come together.”

The Northwest Passage has “been ongoing twice a year since about 1961,” said Bethany McWhorter, the editor-in-chief of the Northwest Passage, and its purpose is “to display student’s creative work and display a literary facility on campus.”

“It was really enjoyable watching these pieces come to life,” said Kristin Eck. “I think it gives students and faculty an opportunity to share their work with campus and to work as a cooperative group of intellectuals.”

At the end of the event, a copy of the Northwest Passage was signed by all contributors present.

McWhorter said the Northwest Passage has changed over the years.

“It’s evolved immensely from the time it started,” McWhorter said. “My goal, as editor is no censorship, and to have more experimental stuff, within reason.”

Flashback Friday: Celebrating Western’s Beloved Mascot

By CHERENE O’HARA
 Freelancer

He can be seen cheering at football games on the sidelines. He will never hesitate to take a photo or shake a hand. And most importantly, he is the heart and soul of Western Oregon University.

Wolfie, as students and faculty know him, has become a key figure on Western’s
campus.

However, it wasn’t until 1928 that the university gained its own mascot.
According to the Western Oregon University Archives, from 1893 to 1927, the university had no mascot, and what is now WOU was known as the Oregon State Normal School.

Then in 1928 football coach Larry Wolfe suggested to students that the team be given a name, thus beginning the search for a mascot.

The student newspaper, then known as the LAMRON, ran a story in October 1928 suggesting names such as the Owls or the Knights and asked for other suggestions.

Later that month an editorial was printed, suggesting the team be named in honor of coach Larry Wolfe. By November, the decision was made, and from then on Western was officially known as the Wolves and our mascot as Wolfie.

The Wolf mascot quickly became a major fixture on campus; his picture was first taken with the football team in fall 1929.
Wolfie523
Since 1928, Wolfie has taken on many different forms, both as a live mascot and as a student wearing a costume.

In 1988, a Malamute dog named “Wolf” was purchased with the intention of replacing a student-in-costume style mascot. Wolf was purchased and taken care of by students. He remained the mascot for eight years before retiring in May 1996.
Wolfie will always be a major part of campus life.

Over the years, he has been found on student handbooks, fliers, at sporting and
community events, or just walking around campus.

Though Western has gone through many name changes and Wolfie has been in many different forms, he will always be the mascot that leads our school.

Work and more work, Robert x 2/ Fragments & Paper

By KATRINA PENAFLOR
Campus Life Editor

 

From Jan. 7 through Feb. 6 the Cannon Gallery of Art, located in Campbell Hall, will showcase the work of artists Robert Tomlinson and Robert Schlegel.

Gallery director, Paula Booth, heard both artists wanted to collaborate with one another, so last year she decided to combine their work for a show.

The exhibit is a collection of mixed media sculptures, photography, drawings and installations all created new by the artists for the gallery.

Tomlinson and Schlegel worked collaboratively on several pieces in the exhibit. The artists would individually work, add to the pieces and pass them back and forth until they felt they were complete.

They, along with several art students, created and organized the placement of their work in the gallery, a job typically done by the gallery director.

Robert Schlegel, an artist from Banks, Ore., is known for his paintings of birds and landscapes. He carefully constructed intricate sculptures of houses and birds that reflect upon his rural life and style.

Paula Booth, gallery director says, “Just like in his paintings, [the birds] are so bird like.” He likes to pull elements together that he finds around him, from his home or junk shops.

The results are stunning. The large arrangement of birds in the center of the gallery immediately catches the observer’s eye the second they walk in the door. Booth enjoyed this part of the collection,

“There are a couple birds that I am particularly fond of.”

Erin Westfall, a senior and contemporary music major, took a tour of the show and admired Schlegel’s work, “The birds were my favorite, each portraying an individual personality.”

Robert Tomlinson, a local artist who resides in Independence, created pieces that reflect a new style for his art. His work combines elements of poetry, photography, household items, nature, and more that together form installations that are unique and visually striking. Some of Tomlinson’s work pays homage to artists like Yves Klein and writer Raymond Russell.

Booth had a few favorites of Tomlinson as well, “I loved all three pieces that were on the big disk, plates. I really liked the ‘lost at sea’ one.” She adds on the bold color choices, “You don’t see much gold, and gold implies something precious.”

Gallery hours run Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Flashback Friday: Hold Steady

By Logan Emonds
Freelancer

All universities have their annual traditions that welcome new students onto campus.

For Western Oregon University, their tradition involves cement, nails and a name.

The “Freshman Walk” as it is known, has been a tradition at the university since 1958 when freshman first began etching their names into wet cement during the construction of new sections of sidewalk that surrounded the football stadium.

This is how the new students kick off their college education at WOU.

The tradition has been a long withstanding one; over the years students have scraped their names into the sidewalks of Jackson, Stadium and Church streets – even scraping down nicknames or different aliases.

The oldest signed sections of the sidewalk begin on the south end of campus by the Health and Wellness Center on Jackson.

Even though the sidewalks surrounding the campus have been finished for many years the tradition is still carried out.

When it is time for a new class of freshman and transfer students to sign their names into the cement sidewalks, an old section is ripped up to allow for a new section and more names.

In a 1997 letter to Tom Hanson, Lotte Larsen of the University Archives said that many of the students not only leave behind their names but they also leave their “nicknames and symbols they like: peace symbols, flowers, smiley faces, soccer balls, etc.”

These symbols and nicknames are in a similar fashion to the names themselves: a record of the past.

Taking a walk down the sidewalks surrounding McArthur Field – Western Oregon’s football stadium – allows one to envision what the new freshmen of years past viewed as important.

On a more personal level, students such as Ashleigh Hawkins enjoy seeing the signatures on the sidewalks of family members that have attended WOU in the past.

Her uncle Brent Chapman attended WOU in the late 1980s to the early 1990s and “seeing his signature on the sidewalk would be really cool.”

The problem is finding the specific signature of an individual, as there are “so many signatures on any given spot that it is difficult to find your own even though you know where you put it,” Hawkins said.

In today’s continuation of the tradition, students now paint their names on the sidewalks instead of etching them into cement.

Hamserly Library showcases exhibits on boycott movements and World War I

By AMANDA CLARKE
Freelancer

Hamersly library, with help from the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Study of Political Graphics as well as Dr. Henry Hughes, an English professor at Western, and his wife, are currently displaying new exhibits on boycotts and World War I.

The exhibits are located on the second and third floors of Hamersly library. A reception was held on Wednesday, Jan. 14, in which visitors attended to view the exhibits. They had the chance to speak with others about the exhibits while enjoying provided refreshments.

The second floor displays the exhibit titled: “Boycott! The Art of Economic Activism.” It is sponsored by the Center for Study of Political Graphics and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization looking to promote peace and justice.

“I think of them as the watchdogs for global social justice,” Jerrie Parpart, the Exhibits Coordinator and Archives Assistant, said.

The exhibit features 58 posters showing boycott issues from around the world for issues such as: GMO issues, workers rights and several other international issues.

Historical and contemporary boycott movement booklets are available with pictures and information about the posters as well as information on the sponsors and their work throughout the world.

“This exhibit [on the second floor] deals with social justice and the one upstairs is World War I which also habits social implications,” Parpart said.
“They’re showing you things that are easily lost in our society.”

The third floor displays the World War I “Reverberations of the Great War” exhibit, with library of congress pictures and memorabilia from the grandfathers of
Dr. Hughes and his wife, Chloe. This display includes awards, letters and poems written both to and by soldiers, and army supplies that had actually been used in the war.

“When something is so far in the past, it’s easy to forget and we think about Iraq and Afghanistan and the horrors of war and World War I was such a tragic war and so many young people were killed,” Dr. Hughes said. “I’m really into poetry and I tried to select poems that really reflect disillusion with war. That war was a key war in breaking down the romance and the patriotism.”

Hamersly Library began to display exhibits for students in 2000, when the library was built. The exhibits are there to increase knowledge of what happens in the classroom.

“It’s a way to teach between the lines,” Parpart said. “I try to find topics that are a three to five year period and will cover multiple disciplines.”

Exhibits are suggested by faculty and artists who ask to display their work. The library, faculty, sponsors, and students arrange six different displays each year.

The exhibit featuring boycott movements will be displayed through Feb. 15, and the World War I exhibit lasts through March 20.

“I think it’s important not to forget our past and to see the impact of what it has to day and what changes can happen through them,” Parpart said.

Flashback Friday: A feature exploring the Hamersly Library University Archives

BY ELIZABETH LOWRY
FREELANCER

 

With the rapid growth of the American population in the 1800s, the time had come for a revolutionary form of mass transit to originate.

Through the nation’s introduction to steam locomotives, even small towns such as Monmouth became familiar with railway transportation.

Monmouth was once home to not one, but two railroads: The Oregonian Railway, later known as Southern Pacific, and the Independence and Monmouth Railway Company. However, the I & M was the railroad Monmouth citizens could call their very own.

In “Monmouth, Oregon: the Saga of a Small American Town,” Scott McArthur writes about the I & M’s principal shareholder, Independence banker, Herman Hirschberg’s claim to having the shortest railroad in the country.

While no one ever cared to check the accuracy of his statement, with only 2 ½ miles of track — stretching from Second Street west along E Street in Independence and ending at Warren and Jackson Streets in Monmouth — it wasn’t hard to believe.

In the I & M’s 1895 annual report, the grand total cost consisting of both construction and equipment stood at $22,702.77. This included the 12-ton locomotive which cost $4,045.32, the passenger car at $2,157.98 and the flat freight car with a price of $385.

McArthur documents instances of trains barreling down the tracks and killing livestock that had wandered in front of its nearly unstoppable path.
McArthur also described instances of runaway cars and overloaded trains that almost did not make it up the street.

The Jan. 31, 1974, edition of the Polk Sun details the inaugural run of the I & M. The initial trip took place on Aug. 25, 1890 and transported 143 passengers, who paid five cents each to board, from the Southern Pacific depot in Independence to Monmouth.

McArthur describes a humorous moment during the inaugural run. Upon reaching Beeler Hill on Jackson Street, the train’s engine stalled due to the equipment being new and stiff. The men on the train helped push the train up the hill before climbing back aboard and made a triumphant, if somewhat asthmatic, entry into Monmouth.

Over the course of the day, the railroad was able to collect 543 fares staying at five cents each as locals continued to ride back and forth between Independence and Monmouth.

In the first 11 months of operation, making six trips daily, the I & M transported a total of 47,031 passengers.

In 1902, the I & M leased tracks from Southern Pacific in order to expand its transit to nearby towns Airlie and Dallas.

By 1909, the I & M added a small gasoline powered passenger car to their company, dubbed “the Peanut Roaster.”

In an undated article of the Monmouth Herald, the small car is depicted as carrying its own turntable in which the operator used to swivel the car around on the tracks for the return trip.

While the I & M boasted three locomotives, two passenger cars, and two freight-passenger cars in 1913, profits soon declined in the wake of the affordable automobile.

In the I & M’s income statements, transcribed in “Moody’s Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities,” passenger earnings went from as much as $3,617 in the years 1911–1912 to an abysmal $30 in the years 1914–1915.

The I & M ended service officially in 1918.

Growing English tutoring program serves international students well at college

BY ALI ALJOHANI
 FREELANCER

FOR MORE INFO
WHAT: Free English language tutoring
WHO: International students and other non-native English speakers
WHERE & WHEN: 12 to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday in APSC 501, and 7 to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday in room 228 in the library (by drop-in or appointment)

 

With international student enrollment rising, Western created an English Tutoring Center (ETC) last fall to help non-native speakers of English practice their language skills.

Last term, tutors provided 160 hours of assistance to 59 individuals, who visited the ETC a total of 153 times.

According to Dr. Robert Troyer, linguistics professor and director of the ETC, international students need support for the reading, researching, speaking, and listening demands of other classes and of informal situations.

He said that the ETC is meant to provide whatever English help students want, from help with assignments to conversation practice.

Western had 351 international students enrolled this fall.

Most have taken English classes with professors who focus on the understanding of the language, but the professors in university classes focus on the topic.

As a result, some international students have a hard time getting the information from their classes.

“Our international students enter WOU often with little exposure to English outside of English classes for language learners,” Troyer said.

The ETC helps students with speaking, listening, and reading comprehension including reading source materials and paraphrasing them for use in academic papers – basically everything except writing which students can get help with from the Writing Center, Troyer said.

Tutors must have specific skills to be allowed to provide their services. “All of the tutors except one have been through or are currently working on a Certificate Program for Teaching English as a Foreign Language,” Troyer explained.

“I recruit tutors from our TEFL program because they are undergraduates who have the specific skills needed to help international students with English – and being tutors gives them more experience working with language learners.”

The ETC provides jobs and experience for students. There are both volunteers and paid positions. The ETC is open 32 hours per week, with at least one, and sometimes two, tutors present the whole time.

“I have always loved helping people, and I have a passion for languages, so becoming an English Tutor made sense,” said ETC tutor Alex O’Neil, an ASL studies major and linguistics minor.

“I love meeting new people from different cultures and backgrounds, and I enjoy learning from my students as well as helping them.”

Because American and international students have different cultures, there is a gap between them.

O’Neil advised her fellow tutors to assure their students that they are in a safe place and that they can speak their mind, and don’t have to be embarrassed by their language skills.

She said that everyone has some area to improve in, and that they will figure it out. Also, some students are more focused on accuracy, so they take their time gathering their thoughts, she added, counseling patience for tutors.

“The ETC is a great program, with kind tutors,” said international student Abdulaziz Aleid. “They help me with speaking, listening,
and reading. Also, the ETC is a chance for the international students to know more about American culture.”

One final word of advice from O’Neil is directed toward American students: “I think it would be awesome if we just talked with them in and out of class, to help them feel more welcome.

Obviously, it would be nice if we could make study groups with them, but even going as far as to talk with them about their home country and their interest
is a step in the right direction.”

No appointments are necessary, but the web page tells who is tutoring at which times. From the search box in the upper right corner of any WOU webpage, type
‘English tutor’ to find the webpage with hours, locations, and tutors.

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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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