Mount Hood

“Music of the Spheres”: Dr. James Reddan’s Western directorial debut

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

The “Music of the Spheres” concert choir and Chamber Singers concert on Nov. 27 gathered together a large crowd of friends, family, students and community members.

Western’s concert choir is the institution’s largest ensemble, according to the event program.

Songs from various parts of the world were performed, including “Tshotsholoza,” a South African freedom song that was sung when Nelson Mandela was released from prison. According to Director Dr. James Reddan, this song was chosen to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Mandela’s release.

Also performed was the Austrian carol “Still, Still, Still,” “Sanctus” by Mozart, “Sure on this Shining Night” composed by Lauridsen and “Make Our Garden Grow” created by Leonard Bernstein.

The Chamber Singers are an ensemble comprised of around 24 students that performs mainly A Cappella music. Highlights included “Deck the Halls” performed in 7/8 time, “Babethandaza” which is another traditional South African song, and “Shalom Chaverim,” a traditional Hebrew song.

“In this concert, we celebrated music from different parts of the world, traditions, philosophies, religions, and ideologies,” said Dr. Reddan regarding the title of the concert. “Especially, at this time of year, it is important to celebrate our presence together and our ability to work together for more understanding for each other and the world around us.”

Dr. James Reddan is the director of all three on the choral ensembles at Western and only started approximately 10 weeks ago, as this is his first term as Director of Choral Activities. “Being new at WOU, everyone had to get used to me and me to them,” said Dr. Reddan, “choosing the music this summer was a great adventure, but more importantly, seeing the ensembles take ownership of the music to being it to life has made all of the hard work well worth it.”

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Poet Andrea Gibson releases new book

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Andrea Gibson, a poet based in Boulder, Colorado, released their second book of poetry in 2018. “Lord of the Butterflies” is the fourth full-length poetry collection of Gibson’s. The poet’s other book, released in January 2018, is an illustrated book full of the most popular lines from their most famous poems and is titled “Take Me With You.”

Gibson burst onto the spoken-word poetry scene in 1999 and gained great popularity when they won the first Women of the World Poetry Slam in 2008. 2008 is also the year Gibson released their first poetry collection, “Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns.” Gibson is busy in the LGBTQ+ activism community, and is involved in the anti-war and anti-white supremacy movements as well.

Gibson’s newest release includes 38 poems. The poems are a combination of old pieces that Gibson has been performing on tour, and some pieces that are completely new. Gibson’s new book tackles themes of family, gender, mental health, LGBTQ+ issues, politics and self love, to name a few.
This is quite on-theme for Gibson, but their writing style frames the topics in a way that seems fresh and evergreen. The poet grasps nuance with a simultaneous tightness and fragility that, in my opinion, is one of the reasons they stand out from the crowd.

I have personally seen Gibson perform their poems twice, so it was cool to read some of my favorite poems with their voice speaking along in my head. It’s also nice to have a physical copy of some of Gibson’s most popular poems. I think this volume really captures the scope of Gibson’s work in a way that improves on their previous books.

Information on Gibson’s shows and tour dates can be found at andreagibson.org. I would strongly recommend experiencing their work live if possible.

 

Overall rating: I would strongly recommend this book.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Opinion: Art wall births even more hate speech in Monmouth

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

As I finished typing up my story about the new art wall installation on campus, I allowed myself to feel a little teaspoon of hope. It was hard to swallow because of my pessimistic tendencies and the current political climate; but somewhere in the back of my head I thought “well, this campus tends to be quiet, progressive even. I’m sure we can have a respectful, expressive conversation about this.” I guess I should’ve checked myself there.

Not long after the art wall piece came out, somebody — or a group of somebodies — spray painted anti semitic graffiti in Monmouth. Just last year was the last publicized occurrence of a hate crime. But I clung onto some bit of hope as participation with the art wall was mostly positive and rational at that point. People were having an encouraging and productive conversation about border security. Or so I thought.

One day, I checked up on the wall, as I made a habit of doing. My stomach dropped as I saw that someone had written over every piece of art with “BUILD THE WALL” in bright red paint.

Placing my own opinions aside, this “contribution” is upsetting on a basic level. Not only was this new addition vastly different from the rest of the constructive art it was now covering, it was incredibly disrespectful and counterintuitive to cover up another person’s piece. I don’t care what someone’s opinions are specifically; I care when people try to silence voices different from their own.

It got worse. The next day, while I was checking on the wall once again, I came face-to-face with one of the culprits. A man, accompanied by an armory of spray paint cans, was simply covering over everything he didn’t agree with. Thick coats of black and red paint now covered over every last piece of commentary with phrases like “MAGA,” little republican elephant symbols, and “build the wall.”

I couldn’t help but think back to the interview I had with the artist responsible for the wall, Eric Frey. He mentioned wanting to exhibit pieces of the wall in galleries after the installation is taking down on Dec.1. After witnessing the graffiti, I couldn’t start thinking about how the legacy of the wall will no longer be an open conversation, but a cortex of hate where only one voice prevails.

By the time of this article’s release, the hateful graffiti has been covered up with other graffiti from people with opposing views. Although this is less hateful graffiti, my point still stands. It’s still perpetuating the cycle of “your opinions aren’t the same as mine, so I’m going to silence them.” And the original commentary is lost forever, and the current art being displayed is still not constructive.

Constructive conversations allow room for both sides to express their opinions, without feeling unsafe or silences. There is no room in a productive conversation for hate speech.

 

Contact the author at cweedon16@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton

Review: “The End of the End of the World”

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Jonathan Franzen has proven himself to be a writer of many talents; his published works cover fiction (“Purity” and “The Twenty-Seventh City”), nonfiction (“How to Be Alone”), and translation (“Spring Awakening”). Franzen has also dabbled in journalism and has submitted articles to various magazines, including “The New Yorker.”

The essays in his newest book span autobiography, nature, and art. Right out of the gate, Franzen’s writings are dripping with pessimism and a dull outlook on the state of humanity, which is, at first, relatable. But as the book goes on, it becomes a little old. His essays are bursting with a depression and pessimism that truly made me believe that he thinks he is smarter than his readers, and he is trying very hard to prove it to you. A self described “realist,” Franzen seems to be trying to convince his readers that his version of reality is the right one.

All is not lost, though. Franzen makes up for the human-hating and privileged parts of the book with some very good points about climate change and the political gridlock that prevents stimulation and action.

Another redeeming part of the novel is how much of an obvious and self-proclaimed bird geek Franzen is. A great number of his essays are based around birds and their lives.

“If you could see every bird in the world, you’d see the whole world,” wrote Jonathan in his essay titled “Why Birds Matter.” “The radical otherness of birds is integral to their beauty and their value. They are always among us but never of us.”

The deeper into the book I traveled, I realized that Franzen’s depressing pessimism is mostly a defense mechanism.

In the essay “The Regulars,” Franzen wrote about bars: “I become miserable with self-consciousness and thrift and shame and shyness and etiquette anxiety, unless I’m with a group. The result is that I can’t look at the regulars without envy and longing — a wish to be one of the Regulars myself.”

 

Overall rating: If anyone is going to read this book, I would recommend checking it out from the library.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Johnathan Franzen

Review: “Boy Erased” reveals truths and horrors about conversion therapy in America

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Released Nov. 16, “Boy Erased” follows teenager Jason Eamos, the son of a conservative Baptist pastor and his loyal wife.

Following a traumatic, life-altering event, Jason is outed and must come to terms with the fact that he is gay. After coming out to his parents, Jason is faced with the two-realities that many young LGBTQ+ kids have to choose between: accepting his identity and being disowned by his family or agreeing to reject his sexuality to save his relationship with his parents.

After choosing the latter, Jason is put into a gay conversion program, in which he comes head-to-head with its abusive leader. Throughout the program, Jason witnesses the real-life horrors of forced conversion and begins to accept himself and his identity. Among fellow participants, Jason meets the indoctrinated young man drowning in internalized homophobia, the cunning boy who keeps his head low and fakes it, and the woman who is forced into long-term housing after “failing” to become straight.

According to the end-credits of the film, 700,000 LGBTQ+ Americans have experienced conversion therapy at some point in their lives. “Boy Erased” is actually based on a memoir, written by Garrard Conley, himself a survivor of conversion therapy.

The cinematography of this film is dark, flooded with grey and blue tones to match the subject matter. The dialogue is full of cliches and dogma that many LGBTQ+ children of religious parents have heard at least once in their lives. If nothing else, this film is a stark and honest vignette of the life of someone who has been forced through conversion therapy and has come out the other side — which can’t be said for all.

“Boy Erased” is hard to watch. For any LGBTQ-identifying who has experienced anything mentioned above, watching the film will be extremely triggering. Any sexual assault survivors should also watch with extreme caution. General mental health services can be found at the Student Health and Counseling Center, which can be contacted at (503) 838-8313. Other resources include the Stonewall Center, located in WUC 110 and Abby’s House, located in WUC 106.

 

Overall Rating: I would recommend this film, but would advise caution.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of focusfeatures.com

One Acts: Directed by women, acted by women, written by women

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

On Nov. 19, in a small, black-box type room in the Math and Nursing building, a handful of ten-minute plays were showcased. Audience members sat in a semi-circle, humming in anticipation to see the four ten-minute plays being performed: “Koffee,” “The Role of Della,” “Bending Over Backwards” and “Is It Me?” All of the plays were directed by students, all of which were women; all the actresses were women as well. Additionally, two of the short plays were written by their student-directors.

Madeline Weinstein, a junior in the Western theatre program, was featured in “Koffee” and “The Role of Della.”
“My favorite part was watching myself and the other actresses around me grow into their roles,” said Weinstein, “we started off basic and then gradually melded more into our characters and created our own versions.”

“Koffee” was a short vignette into the life of a woman having a heated, posthumous conversation with a friend from high school who recently died in a car accident.

In “The Role of Della,” an actress gets put through the wringer in an audition by a ruthless director, who is later revealed to be an imposter attempting to steal her acting technique.

“Is It Me?” showed a scene of two women waiting in a lobby to be called in for an interview. The audience hears every thought in the women’s heads: sizing each other up, judging each other, putting themselves down, wondering who forgot to put on deodorant.

The scene of “Bending Over Backwards” showed a young writer pitching a TV show to her zanny and sexually explicit boss who had a knack for acting out various positions.

“Since the shows are only 10 minutes, they didn’t require much rehearsal,” said Weinstein of the preparation process. “Because I was in two shows, I had double the rehearsal, but even then, they were more fun and chill rather than worrisome and scary.”

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

SPECTRUM!: Putting student works on stage

Chrys Weedon | Entertainment Editor

Among a cluster of student concerts being held the week of Nov. 26, “SPECTRUM,” a free-for-students concert consisting solely of works created by student composers, was one of them.

“SPECTRUM!” included seven pieces written by six different artists. Most of the compositions were performed for the very first time at the concert. There were three pieces that included a vocal performance with piano accompaniment, two pieces by a string quintet, a vibraphone performance and a song that included vocals and a pre-recorded music track.

Two of the performances were created by the same composer, Tommy Leinonen.

“These are two songs from a musical-in-progress called ‘Human,’” prefaced Leinonen on stage, “it follows a family that is seeking asylum.”

According to Leinonen, the two songs are sung from the perspective of the heroine in the play. The songs are titled “Human” and “Why Me?” Both compositions were sung by Suzy Herbert and accompanied on piano by Tommy Leinonen himself. Not only did the composer exhibit his talent, Herbet did as well with her skillful and emotion-laden vocals.

Student composers included Drew Swatos (“A Poem of Gratitude”), Tommy Leinonen, Levi Polasek (“Space Adventures”), Jinho Choi (“The Lord of Light”), Ben Kroeker (“String Quartet No. 1”) and Washington Plada (“Tango de Invierno”).

The purpose of this concert was to showcase student talent, and it fulfilled its purpose with ease. All of the compositions showed a fine and promising level of musicianship. It was obvious that these students worked hard to hone their craft and hold themselves to a performing standard.

 

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu

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