Mount Hood

WolfStore sells backpacks to help families in need

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

The WolfStore at Western has recently obtained new stock from the brand Adventurist Backpack Co. Adventurist Backpack Co. is co-owned and founded by the wife/husband duo Matilda Sandstroem and Kelly Belknap.

Sandstroem and Belknap have teamed up with Western to sell their minimalist backpacks on campus in an effort to raise awareness about students and families in need. For every backpack purchased, 25 meals are provided to families in need through their partnership with Feeding America.

Their story began while backpacking around the world in 2017. After witnessing many families struggling with hunger, the pair decided they wanted to take action.

“Wanting to do what we could to help, we prepared meals each morning and filled up our backpacks, handing the meals out to anyone in need throughout the day,” they stated on their website. Adventurist Backpack Co. was founded upon their return to the U.S. They were able to fill up their backpacks with 25 meals each, hence why 25 meals are provided to families in need with each purchase of a backpack.

The backpacks have a minimalist design, and are made with high-quality all-weather materials, along with minimalist elements from Sweden — Sandstroem’s home country.

Belknap and Sandstroem, after successfully integrating their backpacks into Urban Outfitters, have begun partnering with other universities around the country by selling their backpacks in campus stores.

“We partner with university hunger programs in order to donate a percentage of net profits from each backpack sale to help provide “meal swipes” so that food insecure students are able to eat at the dining halls on campus and also have access to a mobile food pantry, or to local food banks,” Belknap said.

Adventurist Backpack Co. has a goal of providing over 250,000 meals by the end of their third business year. Nearly 100,000 meals have been provided to families in need across the world since the business began in 2017.

“We aim to be at the forefront of brands using business to do something larger than just provide a great product or service, but to help change the world for the better through entrepreneurship,” said Belknap.

More information on Belknap and Sandstroem’s story can be found in the WolfStore and on their website http://www.adventuristbackpacks.com. They can also be found on Instagram at the handle @adventuristbackpacks, and can be reached at hello@adventuristbackpacks.com for any questions.

Contact the author at rhorrall17@mail.wou.edu

Spooky DIYs for Halloween

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Looking for cheap and fun ways to decorate for Halloween this year? Try out these DIYs to get prepped for the spooky season.

 

Witch’s Potions

Make some witch’s potions to set on a windowsill, at the front door or just miscellaneously around the house. Start by taking any old, preferably glass bottles lying around, such as a wine, cider or seltzer bottle. Fill the bottle with some sort of liquid — water dyed a different and/or unnatural color, juice, or something carbonated to give the potion a bubble-bubble-toil-and-trouble look. 

Take the witch’s potions up a notch by adding in various “ingredients”. Add in gummy worms to give an impression of living things being included, or some substance such as ketchup to thicken the liquid, increasing the murkiness and mystery.

 

Floating Ghost

Create a spooky ghost to hang from the ceiling using simple household items. Take a round object like a tennis ball to use as a head, then gather some spare cloth thats cut into a square — length of cloth may vary depending on desired decoration size. Glue the tennis ball to the center of the cloth and attach thread to the top once dried.

Googly eyes can be glued on to add a cuter spooky feel. Variations of the tennis ball could be a balloon, a stress ball or other ball. Cloth can be from old sheets, clothes or various fabrics.

 

Witch’s Spellbooks

Utilize old books that are no longer in use by transforming them into witch’s spellbooks. Head to a used bookstore and pick up some tattered books – or just use older books lying around the house. Cover the book in shabby cloth by either gluing or taping it on. Alternatively, painting the book also works, the goal is just to hide the cover.

Wear down the pages by dampening with water, or coffee to stain the pages to age the book further. Take a lighter or match to the edge of the pages – if the cover is paperback, this works too – to add to the wear and tear.

 

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photo Cora McClain (Witch’s Potion)

Photos by Caity Healy (Floating Ghost and Witch’s Spellbook)

Lonney’s Hawaiian food truck review

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Lonney’s Lunch Wagon is a food truck located at 152 Main St W in Monmouth. Opening at the tail end of 2018, Lonney’s serves Hawaiian-Asian style cuisine that comes in both smaller and larger sizes.

Lonney’s initially started out with owners Donney Ito and Leon Abrew selling lunch plates out of their houses as a way to earn money while attending Western. Eventually the two expanded and thought it would be a good idea to start a food truck business in town.

“(The) love and support we got from everyone here was too hard to leave,” the two explained over Instagram. Ito and Abrew wanted to provide a solid food option for the people in Monmouth and for the Western football team that supported the pair from the beginning.

The idea to sell Hawaiian food came from the fact that Abrew and Ito are both from Hawaii. However, according to Lonney’s, “We actually only have one ‘Hawaiian’ dish, (which) is our Kalua pig.” 

Their menu consists of many different mixtures of Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, and some Fillipino dishes, but just stick with the label “Hawaiian food” for simplicity.

The menu rotates every other day, with chicken, beef and pork options available daily, and seafood available on Saturdays. Lonney’s does not have a secret menu, but allows their customers to customise their meals with different sauce options they have for the day. If the Loco Moco is on the menu, any dish on the menu can become a “moco,” meaning that they will add over-easy eggs and gravy to your plate.

Abrew and Ito say their signature dishes are the Hurricane Katsu or Hurricane Chicken. Both dishes are drizzled with a mild spicy mayo, a sweet sushi sauce and are sprinkled with furikake on top. However, the dishes they recommend to first-time customers are the Loco Moco or Bulgogi.

“(We) recommend the Loco Moco or Bulgogi because so many people order the Hurricane every time that they don’t get a chance to try (them),” the two explained over Instagram. “Loco Moco is probably the most underrated plate that we have.”

The Loco Moco is homemade Hawaiian style hamburger patties with an over-easy egg and brown beef gravy, and the Bulgogi is homemade Korean teri-marinated beef.

Along with food, Lonney’s sells pop sockets and, in the past, t-shirts. They’re currently in the process of bringing more t-shirts in.

Lonney’s also advertises for customers to “leave their mark” on the back of their wagon by putting a sticker on it that represents home. 

When asked if they wanted to add anything else, Ito and Abrew had this to say.

“Thank you so much to EVERYONE for supporting us and welcoming us with open arms. There’s a lot of sacrifices we make to be able to run this business, but getting to provide good people with good food makes it all worth it.”

Lonney’s Lunch Wagon can be found on Instagram with the handle @lonneyslunchwagon and on Facebook. The business is open Monday–Friday from 11 a.m.–3 p.m., and on Saturday from 12 p.m.–3 p.m. Occasionally, Lonney’s holds “drunchies” hours, which usually occur from 11 pm–1:30 am. 

 

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photo by Hannah Greene

Save the pumpkin seeds: My go-to festive recipe

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Instead of tossing the seeds after gutting a pumpkin, turn them into a festive, tasty snack for the fall season.

 

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

Start to finish: 25-30 minutes

Servings: 1 ½ cups

 

1 ½ cups of pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons fine sea salt (and more for serving)

2 teaspoons of olive oil, coconut oil or nut oil (such as walnut)

2 teaspoons of favorite spice blend (such as curry powder, harissa and chili powder)

 

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

    Fill a medium saucepan with about 2 cups of water and season with 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring to a boil.

    Scoop seeds from a pumpkin while water is boiling. Add the pumpkin seeds to a bowl filled with cold water and swish them around until the seeds float and are mostly clean.

    Add the cleaned seeds to the boiling salted water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and pull away any remaining pumpkin attached to the seeds.

    Scatter the seeds onto clean dishcloths and pat them very dry. Mound the dried seeds onto the prepared baking sheet. Add the oil and any spices on top then toss until well coated. Spread the seeds into one layer. Bake, stirring the seeds at least once until fragrant and golden around the edges, 10 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of the seeds.

 

Contact the author at rhorrall17@wou.edu

Photo by Caity Healy

Alternative Break information

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

Looking for a way to spend spring break for this year? Check out the Service Learning and Career Development’s Alternative Break program.

Alternative Break is a project that gets students out and helping different communities ⏤ both global and/or local ⏤ through different volunteer and community organizations. According to the program’s mission statement, “(it) connects students with transformative hands-on experiences.”

The program is designed to help students grow personally and professionally, while giving them hands-on experiential learning, which involves using reflections on what a person has learned before, during and after participating in an event or activity.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to be able to go out and do good somewhere else,” stated Jennifer Hansen, the career development coordinator at the SLCD. “(Many) students come back from them and go ‘That was life changing’ and … I would definitely agree with that statement.”

Applications to sign up for the Alternative Break program during spring break 2020 open on Oct. 7 and can be found on the Western website. Type “Alternative Break” into the search bar for quick access. Grad profiles of students who had previously signed up and participated in the program can be found with more information on the site. According to Samantha Dunaway, a previous attendee from 2017, “It was a one of a kind experience. It helped me understand and explore an entirely new culture while giving me the tools to help at-risk youth in the community of La Carpio, Costa Rica.”

Contact the author at howllifestyle@mail.wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Sam Dunaway

Deals available to Western students

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

College is a wonderful but financially painful time for many students. When all of the bills are released and the bank accounts become borderline empty, it’s nice to be able to go to a location that gives students a little break. Maybe a discount?

Two locations in Monmouth and the neighboring town Independence offer students a deal at their places. The Tap Station in Independence offers a dollar discount to Western students who have their school ID, while Main Street Ice Cream Parlor has a double punch card deal.

The Tap Station is located at 87 S Main Street in Independence, the establishment being an old gas station turned restaurant and bar. Wednesday is known as “Western Wednesdays,” which involves an all-day happy hour with $1 off of the final tab if students come in with their Western ID. 

The deal applies to not only drinks at the bar, but also works with non-alcoholic beverages for underage students as well. The “Western Wednesday” deal also applies to cowboys. Students of all ages are welcome in the establishment, and the folks running the Tap Station hope to see more students come to grab a bite or drink.

Main Street Ice Cream Parlor is also located off of Main Street but in Monmouth ⏤ 109 Main Street E, within walking distance of campus. The business offers a punch card program, and gives two stamps for the price of one on Mondays. This is applicable to Western students and others from surrounding universities. Once the punch card is full, the holder gets their ice cream for free and the option to start the cycle over again. This offer was made for students to get a benefit for being at the ice cream parlor⏤ along with a chance to get free ice cream quicker.

Main Street Ice Cream Parlor also offers other deals for those that follow their Instagram page.

Contact the author at howllifestyle@mail.wou.edu

Photo by Caity Healy

WOU-Hoo: Getting pumped for Homecoming

Rylie Horrall | Lifestyle Editor

This year’s homecoming game is readily approaching, and with it comes Homecoming week, filled with fun events and activities for students to participate in every day.

The Kickoff Carnival is filled with fun games and prizes to win, including this year’s Homecoming t-shirts. At this time, students have an opportunity to take part in the “Paint the Wolf” event, a tradition that has gone on for years, as another way to leave their mark.

Students can get pumped up with the “Paint the Town Red” event, which involves partnering with local participating businesses to make Monmouth more festive for the week.

The decorating continues with various offices being wildly decorated around campus. While checking those out, students will have a chance to win prizes if they show their spirit by decking out in Western gear.

The hoedown allows students to fully participate in this year’s theme – Wild Wild Western. Students have a chance again to get a free t-shirt and have a fun time at the themed dance.

The Bonfire Pep Rally gathers Western’s students around to chat and have a good time before the “W” burns, a tradition that happens the night before the Homecoming game that most students enjoy being a part of.

The energy continues right before the Homecoming game with the All Student Tailgate, where students get pumped up and spirited before entering the stadium. 

Get prepped for the big game throughout the week by attending events and gaining prizes. Students can get ready for the game by decking out in Wolf gear from the WolfStore ⏤ take advantage of the 30-70% off sale. If students choose to really go all out and paint their faces, be sure to use paint that can go on skin.

 

Contact the author at howllifestyle@mail.wou.edu

Photo by Paul F. Davis

Western Oregon University

Facebook   Instagram   X  YouTube

WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY
345 Monmouth Ave. N.
Monmouth OR 97361

503-838-8000 | 1-877-877-1593

Tools

Campus Maps
Canvas
Find People
Portal
WOU Email
Technical Support

Resources

A-Z Index
Accessibility
Academic Calendar
Class Schedule
Jobs at WOU
News
Explore WOU
Partnerships
Student Services
Freedom of Expression

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.