Mount Hood

Western Celebrates Dia de Los Muertos

Written by:Mirella Barrera-Betancour

Dia de los Muertos is a yearly, Mexican cultural celebration commemorating the beloved spirits of the deceased. It is characterized by a combination of well wishes, “ofrendas” — offerings, often meaning food or photographs — with a vibrant display of flowers alongside an altar.

Every year, Dia de los Muertos is observed from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. While Oct. 31 is universally known as Halloween, Nov. 1 is referred to as All Saints Day, or the day of the children, in which  the gates of heaven flood open, allowing the deceased to join the physical world to pay a visit to their loved ones.

Although not an official holiday, Nov. 2 is designated as All Souls Day, the day the living get the chance to honor the lives of their departed loved ones. Contrary to misconception, the day of the dead is not a day to grieve, but a day to laugh and have fun.

Last week, students who visited the lobby of the Werner University Center — directly across from Caffe Allegro — saw the altar set up by student workers and volunteers from the Multicultural Student Union. Students who lost a loved one were permitted and encouraged to add an offering to the altar or a heartfelt message on the board. 

The altar and display were left out for student engagement until the end of the week. Likewise, on Wednesday, Nov. 2, MSU hosted an event in the WUC Plaza, with offerings of pan dulce, or “conchas” and hot chocolate. The treats were free to take, as long as the individual provided their name and student email.

That same day, at 6 p.m., MSU hosted their weekly meeting, featuring a celebration of the day of the dead. Attendees got the chance to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with activities such as face painting, sugar skull coloring and a rerun of a classic American movie.

In Mexican culture, activities such as face painting have a special meaning associated with the day of the dead — based upon a mixture of European and Aztec symbolism. Historically, sugar skull face paint is inspired by the work of Mexican lithographic artist, Jose Guadalupe Posada.

Dia de los Muertos is the Multicultural Student Union’s first major cultural celebration on campus of the 2022–23 school year, with many more events planned for the future.​​ The club is always looking for student volunteers to aid in such events. Students can check out their Instagram at @msuwou or join MSU in their club meetings every Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m in the Columbia Room of the WUC.



Senior Night Annihilation

Written by:Gretchen Sims

On Saturday, Nov. 5, the Western Wolves crushed the Simon Fraser University Red Leaves 32-7 — a perfect way to say goodbye to this years’ seniors. 

The Wolves came out of the gate strong with No. 23, Omari Dixon-Land, scoring the first touchdown at the 7:43 minute mark in the first quarter. 

During the second quarter,  No. 94, Noa Aluesi, recovered the ball after No. 8, Malcolm Liufau, sacked the Red Leaves’ punter which resulted in a touchdown on the next play — completed by Thomas Wright when the game clock hit 14:00 on the top. 

Running Back Marquis Sampson, No. 5, scored the final touchdown of the first half; bringing the Wolves score up to 26-0. 

During half time Western honored their seniors. The seniors on the Western Oregon Cheerleading Team include Catherine Machorro, Jude Bokovoy and Abbey Busick.

The seniors from the Western Wolves Football Team include No. 4 Andrew Valladares, No. 5 Marquis Sampson, No. 6 Machiah Lee, No. 9 Jaylin Parnell, No. 11 Thomas Wright, No. 16 Joey Sinclair, No. 17 Logan Reese, No. 19 L.J. Lovelace, No. 23 Omari Dixon-Land, No. 24 Ryan Minniti and No. 69 Edward Taufa’asau. 

During the third quarter, Simon Fraser made a comeback and managed to take 7 points back from Western — their first and final points of the game. 

Western then had two unsportsmanlike conducts back to back at the 13:32 minute mark in the 3rd quarter. The first was by No. 5, Marquis Sampson, and the second was by No. 83, Shaw Jerome. The  penalties pushed Western back 30 yards. This led to a forced punt at 4th in 38 — turning over the ball to the Red Leaves. 

After Western put in their second string players, no more points were scored or lost and Western proved themselves to be good sports despite the previous unsportsmanlike conducts. 

However, No. 3, Freshman Quarterback Kainoa Jones, ran the ball 26 yards in the 4th quarter — a promising start for the young star. 

Overall, Western fought hard, but knew when to pull back and show respect to the other team. Tune in to their final game next week as the Wolves take on Texas A&M University at Kingsville, Texas. Go wolves!

Contact the author at howlentertainment.wou.edu



WOU Galleries Crew Designates Art Gallery for Western Community

Written by:Mirella Barrera-Betancourt

On Oct. 26, Western’s Art Galleries team announced their community-wide effort to build and reestablish campus relationships through the collaborative art project, “Let Your Flags Fly.” 

Throughout November  — concluding at the end of the Fall term — students will have the opportunity to participate in the creation of their own pennant flag and have it displayed in the second floor gallery of Hamersly library. No artistic experience is required, simply creativity and the desire to grow closer to the community.

As the project gains traction, students can expect to see the number of flags multiply, and see their own displayed among the rest. According to Paula Booth, director of the Cannon Gallery, the project has been culminated by lack of community certainty and disconnection demonstrated by Western in recent years. 

“… We were originally thinking of a way to create a more welcoming space in the library for students, and to make it a place where students might think to go and spend time,” Booth said. “(We) realized that there were students who had gotten through four years here at (Western) and had never even stepped into the library … It sort of morphed into this community-wide art project and this idea of building community through art, bringing people together and then, you know, putting all of our artworks together in one place.” 

Melody Barrett, student gallery coordinator, added, “I think by having everyone’s art together in one space, I hope to create a more welcoming space. I want people to see themselves in the space and to feel like it’s their space.” 

Since the announcement, the Western art galleries team have held two flag-painting sessions, one on Oct. 26 and Oct. 27. Future painting sessions are yet to be determined, but are expected to be announced soon. According to Barrett, the first two sessions were a success, with a much greater turnout than anticipated. The crew had initially begun with around 100 flags; however, after only three days, it was clear they needed to create more in order to meet the incessant excitement and demand.

“We didn’t necessarily expect such a big response,” said Booth.

While there are no currently scheduled dates for upcoming painting sessions, there are still many ways for students to get involved. 

Those who are interested can visit the unmanned project table located on the second floor of  Hamersly library any time throughout the month of November. Project materials can be found for usage at the project table. Clubs and organizations are also welcome to join through the creation of their own flags. If interested, club leaders can contact Paula Booth and request supplies to be dropped off the group’s meeting location.

“Let Your Flags Fly” will conclude by the end of the fall term with a celebration. Although the celebration date is to be determined, Booth and Barrett expect the celebration to coincide around the time of the Holiday Christmas tree lighting. Students can expect further details in an announcement in coming weeks. 

 

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu



Power Red: Red Cross Comes to the WUC

Written by: Dakota Gange 

Thursday, Nov. 3 brought students and faculty together below a glistening disco ball in a room filled with the melodic voices of Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Shakira. Though, between the machines, needles and stretcher-like beds, this was no party-like event. 

The first Red Cross blood drive of the 2022–23 school year was held in the Pacific Room of the Werner University Center. Though blood drives on campus are run by the Red Cross and its team of phlebotomists, it is Western’s Student Veterans of America and Pre-Med Club that bring the Red Cross to Western’s campus. 

In addition to regular blood donation, the option to donate “Power Red” was also highlighted. 

Explained by redcrossblood.org, “Power Red is similar to a whole blood donation, except a special machine is used to allow you to safely donate two units of red blood cells during one donation while returning your plasma and platelets to you.” It is required that iron levels are higher for one to donate Power Red than is typically required for regular blood donations.

Student Veterans of America’s Communications Officer, Brant Morgan, and Pre-Med Club President, Lorena Soriano, spearheaded the event.

Morgan is currently studying information systems concentrating in cyber systems and wishes to become an ethical hacker, with plans to do an FBI internship during the summer of 2024. 

Inspired by having to re-learn how to walk at the age of 12 after surviving a life-threatening meningitis illness, Soriano, who is studying pre-med, dreams of becoming a pediatrician.

Both could be seen managing the needs of the drive, or handing out snacks, water and t-shirts to those who had donated. 

Previously, the blood drives were solely run by the Veterans Resource Center, which oversees SVA. However, after teaming up with the Pre-Med club, there has been a significant increase in donations this fall term.  

“This is a good partnership. Especially after the hurricane in Florida, that’s made a big impact on why we need more involvement (donors). Since spring term we’ve seen tremendously more involvement with people donating on campus,” said Morgan, who is also a Peer Advisor in Veterans Education team leader. PAVE is a Western-funded program that supports veteran students through advising, outreach and resources. 

SVA and Pre-Med Club plan to continue their partnership in the promotion of the blood drives, hosting one every term. 

For more information or to stay up to date on future blood drives, check out the SVA’s Instagram at @wousva.

Contact the author at howlmanaging@mail.wou.edu



Student Loan Borrowers Cautioned About Scams by FBI

Written by Mirella Barrera-Betancourt

As of Friday, Oct. 28, six major lawsuits have been filed by opponents of the one-time federal student loan forgiveness program across the U.S. 

The legal arguments contain claims of harm to borrowers, the program being unconstitutional,   harm due to the devaluation of Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and harm to states and state agencies. They also claim that the program violates the Administrative Procedure Act — arguing that the program failed to provide notices of produced and final rulemaking, as well as failing to provide opportunities for the public to comment on notices of said proposed rulemaking.

On Oct. 21, a federal circuit court ruled for the issuing of an “administrative stay,” which would immediately halt student loan forgiveness payments indefinitely until the court rules on the motion for an injunction.

This news came after 22 million Americans applied for student loan debt forgiveness, following the first week of the student loan debt forgiveness beta application becoming available.

In an exclusive interview for News Nation on Oct. 27, President Biden acknowledged the court argument for debt relief, predicting that the issues would be quickly resolved and that students could see their refund checks in the mail within the next few weeks.

In other news, the student loan forgiveness plan has provided a hook for scammers, as an increasing wave of borrowers are becoming victims to scammers with fraudulent offers of help. 

One of the more common scams is a company stating that an individual must pay in order to be eligible for student loan debt forgiveness — which is false. Other scammers attempt to persuade borrowers to provide their personal or financial information as a way to steal one’s identity. In a newly-introduced method, scammers are pretending to be an individual’s loan servicer. 

If an individual is unsure about who their loan servicer is, they can visit studentaid.gov and scroll down until they find the section for “My Loan Servicers.” As a reminder, most borrowers receive an official email by their loan servicer upon accepting government loans. The official federal loan servicers include FedLoan Servicers, Granite State, Great Lakes Educational Loans Servicers, HESC/EdFinancial, MOHELA, Navient, Nelnet, and OSLA Servicing.

To avoid being scammed, unsolicited emails and other messages should be ignored and attachments inside of them should never be opened. Such emails could contain malware and viruses.

Individuals who believe they have fallen victim to student loan debt relief scammers should immediately report to the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Education or file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu

Best Netflix Original Series

Written by Gretchen Sims

Students seem to be taken by storm by Netflix’s endeavors to produce their own original content. Here are some of Western students’ favorite shows, what are yours? 

Some series were included in the original poll but warranted no results. Among those were: “The Crown,” “Love is Blind,” and “Selling Sunset.” 

Stranger Things 19.2 % (5)

Bridgerton 11.5 % (3)

Queen’s Gambit 11.5 % (3)

The Umbrella Academy 11.5% (3)

The Witcher 11.5 % (3)

Sex Education 7.7 % (2)

A Series of Unfortunate Events 7.7 % (2)

Lucifer 3.8 % (1)

Kobra Kai 3.8 % (1)

The OA 3.8 % (1)

Big Mouth 3.8 % (1)

Narcos 3.8 % (1)

The Race for Oregon Governor Begins

Written by News Editor Mirella Barrera-Bentancourt

Oct. 18 was the last day to register for voting in the 2022 November general election in the state of Oregon.

A total of 470 seats in the United States Congress are up for election, with 35 Senate seats and 435 House seats. State executive offices up for election include 36 gubernatorial seats, 30 lieutenant gubernatorial seats, 30 attorney general seats and 27 secretary of state seats. 

In the state of Oregon, there are six candidates running in the gubernatorial election. With long-term incumbent Kate Brown unable to run for re-election, the November election ballot will include a spot for Oregon governor. 

Running for Oregon governor, and included in the ballot, are Democrat and Working Families party candidate Tina Kotek, Republican candidate Christine Drazan and non-affiliated candidate Betsy Johnson. Also running in the election are minor party, independent and write-in candidates Donice Smith from the Constitution Party, Paul Romero from the Constitution Party of Oregon, and R. Leon Noble from the Libertarian Party.

The ballot will also include four new ballot measures — #111, #112, #113 and #114. 

If passed, ballot measure #111 will establish Oregonians’ right to healthcare. 

As 1 of 10 states still allowing slavery and involuntary servitude in the constitution, Oregon ballot measure #112 will remove the outdated language from the constitution and remove slavery as an option for punishment for crime.

Ballot measure #113 will guarantee consequences for absent lawmakers. 

Ballot measure #114 will strengthen rules and regulation regarding firearm safety by requiring completed background checks for all gun sales.

Tina Kotek | Political Party: Democrat

Kotek served as Speaker of the House from 2013 to 2022, where she pushed the agenda for affordable housing and the strengthening of tenant and home renter protection. She said she would aim to address the problem of homelessness, as well as “to provide mental health and addiction services to every Oregonian.” In 2015, Kotek passed the law to protect and advance reproductive rights, and expanded access to birth control for thousands of Oregonians. Kotek is the only candidate in the race endorsed by Planned Parenthood PAC of Oregon and Pro-Choice Oregon. 

Christine Drazan | Political Party: Republican

Drazan served as house minority leader from 2019 to 2021. Her plans include declaring a state of emergency regarding the issue of homelessness in Oregon and investing in public health services and public safety measures. Regarding abortion, Drazan is the only candidate in the election who stands alone in the fight for anti-abortion laws. She applauded the judge’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Drazan is endorsed by the anti-abortion group Oregon Right to Life. Drazan has no plans to expand access to healthcare or strengthen COVID safety measures for Oregonians.  

Betsy Johnson | Political Party: Non-affiliated

Johnson served in the Oregon State Senate from 2007 to 2021. She has repeatedly used her non-affiliation status as a way to move forward in the race, stating, “As governor, I’ll move Oregon forward by being loyal only to the people, not (to) any political extreme or special interest.” Much like Drazan, Johnson criticized Oregon Measure #110, Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative. Johnson also criticized Oregon’s Reproductive Health Equity Fund, which intends to support women’s access to abortion care. She stands firm in her belief that the way to a better, brighter Oregon is by holding those with personal issues accountable in the face of homelessness, addiction and crime.

Contact the author at howlnews@wou.edu



Tina Kotek
Christine Drazan
Betsy Johnson

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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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