Opinion – Page 14 – The Western Howl

By Conner Williams - Editorial Editor

The Health and Wellness Center hosts, on average, 5,440 users per week, according to Rip Horsey, director of campus recreation. It can become cluttered and busy at peak times, and following these simple tips will make everyone’s workouts better and their experiences more enjoyable.

Disclaimer: This list was not obtained from the Health and Wellness Center. It was compiled by the editorial editor of The Journal.

1. Put your weights away

• This is number one for a reason. Seriously, put your weights away.

2. Wipe down your equipment
• This falls in close accordance with number one. Nobody wants to have to use a bench or machine that is covered in your sweat. Great job on working hard, but please clean up after yourself.

3. Don’t idle on machines or stations
• Everyone rests between their sets, but that doesn’t mean the machine or bench then serves as a place to take a load off while you text away. Get off your phone, and let someone else work in.

4. Do your exercise at least 5 feet away from the mirror
• We all know the key to building big arms is to stare intently at yourself while doing curls, but that doesn’t mean you need to stand directly in front of the dumbbell racks. Leave enough room so that other people can grab and put away the weights they need.

5. Use headphones
• Nobody wants to hear your music, or you singing along to it. Attention-seeking behavior is just plain obnoxious. Go to Bi-Mart and buy a $6 pair of Skullcandy earbuds.

6. Use a spotter
• There is a thin line between arrogance and ignorance. If you’re going to attempt a lift that you know you can’t do more than twice or will struggle with, ask someone to spot you. We’re all happy to help, just as long as we don’t have to lift all the weight for you because you want to show off with some immovable heavy weight.

7. Wash your hands after using the restroom
• This one is pretty self-explanatory. According to the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention, washing your hands prevents illnesses and the spread of infections to others. Who would’ve thought? Thousands of hands touch the gym equipment every day, so let’s try to keep it as sanitary as possible.

8. Don’t take over someone’s station or machine
• You just saw that person using that piece of equipment, so before taking it from them, ask if they are done. If not, ask if you can work in with them. Most people are happy to share equipment. After all, this is a public gym.

9. Be aware of your surroundings
• Don’t blindly walk around the gym with your eyes glued to your phone. There are people everywhere, and running into someone can cause a very dangerous situation.

10. Use deodorant
• This cannot be stressed enough. You may not be able to smell yourself, but the rest of us can, and it isn’t pleasant. Go buy a $2 Speed Stick, and keep it in your gym bag.

11. Keep the between-set conversation to a minimum
• You’re here to work out, not to chat and take up valuable gym space. If you need to take a phone call or text someone, do it off to the side of the weight floor.

12. Keep your workout tips to yourself
• Unless someone is performing an exercise with excessively poor form that can cause injury to themselves and/or others, your fitness advice probably isn’t welcome.

13. Try not to stare at other people
• This one mostly applies to the men of the gym crowd. We’ve all been caught creeping at least once, but try to keep it on the down low, and don’t make anyone uncomfortable by conspicuously staring wide-eyed while they’re mid-deadlift.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

To struggle beautifully

By JENNIFER HALLEY
 Copy Editor

Do you know what it feels like to have your mind spinning, somersaulting out of control with thoughts, at such a high intensity, it drives you nearly crazy? Do you know what it feels like to spend gross amounts of money without having any control in the decisions that prompted you to do so? And to feel that gut-wrenching guilt that comes with it? Or to sleep with a knife under your pillow because you’re swallowed up in a thick, wet blanket of black that consumes you?

Yeah, I don’t either.

But my sister does. My beautiful, baby sister. She knows what it feels like to lay in a steep, heavy darkness, with its fingers at her throat, her own fingers clutching a knife buried under her pillows that, with one clean sweep, could end it all – silence everything. She knows how much it affects every aspect of her life to spend and spend and spend and then lay in a dried-out pool of funds and embarrassment. And every day still, she knows too well the screaming thoughts in her head that try to consume her every move and sometimes, do.

Medication. Therapy. More medication. Diet. Exercise. Get enough sleep. Be healthy.

Don’t smoke weed. Don’t drink. Don’t. Do. Don’t. Do. These things are pushed on her constantly, in an effort to manage her Bi-polar disorder. Every day is a struggle for my baby sister.

But every day is also another day my sister gets up and faces this invisible illness – staring it valiantly in the face – which rears its ugly head every possible second it can. She’s insightful, intelligent, hard-working and beautiful – a beauty that radiates from within. She’s got deep dimples and big blue eyes. Who couldn’t adore her?

I didn’t, at one point. In fact, I was so angry with her I convinced myself I hated her. But it is impossible, as I’ve come to realize, to hate someone that is such a part of you. That hatred you feel is just an aching love that clutches your insides.

My sister and I were the best of friends growing up. We played with each other day in and day out; as punishment – instead of swallowing soap or weeding – mom would separate us, not allowing us to play with one another for the whole day, which made us incredibly distraught. Luckily, we were cute kids and mom would give in. But still! The thought of being apart for a whole day! We were inseparable.

Fast forward a decade or so to my second year of college and her senior year in high school: the sweet, innocent, sensitive, gentle baby sister was replaced with an angry, careless, spiteful girl who treated her family with contempt and hate. She could not have cared less, in my eyes. She stayed out late, made risky decisions and slept very little. She was withdrawn and furious. As her senior year continued, she began cutting herself and sleeping with a knife under her pillow. You couldn’t talk to her without the conversation turning sour; her mood swings were a light switch. We all had to walk on eggshells around her.

I was so angry. With her. At her. Each decision she made was, in turn, hurting our parents, hurting me. My parents spent hours, days, weeks – that whole year – tirelessly trying to help her when she didn’t want it. They were exhausted and it made me so mad. How could she do this to our parents, her family? Admittedly, I thought she was doing it for attention. Or to be rebellious. I thought she was being so selfish.

Bipolar disorder never even crossed my mind, or my parents’ mind.

As her senior year drew to a close, and she went off to college, her life was a continual spiral. And I worried. I worried so much. She had free reign now: no parents to watch over her every move, no rules, no curfew, no sisters to meddle in her business. None of that. I was so afraid she was going to get addicted to drugs, raped at a party, or caught up with an abusive boyfriend. My baby sister was not a baby anymore and I couldn’t protect her anymore.

Now, at 22 years old, she is doing well. The sweet girl, who when she was younger and saw an ambulance whiz past us in the car, would say a quick prayer of protection, is back again. She has her moments and her days. I mean, we all do; we’re human. We get tired, stressed and cranky. But for a person like me who is not dealing with an invisible illness, that’s it. I get tired, stressed, irritable; sleepless nights can be remedied by a good night’s sleep the next night; moodiness can often be attributed to hormones. Stress is a result of work and school.

But to someone like my sister, a night of too-little sleep can result in a manic episode that sends her reeling back three steps. Missing a DAY’S dose of her medication? Five steps back. Small, meaningless decisions for us can be huge for my sister and can result in periods of anxiety that stall her from moving. You ever feel like you just can’t sometimes? Well, she feels that way far too often. Some days, She Just Can’t. She’s stuck in a whirlwind of anxiety and depression, thoughts crowding her brain and a fog which ways her down so hard.

She’s tried a variety of medications, seen an array of therapists and tries hard, every day, to manage her illness. And she is so incredibly strong for it. And so brave. So very, very brave.

According to nimh. nih.gov, mental disorders are common, affecting tens of millions of people each year. But only half of those affected receive treatment.

To my baby sister: I want to commend you for taking that HUGE step in trying, tirelessly, everyday, to figure out how to manage this illness that no one can see. I want to tell you I look up to you, so much, because you fight a battle I know nothing about and are still able to be funny, wonderful, kind and an amazing sister to me. You have bad days and good ones, both of which I think deserve acknowledgment. I will never know what it is like to walk a minute in your shoes, and I am sorry I could not protect you from this monster. But just know, that each and every day, through the thickest of thick and the thinnest of thin, I love you. I love YOU. Every part of you. You make me so proud, baby sister, and I hope you know that.

Bipolar disorder is a HARD one to live with – hard for everyone involved. And those who choose to do so, man, how beautiful are they? As I watch my sister blossom into an adult, into her own person, I think I’m beginning to understand what it means to struggle beautifully. She does it. Everyday she does it. And I’m a better person because of her.

So, I’ll say it again: I love you, baby sister. Forever and always.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Generation of Disillusionment

Carly Fister - Designer — Carly Fister – Designer

According to dictionary.com, a millennial is: “a person born in the 1980s or 1990s, especially in the U.S.” The generation of millennials seem to have a bad reputation; we are often regarded as lazy, entitled, and out of touch with the world, particularly the political world.

Articles like “Millennial Workers: Entitled, Needy, Self-Centered?” by Jada Graves and “Millennials Frustrate HR Execs,” by Sean Bisceglia look into the traits attributed to our generation. Companies say we have unrealistic expectations about what a job will be like once we are hired, with specific regard to promotions. We think we are owed the job for going to college.

The baby boomers look at us and say we are entitled and narcissistic, based on our greatest contribution to the world: the “selfie.” We are a joke to the older crowd, who
view us as a generation of young people removing themselves from the reality they created who don’t care what happens. They see people who are more interested in partying or tweeting and picking out a filter for their newest Instagram photo instead of voting.

But has anyone stopped to think about what we tweet? It’s not all about the Dress and Kim Kardashian.

According to Aaron Moy’s article “Four Insights about Millennials on Twitter,” 53 percent of millennials tweet about current events but only one in four will show up to
the voting booths to cast a ballot.

We may not participate with rallies or signs, but we are very much aware of the political climate around us. The problem is, we just don’t like what we see.

Personally, I dislike politics. I dislike the bias of the parties. I dislike the judgment and the bad mouthing that our political system has become, and I dislike the
fact I can’t really ever seem to get a straight answer on what a politician believes.

I would describe my party affiliation as a politically agnostic, which is defined by Urban Dictionary as “One who is a registered voter and politically informed, but is basically indifferent and non-committal toward the popular political parties (Democrat or Republican in the U.S.). [He/she] Probably believes that the political parties are so ideologically similar and so mired in their own bureaucracy that they have outlived their usefulness.”

I remove myself from the political process, but not because I don’t care what happens in our government or am too lazy or out of touch to know who or what I am voting
for. I believe that our system is fundamentally broken.

In her article “Why Millennials Don’t Vote,” Danielle Chilton explains, “Voting is all too often viewed as an ineffective form of expression by Millennials. In a sea of millions of votes, it’s hard to feel like your solitary ballot really means that your voice is heard.”

And I agree.

Each political party is too busy attacking the other to come up with any real solutions, and even when an answer presents itself, our represented officials seem more concerned with tearing down the other side of the political fence to support what could be a positive change for our country. I don’t see any politician or political party
that I can say, “yes, I feel represented here.”

Our country will be inherited by the millennials, not the older generations who are currently in office: a generation that doesn’t take me, as a young person, seriously.

A generation that has no politician whose values reflects my own. A generation that, frankly, is screwing me over.

It seems funny that the most credible source of news to me is “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and not MSNBC or the “Today” show. I enjoy that the news is delivered
in both a way that is interesting and informative. I enjoy that Stewart criticizes both parties.

When reading up on current events, more often than not I start with a Buzzfeed article or do more research into a hashtag rather than scanning OregonLive.

I have discussions with my peers about what they think and force myself to listen to opinions I disagree with rather than shoot them down. I play devil’s advocate on issues to see the legitimacy of all sides of an argument.

Organizations like Rock the Vote look at how millennials get involved and try to find ways to increase voter turnout. Ashley Spillane, president of Rock the Vote, explains that millennials are “looking to take problems in real time and fix them.”

Whether it be tweeting about their political views or work in their community with a local startup or volunteering, we millennials care about the issues that matter to us enough to go out and do something about it.

Our involvement may not look like what the baby boomers think it should, but I think that is probably a good thing. Our system needs a change and the only way to change it is for us to find a new way to approach it.

So maybe we millennials are a bunch of passive kids who have a short attention span and spend way too much time on our phones, destined to live in our parents’ basements. Or maybe we are waiting for a time when our voices and opinions are represented in politics, allowing us to make the change we wish to see in the world, one bill at a time.

Or maybe we are just waiting for our time to make the change we all need to see in the world.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Up in Smoke

The daily duties of a convenience store cashier are fairly straightforward. The customer ponders the multitude of preservative-laced delicacies and, upon deciding that four corndogs, a 44-ounce soda and nachos will hold them over for the evening, hands the items over to me to check out.

Nearly all customer-clerk encounters occur without protest, save for the occasional high price complaint (which is apparently my fault that something is priced 30 cents over his allotted junk-food budget), the always pleasant break-a-hundred-for-this-89-cent-purchase customer, and the person who feels they need to point out every flaw in the physical makeup and structure of the business.

Most of these instances trigger a reaction in me nothing more than a shake of the head and faint sigh. But, the one that tops the podium and makes me question my morals and my job duties is that of the pregnant smoker.

Cigarettes are one of the highest selling products in a convenience store. I am required to stock and count the cigarettes daily as well as record all sales. It is against the law to sell tobacco products to individuals under the age of 18 and I card everyone who looks under 30. Many of the customers that come in are regulars and I know what they want as they walk in the door.

Most of the time, customers ask for their particular brand of addiction-easers and I toss the pack(s) their way without so much as a shrug. They quietly thank me and go on about their business. However, there was one instance that made me question the written law as well as my own personal ethics.

Just like any other day, a woman came in to buy a pack of smokes. She was of legal age and I obliged to her request. No big deal, until I did a double-take as she left and saw the protruding baby bump I had failed to notice under her jacket when we were face-to-face.

What had I just done?

Generally, I am not a person who is quick to judge or make unfair assumptions about people, especially strangers. She could have simply been overweight or buying them for someone else. However, I was certain that she was pregnant, and they were for her; seeing her “pack” the box and slip one into her mouth on her way out only confirmed my suspicions.

I forced myself to stay put and resist the urge to confront her about her unquestionably irresponsible and unethical actions. Then, I had a similar train of thought about alcohol.

How many pregnant women had I sold beer or wine to?

How many women void of compassion for their unborn child had put me in the awkward and uncomfortable position of addiction supplier?

I have no interest in playing enabler, especially when the result is the harming of a human that is unable to defend itself from the barrage of carcinogens and immeasurable defects, stunted growth, facial abnormalities, central nervous system problems and mental retardation, to name a few.

I know that clerks at my store are allowed to refuse service if a customer is being unreasonably angry or rude, but I knew nothing about the policy on refusing to sell cigarettes and alcohol to an individual that meets the legal age requirements.

My manager was not present, so I decided instead to take a look at the legal side of the spectrum. I pulled out my phone and did a little research to find out if I was legally allowed to refuse service to a visibly pregnant woman attempting to purchase tobacco and/or alcohol products.

Sure enough, there are no laws that make it legal for a clerk to refuse to sell alcohol and/or tobacco to visibly pregnant women. The decision is left up to the business. If the business has a “We reserve the right to refuse service” sign, then the discretion is left up to the employee and would then have to be validated to the manager or owner.

However, I have read on several online forums, such as one on expertlaw.com, that refusing service to a pregnant woman could be seen as an act of discrimination, similar to declining service to someone because of sexual orientation or ethnicity, in which case the matter could end up in civil court.

Under ORS 471.551, all retail alcohol licenses require retailers to “post the pregnancy warning sign at the entrance to your business or at all points of sale.” The sign bears the message: “Pregnancy & Alcohol DO NOT MIX. Drinking alcoholic beverages, including wine, coolers, and beer during pregnancy can cause birth defects.”

There is no such sign, however, warning about the effects of tabacco. The warnings are placed on the packs themselves, that are hardly noticed as the pack is torn open in a frenzy.

Now, obviously I am not able to put myself in the exact mindset of a pregnant woman, but I like to think if I was caring for another human being growing inside of me that depended on everything I did and put into my body, I might be able to overcome my addiction. I know that the physical effects of addiction are strong and severe and difficult to overcome, but the well-being of an unborn child should always supersede one’s own selfish choices.

I realize it is not my place to judge others; my job is to shut up and give the customers what they want. However, it is my place to judge myself. I should have the choice to opt out of being in the situation of contributing to the harm of an unborn child. Unfortunately, I do not have the financial freedom to question the type of employment that I place myself in, but I should have the ethical freedom to question the types of customers that I do, or do not, serve.

There is one more piece of legislature which deserves some discussion: according to ORS 471.412, it is against the law to sell alcohol to a visibly intoxicated person, as he or she is not able to mentally make viable health decisions on their own behalf. The same could also be said of selling to pregnant women. If a woman is willing to drink or smoke while pregnant, it seems to me that they either don’t know about the inherent dangers on their unborn child, or they don’t care. Both cases provide an argument that she is not mentally able to make practical health decisions for her unborn child. A lack of education or empathy is, in my opinion, good cause to allow me to refuse service.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Stachtastic: the return of the mustached man

INFOGRAPHIC BY CARLY FISTER | Designer *Information courtesy of americanmustacheinstitute.org, howtogrowamustache.com, and medialcaldaily.com — INFOGRAPHIC BY CARLY FISTER | Designer
*Information courtesy of americanmustacheinstitute.org, howtogrowamustache.com, and
medialcaldaily.com

At work the other day, I looked up to find a 20-something-year-old man sitting in front of me, stroking his waxed, handlebar mustache like it was his prized possession. Caught off guard by this image, I ended up watching him as he casually spoke with his friends, drank and ate, and generally went about his normal business, all while stroking his mustache.

Even after he had gone, I kept remembering the mustached man, unable to put my finger on why he stuck with me. It may be because a small part of me kept picturing him as the villain in an old black and white film, twirling his mustache as he laughed maniacally before the damsel tied to the train tracks met a very rough end. Or maybe it was just the sheer amount
of times he touched his own mustache — 15 that I noticed.

But I had this nagging feeling that while those both seemed odd, they were not what fascinated me so. It finally hit me as I was about to fall asleep that night…I hadn’t seen a fully- grown mustache such as that in a long time, especially on someone who was roughly my age.

With this new thought, I decided to do some digging, as anyone would. It turns out, I was right: the mustached man has been a rare site for the last several decades. Of course there are always the outliers, but the majority of society had abandoned the mustache and all its glory.

So what made it return?

Some exploration led me to the American Mustache Institute’s web page, which was full of information and interesting facts about mustaches. But more than facts or statistics, it gave explanations, such as a timeline of the mustache throughout history. Through this timeline, one can begin to determine the trend of the mustached man.

A number of factors have surely contributed to the rise of the mustache: the popularity of No-shave November, or Movember as it is fondly known, the media or TV shows that prominently feature mustached men, such as Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy or Ron Swanson.

But it’s more than that.

The traditional adult is no longer what we picture as children, which sort of looks like the cast of “Mad Men,” all business people with power suits and important jobs. Not to say there are not still people like that, but it is no longer the norm. Having a full-time job does not always mean working from 9 to 5. Being a parent doesn’t mean you hide your tattoos, but display your sleeve with pride. A mustached man is not Ron Burgundy and the channel 4 news crew, against the progression of women and society.

So who is he?

Perhaps he is a hipster, growing his ironic facial hair to emphasize his creativity and open-mindedness. Perchance he wants to be a powerful man, or is a powerful man and wants to have facial hair he feels accurately displays what he wants to say to the world. Maybe he just really hates shaving. But whatever the reason, the mustached man is making his comeback. I, for one, applaud him!

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Adapting to the Age of Connectivity

By TREVOR JACKSON
 Guest Columnist

Last week, I made a trip to Chicago. I’m studying theater, and I planned to go and audition for graduate schools. On Sunday, I woke up at the absolute crack of
dawn so I could drive with my father from Monmouth to PDX.

After the hour drive, 10 minutes to park, 10 minutes to walk to the terminal, and an additional hour of waiting in line (it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday), we approached the Alaska Airlines counter only to find that our flight had been canceled.

Fortunately, there was another flight in the next two days, and it wouldn’t conflict with my audition. But the situation was nonetheless extremely frustrating.

See, I still live in the 20th century, and I don’t own a smartphone. On the drive over, if I only owned some sort of smart device, I could have received the cancellation notice ahead of time and saved the trip. But alas, I had no such
device. And the ironic thing is, my father works for Verizon.

I decided to purchase for myself a Samsung Galaxy, a tablet computer with a 7-inch screen. Some people, like my father, believe they can be just as productive while “living-off-the-grid.” But let me tell you: as someone who has made a lifestyle switch in the very midst of the Age of Connectivity, there is no other way to live if you want to count yourself as a part of the American workforce.

Now, I know the audience I am writing for, and that, quite frankly, I’m preaching to the choir. I would wager that 99 percent of you, the readers, know the immediate benefits of being consistently connected to the internet. How fortunate it is the campus is covered in Wi-Fi signals.

To those that are wary about how predominant technology has become in our lives, I say “get over it.” Imagine working as a chef in a competitive kitchen, except you’re the only one that has to go cook everything in the fire pit out back. Meanwhile, I’ll stay inside with my industrial stovetop.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Google self-driving car takes control

By TREVOR JACKSON
 Guest Column

The other day I was riding in the car with my father; we were talking about this and that, very casual like, and I bring up the subject of Google’s self-driving car. I say, “You think you would ever buy a self-driving car?”
His response? “Hell, no!” I was surprised. We debated and bantered over the subject.

“I like having control,” he said, gripping the steering wheel of our Subaru a little tighter. He held on even tighter when I mentioned that Google’s most recent prototype, in fact, had no steering wheel. Or even pedals. And starts testing on public roads this month. Admittedly, even I find this a little freaky. However, I am still on board with autonomous driving, and for two big reasons.

The first is that computers are so much cooler, calm and collected than humans are. Human beings are fragile; our driving can be inhibited by so many different factors: alcohol, lack of sleep, medication, road rage, etc. We have lives; we have worries; we have distractions; we have so many things that can put us in danger when we get behind the wheel.

But, the Google Car is a machine whose existence is entirely dedicated to and limited to getting you from A to B. The Google Car does not get drowsy; it does not get inebriated; it does not get loopy from medication; it does not get blinded by road rage.

It has over $100,000 worth of technology within it, all dedicated to driving. It has a LIDAR 64 beam Velodyne laser system mounted on its roof constantly reading and interpreting its surroundings, generating a 3D map of its environment for itself in real time. Tell me, do you have a LIDAR 64 Velodyne laser system when you drive? Huh? Do ya, Dad?!

The second big reason I’m for it is the convenience aspect. It may seem obvious,
everyone can imagine what they’d do with their free time: read a book, play a game, do homework, watch the game, take a nap, it’s endless.

But let me paint a bigger picture for you: It’s the middle of February, and you’re going to the movies with your significant other. You both get into your regular four-door sedan that you have to operate yourself, and you’re on your way.

For the 20-minute drive, you’re focused on the road, jittery from your Dutch Bros., and your significant other is focused on their phone for the whole ride, because they don’t want to distract you. For the whole ride, you don’t talk
much.

You get to the movie theater and the lot is full, and you have to drive down the
street and park on the curb. And damn it all, you suck at parallel parking. It takes a few tries to get it right; you step out to inspect your handiwork
only to find that you still are a good two feet from the curb, so you get in try it once more to correct it.

You finally walk to the theater, rush to get your seats (the trailers are already playing by this point), and sit down for your date. When the movie is done, its dark out and around 26 degrees outside. You walk down the dark and sketchy street to your car, and sit for another 10 minutes while you wait for the windshield to defrost.

It’s awfully cold. On the way back, you combat drowsiness, trying to focus on the yellow line, with the oncoming traffic headlights blaring in your eyes. You finally get home, and the both of you fall into bed, exhausted and defeated.

Now, let me paint another picture: It’s the middle of February, and you’re going to the movie with your significant other. You both get into your Google Self-Driving Car, and you’re on your way. For the 20 minute drive, you hold hands and fall asleep in each other’s arms for a little nap.

You arrive at the theater, get up, stretch, and the Google Car drops you off at the front door. You press a button, and the Google Car goes off to find itself somewhere to park.

You and your significant other stop to get a popcorn and Red Vines (you have
plenty of time), and sit down just in time for the trailers to start playing. At the end of the movie as the credits are rolling, you press the “Return” button on your key, and by the time you step out of the theater the Google Car is waiting for you at the front door, heated, ready to protect you from the cold and take
you both home to bed.

I will let someone, or something, do the driving for me any day. But if you, like my father, prefer having control, go ahead and grip your steering wheel tighter. I, on the other hand, am going to enjoy my nap.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

The peril of online courses

By Haunani Thomas Managing Editor — By Haunani Thomas
Managing Editor

Speaking as a college student with self-diagnosed “senioritis,” getting out of bed is highly exasperating, to say the least. Waking up to go to class is comparable to taking out the trash: nobody wants to do it. Luckily, online education is extremely convenient.

You can complete assignments from the comfort of your own bedroom and continue to stay there because guess what? No assigned meeting times! Who wouldn’t refuse that offer?After taking two online classes within the past two terms, me.

But with convenience also comes laziness, a lack of urgency and, ultimately, procrastination. Case in point: last term I turned in my last two Writing for the Web projects late. As in last-day-of-finals-week late (Sorry, Dr. Lewis.)

If you know me, turning in homework is one of my biggest phobias. It gives me anxiety and makes me feel like I did when I watched Black Swan: extremely uncomfortable. That being said, the reason why I am not fond of online classes is because I turn in my homework late. If I didn’t make it clear before, I’d like to point out that it is very out-of-character for me to submit past due assignments.

Very.

Last school year I was enrolled in Marketing and the Internet. It was a hybrid class meaning we completed the coursework on our own time and only met for exams.

Although I totally bought into the idea of not having to attend class (again, who wouldn’t be?), all of the coursework started building up.

Instead of having a regular lecture, we’d have readings, videos, audio lectures and case studies to complete, in addition to responding to each other on Moodle. I am 100 percent sure I did more reading for that class alone than the entire “Harry Potter” series. I know this because I’ve read the entire series.

Thrice.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I’ve ever put that much effort into a
“normal” class. Although the readings weren’t difficult, there were just so many details that I was unsure of which ones would be important on the exams. There was no real interactive communication between us and our professor. We responded to prompts just because we were supposed to, not because we truly wanted to share our standpoint(s). Half of the responses were just students regurgitating what other students, who had actually done the readings, had an opinion about.
Additionally, I sucked at submitting assignments on time. No need to sugar coat it.

When I had an assignment or project due on Wednesday, I waited until Wednesday morning to begin, thinking I could wake up at nine and finish said assignment before two.

There’s just something about physically attending class that gives me incentive to complete work on time.

Which brings us to this: online coursework should be supplementary to in-class discussion, assignments, etc.

For example, the majority of the homework assigned for Math 111 was online.

Although the problems took forever (or really like three and a half hours) to complete, I was able to get them done… eventually.
It is an understatement to say that I am terrible at math. So, the online portion of the class was not to blame for my poor overall performance. It actually saved my grade.

However, the online assignments made it easier for our professors to assign homework without having to grade it. I also liked that our textbook was offered online because I can’t stand lugging around textbooks for every class. Plus, I don’t know what I would have done without the “View an Example” feature on Pearson MyLab.

Therefore, in the future, I’d like to refrain from taking an online-based class due to my tendency toward procrastination and laziness that develops whenever I do so.

In spite of that, I do think professors should utilize online homework if it complements the coursework and the professor’s instruction. Based on my experiences, I believe that online education should be used as one of many mediums to teach and, not relied on as the sole vehicle for teaching and learning.

There’s just something about face-to-face, in-class interaction that is not well-replicated via online courses. However, the struggle for waking up to go to class will always remain.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Stay Secure: Being safe in an age of cyber warfare

By Daniel Frank Web Designer — By Daniel Frank
Web Designer

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, victims of identity theft in America
rose from 8.6 million victims in 2010 to 16.6 million victims in 2012.

Today, we are hearing more and more about cyber attacks like the infamous 2013
hack on Target, where millions of names and credit card numbers were stolen.

In light of most recent events like Western’s Internet outage from a Direct Denial of Service (DDOS) attack and phishing attacks targeting Western employees, many students may be wondering how to keep their personal data safe from intruders.

Here are some good basic practices to protect your information from being exposed to snooping eyes:

1: If it doesn’t need to be online, don’t put it online.

From family photos to the photos that you might dare to send through Snapchat: if
you don’t want people to see them, don’t let them leave your phone or computer. Events like last year’s “The Fappening 2014” scandals are a good example that not even Apple can completely protect your privacy against social engineering hacks.

2: Encrypt, encrypt, encrypt.

Next time you’re web browsing on your phone or your computer, look at the URL of the website you’re on. At the far left of the URL, you should see an ‘http’ or ‘https’. The ‘s’ in ‘https’ stands for secure, meaning that your session with that
particular website is secure. ‘Secure’ in this case means that each packet of data being transferred between you and the website is encrypted with a special key.

If you only see ‘http’, your information is readily available to anyone connected at some point between your computer and the server, and you should not transfer sensitive data such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other vital information.

3: Stay updated.

Software is riddled with vulnerabilities. As researchers discover these vulnerabilities, they inform the programmers that can patch those security holes. The patches are released as updates. Those annoying pop-ups that harass you every day to update not only enhance your software to run faster, they also protect you
from the latest exploits.

4: Don’t download it. Don’t open it.

Don’t download and open things that you are unsure of. Emails from unknown senders are almost guaranteed to have malware in whatever attachments are attached to the email. On the contrary, emails in .zip format from known senders could also be dangerous if you don’t know why you’re receiving that email from that person.

Malware will compromise your computer and can do anything from completely locking
you out of your computer to sending every single stroke of your keyboard to an unknown location for the malware’s creator to use as he wishes.

By following these four guidelines, you will reduce your chances of getting your
personal information stolen. But the truth in the matter is that your information is never truly safe once your computer is exposed to the Internet.

When you swipe your card at the grocery store, your card information travels over the Internet. New exploits are being discovered every day that can compromise even the most secure systems. But by following safe practices, you can limit the chances of your identity from being stolen.

MLS looks toward expansion with 2015 Super Draft

For most sports franchises, the two most exciting dates on the calendar are the championship game and draft day. With MLS moving more toward the youth academy system of talent development used in the English Premier League and others like it, the super draft may soon be a thing of the past.

For now though, 2015’s draft was still front and center in the growing league. The creation of two new expansion teams, Orlando City SC and New York City FC, in addition to the recent restructuring of Chivas USA, combined to create higher than usual demand for the available young players.

The Super Draft structure is similar to drafts in other American sports and the players are still attending university at the time of the selection, although many are also attached to USL (United Soccer League) teams as well.

Orlando City SC was granted the first pick in a coin toss and selected Canadian national team regular and UConn Huskies star forward Cyle Larin. The second overall pick — forward Khiry Shelton — chosen by New York City FC has been playing for Oregon State since 2011, and he has even made several appearances for the US Men’s National team.

When Shelton begins training with his new teammates, he will join the likes of former Chelsea hero Frank Lampard, and David Villa of Barcelona fame.

Local favorites Portland Timbers FC acquired the fifth overall pick in the first round as a part of a trade deal with the Colorado Rapids for Portland native Danny Mwanga (forward).

After a disappointing 2014 campaign plagued by injuries and poor results, the Timbers looked to make waves in the off-season with their highest selection seed since 2011.

Timbers’ first pick, Nick Besler (midfield), was a regular starter of Norte Dame’s 2013 national championship team and was named to the 2014 NCAA All-American team.

With an eye for bolstering all areas of play, the Timbers also selected University of Washington’s Andy Thoma (defender), Southern Illinois’ Christian Volesky (forward), and Virginia Commonwealth’s Kharlton Belmar (forward).

With the first and second rounds of the Super Draft completed in Philadelphia, and the third and fourth rounds set to occur via conference call on Jan. 20, there is still plenty of room for new players to make their entrance into America’s premier soccer system.

The question for the MLS moving forward though is whether or not the Super Draft is really the best approach.

Instituted in 2000, the draft was an attempt to streamline the development of America’s underserved soccer talent. The league has benefited as the draft has grown alongside it, but the US Men’s National team has not benefited much and the MLS is still considered by many to be a farm league on the international scene.

There has been talk of switching over to a strictly academy style system with a draft becoming a secondary approach. For example, in England players can be selected to play in a club academy from a very young age (as young as 9). This allows the coaches of both major clubs and international teams to observe players as they develop, and it means that a wider scope of talent can be recognized and nurtured to greatness.

However, this system is greatly aided by the fact that England has roughly the same land area as Washington State. Even if an academy on the other side of the country is looking to sign a player, the transportation is still achievable. Frequently, younger players in America just don’t have access to the same level of development programs.

Regardless of where you fall on the draft, however, you can look forward to great season of MLS in 2015. The strength of the players and size of the draft pool this year indicates that soccer’s participation and fan bases are growing in America, and with the larger fan base comes a bigger group of people willing to help youth players achieve their dreams of success.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Commendation to University Computing Services for speedy network fix

Laura Knudson Editor-in-Chief — Laura Knudson
Editor-in-Chief

From the early hours of the day to the late hours of the night, phone and computer screens are illuminated by professors checking emails and students browsing the web. Clubs update their event calendars and students turn homework in on Moodle. Western portal tabs are opened again and again, all with little regard to the inner workings of our network.

Yet, the moment Wi-Fi cuts out, students are quick to complain and point fingers. But do they know who they are pointing at?

It’s time to call attention to a behind-the-scenes department working around the clock to support academic and administrative life.

University Computing Services (UCS) is responsible for network maintenance and other campus IT services.

But they are not who you should be pointing at. They are who you should be applauding.

On Wednesday, students, staff and faculty found themselves unable to access the internet. Although this was probably frustrating, it was nothing in comparison to what UCS went through.

A core router was overwhelmed with 99 percent usage causing the network to shut down. On top of that, a host server happened to be attacked at the same time. The IP was traced to China. 430,000 attempts to break into Western’s system occurred within two minutes.

Talk about a bad day at work.

After phone calls to multiple Cisco engineers, they were able to get the network back up. By 9 p.m., they were finally able to go home and get some shut-eye. But that is only the beginning. They now continue to work to diagnose exactly what went wrong with the router and how to fix it.

What seems like a long day without internet for us was much longer for those working to fix the problem.

And it wouldn’t be the first time.

Let us not forget Dec. 2, 2013 when one of the transformers blew in the main uninterruptible power supply (UPS) located in the administration building causing the entire Western network to shut down. UCS arrived at 5 a.m. to find the basement filled with smoke.

Physical Plant removed doors and built ramps in order to haul the 1800-pound UPS device out of the building to be replaced with a brand new one that Bill Kernan, director of UCS, had, (lucky for us) ordered a week before.

The rest of their day was spent skipping meals, connecting and testing the new UPS which they had up and running by 9:30 p.m. — less than 24 hours.

When the network is down, let us not assume it’s as easy as flipping a switch. Assessing, diagnosing, testing and securing the problem all need to happen, not to mention finding time to inform the campus and brief the University president.

Homework due dates can be extended, emails will wait in your inbox and other activities can replace Netflix.

It is easy for those who use the network to take it for granted. Let us not forget those who maintain it.

The ongoing, timely dialogue presented through Kernan’s blog, faculty senate updates and all student/all faculty emails keeps everyone in the loop.

The Journal would like to commend UCS, Bill Kernan, Paul Lambert, Dave McEvilly, Michael Ellis, Megan Eichler and all others involved, for working long hours to get the network back up and running Wednesday.

We appreciate you going above and beyond in your jobs, so the rest of us can do ours successfully.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Old fashion methods still effective in job hunt

Take it from an experienced alumnus. The “old fashioned” ways are still the most effective when applying for a job and keeping it even with the convenience of modern day technology.

In the decade since my wife and I graduated from WOU, I have experienced professional setbacks that could have been avoided had I better utilized the resources that were available to me when I was a student. Because of that, I have decided to convey some of my advice to you all in this article. The focus of this article will be the proper use of technology when seeking employment and when you are employed.

To start, let me provide you with a comparison of what kind of technology was available in 2002 verses now. E-mail was not a major form of communication. You had to either call your professors or meet with them during their office hours. Assignments were submitted in paper form, not by e-mail. A fast Internet connection was 1.5 megabytes, not gigabytes, and was accessed through a DSL modem. Wireless intent was a theory. MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn did not exist. The first iPod had just been released and you downloaded your music from Napster and LimeWire, albeit illegally.

Web sites largely consisted of text, pictures and drop down menus. You could not post your resume on a web site; you had to hand deliver it to the person who would make the hiring decision. This is where my first piece of advice comes in.

Although you may have to post a resume online as part of the process, you should deliver a paper copy to the person who could be your future boss. I have witnessed a person being hired on the spot because they were the only candidate that submitted their resume personally.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can provide you with a place to promote yourself, your skills, experience and interests at no cost and with little effort.

However, be careful what you post. Employers will look at your accounts and form an opinion of you. Also, I recommend not including your boss as one of your “friends” or “followers.” Your personal opinions could cost you as they did me. A good rule to follow is to keep your personal and professional life separate.

At the same time, do let everyone know when you are seeking employment. Recommendations from professors and WOU staff can make the difference of you getting an interview.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Oregon State basketball win against Arizona raises question

College students and basketball enthusiasts alike were (not so) pleasantly surprised when the men’s Oregon State basketball team unexpectedly beat No. 7 University of Arizona on Jan. 11.

ASU, then ranked at No. 7 in the AP poll, now stands at No. 10.

Although the Beavs performance was undoubtedly a highlight in the season thus far, it is of great interest to reflect upon the Beavs’ preseason performance, or lack thereof, against Western.

Throwback to Jan. 7 when the Wolves (very, very unexpectedly) beat the Beavers 57-47 in an exhibition game at Gil Colesium.

While it’s easy to say that OSU played a bad game or (my personal favorite) the odds were in Western’s favor, the score stands unforgotten. We also remember the Beav’s inability to break 50-points against a Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) team.

The recent unforeseen turn of events raises the very contentious question: is Western capable of beating top 10-ranked Arizona?
Without considering the circumstances, this question seems laughable to anyone. How could a GNAC division II team beat a Pac-12 division I team?

Oh, wait a minute. That did happen.

After a loss to the Wolves, any Pac-12 or division I team would decribe the experience as “humbling.”

I also imagine the Wildcats basketball team would consider their loss to the Beavs as “humbling.”

According to ESPN, the last time Oregon State beat a top-ten team was when the Beavs beat No. 3 Arizona 70-69 on March 2, 2000. I was six years old.
Fifteen years ago.
FIFTEEN.

A loss to Western provided the motivation for Oregon State to perform it’s best at home since their 1981-82 and 1983-84 seasons.

It’s safe to say that the Beavs, predicted to finish last in the Pac-12 for the 2014-15 season, were nowhere near the Wildcats’ radar, who were ranked in the
AP poll top 10 for the past 29 weeks.

However, claiming that Western would be able to beat Arizona based on their performance against the Beavs implies that they would also beat the list of teams the Beavs beat in the season hitherto — in addition to alls division II teams.

Division I prospects like forward Andy Avgi, Jordan Wiley and Devon Alexander who frequent Western and GNAC’s athlete of the week make assumptions like that believable.

Simply said, Oregon State capitalized on turnovers and foul shots in their game against Arizona, much like Western exploited the mistakes made by Oregon State.

Case in point: Avgi recorded 21 points against the Beavs, more than both Oregon State leading scorers combined.

Go Wolves.

In addition, Western beat the Beavers by 10 points where as the Beavers beat the Wildcats by a lay up. With numbers like that, assertions such as “Western can beat Arizona” become credible.

However, there are many factors that impact a game, namely location, level of play and, obviously, the players. Duh.

Without getting into logistics, statistics, starting line-ups or play-by-plays, its important to remember why we love college sports: they are completely unpredictable.

Yes, we expect teams to perform to their ranking and are blind-sighted when our predictions are incorrect. We make a science out of predicting performance based on games past.

Whether you win against a ranked team or lose to an opponent in a different division, people don’t forget.

Both of the above mentioned games have brought to fruition the underlying fear that an underdog team has the potential to rival an otherwise undisputed competitor.

Realistically, we’ll never know. Most importantly, the potential is there and it always will be. The possibilities that lie in the realm of college sports is fickle at best and creates the thrill of uncertainty we collegiate sports fanatics thrive on.

Mariota great for Oregon, even better for Buccaneers

Rachel Shelley Sports Editor — Rachel Shelley
Sports Editor

Let me start this by making it clear, I am NOT a duck fan. I’m basically the opposite of a duck fan; I’m really a duck hater, although, I am a fan of Marcus Mariota. Honestly, who isn’t? The Hawaii native is highly decorated. During the Home Depot College Football Awards show in December 2014 he took home the Maxwell Award as the nation’s most outstanding player, the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback award, the Walter Camp player of the year and scored big with the ultimate feat, The Heisman. He is also the Associated Press Player of the Year and the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year. The only thing this QB is missing is a national championship, thanks to Ohio State.

In 2014, Mariota threw for 42 touchdowns, with only four interceptions. He had 4454 yards and averaged 10 yards per toss. He threw at least one TD in all 41 games he played in at Oregon. He is also one of just four quarterbacks that threw for more than 10,000 yards and ran for more than 2,000 in his career in FBS history. During Monday night’s National Championship game Mariota became the first Pac-12 player to eclipse 5,000 total yards in a season. Seeing as Troy Aikman, Aaron Rodgers, John Elway and Andrew Luck were just some of the great QB’s to come out of the Pac-12, this is a huge accomplishment. If there is anything factual about Mariota’s season it’s simply this, numbers don’t lie.

As of Wednesday, Jan. 14, this 6’4 21-year-old announced he would forgo his senior year to enter the NFL draft. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will ultimately get the first shot at scoring Mariota for their roster, suggesting they overlook the option of Jameis Winston. How successful could Mariota be in Tampa Bay? Mike Evans, Tampa Bay wide receiver was named a member of the 2014 All-Rookie team, had 1,051 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season. Wide receiver Vincent Jackson caught 1,002 yards and two touchdowns. Although the offensive line could use some work, Mariota would have the opportunity to throw the ball in Tampa Bay, and from what we’ve seen in Eugene, Oregon, this guy can throw.

In a list amongst other 6’4+ quarterbacks including Tom Brady, Colin Kaepernick, Andrew Luck and Ben Roethlisberger, physically, Mariota is already in a pretty impressive category. Besides genetics in his favor, he is mobile, proving so with over 2,000 rushing yards at Oregon, and accuracy? He only threw four interceptions in a season. There’s no argument there. Whoever picks up Mariota is sure to be satisfied.

Unfortunately I am not an analysis for college football careers…yet….nor can my predictions on his professional career be taken seriously. The only thing I can say, and be quoted on, is that I am thankful for the representation Mariota has displayed for the State of Oregon and I am excited to see where his professional career will take him. Who knows, maybe one day if Mariota throws on a Saint’s jersey I just may have to throw on a Mariota Saint’s jersey as well.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Christmas as a college student

BY HAUNANI TOMAS
MANAGING EDITOR

In lieu of the post-Thanksgiving weekend,
Christmas time has arrived in full
effect. Our favorite holiday songs pepper
the radio stations and every girl listens to
Mariah Carey’s rendition of “All I Want for
Christmas is You,” at least once a day.

However, something has changed this
year compared to last: you’re a year older.
(Obviously). Although it may just seem like
another 365 days have passed, the years add
up.

In unsuccessfully attempting to avoid
sounding like the Grinch, Christmas is just
not as thrilling as it was all those years ago.
Activities ranging from Black Friday
shopping to opening presents on Christmas
Day are just plain different from what they
used to be.

SHOPPING

Your Black Friday shopping isn’t for you
anymore. Rather, it’s for your mother’s coworkers
and presents for extended family.
You’ll easily spend $50 at Bath & Body
Works alone, taking advantage of the ridiculous
hand soap and candle deals that
could come in handy for any potential lastminute
presents (a.k.a. the people you forgot
about).

If you’re lucky enough to squeeze in
some “me” shopping time, you’ll most likely
sin in the form of overpayment at any of
the following: Target, Target or, probably,
Target. And, if we aren’t struggling enough
already, we’ll find every reason to spend the
majority of our November paycheck at our
favorite department store.

PRESENTS

The pressure of picking out presents
increases dramatically. You can’t get away
with buying merchandise from the school
bookstore anymore.

Also, there no longer exists a plethora of
peculiar-shaped, mysterious presents bearing
your name underneath the tree. Your
presents are most likely in a boring box,
containing clothes (that you picked out) or,
even better, gift cards to buy clothes.

Your response to the ever-probing question
“What do you want for Christmas?” always
begins with “I don’t know…” when in
reality, there exists a mentally stored yearround
list that only seems to grow. You just
don’t want to admit it to anyone because if
you want it, it makes sense if you just buy
it, right?

CHRISTMAS DAY

Sleeping in on Christmas day isn’t an option,
especially if you have younger siblings.
Throughout the entire term we rise and
shine at the ripe hour of seven in the morning
to attend our eight o’clock classes. We’ve
already paid our dues in the form of sleepdeprivation
every Monday and Wednesday
(or maybe Tuesday and Thursday).

Waking up early isn’t as holly-jolly as it
used to, mostly because a prolonged slumber
now trumps our gifts, which will still be
waiting under the tree after noon. They’re
not going anywhere.

CELEBRATIONS

For all you over-twenty-oners, Christmas
becomes yet another excuse to celebrate
with some (or a lot of) booze. Did
you really think you could finally start that
detox over winter break to cleanse your
body of all the tequila shots you’ve downed
throughout the term?

Two-words: peppermint schnapps.

Along with (hopefully responsible)
boozing, comes the return of the multitude
of ugly sweater parties. This is the only
time of year when having the most hideous
Christmas sweater is actually a compliment.
I repeat, the only time of the year.

DECORATIONS

Decorating the Christmas tree becomes
another task on your chore list when you
realize that you’re probably, or definitely,
going to be responsible for cleaning, packing
and storing all of the ornaments.

Every. Single. One.

The responsibility of cleaning up the
Christmas tree is all yours now. Not your
mom’s.

When driving around town to see who
has the most Christmas lights and frontyard
décor, I can only think of two things:
my mileage per gallon and how insanely
high everyone’s electricity bill must be at
the beginning of January.

However, for those of you who have
Christmas lights in your room year-round,
there’s no real surprise there.
Regardless, of how un-holly-jolly things
might be during the holidays, it is still the
most wonderful time of the year.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Portraits of a University: “Steward of the Mind”

As part of a new weekly Journal column, Nathaniel Dunaway meets with Western Oregon University students to discuss their lives and their experiences in the world of higher education. In doing so, he hopes to find an answer to the question what does it mean to be a college student in the 21st century?

This week, Music Composition major Kit Mills discusses his decision to return to school, and the challenges he faces as a husband and father.

As Kit and I began our conversation, a student in the study area near us began playing Chopin on the piano. His music provided a particularly apt ambiance to Kit’s musings on the power of classical music.

A conversation with Kit Mills

The decision to go back to school had to do with wanting to expand my opportunities, but also wanting to take the first step towards jumping through the hoops of becoming a college professor. I’m not settled on that, but it’s certainly something I’ve done before and like doing. I worked as an adjunct professor at community college in Washington. I wasn’t sure if getting a doctorate was the route I wanted to go, but I thought I would at least try a masters, and let that be kind of a litmus test for whether or not I wanted to go on to doctoral work. Jury’s still out on this.

Two years ago, I thought I was headed to the Berklee College of Music graduate studio performance program at their new campus in Valencia, Spain, after a successful audition as a drummer. However, they offered no financial aid and I have a strong aversion to debt. So after Berklee didn’t pan out, I started thinking more about working on the compositional side. I love sharing classical music with people; it’s such a huge world of music and there are a lot of points where classical music has influenced a lot of things we take for granted in our own popular culture. There’s so much beauty that’s been the product of so many minds over the centuries. I’m one of those people who loves nature. I love great views of the ocean. I grew up in the Puget Sound area, on Whidbey Island. My enjoyment is doubled by sharing beautiful things with others, and having them enjoy it too. I’m interested in doing that with music. Anybody who says there’s nothing in classical music that they can like clearly hasn’t started to tap into it. It’s like someone who just eats McDonalds all the time and says “nah, there’s nothing else good out there.”

My parents have both had a long-standing engagement with music. I grew up with a guitar-playing dad and a piano-playing mom. I have a lot of memories of us singing and harmonizing together. A played a lot of drums throughout middle school and high school, and didn’t really know a whole lot about classical music. When I went to college, at Wheaton College, near Chicago, I had originally planned to be an engineering major, but it didn’t pan out because I found there is a distinct difference between high school physics and college calculus-based physics. So really quickly I found myself fishing around for what to do. Long story short though, I got into some music theory classes, and felt initially, as a lot of people do coming into classical stuff for the first time, pretty intimidated. There’d be kids in my class who’d been studying the violin since the age of three. So I was intimidated until we came to the point where we used our ears to listen and transcribe, to tell what was going on in a piece of music, and it was there that I realized that all that childhood stuff that I’d done, all the singing with my family, all the music-making around the house, had given me a really good ear. I ended up majoring in composition. I suppose most people who tackle composition have at least a little bit of a dream of being the next Beethoven. Maybe I did to begin with. But no matter what, we should try to be good stewards of the minds we have. We should be working towards a real mastery of whatever it is we’re interested in.

One reason I’m interested in classical music is because so much of it has withstood the test of time. It’s clear that there are elements of Bach’s music that somehow still speak to people. Sooner or later every artist has to grapple with the things that we all wonder about; life and death, love, friendship, matters of faith, matters of upheaval. So much of the music we now blithely take for granted was often produced in times of great turmoil. Beethoven was working on one of his symphonies with cotton stuffed in his ears while Vienna was bombed by the French. Mozart wrote a lot of music while he was broke and ill. Somehow these guys have found a way to put things down that have just lasted.

I have a wife and a young son, and it’s almost as if I have two different lives. I have one life where I engage as a student, and I have another life where I set that all aside and I come home as a parent and spouse. The big trick is prioritizing. I’ve been so determined to do this without taking any loans, without going into any debt, and we — my wife and I — have practiced living frugally, as musicians, so that’s good. But the challenge is now to be frugal with my time. I definitely find I have a very good excuse for not having free time.

What I would council any student who’s serious about learning is to first recognize that learning isn’t just something that happens in the hallowed halls of academia. Learning is a life-long vocation. It’s something that continually engenders curiosity over the years. You don’t have to be a music major to love music, or a literature major to love literature, you don’t have to be a sports science major to be interested in the workings of the human body. I suggest one learns to recognize that there are great assets here at a university, where you have the chance to really grow as a person. Some of that is through book-learning and some of that’s through life-learning.

I hope students take time to just be still. Put down your cell phone or tablet, stop, and smell the roses (when they’re in bloom), and admire the autumn leaves. Most days this fall, if you’ve watched me walking homeward, you’ve likely seen me with a leaf in hand to take home to show my wife and son. An important component of being a student is to learn to be a student of the world around you, and to learn to enjoy it.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

National Day of Listening: a new name for Black Friday

by Nathaniel Dunaway
Entertainment Editor

We here at The Journal are forgoing our new column “Portraits of a University” this week to help bring attention to and raise awareness of the National Day of Listening.

Launched by the non-profit oral history organization StoryCorps (who had a profound influence on the aforementioned column), the National Day of Listening is an unofficial holiday or day of observance that takes place the day after Thanksgiving — commonly known as Black Friday — and encourages everyone and anyone to sit down with loved ones and record their stories.

Founded in 2003 by David Isay, StoryCorps’ mission, according to their website, is to “provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives.”

Formal StoryCorps interviews take place in recording booths located in major cities across America, and these interviews are all cataloged in the Library of Congress, as well as on the StoryCorps website.

The National Day of Listening is a bit more informal, a more do-it-yourself approach. The day of observance was formed as an alternative to the consumer-oriented Black Friday, and its main purpose is to encourage spending time with family and hearing their stories.

StoryCorps is all about preservation of these stories, and suggests recording interviews with your loved ones. Nowadays this can be done with the voice memo function on the iPhone, or with any number of voice-recording apps available for iTunes or Android.

On the StoryCorps website, you can find an extensive list of questions to ask family members to help get started, including “How has your life been different than what you’d imagined?”, “What did you want to be when you grew up?” and “Do you have any favorite stories from your childhood?”

The idea behind the National Day of Listening is simple: listening, as StoryCorps’ motto tells us, is an act of love. How many of us have grandparents whose childhoods we know very little about? Aunts and uncles who’ve lived experiences we’ve never known of, simply because we’ve never thought to ask? One day, these people will no longer be present in our lives, and wouldn’t it be a shame for them to have left behind stories untold?

I plan to interview two of my grandparents next Friday, and maybe my parents as well. Eventually, I’d love to hear and record stories from every member of my family because listening is important, and family is important.

The purpose of this piece is not to condemn Black Friday or consumerism or materialism or any of that. The purpose instead is to suggest that many of us — all of us — have stories to tell. All we really need is for someone to ask us to tell them.

For more information, and to hear the stories of over 80,000 Americans, visit the StoryCorps website at storycorps.org.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

A deeper look at going G-free

By Laura Knudson
Editor-in-Chief

An invasion of labels appearing on grocery stores shelves nationwide bearing the G-word have become a roadmap for those seeking a healthier lifestyle. Deemed the latest food fad, gluten-free diets are the target of mockery.

Dieters are accused of going g-free because someone in their Pilates class told them to. Meanwhile, supporters argue gluten is unhealthy and can have adverse effects on the body. But is the roadmap misleading? Should gluten be avoided or is it all a bunch of hype?

First, let’s establish what gluten is.

A protein composite found mainly in wheat, rye and barley, gluten comes from the Latin word glue; appropriate since it is responsible for the elastic texture in dough that works to bind and maintain shape, holding food together.

Unfortunately, this binding characteristic makes it a staple in processed foods. While some minimally processed foods are healthy like bagged spinach or pre-cut vegetables, boxed or packaged food containing additives and artificial flavors are not.

Think along the lines of frozen pizza, crackers and other ready-to-go foods. Loaded with fat, sodium and a high glycemic index, these processed foods have little nutritional value and one big thing in common: gluten.

And companies are certainly making it easy to avoid. There’s no doubt that every trip to the store yields more g-free products. Entire sections and aisles have sprung up; a good thing for those suffering from celiac disease, allergies and sensitivities.

With one in every 133 Americans suffering from celiac disease according to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, celiacs now have a plethora of gluten substitutes at their fingertips.

And for some, the extra cost is worth the wheat-less versions of their favorite snack. It’s literally the best thing since sliced bread.

However, dieters joining in on the fad, void of medical reason, are taking the wrong approach.

Gluten substitutes are not the answer. Consumers are often fooled by products labeled “gluten-free,” “all natural,” and “organic.” These substitutes are not necessarily healthier as they are still processed junk food. Labels expose similar amounts of sugar, fat and sodium.

So let’s be clear: highly processed foods with gluten are bad and highly processed foods without gluten are bad.

As someone with a gluten allergy, I can say from experience that a box of gluten-free cookies won’t make you feel any better than ones made with flour.

So, apart from those with celiac disease, allergies, or sensitivity, gluten in and of itself is not necessarily bad. It is all the stuff gluten is processed with that is bad.

Still, gluten and unhealthiness are synonymous to many.

This false connotation is perhaps why the very mention of the word gluten evokes skepticism from critics.

Nonetheless, these are but faint cries squashed by the steamroller that is the food industry.

Food companies wouldn’t dare curb the ignorance when the industry is worth $4.2 billion, according to Euromonitor, an international marketing research company.

It should also be clear that the gluten-free industry and substitutes are not a bad thing.

In fact, they’re wonderful for celiacs who never knew what a doughnut tasted like before Udi’s put their maple glazed banana ones on the shelf.

Substitutes, though, should not be relied on by any g-free dieters.

Those without medical reason to divest from gluten should not aspire merely to a gluten-free diet, but rather one free of processed food.

On their own, gluten substitutes do not achieve instant health.

After all, cutting an entire food group can be dangerous, according to WebMD.

Dieters may not be getting enough fiber, vitamins and minerals if not incorporating other grains like quinoa into their diet.

Ultimately, even if the g-free diet is a trend, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad one.

If conducted the right way, the diet helps celiacs by providing food options and promote healthier eating for the general public.

So long as the right approach is taken, health devotees should be able to have their gluten-free cake and eat it too.

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

“Education Is” A conversation with Kylie Roth

As part of a new weekly Journal column, Nathaniel Dunaway meets with Western Oregon University students to discuss their lives and their experiences in the world of higher education. In doing so, he hopes to find an answer to the question: what does it mean to be a college student in the 21st century?

I’m from Dallas, so I actually live at home and commute here. I save a lot of money that way. My sister did the same thing, went to WOU, lived at home, and moved out after that. Sometimes my dad will be like, “are we just a hotel?” because honestly I’m not always there. Leave at 7:30 a.m., get home at 8 p.m., that’s a normal day. But I get along with my parents; I’m very lucky to have a loving family.
I’m a senior, and I’ve gone here all four years. I came in not knowing anything of what I wanted to do. I was undecided, didn’t know my major or anything. I think it took me longer to get involved. I was wandering through LACCs, where no one really cares why they’re there; and living at home; I was still connected to my Dallas community. It was difficult to know where to invest my time.
Now I feel really involved. I’ve found where I fit. I work at the Child Development Center as a teacher’s aide, I’m a WOU ambassador, I’m part of an honors society for psychology students and I’m an officer for the National Society of Leadership and Success.

I’m interning in Salem right now so I’m involved there. It’s a practicum, so I get credit for it. It’s at Family Building Blocks, which is an organization whose main goal is to prevent … child abuse through therapeutic class or parenting classes. I spend about 13 hours a week there, mainly in the classrooms. Prevention for abuse really happens between ages zero to three.
I don’t exactly know what I want to do yet, but I want to somehow work with at-risk children or children with disabilities. Working with kids is really fun; you never know what they’re going to say. I asked one little girl, “Do you know what you want to be when you grow up?” and she’s like, “I’m gonna be an entomologist,” and I personally did not know what an entomologist was, and she said, “It’s a person who studies bugs, specifically insects.”

There are those great moments all the time, but it can be challenging at times, too. You have to learn how to talk differently and correctly, to affirm and empower children, but also to let them see consequences. It’s been a great experience.
Dr. Brannan in the Psychology department always says “college isn’t for everyone, but education is,” and I agree with that.

I value higher education very highly. I don’t think it’s for everyone, but I do think some form of education, may it be trade school or some form of learning, makes you more open-minded. And I don’t think open-minded means you have to accept everything, but that you’re able to see everything.

In high school, thinking back, a lot of teachers would say “don’t let money matter when you pick a college,” but that was a big deciding factor. I think it’s worth the cost, but you have to be proactive about it, financially. The way I’ve approached my higher education, debt is not actually a concern for me. I feel very privileged that I’m in that boat.

Education in any form should be for everyone, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be college. I’m planning on taking a year off after I graduate. I’m still not sure about grad school. I don’t know yet. My goal is just to get employed in something that I enjoy, and have it hopefully help guide me from there.
Transcribed and edited by Nathaniel Dunaway
If you’re a Western student and would like to be interviewed for the Portraits of a University column, contact Nathaniel Dunaway at journalentertainment@wou.edu

The Western Howl

Home » Opinion

Halloween costumes?

by Laura Knudson

The more people ask me what I’m going to be for Halloween this year, the more I cringe.

Although there must be others who, like me, wait until the last minute to make a decision about their costume, I doubt they are losing sleep over it like I am.

After all, why fret when we live in an age where fish nets and a corset, coupled with a pair of ears can transform you into a multitude of things, i.e., mouse, bunny, cat, etc.

In this way, we’ve gotten lazy with our costumes. And it seems intentional. We’ve all heard that Halloween is an excuse for girls to dress like…well I won’t use the S word, but you get the picture. Now in no way am I saying this is the case, but perhaps there is some truth to it.

I mean, call me crazy but I don’t believe merely clipping on a pair of glittery wings to go with your gold spandex and cleavage bearing top constitutes a fairy costume.

And then there’s everyone’s go-to: the superhero costume. Calling all girls with leggings and little-boy whitey tighties with the Superman logo stamped in a place no one needs to be looking at. Throw on a cape and you’re good to go!

Then of course there are those who justify spending $60 on a cheaply-made rendition of a sexy police officer or cute Indian. Forget the fact that every other girl at the party will be wearing the same costume.

Halloween seems to go hand-in-hand with promiscuity when it comes to college females. But, while you may think you look completely adorbs in your tinker-bell get-up, the rest of us don’t want to see you stumbling in heels the whole night or adjusting your bra every five seconds. And no, it’s not the same thing as wearing a bathing suit. It’s just not.

This year we should strive for a little more originality. Some of the best costumes I saw when I first arrived at Western were the homemade kind. For an army man costume one guy duck taped a wheel less skateboard to his feet and a toy gun to his hands, painted himself green and hopped around all night in a G.I. Joe like fashion. It was original. It was awesome. Another year, one girl even bought khaki shorts, a bandana and a green vest from Good Will for a Girl Scout costume. She added a hat and canteen to spruce it up. There was also a group who purchased Hawaiian shirts and straw hats to go as tourists.

The point is, this year I’d like to see more authenticity. Show us something totally spooktacular. Those are the costumes people remember. Those are the costumes people come up and ask you about.

So, ditch the tiresome parodies and do the monster mash in something more comfortable next week.

And while I still don’t know what I am going to be this year, I can assure you it won’t include ears of any kind.

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.

Gym Etiquette: The Do’s and Don’ts of Frequenting the HWC

To struggle beautifully

Generation of Disillusionment

Up in Smoke

Stachtastic: the return of the mustached man

Adapting to the Age of Connectivity

Google self-driving car takes control

The peril of online courses

Stay Secure: Being safe in an age of cyber warfare

MLS looks toward expansion with 2015 Super Draft

Commendation to University Computing Services for speedy network fix

Old fashion methods still effective in job hunt

Oregon State basketball win against Arizona raises question

Mariota great for Oregon, even better for Buccaneers

Christmas as a college student

Portraits of a University: “Steward of the Mind”

National Day of Listening: a new name for Black Friday

A deeper look at going G-free

“Education Is” A conversation with Kylie Roth

Halloween costumes?

Tools

Resources