Mount Hood

Editor’s note

Por: Stephanie Blair
Redactora jefe

The past eight months have been filled with hardship for many of our students, whether it be due to the election, the tragic loss of two fellow students, the pressures of finishing a degree or other personal struggles. It’s been a hard year for many.

It’s also been a year filled with joy. Our track team went to nationals and slayed it, Alma Pachero left a legacy project that the community rallied around, Western received grants to fund essential pre-existing projects and begin new ones, millions of women found solidarity in marching together … and Bob Dylan won a Nobel Prize, I guess, so we learned that anything is possible.

My point is that as dark and strange as times may seem, they’re never so dark that you can’t find someone willing to share some light.

As Editor of The Western Journal this year, I’ve had the pleasure of delivering the good and the bad in the form of this paper each week. However, it has been our mission, as a staff, to deliver news about the students and for the students and, in doing so, I’ve seen a lot of good. America may be in turmoil, but Western is supporting itself through inclusive actions and kind-hearted community. I can’t express the pride I feel being a wolf this year nor the excitement I feel to serve as editor-in-chief next year and watch our students do incredible things all over again.

It’s easy to feel like the world is falling apart around you – I certainly do, sometimes – which makes it all the more important to stay focused on the future and only dwell on the good moments. I, myself, have taken to only posting on Facebook when something positive is happening. Admittedly, this means I only post about once a month, but it also means that when I look back and when memories pop up over the coming years I will only be reminded of the good. Lord knows I don’t need any help remembering the bad.

So, keep your head up, dear reader. Spend your summer however irresponsibly as you choose, but come back determined and ready for another year of proving exactly what ‘millennials’ can do. And congratulations to those fortunate souls who are about to graduate, I can’t wait to see more Western graduates in the world making the changes they want to see.

From all of us here at The Western Journal, until October: good night, and good luck.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journaleditor@wou.edu

Mad Hatter’s Dancing Tea Party

Por: Jasmine Morrow
Redactora

The Mad Hatter’s Dancing Tea Party was an event put on for Western’s students by the Akerman Hall Student Government. The tea party was put on for anybody who wanted a break and wanted to enjoy themselves.

The Ackerman Hall Student Government played music while the tea-party-goers enjoyed their cupcakes and tea, but they also had a space for students to dance if they wished to. The committee members that put on the Mad Hatter’s Dancing Tea Party were: Morgan Montoya, Bridget Parker, Chase Culm and Ellen Moore.

Montoya, a first-year psychology major, organized the event, which was Alice in Wonderland themed. That being said, Parker, a sophomore biology major, is the President of the Ackerman Hall Student Government and helped Monoya decorate. They put on the event because they wanted some students to have some fun.

There were sunglasses waiting to be given to the guests and a small photo booth that tea-party-goers could get their picture taken looking like the Queen of Hearts. The table clothes were different colors, there were smiling Cheshire cats hanging on the wall, there were tea cups, flowers and clocks sitting on the table and pink plastic flamingos standing around the room.

One of the guests, Sarah Tran, a first-year biology major, said that she went to the event because she loves Alice in Wonderland, dancing and cupcakes.

“I would definitely go to something like this again, but it would have to be a different theme,” said Tran.

There were a handful of people that showed up at the very start of the event. As the evening progressed, more people started to show up. Everyone had a smile on their face, they were taking pictures of the decorations, with their friends and of the cute cupcakes. It appeared that the tea-party-goers were enjoying the evening.

Contact author at jmorrow16@mail.wou.edu

Oportunidades para el verano de 2017

By: Alyssa James
Staff Writer

On Friday, June 16, the term will come to a close and all students will enter into summer vacation. While some students will travel to different parts of the country or world to spend their time off, many have no idea what they will spend the next three months doing. Good news for those students is that there is a multitude of opportunities to partake in during the summer months.
One option is to spend summer doing volunteer work and actively supporting and helping the community. There is a wide variety of volunteer jobs that one can choose from.

Meals on Wheels is looking for people who want to donate their time to help seniors in Dallas, Falls City, and the Rickreall Area. With three different choices on how to serve this community — packaging, delivering, or serving the food — there is an option for anyone who has a desire to help. To get more information or to become a Meals on Wheels volunteer, contact Carolyn Gagznos-Dillon at 503-623-6232.

For an opportunity that is more global, The Borgen Project has many openings for volunteers and internships. The Borgen Project is a nonprofit national campaign that works towards bringing awareness to our nation’s leaders about poverty all around the globe. They have multiple telecommute internships available, namely PR/marketing, HR, writer, journalism, and political affairs. Along with that, they have multiple National Volunteer Opportunities. For all the information on their avenues for helping, check out borgenproject.org.

There are other volunteer opportunities around, such as volunteering as a Gilbert House Summer Camp Counselor. At the Gilbert House in Salem, a volunteer will be required to go alongside the families present to show the fun learning experiences around the museum. For more volunteer opportunities, a helpful resource is volunteermatch.org. It lists many of the places that students can volunteer at throughout this summer.

Volunteering is a fulfilling way to spend one’s summer, but another opportunity will be happening in August that no one will want to miss. The moon will completely block the sun for a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 spanning from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. This eclipse is a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime event that people from all over the world are travelling just to witness.

Many people in North and South America will be able to see a partial solar eclipse that day; however, Monmouth will be in the line of totality, meaning for two minutes straight, people will be able to watch the moon fully cover the sun. The totality of the eclipse is predicted to start at 10:16 a.m.

There are many events happening surrounding this event. One is the Indy Goes Dark Eclipse Festival in Independence. From Thursday, Aug. 17 to Monday, Aug. 21 there will be many activities happening based around the eclipse, from a movie playing in the park thursday night to various cover bands playing during the evenings. There will be a Brewfest on Saturday, which will cost $15 to enter.

Not only that, but there will be inflatables, science demonstrations and more for children. There is registration at independencegoesdark.com for camping and to reserve a spot. Since a total eclipse has not happened in the Pacific Northwest since 1979, spots are filling up fast.

Another celebration for the eclipse will take place in Monmouth. At the Main Street Park Amphitheater, there will be a free concert on Sunday night, Aug. 20. Pigs on the Wing, a Pink Floyd tribute band, will be playing a show. They will perform The Dark Side of the Moon entirely, as well as other Pink Floyd songs, during the concert.

At Western, there will be a special Eclipse Plenary Session on Thursday, June 1. A variety of students will present on the topic of solar eclipses. Later on in June 6, Richard Berry, M.Sc. will present on how to get the most from the experience of the solar eclipse. This will take place in the Instructional Technology Center, Room 205, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Each person who attends this will receive a pair of Eclipse glasses that will be able to be used on the day of the eclipse.

For those who feel their summers may be less-than-satisfactory, there are many opportunities to take advantage of this summer. Whether it’s donating one’s time and presence to volunteer in order to help the community, or taking the time to celebrate the solar eclipse, this summer is full of possibilities and moments that are worth grabbing ahold of in order to create lasting memories.

Contact the author at ajames16@mail.wou.edu

Conozca una especialidad

Por: Paige Scofield
Redactora de Campus Life

Western ofrece una amplia variedad de carreras en las que los estudiantes pueden especializarse, muchas de las cuales los estudiantes no saben que se ofrecen o no saben casi nada sobre ellas. Esta semana, echa un vistazo a lo que implica recibir una Licenciatura en Humanidades con un enfoque lingüístico, y los campos de trabajo a los que puede conducir.

Rachel Gries es una estudiante de último curso de Western que actualmente está en proceso de licenciarse en Humanidades con especialidad en Lingüística.

A la pregunta de por qué decidió cursar Humanidades con un enfoque lingüístico, Gries respondió: "En realidad, empecé haciendo Inglés, porque lo que realmente vine a hacer aquí era lingüística. Pero no me gusta mucho la literatura y todo eso, y la mayor parte de la especialidad de inglés son clases de literatura, lo cual no es bueno para mí".

"Humanidades es como todo. Algunas de las áreas en las que te puedes centrar pueden ser español, comunicación, francés, alemán, lingüística, filosofía, escritura. Las humanidades abarcan todo tipo de cosas", explica Gries.

A la pregunta de qué trabajo quiere desempeñar con su especialización en lingüística, Gries respondió: "Quiero trabajar para Google y dedicarme al reconocimiento de voz o a la conversión de voz en texto".

"Al igual que con la conversión de voz a texto, hay muchas palabras, como feliz. ¿Estoy diciendo merry, como alegre, o estoy diciendo marry, como matrimonio, o estoy diciendo el nombre de alguien?", dice Gries.

Según el sitio web de Western, "las especialidades y asignaturas de Humanidades exploran esa creación humana única que es el lenguaje, no sólo para la comunicación, sino también en la cultura, el arte literario y el pensamiento filosófico y religioso".

Algunos de los campos a los que se puede dedicar uno después de estudiar lingüística son: la enseñanza del inglés como segunda lengua, la educación, la documentación lingüística, el trabajo de campo, ser consultor lingüístico y la enseñanza a nivel universitario. Esta es solo una pequeña lista de los trabajos que se pueden desempeñar después de estudiar lingüística.

Cuando se le preguntó cuál era su asignatura favorita de la carrera, Greis respondió: "Me gustó mucho Lingüística Corpus, que es como informatizada. Puse todo el texto de Jane Eyre en un corpus, porque tenía que escribir un trabajo sobre él para otra clase", explicó Gries. "Era sobre los aspectos sobrenaturales de Jane Eyre. Revisé el corpus y utilicé un etiquetador en línea que encuentra todas las palabras relacionadas con la religión o lo sobrenatural. Así, en vez de tener que releer el libro, buscando cada ejemplo, puedo simplemente buscarlo".
"También me encantó la clase Estructura de la gramática inglesa. Trata literalmente de cómo funciona la lengua inglesa. Por ejemplo, qué es un sustantivo, qué es un verbo. Me gustaba mucho la profesora, y enseñaba muy bien, así que estaba deseando ir a esa clase. La imparte Cornelia Paraskevas".

A la pregunta de por qué cree que la lingüística es importante, Gries respondió: "La lingüística se aplica a muchas cosas. Cambia tu forma de pensar sobre las palabras que dices. Imagínate no poder decir 'en esto' o 'en aquello', son las palabras más pequeñas las que nos dan más información sobre nuestra lengua".

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalcampuslife@wou.edu

Los cinco mejores de los Wolves

Por: Burke De Boer
Redactor de deportes

Indoor track team sets a Division II record
The indoor track season was a dominant one for Western Oregon track and field, capped off by a record-setting national title for the men’s distance medley relay.

Sophomore Dustin Nading, juniors AJ Holmberg and Josh Dempsey and junior David Ribich at anchor made up the team. They traveled to Birmingham, Alabama as part of the Wolves team that competed in the NCAA Division II national championships.

They ran a photo finish race, beating reigning relay champions Adams State by .001 second to win the national trophy.

Their finishing time was 9:40.144, which set a new Division II indoor track national record.

Baseball crowned conference champs
After a two year title drought, Wolves baseball reclaimed their place on top of the conference.

The baseball team only played a total of four games at home this year, as the baseball field didn’t dry out until the final week of the regular season. But the team used those few games to secure the GNAC regular season title in front of home fans.

They then went on to play in the conference playoffs and swept their way to the championship victory.

Road Warriors softball makes a late-season stand
While baseball got to play four games at home, softball was not so lucky.

They adopted the nickname the Road Warriors, as weather kept softball out of Monmouth. They also battled injuries early on, and after their first two months of play they were dead last in the conference.

But at the start of April the Wolves flipped a switch. Thirteen wins in April secured the final spot in the GNAC tournament.

The fourth-seeded Wolves were able to knock off top-seeded Central Washington, who had entered the tournament as the reigning champions. They ultimately finished second in the tournament, falling to Western Washington.

Football’s underdog upset
The football team finished 4-6, the first losing record since head coach Arne Ferguson first took over the program in 2005. The first game of the year, however, set the standard for competition from the team, as they toppled Division I Sacramento State, 38-30.

On offense, the game enshrined what could be accomplished by the dual-quarterback system of juniors Nick Duckworth and Phillip Fenumiai. Junior wide receiver Paul Revis amassed 175 all-purpose yards.

The winning touchdown came from first-year student Torreahno Sweet, a two-sport athlete who played both baseball and football this year. After starting from their own 20 late in the fourth quarter, the Wolves drove down the field and Sweet broke tackles to pic up the touchdown on a 30-yard run.

Men’s basketball makes a playoff run
The men’s basketball team took a 16-12 record into the GNAC playoffs for a third-place seed. They rode the playoff bracket all the way to the conference championship game.

The 2016 team had won the GNAC, won the NCAA west regional playoff and advanced to the national elite eight. 2017 was not as successful of a year, but the Wolves proved themselves a legitimate threat to the conference title yet again.

The Wolves came in as a three seed, and junior Tanner Omlid had two consecutive double-doubles to help lead the team to the championship final, where the Wolves surprised number one seed Western Washington and took an eight point lead into halftime.

Western Washington regrouped and went on a late scoring spree. The Wolves fell in the final seconds, 69-71, as sophomore Malik Leaks’ three-pointer missed and time ran out.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en journalsports@wou.edu

"500 Days of Summer": ¿en qué montaña rusa emocional me acabo de meter?

Por: Jade Rayner
Adulto de 21 años

Si nunca te has fijado en el prólogo que aparece al principio de esta película, te lo has perdido.

Generalmente pienso que las películas de fórmula "cuéntame una historia" son basura perezosa, pero de alguna manera ésta consigue una excepción. Esta, y "La princesa prometida". En serio, sólo tienes que entrar en ella.

"Siempre pensé que era más de invierno", dice mi amiga refiriéndose a Summer, el personaje de Zooey Deschanel. Y tiene razón.

El flirteo en esta película está tan lejos de ser sutil, que simplemente deberían acercarse y decir "oye, estoy flirteando", y vivir sus vidas a partir de ahí.

No puedo con los cambios de tiempo en esta película. Gracias por la pantalla que muestra en qué día de los 500 en los que estamos, pero sigue siendo mucho para mantenerse al día.

¿Se supone que Summer tiene que correr a enrollarse con él cada vez que toca The Smiths? Parece que eso es lo que quieren decir. No.
Definitivamente, hay un momento adecuado y otro inadecuado para actuar según el método. Estos tipos probablemente deberían estar borrachos de verdad, porque la actuación es tan suave como el papel de lija.

La primera media hora resumida en una frase: No estoy seguro de si estoy viendo una "historia de amor" entre estudiantes de secundaria o adultos, pero en general son actores guapos, así que aquí estamos.

"500 Days of Summer" es la única razón por la que quiero ir a IKEA. ¿Es realmente bonito? ¿O hay algo más? ¿Por qué son tan estereotipados? ¿Y se permite que la gente se enrolle en las camas? Piensa en los niños.

ELLA DICE LITERALMENTE QUE NO QUIERE NADA SERIO. ESCUCHA, JOSEPH.

La escena musical post-sexo es el momento más mágico de toda la película. Así es como me siento cada vez que salgo de mi última final.

De la felicidad a la depresión en dos segundos. Gracias.

Nunca dudes del vínculo emocional entre un gato y una persona. Esto no está relacionado con la película, pero es importante tenerlo en cuenta, ya que ahora mismo estoy llorando por un gato que ni siquiera es mío.

Hay muchos momentos sexistas horribles. ¿Cómo no me había dado cuenta antes? Está escondido detrás de la naturaleza semi-bonita de esta película.
LAS RELACIONES ENTRE DOS PERSONAS NO LAS DECIDE UNA SOLA, TOM.
Ahora el juego del pene. Está decidido: escuela media.

¿Ahora es una película francesa?

Yo compraría una tarjeta de felicitación que empezara como un poema y luego se convirtiera en una odiosa carta de venganza. Realmente no veo el problema. El jefe de Tom es demasiado puntilloso.

El segmento de las expectativas frente a la realidad es mortal en el peor de los sentidos. Pero tenías que verlo venir. Yo no, pero no se trata de eso.

Es necesario que haya más tarjetas de felicitación con gatos.

En resumen, Tom es un quejica y no tiene ni idea. Summer vive su vida con honestidad, pero no tiene en cuenta los sentimientos de los demás.

SI EL NOMBRE DE LA CHICA ES UNA ESTACIÓN, NO LO HAGAS. ELLA NO ES TU ALMA GEMELA.

Póngase en contacto con el autor en jrayner14@wou.edu