Candidate blames Front

WESTERN FRONT
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday, May 11, 2010 | Vol. 150, Iss. 12
the
NEWS
Atrium thefts
Patrons
must keep
receipts;
Atrium keeps
no data
on theft
> pg. 4
Study naps
Research
shows naps
help memory
retention
> pg. 7
Candidate blames Front
photo by Lillian Furlong | WF
Mike Pond, Associated Students vice president for Student Life, voices his grievance and petition for a re-vote to the AS Election Board on Monday afternoon.
Morgan Holmgren, AS vice president for Governmental Affairs, and AS employee Christina Roy watch and wait their turn to talk.
Pond demands re-vote, accuses Holmgren, Roy of slander
Mackenzie Hudson
& Dan Balmer | WF
Vice President for Student
Life Mike Pond has requested
the Associated Students Election
Board consider a re-vote because
of a Western Front article he said
tainted the election results.
Pond filed a grievance
against Morgan Holmgren, VP
for Governmental Affairs, and
Christina Roy, assistant to VP
of Campus and Community
Affairs, on Monday, saying
they were in violation of three
election codes. The election
board heard both sides of the
grievance and decided to not
vote until later.
In the race for VP for Student
Life, Pond lost by 30 votes
to Jamin Agosti, according to
unofficial election results released
by the AS last week.
Pond said both Holmgren and
Roy were quoted in the Western
Front article, “Pond, Ikegwuoha
accused of neglect,” introducing
concerns about the performance
of two candidates who were seeking re-election.
Pond said the article was
Students wage war on ads
Andrea Farrell | WF
A group of students
crept through Western’s
campus at 2 a.m.
Tuesday, covering all
outdoor ads with their
own
anti-marketing
campaign: the Campaign
for Nothing.
Their goal was to
carry out the largest
guerrilla ad campaign
Western has ever seen.
Rather than saying
advertisements are good
or bad, the students
said they hope to start
a discussion on campus
about how advertising
affects people in their
OPINION
Editor in chief
questions AS
accountability
AS Board, be
open with
students
> pg. 12
SPORTS
Record vault
Junior smashes
pole vaulting
records
> pg. 14
photo by Carey Rose | WF
Members of Team Powerhouse were assigned to cover up all advertising in and around
Red Square with signs that say "NOTHING" early Tuesday morning. Team Powerhouse hung
the signs on Miller Market, Tony's Coffee and Fraser Hall.
daily lives.
The group planned
to enter all locked
buildings as they opened
Tuesday
morning,
to complete the total
domination of every ad
space on campus.
Along with banners
that said “NOTHING,”
were
posters
with
questions like, “How do
ads make you feel?”
The main organizer
behind the campaign, a
Western senior, asked
to remain anonymous
to avoid the risk of
suspension under the
student code of rights and
responsibilities, which
prohibits intentionally
disrupting any university
or student activity.
“It isn’t technically
allowed,” he said. “But
am I hurting anyone?”
To learn more about
the campaign, visit
thecampaignfornothing.
com.
detrimental to his reputation
and that his moral character was
called into question.
“I believe the slander of my
character in The Western Front
article had an adverse effect on
the fairness and impartiality of the
election process,” he said. “[The
article] makes the Associated
see > POND, pg. 5
Wind power
stirs debate
in Whatcom
Chelsea Asplund | WF
A Whatcom County Council
task force has less than five
months to make a decision
regarding a controversial law
that would allow the use of
commercial wind turbines in the
area.
Due to concerns raised by
neighbors of proposed sites,
the council approved a sixmonth delay in April to review
the law. The moratorium, or
freeze, affects rural forestry or
agricultural land, and permits
applications for large-scale
turbines that generate more than
500 kilowatts of power.
Councilmember
Barbara
Brenner said the law, which
originally
included
only
residential-sized wind systems,
sparked interest from industrial
wind companies for larger
community turbines.
see > TURBINES, pg. 3
2
|
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
NEWS
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
Cops Box
Bellingham Police
May 9
• Not cool | At 2:56 a.m.,
an intoxicated man on
in the 100 block of East
Holly Street was allegedly pushed from his
skateboard. His backpack was stolen.
• Tagging | At 11:12 p.m.,
a 21-year-old man
in the 1300 block of
Commercial Street was
arrested on suspicion of
spraying graffiti.
photos by Evan Derickson | WF
Star light, star bright | (Left) Fairhaven senior Clara Perez peers through a telescope on the Communications Facility lawn as Fairhaven
senior Sarah Tran studies a star guide. (Top right) Erin Martin, left, Tran and Perez study the stars on Friday night. Perez is pursuing a selfdesigned major, titled Explorations and Astronomy through Science and Philosophy. "It's for my senior project, but we're kind of just hanging
out, looking at stars," Perez said. (Bottom right) Tran takes a peek through the telescope.
WesternFrontOnline.net
WHAT’S NEW ONLINE?
May 8
• Runaway mind | At 4:11
p.m., police responded
to a call in the 3100
block of Adams Avenue
where a person left
home and refused to go
back. The subject was
admitted to hospital for
an evaluation.
• Burn, baby, burn | At
4:47 p.m., a group of
juveniles was reported
to have lit a piece of
clothing on fire in the
2900 block of Yew
Street. Police arrived to
find no damage and no
juveniles.
• Missing person | At 5:30
p.m., a missing woman
from
Bellevue
was
reported to have been
seen in the 800 block of
Lakeway Drive.
Cops Box compiled by Heidi Shanks
THE WESTERN FRONT
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it Monday!
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Corrections
An article in the May 7 issue of The Western Front, titled “Community corner
stones,” misspelled Kenneth Oh’s name. Oh is the owner of The Super Store on 21st
Street and Harris Avenue.
Business manager..................................................Alethea Macomber
The Western Front is published twice weekly in the fall, winter and spring quarters and once
a week in the summer session. The Western Front is the official newspaper of Western Washington University, published by the Student Publications Council and is mainly supported by
advertising. Opinions and stories in the newspaper have no connection with advertising.
News content is determined by student editors. Staff reporters are involved in a course in
the department of journalism, but any student enrolled at Western may offer stories to the
editors. Members of the Western community are entitled to a single free copy of each issue
of The Western Front.
NEWS | 3
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
> TURBINES
get their sleep, somebody could get killed.”
Councilmember
says wind turbines
pose health concerns
What's happening now
< pg. 1
Terry Meyer, owner and founder of
Cascade Community Wind Company, said
his interest in commercial wind turbines
came from the idea of communities, rather
than corporations, taking ownership over
their power.
“[Wind] is a distributive resource;
anybody can have it,” Meyer said. “You
have to have a mega-corporation to start
a nuclear power plant. For wind, that’s not
true, so why not put it in the hands of real
people?”
Brenner said the heart of the debate
over commercial turbines concerned its
proposed location at Squalicum Mountain,
which is close to neighborhoods. She said
many residents were not happy about
320-foot towers being so close to their
backyards.
“As a councilmember, I do get it,”
Brenner said. “Some people just don’t
want anything in their backyards. The
more research I have done, the more
concerned I have become.”
Meyer, who proposed Squalicum
Mountain due to the level of wind it
receives, said he conducted neighborhood
meetings and spoke with people concerned
about the location.
He said his company has invested
more than $85,000 that is now going
toward nothing, since now the project has
been shut down due to environmental and
health concerns.
“This is a way that I can do good,
serve my community and make a living
out of it,” Meyer said. “I started down the
road with a promise from the county, and
then to get 85 grand into it and then be
stuck, what can I do?”
Meyer said the $85,000 was invested
photo courtesy of Terry Meyer
Terry Meyer tests wind turbines in Indiana. The 80-meter tower he is standing on is similar to the
one proposed for Squalicum Mountain, Meyer said.
on equipment, studies, applications, land
leases and legal fees. He said investing
the money was necessary even before
applying for a permit to gather as much
information as possible for the public.
Environmental concerns
Councilmember Sam Crawford said
people who live near Squalicum Mountain
are concerned with the de-icing chemicals
needed by the turbines during cold seasons.
He said he was told turbines become
stationary in cold weather when ice builds
up on the blades.
A chemical solution similar to that
used on airplanes is used to remove the
ice, and Crawford said it could pose
environmental and health concerns.
“There are many health concerns
that need to be taken into consideration,”
he said. “They need to all be looked
into before we make any assumptions or
decisions.”
According to the American Bird
Conservancy, as many as 40,000 birds
may be killed each year by direct collisions
with turbine blades.
Meyer said people must look at the
bigger picture if they are concerned about
birds.
“If you make green energy instead
of brown, you have a positive impact,”
Meyer said. “The things that really affect
birds are habitat loss, and that comes from
everything else.”
Health concerns
Brenner said another concern is over
the idea of Wind Turbine Syndrome, a
condition when the low-frequency sounds
and vibrations of turbines affect the
human body.
Those sounds are arguably linked to
health problems, such as heart disease,
migraines and panic attacks.
The temporary freeze on the law
also affects foresters and farmers, which
Brenner said is a health concern, given
their professions.
“Those are two professions that deal
with extremely dangerous equipment
every day,” she said. “If those guys don’t
The purpose of the extension is to
allow councilmembers more time to
research the issue and adjust the law as
needed.
Brenner said the working group
wants to come to an agreement on location
boundaries, requiring wind turbines to
be built a certain distance away from
residential homes. She said she hopes this
will make both neighbors and developers
happy for future projects.
While the Squalicum Mountain
project has been shut down indefinitely,
Brenner said a task team has been made to
speed up the process for future proposed
locations.
“It’s very troubling to me when people
who care about the environment are so quick
to jump on the bandwagon,” Brenner said.
“They think, ‘How dare we do anything to
stop this stuff?’ It’s very dangerous for our
country for people to just buy into claims
without investigating them.”
The extension is up in October, when
the council must make a decision. Brenner
said that upon their decision to adjust the
ordinance, there will be a public hearing,
and then the community will vote and
have the final say.
“I think we can find a balance where
we can have industrial wind generators,”
Brenner said. “The only way we’re going
to find it is for people from any extreme to
stop this ‘all or nothing’ attitude.”
Meyer said this struggle with the
county has caused him to shut down all his
projects in the area indefinitely.
While he continues work in Kittitas
and Skagit counties, he said it was a big
disappointment this had to happen at
home.
“Think about all our monthly $50 or
$100 [energy] bills that leave the county.
What if that was going to local contractors
and owners who are putting these projects
in? That money all of a sudden not leaving
the county is huge,” Meyer said. “We’ll
see what will happen in 2011.”
4 | NEWS
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
Thefts spur Dining Services to check receipts
Philbrook: Employees will
report those breaking new
policy to campus police
Christopher Wood | WF
Customers could now be required to show proof of purchase
when leaving a University Dining
Services store such as The Atrium.
“We have had challenges
with customers leaving with
[products] without paying for
[them],” said Lisa Philbrook, director of business development
for University Dining Services.
Thefts are an ongoing problem at the large retail locations
on campus, including the Viking
Union, The Atrium and Miller
Market, she said.
Store supervisors watch
customers and will ask anyone
they suspect of theft to show a
receipt, Philbrook said.
The policy is that customers
must keep their receipts readily
available, she said. If a person
ignores a request to stop, the
store manager calls University
Police, she said.
Dining Services does not know
how many thefts occur at its retail
locations, Philbrook said.
“If they’re successful, obviously we don’t know about it,”
she said.
Dining Services has no information on how much money
is lost to theft, Philbrook said.
Dining Services is looking for
ways to represent the amount
lost numerically, she said.
Dining Services calls the
dollar amount for missing and
perished food “shrinkage,” Philbrook said.
Taking inventory of items at
retail locations such as The Atrium occurs daily for the perishable Grab-and-Go items, such as
salads and fruit, Philbrook said.
Each location does a complete
inventory weekly, she said.
The Atrium will also no
longer have a self-service coffee island by next fall, as Dining
Services believes people were
stealing coffee from it, Philbrook said.
Western sophomore Chris
Tran said he thinks the policy
is unfair because it could lead
to profiling of students based on
how they look.
“People have certain ideas
about other people,” Tran said.
Western junior Don Grant
photo by Daniel Berman
Western sophomore Lauren Norton cashiers near a sign urging patrons of the Atrium to hold onto their receipts
due to a recent rise in thefts.
said he doesn’t like the policy
but he understands why Dining
Services has it.
“They should do it if they
have a reason,” Grant said.
Grant said it seems easy to
take items from the café, and it’s
good that Dining Services is attempting to stop shoplifting.
Dining Services worked with
University Police to deal with
thefts, Philbrook said, and University Police has deemed Dining
Services actions appropriate.
Philbrook said students
asked Dining Services to look
into the problem of theft at it’s
retail locations.
“We are here to be of service to the university community,” Philbrook said. “The process
of watching is part of that.”
Western junior Eric Jensen
said he was not aware of the
policy and throws away receipts
without thinking about it.
“I missed [the signs],” Jensen
said. “Other people might have as
well.”
Jensen said that if he remembered the policy, he would keep
his receipts next time he went to a
Dining Services location.
NEWS | 5
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
> POND
Personnel director
sent e-mail urging
'professionalism'
toward media
< pg. 1
Student’s Board look like a joke
and The Western Front look
like a tabloid.”
Holmgren requested anonymity in the article because
he was applying for a position
in the AS for next year and
Pond was on the hiring committee. The grievance should
be thrown out, Holmgren said,
because the information shared
in the article was public record,
including minutes of public
meetings.
He said he approached the
Front as an individual and not
as a member of the AS. He used
a personal e-mail account and
was interviewed outside the AS
Board offices.
“I provided context as an
AS board member and presented
my personal opinion,” he said.
“It was not an official stance of
the organization.”
Roy also said the violation
reported by Pond was not filed
within 24 hours of the time
of discovery, which breaks
Section VI of the election code.
Pond said he waited to
file the grievance because he
wanted to be notified of who
the anonymous source was in
the article.
Pond accused Holmgren
of breaking two election codes
and Roy of one.
Pond cited Section IV of
the election code, which states
that AS programs and standing
councils
and
committees
may not officially endorse
candidates.
Another part of the code
says that current AS Board
members may not endorse
candidates in AS publications,
AS public forums or while
acting in their official capacity.
When Holmgren spoke to
the Front, he said, he discussed
three incumbent candidates
including Bernard Ikegwuoha
and Ramon Rinonos-Diaz.
Holmgren said he believes
candidates running for reelection need to be asked
more difficult questions. He
said The Western Front should
hold AS Board members more
accountable throughout the
year and inform students on
their progress.
Holmgren
said
the
article did not seem to be an
endorsement of a candidate.
“No one may have
endorsed anyone, but others
were significantly unendorsed,”
Pond said. “It’s up to you all
to right this wrong and take it
where you see is fit.”
Pond said he is concerned
about
future
employers
searching his name on the
photos by Lillian Furlong | WF
Morgan Holmgren, left, Associated Students vice president for Governmental Affairs, speaks during the grievance
proceedings. Holmgren was the anonymous source in an April 27 article in The Western Front, "Pond, Ikegwuoha
accused of neglect." Christina Roy, right, defends statements she made in the article.
Internet and finding the
article. The violation Pond cited
against Roy said employees
of the AS are free to endorse
candidates as individuals, but
they may not speak on behalf of
the organization when doing so.
“I, at no point, said that I
was speaking on behalf of the
AS,” Roy said. “I spoke solely
about Pond’s performance
as the current vice president,
and it was a reflection of my
individual opinion.”
Pond also brought in screen
shots of Roy’s Facebook page
with updates promoting Agosti,
his opponent.
Roy said her Facebook
should be considered a nonissue because it is private,
personal and only her friends
can view her page. She also
said she did not endorse Agosti
in the article, but addressed her
opinion based on facts that can
be obtained by any student.
“Vice presidents are elected
and not hired,” Roy said.
“They are subject to different
standards of accountability and
should expect scrutiny from
The Western Front.”
Roy said a letter was sent
out by Brian Conner, the AS
personnel director, to all AS
employees about the AS Code
of Conduct after the story was
published. The letter said that,
in accordance with the code
of conduct, speaking poorly of
another member of the AS is
unacceptable and will not be
tolerated. There is, however, no
clause in the code to back this
statement up.
It also reminded employees
of the distinction between
operating and acting as an AS
employee and as a student. The
letter encouraged employees to
check with a board member or
staff adviser before speaking
with the media for the remainder
of the year.
“It’s fine to try and get
sympathy,” Roy said. “But at
the end of the day, we didn’t
break election code.”
NEWS | 6
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
Galbraith owners, bikers reach agreement
Mountain bikers
escape squeeze
on renowned trails
Evan Derickson | WF
Just east of Western’s campus lies a
mountain-biking heaven. People come
from miles around for its rugged dirt trails.
Despite a recent change in ownership, it is likely to stay that way for several
years, said Mark Peterson, the president of
the Whatcom Independent Mountain Pedalers Mountain Bike Coalition.
The coalition signed a contract on
May 5 with Polygon Financial, allowing
the public to continue use of North Lookout Mountain, more commonly known as
Galbraith Mountain.
The new contract also lets the coalition
continue trail building and maintenance on
the property. It is similar to a contract the
coalition had with Trillium Corporation,
the previous owner. The contract protects
land owners from lawsuits by land users
who are injured on their property, as long
as the landowner is not charging money for
the property use.
The agreement can be terminated by either party with 10 day's written notice at any
time. It does not have an expiration date.
“We’re pretty confident that things are
going to be the way they are for at least the
near term,” said Peterson.
Galbraith Mountain has been cared
for on behalf of mountain bikers, hikers
and horseback riders by the coalition for
the past five years under the contract with
photo by Evan Derickson | WF
A rider crosses a mound built up by the Whatcom Independent Mountain Pedalers Mountain
Bike Coalition on a trail called “Cheech and Chong's Wild Ride” on April 26. The trail is one
of many on Galbraith Mountain maintained by the coalition.
Trillium.
Trillium bought the 3,125-acre property in 2001 and gave the property to Polygon in October 2009, as an alternative to
foreclosure, according to Whatcom County documents.
“The substance of the agreement is
very much the same,” Peterson said.
Tin Rock Management, which manages the area for Polygon, started a 90-day
review when Trillium’s management that
ended on April 1, said Blair Murray of Tin
Rock.
The company has been assessing all
aspects of the mountain that will affect
long-term use, Murray said, including rec-
reational use, timber practices, easements
and access issues.
Aside from signing the new contract,
Tin Rock does not plan on making any decisions about the mountain before it has
finished the review, Murray said.
Tin Rock will not rule out any options
for the future, he said.
“It’s private property, and we respect their opportunity to develop it how
and when they want,” Peterson said. “It’s
more in terms of 10 years or later, at least
in the current [economic] climate. I’m sure
they’d like to do it sooner, but whether that
is in the cards — who knows?”
As a cyclist, Murray said he was im-
pressed by the coalition’s stewardship of
the land when he rode the Galbraith trails.
“What has impressed me most about
what they’ve done is not necessarily the
trail-building, because I have nothing to
compare it to,” he said, “but the job they
have done in keeping the land accessible,
signing signage, those kind of things.”
Murray has been a good liaison between the coalition and Polygon, said Bill
Hawk, a member of the coalition board
and director of freeride operations for the
organization.
He said Polygon was new to mountain-bike land use and trail-building.
“Polygon was just not in the bike-park
business,” he said.
Hawk said having Murray working
with the two parties is beneficial for both.
“Blair [Murray is] another cyclist,
so he’s kind of in the know,” Hawk said.
“He kind of gets the mountain bike issue,
and also where the landowners are coming
from.”
Galbraith Mountain can only be used
for resource harvesting, wildlife preservation, recreation and similar activities, said
Gary Davis, of Whatcom County Planning
and Development Services.
The property is zoned for forestry, so
Polygon will not be able to develop the
land without rezoning, he said.
Peterson said the mountain’s future
partly depends on responsible use.
“Ride responsibly and respect the land,
so we can keep riding it there,” he said.
The new contract is available on the
coalition's website:
whimpsmtb.com/mountains.html.
NEWS | 7
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
Sleep to remember:
napping before tests improves marks, study shows
F
Dan Langager | WF
or anyone who has had problems
cramming for a test or staying up
all night writing a paper, there
may be a centuries-old solution: Take a
siesta.
The traditional daytime sleep of
Spain and Latin America could become
commonplace at North American
universities thanks to a study released by
the University of California, Berkeley.
Each group performed a task intended
to tax the hippocampus, a region of the
brain that helps in learning and storing
fact-based memories.
The participants were asked to learn
100 names and faces.
After the nap period, participants
were asked to learn a new set of names
and faces.
Both groups scored about the same
immediately after the first learning
session, but those who slept for 90
minutes between learning sessions
improved their scores by 10 percent.
The other group’s scores dropped by 10
percent.
The findings were presented Feb. 21
at the annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of
Science in San Diego.
The results support previous data
from the same research team that staying
up all night — a common college practice
— decreases the ability to cram in new
facts by almost 40 percent, due to a
shutdown of brain regions during sleep
deprivation.
Deep sleep rejuvenates
Western psychology professor Dr.
Jacqueline Rose said the amount of slowwave sleep a person gets during a nap
seems to determine whether the nap will
be advantageous.
Slow-wave sleep refers to the brain
wave patterns present during stage three
of non-rapid eye movement sleep. Of the
four stages in non-rapid eye movement
sleep, the third is characterized by “deep”
sleep.
“It definitely has to do with sleep
cycles,” Rose said. “In ‘shallow’ sleep,
the same cognitive rejuvenation won’t be
there.”
Rose said that repeatedly thinking
about acquired knowledge moves the
facts from working memory to long-term
memory.
“There’s evidence that we’re
rethinking the same things we did during
the day,” Rose said. “The significance is
the repetition.”
She said that for memories to be
consolidated, they must travel through the
hippocampus.
Sleep consolidates memories
The Massachusetts Institute of
Technology published a similar study
supporting the idea that sleep triggers the
rapid consolidation of memories.
Researchers at the university
monitored the activities of mice’s
hippocampus cells as the animals ran a
maze and then slept. During their post-run
sleep, the specific sequence of the maze
was “replayed” in their brain.
By implanting electrodes that
monitored the hippocampus, researchers
found that the same neurons used to
negotiate the maze while awake were
active during sleep.
The researchers found that mice
who were able to “replay” their waking
experiences while asleep remembered
them better than the mice who were
prevented from rethinking their waking
thoughts by the electrodes.
The animals were able to form
long-term memories of the maze only if
certain circuits in their hippocampus were
functioning after the formation of the
short-term memory.
Western freshman Rob Capelluto said
he frequently implements siestas.
“I totally believe in the theory of
naps,” Capelluto said. “I’d say, during
spring quarter, I’ve been napping at least
four times a week.”
Capelluto said he sleeps for an hour
and a half to two hours during naps.
“I think it helps with stress and gives
you another boost of energy,” he said.
Capelluto said naps are also a way to
catch up on lost sleep.
“If you only get five or six hours of
sleep and feel dead tired, that nap can give
you an extra jump,” he said.
The study indicated that students who
study and then get eight hours of sleep at
night remember more than those who stay
up studying.
Capelluto said he agrees with the
research that says the best time to study is
before sleep.
The MIT research team also tested
the role of slow-wave sleep in human
memory consolidation. After memorizing
word pairs such as “fruit-banana” and
“tool-pliers,” the people who napped were
able to recall a greater number of word
pairs than those who did not nap.
Western sophomore Lauren Austin
said parks are the best places to take naps.
“I love taking naps,” Austin said. “I
can take four-hour naps and be fine.”
Capelluto said long naps have the
potential to disturb one’s sleep cycle.
“It kind of throws off my sleep
schedule,” he said. “If I take a [long]
nap, it’s harder to go to sleep at a decent
time.”
Capelluto said that because naps
usually take place in the middle of the day,
they can be an inconvenience.
Students deprived of sleep
Rose said she does not think university
students get enough total sleep.
“I tell students in my lab all the time
that they’re not getting enough sleep,”
she said. “It’s obvious when they’ve been
burning the candle on both ends.”
According to the Berkeley team’s
findings, the more hours spent awake, the
more sluggish the mind becomes.
Capelluto said he takes siestas that do
not involve any sleeping.
“Sometimes, I don’t even fall asleep,”
he said. “But I’m sure there could be a
similar effect for people who just relax
a little bit. I think the feeling of doing
nothing [can be] just as important.”
Rose said that in terms of memory,
there are not similar effects between
sleeping and relaxing.
“What one can start to control
[through relaxation] is stress level,” she
said.
Rose said that although she does not
enjoy napping, she notices a decline in her
energy when she’s low on total sleep.
“It’s weird,” she said, “sleeping in the
middle of the day.”
Austin said any person with an
aversion to naps should give them a try.
“Some people just aren’t nap takers,”
she said. “You can’t force them to do
something they don’t want to do — even
if it’s sleeping.”
Sleep Cycles
90 MINUTES
sta ge 1
stage 2
In this stage of
sleep, a person can be
awakened easily and may feel like no
sleep has taken place. This stage lasts
for about 10 minutes. Many people
may notice the feeling of falling during
this stage of sleep, which may cause
sudden muscle contractions.
infographic by Cassy Meyers & Drew Miller | WF
In this stage, heart rate
slows and body temperature
decreases while the body prepares to
enter deep sleep. Brain readings during
this stage show mixed positive and
negative waves, which indicate
muscles relaxing and
contracting.
source: WebMD.com
10+ MINUTES
sta ge s
3&4
stage 5
Rapid Eye Movement (REM)
These
sleep occurs after the first four
stages are deep sleep,
stages of sleep, and is marked by
with stage 4 being more intense
high brain activity. Intense
than stage 3. If aroused from
dreaming occurs as a result of
sleep during these stages, a
heightened brain activity, and
person may feel disoriented for a
paralysis occurs
few minutes.
simultaneously in major
muscle groups.
Arts &
Experiments
8 | Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
Cabaret Ving! gives Wester
opportunity to cut loose, try so
in a casual environment
Andrea Farrell | WF
“
The crowd falls silent. The lights dim and the
master of ceremonies hurries offstage as a group
of dancers prepares for its big entrance.
Backstage, a young woman in a glittering
bee costume whispers, “OK, lets do this.”
The dancers take their positions, the lights
rise, music fills the air and all at once they
are moving – whirling, leaping and stepping
gracefully across the scuffed floors of the Ving!
dance studio. Walls have been lined with folding
chairs, transforming the practice room into a
performance space for this event.
Cabaret Ving! held its spring performance
Friday and Saturday at its studio on Holly Street.
The Western dance department's cabaret is a
quarterly showcase of dance, theater, poetry and
performance by Western students and instructors.
Groups and individuals choreograph and
perform new and often experimental routines
representing a wide range of styles and tastes. Like the traditional French cabaret,
Cabaret Ving! is all about putting the spotlight on artists.
“We call it an open mic night for dancers,” said Western senior Hannah Lindberg,
a dance student who has been involved with the group since it began during the 20072008 school year.
Ever since, dance professor Rick Merrill and a dedicated group of his students have
coordinated cabaret performances at the studio space, first just twice a year, then every
quarter after the enthusiastic response from students and community members.
Merrill said the goal of the cabaret is simple: to showcase anything and everything
related to dance at Western and have fun doing it.
“I felt that students needed more opportunities to perform and get their feet wet,”
Merrill said. “It is less formal and easier than the big performances, so it isn’t this oncea-year panic-ridden thing.”
The atmosphere of the space is casual: tickets are sold at the door, no one but the
dancers dresses up and many audience members chat with their neighbors before the
event starts.
The show is different every night, as many dancers improvise during their
performances.
But in spite of the uncertainty, or maybe because of it, Lindberg said Cabaret Ving!
has gained a loyal following in Bellingham.
“The energy from the crowd is always wonderful,” Lindberg said. “We sell out and
usually have to lock the doors.”
Western sophomore Amanda Gifford is a dance teacher with the Ritmo Latino
Salsa club on campus. She performed in three different pieces in the show this quarter,
including a salsa with three other dancers from Ritmo Latino.
Gifford said she likes the opportunity for creativity that the cabaret provides dancers.
“You have freedom to do what you want,” Gifford said. “It is an open environment
for experimentation that caters to all types of dancers and audiences.”
Merrill said creative freedom is the spirit behind cabaret. While the dance
department offers serious programs for dancers hoping to enter the profession, he said, it
is also a place where countless students discover a previously unknown love of dance.
Merrill offers a class called Movement and Culture, which is intended for nondancers. Merrill said the class offers students a chance to relax their bodies as well as
Cab
Western student Geneva Bender performs in a contemporary jazz piece choreographed by
Western senior Michaela Martin.
& LiFE
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
|9
rn dancers the rare
omething different
photos by Jessica Bader | WF
Western senior Jill Sorensen (left), junior Carolyn Sims and graduate Jovon Miller perform a tap routine, which was
choreographed by Miller and titled "Respect the Technique."
their attitudes toward dance.
“When we start out, everyone is a little wary,”
Merrill said. “They think, ‘What weird thing is this
guy going to make me do?’”
Merrill said many of the students start out with
judgmental attitudes toward dancing, thinking they
are clumsy or don’t have pretty enough bodies to be
dancers. After a few weeks, he said, those attitudes
are gone.
“I see this transformation, and suddenly, I can’t
stop them,” he said.
Merrill said his Movement and Culture students
give glowing reviews of the class on their course
evaluations, saying they came away with a greater
sense of self, as well as a newfound comfort with and
connection to their own bodies.
Many feel the course informs their own
disciplines, making them better teachers or better
scientists, he said.
In the past year the university has been
experiencing budget cuts, which has lead to cuts in
Western's dance program, Merrill said.
This, he said, means larger class sizes with less of the kind of one-on-one
instruction that students in the major need in order to hone their skills.
The cuts haven’t affected Cabaret Ving!, however. The event has grown so much
that it now features just Western students and professors, because there is no longer
enough space to feature the community members who used to help round out the smaller
shows when the event was first began.
Master of ceremonies and choreographer Tessa Moncrief and dancer Jovon Miller
are two Cabaret staples, but on Saturday, both dancers said their goodbyes to the show.
Miller is a alumnus and Moncrief will graduate in June.
Miller performed in the final two pieces of the evening. One was a fusion of tap and
hip-hop called "Respect the Technique," a collaboration with fellow dancers Carolyn
Sims and Jill Sorensen. Miller said they practiced for about a month.
The final number was entirely improvisation between Miller and upright bassist
Mark Hunter. Miller began to tap a rhythmic beat on the wooden platform, even as he
was finishing changing his shoes. Hunter plucked his bass with a simple jazz melody
that he expanded and elaborated on to match Miller’s movements.
Western senior Ranae Scott performed a solo piece called "Fingertips Broken
Faucets."
Scott said her dance was inspired by the experience of trying to grasp big thoughts
and philosophical ideas when your mind is moving too fast to keep track of them. Scott,
an English major, said she loves dance and has a background in hip-hop and modern
styles.
“[But] I avoid ballet at all costs,” she said.
English instructor Jeanne Yeasting and alumna Amy Gibson recited a collaborative
poem based on the book “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino. They passed out pieces
of paper with lines from the poem, and invited audience members to read certain parts
along with them.
“We thought it sounded good,” Yeasting said.
Western sophomore Byron Starkey was in the audience Saturday. Starkey said he
enjoys the quarterly dance showcases because they have something for everyone.
“It’s always interesting,” he said. “The different types of dance engage the audience
in different ways. It keeps you on the edge of your seat.”
Amanda Gifford
Western senior,
baret Ving! performer
t
Western senior Ranae Scott said some of her dance piece was choreographed, but much of
it was improvised. She said she had just started working on the piece a few days before the
performance because it was her last chance to perform in the Cabaret before graduating.
Upcoming
Performances
Bachelor of Fine Arts Capstone
When: 7:30 p.m.
May 27, 28, 29
June 3, 4, 5
Where: Ving! Dance Studio, 311 E. Holly St.
Summer Dance Concert
When: 7:30 p.m.
July 29, 30, 31
Where: Ving! Dance Studio, 311 E. Holly St.
10 | arts & life
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
Student’s work showcased at Seattle gallery
Evan Derickson | WF
Professional comedians are common in media and
daily life. So, when a Western art student set out to photograph comedy, she chose to focus on the amateurs of
open mic nights instead.
Senior Michelle Newman, a fine arts student,
opened her exhibition, “The Open Mic,” May 6 at the
Angle Gallery in the Tashiro Kaplan Building in Seattle.
The show is inspired by the process it takes to
make a joke, Newman said. It includes 20 portraits of
open-mic comedians, with their jokes written beneath as
captions.
One piece shows comic Owen Straw above his joke,
“My girlfriend went out of town for a few weeks, which
means her cat went on a diet.”
Newman said she saw five of her subjects at the
crowded opening, and thought they liked the show.
“It was packed,” she said. “Shoulder-to-shoulder
packed.”
Newman began her college career studying film and
video at Seattle Central Community College. She said she
switched to photography when, instead of filming, she
found herself directing traffic and fetching toilet paper.
“Starting at absolute zero, buying people toilet paper
on the shoots and just being a peon,” she said. “You have
to really want to do that,” she said. “At that point, I was
like, ‘I don’t want this badly enough, and I want to hand
this off to somebody who does.’”
Photography gives her greater independence and
control, she said.
Newman said she started her project in November
and began shooting in January. She worked with 23
comedians over the course of the project.
Newman’s art is conceptual in nature, said Western
senior and art major Megan Harmon, who has studied
with Newman for the past three years. Newman begins
with an idea and then creates her images with a digital
camera. In contrast, Harmon’s own art uses film and
"The Open Mic"
Free admission
Noon to 5 p.m.
Fridays and Saturdays
Through May 29
Angle Gallery
312 S. Washington St., Seattle
photo by Evan Derickson | WF
Michelle Newman shows off work from her photo exhibition,
"The Open Mic," in storage before the show's opening.
unusual cameras, such as a Holga toy camera.
Garth Amundson, associate professor in Western’s
art department, has been especially supportive, Newman
said. His expertise is in the practical aspects of professional photography, like promoting art and writing grant
proposals.
“I could make a body of work, but I didn’t know,
‘How do you get that body of work out there?’,” Newman said. “Garth [Amundson] has basically, for the past
three years, helped me figure that out.”
Newman said she wanted to present her show in
Seattle because her subjects were mostly from there, and
because Amundson had previously worked with Paul
McKee, commercial space coordinator of the Tashiro
Kaplan Building in Pioneer Square.
“It’s great that our students are exhibiting in Bellingham and that it has a thriving arts community,” Amundson said, “but more people will see Michelle’s work in
one night [in Seattle] than in a year up in Bellingham.”
Newman said McKee selected her work for the
Angle Gallery from a number of applicants. McKee
offered the space free of charge, as a recently graduated
student himself.
McKee said Newman’s work is up to the professional standards of the space. The gallery only provides
space for the artists to show their work; artists are
responsible for their own promotion.
Newman said she likes the safety of opening a show
as a student, rather than as a professional. The consequences of an unsuccessful show aren’t as bad to an
artists career for a student as they are for a professional.
“I like having the ability to fail,” she said.
arts & life | 11
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
Searching for family across the nation
R
Andrea Farrell | WF
ecently, an ad from a couple looking to adopt a
child began to appear in the back pages of The
Western Front. The couple’s adoption website revealed a happy pair of New Jersey professionals who love
the outdoors, fishing, baseball and family.
Tom and Marie, who have asked to reveal just their
first names as they pursue a semi-open adoption agreement, are scouring college towns for the infant they believe they are destined to love and raise.
The Western Front spoke with Marie via e-mail to
find out why she and her husband chose Bellingham as a
place to find a child.
Why did you choose to advertise
in our student newspaper,
The Western Front?
I’m Asian (with some Spanish and Italian) and my
husband is Irish-Italian. We researched towns all over the
United States where the population demographics would
contain a large majority of our cultural background.
This is how we arrived at [Bellingham]: the population demographics match who we are. Publications we
prefer are dailies and colleges and universities, because
pregnancy crisis situations can arise among young collegians on their way to completing their bachelor’s and pursuing dream careers, long before they are ready to settle
down into family life.
How long have you been looking into
adoption? I have been thinking of adoption ever since I was single in my 20s. I seriously considered it after my first miscarriage in my 30s. My husband, however, wanted to try
having our own children first before pursuing adoption. I lost two more pregnancies in the next three years
and these events, painful as
they were, only confirmed
my gut feeling that I’m meant
to love and raise a child from
somewhere else. Have you gotten
much response to
your advertisement
and website so far? Yes. We have heard from
birth mothers in crisis wanting
to get to know us better. We, as prospective adoptive parents pursuing the path
of private adoption (rather than
an agency adoption), do put up
with a lot of scam and prank
calls.
I’ve had my share of
phone calls on our toll-free
number from women who have “fantastic” stories about
their pregnancy for a fee or one offering to get pregnant
on x thousands of dollars. On a positive note, we've had a
few well-wishers from several states calling us to encourage us on, after they read our ad.
What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the adoption system in
America?
Our country has some of the strictest adoption laws
in the world. Strict, but I would say the most protective of
the child to be adopted. Birth mothers can take comfort
in the fact that the law seriously prioritizes the protection
and welfare of their child.
One weakness that we encounter is that some states
do not allow adoption ads to be placed by any resident
photo courtesy of Tom and Marie
from other states. Take California, for example: it is not
legal for residents of other states to place an ad seeking to
adopt a child in any of their publications. How has learning you were unable to
have children of your own impacted
your relationship? Relationships grow stronger and love matures in trials and painful events. Our joys have become more joyful;
humbled – we treasure children in our families more; tested, we appreciate the strength we derive from each other;
and difficulties have made us more compassionate and
tender to those who suffer or experience pain. Learn more about Tom and Marie at their website:
www.adopt4tomandmarie.com
12
|
opinion
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
AS Board must be held accountable to students
Nicholas Johnson | WF Editor in chief
A
fter losing the Associated
Students elections by
a mere 30 votes, current Vice
President for Student Life Mike
Pond decided to file a grievance
with the AS Election Board on
May 3. The board heard Pond’s
grievance on Monday, May 10, and
chose to delay its decision until the
entire board can meet as a whole.
In his grievance, Pond accused VP for
Governmental Affairs Morgan Holmgren
and Assistant to VP for Campus and Community Affairs Christina Roy of slander
for speaking to The Western Front in what
he believes was an inappropriate capacity.
Pond also said an April 27 Western Front
article titled ‘Pond, Ikegwuoha accused of
neglect,’ invalidated the elections due to
its impact on student voters during election week.
While Pond chose to focus much of
his testimony Monday on the negative ef-
fects of the article, Holmgren and Roy defended their actions by highlighting a lack
of AS Board accountability to the student
body. Holmgren, who was given anonymity in the article, approached the Front with
concerns about AS Board accountability
one week before the article hit stands. Roy
later expanded on these concerns.
Holmgren and Roy expressed disappointment with Pond and Ikegwuoha’s job
performance, and attributed much of the
problem to a lack of accountability. The AS
lacks any mechanism for directly holding
elected AS Board members’ feet to the fire,
leaving Holmgren and Roy one viable option: air their concerns to the student body
through a news source independent of the
AS organization: The Western Front.
In the interest of student voters and an
open, democratic government, I applaud
Holmgren and Roy for bypassing the image-focused AS organization’s repressive
code of conduct in an effort to ensure an
informed student electorate.
In response to an AS-wide e-mail circulated by Personnel Director Brian Conner on April 30, I feel obligated to refer to
the AS Code of Conduct as ‘repressive.’
For the sake of professionalism Conner
states, “In accordance with the code of conduct, speaking poorly of another member
of the Associated Students is unacceptable
and will not be tolerated — if employees
feel they cannot work freely in an environment free of ‘public ridicule,’ then our values structure based on learning and creativity becomes compromised and damaged.”
I worry that this message, which
serves to silence critique of our democratically elected AS Board members, has only
added to a protectionist culture within the
AS that frowns upon dissent — whether it
comes from a member of the AS Board or
an employee of the AS organization.
I will concede that the AS, as an organization, has every reason to protect its image. Further, the efforts of the AS to settle
internal conflicts in-house certainly allow
the organization to control its image. However, AS Board members are elected officials entrusted with representing students,
thus, they must be considered public figures subject to public critique and review.
Holmgren and Roy witnessed firsthand the job performance of this year’s
AS Board members and, in the interest of
student voters, chose to share what they
had seen with the Front.
Now, the real question becomes: How
can the AS Board of Directors be held accountable to students who voted them into
office?
Holmgren and Roy proposed weekly
updates be posted on the AS Student Government website detailing accomplishments,
struggles and goals for coming weeks. This
would increase students’ ease of representative oversight and, in return, improve student involvement in AS government.
The AS hopes to reinvent its website by
fall quarter, a project initially intended for
last fall. By actively seeking student input,
the AS could develop ways to improve AS
Board accountability and incorporate these
into the new website. So as not to reinvent
the wheel, our newly elected AS Board
could also review accountability policies
of comparable student governments during
summer intersession, and apply those findings in the coming academic year.
The Western Front plays a significant
role in holding our elected officials accountable to students; nevertheless, we
always have room to improve. The same
goes for the AS. Students must demand a
truly open government — one that doesn’t
discourage critical dialogue of publicly
elected representatives.
Bus levy failure limits environmental progress
Megan Mullay | WF Columnist
All those who had their fingers crossed
for Proposition 1 to pass have been let
down. The transportation levy failed by a
narrow margin of less than two percent.
My reaction to this news was, ‘well, crap.’
I was surprised the proposition’s failure; I
was sure this one was in the bag.
I believe this proposition failed because
the public has been pushed far enough by
the weak economy. It is getting harder and
harder to make decisions that sacrifice the
money of the individual for the greater
good of the community or of the environment. This vote was controlled by those in
the periphery of Whatcom County. Cascadia Weekly reported that in Bellingham, the
proposition passed by 64 percent; however,
it was not enough to overrule the sentiment
of those outside the city who do not depend
on or value public transportation as much.
Without this money, the WTA will have
to find some way to save $4 million next
year in order to keep running. Service cuts
have been proposed and will be subject to
public opinion soon. These cuts would go
into effect in the fall and could include elim-
inating evening and Sunday services, closing certain bus stops and cutting jobs.
Cutting bus services has an unpleasant
enough effect on the people who rely on
buses for jobs or travel, but there are also
significant environmental links, some of
which are less obvious than others.
It’s a no-brainer that using public transportation is the environmentally friendly
option. The American Public Transportation Association calculated that public
transportation saves about 1.5 billion tons
of carbon emissions each year. This is the
side of the story that we all know, and it’s a
valid one, but there is more to think about
when reaching for your bus pass.
For instance, consider oil dependency.
Treehugger.com, an online media publication that reports on environmental news,
has reported that if 10 percent of Americans used public transportation, the nation’s dependency on foreign oil would fall
by 40 percent.
Another thing to consider is that it’s
a lot cheaper to take the bus than to take a
car. The same study by the American Public
Transportation Association found that if an
American family used only public transportation for a year, they would save more than
$6,000. Additionally, public transportation
helps the economy by providing jobs and allowing those who cannot afford a car to get
to work. When people have more money in
their pockets, it is easier for them to make
more environmentally friendly decisions,
as they are often more expensive. The same
goes for our country; when the economy
is strong, more focus and resources can be
used toward environmental concerns.
Another side of the coin is human
health. My grandma never learned to drive a
car. She takes the bus everywhere to do her
errands around town. She is 83 years old and
moves around unrestricted; she has a strong
heart and lungs, and good bones. Studies
have shown that people who use public
transportation often are healthier than those
who don’t, because they regularly walk to
and from bus stops or subway stations. On
top of this, the decrease in pollution from the
use of public transportation is good for the
health of everyone in the community.
Public transportation has more benefits than we normally consider, and each
of these can be linked to the environment.
The failure of Proposition 1 is a step backward for people of Whatcom County, but
how the WTA will make cuts is still up for
debate. In order to preserve the bus service,
as much priority as possible should be given to the areas of the county that use it the
most: primarily, Bellingham. The public
will have a chance to voice their opinions,
and I encourage anyone who values mass
transit to participate in these discussions.
On the policy level, this proposition
deserves another shot. I say, rewrite it asking for less money and try again. Compromise and find the amount of money that the
county is willing to allocate to the WTA.
Just because it’s not as much as they need
doesn’t mean it won’t help.
Viking Voices
Opinions from around campus
Do you think Western
and Asia University
America Program
students have enough
chances to interact?
compiled by Dan Langager
Laura Syvertson
Sophomore
“I haven’t personally had a lot of
opportunities to interact with the
[international] students, but I don’t know
if that’s just because I haven’t been aware
that there are opportunities available.”
Brian Reynolds
Junior
“Well, they have opportunities, but then
sometimes you get the language barrier
and that makes it a little more difficult.
I think both parties are friendly enough,
and if they are willing to actually get out
there, they can interact just fine.”
Christopher Chalek
Junior
“It doesn’t appear so. I don’t think
they’re interacting at the level that
would be expected, considering the
demographics.”
SEE VIDEO ONLINE
www.westernfrontonline.net
It seems to be that the poor economy
has begun to win out over the mentalities
of Whatcom’s residents who usually have
their minds set toward community good
and environmental health. This should start
and end with the proposition failure. We
need the WTA to be working at the fullest
capacity possible to help both the people of
Whatcom County and our environment.
Megan Mullay is a Western senior
majoring in environmental science with an
emphasis on terrestrial ecology. Contact
Megan at westernfrontcolumnist@gmail.
com.
Opinion | 13
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
Letters to the editor
Follow policy,
protect pedestrians
[Last week], just after it stopped raining, I saw a bicyclist heading down the hill
to Red Square. His speed was about 15-20
miles per hour. He came up behind and
passed a 4- or 5-year-old child at a distance
of 2 feet. Did he assume the child was going to keep going in a straight line? Did
he even see the child? Would he be able to
stop on wet pavement if the child swerved?
Can you imagine what could happen if a
160-pound adult on a bicycle at that speed
hit a nearly stationary child who weighed
40-50 pounds?
In July 2009, the bicycle and skateboarding policies on campus were changed.
Most people on campus probably don’t
know what they are, and it’s hard to imagine an intelligent person would believe they
would be obeyed.
According to an article in The Western Front (Oct. 27, 2009), the ‘University
Police is more likely to respond to a complaint rather than actively patrol the area.’
One could go so far as saying they cannot
or will not actively patrol the area as they
used to do. During the public hearings for
these revised policies, there was mention of
a program to make sure bicyclists on campus were educated about the new regulations. So far, that has amounted to one day
with a popup tent in Red Square last year.
Dismount signs from the last failed policy
are still up nearly one year later. It’s safe to
say that change isn’t coming fast (or at all).
If change is to come and Western’s
pathways are to become safer, it is going to
have to come from the masses and not the
university. If you are a pedestrian who is
concerned about your safety, call and complain. Call the University Police, Environmental Health and Safety, the President’s
Office and the Board of Trustees. If you
are a bicyclist or skateboarder, please learn
what the rules are, learn where not to ride
and slow down when you are among pedestrians. Most importantly, always think
about how a few seconds of your actions
could alter a lifetime.
Clint Burgess
Western employee
Article needed
about campus food
I have gotten the chance to read the
Front a couple times and found it very interesting. I really enjoy the opinion sec-
,/.,/.,/.
tion where you let students or educators
say what they are feeling. I would love to
see an article or two on food that we eat on
campus. I have gotten the chance to see a
few videos and articles about the way our
food is handled. I think that it would be
very interesting to see where Western gets
most of its food and if people know where
they’re getting their food from. I am also
interested in how good the food on campus is for our students. Personally, when I
walk into Miller Market, I see a lot of ‘easy
food,’ and that makes it hard to choose to
eat something good for you when you have
the choice to buy unhealthy food, too. I
know that Western can’t take all the junk
food out of the markets and dining halls,
but I would like to see one market where
there is no junk food. Also, I would like
to see an article on what happens to the
food we eat in our body and how long or
short it stays there (as in empty calories). I
think that would help people choose to eat
healthier if they know what it is doing to
their bodies and minds.
Brooke Nelson
Western freshman
War and Western
are different worlds
The Front article on student soldiers
gave itself away in the fifth paragraph. ‘Going to Western and being involved in combat
training… are two opposite worlds.’ That is
because, in war, human rights don’t exist,
but here in Bellingham they still do. If you
see the catastrophic effects of weapons like
a 1,000-pound iron fragmentation bomb,
cruise missiles, grenade launchers and tank
rounds, and then look at the smiling faces
of those depicted in the Army recruitment
ad, it's obviously two opposite worlds. As
[journalist] Chris Hedges says, ‘If you saw
the images of war as they really are you
would be so revolted and appalled, you
would never be able to support war again.’
Lisa Marcus
Bellingham
Western has a
positive impact on
the environment
I have only read The Western Front a few
times, and it was quickly in between classes,
but I enjoy the majority of your articles. I
was thinking it would be cool to see more
articles or just small blurbs thrown in about
the positive impact Western’s eco-friendly
attitude is having on the community, state
or even the world. I see a lot of articles
and other things around campus about all
of the negative effects of not recycling, or
how we are killing the world, or how no
one cares about sustainability and what we
can all do to fix it. During my first year at
Western, I have seen a lot of people really
making a conscious effort to make our
planet a better place, much more so than
other campuses on which I have been.
I think this is awesome and there should
be more focus on the positive changes our
college as a whole is making. With just a
few more quick facts or updates about the
positive impact we are making by being
more eco-friendly, it would reinforce
students’ actions and give them feedback.
enough to take a stand and say what Bernard was doing wasn’t right, doesn’t mean
she should be penalized or portrayed as
something she isn’t.
If you are going to have someone
write about such an important topic, next
time, perhaps you should pick people who
aren’t so biased and who will actually report the true point of the story. This article
is a joke and I have lost all respect for this
newspaper and cannot believe it would
allow such a terrible article to be printed.
Reporters have an impact on people’s lives
and they need to think about what they are
saying before they print it because karma
comes back around and when it does, it’s
never pretty.
Kristen Morgan
Western freshman
Homework program
needs work
Front articles must
be free of bias
The writers from The Western Front
and what they have to say about situations
always entertains me, but after reading the
article about the [AS Election] grievances,
I can officially say I will never put any
credibility in what they have to say now.
The article targeted Elle Peters and painted
her as a malicious and heartless person
who was out for vengeance. This is the farthest thing from the truth, and I think it is
despicable that people who call themselves
reporters would print such a biased article.
The tone of the article from the beginning
sets it up so you automatically know where
the [authors stand]. You can tell [they
think] very little of Elle and is on [Bernard
Ikegwuoha’s] side no matter what. Isn’t the
whole point of journalism to get both sides
of the story out without biases so that the
reader can come to their own conclusion?
If you ask me, [the reporters] failed catastrophically at doing so.
Not to mention, the whole point of
filing grievances is to bring to light what
people are doing wrong during the campaigning process. Why Elle is being persecuted for pointing out Bernard’s faults and
missteps is beyond me. Perhaps Bernard
should think more about what he is doing
and how he is being perceived while campaigning and not make so many mistakes
when he knows what is allowed and what
isn’t; this is his second year running, so he
should know that better than anyone else.
Just because Elle was the only one brave
cartoon by Drew Miller | WF
Briana Fitzpatrick
Western freshman
I am writing this letter to shine light
upon a topic many students pursuing
science-based majors have quite a bit to
say about: the Western chemistry department’s online homework program. I believe this program could stand to undergo
a few positive changes to better aid students in their learning processes as they
attempt to tackle the 100-level chemistry
series. As it is currently, the program does
little to help students learn concept material, and acts more like an online test.
First of all, upon answering a question incorrectly, the program simply states
‘this is the answer you chose,’ and ‘this
is the correct answer’ next to the appropriate values. Or, for a fill-in-the-blank
question, the page simply says ‘incorrect
answer.’ This method is highly ineffective
for learning chemistry equations and how
they should be used. How can a student
learn from their mistakes if they aren’t
sure where the mistake was made? For
this issue, I think that adding a text box
showing the steps to the correct answer
would be a great addition to the page. This
way, after getting a question wrong, the
student can walk through the problem and
better understand the concepts, including
where the error was made.
Another feature of the program that
could stand change is the ‘timing-out’
principle. The program logs the student
off if the Web page isn’t clicked on often
enough, and worse yet, logs the student
out for 20 minutes if they click on the
page too often. This has no relevance to
learning chemistry, and the waiting period
ought to be removed. It is understandable
that the program might log a student out
if they’ve been working on a problem for
too long or left their computer open without closing the browser, but logging the
student out and making them wait as they
actively work on a problem seems just
harsh. Many students feel that the program is simply made to punish us and see
how much stress we can handle.
However, if positive improvements
such as these listed were made, the program could be a great learning tool (and
even a stress reducer!) for students at
Western. The program could be a very
effective study guide, and allow students
to learn where their mistakes are being
made, and understand chemistry in a way
many current students feel they have not.
Stephanie Hanley
Western sophomore
14
|
SpORTS
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
> Track and Field
Ascending to new heights
Viking pole vaulter Ryan Brown clears two records;
stands at 14th in nation — including Division I
Lincoln Hollis | WF
photo by Carey Rose | WF
Western junior Ryan Brown practices a pole vault run at the
Bellingham Sportsplex earlier this year. Brown continues to
best his own personal records.
Western junior Ryan Brown soared to new heights
Saturday as he broke two records at the Ken Shannon
Track and Field Invitational track meet hosted by the University of Washington at Husky Stadium.
Brown tied with the Huskies’ Ryan Vu for first place
in the men’s pole vault at the meet with a height of 17-7
after he scratched three times at 17-11.
His vault on Saturday broke both his school and Great
Northwest Athletic Conference records by eight inches.
“[Brown] did great. He hasn’t reached his max yet
this season,” said head coach Pee Wee Halsell. “I can see
him getting higher in the conference championships and
nationals.”
Brown’s performance ranks him 14th among all collegians nationally in any division.
Three other Viking athletes took first place in their
events. Western senior Courtney Olsen took first in the
women’s 1,500-meter race with a time of 4:35.23.
Western freshman Brittany Jones took first in the
women’s shot put with a throw of 39-1 1/4.
Western junior Ben Elder took first in the men’s shot
put with a distance of 51-9. Elder also placed second in
the men’s discus with a throw of 164-11.
Western throws assistant coach Jarrod Roberts said
Elder winning the shot put was awesome, but it wasn’t the
highlight of the meet for Western’s throws team.
“The highlight of the meet for the throws team was
Emily Spieker’s career personal record in the women’s
discus,” Roberts said.
Spieker’s throw on Saturday shattered her personal
best by 18 feet and ranked her fourth in conference.
“It was awesome for her,” Roberts said. “ She’s from
the East Coast and is a long way from home, so it has been
hard for her, but she’s working hard and doing good.”
The Vikings took second place in a total of six events.
Western freshman Tanya Bjornsson took second in
the women’s 100-meter hurdles and Western junior Shane
Gruger placed second in the men’s 100-meter race.
Western junior Phillip Villanueva placed second in
the men’s 400-meter hurdles with a personal season-best
time of 54.53 seconds.
The Viking men’s 4x100 relay team, comprised of
Gruger, freshman Justin Thomsen, senior Anthony Zackery and sophomore Alex Tilley took second with a time
of 42.17 seconds.
Western sophomore Keefe Brockman took second in
the men’s high jump with a height of 6-5. Brockman’s
jump was his best of the season.
The Ken Shannon Invitational was the last chance for
athletes to achieve qualifying marks for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships.
About 80 Viking athletes will compete in the conference championships, which will be held Friday, May
14, and Saturday, May 15, in Monmouth, Ore.
Sports | 15
westernfrontonline.net | Tuesday • May 11, 2010
Battling the bulge
The skinny on three
unusual diet trends
Sofia Padbury | WF
Usual methods for weight loss, such as healthy eating
and exercise, are sometimes overlooked these days due to
students’ demanding schedules. Risky and strange fastweight-loss diets are taking their place.
Eating cabbage soup, drinking a lemonade mixture
and resorting to help from technology are a few of the
radical diet trends that have surfaced recently.
The Master Cleanse
A mixture of lemon juice, water, maple syrup and
cayenne pepper is consumed for 10 days during the Master Cleanse diet. Not only that — it’s the only thing that
is consumed.
Beside water, all whole foods and other drinks are
eliminated from a person’s daily diet.
The Master Cleanse is intended to detoxifiy the body
and restore the health of the lungs, as well as liver and
kidney function, according to themastercleanse.org. However, it has become more widely used as a method for fast
weight loss.
Dr. Stanley Burroughs created The Master Cleanse
in 1941. It was recently brought to the public eye when
pop star Beyoncé attempted it in order to lose weight for
her role in Dreamgirls. Beyoncé said in an interview with
Oprah Winfrey that doing the cleanse caused her to lose
20 pounds.
“A detoxification can help with rapid weight loss
because you are not eating,” said Teresa Coster, a Bellingham dietician. “However, generally, you will gain the
weight back pretty quickly.”
The Master Cleanse website recommends participating in an ease-in and ease-out stage in order to prevent
gaining back the weight. The stages consist of adding
soup and fruit juice to the diet two days before the start
and two days after the end.
Western senior Ann Burton said she attempted to start
the cleanse May 3.
“I was hoping it would improve my energy and health
while promoting weight loss,” Burton said. “But I stopped
after the first day because it wasn’t for me.”
Burton said that after further research on the diet, she
realized it wouldn’t be healthy enough for her body.
“When you are not eating, your mind goes into a
drive to eat. And when you start eating again, it can trigger a binge, which can induce an eating disorder that can
become complicated to get over,” said Western’s dietician, Jill Kelly. “It becomes not only dangerous for the
body, but also the mind.”
photo illustration by Carey Rose| WF
This “detoxifying” diet may be too intense for some
people. Kelly said the body can already detoxify itself, as
long as a healthy diet is consumed.
Attempting a cleanse for a short period of time won’t
hurt, Coster said, but if done for several weeks, it could
deprive the body of vital nutrients.
“Your body will eventually need to get what it is not
having,” she said.
The Master Cleanse website contains blogs that
are used as a support network for people attempting the
cleanse together. It states that having a support system is
essential in order to be successful with this diet.
The Cabbage Soup Diet
The cabbage soup diet involves following a strict eating schedule, accompanied by cabbage soup, for seven
days.
Certain foods can be eaten along with the soup, according to cabbage-soup-diet.com.
Western sophomore Melanie McBoyle has tried this
diet, but said she did not have success with it.
“My goal was to stick with the soup diet, but I only
lasted a couple days,” McBoyle said.
She said she stopped following the diet because the
soup wasn’t filling enough and didn’t give her the energy
she needed throughout the day.
Although diets that result in fast weight loss may
look appealing to some, Kelly said she does not recommend them. The cabbage soup diet may result in malnutrition because the body is not getting the nutrients it needs.
When a person’s body loses weight rapidly, it starts
to lose muscle, so metabolism will go down along with
weight, Kelly said.
On day one, any fruit except bananas can be consumed. During day five, beef, chicken and tomatoes are
eaten along with the soup, and on day seven, brown rice
and vegetables accompany the soup. According to the
diet’s website, adding different foods along with the cabbage soup helps people stay on track with the diet because
they are allowed to eat as much of those specific foods as
they want.
The soup consists of a head of cabbage, along with
celery, carrots, onions and mushrooms, cooked in mixture
of V8 Juice and water.
According to aboutcabbagesoupdiet.com, this diet is
not suitable for long-term weight loss; rather, it is a low-fat,
high-fiber diet that will help its users get in shape and lose
10 to 15 pounds in a week.
“Both the Master Cleanse and the cabbage soup diet
are equally harmful,” Kelly said, “because when your
body is starving or fasting, it will produce ketones.”
According to a guide to diabetes published by the
Joslin Diabetes Center, which is affiliated with Harvard
Medical School, ketones are compounds produced when
the body doesn’t have enough insulin to help it use sugar
for energy. Without enough insulin, glucose will build up
in the blood and the body cannot use glucose for energy.
According to the guide, ketones can make a person sick.
The cabbage soup diet can help its user lose weight
quickly; however, the website stresses that this will only
happen if the diet is followed strictly for seven days.
Lose it!
Apple Inc. offers an application called Lose it! to
help users control their calorie intake and lose weight.
“It makes you competitive with yourself, and it is
convenient,” said Western senior Carly Jones. “Following
it is not hard.”
Jones said the application helped her lose eight
pounds in three weeks.
Lose it! works by having its users enter the amount
of weight they want to lose in a desired amount of days.
Weight goals are set to establish a daily calorie budget to
help users lose weight in that amount of time.
The application is free and can be downloaded onto
an iPhone or iPod Touch.
In addition to tracking calories consumed in food
each day, users can subtract any calories burned by working out.
Senior Katie McCormack said she has used the application for a week and a half and has lost six pounds.
“It can aid you and get you excited about losing
weight,” McCormack said. “It really sets you up to succeed.”
16 | sports
Tuesday • May 11, 2010 | The Western Front
Disc golfin' the Northwest
Affordable, outdoorsy
activity gaining
momentum in region
Julie Franz | WF
Disc golf has been steadily gaining a following since
the ’70s, when it was first considered an official sport.
While it may seem much more casual than traditional golf,
serious players are anything but casual when it comes to
throwing the disc.
Western senior Dario Ré was a professional disc
golfer when he came to Western as a freshman in 2006.
He started playing professionally in high school and had
four sponsors. Ré said he traveled a lot, skipped school
and played tournaments every weekend.
“When I was playing professionally, [disc golf] was
all I thought about, all I was doing,” he said.
Ré started the Western Disc Golf Club his freshman
year. He decided to retire from the pro ranks after his first
year in college because he said it was hard to concentrate
on his education, experience college life and play
professionally at the same time. While he has no plans
to go pro again, he said, disc golf will always be a part
of his life.
The object of disc golf is to throw the disc into a
basket, or hole, in the fewest throws, or strokes. Just as in
traditional golf, the winner of the round is the person with
the lowest score after completing the course. Scoring
terminology, such as eagle, birdie and par, is also the same
as in traditional golf.
The main differences between the two sports are
equipment and cost.
Traditional golf courses charge a green fee of $15 to
$100 to play, and golf clubs are expensive. Alternatively,
the majority of disc golf courses are free and golf discs are
inexpensive at $8 to $20 each. A beginner disc golfer can
get away with using three discs to start: a driver, a midrange and a putter.
Steve Hutton, 35, started disc golfing in 1998. Hutton
said he enjoys playing traditional golf, too, but it’s too
expensive to play on a regular basis.
“I’m addicted to disc golf, and I love it because once
you get your plastic [discs], it’s essentially free,” Hutton said.
Disc golf courses are usually at state or city parks,
like the courses at Cornwall Park in Bellingham and
VanderYacht Park in Ferndale. They also can be
established on unutilized land such as Mossy Roc in
Sudden Valley.
photo by Julie Franz | WF
Steve Hutton throws a putt on the 26th hole at Mossy Roc in Sudden Valley for a birdie, one under par. "I’m competitive and I
care about how I do, but at the same time, I come out to hang out with my bros," he said.
Pat Sullivan, 37, has been disc golfing since 1996 and
started playing professionally in 2001.
Whatcom Disc Golf Club formed in 2005 with the
main goal of establishing more courses in the area, he
said. At the time, the only course in the area was Cornwall
Park.
“I wanted a place to play where you can stand on a
tee-pad for 10 minutes and not have two or three groups
come up behind you,” he said.
Whatcom Disc Golf Club started the Mossy Roc
course in Sudden Valley about five years ago. It’s been
designed, built and maintained entirely by a core group of
passionate golfers. Sudden Valley Resort allows them to
use the land, which is an abandoned RV campground, but
does not give them any funding to run it. Sullivan said the
course is in dire need of money for maintenance.
Sullivan said that before the Whatcom Disc Golf
Club started building the course, the campground
was over-grown and full of underage drinking,
vandalism, illegal fires and illegal dumping. Sullivan
and Hutton are part of a group of golfers who take
pride and ownership of Mossy Roc, attempting to
maintain it with what little resources they can muster
up themselves.
Keith Lionetti, owner of Chainbangerz, a discgolf shop in Burien, has been playing for nearly 20
years. He said he was hooked after playing his first
round when he was 18 years old in the foothills of
California. There wasn’t much for an 18-year-old to
do in town, Lionetti said, and a lot of the kids his age
were getting into drugs and alcohol. He said disc golf
ended up being the perfect outlet for him.