October 11, 2007

The CofI
Coyote
News with the Student in View
Hail College of Idaho
THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF THE COLLEGE OF IDAHO
OCTOBER 11, 2007 - ISSUE #3
THE COYOTE
EDITOR’S NOTE
ACI,
These words will be looked back upon, but really, I’ve got little to say.
At the ACI basketball camps I grew up attending, Marty Holly taught me a lot of
techniques I don’t remember. His players were there to make sure I boxed out, won
in cut throat, pump-faked, spider dribbled, crossed over and kissed my lay ups off the
glass. My muscle memory has long forgotten these moves.
I don’t read Slam or watch ESPN. But I did watch, along with my fellow fourth
grade friends, the Albertson College Coyotes win the NAIA Championship.
There. That’s my memory. There are more, like field trips to the fine arts at Jewett
auditorium, icing Pepsi’s at the Kiwanas Chuck Wagon every year, and swimming in
the brand new pool whenever my dad came to play at open gym.
The name changes. The college changes too. But not that much.
Mourn it, celebrate it, or sleep through the Saturday meeting and the rest of the
year. We were the College of Idaho, we are the College of Idaho, let’s embrace it for
now.
On a much less historical, but still very important note, I’d like to thank our writers,
layout specialists and artists, who attended a meeting on the third, turned in pieces on
the seventh, and helped get this issue together for the eleventh. Thank you. Now get
some sleep.
Sincerely,
Brad Baughman
Editor
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Brad Baughman
FACULTY ADVISOR
Alan Minskoff
COPY EDITING AND
LAYOUT:
Brad Baughman, Kerry
Costigan-Galdes, Patrick
Watson, Lael UberuagaRodgers
COVER:
Coyote Staff
2
ART
Kerry Costigan-Galdes, Patrick
Dougherty, Ben Verschoor
CONTRIBUTORS
Leigh Basford, Brad Baughman,
Howard Berger, Jordan Drake,
Leroy Fiscus, Kerry CostiganGaldes, Danny Henson, Griffin
Hewitt, Brenden Hoffman, Jesse
Holmes, Angela Marin, Melinda
Markin, Steven Maughan, Kim
Stiens, Colin Slaughter, Daniel
Thrasher, Ben Verschoor, Patrick
Watson
About:
The Coyote is the student-run
campus publication of Albertson
College of Idaho. We provide a
forum for student, faculty, staff
and administrative voices. The
opinions presented here are not
necessarily those of The Coyote
or Albertson College.
Submissions and Letters:
The Coyote reserves the right
to edit all submissions for style,
length and grammar.
Articles should be submitted in
10 pt. Times New Roman, single
spaced and with paragraphs indented five spaces.
Articles may be submitted by
emailing them as a Microsoft
Word file to brad.baughman@
yotes.albertson.edu or coyote@
albertson.edu
Letters to the editor are welcomed
and will be printed as space allows. Letter may be edited for
grammar. Letters can be emailed
to coyote@albertson.edu or sent
to the address below:
The Coyote
Albertson College
2112 Cleveland Blvd.
Box 52
Caldwell, ID 83605
Anonymous letters will not be
printed.
Payment:
The Coyote pays $0.03 per word,
$15 for an original piece of art,
$30 for an original cover and $5
per photograph.
Writers will be reimbursed for
costs pertaining to reporting at the
discretion of the editorial board.
Reimbursement must be sought
in advance.
Advertise and Anything Else:
Contact editor Brad Baughman at
brad.baughman@yotes.albertson.
edu.
Subscriptions:
Subscriptions are availible for $25
per year.
11 OCTOBER 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE COYOTE
5 Letters to the Editor
6
Christianity v. Public
7
Kendo Action
7
New Webisodes
By Kim Steins
By Daniel Thrasher
P.18
By Colin Slaughter
7
Sobriety Can Be Dangerous
By Leroy Fiscus
8 Senate Ch-Ch-Changes
By Patrick Watson
8
Third Votes a Charm
9
Some Law With Your Cof-
By Danny Henson
P. 6
fee?
By Angela Marin
9
P. 14-15
Coyote Classic
By Jesse Holmes
9
TERRA: Just Warming Up
By Melinda Markin
10 - 13
P. 8
What’s in a name?
50 Million Dollars
By Brad Baughman
Time Line By Kerry Costigan-Galdes
14 - 15
At West Point You Can’t Ask
Why
P. 16
By Brenden Hoffman
16 A Call to Revive the
Campus Canopy
By Steven Maughan
17 Twenty-Four in
Walmart
By Leigh Basford
18 Kanye Review
By Jordan Drake
18 Ghoulish Movie Guide
P. 10-13
P. 7
By Griffin Hewitt
19 Bet on Los Betos
By Brad Baughman
20 Benching With Berger
By Howard Berger
ISSUE #3
3
EDITORIAL
THE COYOTE
EDITORIAL
BOARD
BRAD BAUGHMAN
PATRICK WATSON
News Editor
KERRY
COSTIGAN-GALDES
Editor-in-Chief
JORDAN DRAKE
LAEL
UBERUAGA-RODGERS
COYOTE WISDOM
▼
▲
▲
▼
▼
▲
♦
4
Taste of the Harvest Taster Cups - A mix between
medicine measurers and shot glasses, the tastes
came in a million tiny sips.
Taste of the Harvest Over All - The million tiny sips
added up into afternoon of great weather, music, and
facilitated conversations.
The endowment – to the tune of $50 million
ACI, We Hardly Knew Ye
Now that the college has changed its name
back to The College of Idaho, I’ll miss referring
to it as Albertson College. I’ll miss wearing my
ACI attire and drinking out of my ACI mug. But
what I’ll miss most are the name jokes. The years
of “Does your diploma come in paper or plastic?”
and “Do you go to school at a grocery store?” are
over. What’s most tragic is that the full potential
of the Albertson name joke was never fully realized. I used to look forward to a day when people
could freely ask one of our students, “Can you
pay for tuition with your preferred savings card?”
or, “Did you get your degree in bakery science?”
Sadly, those days will never come. All we have to
look forward to are years of lonely, un-mocked
prosperity. Thanks, Foundation. I hope you’re
proud of yourselves. -Patrick Watson
The grocery store jokes, see Patrick Watson’s editorial.
Last Year’s Yearbook Staff – Um…. we did all pay
$42 for one, right?
Senate Changes, a successful paper election, and a
slew of motivated freshman.
The pending reaction to the return to being called
The College of Idaho
11 OCTOBER 2007
LETTERS & COMICS
THE COYOTE
Letters to the Editor
You’d Print This if You
Was a Good Guy...
Dear Coyote,
I am writing in response to last
week’s baffling, somewhat incoherent
rambling by Howard Berger regarding
the riveting topics of walking naked,
smoking pot and the Honor Code. The
romantically nostalgic Howard claimed
that “[his] times were better” than ours.
I’m not convinced. And I’m not sure
how his brief autobiography pertains to the
Honor Code - but I’ll try to sort it out. First
of all, as beautiful as this new freshman
class is, if I have to choose between them
running around naked or participating in
the Convocation signing ceremony, I will
take the latter option every time. Nobody
wants to see that. Second, the 60’s, no doubt,
was an action-packed decade of protesting
and such. But what good was it? All it ever
got anyone was five years of Nixon and
then subsequently the eighties. Is
that really something
to be proud of ?
Look, there were
definitely cool people
in the 60’s. But they
weren’t stoned and
meandering around
naked. Rather, the cool
ones were stoned and
lying in bed. Instead
of using Berger as a
model, how about if we
look to John Lennon - a
cultural icon who all but
made the 60’s what it was.
Lennon wasn’t against
anything, he was just for
things. Like us; we’re not against the Honor
Code, rather we’re for decency, respect,
and community. All we need is love.
ISSUE #3
When things went bad, Lennon didn’t
get naked. He went to bed. He had bed-ins
for Peace. That’s just like us. We Albertson
students sometimes spend twelve, thirteen,
even eighteen hours at a time in bed.
Howard said that two of his colleagues
claimed “forcefully” they wouldn’t have
signed at Convocation if this was 1968.
See, that’s the thing: we’re just not that
damn petty. Maybe it’s because we have
better pot now, the kind that puts us
into a vegetative state and keeps us from
doing stupid and childish things like
writing fake names and saluting Nazi’s.
Howard mocked the freshman (or, I
guess, ‘yes-men’) because they were “nicely
dressed” and “obedient” at Convocation.
Evidently, they weren’t sophomoric enough
for his tastes. Give the freshies credit. To be
sure, they were obedient: but they answered
only to themselves. Sorry they weren’t all
stoned. Sorry they didn’t get naked. Sorry
they weren’t frantically running around
acting
like whining brats pissed
off at the “injustices”
of the world. Sheep,
indeed. Certainly not
like your generation
with those millions
of
non-conformist
gippies running the
streets with the same
message in one giant
group
together.
We at Albertson
aren’t monomaniacal
like those cats
back in the day.
Instead of taking
off our clothes
and freaking out at the Iraq war
and running around Washington, we tend
to focus on things that actually matter:
things like community, our relationships
and our education in the classroom.
Howard is
representative
of
a small group of
(usually uninformed)
faculty members who
seem to disdain the
whole notion of the
Honor Code. Dissent
is fine - but it should
be
accompanied
with good reason.
Howard’s
chief
argument is merely
that he doesn’t know
“what more needs
to be said or done.”
What more? A lot:
For starters, we
could quit pretending
that our professors
know the best way to
deal with “incidents.”
All of us can always
become better, more
knowledgeable,
and wiser. That is the intention of the
Honor Code. It is time for professors and
students alike to become engaged with
the important philosophical and ethical
questions - the sort of questions which
if addressed by something other than
nudity and pot can make all of us better:
To what extent are students trustworthy?
To what extent can that change? To what
extent should trust be presumed, and to
what extent must it be earned? What can
be expected of students in terms of ethical
development? Should tests be proctored?
How should a professor handle violations?
What about the pledge? Does it have
any meaningful function? None of these
questions permits simple answers, but all of
them can provoke invigorating discussion.
For someone like Howard that used to be
so gung-ho for change, why the complacency
here? The truth is that if we all Come
Together right now over these questions,
professors will quickly see there is much,
much more to do to make this community
even better. As Lennon advised: Imagine.
Sincerely,
Brandon Buck
Editor’s response:
If Lennon had bed-ins for peace, we have
bed-ins for apathy, hangovers, and ennui.
The Coyote feels that the true spirit of
Berger’s piece, much like this letter, was to
stir the pot on this intellectually stagnant
campus. We would also like to add that
any thoughtfully crafted piece designed to
engage the campus in discussion will always find room on our pages.
5
Opinion
THE COYOTE
Chris iani y
and the Public
By Kim Stiens
The lines drawn in the First Amendment
by the Establishment Clause and the Free
Exercise Clause are fuzzy and in constant
flux. There is little agreement between the
various sides on what is acceptable and
what is not, and one area in particular where
this battle is being fought is the University
of Michigan at Dearborn. Recently, the
University announced that it would be
installing foot washing stations for its large
Muslim minority population. Of course,
nobody in the area, no students, and no
parents have complained, according to
Dawud Walidof, the Michigan branch of
the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Ultimately, the question, as it so often is,
is when is it appropriate to spend taxpayer
money on religious accommodation?
I was thinking more about this recently
as I investigated my old High School,
Skyline (Go Grizz!) in Idaho Falls, home
of a sizable Mormon population (and
somewhat fewer Catholics).Christianity is
an assumption in Idaho Falls, perhaps more
so than most anywhere else in America. I
was concerned because I’d recently realized
that the biology education I received my
junior year was objectionable, if not illegal,
as it involved Creationism and Evolution
having equal footing and featured test
questions asking us which we believed. I
found something surprising while perusing
my old Biology teacher’s section of the
Skyline website, which is maintained by
Idaho Falls tax dollars. Mr. Roberts had
included the following passage under the
link “Miscellaneous Items” in the Biology
Information section:
Then Jesus took his Disciples up on the mountain
and gathered them around Him. And He taught
them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed
are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are
those who thirst after righteousness. Blessed are those
who are persecuted. Blessed are those who suffer.
When these things begin to happen, rejoice, for your
reward will be great in Heaven.
AndSimonPetersaid,“Dowehavetowritethisdown?”
And Philip said, “Is this going to be on the test?”
And John said, “Would you repeat that?”
And Andrew said, “John the Baptist’s
disciples don’t have to learn this stuff.”
And Matthew said, “Huh?”
And Mark said, “Can I go to the bathroom?”
And Luke said, “I don’t have a pencil!”
And Judas said, “What’s this got to do with
real life?”
Then one of the Pharisees, an expert in the
law, said, “I don’t see any of this in your syllabus.
6
Do you have a lesson plan? Is there a summary?
Where’s the student guide? Will there be a followup assignment?
And Thomas, who had missed the sermon, came
to Jesus privately and said, “Did we do anything
important today?”
And Jesus wept.
Ah, cute story, right? I didn’t think so;
I was angry. But I wasn’t sure why. It is,
after all, a cute story. And it doesn’t seem to
endorse any religion directly, though it does
contain a Bible
quotation
and
suggests a certain
holiness, a Christlikeness, to not
questioning
authority in the
classroom. The
more I thought
about it, the more
my anger seemed
After
extreme.
all, would I be as
angry if he had
instead used a
Taoist
parable,
adapted
to
reinforce teacher
authority? No, of
course not, we
study Taoism as
eastern philosophy
in history class.
But there was
one aspect of my
worry that did
seem to have merit,
and it is what I base my argument on here
today: Mr. Roberts is undeniably Christian
(he lists “Church” as second under his
hobbies, has another adapted Biblical story
in the same section and, of course, teaches
Creationism as science). More than that,
what we learned about Creationism in class
was sparse because of the above mentioned
assumption of Christianity. We all already
knew the Creation story, and I’m guessing
that nobody has ever complained about
its being taught in his classroom because
none of us ever realized it was out of the
ordinary. This was, I felt, the root of my
concern with the seemingly secular parable:
it was an expression of the majority, and
that has significantly different implications
than the parables of the minority. A Taoist
parable on a teacher’s homepage would
have very different implications if the
teacher himself were Taoist, and different
implications still if all those surrounding me
were Taoist. The Biblical story used above is
not used secularly, it is used by a devout and
avowed Christian and this does, in fact, make
a difference.
To be an atheist in a city like Idaho Falls is a
difficult position, as I would imagine it would
be equally difficult to be Christian in PostInvasion Iraq. The protection of the minority
is an important facet of the American justice
system and is a strong influence in the
Constitution. So, while admittedly the First
Amendment is silent on minority vs. majority
religions, it makes sense to me to treat them
differently in enforcement of this law. When
a classroom led by a Christian teacher is
full of Christians with one atheist (or one
Muslim, or one Buddhist or one whatever)
and is taught about Buddhism, told a Taoist
parable, or reads a passage of the Koran, this
is an educational experience: an exposure to
a world view that is almost entirely foreign
to the group of students. When this same
classroom is told a Biblical parable, the
situation changes. Though the action is
seemingly the same, there is a significant
difference to the minority. A member of a
minority of any kind, and especially a young
person, is acutely aware of his or her status.
Students, most or all of them, are being
exposed to a new viewpoint when their teacher
reads them a passage from the Koran or
a Confucian story, but when that story
becomes a Biblical passage, it ceases to
be educational, at least in the same sense.
There is suddenly an exertion of majority
power. The underlying current of ideas,
that assumption of Christianity kicks in, and
there is a noted exclusion of the minority.
This teacher, in this classroom, publishes
this unifying factor, where there is a
common knowledge and belief assumed,
and there are associations with this belief.
A Biblical parable can not be spoken in a
vacuum when the room is Christian. For
the minority, the use of this passage is a
unifying factor from which that minority
is excluded, an association which cannot
be shared.
This is an underlying problem with
teaching Creationism in school, aside
from all the scientific fallacies evoked. It
is the notable exclusion of the minority
from science. It creates a unifying factor
in a science classroom that has nothing
to do with science, and though an atheist
has every right to full knowledge of and
participation in science, this practice
exerts religious pressure on a minority
that already feels this pressure so acutely
everywhere else. When a minority is made
to feel excluded in a science classroom,
or a history classroom, or anywhere else
where public funds are being used to tell
Bible stories, does this not amount to a
violation of the Establishment Clause? It
may seem unfair to use different standards
for different religions, but the truth is
that much, much less establishment is
necessary to make it seem like the state
is backing Christianity than for other
religions, due simply to its incredible
majority status.
So in the end, my objection to the
Biblical story, that cute and innocent
adaptation, is justified. It seems
unconscionable to use taxpayer money
on a website that promotes Christianity.
However, I see no problem with installing
foot-washing sinks in public universities
to accommodate Muslim foot-washing
rituals, and I am sure, now more than
ever, that there is not a shred of hypocrisy
in this opinion. By making it easier for
Muslims to wash their feet, the dominantly
Christian administration of that school is
not establishing or furthering any religion
or exerting any kind of religious pressure
on the predominantly Christian student
body.
11 OCTOBER 2007
NEWS
THE COYOTE
Kendo: Fencing with Harmony
By Daniel Thrasher
If you’ve ever heard of Japan, you
probably know of karate. However, you
may not be familiar with the less-known,
but even more challenging, Japanese
martial art of kendo. ACI’s own Joe Hilby
is hoping to bring this art to campus. Hilby
first learned of kendo after he graduated
high school, when he visited his friend
Kazuki Kinezuka in Japan. Kazuki’s
father introduced Joe to a sensei (kendo
teacher) who was an 8th degree black belt,
the highest possible kendo level. After he
saw this, Hilby enthusiastically looked for
a local dojo, talked to the sensei there, and
has been attending for about a year.
For those who don’t know what kendo
is, it is comparable to fencing, though with
some important distinctions. In kendo, you
have to harmonize your spirit, your sword,
and your body to get a point; a hit alone
doesn’t suffice. There are four basic strikes.
The most important is the Men (head) and
then come the Kote (hands or wrist), the
Do (chest), and finally, the Tsuki (throat),
which is only allowed to black belts or
higher. A kendo sword, called a shinai, is
made of four separate sections of bamboo
and collapses on impact to avoid causing
serious harm.
Hilby started the club because he wanted
to see if anyone on campus was interested
in joining him, and because the sport is
common on college campuses. Anyone can
join the club, whether they are an expert
or have no experience and are curious.
Hilby says all that matters is that you are
respectful and have a pleasant attitude and
a willingness to learn.
As for the specifics of the club, it will
regularly visit Idaho Kendo Kai, the dojo
in Boise which Hilby attends. The kendo
club will pay partial fees to the dojo so all
members will be able to participate relatively
cheaply, and all club members will have total
control over how often they visit the dojo.
There will be on-campus kendo events over
the course of the year, and Hilby would like
to bring Idaho Kendo Kai’s sensei to ACI
New Students,
New Director,
New Webisodes
for seminars, practices, and tournaments,
but there will not be regular club meetings.
The dojo is currently available to kendo club
members on Tuesdays and Fridays from
5:30 to 10:00pm and on Saturdays from
8:00am until noon. Attendance at all three
What Those Who
Don’t Drink Do
By Leroy Fiscus
By Colin Slaughter
ACI alum Ron Torres has a passion for
filmmaking. Luckily for us, he also has a
passion for our college.
Torres’ webseries, entitled “Albertson
College of Idaho: In FOCUS,” will be
debuting in just a short few weeks on the
ACI website as well as on Youtube. The
series could potentially find homes on
the college’s Myspace and/or Facebook
profiles.
The webseries will have a specific
theme each month—this month’s is “Why
ACI”—with each month containing two
episodes. Pending the success of the first
two episodes, Torres is hoping that he will
be able to keep shooting the rest of the
year.
“I have always felt that the students
themselves are some of the most intriguing
aspects of the college. I thought it would
be interesting to let the students promote
the university in their own words, like
ISSUE #3
a documented blog,” he explained.
Students were chosen for interviews
based on recommendations from the
admissions department; however, they
were also selected, “for a combination of
interest in the project, their curricular and
extracurricular activities, and their general
enthusiasm and engaging personalities,”
Torres said.
Torres will be doing three things with the
webseries. First, he will shoot an extensive
interview with each student based on
the month’s theme. Secondly, Torres will
document the students for a day, focusing
on imagery that highlights the material
covered in the interview. Lastly, he will
document important college activities and
events that emphasize different subjects—
possibly making them available for future
episodes of the webseries.
Torres has been working on this project
since the second half of September, and
of these weekly meetings is not required
but is strongly suggested.
For more information about the club or
kendo, you can reach Joe Hilby at joseph.
hilby@yotes.albertson.edu.
his film production company, “Heeeey!
Entertainment,” has experience with webbased projects for stand-up comedians,
documentary journalism websites, and
internet film competitions. Many of you
returning students probably saw his spoof
of the film “300,” which was titled “300
Pounds.” The video was entered into the
MTV Movie Awards’ “Best Movie Spoof ”
contest, and while it didn’t place, it has been
seen over 20,000 times and has received a 4
out of 5 star rating by viewers.
While there is no slated date for the
webseries videos to hit the World Wide
Web, it is estimated that they will debut
sometime this month. For now, keep
checking the ACI webpage, and if you feel
so inclined, check out Torres’ video “300
Pounds” (If you look closely, you can see
that the first part of the movie was filmed
right here on campus.)
Many students on campus don’t drink,
so how do they unwind on the weekends?
These students find alternatives to suit
their likings. Freshman TracyAnn King
likes to, “watch movies and hang out in
McCain,” while Mariel Davis says she
will, “watch ‘One Tree Hill’ or talk with
my boyfriend on the phone.” Others,
like me, head to Shari’s after watching a
ridiculous movie at the Dollar Theatre.
Some students participate in crazy
activities instead. Students who don’t drink
are often responsible for putting soap into
the Langroise Fountain. At BYU, when
LDS students have to find things to do on
the weekends instead of drinking, pizza
delivery boys get very flustered. Students
will pack into a car and drive around
looking for a parked pizza delivery car.
When they find one, they all jump out of
their car and steal whatever pizzas are in the
delivery car’s seat, then drive off and enjoy
the rewards. As you can see, students who
don’t drink find ways to enjoy their time on
the weekends. Though they aren’t always
as well-behaved as drunks, sober students
definitely make some good memories.
7
NEWS
THE COYOTE
Senate Ch-Ch-Changes
By Patrick Watson
Of the 18 senators elected to ASCI
senate last spring, only three are returning
from last school year. In addition, a variety
of Senate reforms have been introduced
to increase the accountability of senators.
Importantly, the senate has strengthened
its goal to make meaningful change at The
College of Idaho.
This past weekend, the executive council
and recently elected senators attended a
retreat in New Meadows. According to
executive council members, the retreat
proved to be a great opportunity for the new
student representatives to bond, read over
school code, brainstorm senate projects
and learn parliamentary procedure.
During this retreat, the senators composed
a mission statement outlining what they
hope to achieve in their leadership roles.
The senators will be signing this document
as a contract at their first session. Executive
council is also planning on drafting a
mission statement in order to hold members
accountable.
One of the foremost reforms being
pushed by senate leadership is a new
attendance policy in light of last year’s
senate attendance problem. According
to ASCI Vice President Hongmey ZhenCastillo, Senate is adopting the school’s
general attendance policy. This means that
after three unexcused absences, senators
can be voted out of their positions of
leadership. “Not attending is inexcusable,”
Zhen-Castillo said.
Another senate reform is intended
to increase accountability standards for
senators. Senators will be expected to be
in attendance at campus events and also be
accessible as avenues of communication
for student constituents. Zhen-Castillo
added that good information is often
difficult to find, and improved channels
of communication are a goal of this year’s
senate. These improvements will include
going beyond the limitations of email by
encouraging senators to engage in faceto-face forms of communication such as
dorm-storming.
Also part of these intended reforms
are projects enacted by the senate’s five
standing committees — campus life, code
evaluation, special projects, senate finance
and internal affairs. The street lamps and
informational signs around campus are
examples of past senate projects. In recent
years, senate standing committee projects
have not been very effective. Vice President
Zhen-Castillo plans on changing this in
the continuing goal of expanding senate’s
meaningful influence on campus. “A really
important part of Senate is the pursuing of
projects,” she said.
In addition to pursuing campus
betterment projects, senate standing
committees are also slated to improve in
general effectiveness and activity this year.
At the retreat, each senator was assigned to
a committee. Senate leadership hopes that
this charge in addition to each committee’s
project will stimulate increased activity
across the board in a body that has often
been criticized as solely financial in action.
“Senate is more than just a checkbook,”
said ASCI president Matt Weaver, referring
to the importance of non-fiscal senate
ventures.
Weaver also commented on his vision
for student clubs and organizations for
this upcoming year. He says the key to
the success of student involvement at
large is, “collaboration, not competition.”
This vision involves student organization
combing resources and different student
representation to minimize financial
burdens and attract a wider variety of
students to campus events.
Another aspect of senate reform for
this year directly involves student clubs
and organizations. Senate will enforce a
handbook provision that gives senate the
right to seize unused club funds generated
by student fees. Before getting the money
back, each club or organization will have
to submit a line-item petition showing how
they intend to spend the funds. Senate will
use the extra money to fund a project to
give back to the campus community. Weaver
ensured that this will be an effort to utilize
all student funds in the year they are paid.
Executive Council’s attitude toward this
year’s senate is one of optimism. “The cards
just fell in the right place this year,” ZhenCastillo said. The almost entirely new group
of senators is seen by student leadership as
an asset to the C of I community. “They
are a young, enthusiastic crowd that seems
committed to the student body,” Weaver
said.
Third Time’s the Charm for Online Voting
Mohammed Ali and Optimus Prime garner an abnormally high level of write-ins in second election attempt
By Danny Henson
ACI Student Senate Elections were held
on Wednesday the 26th of September.
And on the 27th. And again on the 28th.
After the paper ballot voting on the 28th,
students were finally able to find out which
candidates had garnered enough votes to
gain Senate Chairs. However, many are
still wondering, “What the hell happened
with online voting?” John Britschgi in IT
Services had this explanation:
The first time around on the 26th, the
late-in-the-game insertion of additional
survey question answers caused a coding
error, which essentially incurs a miscount
by disregarding all but every seventh vote.
8
On the 27th, a security switch in the
coding was left un-flipped, allowing people
to vote multiple times for any number of
candidates by using the back buttons on
their browsers. Though the system did
not register the extra votes, the general
confusion led to a decision to move to a
paper vote that was held in the residence hall
lobbies and the McCain Student Center.
While the number of fraudulent write-ins
was not quashed by the use of paper ballots
on the 28th, students were able to vote in
a speedy and effective manner, thanks to
those intrepid volunteers who manned
the voting tables. Write-ins included living
legends like Alex Penrod, Michael Ellis,
Kim Steins, and MWP, as well as popular
off-campus personalities like Mohammed
Ali, Ben Dover and Thunder Thighs. (Votes
for Optimus Prime were distinctly absent,
leaving many suspicious of a possible
Decepticon plot.)
After returning from the senate retreat
held the weekend of October 7th, Freshman
Senator Jaron Teitsort said, “I am happy
about the outcome because I feel that I’ll
do a very good job as a Hayman Senator.
I think very highly of my fellow senators,
all are awesome people and hard working
senators. We bonded during our retreat
and are now much closer for it. It could
be a very good thing that there are more
freshman [sic], it will bring a fresh young
perspective to ASACI Senate.
Some upperclassmen are voicing doubt
about the seriousness of the Hayman
elections. A student who wishes to remain
anonymous said, “It’s an all freshman
dorm, so a lot of these kids act like it’s
still high school, and don’t understand that
they’re voting for real policymakers who
are handling the students’ money. A lot of
them treated this like a high school Student
Council election, which it really isn’t.”
We shall see in the year to come.
11 OCTOBER 2007
NEWS
Some Law with Your Coffee?
By Angela Marin
John Barrera
From: New York (Born and raised in
Queens, of Colombian descent.)
He received his undergraduate degree
from New York’s John Jay College and
originally intended to be a cop, but liked
the law a bit more. Barrera later attended
Brooklyn Law School. After passing the
bar exam, he worked in Caldwell for the
family law firm Wiebe & Fouser for a
few years.
Gerald (Jerry) Bublitz
From: Montana. Entered the military at
19; spent four years in the army in Texas.
He went to the University of Idaho
(Moscow) for his undergraduate degree
in Criminal Justice and afterward attended
Lewis & Clark’s Law School. Bublitz also
worked for Wiebe & Fouser and later
moved to Alaska, where he worked as an
assistant to the attorney general.
Most of us are by now familiar with
the old two-story farmhouse/ex-coffee
house across the street from Hayman Hall
that can’t keep a renter. Here’s a brief
interview with the new residents: Barrera
Bublitz LLP.
John Barrera and Jerry Bublitz met
through Wiebe & Fouser and, after realizing
that private law was more lucrative, they
began looking for a location for their
practice. While he was in college, most
of Barrera’s family had moved to Idaho.
Based upon previous visits, he decided it
would be a great place to live. Bublitz is
a Caldwell resident and had visited the
coffee shop across the street from Hayman
to study during his bar preparation days.
Bublitz recently drove by Random Acts
of Catering, the most recent business setup
at 2021 Cleveland Blvd. and noticed that it
appeared dilapidated. Soon after, he called
the owners and learned the property was
available for rental. Apparently, the past
renter developed leukemia, preventing
Random Acts of Catering from ever taking
off. Bublitz and Barrera decided that was
the place for them.
While working for Wiebe and Fouser,
the two juggled public defender work and
private cases. At the moment, their current
practice is based on referrals, as they are
not in the books yet. Attorneys, who do not
have a strong client base and can not rely
on referrals, are forced to get work “off the
decks” (from recent arrests and the like)
and send mailings.
Barrera and Bublitz are currently handling
State and Federal cases, which include local
county and drug-trafficking suits. Barrera,
who is bilingual, also has some immigrant
clientele, but the two estimate that about
ninety percent of their work now comes
from criminal cases, which Bublitz prefers.
“Family cases can get very emotional and
messy,” he said. At the moment, however,
the partnership dabbles in just about
everything.
The two want to be accessible to the
college and don’t want any potential visitors
to be shy just because they are attorneys.
They welcome all students, especially
students interested in Criminal law, and
encourage people to stop by. Their door
is always open and though they don’t
serve coffee, they have been known to
hang out and have a beer after hours. And
consultations are free!
First Time in Decades:
The Coyote Classic is Back
TERRA- Just
Warming Up!
By Melinda Markin
By Jesse Holmes
TERRA will be hosting
the local chapter of Step It
Up: National Day of Climate
Action, on Saturday, November
3rd. According to the official Step
It Up website, “On November 3rd,
Americans will demand real leadership on
global warming. From coast to coast, we’ll
rally in our communities and invite our
politicians to join us. We’ll see who rises
to the occasion and who has a real plan to
tackle the defining challenge of our time.
One year before the election, let’s make
sure the world witnesses our national call
to action: ‘Step It Up: It’s Time for Climate
Leaders!’” On this day, people in cities
Debaters, former debaters, and those
who are simply good at arguing, take heed!
This fall break, ACI will be hosting the
largest debate and speech tournament in
the college’s history and its first in the last
several decades. The tournament, known
as the Coyote Classic, is likely to have
participants from at least 12 schools in
Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana.
Among the local institutions expected
to participate are Boise State, Northwest
Nazarene, the College of Southern Idaho,
and Brigham Young - Idaho. The event is
open to the campus at large.
First-time debaters who wish to
participate must receive a brief training
ISSUE #3
THE COYOTE
all across the country will be rallying,
marching, and calling politicians’ attention
to the issue of climate change and asking
our local leaders what they intend to
do about it. Guest speakers on campus
will include several ACI professors and
Caldwell City Council candidate Vincent
Sanchez. More detailed information will
be advertised on campus in the coming
weeks.
session (to be scheduled) and will be offered
an opportunity to debate in the novice
division. A speech event entry which breaks
into the finals will gain two points towards
the school’s overall (or sweepstakes) score,
a winning debate will earn one sweepstakes
point. “This is a chance for people who
haven’t had a chance to do so to stand up
and represent the college in competition…
We’re hoping to bring in as many people
from the campus as possible,” ACI
Director of Debate Mack Sermon said.
“This is our home turf, and we can win
this.” Those interested in registering for the
Coyote Classic should email Mack Sermon
at msermon@albertson.edu.
9
NEWS
What’s in a name
50 Millio
Nov. 15, 1991 NAME THAT COLLEGE!
By Brad Baughman
After months of negotiation with the J.A.
and Kathryn Albertson Foundation, President Bob Hoover announced that the College has received its largest gift ever, and in
a controversial move will be returning to its
original name― The College of Idaho.
On Oct 5, the Board of Trustees voted
unanimously to approve the name change.
This will end a period of 16 years in which
the college was named after its top donor,
alumnus Joe Albertson, who gave over $35
million in his life time.
The Foundation donated $50 million to
the College of Idaho toward a 10 year comprehensive fundraising campaign. This campaign hopes to raise $175 million to enhance
facilities, endow scholarships, and improve
faculty compensation. Coupled with the
Foundation’s giving over the last three years,
the gift comes to $72 million, the largest donation ever given to an Idaho school, public
or private.
Hoover cited the fundraising as a major reason for change, “[The Foundation]
understood, following the research they had
done, that we had a long term problem in
terms of fundraising outside of the Foundation. There was also the feeling that there
was a significant amount of dependence,
in the eyes of others, on the Foundation,
and that if we needed assistance we could
just go to the Foundation and get it.”
Furthermore the Foundation plans on
moving from a focus on education to becoming a catalyst for larger development
projects.
Late last spring the Foundation gave
the College three options: The first option, which the College ultimately chose,
was the immediate return of the name to
The College of Idaho, with $25 million
given now and $25 million more in 2008.
The second option was $10 million a year
for five years, with the option to remove
the name “Albertson,” at any point during those five years, at which point the
remainder of the money would be gifted.
The third option was the discontinuation
of the renewed challenge grant, which
would pay out $15 million.
What will we do with the money?
This $50 million dollar gift will be
added to the endowment while the College continues to pursue its campaign goal
1891: College of Idaho
Founded by the Reverend
William Judson Boone with
the backing of the Presbyterian Church.
of $175 million. During the first five year
phase of the campaign, the College will focus on several fundraising goals:
▪ Completion of the Boone Hall $21 million fundraising drive ― 16 million plus the
five million already in-hand for the drive.
▪ Addition of 3.5 million for the College’s
endowment to support scholarships
▪ Establishment of two professorships
or faculty chairs for current faculty
▪ Unrestricted fundraising of $1.75 million to $1.89 million by the 5th year
▪ Track and Tennis Facilities
▪ Improvement of landscaping and campus entrances
▪ Science and IT equipment
▪ Library update
At the end of the first five year phase, the
College would assess outcomes. Possible
items to focus on in the 2nd phase of the
campaign include:
▪ The remodeling of Jewett Auditorium
▪ Construction of a new dining commons with Simplot Dining Hall becoming a
conference center.
▪ Addition of $15 million more to the
College’s endowment support scholarships
The College will also allocate an additional $150,000 a year to support the fundraising campaign. Expenses will include
fundraising consulting services, which will
cost $100,000 over three years), additional
travel and materials, support for grant writing and major gift support.
The administration stresses that the
gift should be seen as seed money, used to
bring stability and foster future financial
growth. Talks of building a new dorm are
still in progress.
The College has budgeted around one
million dollars to remove the name Albertson from the various signs, apparel, books,
websites and other items on which the
name appears. Though the name change
is immediate, the College will register the
change with the state in Jan 08. There are
currently no estimates on how long the
physical name change will take because the
secrecy of the issue made procuring estimates a liability.
Branding issues will also prove a significant problem as the College has spent the
last 16 years reminding the community that
it is “Albertson” College of Idaho. On the
14th, display advertisements announcing
1914: WWI hits and only
four men are left on campus.
1913: Voorhees, the third
building on campus, is
opened as a boys’ dormitory.
10
10
11 OCTOBER 2007
e?
on Dollars...
the name change will appear in all the statewide newspapers. On Oct 21 the College
will start a three week television campaign
in which 92 percent of the Treasure Valley
and Twin Falls/Sun Valley area will see the
ads an average of four times each. The ads
will be displayed on all the major news stations and also on select shows such as The
Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and others.
The College will also be advertising on select websites.
What about ACI Students and Alumni?
This name change will bring about opportunities but it will also bring about many
challenges, as most of the current students
and recent alumni have grown up without
any memory or emotional connection to
the original name.
Hoover says ACI alumni will be able to
receive an additional C of I diploma upon
request. Still, the change may alienate some
alumni with a connection to their years under the name Albertson. Professor Diane
Raptosh, advisor of the Coyote during the
original name change in ’91, said, “I think
[ACI alumni] are going to feel like the C of
1927: Students are no longer
required to attend Chapel.
ISSUE #3
I alumni felt when the name was changed―
that something happened very suddenly,
seemingly mysteriously, and that they were
left out of the loop.”
ACI Alumnus Chris Sherman (‘06) is
part of the Skinner family, which has produced 38 graduates from the College of
Idaho, going as far
back as 1924. The
Skinner family has
had a member attend the College
every decade since
1920, several of
whom have become
board members.
Sherman said,
“When they changed
the name there were a lot of people in my
family who were angry, who are still vehemently angry. When I went to family reunions I would hear jokes from the rest of
them. So I’m glad, especially for my mom,
because this will give them an alma mater.
My family is probably pretty representative
of how a lot of alumni feel.”
Current students will also have the option
to choose ACI or C of I diplomas. Most of
the current students interviewed said they
would choose C of I, and were enthusiastic about the name change. Other students
were skeptical about the benefits provided
by the name change. Philanthropy Council
Chair Alex Theiler said, “I’m not sure if I
like it or not. The whole purpose was to
bring people back who
were excluded by the
first name change, but
they will exclude the last
sixteen years of alumni
as they do this…. I have
a feeling we’re going to
change the name again
in 15 years.”
After a tattoo trend
hit campus this spring,
several students had the new ACI athletic
logo, containing all three letters, inked onto
their bodies. Cross country runner Tyler
Hopper has the logo (see photo) tattooed
on his upper thigh. When informed about
the change, Hopper took a minute to let it
sink in, and then said, “I’m actually stoked
for the move. It doesn’t change what the
tattoo signifies. I went to ACI but the name
doesn’t matter, it’s all about the experience.
THE COYOTE
I know the problems with the embittered
alumni, and I think that College of Idaho
sounds a hell of a lot cooler than Albertson
College.”
Faculty members were aligned on the
fact that the change is a good way to reconnect to a long tradition, and wanted to
focus more on the gift of $50 million. Professor Rob Dayley said, “We stared into the
abyss a few years ago, and it wasn’t pretty.
1967: Library collection moved
from Strahorn to the new Terteling Library.
1966: “AbC” calendar
introduced with 14-week
fall and spring semesters, and a 6-week winter
term.
11
11
NEWS
THE COYOTE
This [name change] is a good problem. You
should ask people, what do you think about
the funding change.”
Why did they give the money now?
Although most expressed nothing but
gratitude for and adulation of the Foundation, some seemed merely satisfied and
others let down. In 2002 the College faced
a $4.5 million shortfall with a $20 million
operating budget. It spent most of the next
five years working towards stability. Then,
in Mar. 2007 the campus was abuzz with a
very powerful rumor― a possible grant of
transformative proportions, as much as 300
million. This 300 million dollar question
appeared nowhere in writing, and seemed
prompted by a number of assumptions and
hypotheses.
Former ASACI president Chris Rifer
said, “Though I never heard it from Dr.
Hoover, there was definitely speculation
of the potential to receive as much as $300
million last year.”
In February, 2005, the Foundation
awarded the College a $15 million challenge
grant to be given over three years, provided
the College accomplish several steps toward
looking more like a top 100 liberal arts College. Then on Feb 13, 2007, the Foundation provided a
new contract, with
a rolling three
year
evergreen
clause, in which
the Foundation
gave the College
$5 million every
year, with the option to cancel at
any time. What
the
evergreen
clause meant is
that the Foundation agreed to give
an additional three
years beyond the cancellation date, a total
of $15 million. There were no criteria for
the maintenance or cancellation of this
contract.
While the renewed contract continued to
support Albertson College’s critical functions, it was less than half of what president Hoover requested. In October 2006,
Hoover had asked not only for a renewal
of the Challenge Grant, but for an increase
12
institution worth continued support?
2. What are the cost parameters and operating expenses that need to be met in order for the College to be on a solid financial
footing, able to operate without continued
financial support from the Foundation?
From March 20 to 22, the Pappas Group
toured the College. They conducted over
fifty interviews with students, faculty and
staff. Over 224 individual documents, including 59 board meeting minutes,
were placed into a special online file
for study.
When finished, the group gave
the College and the Foundation an
extensive report and a list of suggestions, some of which had been listed
in a previous issue. The College has
released a summary consisting of
nine bullet-points and a conclusion.
Administration has repeatedly denied requests to view this report.
According to Pappas, the report
did not list specific recommendations about the structure of the College. She has also said that she’s not
sure how C of I alumni will react.
Didn’t we already do this in ’91?
from $5 million per year to $10 million per
year or more.
In his Feb 15 faculty-staff assembly,
Hoover said, “The purpose of this larger
dollar request was to provide financial footing for the College to compete with other
liberal arts Colleges. One might suspect that
within the Albertson Foundation Board
there is division about all this, [but] there
are probably several people on the Board
who favor funding the College to a level to
compete with colleges like Whitman. That,
of course, would require a very significant
increase in our endowment or use of the
Foundation’s endowment. Keep in mind
1980’s: Football field converted
to Symms Athletic Field.
1971: Liquor
allowed on
campus.
that Whitman’s endowment today is about
$340 million while ours is less than $50 million...”
The last sentence is the birthplace of the
magic number: $300 million is the approximate difference between our endowment
and Whitman’s endowment. Whitman was
chosen for this comparison because they
are a realistic goal and because, Hoover
said, “Joe Albertson often discussed the fu-
ture of ACI with President Bob Hendren
and Whitman College was the benchmark
in that discussion.”
Faced with a rolling grant and requests
for additional support, Hoover said he,
“hazards a guess that the October renewal
submission forced the Foundation to come
to grips with what it wants to do with the
College in the long run.” Thus, the Albertson Foundation hired the Pappas Consulting Group for $200,000 to evaluate the
College’s long term prospects.
This Connecticut based consulting group
was hired with two questions in mind:
1. Is Albertson College of Idaho a viable
Joe Albertson, who once famously said, “The only thing I want my
name on is my tombstone,” was reportedly
uneasy about the name change. His wife
Kathryn was also opposed to it.
Former C of I President Bob Hendren
said that it took time to persuade Albertson
that the change would be a good idea, “We
told him the value he could add to us by
doing so. He loved the College. He always
had a strong feeling for it, even in down
times, and he wanted to do anything to help
the College grow. Over a long period of
time, it took over five years, we were able
to convince him. The name Albertson gave
us immediate recognition in the 17 states
that had his grocery stores…. Once he saw
1991: Centennial!
1991: Name changed to
Albertson College of Idaho.
1992: Katherine Albertson International Center and J.A. Albertson
Activities Center completed and fully operational.
11 OCTOBER 2007
NEWS
it on the College, he was delighted. He was
anxious for us to build our endowment and
have a fine Foundation so that we had a
solid future.”
Yet the new name, “Albertson,” did not sit well with
many C of I alumni. After
the original name change,
many C of I graduates
swore to stop contributing
back to their alma mater.
“We had lots of negative
reactions from alums,” said
Hendren, “Many of them
called and said they’d never
give another dime. We researched their giving history
and those who complained
most bitterly had never given us any money to begin
with.”
In 1991 the Coyote received numerous
copies of letters that had been sent to the
administration by angry alumni such as David C. Stearns, ’87, “Please take my name
off your mailing list, I can no longer offer my financial support to your College or
recommend it to graduating high school
students,” and Howard Thompson, ’74, “I
have put away my College of Idaho coffee mug and my College of Idaho hat. The
next thing I will put away is my checkbook
when contribution time rolls around. I invite you to convince me that my concern is
misplaced.”
But did these feelings continue to persist
sixteen years later? “Yes,” said Boone Fund
Director Jessica Jewell, “We’ve heard from
a lot of alumni, ‘I went to the C of I, not
ACI. I’ll give to the College of Idaho, not
Albertson College.’”
The removal of the name Albertson
does not mean the College has ended its
relationship with the Foundation. However
Hoover said, “We’re not going to knock on
their door for dollars tomorrow morning,
given the type of gift we’ve just received.”
THE COYOTE
This means that other donors will have
to make up the remaining $125 million of
the comprehensive fundraising campaign.
According to Executive Director of De-
velopment Michael Vandervelden, “We will
be expecting, and there will be other gifts
announced in the near future. There’s been
some fear from donors about the financial stability of the College. Donors want
to give to a college aspiring for greatness.
The Foundation has legitimized our vision
and I think that vision will inspire others to
contribute.”
Board of Trustees Chairman Jerry Baur
said, “We are extremely grateful to the J.A.
and Kathryn Albertson Foundation for the
support they have given us over the years.
They gave us more than money and the Albertson name―they gave us the opportunity to re-establish ourselves and our identity.
Without them, we would not have the success we do today. Even as we return to the
College of Idaho name, we will forever be
proud of our history as Albertson College
of Idaho.”
Whose idea was this, anyway?
Accounts of who thought up the idea for
the name change vary. Hoover said that going back to the College’s original name was
1993: ACI mourns the
passing of Joe Albertson.
2002: ACI placed
on financial
probation.
1996: Men’s Basketball wins NAIA
Championship.
ISSUE #3
a mutual decision between the College and
the Foundation. Yet ASB president Matt
Weaver, who knew of the change before
the executive staff council was informed
said, “I would say it came from Bob, the
Trustees, and the C of I/ACI community.”
Associate dean and professor Kerry
Hunter cited that it came from all of these
sources: alumni who never wanted the
name changed, the president, the board.
But Hunter said, “It all culminated with
the Pappas group and their deep study
of the college which concluded that there
was a perception among too many people
that the Albertson Foundation was going
to take care of the college forever, which
allowed others to think that financially we
had no needs.”
President Alceste Pappas, of the Pappas Consulting Group that evaluated the
College in Mar 07, said, “We heard from
a number of alumni that the name College
of Idaho really spoke fundamentally to the
older group. There was considerable sentiment among C of I alumni that the name
change was not welcome. Those feelings
to these sorts of changes are not at all unusual.”
When asked about the source of inspiration for the name change, she commented,
“I can’t answer that because it was not my
recommendation. We were not involved in
that specific decision.”
On Saturday, Oct 6, Chairman of the
Board of Trustees Jerry Baur said, “The
public story is that it was mutual. The Pappas group noted that alumni were angry
about the name change sixteen years ago.”
Coyote: “Did [the Foundation] want us
to take the name off ?”
Baur: “Doesn’t it sound like it?”
Despite repeated calls, the Foundation
could not be reached for comment.
Major Gifts
Given to Liberal Arts
Colleges Since 1967:
1. Claremont-McKenna
(Claremont, Calif.) - $200
million in 2007
2.DePauw University
(Greencastle, IN) - $128
million in stock in 1997
3.Furman University
(Greenville, SC) - $115
million in real estate and
other assets in 2001
4. Colby College (Waterville,
Maine) - $100 million in art
in 2007
5. Westmont College (Santa
Barbara, Calif.) - $75
million in 2007 (nature of
gift not disclosed)
6.Gordon College (Wenham,
Mass.) - $60 million bequest
in 2007
7. Berry College (Mount
Berry, GA) - $55 million
charitable trust in 1995
8. Bard College (Annendaleon-Hudson, NY) - $50
million in cash in 2001
9. College of Idaho (Caldwell,
ID) - $50 million in cash in
2007
Source: Chronicle of Higher
Education, August 31, 2007
2003: Robert Hoover
replaces Kevin Learned as
ACI President.
2007: Name
change to
The College
of Idaho.
13
FEATURE
THE COYOTE
At West Point, You
Can’t Ask Why
Jared Tate gives bootcamp-style education the boot
By Brenden Hoffman
ACI sophomore Jared Tate was born and
raised in Arco, Idaho, a town of just under
1000 residents. Arco is a unique area with
respect to the rest of Idaho, as its residents
have a higher rate of high school graduation
or the equivalency, but have a median house
value below the state average, a higher percentage of residents below the poverty level, a significantly lower level of minorities
and foreigners, a higher median age, and a
significantly smaller percentage or individuals possessing a college or graduate degree.
During the ten year period from 19952005, only seven single-family new house
construction building permits were issued.
In addition, Butte County (where Arco is
located) was the only county in Idaho with
a negative population growth in 2006.
Jared attributes many of his interests and
core values, such as loyalty, honor, duty, patriotism, organization, and honesty, to his
upbringing in such a small town. For much
of his life, he believed The United States
was a perfect country, American political
leaders were infallible, joining the military
was the only true way to serve ones country, and that all democrats were “pieces
of shit.” Ever since Jared was a child, he
wanted nothing more than to become an
air force fighter pilot, go to the Air Force
Academy, and go on the first manned mission to mars (which he believed his age and
projected lifespan would make him a perfect candidate for).
In high school, Jared applied to become
a national senate page. He states that many
individuals in attempted to dissuade him
from this goal. In fact, one administrator
from Jared’s high school discouraged him
from going to Washington D.C. with these
words: “People from Arco don’t do this
sort of thing. If you go to D.C., you will
lose yourself and become a democrat and
be on the evil side. If you go, you will just
get raped on the subway by a black guy.”
After receiving such outrageous advice
from someone whose job is to provide life
counseling, Jared claims to have just looked
at her and thought “this is even more reason why I need to get out of this town. I
am looking you in the eyes and see that you
14
were raised in an environment where you
are 40 years old and can still believe that, I
just feel bad for you. A lot of people in the
area agreed with that viewpoint. People in
that area just didn’t understand things that
are different.”
In spite of such local prejudices, Jared
worked directly on the senate floor, as a
page for Idaho republican senator Larry
Craig from January 22, 2005 until June 10,
2005. Entering pages were given a test to
determine political orientation when the
first entered the program. For his class,
Jared was the second most conservative
page. He scored a six on this test, where
the ranking of “one” is attributed to “most
conservative and “one-hundred” is “most
liberal.” He now attributes these positions
to his upbringing, where America is a “perfect, majestic, and almost godly entity of
whose government and military
are infallible…
The government
was always right
and they were
always doing a
good job.” As
his
internship
progressed, he
realized that the
United
States
senators have a
lot of clout, but hey they are “just like you
and me and they make mistakes up too.’
He claims that this experience showed him
how imperfect the world really is: “I came
face to face with reality and corruption.
Nonetheless, I believe that this is still the
best government the world has ever seen.”
One particular senator, Senator Bird
helped Jared maintain this belief. Jared
claims that Bird would often take pages
aside to give them a history lesson. “He
would quiz and educate us about historical figures and made e look at it a different
way.”
For much of the period in DC, Tate was
firmly convinced that he was a republican
page and was there to advance the republican cause. Jared claims that he previously
held his town’s viewpoint that all democrats
are bad people. In fact, high school students in Arco would allegedly drive around
at night and tear all of the “Kerry/Edwards
2004” signs out of anyone daring enough to
display one. One day in D.C., Jared was in a
back hallway of the senate and John Kerry
came in on crutches. Initially Jared recalled
that his tag said “United States Senate
Page-REPUBLICAN.” However, it did still
said “UNITED STATES Senate Page”, so
he jumped up to go get the door for Senator Kerry. Jared remembers to this day how
very politely Kerry thanked him and took
about 5 minutes of his time to talk with and
get to know Jared, in spite of his Republican name tag. Not surprisingly, many other
senators, even republicans, would not even
make eye contact with the “teenager that
doesn’t really know anything” pages.
In addition,
Jared witnessed
noble behavior
from many senators of varying
political orientations. He recalls:
“The most memorable example
is Ted Kennedy,
who I had always
thought to be an
evil man. One
day he gave a fiery speech on the floor, as
he always does while I looked through the
back doors from the floor. While the rest
of the senators had long been anxious to
go home, Kennedy continued making his
speech. While I looked through the doors,
he looked like a mean, fierce, fiery orator.
As he walked through the door though, he
suddenly looked like an old feeble man. He
came over by the pages and leaned on our
chairs, and let out a sigh of exhaustion and
began talking to us (we were apparently
the first pages he did this to). I suddenly
realized that he was just a hard-working
American trying to do what he thought was
right. I am still a Republican, but since that
moment I have had much more respect for
those with different viewpoints.
To the chagrin of many
of the aforementioned
professors and some of
Jared’s friends, he chose
to leave ACI and enter the
West Point class of 2011.
Jared was selected to give a final speech
for the page class of 2005. After the
whole experience, he chose to emphasize
that there were 27 pages, from 18 different states, from all different walks of life
and backgrounds in the program. If they
could take anything from the experience,
they should go back to their families, home
states, and communities and attempt to
bridge “the political gap that we see on the
evening news every night. We need to explain to our communities that they need to
take an active roll in government, because
all people are fallible. The biggest thing I
learned is that there are 100 U.S senators,
and at least 90% of them are doing what
they think is right for the country and for
their regions best interest.” He maintains
the assertion that any person is evil simply
because of their political party is a logical
fallacy.
After his stint in Washington and high
school graduation, Jared planned to enter
the air force academy. He had two concussions from playing football in high school,
and therefore had to obtain a special government medical waiver to apply. It took
nearly a year to even get the waiver, as several doctors and neurologists had to examine Jared. This process was not completed
before the application deadline, so Jared accepted admission to Albertson College of
Idaho.
As is true with many freshman students,
Jared discovered a whole new world of
thought at ACI that he never knew existed. He attributes his dramatic intellectual
development during his freshman year at
ACI to many things, such as Kerry Hunter’s
freshman writing course, the history classes
taught by Berger, Maughan, and Snyder, and
free discussions with students and faculty.
Nonetheless, Jared reapplied to all of the
United States military academies during his
freshman year. During his spring semester,
he received a highly-esteemed acceptance
to the United States Military Academy, also
known as West Point.
Jared was forced to make a difficult decision: leave the new world and lifestyle of
intellectual stimulation that he discovered
11 OCTOBER 2007
FEATURE
at ACI, or fulfill his longtime goal to serve
his country in at the most prestigious military academy in the United States. To the
chagrin of many of the aforementioned
professors and some of Jared’s friends,
he chose to leave ACI and enter the West
Point class of 2011.
As I’m sure many of you are wondering,
why is Jared Tate at ACI if he became a
West Point cadet last summer? Jared ultimately decided that he was not yet willing
to sacrifice his newfound intellectual curiosity and freedom of speech, behavior, and
thought. He claims, “Albertson exposed me
to a whole new way of thinking and viewing the world. That wouldn’t be possible
for me at West Point, because of the way
that they wanted to force you to think in
a certain kind of way. I understand that
you can’t have a military full of free-thinkers, but this environment was not for me. I
missed being able to go into Simplot and sit
down and have a political discussion about
politics, philosophy, or the war, or something radical. [At West Point,] you are so
busy trying to find the proper way to align
the condiments on the table, that you didn’t
have time to think. If you ever tipped over
the Mrs. Dash seasoning in the cafeteria,
you would get 5 hours of marching in the
yard as punishment. If I would’ve come
right out of high school and went directly
into the academy without my freshman experience at ACI, I still would’ve been there,
hands down.”
Jared still holds a very deep respect for
West Point and for the way that the people
there serve this country, but he now realizes
that there is more than one way to serve
your country. He feels that West Point is so
entrenched in its traditions that it would actually hinder his process. This extreme adherence to tradition creates a system where
power can be easily abused.
“I had pretty negative experiences with
some people in the army, and how they are
abusing their power in that system. I did
not want to be a part of such a system that
allowed that to happen. I understand that
there is no way around this problem, but it
frustrated me that I couldn’t do anything
about that….I didn’t feel like I had any say
in things that I did, even if they weren’t
right. The idea that I didn’t have control over my own actions, and that I
could be ordered to do something
against my own judgment and morals
and not be able to do anything about
it bothered me…. Suddenly, I was being ordered around by people my same
age that were imbeciles. They could
get up in your face and bark at you like
a dog, and the system wouldn’t allow
me to do what I believed to be right, even
in situations where I clearly had more intellectual experience. I agree that I owe them a
certain degree of respect because they had
been there for 2 years longer than me, but it
is a terrible argument that this makes them
better humans than me, that I have to
do their laundry, that they can call me
a ‘pitiful piece of shit’ and I would
have to look at the ground just because of seniority. You’d think that
the U.S. Military Academy, with all
of its prestige would be where
the brightest of the brightest would go to serve
their country and
would be pushed and
motivated to do the
best that they can
do. You should get
up at 5 am and do
50-60 push ups and
then go right to class
and do so well in this
intense environment.
Rather, I found that
so many people there
cope with this intensity
not by excelling, but by
developing a massive seniority complex just based on
their power through seniority
and the chain of command. I
understand that you need to
respect experience and superiority , but many times I would
do something minor because
I was a new plebe, and they
would chew me out immediately and tell me how
worthless I was, rather than
telling me what I did wrong
so I could correct my behavior in the future.”
In addition, Jared’s six
months as a Senate page
made him realize that the
decision to go to war
was based on human fallacy. The decisions
of a few elected men determine the fate of
thousands of American military lives. Jared
emphasized that, “That freedom isn’t free
and that it often takes American blood,
but [the American government] should go
about it differently. Why are 120,000 American troops just driving around Iraq getting
shot at, just waiting to get hit by an IED…
In Iraq, we are more like a police force than
an actual military. Even if I went through
There were 70 people
there waiting to get out,
but Jared was released
the day after requesting
a lawyer.
ISSUE #3
West Point, I wouldn’t have been able to directly enter the Special Forces; I would have
just been another grunt being shot at.”
In addition, at ACI Jared developed a
viewpoint that challenged many of society’s traditional values, and also some val-
ues for West Point. Not the values
of honesty, duty, loyalty, respect,
selfless service, and integrity, but
rather the sacrificed values at
West Point such as the ability to
explore, question, and seek more
information: to try and
understand WHY. Jared elaborated further
with, “The military
is not prepared to
try and understand
someone
else’s
viewpoint.
The
military doesn’t
want someone
that asks why.”
After expressing these
viewpoints to
his
superior
officers at West
Point and requesting to leave
the class of 2011,
Jared was detained for
about 3 weeks, like a prisoner. He was not allowed
to go anywhere or talk to
anyone on the outside. He
was told when and what
to do and repeatedly lied
to. Throughout the day,
Jared was bombarded by
accusations that he was
“a worthless, disgusting,
piece of shit.” They
stripped off his epaulets and would march
him and the other
“detainees” around
and through the
rest of the core. Jared grasped that “the
purpose of this was to shame you. They
would just dehumanize us and make us go
through their garbage in the rain every day.
There were a couple people there who did
truly respect our decision, but the majority
was ‘disgusted by us.’”
This treatment was in spite of Jared’s
humility, all the while claiming that the reason he truly wanted to leave West Point was
that his lack of commitment caused him
to not deserve to be with people that were
so dedicated. Jared’s fate was so uncertain
that he finally requested a jag lawyer. There
were 70 people there waiting to get out, but
Jared was released the day after requesting
a lawyer.
Regardless, Jared still has not ruled out
army, or air force, or even army ROTC service in the future, because he still believe
that he owes the country for what it has
given him. He emphasizes that he does not
owe this service to the people empower
in the government or the army chain of
command that his service would empower.
Rather, he would do it for “the good guys
that are in there on the front lines, for the
THE COYOTE
good people at home…I like the fact that
they are giving themselves and their time
and subjecting themselves to those Spartan
systems. I feel that by not joining, I am letting them down…I can go to college and
get a degree and live life the way I want to
live it and then join the military later in life
and it would be completely different. At
west point, they would tell me to live the
rest of my life. I am not anti-military or
anti-West Point, it just wasn’t the situation
for me.”
As a further shock, shortly after leaving west point, the Senator Larry Craig sex
scandal broke. When Jared found out about
the Craig scandal, he sent an email to his office, stating if there was anything he could
do to assist, he would. Ironically Jared had
just applied to the job and included “Senate
page for Larry Craig” on his resume. The
day after Jared got the job, the next day the
scandal broke. Jared notes, “He (Senator
Craig) used to be well respected, here and
even in D.C., but now he has lost all credibility. In turn, I have lost credibility as well.
At first I was in denial, I couldn’t believe it.
On repeated occasions he talked to me, and
would always acknowledge me on the senate floor. I would go to his office and talk
to him some times; he even gave me a little
present when I left DC. I also talked to him
multiple times after this at Idaho’s Republication associations. He personally called
me and asked me to come back and work
for him in DC this November. I still have a
tremendous amount of respect for him and
what he has done for Idaho, I would see it
as a tragic loss for Idaho to push him out.”
Jared also felt it important to emphasize
that if Craig did in fact commit the crime he
was accused of or admitted to be a homosexual, he would just seem like a hypocrite
became of his anti-gay policies, but Jared
does not think he necessarily solicited sex.
Regardless, Jared does not agree with the
way Craig handled situation-pleading guilty
to something he supposedly didn’t do.
In parting Jared expressed all that time in
Washington DC, ACI, and West Point has
taught him about life:
“I need to seek and pursue knowledge for
myself. I can’t judge or accept what I am
told; I need to make an opinion for myself. The redneck conservative viewpoint is
stifling progress in the US. Some people
told me that the military is the best thing in
the world to do, while others ask if I really
want to do that. My small town viewpoint
would make me a hero for going through
West Point, but I have experienced that
first hand. It is a good thing I had matured
intellectually before entering the academy,
otherwise I would not have been adequately prepared to make such an important decision about the future of my life and the
best way to serve my country.”
15
FEATURE
ALBUM REVIEW
THE COYOTE
A Call to Revive the
Campus Canopy
By Steve Maughan
Examine the photographic
record of Albertson College
and you can’t help but
notice one striking fact: as
the college grew from two
original buildings on “the
hill” of sagebrush and alkali
above a turn-of-the-century
railroad boomtown, there
grew up alongside its buildings
– trees. A famous early photo
of H.H. Hayman, Professor
of Economics and Debate at
the College from 1909-1947,
decked out in simple dark suit
and sporting porkpie hat,
shows him toting two large
buckets of water through the
middle of campus. His goal:
nursing a long line of twiglike Dutch elm trees. By all
accounts, Hayman slaved in
the off hours cultivating a
budding campus and by
the mid-nineteen-twenties,
pictures show those sprigs
bushing out to twenty-foot
saplings. By the nineteenfifties, the campus was
dominated not only by
Sterry, Voorhees, Finney,
and Strahorn Halls, but
by towering elms, vase-like
in a rising grace of form,
providing an enormous
canopy of branch and leaf
supported by long lines of
fine, woody, columnar trunks.
Not only the center of campus,
but also the edges were defined
by extended lines of stately
trees, planted in the park strips
separating street from sidewalk.
As students entered the campus
through “The Hat”—that
funky little roof-on-pillars tram
stop with its “The College of
Idaho” and “College Heights”
signage that served as the
entrance to the campus down
on Cleveland—they would have
16
looked along
a long line of elms
on “the Boulevard”
and up another long
line marching up to Sterry. To come to
campus was to step from the dusty heat of
high desert prairie to a shaded sanctuary
inhabited by people well aware that this
environment was supposed to be different
from the world around it.
Only one of those elms remains: a large
Chinese Elm towering beside Strahorn.
Every other fell to the chainsaw. Why?
There are things to be learned from the
stories of the past: one is the lesson of the
ecologist—it’s often disastrous to plant a
monoculture. When Dutch Elm disease
spread virulently to the American West
in the 1970s, the campus elms rapidly fell
prey. By 1980 not only the campus, but
virtually all of Caldwell—which had once
itself enjoyed shady street after shady
street to the west of campus—saw tree
after tree felled to the woody plague.
The story of campus and city trees
is more, however, than a story illustrating
the importance of biodiversity. It is also a
story that takes us to an era of lost vision
in the history of America. The campus of
H.H. Hayman and William Judson Boone
reflected a larger vision, a vision launched in
response to
the spreading
slums
that
were the more unsavory legacy of
industrializing America in the Gilded
Age. This vision took on a name: the City
Beautiful movement. In America it saw
its apotheosis in 1893 at the Colombian
Exposition in Chicago where the famed
“White City” modeled an urban landscape
of harmonious order: a Beaux-arts
extravaganza of neo-classical buildings and
tree-lined boulevards evoking the beauty
of symmetrical design and the importance
of humane, walkable streets with green
space, tree-filled park strips separating road
from pedestrian, and the first widespread
use of electric lighting, opening the night
to consumers of the modern city.
And what does all this have to do with the
campus? Just look around. From the French
Renaissance symmetry of Sterry Hall to the
neo-classical façade and signature Palladian
window of Strahorn, the newly designed
campus of Boone and Hayman strove for
the effect of ordered dignity embodied in
the City Beautiful movement. The Campus
Beautiful, the mark of the Progressive
Era vision, meets the eye of each college
resident today, though sadly without the
extraordinary tree canopy that was one of
its results. If you want a taste of that past,
step into the new Wagers Memorial Garden
behind Strahorn, one place that still has
that lost feel. Then consider what it looked
like in 1925 when hired laborers (among
them many college students, including the
young Joe Albertson) worked to erect the
new Strahorn Library in a dry sagebrush
patch on the campus’s south forty.
I think it’s time to do some serious
work that’s gone begging. It’s time to
replace those lost trees. Not with dwarfish
ornamental species, not with lollipop
maples, but with big, bold trees, properly
pruned upward to recreate—time willing—
that lost aspect of an
otherwise beautiful campus.
A deliberate tree program
gives
the
opportunity
to reclaim an important aspect of our
heritage: a tree-filled campus and thick
canopy of leafiness. By the 1950’s this
visible legacy represented the optimism of
the college’s first generations of professors
and students who planted and cared for the
saplings, buildings, lives, and educations
that were the stuff of the College’s way in
this world.
Blight resistant elms are now commercially
available, as are oaks, poplars, and catalpas,
the kinds of trees that spread upward and
outward at sixty, seventy, eighty feet in
height. Supplemented with native species
and scientific-grade labeling, such trees
assembled as an arboretum could not only
reclaim a lost past, but provide lessons in the
importance of environment and botanical
knowledge to a campus with education on
its mind. Now is the time to refill those park
strips—on Cleveland and Oak streets, on
the curving verge of College Ave.—and reestablish those lines and groves of the old
campus interior. There’s some evidence of
movement here: the recent planting of six
trees along the campus frontage represents
the first replacement tree plantings at the
College in years. But so much more—
forty to sixty additional tree plantings for
example—is really needed; in this way, we
can reconnect with a past that continues to
define what a college like this is and should
be all about.
11 OCTOBER 2007
ARTS & LEISURE
Attention Shoppers!
THE COYOTE
How Long Can You Spend in the Land of Roll-Back Prices?
By Leigh Basford
With our toothbrushes in our bags,
comfy clothes on our backs, and possible
ideas for activities in our heads Amy, Kim,
and I walked through the doors with the
intention to spend the next 24 hours in
Wal-Mart.
We decided to get the night out of the
way first. This was our biggest mistake. We
entered the building at 9:14 pm.
First on our list, eat. We made our way
to McDonald’s. As we sat there in the booth
we observed the people around us. A man
with a half pony sat with his overweight
lady friend and their fanny packs at the
table kitty-corner from us. They were true
Americans, overweight and eating at the
food capital of our great country. Behind
us sat a creepy old man who looked like he
needed a friend. Outgoing as we are, we
were too afraid to talk to him, so we minded
our own business and went on watching
each other eat.
After we all got done eating we went to
the next thing on our mental list and printed
off wedding registries for a Kim Clements
and Jonathan Chatarl, an Amy Bennett and
Erik Bong, and since my name wasn’t on
the registry, one Jane Smith and Elizabeth
Mcanally. With the intention to pull them
out and make a treasure hunt to find the
things these couples wanted. We never
made it to that point.
At 10:35 pm we had our first encounter
with a Wal-Mart employee. We were in the
toy department trying to be basketball stars
by bouncing the ball through our legs. Then
a Hispanic man that looked as if he was in
ISSUE #3
his mid-30’s ruined our fun and asked us to
please not play with balls. In a flash he was
gone. We didn’t even get his name.
After we had played with all the appealing
toys, we went on to Halloween costumes
and Kim decided to pose for a picture.
Pictures at Wal-Mart are not exactly legal
since it is private property and they say so,
so we had to be sneaky.
Amy pulled out the camera, held it next
to her bag while Kim put on a horrendous
mask and at that moment we had our
second encounter. A lady with no name
tag (but a rocking Ninja Turtle sweater and
a cool Wal-Mart shirt underneath) asked
Kim not to try on the masks. So we didn’t
get the picture.
At 11:26 pm we went to read cards.
Most of them were the normal ha-ha
not so funny kind of cards that you
would expect to find at Wal-Mart but we
got lucky. Amy opened a card that had a
caricature of George and Barbara Bush
on the outside and said something to the
effect of, “On your birthday be careful not
to eat too much cake.” On the inside it
said, “Because you might have weapons of
ass destruction.” While we were in a world amongst the
cards we had our first and only visitor,
Brad Baughman. He gave us some purple
unidentified drink. We made him test it
after we tested it of course, to make sure it
wasn’t anything
vile.
For the
next day we
had
planned
to try on sexy
and outrageous
outfits so we
went to the
dressing rooms
to see what time
they would be
open. Amy asked
the lady but was
distracted by the
snot
dripping
from her left
nostril.
Only
the best work at
Wal-Mart.
12:06am was a crucial hour. We were
tagged by the Wal-Mart security and a
guard started circling us. He wasn’t even
being sneaky or detective-like. It was quite
obvious that he was watching us. He followed
closely and talked to all the employees
that he passed, nodding his head in our
direction while the other employees looked
at us. He followed
us around for the
duration of our
stay.
At 12:29am
we made it our
goal to find out
his name. But he
didn’t have a name
tag. And since this
was probably the
highlight of his
career, we decided
not to speak first.
It would ruin
the mystery of
our
Wal-Mart
adventure. So we
gave him our own
name,
Marvin.
He looked like a Marvin. He had a short
face with a big noise and thin reddish hair
that covered his forehead.
We decided not to let him distract us from
our original goal of entertaining ourselves.
So we went on to the pet department. There
we found cute goldfish that swam around,
not knowing their fate. As we looked closer
in the tank we saw a smorgasbord of dead
fish stuck to the filter. It was gross; the
snails were eating the decaying fish.
At 1:27 am we found ourselves intrigued
by all the possibilities of things we could
do with Marvin. We decided to split up,
randomly walk in different directions, and
meet up by the vegetable oil. He wouldn’t
know what to do or who to follow. It would
have been great.
Before we could activate this plan,
Marvin spoke to us. He asked us what we
were doing there and we told him the truth.
We told him about this article and he called
for his manager to ask if we could stay.
She walked up to us with her long black
hair and her baggy clothes and no name
tag and said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING
HERE?” This confused me because Marvin
had just told her over the walky-talky. We
explained ourselves and asked if we could
stay.
And she said in voice only the spawn
of Satan could have, “I would like you to
leave.” She repeated herself again and again,
refusing to hear us out. So we said okay,
collected the things that we had planned to
buy over the course of our stay, and walked
to the door.
There we said our goodbyes to good ole’
Marvin. I shook his hand for good times’
sake and he explained that earlier someone
had tried to walk out with 700 dollars worth
of things in a shopping cart. How can
people be so stupid to think they could get
away with a crime like that?
Through the four and a half hours we
spent at Wal-Mart we learned some very
valuable lessons:
-Ask a manager first if you can write a
really cool article about staying in Wal-Mart
for 24 hours.
-Don’t take big bags with toothbrushes
and other necessities because they will think
you are stealing, though who would stay at
Wal-Mart for four and a half hours if they
were stealing?
-Make friends with the Marvin at the
store, because he needs friends too.
-Carry things with you that you are going
to purchase even if your arms feel like they
are going to fall off. Be wiser then we were.
Use a cart. They can’t kick you out if you
are shopping.
-And lastly, be weary of purple drinks
from Brad. They will keep you up until
crazy hours of the morning after a failed
mission (which did give us time to come up
with other amazing ideas). Until next time,
stay classy ACI.
17
ARTS & LEISURE
THE COYOTE
Your Ghoulish Guide
to Halloween Horror
By Griffin Hewitt
Halloween is the night for
all manner of devilish deed to be
done, prank pulled, treat tricked or
any other ghastly array of evil that
might spring into consideration.
With such a foreboding intro what
possibly could follow? As the suspense of what lies ahead liquefies
your sanity, dear reader, keep this final warning at the forefront of your
thoughts: this list of which you will
soon partake contains more terror
than Britney Spears’ appearance
at the MTV Video Music Awards,
more grotesque imagery than a
crotch shot of Lindsay Lohan, and
more bloody violence than a catfight between Paris Hilton and the
Olsen Twins. This list is of the
best horror films for a Halloween
straight from Hell.
Slasher Flicks:
Scream and Scream 2
High Tension
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
House of Wax (2005)
Flicks so Poorly Made
You’ll Need a Frontal
Lobe Lobotomy to
Watch:
Wolf Creek
Chaos
An American Haunting
The Abandoned
Turistas
Pulse
Torture Porn:
Saw 1, 2 or 3
Hostel
The Devil’s Rejects
Zombie Flicks:
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Land of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead (ha ha)
Fun with Satan!:
The Exorcist
Dominion
The Omen (1976 or 2006)
The Exorcism of Emily
Rose
Is Kanye Phoning One In?
By Jordan Drake
Oh, Kanye. You’ve proven yourself more than capable of writing
a hit. I suppose if anyone’s earned the opportunity to phone one in,
it’s you. You could easily rest on your laurels and let a few bum singles
pump through the stereo. Lord knows your name carries enough weight.
That’s why I’m so surprised by Graduation.
To be fair, Mr. West’s third doesn’t quite live up to [2004’s] The College
Dropout or [2005’s] Late Registration, both easily among the best rap records
released within the last decade, but considering the string of brilliant
singles these two spawned, it’s not so much a shock.
What the Louis Vuitton Don offers here, though, is still pretty great.
“Champion,” “Barry Bonds,” “Good Life,” and especially the Daft
Punk-sampling “Stronger” rank among Kanye’s better songs. Of course,
the artist isn’t exactly covering much new ground here. Topics include
musings on the ups and downs of fame, acknowledging one’s roots, and
drunk bitches. He also seems somehow less cocky and self-sure, which
lends an unfortunate double-edge to the music. Kanye’s new rhymes
are approachable and easy to like, but they lack the humor and sardonic
bite Chicago’s self-proclaimed savior made his name on. That said,
the production is still immaculate, and, while the songs never reach the
stratospheric heights of West’s early singles, they’re still better than the
majority of today’s radio fodder.
Graduation is by no means a bad record; it just lacks a “Jesus Walks,”
falls a “Gold Digger” short of expectations.
18
Ghostly Encounters:
House on Haunted Hill
Poltergeist
Final Destination
Flicks so Poorly Made
You’ll Laugh Your Ass
Off:
Army of Darkness
George Fox University
Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology
psyd.georgefox.edu
Accredited by the American Psychological Association
750 First St. NE,Washington DC 20002-4242
www.apa.org | 800-374-2721
414 N. Meridian St. #6149
•
Newberg, OR 97132
•
800-631-0921
11 OCTOBER 2007
ARTS & LEISURE
THE COYOTE
Better Bet on
Los Betos
ANSWER THIS
By Leigh Basford
Q:
If ACI were to name a new school song,
which one would best represent our community?
By Brad Baughman
­­­ So two o’clock rolls around, you’ve still
got 240 pages to read and you’re hungry
enough to eat at the caf on a Sunday night.
You pick up the Coyote for to read the
restaurant review section (c’mon, work with
me here) and it’s like God has reached out
and touched you: That’s right. We reviewed
Los Betos.
There are three reasons you should read
this review:
1. Los Betos is open 24 hours, and the
doors are always open, so you don’t have to
endure that awkward “eat in the car” stage
right after you get your food.
2. Los Betos is located down the boulevard
just past Middleton, which means you can
get to it just as quick as or quicker than you
can get to Jack in the Box, the other 24/7
option.
3. Los Betos is fast, not lightning, but
keeps good time with restaurant-quality
food, especially quick orders like the carne
asada burrito.
The carne asada burrito is a reason to
go on its own, but add some horchata and
a little flan if you still have room (which
you won’t, Los Betos burritos make other
restaurants look like they serve burrit-itos)
and the experience will have you dreaming
like a chupacabra after eating a… never
mind. What are horchata and flan? Horchata is
a cinnamon-rice drink that most authentic
Mexican restaurants serve, and flan is a
custard-style dessert comparable to crème
brûlée.
So far I’ve probado (tried) the carne asada
(steak), pescado (fish) and adobado (pork)
burritos, and they’ve all been great. The
fish was fried with a breaded crust, which I
could have done without, but it only took a
drink of mango juice to get my spirits back
up.
But this is a review, not an ad! Allow
me to extrapolate—Saturday morning after
a night of hard drinking, I decided to get
some menudo from the drive-thru, thinking it
was something I had previously tried which,
I now know, is called pozole. Pozole is made
of hominy, which is dried corn cooked in
lime water, and pork. Los Betos has pozole.
But I didn’t order pozole, remember?
So I’m about a fourth of the way through
this giant plastic bowl-cup, and I break
down and admit that I have no eff-ing clue
what I’m eating. I look up menudo and find
ISSUE #3
that it is: a spicy Ecuadorian and Mexican
dish typically made from tripe, which is…
“‘Let’s Get it On’ by Marvin Gaye because everyone at ACI is
humpin’ except Brian Peterson.”
--Ariel Vazquez
“‘Chicks Dig It’ by Chris Cagle because it’s mostly girls at our
school.”
--Meredith Howlett
“‘C. Dumpster’ by Jon Baker.”
--Kim Clements
“Because for you to get a guy at ACI they have
to be a slut.”
--Andrea Dicello
“It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi because it’s cool and it’s about your
life and living it.”
--Lonnie Marshall
sheep guts.
According to the ever-accurate fount
of all knowledge, Wikipedia, “in prerevolutionary Mexico, poverty among
the campesinos was chronic, and little if
anything that might be prepared as food
was left to waste. Usually, the best cuts
of meat would go to the hacienda owners
while the offal went to the peons. These
leftovers consisted of organ meats, brains,
head, tails, hooves, etc. As cattle and sheep
are ruminants that require lengthy intestinal
tracts to digest their diet of grasses and
raw seeds, the stomach is one of the
largest pieces of offal available from these
animals.”
Sounds offal, right? By this point I had
already digested half a large intestine from
a sheep or god knows what, so I contented
myself with my mango drink and just went
hungry. The irony of this is that menudo
is actually known as a cure for those who
are hung-over, which I was, which might
explain the mistake to begin with.
The best part is, I still love the place. The
restaurant fills a gap in the 24/7 college
scene schedule that had been so painfully
void I’d been eating straight ramen. Well
forget Maruchan! March down the boulevard
to Los Betos and test your taste buds at the
freshest Mexican restaurante in town.
“A Christmas song because it’s happy and everybody knows it.”
--Ali Rabe
“‘Who Let the Dogs Out” by the Baha Men because I think it
exemplifies the spirit of our school.”
--Emily McCutchan
19
BENCHING WITH BERGER
THE COYOTE
Jacob--Israel; Israel--Jacob.
What the Hell is Going On?
By Howard Berger
Why does god change names in the
Book of genesis? This is a good question
and might even be relevant to our own
lives.
Starting in Chapter 25 of genesis, we
learn of the critical figure—Jacob (which
means heel of the foot). He is called Jacob
for many chapters. Then, in Chapter 32,
he has some kind of wrestling match with
some kind of supernatural being (it’s not
that clear). at the end of the wrestling
match, the supernatural being, who in the
Jewish tradition represents God, says: “Your
name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel,
for you have striven with beings divine and
human, and have prevailed.” oK. Now
his name is israel: he who wrestles with
god and humans. BUT at the beginning
of the next chapter, just a few verses later,
the Bible says: “Looking up, Jacob saw....”
Why doesn’t it say “israel saw?” THeN, in
Chapter 35, God—now God is specifically
named—says in Verse 10: “god said to
him, you whose name was Jacob, you shall
be called Jacob no more, but Israel shall be
your name.” BUT, in Chapter 46, when god
calls him TWICE: “Jacob, Jacob....” Back
and forth, forth and back, Jacob, Israel,
Israel, Jacob-- what the hell is going on?
What is the name of this critical character
Khay’eem
in the Bible and in all Jewish History?? Is
his name Jacob or is his name Israel? Well,
obviously, even as far as god is concerned
it is BoTH. oNe man, TWo names??
Yes! oNe man, TWo names!!
it is true for me as well. While here at the
College, my name is Howard—and i don’t
know what that means. While in israel,
my name is Khay’eem—which means life.
oNe man, TWo names!! (of course, i
have more than those two: Berger, Berg,
Bergman, Bergerbits, Ramberg, Hey You,
or even recently, old Man-- i am sure there
may be even more names that i am called
but i prefer not to know). How can one
man, Jacob or Howard, have two names?
Easy: people, and in Jacob’s case God, can
see different things in a person.
When Jews pray, our prayer books
frequently open our prayers with the
address, “avinu, Malkenu,” which
means our father, our King. He is
both—something close and affectionate;
something awesome and intimidating. and
Jewish prayers alternate between the two
depending on circumstance. it is the same
with me. i have two names—depending
on circumstance. The name Howard has
some dignity and does reflect my parents’
desire, though they were descendants of
Howard
20
Jews living in southern Poland, to live and
assimilate into the United States with much
of the old World stuff thrown off. Had
they named me Khay’eem, a name common
to Jews of Old Europe, they knew that I
would have to face a lot of fists-in-theface. although i did get beaten up in the
late 50’s and early 60’s for being Jewish, it
would have been a Hell-of-a-lot-Worse
had i been name Khay’eem or the Yiddish
variant, Haymee!! So Howard has worked
just fine. BUT, when I am in Jerusalem,
studying or enjoying coffee with friends, i
like going by Khay’eem. i love its Hebrew
meaning—life! and since every Hebrew
name has a verse attached to it based on the
first and last letters of the name—mine is
Psalm 34:8 (“The angel of the lord camps
around those who fear Him, and rescues
them.”)—i love the verse as well. Howard
here, Khay’eem there. There are other
reasons for name changes. god changes
abram’s name to abraham in order to get
that “h” in there which is a part of god’s
Hebrew name. god changes Sarai’s name
to Sarah for the same reason. Both names
are changed because god rewards their
obedience to Him by giving them part of
His name—by giving them part of Him.
different names for different reasons:
oNe man, TWo names; oNe Woman,
TWo names.
And so back to Jacob—Israel, Israel—
Jacob. It is not that God forgot or that God
is confused! God is teaching Jacob and all
the subsequent readers of the story that
names change depending on circumstance.
When Jacob is in his tent resting, he is Jacob.
When Jacob is reflecting, contemplative,
concerned with family and health and
economic conditions--in short, living a
normal life—he is Jacob. BUT when he is
wrestling with god, wrestling with destiny,
when he is about to change the world—as
when he and his descendants get ready to
descend into egypt (and soon slavery),
he is israel!! oNe man, TWo names—
depending on circumstance.
for those who have only one name—that’s
ok—but a bit boring. Their circumstances
are just a bit duller and more predictable.
for those who have two names—their lives
are more unpredictable and more intense.
But those who have their names changed,
like Abraham, and Sarah, and Jacob are the
most blessed. for clearly, those who have
their names changed by powerful forces are
destined, like Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob
to change the universe—the UNiVeRSe!!
and god knows that and now so do
YoU!
11 OCTOBER 2007