The Cooper Point Journal (November 15, 2017)

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Identifier
cpj_20171115
Title
The Cooper Point Journal (November 15, 2017)
Date
15 November 2017
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theCOOPERPOINT
J O U R N A L
The Evergreen State College Student Newspaper | November 15, 2017

OBSIDIANNOMORE

DOXEDORDOXXED?

SCANDALINTUMWATER

5

6

12

A PEEK INTO WHAT WENT DOWN
AND WHAT MAY COME NEXT

INTRODUCTION TO THE 21st CENTURY
SENSATION AND ITS NEW HISTORY AT TESC

COMMENT ON LOCAL SCHOOL’S
USE OF CONFEDERATE FLAG

The Cooper Point Journal

STAFF

Editor-in-Chief

J a s m i n e K o z a k G i l roy

News Editor
Mason Soto

Community Editor
Georgie Hicks

A r t s & C u lt u r e E d i t o r
Sally Linn

Comics Editor

Morrissey Morrissey

Business Manager
April Davidson

W eb M a n a g e r
Fe l i x C h ro m e

Distribution Manager
Joe Sullam

Writers

Tar i G un s t on e

FROM THE ARCHIVES Members of the Seattle Black Panther Party demonstrating on the steps of

the Washington state capitol building on Feburary 28, 1969. They made an apperance to protest a bill crafted

CONTACT
O f f i ce

T h e E v e r g re e n S t a t e C o l l e g e
CA B 3 3 2
2 7 0 0 E v e r g re e n P k w y N W
O l y m p i a , WA

Email Us

cooperpointjournal@gmail.com

Call Us

(360) 867-6054

Visit Us

O u r We e k l y M e e t i n g
We d n e s d a y s a t 2 p. m .

C o ve r A r t B y

Macsen Baumann
WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM
© 2017 the Cooper Point Journal

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in direct response to the actions of the party, which would make it a misdemenor to exhibit firearms in a way

that was interperated to be threatening. Photographer unknown, courtesy of the Washington State Archives.

HOW WE WORK

The Cooper Point Journal is produced by students at The Evergreen State College, with funding from student
fees and advertising from local businesses. The Journal is published for free every other Wednesday during the
school year and distributed throughout the Olympia area.
Our content is also available online at www.cooperpointjournal.com.
Our mission is to provide an outlet for student voices, and to inform and entertain the Evergreen community
and the Olympia-area more broadly, as well as to provide a platform for students to learn about operating a
news publication.
Our office is located on the third floor of the Campus Activities Building (CAB) at The Evergreen State
College in room 332 and we have open student meetings from 4 to 5 p.m every Wednesday.

WORK FOR US

We accept submissions from any student at The Evergreen State College, and also from former students,
faculty, and staff. We also hire some students onto our staff, who write articles for each issue and receive a
learning stipend.
Have an exciting news topic? Know about some weird community happening? Enjoy that new hardcore
band? Come talk to us and write about it.
We will also consider submissions from non-Evergreen people, particularly if they have special knowledge on
the topic. We prioritize current student content first, followed by former students, faculty and staff, and then
general community submissions. Within that, we prioritize content related to Evergreen first, followed by
Olympia, the state of Washington, the Pacific Northwest, etc.
To submit an article, reach us at cooperpointjournal@gmail.com.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We want to hear from you! If you have an opinion on anything we’ve reported in the paper, or goings-on in
Olympia or at Evergreen, drop us a line with a paragraph or two (100 - 300 words) for us to publish in the
paper. Make sure to include your full name, and your relationship to the college—are you a student, staff,
graduate, community member, etc. We reserve the right to edit anything submitted to us before publishing,
but we’ll do our best to consult with you about any major changes.

News

Protestors being hit with pepper spray by police in an teempt at crowd control durrign thr World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, 1990. STEVE KAISER VIA WIKIPEDIA COMMONS.

COPS GET
MORE CA$H
PROP 1 PASSES, FUNDS 24 HOUR WALKING PATROLS
OF DOWNTOWN, ‘MENTAL HEALTH’ TASK FORCE
By Mason Soto
In Olympia’s November 2017 elections, Proposition 1 passed easily with
eight thousand votes to four thousand against. The bill, branded as a “Public Safety Measure” concerns an increased property tax levy that will fund
new police walking patrols downtown, create “community policing” programs
and a police-adjacent “Mental Health Outreach Team”, fund the Community Court, and expand Olympia Police Department (OPD) recruitment.
Overall, the measure will
further militarize the city and
how its various plans will affect vulnerable communities
is left to be seen. Activists are
concerned that the increased
police presence will further
endanger houseless folks and
otherwise marginalized communities who already suffer at
the hands of police violence.
The tax will bring in $2.85
million dollars a year from
a $117 fee for homeowners
starting in 2018, and it leaves
room to adjust the levy in future years. Initiative for the
measure came from the OPD
and Olympia City Coun-

cil who want to reimplement
downtown walking patrols
that ended earlier this year
due to lack of funding. Still,
the initiative is described as
“non-traditional” by Police
Chief Ronnie Roberts because
of the alternative pathways it
aims to create for those with
mental health issues. The fact
sheet for the Proposition states
a goal of “Diverting those who
suffer from mental illnesses
from the criminal justice system,” but the specifics of the
ballot do not detail a clear way
out. There are guidelines for
how the walking patrols will
be implemented, with four of-

ficers on patrol, a supervising
sergeant, and extra money for
equipment and training, and
the neighborhood patrols are
outlined similarly, with two
new officers, a sergeant, and
“neighborhood liaisons”— private citizens who would work
for and inform the police. The
plans for the “Mental Health
Outreach Team” are left flexible, suggesting social service
officials from private institutions be on the streets alongside police as co-responders.
The Community Court, which
has handled cases from petty
crimes such as trespassing and
disorderly conduct through

what they call “practical” solutions rather than the traditional criminal justice for
nearly two years also relies on
this measure to retain funding. Some opponents of the
measure are hesitant to see
this funding shared by police
and alternative community
safety measures, and some see
this levy as part of a larger
pattern against the houseless
populations, alongside the
September no-camping ordinance aimed at the Just Housing protests at City Hall and
the burgeoning development
of high-price housing units
downtown. One anti-police
activist explained their position thusly, “It is clear through
their sleek aesthetics that the
developers are aiming towards
a ‘cleaner downtown’ and that
downtown does not include
houseless people… Expanding this force through walking
patrols and hiring more police
will do more to harm houseless people than to save lives.”

Advocates say that other
ballot measure, like the Home
Fund for houselessness that
will be on February ballots and
the creation of the Community Care Center, are more direct in their addressing of vulnerable populations’ needs, but
Proposition 1 with its heavyhanded trust and fund in the
police has made a hard play
for itself in creating a sense of
safety between people on the
street and state institutions.
This bill follows increased
attention to the Downtown
area of Olympia in the last
several years, both as an area
in need of revamping and as
an area ripe for economic development and expansion. The
measures put in place by the
City to revitalize Downtown,
many a part of the Downtown
Strategy finalized in December of 2015, have often come
up against the desires of houselessness advocates, so this narrative is not new– but what
comes of Proposition 1 may be.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 03

News

The Washington state Capitol Building in 1941. COURTESY OF THE WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES.

BALL ON CAMPUS
STUDENTS STAND FOR THE RIGHT

TO SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT
By Mason Soto

ELECTION RECAP
WASHINGTON PROVES
IT IS BLUE TO THE BONE
By Sebastian Lopez
After years of contention, anxiety, and a muddled identity, the state of Washington has finally gone all blue with the election of Democrat Manka Dhingra to the
state’s 45th district Senate seat. The election of Dhingra marks the Democratic slim
majority takeover of every branch of Washington state government. This, along
with Oregon’s majority and California’s supermajority, establishes a Democraticmajority all along the West Coast.
Dhingra is strutting into
the Senate chamber with adamant support of Democratic ideals while holding true
to the moderate leanings of
the district that voted her in.
Washington establishment
Democrats hope that Dhingra’s election, and their new
yet slim majority, will help
them push Governor Jay Inslee’s legislative agenda. This
would include progressive legislation focused on issues such
as combatting climate change,
reducing car-tabfees, enacting
a capital-gains tax, and closing
tax exemptions. Nationwide
Democrats also see this victory
as the creation of a “blue wall”
of left-wing influence along
the west coast that couldhelp
fend off the right wing influence of the federal government.
A year after the election of
exemplary capitalist Donald
Trump to the supposed highest politicaloffice in the country, Democrats, along with
progressives, have rebounded
in an effort resist the extreme

right-wing and austerity driven
policies of the current administration. The left-wing organization Democratic Socialists
of America had a night of historic wins last Tuesday when
15 of its members were elected
into office, including one Lee
Carter in Virginia. Olympia
relived last year’s nation-wide
elections with the foiling of
establishment thinking after
the city voted in a plethora of
progressive candidates. Green
Party endorsed candidates Lisa
Parshley and Elizabeth “E.J.”
Zita both enjoyed decisive victories last Tuesday, for Olympia
City Council position number 5 and Port Commissioner
for the 3rd district respectively, by double digit margins.
Promising progressive candidate Renata Rollins, who
ran on a platform of combattinghouselessness,
ensuring
housing affordability, tackling
climate change, and facilitating city-wide economic development, also won a tumultuous victory over her opponent

04 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

Jeannine Roe for Olympia City
Council position number 6.
During the initial election day vote count, Rollins
was behind by a few hundred votes, ending thenight
in with the results being too
close to call. She finally passed
her opponent on Wednesday
night when she nabbed 52%
of the vote. As of this writing,
she maintains a 9-point lead.
The race for Port Commissioner of the 2nd district
between candidates Bill Fishburn and Bill McGregor was
held at a stand still after being
too close to call. This ended
with the need for a recount
a week after election night.
Other results include three
House Bills being repealed
through measure votes. The
three area food excise tax on
salmon and certain game fish,
the raising of certain other
sales taxes, and the increase
of property taxes for school
in the state. Olympia election results are set to be certified on the 28th of November.

On the afternoon of November 1 the Evergreen chapter of Young Americans for Liberty
(YAL) was on Red Square for a campaign concerning free speech. Members stood with a blowup volleyball, or “Free Speech Ball” that people
could sign with whatever they wanted, about free
speech or anything else, while they spread information about their group and petitions to change
Evergreen’s policies regarding the titular idea.

Although it turned heads at
Evergreen following the events
in the spring it was not the first
of its kind arious YAL chapters
have done similar demonstrations for years, usually with
“Free Speech Walls”, but now
the balls seem to have caught
on. Numerous Free Speech Balls
were being bounced around college campuses for the past few
weeks surrounding Free Speech
Week. They have collided with
national tension about protected speech on college campuses and elsewhere, and there
have even been reports, mostly
from right-wing news outlets, of
some of these plastic balls getting punctured by folks with opposing views about the group’s
goals. One student was allegedly detained at the University
of California after the YAL filed
a police report over the “stabbing” of their inflatable symbol.
The national organization of
YAL is a student-based, selfidentified “pro-liberty” group
with over 700 chapters. The
group’s principles are based
around an individual’s “natural
rights of life, liberty, and property set forth by our Founding
Fathers,” with a simultaneous
reverence for the founders and
a staunch claim that “government is the negation of liberty”.
In 2016 the group went through
a controversy over their hosting of Milo Yiannopoulos at
a California event where he
endorsed Donald Trump, and
back in 2011 they protested a
smoking ban at the University
of North Texas by handing out

free cigarettes. The group is also
endorsed by Ron Paul. A member of the Evergreen chapter
explained the group’s views on
free speech as a belief in “the
marketplace of ideas” where it
is not only “viewpoint majority” that is allowed to speak.
At Evergreen, the ball seems
to have made it safely through
the demonstration, and most
students questioned did not
realize the event had taken
place. According to a YAL
member, petitions they spread
asked Evergreen to adopt the
“Chicago Principles”, incentivized by The Foundation for
Individual Rights in Education rating of Evergreen that
cites the Social Contract and
the process for getting permission to demonstrate or perform
on campus. They take issue with
the “free speech zones” which
they see as unconstitutional.
The Evergreen group has a
relatively low profile on campus,
functioning without scheduling meetings through Student
Activities and with minimal advertising for their events. They
were officially recognized as a
group last year, but have yet to
refile for recognition this year.
Kelson Crawford, former president of the group, posted on the
official YAL blog page that the
winter Student Activities fair
was “a hostile environment to
our club” because of students
and faculty “wanting to debate
our ideals.” Nonetheless, they
apparently gained a few recruits
and their activities continue.

Community

Obsidian’s windows left dark. JASMINE KOZAK-GILROY

OBSIDIAN
GOES
DARK
WHAT COMES NEXT IS STILL UP IN THE AIR
By Jasmine Kozak- Gilroy
Obsidian closed up shop suddenly on Monday November 6, a surprise to both its patrons and its employees,
who awoke to an email explaining that the store would not be opening for business that day, or ever again. But
a group of Obsidian employees, new and old, are working together with the Northwest Cooperative Development Center in the hopes that their doors will not be permanently closed.
The campaign is being fronted by Yasmine O’Shaugnessy, a
newer Obsidian employee who
is eager and optimistic about
turning the space around by
reorganizing their working
structures and rehabilitating the
group’s communication. I met
up with them and Johnny Atlas, who was brought in at the
start to craft Obsidian’s menu
and stayed on as general manager, before being let go by one
owner in September of 2016
and brought back by the other
owner in May of 2017 for an attempted revamp. Together Atlas
and O’Shaugnessy were able to
provide me with a glimpse into
Obsidian’s past, present, and
what may lie ahead in its future.
Obsidian began as a physical
space in the Summer of 2014,
and, stumbling through some
complications, opened in November of the same year with a
menu developed by Atlas to fit
the small kitchen built in the
space, which to this day only
features one burner. Although,

according to Atlas, the space was
highly successful in its original
manifestation at least for the
first several months, communication issues appeared early
on, and led to the eventual walk
out by the managers of the office, bar, and barista operations
of Obsidian in the summer of
2015. This was followed by the
promotion of Atlas to general
manager in late summer, and
then the subsequent letting go
of Atlas by owner Chris Beug in
early fall. This firing was the first
of many drastic changes made
in an attempt to make Obsidian
more profitable/ viable, many of
which Atlas and O’Dogughnay
identify as ultimately causing
great damage to the operation, including the sale of the
espresso machine and the move
from being open all day to being primarily a night venue. In
January of 2017 owner Nathan
Weaver took control of oversight for Obsidian, asking his
business partner Beug to step
aside. In May of 2017 Weaver

asked Atlas to return to help
revamp the menu and reinstate
Obsidian’s long lost brunch.
This was followed by several
months of similar revamping, which included reworking
menu items and a revitalization of the bar, although the
restaurant/bar/ venue remained
without an espresso machine,
which both of the employees I
spoke to cited as being crucial
to Obsidian’s revenue stream.
Yasmine
O’Shaugnessy,
whose YouCaring fundraiser
served as the announcement for
many that Obsidian was dead
and gone, specifically mentions
the espresso machine as a clear
necessity moving forward, along
with a commitment to developing the values that employees
feel failed them at Obsidian,
highlighting in our interview
a desire to focus on, “transparency, accountability, and accessibility”. With these values, the
collective aims to address major
concerns from the workers at
Obsidian about what was de-

scribed to me as a “communication breakdown”, highlighted
for me by the swift and abrupt
shut down of the venue, when
employees were only informed
of even the potential sale of
the space the Wednesday before it shut down for good.
They also aim to address major complaints from customers,
who they say felt that Obsidian was inaccessible, both as an
option for bands to host shows
and as a space to hang out in.
O’Shaugnessy not only hopes
that what will take Obsidian’s
place will be friendly to newcomers of all ages and walks of
life, but is particularly interested
in establishing the collective as
a space friendly to youth, aiming to host all ages shows and
provide opportunities for youth
to perform and learn how to
host shows of their own. They
hope to establish a space that
will allow community members
to book according to their own
needs, and are planning for the
capability to support commu-

nity members, especially those
acting in the political sphere
and under age artists, musicians,
and performers, to grow their
talents and base by aiding them
in the promotion of their events,
some thing they say they saw
fall flat with the original Obsidian’s booking. They are also
aiming to buy a smaller public
address, or PA, system that they
could provide to bands who
could not afford to pay a sound
tech to work Obsidian’s current
expensive, fragile equipment.
Atlas, who has lived in
Olympia for almost two decades, shared about the chaos
that working and maintaining Obsidian brought with it,
“This has got to be over. We
need something new, and we are
seeing that a lot in the world.”
O’Shaugnessy, who is open and
honest about the role that being new to both Olympia and
Obsidian may play in their
optimism made their intentions for the future of the collective establish in the collapse
of Obsidian saying, “Even if
we don’t get Obsidian, we are
still going to be a collective,”
explaining that whether or
not the former Obsidian space
works out for them, the collective will be working together in
the future to establish a more
accessible culture surrounding
shows and open spaces, aiming first for a cohesive calendar
and later for a physical space.
As of November 13 the
group announced via a local
Olympia electronic mailing
list that they will not be buying Obsidian, the business, but
that they will continue moving
forward as a collective, calling
themselves the Olympia Coordination Cooperative. The
cooperative will be moving forwards with attempting to take
over the lease of the former Obsidian space, and are working
with the landlord to that ends.
When I reached O’Shaugnessy
for comment, they shared an intention to, “move forward with
a different approach to space
than Obsidian,” planning on
taking the lessons learned from
Obsidian’s failure to what any
space that the collective may
acquire. In light of the new circumstances their fund raiser, the
goal of which was originally set
for $43,680, has been lowered
to $20,000. The fund raiser can
be found on YouCaring.com.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 05

Community

Evergreen students experiencing the virtual back in the day, taken in the TESC Compter Center. PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN, COURTESY OF EVERGREEN PHOTOS.--

I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE
AND YOU CAN TOO
by Jasmine Kozak- Gilroy
In 30 minutes, I was able to find the home addresses of Associate Vice President for Academic Budget and Financial Planning Walter
Niemiec, Vice President of Student Affairs Wendy Endress, former Chief of Police Stacy Brown, former Director of Student Conduct and
current Student Conduct Coordinator Andrea Seabert Olsen, Vice President of Finance & Administration John Hurley, and Vice President
of College Relations Sandra Kaiser. I have no plans to release this information, so what I am doing does not technically count as doxxing–
which is most simplistically defined as the purposeful cultivation and release of information about an individual– but even if I did, Washington state has no laws governing the cultivation and release of public information, and all the details I used to determine the addresses came
from public sources, such as online phone books, real estate web sites, and social media accounts.
The idea for this experiment came
out of the systemic, thorough doxxing
of Rashida Love, who served as the
Director of First Peoples Multicultural Advising Services at Evergreen
until someone, having sourced her
address from the internet, allegedly
showed up at her door. Love has made
herself unavailable for comment but
according to reports from students
who knew her that incident, combined with the online harassment she
faced from ‘trolls’, caused her to leave
the College and move away from her
home. The experience of Love was
contrasted by many students who
referenced being doxxed online and
in conversations as contributing to
their feelings of lack of safety following the protests in spring. Although
some student complaints were in
relation to harassing messages they
received on social media, many of
the complaints had to do with the
sharing of their images on Facebook,
Twitter, and news sites, and one specific incident in which an anonymous
4Chan user utilized a premium Tinder account to ‘swipe through’ Tinder profiles in Olympia and posted
the photos of anyone assumed to
be an Evergreen student online.
There is a clear practical distinction to be made between these two
manifestations of doxxing– one of
which involved the accessing, release, and use of someone’s home

address, and the other which simply
cultivated a range of individuals who
could theoretically serve as targets
for further doxxing. But the nature
of doxxing as a tactic, which stems
from old school forms of intimidation, makes distinguishing between
these different occurrences in terms
of their impact on the target difficult, as in both cases the tactic works
and worked, leaving students and
staff feeling insecure and in danger.
Attending a public institution, especially in a state where laws about access to information produced by state
institutions make almost anything
produced, from emails to artwork, a
public record that technically must be
made available to anyone who asks,
makes students, staff, and faculty
especially vulnerable to new forms
of harassment and exposure, further complicating already muddled
conceptions of privacy and safety.
There is no clear path forward,
but not addressing the clearly stated
concerns of our community regarding feeling overexposed feels unacceptable, and in light of both those
concerns and an understanding that
not everyone even understands what
doxxing is, I have worked to put
together a crash course in the act
and history of doxxing in the hopes
that it may serve as a starting point
for a conversation on what we, as
community members, in conjunc-

06 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

tion with the College administration, can do to better keep our lives
as free from harassment as possible.
What is Doxxing
Doxxing comes from the word
“document” and refers to the act of
creating a digital ‘dossier’ of an individual, making a sincere effort to
cultivate personal information about
someone and then releasing it to the
public. Often, ‘the public’ is a message board or website hostile to the
individual being doxxed. Most doxxing is done through accessing information available to the public, either
through social media accounts or
through websites or databases that
provide public records information.
Although it technically describes the
cultivation of information on any individual by anyone, in recent history,
public perception of doxxing has it
known as a tactic of the ‘Alt-Right’.
While doxxing can be done by
one person, it is more often done at
least in conjunction with some kind
of group, regardless of whether the
doxx-ers lean left, right, or neither.
This action by a group can either
come in the form of many different
individuals sourcing many different
small bits of information that can
be compiled, or in the identification of a target by a group of people,
whether it be anti- racist organizers or an anti- feminist Reddit fo-

rum, and the subsequent cultivation
of information on an individual.
A Quaint History of Doxing
Doxxing, or doxing, as it was often
spelled in the early 2000s, developed
organically with the internet, an extension of the long lived use of personal information as blackmail or for
purposes of intimidation. The use of
doxxing as a verb came to mainstream
prominence in the early 2010s with
Gamergate, which started with the
digital abuse of video game designer
Zoe Quinn after a former boyfriend
published a “9,425 word” blog post
complaining about her and their relationship, which was followed by internet ‘trolls’ harassing her. The harassment, much of which was organized
by anonymous users on 4Chan or
Reddit, snowballed into the quasi systemic doxxing of a number of women
and queer people who were identified as being whiny, Social Justice
Warriors, or otherwise reprehensible.
Doxxing has become an important buzzword in the year leading
up to and following the election due
to the rise in visibility of Alt-Right
groups, and was especially visible following the Unite the Right march on
Charlottesville, after which information about marchers was found and
disseminated. Doxxing has also become relevant as a popular tactic for
anti- fascist or anti- racist organizers,

who can use public sources to obtain
information about presumed neoNazis and white supremacists to be
published online so that communities can avoid them or put pressure
on their schools or employers to expel, fire, or otherwise discipline them.
On May 16, 2016, the official
Twitter account of the Merriam
Webster Dictionary tweeted, “Spell it
‘doxed’ or ‘doxxed’, ‘doxing’ or ‘doxxing’—but don’t dox people,” and although the spelling clarification (or
lack thereof ) is helpful, their plea is
unlikely to be heralded. The world, as
your grandfather may have told you,
is changing at an alarming pace, and
coming to terms with that involves
admitting that the exploitation of our
ever growing virtual wealth of information is unlikely to quell anytime
soon. Instead of closing our eyes really tight and hoping the world that
we live in will feel less dystopian
when we open them, it is important
that we address questions of privacy head on, and figure out strategies to keep our community as safe,
or at least un- doxxable, as possible.

Our inquiry into digital privacy, in general, and doxxing, in particular, will continue in future issues. In the meantime, if
you have any thoughts, send us an email–
cooperpointjournal@gmail.com

Community

Photo looking down on the mass of alumni gathered for brunch. JASMINE KOZAK-GILROY

COMMUNITY
DOWNTOWN
By Robin Gibson
Providence Community Care Center officially
opened its doors on September 13th, 2017, marking
the start of a journey to provide accessible services to
the houseless community in Olympia. The new Providence center stands in the building that was Bayside
Quilting until April of 2016 and aims to create a space
of safety and dignity for those in need.
With its central location, wide
range of vital services, and lively
new paint job, the health center
promises to become an invigorating fixture in downtown Olympia. According to the Facebook
page of their parent organization,
Providence Olympia, Providence
Community Care Center has seen
“167 guests, connected 7 people
with housing, and had 8 mental
health connections with a case
manager” in only the first two days
since their doors opened. Chris
Thomas at Providence Health &
Services for Southwest Washington cites an average of more
than 200 guests per day at the
new health center and that they
are “building relationships to get
people access to housing, primary
care, mental health and substance
abuse services, among others.”
The Providence Community
Care Center is notable for the
various benefits and support systems that have gathered under
its roof. Among the partnerships
that make the health center possible are the charitable organization Interfaith Works, housing
initiative SideWalk, the National
Alliance on Mental Illness, and
the Olympia Free Clinic. Chris
Thomas at Providence Health &
Services for Southwest Washington says, “These services were
being offered throughout our
community, but by bringing them
together in one building, we are
able to help vulnerable individuals
navigate the system and find out
what their needs are, and be more
effective in servicing those needs.”
The community center will be
one part of a larger effort to address the houselessness crisis in
Olympia. In Thurston County,

the houseless population was estimated to be at 586 last year, a 33%
increase from 2006. Says Thomas:
“Lack of services, such as permanent affordable housing, still
exist in Thurston County. The
Center has also made it clear the
need for a designated space for
a warming center -- which the
Community Care Center is not.
The Center must maintain operations as a social services hub, designed to meet people where they
are and help them get access to
and into the services they need.”
The community center’s services are proving to be widereaching: at St. Peter Hospital,
the average number of patients
visiting the emergency room
seeking mental health services or
addiction treatment each day was
at 22 until Providence Community Care Center opened, and since
then, that average has dropped
to 12. The new Providence center addresses many of the needs
that impact the houseless community-- among the services
provided are laundry machines,
showers, and access to housing
and mental health services. These
are vital ways to address the issues
that affect the houseless community. Providence Community
Care Center also provides a bag
check-in system, allowing people
to leave their possessions in a safe
place while they move through
the city and search for work.
The Providence Community
Care Center is proving to be a
welcome focal point in the community at large. Those looking
to donate or volunteer can find
information about monetary donations online, or if it suits you,
stop by their location Downtown.

RETURN

EVERGREEN

By Sally Linn, April Davidson, and Jasmine Kozak- Gilroy

Return to Evergreen is an annual event put on by College Advancement, the
office in charge of managing and generating donations for the College. The event,
which is put on to encourage alumni participation in the college financially or otherwise, spans several days, the main attraction this year being a day long marathon
event that began with a brunch, followed by two class sessions, a tasting hour of
local wine, beer, and coffee produced by alumni, and a concert put on in support
of a new scholarship fund for alumni Edmond Lapine II, who passed away in the
2016 Ghost Ship fire.
Entertainment for brunch was
a panel featuring Larry Eickstaedt, David Marr, Nancy Taylor,
Dr. Ernest “Stone” Thomas, and
Sam Schrager, all Evergreen old
timers who had been at the college at or near the beginning of
its existence, and shared their
thoughts, feelings, and insights
about being there at the start.
Highlights from the pannel
included Thomas’s description
of Evergreen’s first “non white
people’s” Disapearing task Force
(DTF), which, among other formal recomendation, suggested
that all College staff and faculty
be required to undergo annual diversity training, and that all of the
empty positions for the following
years be filled by people of color or
women, which feels evocative of
the equity measures that sparked
contraversy last year. Two quotes
in particular, outside of Thomas’s
discussion, stood out– one former faculty members comment
that, “When I finished my PhD
they walked on the moon,” and
another’s comment that he hoped
that Evergreen continued to ino-

vate with education, “As long as it
dosen’t turn into an activist farm.”
The second act featured lecture
sessions hosted by current Evergreen staff and faculty including
faculty emeritus who no longer
teach regularly at Evergreen, such
as Stephanie Coontz, whose book
“The Way We Never Were” was
cited in the federal Defense of
Marriage Act repeal hearings, who
gave a lecture titled “Make America Great Again” about topical
political happenings and their relationship to cultural myths about
the family. Other sesions spanned
the diverse oferings of the College itself, from lectures on phage
therapy, hosted by faculty emeritus Betty Kutter, to a hands onexploration of the Evergreen forest,
to a screening of a film about the
Washington Corrections Facility for Women and, “the unlikely
champion they have found in Seattle police officer Kim Bogucki.”
The benefit concer followed
the sessions and the tasting hour.
The proceeds from this concert
went towards a newly established
scholarship in Edmond’s name

for future Evergreen students.
Selector Dub Narcotic, Alex
R. Puckett with DJ Spin’nkre,
and Tender Forever played this
show, the former and later being
close affiliates and friends with
the deceased. Edmond’s mother
spoke at this event saying that,
“now every year, at least one person will say Edmond’s name,”
referring to the scholarship.
Calvin Johnson, who performs
under the moniker Selector Dub
Narcotic, founded K Records in
1982 and Dub Narcotic Studios
1993. He performed dance-y
white boy beats that hit hard and
made one wish they weren’t sitting in theatre-style chairs but
were rather on the floor grooving
with him, dancing with jagged
but suave arm movements that
cut through ice. This aspiring floor
party did happen on the last song,
however, when Calvin played
a track by Joey Casio, another
victim of the fire and beloved
friend of the performers. Everybody joined together on stage
for a beauteous dance-memorial.
Continued on page 10.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 07

Arts & Culture

M A C S E N
B A U M A N N
Artist Interview by Sally Linn

Macsen and I met for drinks at Photoland where he works as a photo intern. I had a

vodka and La Croix. He had just gotten off work. And we learned that while our frames
are nearly identical, I wear Ottoto glasses. He wears Polo. Here’s what he had to say.

08 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

Arts & Culture
“Hi and thank you Sally. The easy answer
is I’m trying to take pictures.” Most of the
recording I have of him is giggles and awkward what-are-you-trying-to-say-here’s. I did,
however, manage to pull something out of it,
even if it only seems like a plug for Photoland.
His primary medium is analog large-format
studio photography. He’s currently interning at
Photoland so he spends a lot of his time working on the technical side of photography, getting to know equipment and photo processing,
although he was clear that he also takes photos
“for the purpose of art.” He has spent his time
at Evergreen taking a variety of photography
classes, but Macsen doesn’t think he has a direction yet with his work saying, “I’m only 21
years old.” He says his work all comes down to
“the image,” jokingly, of course. Recently, he’s
been experimenting with different methods
that try to capture elements of the uncanny
valley. The uncanny valley is a phenomenon
in which things that resemble humans but are
not actually human—think stuffed animals,
robots, etc.—will, if they continue to resemble humans more and more, dip into a realm
of extreme creepiness before they once again
emerge in the human realm of non-creepiness
and affection. Although photography might
be at the most real level of the uncanny valley, he sees the potential in it as a medium
for creating that effect because of the level of
control photography allows over the image.
Usually Macsen takes still life photographs.
Still life is an image of objects that are not in
motion. They are arranged in deliberate ways.
The subjects of Macsen’s still life are “suggest-

ing” the form of an object or person but are
not actually that—like the uncanny valley. He
tries to have the suggestion be made through
an arrangement of objects that resemble the
presence of a person which he achieves by
using various fabrics and other objects that
suggest the shape and curve of body parts.
Macsen still identifies very much as a student of photography. His pictures are a learning experience for him. “People always say
they want to ‘explore an idea,’ but I think
that’s a cop out,” he says. “A successful image is something that’s just good to look at
and makes people want to keep looking at it.
If I’m being honest, when I try to look at art
from a perspective of ‘What am I doing?’ I go
crazy. I don’t produce anything. I don’t like it.”
He’s not secretive about his work. But currently, most of the people who see his work
are either in class with him or just hanging
around Photoland. “I’m trying to start a lifestyle brand,” he said facetiously. Having a
community of peers at Photoland has allowed
him to extend the length of his process to be
more meticulous. Instead of just shooting for
a class assignment, he says, where photos are
taken and finished in the course of two days,
now his projects take a couple months to
yield a finished photo. The work changes and
evolves in that period. While it may take less
than a second to take a photo, the process of
actualizing it takes much, much longer. There’s
the conceptualization of the image, the studio
time spent arranging and perfecting lighting,
the film development, the darkroom printing
and editing. Macsen frequently builds sets for

his work too which is also time consuming.
Once you take your photo, it is permanently expressed on the strip of film and what
is on the film cannot be changed. What goes
onto the paper, however, is mutable. In the
dark room, light is shone through the film
negative and on to a piece of photo-sensitive
paper. But between the negative and the paper there are a number of manual editing operations that can be done to change the appearances of an image such as waving hands
through the light or cutting out bits of paper
to block the light– anything that can be done
in Photoshop can be done in the dark room.
Because still life photography consists of
both the photo and the sculpture of objects
that the photos is of, it allows for blurred
line between sculptural photography and
still life photography. “It can be as simple as
a bunch of shit I’ve piled together or it could
be of things I’ve actually made,” he says.
“I want to produce things for the sake of producing things—because they look good, even
though there’s too much loaded into that statement. But making things because it feels good.”
“Photoland has supported my art, I don’t
know about Evergreen, though,” said Macsen.
“Photoland has given me access to facilities, resources, and knowledge which has enabled me
in a different way [than classes have].” Macsen has worked at Photoland for the entirety
of his time at Evergreen, you too can find him
there and layer him with inadequate questions.
Macsen’s first public show, put on with the
other Photoland interns, will take place in
January, somewhere. We’ll keep you posted.

“I WANT TO PRODUCE THINGS FOR THE SAKE OF
PRODUCING THINGS–
MAKING BECAUSE IT FEELS GOOD.”

&

UP
COMING
WED. NOV 15
El Guanaco

415 Water St SW, All Day, $2

Pupusa Day, all pupusas $2

SUN. NOV 19
Olympia Film Society

206 5th Ave SE, 7 p.m., $10

Closing night celebration featuring
Lisa Prank

MON. NOV 20
Not Obsidian

Location TBA, 7 p.m., $5- 7, All Ages

Radiator Hospital, rexmanningday,
Trust Fall, Blood Orphans

TUES. NOV 21
Le Voyuer

404 4th Ave E, 7 p.m., $5- 7, All Ages

Bethlehem Steel (NYC), Bad Sleep,
Special Moves

WED. NOV 29
College Activities Building
2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW. 11 a.m.

Fall Arts & Crafts Fair

The Writing Center

2700 Evergreen Pkwy NW. 4 p.m.

Grad School Application Workshop

SAT. DEC 2
Not Obsidian

Location TBA, 7 p.m., $10, All Ages

SALES, Chaos Chaos, The
Washboard Abs

ABC House

$10 p.m., Free, All Ages

Anther, Gregg Skloff, dolphin
midwives, Cyclopsycho

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 09

Arts & Culture
K Records in 1982 and Dub
Narcotic Studios 1993. He
performed dance-y white boy
beats that hit hard and made
one wish they weren’t sitting
in theatre-style chairs but were
rather on the floor grooving
with him, dancing with jagged but suave arm movements
that cut through ice. This aspiring floor party did happen on the last song, however,
when Calvin played a track
by Joey Casio, another victim
of the fire and beloved friend
of the performers. Everybody
joined together on stage for a
beauteous dance-memorial.
Alex R. Puckett, performing
as Poetic, with DJ Spin’nkre
brought new vibes to the Recital Hall. Their hip-hop oriented act was a good and fine
middle act. The duo are both
current students at Evergreen
studying English and creative
writing. Their music is uplifting and at times amateur.
Tender Forever, our very
own Melanie Valera who can
be seen stomping around MeValera’s Franco-American pop dia Loan most days, played
project spans nationalities and some of their Franco-Amerleaps forward toward a world ican classics last Saturday.
where we can close the gaps It is obvious that they have
between countries, ideologies thought and worked on the
and ultimately hearts. Move aspects of what makes a good
closer.” I would encourage you performance. More than just
to make the effort to make engaging the crowd and movit to her next show, when- ing around in the space, they
ever, wherever that might be. included a multimedia perforOn Saturday, November mance as an ode to the weird4, Evergreen hosted a benefit ness of Evergreen. What beconcert in the memory of Ed- gan as a joke video of two half
mond Lapine II, a 2008 Ever- naked metal dudes head banggreen grad and victim of the ing while fanning a campfire
Ghost Ship fire in Oakland with an oar on what resembles
in 2016. The proceeds from the Puget Sound turned into
this concert went towards a a larger statement about gennewly established scholarship der and freedom. Her truly
in Edmond’s name for future tender sounds are resonant
Evergreen students. Selec- with friends and loves and
tor Dub Narcotic, Alex R. lost loves everywhere. Quoted
Puckett with DJ Spin’nkre, from her online bio for the
and Tender Forever played concert, “Melanie Valera’s
this show, the former and Franco-American pop projlater being close affiliates and ect spans nationalities and
friends with the deceased. leaps forward toward a world
Edmond’s mother spoke at where we can close the gaps
this event saying that, “now between countries, ideologies
every year, at least one per- and ultimately hearts. Move
son will say Edmond’s name,” closer.” I would encourage you
referring to the scholarship. to make the effort to make
Calvin Johnson, who per- it to her next show, whenforms under the moniker Se- ever, wherever that might be.
lector Dub Narcotic, founded
Continued from page 7.
Alex R. Puckett, performing as Poetic, with DJ Spin’nkre
brought new vibes to the Recital
Hall. Their hip-hop oriented act
was a good and fine middle act.
The duo are both current students
at Evergreen studying English
and creative writing. Their music
is uplifting and at times amateur.
Tender Forever, our very own
Melanie Valera who can be seen
stomping around Media Loan
most days, played some of their
Franco-American classics last
Saturday. It is obvious that they
have thought and worked on the
aspects of what makes a good
performance. More than just
engaging the crowd and moving
around in the space, they included a multimedia performance as
an ode to the weirdness of Evergreen. What began as a joke video
of two half naked metal dudes
head banging while fanning a
campfire with an oar on what resembles the Puget Sound turned
into a larger statement about
gender and freedom. Her truly
tender sounds are resonant with
friends and loves and lost loves
everywhere. Quoted from her online bio for the concert, “Melanie

10 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

OLYMPIA PEOPLE’S MIC

LOCAL CLASSIC CONTINUES
@ THE NEW BEN MOORE’S
Evergreen’s woman’s basketball team in action. COURTESY OLD GROWTH POETRY..

By Robin Gibson
Showing up to the Olympia People’s Mic is a little like the two minutes after you
get on the bus and your fingers start to warm up all at once. Wind your way through
the tables at Ben Moore’s on 4th Avenue and you’ll end up amid a collection of
chairs, a microphone stand, and, most notably, a gaggle of poets.
Every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
an open mic and a poetry slam
besets the downtown restaurant’s back room. It’s put on by
the Old Growth Poetry Collective, a group with its roots in
the Evergreen State College.
I talked to Locke HB, a poet
who frequents the open mics.
Locke performs in some
capacity at nearly every event,
and every time it’s a delight.
I watch them step in front
of the mic. They take a moment to gather their thoughts
and their oxygen. Then, all at
once, with a gesture like an
ocean crashing, they step up
and say, “Gay pride is great,
but what about the other six
deadly sins?” The audience explodes with a vitality usually
reserved for the callback script
of The Rocky Horror Picture
Show. “Gay Wrath” is a longstanding favorite in Locke’s
repertoire, one that speaks to
the violence inherent in the
LGBTQ liberation movement. The crowd’s response is
another important characteristic of poetry slams and open
mics– audience participation
taken to a careening extreme.

There’s a thrilling sort of
confusion about going to the
Olympia People’s Mic for the
first time. There’s an open mic
and a poetry slam; the distinction is minor but important.
The open mic proceeds as you
might expect— poets have
three minutes each to read
their poetry for a live audience. The poetry slam, however, is a competitive event. A
group of poets, usually 5, read
their poems as five audience
members judge them, assigning a numerical value from
zero to ten. The highest and
lowest scores are dropped, and
the middle three scores are
added together. Each round
proceeds likewise until someone wins the poetry slam.
I talked about the nature
of poetry slams with Locke.
They’ve only been part of the
poetry collective for a few
months, but they’ve been attending the open mics for
years. “I think it’s fun,” they
told me. They noted, however,
that the competitive nature of
the poetry slam has a tendency
of pushing people to write poetry that works to appeal to

the audience or to outcompete
other poets, rather than poetry written to move people.
There needs to be a paragraph
here about the guest poets that
do features most of the time.
According
to
Rachel
Greene, the Old Growth Poetry Collective began as an
Evergreen student group in
2012; once their numbers had
grown to include people from
the larger Olympia community, they became an independent organization to seek
certification by Poetry Slam
Inc (PSi). Rachel’s been a collective member since its inception, and has seen the open
mic and poetry slam through
its wandering iterations from
a dubious residency at the
Flaming Eggplant, to Cafe
Love, through a brief stint
at the Urban Onion, and finally to Ben Moore’s. [Rachel
probably says things here.]
The Olympia People’s Mic
has seen many iterations and
many challenges. Most recently, Ben Moore’s changed
hands, shaking the reliability of the venue space where a
myriad of community events

Arts & Culture

OLYMPIA FILM FESTIVAL

By Sally Linn and April Davidson
Photo by Tari Gunstone
The Olympia Film Festival, put on
by and at the Olympia Film Society,
is returning for its ____ year. Our
writers picked out some of the most
iconic and promising films on the
line up to share with you. In general,
tickets for students and members
run $7 a pop, or you could shell out
for a student festival pass for $40.
Heck, if you work at it hard enough,
you may even be able to sneak on
in. Regardless, you’re sure to have a
good time.
Free Cece (2016)
Free CeCe! is the story of Chrishaun
Reed “CeCe” McDonald, a trans
woman of color who was arrested
for defending herself from an antiLGBTQ attack on the street. Actress Laverne Cox who plays Sophia
Burset on the Netflix series Orange
is the New Black is one of the executive producers for this documentary.
It is a survival story of a trans woman serving time in a men’s prison
that explores race, class, and gender
and the role these played in CeCe’s
case. CeCe’s story became an international campaign to win her freedom and was a major point of attention for LGBTQ rights everwhere.
It is playing at OFS at 1p.m. on
Saturday, November 18 and OFS
is offering 2 for 1 admission for this
showing.

Vagabond (1985)
At the beginning of this film the
main character, a young woman vagabond named Mona, is found frozen
to death in a ditch. What follows is
a pseudo-documentary style account
of the last days of her life hitchhiking through the French countryside
in the winter, told through the stories of the people she meets along
the way. Written and directed by
respected Avant-Garde film maker
Agnes Varda, the original title of
the work is “Sans toit ni loi” which
means “Without roof or law”. The
work as a whole is bleak, philosophical and rejects a simple summary.
My personal favorite scene is when
Mona gets drunk and giggly with an
very cute old woman whom the rest
of the characters ignore or lose their
patience with, if they even notice
her at all.
“Vagabond” will be presented in
35mm on Wednesday, November
15 at 6 p.m.

Lane 1974 (2017)
The story of 13 year old Lane, based
on the memoirs of Clane Hayward,
is displayed in its raw and emotional
force in this flick. It is the story of
a dysfunctional family living in a
commune that takes to the road and
leaves Lane to navigate the sporadic
episodes of an uprooted family. This
too is the story of survival of a young
girl in a hostile world.
This showing during the festival will
feature a Q&A with the filmmaker
SJ Chiro and lead actress Sophia
Mitri Schloss. It is playing at OFS
at 5 p.m. on Saturday, November
18.
The World Is Mine (2016)
Not a Nas documentary as one
might think from the title, this documentary instead explores the cosplay
world of hardcore fandom around
the fictional, animated character
Miku Hatsune. Miku is an online
diva who also performs live concerts
in holographic form. She is entirely
fan-created and that is part of what
adds to the magic. Talk about the
future. Her pixelated form performs
in front of a live band to the wave
of a sea of thirsty glow stick bearing
fans. In this film, director Ann Oren
joins this community to show the
extent of its intensity and fantasy.
This is playing at OFS at 9p.m. on
Thursday, November 16.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 11

Letters & Opinion

POC TALK
On October 9, a Confederate flag was displayed during a Veteran’s Day assembly at Bush Middle School in Tumwater. I heard
about this incident Thursday afternoon when the group Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) sent out a call to action for people
to email the Tumwater School District about a Confederate flag being displayed at a Tumwater middle school. The reaction was
swift and by that night, during a regularly scheduled board meeting, an apology had been issued by superintendent John Bash. In
the press release the district said, “Part of the assembly held at Bush Middle School included their student leadership class presenting a chronological American history displaying 14 different flags from 1775 to the present. “
I was informed by Laurie Wiedenmeyer, Coordinator of Communications &
Community Relation for Tumwater school
district, that this presentation has been “a
longstanding tradition at Bush Middle
School with the same program each year
for the past approximately 18 years,” later
clarifying that, “While the format of the
assembly has been a longstanding tradition, we are unsure of how long it has been
[since the Confederate flag was in use]… It
has been for the past several years, for sure.”
In response to my question about
whether this is a tradition at other school and how this practice
got started Wiedenmeyer said this,
“We do not have the history of how
this became a part of the assembly at this
specific middle school, and have no knowledge of a similar program happening in any
of our other schools. Each of our schools
have a little different format for their Veterans Day assemblies, but each are with
the intent of honoring the Veterans who
have served our country. We regret that
this incident may be overshadowing the
same intent at Bush Middle School – and
that is honoring our American heroes.”
The press statement offers an apology
to the student and community by saying,
“Nevertheless, the presence of the flag itself in this program failed to honor our
commitment to ensure a safe, respectful,
and culturally sensitive school environment at all times. We extend our sincere
apology to this student, her family, and
all others offended by this incident. We
will work with our staff to ensure this and
other programs are carefully planned to
ensure an inclusive school environment.”
Something I just don’t understand is
how little thought people seem to give to
wording, wording is everything. The issue
with this apology is that the school is putting the emphasis on the people who were
offended instead of taking responsibility for being offensive themselves. This is

like a child telling their parents, “i’m sorry
you’re mad that I…”, we all know that isn’t
how an apology works. How about “We
extend our sincere apology to this student,
her family, and all others [we] offended by
this incident”. What matters here is that
your school has been doing something
offensive. And it was offensive whether
or not anyone present took offence. Everyone should be offended by racism.
There have been quite a few articles
written on this event this past week. The
thing that worries me is that none of them
mention the fact that none of the staff or
faculty seemed to question the inclusion
of the flag for 18 years, “several years” or
at all. There may be several reasons for this
‘mistake, but the most obvious reason I can
come up with is the demographic of the
school, which currently serves 536 students,
75.4% of whom are white, with 13.2% of
the remaining population being Latinx,
7% two or more races, and 1.3% Black.
One of the two students holding the flag
was a student of color, and it seems like that
was what finally snapped people into the reality that the flag should not be included at
all, but what of the other years when it supposedly wasn’t a student of color who held
the flag? In the press statement Bash specifically addresses the fact that the student
was indeed not white pointing out that,
“This leadership student was not assigned
to this specific flag, but the student holders got out of order during the program.”
His attempt at an explanation explains nothing at all, instead implying
that the ‘mistake’ was that a student of
color ended up holding the Confederate flag, instead of the mistake being that
there was a Confederate flag on display
at all. But of course, the real problem is
that obviously no students in the assembly should be carrying the Confederate
flag, regardless of race– the symbol should
have been removed long ago, or better yet
never have been included to begin with.

12 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

When anti-racist activists say we need
white people to hold other white people
accountable, this is what they are referring to. This assembly went on for years,
and seemingly at no point did any teachers, staff, students, or families take action,
because apparently no one was offended
or worried about how this inclusion of the
Confederate flag is not only wrong but
disrespectful to the veterans they want to
so blatantly point out the ceremony was
meant to pay homage too. No one thought
that maybe it was not appropriate to include a symbol of hate and slavery, until
a middle school student of color had to
present a flag that still to this day represents real danger for students and people of
color. Let me be clear: presenting this flag
would still be wrong whether or not there
were any people of color present at all.
Though the superintendent is the one
issuing the apologies here, what I can’t
help but think that it is the autonomous
adults– Bush Middle School’s staff, faculty, and administration who knowingly
stood by and watched the flag get marched
around for all of those years, who owe
their students and community an apology.
I reached out to staff and faculty
but as of November 13 none have chosen to comment, though a lack of comment does not excuse their complacency; what you permit you promote.
Personally I feel for this student because
I know what it is to be a middle schooler
in a small Washington town, the type of
town that claims to be colorblind, that
maybe has schools named for historically
important people of color but allows teachers to call Black people negroes, and has
students picked up from school with confederate flags hanging off back of trucks.
Although I do not and have not been to
Bush Middle School, I do personally I
know that I felt that, with the population
of students of color so low, I had to just let
go of the racism I was surrounded with as

a means of survival. I can only imagine it
would be an even deeper blow when you
know that the “long standing traditions” of
your schools are washed in whiteness and
no one noticed and or cared until 2017.
And
while
we’re
on
this
note I’d also like to point out:
Several news sources have pointed out
that the school was named after George
W. Bush, a free biracial Black man who
helped settle the area that is now Tumwater after being pushed north from
Oregon by the implementation of lash
laws that prevented Black people from
owning land and also allowed for whippings. In classic Pacific Northwest fashion the intended implication seems to be
that because this school is named after a
Free Black man who came north hoping
to escape racism it is even more wrong
for something like this to happen. Let
me just say it would be wrong no matter
what the school was named and whether
a student of color held the flag or not.
Racism isn’t more wrong because of the
name it’s happening under, its not more
wrong because we had a Black president,
and it’s not more wrong because a student
of color was involved. It’s just wrong. We do
not live in a post racial society and just because a school is named after a person who
succeeded in life even with the intense racial inequity going on during his time, that
doesn’t make the school a magically racism
free zone. Shame on the staff and faculty
who witnessed these events and said nothing for what was at least “several” years.
I’m really tired ya’ll.
Whiteness is exasperating.

POC Talk out!
send your questons + ideas to
poctalk@cooperpointjournal.com

Letters & Opinions

How long should you keep things that aren’t
yours but feel like they’re yours Nothing is
yours unless you asked for it and it was
offered to you UNLESS you shopliftered
it then it is okay totaly fine you deserve it
Is it true that science will soon be able to recapture every second of our past,, store it in
data format and play it back like a movie?
signed, A little nervous YES it is true kill it
before it happens the future is not real u
also the future is BAD think about really
i am serious not craxzy cwazy i rpromise not it is REALLY bad tecnhnology is
congrol 1 in the same for REAli read a
lot about it but also hve you just fekt yiyr
feelings abut body cams? Bad feelings
Badfeelings
for
real
What is yuor favorite hip hop song and why?
tommy genisis have u heard of her?? angelina bc it is a good soneg about fucking dudes
bc girls are too pretty and intimidating
I found a weed pupe atmy house after the riot party last month, is it
yours? NO ITS YOURS reappropriate what hS BEEN tkken from 3you
When do you do your homework if you
want to have sex with your partner and
gi e them love and affection, go to parties,
study , AND sleep? “i’ll just eat you out
whil you work’ “your’re rediculous” “do
you not watn me to” “no please do” rn
how do I bring up a different preexisting
fuckbuddy relationship with a new date
friend Say: hey! Teheree is ths person i
am fucking how do u feel about hat?\
Also
check
out
@body
part
y
cpj
they
are
sickkkkkk
How do I survive in a long distance relationship Hmmm if it is too hard give
up before you ar mean to each othrer
I do not believe in fate but alos “if it is meant
to be it is meant to be’ AND IF THEY
ODO not respect yo u they will proocve it

UPDATE:revealsenders.com is now live!
use it to see who sends you anonymous messages I keep reading his as reveal sandars like mr. senarot fuck him whaetevr
But fuck jill siten more ya lnow
What do think i am some kine of
democratic socialist fuck that sry bb
ummmm how do i know if im being
ghosted? is there any way to recover from
this???? Everyone ghosts someone bc
milenials lac ksocial skills the internet sucks okay im sorry everyone does it
its not fine but is fune its not bc yr not
cool or hot unless not and that s fine too
Why don’t men believe me when I say I’m a
homo? Like the term “queer” is so vague so
str8 dudes still wanna hit me up and I’m literally crying about it YIOR deerve better
not to be #not all men but if they are ok
they probabky will understanf you and f
they dont they are probabyly the tyo[epe
who only value the worst kind of fucking so liek..... it will be okay oyu witll
prevail and have better sex w/o them
it i really hard to accept the fact that /
to deal wtith the fa t htasome people
are so shitty about such things but really it is for the best to ujust for gegt
them and be your self-est self i promise
advice for people with insomnia or circadian rhythm disorders? what to do at
night when you are awake and bored?
kiss your sweetie! or mastrabate or if
that is not yr thing read a book! or
read print outs of fan fic and medium thinks[pieces you kkeeep by yr bed

We get drunk so you don’t have to!
Submit your thoughts + the questions you
wouldn’t dare ask your RA to
wastedadvice.sarahah.com or to our
ask.fm, @wastedadvice

KAOS TOP 20
89.3
THE WEEK OF OCT. 25

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Sharon Jones & The Dap King Soul of a Woman
Bingx My E.G.O
YYY A Tribute To The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds
Jades Goudreault Jades Goudreault EP
Gregory Porter Nat “King” Cole & Me
Aretha Franklin A Brand New Me
Langston Doobs Reflections Of Self
Cory Weeds Let’s Groove
Bonerama Hot Like Fire
Ane Brun Leave Me Breathless

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 13

Letters and Opinion

WANT

TO

PUBLISHED

HAVE

IN

YOUR

THE

COMIiX

CPJ?

The CPJ is always taking comic submissions. Just send your comics to
CPJcomix@gmail.com at at least 300 dpi or drop off a hard copy to the CPJ office,
CAB 332 across from student activities. For more information, as well as submission guidelines and sizing requirments, visit us at http://www.cooperpointjournal.com/submit/

14 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

Letters and Opinion
RUBY THOMPSON.

by April Davidson

ARIES 3/21 - 4/19

These weeks you’ll be dealing in themes of trust, prosperity, intimacy and awareness. All
these things are attainable with the tools at hand, the resources available. Accommodate
uncertainty in your projects and partnerships. Set events in motion for tangible results. If
feeling threatened by the crumbling forces of power, seek out connection.

TAURUS 4/20 - 5/20

LIBRA 9/23 - 10/22

A moment of diligent focus and mental agility is coming for you, your powers of communication will receive development as a result. Your purpose will begin to crystalize
and your actions that are motivated by clear intentions can produce magical results. An
intense level of intellectual demands means you will need to set all distractions aside.

SCORPIO 10/23 - 11/21

There will be a necessity for diplomacy which you will have to negotiate through a fair
amount of fear and illusion. Inner demons are distorting the truth about sharing and
partnerships. Vivid dreams or fantasies about someone significant are possible right now.
Bewildered on how to work with others. Confusion about how to make things public.

While you are generally comfortable with transformations of all kinds, now is a particularly potent moment to initiate a personal reinvention. Energy and enthusiasm will come
to you through dreams and fantasies. There will be an array of choices; this could reinforce
addictive patterns or put focus on changing habits in order to be noticed and regarding
by others in a positive way.

GEMINI 5/21 - 6/20

SAGITTARIUS 11/22 - 12/21

CANCER 6/21 - 7/22

CAPRICORN 12/22 - 1/19

Trying to do too much, but what else is new? You are at the forefront for a new system;
burdened, tied up, pushed to your limit. Taking care of business, you will shoulder the
blame for all the details. Continue to think critically about why you are doing what you’re
doing. You will end up struggling against the opinions of others as you attempt to do your
work.

Are you looking for opportunities for self-expression? Creating a warm, supportive and
nurturing environment is one of your strongest powers. Putting yourself in service to others will elicit confirmations of your worth. When you allow others to be themselves you
come off as down-to-earth, and moment of celebratory play will occur.

LEO 7/23 - 8/22

A moment of diligent focus and mental agility is coming for you, your powers of communication will receive development as a result. Your purpose will begin to crystalize
and your actions that are motivated by clear intentions can produce magical results. An
intense level of intellectual demands means you will need to set all distractions aside.

VIRGO 8/23 - 9/22

There seems to be many obstacles in your course and you’re getting frustrated by what you
perceive as a crisis in lacking. You’re feeling pressured to perform, to rush to heal wounds
and alleviate suffering. Instead of fixating on material loss or inadequacy, allow yourself
time to play or have an adventure. While you are having fun, or following a dream, that
you’ll be able to stay open to receiving the download you need to keep believing.

There will be some lingering, nebulous feelings of guilt or purposelessness. You are experiencing consequences from previous actions. Here are some suggestions to find some kind
of peace. Stop expressing your opinions without considering them completely, some of
your truths lack humility. Use this time as a period of withdrawal or put yourself in service
or awareness to the needs of others

Turn your attention away from a self-centered approach to achievement and think about
your position within the context of the group. This is a time for making connections, an
important resource in a professional sense. There are no goals you could have that don’t
require the help of your community. If you are determined to succeed this is an advantageous time to strengthen ties and nurture goodwill.

AQUARIUS 1/20 - 2/18

If you have goals for self-discipline or mastery in a career or public field, now is the time
to set your intentions. You are currently in possession of attention and respect, an ideal
position for pioneering space in the world for something new. While you are only at the
beginning of a professional journey, what you work on now will generate future social
responsibilities.

PISCES 2/19 - 3/20

Seems like you are working on a project or activities that will expand your perspectives
and set you on a path for new adventures. There is also a sense of self-pity, due to a dissatisfaction in where you are now. Looking forward to what the future has in store for you
is fine, but taking a self-deprecating attitude will be a barrier to getting where you want
to go.

NOVEMBER 15, 2017 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 15

16 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM