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cpj0987
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The Cooper Point Journal Volume 35, Issue 27 (May 24, 2007)
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24 May 2007
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extracted text
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~: ~ Archives
:
The Evergre~n State CollegE
·
Ofvmp.a, Washington 9850~
o COOPER POINT OURNAL
Issue 27
Volume 35
May 24,2007
Campus eledions underway
Men's basketball
coach resigns
By Arland Hurd
The men's basketball team will be getting
a new coach next season, due to Tom Kenna's
resignation only two years after his hiring.
Kenna, a graduate of St. Thomas University,
lead the men to the playoffs this year. Tom
was only the second coach in the history of the
Evergreen men's basketball program. While
the team has gone to the finals before, Kenna
was able muster the magic in only two years,
getting the Geoducks to the second round of
regional playoffs.
The team that Tom led was open about the
role their coach played throughout the year.
"He is a really fun guy when you win," said
freshman power fmward Jesse Norris. Coach
Kenna could be seen at games playing off the
energy that the athletes presented, but when
that energy dropped, Kenna was right there to
pick it back up.
The decisions he made on and off the court
led to wins and got the players motivated. In
the first round of the playoffs the Geoducks
took out nationally seeded Oregon Institute of
Technology. "He was justified in a lot of the
things he did. He got down for his team" said
power forward Rahiti Marere. One of those
decisions was to pull his top scorer Adam
Moore off the court for one ofthe home games
due to team rules that were broken. "It was a
tough year, we could have done better" said Eric
Smith, a red-shirt senior. Kenna truly pushed
the men to surpass the ability they thought they
had so that wins could be tallied at the end of
the night. The team had some impressive slats
under Kenna, we had players in the conference
By Tori Needer
On Monday, May 21 the polls opened initiating the Geoduck Union representative election. The student election will also decide the
fate of the student nm cafe and the late-night
transit initiative.
The new ballot system is now a part of
Evergreen's online registration system. Voters
must Jog in using their webmail usemame and
password. Public polling places have also been
established in the CAB and the Library.
Thirty-one candidates declared their candidacy in time to be included in the Geoduck
Union Voter's guide that was circulated last
week. However, there is no actual deadline preventing other students from running because
of the write in space provided on the ballot.
Any student could take one of the twenty-one
open seats.
The two other items on the ballot are propositions to increases student fees. The revenue
collected from the addition fees would fund
the student run cafe The Flaming Eggplant and
launch a late-night weekend shuttle bus.
After the S&A board rejected the Flaming
Eggplant proposal citing lack of funds, the students behind the cafe turned to the Geoduck
Housing dir~ctor resigns
By Tori Needer
John Lauer, the director of Residential and
Dining Services, resigned last week to pursue
an employment opportunity at Colorado
College in Colorado Springs. Vice President of
Student Affairs Art Constantino has appointed
a Disappearing Task Force with the mission to
hire a new director by next academic year.
Lauer, who filled the position for three years,
cited family obligations and an opportunity to
pursue his doctorate as the motivating factors
in his decision to leave the college.
"I am leaving Evergreen sooner than I
would have liked because of a great opportunity to live and work in the Rocky Mountains,"
said Lauer.
"I've been describing my departure as 'bittersweet' because there is a part of me that
would love to have had a few more years here
and to see the new CAB open."
Colorado College is a private institution
and smaller than Evergreen, claiming around
2,000 students.
Constantino lamented the loss of Lauer in
an open letter addressed to all students. "John
has been a great asset to the college," wrote
Constantino. "[He] has been an outstanding
A partial mission statement is written across nearly 300 posters that
the Geoduck Student Union plastered across the halls of campus last
week. The recruitment banners read, "At the Geoduck Union, we work
to maintain a balance of powers amongst students, faculty, administration and staff."
According to Geoduck Union representative Brooke _M cLaneHigginson, that statement is not entirely acc~ate. "Technically, the
fliers say that the Union 'works' towards ensunng a balance of power.
Not that that's what's actually going on here."
During the last two weeks, the Geoduck Union has had two sep~te
announcements sent out to the student body via the new campus-wide
e-mail system. Both of these messages, though, had to be forwarded
to the student body through the office of the Vice President of Student
Affairs, Ali Costantino. According to McLane-Higginson, the first email sent by the Union in regards to the extended deadline for rep~esen
tative candidates was sent to Costantino a full two days before It was
forwarded to the student body at large.
Occasionally, students seeking to respond to the student union win_d
up replying to Art Costantino instead, because ~s e_-mail address IS
the return address. The indirect route of commumcat1on between student representatives and students has become a cause for concern for
McLane-Higginson, who said, "It needs to be easier for messages to
get out to students."
.
Costantino estimated that student groups such as the Geoduck Umon
request that he forward messages for them at least once a week. _He
explained the need for his forwarding hand. "The all-student DL IS a
pre-screened distribution list. We try to control what goes o_ut on it."
Although, he added, "I cannot think of an instance where I smd no to a
forward request."
.
..
One of the alternative avenues that the Geoduck Umon ut1hzes, and
GU E-MAIL PAGE 3
HOUSING DIRECTOR PAGE 3
The Cooper Point journal is a
the surrounding community
of Olympia, WA.
TESC
Olympia, WA 98505
Address Service Requested
Representative Victor Sanders has been investigating extended transportation options since
the fall. Initially, Sanders hoped to extend City
Metro bus service, but after being quoted a price
tag of over a million dollars, Sanders began to
investigate other options. The fee would be
used to fund a Evergreen-owned shuttle that
GU ELECTIONS PAGE 3
Co.nununication needs improvement,
says Geoduck Student Union representative
By Jordan Nailon
BASKETBALL COACH PAGE 3
student newspaper serving the
Evergreen State College and
Union. The proposed one-time fee would provide the start up revenue for the cafe. "I would
just encourage people to vote" said T-Claw,
a member of the group behind the Flaming
Eggplant, "not for or against the cafe, but just
to go out and vote so it's a fair representation
of the students."
The so-called 'drunk bus' fee is the product
of the Union's Transportation Committee.
The language of
language
The bird feeder
Grant Miller on the alchemy qf words.
According to ]ais Brohinsky, art isjor
the birds.
Page 5
Page 6
How would a group go about
obtainin access to the all
student e-mail list?
"I couldn't even tell you who else can authorize the all-student DL," said Costantino. "Honestly, I just don't know."
So he and I set out from his office in order to determine the
answer. Along the way, Costantino explained, "Quite honestly,
I don't think this issue has ever come up between myself and
the Geoduck Union."
We ended up in the office ofFletcher Ward. Costantino began
the conversation, "We've got a few questions that we weren't
able to answer and thought you might be able to help."
Proceeding to ask my questions for me, Costantino asked,
"If a student group, the Geoduck Union for example, wanted
to obtain access to the all student DL, who would they speak
with?"
Ward sat back in his chair, pondering the question. "I always
thought of you as the head gatekeeper, the one that people would
go to for access," he said.
At that point, Costantino seemed willing to accept that
responsibility. He acknowledged that the registrar, Andrea
Coker-Anderson, is actually what he called "co-council" for all
student e-mail access decisions.
As the conveFsation awkwardly wound up, Costantino went
on to concede that, "Maybe they (the Geoduck Union) ought to
have a little more control and access to the students."
Andrea Coker-Anderson, the Registrar and so-called "cocouncil" for e-mail list access, agrees on this point. "I can see a
legitimate need to communicate with all students," she said in
reference to the Geoduck Student Union. "I think it's worth it
to have a conversation on how to best communicate with their
constituents."
-Jordan Nailon
Skin protection and
study abroad
Learn about one student's trip to
Belize and another student's guide to
protecting skin from the sun.
The unlikely president
An interview with long-shot
presidential candidate Mike Gravel.
Page 9
Page 8
PRSRT STD
US Postage
Paid
Olympia WA
Permit #65
Coope1: Point Journal
May 24; 2007
student wice
VOXpop
COOPER
I)(. )
. . .....l..JNT '1... ,
How well-informed do you think students are about
the current Evergreen elections?
jOURNAL
Sean Paull and Seth
Vincent
Business
Business manager
Cerise Palmantccr
~-----------------------------·
'
' "There were booths at the
Academic Fair, so people
i
Assistant business manager
Carrie Ramsdell
who went should be well in-;
formed. There's also voting
"I think that most students
i
Ad dcsgincr
Christina Weeks
are aware of the elections
stations all over campus, but i
but not of the impacts."
I'd like a chance to hear the i
Ad proofcr and archivist
available
candidates give speeches."
Ad rcprcscntati1·c
'~-------------------------
[\·a Saunders
'
I
·-----------------------------~
available
SoplJOnJ<>n·
Circulation manager/Paper
archivist
I
\ Vritiug Bc·vond
Langu.tf~<·
available
Distribution manager
Jordan Nailon
·-----------------------------·
'
'
"I think you're well
News
informed if you seek the
Editor-in-chief
Scan Paull
information, but it's not
"There's elections?"
shoved down your throat.
Feel free to go find the
Arts & Entertainment coordinator
Brandon Custy
information yourself"
Bricf.s coordinator
Lauren Takorcs
'
·----------
.J<)scpll LiJJs:tlata
I
Scn!td'
I -<lltrt.' 11 Alk11
~cniur
I
I\la1tcrs oi' Life <wd Death
·-------------------
Copy editor
Da1·c Railcanu
"Not very well informed
Copy editor
"Everybody knows about
because of the efforts of
th e votes. Who knows if
the administration to keep
they're voting?"
students from governing
themselves. "
I
·rnw but
n<>l
available
·----------------------------'
'
As~oulin
Calendar coordinator
Comics coordinator
Nicholas Baker
'
!\Iaurice
Managing editor
Seth \"incent
Juni()r
Letlers & Opiniom coordinator
.Joshua Katz
l'agc designers
Jod tllorley
Kenny Bailey
l'agc designer
available
Riky \\'onth\ani-Pratll
Obvt(J\ls
available
ltH.IqJcmknt (>nltr;H·t
Page Two coordinator
available
Photo coordinator
Alma Barrus
Sec !'age coordinator
Simone r(lllkr
"I think they know the
elections are going on.
"What elections?"
I don't think they know
Reporters
Tori Necder
Jordan Nailon
what they're for."
R.osc ·rhnr
I
Sports coordinator
Arland Hurd
"Lthilha Bn)\\tl
· Sopl1ornnn·
I
.Juuinr
Advisor
Dianne Conrad
Ass is tan t advisor
available
,,
''
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paper. Air comments, concerns, : 1 n1ember of the student group : : to journalism and issues
: : and conflict resolution.
''
questions, etc. If something in i : CPJ. Practice consensus-based i i surrounding CPJ content.
,,
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''
the CPJ bothers you, this is the ; ; decision making.
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,,
meeting for you.
::
''
All meetings bdd iu CAn 316 ,
,,
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,,
Paper Critique
4 p.JD. Monday
Comment on that week's
~--- -- ---------------------------------·
''
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Cooper Poinrjournal
is created entirely by
Evergreen students.
Contrihntt' toda.)
Tl1e Cooper PointJournai
is distributed free at ,·arious sites on The E,·ergreen State College
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Persons in need of more than one copy should contact the CPJ business
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Terms and conditions are aYailable in CAB 316, or by request at (360)
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has final say on the acceptance or rejection of all non-advertising content.
Call tl11: Cooper Point.Journal if
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The CPJ is printed on
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uc;ing soy ink.
~Cooper
Point Journal 2007
briefs. . ...
Cooper Point Journal
News briefs
GU ELECTONS FROM COVER
Submit yours to
cpj@evergreen.edu
Biodiesel, medicinal plants, and forensic sleuthing, oh my!
Evergreen's Fourth Annual Science
Carnival combines fun and learning for
all ages. Whether you're a science buff or
not, you' II find something fun and interesting on Friday, June 1 and Saturday, June
2 from I 0 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
This free event, Washington's largest
science fair of its kind, offers more than
200 presentations from Evergreen science students with an emphasis on demonstration, hands-on participation and fun.
Participants can choose from as many as
a dozen presentations on natural, criminal, and computer science at any given
time. Each presentation lasts 30 to 60
minutes and many popular topics will
be repeated over the two days. For a full
schedule of presentations, visit the information desk in LAB I, on the left as
you enter Red Square. Preview it online
at http:/ /academ ic.evergreen.edu/groups/
chemclub/carnival/index.html.
"Centering Prayer" practice at
Common Bread
As part of the series "Practices for Inner
Peace Making" to help the Evergreen community deal with stress and spiritual dryness, Common Bread presents the ancient
Christian practice of "Centering Prayer"
with guest speaker and certified instructor,
Mary Solberg, on Thursday, May 24 in the
Longhouse. Potluck dessert and tea will be
at 6:30 p.m. and centering prayer introduction and practice will begin at 7 p.m.
Twenty years ago, Cistercian monks at St.
Joseph's Abbey in Massachusetts studied
Zen and Yoga meditation with Indian and
Japanese spiritual masters. Inspired by
them, these monks located the deep meditation practice in their own ancient tradition . They created a modern form of
teaching the method calling it "Centering
Prayer." Seekers from all religious backgrounds may enjoy this empowering and
liberating spirituality. All are welcome.
Bring a friend!
Run with fire for world harmony
The World Harmony Run is a global
torch relay promoting harmony and understanding among peoples and nations. The
Harmony Torch, symbolizing humanity's
aspiration for oneness, has passed through
more than 80 countries and has been held
by such world leaders as Nelson Mandela,
Mother Teresa and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Come meet an international team of runners at a ceremony in the Longhouse on
Saturday, June 2 at noon.
This is an opportunity to hold the torch,
hear inspiring stories from the runners,
and offer personal thoughts, prayers, or
wishes for world harmony. There will also
be a relay from the fountain downtown by
the waterfront to the Longhouse starting
at I 0:30 a.m. the same day. Participants
·3
May 24, 2007
can run as little as one mile or as long as
the whole distance. To participate in the
relay call Wendy at (360) 789-2396 for
proper support. To find out more about the
World Harmony Run go to www.worldharmonyrun.org.
Pro-choice activists: this student group
is for you
Vox: Communities for Choice is a student group focusing on reproductive rights
and sexual health. Affiliated with Planned
Parenthood of Western Washington, this
exciting group organizes events to raise
awareness about healthy sexuality and the
current politics surrounding these issues.
There are coordinator and internship
opportunities available. Vox is hosting an
interest meeting on Tuesday, May 29 from
noon to I p.m. in CAB 320. Come learn
more about what Vox does and how to become a member.
The co-coordinator position entails
coordinating the group, holding weekly
meetings, organizing events, working in
coalition with other student groups, and
working with the education and Public
Affairs staff at the downtown Planned
Parenthood office. This position offers
a paid student stipend and is available
for the 2007-08 school year. This is an
amazing opportunity to gain applicable
organizing experience in the reproductive rights field.
"The End of Art" starts at the Eagles
Hall
On Saturday, June 9, starting at 7 p.m.
Evergreen artists from the programs Art
Production in the 21st Century: From
Theory to Practice and Art After the End
ofArt will exhibit their work at the Eagles
Hall in downtown Olympia in a show
called "The End of Art." Doors open at
7 p.m. Performances will begin at 7:30
with visual installations available to view
throughout the evening . "The End of Art"
will also include music, poetry, literature, and a number of mixed-media productions. Admission is free, refreshments
provided, and the atmosphere will be fun
and casual. The Eagles Hall is located at
805 4th Ave.
Chicana slam poet to perform on
campus
The Women of Color Coalition and
MEChA are collaborating and will host
slam poet and performing artist Amalia
Ortiz in their final event of the year June
7 at 6 p.m. in the Longhouse. Ortiz is an
accomplished poet, actor, director and activist. She was the first Latina to compete
in the National Poetry Slam and was the
Puro Slam Grand Slam Champion in 2000,
2001 and 2002. She is featured in three
seasons of Def Poetry Jam. She is also a
part of the Reset Collective, a multi-media
activist group.
would travel between the campus and downtown Olympia late on weekends.
However, while there is no voter tum out
requirement for the representative election, a
minimum of 25 percent of all Evergreen students must vote on the fee increases in order
for them to be enacted. Unless the minimum
participation requirements are met, the fee initiatives will automatically be defeated.
The FaceBook.com group "VOTE YES
FOR THE NIGHT SHUTTLE (DRUNK
BUS)!" quotes the minimum number of students that must vote at 1000. Sanders pleas
with students online, "PLEASE TAKE
30 SECONDS TO VOTE ONLINE @
MY. EVERGREEN .EDU".
The. voting period is scheduled to conclude at the end of week eight. The voter
turnouts will be posted daily in the student
activities office, however the vote tallies
will not be available until week ten. As of
Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m., 359 students had voted for Union representatives,
493 votes on the Transit initiative and 441
votes on the Eggplant initiative. Representative
Carolyn Commer is concerned that the voter
tum out may taper-off as the weeks go by.
"The problem is" said Commer, "after the
initial rush, the [election] loses momentum."
Tori Needer is a junior enrolled in Health
and Human Development.
GU E-MAIL FROM COVER
that Costantino recommended, is the webbased list serves of Evergreen, TESCcrier and
TESCtalk. Unfortunately, many students do
not receive these e-mails.
The pre-screening of e-mails is supposed
to cut down on the number of e-mails students receive, in an effort to ensure that only
pertinent college information is sent out. The
concern is that too much e-mail will numb
students to the notifications, causing them to
ignore them all together.
"Students should understand," said Fletcher
Ward, the technology coordinator, "that they
can opt out of these (lists) if they are experiencing fatigue," at the number of messages that they receive. Ward also added that
since the beginning of spring quarter, when
the college mandated that all students open
their campus e-mail account, TESCcrier and
TESCtalk have become an opt-in service.
This means that when students first sign up
for their e-mail account, they must check a
box that signals their interest in receiving the
TESC list-serves. Consequently, many students are not aware of these features, because
the default setting for these list-serve options
is "no."
Interestingly enough, Costantino admitted,
"One of the main reasons people come to me
is that there are a significant amount of people
who opt out ofTESCcrier and TESCtalk."
According to Costantino, if the Geoduck
Union were interested in sending out their own
e-mai1s to the entire student body, "They could
request access to the all-student DL."
Jordan Nail on is a junior enrolled in an
independent learning contract.
HOUSING DIRECTOR FROM COVER
team player and a calm presence during crisis
situations."
The resignation is not expected to affect students that live and dine on campus. During the
search Chuck McKinney, the current Assistant
Director for Residence Life, will stand in. as
interim director. McKinney is charged with
overhauling the elevators in the freshman
dorms during the summer term. The B, C and
D dorn1s are also expecting renovation during
the break. A redesign of the freshman courtyard is scheduled to take place during the fall
as well as the continuation of the CAB redesign project.
Potentially, McKinney will become the next
Housing Director. He has applied for the position and his qualifications are under review.
Police Chief Ed Sorger and Andy Corn,
Assistant Director of Student Activities are
chairing the DTF committee. Currently, they
are reviewing the qualifications of applicants.
"We've received about 15 applications," said
Corn. "We'd Iike to have three or four that we
can recommen ."The T hold there onsibi lity ofconducting the recruitment process but
Constantino will make the final selection.
The position has been advertised since April
27 and the committee will be reviewing applications until May 24. The DTF's estimated
timeline has a new permanent director as of
August I.
Tori Needer is a junior enrolled in Health
and Human Development.
BASKETBALL COACH FROM COVER
top ten for rebounds, blocks, and points scored coach, and while Associate Head Women's
Basketball Coach Mychael Heuer has said he
per game.
Kenna officially left to look for new employ- has considered it, he also mentioned he has a
ment, but when asked, Kenna said he had no responsibility to his wife and female student athcomment about who his next employer might . letes. So, until Weber releases the list of potential candidates, there is no telling who will be the
be or why he resigned.
Athletic Director Dave Weber was quoted as next Geoduck men's basketball coach.
saying, "Tom has nearly all the qualities you see
Ar/and Hurd is a senior enrolled in Mind
in a lot of NCAA Division I coaches." There
has been talk about who will be the new head and the World.
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Cooper Point Journal
May 24, 2007
5
Language Symposium:
The language of language
By Grant Miller
privileged relativism, spontaneity, and uncertainty over the reason-centered framing of the
Enlightenment. A few years later the Surrealists
privileged the unconscious, the dream-life, and
the overall imagination . These weren'tjust ways
to produce interesting works of art and literature. These movements were attempts at providing different ways of seeing and being in the
world- starting with the language we use to understand the world .
And this was all before "rationality" brought
us concentration camps (reason keeps the trains
running on time, but doesn't take into account the passengers), atom bombs and global
It's the stuff that makes us who we are, individually and collectively.
A book gets published and, like that, the world
So if language is the fabric of reality, what
changes. Martin Luther translates the Bible from
is the role of the writer, speaker, dancer, artist?
Ancient Greek to German and simultaneously
Language is mediation. Writing, speaking,
founds the German written language, dilutes the
dancing, art is facilitation. The writer, speaker,
power and control of the Papacy, and (much to
dancer, artist is the new alchemist, taking the
Luther's chagrin) digs God's tomb. Copernicus
fundamental stuff of reality and manipulating
publishes "On the Revolution of Celestial
it, creating with it, bringing it into and out of
Spheres" and postulates that the earth is not the
being.
center of the universe, and humankind is dragged
There is strength in language. Whether it's the
down from "His" high horse and plunged into
strength to shatter an entire paradigm that conan abyss of existential uncertainty. Darwin pubstitutes the foundation of a culture, or simply the
lishes "On the Origin of Species" and tells us we
strength to speak, to write, to console a friend or
are overgrown primates. People don't want
just to listen or even to be silent. Every utto hear it, but they can't help it.
The writer1 speaker1 dancer1 artist is terance made, every hug given and received,
•
•
Books get published, people read them,
every word written down, virtually every
and ripples surge through the foundations of the new alchemist, takmg the funda- gesture is a chipping away or a reinforcethe idealized cultu~al superego and change mental stuff of reality and manipu- ment ofthe symbolic order, a dissimulation
the way human bemgs look at themselves,
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
or a solidifying of hard-held beliefs that huat the world, at everything, and things will lat1ng It, creatmg With It, brmgmg It mans have mistaken as natural.
In this way language is essentially demnever again b.e quite th: way th~y were..
into and out of being.
Language IS the fabnc of reality. Not just
ocratic, accessible and available to evthe written word or the grammatical utterance. warming.
eryone- while simultaneously being a ubiqBut language is a ubiquitous system of codes,
The old axiom Actions speak louder than uitous tool of oppression (paradox, sweet parsigns and symbols that communicate and dictate words is a nice one, but one only needs to look adox)- and every action is in itself a form of
the social customs and taboos of any given cul- as far as Iraq and the thousands upon thousands communication- a way to invoke meaning. And
ture. Language dictates how we see the world, of deaths in the past four years to realize it is lan- we live in a time where the entire foundation of
how we attempt to understand the world, and it guage that tells us where to point the gun. After our post-industrial society threatens to destroy
is language that disrupts or pacifies the world (I all, what were weapons of mass destruction in us. The way out is not through finding more
keep wanting to say "for humans," but humans Iraq other than a strategic proper noun that buys fossil fuels to consume, or finding cheaper and
have a way of dragging everything else in the an administration a ticket to war, a greater de- more renewable energy, or opening new world
world down with them [us], thus wrapping ev- fense budget, and wealthier shareholders with markets, or industrializing every nation, or even
erything around us inside this fabric).
fat government contracts?
killing every terrorist. The only way out is by
Even movements like Dadaism and Surrealism
Language, with all its abstractions and inad- chipping away at the way humans perceive the
weren't just aesthetic movements. Dadaism was equacies, all its distancing and perversion, all world around them, in order to save it. And us.
a reaction to the rational calculability that fu- its potential and all its drawbacks, is a system
Grant Miller is a senior enrolled in an indeeled the First World War-if certainty, truth, so ubiquitous and transparent that we hardly
and industrial mechanism reduced human lives know it's there at all. But alas, it's all we've got pendent learning contract and is a tutor at the
to paper trails, then who needed them? Dada to communicate what's in our heads and hearts. Writing Center.
A Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Center Puzzler
The Weekly Quantitative Reasoning Challenge
The Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Center (QuaSR) invites you to challenge your quanti~
tative reasoning skills by solving our puzzle of the week. Each week we will present a new puzzle for you
to solve. When you come up with an answer, bring it in to the QuaSR Center in Library 2304. If you are
one of the first three with the correct answer, we have a prize for you.
How many rectangles are in this picture?
Solution to previous challenge:
Of the three people who know Kevin Bacon, it must be true
that either: A) At least two people in this group of three know
each other or B) nobody in this group of three knows the
other two. If A) is true than B) cannot be true, and vice,versa.
If A) is true, then a new group can be said to exist, which con,
tains the two people who know each other and Kevin Bacon.
Therefore there exists a group of three who knows each other.
If B) is true, then there is a group of three people (the original
group, excluding Kevin Bacon) which includes only people
who do not know each other.
6
Cooper Point Journal
arts & entertainment
May 24, 2007
Eccentri~ty and poisonous
tcecreant
By Grant Miller
On back of all Cesar Aira's books there
is a blurb by Roberto Bolano that calls Aira
an "eccentric." It is said that A ira has published more than 30 novels. And granted, I've
only read two, but eccentric isn't exactly the
right word I would use to describe them. But
as I search for the right word, I must admit
I am at a loss.
A ira's novel "How I Became a Nun," published by New Directions, is just a tiny little
thing that lends itself to be read in one sitting. The novel opens with an interesting
enough concept-that of a six-year-old not
enjoying ice cream (eccentric indeed). What
six-year-old (other than the lactose intolerant,
who probably still enjoys it before it gets to
the stomach) doesn't like ice cream? But, as
it turns out, the taste buds of the child prove
not to be strange after it is discovered that
the ice cream is poisoned with cyanide. This
scenario ends in the child's father assaulting
the ice cream vendor and winding up in jail,
while the sick child is committed to the pediatric ward of Rosario Central Hospital.
What may be called A ira's eccentric nature
guides the reader through the next 80 pages.
The child's experience in the hospital is hallucinatory, sentences sliced through with ellipses and a stream-of-consciousness recollection of the events before the ice cream incident and leading up to the child's confron-
This scenario ends in the child's
father assaulting the ice cream
vendor and winding up in jail,
while the sick child is committed to the pediatric ward of
Rosario Central Hospital.
tation with his own mortality.
The reader then embarks on a hallucinatory journey through subsequent months. In
scenes that take place through everything
from grade school to visits to the jail, Aira
constructs a narrative from the imagination
of a child. He offers no gender, and as in the
brain of a child, all temporality, all logic,
all linearity are subject to the logic of the
imagination.
This narrative, coined as a "modern day
'Through the Looking Glass' " takes the
reader into a young mind, a mind disillusioned with reality" ... because reality, the
only sphere in which I could have acted,
kept withdrawing at the speed of my desire
to enter it."
And Aira's book does just that. It takes
the reader somewhere else for a while.
Somewhere where the oppressive laws
of logic are subject to the imagination in
a topsy-turvy exchange of reality and its
other.
The book ends badly, though. Not so much
in terms of A ira's writing, but for the ambiguous narrator. But really, thanks to Aira's
prose style, the book can end many ways.
A ira has used traditional conventions to give
us what Barthes would call a "Readerly Text."
That is, A ira provides the railroad tracks and
the train- the reader provides the destination, which l guess, after all is said and done,
can be considered pretty eccentric.
Grant Miller is a senior enrolled in an independent learning contract and is a tutor at
the Writing Center.
Art is for the birds
By Jais Brohinsky
Art. It's for the birds. Seriously. It's
for those lofty folks who soar through life
gliding on invisible currents. keeping them
safely afloat and disconnected from any
grounded reality. I'm sick of it. I'm sick
of tax dollars funding public exhibitions
that mean something different to everyone,
of art that has no apparent use beyond another thing to be looked at. I'm sick of
attempts to politicize the necessarily ineffectual with hazy metaphors clawing for a
significance that is, at best, debated. I'm
sick of attempts to empower the creator of
a work whose audience consumes it like
a Big Mac by the mere suggestion that an
artist has some kind of power. There's a
false assumption lurking here that someone
is actually listening, analyzing, engaging.
And most of all, I'm sick of the glorification of the pathetic starving artist. The
artist is a social misfit-an economic deadweight. The people want entertainment
and instant gratification. Art itself has
hovered, removed from reality, only to be
conquered by philosophy, and is in fact so
pathetic and pitiful that it sees this domination as its only freedom.
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Artists, historically speaking, are a pretty People don't want to be indoctrinated
base group of drug addicts, delinquents, with some utopian ideology, confronted
would-be academics and nutcases. Think by harsh realities, or tricked into laughing
of all the clumsy alcoholics: Hemingway, at atrocities that they tacitly perpetuate.
Pollock, Sherwood
People today want
Anderson. l could
Artists, historically speak- to sit and watch
go on. But I won't.
and be transported
ing, are a pretty base
Insanity has also
from the stresses
been a factor in
of
paying bills and
group of drug addicts, deproviding for oneart. Edgar A lien
linquents, would-be acaPoe was considself or a family.
ered bipolar, Van
People want endemics, and nutcases.
Gogh cut off his
tertainment. They
ear for no apparent
want thin women
reason, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf in skimpy clothing ... and explosions.
both committed suicide in interesting, al- They want pleasure as immediate as the
beit obnoxious ways, and Antonin Artaud drive-thru and as clean, clear, and under
was quoted as saying, "What divides me control as their acne prevention/concenfrom the Surrealists is that they love life tration-inducing/sexual-enhancement medas much as I despise it." Look at the sub- ication. We don't have time to consider
ject matter: Tom Wolfe's "The Electric the consequences of a coat rack qua 'Art'
Kool-AidAcid Test," William Burroughs's nailed to the floor of some museum-hell,
"Junky," Nabokov's "Lolita." And don't I barely have time to microwave my dinner
even get me started on the transient, sex- before "American Idol" begins.
ually-deviant, drug-abusing ways of the
What does art do anyway? Nothing.
Beats. Suffice it to say: they serve as per- Art is always about something: an event,
fect examples of how not to construct a a person, an idea. Art can't exist as itself,
sentence.
which led Plato to the idea of appearances
Audiences today do not want meaning. twice removed. Art, say, attempts to recreate a chair, which has already been created by a craftsman for a purpose (to be
sat on), yet is a reproduction of the divine
essence of chairness. The artist's chair is
thus a re-recreation and is not made for
sitting, but for conveying the meaning of
Nrw Uuuk-.
chair. However, the meaning of chair is to
be sat on, and in attempting its meaning,
10°1o off with
the artist actually subverts it. What's more
(' urn•nt Colh•gr II>
is the artist has no practical knowledge of
chairs.
So his re-recreation is an act of ig\Ve Buy Books Everyd~yr
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Jais Brohinsky is a senior, writing
center tutor, and ignoramus enrolled in
Art Production in the 21st Century and
is helping to coordinate its exhibition,
The End of Art, which will take place on
the June 9 at 7:00p.m. at Eagle's Hall in
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into a conversation and repeats words out
of context so that the attention may shift
his or her way.
Art can't exist as itself. It must use sensuous objects as a crutch through which
to convey meanings-meanings that are
fraudulent in their ignorance, ephemeral
in their re-recreation, and useless in their
removal from action. It's true. Art is reactionary. It responds to events, people,
ideas, things by using events, people,
ideas, things in a fake way. Art creates
nothing; it simply rearranges, reduces or
adds. Art makes no contribution to society
beyond observation or commentary.
So when I hear that an academic program at Evergreen is hosting a free performance, visual, literary art exhibition
at 7:00p.m. on June 9 at the Eagle's Hall
in downtown Olympia called "The End of
Art," I get excited. I get excited because
l think maybe there will be someone who
sympathizes with such a waste of energy,
time, and money. l get excited because I've
dreamed of reciting art's eulogy to a group
of shocked economic deadweights. l get
excited because, at the very least, there'll
be a hall full of ignoramuses perpetuating
the most pathetically inconsequential discipline (save perhaps alchemy) ever to disgrace the surface of Earth-a hall full of
ignoramuses floating high on unreality or
self-righteousness or pot, floating high and
waiting for the inevitable fall. After all:
art-it's for the birds.
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arts & entertainment
Cooper Point Journal
''Enrico N'' reviewed
May 24, 2007
7
"Roosevelt Elementary," what is it for?
By Matt Krieling
By Brandon Custy
Last Thursday night, "Enrico IV" began its
final weekend at the State Theater. The play was
another success for Harlequin Productions, a
non-profit theater company based in Olympia.
Written in 192 I by Luigi Pirandello, the
play is a confusing dark comedy. The story
teems with plot twists. The director, Scott
Whitney, said, "You have permission to be
perplexed," a sentiment with which he was
sure Piranadello would have agreed. I think
my mind would have pleased the ~uthor as
well, because by the end of Act I, I had no idea
what was going on. When the lights went up,
I asked the woman next to me if she could explain any of the plot to me. She could not.
The play examines reality and illusions,
and the creation of identity through this kind of
examination. One ofPirandello's major concerns was the line between sanity and madness. This is the main struggle in "Enrico IV."
At the beginning of the play, an unidentified
20th century man is impersonating Henry IV
of Germany in a cavalcade. At the time the
play begins, the man is convinced he has been
the Holy Roman Emperor since recovering
from a fall. People from the past re-enter his
life and bring back the pain. Is he mad or is
he sane?
The second act is a thoughtful one.
The lines in the play were so good. They
contrasted . Sometimes they would give
Words in action
By Victoria Larkin
A few months ago, a production of
"Lysistrata" sparked an exchange of words
revolving around the responsibility of theatre
and the relationship therein of sex to political content. One of the participants decided
to take it to the boards: No more talking, let's
just make a show.
Last Tuesday night "Roosevelt Elementary,"
a musical co-written by Jais Brohinsky
and Cohen Ambrose, played on the stage
of Evergreen's Recital Hall. This living,
breathing, sweating feast of language and
ideas written by real-live beings who attend
Evergreen was a definitive statement about
what theatre in its own time can be good for.
They'd taken it to the boonies first (the
Midnight Sun) for a dry run, and had to turn
folks away. This was its night in the Big Town,
and folks were lined up outside a half hour before curtain time.
Once inside, I was serenaded for at least 20
minutes by superior and completely engaging
Brandon Custy is a sophomore happily enrolled in I Ilustrative Narrative and Matters of
Life and Death, and appreciates all submissions for the A & E page.
"What is it for?" is a knife of a question.
It's a vulgar utilitarian question, reducing everything to use objects. "What is it for?'' is
the question of a hunter, the question of Homo
faber, man the maker, who reduces everything to means and ends. Even the more nuanced version of the question, "what is it good
for?" eliminates possibilities. These questions
reduce things to tools, meaning to purpose.
Nevertheless, since I get confused every time
I think about the word meaning, I have to ask,
"What is 'Roosevelt Elementary' for?"
For those of you that don't know what
"Roosevelt Elementary" is, I pity you. It's a musical. It was written, produced and performed
by students at Evergreen. It is set in the fourth
grade, although the characters discuss Marxist
philosophies, parody Howl, and philosophize
about the role of art.
The first and most vulgar answer to "what
for" is entertainment. The faultless piano
playing, the vivacious actors who, for the most
part, didn't swallow their mostly clever lines,
the songs, the dance, the brief nudity, and the
parody all function as entertainment. This
means, I think, that they amuse. And distract.
Entertainment is candy; it's short-lived. Yet
"Roosevelt Elementary," though amusing, is not
for amusement; it lingers too long in the mind.
Its unpleasant familiarities frustrate the escape
that pure entertainment offers: McCarthyism,
fear-mongering, pre-emption and proliferation,
scapegoating and suspension of civil rights, nuclear war. These are not themes an entertainer
wants to explore, unless of course he is Sun Ra,
or director of a post-apocalyptic movie.
So the play has got to be about its message, right? "Stop the violence." "War iS'not
healthy for children and other living things."
"Think globally, act locally." "Don't tread on
me." Nah. These are such obvious things, especially to an audience of Evergreen students and
professors. A bumper sticker is more efficient.
Perhaps it is a more complicated message, like
"life is a fourth grade carnival budget and ifyou
are not funding a poetry reading or art exhibit,
you are contributing to dodgeball proliferation."
Nah. That really isn't a complicated message
at all, just a metaphor for another slogan: make
art, not war. A good slogan, a great slogan, but
not what the play is for.
Maybe it's for persuasion. Maybe "Roosevelt
Elementary" is a special, psychologically clever
way of delivering a message, like chewable vitamins or buttered crumbs on brussel sprouts.
Somehow, maybe, it is more persuasive than a
bumper sticker. Yet if we assume that the play's
piano, played by David Cohen. The friend I
was sitting with told me about the lecture he'd
attended the week before in which Elizabeth
Williamson (faculty of Art at the End of Art)
spoke about the bravery of art, of bodies being
on the line. I thought to myself about courage,
and how courage can push an actor to another
level, beyond the self and into the story: to be
the body through which the story is given.
I'm not going to explain the plot line: this
isn't that kind of review. Suffice it to say we,
audience, were inundated by bodies on the line:
sweating, shaking, singing, reciting poetry and
philosophy, dancing- sacrificing their energy
to become this tsunami, this riot of words and
fervor: to become and deliver art.
The whole thing was fresh off the vine.
The monologues and dialogues were ripe
with innuendo and explicit with philosophy.
The musical numbers were funny and catchy
and nicely choreographed by Vanessa Postil.
My favorite number was "Spies Among Us".
After rousing his fellow fourth graders, Joey
(played by Andrew Schwartz) winds up at the
apex of the group of them, fingers opened out
aIa Bob Fosse, singing "SPIES!. .. Spies among
us." I couldn't stop laughing, thinking about
how funny and cathartic it would be to sing that
refrain repeatedly for weeks on end. My favorite verse was: I must admit, they're hard to
see. They walk and talk like us, they look like
you and like me. Dirty Chameleons!
A second evening would be well spent, a
sort of second reading, to get it all. What an
experience: hearing theatre and music that was
born less than one year ago, alive and throbbing for less than two quarters of a school
year. This is not some thousands of years,
or hundreds, or even decades old rehashing.
This is not another revival of"Oklahoma!" or
"A Streetcar Named Desire." This creation
and experience came together in less than six
months, of this school year, and is our language, our experiences, our crises, though they
are the same crises as before: McCarthy, the
'60s, Iraq .... This is live aliveness. And talk
about bravery and putting one's body on the
line: props to Nick King for having the balls
to go all the way!
The end came without a curtain call.
Audience was left shifting, wondering: what
do we do? Are they coming out again?
What's .. . going on?
It made me realize what it is about ap-
hope to the audience and then a few minutes later they would dash it away. Henry
insults the four people who attend his court
and then gives them hope. It is a play about obvious contrasts between emotions and movement, which distinguish the subtle and thin
lines that separate ideas. If Harlequin wants
to make theater that makes us think- well, it
worked again.
The cast is superb as always . Anders
Bolang plays Henry and his constantly
changing temperament, making it harder for
the audience to decide between sanity and madness. Count Carlo Dinolli is played by Casey
Brown-his fourth show with Harlequin. Amy
Hill, Russ Holm, and Steve Manning all return
from "The Ladies of The Camellias." Amy
plays Frida and Russ plays Doctor Dionosi
Genoni. Steve returns as Barron Tito Belcredi,
always swinging his cane. These three are one
of the main reasons I haven't missed a show
at Harlequin since I went for the first time.
The next show for Harlequin Productions
is "Soul on Fire," opening June 7. The State
Theater is located on 4th and Washington
in Downtown Olympia. More information can be found on their website at
www.harlequinproductions.org
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purpose is intentional, why would its writerdirectors Cohen Ambrose and Jais Brohinsky
need to create such a clever way to deliver a
message that the majority of the audience has
already heard and agrees with wholeheartedly?
And ifthe message is more complex than I have
been able to determine, then the message delivery system aims too high: over my head.
So if the play is not merely for persuadi.1g
the audience, delivering a message, or entertaining them, then what is it good for? What is
any play for? I've heard thatthe play is the thing
wherein we' II catch the conscience of someone
or another. But the play is not the thing or if it
is, it is not the important thing, or if it is, it is not
things that are important. The experience of the
play is not a thing; it is the space between things:
actors and audience, before and after, witness
and witnessed. A play's ostensible purpose is
insignificant under the shadow of the experience. Hamlet puts on "The Mousetrap" toreveal Claudius' guilty conscience- a play with a
purpose- but the experience of the play flies out
in all directions. The reaction of the murdering
king is open to interpretation and so are the reactions ofthe other audience members. The dialogue of a play spawns dialogue in the audience.
Perhaps, a play is for the interplay- between
the world and the playwright, the audience and
players, the audience and the world.
There is no curtain call at the end of
"Roosevelt Elementary," just a lumpy representation of a giant dodgeball, which is a
lumpy representation of nuclear proliferation.
One hears a hissing rasp looped through the
theater's sound system, and sees a mostly discomfited audience. A couple of us adopted
a knowing grin. The knowing grin, unless it
catches the eyes above another grin, is impoten~r it is not the knowing that is important;
it is the exch~rins. A grin, unreturnetl;
fades. Yet, somefiow;-the empty stage served
as an answering grin. I kept mine. It kept me,
the grin. It was the grin of well-said, the grin
of welcome conversation. The grin of the witness. The grin of the witnessed.
So, if I have to be vulgar, I'm going to go
ahead and say that "Roosevelt Elementary" is
good for being witnessed and good for witnessing. Elizabeth Williamson, a professor
here at Evergreen, spoke about the play as a
place where the actors "put their bodies on
the line" and this is what the actors have done.
This is what we witness: bodies facing us with
knowing grins, daring us to answer, witnessing
us. Which leaves us with one more question:
what is a witness for?
Matt Krieling is a senior in an internship.
plauding for others that is important: this is
the return embrace, the reciprocation in lovemaking. I needed to give out to these actors for
what they gave out to me, for what they sent me
home with. I left full of energy and joy. I was
inspired toward the theatre again, seeing how
things can be: there are playwrights out there,
I knew it! (I didn't know my genius friend was
one of them!). There are plays of now, about
us, by us, to be enacted by us.
Not only did this musical display the talents of so many people right here in River
City, but it reaffirmed the mission of theatre,
of art: to be and to affect. For me, the message of"Roosevelt Elementary" is about that,
and reminds me to stay with the mission. We
don't need to breathe the dust oflives between
old pages seething with ancient constructs.
We need to create and experience our present,
and amen to Jais, Cohen, and the whole cast
of "Roosevelt Elementary" for bringing creation of art into the now.
Victoria Larkin is a senior, writing tutor,
co-coordinator of the Writers Guild, and
thoroughly rapt in the fabulous class: Writing
Beyond Language.
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8
Cooper Point Journal
Slip, slop, slap:
How to protect your skin
from sun overexposure
features
May 24, 2007
Thoughts on a
BelizeanJourney
By Danica Parkin
As I walk through Red Square lately, I can't help but notice that it is filled
with students wearing their favorite warm weather clothes and basking in
the sun. This has caused me to extend a reminder: as you begin to enjoy
some of the great weather that has (finally!) appeared, don't forget to protect your skin.
While there are many different types of skin cancer, melanoma is considered to be the most deadly. Melanoma is a skin cancer that arises from
the cells that produce pigment. While melanoma is representative of less
than five percent of skin cancer diagnoses each year, the American Cancer
Society states that melanoma will cause 79 percent of skin cancer deaths.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the death
rate from melanoma has increased by about four percent every year in the
United States since 1973.
The smartest way to prevent skin cancer is to have a range of skin protection tactics. While there is plenty of debate over the effectiveness of sunscreen in preventing skin cancer (check out http://www.motherjones.com/
news/outfront/1998/05/wellbeing.html), it is still considered to be part of
a safe and effective skin cancer prevention plan by those in the medical
field.
Skin protection ideas:
• Apply sunscreen of SPF I 5 or higher, even on cloudy days.
•Reapply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming, sweating, or
towel drying.
•Remember: a higher SPF does not mean that more time can elapse between
reapplying, nor does it mean that more time can be spent in the sun.
•Avoid the sun between IOa.m. and 4p.m.- the atmosphere absorbs less
harmful UV rays during this time.
•Wear a hat, protective clothing, and sunglasses. Eyes can be damaged by
sun as well.
•Start prevention young! Studies indicate that sun over-exposure early in
life may lead to skin cancers in later years.
The final element of protection is early detection of skin cancer.
Melanoma is often associated with moles. Take note ofthe normal shape
and color of the moles on your body. If a growth, mole, sore or skin discoloration appears suddenly on your skin, or begins to change in color or shape,
see a doctor. If you have large amounts of sun exposure in the past or have
significant family history of melanoma or other skin cancers, you may want
to consider having an annual skin examination by a dermatologist.
Enjoy the sun this spring and summer, but don't forget to slip on a shirt,
slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat.
Danica Parkin is a senior and a student medical assistant enrolled
in an independent contract about American Indian Infant and Maternal
Health.
By Sue Paluh
Studying abroad was such a wild experience. Instead of suffering
another rainy season in the Pacific Northwest, I flew south for the
winter. For an independent study contract, I spent I 0 weeks in Belize
to research Maya mathematics, calendrics (calendars) and astronomy.
Before visiting Belize as a tourist last September, I didn't even realize
that the Maya people were still around. However, Maya language and
agriculture thrive in the country of Belize in Central America, which
is about the size of Massachusetts.
The country contains many Maya ruins. The photograph is a closeup of a section of pyramid at Xunantunich (shoo NAN too nich) which
depicts the gods of Venus, the sun and the moon. It's a long way to
the top of the temple, but I made it all the way up.
When in Belize, do as the Belizeans do. That means you say "hello"
and act friendly and sociable. It was such a culture shock to come
back to Evergreen where few people even make eye contact unless
they know each other. Belize is the Noah's Ark of the human world ,
consisting of a myriad of cultures that get along amazingly well.
Belize is generally a very poor country, but I was able to experience
both sides of the spectrum. For a while, I stayed in a Maya village
without electr.icity where I bathed in a stream and washed my clothes
by hand. It was in the Maya village that I saw the lunar eclipse on
March 3. My host, the school principal, started beating on a bucket.
Other villagers followed suit or started clapping to get the moon to
return. The Maya were very advanced mathematically, but their spirituality was infused in all their sciences. On the flip side ofthe coin,
I later stayed in a guest bedroom at the mansion of the film commissioner of Belize, who lives on the grounds of Tropic Park. That was
one way to ease my way back into so-called "civilization."
While I can't promise you will experience the lunar eclipse in a
Maya village or spend the evening with the film commissioner reading
aloud to you in his well-appointed library, you will have unique experiences if you go abroad. You don't have to be independently wealthy
either. For instance, several Greeners and I won scholarships from
the Benjamin A. Gilman Foundation. While you're there, take plenty
of photographs and write plenty of notes. You never know what you
might forget. My tan is nearly gone but the memories will remain.
Sue Paluh (soo puh LOO) is a graduating senior, currently studying
philosophy, psychology, and calculus as well as doing an internship
at Madison Elementary School. She transferred to Evergreen from
Bellevue Community College. Look for her in costume at graduation on June 15.
Sources: Medical College of Wisconsin, FDA Consumer Magazine, www. webmd.com, and
www.motherjones.com
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letters & op_inions
Cooper Point Journal
May 24, 2007
9
Proportional Representation: A Pluralistic
Alternative to America's ''WIDDer-Take-All'' Electoral
Model
By Ian Ettinger
The first thing I would
like to say is that my writing
this article is largely thanks
to one person, whom many
ofus·Greeners already know:
Mr. Joe Tougas. Before
taking Joe's Pluralism:
Promise and Challenge last quarter, I would
not have even been able to approach a topic like
the shortcomings of"winner-take-all" models in
electoral systems, nor would have I been able to
tell you what the word pluralism means. I would
like to take advantage of this public venue to
say thank you to him.
So what is pluralism? Well, in a nutshell,
it is the premise that there are essential, intractable differences between various groups and individuals. Further, pluralism suggests that there
is no one viewpoint which is necessarily more
correct than any other. Since all human conceptual frameworks are founded upon unique experiences and perceptions, no two will be exactly alike, and each perspective will necessarily be subjective. In other words, nobody has
a monopoly on truth. This sounds pretty basic,
but it is a radical position in light of the ideologies which overwhelmingly operate in our
world. Throughout history, people have had a
habit of forcing their views upon others. This
imposition of one person's or group's conceptual framework onto another or others is what
pluralism challenges. We have seen time and
again what happens when one culture tries to
impose its values on another: America's presence in Iraq is a prime example. The ethnocentric, imperialistic attitude behind America's
mission to "spread democracy" is a good indi-
cator that the politics of our country are nonpluralistic in the extreme.
I've only mentioned all this in order to introduce an idea. There are a lot of changes that
need to be made in America's structures of political power, but I think one good place to start
is with our electoral system. What we've got
right now is based on a "winner-take-all" model,
which means that only one candidate and one
party can win each election. This model pretty
much always leads to two-party governments
because the two strongest parties will eventually come out on top. In order to become the
most popular, these parties make their political
platforms as broad as possible in order to appeal to the greatest number of people. Thus, instead of being able to vote for a political party
which really represents their interests, voters
have only two relatively generic choices of who
will represent them. This dividing of voters into
two opposing groups is not only an inaccurate
representation of the real diversity of voters'
interests, but the dominance of these two parties also means that everything is essentially
on their terms. Interest groups can find representation under one huge umbrella or the other,
but their ability to pursue their own objectives
is still limited by the agendas of the two dominant parties.
A more pluralistic alternative to this
"winner-take-all" system is the electoral
model known as proportional representation.
This model basically stipulates that many parties can compete in each election and that the
number of seats each party receives is directly
proportional to the amount of votes it receives;
in other words, if there are ten seats and one
party receives thirty percent of the votes, that
party will capture three seats. With America's
present system, a vote for a smaller political
party is essentially thrown away, because only
the Republicans and Democrats have any real
shot at winning. Just imagine how many people
would vote for the Green Party if they knew
their votes might actually have the potential to
put a Green Party candidate in office!
The result of an electoral system based on
proportional representation is that many parties are able to hold power rather than only two.
This gives voters the ability to choose from a
variety of representatives, and it also gives interest groups the ability to form their own parties and elect their own candidates into office.
Needless to say, this gives voters a lot more
power over their electoral system, which seems
fitting for a country in which the government
is supposed to be "by the people, of the people,
for the people".
In many Western democracies proportional
representation is already in place. In fact, PR
is on the rise all over the world, and electoral
systems based on "winner-take-all" models like
America's are already widely considered outdated. I think it's time we update our defunct
electoral technology so that our votes will actually count. I am of the opinion (and so are many
others) that American democracy has officially
become a non sequitur, and one of the biggest
reasons for this is that our electoral system has
become a sham. The Bush Jr. era has not been a
proud one for America. Beginning to think pluralistically is essential if we are going to pull
our country out of the mire, and stop it from terrorizing (yes, terrorizing) the rest of the world
and its own citizens.
Ian Ettinger is a senior at Evergreen enrolled
in an Independent Learning Contract.
An inteiView with presidential candidate Mike Gravel
ByJan Tangen
America was re-introduced to Mike Gravel
in the first Democratic
Presidential debate of the
campaign. In a large field,
the unknown former senator from Alaska stole
the show. The brusque, good-humored 77year old had no qualms about confronting the
mediator or the other candidates, and didn't
seem to care about appearing "presidential"
or "electable." He complained that he wasn't
being given equal time, ranted that he was far
more frightened by the nuclear urges of the
"top-tier" candidates than by those of Iran,
and accused Senator Biden of having "a certain smugness." Afterwards he even traded insults with MSNBC's Chris Matthews. Here
was a man who clearly relishes the spotlight,
but at the same time refuses to play by the
rules that would keep him there.
So, I shouldn't have been surprised when
he agreed to grant an interview to me-an absolute nobody.
Since I'd never done this before, I neglected all the introductions and formalities. I
just jumped straight into business. But something tells me that was fme by him.
I asked why, after 26 years without holding
any sort of political office, he's aiming
straight for the presidency:
MG: Because !-we need to end the war
... and I don 1 see anybody with any viable
tactic to bring it to a close prior to the end
of Bush s term. In fact, its even worse than
that: I see a lot of comments made about
keeping troops there even after a Democrat
is elected to office.
And the other reason is ... politics-asusual that you see occurring both in the
Congress and at the state level. There 'rea lot
of good people working in public office, but
there s a structure against it working properly. There s no reason why Americans cant
He lost re-election in 1981 after angering the
make laws at the federal/eve/.
Here is his primary passion. Every re- powerful Alaskan fishing industry and faded
sponse he gave came back to this idea of en- into oblivion. 1992 saw the first incarnation of
abling "The People" to enact federal laws, the National Initiative, which has consumed
much like the initiative system many states him ever since.
Now he's burst back into the spotlight.
already have. For the last 20 years, he's been
developing and promoting the National But with only $15,000 and poll numbers
Initiative for Democracy. His Philadelphia seldom reaching I%, Gravel is the longII non-profit is conducting the nati~nal on- shot candidate. One suspects he may not be
line election. It claims that if 50 million in this campaign to become chief executive,
people vote affirmatively, the Initiative will but rather to use it as a platform to promote
legally have to be enacted. His website, www. his Initiative.
MG: Prior to my announcing/or President,
gravel08.us, provides details.
When I suggested that the main goal of it was getting very, very little support. The
his Initiative is to wrest some power from the media had blanked it out, and the Body Politic
political structure in D.C., he paused, and I blanks it out, so it wasn 'l getting any traction
at all, and any speaking I could do around the
thought I detected a hint of irritation:
MG: Well the Federal Ballot Initiative is country was insufficient. But after I filed for
gonna do A LOT more than just pull some of office, I've had more visibility on the Initiative
it away! Because the minute the people come than I've gotten for I 5 years. IfI can get into
into the legislative arena, they become these- double-digits, the media will have to begin to
nior partners. It will add another check to pay attention to it.
So why does the media "blank out" cerour system of checks and balances. Let me
tell you: when you have one party in control tain ideas?
MG: The media is very powerful in our soof the legislative and judiciary, the checks
and balances are voided. We just saw that for ciety and the intermediary between the Body
the last six years and how horrific this can be Politic and the People. They translate to the
for public policy and our foreign policy. But people what s happening in the Body Politic,
you bring the people in and that will never but they're as biased as the Body Politic. So
when you talk about being able to go around
happen ...
If the people were able to make laws the media, go around the government, you're
today, we would be out of Iraq-they would talking about empowering people. So, the
have done something last November. But all media blanks it out.
Personally, I don't see we, the people
they could do was vote for personalities. So
now Congress has this power, and they're not making decisions any better than they, the poldoing very much with it other than issuing iticians do. Americans strongly supported the
great statements about what they're going to invasion of Iraq five years ago, and elected
accomplish. But we aren 1seeing anything re- to put one party in control of our checks and
balances for six years because we let our fear
ally happening. Why? Lack ofleadership.
In the 1970s he was well-known for his control us. So I asked him why he has such
one-man, five month filibuster that forced trust in us, but I didn't hear anything firm
the expiration of the Vietnam draft and for or reasoned. It seemed to me more like a
reading aloud 4,000 pages of the Pentagon Christian's belief in God- there's no logical
Papers (the classified documents detailing explanation, just an overwhelming faith.
MG: I look internally. Why is it I've been
how the government misled the country into
Vietnam) into record from the Senate floor. in politics since I was 15 years old? When
you get elected you think you're pretty smart
and you know all the answers ... I'd go at it
and get my come-uppance, and those times I'd
look at it and say "I made a mistake here, and
had the People made this decision, they would
have done better than I had done. "
The evidence seems to suggest he still
sees himself as a lone man among monkeys,
standing up for what is right when all others in
the "body politic" are unwilling or incapable.
I asked him about that other anti-war longshot, Representative Dennis Kucinich.
MG: Dennis is a very decent human being,
but he doesn1 understand the Power ofthe
People. I tried to work with him on it, but he
never paid any mind to it. He hasn 1paid any
mind to it now because he doesn 1 understand
the People can do a better job than Dennis
K ucinich (laughs). That s not saying anything
bad about him; its just saying he doesn 1 understand. He s politics-as-usual on the left,
and you've got a whole host of politics-asusual on the right.
No, Gravel is definitely not politics-asusual. He advocates eliminating the IRS, for
example, and sees no reason to raise taxes for
universal health care. He claims a majority of
the price ofhealthcare and pharmaceuticals is
overhead and administrative costs, and that
politicians like Clinton, Obama and Edwards
don't want to de1)' that industry.
MG: This is where their huge fund-raising
comes from. That and the trial lawyers.
Edwards wants to raise taxes to pay for universal healthcare- not necessary.
This compelled me to squeeze in one last,
probing question: What's the most you've
ever paid for a haircut?
MG: (Laughs) 45 dollars maybe? 25? I've
paid as little as ten. Go to Supercuts!
If that's not a product plug, I don't know
what is. C'mon, Supercuts, Gravel '08 could
use some corporate muscle.
Jan Tangen is a second year MES
student.
10
Cooper Point Journal
Club
Meetings
Fashion Club
Mondays, noon
CAB 2 floor
TESC Democrats
Mondays, 3:30p.m.
CAB 3rd floor
tescdemocrats@gmail.com
Prolegomena to a Future Poetics
evening literary reading series
Mondays, 7 p.m.
SEM II , A 1105
Healing Arts Collective
Tuesdays 3:30 to 5 p.m. Info
Shoppe, 3rd floor Library
Evergreen Spontaneity Club
Tuesdays, 6 to 8 p.m .
SEM II , D1105
All experience levels welcome
On Campus
"What Becomes You" book reading,
signing and Q&A session. LH I.
Thursday, 24
10 a.m . to 3 p.m. Camp Darfur
awareness and action camp. Red Square.
Hosted by the Evergreen Hillel and
SESAME.
II :30 a.m. to I p.m . EQA Pride Week
event: face painting. CAB 2 floor.
3 to 5 p.m . EQA Pride Week event:
"Let's Keep Talking About Queer Sex"
safe sex workshop . CAB I 08 .
6:30p.m. potluck dessert and tea. 7
p.m. "Centering Prayer" introduction
and practice. Longhouse. Hosted by
Common Bread .
8 p.m. "Shakespeare's Women" a
gallery of portraits depicting the lost
women of William Shakespeare. COM
Experimental Theatre. Hosted by
Dialogues with Shakespeare 's Women
aka Lady Crable's Players.
8:30 p.m. to midnight. Hip hop concert
featuring Dilated Peoples, Medusa with
DJ Ice, Step Cousins Macklemore and
Xperience. CRC Bay 3. Sponsored by
S&A Productions.
Saturday, 26
8 p.m. "Shakespeare's Women" a
gallery of portraits depicting the lost
7 to I 0 p.m. EQA Pride Week event:
Student Video Garners Alliance
Tuesdays, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.,
CAB TV lounge
Upcoming Events
Narcotics Anonymous
Tuesdays, 8 p.m.,
LAB I, 1047 and SEM II, 3107A
Sundays, 6:30p.m. CAB lounge
Upcoming events
Thursday, May 3 I , 5 p.m. "Laughing
Meditation ." Rotunda. Hosted by
Common Bread.
SEED
Wednesdays, I p.m.
CAB 3rd floor pit
Friday, June I, 6 to 8:30p.m . Prison
industrial complex workshop. SEM II,
All07. Hosted by WOCC .
Chemistry Club
Wednesdays, I to 2 p.m.
LAB I, 1037
Sunday, June 3, noon to 4 p.m .
Contact Dance Workshop: dance
workshop in contact improv for all
skill level s. CRC 216. Hosted by
Contact lmprov.
Geoduck Union
Wednesdays, I to 3 p.m .
SEM II, B 1105
geoduckunion@evergreen.edu
Friday, 25
II to 3 p.m. EQA Pride Week event:
Resource fair. Red Square.
9 p.m. EQA Pride Week event: Cheap
Ass Drag Ball. HCC.
7 to 9 p.m. Nicky Click musical
performance . HCC. Hosted by WRC
calendar
May 24, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2 to 4 p.m .
"Mafaida's Vaccine" media and
theatrical performance.
SEM II , Bl 105. Hosted by the student
group Latin @s.
Thursday, June 7, 6 to 8:30
p.m. Amelia Ortiz spoken word
performance. Longhouse . Hosted by
WOCC and MEChA.
women of William Shakespeare . COM
Experimental Theatre. Hosted by
Dialogues with Shakespeare's Women
aka Lady Crable's Players .
Monday, 28
5 to 6 p.m . "Elements of Alchemy"
creative writing workshop . LIB 2304.
6:30 to 9 p.m. Gypsie Nation freespirit
dance. SEM II , E1107 .
Tuesday, 29
4 to 5 p.m. "Grammar Rodeo" grammar
skills workshop. LIB 2304 .
Wednesday, 30
•
3 p.m. Bicycle mechanics workshop:
working with pedals and bottom
brackets . Bike Shop, basement of CAB .
3 to 5 p.m. Academic IT priorities group
meeting to share and discuss information
technology that impacts academics.
SEM II, A2 I 09 .
Would you like your
group's event listed in
the calendar of theCooper PointJournal?
Contact calendar
coordinator
Lauren Takores at
cpj@evergreen.edu.
Students In Action workshops
Wednesdays , I to 3 p.m.
SEM II , E2 125
-
Students for a Democratic
Society
Wednesdays, 2 p.m.
SEM II, E3 105
Society fo r Trans Action
Resources
Wednesdays, 3 p. m.
SEM II, D3 107
Writer 's Guild
Wednesdays, 3 to 4 p.m.
SEM II , C building lobby chairs
Synergy
Wednesdays, 3:45p.m.
CAB 320
Alcoholics Anonymous
Wednesdays, 4 p.m.
LAB I, 1047
Fridays, noon and 7 p.m.
LAB I, 1047
The Outdoor Adventure Club
Wednesdays, 4 p.m.
CRC rock climbing gym
Meditation workshop
Wednesday 7:30 to 8:30p.m.
Cedar Room , Longhouse
Open Mic Poetry Reading
Wednesdays, 8 p.m .
vox
Thursdays, 2:30 p.m.
CAB 320 solarium
lnfoshoppe and Zine Library
Thursdays, 4 p.m. LIB 3303
TESC Chess Club
Thursdays 4 to 6 p.m.
SEM II , CII05
All skill levels welcome.
Evergreen Animal Rights
Network
Thursdays, 4:30p.m.
CAB 3rd Floor
WashPIRG
Fridays, 4 p.m.
CAB 320, conference room
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colllics
Cooper Point Journal
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Cooper Point Journal
May 24, 2007
Inside the olka dot
Photographs by Sarah Macaulay, a freshman enrolled in A Project Studio Environment.
seepage
cpj0987.pdf