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Part of The Cooper Point Journal (February 21, 2018)

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the cooper point journal
The Evergreen State College Newspaper Since 1971| Feburary 21, 2018

OLY MOM DIES IN CUSTODY
COMMUNITY CALLS TO
DREDGE CAPITOL LAKE

EX CHIEF ALLEGES HOSTILITY
FORMER EVERGREEN C.O.P.
CLAIMS RACISM, SEXISM
3

5

FREE SPEECH ON CAMPUS
TESC RANKED ONE OF TEN
WORST SCHOOLS FOR SPEECH
9

The Cooper Point Journal

STAFF

Editor-in-Chief

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

Business Manager
April Davidson

News Editor
Mason Soto

C o mm u n i t y E d i t o r
Georgie Hicks

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

Comics Editor

Morrissey Morrissey

Writers

S eb a s t ia n L o p e z
A b b e y M y r ic k

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Student throws up their arms in glee under an ignited United States flag

during Gulf War protests on The Evergreen State College campus. Taken by Steve Davis in 1991, courtesy of

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

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Lena Hindes

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The Evergreen State College 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 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday. Come early
if you’d like to chat with the editor!

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

Former Chief of Police Stacy Brown talks with student at a department sponsored event. SHAUNA BITTLE.

FORMER EVERGREEN CHIEF OF
POLICE FORMALLY ALLEGES HOSTILE WORK ENVIROMENT
STACY BROWN MAKES MOVES TOWARDS A LEGAL CLAIM OF
DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER AND RACE
By Mason Soto and Georgie Hicks
On February 16 The Cooper
Point Journal received information about a litigation hold
regarding former Evergreen
Chief of Police Stacy Brown
who is potentially bringing a
lawsuit against the Evergreen
State College, alleging that
during her time here from
September 12, 2016 to August 4, 2017, Brown was the
victim of discrimination and
hostile work environment.
In the letter addressed to
Aileen B. Miller, Assistant Attorney General and representative of The Evergreen State
College (TESC), from Younglove & Coker Attorneys At
Law, Christopher John Coker
who is representing Ms. Brown
alleges, “there was not only a
pervasive hostility towards law
enforcement, in general, at the
college, but also towards her,

specifically and that some of
that hostility was based on her
gender and, at times her race”
and that “she was subjected
to discriminatory actions and
comments from College employees and College administration, as well as attacks on
her character and gender by the
student body that were either
ignored, supported, or implicitly condoned by the College
administration.” The letter then
goes on to further allege, “that
the College failed to reasonably
respond to a flier being posted
around Campus depicting Ms.
Brown in a racially and sexually
explicit manner.” and finally,
“that the hostile environment
left her with no choice but
to resign from the College.”
The litigation states that
“after riding through the ranks
in Lewis County as a deputy,

detective, sergeant, detective
sergeant, and finally deputy
chief, Chief Brown believed
the position with TESC was
an opportunity to gain experience as a chief and advance her
career. Her career goal was to
work as the chief for TESC
with the hope of someday advancing to a chief position in
a larger department,” The letter goes on to state, “When
she accepted the position with
TESC, Chief Brown’s career was advancing and she
seemed to be well on her way
to bigger and better things.”
Near the end of the letter
under the header “Aftermaths
and Damages” the letter states
that “ While Chief Brown
enjoys her [current] work environment with the City of
Tumwater, after 27 years in
law enforcement, Chief Brown

is faced with the reality of being required to essentially start
back from the beginning in
terms of career progression.
With the City of Tumwater,
Chief Brown is the patrol officer with the least seniority. By
accepting the City of Tumwater position, Chief Brown was
forced to take a pay cut in excess
of $15,000 per year. The damage to Chief Brown’s reputation as a potential Chief of Police is damaged beyond repair.”
The litigation alleges that
two emails, including a picture of bacon sent from a student employee, and one faculty
member stating that “the police
were basically fascists and the
events that occured at Chief
Brown’s swearing in were to
be expected”, were sent by two
male staff and were directed at
her specifically because of Ms.

Brown’s gender. The Cooper
Point Journal can confirm that
in spite of the degendering language of the litigation, the student employee in question does
not identify as male, and in fact
her State ID is labeled female.
Another allegation revolves
around a flier that was present during part of the protest
last year
depicting “Chief
Brown wearing suggestive
clothing, a KKK type hood,
and holding a geoduck that
appears to be ejaculating,” as
the letter to Miller explains.
The letter also contains allegations regarding The Flaming
Eggplant restaurant and this
paper, The Cooper Point Journal (CPJ), to which Brown alleges that anti-police sentiment,
and clearly untrue “discriminatory and derogatory statements
about her” were allowed to be

FEBURARY 21, 2018 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 03

News
posted and published by Tom
Mercado, Former Director
of Student Activities because
she was a female police chief.
The anti-police sentiment
allegedly includes restaurant
employees oinking at the police and the CPJ publishing
several opinion pieces regarding Brown’s interview with the
paper and issues of policing in
general. For clarity, many articles have been published by
multiple writers at the CPJ
regarding police and Chief
Brown, but only a single female
student of color has been targeted in the litigation so far.
The allegations against Mr.
Mercado state “When Chief
Brown advised Mr. Mercado of
her concerns about the restaurant employees’ actions and the
posting of discriminatory and
hostile flyers about her and the
police around the student activities building Mr. Mercado appeared to become angry and defiantly informed Chief Brown
it was ‘freedom of speech’.”
Another allegation regards
a female faculty member of
color who scheduled a meeting to discuss her claim that an
officer was racist. The faculty
member took concern with the
power dynamic exhibited when
Ms. Brown showing up to the
meeting in uniform and carrying a firearm, as the letter states,
“ When Chief Brown arrived at
Ms. Harris’ office for the prescheduled meeting she was immediately confronted by Ms.
Harris and told by Ms. harris
that she could not believe Chief
Brown, a white woman, would
show up at her office carrying
a firearm.” The faculty member
informed Brown “ that she believed Chief Brown was wearing her uniform and firearm
to intentionally prove she had
more “privilege” than her and
was trying to intimidate her”.
In regards to this incident
the letter states, “Chief Brown
was very concerned about
Ms.Harris’ seemingly derogatory comments and her race and
gender and wanted to bring it
to the attention of Ms. Endress
because she was worried about
being labeled in such a manner,” alleging that after being
informed Ms. Endress didn’t
address the issue, investigate or
possibly discipline Ms. Harris.

State hospital circa 1946. EBBERT T. WEBER VIA THE WASHINGTON STATE ARCHIVES.

SECOND CHANCE FOR WASHINGTON REFORM
By Sebastian Lopez
Two weeks ago in Texas,
38-year-old second grade teacher
Heather Holland became the center of an ongoing discussion regarding healthcare costs after she
died of the flu. According to Holland’s husband, the teacher died
due to the out-of-pocket price of
the antiviral medicine prescribed
by her doctor being too costly.
This is a familiar and seemingly
unique American story of death
by way of treatment price that has
energized a movement from the
left toward a more just healthcare system in the United States.
Nationwide, a serious discussion around healthcare has risen
around the idea of a single-payer
system, which various prominent
leftist political organizations as
well as Democrats are making a
big push for this year. The idea
revolves around the idea of guaranteed healthcare for everybody
in the United States, paid by
their government, that leaves no
one, especially those who could
not otherwise afford treatment,
behind. Such a policy would
work under the assumption that
health and life are human rights,
like protection against fires.
This rise in this discussion

04 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

could be attributed to independent
Senator Bernard “Bernie” Sanders, who was famous for pointing
out during his 2016 presidential
campaign that “shamefully, the
United States remains the only
major country on Earth that does
not guarantee healthcare to all
people,” and calling for a federal
single-payer healthcare system.
Last year, Senator Sanders introduced the Medicare-for-All
Act of 2017, which was co-sponsored by 15 Senate Democrats.
The bill seeks to expand Medicare,
which currently benefits those
over the age of 65 as well as people
who are disabled, to every individual resident of the country. This
move followed in the footsteps of
Democratic Congressman John
Conyers, who has been introducing such legislation since 2003.
Our current president also
made waves in 2016 during his
own campaign when he advocated for a healthcare system
that would “take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me
votes or not. Everybody’s going
to be taken care of much better
than they’re taken care of now.”
This language did not survive the
Republican president’s election.

Washington, a state stricken
by various crises such as lack of
housing, opioid addiction, and
poverty, has been empowered to
be at the forefront of the fight for
a statewide single-payer healthcare system for almost 20 years.
Though the state benefits from a
bipartisan direction in terms of
healthcare, it is still stricken by
a neoliberal-based structure that
cannot cover everybody within its
borders, embraces health insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and only covers the most basic of basics in healthcare needs.
The organization Health Care
for All Washington (HCFAWA) could be ascribed as the
first of many movement in the
last 20 years. The organization
has pushed many state legislative bills since 2000, including the
2017-2018 session HB 1026 and
SB 5701. These bills, which are
derivatives of bills introduced in
the past 18 years, both call for a
statewide ‘health trust’ to use for
state residents’ healthcare needs.
HCFA-WA’s 18 years of activity have inspired those at Whole
Washington, another singlepayer healthcare organization in
Washington seeking a healthcare

program that covers everybody.
Last month, Whole Washington introduced voter initiative I-1600, which was approved
for the November ballot by the
Secretary of State and is now
seeking the signatures needed
to actually make it onto the ballot. I-1600, inspired by the work
of HCFA-WA’s many legislative aspirations, seeks to create
the Whole Washington Health
Trust; which would create a
single-payer system accessible
to all residents of Washington,
as well as non-resident students.
“I see people dying because
they can’t get enough donations on their GoFundMe page.
I see patients leave rehab knowing they won’t have the home
health or outpatient coverage
they need to continue to recover.
I see elderly disabled individuals paying 25% of their income
on healthcare expenses,” Erin
Georgen, the initiative’s writing
committee chair, tells the CPJ.
“On top of that, providers are
burning out on paperwork and
insurance hurdles, while facing
proposed funding cuts to healthcare programs they and their
patients depend on. Our state

News
needs to reduce wasteful administrative costs and ensure consistent funding sources for our
state’s residence healthcare and
the providers who serve them.”
The
Whole
Washington
Health Trust would be a nonprofit entity that would be used
to provide care for everybody in
the state, negotiate drug prices,
which would include negotiating bulk drug purchases with
the state’s tribes, cover vision
and dental, cover everybody under the age of 19, and work with
out-of-state providers to work
for Washington state residents .
The Trust would also create
new taxes in order to be funded
including a 1% income tax for
those earning $15,000 and above
which would be called a ‘personal
health assessment’ and would
only be allowed to be used for
state healthcare. It would also be
funded by a payroll tax of 8.5%,
which could be exempt of the
first $60,000, a capital gains tax
of 8.5% that would not include
retirement income, and home
sales and farm income taxes.
“The middle class and businesses are projected to save the
most, but the benefits package
exceeds all currently available
to residents through any public
program,” Georgen continued,
“providers also have a lot to gain
by having one primary insurance
coverage and one baseline level
of benefits residents are covered
for, it will reduce the amount of
time providers spend getting preauthorizations and negotiating
with insurers for the more than
130 plans residents are enrolled
in (or not enrolled in) currently.”
In order to gather the necessary
votes, Whole Washington is asking for donations to put into their
‘petition posse’. Last year, the organization gathered $25,000 and
spent $10,000 on a study which
prompted a change in language
from a campaign supporting legislation into one revolving around
a voter initiative, hence I-1600.
This move has some questioning the validity behind Whole
Washington’s movement. Though
these critics are the same individuals who would like to see a
single-payer healthcare system
that covers everybody, they question how Whole Washington
sees the state of Washington
paying for a program that could
cost up to 50 billion dollars. The
state already suffers from being
the most regressive state in the
country due to the legal challenge of imposing an income tax.
Andrew Saturn, a leftist ac-

tivist and affiliate of WOKE
Washington, a progressive organizing group that worked closely
with Whole Washington during its outset, calls the initiative
“yet another incrementalist proposal from yet another for-profit
do-nothing ‘message campaign.’
These campaigns, which all seem
to employ the same group of individuals, view the performance
of attempting to change our existing capitalist institutions — and
intentionally failing to disrupt the
status quo — as some measure of
success.” The Whole Washington program would still include
monthly premiums for those
200% above the poverty line.
Single-payer healthcare as a
concept has been on the minds
of political economy thinkers
since the 19th century. Today,
the issue is seen as an important
facet in the discussions around
social, economic, and environmental justice. Washington itself
is one of many states today with
movements that are fighting for
statewide programs that would
provide care for every individual
within its borders, though statewide sustainability of such a
program seems dubious to most.
Organizations such as the
Democratic Socialists of America, as well as federal representatives like Senator Bernie
Sanders, are focusing their their
energy on pushing a nationwide program that works by
deriving itself from an existing
program which exhibits a successful structure, ample popularity, and language that could be
built upon, such as Medicare.
“[If passed] Washington state
could lead the nation in guaranteeing healthcare and help to provide data and an example of how
universal healthcare can work effectively in the US. Many of the
major achievements our country has made in the past, started
with state and local achievement,” Erin Georgen continued.
“We are a Democratic Republic
of States, state level progress often has impact on national discourse and our efforts are a part
of a much larger movement too.”
Whether or not a statewide
program is sustainable, one thing
is true: the authorization of such
a program by state voters would
send the strong message that,
yes, healthcare is a human right.
Whole Washington is a grassroots organization intent on creating a statewide universal healthcare program in Washington. To
learn more, visit their website at
www.wholewashington.com.

VANEESA HOPSON
By Mason Soto
On February 7, in the stilldark morning hours, Vaneesa
Hopson died while in the custody
of the Olympia Police Department (OPD) and paramedics. By
the following nightfall, activists
gathered on 4th Avenue in an action remembering Hopson and
protesting police brutality. The
event climaxed when the driver
of a silver Toyota truck sped
into the crowd injuring at least
two people and sending one to
the hospital, creating chaos that
soon dispersed folks on the street.
Vaneesa’s neighbors report
that she was not acting like her
normal self the night leading up
to her death, and at least one report says that she was trying to
get people to call first responders
to help her. Both neighbors and
police reports say that Vaneesa
pulled a fire alarm in her unstable state, to which first the
fire department, then the police
responded. Witnesses say that
while she was calm with police as
they handcuffed her, the situation
soon escalated, and videos from
the incident show at least three
policeman actively restraining her
on the cement parking lot outside
her home, giving her little room
to move as she can be heard crying out in pain. At some point the
cluster of police called paramedics to the scene and it was decided
that she could not be detained
and transported without being se-

dated. In situations like this police
and paramedics are expected to
administer a class of medications
known as “chemical restraints”
that can include sedatives and
antipsychotics. Sources have still
not confirmed what exact medication was used, nor what the exact cause of death was, but many
community members have shared
fears that the “chemical restraint”
contradicted something the victim already had in her system.
Vaneesa died minutes after the
intravenous drugs were delivered.
Police have since sought to
put the onus of the decision to
sedate Vaneesa on the medics while trying to minimize the
stakes of the situation overall, as
OPD spokesperson Sam Costello has said all departments involved acted “within protocol.”
A march in memorial was
scheduled as reports of the incident spread, and about fifty
Olympia community members
walked Wednesday night through
downtown. Many marched in
protest against police violence,
shouting Vaneesa’s name along
with Charleena Lyles, a pregnant
black woman shot and killed by
Seattle police last summer, and
John T. Williams, a member of
the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe who
was killed similarly in 2010.
As the protest grew, the crowd
flowed out onto 4th Avenue,
eventually blocking traffic. Police

presence at the action was sparse
for the most part, but confrontations with traffic shook the situation nonetheless. As a video from
the scene shows, a truck driver
inches up to the crowd, then
revs forward despite folks attempting to guide the truck elsewhere. Folks screamed as multiple protestors were rammed by
the five thousand pound vehicle,
and other witnesses say that in
the chaos someone pulled out a
gun and threatened the protesters with it. Medics showed up,
then police in riot gear, waving
their own guns around the scattered crowd.OPD says the truck
incident has been reported, but
so far nothing has come of it.
Organizing has continued as
officials churn out their reactions
to Vaneesa’s death and the protest.
One group known as De-escalate
Washington has proposed an
initiative to restructure the ways
that police are held accountable
for use of deadly force, the public
hearing for which is happening
on February 20. Olympia City
Counciler member Reneta Collins spoke at a community gathering at the Artesian Well last
week offering condolences for
Vaneesa’s
family.
Readers can support Vaneesa’s family by donating to her YouCaring page. Funds will be used
to pay outstanding bills and to
help support her 9 year old son.

FEBURARY 21, 2018 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 05

Arts & Culture

LENAHINDES
artist interview
by sally linn

I met with Lena in the studio as we bonded over our mutual Juul ownership and
sampled each other’s flavors. Practicing as a mixed media and interdisciplinary artist, Lena’s work is constantly moving towards the same levity and inventiveness
that children put into their art. The mediums they work in span the gamut to include
drawing, metalworking, puppet making, sculpting, animation, photography, video,
and generally anything tactile that they can manipulate with their hands.

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Arts & Culture

Generally sticking to the four credit art classes
that Evergreen offers, they’ve been able to explore a
variety of disciplines and refine their technique. Despite having priority registration as a senior, when
they couldn’t get into any ceramics classes this year
they took matters into their own hands and took a
different approach to the material. Opting to work
with Sculpey instead, a polymer clay meant to be
used by children that can be baked and cured in a
kitchen oven, they’re continuing on their own to expand their familiarity and ability with sculpting.
Last year, Lena created a puppet show that involved
making felt portraits of their friends and the different
stories that were important to them. This kind of collaboration is a common practice for them where they
can think about real people and their personal narratives
and interpret them into an art practice. Their friends
will also occasionally give them drawing assignments
like to draw “sad egg boy from the 1970s walks home
from school” or “grumpy big pants looking at a frog.”
Working with bands to create album art or flyers
for shows is another way that they bring other people
into their creative practice. This also has the added bonus of publicity since the flyers are displayed in public
around school and the town. Working with bands can
sometimes be difficult, however, since they’ll some-

times have a specific vision in mind and reject some
of the really neat ideas that Lena throws at them.
Much of what influences their art comes from
channeling the inner child to bring out a sense of
whimsy and playfulness. This is evident in the types
of materials they choose to work with: felt, hot glue,
Sculpey, colored pencils, etc. Bodies, color, and camp
are the three biggest motifs of their work as these
all intermingle in order to evoke a sense of levity.
As playful as their work is, art making has never
been a therapeutic or calming experience for them as
many other artists will describe. This is attributed to
the highly critical attitude that they evaluate their work
with (thought they are trying to ease up a bit.) Even as
early as four years old they remember throwing away
the drawings they made that they judged to be ugly. Secretly, their mother was rescuing these from the garbage
all the while and formed a collection of these rejects.
That is to say, Lena has been making art their entire
life and their first art class was taken when they were in
kindergarten. Art has always been a central component
to their family. Their parents continue to make art in

their spare time just for the fun of it. Mom paints and
collages. Dad makes line drawing. On family vacations
they remember spending time having group art sessions.
Currently, their focus is on the fine metal work
that they’re doing for their program. They are making useful and usable objects like lamps, utensils,
and jewelry. For their current assignment, making
a set of six utensils, they didn’t want to do the obvious—forks, spoons, knives—so instead they decided to circumvent the over-done and make a set
of silly straws. These will likely be silver plated in
order to make them foodsafe and extra luxurious.
After graduating this spring, they have plans to
move back to Los Angeles where they will be assisting the jewelry maker Hannah Keefe in her studio.
However, they aspire to be working with children,
either as a nanny or teaching art workshops to kids
They want to offer the advice, both to themselves and
to all the other kids out there to keep making bad art.

FEBURARY 21, 2018 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 07

Arts & Culture

Take the animal workshop so you too can talk to this bear! PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN. COURTESY OF TESC ARCHIVES.

&

UP
COMING

FRI. FEB 23

Capitol Theater
6:30 p.m.

Call Me By Your Name (2018)

Le Voyeur

7 p.m., $12, All Ages.

Despise You, Savage, Escort,
Eteraz, and Minor In Possession

SAT. FEB 24
Le Voyeur

3 p.m., All Ages.

PETS, Skrill Meadow, Generifus

Le Voyuer

6 p.m., $3, NOTAFLOF, All Ages.

STUFF 2 DO

TheStoneyMoaners, JNX,
Werthless, DeadOb

SUN. FEB 25

By Morrissey Morrissey

West Central Park Project
11 a.m., Free, All Ages.

Sunday Work Party

TUESDAY 2/27

MON. FEB 26
Capitol Theater
6:30 p.m., All Ages.

OFS Annual Membership Meeting

TUES. FEB 27
Cryptotropa Bar
7 p.m., $5, 21+.

Novemthree, The Sun and the
Mirror, and Umbrae Flux

WED. FEB 28
230 4th Ave E
6 p.m., All Ages.

Awakening Dreams: Free Visual Art
Workshops for Youth

ANIMAL COMMUNICATION

Healing Energy for People and Animals. 6:30 p.m.
$200. All Ages.

Have you ever wanted to talk to you cat and tell her that
you love her and also that you’ll never forget to feed her so
she can go ahead and stop worrying so much about that all
the time? Well I’ve got some good news for you and your
cat both (which I will soon be able to communicate to both
of you as well because I will be at this event, too)! The artist
known as “Healing Energy for People & Animals by Wanda
Buckner” is putting on an Animal Communication event on
Tuesday, the 27th. Note: The Facebook event doesn’t actually
guarantee you (or I) will learn to talk to cats in this class. It
actually is completely blank and only gives it’s mysterious
title and location, offering no additional details.

THURS. MAR 1
Olympia Timberland Library
5:30 p.m., Free.

Buying Your First Home Workshop

FRI. MAR 2
The Evergreen State College
3 p.m., Lecture Hall 8.

Combating Fatphobia Workshop

SAT. MAR 3
The VVitch House
8 p.m., $2-$3. All Ages.

Interfaith Works Emergency
Overnight Shelter Benefit
Show

THURSDAY 3/1
SCREENING AND DISCUSSION: BOYS
AND MEN HEALING
Lecture Hall 4. 6 p.m. No Cover. All Ages.

The Coalition Against Sexual Violence here at Evergreen
will be holding a screening and discussion of the film Boys
and Men Healing, a film that addresses the impact of sexual
violence on men who are survivors, as well as the impact on
our society as a whole. This incredibly important film will
be screened at 6 pm and followed by a group discussion. A
CASV advocate will be present.

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FRIDAY 3/2 - THURSDAY 3/8
GET OUT

Capitol Theater. Various Times. All Ages.

Have you seen this movie yet? No? Honestly, I haven’t
either. Scary movies scare me a lot, do you think it would be
less scary if we went together? Not as a date! Just as friends,
or as a reader (you) and a creature (me). It’ll be fun! Or really
scary! But either way, super good! Get Out is a suspense
film about Chris, the main character, meeting his girlfriend’s
parents for the first time. It is director Jordan Peele’s first
movie and is nominated for four (FOUR) Oscars! Good job,
Jordan Peele! There are four showings on FRI 3/2 9:00PM;
TUES 3/6 7:00PM, WED 3/7 4:00PM; THU 3/8 7:00PM.
Tickets will be for sale 30 minutes before doors.

SATURDAY 3/3
ROBOTICS FOR KIDS!

WET Science Center. 11 a.m. No Cover. All Ages.

Okay! I know what you’re going to say! “Morrissey,
you’re a technically a ‘full-grown adult 21-year-old creature’,
not a ‘kids’!” and to that I say “Yeah, unfortunately!” I say
‘unfortunately’ only because I wish I wasn’t fully-grown. I
want to be taller. But I digress! Don’t get ahead of yourself.
Although this event is called “for kids”, it’s definitely all-ages.
I checked! This event at Olympia’s WET Science Center on
Saturday, March 3rd is a class for everyone who is interested
in learning the basics of engineering, the history of robotics,
and, as their event page states, “discuss cutting edge robots
in space” which is incredibly vague but also somehow a really
big mood.

Campus for the Patriot Prayer “Free Speech Rally” held in response to student protests. STEVE DAVIS.

Letters & Opinion

ADVICE ON SEX, RELATIONSHIPS, + MORE

@

EVERGREEN CITED AS ONE OF WORST
COLLEGE FOR FREE SPEECH
By Jasmine Kozak- Gilroy
On Feburary 12, 2018, the
Foundation for Individual Rights
(FIRE) released their annual list of
the ten worst colleges for free speech,
a Buzzfeed- style listicle that addresses
instances of suppression of free speech.
This year, FIRE chose to include The
Evergreen State College, citing the
incident in which about thirty students
congealed outside Professor Bret
Weinstein’s classroom and admonished
him for the chaos he had caused on the
all staff and faculty direct email chain.
Students were reacting not just to
his original emails, which started in
October with a critique of policies
that would encourage hiring for
diversity and continued in March with
a long winded complaint about the
restructuring of Day of Absence/ Day
of Presence, but also to his responses to
his fellow faculty’s replies to his emails,
in which he continuously expressed
contempt about a lack of what he
persevered to be ‘civil’ discourse
surrounding questions of Blackness.
As a student employee and the
Managing Editor for The Cooper
Point Journal at the time, I followed
the email from their inception in the
fall. The frustrations expressed by
students were not singularly theirs–
they were shared by me, and expressed
to me by other students, staff, and
faculty alike. The folks who showed
up outside his office that day were not
alone in their taking of Bret Weinstein
as an example of one of the many ways
in which power dynamics express
themselves at Evergreen through a lack

of accountability from faculty or the
administration that leaves students and
coworkers abandoned.
The question of power and who it
favors should be central to discussions of
free speech, but by equating a number
of complex events to clear cut repression,
by including instances students yelling
at or publicly admonishing professors,
protestors burning flags outside Milo
Yiannopoulos events, and admission
offers being revoked for sending KKK
memes, FIRE flattens any discussion
of social imbalance. The idea of free
speech as it is discussed by FIRE rests
on the utopian notion that free speech
exists in a vacuum ‘free’ from intrenched
power discrepancies like those between
teacher and student, cop and citizen,
and white folks and people of color.
In choosing to make no distinctions
between the kind of power exerted by
administrative bodies, for whom laws
regarding free speech were originally
designed to keep in check, as opposed
to expressions of discontent by students,
for whom they were originally designed
to protect, they depoliticize the concept
of free speech, removing it from very
real, crucial political conflicts between
neo- Nazis and anti-fascists, between
immigrants and white nationalists at
the expense of the rights of and respect
for students.

Disagree with me? You’re free to. Send
your 500 word or less letter to the editor
to cooperpointjournal@gmail.com

Do you take any vitamins? How to
choose them correctly? Do you eat healthy
food?
We take a lot of vitamins everyday
but we had a doctor suggest which
vitamins to take. If you want to take
vitamins and don’t have a doctor to
consult, you’d be safe finding a good
multi-vitamin and taking a vitamin C
supplement. We live in a gloomy cloudscape so literally everyone should be
taking vitamin D. If you are vegetarian

or vegan then you should probably seek
out some b12. We recently learned that
you shouldn’t take vitamins with your
morning coffee because caffeine blocks
your ability to absorb nutrients! Taking
vitamins is not an excuse to eat junk,
the best way to get your vitamins is
through the food you eat. That being
said, “Healthy” is relative and you can
do your best to eat lots of fruits and
vegetables and still not be getting all
your nutrients. We are not down for

FEBURARY 21, 2018 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 09

Letters and Opinion

COMIX
Deja Vu Liuxing Jay

Stephan Curry Is A Basketball Player Morrissey Morrissey

WANT TO HAVE YOUR COMIiX

PUBLISHED IN THE CPJ?

10 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM

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/

Letters and Opinion
RUBY THOMPSON.

food shaming, figuring out what to
feed yourself is a struggle and as long as
your have enough to eat that’s all that
matters.
What if the chamomile tea is no longer
soothing?
Well, we’re gonna go ahead and
assume you’re attempting to control
anxiety through non-pharmaceutical
means. We’ve heard great things
about Kava, which you can get in all
kinds of forms (powder, tincture, tea).
If you’re interested in other kinds of
tinctures Skullcap and Valerian are
good for the nerves. Personally, we
really like Magnesium. You can get a
powders or a pill supplement but our
favorite way, and apparently the most
efficient way to absorb magnesium is
putting Epsom Salts in a hot bath! For
other suggestions that don’t involve
consuming things, here are some
things all us anxious CPJ staffers do to
self-soothe. Find a quiet place, put on
a timer for 10 minutes and then force
yourself to do absolutely nothing until
the timer goes off but it’s OK if you
don’t make it. Put on song that you
know will make you cry, a release of
emotions can reduce the tension. Most
importantly, remember that you are not
alone in your suffering. Taking time to
isolate yourself is good if that’s helpful,
but there’s probably someone in your
vicinity that understands what you’re
going through.
If you have a friend and you see their
significant other with someone who’s not
your friend, do you tell your friend, or do
you mind your own business?
The short answer is yes. But
unless you know for sure that your
friend thinks their relationship is
monogamous then don’t jump to any
conclusions. You could say something
like, “Hey I saw your partner out with
another person, they looked pretty cozy.
Hope this isn’t crossing a boundary
but I was wondering what’s up with
that?” Your goal should not be to tear
anyone down or to start drama, but to
understand more about your friend and
to protect them against anyone being
dishonest to them.

Body Party is a positive, open-minded
column about everything bodied, sex,
relationships, and self love. We are not
doctors, but we do research all of the
answers we provide. Send us question to
bodypartcpj@gmail.com or submit 100%
anonymously to wastedadvice.sarahah.

by April Davidson

ARIES 3/21 - 4/19

LEO 7/23 - 8/22

TAURUS 4/20 - 5/20

VIRGO 8/23 - 9/22

You’ve got several big dreams and plans but how
many of them can you actually afford? Not just
financially but also physically and mentally. The
general mood is shifting into a moment of confusion where you will have only your intuition
to move you through. Being patient isn’t easy
for you but you’ll benefit now from retreat and
stillness. If you must be impulsive, do it in the
potent and unbounded space of dreams.
Allowing things to be chaotic and having fun in
spite of disorder is not your strength, but that’ll
be the best way to handle the coming weeks.
You take a lot of responsibility for those around
you, usually in a practical way but right now it
will be difficult to maintain psychic boundaries, causing much undue worry and guilt. Make
choices based not on what you think will alleviate immediate pain but will do the most longterm good for everyone.

GEMINI 5/21 - 6/20

How you approach your public life is indicative
of the atmosphere you have set in your private
life and vice versa. Best case scenario right now
is that you will be able to tap into romantic, poetic wisdom. Worst case scenario, your emotions
turn into melodrama and unnecessary brooding.
Your imaginative powers are currently strong,
but are your feelings appropriate or excessive?
Practice your self-control in order to know the
difference.

CANCER 6/21 - 7/22

A moment of triumph is on the way. Like all
moments, it will be fleeting but it is one that
was hard earned and you are encouraged to luxuriate in the experience. The people around you
recognize your success; validating messages will
arrive in the form of requests for your time and
attention. You may already have new adventures
on your mind. Thank those that supported you
but remember, just because you’ve been the opportunity doesn’t mean you have to take it.

A chapter in your life is over, a final door closes.
A happening that is completely beyond your
control leads to an experience of transformation
and an appreciation for what’s essential. Endings are a precondition for new life. Learning
how to release and welcome change will send
you on a journey that could produce creative
forms more stunning and truthful than you ever
thought possible. It won’t be comfortable but
the bonds you retain will grow even stronger.
Caught up in the paradox between the self and
the other, the internal work and insights you
have this week will support a balance between
contradictions. Relationships are causing more
disorder than they are bringing connection but
now is not the time to make impulsive choices. Pull back and check in with your personal
needs. Your instincts are all your have to guide
you now, trust in what you don’t know yet.

LIBRA 9/23 - 10/22

You may experience an overwhelming feeling that you need to be alone. Not because you
don’t want to connect with others but because
you need your connections to be more innocent
and compassionate. Only in private will you be
able to receive information that can dissolve the
barriers that prevent the rest of the world from
knowing the gentle beauty in your heart. Focus
on forgiveness and small gestures of kindness.

SCORPIO 10/23 - 11/21

Sometimes we get a short glimpse of the arrangements of universe, or patterns of time that
connect everything. Everything can seem like a
huge accident and then something happens that
brings perspective and clarity on a new level. As
quickly as vision arrives it can disappear again
but it will leave an impression. The best you can
do right now is to recognize your role in the
context of larger cycles, beyond your individual
experiences.

SAGITTARIUS 11/22- 12/21

There will be a sudden need for you to take
things seriously and show responsibility. Whatever the situation is you will be challenged to
be accountable, to show up and handle the circumstances with thoughtful consideration. The
pressure is on because everyone is looking at you
and depending on your to do your best. Focus
less on what you think you deserve and more on
what you’ve done to earn your current position.

CAPRICORN 12/22- 1/19

The poster child of patience and diligence, you
depend on logic but it can only get you so far.
Something feels like it’s missing but you won’t
find out what it is until you show some faith,
daydream, crack a joke and appreciate a little
absurdity. I promise that if you practice surrendering your claim to reason and progress, it will
not unravel your entire life but you might just
have some fun.

AQUARIUS 1/20 - 2/18

You can’t act on what you don’t know, but when
you do finally understand the effects your actions have caused then you have a responsibility to address imbalances. We are inextricably
bound to others but there is a way to live free.
Do you best to see others and yourself clearly,
keep your heart and mind open to possibilities
beyond material reality. Release doubts and hold
tight to your vision of your most evolved self.

PISCES 2/19 - 3/20

There’s been a long journey that has led you to
this point and you have more to offer than you
realize. You have made some irreversible choices, or one has been forced upon you, and you
will have to grapple with the aftermath. Transformations are hard but there are more possibilities for renewal than you can know. Making
connections with others might feel even more
tricky, but don’t turn away. Meetings with angels, forgiveness and joy are all likely.

DAILY HAPPY HOUR 3-7
119 CAPITOL WAY
www.thebrotherhoodlounge.com
FEBURARY 21, 2018 / THE COOPER POINT JOURNAL 11

12 WWW.COOPERPOINTJOURNAL.COM