cpj0971.pdf

Media

Part of The Cooper Point Journal Volume 35, Issue 11 (December 7, 2006)

extracted text

Af;f~ves

.4

The Ever~een State Cottage
Olympie, Waahlngton 98506
PAGE 8 • LAROUCHE RHYMES WITH DOUCH

N INTERVIEW WITH THE BLAKES PAGE 4

°COOPER POINT

OURNAL

Geoduck Union talks diversity
By Samuel Jessup
On the afternoon of December 1,
James Lowe sent a message to the Geoduck Union via their off-campus email
address.
His message was succinct: "Who
makes up the Geoduck Union? Are you
all white people? I have issues I would
like to discuss that are serious in nature."
That same afternoon, representative
Victor Sanders replied to Lowe, giving
a brief synopsis of how the student government is structured.
Sanders added that "the student government is not all white people," and he
encouraged Lowe to bring his concerns
to the student government's Wednesday
meeting.
Just after midnight on December 5,
representative Asenka Miller replied to
Lowe again.
Addressing Lowe's question about the
racial composition of the student government, Miller said, "I may look 'white'.
I have red blood just like other humans.
My race is a minority. I'm not actually
'white' and I usually choose to abstain
• from placing myself in one of those
'ethnic categories' on principle."
Lowe responded to Millers remarks
that afternoon, saying that he had seen
Miller and that she was "white to [him]".
He went on to say that he "[does not]
have the privilege of dismissing [his]
color or 'ethnic category."'

This brief exchange came to light
when Sanders posted it to the Geoduck
Union's public listserv. In his post, Sanders said that by sending something from
the Geoduck Union's email account, representatives were essentially speaking
for the whole student government, "even
if it is implied otherwise."
His remark was a clear response to
Miller's remarks. Indeed Miller had prefaced her remarks by stating that she was
speaking "as a student and as a person,"
and that her view was a personal one and
that it "may or may not reflect on the
union [sicl''
Two representatives, Kylen Clayton
and David Faber, responded to Sanders'
post prior to the Wednesday meeting.
Both agreed that Miller's remarks were
inappropriate.
"I am appalled at the way asenka [sic]
chose to address this student's concerns,"
wrote Clayton on the afternoon of the
fifth. That evening, Faber wrote, "As it
stands now we have an upset student and
a misuse of the geoduckunion@gmaiL
com address."
Both Clayton and Faber called for the
government to have a discussion about
the email exchange at the Wednesday
meeting.
In an interview just prior to the meeting, Miller demurred on questions about
the appropriateness of her message to
Lowe.
Miller said that her comments "were

Don't blame the hobos
By lan Humphrey
In response to the ordinates aimed at
homeless people passed last week banning people from sitting on sidewalks,
the Olympia Community Center hosted
an open forum dealing with the issue of
homelessness. This meeting was aimed
at finding a permanent solution to homelessness rather then trying to, in the
TESC
Olympia, WA 98505
Address Service Requested

words of Tim Nelson "blame the hobos."
The event began with five keynote
speakers, each hoping to highlight certain aspects of this growing problem.
What tied these speakers together was
that instead of promoting a strategy that
would remove homeless people, they
were more concerned with removing the
need for homelessness.
Marco Rassi, an Olympian resident

based on the fact that this union represents diversity and I represent diversity."
Miller declined to say what she
thought other representatives might consider appropriate use of the government's
account
In a break halfway through the meeting, Clayton talked about the impact he
saw in Miller's comments. ''The student
body, for good reason, doesn't trust the
Ge9duck Union."
Citi ng Miller's comments as an example of problematic government behavior,
Clayton said that as a student, he does
not trust the Geoduck Union.
"Mistakes are going to be made by
everybody," said Clayton adding that he
believes that dealing with missteps will
be an important test of the government's
ability to function as a representative
body.
While the government generally
agrees that sending personal responses
via the government email account is
inappropriate, the body remains unclear
on how representatives can appropriately
send personal responses to people who
write the government's official address.
Representative Serenity Wise said she
had seen Lowe's el'i'iail and had wanted
to respond to it personally but had not
done so because she did not want to send
something from the government account
and was unsure whether it would be
appropriate to use her own personal
account

with a long record of volunteering and
advocating for the underprivileged, gave
a brief history of homelessness in Olympia going back as far as the twenties
when hobos protested on the part of free
speech.
Rosalinda Noriega of Partners in Prevention and Education spoke about why
homelessness occurs and how to treat
the homeless. She said that there is an
impression that the homeless, youth in
particular, are homeless because they
choose to be.

PAGE 10

Issue
11
Volume 35

Dec. 7,2006

The representatives only had time
to resolve the "email" part of what was
listed on the agenda as the "diversity/
email" discussion. They plan to resume
the discussion at next week's meeting.
Sanders will be the sole manager of
the government's official email account
and Miller will draft a letter that separates her remarks to Lowe from the Geoduck Union.
The letter should be posted on the
government's listserv soon. If the rest
of the representatives accept it, the letter
will be sent to Lowe as an official statement from the Geoduck Union.
The steps taken at this weeks meeting
appear to be just the first steps towards
resolving the questions raised by what
Wise called "an awkward issue" in a
post-meeting interview.
Wise said she thought the way Lowe
"decided Asenka's identity was inappropriate" but that she understood where his
questions were coming from; she said
she understands why someone might perceive the government as "a huge group
of white people."
Wise also said she was hoping that
Lowe would show up at this week's
meeting.
In an interview Wednesday evening, Lowe said that he could not have
shown up at the Geoduck Union meeting because he was working during that
time.
Lowe said he had asked whether the
Geoduck Union was " all white people"
in his email because he has seen white
people employed by Evergreen ignore
· his concerns many times before and he
wanted to talk to someone who would
take him seriously.
When asked about his specific concerns, Lowe produced two stacks of documents (a cursory glance showed flyers
and email printouts) stuffed in to manila
folders.
Lowe said that he sent his email to the
Geoduck Union by mistake. He meant
to contact the Appearing Task Force,
a group of students organizing against
oppression at Evergreen.
The email exchange posted by Sanders and the responses of Clayton and
Faber can be found at: http://lists.evergreen.edu/read/messages?id=54541

Samuel Jessup is a seniqr enrolled in
a contract. He is also the editor-in-chief
of the Cooper Point Journal.

Noriega thoroughly debunked this
theory by listing the reasons that the
2006 Thurston Census gave for homeless
youth. Thirty percent of homeless youth
stem from family break ups, twenty five
percent from domestic violence ~nd
twenty-five percent from alcohol or drug
use. About how to treat homeless kids,
she said, "Acknowledge them, look them
in the eyes. Treat people like they're
people."

SEE "HOMELESSNESS" PAGE 3
PRSRT STD
US Postage
Paid
OlympiaWA
Permit #65

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

"Tell us the most important
thing, or the most valuable
experience, you gained this
quarter."

••
••
•••
••
•

; 1.
. •••••••••••••••••••••••••:
By Lauren Allen and lauren Takores

Vox pop

"The opportunity
to expand technical
range on my instruments while not playing the instruments,
thereby making music
I wouldn't usually,
make.'

COOPER POINT jOURNAL

Staff

:

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••e••••••
Joe Kuta • Music Compositionfoir the 21w Century
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
"As an active student
and RA on campus I
learned that despite
the fact we are a
well-intentioned
learning community,
we perpetuate some
fucked up, oppressive
shit."

"I've improved my
writing skills tremendol;Js.ly by going to the
Wntmg Center a lot
and gel:ting help from
facurty sponsors."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Lori Lawrence • Green Building Intern at the
Department oj Ecology
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

••••••••••••••••
••••••••• ••••••••
Tara Tabassi • Feminisms: Local to Global
0041110\fbOeOef/OOOOOOOOeOOOOOOeeoeeee•o•
"I have a newfound
respect for Genghis
Khan."

"Lots and lots and lots of
taxonomy."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Sarah Michel • The Fungal Kingdom

....................................
Kelly O'Neil • Russia and Eurasia: Enduring Legacies
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

••

C.41

Contact

Our meetings are open to the Evergreen community. Please come and
discuss with us!

Liz McLaren •

·······················4111·····~·····
Evan Has hi • Music Composition for the 2 1'' Century

Paper Critique

···························~·······

4 p.m. Monday
Comment on that week's paper. Air
comments, concerns , questions, etc.
If something in the CPJ bothers you,
this is the meeting for you.

Ben Gore: "Meeting
Corbin ... he showea
me how luckY. I am to
be me."

Student Group Meeting

Corbin Smith: "It's
definitely somethin~
but not meeting Ben.

·····~·····························
Ben Gore and Corbin Smith • Looking Back: America

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News
Editor-in-chief.............................................. Sam Jessup
Managing editor............................ Sean Pauli
Arts & Entertainment coordinator....... Brandon Gusty
Briefs coordinator......................................... Ryan Hanks
Calendar coordinator................................... Lauren Takores
Comics coordinator......................................Nicholas Baker
Copy editor.............................. Nicholas Klacsanzky
Copy editor............................................ .Lauren Allen
Letters & Opinions coordinator. .... Aiexandra Tobolsky
Photo coordinator. ......................................... available
See Page coordinator......................................... available
Sports coordinator........................................ Arland Hurd
Page Two coordinator................................. available
Reporter.............................................. Charlie Daugherty
Reporter....................................................... lan Humphrey
Page designer......................................... Joel Morley
Page designer. .............................................. Seth Vincent
Page designer.................................................. available
Advisor ................................. Dianne Conrad
Assistant advisor ................ .... ....... available
Thanks to Erin Birgy, Tori Needer and Kate Partika for
helping out with production .

Meeti.
04

"I learned to bring all
my camping gear when
I go on a one week field
tnpbincluding my sleepmg ag."

Business
Business manager........................ Lindsay Adams
Assistant business manager. ........... Cerise Palmanteer
Ad proofer and archivist... ................. Carrie Ramsdell
Ad Representative ............... Wendy McCutchen
Circulation manager/Paper archivist...Adrian Wittenberg
Distribution manager. ................... Paul Melnyk
Ad desginer. ..................... Christina Weeks

Cooper Point Journal
CAB 316
News: (360)867 - 6213
Email: cpj®evergreen .edu
Business: (360)867- 6054
Email: cpjbiz@evergreen.edu

"I learned that Evergreen is where sex
goes to die if you're a
college student."

"To meet people who
are sympathetic and
interested in the same
kind of ideas I am musically. And are willing to
test their limits."

STUDENT VOICE

DECEMBER 7, 2006

in the 20'11 Century

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Contributing to The CPJ
The CP J is open to contributions from all Evergreen students- and by open, we mean it's required. In fact, if you don't send
in your opinions regarding school, politics or daily life, who will?
Copies of submission and publication criteria for non-advertising content are available in CAB 316, or by request at 867-6213. Contributions are accepted at CAB 316,
or by email at cpj@evergreen.ed\J. The CPJ editor-in-chief has final say on the acceptance or rejection of all non-advertising content.

5 p.m. Monday
Find out what it means to be a
member of the student group CPJ.
Practice consensus-based decision
making.

Content Forum
12:30 p.m. Wednesday
Lecture and seminar related to
journalism and issues surrounding CPJ
content.

Thursday Forum
4:45 p.m. Thursday
Discuss ethics, journalism law and
conflict resolution.

All

meetings are in CAB 316.

The Cooper Point Journal
is written, edited and distributed by students enrolled at The Evergreen State College, who are solely responsible for its production and content.
is published28 Thursdays each academic year, when class is in session: the first through the 10th Thursday of Fall Quarter and the second through the 10th Thursday of
Winter and Spring Quarters.
is distributed free at various sites on The Evergreen State College campus. Free distribution is limited to one copy per edition per person. Persons in need of more than one
copy should contact the CPJ business manager in CAB 316 or at 867-6054 to arrange for multiple copies. The business manager may charge 75 cents for each copy after the
first.
terms and conditions are available-in CAB 316, or by request at (360) 867-6054.

The CPJ is printed on
recycled newsprint
using soy ink.

© Cooper Point Journal

2006

BRIEFS

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

HOMELESSNESS

sure results in deaths that affect us here in
Olympia. This year the shelter situation
is dismal, with more and more adult men
and women being turned away and forced
to the street to face the elements.
Please do not bring items not on this
list, our facilities are limited and the below items are what we are focusing on for
the winter.
Wish List (adult size only please):
Critical items: jackets w/hoods (the
bigger the better, for layering) and blankets. Also needed: socks, thermal underwear, gloves, winter hats and scarves.
If anyone is willing to donate new or
gently used items on this list, please consider dropping them off at the center.
These items will be distributed directly to
the individuals who need them most.
Drop off week is December 4 through
the 8 at our office downtown. The address is 1009 4th Avenue E., we are located in the old Oly Yoga Center (there is a
marquis that says Bread and Roses on it)
just before Eastside St. Their phone number is (360) 754-4588 if you have any
questions. Ask for Liz.

CONTINUED FROM COVER

Tim Nelson, who prefers to be called
just Tim, is a leader amongst the PPU,
Poor People's Union. Tim was very clear
that to be a poor person in Olympia is
to be hated. He told stories about times
when he would order food at restaurants and they would give him to go bags
even when he wanted to stay and eat. He
mentioned two occasions where he was
arrested by the police and they left his
bike on the road to be stolen consciously
despite his pleas. "I don't think poor people should be the pariah class," he said.
The event ended with a Q and A
period, where one homeless young man
stood up and talked about how it feels
to have people pass you by and not care
about you, and how important it is when
someone looks him in the eye and asks
him how he's doing. "I meet one saint for
every thousand people," he said, "And
they're all awesome."
The meeting concluded with a series
of announcements proclaiming places
and times where people can meet including a follow up meeting that will be held
in January. All are encouraged to attend.

Celebrate with waste
free holidays

Jan Humphrey is a freshman enrolled
in Sign, Symbol and Symptom.

3

DECEMBER 7, 2006

THE EVERGREENs7ATE7:0LLE6£
Police blotter
Compiled by Curtis Randolph

Case number 06-2156
11/15/2006
A professor called in to report that
unknown person(s) had painted graffiti
on the exterior window of the office belonging to her. An officer responded
and confirmed that there was in fact
graffiti on the window. The word
"PSYLENT" was written in some type
of permanent marker, green in color. It
is unknown at this time if the unknown person(s) actually thought that
adding a silent "P" to the word "silent" was an act of political up-risal,
or whether or not the person(s) even
thought it was clever. The officer
submitted a work order request
through Facilities requesting that they
remove the graffiti.

Thurston County is participating in
the regional Waste Free Holidays program, which rewards the public for reducing waste and supports local businesses.
Each participating business offers an exCase number unavailable
Homelessness
If you are a student suffering from perience or service gift at a discount of I 5
Date unavailable
TESC Dispatch advised a response
homelessness and would like to talk to to 50 percent. Purchases at the discountsomeone about on-campus and off-cam- ed price can be made from November 15 to the soup buildings in regard to drug
pus resources to help your situation please through December 31 by contacting the paraphernalia. The officer made contact
get in touch with Haley Lowe who is the local businesses directly. Details on the with an RD and was then shown what
designated contact person for homeless participating partners and their discounted was described as a homemade gravistudents. Please call ext. 6308 Monday experiences will be posted by November ty bong. A gravity bong is operated by
through Thursday during the day or ext. 15 at www.wastefreeholidays.com. Click hooking up to a normal bong a liq5112 during the evenings. Your best re- on the Thurston County logo to see lo- . uid filled container with a tube. A hole
source after hours and during the week- cal participating businesses, and feel free is opened in the bottom of the liqends would be Police Services.
to browse the participating businesses in uid container which drains out, due to
other counties, such as King, Pierce and gravity. It creates a vacuum in the conKitsap, because their discounts apply to tainer and pulls marijuana smoke out
Bread and Roses
from the bong and into the containWinters in Olympia are three things: you as well.
Call Amber at (360) 754-3355 ext. er to replace the liquid. When the
Cold, Windy and Wet. This combination
can result in pneumonia, frostbite and 7669, for more ideas on waste free holi- container is filled with smoke, it can
even death for those members of our com- day gifts, creative wrapping, festive par- then be inhaled all at once, which
causes most people to cough violentmunity experiencing homelessness. Hypo- ties and tree recycling.
. ly, hack several times, pound on their
thermia can be permanently debilitating,
chest in an attempt to relieve the
if not fatal. Every year cold weather expo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ pain, and say "~ck yeah, good shit."
This is why it's the science kids you
really gotta look out for, not the art
ones. The smoking device was seized
and logged into evidence.

FREE

Birth Control
for One Year!
at Planned
Parenthood
Services include:
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Annual exam and
counseling

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Birth control pills, IUD,
foam, the shot, vaginal
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Emergency contraception

Case number 06-2169
11/17/2006
An officer was stationed in F lot when
the loud squealing of tires could be
heard leaving Cooper's Glen parking lot. The officer started for the exit
of F lot, and when nearing the exit, heard a second squealing of tires. At
this time a blue truck accelerating
from the intersection was observed. A
second white vehicle came through
the intersection after the first car. It
was a Thurston County Sheriff
marked patrol car. The deputy's car's
overhead lights came on, and pulled
the blue truck over. The driver was
arrested for DUI while, this time, the
Evergreen officer got to sit back and
laugh with the rest of us.

Case number 06-2186
11/22/2006 at 2337 hours
An officer conducting a foot patrol
of the campus housing area observed a
suspect utilizing the computer in the
second floor recreation room located
in A-Dorm. Observed were several jackets on the couch. The suspect
appeared to be a transient. The officer made contact with the suspect and
observed he was playing an online game.
He was asked what he was doing and
suspect stated he was a student at
The Evergreen State College and was
enrolled in an EXCEL computer course.
This was almost a funny little story
that made comment on the fact that many
students here at Evergreen appear to
be transients at first glance, however the officer then conducted a
NCIC/WACIC check on the suspect.
Dispatch advised the suspect was a
registered sex offender and not a registered student. Suspect was issued a
criminal trespass warning and was
forced to leave. He rode off on his
bicycle.

4

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, Z006 '

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Photos by Justin Dylan Renning

By Lauren Takores
The Blakes are age-defYing, and not just
because they refuse to admit their actual
ages. With a sound reminiscent of a variety of music past and present, their sound
attracts fans who appreciate a high-energy
combination of sun-in-your-eyes garage
punk with neon, new wave pop.
Fiercely independent of any record label, the band recently released a self-titled,
full length album, following up their EP
"Little Whispers" released last year. Simplicity drives the songs home, and there's a
real lack of pretension around these guys.
The Blakes pull the same fast one The
Donnas did, as none of the guys are named
Blake. Snow Keirn sings, plays bass and
keyboards. Gamet Keirn plays guitar and
sings, and the trio is rounded out with Bob
Husak on drums.
Bob hails from Seattle, or more specifically Whidbey Island, while Garnet and
Snow call Maine their home state. "I was
born in Alaska, probably spent close to
eight years there. I moved to Maine, moved
to Vancouver [BC], just kind of checking
things out," said Garnet in an interview
Saturday night in Tacoma. "I always liked
music, rock and roll. I remember being a
little kid and always drawing little pictures,
different types of animals and people and
they were always just in bands and stuff. I
look back and always see [that] they're always on stage and flying around, soaring
and playing drums. There'll be chipmunks
or skunks, or just a lot of different guys
with their shirts off playing music. Then I
went to college for awhile and that kind of
went away. Then I quit college and decided
to go into music."
While the grunge explosion rocked the
larger popular music scene, the impact of
subtler musical influences on the band remained strong during their individual high
school days. "Before all that came out I
liked Megadeath a lot, they were my favor-----------------,

DanCing!

Karaoke!
Bingo!
loads Of Fun!
DallY Happy Hour 4-8f

ite band, so I really related to Soundgarden
and Alice in Chains more than Nirvana at
first, and Pearl Jam at first, because they
were more like metal," said Bob.
By insisting on having the band be as

only hopes to continue to the next, self-defined level of success.
"The time to quit being in a band is
when you get stale and plateau and you
don't get any higher and don't get any

immersed in the process as much as possible, The Blakes remain faithful to the DIY
ethics of self-production, relentless touring
and rehearsing, marathon song writing and
demo recording; all to build a fan base and
be able to continue releasing albums. In
fact, the band hopes to have another record
out by the end of 2007, with maybe even
an EP between, because there is definitely
no shortage of material. With almost 40
demos to choose from, the band narrowed
down the best 11 for the newest album.
Beside the fabulous recordings, The
Blakes walked away from making the new
record with some lessons learned. Apparently barTds often don't do their own preproduction, so they don't know what they
sound like.
"It's about the band walking into that
recording studio knowing what they're
doing," Gamet said. "A lot of times with
bands people assume it's this magical thing
that just suddenly everyone knows about
you, it happens so fast, but it just takes forever. You can't make it happen fast, you'll
go crazy if you do."
It's impossible to define The Blakes by
one genre since they refuse to adhere to
stylistic labels. By combining diverse influences from The Kinks and The Cramps to
Kings of Leon and The Strokes it creates a
unique, exciting sound. The band was recently added to the rotation on KEXP and

more fans, but it seems like with us we just
keep slowly getting more and more to the
next level, now we're getting radio play in
Seattle and that sort of thing is good for us
too," continued Bob.

Olympia's Premier Gay Nightclub
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Lauren Takores is a sophomore enrolled
in Russia and Eurasia: Enduring Legacies.

By Sumiyuki Miyahara
I feared the warmth from damsels but I craved
Just solitude adored me by soft pain
A-pouring on my plain like rain of bane
The death's illusion left my brain enslaved
Her shining tears, from top to bottom, laved
My nightmare, then her star caressed my mane
To only her I needn't veil my stain
Because she knew before I was depraved
That freezing and appealing winter night
When, for my coyness, I could not describe
I only wished to be inside of you
With sorrowful refrains mislaid so tight
The sore incision intensely deep inscribed
Within my heart, a-hazing gentle hue

graduation
Sumiyaki Miyahara is enrolled in the program Prolegomena to a Future Poetics.

This is the last issue of the CPJ
until winter quarter!

'

Jake'S

The band eventually wants to move in
the direction of donating proceed of album
sales to charities, in the fields of women's
breast cancer research and rainforest preservation.
"It seems like that's kind of life, things
happen in your life that make you want to
contribute to a cause," said Snow. "When
you're young you just want to rock out."
"It's not just about just us, just the three
guys doing the rock and roll thing, I think
that's just so overdone and played out,"
said Garnet.
For the band, maybe the best feeling of
making the band through the quality of the
music is the gratification of knowing they
are doing a better way; their own way.
"We're the guys that aren't taking the
chair lift to the top. We're hiking," said
Snow.
"We're definitely hiking," agreed Garnet.
The Blakes have a string of Washington shows coming up and are playing at Le
Voyeur on January 12. The album is available for order or for download at www.
myspace.com/theblakes.

-Breakfast all day'""
-Vegetarian & Vegan FriendlyWeekdays 7am- 2:30pm

113 4th Ave, Olympia, 9850 I
(:360) 357-:H52
Now open on Saturday from 8· 2

This means that we, the students, have
approximately a month to prepare informative articles to share with the Evergreen
community.
Send contributions to cpj@evergreen.edu,
or stop by CAB 316. The deadline for each
week is 3 p.m. on Mondays.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Music review:

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

5

DECEMBER 7, 2006

A Southside· Revival:

Portland amateur music scene
By Brandon Custy
I walked in and gave the people at the
front the five-dollar donation. I thought
that it sure beat spending forty bucks at a
play. It is the one-year anniversary of the
organization, Make Music POX. The fall
performance was scheduled for Saturday,
November II, at 7 p.m.

Album • Self-titled
Band • Mute Math

Release Date • September 26, 2006
Label • Teleprompt Records
By James Hale
When you look at rock and roll today,
bands like The Killers, Muse, Pearl Jam
and Brand New might come to mind.
All of which are trying to create a new
enjoyable sound to go off of and influence others. With Mute Math's debut
full-length album it's easy to say that
they can join the list of elite rock 'n' roll
bands in the new American culture. This
album shows an array of musical knowledge with a taste of something that you
can say has been done, but will take an
immense amount of time to find out by
whom. With a mix of upbeat get-tothe-point rock songs and distant spacey
slowed down songs to even out the intensity, this cd creates the sort of mood that
keeps you listening till the very end.
Paul Meany, vocals/keys, worked with
Darren King, drums, to add sounds and
clips not usually heard in music to create
a sort of ambient rock and roll that has
the intensity of Tool but the pop of Snow
Patrol.
The CD starts off with an excellent
opener that gets you asking where is this
going, then blissfully turns into an intense carefree song known as "Typical."
With the lyrics "Can I break the spell
of the typical" it's safe to say that Mute
Math has done exactly that. The CD
doesn't stop there with stand out tracks
like "Chaos," "Noticed," "Plan B" and
"Reset." This CD is not one to get sick of
fast. Although the CD doesn't finish off
quite as strong as it started, there is no
reason not to take the time to enjoy the
dissident sounds of these beautiful tracks.
Production may be a little choppy on
some parts but never too sharp or overdone. The vocals are definately a high
part along with the bass lines and great
effects they put in most every song.
Mute Math may not be the next Modest Mouse but they are certainly giving
them a run for their money. This CD
should be heard by anybody who wishes
to broaden their musical horizon and any-

As I entered the "auditorium" the intimacy of the setting struck. The energy
and excitement of the crowd of about
160 people was evident. A couple minutes before the first band took the stage,
I looked around the room and saw that it
truly was standing room only.
The garage of the 1912 Portland Historic Landmark Firehouse was on fire
with anticipation.
The first band was Just Us. The stage
had a diverse group of instruments including a banjo and violin. The first song
started off kind of rough, so they tried
again and the Hank Williams song went
better when they took the mulligan.
I especially liked the violin solo on
the second song and the chorus in the last
song, "Poncho and Lefty." They were
carried off the stage by a long, loud applause, which ushered in the second
band.
Band number two was Rendezvous. It
included a sixteen-year-old upright bass
player and his sister, aged thirteen, on viola and violin. Rendezvous also had four
guitars as well as a trumpet. The third
song, "Ashokan Farewell," was an instrumental and I thought it was their best
one. "Last Thing on My Mind" was the
last song they played, most of the crowd
sang along.
The feeling was so positive and all
this energy was still around for the last
two bands.
The third band had the best name of
the rest as well as the best harmonies,
Hep Cat Carlos and the Roofettes. One
of the band members explained that he
got the name because he often goes up to

the roof when the world gets him down. with his fingers and one with the bow.
The band had two guitars, a ukulele and It was fast, catchy and ended on a good
some maracas.
note. At the end of the night, the coaches
The instrumentation was simpler than wanted their time on stage, playing "Forthe other bands, but the harmonies were ever Young."
amazing. The best one was, "Up on the
Every instrument got a solo, including
Roof." The beat in all the songs was the ukulele, even if the audience couldn't
faster than the other two bands. One of hear it. The night ended in roaring apthe band members even whistled into plause and all the people went home on
the microphone, which was great. After a cloud.
a long applause the last band came onto
The concert was put together by Make
the stage. They called themselves Stump- Music POX, which is a part of The Make
town Philharmonic.
Music Project, a tax-exempt OregonThis band had the most diverse group based not-for-profit organization. The
of instruments and they blended them the program enables recreational musicians
best of all four of the bands. The band the ability to practice and perform with
performed an original song by Suzanne others, to build a community around muChimenti, the guitar and banjo player, sic.
called "New Boots." It was a war proThe bands practice for about eight
test song: a kid joins the army because he weeks, with a coa~h to guide them, and
is so poor and needs new boots and three at the end put on a performance, like the
square meals a day.
one last Saturday. Those attending the
It is hard to choose which songs were performance gave a five-dollar donathe best. The first song was "Don't Think . tion, which benefited the First Octave
Twice," the woman sang Bob Dylan's program, a program designed to help lowords with soft brilliance accompanied cal schools start and maintain music proon her far right by some wicked gui- grams. For more information go to www.
tar solos. The band ended their set with makemusicpdx.org or call (503)236"Kansas City." Like life, it was a long 8535.
It really was a great experience; I
song.
Every band member had a solo includ- might participate in the summer session
ing two by the upright bass player, one this year. Keep reading the paper if you
want to see some arts and even be entertained.

oneloo~ng~rata~eofsomethingnew. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It may not become a household name,
but you will be hearing a lot about Mute
Math and this CD in the years to come.
Mute Math has been known for putting
on an incredible live show and, with the
·addition of this new CD, it doesn't look
like they are going to be swayed at these
shows one inch. With two tours coming
up in 2007, get ready to sit down and listen to your musical friends explain how
awesome this band and CD is while you
wonder, "Why haven't I heard of these
guys?" Time to dig a little deeper and
strike gold in the music stores.

James Hale is a freshman enrolled {n
Greece and Italy: A Literary Odyssey.

Brandon Custy is a freshman enrolled
in American
Dreams.

Experience,

American

f)}zf t}zt~ ~act~S
Yt~lt'llGtJ

on Intercity Transit!
Show your J:vergreen student ID when
you hop an I. T. bus and ride free.
It's that easy! Skip the parking hassles,
save some cash, and be earth-friendly.
IT. is your ticket to Ute off campus!
For more info on where l.l can take you,
pick up a "Places You'll

6

COQPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, 2006

The Language Symposium:

To: the language muscle
By Meghan McNealy

ter. May you trouve find these parting
munusculae useful, lector, should you
trouve them in the premiere Stelle. If
anything, please allow me introducir to
vous, your language muscle. Plausus.
(The language muscle) is a powierzchnia of the encephalon delineated by
folds of the opercular and triangular
sections of the inferior frontal gyrus of
the frontal lobe of the cortex. Classified by its involvement in spraak and
language comprehension, (the language muscle) is ietvert of Pars trian-

ely languiss) takes note of these occurrences in your reading experiencia and
I, the text, have created Jegen liet
organiseren them accordingly, keepser origen de myself with the intening slengjenamn until the informacija
tion of exercising (the language musbecomes useful deracinee. (Mister
cle). To you, reader, I laga wada hadlo
shenanigans) collects pozrec cola as
present quimar6 myself as a tangled
you read, language devoid of culture
marque de pouce montage of language,
al 'adun, representativ geography, res
a braid rinjiile murayaque of code
publica, and style grammaire. As these
svantaggio for untying and ninguna
arbitrary characters auklas schenkel
cosa puzzling. I want to confuse you.
and signifiers build up, (muskul valoYou, but not (the language musketda) breaks a little gumi trying to sort
kraft), for this cog izsitsumi cauojue, I
it all out. In your wanting to make
want to strengthen with my
significatio of moi, you
layli atelier destino. Mosaic
are flexing the muskul.
bilioso and pagreisz intriI am interested in the
cate, I have put myself towork muziek oeuvre of
As you plire my intestines vonnis I
gether on the die grtindung
(harshe tsoka); you find
premise that a pirmrindniek become merely a place where language me assembled this way beof your cervello is in concause I am a texterion, and
passe, a circo instance of verbum
trol of the processing of
existeres seulement as my
language; a certain codeelectricity shiri, a signifier.
intention. I am a trickalea,
breaking commisionnaire
distracting danza torpescere
de secret room, designed
your attention while (het
with the intention of comgealuna mcusle) is embezprehending language for a desired re- gularis, supporter of the interpretatio zling language en queue nieuczciwosc
sult of communication communication of plurimodal association, and Pars at the expense of your laborios. I am
isgaadhsiinta comunicazion conmuni- opercularis, of which unimodal associ- a traduction and introspective considcaci6n die Mitteilung.
ation is supported and spraak is coor- eration of myself, a gizo-gizo tapestry
I do not wish piedalities to commu- dinado. Connected fuge powinowact- astral tigua of fuel medicijn uzbudinat
nicate with you, reader, but directly wo makwabci by the arcuate fasciculus for (language muscle). As you plire
with (le muscle de langue). As a text, is (Wernicke's area). (Broca's area) my intestines vonnis I become merely
I am circumscribere innskrenke in my is impiger by morphological process- a place where language a passe, a circo
range of connection savienojums, for ing and syntactic movement: nativized instance of verbum electricity shiri, a
in order to medede!en communicate, · phonemes, arbitrary symbols, semantic signifier.
I must be a lu read czytae. In order to pragmatics, lexeme and lemma, syntax
be commercium litterae, I must first and sign.
The article was brought to you by
be processed. Tu are an integral ban
You are reading. The curves bun- the Evergreen Writing Center (LIB
sha'awa operative sutniciba, reader del visage of black on white movere 2304, 867-6420), as part of the Lanlasitajs lecteur lector, I assure you, but your ojos through these pre-arranged guage Symposium. Do yot.l use lanthe conmunicaci6n is not meant pour canals of permuted pazinojums that guage? Contact us at languagesympoyou. Do not grimas despair hyse of snakk my being. This is our cognatio si um@gmai !.com
your perturbatio. To tide oderwac hyp- rozdanie kart, lezer. Your efforts in
notiser you over, and to ensure atraer juego de adivinanzas reading analizet
Meghan McNealy is a junior encon halagos steekpenning your coop- of my tangled fahtima spoistosc con- rolled in Healing Gardens and Intereration kibby, I have included frustums tent has allowed for (torus lingua) to mediate French and is a tutor in the
of informacija for you to take away be expose to and process language as a Writing Center.
from this nervesammenbrudd encoun- sintesis. Like a kyau secretaire, (mus-

a

COMMUNIQUES FROM LIB 2304

Ml NIATU RE :the
:from fairy Tates by~
Brothers Gnm •
LITERATURE: ..... ·------------~
--;~~ -~~~ -~~~-;~-~ -~~; ... -- ··-- ....... 1
It happened that the cat met the
fox in a forest, and as she thought
to herself: "He is clever and full of
experience, and much esteemed in
the world," she spoke to him in a
friendly way.
"Good day, dear Mr. Fox, how
are you? How is all with you? How
are you getting on in these hard
times?"
The fox, full of all kinds of arrogance, looked at the cat from head
to foot, and for a long time did not
know whether he would give any
answer or not.
At last he said: "Oh, you wretched beard-cleaner, you piebald fool,
you hungry mouse-hunter, what can
you be thinking of? Have you the
cheek to ask how I am getting on?
What have you learnt? How many
arts do you understand?"
"I understand but one," replied
the cat, modestly.
"What art is that?" asked the fox.
"When the hounds are following
me, I can spring into a tree and save
myself."
"Is that all?" said the fox.
"I am master of a hundred arts,
and have into the bargain a sackful of cunning. You make me sorry
for you; come with me, I will teach
you how people get away from the
hounds."
Just then came a hunter with four
dogs. The cat spr&ng nimbly up a
tree, and sat down at the top of it,
where the branches and foliage quite
concealed her.
"Open your sack, Mr. Fox, open
your sack," cried the cat to him, but
the dogs had already seized him, and
were holding him fast.
"Ah, Mr. Fox," cried the cat.
"You with your hundred arts are left
in the lurch! Had you been able to
climb like me, you would not have
lost your life."

..::::::11-==--==-· - - - - - - - •• - - - - - - - •• - - - - - - - •• - - - - - •
A Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Center Puzzler

TI1e \Veeklv

OtiL-'1.11. titati ve

Rea-3 Ollillg C~hallen.ge

The Quanti tat:i \."e and Symbolic Reasoning Center (QuaSR) invites }'DU to challenge your quanti~
tati. \."e reasoning skills by solving our puzzle of the ~ek. Each ~k v;;re will present a new puzzle fo r you
to solve. \Vhen you co me up ~ th an ansvv~ r, b :ting it in to the Qu aSR Center in Libra :ty 230 4. If you are
one of the first-three ~th the correct ansv;;rer, v;;re ha"~ a prize for you.
~-\. logtda:o. is traveling i:u a:o. twfam.iliru: l)ru:t of the. cotwt:a:ysid.e. when she c0111e.s to a fotk i:n the :road. She.

lmows that one. of these. fot ks leads to a vtlhY- a:ud the other leads to the edge. of a c.hff. She. the.:u :uohc.es
that the.:re 1s .a kid sta.:udi:ng i:u the -.ouddle of the i:ute:rsec.t1o:u. She asks hi1n, udo you lmow wluc.h :road leads
to the v:tll.age? The c.luld :rephes~ HI do, but you oea:u oo.lv ask".tll.e one que.st.io:u, a:ud it ".tll.ust be a 'yes or :no'
qne.st1oo. .n The. lo gtc.mo. says, 44sotwd s e.asv e.:uouih .•n but befo :r e. she c a:o. Ol>eo. he:r
Solution to last ~ek.'s
".tll.outh to ask, the. c.htld. i:ute.uupts he.:r. •t.")h yeah, the:re's o:ue ".tll.o:re thing.. SOllleti:w.e.s
challenge:
I lie a:ud S01lletiw.e.s I tell the. truth. u
\\-bat is the o:ulv l)OssilJle question that thelogida:o. c.a:u ask to Y-t the. c.on:ect a.:uS"We.:r·?
(Easier version: Instead of one child there are tvifO t~ns at the in terse ctio n. 0 ne of them
alv;,;ra~ lies and one of them alv;,;raya tells the truth. The logician can only ask ONE of the
tv;Jins one "-yes o·r no" question. "\'Vhat is the question in this case~)

--------------------------

-.

1

FEATURES

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

Viral
raid:
A guide to help you dodge the winter cold
By Amanda Helser
As we near the end of fall quarter, chances are you are just as ready for winter break
as I am. We can all identifY with some of
the stresses on the body, primarily the immune system. Stresses of finals, having to
make decisions of what to do next quarter,
seeing family, traveling and being exposed
to people in close quarters all compromise
the strength of your body's immune system.
Holiday indulgences of rich foods, alcohol,
sugar and partying can all deplete the immune _system, increasing your risk for colds.
Since nobody wants to spend their precious
vacation time feeling like crap, there are
steps you can take to boost your immune
system to avoid a cold or, if it's too late for
that, ways to help relieve symptoms and
speed up the healing process.
Ask yourself this question: "How can I
adjust my life right now to reduce stress and
promote rest and healing?" (Landis, p. 173).
There are things in everyone's lifestyle
that they can change to promote their wellbeing whether it's getting an extra hour of
sleep, incorporating exercise into a daily
routine, taking a relaxing bath in the evenings, eating more vegetables and less
sugar or dancing and laughing with friends.
The point is there are a number of beneficial things you can do to promote healthy
wellbeing in your life. So when you get sick
and it's your second or third cold since the
beginning of the school year, don't blame
"sick people": look at your lifestyle. What
you put into your body and how you use
that energy greatly affects your health. That
said, let's talk about some dietary immune
boosters that can help you stay healthy and
active all year long!
What's better than getting over a cold?

Not having one at all! Let's look at some
general immune system stimulators, or immunostimulants. Herbs are an amazing
source of natural immunostimulants and
some of them can "directly kill, or poison,
certain kinds of pathogens, and/or have affinity for certain parts of the body .. ." (Landis, p. 105). Herbs are powerful compounds
that require a lot of knowledge to understand and a great deal of respect for their
healing properties.
Although good health can be achieved
through a vitamin and nutrient-rich diet,
an active lifestyle and mental wellness, my
goal is to introduce some of the amazing
healing properties of herbs.
The following herbal remedies are taken
from the "Viral Raid" handout available at
the Student Health Center and "Herbal Defense: Positioning yourself to triumph over
illness imd aging, " by Robyn Landis and
Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa.
Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus)
is a powerful immune enhancer (and the
most successful antiviral I've used). One of
the cool things about this herb is that it is an
"adaptogen," which increases our ability to
adapt to stress, (natural selection could really make use of this· one!) It's also an energy-booster. "Astragalus heightens the efficiency of virtually every component of the
immune system" (Landis, p. 135). Research
has shown that astragalus "can make 'resting' immune cells active, increase cell regeneration, and make healthy cells resistant
to certain viruses" (Landis, p. 136).
Astragalus can be taken as a tincture: 310 dropperfuls throughout the day, in a capsule: acute; 10-20, long-term: 5, or, make a
tea from Astragalus root (you can find this
at Radiance, downtown on 5th Ave.).
Echinacea root (angustifloria) is the most

Come check out Evergreen's Student Health Center, where

we have a variety of herbal treatment and prevention options
available to you. Healthy eating includes:
• Lots of fresh fruit and veggies
• Limit or avoid foods with stimulants, drugs, hormones, and
residues of toxic chemicals.

Venice in a day
By Bob Spilsbury
We briskly walked through Venice's
small, intertwining alleyways that cross
small bridges, and in less then ten minutes
reached Piazza San Marco, which I thought
found even more beautiful than Florence's
Duomo square. I took several pictures of the
huge, multi-domed cathedral, but Estie was
already rushing me, as we were out of time.
Quickly we walked past Piazza San
Marco and turned right towards the canal.
But it was already 6:30, and we realized we
didn't have time to take a vaporetto back to
the train-though we had already wasted 5
Euro getting our tickets in advance. We all
started running. Megan ran the fastest and
could dodge pedestrians and tourists, de-

.

This is article three of three in Spilsbury's account
of study abroad in Venice, Italy

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saw Megan stop ahead of me to ask directions from an old man. "Vai diritto e poi
vai a Ia sinistra. E un po Jontano, pero"
(Go straight ahead, then right, but it's a bit
far). Shit! I thought. If it was that far off we
would never make the train by 7 p.m. We
continued sprinting through the crowds,
which were now becoming a massive sea,
until the train station was finally in sight. All
we had to do was get across that last bridge
where the Indians were still chanting and
we would be in front of the station. Suddenly we saw Virginia jogging lightly ahead
of us. She was breathing heavily and had a
confused, worried look on her face. At least
she had gone the right way, because if she
had followed us she might have missed the
train.

, ,

T'YRd£t£OM&
Nt'\\ Bouk,

hyped immunostimulant. While it is beneficial for the immune system, its potency
is mild and is often overpriced. However,
"Echinacea is an outstanding antibacterial"
(Landis, p. 178).
Licorice Root is a "long-term immune
builder" (5 capsules, or~ oz. tea/daily).
Reishi, Shitake and Maitake mushroom
extracts and powders are amazingly powerful immunostimulants that support a broad
range of healing.
Zinc lozenges will help stop viral replication by targeting the virus in the nose and
throat membranes (where the virus starts).
Suck on 9-13mg lozenges throughout the
day.
Vitamin C - Dr. Weil suggests taking 45 g a day. Robyn Landis says, "The bigger
the infection your body is fighting, the more
Vitamin C is depleted and the more you can
tolerate-- because it's definitely being used"
(p. 168).
Other antivirals to look into: Ajwain
seed, Pau d'arco bark, Red raspberry leaf,
Amur cork tree bark, Eleuthero root, Guduchi.
If your health is already on a downward
spiral, here are some medicinals to get you
back in the game. It is useful to know that
many over-the-counter drugs work to suppress cold symptoms by providing temporary relief. Taking a fever reducer will make
you feel better, but your body's response is
actually needed to fight the illness. Many
over-the-counter drugs will just delay the
reaction and prolong your illness. Try one
or two of these herbs or foods at a time to
help shorten the length of a cold and help
you function better.
Chilies are great for preventing illness.
Take as many Cayenne pepper capsules as
your digestive system can handle when you
feel a cold might be near or buy them in
whole chili form and incorporate them into
your cooking.
.
Onion, garlic and ginger, together are
called Trinity Roots and are a classic (and
tasty) immunity tonic that can be used in

•Extreme dieting is risky because you are constantly destroying
body proteins to create energy in the form of glucose to raise
your blood sugar level, thus not giving your body time or energy
to devote to your immune system. To be safe, consult a doctor
before dieting.
• Drink at least 8 glasses of water/day

spite the packed streets. I followed her lead,
darting through tiny corridor streets as if we
were rats trapped inside a labyrinth. I was
dressed much too warmly in a heavy parka with a blue sweater underneath. Sweat
poured out of my skin, and I could see ahead
of me that Megan's face was turning tomato
red. We looked back once we got to the first
bridge and realized we had lost Estie and
Virginia. We waited for a few minutes until
Estie caught up, and she frantically pleaded
with us to take an expensive water taxi. We
almost agreed since there was no sign of
Virginia and we knew we couldn't leave her
behind. Still, we had no idea where Virginia
was and had to keep on running if we wanted any chance of making our train.
Soon after, I realized we were lost for I

7

DECEMBER 7, 2006

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soups, teas and many ethnic dishes (like hot
curry!) which help to warm the body by increasing circulation.
Surround yourself in a healing setting
where you can rest. The environment you
surround yourself with has as much to do
with fighting a sickness as what you put
into your body. When you let the virus run
its course without suppressing its symptoms
and promote healing by boosting your immune system with healing properties, you
can escape from the evil hands of sickness
and live a happy, whole and active life!

Amanda Helser is a senior taking the
program Food and a student medical assistant at the Evergreen Student Health Center.

Antiviral Soup from "Herbal Defense"
by Robyn Landis:
• Make a broth of astragalus root by
boiling the root in a pot of water
• Add one whole head of garlic, peeled
and sliced
• One large chopped onion
• About Y4 C sliced ginger root
• Add as much ground black pepper
and cayenne pepper as you can handle
• Add vegetables rich in Vitamins A and
C and immunostimulant properties,
like broccoli, carrots, cabbage, beets
and shitake mushrooms
• Eat this soup all day and rest
If the virus continues despite your
raid, here are some herbs to try for
specific symptoms:
Fever: Willow, cinchona, peppermint,
yarrow
Aches: ·soneset, Meadowsweet
Sore throat: Slippery Elm lozenges,
licorice sticks
Congestion: Verba Santa, Eucalyptus
essential oil nasal steams
Runny Nose: Yarrow, black elderberry
Cough: Osha, elecampane, wild cherry
bark
These herbs can be found at Radiance,
where the knowled~able staff can
offer instructions for herbal preparations. Some herbs, like Slippery Elm,
are available here at the Health
Center.

When we boarded the train two minutes before departure, we were all red in
the face and dripping with sweat. The other
passengers stared at us as if we were dumb
Americans who had gotten too carried away
with sightseeing to remember the time. We
had gotten a stellar workout running down
those thin Venetian alleyways, and now it
was time to relax and Jet the exciting day
sink in on the long train ride back to Florence. I pulled out my copy of "The Moon
Is Down" and settled into some Steinbeck
again.

Bob Spilsbury is a junior enrolled in
Four Philosophers.

8

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, 2006

FEA'

Observing Nic·

A young girl at the Sandinista victory rally in Manauga.

Article and photos by Jeremy Harrison-Smith
On October 29, I met a group of I 8 North Americans in
Managua, Nicaragua as part of the Witness for Peace elections observation delegation. The main focus of the delegation was to monitor U.S. intervention in Nicaragua's election.
To learn more about this we set out to meet with the major
political parties and vnrious other groups.
First a little background on Nicaraguan politics. In 1979,
the Nicaraguan people overthrew the violent Somoza dictatorship, and the National Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN)
governed the country until 1990.
After fighting aJong and costly war (against the Contras,
who were funded by the U.S. government), the Sandinistas
were voted out of power. The people had a guarantee from
the U.S. government that the war would end if the U.S.backed candidate Violeta Chamorro beat FSLN candidate
Daniel Ortega. As a result a majority of Nicaraguans voted
for Chamorro who was running with the backing of a united
right-wing.
On November 5, 2006, Daniel Ortega was voted back into
power after a sixteen-year absence. Ortega lost the past two
elections in I 996 and 200 I.
This year with a divided right-wing and a new election
law, Ortega won with 38 percent of the vote and will become
president in January. The remaining 62 percent of the vote
was split between two right-wing liberal parties and a Sandinista break-off party.
In 1999, Ortega and Arnoldo Aleman (ex-president and
convicted felon) signed "el pacta," an agreement between the
FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC), which has

since given the two
parties political control in Nicaragua. In
2002, a new law was Left: An MRS sign with Vice-presidential candidate Carlos Mejia Godoy, Presidential candidate Edn
passed that lowered the people is an honest and transparent government. " Right: Daniel Ortega addresses thousands of su;,
percentage of votes a
presidential candidate
needs to win from 45 percent to 35 percent. This wouldn't between the two countries ·and the United States' current
have passed if it weren't for the pact, which was a prominent "war on terror'' they have the right to be concerned about
topic throughout the election, and provided the base for many who wins in Nicaragua. One of the ALN representatives
of the anti-Sandinista parties.
that we met with is a former Contra Commander, and at one
Our delegation met with the four main political parties: point during our meeting he thanked God that Reagan helped
PLC, FSLN, Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN) and the free them from a Marxist dictator during the 1980s.
Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS). We also met with
One of the most notable things during our meeting was
the Supreme Electoral Council (CSE), Movimiento por Nica- the language the ALN used, which at times was exactly the
ragua (a group that receives U.S. financing to register voters) same as the Bush administration uses. Interestingly, the ALN
and the U.S. Embassy!USAID. We also received electoral candidate was the one preferred and supported by the U.S.
observation training with Nicaraguan organization Etica y government.
Transparencia (Ethics and Transparency).
In the months leading up to the election, U.S. ambassador
All ofthe political parties that we met with said the U.S. to Nicaragua Paul Trivelli made numerous comments about
government has been interfering in Nicaragua's elections, how the U.S. would have to reconsider its relations with
and that they would prefer that the U.S. not meddle in their Nicaragua if Ortega won. Public appearances by other U.S.
internal affairs. Our meeting with the ALN was the most eye government officials included Representative Dan Burton's
opening. At first they denied that the United States was inter- (R-Indiana) visit to Nicaragua. He told Nicaraguans that if
vening, and asked us why we weren't talking about Venezu- Ortega was elected, U.S. aid to Nicaragua might end. Comela's intervention, referring to the controversial agreement ments were also made by U.S. Trade Representative Carlos
between the Sandinistas and the Venezuelan government to Gutierrez and U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.
Rohrabacher wrote a letter to the Secretary of Homeland
ship cheap oil to Nicaragua.
The representatives from the ALN went on to defend the Security just days before the election asking to develop a
U.S. government's actions. They said that given the history contingency plan to stop allowing Nicaraguan immigrants

~~

This is the last issue of the CPJ
until winter quarter!

y~P~
Show and Festival

. ~~

Opening at Evergreen
December 15. 6-7prn. 20()6

This means that we, the students, have approximately a
month to prepare informative articles to share with the
Evergreen community.
Get busy.

Send contributions to cpj@evergreen.edu, or stop by CAB
316. The deadline for each week is 3 p.m. on Mondays.

More lnforrnatlon at

.

WNH~-~WW,HH--~WHH-~~WWH--~~ - -------- ~- - - --------- - ---- ---- -- - - - -------------- - ------- -- -- - -------·

newyearpeace.org
p~~by:
Sa.:k.-"R~~p..-.:>gr~ P~VVve.<-r.£rl:y "F~

TESC L~~C~L~~C~.,U.."R~

,TIJRES

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, 2006

9

aragua's h.ope

A young Nicaraguan at a park in Managua.

'mundo Jarquin, and former Presidential candidate Herty Lewites. The sign reads "The pact with the
tpporters in Managua at his victory rally.

in the United States to send remittances if Daniel Ortega
were elected, a grave threat given that Nicaragua currently
earns more in remittances than it does in exports. These
public threats definitely had an effect on how some Nicaraguans voted. I talked to several people who said they weren't
going to vote for Ortega because they were afraid of how the
United States would react and they didn't want another war.
We met with a sociology professor from UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) who gave us his insight before the
election on why he didn't think the U.S. threats were going
to change the mind of a great deal of Nicaraguans. His three
main reasons were: some of the threats are impossible to
carry out, some people think the threats are stupid, and there
are more young people who haven't experienced U.S. aggression like the older generations have.
Before the election there were talks about the possibility
of fraud and much of the attention was on the FSLN. The
MRS explained to us the situation that gave them concern.
The campaign chief of staff compared the FSLN's advantage
during the election to a sports team; he said ''the FSLN has
the players, they have some of the other team, they have the
referee and they own the league."
The MRS lost a lot of its suppoi'P when their presidential

candidate Herty Lewites died of a heart
attack four months
before the election.
Many voters told me
that they would have
voted for the MRS,
but now that Herty is

gone they are going to vote for Ortega.
Nicaraguans expressed a range of different points of view
as I talked to them before the election. For example, there are
people that despise Ortega because of the Contra war during
the 1980s and the military draft that was in place at that time.
Many blame him for the deaths of their sons and brothers.
At the same time, there are those who are hardcore Sandinistas who were probably helped by the Sandinistas, and always
vote Sandinista no matter what.
The campaigns very much represented how Nicaragua is
split between Sandinistas and anti-Sandinistas. For an example: the PLC's platform was simply, "don't do what Ortega
did." The election was pretty much Ortega vs. everyone else.
There were a lot of first-time voters (the voting age in
Nicaragua is 16). Several people told me that this was an
important factor in the election because the fastest growing
sector of the population is the lower class, which has traditionally supported the FSLN.
On Election Day, we participated in electoral observation
in eight municipalities, covering twenty-three polling places
in the departments of Managua, Masaya and Granada. We
observed a very slow but efficient process. We noted that
despite minor anomalies in the voting process, overall, voters

were not impeded from casting their ballots. These anomalies
did not affect the final results of the elections, and there was
no evidence they were a result of intentional fraud.
As the results were being announced in the days following
the elections, there were celebrations in the capital, Managua,
and throughout the country. We witnessed huge caravans in
Managua driving around roundabouts with Sandinista flags,
music and fireworks.
At the same time there were many people that were very
upset and couldn't believe that Ortega won. What I saw on
the streets was a great expression of victory and hope. After
sixteen years of right-wing presidents, these people feel like
there is going to be change for the better.
I learned about the U.S. threats and the funding of various political groups and watched the harsh TV ads before the
election about what they claimed another Ortega presidency
would be like. Because of all this, I am very proud of the
Nicaraguan people, because they didn't vote with fear. They
voted for whom they thought would bring the best change for
them and their country.
1 feel privileged to have been in Nicaragua during such
an historic time. I hope the situation for all Nicaraguans
improves, and I believe that it will, because I not only
observed an election, I observed a people that have a great
deal of hope and the will to make that hope become reality.

Jeremy Harrison-Smith graduated in June 2006. He is
currently traveling and volunteering in Nicaragua and hoping to work for social justice in the region.

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Anyone c:an partic:ipate,just -fill o u t a Ce>rnrnuter Le>g
t h e vveek e>of Dec:e.,.,l>er 4 t h l
Pick one up at Parking Services, t:.he Evergreen
Bike Shop.. or online at:
;a..

vvvvvv.ev-ergreen.eclu/ce>l'll"'lmute

Participating is easy- just f'ill out a Commuter
Log one week each quarter, and you will be
entered to Into a drawing f'or great prizes like
massages, and git't certit'icates to local shops
and restaurants!
Stay with the program f'or both winter and
spring quarters, and be entered into our grand
prize drawing.

To help make your commute a little easier,
you can also g e t access t:o you..- very own
ventilated clothing locker- use it to store your
gear overnight and to dry your clothes during
the day.

To get a locker, come by at any time to Parking
Services, and f'ill out an application.

'iO

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, 2006

·Life's too short for Lyndon LaRouche
By Samuel J. Adams
Evasion: it's something we all do and for
some of us it might be
the only semi-legitimate social skill we
may claim. We Greeners are in the business
of constantly evading teachers, deadlines,
friends, potential mates and - in the irate
eyes of irked Washingtonians and educational reactionaries - real life, or at least
the means by which college accords with
such (e.g., grades, requirements, football,
etc). I'm in no position to dock the timehonored practice of evading - I have, for
example, been thinking about writing this
article for at least two years. The evasive
mentality, when combined with certain
prop - newspaper, sunglasses, hoodie enshrouds ostensibly banal occasions like
riding the bus with a dramatic intensity
normally reserved for 00 agents. Evasion
can be practical, necessary and fun, but as
a rule, the fewer things I evade during my
day, the happier and more confident I am
when it commences. It is therefore with
some lamentation that I direct your attention to an organization, which has been
rightfully evaded by much of the Evergreen student body: the Lyndon LaRouche
Youth Movement. I'm breaking my policy
of eschewal because I think this group
is a dangerous, stupid and unnecessary
presence on our campus. I'm asking you
break your policy too so something might
be done about these clowns.
Before I describe and slam this movement - I should say now that these are
nearly identical procedures - I must concede that I'm indebted to Mr. LaRouche
and his movement for one thing: for a
young fellow who has little or no idea

where his life will go, it is nice to hear
of one place where it will certainly not,
and the LYM has at least given me such
comfort.
If you want to know a little bit about
LaRouche's life, try Wikipedia. Actually
wait, don't try Wikipedia, since his bio's
ridiculously lon·g, roughly the same length
as Moses'. Basically, Lyndy flunked out
of college, joined several Marxist organizations (fine with me so far), abandoned
these Leftist views, made some perhaps
prescient predictions about the economy
and lost seven consecutive presidential
elections. (Ok, that's a record number
of attempts, but is this record really anymore noble than that held by the guy
who clipped a hundred plus clothes pins
to his face?) In between these ac;tivities,
he's been arrested and imprisoned for
committing conspiracy and mail fraud
against senior citizens, claimed credit
for Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative
(aka "Star Wars"), compared himself to
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and been labeled
by numerous critics as a homophobic,
misogynist, anti-Semitic cult leader. In
1999, at the tender age of 77, he founded
the LaRouche Youth Movement. They're
the ones on our campus.
The LaRouche Youth Movement is a
multi-national organization composed of
18-25 year olds. They proselytize on campuses all over the country, encouraging
students to drop out, join up and, for lack
of a better word, clean up. By clean up, I
mean abandon - among other things- recreational drugs, all non-classical/spiritual
music and the pursuit of a college degree
and a normal career. LaRouche espoused
a more sinister sort of"cleansing" in 1986
in a seriously deranged comment about
AIDS. LaRouche claimed that London
lynch mobs targeting suspected homosex-

Not anybody but Bush
By Casey Jaywork
If you go to Evergreen and study
foreign politics on
any level, you pretty
quickly become familiar with the concept
of Cultural Relativity:
"The principle that an individual human's
beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of his or her own culture,"
(Wikipedia). Greeners generally adhere
pretty dogmatically to this philosophy, to
distance ourselves from neocon ideology.
Simply put, the Middle East would be
an exotic yet humane utopia if only the
villainous colonial powers would have
stayed out.
As a liberal (and a sodomite), I'm attracted to this "Anybody but Bush" approach to thinking in which the correct
position is whatever the Right opposes.
Yet while it's obvious that bombing the
bejeezus out of (insert middle-eastern
country here) as a way to discourage terrorism is the equivalent of fighting fire
with gasoline, I can't quite reconcile the
liberal "Noble Savage" view of Arab/
Muslim societies with all of the facts.
For example, the Times recently printed a piece on the queer rights situation in
Egypt ("Prisoners of Sex"). Highlighted
was the 200 1 Queen Boat scandal, in
which police arrested 52 men suspected
of homosexual behavior (which isn't actually illegal in Egypt; most were charged·
with "habitual moral debauchery"). The
vice crackdown that followed included
regular roundups and torture (i.e. being
beaten until either unconscious or entirely subservient or occasionally dead) of
homosexual men. The crackdown even-

tually lost steam under international pressure applied by a select few human right
organizations.
Remember, though, that this is Egypt
- the San Fransisco of the Arab/Muslim
world. In theocratic Iran, sodomy between men is explicitly punishabJe by
death. The de facto political situations
of war-torn Iraq and Palestine (whose
liberation from Israel is a cause celebre
among liberal activists) include vigilante violence (sometimes called Death
Squads) against "immorals."
(I'm exclusively referring to examples
involving men since, to blatantly overgeneralize, the oppression of female
homosexuality seems to be similar but
toned down, for two main reasons:
I - Women are often not considered
full-fledged adults and therefore can't be
held responsible in the same way as men.
2 - Persecution of female homosexuality would mean admitting the existence
of female sexuality in the first place.)
The Christian-fundamentalists who
have been running our country for the
past several years have screwed up a lot
of things, to be sure - from the economy
to the Constitution to the prospect of
anything resembling peace in the Middle East during this lifetime. (Part of the
reason I keep out of touch with my high
school peers is that I don't want to know
how many have died in Iraq). But the
prevalent liberal view - "Troops Home
NOW," "Anybody But Bush"- seems to
me irresponsible and overly simplistic.
Isn't that really becoming the very thing
that we're so critical of both the Right
ana the Terrorists for: mindless dogmatism at the expense of hum~n life and
dignity?

ual HIV carriers "might be seen by later
generations historians, as the only political force which acted to save the human
race from extinction (Check the Wiki for
sources)." He rescinded such comments in
1999, but the idea that a 66 year old who
seriously sought the presidency felt comfortable delivering such hateful rhetoric is
not comforting and indicates how dubious
this man and his organization are.
Here's a personal anecdote. Last year
I was signaled by a pamphleteer while
strolling through Red Square. I brushed
him off, saying, "I'm not interested in
LaRouche." He snidely replied, "don't
worry, he's married," the implication
being that I was gay (and gay for bespectacled octogenarians), and that being gay
is acceptable fodder for ridicule on the
Evergreen campus. This hardly seems
like acceptable behavior.
I know they've a right to freedom of
speech and assembly, but I'm worried that
the LYM 's presence enhances the perception of Evergreen as "a radical campus,"
and that their anti-Bush jargon is somehow scoring us points in this regard. This
is illusory: the LYM's presence bespeaks
nothing of our political radicalism; on the
contrary, they speak volumes on the state
of our political apathy. The LYM's presence has sadly dulled my political ambitions and made me less likely to speak
with a visiting communist, anarchist or,
for the matter, republican. Nobody takes
them seriously, but as students (and student groups) we should seriously investigate the implications of their presence
here. What better way is there to start a
radical political resurgence than by letting
the actors know the play's over? I, like the
LYM and much of the country, strongly
disapprove of the Bush regime, but so
does the National Socialist Movement Perhaps the answer is abandoning the
childish paradigm of anti-conservatism
and instead defining what it is that we
actually, absolutely believe in. I humbly
submit the following list of propositions.
1 - The value of freedom, justice and
essential human dignity is supreme.
2 - Imposing "Western Values" such
as free-trade and Christianity upon Arab/
Muslim societies is wrong and antithetical to Constitutional ideals, but the right
of minorities (such as those based on
gender, sexuality, faith, or politics) to be
recognized as sovereign, equal citizens
anywhere takes precedent over Cultural
Relativity.
2b - Sensitivity to alien cultures is a
necessary tool to fighting oppression on
a global scale (i.e. tolerance, not acceptance).
3 -Torture (or anything resembling it,
whatever you want to call it) can be morally justified in extreme cases (ex: 300
people will die unless a person is forced
to disclose the location of a bomb), but
the dangers of state-sanctioned torture far

LEITERS & OPINIONS

to borrow the LaRouchian trope of referring everything back to some element of
Nazism- and we'd certainly boo them of
our campus. Right?
Finally, we should question the merits
of accommodating a group that exploits
the impressionability of youths to generate
its labor force. Army Recruitment officers
are predictably scarce on Campus, but
are the aims of the LYM really anymore
wholesome? Also, the LYM is at bottom
level, a business advertising in a Gustly)
unregulated public sphere. As consumers - and let's face it, someone must be
buying their magazines- we're entitled to
express our disgust in the same we would
towards a man walking about campus
wearing an inflatable coke bottle trying to
peddle his wares. Banning these clowns
outright feels overly-authoritarian; putting them out of business seems nothing
short of sensible.
Lyndon LaRouche is 84 years old. To
call his past "troubled" falls short. He is
a felon and therefore cannot legally vote,
and he may be prohibited from running
should the Democratic Party consider his
running illegitimate, something which
happened in the last election. His schemes
are bizarre and improbable - look at the
trans-continental railway system, for
example. And, not coincidentally, his last
name forms a perfect double rhyme with
"the douche."
Let other colleges stage the tragedy
of this man's paranoid senility; as for us,
let's put evasion aside. Just this once.
Remember Greeners, "Life's too short
for Lyndon LaRouche!"

Samuel J Adams, senior, is a pretentious fop suitably enrolled in Tradition
and Transformation.

outweigh its benefits in the current world
stage.
4 - The U.S. should not be in Iraq in
the first place, but we are, and leaving
now would be like walking out in the
middle of a botched open-heart surgery.
4b - Violent aggression is always
wrong, but violence in reaction to existing violence can be justified if the ends
justify the means. (Non-violence is ideal,
but if l or someone I care about is under
attack, blood will be spilt)
5 - The Israeli/Palestinian, Western/
Arab and Liberal/Conservative conflicts
(among many others) should all be renamed and viewed as a struggle between
people on both sides who want peace,
tolerance and understanding vs. people
on both sides who want domination as
•
victory.

Casey Jaywork is a freshman enrolled
in Tradition and Transformation. He can
be reached at burch-9030@yahoo.com.

Reef review response
By Lauren Druss
I was very surprised
by the first couple of
paragraphs of the review
of The Reef by Mike
Dotson (Issue 10, Volume 13, 11/30/2006). a......;:;.....;;..;;..;.._-...~
It's fine to joke around, but I feel he went
a bit too far. Dotson speaks of the redeeming aspects of excessive drinking, ignoring
not only the physical effects of alcohol,
but also the mental effects, such as dependence. He jokes that even though alcohol
will make you feel better, or rather," ... your
mood isn't better, but by god you're not go-

few
ing to remember most of the next
months ... " I understand what he is getting
at, but I think it's a serious offense to belittle a drug and a disease just for a laugh.
This sends the wrong message to people,
justifYing an addiction as just another way
to successfully deal with depression. I also
found the phrase "whiny pussy syndrome"
to be unnecessary. I would appreciate it if
future articles would first consider their audience before making inflammatory statements.

Lauren Druss is a junior enrolled in
Family and Home Futurism.

LEITERS & OPINIONS

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

The death of sake
By Nicholas Klacsanzky
I am tired of meaning. One morning, I
forgot the bees and
the jezzeUubs. I ran to
the tub and asked why
it was so white. "It is
because you straighten
your back so tight." I picked my nose,
and let it choose my clothes. My fingers
found my eyes and knew them well. Let
me see beyond the coat I am going to
put on, the curtlif I strap, the eyes I see
with. Meaning in anything is by trigger. The Art of the Ages trigger what
we say. I look at a poem - I do not see
words or what they say, but the lifting
trigger of confluence. I lift beyond myself. We are the meaning, the Spirit, the
design. Words breathe by our breath. You

want no subjectivity, you want no confusion, look at your Spirit. We all have it,
it is the same. All answers are the same,
if we look at our Spirit. Art is a trigger
for Spirit, Spirit is beyond itself. What is
beyond the Spirit? No meaning. Beyond
beyond. The endless bounty of beyond.
Many would say all life stops at
the Spirit, but the Spirit is nothing.
Must we talk, must we write, must
we walk, must we look at pages innumerable, must we do anything?
First, stop trying - second, stop doing
- third, movement without movement.
Don't
understand?
Keep
asking:
What is beyond the Spirit?

Nicholas Klacsanzky is a sophomore
enrolled in American Literature and The
Way of Haiku. He can be emailed at
ghilabari@gmail. com.

What does internationalization mean?
By Yohei Kurahashi
Landing on the head
of Mt. Rushmore, welcomed by the sarcastic smile of the U.S.
presidency on sacred
Indian land, I came
with stereotypes of Holy-wood. Awaking
from this "Alice in Wonderland", I was
shocked and felt sad about urban homelessness. Social issues - poverty, homelessness, racism, etc - cannot be wrapped
up just by acknowledging, "because that
is the United States of America," though
it reveals an aspect of historical continuation. Homelessness has become just part
of an unhopeful daily scene I've got used
to. It is just a by-product or the result of
socio-eco-political system we all live under and we need to work on locally and
globally over time.
Last fall, as a first-year student, I saw
a banner on the Evergreen campus that
said, "Building a Community. What's
that mean?'' Propaganda? What does
it mean to you? In thinking back on my
experiences at Evergreen, it took more
than a year to figure out what it means
to me: so far, individual and public institutional connections with a community
that makes collaborate efforts to work
on social problems. However, a priority
behind internationalization at Evergreen
seems to bypass community building.
I've heard recently about "Internationalization Survey" which has been
sent to Evergreen faculty first. I wish
that all students would have similar surveys relevant to an issue of campus atmosphere. What does the consideration
of the survey imply? Is it a diversity of
flavors that blow into the Evergreen
campus from abroad and to go the other
way? Is it mainly for school funding? Or,
is it "class" orientation of educational
paradise fo; Evergreeners? In part, this
international dimension of higher education is beneficial to exchange literacies,
languages and perspectives. However,
the consideration for internationalization
seems to prioritize student population
at an international level over non-native
English students with immigrant, refugee, or residency status, who are already
in the U.S- so-called "immigrants."
Through literary reviews, workshops
and informal interviews with the persons
from the Adult Basic Education Program

(ABE), I found that many adult students
are in need of access to literacy skills.
Participating in an ESL tutor-training
workshop by the Literacy Network Organization in Olympia, for instance, I found
a shocking sentence that states there
are "approximately 19,000 in Thurston
County, with limited literacy skills." The
population of Thurston County is about
222,000. In conversation with Crystal
Ashley, Dean ofthe Developmental Education Division and Heather Williams, an
ESL coordinator at SPSCC, they say that
about 300 adult students with various
educational, linguistic, socio-economic
and age backgrounds are currently enrolled. These adult education programs
are incredibly diverse. Some are with
no former educational or middle school
educational backgrounds. Many of the
students are women. Many are struggling
through English for basic language skills
and high school and college degrees.
The number of immigrants is expected
to increase over the decades. Comparing
to this student population, international
students already have literacy skills in
their former languages, and, they can go
back to their countries with a highly valued U.S. education. However, those who
came here without any former educations
will stay and need to survive in the U.S,.
where we talk and fight for social equality and educational equity.
How can "diversity" be appreciated
without equity in educational access at
which education is never politically neutral? Evergreen needs to consider this
"immigrant" student population for additional support and assistance. Bringing
this student population into our community is an exchange of cultural diversitynot only literacies for the already literate
to enjoy, but for those in need of more
support in building literacy skills to share
their literacies. We are forgetting to appreciate sectors of the population that
already exist within this community.
Outsourcing "cultural" enrichment sometimes masks a covert celebration of"classism." A priority for equity in education
in the Olympia community is for the Evergreen community to consider building
further steps on this local literacy issue.

Yohei Kurahashi is a senior and international student doing an internship with
the Writing Center.

11

DECEMBER 7, 2006

Shame on you, Evergreen
By Sydney Page-Hayes
Long before coming to Evergreen I had
always heard of what
a wonderfully progressive college this is. To
find people concerned
about the environment and sustainability
was in fact a major reason why I came
here. I wanted to escape the carelessness
and thoughtlessness with which others
regarded the environment around them. I
thought I would find the opposite of that
here, but I was wrong.
Upon arriving on campus during orientation I witnessed a large amount of litter on the sidewalks throughout campus.
I figured that perhaps this was the remnant of stressful arrivals and moving. I
assumed that the litter would slowly disappear, as student workers would begin
litter pickup around campus as their jobs
began over the next few weeks. I, once
again, was wrong.
The litter did not only NOT disappear,
it increased two-fold. My commute to
class was filled with fast food wrappers,
bottles, cigarette butts, condoms and
pieces of decaying fruit strewn across
campus. How can Evergreen and her students allow this?
This is a disgrace to the school and

our 'green' reputation. This is no environmental school. This school and its
students are just like all other universities. I'm extremely disappointed in our
treatment of our surroundings and I cannot imagine how anyone can tolerate this
thoughtless, arrogantly thrown litter on
their campus and call themselves "concerned environmentalists."
I can see countless amounts of trash
outside my first floor window. I watch in
horror as people living above me throw
rotten apples, milk cartons, mugs and
plastic bottles out their windows weekly.
I've tried to make an effort to gather
expressed-environmentalist students to
rally together and start making a difference on campus, but to no avail. I'm not
surprised. There seems to be little interest
among those 30-plus students I emailed.
Are we going to treat our campus
like the Bush administration treats our
country's environment? Do we want to
live in a trash can? Are we going to get
anywhere in our quest for environmental peace if we forget about our home?
I don't think so. You shouldn't either.
Shame on you, Evergreen.

Sydney Page-Hayes is a freshman enrolled in Culture & the Public Sphere.
She can be emailed with questions or
comments at pagsyd06@evergreen. edu.

No place like home
By Alexandra Tobosky
Three months ago
bought my first
one-way ticket. Leaving everything I ever
knew behind, I moved
across the country to ,.. m >' •
.,.
a random corner I never even thought of
unless I was picking out apples in a grocery store. I got on a Seattle-bound plane
and eight hours later I was dragging my
suitcases to a new home, through the
rain, alone and lost.
By the time I walked into my empty
house with bare walls and no one within 1,000 miles who knew me, my 3:30
a.m. wake-up call and caffeine crash
had caught up with me. I found flowers
waiting for me from my mom and all
of a sudden I wanted nothing more in
the world than to cry on my mommy. I
collapsed on my bed and cried like the
world was ending.
To be fair, it was. I left my life as I
knew it and set fire to 3,000-mile bridges. There was no going back. I cried
for the life I gave up, the life I lost and
the life I wished I'd had. I cried for the
people I left, who left me and whom I'd
made cry because they didn't want me
to go. I cried because I was pissed with
myself for crying so damn much.
But then the sun came out and I remembered why I came here. Every college admissions office claims this, but
Evergreen really is life-changing. From
the moment I heard the name, I was
drawn to it, and the first time I set foot
here, I knew I wasn't leaving. I'm one
of very many who gave up a life and a
home to find a new one here. We all have
different reasons for having done so, but
each of us has the same for staying. We
belong.
This is a place where we're given
the freedom to make anything and ev-

erything of our educations. Creativity
and differences are nurtured. Thinking
outside the box is the norm. There's no
mold that we're forced into or authority to answer to. For some it's the only
place they'll ever want to be. For others,
maybe an escape, a party, an experiment
or just the state school that gave them
the most money.
.
For me, it was solace. It was healing.
When I found Evergreen, I found a place
that encourages and embraces my ways
of thinking and gives me endless opportunity to explore and deepen them. For
the first time in my life, I felt like I was
in the place where I was meant to be,
where I could find out who I am, be that
person and grow into a better one.
Still, I'm really ready to go home
next week. It's been a shockingly fast
three months, but three months all the
same. The days are short, the nights are
long, my bank account has been empty
for quite a while and the weather really sucks. My parents are at the point
of calling me every day and I'm at the
point of answering. I'm ready to be
adored and babied ... for the day or two
before I get a list of chores.
I don't know if when I fly out of Seattle next week whether I'll be going
home or leaving it. I do know that I'm
very lucky to be too in love with two
places to know which to call hom e, and
to know that no matter what, I will always have a family to go back to. For
this new year, I wish everyone the same
and a safe trip home, to and fro •n or
from and to.

Alexandra Tobolsky is a second year
transfer enrolled in The Age of Irony
and The Heroism of Ordinary People.
She is also the Letters and Opinions Coordinator. She can be emailed with questions, responses and L&O submissions
at TobAle24@evergreen.edu.

12

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

DECEMBER 7, 2006

Geoduck women's basketball update
The Evergreen women played University of Puget Sound on Wednesday night.
The women put up more point than the
loggers in the second-half, yet loss the
game 63-53. The Geoduck passing game
kept the ball moving and accounted for
allot of the action. Ultimately, the Geoducks defense wasn't enough to keep
the Loggers points off the board. The
Women next game is at PLU, but their
back Saturday the 9'h to play Northwest
Christian.

Evergreen State College vs.
Warner Pacific College
Date: Dec. 2, 2006
Attendance: Not Given
Score by period:
1st 2nd TOTAL
Evergreen State
51 45 96
Warner Pacific
50 52 102

Arland Hurd is a senior enrolled in
Mind and the World.

Forward Danie//e Keenan in Wednesday's game.

Geoduck men's basketball update
The Evergreen Geoducks hosted Lewis and Clark Pioneers for their first game
back at home after six games on the road.
The Geoducks marked up a loss despite
the teamwork the Geouck men displayed.
They passed the ball well, they had
great assists, but the team ultimately
came up short on points costing them the
game. Eight minutes left in the first half

_,...

Men's
Evergreen State College vs.
Cascade College
Date: Dec.1, 2006
Attendance: 450
Score by period:
1st 2nd TOTAL
Evergreen State
43 57 100
Cascade
40 45 85

By Arland Hurd

By Arland Hurd

SPORTS

into Evergreen lead the Pioneers 24-21,
but as the game went on LCC brought
the heat and took the lead with a closing
score of 64-80.
The Geoducks' next game is tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 8. Head on over to the
CRC before you go and party the night
away.
Arland Hurd is a senior enrolled in
Mind and the World.

Keep up to date on Evergreen athletics by visiting
www.evergreen.edu/home/
athletics.php.

Evergreen State College vs. Lewis
and Clark College
Date: Dec. 5, 2006
Attendence: 136
Score by period:
1st 2nd TOTAL
Lewis & Clark
38 42 80
Evergreen State
35 29 64

Women's
Evergreen State College vs.
Cascade College
Dec. 1, 2006
Attendance : 140
Score by period: 1st 2nd TOTAL
Evergreen State
25 28 53
Cascade
27 23 50
Evergreen State College vs.
Warner Pacific College
Dec. 2, 2006
Attendance: Not given
Score by period: 1st 2nd TOTAL
Evergreen State
23 29 52
Warner Pacific
30 28 58

Synergy was allocated $10,326.72 for the
Synergy conference. They were also allowed to
forward $4,915.75 of revenue from last
put toward this year's conference.
Phrontisterion was allocated $2,793.80 in
expenses and stipend.
was allocated $1743.40 in operational
expenses and stipend.
The Geoduck Union was allocated $5,372.72 in
operational expenses.
Full meeting minutes are posted on the 3rd floo~ of the ,C AB.
S&A B~ard meetings are Mondays and Wednesdays from 3-5
and are open to the public.
The board hears drop-in community concerns from 3-3:10 _
during both meetings.

COOPER POINT JOURNAL

CALENDAR

DECEMBER 7, 2006

THIS WEEK ON CAMPUS
THURSDAY, 7
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Final day of"Photography at Evergreen: Celebrating 35 Years." Evergreen Galleries, Gallery 4, LIB 4th floor.
Noon to 2:30 p.m., 3:15 to 6 p.m. Puget
Sound Blood Center blood drive. LH Rotunda.
Questions or to sign up for an appointment, contact Beth Hesketh, ext. 6804.
12:30 to 7 p.m. The Dixie Dudes musical
performance in various locations including
the Bike Shop, SEM II Lounge, LH Rotunda. Hosted by Camival.
4 to 7 p.m. "Vagina Monologues" auditions. SEM 11 D2109. Cold reading, no acting experience required, all female identified
individuals welcome.

6:30 p.m. Scholarship workshop presented by KEY Student Services. Prime Time in
Housing, "A" Building, room #220.

7:30 p.m. Men's basketball game. Geoducks vs. Linfield College.

8 p.m. Indayog All Women's Hip-Hop
Show. At the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. Tickets $10.

5:30 p.m. Women's basketball game.
Geoducks vs. Northwest Christian.

FRIDAY, 8
Noon. Information session for Gateways
Program for Incarcerated Youth Challenge
Program. SEM II E2123.
4 to 11 p.m. Evergreen Festival of AfroBrazilian Arts. Longhouse. Hosted by Capoeira Angola.

SATURDAY, 9

7 p.m. Perfonnance of "The Myopia: An
. Epic Burlesque of Tragic Proportions"
and "Lingua II: Maledetto" COM 117.
7:30 p.m. Men's basketball game. Geoducks vs. Northwest Christian.

MONDAY, 11
6:30 to 9 p.m. Gypsie Nation Dance &
Heal. El107. $5 plus offering.

7 p.m. Performance of "The Myopia: An
Epic Burlesque of Tragic Proportions"
and "Lingua II: Maledetto" COM 117.

13

SPECIAL
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tuition and fee payments are due
by 3:45 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2007. Contact
(360) 867-6180, registration@evergreen.edu.
Evergreen Parkway will re-open
to southbound traffic by this weekend. Asphalt work is planned for this
Thursday, Dec. 7.
Slightly West is an annual publication that is currently accepting submissions of poetry, prose and visual art for
its 2007 edition. We are not proposing
any themes and are open to any and all
content. The deadline is Friday, Jan. 19
by 3 p.m . in CAB 320, Slightly West
drop box.

OFF CAMPUS
THURSDAY, 7
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Olympia-Rafah Sister
City Project meeting
610 Columbia NW, across from Olympia Hardware
Actively promotes and fosters friendships between the people of Olympia and
Rafah, Palestine

FRIDAY, 8
9 p.m. Two Ton Boa, Thrones, Magick
Daggers
Manium , 421 4th Ave .
$7 cover
9:30p.m. Cone, Mercurius
4th Ave Tavern, 210 4th Ave E
$3 cover

SATURDAY, 9

SUNDAY, 10

TUESDAY, 12

12 noon. Vigil for Military Resisters
4th Ave. Bridge, downtown
Sponsored by OMPJ, Veterans for
Peace

10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Community Farm
Raising Forum & Music Benefit Concert
Eagles Ballroom, downstairs
805 4th Ave. E

6 to 7 p.m. Food Not Bombs
Media Island, &16 Adams St. SE
Cooking at MI starting 4:30p.m., share
food at the library, afterward cleanup at
MI.

7 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show. A musical benefit for Sherwood Forest and Media Island. Heliotroupe, High Ceiling,
Gary Allen May.
Eagles Ballroom, 805 4th Ave.
$7 sliding scale requested donation,
kids free
9:30 p.m. Decibel Point, Burnt Offerings, The Last Man Standing.
4th Ave Tavern, 210 4th Ave E
$3 cover

MONDAY, 11
9 p.m. Monday Movie Night
Le Voyeur, 404 4th Ave. E, (360) 9435710
21+, free
7 to 9 p.m. The South Sound Chapter
of the Washington Native Plant Society
presents "How the UW Herbarium can
help You Botanize." Washington State
Capital Museum, 211 West 21st Ave. Visitors are welcome.

WEDNESDAY, 13
7 to 9 p.m. Skateland Dollar Night
2725 12th Ave NE
$1 w/ skates, $2 without skates.
Contact Calendar Coordinator Lauren
Takores about including an event
in The Cooper Point Journal's calendar.
E-mail: cpj@evergreen.edu Phone:

(360)867-6213

President Puree is seeking three
studenb to serve on the President's
Diversity Fund Committee.
• Help set the fund's
priorities

~
Nominations are being reviewed

now and Will be accepted until
all Positions are filled.
• A~ard grants
Nominate Yourself or another
• Advance multicultural
respected student.
values at Evergreen

•

Revie~

proposals

For more information about the fund, commit'tee
member qualifications and
ttp:/f..nvw'.evergreen.edu/ equalop/ dfnoJDination.btm

14

· COOPER POINT JOURNAL

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DECEMBER 7, 2006

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Photos by Amanda Stauffer
Amanda Stauffer is a freshman currently enrolled in The Shadow of Enlightenment, learning French,
sociolinguistics and literature.