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Whitman women took eight of the top 10 spots at the finish of the women’s

race at the annual Whitman Invi-tational last Saturday. Junior Em-ilie Gilbert sprinted past the 6 km mark, posting a time of 23:24.89 to win the race by more than 20 sec-onds. Her twin sister, junior Katri Gilbert, finished second, lead-ing a pack of talented Whitties.

“Our team looks real-ly strong this season. We have a lot of depth, and this meet was a great warm up,” said Katri Gilbert.

While the Whitman men snuck just two runners into the top 10 against competitors from Lewis Clark State College, coach Scott Shields is anticipat-ing a great season for both teams.

“I feel fantastic about this sea-son. They’re really excited and

ready to roll,” he said of his runners.The first finisher for the Whit-

man men was newcomer junior Ol-iver Wood who joined the team this year after two years at Whit-man. The third finisher for the women is also new to the team—freshman Erin Campbell finished her 6 km in just over 24 minutes.

“For a freshman to come out in her first college race and step up for her team like that is pret-ty impressive,” said Shields.

A shuttle bus brought crowds of fans to cheer on their athletes from the sidelines, and varsity athletes from swimming and baseball came out to help set up and time for the race.

“This is probably the best fan support we’ve ever had. And hav-ing the other sports come out and help with the meet really speaks vol-umes to how the varsity athletes are really tight—not just with their team, but really helping support each oth-er outside of that,” said Shields.

Whittie WisdomThis week, Feature asked Whitman seniors to give advice to the incoming class of 2015 about how to take full advantage of the next four years.

New Walla Walla Eateries

Blue Palm, Frosted, Garden Vegan Café and

Public House 124 moved into town this summer to

offer a smorgasbordof variety.

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82011 www.whitmanpioneer.com | Whitman news since 1896 | Walla Walla, Washington

ISSUE

1

On Whitman alum’s organic farm in Ecuador, Rachel Alexander finds food for thoughtOUTSIDE WHITMAN, PAGE 6

Natalie Jamerson reports on why beavers are dam good for Utah’s biodiversityOUTSIDE WHITMAN, PAGE 7

Madelyn Peterson confrontshuman tragedy of U.S. - Mexico border policyOUTSIDE WHITMAN, PAGE 5

Special Section: Outside Whitman

St. Vincent ignites Coffeehouse season

Harper Joy Theatre unveilsnew remodels

Memorial seismic upgrade pricey,

more constructionpredicted

Cross-country kicks off season with twin sweep, deep roster

Whitties abuzz over ‘unpretentious’ t-shirts

Indie goddess Annie Clark (St. Vincent) played to an captivated crowd on the Reid side lawn. Ranging from headbanded hipsters to leather-clad townsfolk, people flocked to see the delicate, barefooted songstress famed for working with artists like Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver. The singer’s ethereal voice and evocative guitar work drew an enthusiastic reception. Photos by Parrish

There is a striking new jewel on campus where the bland façade of Harper Joy Thea-

tre used to stand. The hub of Whit-man’s drama community under-went extensive remodeling over the summer. An expansive glass en-trance leads the visitor into Harper Joy’s chambered heart.

Whitman’s Garrett Profes-sor of Dramatic Art, Nancy Simon, took a moment before leaving on sabbatical to London to explain the changes, most noticeably, the addi-tion of a newer, larger “black box” theatre.

“It’s a third again as large,” said Simon. “In one way it will be an advantage, because it can ac-commodate more scenery, and in another way that’s a disadvan-tage, because we have no addition-al staff. Of course, budgets are pro-hibitive . . . we’ve made a propos-al to try to get some assistance in the shop. I don’t know whether or when that will happen.”

Simon pointed out one of the revolutionary design features in the new black box.

Instead of having to work on a ladder, or hang out off of a catwalk, you can just walk right out on the grid to hang and focus the lights. So it’s much faster and much saf-er.”

Junior Merrett Krahn, who works as a carpenter, electrician and sound technician in Harper Joy, elaborated on the tension grid.

Though the last major earthquake to hit Walla Walla was in 1936 and

seismic activity in the region remains fairly low, Whitman construction managers aren’t taking any chances. This summer, Whitman seismically upgraded Memorial, making the building more structurally sound in the event of an earthquake.

The upgrade is the second part of a multiphase construction project affecting several different buildings on campus. The first part of this project was the seismic upgrade of Memorial’s clock tower last summer.

According to Peter Harvey, Whitman’s treasurer and chief financial officer, the upgrade was long needed.

“Memorial is over a hundred years old, and a risk with buildings like this is that in the event of an earthquake, bricks can fall off and they weren’t designed in a way to prevent that from happening,” he said.

Over the summer, an exterior wall was placed around the foundation of the building, providing a perimeter wall to hold the foundation together. The exterior was also cleaned and the mortar around the bricks was re-grouted.

Jeff Donahue, construction project manager, says that the construction team has been looking into other buildings on campus that are “unreinforced masonry buildings”—Prentiss and Lyman Halls among them.

“[Prentiss and Lyman] are on the plan to be worked on in the future,” Donahue said.

According to Donahue, the stairwell next to the Lyman kitchen was reinforced

Whitman boasts an un-pretentious cul-ture—at least ac-

cording to its website—but is it pretentious to say so? A new line of “unpretentious”-branded t-shirts and sweat-pants from the Whitman Book-store has Whitties wearing the new statement with ironic pride.

The new apparel, with “Un-pretentious” printed across the front of t-shirts and the back of sweatpants, was inspired by a de-sign shown as a joke in a presenta-tion at Whitman’s annual Staff De-velopment Day earlier this year. The first shipment arrived in mid-August, and bookstore employees say they’ve flown off the shelves since—as of Wednesday, Sept. 7, only one XXL t-shirt and four XL sweatpants remained unsold.

The use of the word “unpre-tentious” stems from an eight-month-old theme on Whitman’s website: academic excellence, unpretentious Northwest culture and engaging community. The ad-ministration, which worked with Zoom Marketing of Palo Alto, Calif., to create the theme, has as-serted that prospective, rather than current, students were the intend-ed audience for the message. Still, students have expressed frustra-tion with the term, finding that it is rather pretentious to call oneself unpretentious, as highlighted in an article in The Pioneer last April.

Sophomore Ben Men-zies, who purchased one of the t-shirts last month, said that he bought the shirt because he dis-agreed with the “unpreten-tious northwest culture” slogan.

“If you wear it and call at-tention to the weirdness of the slogan, you’re disassoci-ating yourself from the slo-gan, which I appreciate be-cause I don’t necessarily want to be associated with unpreten-tious Northwest culture,” he said.

Menzies said that while he thought it would be pre-tentious to wear the shirt un-critically, he didn’t think that would happen at Whitman.

“I don’t think anyone saw the shirt in the bookstore and said, ‘Yeah, I’m unpretentious, I should wear that shirt,’” he said.

Sophomore Russell Sper-berg said he bought one of the t-shirts as soon as he saw someone else wearing one. For him, it was a funny extension of the irony in calling the school unpretentious.

“I think the specific use of the word creates a problem be-cause calling yourself unpre-tentious is sort of pretentious,” he said. “A majority of the cam-pus, if not embarrassed by ‘un-pretentious Northwest culture,’ thought it was weird . . . By mak-ing t-shirts, you’re moving be-yond embarrassment and saying, ‘Look at how ridiculous this is.’”

Assistant Vice President of Communications Ruth Ward-well, who worked on the mar-keting theme, said that though the t-shirts and sweatpants use the word “unpretentious” out of context, she is glad to see stu-dents share their school pride.

“I hadn’t anticipated using unpretentious without its con-text of ‘unpretentious North-west culture,’” she said. “But I’m fine if students are hav-ing fun with that and celebrat-ing their college because in fact there is an unpretentious culture.”

While Wardwell is fine with Whitties making fun of themselves, she is concerned about how those outside Whit-man would view the shirts.

by CAITLIN HARDEEA&E Editor

by SHELLY LENews Editor

by LIBBY ARNOSTISports Editor

by JOSH GOODMANStaff Reporter

Katri Gilbert ‘13, left, takes 2nd place at last Saturday’s invitational meet against Lewis-Clark College at Fort Walla Walla. Oliver Wood ‘13 (bib number 174) and Michael Jorgenson ‘14 (bib number 166), left, break into the top 10 in the 8k race against tough competition. The meet was attended by a crowd of Whitman fans, fellow athletes and supportive community members. Next up for the team is the

Sundodger Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17, in Seattle, Wash. Photos by von Hafften

see HARPER JOY, page 4

this summer. This was the first of future upgrades of other unreinforced buildings on campus.

“What we’re doing in Lyman is [building] a shear to keep the stairwell together,” he said.

Harvey anticipates more large and visible upgrades in Memorial and in the residence halls. He also predicted some simple projects, like installing more energy efficient light fixtures and new heating and cooling systems in administrative and academic buildings.

The total cost for the two projects this summer was a little over a million dollars. Funds were taken from the college’s operating budget.

Despite the cost, Donahue believes that preserving these buildings on campus is essential to maintaining the Whitman culture.

“I think that [Memorial] is the icon of Whitman College,” he said. “You need to preserve these things, these are history.” see UNPRETENTIOUS, page 4

For first-year Umair Mere-dia, registering for his first college classes was

“actually really successful.”First-year Jose Bel-

eche thought registration was “straightforward and simple.”

Sentiments like these are only possible because on Saturday, Aug. 27, the day of first-year registration, everything went according to plan.

“I can’t believe it went so smoothly,” said Registrar Ron Ur-ban. Compared to last year’s regis-tration, which Urban called a deba-cle, this year’s was extraordinary.

Last year, two hours after first-year registration began, the com-puters broke down and first-years waited in line for hours. At the end of the day, about 60 students were turned away unregistered and everyone came away frazzled.

When the dust cleared, a group called the Registration Working Group was formed to plan the 2011 first-year registration. In this group were three students—an SA, a trans-fer student and a student who was unable to register successfully on the first day of the 2010 first-year registration—Director of Academ-ic Resources Juli Dunn and Asso-ciate Registrar Stacey Giusti. This group, along with many other indi-viduals and departments on cam-pus implemented a myriad of chang-es to address last year’s problems.

“The key to the success of this year’s registration was team-work,” said Dunn in an email. “To be given an opportunity to go back to the drawing board with the same framework takes a lot of trust.”

Many changes were imple-mented in the first-year registra-tion system this year. The location was different, registration times were frontloaded towards the begin-ning of the day, faculty took shifts at making waitlists and giving con-sent, there were more computers present, and most strikingly, stu-dents had a cap placed on the num-ber of credits they could register for on the actual day of registration. Ad-ditional credits were registered for through the additional course form.

This year, instead of holding registration in Sherwood Center, it was held in Reid Ballroom. Many agreed this site had a much bet-ter atmosphere because of its inti-mate feel. The ballroom was divid-ed into two parts. The larger section held faculty members and advisors, who took shifts instead of being pre-sent all day. About 75 faculty mem-bers were present in the ballroom at one time, managing paper wait-lists and giving consent for classes.

The smaller section of the ball-room housed 26 computer kiosk sta-tions for student registration and five special access kiosks. Because the first-years registered in groups of 20 to 22, the extra computers left a margin of error for students who took longer than their allotted time.

Technology was also al-tered to protect against a sys-tem failure similar to last year.

“It was a big deal that we failed so thoroughly,” said Michael Quin-er, director of enterprise technology.

Last year the database locked up due to overuse and a complicat-ed course consent application. The course consent application was re-written, and the waitlist system was put online, independent of the

rest of the servers that CLEo oper-ates on. The system was tested ex-tensively over the summer until it could handle 200 accounts at once.

Several measures were put in place in the interest of fairness. Ran-domly assigned registration times were concentrated more towards the morning. As the day wore on, the time slots themselves got long-er, from 10-minute registration slots at 8 a.m. to half-hour slots at the end of the day, to allow students more time when classes were fuller.

A cap of 10 credits, not in-cluding Encounters and SSRAs, was placed on the number of cred-its that students could register for during their assigned time. Be-cause students couldn’t register for a full load, more academic classes were left open as the day wore on.

“I thought it was going to be mass panic,” said sophomore Rose-mary Hanson, the SA of Jewett 4-East, who was present at registra-tion in the morning. “I’m amazed people got in and out super fast, even when they had course conflicts.”

To register for addition-al credits, students filled out an additional course form.

“The system finally devised over the summer by the Registrar’s Office to include the one addition-al course form was still pretty new and so getting advisers up to speed and first-year students up to speed was a bit daunting,” said Dunn.

These forms allowed students to create a prioritized wish list of classes. The Registar’s Office went through these forms in the reverse order they were received and man-ually entered students’ fourth class-es into their schedules. The office

Dan Terrio appointed new Chief Information Officer

After a long and in-depth search process last spring, Dan Terrio has been ap-

pointed new Chief Information Of-ficer at Whitman. He is the suc-cessor of previous CIO Keiko Pit-ter, who retired last year. Terrio has been working in the field of tech-nology for more than 20 years, most recently as CIO of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore.

After working at both larg-er research institutions like Mi-ami University, Ohio, and smaller liberal arts colleg-es, Terrio found his niche.

“I found that I pre-ferred a smaller environment where I had more direct con-tact with students,” he said.

When the job at Whitman opened up, Terrio was glad to apply. After working at Lew-is and Clark for 10 years, he was

ready for a change in scenery.“Whitman is an excellent insti-

tution. Even when I was interview-ing, its strong sense of community was apparent and exciting to me.”

He has spent his first few weeks on the job assessing the way things are run and meeting with staff and faculty leadership. Terrio is positive about the current state of affairs in technology services.

“There is a really good founda-tion of technological infrastructure here, as well as an amazing staff that is committed and dedicated to working well as a team,” he said.

Terrio hopes to imple-ment more technology into the Whitman curriculum.

“I feel that technology has the potential to impact teaching and learning positively. I believe that Whitman could use the un-harnessed potential of technology to supplement the way the faculty teaches and students learn,” he said

Terrio is particularly looking

forward to working with the Stu-dent Technology Advisory Com-mittee.

“We have much that we can learn from the students and I would like to see the student ad-visory committee become a re-vived and rejuvenated commit-tee that is engaged in helping technology at Whitman contin-ue to advance and thrive,” he said.

Terrio is also looking forward to interacting more with the Whit-man community. Further goals in-clude focusing on using technol-ogy as efficiently and effective-ly as possible outside academics, like setting up a system for reg-istration and keeping costs con-tained within technology services.

“Time has flown by since I’ve gotten here. People at Whitman have been welcoming and help-ful and willing to answer ques-tions. Now that students are back, I’m looking forward to opportuni-ties to talk and interact with them.”

by KARAH KEMMERLYNews Editor

Changes lead to successful registration

Donna Perry Jones replaces Karen Kinder ‘Academic Google’ launches

There’s a new face in the Of-fice of Fellowships and Grants this year. Donna Per-

ry Jones has come on board as the administrative assistant to replace Karen Kinder, who retired at the end of last semester. Although she’s new to the office, Jones has been a part of the Whitman com-munity as both a student and as a staff member for over 16 years.

Keith Raether, the director of the Fellowships and Grants office, described Jones’ duties.

“She works as an admin-istrative liaison between me and the foundations and grant-ing organizations and as a sup-port to students,” he said.

While Raether does most of the counseling and advising with students who are applying for grants or fellowships, Jones also works very closely with students.

“There’s lots of email back and forth with students,” she said.

She also does a lot of the co-ordination between students and the representatives from the foun-

dations in terms of setting up on-campus interviews and reserving rooms for informational meetings.

Jones graduated from Whit-man in 1976 with a degree in soci-ology and plural societies, an area of major study that is no long-er offered by the college. Her son also graduated from Whitman.

Additionally, Jones worked for 12 years under former Whit-man president Thomas Cronin. While the Office of Fellowships and Grants did not yet exist at the time, Cronin was highly support-ive of making those kinds of op-portunities available to students.

“He was a big en-courager of the Wat-son [Fellowship],” she said.

Each year the Watson Fel-lowship awards $25,000 to rough-ly one student from each of its 40 participating institutions to pur-sue an independent project that he or she has devised and which must take place in various coun-tries of the student’s choice outside of the United States.

“Tom was excit-ed about having [the fel-lowship] here,” said Jones.

The Watson is only one of the many fellowships, scholar-ships and grants that Jones and Raether work to make more ac-cessible to students. They are al-ways searching to find out about new fellowships and to make them available to students, as well as working diligently with stu-dents to advise and assist them with the application process. Their attention to detail is cru-cial for making sure the appli-cation process runs smoothly.

“There are many juggling pins in the air at once,” said Raether.

In addition to Jones, Rae-ther has also been with the col-lege for a number of years, working as a writer in the Com-munications Office before be-coming the director of Fel-lowships and Grants in 2008.

He believes strongly in the power of his and Jones’ work to make a huge differ-ence in students’ lives both during and after Whitman.

“This is a really impor-tant office for students as they consider the big pic-ture of their lives,” he said.

by ROSE WOODBURYStaff Reporter

This fall, Penrose librarians are adopting a new search service in hopes of sim-

plifying research. With this ser-vice, users don’t have to choose one specific database, but rather can find results from different da-tabases through one search box.

Lee Keene, head of instruc-tional and research services at Pen-rose, believes that this cross-disci-plinary feature will be especially helpful for students who might want to look at a project through the lens of several different departments.

“A student could search for one broad topic and come up with results from several different departments,” he said. “The search service allows students to see the connections.”

Keene calls the sys-tem an “academic Google.”

“The new service provides a starting point for students, just like Google does, but the materials with-in it are more appropriate for the level of research students and fac-ulty are doing. There are a lot more journals and scholarly matches.”

Dalia Corkrum, di-rector of Penrose, agrees.

“It’s also easier to limit results in this service,” she said. “A stu-dent could, for example, choose to only view peer-reviewed articles.”

Corkrum and Keene acknowl-edge that more precise searches will yield the most accurate results.

Corkrum hopes that the service will help bet-ter integrate library resourc-es into the Whitman community.

“We want to make this li-brary resource a place where students and faculty want to start their research,” she said.

To encourage students and fac-ulty to try out the new service, Pen-rose is holding a contest to name it with an iPad 2 awarded to the win-ner. Whitman community members can go on the library website and suggest names through Sept. 30.

Corkrum is very excited about the new service and anticipates its academic value at Whitman.

“This is going to be pretty rev-olutionary for the Whitman com-munity. It exposes so many resourc-es at one time, and I think it will ad-vance scholarship immensely.”

by KARAH KEMMERLYNews Editor

by MOLLY JOHANSONStaff Reporter

Chief Information Officer Dan Terrio begins Whitman tenure. Photo by Faith Bernstein

The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life will hold a two-part event to commemo-

rate the ten-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks this Sunday. The events will strive for religious understanding and reflection on 9/11 through an interfaith worship service and later a public forum.

“Living in a multi-religious world is one of the challeng-es that got a lot of attention fol-lowing 9/11,” said Adam Kirt-ley, Stuart Coordinator of Re-ligious and Spiritual life. “We hope that this helps people move

beyond mere tolerance of reli-gious difference, and that inter-faith work can be seen as an op-portunity for growth and healing.”

The presenters are known as The Interfaith Amigos. Pas-tor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rah-man were brought together by the events of 9/11 and have worked to develop religious tolerance and healing across the United States, Israel-Palestine and Japan.

The Interfaith Worship will take place at 10 a.m. at the First Congregational Church, 73 S Palouse St, and the pub-lic forum will happen later at 3 p.m. in Maxey Auditorium.

Why do we read newspapers? I suspect that each of you will have a different answer to this question; I’ll give you mine. We read news-papers because we are conscious that something in this world apart

from ourselves merits our attention—and in our desire to inform ourselves, we pick up a paper. In newspapers we look for entertainment, knowledge, a new perspective . . . and sometimes just a way to pass the time. These are the end goals of the work that The Pioneer’s 70-plus staffers undertake each week. I hope that this, my first issue as Editor-in-Chief, will deliver.

I sometimes hear the words “newspapers” and “dying industry” to-gether in the same sentence. I also hear “The Pio” and “no one reads.” But both statements are false. As journalism stumbles to adapt itself to a chang-ing world, the value of free speech remains. Whether in a country undergo-ing a revolution or on a college campus, the reasons that people desire infor-mation remain.

At The Pioneer, we try each week to play our small part. And whatever it was that you sought when you opened up this page, I hope that you will find it—and more—inside.

All the best,

Patricia VanderbiltEditor-in-Chief

Community to commemorate 9/11by SHELLY LENews Editor

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

see REGISTRATION, page 4

EDITORIALEditor-in-ChiefPatricia Vanderbilt

Managing EditorCara Lowry

News EditorsKarah Kemmerly & Shelley Le A&E EditorCaitlin Hardee

Feature EditorsAlyssa Fairbanks& Kelsey Kennedy

Sports EditorLibby Arnosti

Humor EditorAdam Brayton

Photography EditorEthan Parrish

Illustration EditorBinta Loos-Diallo

Web EditorSara Rasmussen

EDITORIAL POLICYThe Whitman College Pioneer is a weekly student-run newspaper published under the auspices of the Associated Students of Whitman College. The purpose of The Pioneer is to provide pertinent, timely news and commentary for Whitman students, alumni, faculty, staff and parents, as well as the Walla Walla community. The Pioneer is dedicated to expanding open discussion on campus about the issues with which students are most concerned. We provide coverage of Whitman-related news as well as featured local and regional events, and strive to maintain a standard of utmost fairness, quality, and journalistic integrity while promoting freedom of the press. In addition, The Pioneer strives to be a learning tool for students who are interested in journalism. The Pioneer welcomes all feedback and publishes weekly Let-ters to the Editor in print and online.

SUBMISSION POLICYLetters to Editor may be submitted to The Pioneer via e-mail at vanderpa@whitman.edu or sent to The Pioneer, 345 Boyer Ave., Walla Walla, WA, 99362. All submissions must be received by 4 p.m. on Saturday prior to the week that they are intended to appear. All submissions must be attributed and may be edited for concision and fluency.

CODE OF ETHICSThe code of ethics serves as The Pioneer’s established guidelines for the practice of responsible journalism on campus, within reasonable interpreta-tion of the editorial board. These guidelines are subject to constant review and amendment; responsibility for amending the code of ethics is assigned to the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher in conjunction with the editorial board. The code of ethics is reviewed at least once per semester.

To access the complete code of ethics for The Pioneer, visit whitmanpioneer.com/about.

WRITINGNEWSSamuel Chapman, Josh Goodman, Molly Johanson, Emily Lin-Jones, Kyle Seasly, Dylan Tull, Rose Woodbury, Allison Work

A&EClara Bartlett, Nathan Fisher, Alex Hagen, Kyle Howe, Mallory Martin

FEATUREMolly Emmett, Tyler King, Sandra Matsevilo, Frances Nunn, Kinsey White

SPORTSPamela London, Sylvie Luiten, Matt Tesmond

OPINIONPhilip Cheng, Elizabeth Cole, Zach Duffy, Blair Frank, Benjamin Roberson, Alfredo Villaseñor

BACKPAGEElena Aragon, Cari Cortez, Diana Dulek, Tabor Martinsen, Dana Thompson

PRODUCTIONProduction ManagerTed Hendershot

Production AssociatesKatie Berfield, Alecia Kaer, Carter Muenchau, Maddison Munn, Molly Olmsted, Cara Patten

Chief Copy EditorGillian Frew

Copy EditorsAleida Fernandez, Marisa Ikert, Erik Larson

PHOTOGRAPHYMarin Axtell, Cade Beck, Caitlin Bergman, Faith Bernstein, Allie Felt, David Jacobson, Jack Lazar, Chaoyu Li, Marie Von Hafften

ILLUSTRATIONAlex Bailey, MaryAnne Bowen, Kelly Douglas, Emily Johnson, Julie Peterson, Jung Song, Eduardo Vazquez

BUSINESSBusiness ManagerHailun Zhou

Circulation AssociatesMatt Booth, Emily Coba, Leland Mattaeus, Junpei Tsuji

WebmasterKirk Crosland

ADVERTISINGAdvertising ManagerPhuong Pham

For information about advertising in The Pioneer or to purchase a subscription please contact business@whitmanpioneer.com.

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82011

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2NEWS

For most Whitties, September is time to settle down in Walla Walla, but for resident rock-

ers Plateau, life on the road rag-es on. The Pioneer called the band members as they were heading to a Friday concert at the Emerald Downs racetrack in Auburn, Wash.

Whitman senior and bass-ist Matthew Sweeney shared his enthusiasm over the show.

“This is a really good-pay-ing gig, and probably a big-ger crowd than we’ve ever had—we’re playing for a cou-ple thousand people,” he said.

Plateau have been steadi-ly building up to their current lev-el of touring. When we last spoke to them, the band expressed plans

to “cruise around a bit,” maybe even make it to Portland. In the end, Plateau carried off a bona fide summer tour, traveling con-siderably farther than Oregon.

“We must have played al-most 30 shows this summer, we went on our tour, so we went all over the place. LA, San Die-go, all the big cities down the coast,” said alumnus Adrian Tuo-hy, lead vocalist and guitarist.

Not only did the band trav-el over the summer, they also hooked up with some North-west legends, opening for alter-native rock group The Posies.

“We got to meet them, it was really fun,” said Tuohy. “After the show there was kind of a pri-vate party thing. We just chatted with them, drank a whole bunch of really good wine. They’re super

nice guys. We had a great time.”Tuohy, who graduated from

Whitman last year, has stayed in Walla Walla, working at a local brewery while continuing to write music and tour with his bandmates.

“It’s pretty weird—when I first came to Walla Walla there were hardly any places to play. Now, since there was one place that opened in town that did live music, now every place is com-peting for live music,” said Tuo-hy. “There’s actually good mon-ey in that, so we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s a good environment to keep the band going, keep writing songs.”

For Sweeney and Pla-teau drummer senior Alex Folk-erth, touring with the band re-quires a delicate balancing act. Both must also fulfill the rig-

orous demands of senior year.“It is very challeng-

ing,” Sweeney agreed. “I have an 80-page thesis due.”

Folkerth and Sweeney seem up to the task—in addi-tion to Plateau activities, Folk-erth is continuing with associat-ed project King Friday, togeth-er with junior Bo Sagal and sen-ior Ryan Barrett. Folkerth filled us in on the return of the King.

“We’re working on our new album, we have like six songs done, and I think we’ll probably be done by the end of the semester, may-be throw a party and invite people over to listen to it,” said Folkerth.

King Friday will be playing Coffeehouse on Friday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. Plateau will be playing later the same night at a house party, and Saturday, Sept. 10 at Walla Faces.

Walla Walla upped its trendy ante this summer with the debut of four new eateries. Ranging from self-serve frozen yogurt shop to contemporary gastro pub, there truly is something for everyone.

Blue Palm Frozen Yogurt1417 Plaza Way, Suite B

Slightly off the beaten track (as in not on Main Street), Wal-la Walla’s second frozen yogurt vendor features a wide variety of frosty flavors and tasty top-pings—fresh fruit, candy, nuts and sauces. The atmosphere is similar to that of the typical self-serve frozen yogurt shop—clean, spacious and buffet-line in organ-ization with a pleasant outdoor seating area. Don’t be daunted by all the flavor options: there are plenty of little sample cups for you to take advantage of before you even begin to craft your crea-tion. Since you pay by weight this may not be the place to go if your eyes are bigger than your stom-ach, but if you’re in the mood for a light and refreshing snack or desert, it definitely hits the spot. Cost is 40 cents per ounce, minus the weight of the cup.

Frosted7 S 1st Ave

Since Sprinkles pioneered the gourmet cupcake industry in 2003, chic bakeries seem to have taken the world by storm and now Walla Walla has one of

its very own. Right off of Main Street between Sweet Basil and Peach & Pear, Frosted is a logi-cal stop on any adventure into town. A classy ambiance com-plete with black and white check-ered floor tiles and delicate chan-deliers greets you as you walk in the door. Be sure to stop by mul-tiple times as the freshly baked flavors change, daily. My person-al favorite: chocolate raspberry, a dark chocolate cake jam-packed with raspberry filling and topped with a raspberry butter cream.

The Garden Vegan Café36 South Colville St

What was once The Under-ground has made way for The Garden. Conveniently located next to the Colville St. Patisse-rie, this café allows you to pro-long your downtown study ses-sion with some savory brain food. As you may have guessed, you won’t find any meat or dairy on the menu; but what you will find is fresh, delicious and healthy—some items are even soy- and/or gluten-free. Aside from offering an abundance of salads and sandwiches (both hot and cold), The Garden is also the place to go for inventive smoothies and fresh-squeezed juice blends, not to mention mon-ster-sized chocolate chip cookies.

Public House 124124 E Main St

Joining Walla Walla’s bar scene alongside The Green, Mar-cy’s and Red Monkey, Public

House 124 boasts a prime loca-tion, creative cocktails and gour-met eats. The swanky but cozy atmosphere may attract an older clientele, but is nevertheless an ideal spot in which to enjoy se-lect $4 cocktails (available dur-ing happy hour: Tuesday-Thurs-day, 2-6 p.m. and 9 p.m.-12 a.m. and Friday-Saturday, 2-6 p.m.) and truffle oil French fries. While little on the pricey side—espe-cially within the constraints of a collegiate budget—Public House is worth the occasional splurge.

PIO PICKSEach Thursday, The Pioneer

highlights several events hap-pening on campus or in Walla

Walla during the weekend. Here are this week’s picks:

Open Mic NightThe Walla Walla Village Win-ery invites you to share your gifts in music, poetry or other performance arts. Admission is free. Thursday, Sept. 8, 7-11 p.m. 107 S 3rd Avenue.

CoffeehouseWEB presents King Friday with Science in Progress, live in Reid Campus Center. Cof-feehouse is a musical series on Fridays and Saturdays, bringing you the musical talents of Whitman students, local artists and other visiting musicians. Friday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m. Reid Cam-pus Center.

Farmer’s MarketThe Walla Walla Farmer’s Market offers a range of fresh produce, home-made crafts and other artisan goods, live music and community fun. Saturday, Sept. 10, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. 4th & Main St.

IDentity FestivalIDentity Festival brings a wide range of preeminent electronic acts and DJs for a glorious day of hedonism un-der the sun at the spectacular Gorge Amphitheatre. Artists include The Crystal Method, DJ White Shadow, Kaskade, Pretty Lights and Nero. Saturday, Sept. 10, 1 p.m. - 11 p.m. The Gorge Amphitheatre, 754 Silica Road NW, George, WA.For tickets, see http://idfestival.com/city/george.

Whitman rockers Plateau build success on road, balance academics with touring

by CAITLIN HARDEEA&E Editor

Trendy new eateries offer succulent treats to tease taste buds

Students and community members enjoy delectable new culinary offerings at Public House 124 (above) and The Garden Vegan Cafe, downtown. Photos by Jacobson

Standing in the tunnel dubbed “The Theatre of Dreams,” our

team looked out at the grass from the same place as the best clubs in the world. Overhead, the speak-ers blared the applause of thou-sands of rabid fans. “Welcome to the home of the team that has won 19 Premier League titles, Man-chester United” rang in our ears.

After a four-hour bus ride through England, we were stand-ing in front of Old Trafford, home of Manchester United. We were experiencing what it was like to be the best of the best.

This summer, 19 players, women’s head coach Heath-er Cato and men’s head coach Mike Washington traveled near-ly 5,000 miles across the At-lantic to London, England for a three-week preseason training trip. With eight games sched-uled against semi-profession-al and professional competi-tion, our goal was to gain val-uable experience working to-gether as a team as we em-barked on Cato’s second sea-son at the helm of our program.

From our first game against Yeovil Town to a dogfight with Cardiff City to matchups against professional standouts West Bromwich Albion and As-ton Villa, our team made tre-mendous strides in discover-ing its identity—all while ad-justing to the new culture, food and backwards road etiquette.

Our competition on the field surpassed what we see every year in the Northwest Confer-ence: Several of the teams play in the top divisions of wom-en’s professional soccer. One of them, Aston Villa, is one of the premier teams in England.

The experience we gained playing internationally helped

us grow as a team, but the time that we spent together bond-ed our group even more. Of all the idyllic things we did that day—spending a day in Lon-don, seeing the churches in Wes-ton and eating chips with eve-ry meal—certainly checked an item off everyone’s bucket list.

Each player who has walked down that tunnel got there through his own journey. This trip was the first step in ours.

We experienced histo-ry. We walked in the footsteps of the world’s greatest players.

And this season, we intend on making some history of our own.

Women’s soccer team summers in London

The men’s basketball team swept up a 5-0 record on their August tour through Brit-ish Columbia, playing against teams including the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Island University. The men exhibited strength and teamwork coming off of last winter’s ‘10-’11 season, the best in 25 years of Whitman basketball history. “It was nice to get some early experience during the summer,” says junior guard Peter Clark. The men anticipate more success in the coming season. Archive photo

by PAMELA LONDONStaff Reporter

SCOREBOARDCross CountryMen’svs. Lewis-Clark CollegeSeptember 3 Women’svs. Lewis-Clark CollegeSeptember 3

GolfMen’svs. Warner Pacific and LCSCSeptember 10Women’svs. Warner Pacific and LCSCSeptember 10

Volleyball

vs. Walla Walla UniversitySeptember 2

VolleyballWomen’svs. Colorado College, Do-minican UniversitySeptember 9vs. Whitworth UniversitySeptember 10

SoccerMen’svs. Northwestern UniversitySeptember 1Women’svs. Eastern Ore. University September 4

SoccerMen’svs. Augsburg UniversitySeptember 8vs. Bethel UniversitySeptember 10

Women’svs. Augsburg University September 8 vs. Bethel CollegeSeptember 10vs. Whitworth UniversitySeptember 14, 1:30 PM

Loss 15-50

Win 20-41

Away

Away

Win 3-0

Away

Away

Tie 0-0

Win 3-0

Away

Away

Away

Away

Home

UPCOMING EVENTS

ADVERTISEMENT

by CARA LOWRYManaging Editor

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3A&E & SPORTS

WHITTIEWISDOM

ACADEMIC BEYOND CLASSES“There is no shame in working hard--there are a few super brilliant people who can do well in classes without ever studying, but you’re probably not one of them.”

-Carolyn Hart ’12.

“Don’t raise your hand. Just talk. Be polite. But be sassy. There’s no need to play the awkward ‘guess what the teacher is thinking’ game. Just get your ideas out there. Especially in a literature class, the teacher doesn’t have the answer at the back of the book: there is no right answer. So just jump in with your first reaction to the question and go from there. The more you censor yourself in discussion, the less you sparkle.”

-Rhya Milici ’12.

“Your first test/paper grades probably won’t be as high as your were used to in high school. Don’t panic, and listen to your professors’ feedback.”

-Madeline Jacobson ’12.

“Keep on top of requirements. Do a four-year plan. And then do alter-nates. And take classes that sound interesting. That’s why you are here. An ‘easy’ boring class often ends up being a lot more strenuous than a ‘hard’ interesting class.”

-Rhya Milici ’12.

“During your time at Whitman College seek out experiences that interest you: clubs, groups, sport teams, jobs or internships. Things that you would choose anyway. Any experience you take on can provide skills that could be beneficial to your future while you are having fun.”

-Susan Buchanan, Director of Career Development.

“Don’t feel like you have to figure it all out by the end of college. Some people are lucky to be sure of what they want to do, but the rest of us will keep on guess-test-and-revising, and that’s kind of an adventure it itself.”

-Stefanie Brown ’12.

“In an interview, you have 25 applicants with similar qualifications; so, you want to stand out. Be five minutes early. Personal appearance matters. Take a pad of paper to take notes. Follow up with a thank you note thanking them for taking the time to interview you and for the experiences of interviewing with them. It should be handwritten, not an email. And remember to note the name of your interviewer.”

-Janice King, Book Acquisi-tion Specialist.

“Take advantage of the fresh-man dorm experience. It might be the only time when you have the chance to live with all your friends, as well as a hundred other people your age, so have fun with it!”

-Christa Heavey ’12

“Meet Chuck and George. One thing I wish I did when I first got here (maybe because I didn’t know I could do this) was to go up to Chuck Cleveland’s office or George Bridges’ office to introduce myself and see the place where they work. They both have great offices and really nice assistants, so if you are interested in meeting them just stop by their offices in Mem. They both love meeting students and I’m sure they would enjoy some company from time to time.”

-Aaron Rosenbaum ’12.

“[The] foam party is a form of ini-tiation for freshmen.”

-Natalie Tamburello ’12.

“Play IM sports! They are great for meeting new people or trying a new sport, and your team can be as intense or laid back as you want.”

-Christa Heavey ’12.

“While my orientation experience was a little different as a Jan-start, one thing that really helped my transition was learning how to ex-tend my hand and introduce my-self. Coming up with phrases like, ‘My name is Aaron and I don’t think I have met you yet,’ or even if you know of someone, ‘It’s nice to formally meet you’ or ‘It’s great to finally shake your hand.’ Its hard to put yourself out there, but some-one has to do it, and know that eve-ryone wants to get to know you and everyone wants to make friends, so if you feel comfortable, make the leap.”

-Aaron Rosenbaum ’12.

“During orientation week you meet a ton of people. And it’s easy to forget once you settle into your room and your classes that all of those people are still out there. You don’t have to do it immediately, or even during your first year, but just remember that everyone you met during orientation (as well as the older students) are at Whitman too. Never be afraid to reach out and meet new people.”

-Stefanie Brown ’12.

“Go to Mr. Whitman, the Chorale Contest and all the visiting speaker events that you think you might even be remotely interest ed in.”

-Madeline Jacobson ’12.

FUTURE

Advice from the feature editors

Try something you’ve never done before; write for The Pioneer, sing in Schwa, play IM football. Your first month at Whitman is the perfect time to start. Explore Walla Walla and get involved in the community beyond our comfortable Whitman bubble. Walla Walla can enrich your college experience if you take some time to volunteer off campus, read the Union-Bulletin or just venture beyond E. Main Street.

FRESHMAN YEAR AT WHITMAN... ...is an eye-opening, challenging and, at times, overwhelming experience with all the academic and social opportunities it presents. For seniors, the final academic year is the last chance to try out anything left unexplored. This week, Feature asked a variety of Whitman seniors for advice and words of wisdom that they wish they had received in the fall of 2008. From playing IM

sports to surviving Encounters, here are their suggestions on how to make the most of your Whitman experience.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHNSON

“It’s one thing when we on campus use it ourselves . . . if we laugh at ourselves. It be-comes a whole other thing when the external world laughs at us,” she said, adding that she wants Whitman to be respected.

Still, the administration has taken no official stance. Wardwell and Rebecca Thor-pe, the bookstore’s merchan-dising and marketing spe-cialist, said that rumors that the administration ordered the bookstore to stop print-ing the shirts are unfounded.

“The bookstore runs

the bookstore. There’s no censorship,” Thorpe said.

Rather, Thorpe said she or-dered only one set of the un-pretentious shirts and sweat-pants. A second half of the or-der will arrive soon. But Thor-pe said there are no plans to or-der more shirts, even if the new shipment flies off the shelves as quickly as the first batch.

“I don’t re-order t-shirts. I only run them once, except the favorites,” she said, re-ferring to the classic t-shirts that say “Whitman College.” “That’s just retail. You can’t keep the same thing on the shelf and expect it to turn.”

“It’s very cool—I was up there to-day. It’s a really fluid, flexible sys-tem where you can hang lights pretty much at any point, so it lends a lot of opportunities for cre-ativity and more daring designs on both the sound and electrics parts.”

Like a butterfly shedding its cocoon, Harper Joy has finally be-come a building with beauty to match the quality of its productions. Shallow aesthetics? Maybe not.

“I think that it’s going to be a lot easier to get people excited about drama club and to get some new faces in the department,” said drama club president and sen-ior Mackenzie Gerringer. “We had our first theater orientation meeting and had one of the big-gest turnouts we’ve ever had, and I think a lot of it is because of the new building, and everybody see-ing how awesome it’s going to be.”

All three floors of Harper Joy now have disabled access with an elevator. The theatre has new of-fice spaces, the old black box has been transformed into an acting classrom, and the main Alexan-der Stage boasts a new counter-weights system for lifting scenery.

“Things are looking good! We’re definitely excited,” said Gerringer.

The first production in the new black box, “The Altruists,” will open in November. In the meantime, Gerringer encouraged students to come check out Harper Joy and get involved in drama club.

“Drama club supports the theater activities, we do all of the concessions for the shows, and we go on different trips through-out the year,” said Gerringer. “On spring break we all go down to Ashland, Oregon and go to the Oregon Shakespeare Fes-tival. It’s a good way to spend time with other theater kids and see some outside theater.”

staff worked from 2 p.m. un-til 7 p.m. the day of registration. Students then received an email with their final class selection.

First-year Clint Voraeur says that the first-years he talked to were generally “open to what they

got,” for their fourth class, opt-ing to fill distribution if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted.

In her email, Dunn summed up the success of the day.

“We were all on the same page, working toward the same goal so that each student walked out of reg-istration with a full load of courses.”

Whitman students flash their ‘‘unpretentious’’ tees and sweatpants. Photo by Bernstein

No re-order for ‘unpretentious’ apparel after second shipment

Theater remodel sparks excitement, enthusiasm for Whitman Drama Club

Concerted effort in Registrar’s Office improves first-year scheduling process

from UNPRETENTIOUS, page 1

from HARPER JOY, page 1

from REGISTRATION, page 2

ADVERTISEMENT

Construction on Harper Joy Theatre is due to be completed Sept. 24. Photos by Axtell

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4FEATURE

Javier1 carries his height with humility and smiles easily. He grew up near his grand-

parents’ ranch in Sonora, Mex-ico, riding horses and fight-ing roosters. He made his liv-ing and formed his family in Ar-izona, where he’s resided for 10 years. He calls his family daily; he hopes his eight-year-old girl will soon grow out of her Han-nah Montana phase and idolize more substantial role models. Javier was deported to Nogales several months ago and has been searching for a job. He misses his family intensely, but he can’t re-turn to the United States and he doesn’t want to bring them to Mexico, where work is rare and violence is practically inevitable. He wants to cross the border and turn himself in to the Border Pa-trol, so he will be detained in a CCA prison where he can earn three dollars a day and receive semi-regular meals. Three dol-lars a day in a high-security pris-on, where medical needs are rou-tinely neglected and inmates are subject to public humiliation, is his better option.

This summer I volunteered with No More Deaths (NMD) in the twin border-towns of Nogales, Ariz. and Nogales, So-nora, Mexico. NMD is a humani-tarian aid organization that works to end death and suffering on the Arizona-Mexico border. Ac-cording to official records, since 1994, the year NAFTA went into effect, over 5,000 people have died along the U.S.-Mexico bor-der while attempting to cross

the American desert. Countless more have disappeared unre-corded. The NMD Nogales pro-ject works on the Mexican side of the border; volunteers offer free phone calls to family, provide first aid, document human rights abuses and help recover property taken by the Border Patrol or the prison system for those who have been recently deported.

I met 20-50 people a day at the shelter, most of whom had ar-rived in Nogales that day. Trau-ma and shock are fresh on every-one’s skin. Their stories of abuse, family separation and loss roll from their lips minutes after we meet. Most of those who have been deported have suffered de-hydration, starvation, overheat-ing, and severe blisters while in the desert. Most are separated from their families. Many have been abused and denied medical treatment while in the custody of the Border Patrol or in detention facilities.

David is a cheeky Hondu-ran kid. He has a toothy smile and when he speaks, he drops the ends off his words. The backs of his hands are scarred from work in the coffee fields. When I first meet him, he claims to be 17-years-old, but later admits to 15. He looks 12. David already tried to cross the border once this month, with a group of young Hondureños, but they turned back after one broke a foot and they all were scratched up in the brittle desert. David tells me he’ll return to the fields in Honduras to work, but I’ve heard a rumor that he’s going to cross again. One day he is gone from the shel-ter without a goodbye, likely

walking for el norte.This month, a suit against

the U.S. government for the murder of a Mexican child was dismissed. The child, anoth-er 15-year-old boy, was alleged-ly throwing stones at a Border Patrol officer on the other side

of the Rio Grande. The offic-er shot the child in the head. The suit filed by the boy’s family was dismissed because the crime oc-curred on “Mexican soil” as the child died on Mexican ground, and there are no statutes that would apply in a case against the

U.S. government. The Border Pa-trol officer is an American citizen who fired from American soil, and the American court claims that the family is unable to argue the charges.

In WWII, the United States initially refused to offer safe har-bor to an increased number of Jewish refugees from Europe. In 1937 Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist, wrote of the situation: “It is a fantastic com-mentary on the inhumanity of our times that for thousands and thousands of people, a piece of paper with a stamp on it is the dif-ference between life and death.”

Today, U.S. border and im-migration policy is recreating the same brands of cruelties and ine-qualities. The federally condoned violence along the U.S.-Mexi-co border is another chapter in the United States’ abuse and ex-ploitation of a refugee popula-tion and a disempowered racial group. Those who suffer most have the fewest resources and the least political power.

I am afraid for the people who will be crossing the desert tonight. I am afraid for the thou-sands in our prison systems, wait-ing to be deported. I am afraid for the hundreds who will arrive in Mexican border towns today, stripped of their homes, their be-longings, their dignity and their voices.

1. All names changed for protection

2. Source: “Suit dismissed in shooting death of Juárez boy by Border Patrol agent” by Arman-do V. Durazo. El Paso Times, 18 August 2011.

by MADELYN PETERSONContributing Reporter

No More Deaths tackles injustice along U.S. - Mexico border

A memorial to lives lost stands near U.S.-Mexico border. Photo contributed by Peterson

Whitties get WISE, gain new perspective on Walla Walla youth

“Since my parents went to college I always assumed . . . that I

would get into a college and lat-er attend one,” said senior Hay-ley Mauck, an RA for the Whit-man Institute of Scholastic En-richment (WISE) program.

WISE has been present on campus every summer since 2006. Yet when explaining that I would be working for the pro-gram, I was still frequently asked the question, “What’s WISE?”

WISE is a three-day-long camp in August intended to ex-pose primarily low-income and first-generation middle school students to college. The seventh- and eighth-graders are given the opportunity to attend pre-college advising workshops, go to sever-al lectures by Whitman profes-sors, and stay in a residence hall. This is done with the hope of in-forming and exciting them about the idea of a college education.

At the camp, the RAs were explicitly asked to talk about di-versity with the students. Before starting the camp, the students and RAs read an essay titled “Superman and Me” by Sher-man Alexie. In addition to the es-say, the staff was provided with a list of topics to discuss with the campers, which included ques-tions like: “Have you ever been ridiculed for being smart?” and “Have you ever felt as though someone expected you to fail?” The essay implied that minority children are oftentimes “expect-ed to be stupid.” The discussion was meant to reflect on the stere-otypes and expectations associat-ed with disadvantaged students.

Due my experience working with young campers at my other summer position at a gymnastics camp, I understood the potential implications of creating an ex-pectation for a child. I knew that even if a child simply overheard a nervous parent telling me that the camper was “shy and quiet,” then the child would automatically be-

come shy and quiet because he or she had suddenly become hyper-conscious of his or her behavior. Having seen these types of sce-narios before, I hesitated with the discussion questions, as I felt that they brought the students’ atten-tion to a topic which had the po-tential to negatively affect their confidence and performance.

Some of the campers “didn’t want to talk about stereotypes and expectations,” observed fel-low RA, sophomore Allie Will-son, because they felt as though stereotypes had no impact on their personal success. How-ever, it was obvious that oth-er students seemed to feel obli-gated to answer questions like “Why is it seen as uncool to be smart?” They seemed to pause after hearing the question, try-ing to come up with an answer that would satisfy the RAs, as though their previous school-

ing experiences had already in-grained in them that there was a right answer to every question.

Because WISE is a program intended for students in the Wal-la Walla area, it was an accu-rate representation of the chal-lenges present amongst groups of socio-economically disadvan-taged individuals in our com-munity, challenges which some Whitties may be unaware of be-cause of our own backgrounds and attitudes towards college. WISE gives Whitman the op-portunity to become involved with these individuals and to share our experiences with them in order to help them succeed. However, I learned that it is im-portant to be aware of the ex-pectations we may be uninten-tionally imposing on them, as they have the potential to neg-atively influence the student’s own perception of themselves.

by SANDRA MATSEVILOStaff Reporter

Environmentalism in Bolivia close to home

The first time I tried to explain what I study to a new friend in Bo-

livia, he laughed in my face.“An environmental stud-

ies major would die of hunger here,” he snorted.

It’s true; the field of study that is becoming one of the most popular in the United States is virtually nonexistent in Boliv-ia. This, the poorest country in South America, is aching to de-velop its economic potential and move towards moderniza-tion. Its cities are full of med-ical students, engineers, teach-ers and economics students. The rural areas are pure agricul-ture. Environmentalism seems to be a foreign concept here.

Over the last two months I have spent a lot of time perched on rocks next to rocky pota-to and oca bean fields in the most undeveloped areas of Bo-livia, talking with the resi-dents of tiny agricultural moun-tain communities that lie a few bumpy hours’ drive outside of Cochabamba. Reserved ru-ral Bolivians have opened up to me as a representative of Mano a Mano, the organiza-tion which helps them construct roads, health clinics, water res-ervoirs and schools. I have had the privilege of hearing the voices of people far removed from my life in Walla Walla.

Sitting in one small mud home lit by dusty light filter-ing through a hole in the wall, I am finishing up an interview with Don Cecilio, a 42-year-old farmer with a leathery brown face and a cheekful of coca leaves. He has welcomed us into his home for the night; his three-year-old grandson bounc-es on the little straw mattress behind us, babbling in quechua.

“My only question for you,” says Don Cecilio as I pack up my recorder, “is why do you come all this way just to do these interviews? What benefit could you bring

from here to your country?”This has been a common

question in my interviews, and one that has made me realize how much there is to learn from my modest professors in the campo. Most families here in rural Bolivia have small rocky patches of crops, over which they labor in a constant effort to grow their own livelihood. Their houses are made of the same mud and grasses found around them. Most people never fin-ished middle school. These peo-ple are no scientists, but many have noticed marked changes in the patterns of rainfall and tem-perature over the course of the last ten years. They notice how rain falls at the top of the moun-tain and runs over the other side to the jungle, leaving their own land barren and dry much of the year. They use the resourc-es available to them to channel the little water they can access into irrigation ditches to distrib-ute it amongst them. They know how to save seeds year to year. They are conservationists in the most literal sense. This com-munity blends with the moun-tains; it lives and dies with the land; it is made of the land.

Where I come from, many people consider an “environ-mental consciousness” a luxu-ry. We are so far removed from our environment that it is nec-essary to make it into a study-able “ism” in order to inten-tionally connect ourselves back to it. Heck, now a per-son can even dedicate their college years, and count-less years after, to studying it.

Sitting here with Don Ce-cilio in his dusty home, I realize that he has an essential under-standing mostly lost in the flur-ry of development. It is the un-derstanding that environmental studies majors like me, living in that now-developed place, are trying to get back. Environ-mentalism here is not a foreign concept at all, and the environ-ment is not a thing to study; it is the most basic local concept, and simply the way they live.

by LIBBY ARNOSTISports Editor

ILLUSTRATION BY LOOS-DIALLO

OUTSIDEWHITMAN

The pursuit of knowledge doesn’t stop when the academic year officially ends in May. For many, learning continues during the summer months, when a

classroom in Maxey is replaced by the U.S.-Mexico border or a village in Yunnan, China. For The Pioneer’s first

issue of the Fall 2011 semester, we asked a collection of students to share snippets of the information that they attained with our readers, in a special

section that we’ve named...

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5

Driving to Hacienda Il-itio is a bit of an adven-ture. The farm is nestled

in the foothills of Mt. Cotopaxi, one of the tallest active volca-noes in the Ecuadorian Andes. The road up to the farm is most-ly dirt, zigzagging and turning up and down hills in all direc-tions, defying any attempts to re-member the way. There’s a riv-er crossing thrown in too, where water reaches almost to the door of the few pickup truck taxis that are willing to give wayward travelers a ride. After a grueling climb up one final hill you reach the gate of the farm, and the road levels out as you pass a herd of alpacas. It’s not the easiest drive in the world, but perhaps that’s fitting. The farm’s owner, Sebas-tian Kohn, is hoping to make Il-itio into an entirely self-suffi-cient farm based on principles of permaculture; a place where, at least in theory, there will be lit-tle need to travel to the outside world.

Although Ecuador’s new constitution explicitly states that the country is to remain free from genetically modified or-ganisms, the government’s ag-ricultural policy still focuses on high-tech, chemical-dependent farming. In this regard, Ecuador is like many developing coun-tries that have adopted green revolution technologies to grow their agricultural sectors. Many agricultural policymakers be-lieve that chemically-intensive, mechanized farming is the only way to feed the growing world population. Kohn, who graduat-ed from Whitman in 2007 with a degree in biology-environmental studies, respectfully disagrees.

“That whole system is going

to collapse,” he said, referring to the fact that mechanized agricul-ture is largely dependent on the availability of cheap fossil fuels.

Kohn isn’t interested in ar-guing policy with the govern-ment. He wants to make Ilitio into a living example of an alter-nate future for agriculture, one where systems are deliberately designed to mimic natural pro-cesses. Currently, Ilitio is a tra-ditional organic farm—no chem-icals are used, but crops are still planted in rows. Kohn is work-ing to gradually redesign the farm to incorporate permacul-

ture principles—intercropping maize, squash and legumes rath-er than planting them separate-ly; continuing the use of rota-tional grazing to allow animals to fertilize the soil; and work-ing to plant traditional varieties of crops which have been de-veloped over centuries to grow well under local conditions. Re-ally, he says, the entire approach is dependent on soil health, an approach not generally taken by chemically-intensive forms of agriculture.

“Instead of farming the soil, they farm the plant,” he said. “I

want the soil to be good so that the plant will be good.”

Ilitio runs under the di-rection of its workers. Marce-lo, Narcissa and their three chil-dren live on the farm and take care of day-to-day tasks, which include moving goats and sheep to different grazing areas, milk-ing cows and harvesting crops. Two other paid workers are there on weekdays, and there’s also a constantly rotating stream of gringo volunteers.

Marcelo has been a farm-er for most of his life. He en-joys his work at Ilitio, though

he’s more concerned with mak-ing sure the burro doesn’t escape from its pasture again than dis-cussing food politics. He’s per-petually full of energy, regard-less of the time of day, the out-side temperature or the amount of time he’s spent digging an ir-rigation ditch in the afternoon sun. He’s not quite sure what permaculture is, but he knows that Ilitio’s organic methods have become less and less com-mon over the past few genera-tions.

“Before, a long time ago, we planted crops without chem-icals and people lived longer,” he says. “My grandma lived to be 120 years old. Now, people grow older sooner.” His family eats almost all of their food from the farm. Marcelo says that’s better for their health, because the chickens in town are full of chemicals.

Kohn knows the transi-tion back to traditional, organ-ic farming methods won’t be easy. People have gotten used to large farms, machines and fast food meals that fill you up without really leaving you full. The extreme poverty in which many farmers live means that they often can’t afford to think about the long-term health of their soil—they have to maxi-mize their output now or their family won’t be able to eat and send their kids to school. Right now, most people on earth eat only a few varieties of a few sta-ple crops. Wheat, rice and corn dominate the global food sys-tem; an approach Kohn says is “putting all your eggs in one basket.” His antidote is refresh-ing in its simplicity, yet daunting in the scale of the work it calls for.

“People need to value food,” he said.

This summer I was part of a group of 13 Whitman stu-dents who spent six weeks

in China, led by Professor of An-thropology Charles McKhann and Adjunct Instructor of Chi-nese Wencui Zhao. The main goal of the trip was to give our group the opportunity to study Chi-nese, so we spent the first four weeks of the program in Kunming at the Yunnan University. Inten-sive three-hour-long daily class-es, time spent with an individual language partner and daily prac-tice on Kunming streets enabled us to greatly improve our Chinese.

Our group also took a course entitled “History of Yunnan Peo-ple and Province” that helped us immerse into the Chinese cul-ture. During our stay and travels through Yunnan, we were able to witness many things we learned in class. The class challenged our un-derstanding of the word “Chinese” as it presented us with 56 differ-ent mingzu (nationalities) liv-ing in China today. My language partner belonged to the Yi ming-zu. Through my talks with her, our class, and our travels, I was able to learn a lot about this particu-lar mingzu, their traditions, and the traditions of many other min-gzu. Despite having very indi-vidual traditions as a Yi, my lan-guage partner said that she cer-tainly considers herself Chinese.

During our time in China, we learned how the Chinese govern-ment dealt with culture in its recent history. We witnessed the implica-tions of government involvement in culture during our two-week-

long travels through the Yun-nan province. We stayed at sever-al big cities, such as Dali, Lijiang and Shangri-la. There we observed how China treasured its multicul-turalism by encouraging preserva-tion of existing traditions and by awakening the forgotten traditions of different mingzu. Although some mistranslations of restau-rant names, street names and signs were rather funny, it was apparent that these old towns within great cities were re-built with lots of care. For example, architecture of Dali, once destroyed and rebuilt in the 1400s, resembles the architec-ture of the previously-existing city.

The group did not only visit large towns, but also small villag-es. One of the most unforgettable experiences of the trip took place during our one-day stay in a Naxi village. We traveled to the village in trucks, and there we witnessed the funeral of a Naxi woman. Her family invited us to join their danc-ing and singing. Though they were sad, they celebrated the life of the deceased woman by dancing, rath-er than crying over her death. We spent our evening singing songs from different parts of the world around a Naxi fireplace, an open fire in the center of the room.

Other activities that stood out included visiting a farmer’s market, observing the process of making Bai dye clothes, vis-iting Tiger Leaping Gorge, try-ing numbing peppers and eat-ing green tongue ice-cream. As a group of foreigners, we almost always attracted the attention of Chinese people, and many peo-ple took photographs of us. Those we met in China were great hosts who made our stay unforgettable.

Whitman alumna Jen-nifer Crow-Yang ’97, now regional contact

and agreement officer for the United States Agency of Nation-al Development, has spent sev-eral years working on develop-ment projects in Ghana, Africa.

USAID, a federal foreign assistance agency, was devel-oped in 1961 when the Foreign Assistance Act became law. Ac-cording to their website, USAID provides aid to five different ge-ographical areas: Europe and Eurasia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Lat-in America and the Caribbean.

Some of Crow-Yang’s projects have included creat-ing more sustainable agricul-ture and fishing, providing dis-aster relief after floods, help-ing to organize elections, build-ing schools in Nigeria, working with the Ministry of Education to promote girls’ education and teaching about health and san-itation in elementary schools.

Crow-Yang said that she especially liked working with children.

“Kids have energy, enthu-siasm and a can-do attitude. It’s also easy to transfer knowledge once you teach them. If you teach the kids, they will teach the rest of their family members.”

Crow-Yang and her team utilized this knowledge trans-fer while working on their ele-mentary school health and san-itation project. They taught chil-dren about sanitation and then children shared this information with their parents and siblings.

While working in Ghana, Crow-Yang and her team en-

countered several challenges. She said that she and her small office rely on teamwork to com-plete all of their assignments.

“There were some bad roads, and coordinating trav-els wasn’t always easy. In some places, we didn’t have good internet connections. But we were usually able to over-come difficulties by commu-nicating effectively,” she said.

Despite these obsta-cles, Crow-Yang greatly en-joyed her work in Ghana.

“I love being in the field and seeing how I make

a difference,” she said.Crow-Yang believes that

her education at Whitman was very influential in preparing her for her work with USAID.

“Whitman provided me with a strong sense of commu-nity and a desire to give back. A liberal arts education gave me the ability to approach problems creatively and inno-vatively in order to find sus-tainable solutions,” she said.

Her next assignment is in Bangladesh, where she will be working on disas-ter relief and health programs.

Whitman alumna works with USAID in Africaby KARAH KEMMERLYNews Editor

Whitman students in China explore multiculturalism

by IVANA VUKOVICContributing Reporter

Four children stand pumping water at a well in Niger, Africa, where USAID has implemented multiple development projects. Photo contributed by Crow-Yang

Ecuador farm seeks alternative to commercial farmingby RACHEL ALEXANDERContributing Reporter

Rachel Alexander ’13 poses with the farmers of Hacidenda Ilitio, an organic farm in Ecuador. The farm’s owner, Sebastian Kohn ’07, views permaculture and traditional methods of farming as ways to sustainably use the land. Photo contributed by Alexander

Sociology of Star Trek focuses on enlightenment ideals

Star Trek has always been part of my cultural lexicon. I know I wasn’t the only one

on the playground in grade school proclaiming, “Resistance is fu-tile!” From the humble days of its beginning to conventions full of Trekkies, Star Trek has been a pillar of American TV culture.

In order to understand more about why the Star Trek can-non has continued to be popu-lar and respected since its crea-tion in the 1960s, I took a class this summer at Portland State University entitled “The Soci-ology of Star Trek.” I learned about how the Trekkian visions of the future offered a lens through which to examine the culture of its time and about the vision of Star Trek creator Gene Rodden-barry, who highlighted enlight-enment ideals and ‘exploration without conquest.’ Additional-

ly I learned about the obsession and culture surrounding the show.

One of our assignments was to review an event that occurs an-nually in Portland: Trek in the Park. At this event, a full-length original episode is performed by the Atomic Arts theater company. For one month a year, Portlanders gather to show their Trek Pride.

It was clear that Woodlawn Park is the place to be on a Saturday afternoon in July. The grassy amphitheater was filled with people of all ages and walks of Portland life.

Almost every audience mem-ber that I talked to had been in-troduced to Star Trek early in life through watching it with a parent.

Seth, 33, grew up watching the original series with his mom.

“We didn’t go to church, but we watched Star Trek,” he said.

The sentiment that Star Trek demands the same reverence as re-ligion is held by other fans as well.

“I’ve always found science

fiction to be the best genre for so-cial commentary,” said Kevin, 28, who was playing a table-top game similar to Dungeons and Dragons.

For Stephanie, 25, who watched Star Trek with her dad, the series “[is] fun. There are so many bad things happening now that it’s nice to imagine what we could do [in the future].”

While most audience mem-bers did not admit to being “Trek-kies,” everyone had an intimate connection with the series. Peter Dean, who played keyboard/syn-thesizer for the show used to go to Star Trek conventions in college.

“Everyone has a sto-ry like that. Star Trek perme-ates culture,” he said. “Peo-ple like Star Trek because of its universal, utopian themes.”

Jesse Graff, who played Spock in the performance, feels that the characters from Star Trek are as universal as Ham-let or Othello in our culture.

“You can’t take liberties

[with these roles] like you can with Shakespeare,” said Pistey. “You have to take more care than with any other part be-cause of the cult following.”

According to Dana Thomp-son, who played Uhura, the Atomic Arts troupe works very hard to be as accurate and true to the series as it can.

Thompson said that be-ing part of this production “trumps being at the [San Die-go Comic] Con,” which was go-ing on during one of the week-ends of the performance.

“We all get to feel like ce-lebrities for 12 days a year,” said Paul Pistey, who plays Doctor McCoy. All of the cast members get asked to pose for pictures and sign programs at the end of each show. Pistey even received a girl’s phone number after one show.

Graff has experienced both sides of Trekkie fandom. He has the biggest line-up for pictures af-ter a show, but he also has a tattoo

of Leonard Nimoy’s signature.“I acted like a total fangirl,”

said Graff about meeting Ni-moy in Seattle. After getting the inside of his upper arm signed, he immediately got it tattooed.

“I regret nothing,” he said, with a big, very un-vulcan smile.

Trek in the Park and my So-ciology of Star Trek class remove any doubt as to the current pop-ularity of Star Trek. However, it seems to have transcended the popularity of any other TV show. It is a serious realm for study and, for some, a way of life. I think that as we continue our trajec-tory to the future, we can take comfort in the fact that we have an endearing reference point. If the future means 60s dance par-ties, bright colored uniforms, sas-sy Vulcan philosophy, phasers set to stun and responsible ex-ploration of other planets, I know that I, personally, can’t wait.

by MOLLY JOHANSONStaff Reporter

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“Beaver dams change everything.”

So says Mary O’Brien, the head of the Utah Forests Program for the Grand Canyon Trust, a conservation non-profit.

“They create ponds, sub-irri-gate valleys, expand riparian ar-eas, support wildlife species, at-tenuate flood force, make life easier for native fish and increase complexity of streams by creat-ing side channels and meanders and depositing woody debris.”

Mary has worked with the Trust for seven years to ensure that the North American bea-ver population flourishes and ex-pands across southern Utah. Yet beaver do not permeate the land-scape as they once did; in fact, there are relatively few dams in the fertile river ecosystems. The reason? Initially, fur trapping. At present, cows. Fortunate-ly for the semi-aquatic rodents, Mary O’Brien is fighting to en-sure that beaver begin to repopu-late streams across Utah to bring back these invaluable qualities to the ecosystem.

Largely trapped-out in the 16th and 17th centuries, beaver populations declined and nev-er have had the chance to re-turn to a healthy level due to ex-ternal pressures. Often consid-ered “problem rodents” or “wa-

ter-stealers,” the beaver have faced numerous roadblocks to peaceful, natural existence for years. To the surprise of many, cattle grazing has significantly suppressed beaver activity, due to overgrazing, bank trampling and water pollution. Beaver rely on sensitive streamside—also known as riparian—environ-

ments with dense vegetation of willow, aspen and cottonwood plants for food and dam con-struction materials. If the cows diminish the vegetation popula-tion, the beaver cannot support themselves.

“The sprouts were being ar-rested at 2’-4’ height, unable to grow up into the overstory and

reproduce,” O’Brien said, high-lighting the extremely destruc-tive tendencies that cattle have had on the land. As the grazing industry began around the time the beaver were trapped out, this has been an enduring problem with a history of repeated graz-ing pressures.

O’Brien works to levy with

the Forest Service to create ref-erence areas in order to observe the difference between healthy and poor riparian ecosystems, and she advocates for assiduous monitoring of the current beaver populations. Her team of Utah employees and volunteers con-ducts many habitat and dam as-sessments on current and histor-ic populations to continues to un-derstand the needs and patterns of the beaver. This data helps to make informed decisions about where a reintroduction of bea-ver would be practical and suc-cessful.

The push to reintroduce the beaver stems not just from the desire to restore a species to its status before the white man had an effect, but also from the de-sire to re-stabilize the sensitive and valuable riparian complex-es across southern Utah. The North American Beaver argua-bly brings more ecosystem ser-vices to the riparian landscape than any other animal. It aids in the fight to bring back native trout and grasses to stream sys-tems and slowly heals the erosive wounds of the decades of cattle destruction. A healthy dam and all the species benefiting from it is an awe-inspiring site to be-hold. There’s no denying the re-sulting fertility.

“A healthy riparian area packs more biodiversity than any other habitat in the West,” O’Brien said.

Once-termed ‘problem rodent’ undergoing rehabilitationby NATALIE JAMERSONContributing Reporter

Natalie Jamerson ‘13 spent the summer in southern Utah studying beaver habitat restauration. Photo contributed by Jamerson

Tips for Thailand

I wasn’t excited by the prospect of writing about some cliché experience abroad where I sup-

posedly came to a greater under-standing about the world beyond Whitman. I don’t want this to be another my-life-will-forever-be-different-because-of-the-experi-ences-I’ve-had-this-summer spiel. So it won’t be.

Instead, I’m going to provide a more practical list of dos and don’ts as well as some useful tips for travelling in Chiang Mai.

That’s not to say that I didn’t learn an extraordinary amount about myself, and what some of the world outside of Whitman is actually like. One of the most significant changes to my out-look that I brought back with me is the concept of sanuk. Literal-ly, sanuk means “to have a good time,” but for the Thai people, sanuk is a lifestyle. One must strive to find enjoyment in eve-ry aspect of every activity, every-day. But personally, I think a list of travel tips is a pleasanter top-ic than the struggles of living in a developing country. So I’m go-ing to write about that instead.

Tip #1: Don’t eat squid-on-a-stick at the markets. I’m gen-erally a fan of squid-on-a-stick. But the markets in Thailand are not the place to try it. Unless vomit is an appealing flavor . . .

Tip #2: Don’t follow the ad-vice in travel books about dress-ing conservatively. Conserv-ative clothing will only result in heat stroke. Possibly death.

Tip #3: Do drink the water in buckets at street vendors. Lone-ly Planet and Frommer’s Trav-el Guides will tell wary travel-ers that only bottled water and Chang beer are acceptable forms of refreshment. This is not true! All the water presented as drink-ing water has been filtered, and is safe to drink. So quench your thirst whenever the opportuni-ty arises. You’ll need it! It’s hot!

Tip #4: Do monk chat! One of the best ways to experience Bud-dhism is to visit the numerous tem-ples, or wats, that adorn the city. Some temples offer Monk Chat, or an allotted time when monks talk to tourists about their every-day life and religion. It’s an ex-cellent opportunity for the monks to practice English, and an even greater opportunity for tourists to learn the details of Buddhism that aren’t presented in travel guides.

Tip #5: Do bring toilet pa-per on outings. Oftentimes re-strooms do not have toilet pa-per to accompany the squat toilets. Just bring your own.

Tip #6: Do scan the bed for gecko poo before tucking in for the night. Geckos are consid-ered guardian sprits, so travel-ers should feel very safe be-cause geckos are EVERY-WHERE. While I appreciate their protective vibes, I prefer their poo not to be coating my bed.

Tip #7: Do smile ALL the time. Thailand is known as the “Land of Smiles” for good rea-son. Walking down side streets, or sois, will make anyone unfa-miliar with the amiable Thai peo-ple feel like a movie star. It isn’t necessary to speak Thai to com-municate feelings of happiness and appreciation. Just smile!

This summer, four other Whit-man students and I took a crash course in internation-

al development from a small village of subsistence farmers on the fertile plains of Guatemala’s Pacific coast. Alumna Anna Sky ’11 and soph-omores, Shelly Le, Monica Sim-mons, Julia Stone, and I received a grant from Whitman’s Student Trav-el and Development Fund to assess the village of Willywood, Guate-mala, for a potential eco-stoves pro-ject. For two months, we lived and worked side-by-side with families of Qui’che and Kaqchikel Maya de-scent with most of our work cen-tered on their kitchen and diet.

We arrived in Guatemala with plenty of information on the theory of eco-stoves and almost none on the practice. We knew that smoke in the kitchen is a major health concern, especially for families with children; that deforestation for fuel contrib-utes to climate change, which can

effectively ruin a farmer who relies on daily rain for a good harvest and a good harvest to break even; and that more efficient and cleaner stoves require just a few materials and a low level of technical know-how.

Once we had settled into Wil-lywood, however, our situation be-came much murkier: The kitch-ens and yards of the village were strewn with broken and abandoned eco-stoves left by generations of development workers before us. None of them were still function-ing as intended. The families didn’t have the materials, capital or techni-cal knowledge to fix them, and the stoves were just one among dozens of pressing issues that come with life in the third world: Contaminated water, distant and expensive health care and chaotic and overcrowd-ed schools seemed just as impor-tant—if not more so— than stoves.

We selected nine families—nine different kitchens outfitted with nine different stoves—and meas-ured their wood use over a four-day period. We found, primarily, that

it’s erroneous to think that we can separate the stove from the kitch-en. The kitchen is a nexus of vari-ables related to cooking: age, con-dition, model and origin of stove; size, age, moisture content and spe-cies of wood; presence, make and condition of a chimney; food be-ing cooked; and the people pre-sent to eat it. The kitchen con-sumes fuel according to a delicate calculus of these considerations.

What else did we find? The kitchens with stoves given as part of developmental projects, regardless of what condition they were in, al-most always performed better than “unimproved” stoves families had put together themselves. The two stoves we looked at with hoods for ventilation were the two most ef-ficient in our entire study. They were also the only two that didn’t fill their kitchens with noxious clouds of smoke. The families that we worked with consistently un-derestimated their wood use; some thought they were using half of the wood that we measured over four

days. One woman’s estimate was a full four times less than our figure.

Fuel consumption, of course, is only part of a Guatemalan kitch-en. The kitchen is about food—and Guatemalan food, by and large, is about corn. Corn is the supporting pillar of Guatemalan cuisine, and Willywood’s food chain holds the farm and the kitchen fairly close together. In the fields, we weed-ed with the farmers, sweated pro-fusely and discussed the hair-split-ting economics of raising a fami-ly on two small acres of crops. We helped to shuck the corn with the women—stripping the kernels from the husk and depositing them in large pots to be boiled and ground into a paste called masa. Work-ing with the masa, our cooking les-sons began—we clapped out wrin-kled gringo tortillas and spooned chicken and mole into large ba-nana leaves for tamales. The Maya are, quite literally, the people of the corn; it sustains them economical-ly, fills their stomachs and gives a backbone and purpose to their days.

Guatemalan kitchens go beyond stovesby SEAN MCNULTYContributing Reporterby CHARLOTTE GRAHAM

Contributing Reporter

Dean de Benedictis embarks on mountainous musical odyssey through Washington Cascades

In Whitman’s vibrant liberal arts setting, it’s common to find stu-dents who are equally devoted to

creative pursuits and the great out-doors. This August, The Pioneer spoke with a musician who embod-ies this philosophy—Dean de Bene-dictis, son of 10-time Emmy Award nominee Dick DeBenedictis. Dean de Benedictis is known for pio-neering a form of a cappella ambi-ent music that he refers to as Acam-bient. He is head of the electronic music label Fateless Records. His latest project—to record his mu-sic on the summits of the Cascades.

“I got into the outdoors a long time ago, but I only got into actual climbing because of this project,” said de Benedictis. “It’s been two years so far, and it looks like it’s go-ing to go on a third. The Cascades are a serious force to be reckoned with.”

De Benedictis clari-fied the source of his inspira-tion for such an undertaking.

“Actually, it started with a movie I saw, about this guy who, when the World Trade Center was built, he walked it on a tightrope. Man On Wire. It was inspired by that. I felt kind of reduced by that movie, like no artistic accomplish-ment I make will ever have some kind of tactile proof of being . . . death-defined? That guy actual-ly took his artistic accomplish-ment to an extreme physical lev-el. He did something that no one would ever dream of doing, or have the bravery to do. I thought to my-self, if I could take this laptop to the top of a volcano, that has a pan-oramic view, it would be the ulti-mate atmosphere to be inspired by.”

De Benedictis elaborat-ed on his recording method.

“For this particular project, I’m trying to utilize only my voice. It’s a series of looping techniques in the software. It’s almost a cross be-tween choral music and space mu-sic. Many layers, many registers.”

Seeking an art defined by death has not been without frighten-ing moments. De Benedictis relat-

ed his most harrowing experience, on the slopes of Mount Adams.

“I try to climb solo any-where where it’s safe enough. Ad-ams I’ve done by myself, against the advice of many. My only threat, I feel, on Adams, is get-ting lost, which I’ve done already once, and almost lost my life do-ing it. I shouted for help, and those people who helped me said, ‘You shouldn’t be on here by yourself.’ That was the scariest moment.”

Asked if he was carrying a GPS

device or cell phone, de Benedic-tis smiled ruefully. “No, I get pret-ty cocky about my ability to find my way back, and I pay for it often. I did have a compass, but I didn’t get my bearings, so it would have been useless. I went down the wrong slope and ended up on a complete-ly different face of the mountain. I had to find my way back to the base of the mountain, and by then it was nighttime, so I started shout-ing for help. I’ve gotten lost, but not quite that badly, where I was fear-

ing for my life on a mountainside.”When his musical quest is com-

pleted, de Benedictis plans to release his material in a variety of formats.

“It’s gonna be a film. I’m go-ing to start a film company for it, and thus a website for that film company, which will have all of the shorts that I’ve made so far. I’ll probably have the bigger films available for purchase online. The music will all be available, both through my website, and some of it through iTunes and CD Baby.”

by CAITLIN HARDEEA&E Editor

ILLUSTRATION BY VAZQUEZ

Marvin Wenzel was dis-traught. The night be-fore, he had seen a

pretty brunette girl at the 80s dance with a ponytail off to the side, wearing bright pink spandex pants and a tie-dye tank top. He could totally see her sports bra as she danced with that one guy to Wham’s “Take On Me.” It was orange.

Marvin knew two things. First, he knew that her name started with the letters L, A and U. Second, he was convinced that he was madly in love with her, her great looks and awe-some sense of 80s fashion. As he went to the Whitman Col-lege Student Content page and proceeded to type in those three letters into the search que-ry in the lower right hand cor-ner of the screen, he froze in fright. People Search was down.

Massive uproar ensued as students became increasingly unable to look up that cute guy or girl they had ogled the night before. The frustration only continued to grow as RAs were no longer able to identify the new members of their sections. Scramble leaders could no long-er creep on their scramblers’ mug shots, and soon forgot where they lived. People were unable to look up their fellow students’ addresses and then find their houses on Google Maps Street View. Absolute catastrophe.

A certain RA who chose to remain anonymous stated that she would have no freak-ing clue who her residents were.

“I’m absolutely helpless without People Search at my disposal,” she said with exas-peration. “Now I have to actual-ly spend time with them in my residence hall. It’s so much eas-ier when I can type in the bare minimums into the computer.”

People Search is often crea-tively termed “Creeple Search,” “People Stalk,” “LDAP” and “The Magical Place Where the Secrets of my Classmates are Stored and Accessible.”

The service available to Whitman College students re-sumed hours later. All rejoiced. There was cake, and Marvin fi-nally got the details on the mys-tery girl of his dreams. The or-ange sports bra sporter was Lauren Nimby, campus ad-dress Prentiss room 347, home address 487 Whidbey Place, Renton, Wash. 98059, cam-pus phone number (509) 459-8958. Additionally, her People Search mug shot was really cute.

Marvin now has plans to ogle her from across Prentiss Dining Hall and to check her Facebook account with unusu-al frequency without making any real advances. In the event that he makes a chance awkward conversation with her, he’ll even be her Facebook friend.

PEOPLESEARCHFAILURE

It struck first-year Dar-ren Mulrey this Wednes-day morning, while putting

his pants on, that that thing his mom told him to do with the refrigerator in his Anderson dorm room was a great idea.

“It totally just made com-plete sense why Mom had me put my refrigerator in the far left corner,” Mulrey commented. “And then after looking around it was like, whoa, she was to-tally right about everything.”

This is but one of many realizations sweeping Whit-man College first-year resi-dence halls. As student after student takes a second to look around, there is a general con-sensus brewing that each indi-vidual student’s mom somehow managed to be totally right.

“I was at first a little dis-traught at how much my mom was taking charge of my Prent-iss room layout,” first-year Amanda Sanchez explained. “I really wanted the independence of being able to figure out how I wanted my stuff laid out.” But

before Sanchez could change the organization of her dorm room, she found herself perfect-ly content with the way it was.

Polls taken by the organ-ization M.A.D.R.E. (Mothers who Always Decide Really Ex-cellently) show that the aver-age American mother is right a whopping all of the time. Also, further research has proven that college-age students tend more often than not to have mothers that know everything.

“I am outraged,” first-year Cain Goody announced. “If Mom was right about this, what else is she going to be right about? Changing my un-derwear? Turning the mu-sic lower? Eating my vegeta-bles before my dessert? Call-ing her every day? Will all of these miniscule demands end up being true after all?”

It seems to be the case that Mother does indeed know best. All who disagree and make a fuss and start griping and whin-ing and moaning can all go to their rooms until Mom says so.

News Flash: Mom was right, again

This year is just the same as any year. We all get to cam-pus, do a little research and

come to the same age-old realiza-tion. Girls outnumber guys, almost two to one. And to make matters worse for the poor Whitwomen of the world, a lot of these guys have long-distance relationships with their high school sweethearts.

Many will argue over the merits of dating as opposed to

weekend hookups, but those ar-guments are stupid and avoid the excruciating, underlying fact of the matter. The issue at hand is not that men aren’t bold enough to ask women out on a date the good, old-fashioned way. There just aren’t enough men to satis-fy the ladies. Plain and simple.

That’s why I posit that a cultural shift should take rise around campus. It’s quite sim-

ple, and solves everyone’s problems: two girls, one guy.

The beauty of this plan is that it works along the sweep-ing reality of demograph-ics on campus. This way, eve-ry woman can be satisfied, and all the men can feel loved.

In the case that there are guys out there who want two guys, let them have it! We’re all free-love social liberals here, right? This is

why this plan totally works. Some guys will just have to pick up some of the slack of others. I myself wouldn’t be opposed in the slight-est. I’m always looking for ways to help my fellow classmates.

So start today! The new love revolution will sweep the school! Ask that cute girl you like in Calc II out, then ask her best friend out, too! It’s failproof. Love for all, and two for one.

OPINION: Big Love,Whitman College

Comic by Jung Song

ILLUSTRATION BY BAILEY

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