VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 34 • FEBRUARY 2, 2021
INTERNATIONAL
OPINION
SCIENCE & TECH
NATO stalls on Ukrainian defense P. 4
Boeing needs to take off P. 11
The IRS: we’re keeping an eye on you P. 12
CONTENTS
COVER DESIGN BY SHANNON STEED COVER PHOTO BY DALE DUDECK
INTERNATIONAL TENSION CONTINUES TO RAMP UP BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
P. 4
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DIE WELL?
P. 9
THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD
P. 5
SPORTS VIKINGS SNAP LOSING STREAK AT NORTHERN ARIZONA, 97-76
OPINION CONSERVATIVES PROTEST LEFT-LEANING NEWS
P. 10
P. 6-7
WHAT IS BOEING STILL DOING AT PSU?
P. 11
ARTS & CULTURE ANOTHER PERSON’S TREASURE?
P. 8
SCIENCE & TECH IRS WILL REQUIRE FACIAL RECOGNITION FOR TAX FILING
P. 12
STAFF EDITORIAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Béla Kurzenhauser
OPINION EDITOR Justin Cory
MANAGING EDITOR Karisa Yuasa
ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings
PHOTO EDITOR Sofie Brandt
COPY CHIEF Mackenzie Streissguth
SPORTS EDITOR Eric Shelby
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan McConnell
CONTRIBUTORS Karina Agbisit Wyatt Dillman Nova Johnson
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Tanner Todd INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Alberto Alonso Pujazon Bogani
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Tanner Todd
PRODUCTION & DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Shannon Steed
ADVISING & ACCOUNTING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood
DESIGNERS Leo Clark Whitney Griffith Mia Levy Astrid Luong Anastasia Pargett
STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Maria Dominguez
TECHNOLOGY & WEBSITE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Kahela Fickle George Olson Kwanmanus Thardomrong
To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com
STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Vacant
MISSION STATEMENT Vanguard ’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.
ABOUT Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Wednesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.
WE’RE HIRING Contributors & News Editors EMAIL RESUME AND COVER LETTER TO EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI Tensions between Russia and other countries continue to increase since Russia’s deployment of nearly 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border last week. On Jan. 26, United States President Joe Biden announced that he would consider personal sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin should Russia invade Ukraine, according to Reuters. Other national leaders made plans to shield Europe from a potential energy supply shock, and stepped up military preparations. Some of these preparations include NATO sending ships and fighter jets to eastern Europe, and the U.S. Department of Defense announced that 8,500 troops were on alert and awaiting orders to deploy into the region. Russia has claimed that this response shows Russia is the actual target, and it has denied planning an invasion of Ukraine. After a 90-minute, secure video call with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Britain and Poland, Biden said there was “total unamity.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would take “all necessary measures…We will always respond to any deterioration of our security environment, including through strengthening our collective defence.” On Jan. 26, Russia held military drills, and deployed further forces and fighter jets to Belarus. According to Reuters, Interfax news agency relayed a Russian defence ministry statement that the deployment of a paratrooper unit to Belarus would be followed by the movement of Su-35 fighter jets to Belarus. Such a buildup of forces could present a new front for a possible attack. Konrad Muzyka, director of the Poland-based Rochan Consulting, said that Ukraine reinforcing that area would require the divergence of forces from areas facing southwest Russia, thinning out the troops there. “They don’t have enough manpower so they’ll have to make choices,” Muzyka said. Further north, Russian warships in the Barents Sea practiced protecting a major shipping lane in the Arctic, as part of sweeping naval exercises announced by Moscow last week. Going back south, Russian artillery forces were set to practice firing as part of a combat readiness inspection of the Southern Military District in
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INTERNATIONAL
NATO SECRETARY GENERAL JENS STOLTENBERG WITH OTHER WORLD LEADERS AT A JAN. 24 MEETING. COURTESY OF NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION the southern Rostov region which borders Ukraine. The Kremlin’s point man on Ukraine was set to sit down with officials from France, Germany and Ukraine to discuss the Russian military buildup near Ukraine. Last week, God Save the Queen was trending on Twitter, and free drinks were offered to British nationals at a winery in Ukraine, out of gratitude for the arrival of British military aid. However, this solidarity has not been experienced with one of Ukraine’s bigger and closer allies, Germany. Tensions between Germany and Ukraine have been building up in light of the possibility of a Russian invasion. Berlin has pushed for the opening of a new pipeline for Russian gas—circumventing Ukraine’s transit fees. Berlin has also refused to sell Ukraine weapons. Germany’s navy chief, Kay-Achim Schoenbach, retired last week after saying Putin deserved respect—and attempting to win back Crimea was a lost cause. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said Germany’s actions were encouraging Putin to attack. “So the question arises: on whose side is the German government today?” said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. “On the side of freedom, which means—Ukraine? Or on the side of the aggressor?” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who took over for Angela Merkel last year after she served for 16 years, will be navigating this as his first big foreign policy crisis, which has been causing division within his coalition. This is further complicated because Germany relies on Russia for half of its natural gas. On Jan. 8, the UK warned big businesses to be wary, and increased its defenses against the possibility of Russian cyber attacks. Russian officials claim Russophobia is to blame, after the expansion of the NATO alliance following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 which caused chaos in Iraq and Syria. “Over several years, we have observed a pattern of malicious Russian behaviour in cyberspace,” said Paul Chichester, the British National Cyber Security Centre director of operations. Ukraine claimed Moscow was behind a cyberattack on the country earlier this month in which a message warned Ukranians to “be afraid and expect the worst.”
TENSION CONTINUES TO RAMP UP BETWEEN RUSSIA AND UKRAINE WESTERN COUNTRIES SHOW SUPPORT TO UKRAINE BUT STILL DIVIDED ON RESPONSE PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
Jan. 23-29
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1
1
3
1
January 27
MUMBAI, INDIA / TORONTO, CANADA
Indian police are cracking down on undocumented immigration after a tragedy took the lives of four people attempting to enter the United States from Canada, according to Reuters. The family of four were identified as 39-year-old Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel, 37-year-old Vaishaliben Jagdishkumar Patel, 11-year-old Vihangi Jagdishkumar Patel and 3-year-old Dharmik Jagdishkumar Patel. The family were found frozen to death near the U.S.-Canada border last week. India’s High Commission in Ottawa, Canada released a statement highlighting the need “to ensure that migration and mobility are made safe and legal and that such tragedies do not recur.” Six people were detained in India for running a travel and tourism agency in the state of Gujarat. Indian police official A.K. Jhala said the force was attempting to find the human traffickers who managed to send this family and others abroad via illegal channels. On Jan. 20, the U.S. charged a Florida man, Steve Shand, with human trafficking from Canada, the day after the Indian family was found. U.S. Border Patrol agents came across another group of five Indian people walking on foot, carrying a backpack belonging to the family of four who had become separated from
the group. They said they were expecting to be picked up by someone, and estimated to have been walking for 11 hours. The temperature had been driven down by winds to minus 31 F°. 2
January 28
DRESDEN, GERMANY
On Friday, six German men appeared in court in Dresden, accused of being involved in a 2019 jewel heist at a museum considered to house one of Europe’s greatest art collections, according to Reuters. Under German privacy laws, the defendants names were not disclosed. They were charged with aggravated gang theft and serious arson. Thomas Ziegler, a spokesman for the Dresden district court said, “The defendants allegedly prepared for the crime meticulously.” The prosecutors believe the six men had checked out the crime scene beforehand, and sawed through a window grating to have quick entry and exit when it came time for the heist. Dresden’s Grünes Gewölbe Museum (known as The Green Vault) estimates the total value of the pieces stolen is estimated to be $125.79 million (€113 million) suspected to have been stolen during the early hours of Nov. 25, 2019. Police offered a $556,600 (€500,000) reward for anyone ca-
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
pable of providing information leading to the jewels’ whereabouts. Anja Priwe, a spokesperson for the Dresden State Art Collections Museum, said “We hope that the renewed attention will lead to more insights…and more details will be revealed that will help locate the stolen jewels.” 3
Ongoing
LIMA, PERU
Following the tsunami caused by the eruption in Tonga, the high strength waves wreaked havoc on the coast of Peru, after an oil spill of a Spanish ship into the Pacific Ocean, as reported by Reuters. The oil spill has resulted in dead seals and birds among other animals washing up upon the Peruvian shore. On Jan. 20, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo declared an environmental emergency following struggles to contain the spill. “We are at a critical moment in environmental matters,” said Castillo. “This is the most worrying ecological disaster on the Peruvian coast in recent times.” Spanish Energy firm Repsol, which owns La Pampilla refinery and the ship where the spill took place, refused to take accountability for the tragedy, saying on Jan. 26 that it ruled out the offshore oil spill in Peru. An unnamed spokeswoman for
La Pampilla said the firm was not responsible for the spill, and instead attempted to place blame on the Peruvian Navy for mishandling the situation. Peru’s Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) issued a statement in which they claimed the area affected included 1.7 million square meters of land and 1.2 square meters of sea. It is estimated the size of the oil spill was 11,000 Repsol barrels—nearly 500,000 gallons of crude oil—poured into the Pacific Ocean and reached 21 Peruvian beaches. Four Repsol executives, including Repsol’s Peru chief Jaime Fernández-Cuesta, have been barred from leaving the country by a Peruvian judge while prosecutors investigate the cause of the spill. Prosecutor Tamara Gonzales said the executives failed to comply with their “functional responsibilities” and were responsible for the contamination of the coastline. OEFA said that Repsol was not in compliance with beginning the identification of damaged areas before the deadline, and as a result, may impose a fine of up to $4.8 million. “I used to collect crustaceans, but now, when I walk to the shore, they are dead,” Peruvian Walter de la Cruz told Reuters. “Fishermen used to go sell the seafood that we collect. But now everything smells like death.”
INTERNATIONAL
5
VIKINGS SNAP LOSING STREAK AT NORTHERN ARIZONA, 97-76 CAMARENA AND MACINTOSH BREAK SCHOOL RECORDS IN MILE
ERIC SHELBY
MEN’S BASKETBALL
FROM TOP: JORDAN MACINTOSH RUNNING MILE WITH COMPETITORS. KATIE CAMARENA AFTER RUNNING MILE. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP: KHALID THOMAS DUNKING ON SOUTHERN UTAH. ALAYA FITZGERALD ON THE COURT. ERIC SHELBY/PSU VANGUARD
6
SPORTS
The Vikings could not get past the Idaho Vandals at the Pavilion, losing in another close game 84-79. 15 points and five steals came from Damion Squire, who also shot seven free throws. James Jean-Marie shot 7-11 with 14 points, and led the team with eight rebounds. Paris Dawson and Michael Carter III both scored 13 points with Carter going a perfect 7-7 on free throws with six turnovers. Khalid Thomas gave the Vikings 10 points and five rebounds—and two steals. In this close game, the Vikings and Vandals went through four ties and two lead changes throughout the whole game. The Vikings’ last home game was a heartbreaker in their fourgame homestand with an overtime loss to the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. There were 14 lead changes and six ties this game—along with three technical fouls—and a loss of Squire made it difficult for the Vikings to comeback and attempt to win. The Viks were down by 14 points with roughly nine minutes left of regulation in what looked like no hope. A 22-6 run by the Vikings—and two consecutive three-pointers by Ian Burke lit up the crowd—and it was back to being a game. Two back-toback three-pointers from Southern Utah kept them in the game in the final seconds of regulation. The Viks were going to overtime. The Viks only scored five points in the five-minute overtime while the Thunderbirds scored eight to stop the Vikings comeback—winning 85-82. Thomas put up 18 points shooting 7-20 with five rebounds and three steals. Dawson, in his most minutes played, had a season high 5 rebounds and 14 points. Carter and Ezekiel Alley both put up 13 points on the Thunderbirds, and both had six rebounds. A season-high 25 points and eight rebounds for Thomas led to a stunning 97-76 win over Northern Arizona University (NAU). The Vikings held the Lumberjacks to 30 points in the second half while the Viks scored 52 in the first half and 45 in the second half. Speaking of season highs, Burke put up his season high of 21 points on the Lumberjacks, along with three three-pointers made and five assists. Trey Wood—in just 13 minutes of playing time—put up 10 points for the Viks, shooting 4-4 and a perfect 2-2 on threepointers. 97 is the third-highest points the Vikings had made this season after Evergreen (100-44) and George Fox (104-58), and the highest the Viks have scored on another D-I school.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Southern Utah sure knows how to give out heartbreaks. The Viks lost 64-63 to the Thunderbirds. Savannah Dhaliwal
shot 9-12 and 3-4 on three-pointers leading the team with her season-high 21 points. 14 points came from Jada Lewis with three three-pointers made. Esmeralda Morales had two three-pointers made against Southern Utah. Alaya Fitzgerald led the team with six rebounds. Rhema Ogele wasn’t far behind with five. Southern Utah had a higher field goal percentage with .714% compared to the Vikings .429%. A Southern Utah player was fouled with less than a second in the game—missing the first free throw—but getting the second. The Viks couldn’t get the ball in after the free throw, and the Thunderbirds caught them by one. The game was a season-high for Fizgerald with 23 points against Northern Arizona, shooting 9-12 with three three-pointers made and three steals. Dhaliwal stays consistent with 16 points and four rebounds. Reilly Kelty had four rebounds and three blocks. Morales put up 11 points with four steals and five assists. NAU unfortunately outscored the Viks 27-9 in the last quarter to give them a comeback win after keeping in close. The Viks lost 79-68 in their first game back at the Park Blocks.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
The Vikings fell short to the hometown rivals, University of Portland, 4-3 in their home-opener. Capu Sanoner and Nika Beukers won 6-3 in doubles, along with Emily Rees and Majo Hernandez. In singles, Sanoner fell to Zelic (7-5, 7-6). Jacinta Milenkoski fell (7-6, 6-4) to Pethybridge. The sophomore, Rees, won (6-4, 6-3) in singles. Beukers also had herself a singles win (7-5, 6-4). Hernanders fell short to Elenova (6-2, 6-4), and Makoto Ohara fell to Dimitrijevic in three (6-2, 6-4, 6-4). The Vikings finished the weekend with a strong win over Linfield 7-0. Sanoner and Beukers won 6-1 in doubles. Ress and Hernandez left no mercy, taking the doubles match 6-0. Milenkoski and Maddie Egan won 6-2 in the last doubles match. In singles, Egan won (7-5, 6-1). Milenkoski won (62, 6-2). Ress won 6-1 in both sets. Beukers won 6-0 in both sets. Ohara won (6-3, 7-5) over Linfield and Hernandez won (6-4, 6-1) to close out the shutout win. The next game the Vikings head to Ramona, California to play San Diego Christian College.
TRACK AND FIELD
The Viks traveled across the Willamette to race in the University of Portland Indoor Two, hosted by the Portland Pilots. On this small, 240-meter track, the Vikings ran with local schools like Multnomah and Lewis and Clark.
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
FINAL RESULTS WOMEN'S 3,000M RESULTS
WOMEN’S MILE RESULTS
1. Maya Irving, 10:12.91 2. Hunter Storm, 10:16.13 3. Abi Swain, 10:18.95 4. Tatum Miller, 10:21.82 5. Jalen Marcil, 10:27.87 9. Lottie Bromham, 10:52.88 10. Sophia Hackett, 11:08.91 12. Emma Owen, 11:11.48 13. Abby Donde, 11:11.53 16. Campbell Faust, 11:25.08 27. Madison Tafoya, 12:08.58 32. Dyllan Newville, 13:02.85
2. Katie Camarena, 4:34.26 MEN’S 200M RESULTS 14. Harley Montgomery, 23.13 16. Jordan Gloden, 23.57 MEN’S 400M RESULTS 10. Harley Montgomery, 51.40 MEN’S 800M RESULTS
MEN’S 60M RESULTS
17. Chase Lovercheck, 1:54.99
2. Jordan Gloden, 7.10. (Finals): 6. Jordan Gloden, 7.31
MEN’S MILE RESULTS
MEN’S 400M RESULTS
18. Jordan MacIntosh, 4:04.28 MEN'S 5,000M RESULTS
4. Harley Montgomery, 51.96 6. Jordan Gloden, 52.88
11. Keynan Abdi, 14:23.35
MEN’S 800M RESULTS
MEN’S 60H RESULTS
4. Zach Salcido, 1:59.29 10. Rashid Muse, 2:05.09 15. Matt Moller, 2:12.33.
(Prelims): 5. Jordan Gloden, 8.39 (Finals): 6. Jordan Gloden, 8.42
MEN'S 3,000M RESULTS 1. Cam McChesney, 8:31.19 2. Luke Ramirez, 8:31.47 3. Drew Seidel, 8:34.23 5. Dom Morganti, 8:44.00 7. Zach Grams, 8:46.60 10. Kelly Shedd, 8:57.52 13. Ian Vickstrom, 9:08.22 18. Andy Solano, 9:24.51 21. Jake Schulte, 9:40.08 22. Erik Solano, 9:41.89 MEN’S 4X400M RELAY RESULTS 2. Portland State (Montgomery, Muse, Salcido, Moller), 3:34.09 MEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS Jordan Gloden, 22-03.00 (6.78m)
MEN’S LONG JUMP RESULTS 16. Jordan Gloden, 20-07.25 (6.28m) UW INVITATIONAL Jordan MacIntosh and Katie Camarena already broke school records in the 3k at the University of Washington Indoor two weeks ago, but they are not yet done as the team traveled back to the University of Washington for the Invitational last weekend. MacIntosh broke the school record in the men’s mile with a time of 4:04.28. Camarena also broke a school record with a 4:34.26 mile run.
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
PLAYER PROFILE ALAYA FIZGERALD Rocking #1 on the court, Fitzgerald put up her season-high 23 points on the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks last week, shooting 9-12 with three three-pointers and 2-3 on the free throw line. The freshman out of Gilbert, Arizona put up 15 points of the 23 in the first half, and also had a season-high with eight assists and three steals. She has a .712 free throw percentage, currently ranked 15th in the Big Sky, and averages 10.4 points per game.
SPORTS
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ANOTHER PERSON’S TREASURE? FIVE ARTISTS DISPLAY WORK CREATED FROM MUNICIPAL WASTE KARINA AGBISIT For the past five months, five Portlandarea artists have sorted through mountains of discarded objects at the Metro Central Transfer Station (aka the “dump”), hand-selecting items to turn into the art on view at the 2021 GLEAN exhibition. Formed in 2010, the mission of the annual GLEAN juried art program is to use art to make people think about their consumption and waste habits. This year’s artists include two people from the Portland State University community: Caryn Aasness and Jessica (Tyner) Mehta. Aasness is a Master of Fine Art candidate in Portland State University’s Art and Social Practice program. They also hold a Bachelor of Art in Fiber from California State University, Long Beach. Aasness said that the resident community of PSU artists had a decisive impact on their work. “[It] is so unique and everyone involved, from the instructors to my fellow students, have worked so hard to build a community even when we are mostly remote,” Aasness said. “Having the combined power of all these amazing artists’ brains help me solve problems and figure out my practice has been a really incredible experience.” Textiles are a common feature in both of their artworks. At the exhibition’s opening reception, Aasness described a memorable moment at the dump when workers showed them a chest filled with baby christening gowns, hand knit items and other fabric-based family heirlooms. Aasness’ art for GLEAN was divided into a series of photographs of arranged fabrics hung alongside a series of white plates turned into commemorations of the dump. The “Patterns of the Dump” plates depict colorful patterns found on discarded fabrics while the piece “Great Moments in Dump History” shows unusual sights from the artist’s time gleaning meaning from the garbage—including an ominous sign with the words Demons Beyond scribbled onto it. In their artist statement, Aasness elaborates on some of the inspiration driving their art. “This body of work is my own campy cartoon embodiment of the anxiety I feel about owning and making objects when we live increasingly close to our own vast piles of waste,” they stated. Mehta is another GLEAN artist-in-residence who hails from the PSU arts community. She holds a Bachelor of Art in English Literature and Master of Science in Writing with a specialization in Book Publishing from PSU. A multi-award-winning Aniyunwiya, queer, interdisciplinary author and artist, she also has a Ph.D in English from the University of Exeter, England. Her installation piece “Beguiled” is currently on display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at PSU as part of the Black Lives Matter
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ARTS & CULTURE
Artist Grant Exhibition. The installation led her to reflect on the journey she has been on since her time at PSU. “Portland will always be home,” Mehta said. “PSU is where I grew up really…[the school] is foundational in probably every facet of myself, personally, professionally, creatively.” “Strong FoundNations,” Mehta’s artistic contribution to this year’s GLEAN showing, confronted the viewer with the history of Indigenous children being relocated to residential boarding schools in the United States and Canada. The series started as chunks of discarded building materials—concrete, bricks and rebar— which Mehta lightly chiseled. After finding a vintage typewriter at the dump, she had it repaired, and typed copies of her poem “FoundNations” on onion paper, also gleaned from the dump. The poems were pasted onto the building materials—and under Mehta’s guidance—her children applied their handprints in red paint onto the pieces. This series is a companion installation to “The Red C[h]airn Project,” which Mehta completed during her residency at Ucross Art Gallery in Clearmont, Wyoming. At the exhibition’s opening, she explained that her father is a survivor of such boarding schools, and emphasized the immense amount of work that still needs to be done in Canada and the U.S. to investigate the deaths of children forced into residential boarding programs. In her artist statement, she explained her views on exposing this ignored reality. “As an Indigenous artist, I consider it my responsibility to use my platforms and work as a means for amplifying Native voices, realities and experiences,” Mehta stated. “I create opportunities for sparking discourse and highlighting the authenticities and histories prevalent to NDN [Indian] country.” As part of her activism-oriented work, Mehta will donate 60% of all sales to The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. The 2021 GLEAN exhibition also includes art from Colin Kippen, Malia Jensen and Willie Little. Kippen is a Portland-area adjunct professor of sculpture, design and drawing at Portland Community College and Clark College in Vancouver, WA. His pieces for GLEAN consist of paper-pulp castings of everyday items which were spray painted with many colors, revealing the texture of the original item. Kippen described his creative process in his artist statement. “These surfaces may begin as plain brown castings of couch fabric or corrugated roofing, but they end up like those false-color topographic photos depicting the surface of Mars,” he
stated. “Things intimate, banal, and familiar translate into something skin-like, mysterious, and extra-terrestrial.” Jensen is a Portland-based artist known primarily for her work in sculpture and video. Her pieces for GLEAN include several sculptures and videos, including a reconstruction of a cat sculpture she first made as a child, and a video of a Le Creuset pan found at the dump she left in her yard for many animals to interact with. She compared her experience with GLEAN to a kind of personal archeology. “Examining things we’d like to bury has been the theme of this residency for me,” Jensen stated. “Contemplating the near misses, abject failures, broken histories and myriad discarded things with curiosity and a willingness to make something else has been a reminder that we’re always at the beginning of something new.” Little said that much of his art stems from his own experiences growing up as a Black man in the rural south. Many of his past works have
focused on racism, but this series, “Misfit Toys...Gender Defining Roles from Childhood,” examined ideas of gender conformity and the pressures he faced as a child to fit ideas of masculinity imposed on him by his family and society. The series presents gendered toys in a different light than their designers intended. The toys for boys are dressed up with sequins and glitter, while the toys for girls are made to look worn and tattered—some of them adorned with cockleburs, symbolizing the messages boys receive to steer clear of such items. In his artist statement, Little described the traditionally male toys as being “joyfully reclaimed, flamboyantly gay in satirical irony.” Little’s work, along with that of the other four artists featured in GLEAN’s 2021 residency, can be viewed at GLEAN’s gallery space, which will be presenting until Feb. 25, 2022. JESSICA (TYNER) MEHTA’S “STRONG FOUNDNATIONS.” KARINA AGBISIT/PSU VANGUARD
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
REHEARSING A SCENE FROM QUALITY OF DEATH FEATURING BEV (MARGIE BOULE) AND CHARLIE (PAUL RODER). DALE DUDECK/THINKING PEOPLE’S THEATER
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DIE WELL?
QUALITY OF DEATH EXPLORES THE INTERSECTION OF MEDICINE, PERSONAL CHOICE AND DYING THROUGH THEATER TANNER TODD Ruth Jenkins would like you to think about death. Specifically, the Portland-based playwright and actor wants her audience to consider end-of-life care, along with the complex web of emotions, decisions and processes that go along with it. Jenkins’ new play, Quality of Death, explores the intersection of medicine and the process of dying in the modern world, while inviting audiences to empathize with characters attempting to die on their own terms. The performance—which features an ensemble cast of characters going through the end-of-life process—takes a healthy dose of reality from Jenkins’ experience as a career speechlanguage pathologist. “As I was working my job, which I’ve been doing for twenty-five years, there would be times that people would say things or I’d have particular experiences,” Jenkins said. “I would write them down.” “I kept a little notebook…thinking that someday I would do this,” she said of her research process for the play. Many of the individual stories featured in the play are inspired or drawn from her experiences with her patients, with narratives reflecting different aspects of the human experience, ranging from strangely funny to bittersweet. Some, such as the story of an elderly man who asked if his medically challenged wife was having swallowing problems due to engaging in too much fellatio, are almost comically absurd. Others, such as Jenkins’ experience with a patient who died alone in an ambulance because his family refused to commit him to a care facility, are more tragic. Wherever they fall on the spectrum of human emotion, each story gives the script some narrative edge—an edge that can only come with the contribution of real-life experience. Jenkins’ experience with navigating the complexities of endof-life care aren’t limited to her professional life. Some of the impetus for writing and creating Quality of Death comes from Jenkins’ experience with the end-of-life medical decisions associated with her elderly mother’s death. “You’ll see a lot of stuff in this play, sort of related to that,” Jenkins said of her mother’s death. “In the last day or two of her life, I was going to go pick her up from the hospital to take her
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
to a skilled nursing facility, but when I got there the nurse said, ‘I don’t think she’s going to be going anywhere soon.’” Jenkins’ elderly mother was suffering from severe lung failure due to a history of smoking and poor respiratory health, creating a medical situation that could only be solved with an invasive intubation procedure. When Jenkins asked if that was what she wanted—to be opened up for a breathing tube—her mother responded, “Oh, hell no.” Jenkins’ mother requested to simply be put on a morphine drip to manage the pain as her body’s systems failed. She passed away peacefully and on her own terms, less than a day later. Jenkins says that, in Oregon, terminal patients with a slightly longer life expectancy than her mother are lucky to have access to two main options: medication assisted dying, or Voluntarily Stopping Eating and SHERRY (RUTH JENKINS) AND DOUG (THOMAS MAGEE) TALKING THROUGH Drinking (VSED) with the assistance A SCENE IN QUALITY OF DEATH. DALE DUDECK/THINKING PEOPLE’S THEATER of physicians to manage pain. In this respect, Oregon remains a rare exception. cate people…and that’s what I like to do.” VSED remains the sole option for most people in the country, Her previous productions, like Quality of Death, revolved a fact that Jenkins would like to see changed. around social issue-related themes, with one play about men“The state of Oregon is better than most,” she said. “But I tal health in teenagers and another about gun violence. would really like to see our national government [and] more With Quality of Death, she attempts to expose audiences to of these other states’ governments, to adopt what Oregon has.” the experiences of end-of-life care, with the hope that they will Jenkins believes that theater is an outstanding tool to gain an understanding not just of the realities for people on the raise awareness and build empathy for people impacted receiving end of policy, but also for people who may be underby the policies surrounding end-of-life care. In large part, going similar experiences in their own lives. this educational power is precisely what makes it one of Jenkins hoped that audiences would come away with the abilher favorite mediums. ity to recognize when people have had enough. “I…believe that theater is such a powerful educational tool,” “And the ability to accept that [decision], as family members,” Jenkins said. “We can use it in so many different ways to edu- Jenkins said. “That’s probably the primary thing.”
ARTS & CULTURE
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SATIRE: CONSERVATIVES PROTEST LEFT-LEANING NEWS CONTENT SHOULD BE TAILORED TO PEOPLE WHO CAN READ
WYATT DILLMAN Fake news is responsible for our country’s increasing loss of reality, and is a growing issue of significance due to our society’s increasing levels of inequality and corruption. Thanks to fake news, there are numerous people who believe in ridiculous myths; vaccines cause autism, climate change is a hoax or that milk is actually good for you. There is less science suggesting milk is good for your bones than bad for your boners—as legitimate research confirms the fat in dairy and meat results in smaller achievable erections. But they say size doesn’t matter—or is that fake news as well? Certainly, this is a difficult problem to solve, especially when 90% of the media is controlled by just six parent companies which includes the ownership of all print media, social media, internet, television and even movie production. It seems porn is the only media you can trust. Additionally, the lack of government regulation contributes to the problem, as it allows plutocrats to easily endorse news publications that spread lies and pseudoscience, structured to keep them in power regardless of the ramifications. The falsities these companies publicize are strong enough to manipulate even the most woke media platforms, such as the Joe Rogan Podcast, that make sure millennials remain unvaccinated and treat their COVID-19 symptoms with Alpha Brain—a supplement that apparently makes you smarter, but not smart enough to avoid Rogan for medical advice. As a matter of fact, these companies’ control over the media has been so powerful that they’ve convinced an entire country that dairy should be consumed with every meal when, in fact, it’s completely unnecessary and bad for you. The ramification to this unrivaled lie is millions of people dying from heart disease. Bourgeoisie sounds like a type of cheese, doesn’t it? If killing us wasn’t enough, plutocrats have also used their media dominance to popularize their political ideals so that we remain obedient impoverished citizens—and they get all our money. You know that word socialism, right? When the government strips you of your hard-earned cash? Wrong! Socialism is simply the equal distribution of ownership throughout a business by the workers, thus allowing employees to have more say in their work, life and income, similar to unionization. If this economic theory were described authentically, it would likely be interpreted less negatively by people in the United States. Of course, there are obvious consequences to socialism—like happiness and having to drive a Volvo—but the point is that the word has been deliberately misconstrued. Nordic countries that drive Volvos are actually free-market economies, and choose to drive those ugly cars. The most surprising part of fake news is the voices who seem to speak the loudest against it. The conservative prodigy Ben Shapiro loves to criticize the bias in news media, all while working for a biased news channel himself. Shapiro, along with former President Donald Trump and other Republicans, seems to have coined the phrase fake news because of the amount of animosity they’ve openly displayed towards it. It’s as if the Republican Party is the younger sibling who tattle-tales to Mom first so that they don’t get in trouble. It’s not that liberal stations and politicians don’t manipulate their audience too, but the Republican Party is notorious for spreading far more propaganda. Their leaders have the audacity of bringing to light issues such as Russian President Vladimir Putin complaining of election fraud. You can thank Trump for trying to end political cynicism by being an honest piece of shit. Nevertheless, the United States’ distrust in journalism and government continues to increase as time goes on. The solution to this problem starts with us— increasing our own informational literacy and being skeptical of everything we hear. Ask questions.
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OPINION
WHITNEY GRIFFITH
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
WHAT IS BOEING STILL DOING AT PSU? PORTLAND STATE DOESN’T EMBODY ITS STATED VALUES
LEO CLARK
JUSTIN CORY Back in 2016, the Associated Students of Portland State (ASPSU) passed a resolution calling on PSU to divest from any institutions that profit from human rights violations against Palestinians. In 2021, ASPSU passed a new resolution calling on the PSU Administration to cut ties with Boeing specifically. Boeing manufactures much more than the commercial jets we’ve all come to know them for. According to a 2019 report by USA Today, Boeing made a whopping $26.9 billion in arms sales in 2017—making it the second largest defense contractor in the world. The company’s combat planes, helicopters, bombs, missiles and drones are utilized by the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia and a whole host of other countries that then use them to commit human rights violations. Through this extremely lucrative branch of its business dealings, Boeing is a leading participant in what has been termed the militaryfossil fuel-industrial complex. Anti-war, environmental and human rights activists have decried this systematic relationship between the military establishments of various governments, the weapons manufacturing industry and the dire consequences these industries have on the world’s ecosystems. These productions are financially and logistically interdependent with the fossil fuel industry to ensure ongoing global dependence on oil—and the political dominance of fellow monopolistic corporations. Science Daily published research from Durham University and Lancaster University that showed the U.S. military as the largest climate polluter in history, consuming more hydrocarbons and thus emitting more CO2e (carbon-dioxide equivalent) than most
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
countries combined. As if that were not enough, the raw materials required for Boeing’s products—such as aluminum, titanium, silicon, copper and cobalt—all often come from conflict zones, or regions of the world like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where warring factions use the sale of these precious resources to fund genocide, slavery and other human rights abuses. That is not to mention how resource extraction leads to extreme environmental degradation in many of the regions where these materials originate. Boeing directly profits from and benefits from global conflict. It is a simple capitalist equation of supply and demand. The people running the company lobby within the U.S. government in the interests of its business and in conjunction with an everexpanding Pentagon budget. In fact, according to The New York Times, a $768 billion defense spending budget was recently approved by Congress and the Biden administration. War is a big business and that is one thing which our highly dysfunctional government can reach bipartisan consensus on. That Boeing’s products are sold to authoritarian regimes which murder and maim civilians in the Philippines, Yemen, Somalia, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and beyond is not in dispute. One only has to look at the international arms deals it conducts. For one example, the Boeing subsidiary-made ScanEagle drone, has been sold to the authoritarian governments of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia who have in turn used them to surveil and quell the dissent of activists and revolutionaries. This brings us to Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), a
Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice and equality in the face of apartheid and colonial violence from the state of Israel. According to its own public relations, Boeing has supported Israeli military aggression against Palestinians since 1948. It is not an overreach to say that Boeing directly profits from the murder and violence visited upon the Palestinian people. Al-Jazeera reported that, in the May 2021 assault on Gaza, 260 Palestinians were killed with tens of thousands more displaced from their homes. Boeing had sold $735 million in weaponry to Israel earlier that year. According to the Portland State University mission statement, our university’s values are to “promote access, inclusion and equity as pillars of excellence. We commit to curiosity, collaboration, stewardship and sustainability. We strive for excellence and innovation that solves problems. We believe everyone should be treated with integrity and respect.” In that case, Portland State University has a social responsibility to immediately end its relationship with a company explicitly profiting from war, genocide, ethnic cleansing, ecological devastation and the all-around defiling of human rights. As of now, PSU has a Supply and Logistics Management program with a “special recruiting and hiring relationship with Boeing.” Boeing is also a major contributor to the PSU Foundation. Does Portland State University really believe and embody its own stated values of inclusion, stewardship, sustainability and treating everyone with integrity and respect? If so, then what is Boeing still doing at PSU?
OPINION
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IRS WILL REQUIRE FACIAL RECOGNITION FOR TAX FILING
NEW POLICY INKED WITH PROBLEMATIC TECH COMPANY
ASTRID LUONG
RYAN MCCONNELL I t was announced on J an. 28 that the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will soon require taxpayers to use facial recognition software to verify their identity. This comes as part of a partnership between the IRS and ID.me—a facial recognition company which has existed for around a decade—in hopes to cut down on the amount of fraudulent claims for state and federal benefits that surged during the pandemic. Both the IRS and ID.me have since been elaborating on what this means for citizens, and how we will be affected this tax season and future seasons to come. ID.me had first claimed they do not use a powerful facial recognition technology known as a one-to-many model, wherein one photo is matched to a large database versus a person matching their own photo. However, as first identified by CyberScoop, this was simply not true.
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SCIENCE & TECH
The dangers of facial recognition technology have been covered before, with the major concern that facial recognition is more likely to misidentify people of color. This means that people of color are more likely to get their benefits put on hold because ID.me failed to identify them correctly which can spell huge troubles for low-income families. Currently, the verification process on IRS.gov requires taking a picture of photo identification and then a selfie with a smartphone or computer so both images can be compared. So far, this process has only been optional for those filing taxes directly on the IRS website. However, those that wish to use certain tools—such as requesting an online tax transcript or viewing information about tax payments or economic impact payments— must sign up with ID.me, and then use the facial recognition verification in order to have access to those tools.
Since the announcement and recent discovery of ID.me's practices, the Department of the Treasury is reconsidering its reliance on the company’s facial recognition software, according to Bloomberg. The department stated it is looking for alternatives, but did not specify why. Only the company is being reconsidered, not the act of facial recognition verification itself. While a company that uses a one-toone comparison model is likely to be more accurate, this does not dispel the same issues that come from using facial recognition technology at all. All facial recognition models— whether comparing two images (one-to-one) or comparing through a database (one-tomany)—are consistently less accurate among individuals with darker skin tones. While the IRS is requiring this form of verification to access tools, those that already have an account through the IRS can continue
to use the old system this tax season. An important question remains: is there an alternative to filing a tax return and paying taxes without having to go through a facial recognition process? The answer is yes, but it’s not the convenient option. Individuals who don’t wish to go through the ID.me account setup process must file through the traditional pen and paper method, along with sending a check directly to the government. It’s not the answer many want—and it can either be extremely confusing for those who have filed on paper for the first time, or extremely expensive for those who seek tax help via H&R Block or other tax providers. But, unfortunately, those are the only options. It is unclear how this requirement may affect other online services such as TurboTax, but chances are it will soon require an ID.me account in order to file taxes.
PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 2, 2022 • psuvanguard.com
