TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2009 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 17
Event of the day Want to become more involved with your student government? Sit in on today’s ASPSU Senate meeting to get more informed about current issues at PSU.
When: 5 p.m. Where: Smith Memorial Student Union, room 229
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INSIDE OPINION
The language of two worlds
Run to the hills Baby boomers might want to stay in the city PAGE 2
NEWS
Adam Wickham/Portland State Vanguard
Applause: Guests at the ASL Comedy Night encouraged the comedics with their ‘applause’ communicated in sign language.
The Rearguard receives support Campus progress grants $2,000 to alternative publications PAGE 5
ARTS
Unplugging history Josh Kornbluth is electric in Ben Franklin: Unplugged PAGE 6 Get excited for: Lucky Madison Another local label continues to prove that Portland knows its rock PAGE 7 Pilgrim’s progress in the modern world Bestselling author on American history and pop culture comes to Portland PAGE 8
SPORTS
Back on track Football gets its first conference win, 23-18 PAGE 9
ASL Comedy Night kicks off campaign Tamara K. Kennedy Vanguard staff
Over 400 people lined up outside of Hoffman Hall last Friday while waiting to attend the American Sign Language Comedy Night. When guests went inside, it was to find a standing-room-only scene. The event kicked off a campaign run by Portland State’s American Sign Language (ASL) Club and ASPSU that aims to relocate ASL studies from the speech and hearing sciences department to the
foreign languages department. American Sign Language is not the same language as English, so the deaf community wants ASL recognized as a language in the same way that Spanish is recognized as a foreign language, said Steven “PV” Jantz, co-president of the ASL Club and second-term member of the ASPSU student senate. Currently, students can receive foreign language credit for ASL but students of the deaf community and their supporters feel that there is a much deeper issue, Jantz said. “As of right now, deaf culture is not viewed as a multicultural group,” he said. “It is also not treated as an actual community. I’m not saying that it is intentional and I don’t be-
lieve it is, but the fact of the matter remains, it is oppression.” During the event, three giant screens showed video of a deaf rock band, a deaf homeless man and photos of members of the deaf community with captions explaining the outstanding contributions each has made. Headlines appeared on the screen such as “Judge screams at a deaf man,” “Police shoot deaf man holding a rake” and “We have a dream.” Two comedians followed the video, one hearing and one deaf, but both signed. The event planners also provided interpreters for both hearing and deaf guests alike to allow for interaction between the guests. Also at the event were a
number of activities that promoted interaction between the hearing and deaf communities. Through the collaboration of ASPSU and the ASL Club, the night was also the kickoff for the ASPSU food cupboard for hungry students. “At the comedy night, we pulled in over 1,000 pounds of food for Tsunami victims in the American islands of Samoa and the free food cupboard for students,” said ASPSU President Jonathon Sanford. At the end of the night, Sanford asked that students and community members contact Portland State dean Marvin Kaiser to request that ASL be recognized as a foreign language at Portland State.
Sustaining progress at PSU 20 across: keynote speaker for Heather Spalding recounts senate experience and goals achieved Erica DeCouteau Vanguard staff
Heather Spalding first became involved with campus sustainability when she joined the Environmental Club as a Portland State undergraduate. Now, just months after her June graduation, she works as the sustainability leadership and outreach coordinator for the Sustainability Leadership Center, with five student employees on her team. “I’m in an interesting position because I get to work with students and staff,” Spalding said. The students who work in the Sustainability Leadership Center each have their own responsibilities and titles, and are working on three different aspects of sustainability: ecology, equity and economy. Second-year graduate student and social sustainability liaison Marisa Ferro is working toward creating a forum for student groups to connect with. “I hope to help bridge the gap between students who may face certain challenges in retention at PSU through this network and supportive web of social sustainability,” Ferro said. Spalding’s work has not been limited only to sustainability. As a
member of the ASPSU student senate last year, she worked on numerous campaigns. Among these were her efforts to relocate ASL studies from the speech and hearing sciences department to the foreign languages department. Spalding’s efforts helped in getting Portland State to recognize ASL as a foreign language. She also worked with other senators to open two recently unveiled campus spots, the Green Space, next to Food for Thought Café, and the family-friendly children’s room in the Millar Library. Another integral part of that position, Spalding says, was providing feedback to PSU administration about new plans and campaigns. Among those, the senate encouraged moving the Disability Resource Center to a first-floor office. To demonstrate the need for this move, the senators, along with the fire department, held a mock fire drill to show the difficulties some have while evacuating in an emergency. “It was a really successful year for the senate,” Spalding said. The senators also met quorum at every assembly, and began holding office hours. Spalding estimates that senators were available approximately 85 percent of the times they had said they would be.
SPALDING continued on page four
2009 PSU Weekend NY Times crossword editor Will Shortz visited Portland State Vinh Tran Vanguard staff
When Will Shortz is the keynote speaker at an event, don’t expect the audience to just sit still. Shortz demonstrated at Saturday’s PSU Weekend that the audience contributes to the entertainment as much as himself and his witty quips. Some raised their hands and some shouted out answers, while others mumbled to themselves in attempt to decipher his puzzles. About 450 Portland State alumni, students and community members packed into the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom for the event on Saturday. For fans of word games, he’s the man behind The New York Times crosswords since 1993 and NPR’s Weekend Edition puzzles since 1987. For others, it was Shortz’s appearances in Wordplay, a 2006 documentary movie about crosswords, and most recently on The Simpsons, where Shortz helps mend Homer’s relationship with Lisa, that made him a fascinating figure. The fact that he’s the only person who holds a degree in the study of puzzles certainly helps the matter.
The puzzle behind the man Shortz graduated from Indiana University in 1974 with a degree in enigmatology, a program he developed himself. His studies included courses on word puzzles, math puzzles and the psychology of puzzles. For his thesis, Shortz said it was on the history of American word puzzles before 1860. “I did not expect to have a career in this,” Shortz said. “I did it because I love puzzles and because when I graduated there weren’t jobs available to me, so I had to form my own career.” His first intended career was in law. Shortz did all the groundwork for a law career, going as far as earning a doctorate from the University of Virginia, but forwent the bar exam and never became a lawyer. Because of his formal law education, Shortz said it helps him understand the world better. “Law school is good training for the mind, it can train you for anything in the world,” Shortz said. “It teaches you to take a complex issue and separate them into smaller parts and deal with each one individually, and that’s how you solve a puzzle.” In 1978, Shortz founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, the largest and oldest crossword competition in the nation. In 2006, the event was featured
SHORTZ continued on page four