Portland State Vanguard vol. 71 issue 31

PORTLAND STATE VANGUARD VOLUME 71 • ISSUE 31 • MAY 2, 2017

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THREE DAY

PATIO PARTY! 5/4/17, 5/5/17, 5/6/17

MAY

4th MAY

Patio Weekend Kickoff

Summer Patio Bash Featuring Bacardi Cocktails

Cinco Fiesta

5th

Featuring Cazadores Margaritas

6th

Featuring Grey Goose Cocktails

MAY

Derby Party

Please Drink Responsibly

The PSU Bike Challenge is a month-long challenge designed to encourage both new and experienced riders to ride their bike as much as possible in the month of May. Fabulous Prizes!

Health incentives!

Free food!

Group Rides!

Bragging Rights!

Kickoff Party May 01 @ 12:30pm in the Urban Plaza

Get the App!

No Cost & Private STD / STI Testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, & trichomonas Participants Receive $50 Molecular Testing Labs is developing and validating a self-collection kit for screening sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and is looking for female only study participants.

All participants will receive an STI panel at no cost with $50 compensation which includes testing for:   

Gonorrhea Chlamydia Trichomonas

The entire visit should take no more than 15 mins to complete (please allow for 30 mins to be safe).

Compensation is provided as cash immediately at the time of the study. Results provided confidentially through SHAC within a few days.

In order to receive compensation, all participants will be expected to provide urine and vaginal swabs.

You must be SHAC eligible to participate.

Call the SHAC to make an appointment for the STI study. The option for additional testing and treatment will be available through the on-site nurses.

Testing will be performed at the SHAC every Tuesday & Friday from 10am – 2:30pm.

Walk-ins during those days are welcome, but appointments are recommended to avoid longer wait times.

Email Dr. Sailey at csailey@pdx.edu if you have questions about the study.

SHANNON KIDD

WE’RE HIRING A MULTIMEDIA EDITOR THIS LEADERSHIP POSITION ON THE EDITORIAL STAFF IS RESPONSIBLE FOR CURATING, COORDINATING AND ASSISTING IN EDITING ALL MULTIMEDIA CONTENT FOR THE VANGUARD. THE POSITION REQUIRES 15-20 HOURS PER WEEK AND PAYS $1900/TERM IN THE FORM OF AN ELSA SCHOLARSHIP. ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES MUST BE STUDENTS ENROLLED IN 6 OR MORE CREDITS WITH A 2.5 OR HIGHER GPA. STRONG KNOWLEDGE OF CREATING AND EDITING AUDIO VISUAL CONTENT AND MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE ARE NECESSARY FOR SUCCESS IN THIS POSITION. VISIT PSUVANGUARD.COM/JOBS TO APPLY

The ASPSU student government elections are coming to a close, with polls open online at elections.aspsu.pdx.edu until 7 p.m. on May 3. The election results will be announced at 1 p.m. on May 5 at Simon Benson House, on the corner of Montgomery Park.

MAY DAY COALITION REVOLUTIONARY FAMILY AND YOUTH ZONE. ANNA WILLIAMS/PSU VANGUARD

CONTENTS COVER DESIGN BY TERRA DEHART AND SHANNON KIDD NEWS DENIM JEANS IN SOLIDARITY

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INTERNATIONAL KAIBIGAN CULTURAL NIGHT EXPLORES ANCHORS OF OUR LIVES

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FEATURE SENATE BILL 13 PUSHES FOR NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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STAFF EDIT ORI A L EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Colleen Leary MANAGING EDITOR Tim Sullivan NEWS EDITOR AJ Earl ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Alanna Madden INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Chris May ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Matthew Andrews OPINION EDITOR Evan Smiley

ONLINE EDITOR Andrew D. Jankowski COPY CHIEF Thomas Spoelhof COPY EDITORS John Falchetta Harlie Hendrickson Nada Sewidan CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Alderson Cassie Duncanson Jake Johnson Nada Sewidan Eric Steffen Anna Williams Zachary Vandehey

PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Silvia Cardullo PHOTOGRAPHERS Jake Johnson Rachel Lara Jacob Salazar Jamon Sin Anna Williams CR E ATI V E DIR EC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aaron Osborn DESIGNERS Terra DeHart Shannon Kidd Lydia Wojack-West Nimi Einstein Chloe Kendall Robby Day

ARTS & CULTURE COLOSSAL FILM REVIEW

OPINION TIRED OF PROTESTS? DR. GRADY-WILLIS DISCUSSES POLITICAL RESISTANCE

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EVENTS CALENDAR MAY 2-8 FIREDANCE WITH ME: FIXIN’ TO HOSTS TWIN PEAKS DANCE Max Wayt Aaron Ughoc DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING MANAGERS Hrushikesh Apte Venkata Naga Sai Dilip Daneti A DV ER TISING ADVERTISING MANAGER Madelaine Eivers ADVERTISING DESIGNER Sam Hicks ADVERTISING SALES Ilyse Espino Michael Hardy Caitlyn Malik

A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING ADVERTISING ADVISER Ann Roman STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood To contact Vanguard staff members, visit psuvanguard. com/contact.

To get involved and see current job openings, visit psuvanguard. com/jobs MIS SION S TAT EMEN T The Vanguard’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical

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content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with a quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills that are highly valued in today’s job market.

A BOU T The 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 every Tuesday and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

NEWS

ILLUMINATING THE FALLACY OF ‘BUT WHAT WAS SHE WEARING?’ ANNA WILLIAMS

Illuminate, Portland State’s sexual assault prevention student group, hosted PSU’s first annual campus-wide Denim Day event on April 26 in the Park Blocks. The event aimed to show solidarity with sexual assault survivors and spread awareness of Illuminate’s sexual assault prevention efforts.

Denim Day is an international movement that began in a courtroom in Rome in 1992.

A 45-year-old driving instructor picked up an 18-year-old student from her house and raped her for an hour. The instructor, who threatened to kill the victim if she outed him, was later convicted. However, in 1998 the Italian Supreme Court overruled his conviction.

The court deemed because the victim had been wearing tight jeans, the sex was consensual. “It is a fact of common experience that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans,” the court explained. “Even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them.”

The ruling was not rescinded until 10 years after the rapist was released.

The day after the ruling, female members of the Italian Parliament donned jeans and held protest signs that read, “Jeans: an alibi for rape.” Thus began Denim Day. Illuminate staff, interns, and student volunteers welcomed PSU students to the event with free Voodoo doughnuts and Einstein bagels. One tent hosted a table stacked with over 100 pairs of jeans and a rainbow of fabric paints and permanent markers. Attendees wrote messages like, “No means no, no questions asked,” and “My jeans do not determine my consent” on pairs of jeans that were then hung from several clotheslines stretched

DEMIN DAY AIMS TO SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS AND TO SPREAD AWARENESS OF ILLUMINATE’S SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION EFFORTS. RACHEL LARA/PSU VANGUARD between the Park Blocks’ trees. Some participants wrote personal stories that covered whole pairs of pants.

PSU Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator Amy Kayon said that while Illuminate leads workshops about sexual assault prevention, Denim Day is key for spreading awareness that sexual assault happens at PSU. “You have to do some awareness to create energy around prevention,” Kayon said. “But you can’t do too much

ILLUMINATE, PORTLAND STATE’S SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION STUDENT GROUP, HOSTED PSU’S FIRST ANNUAL CAMPUS-WIDE DENIM DAY EVENT ON APRIL 26 IN THE PARK BLOCKS. JAMON SIN/PSU VANGUARD

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awareness because it pulls away from your prevention effort. [Denim Day] feels like a really easy decision, to let people know in a fun and engaging way that Illuminate’s here.”

An intern signed up event participants for a raffle that included gift cards to Salt & Straw and PSU gear while handing out fliers for Illuminate’s upcoming bystander awareness workshops. The workshops are open to PSU students once per term and will be mandatory for first-year students, including athletic recruits and transfers starting fall 2017.

In weeks prior to the event, Illuminate asked all PSU faculty to sign a pledge that promised their participation in Denim Day. Over 200 faculty members signed, including PSU President Wim Wievel and many of his staff. Both pledges and Denim Day attendees received an “Ask me why I’m wearing denim” pin and an “elevator pitch” that explained how pledging meant showing solidarity with victims.

Tristan Stretch and Ashton Hesse, both students living in the Ondine Residence Hall, participated in a Denim Day “pregame” on the evening of Tuesday, April 25, where residents decorated t-shirts and buttons. Hesse’s t-shirt read, “Don’t get sensual unless it’s consensual.”

Stretch and Hesse entered the Park Blocks with a squad of students dressed head-to-toe in denim.

Denim Day was particularly meaningful to Hesse. “Back in California, my mom’s a sexual assault detective and she was always on call with the response team,” Hesse explained. “So it’s always in my life. And I’ve had a few close calls myself.”

Although Stretch and Hesse both agreed that PSU could always do more to spread awareness of sexual assault, Stretch expressed a hopeful outlook. “Resources are more public than they used to be, and that’s huge,” Stretch said.

Dakota Tangredi, a resident assistant at the Broadway Residence Hall, lives with and supports PSU freshmen. Residence Life, which has hosted smaller Denim Day celebrations in the past, offered monetary support and materials to Illuminate for Denim Day this year. Tangredi led Broadway’s pregame event on April 25.

Tangredi explained his role as both a Denim Day volunteer and a residence hall leader. “[My role] is working as an ally,” Tangredi said. “[It’s] being there for resources and also just having discussions with folks.” As a selfidentified male, Tangredi said he wanted to see male participation in supporting sexual assault awareness and prevention to become more “normal.”

While Denim Day presented a celebratory atmosphere with its games, raffle, free t-shirts, and life-size cutout of infamous denim-clad Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, it still hinted at the sad absurdity of the rape conviction overruling in 1998.

“How is it anyone else but the victim’s story to tell about what actually happened?” said Jessica Le, a peer educator at Illuminate. “[We are] standing up with victims to bring awareness that we’re standing with you, and we don’t believe in this rape culture [and] this victim blaming culture.”

NEWS

INTERFAITH EVENT SPARKS MISUNDERSTANDING, GOES VIRAL JAKE JOHNSON

Portland State hosted a panel of six students from different religious backgrounds titled “Unpacking Misconceptions” on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 in the basement of Smith Memorial Student Union. A Muslim student who organized the interfaith event and spoke on the panel said he intended it to be an opportunity to convene with people from diverse religious backgrounds, humanize these varying perspectives and educate one another through mutual understanding.

“On a daily basis you interact with people of different religions,” the event organizer said.

“You say hi to them, but instead of asking those people about their religions and beliefs, we rely on the media to teach us about what these people we work with believe. The interfaith event was designed to be a place to share, not debate, personal beliefs with others from different backgrounds. People have misconceptions about what other people believe, and this event was intended to be a productive place to unpack those ideas with fellow students.”

The student organizer made several remarks while on the panel, though a specific comment in response to an audience question has been widely shared on social media and later criticized by far-right media outlet Breitbart.

IN SPITE OF OUTSIDE MISCONCEPTIONS, FAITHS UNITE AGAINST KILLING During a question and answer portion of the event, the event organizer responded to a question.

A Christian member of the audience asked the organizer to clarify a specific part of the Quran that states killing an innocent person is like killing all of humanity. The audience member wanted to know how the organizer, a Muslim, would respond to rumors that this message refers to Muslims killing Muslims and that non-Muslims, “I suppose the term would be infidels,” were not included in the innocents mentioned.

“So, I can confidently tell you, when the Quran says an innocent life, it means an innocent life, regardless of the faith, the race, like, whatever you can think about as a characteristic,” the organizer stated. “And some, this, that you’re referring to, killing non-Mus-

lims, that is only considered a crime when the country’s law, the country is based on Quranic law—that means there is no other law than the Quran. In that case, you’re given the liberty to leave the country, you can go in a different country, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it. So you can on a different country, but in a Muslim country, in a country based on the Quranic laws, disbelieving, or being an infidel, is not allowed so you will be given the choice.”

The organizer looked to a Muslim audience member for clarification, who went up to the stage.

“About the part where, do not befriend Christians and in Muslim countries I’ve come to believe that is allowed, to have different faiths,” the audience member asserted. “And our evidence for that is if you go to ... the prophet when he first established the Muslim country in, Muslim nation of Medina, the first Muslim civilization he made a pact with the Jewish people, and they had a constitution and an agreement on, for example, if anybody else attacked them they would all work together and they were all allowed to co-exist and then if we look at, throughout Islamic history, if we look at, umm, some, the massacres that ISIS, which I do not believe are Muslim, are committing against some of the minority Christian populations and for example, you have to look at why are there Christians in Syria and Egypt and these countries in the Levant region, that were, have been under Muslim rule for the last thousand five hundred, four hundred, years, it’s because non-Muslims were allowed to live there, so it’s perfectly okay for non-Muslims to live in Muslim lands and there’s no, it’s absolutely not allowed to harm them or anything like that.”

The panel’s Christian representative, Risto Rushford also responded to a question about a second-choice religion.

“I look for wisdom wherever I can find it,” Rushford said. “Sometimes I find it reading things that were written from an existential humanist, sometimes I find it from people who come from a Muslim background or from a Hindu background. I have discovered great insights from Muhammad Yunus; he wrote a book called Banker to the Poor.”

THE APRIL 26 INTERFAITH EVENT WAS ORGANIZED AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CROSS-CULTURAL DIALOGUE. JAKE JOHNSON/PSU

CLIP LEAVES OUT EVENT CONTEXT, GOES VIRAL A video clip featuring only a portion of the organizer’s quote that addressed the Quranic law about non-believers or infidels being “given a choice” has been shared on Twitter and Facebook without the preceding and following context.

This comment from the organizer, widely shared out of context was met with significant criticism by audience members who accessed it through social media and right-leaning media outlets.

Another panelist, Benjamin Ramey, the representative secular humanist, also of Freethinkers, replied to the original tweet.

“As one of the panelists present at this event I would like to say that this speech is not taken out of context,” Ramey tweeted.

PSU associate professor of philosophy Peter Boghossian contributed to the Twitter conversation as well.

“The same people who want to punch ‘Nazis’ are completely silent when it comes to certain people advocating mass murder,” Boghossian wrote.

EVENT ORGANIZER RESPONDS The event organizer responded to this controversy by stating he had a feeling they may have misspoke and sought clarification from the audience member, as seen in a second video from the event.

The event organizer noted that when the event began, one integral agreement about the panel was the understanding that none of the panelists are experts.

“I thought I would feel proud after putting something like this together,” the event organizer said while shaking his head. “Not feel like this.”

The general tone of the event itself was very different from the critical response to the shared video clip.

Jill Townley, associate director of the International Student Life Team at PSU, has worked with international students for the last 20 years. Townley moderated the Interfaith event and was excited about the safe place it provided for religious students. “[Religious] international students feel compartmentalized and not authentic,” Townley said. “[The interfaith event allowed students] to talk about spiritual beliefs in a safe place which is really beneficial. They can differ in a respectful way.” *As a result of the controversy surrounding portions of this event, the student asked that his name be omitted in the interest of safety.

Editor’s Note: The video clip mentioned in this article was originally shared on the personal social media accounts of a former editor and contributor to the Vanguard who is no longer working for the organization. While these clips were not produced or distributed by the Vanguard, it is the organization and its members’ responsibility to uphold ethical standards on all fronts.

The Vanguard is committed to minimizing harm and providing context that takes special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story, as per the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics.

It is our assessment that this video clip was published and shared without context in a way that placed a PSU student in significant danger. What could have been a dialogue of mutual understanding became a source of pain and fear for some of those involved. The context included in the preceding Vanguard article provides clarified and comprehensive representation of the event. Markedly biased media outlets have featured the event organizer’s comments without necessary context.

The Vanguard does not endorse, condone nor support the way this student was represented by other media outlets. We vehemently reject any association with this type of dangerous misrepresentation.

VIDEO CLIPS OF THE EVENT ORGANIZERS QUOTE RECEIVED CRITICISM WHEN TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT. VIA TWITTER

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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INTERNATIONAL

KAIBIGAN HOSTS 12TH ANNUAL CULTURAL NIGHT NADA SEWIDAN

The Filipino American Student Association at Portland State, known as Kaibigan, conveyed a message of unity, connection and the importance of awareness and diversity during its 12th annual Filipino Cultural Night Celebration, Angkla.

PCN was held on Saturday, April 22 at PSU and included traditional Filipino foods, choreographed dancing, and performances highlighting personal narratives. The main theme from which the group’s message is derived is known as Angkla, meaning “Anchor” in Tagalog, one of the main spoken languages in the Philippines.

Anchors are traditionally used to hold docked boats in place or keep vessels from drifting too far off course during a storm. Building off the traditional meaning of anchor, the event explored the ways in which an anchor functions in the lives of the Filipino community.

Kaibigan organizers explained how Angkla relates to the Filipino American experience and symbolizes the connections and personal roots developed along the way—family, friends, values, culture, roots, heritage, and more.

“The message we wanted to give PSU students through the show is conveyed through the symbolism of an anchor and the idea that we all have anchors in our lives,” Kaibigan organizers said. “As we have quoted, ‘Life’s roughest storms prove the strength of our anchors,’ meaning there are connections that we have in our lives which keep us strong despite the struggles we may experience.”

A main theme explored within the personal narratives at PCN included immigration and general awareness of the displacement of indigenous and working class communities in the Philippines.

The performance, inspired by true events, portrayed the struggles of farmers and indigenous people in the Philippines and centered around the communities impacted by Bases Conversions and Development Authority to create Clark Green City, housing development projects meant to displace indigenous communities in the Philippines.

“Not only did we want to educate the audience about this issue,” Kaibigan organizers explained, “but we also wanted to convey that despite being an ocean away from a country with these issues and being students who seem powerless, our power united as we stand together can move mountains and can truly make a difference. The anchors that we have back in our motherland and with each other as a community empower us to create positive change.”

PCN also highlighted the importance of anchors not only in the direct community but in the larger context of the world.

Kaibigan organizers spoke of the degree of division America is currently experiencing and explained how diversity is the answer—not the enemy—in mending the divide.

“The message we hope to send is that diversity itself is an anchor which brings us together,” Kaibigan organizers said.

“Despite our struggles existing in diverse contexts, the root causes for them are the same, which anchors our communities to one another and can unite us to fight against the issues we face. It is our capability to stand united that will help us prevail.”

Through PCN, Kaibigan’s ultimate goal is to unite everyone, whether Filipino or not, to come together as a community to celebrate the anchors of our lives.

​APRIL 22 MAZAR-I-SHARIF,

ONE OF THE VARIOUS PERFORMANCES, AT THE 12TH ANNUAL FILIPINO CULTURAL NIGHT CELEBRATION, ANGKLA. JACOB SALAZAR/PSU VANGUARD

AFGHANISTAN

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani declared a national day of mourning after touring Afghanistan’s largest military installation and the site of an attack the previous day where over 100 soldiers were killed. Despite previous plans to have all U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan by early 2017, the inability of the Afghan military to counter a growing Taliban insurgency has led to calls from NATO and others for additional American soldiers.

APRIL 23 PARIS,

FRANCE

In a first for French politics, neither major political party had a candidate make it past the first round of the presidential election.

Discontent with establishment politics and ongoing violence have carried Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Front party from the fringes to a runoff with the winner of the first round, centrist Emmanuel Macron.

APRIL 25 CIUDAD

DEL ESTE, PARAGUAY

Dozens of robbers armed with assault rifles and explosives raided a private security company in Paraguay, killing a police officer and making off with millions of dollars. Authorities suspect a major Brazilian criminal organization to be behind the robbery, which took place in the “Triple Frontier” region where the borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet.

APRIL 27

April 22-28 Chris May

GAZA, PALESTINE

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened as the government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced it would cease payments for electricity to Israel. Daily households in addition to vital services such as hospitals, clinics, and water supplies face power outages as Abbas attempts to exert pressure on political rival Hamas, which has been the governing authority of Gaza since its takeover in 2007.

APRIL 27 JAPAN/UNITED

STATES

Relations between Japanese and American spy agencies over the last six decades came to light when documents from National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden were published in cooperation between Japanese and U.S. press organizations. Despite cooperation between the two countries involving half a billion dollars in support from the Japanese government for U.S. surveillance efforts, and the furnishing of equipment and software for Japanese spies by the U.S., the documents revealed that Japanese and officials and institutions have been subject to secret surveillance by the NSA.

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INTERNATIONAL

CHECHEN GOVERNMENT DISAVOWS HOMOPHOBIC TERRORISM ERIC STEFFEN

ROBBY DAY

The volatile Russian region of Chechnya has fac+ed widespread condemnation following the alarming disappearances of gay men in the region. Reports have surfaced claiming that gay men are being held in “prison camps,” and upon their release, they are often horribly bruised, having been beaten to the brink of death.

Even if the men survive their torturous experience at the hands of the Chechen government, Human Rights Watch has reported that these individuals face difficulties with their families. The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta first reported the disappearance of the men and claims that should they survive, many face the threat of “honor killings,” or being murdered by their families to rid the family of the shame of a gay person.

The press secretary for Ramzan Kadyrov, president of the Chechnya region, has characterized the Novaya Gazeta report as lies and falsehoods because he claims there are no gay people in Chechnya. Kadyrov has been quoted saying, “If

there were such people in Chechnya, law-enforcement agencies wouldn’t need to have anything to do with them because their relatives would send them somewhere from which there is no returning.”

The crackdown on gay and bisexual men in Chechnya began after a gay rights group based in Moscow, GayRussia.ru, applied for permits to hold gay pride parades in the Russian region. The group had applied to many cities throughout Russia to obtain the inevitable denials in order to bring a case before the European Court of Human Rights.

The homophobic attacks are not new to Chechnya; the region has been cited for human rights violations previously. The taboo surrounding homosexuality is propagated by the federal government in Moscow and a 2013 law that prohibits the spreading of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.”

The Chechen Interior Ministry has dismissed the April 1 report in the Novaya Gazeta as an April Fools’ joke and rejects

that Chechen authorities are rounding up gay and bisexual men. As recently as April 25, Kadyrov has claimed he plans to eliminate the gay community by the beginning of Ramadan, according to British Minister of State Sir Alan Duncan.

The Kremlin has said they have no reason to believe that there has been persecution based on sexual orientation under the reign of Mr. Kadyrov. Reporting on the human rights violations have also brought threats to the staff of Novaya Gazeta. A meeting in the Chechen capital of Grozny sent chills to the staff, with a top adviser to Mr. Kadyrov saying the newspaper was “an enemy of our faith and our country.”

Furthermore, a resolution was adopted that claimed the article had “insulted the secular foundations of Chechen society and the dignity of Chechen men,” while also seeking retribution against the “true instigators.” As the situation develops, more and more countries are voicing their concern for the gay men, while the LGBTQ rights organizations in Russia are attempting to evacuate the men from the region.

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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COVER

WE’RE STILL HERE

SENATE BILL 13 AND THE NEED FOR NATIVE AMERICAN CURRICULUM IN OREGON PUBLIC SCHOOLS

BY ALEX-JON EARL

“You have four burners on your stove, and so you’ve got math, writing, and reading there, so what’s your fourth burner gonna be?” Tenorio asked. “Is it gonna be science?

Is it gonna be cultural history? Is it gonna be language? Is it gonna be PE? You’re really called upon to be creative.”

In the past, before the creation of Common Core, the lack of a coherent or accurate Native American curriculum often meant creativity was a loaded term. What creativity meant in the past was sometimes subject to the kind of folksy flattening of Native American lives that resulted in hand turkeys and paper headdresses.

“What creativity meant in the past was sometimes subject to the kind of folksy flattening of Native American lives that resulted in hand turkeys and paper headdresses.”

POP QUIZ

OREGON TRIBAL FLAGS HANG IN THE NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT AND COMMUNITY CENTER LOCATED SOUTHWEST BROADWAY STREET. SILVIA CARDULLO/PSU VANGUARD At the start of this year’s legislative session, Oregon State Governor Kate Brown’s office put forth a long-awaited bill with a stated purpose to mandate and “develop curriculum relating to Native American experience in Oregon and to provide professional development related to curriculum” in schools. The measure now sits in Ways and Means awaiting action.

Oregon is home to nine federally recognized tribes, but you wouldn’t know that if you were looking through much of the state’s standard curriculum for K–12 students. As a matter of fact, the majority of this curriculum is covered in 4th grade, according to the standards set forth in Oregon’s Adopted Social Sciences Academic Content Standards. A general Indigenous history appears thereafter, and tribal relations appears in some form as well.

How can a state with such a robust Indigenous history be so lacking in a meaningful Native American curriculum?

The answer depends largely on a history of neglect, but some of it can be attributable to the rise of the Common Core movement.

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NAME THE NINE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES OF OREGON:

COMMON CORE, COMMON NEGLECT

At Portland State’s American Indian Teacher Program, there’s hope for this new curriculum but also an understanding of the basic problems that hold back any current efforts at enacting a Native American curriculum.

“It’s a difficult time in the classroom because teachers have requirements from the district, and from the state, and from the federal government to teach to the Common Core State Standards and do the [standardized] testing,” explained Dr. Maria Tenorio, Ed.D. (San Felipe Pueblo), project director of the AITP. “That distracts from a lot of curriculum that they may want to include in the classroom.”

Requiring the addition of Native American curriculum is a hard row to hoe, especially when it’s considered to be unrelated to standardized testing.

Tenorio compared the situation to preparing for a dinner party.

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

Christopher Rempel (Kalapuya/Chinook/Klamath), a math major and Indigenous Nations studies minor graduating in June, said he experienced mostly stereotypes in school when it came to Native Americans.

“I encountered overgeneralizations. Indians were just kind of a stereotype, just like a stand-in caricature,” Rempel said. “There were the kind of ones who attacked the settlers, and then at some points they were nice…they had bows and arrows, and they just camped, and talked to the animals.”

Rempel said he felt invisible in the curriculum. “I couldn’t see myself, just because curriculum paints Native Americans as a vanished race. People were here and then they just disappeared.”

Rachel Black Elk (Oglala Lakota/Lumbee Back Swamp Clan), a social science major and Indigenous Nations studies minor also graduating in June agreed.

Black Elk said she was “taught Settler sympathizing lessons, where it was we had to make a covered wagon, we got assigned a settler family to track through the Oregon Trail story, and then yeah.”

“I remember crying at different points because then in the game they’d be like, oh these group of Native Americans— Indians—they didn’t even call them Native Americans, they just said, oh yeah, this group of Indians attacked the settlers,” Black Elk recounted. “So as a class, when we got to the plains region where my people are from, I had really conflicting feelings because then my classmates were angry, and I felt guilty, but I was raised in a cultural home, so I was also really proud of my family. That was the kind of education I grew up with.”

The need for Senate Bill 13 is clear, Rempel and Black Elk agreed.

“Hearing about the Indians who attacked the settlers and disappeared, you don’t want to talk about it,” Rempel said, “You don’t want to explore it. You just want to forget about it and move on, and that’s kind of the goal of the assimilation of the system. So, if instead they could flip that narrative and talk about the ongoing efforts and revitalization and celebration of the culture, [we would] be much more proud and able to engage in much more meaningful dialogues with non-natives about our hopes and dreams and theirs and reconciliation and living in the modern day.”

COVER

Black Elk wants to change the narrative, one she said is based on “just getting down more to the nitty gritty: There’s our country, our home. We’re still here, and to not have a narrative that says that our people are a conquered people, [and] that we’re really a people that survived and have been creative and have made a lot of beautiful sacrifices, always with the intent that the next generation would thrive.”

“Senate Bill 13 symbolizes a step in how we systemically address these narratives and build consciousness throughout the generations, because right now, with our story, there’s an invisibility factor, and it’s dangerous,” Black Elk explained. “The systems this country is founded on were first implemented on Native people. Now, whether it’s class, or other marginalized racial groups are saying ‘oh, where did this come from’ or ‘what is this’ and it’s colonialism.”

POP QUIZ WHAT WAS TERMINATION, AND WHEN WAS IT REVERSED?

A LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE

At the start of the 2017 legislative session, one of the first bills filed was Senate Bill 13, which intended to accomplish the kind of parity sought by Native American leaders in the state of Oregon.

Filed at the request of Governor Kate Brown’s office, the bill—an emergency measure—would not only create a curriculum in consultation with Oregon’s tribes, but it would be doing so with the kind of immediacy that seems fitting for the problem at hand, ensuring that implementation would begin by the 2019–20 school year.

The bill ensures that the curriculum will be mandatory and that necessary training is required.

“Just getting down more to the nitty gritty: there’s our country, our home.

We’re still here.”

Bryan Hockaday from Governor Brown’s office noted that such a bill is necessary in light of dire circumstances facing Native American students in Oregon. “Oregon is failing to meet the needs of its American Indian students as reflected by high drop out and absenteeism rates, overrepresentation in special education, and graduation rates at 53 percent,” Hockaday said.

“The state is missing a critical opportunity to fully leverage the strengths, assets, and contributions these students bring to their communities and larger state,” Hockaday added. “The lack of accurate and complete curricula contributes to the persistent achievement and opportunity gaps between American Indian and other students.”

DR. MARIA TENORIO, ED.D., PROJECT DIRECTOR OF THE AITP. COURTESY OF NANCY

Continued page 10 PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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COVER

WE’RE STILL HERE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9

Senate Bill 13, however, sits in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means, where its future is in question.

When asked for comment, Ways and Means Co-Chair Senator Devlin’s office mentioned that money would be a major consideration for any bill, and that a tight budget this year meant Senate Bill 13’s fate was up in the air.

Playing it safe and pinching pennies doesn’t seem to pay dividends if the state of Washington’s experience is to be believed, however.

POP QUIZ NAME 2 RIVERS NAMED AFTER OREGON TRIBES

LESSONS FROM WASHINGTON STATE

“In May 2003, there was a tribal leaders conference, discussing education, at the Quinault Indian Reservation in their conference center,” recounted Washington state Senator John McCoy (D–Tulalip). “I was there for the day, and so during the conference I asked what did they want from me? And they just said we want our tribal history and culture taught in the common schools of Washington.”

McCoy, a citizen of the Tulalip Tribes of Washington, filed a bill that session, but it went nowhere due to it being a special session. After subsequent discussion in the following months the bill came to a point where it was ready for debate. “[In] 2005 we actually made [the curriculum] mandatory, but I was informed if I wanted it passed, I had to make it encouraged, so [I made it] voluntary,” recounted McCoy. “So we decided that we had to get our foot in the door. So that’s what we did.”

“Senate Bill 13 symbolizes a step in how we systemically address these narratives and build consciousness throughout the generations, because right now, with our story, there’s an invisibility factor, and it’s dangerous,”

Unfortunately, this proved to be an inadequate stopgap, McCoy stated. “We watched the school districts, we tried working with the districts, and then in 2012, tribes said it was time to make it mandatory because we are not gaining the headway we thought we should be.”

In 2015, Washington State Senate Bill 5433 was filed by McCoy, passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Jay Inslee.

That bill closed all of what constituted significant differences between Washington State’s approach and Oregon’s Senate Bill 13 by basically removing the words “encouraged to” and replacing them with the mandate that Washington state school districts “shall” begin the process of adopting what Washington state now calls the Since Time Immemorial curriculum and consulting with the state’s 29 tribes.

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McCoy has noticed a clear shift.

“There’s 296 school districts in the state of Washington.

When we made [Native American curriculum] mandatory, there were 25 percent of them that were doing it,” McCoy recounted. “Like I say, we’re seeing more and more schools getting involved now. We have a training team, [The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction] has a training team that runs around the state giving trainings on how to [teach Since Time Immemorial].”

HOW TO PASS A BILL

With Ways and Means not sure of the future of the bill due to the state’s fiscal concerns ahead of its meetings later this month, the potential for a stinging loss for the bill this session hangs over the heads of supporters. This isn’t altogether unexpected by those with experience in these matters.

“Money. Money and, to be blunt and honest, there was some racism involved, but it was primarily money,” McCoy said when asked on sources of resistance. “But I was glad to see in the Oregon bill [they’re] providing some money.”

Fiscal matters may loom large, but the fundamental mission remains the same, and the fundamental tactics necessary to pass a bill like Senate Bill 13 are universal.

POP QUIZ WHAT WAS TERMINATION, AND WHEN WAS IT REVERSED?

McCoy mentioned that the most powerful method of ensuring passage of a bill like Senate Bill 13 is the voices of those showing up to advocate.

“We had lots of elders and teenagers come to testify, which really helped it,” McCoy offered. “Be positive, bring positive stories to the legislature, and let the teenagers tell the stories.”

Senate Bill 13’s introduction into the Senate Committee on Education did exactly this, running two hours for testimony that included statements from teens, elders, educators and Governor Kate Brown.

Also present was Rep. Tawna Sanchez (D-43), MSW, a graduate of PSU and as a Shoshone-Bannock citizen, only the second Native American member to ever be seated in the State of Oregon’s House of Representatives.

When asked about Senate Bill 13, Sanchez was hopeful.

“We have a great opportunity with Senate Bill 13 to develop curriculum to help shift our understanding of history and the fundamental bias we have instilled in our systems as a society,” Sanchez replied in remarks submitted to the Vanguard.

“Has there ever been a time when tribes have been able to tell their story?”

“Growing up, those in the majority don’t often know that they intrinsically benefit from the framework of our systems as they haven’t been taught that reality,” Sanchez explained. “This is very important because as people, and particularly as children, we come to understand the world by learning-as-we-learn every day. If we offer the opportunity to actually understand the full scope of what is going on around us, we could change and shift the dynamic of oppression in this country. Many students tell me they were frustrated to only learn of this in college. Think about how different things would be if we learned about this in elementary school.”

The importance of having a curriculum that’s inclusive of Native American students is vital, Sanchez believes.

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

POP QUIZ WHAT WAS TERMINATION, AND WHEN WAS IT REVERSED?

“Often, native kids do not fare well in their education because they have nothing to relate to; what they are learning is colonized history,” Sanchez explained. “This bill, I believe, will be critical in ensuring that our students are able to feel connected to the material that they’re learning and for the material to make sense in order for the history to be more complete.”

THE FUTURE OF SENATE BILL 13

With dozens of bills piling up on the desk of the Ways and Means Committee, it remains to be seen what may become of Senate Bill 13.

With the backing of the governor’s office, however, there is hope that it should pass.

“Governor Brown deeply values the preservation of cultural integrity and believes that honoring the history of our tribal communities is critically important to our state as whole, and to future generations of students,” noted Bryan Hockaday with Governor Brown’s office.

“The Oregon Department of Education has worked closely with all nine federally recognized tribes and other tribal communities throughout the state on the development of the concept for Senate Bill 13 over the span of two years,” Hockaday’s statement continued. “Our vision is that every school district in Oregon implements historically accurate, culturally embedded, place-based, contemporary, and developmentally appropriate American Indian Alaska Native curriculum that is developed in collaboration with local tribes and aligned with the state standards.”

Ways and Means is expected to take up the bill by the end of the month.

Disclosure Statement:

The author of this article is an enrolled member of the Comanche Nation and Inigenous Nations studies student.

GETTING SENATE BILL 13 PASSED One of the easiest ways to get Senate Bill 13 passed is using your voice as a student or community member.

With the bill still in the Ways and Means Committee at the Oregon State Legislature, you can give them a call at 503-9861828 You can find members of the Ways and Means Committee here: olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Committees/JWM/Overview You can also search for your own senator or representative here: www.oregonlegislature.gov/FindYourLegislator/ leg-districts. html You can track the progress of Senate Bill 13 here: olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2017R1/Measures/Overview/SB13

ARTS & CULTURE

A SEAT AT SOLANGE & BIG FREEDIA ANDREW D. JANKOWSKI

SOLANGE

Is this the best we can do for Solange?

I’m sitting in the eleventh row of the soldout Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, and Solange’s opening act, the all-white clad percussionist Jamire Williams, has just finished his set mixing film score and jazz. I’m taking in the depth and scale of the venue, its vastness poised to swallow unworthy artists. It’s one of the most picturesque venues in Portland with the capacity to match Solange’s star power.

Some of Portland’s most stylish people have come out for Solange. Almost everyone here has a mix of youth, taste and money. “Want to compare notes?” asks Jason (I can’t remember if this is his real name or not), a gay-presenting man seated next to me with better clothes, cologne and skincare than mine. Jason compares Williams to EDM. Jason goes on to talk about Solange’s Coachella outfit, her relationship with Joanne the Scammer, and compares her to commercially-driven pop artists like Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and (of course) Beyoncé. To compare Solange Knowles to her sister and her sister’s contemporaries is to miss the appeal of Solange the Artist, the woman who for years was mocked by the Hollywood machine for being too Black and even now is not bound by fiscal quarter deadlines, but how am I going to argue pop music with a gay man with better clothes, cologne and skincare than me? Even if I’m right, he’s clearly winning.

I didn’t have to wonder for long: The house lights dimmed, the medley of Tinashe, Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill faded, and LEDs of red and blue washed over a background of a red sphere on a white field. I questioned the artistic significance of red and blue: Americana, the police, heaven and hell, the contemporary Weeknd/MNEK/Black Box palette?

Blue gave way to red and the band took the stage, all in red: two guitar players, a keyboard player, a drummer, two brass players, two backing singers and dancers, and finally, the goddess herself, the queen of elevator drama: Solange. The entire Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall rose to their feet to feel the radiance.

Some people from the back rushed forward to get a better view, which prompted a response from at least one security guard.

Solange’s artistry is the result of 15 years’ hard labor, and it shows tonight.

She performed the majority of her new album, A Seat at the Table, and noted Portland was the first audience to hear it live. “Rise,”

“Weary,” “Cranes in the Sky,” and “Junie” all When Big Freedia and her crew take the took advantage of the Schnitz’s space and stage, the jam-packed audience makes me acoustics, along with some vintage selec- realize what “bounce” means. Big Freedia tions, including “Some Things Never Seem to comes out dressed like an AHS: Coven substiFucking Work,” “Losing You,” and “T.O.N.Y.” tute teacher with burgundy-purple hair remSolange and her band swayed and danced with iniscent of Azealia Banks or Dai Burger. I’m movements that held a veneer of Carefree not sure what songs Big Freedia played from Black Magic over a surface of quiet intensity. her impressive discography, and I’m not sure Coordinated arm movements and head bobs it even matters. Big Freedia is all-American: meant to show hair’s dynamic movement felt whereas Solange finds strength in lightness choreographed and intuitive at the same time. and subtlety, Big Freedia blows the doors off There was a movement or two in “Mad” where the hinges with her presence before she is even the veneer cracked, and Solange let loose a few present. Her inversion of Adele’s “Hello” from well-timed shrieks that transformed her from morose self-pity to aggressive self-love was the polished hipster R&B figure I learned masterful and cackle-inducing. It’s obviabout on Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams ous why Beyoncé chose her contributions for into a bona fide rock star.

“Formation” (which Big Freedia led a cover/ Speaking of rock star, during “F.U.B.U.” chant of tonight) and how an artist so queer can Solange left the stage and ran/danced/sang collaborate with the dude-broiest of rappers: among the mortals. She spent a little time You’re either into Big Freedia or you’re boring. among the first few rows, then ran back to the Big Freedia mentions, down to the number back of the Schnitz’s floor to sing and pose for of days, how many years have passed between the people in the back. From an art-viewing now and the last time she was set to perform perspective, it was thrilling to invert the back- in Portland, which was her mother’s untimely drop of the stage for a wall of audience mem- death. Tragedy tore her away from us, and she bers. For my arts and culture writing self, it came back to exercise some of that grief; likely, was the moment stories are made of, and for too, the anxiety and grief that have steadily my Caucasian self, I couldn’t help but feel this grown over the past eighteen months. moment was being experienced on a much deeper level than I could appreciate by other SOUL’D OUT FESTIVAL AND THE CITY members of the audience. Indeed, as Solange OF PORTLAND left and returned to the stage, venue security “For us. This shit is for us.” momentarily stopped policing the audience, This section of the chorus from Solange’s who wanted only a moment to brush with “F.U.B.U.” is poignant tonight. The audience constellational greatness. considers not just the broad applications In the space between when Solange & Co. to which this verse can apply, but the hyperleft the stage and returned for their “Don’t local as well. From Soul’d Out Productions, Touch My Hair” encore performance, I felt Portland’s first annual Soul’d Out Festival like an emotional exorcism had taken place inside the hall. People who have been policed and regulated for longer than their parents’ lives had moments of rare reprieve, to be as loud as they wanted, as regal as they wanted, as carefree as they wanted, as messy as they wanted, as Black as they wanted. There was not a low or weak moment anywhere in the show: It was a triumph for anyone who has fought for their right to occupy space existing in their own skin.

brought to the center stage artists playing funk, jazz, R&B, hip-hop and dance music: genres of music originated and perfected by black Americans. Eleven venues in the Whitest City in America hosted local legends and national headliners for five nights of entertainment that only celebrate and exemplify only a small beam of the total prism that is American Blackness.

Numerous acts worthy of coverage appeared on the eighth annual Soul’d Out Festival’s roster. But because I am a student with multiple jobs and a bank account that does not reflect this fact, I knew I wasn’t going to see even close to every show. My plan: witness the grandeur of Solange, use my Powers of Internship to see Big Freedia Queen Diva at Dante’s, and get adopted by Solange and/or Big Freedia and taken away from this #basic city/my student loans.

My night went almost entirely according to plan, though Multnomah County won’t let gay Caucasian men pushing 30 self-appoint successful Black femmes in their early thirties as their legal guardian(s). By the end of the night, I barely had enough energy to walk home. My head and heart were full, but my body and mind were spent.

Anyone who was lucky enough to see both shows had a unique, different-yet-similar experience from me. Add more shows to the mix, and you begin to see the totality of the Soul’d Out Festival’s curated experience. Legends, contemporaries, and nonmusicians came together to forge what hopefully will continue to be a new, proud tradition for a city already famous for its multi-venue festivals.

BIG FREEDIA QUEEN DIVA

Is this the best we can do for Big Freedia?

I’ve just power-walked from the Schnitz to Dante’s, hoping that I am going to see the opening act, Tribe Mars, for documentation’s sake. I made it to the sold-out Burnside landmark and felt sad knowing that, for my review purposes, this PDX-native soul/funk/ hip-hop band was going to get compared to an avant garde drummer, the Queen of Big Bounce and Beyoncé’s little sister. Yet, was Maarquii busy tonight? Tribe Mars’ rapper and vocalist were occasionally drowned out by their own music, and their energy and tempo simply did not match that of the aforementioned artists. As I wait for the transition between Tribe Mars and Big Freedia, I’m focused on the audience, and the similarities and differences between the people I just left at the Schnitz. The audience is diverse in gender, race, age and identity display: I was surprised to see people old enough to be my parents crowded into a room with guys in suits, drag queens and women of literally all shapes and sizes. Nobody here is dressed like they spend much time at the Schnitz, but the energy is the same: restlessly positive and excited.

BIG FREEDIA PREFORMS WITH BACKUP DANCERS AT DANTE’S FRIDAY APRIL 21. ANDREW D. JANKOWSKI/PSU VANGUARD

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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ARTS & CULTURE

BRIDGETOWN COMEDY FESTIVAL: A SUMMER CAMP OF COMEDIANS CASSIE DUNCANSON

The Portland-born Bridgetown Comedy Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary May 4–7. The event will kick off with a performance by Patton Oswalt on May 2 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

The Vanguard had the chance to speak with Bridgetown cofounders Andy Wood and Matt Braunger. Wood’s credits include working and performing on shows such as How to Build Everything and You Can Do Better and producing and acting in the movie Jason Nash is Married. Braunger has appeared on shows such as Agent Carter, BoJack Horseman, Pushing Daisies, and The Michael J Fox Show.

The two started the event in an effort to bring their favorite comedians and friends to Portland, which they found surprisingly lacking in terms of a comedy scene. A little over ten years ago, Wood was a member of an online message board for comedians and fans that discussed topics like altcomedy and the ’90s comic scene. Wood said that, when contemplating how to es-

tablish Portland as a place as desirable for comedians as Los Angeles or New York, he thought of all the comedians he was friends with, talked to and admired, and realized, “I could just ask that guy.” He continued asking friends, and friends of friends and so on, until the event grew and grew into a festival. Word of mouth.

Oswalt, who frequented those same message boards, reached out and added himself to the burgeoning line up.

Wood credits Oswalt’s presence and ability to draw a crowd as the reason the pair were able to continue the festival for a second year: The first event not only broke even, it made a small profit. “[Oswalt] isn’t one of those guys who closes doors behind him,” Wood said.

The first year included approximately 50 comics over three days. This year includes eight venues, 30 shows, and over 130 performers. Shit’s gonna be good.

Over the last decade, changes to the festival have largely reflected changes to the city itself. At its core

NOW SHOWING:

‘COLOSSAL’ REVIEW BY ZACHARY VANDEHEY To riff on the movie’s title (as every other reviewer certainly will), Colossal was colossally and pleasantly unexpected. Of course, seeing any film without having watched the trailers or read the reviews will always lower the predictability factor, and obviously you should stop reading now if you want to go into it raw (that’s the only spoiler alert you get). However, Colossal is so far off the beaten track that I still wouldn’t have seen anything coming even if I had majored in film for four years at an Ivy League university.

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Bridgetown remains, in Wood’s phrase, a “summer camp of comedians,” and a lot of the festival is about seeing new people and new ideas the public is not yet unaware of.

“Everything else has changed,” Wood said. The hotel room prices have gone up. The city has changed.

The cost of everything has changed. There is “a boom [where] everyone’s brother and sister is doing stand up.” The number of submissions for Bridgetown has increased significantly over the course of its history. However, Wood notes, “Everyone is so supportive of the festival that it maintains its original spirit.”

When asked what advice the two might have for budding comedians looking to break into the entertainment world, Braunger replied, “Don’t do it,” and a beat later “I’m kidding.” He recommends asking yourself one question before beginning: “Why are you doing it?”

“Satisfying your ego is great,” Braunger continued.

“But if it’s just for that, be careful. If you [are staying for

that], you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.” His second piece of advice is to “work on the stuff you think is funny.

Don’t write jokes you think other people think are funny.”

He added that for audiences it is really easy to tell where a comedian’s enthusiasm is—what really makes them mad or excited or sad. You just can’t fake it, in terms of your emotion.

“It’s a big problem these days, [you] can see what everyone else is doing,” Wood added. Thanks to platforms like Netflix, which produces recordings of live stand-up and makes them available to anyone with an ex’s password, lazy comedians are “aping what they’ve seen work for others, and it’s not fun for anyone.”

“The stakes are so low, you might as well do what you love,” Braunger said. “It can be paralyzing with that much freedom. Don’t be too hard on yourself or expect too much too fast. And don’t compare yourself [to others].”

One last piece of advice that Wood offers: “Be nice.

No one cares why you’re nice, but it will pay off.”

Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s fourth feature film, and his second in English, pushes the envelope within the sci-fi genre. The story follows Gloria (Anne Hathaway) through a drunken roller coaster of first having friends, then having no friends, then one friend, then lots of friends again, then that one friend is crazy, then no friends again, and so on. In short, the film is a typical metaphorical journey of an alcoholic and the relationships they sacrifice, depicted in arguably the most unorthodox way alcoholism could possibly be depicted.

We’ve all had drinks with friends before, and we’ve all had too many drinks with our friends, but not many of us have had a gigantic monster terrorizing a city across the world as a reminder of the stupid shit we do when we’re drunk.

For Gloria, realizing this was a truly sobering experience so to speak. Knowing you have a problem with drinking and that you need to stop is half the battle, but it’s the easier half. Resisting the urge, cutting out toxic relationships, and bettering yourself is the real war. Colossal emphasizes these hardships in a colossal fashion (I just can’t help myself, which is ironic).

While the action and suspense in Colossal is more than enough to keep the film’s energy at an optimum pace, what

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

Every Bridgetown Comedy Festival event is something to look forward to. Wood and Braunger said they were most excited about the Evening with the Guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000. (And you can catch up or familiarize yourself with old and new episodes on Netflix—as if you’ve forgotten.)

There will also be a couple of shows by The New Negroes, which features up and coming voices of color and just got a spot on Comedy Central.

Eugene Miriam, known for voicing Gene on Bob’s Burger’s and co-hosting Star Talk with Neil Degrasse Tyson will co-emcee Hold On with Eugene Miriam with guests Karen Kilgariff, Kyle Kinane and Guy Branum.

Branum has appeared on Chelsea Lately, Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and No Strings Attached; at Bridgetown he will appear in The Goddamn Comedy Jam, Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction, and Guy Branum’s Gay Bash.

The podcast Probably Science features comedians who have backgrounds

in STEM fields, including Andy Wood.

Fans of dogs and podcasts can look forward to Can I Pet your Dog?, featuring Janeane Garofalo. Garofalo has appeared in Wet Hot American Summer, Ratatouille, The West Wing and many, many others in addition to her work as an activist and stand-up comedian. At Bridgetown, she will also appear in Herlarious and Make America Laugh Again.

While it is possible to buy tickets at the door to individual events, Wood and Braunger strongly suggest buying a pass for the whole festival. With such a wide breadth of performances and events, it’s impossible to figure out in advance everything you’re going to want to see, so do yourself a favor and get a festival pass.

Note that all festival shows are 21+ unless otherwise indicated on their schedule.

Those interested in volunteering at Bridgetown can check out their volunteer page.

For more information about Bridgetown Comedy Fest, visit Bridgetowncomedy.com

really pushes it above and beyond is its portrayal of alcoholism’s effect on relationships. Many who stand on the outside looking in may consider self-control to be an inherent ability shared by all of us, and might feel that it is merely free will that urges us in the direction we’re heading, whether that road is good or bad. However true that may be, when selfcontrol falters relationships will take the wheel—whether the driver is good or bad. When a person is suffering from alcoholism there are those who aid them in quitting and those who aid them in holding the beer bong higher. In Colossal, the entire spectrum is portrayed through Gloria’s friendships and lack thereof: enablers, inhibitors, bystanders, etc.

The effects these have on Gloria and on the monster are where the film’s glass ceiling is shattered.

With most of the film being shrouded in a drunken stupor, the monster symbolism offers a unique perspective on the addiction and poignantly stresses the repercussions that come with excessive drinking. Though I may not be a big Hathaway fan, I was drinking up her performance in this one. Jason Sudeikis also hops into the abusive antagonist role with intoxicating fervor. Go see Colossal at Cinema 21 or Hollywood Theatre right now, and don’t let it be wasted.

If you don’t enjoy this film, you must be colossally drunk.

OPINION

DESENSITIZED TO DEMONSTRATIONS ARE WE IN AN ERA OF PROTEST FATIGUE? The Basket

by Sarah Alderson

LYDIA WOJACK-WEST According to the First Amendment, as citizens of the United States we have the right to protest peacefully. Public demonstrations have become a fairly common occurrence over the last few years, but what, if any, is the benefit? The most recent protest by Portland State students over the tuition increase was not successful. Tuition is still going up. Individuals protested the inauguration of President Donald Trump and against his election, and we march for modern-day civil rights.

Some protests have been effective; others have not. What makes a successful or unsuccessful protest? Can demonstrations still succeed, or have we crossed some line and moved away from the realm of effective protests?

I sat down with Dr. Winston Grady-Willis, director of the School of Gender, Race and Nations here at PSU. I wanted to know whether he felt protests were still being heard or if there was, in his words, “protest fatigue.” Grady-Willis pointed me toward a successful, day-long rally from December 2015 called Students of Color Speak Out. In this event, students of color shared their experiences in order to help create better understanding and encourage change. Two days later, students gathered in the Park Blocks. Coordinated between both PSU and Lewis and Clark College, students rallied together to hit the point home: Students of all races deserve the same opportunities and to feel safe in their school environments.

This particular protest was successful because PSU opened new centers for minority students on campus, and Lewis and Clark hired a new dean of diversity and inclusion.

This past November, students rallied against the election of now President Donald Trump. On Nov. 18, two days after the protest, PSU became a sanctuary campus. While President Trump may still be in office, PSU has shown Oregon and all of America that we are not racist and refuse to allow students to live in fear over citizenship status. Now PSU refuses to give out information on the citizenship status of its students and does not allow students to be arrested over citizenship on campus.

Again, in this demonstration, students’ voices were heard.

In the wake of the presidential election there have been several protests at PSU and throughout Portland. There have been walkouts, such as the January walkout after the inauguration, the “Day Without Immigrants” in February, and the Women’s March on Washington in January. All through November there were countless anti-Trump rallies across downtown, many making commutes difficult and some becoming near-riots.

Could so many protests lead to protest fatigue? That is to say, have we become so desensitized to the act of protest that it is no longer effective?

“HAVE WE BECOME SO DESENSITIZED TO THE ACT OF PROTEST THAT IT IS NO LONGER EFFECTIVE?” I asked Grady-Willis whether or not he believes protests have lost their effectiveness.

“I sincerely believe that protest can be very effective,” Grady-Willis said. “I say that not only as a scholar who has studied protests, but as somebody who has been a part of protest movements.”

Protesting may make a statement, but by itself, it is not enough. Protests should be the punctuation mark to a long sentence of communications and dialogue. Emails, rallies and meetings can start the dialogue necessary to promote the changes we want to see. It is important to remember that we have more avenues to advocate for ourselves, and those avenues should be explored first. Rallies can be set up to get out the message, petitions circulated, and emails sent. We must follow due process. We must go through the system to show

that the system is broken. Persistence and volume of participants can help to turn a small message into a much larger one.

It is also important to stop and think about the reasons some protests may fail; for example, consider the ineffectiveness of the recent tuition increase protests. In order to understand protest effectiveness, it is important to look at all aspects of the situation. According to OregonLive, PSU had no option but to raise tuition due to a lack of state funding, rising pensions and health care costs, and a need for a larger emergency fund. If the Board of Trustees felt there was no other choice, no amount of protesting could have changed that situation. The same could be said for the protests against the election of President Trump. Although not fair, President Trump won the electoral vote due to the distribution of proTrump voters. Unfortunately, no amount of protesting can change that.

What can we learn from both the successful and unsuccessful protests? Dialogue, timing, and knowing what holds a potential for change is everything. Protesting the result of an election that has already happened or a financial decision that has little alternative are futile attempts. Getting the word out through rallies, petitions, and social media before the event could have been more successful. When we can, we need to be proactive in creating the future that we want—not reactive.

However, when students stood up with Lewis and Clark in 2015 after an African student was attacked, changes were made. When students protested racism on Nov. 16, PSU became a sanctuary school. The big difference between the two was timing. With the Students of Color Speak Out and the Nov. 16 protests, there were changes that could be made and large groups to enact those changes. In the end, when thinking about protests for change, ask, “What sort of dialogue can help spread the message?” Using protests can be effective, but they must be combined with other forms of communication.

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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May 2–8

EVENT LISTINGS

ON CAMPUS FEATURED EVENT

ASPSU ELECTION ONLINE (USE YOUR VOTE!!!!!!

ODIN LOGIN) ELECTIONS OPEN FREE, ALL AGES THROUGH MAY 3 The president and vice president might be running unopposed, but as we learned in 2016, voting and civic engagement are important. Be among the fewer than 10 percent of PSU students who participate in Associated Students of PSU elections, and educate yourself beforehand on the candidates and what they stand for using our handy online guide.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 ROCK NOON LYNX & THE SERVANTS PARKWAY NORTH OF SONG FREE, ALL AGES The Portland rock band will play outdoors if weather permits for the Live@Lunch series. ASPSU election polling takes place in Parkway North regardless.

OUTDOOR FESTIVAL URBAN PLAZA PSU TWEETUP FREE, ALL AGES NOON PSU’s annual Twitter party gathers social media users for networking and to learn about Summer Term. Food & games on site.

Hashtag use earns prizes.

THEATRE LINCOLN THE MITZVAH PROJECT PERFORMANCE HALL 7 P.M. FREE, ALL AGES Play and Q&A by actor Roger Grunwald about WWII German veterans of mixedJewish heritage who served their country and the terrible fates that befell most of them after service.

SPEAKING UNIVERSITY POINTE SEXUALITY AND THE #102 BODY IN COMICS FREE, ALL AGES 7:30 P.M. Dr. Susan Kirtley moderates a panel consisting of Colleen Coover, Leila Del Duca, Celina Hernandez and Taneka Stotts on current topics in publishing for the Transmit Culture series.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3 ASPSU ELECTION BETWEEN NEUBERGER POLLING STATION HALL & SMSU NOON FREE, 18+ Polling station for the 2017 ASPSU election.

Make your voice heard; this has been a busy election cycle. Did you know it’s possible to vote online?

CULTURE SMSU BALLROOM JOURNEY TO SEOUL $7–10 (FREE W/PSU ID), 5 P.M. ALL AGES Showcase hosted by the Korean Student Association exploring historical and contemporary Korean culture. Featuring local cuisine, a traditional Hanbok fashion show, and performances from Hannah Cho, Yoona Yang, Joe Kye and the Oregon Korean Performing Arts.

ART RECEPTION 6 P.M. PASSIONFRUIT | AUTZEN GALLERY MELANIE FLOOD FREE, ALL AGES The photographer and contemporary artist presents her MFA graduate project exhibition.

THURSDAY, MAY 4 WORLD MUSIC PARKWAY NORTH PEIA FREE, ALL AGES NOON The “song-preserver” plays music in the tradition of tribal cultures from North & South America and Europe, and will play in the Park Blocks if weather allows.

ART TALK 6 P.M. CARLY MANDEL + LITTMAN GALLERY EILEEN ISAGON SKYERS FREE, ALL AGES Time Arts Club presents an artist talk by two contemporary artists ahead of the opening reception for their new exhibition, No Domain.

FILM 6:30 P.M. THE HEART OF NUBA SMSU 238 (2016) FREE, ALL AGES This documentary centers around Dr. Tom Catena and his practice in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, which is embroiled in the nearly-15-year-old Darfur genocide.

Dr. Jim Peck (Doctors Without Borders), who recently served at Mother of Mercy Hospital with Dr. Catena, is in attendance.

FILM 7 P.M. ROGUE ONE: A STAR PARKWAY NORTH WARS STORY (2016) FREE, ALL AGES Celebrate Star Wars Day, aka May the 4th, with a screening of the newest film.

I haven’t seen this since before Carrie Fisher died, and I’m not sure if I can emotionally handle CGI Princess Leia’s undead eyes in a world without Billie Lourd’s mom.

ASPSU ELECTION 1 P.M. ELECTION RESULTS SIMON BENSON HOUSE ANNOUNCEMENT FREE, ALL AGES Find out who won in the ASPSU elections.

ART OPENING 6 P.M. THE DAY IS BRIGHT WHITE GALLERY WITH BURNING FREE, ALL AGES FOSSILS | KAIA SAND The poet and contemporary artist presents an exhibition of new work on cloth and poetry inspired by fossil fuel, biofuels, fire and moths.

ART OPENING 6 P.M. NO DOMAIN | CARLY LITTMAN GALLERY MANDEL + EILEEN FREE, ALL AGES ISAGON SKYERS Brooklyn-based artists examine the weight and hierarchical value imposed on objects, places and pursuits in the context of accessibility and reproducibility.

FILM 5TH AVENUE CINEMA PROMISED LAND (2016) $5, ALL AGES 7 P.M. This documentary focuses on the Duwamish and the Chinook Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, and how these people are still fighting for the restoration of treaty rights, which shows a portion of a national conversation on how tribal sovereignty is recognized.

SATURDAY, MAY 6 LECTURE UNIVERSITY POINTE FILMOGRAPHY OF #102 ZHANG YIMOU FREE, ALL AGES 9:30 A.M. Dr. Wendy Larson presents on Zhang Yimou, who directed the spectacular 2008 Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony, and how his films impacted contemporary Chinese cinema.

FILM ACADEMIC AND KHOON DIY BAARAV STUDENT RECREATION (BLOOD LEAVES ITS CENTER 230 TRAIL) (2015) FREE, ALL AGES 5 P.M. This Indian film uses personal narrative to convey the complexities of the political unrest in Kashmir, and screens as part of the 2017 Film Southasia Festival.

FILM ACADEMIC AND MUZAFFARBAGAR STUDENT RECREATION BAAQI HAI (2015) CENTER 230 7 P.M. FREE, ALL AGES This Indian film on the devastating violence and unease between regional Hindus and Muslims screens as part of the 2017 Film Southasia Festival.

SUNDAY, MAY 7 FILM THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) 3 P.M.

(MULTIPLE SHOW DATES / TIMES) 5TH AVENUE CINEMA $4–5 (FREE W/PSU ID), ALL AGES This Jim Henson classic focuses on some creepy-as-hell puppets and their mythical struggle to return a broken shard to a powerful gemstone.

FILM ACADEMIC AND THE JOURNEY WITHIN STUDENT RECREATION (2015) CENTER 3 P.M. FREE, ALL AGES This Pakistani film on a post 9/11 music festival seeking to re-establish the national identity screens as part of the 2017 Film Southasia Festival.

MONDAY, MAY 8 FREE FOOD PSU PARK BLOCKS HARVEST SHARE NEAR SHATTUCK HALL NOON FREE, ALL AGES The monthly Harvest Share connects PSU students and community members with fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers and orchards. Bring your own bag.

INFO SESSION EAST HALL 109 FULBRIGHT FREE, ALL AGES 4 P.M. Learn about how to compete in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program Overseas Research or TA Fellowships.

FRIDAY, MAY 5 SUSTAINABILITY 1 P.M. SEED LIBRARY PSU SEED LIBRARY ORGANIZING + CRAFTS FREE, ALL AGES Help the PSU Student Sustainability Center keep its collection of 400+ plant seeds organized.

SHANNON KIDD

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PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

Andrew D. Jankowski

OFF CAMPUS FEATURED EVENT

DANCE PARTY 8 P.M. TWIN PEAKS DANCE THE FIXIN’ TO PARTY $10, 21+ SATURDAY, MAY 6, The Log Lady (Vera Mysteria) hosts this dance party celebrating the new season of the David Lynch cult classic TV series. Featuring drag and burlesque performances from Anastasia Euthanasia, Connor MacLoad, Baby Le’Strange, Eva D’Luscious and Rocket, music from DJ Dark Entries. Costume contest with fabulous prizes.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 FUNDRAISER MISSISSIPPI PIZZA DINING WITH DIGNITY FREE, ALL AGES 6 P.M. 10 percent of proceeds raised between 6–8 p.m. benefit the nonprofit Sisters of the Road. Live music from Sarah Clarke of Dirty Revival and Vicente Elisheva.

R&B CRYSTAL BALLROOM KEHLANI SOLD OUT, ALL AGES 7 P.M. The America’s Got Talent alum was featured on the Suicide Squad and The Fate of the Furious soundtracks, is frequently popping up on critics’ lists, and comes to Portland in support of her debut album, SweetSexySavage.

COMEDY ARLENE SCHNITZER PATTON OSWALT CONCERT HALL 7:30 P.M. $35–45, ALL AGES The Bridgetown Comedy Festival brings the comedian/actor/tweeter to Portland, promoting his new Netflix special Talking for Clapping.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3 METAL 8 P.M. OKILLY DOKILLY, DANTE’S BEATALLICA, LATTER $15, 21+ DAY SKANKS A comedy-metal night. One of the opening acts plays Metallica-inspired Beatles covers, and the headliner is the viral Ned Flanders-themed band you probably saw on Facebook.

HIP-HOP ROSELAND THEATER E–40 $25–150, ALL AGES 8 P.M. The rap legend comes to Portland on the On One Tour in support of his new albums, The D-Boy Diaries: Books 1 & 2.

INDIE ROCK EXPERIENCE THE SKELETON KEYS, 8:30 P.M. FIGHTING JAZZ, KELLY’S OLYMPIAN THE OUT OF BODY $5, 21+ Portland rock bands playing within walking distance of campus that are also affordable.

THURSDAY, MAY 4

ART OPENING 5 P.M. AN EDUCATION | P:EAR JEREMY OKAI DAVIS FREE, ALL AGES Personal-based work by the contemporary painter focus on his lived experience “as an African-American, artist, son, brother and friend,” using family photos and elements of pop culture.

TRIVIA PUNCH BOWL SOCIAL LET THE WOOKIEE WIN $5, 21+ 7 P.M. Star Wars team trivia night on May the Fourth (geddit, it sounds like “May the Force be with you”). Costumes are encouraged, registration is required.

HIP-HOP 7 P.M. MURS, ILLMAC + HAWTHORNE THEATER GOLDINI BAGWELL, ST. $16, 21+ WARHEAD The independent rapper comes to Portland in support of his new album, Captain California.

SYNTH POP 9 P.M. CHAMP!ON, MAURICE KENTON CLUB AND THE STIFF FREE, 21+ SISTERS, ELLIS PINK Trio of synth pop bands sponsored by Kenton Kuts.

FRIDAY, MAY 5 TELEVISION STAG PDX NINA BO’NINA BROWN $6–25, 21+ 5 P.M. Nina Bo’Nina Banana Fofana Osama bin Laden Brown hosts this week’s RuPaul’s Drag Race hosting party. Come find out if she’s still a current contestant or not.

THEATRE SHOW DATES/TIMES) THAT PRETTY PRETTY BACK DOOR THEATER (OR, THE RAPE PLAY) $15–25, ALL AGES 7:30 P.M. (MULTIPLE Defunkt Theatre presents a play about an all-American murderous rampage of radical feminist ex-strippers vs. anti-abortion conservatives, and the tale of a screenwriter and his best friend “hold[ing] forth on rape and other manly enterprises.”

NIGHTLIFE KILLINGSWORTH LEZ DO IT DYNASTY 9 P.M. $5, 21+ DJs Chelsea Starr and Mr. Charming lay down music for Portland’s coolest monthly lesbianand-friends party.

SATURDAY, MAY 6

PARTY PORTLAND MEADOWS KENTUCKY DERBY DAY FREE, ALL AGES NOON Live music, games and best dressed & best hat contests.

FILM 4:30 P.M. AMERICA IS WAITING WHITSELL AUDITORIUM (2017) $6–9, ALL AGES Seattle director Georg Koszulinkski presents a reverse-chronological documentary about President Donald Trump’s inauguration and the national protests that marked it.

DANCE PARTY STAG PDX BRONCO $6+, 21+ 9 P.M. Clothing-optional gay dance party featuring a photo booth, Seattle’s DJ Matt Stands, and male go-go dancers and strippers, including headlining adult performer Boomer Banks.

NIGHTLIFE 9 P.M. SUBSENSORY BIT HOUSE SALOON PRESENTS: DEVELOPER $15, 21+ The L.A. techno artist is supported by local artists Marcus Knauer, Jak and DMUX. COMEDY ARLENE SCHNITZER JERRY SEINFELD CONCERT HALL 9:30 P.M. $117+, ALL AGES The legendary stand-up comedian is either on yet another lap of his victory tour around the world or is promoting his upcoming Netflix special(s).

NIGHTLIFE FUNHOUSE LOUNGE OKURRRRRR?! $10, 21+ 10 P.M. Ann Pyne’s monthly drag party features performances from Noni St. Darling, Ilona, Angelica D’Vil, Flawless Shade, Sean Chamberlain and Jerms, and music from DJ Dio Gionnii.

SUNDAY, MAY 7 FILM PARIS THEATRE BLOOD DINER (1987) $16, ALL AGES NOON This horror cult classic has been recently remastered and features a Q&A with director Jackie Kong. Blood Diner-style Bloody Mary bar from Gospel Brunch is 21+.

CIRCUS DATES / TIMES) IN CLOSE PROXIMITY ECHO THEATER 3 P.M. (MULTIPLE SHOW $15–25, ALL AGES Tempos Circus Troupe explores the relationship between music, dance, touch and the people who perform those activities.

FUNDRAISER DARCELLE XV THE STARS COME OUT SHOWPLACE TO SHINE $10, 21+ 5 P.M. Drag revue to benefit the Tiara Desmond Memorial Scholarship Fund. Hosted by Poison Waters, featuring Mr. Mitchell, Bebe J, Alexis Campbell Starr, Cassie Nova, Miss Bee Haven, Portland’s Own Liza, Summer Seasons and Bolivia Carmichaels.

MUSIC CRYSTAL BALLROOM PJ HARVEY $79+, ALL AGES 7:30 P.M. The legendary singer-songwriter tours in support of her new Grammynominated album, The Hope Six Demolition Project (2016).

SYMPHONY 4 P.M. PORTLAND YOUTH ARLENE SCHNITZER PHILHARMONIC SPRING CONCERT HALL CONCERT $5–26, ALL AGES The orchestra presents Debra Kaye’s Ikarus, Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony no.

8, and Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor by PYP Concerto Competition 2017 winner Annie Zhang.

NIGHTLIFE LOVECRAFT BAR SAD DAY $10, 21+ 9 P.M. The Saddest Party in Portland’s theme this month is Lilith Phair 2: a tribute to ‘90s culture, music and festivals.

MONDAY, MAY 8 FILM 7 P.M. YU-GI-OH!: THE DARK HOLLYWOOD THEATER SIDE OF DIMENSIONS $15, ALL AGES (2016) This animé film takes places 6–12 months after the finale of the original manga, and celebrates the 20th anniversary of the manga/card game’s release.

EDUCATION THE HERB SHOPPE EAT YOUR YARD FREE, ALL AGES 7 P.M. Heather Stoken leads this class on how to eat common yard weeds, including dandelions and dead nettle, using delicious, nourishing recipes.

DRAG BEUHLAHLAND COFFEE NEW DRAG NAME FREE, ALL AGES 9 P.M. One of the few all-ages queer nights in Portland. Visual displays from Listen Lady, music from DJ Buckmaster, performances from Mynx, Rak Salt, Nae Nae Dominatrix, Sichorny Beaver and Ida Summer Garden.

PSU Vanguard • MAY 2, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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ROBBY DAY