The Commuter - May 2025

letter

editor

As spring term winds down, so is The Commuter’s output for the 2024-25 school year.

You’re holding our final magazine before summer. After this, The Commuter staff will be hunkering down to fight through spring term slump and finals to emerge to the sunny freedom on the other side.

With this being our last edition for several months, I’d like to highlight the incredible work our team published over the school year. On May 2, it earned some well-earned recognition at the 2025 Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association’s Collegiate Media Day, where The Commuter won 21 total awards. Three of those were for staff efforts, and eight members of our team won individual honors.

A big “thank you” is due to the LBCC event staff for helping host Media Day on campus, and I’d also like to thank everyone who read or otherwise supported The Commuter over the school year – you’re what makes putting this magazine together worth it.

This letter marks my last at The Commuter, as I’ll be graduating from LBCC after this term. This is the 17th issue I’ve been able to contribute to during my time at this publication – two years filled with a lot of great memories and lessons learned.

I’m far from the only student who will be closing a big chapter of my life when I move on from LBCC, which is why I’m glad The Commuter was able to share the thoughts of two other members of the class of 2025 in our “Grad Spotlight” on page 14.

There are a lot of awesome people at LBCC, and it’s my sincere hope that this school year we at The Commuter were able to showcase the great things they’re doing.

us join the team from the

The Commuter is the student-run magazine for LBCC, financed by student fees and advertising. Opinions expressed in The Commuter do not necessarily reflect those of the LBCC administration, faculty and students of LBCC. Editorials, columns, letters, and cartoons reflect the opinions of the authors. LBCC is an equal opportunity educator and employer.

letters welcome

The Commuter encourages readers to use its “Opinion” section to express their views on campus, community, regional and national issues. The Commuter attempts to print all submissions received, but reserves the right to edit for grammar, length, libel, privacy concerns and taste. Opinions expressed by letter submitters do not represent the views of The Commuter staff or the college.

It’s bittersweet finishing up, but I’m excited to see what the team has planned for the fall. It’s already time to start thinking about next school year, and if you’re interested in joining The Commuter for the next publication cycle, it’s not too early to reach out.

But we’re not closing the book on spring term just yet. There are still plenty of interesting things happening on campus leading up to summer, and make sure to check our website, lbcommuter.com, for extra articles when you’re finished with this magazine.

It’s almost summer, Roadrunners. Finish strong!

Ryland Bickley Editor-in-Chief

Wanna get together? We’re really nice and fairly cool and we’d love to hear what you have to say. Not big on journalism but love to journal? Perfect. Are you a STEM major with major opinions? Let’s hear ’em. Like writing about ’80s film? Local animals? Snack hacks? Maybe you have a hefty folder of flash fiction on your laptop, just dying to be published and printed. Drop us a line. We’d love to meet you, read you, and support you. Think your ideas might be too weird or too niche for submission? Even better. The Commuter is an award-winning publication because of our wide range of contributions and our unique contributors. So reach out. We’ll be staring at our email inbox in the meantime, not an ounce of chill to be had.

cover photo by BRENDA AUTRY

“The Board Is for Everyone!”

words by ANTHONY DREWS

During the renovation of Takena Hall in 2024, a construction worker on his break noticed a large whiteboard near the entrance to the First Resort office. Curious, he walked over to take a closer look. The top of the board posed a question in large font, below which a plethora of multicolored answers were scrawled beneath.

Reading the replies, and the etiquette guidelines posted nearby, the worker deduced that these were the thoughts of students passing by the board as they went to and from classes. As he mused on this, an LBCC instructor walked by and noticed the worker’s inquisitive glance.

By sheer coincidence, this happened to be one of the board’s brainchilds, communications faculty and advisor to the school’s Civil Discourse Program, Mark Urista.

He stopped and struck up a conversation. As they talked, Urista remarked that the worker had quite a few meaningful insights on the board’s question and invited him to add his thoughts to the board. The worker was reluctant, saying he was not part of LBCC’s staff or student body.

“Bulls—, the board is for everyone!” Urista replied.

Indeed, the community discussion boards set up around LBCC’s Albany and Corvallis campuses are designed for an open, honest discourse with anyone who walks through the halls. Set up in 2017 by the Civil Discourse Program at LBCC, the aim is to get people talking about key issues facing the school, community, country, and world at large.

This endeavor began with a controversial artwork display in North Santiam Hall during 2017, graphically depicting a sexual act between two male subjects. Despite it being hand-picked by the art department faculty, this display caused an uproar amongst some students, faculty, and public visitors to the gallery. The debate surrounding it garnered so much attention that a story about it ran in the local newspaper, the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Inevitably, the controversy was brought up for discussion by a student

“

I don't really know how we are supposed to benefit from that diversity if we're not actively engaging with each other and having these open, honest, authentic conversations.

in Urista’s communications class. He allowed the class to use it as the topic of an upcoming debate assignment, on one condition: Despite the overwhelming support among students to remove the artwork, one side of the debate had to make a good faith effort to argue for keeping it displayed.

His students reluctantly agreed, and in the course of their research something interesting began to happen: support for the artwork to remain actually started increasing. While not everyone supported the art directly, a growing number of students did start to have concerns about censorship and the slippery slope it could lead to. This led to a lively debate in class, and later on two students organized a community “debate” event that the public could attend. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and even though those in attendance may have had differing views, almost everyone agreed that this sort of public discussion was a positive thing.

This positive feedback encouraged Urista and his students to create a student club based on open communication, and the Civil Discourse Program was born. The specific idea for the board came from another faculty member, Hailey Adkisson. Her previous institution, North Dakota State University, had

implemented something they called a “democracy board”: a large whiteboard where questions were periodically posted, and students could come over and write responses.

“It's just really hard to find a time and place where you can bring lots of people together physically. But we thought, ‘Hey, a whiteboard, we could probably actually encourage some discourse where people can participate in a manner that's convenient for them,’” Urista recalled.

This convenience solved another issue that Urista had noticed early on with the art controversy. While his diverse friend groups were all talking about it, they were not talking about it with each other. Each group was isolated in its own echo chamber, simply reinforcing things they already believed and felt.

“We often talk about the importance of diversity and interacting with people who are different than us,” Urista says, “but I don't really know how we are supposed to benefit from that diversity if we're not actively engaging with each other and having these open, honest, authentic conversations.”

And so, anyone can borrow a whiteboard marker to add their thoughts anonymously, without fear of reprisal.

Continued on page 09.

photo by AYDEN HORTT

Whiteboard responses to a prompt about Oregon's low reading and math scores.

Community Education offers many non-credit personal enrichment and professional development courses so you can check that off your bucket list, take that fitness class, or learn a foreign language before traveling.

beyond the

classroom:

with Robert Harrison

words and photo by LIANA LAHANN

The people always have more power than they think.”

Dr. Robert Harrison is a history instructor at LinnBenton Community College, well known for his dress up “historical talk show” exercises and novel-heavy curriculum. Teaching at LBCC for the better part of two decades, he is dedicated to making his classes engaging and memorable to students of all ages and backgrounds.

Packed to the brim with books, reenactment props, costumes, and even a claw machine, Harrison’s office is a reflection of the dynamic classroom environment he strives to create. To combat the reputation of history classes for being monotonous, textbook heavy, and memorization-based, Harrison prioritizes interactive roleplay and immersive experiences to get students to understand and enjoy the course material.

Harrison’s passion for World War II and Civil War history extends to his understanding of modern politics and provides a well-rounded perspective in a climate that all too often slips into a fit of tunnel vision. He said, “You may forget the past, but you will be reliving it again and again.”

How long have you been teaching here? Have you taught anywhere else?

Nineteen years. I taught in New Jersey before here. And I taught at several schools before that also.

Why have you chosen to stay at Linn-Benton for so long?

Because I love Oregon so much. And of all the places I've taught around the country, Oregon's the best. So that's really the main reason. I met my wife in Oregon the year before I came here, and so we love it here. We don't really want to teach or live anywhere else.

What made you decide to pursue teaching as your career?

Well, I was a journalism major in college, but it didn't work out. And then I took a history of journalism class and I liked it. I liked the history part of it. And so my dad was a teacher, and it was just kind of natural for me to try history.

What kind of classes do you most enjoy teaching?

I like all my history classes, and I've taught just about every history you could name of any culture or any period. I think ancient civilization is probably my favorite. What does that entail?

Ancient cultures of, say, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and the rise of Christianity.

It's just a lot of fun. It's colorful. You have to pick and choose. You can't cover everything, but you can make it a lot of fun. You can focus on the pyramids and mummies and people like that kind of stuff. And then the other period I like very much is the American Civil War and World War II. So all of those together, I like everything.

Is there a specific subject or event within history that you're most passionate about?

Well, for example, in my History 103 we study World War II, but I have the students go through spy training. Some of the same training that British spies went through in World War II. So we do that hands-on training stuff.

This term, I'm teaching my Living Civil War History class. It's two weekends, and the students become Civil War reenactors or living historians, and they participate in a reenactment out near Lebanon. So any opportunity I have to get students not just to learn history but do it, that I think is very valuable for them.

What does your spy training entail?

They have to learn Morse code. They have to memorize the blueprint of LBCC, because that's something spies had to do. They have to avoid distractions and stay focused. They have to be interrogated to see if they've memorized their — they have a spy persona. They portray people who actually were spies in World War II.

I heard you have your students dress up in costumes. How do you work that into your curriculum?

Gesturing to a rack of colorful costumes behind him, spanning astronaut uniforms, to old gowns, military uniforms from different time periods, and more …

This is for something all my classes do. It's called “Meeting of the Minds,” and it's where students portray historical people. They come into class and I interview them in a talk show format.

Probably the best thing about my class is most students, even if they get nervous about doing it, they remember. More than anything, they remember the character they portrayed.

I never do multiple-guess tests. My classes are all essays. And I also use historical novels. There is a ton of reading in my classes. They're not easy, and I want students to read extensively because they don't read enough these days. So a novel is a great way to get introduced to history because it's not like a textbook. It's more interesting. The more they're reading about history or anything else, the better educated they're going to be.

What are some of your favorite novels that you have students read?

My favorite all-time book, and I probably have it here. It's called “The Source.” It's a novel about ancient civilization by a guy named James Michener. He's a world-famous author, or was while he was living. This is my favorite book that I use without a doubt. It's about 1,100 pages. They only do half of it. It's still challenging, though.

This book is called “The March.” It's a historical novel about Sherman's March during the Civil War. And this is what I use in my History 202 class. So this brings you inside this event with some of the characters, and the events really happened. You get more committed to the characters, to the events when it's written up like this.

I don't use that many, what we call regular “textbooks.” They're dry, and I don't believe in them. I do use a couple that I've had experience with and I think are really good. But in some of my classes, like ancient civ, there is no textbook. All the reading is on Moodle, and then they get that novel that they have to read. If you could name one way you're seeing history repeat itself right now for your students to remember, what would it be?

I think we have a huge gap between the very wealthy and poor again in this country. That's happened before. It's a pattern that we've seen in American history. It's not good.

We also see, in my opinion, demagoguery in American politics now. Politicians who really are not interested in the public good, but in their own increase of their own power. That's happened before, plenty of times. And I don't think we have enough people pointing that out.

The other thing I see a lot is we whitewash our past. We take events that were very negative: slavery, racism. Many people tend to want to whitewash those and downplay it.

There's now an effort to rid schools of what's called DEI: diversity, equity, and inclusion training or learning. I think that's a mistake. We've seen that before in U.S. history too. Our history gets rewritten, repackaged for different political purposes. And usually that repackaging is a distortion of what really happened.

That doesn't mean we haven't made progress because we have, but I don't

think enough Americans know their past. It's kind of like to me, America is a live-for-now culture.

I've actually heard people say, “Well, that's past. You can forget it.” You may forget the past, but you will be reliving it again and again.

I believe in an educated citizenry who's engaged. And they can have different opinions, right, left, all that, but they care about their community. They know what's going on. They get engaged. Maybe it's voting. Maybe it's being on a school board. Maybe it's just like what you're doing, you know, writing a newspaper article. And I don't see enough of that engagement. That's an issue we've had in the past too in this country.

I'm still optimistic because things in the past in some ways were so much worse than now. And progress has been made by courageous people and groups. And maybe it's slower than we'd like, but I think we have, you know, we have a Constitution and a form of government, a republic that is durable. And it gets tested and pushed and challenged.

I think it's happening right now where you have a president wanting more and more power. That's happened in the past too. But I think we will come out of it maybe even better. And the republic, its institutions and ideas are very resilient. I have even heard people say, “Well, this could be the end of democracy in this country.” And I don't think so. I think it's going to endure. And, you know, in the end, the people always have more power than they think.

What part of history do you think doesn't get enough coverage in education today?

I still think there's too much political history. We need more history of the arts, of culture. There can still be a tendency to use the “great man theory” of history, like you've got this king or this emperor or this president, and then it kind of all flows from that. So I try to go from the bottom up to tell stories of so-called ordinary people.

You have to talk about great leaders and big events. Like even when I'm talking about World War II and big battles, I always try to show how it's shaped by people we may not have ever heard of.

I think we need to challenge students with more on issues of race, gender, sexual orientation.

Continued on page 14.

Oaxaca’s Clay Artists Celebrated at Benton Center in Corvallis

words and photos by MIKE MCREYNOLDS

Three renowned pottery artists from Oaxaca, Mexico spoke to about one hundred people at LBCC’s Benton Center in Corvallis during an April 18 celebration that kicked off a weekend of workshops in the center’s pottery studio.

After the reception, each artist, with the help of an interpreter, held a Powerpoint presentation about the path they took to become the pottery artist they are today. Each artist's story was one of the many highlights of the evening, heartwarming, humorous, and inspiring.

LBCC visual arts faculty member Renee McKitterick, who was in charge of the event, said about 40 people came to the workshops at the Benton Center. “These artists are having a pretty substantial tour of Oregon planned which really took quite a few partnerships to make it all happen.” The artists hosted workshops in the Benton Center’s ceramic studio April 19-20.

LBCC was one of three community colleges on the tour, which also stopped at Yamhill County’s East Creek Pottery.

“We love to host international artists and have done so many times over the years,” McKitterick said. “It is always such a rewarding experience for our students and our community. In order to make this happen we really rely on so much support from the college, from local artist groups, from our own faculty, and of course we have to find the funding.”

She mentioned the LBCC Peace Grant as an “enormous supporter” for the project. The grant, funded by the LBCC Foundation, provides seed money to projects that support community and civic engagement.

Each artist’s work from the workshops is pictured with their bios. They are in their unglazed stage. The Commuter will post an update to the

online version of this story when the pottery is finished. The main clay they used is called “Three Finger Jack.” They also used a little “MAC 10” and “B-MIX.”

Bios via LBCC. They have been lightly edited.

Honorio Cruz

Honorio Cruz was born in Santiago Suchilquitongo, Oaxaca, in 1987. He belongs to a family of farmers. From an early age he was involved in growing crops

“

We love to host international artists and have done so many times over the years... It is always such a rewarding experience for our students and our community.

such as corn, beans and pumpkins. In his childhood, he recalls this time as his first approach to “la tierra” (soil/ground).

At age 15, given the harsh conditions, he had to stop studying and went on to work as a carpenter. By the chance of fate, Cruz heard the rumor that Maestro Alejandro Santiago, a prominent Oaxacan artist, was planning on starting a large ceramics workshop in Suchilquitongo to develop a colossal art project “2501 Migrantes” (2501 Migrants). By the nature and scale of the project, Santiago hired several young assistants to help him forge his vision.

This is where Cruz learned how to prepare clay, and little by little he was involved in all things concerned about ceramics: sculpture, supervising color, firing, etc. Once the project was completed, Santiago invited Cruz to remain collaborating in his art studio, where he stayed for over two years.

To this day, Maestro Cruz has participated in over 20 exhibitions, solo and collective. In 2015, he was invited by painter Ivonne Kennedy to co-found the “EL ATANOR” Ceramics Workshop. He said many teachers such as Santiago contributed to his artistic formation and directed him to create and establish a deep dialogue within the ceramic realm.

As a result of this, in 2018 Cruz opened his own ceramics work called “EL TECOLOTE” in Santiago Suchilquitongo Etla, the place that has witnessed his artistic growth. In 2021 he participated in a group exhibition at the original plaza in Los Pinos Cultural Center, Mexico City.

Cruz considers himself a self-taught artist, creating fantastical characters that try to emulate a hidden reality. In 2017 he had a show “In the back room” at the Eutectic Contemporary; he also participated in “Migratory Flow,” a group exhibition at the Mexican consulate in Portland, Oregon.

▲ Reception at the "Hands of Oaxaca" event in April.

Inés Lara

Inés Lara was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. Her interest in the arts led her to study at the “Saúl Serrano” Art Center in Mexico City. She also took some workshops and was a diplomat at the San Agustín Oaxaca Center for the Arts.

In her creative process, she plays with different themes and techniques: sculpture, drawing, engraving and painting, in order to express herself through symbols, characters and animals.

In recent years she has been making sculptures with different materials such as ceramics and recycled materials. Her work shows that link between nature, life and death, using a means of expression that includes tradition with modernity.

She has presented her work in various exhibitions: Galerie Artes in Paris, France, Nahualli Gallery in New York City, and in the Potosino Institute of Fine Arts as well as many others. She has taught sculpture workshops in Los Angeles and in some communities in the city of Puebla.

Rufina Ruiz

Clay needs movement to take shape, and once it is ready – still in its place, while you look at it – it will travel with you as its energy enters into whoever admires it.

Clay screams and asks for movement and that is what the hands of Rufina Ruiz López do. Always immersed in a new project, Rufi, as she is called, turns the earth into beauty with alternative energies.

In her house of inspiration, the Ruiz López Workshop, she exploits her vocation as a teacher with 45 years of training – education will always be her priority. The workshop, a family collective, was created to promote the artists of Santa María Atzompa, where teachers, artists, creatives and innovators fuse traditional techniques with new contemporary methods and materials.

While there is a code of etiquette to curb off-topic or intentionally inflammatory responses, Urista could not recall a specific time the club ever had to remove or censor anything from the board. This anonymity allows all to share open, honest opinions to facilitate a larger discussion in a way that is convenient for all.

However, there may still be room for improvement. One person who sees the board regularly (and who wished to remain anonymous) stated that, “sometimes the questions posed are too binary, too polarizing.” They remarked that many of the prompts, while thought-provoking, seemed to lean towards a “black and white” discussion when issues in the world are often more “grey” and nuanced.

All in all, the community discussion board has become so popular that other institutions, including some not in education, have begun setting up their own version of the board. In addition, the Civil Discourse Program has been invited to host statewide forums at Oregon State University regarding various issues affecting the community. And Urista hopes that this success continues to spread beyond the local community.

“There's a phrase, the ‘laboratories of democracy’; cities and states can run experiments and when they find something that's successful, then they can share those ideas with other cities and states across the country. We have an environment that's ideal for creating a ‘laboratory’ for civil discourse, and now we're just trying to help others do the same.”

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ SLC PRESIDENT

Lileanna Johnson

interview by EMILY JIMERSON photo by AYDEN HORTT

Lileanna Johnson is a freshman studying human development and family services. She’s lived in Oregon her entire life and in Albany specifically since she was 2 years old. She recently began her first term as LBCC’s president of the Student Leadership Council.

Johnson loves biking, music, art, and cats. She's artsy and outgoing and always has either an instrument or an art project in hand. She plays the piano and is currently learning the guitar and autoharp. Her favorite art medium is acrylics. She’s excited to serve as the new SLC president, helping meet the needs of students on campus and better her community.

What brought you to LBCC?

A lot of my family's gone to LB, but I wasn't going to go to LB at first. I was planning on going to some big four-year [university]. And then at my high school, we had a table for LBCC and I went over to them and I said, “I'm kind of interested. Can you tell me more?” And so then I got registered and now I'm here.

What do your new roles and responsibilities look like as the president?

The majority of what I'm supposed to do is just kind of keep track of the SLC as a whole. I write agendas for our weekly meetings where everyone catches up with each other; we all talk about what we're doing and who's doing what. And it's just kind of keeping the community within the SLC right now.

I’m working on creating the task reports, which we kind of just respond to what we do every week just to keep us accountable. I also meet with the president of the college and I go to the Board of Education meetings to represent

the students every month. So that's important because I’m often one of the only students they really get to talk to. So just trying to remember that I am often going to people as the face of LBCC and they want to hear about us through me. And so a lot of it's listening to students too, talking to people and making sure that what the SLC does and how I communicate student needs to the administrators is accurate. What are some challenges that the SLC expects to face in this upcoming school year?

I think some challenges that we're expecting to face are there may be some cut fundings and such, and also we've been trying to get a food pantry open for students for a bit, but there's some difficulties and we can't do that right now. But just kind of going on that strain in general, trying to figure out what the students need and get them that. But it's hard if we can't make that accessible, whether due to the fact that we don't have the space for it or the money. And also a lot of times we can't communicate properly to the students. Not many students know who the SLC is, so it's hard to figure out what every student needs.

How do you hope to overcome these challenges?

I think a lot of it is just trying to keep those open modes of communication. We've done classroom presentations, which seem to get the word out a lot. And I think just being on campus, we need to talk to people, be here where they can come to us if they need to and just create those open modes of communication … because a lot of people, I think, are a little bit scared to talk to us too because our office feels very small and official. So just

trying to make people feel like, hey, we are the student voice. We are here for students and we're going to do that.

What influenced you into going into human development and family services?

I think a lot of it is because I've always known that I wanted to help people and work with people, and then I think I went on a tour of a jail and just, I don't know, something about that. I want to help people work to better themselves. I was interested in being a police officer, but I don't want to be the one arresting people. I want to work probation or corrections, help people get what they need to and help just work out problems that they might be facing.

What do you hope to accomplish most while the SLC president?

I think a lot more of trying to spread the word and maintain connections because after the pandemic there were a lot of interests that dropped off and a lot of teachers even who don't know what the SLC is. I think that the old team did a really good job of trying to fix that. And so just taking that to another level and also kind of just creating more on-campus resources. We did a food drive

recently, and I mentioned that we want to start a food pantry, which isn't an option right now, but if we can find other ways to give students those resources that would be amazing. Is there anything else that you'd want students to know about the SLC or about the human development and family services program?

I think mostly it's just to explore and to realize that there's more to it than what it seems like. There's far more jobs and professions in human services than people think.

And the SLC is a lot of things that we tell people about that they didn't even know. We send people to Salem and to Washington, D.C. to talk to legislature. We ran the vote campaign during fall of 2024. We're on campus and we're doing things and we're helping the students. And just, I think there's a wide variety of stuff that we do that people don't know about and they don't take advantage of. And I think that if more people could realize how much we are on campus to help them and how much we do to help them, it could really help students understand, oh, this campus really wants us to succeed and that they have the resources too.

Phoebe Denbo is a freshman studying political science. She was born in Albany, but raised in Sweet Home for the majority of her life. She is the second oldest of nine children. She loves reading, running, hiking, and swimming. Denbo has run two marathons and is planning for a third one in October. She recently began her first term as LBCC’S vice president of the Student Leadership Council.

Currently, she works as a swim instructor for young children at the Sweet Home Community Pool. She has a compassionate heart to serve those around her and meet students’ needs, especially those who are struggling with mental health. What made you choose political science?

I have goals to go into policy analysis, so I'd like to shape public policy and try to implement that.

What brought you to LBCC specifically?

Just first of all, the distance. It was close, to be completely transparent. And then I have family who went here as well and I took some classes with my mom. She'd bring me in when I was a little kid, and so I've always liked the campus.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT ⋅ SLC VICE PRESIDENT

Phoebe Denbo

big thing that we do. So I'll be organizing that. I'll be managing incoming interns for the fall. That's one of the big things that we do. Campus outreach, I have some hand in that. There are other roles too and responsibilities.

What would you say the team dynamic is like within the SLC?

What have been the most rewarding parts of the political science program?

How did you originally get involved with the SLC?

Yeah, so I took one of [SLC advisor] Rob Camp's classes. It was my first year seminar that you're required to attend [as a freshman]. He had mentioned the SLC and then one of my classmates was Lileanna, the current president, and [Camp] mentioned that they were looking for interns and that seemed like a really, really good way to get involved on campus. I kind of have the belief that the more involved in a community you are, the more likely you are to succeed. So that kind of was the path to that. And I started as an intern.

What will your new roles and responsibilities look like as vice president?

So one of the key responsibilities is just working well as a team. The only way the SLC can be successful and do the roles effectively is if we all work together. The other one is disciplinary actions within the SLC. Also the campus blood drives – that's a really, really

Very, very positive. I haven't had a bad experience with anyone. The mutual support has been really, really emphasized. We have multiple event planners and multiple volunteer coordinators, so no one is really doing one job alone. Even Lileanna and I will kind of lean on each other. So it's overwhelmingly positive. We're overwhelmingly just a team player community, so to speak.

What are some challenges that the SLC expects to face within this upcoming school year?

Issues with food insecurity and basic resources [for students]. Trying to find ways to address them that are actually effective for the student body. We've had some really, really good conversations about some actions that we can implement going forward, but I think just finding a good way to meet the needs of the student body. How do you plan on overcoming those challenges?

Just leaning on each other. I think a key to success is being able to bounce ideas off of one another and kind of playing through what might work and what might not. We've had some really good ideas that we're hoping to implement. … So it's really just dialogue and being willing to communicate with one another.

So I just changed [my major] last semester from environmental science. There are positives. I think the programs that I'm in kind of open up the world a little bit more in particular. This is kind of separate from my major, but one of the extracurriculars I'm involved in is the Civil Discourse Program. And it's just about fostering healthy dialogue with people who are vastly different from you sometimes. And then this term, I'm taking a critical debate and discourse class and anthropology. And so these classes have kind of expanded my worldview a bit and they just made my life a little bit richer outside of school.

How do you balance your work, school, and SLC life?

It's a challenge. If you talk to anyone from the SLC, they'll tell you the same thing. It's just making time for everything I have to do during the week, truthfully is what it is. And then I think the biggest thing I'm running into is it's very, very easy to overextend myself if I know that people have expectations of me. And so what I've done is kind of build standards of expectation for myself. So that's something I can always fall back on if I fail to meet some perceived expectation from another person, if that makes sense.

What do you hope to accomplish most while the SLC vice president?

I really like to address basic needs. Food insecurities are a really,

Continued on page 15.

“...it's just about fostering healthy dialogue with people who are vastly different from you sometimes.”

interview by EMILY JIMERSON photo by BRENDA AUTRY

"Beyond the Classroom with Robert Harrison"

Continued from page 07.

How many people, if you ask them and said, “What was Stonewall?” would know? Or if you say, “What happened at Selma, Alabama in the 1960s?”

Howard Zinn, the great historian, wrote “A People's History of the United States.” That's what I think we need more about. I think we've done enough about presidents.

How do you hope to impact the lives of your students?

I think I try to just make them aware that everything has a history. The history of their own lives, of their culture. Everything has a historical dimension. You can't understand anything without appreciating that.

Whatever their major is, to get them to think, “Hey, there's this big item in the news, you know. I wonder where that came from. What was the history of that? And what does that teach us going forward?” It didn't just pop up today – it’s the product of everything that happened up to this point. That would be the impact I want to have.

Read the full story on lbcommuter.com.

Grad Spotlight

Ahead of LBCC’s commencement on June 12, The Commuter asked soonto-be-graduates to reflect on their time at Linn-Benton. From cherished memories to favorite instructors, here’s what they had to say.

What is your best LBCC memory?

Caty Contreras-Colin (First generation college student, mother of two, human development and family studies major): My best LBCC memory is the time I came to Accessibility Resources back in 2021 to tell them about my disability (epilepsy) and wondering whether I could receive support, resources, and services to be enrolled again and be successful. The staff at Accessibility Resources helped me and since then, I was determined to stay in school and not stop whatsoever. I was heard and have been given unmeasurable support ever since. From that moment on, I have been invested in taking equitable approaches to advocate for other incoming LBCC students to pursue their academic goals.

What advice do you have for LBCC students?

Nicole Johnson (Visual communications major, barista, 20 years old): Take care of yourself, and respectfully, get off of your phone. Your mental health is worth it, and frankly you’ll probably get more done! It’s tough out there, but I'm happy you exist.

Do you have a favorite class or instructor from your time at LBCC? Why?

CCC: At my time with LBCC, my most favorite instructor was Darci Dance. The year I had three classes with Darci had the hardest health

and life hurdles I had ever faced in my time at LBCC. Despite this, Darci supported me so equitably with such a compassionate and empathetic heart, with all the professionalism and ethics an instructor should have. … Darci was there when I needed her the most … Every college institution should have more instructors like Darci Dance.

NJ: So many! In specific, I really love Lewis Franklin, Michelle Kobold, and Keri Taff because they believe in me and for just being the best teachers ever! They’ve challenged me to do my best and been there when I needed help or when I wanted to talk. I’ll miss them for sure.

What's the biggest lesson you learned during your time at LBCC?

CCC: That I am not alone when it comes to feeling outnumbered due to my age, being a mother, and being disabled. Which is why I learned the importance of talking to my academic advisor to help me navigate the right services and programs that would best fit my needs.

NJ: Ask for help if you need it, it’s OK to lean on others. But don’t sell yourself short, you can do more than you might think.

Contreras-Colin will be finishing her degree at Oregon State University. Johnson plans on traveling and finding freelance work.

Thursday, June 12, 5:30 p.m.

The ceremony will take place outdoors on the lawn to the north of Mackenzie Hall. Parking is in lots 1, 2, and 3, with accessible parking in lot 5.

The event will follow a "clear bag" policy.

Seating opens at 4 p.m.

For more info:

Bringing Pride to LBCC

June is National Pride Month!

During the month people throughout the nation celebrate anything and everything to do with the LGBTQ+ community and what it means to be queer. From pride parades and drag shows, to people sharing how they identify, June is a month of acceptance and coming together as a community to support one another.

LBCC is joining in on the pride by hosting their own celebrations June 3, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Albany campus courtyard. Attendees can expect an afternoon of music, dancing and a whole lot of pride! And it will include drag performances, pizza and drinks.

Last year's pride festivities brought out many people. Stickers, pins, flags and bracelets representing different sexualities and identities were available for anyone to take and display their own identity proudly. The celebration included drag performances from Corvallis’ Haus of Dharma.

The history of pride celebrations goes back to 1969, when the Stonewall Inn in New York City, one of the few

establishments at the time to welcome openly gay individuals, was raided by police. The patrons of Stonewall refused to accept the mistreatment by police, inciting an uprising. At the end of the night 13 people were arrested, several people hospitalized, and four police officers injured. This uprising would be the spark that led to the widespread LGBTQ+ movement and the pride celebrations we know today.

One year after the Stonewall uprising the first pride march was held. Thousands of people attended this first march. Yearly pride marches continued as commemoration of the Stonewall uprising. June was officially declared “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month” in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, however it had already been unofficially considered the month of pride for many years.

Today people celebrate pride the whole month of June with parades, festivals and parties. The LGBTQ+ community has continued to grow and the open acceptance of queer people in the United States is higher than ever.

"Student Spotlight: Phoebe Denbo"

Continued from page 13.

really big one. It's been in the top three concerns of the student body for several years now. And then it's mental health. That's been a really, really big one, especially in recent years. And so we’re trying to establish a mental health committee to address those concerns of the student body. So I'd like to provide more resources for students in particular if we can find some continuity of care for mental health.

Why do you believe students should volunteer with the SLC?

This goes back to something that I said earlier, which is you are more likely to succeed if you are an active participant in the community. Outside of that, just for practical reasons, it looks great on a resume if you're planning on attending a university. And then the kinds of people you meet and the relationships that you build can go on to serve you. Again, going back to what I said, they just make your life richer, I think. Are there any role models in your life who influenced you into the field that you're going into?

Yeah, actually the most prominent one that comes to mind is my Aunt Layne. She lives in Washington, D.C. but she was a former diplomat for the United States. She's had a really crazy and interesting life. One of the pieces of advice she gave me that has always stuck with me is, “You're not going to change the whole world, but you can change what's around you.” At the time, hearing that at 12 years old, it was like, what? I can change the whole world. I can do all these things. But now as an adult I can see the practicality of that and the importance of that. So she was highly influential. My mother, of course, everyone says their mom, but she was a single mom growing up. She went to college as well, trying to manage all of us. So just seeing her work ethic has been really, really influential to me as well.

What advice would you give to students who are considering going into the political science program?

Make time to reach across the aisle and to talk to people who are different than you. I was just having a conversation about this, but so often we kind of get into these mindsets of the echo chambers. So reach beyond the echo chamber and make efforts to expand, and expand your circle and your community. I think it could only be for the betterment of the entire community.

words and photos by MICAH TEAGUE

Letters to the Editor

Class Project: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Students Address Options Ad in Commuter

My name is Devon Graham and I am a part-time faculty instructor at LBCC. I have the amazing opportunity to teach and learn alongside students in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Each student I have had the chance to work with is dedicated, intelligent, and excited about their academic career. It’s truly amazing to be a part of a school like this.

As all teachers here at LBCC are, I am deeply invested in the academic success of my students. It is this sentiment that motivated me to write this letter. Here at LBCC, we are dedicated to “cultivating an environment for success” for our students, and I want to draw attention to one common barrier facing our students: access to reproductive health services.

A 2020 report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research confirms what many educators know, that pregnancy and parenting can make it harder for our students to graduate.

In fact, “research shows that access to contraception and abortion improved a range of economic outcomes for women, including educational attainment (Bernstein and Jones 2019a; Bernstein and Jones 2019b).” I know that access to a wide number of reproductive health education and options is vital for the immediate and long-term well-being of our entire student body, particularly our women students.

It strikes me as contradictory, then, that our own wonderful publication, the student-run and edited Commuter, is willing to allow an organization that is not invested in the wellbeing of our students to advertise in its publication and online. True “inclusive education” at LBCC means that all students’ needs are centered, and accurate and accessible information is a given.

In our lesson on reproductive justice, my students in WS223: Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality, were assigned an essay that discusses crisis pregnancy centers in the United States. Upon realizing that one exists in Albany, and is advertised in The Commuter, my students have been granted the opportunity to make their knowledge heard on the subject. The following letters

have been written based on the students’ own research and their own opinions.

I feel a deep gratitude to the entire staff of The Commuter for their dedication to amplifying the voices of our wonderful students. It is an honor to work here at LinnBenton and with a community so dedicated to our mission.

Thank you, Devon Graham

Iam writing this regarding Options Pregnancy Resource Center having a paid advertisement for LBCC students in the school news magazine, The Commuter. It was brought to my attention by my instructor, Devon Graham, when we discussed the topic of reproductive justice through history and our current climate of reproductive rights for women in our Intro to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies class.

Ms. Graham brought up crisis pregnancy centers, or CPC’s, which are described by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as “facilities that represent themselves as legitimate reproductive health care clinics providing care for pregnant people but actually

aim to dissuade people from accessing certain types of reproductive health care, including abortion care and even contraceptive options.” Options appears to be just that; a center that claims to have many resources for pregnant people, but does not consider all options available to a pregnant person.

It is a worrying sentiment that CPC’s “represent themselves as legitimate reproductive health care clinics.” It’s possible that these are not true clinics in the slightest, even if they provide a handful of the same services that a legitimate healthcare clinic may provide.

When navigating to the local Options website, we can find their pages titled “Be Informed.” Here, you can find that they have abortion, adoption, parenting, and sexual health as different options.

Under “adoption,” we have an image of a smiling woman and information regarding adoption. It clearly states reasons why one person may consider putting their baby up for adoption and the two different types of adoption that can take place, open and closed adoptions.

Options is not an adoption

agency, however, I find it strange that they do not list adoption agencies in Oregon as possible resources on their information page.

On the “parenting” page, it shows a photo of two women talking with a smile, and beneath that is a short blurb empathizing with the reader about the overwhelming feeling that comes with the possibility of being a parent. It does not list resources on the website for parents, but it says to come into the clinic to discuss resources.

Under the sexual health page, we see a photo of two women talking once more with one smiling. This page seems to have the least information compared to their other informational pages provided but offers a small blurb about STI’s, their statistics currently, and a bit saying to come in for resources regarding sexually transmitted infections and where to get tested. I find it odd that it does not cover preventative measures for STI’s or discuss ways to have safe sex.

Finally, the abortion page shows a photo of a woman with a rather tense and pensive expression with information regarding abortion below it.

There are some things I’d like to bring to light about this page. When discussing abortion, it uses harsh rhetoric when compared to the other informational pages, describing abortion as the only option to have “consequences.”

This makes the decision of abortion out to be something inherently negative, something that inherently will have negative consequences on your life if you do choose to have an abortion.

While abortion has risks involved, like any other medical procedure, the risk percentages, according to a study done in 2023 by the National Library of Medicine, “the total abortion-related complication rate of all sources of care including emergency departments and the original abortion facility is estimated to be about 2%,” making it safer than getting your wisdom teeth removed.

It’s good to be aware of the possible side effects of abortion, but it is irresponsible to refer to abortion as the only option during an early stage pregnancy to have “consequences.”

Why do they not list side effects and possible complications for carrying a baby

▲ Devon Graham, WGSS faculty

to term? Complications can occur in pregnancy or during or after birth as well, as cited by the National Library of Medicine, “Worldwide, for an estimated 358,000 women, pregnancy and childbirth end in death and mourning, and beyond these maternal deaths, 9-10% of pregnant women or about 14 million women per year suffer from acute maternal complications.”

I believe that Options describes abortion in such great detail and covers all possible side effects as a way to scare the reader away from the idea of abortion. When taking this into account, we are seeing a picture that is pushing an antiabortion agenda with harsh rhetoric used to demonize abortion and warn people against abortion rather than provide a supportive message to people who may consider abortion. If we are going to provide people who may be vulnerable and unsure of their options with information that is biased towards one end of the scale, we are not doing right by the people who may need assistance.

Options is advertising to a community college with a graphic design that targets younger and vulnerable individuals. The ad showcased in The Commuter displays a design of a smartphone text message chain, where two people go back and forth about one being pregnant, expressing fear and uncertainty, and concluding that Options helped them figure out exactly what they want to do. With an initial glance, this advertisement is relatable to young students who are unsure of their full array of options in regards to pregnancy. Options Resource Center, though, does not offer a full array of options. The Commuter should not have Options as a paid advertisement in our school newsmagazine, plain and simple. It is a biased organization that uses scare tactics and misinformation with the aim to demonize abortion and does not offer all the “options” a pregnant person may need or want. If someone is pregnant and needs guidance on what to do next, they should visit their local doctors, gynecologists, or a Planned Parenthood clinic. It’s truly harmful

to have a targeted ad displayed in a community college news magazine that does not provide unbiased information regarding someone’s options or needs.

The Options advertisement should be removed from the newsmagazine, as the name is not true to what they are truly doing. They are not providing pregnant people with all of their “Options;” they’re trying to get pregnant people not to choose abortion.

– Dylan Bennett

As a mother of two children, and a returning student to LBCC, I want to shine light on Options, an organization advertised in The Commuter. Options, and other pregnancy resource centers in our area, claim to offer solutions for crisis pregnancies through testing, ultrasounds, literature on the benefits of adoption alongside informational handouts explaining the risks of abortion and a refusal to offer abortion referrals.

While these basic resources are acceptable and good, there is a significant blind spot in addressing the greater risks and needs associated with carrying a baby full term, birth, postpartum and choosing the path of motherhood or adoption that I believe should also be provided in detail from the earliest outreach to newly pregnant women who are looking at the “options.”

I chose both of my babies, and through pregnancy, two cesarean surgeries and the years that followed, I had a committed partner who always maintained steady employment when I had to leave my job, an extended family support system who have given financial and physical resources time and time again and a generally privileged life. And even with these positive influences, I was unprepared for the health factors of pregnancy, the instability of my body’s response to recovery and hormonal changes post birth, the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that comes to every parent when caring for an infant day in and day out.

The financial conflict of working entry-level jobs with no sick time,

paid time off or healthcare and the high cost for basic living expenses, including childcare, which is necessary to attend college or keep employment, the average cost ranging from $800-$1500 a month for full-time enrollment in Corvallis, is a significant struggle even with the benefits I have had.

Much of the community college student population is straight out of high school, students going through major life transitions as I am, divorced or in a health crisis, trying to find a way to create a sustainable career path for income equality and a life of choice, single parents and so on, and what I want to voice is the understanding that reproductive rights, whether that is freedom to choose abortion or freedom to choose to have a baby, needs to include support and advocacy for all human rights, if an organization such as Options is going to advertise solutions for crisis pregnancies.

Let’s look at real circumstances such as women in domestically violent relationships, unsafe homes, women with no extended family or community support, single working women, women with chronic health issues, mental health or disabilities. How would choosing to have a baby in these circumstances realistically affect the basic needs for survival and can a child receive the necessary safety, security and nurture needed for long-term thriving growth and development?

When Options advocates antiabortion ideology and claims resources, does it include resources to single moms who will be needing to work multiple jobs just to pay her bills and how will she afford the cost of childcare to do so? Does she have access to assist her in leaving an abusive situation? Do they provide access to accurate medical information regarding the health risks of pregnancy and traumatic birth? Are there accessible resources for babies who are born disabled, premature or with other serious life-threatening issues requiring extensive hospital stays, testing, procedures? Will the mother and child have healthcare that covers the cost in full and employment that pays for her leave

and allows her to work from home?

There are endless scenarios that could display the realities of what a significant population of women with children are experiencing.

We live in a progressive state that legalizes abortion with more access than many locations around the country, but The Commuter is regularly directing students through their advertising to pregnancy resource centers that only provide the early stages of support with minimal testing and biased information that persuasively discourages the choice of abortion and claims “solution.”

I hope The Commuter will consider promoting organizations that provide a more comprehensive awareness and education for those who may be facing the crisis of unexpected pregnancy. There are no easy answers for how to solve the problems of today’s socioeconomic challenges, and as a mother, I know both the immense joy and hardship of parenthood, and with that knowledge I believe we deserve support that is truly supportive, allowing a woman to make a conscious decision based on the dynamic reality of her life, rather than fear mongering or feelgood ideals.

– Hannah King

Editor’s note: The Commuter notified Options Pregnancy Resource Centers about these letters before publication and offered them an opportunity to respond. Options declined and chose not to advertise in this edition.

More of these class letters can be found on lbcommuter.com.

A Hidden Waterfall Paradise in the Grand Canyon

Tucked away in the depths of the Grand Canyon lies a serene oasis of cascading turquoise waterfalls and crystal-clear pools. Come along on a journey through this hidden paradise, where rugged trails and awe-inspiring landscapes await every step.

It was still pitch black when the sound of my alarm pierced the still silence of the campground. I rolled over on my sleeping pad, stretched across the foldeddown back seats of my rental SUV, and groggily hit snooze. I closed my eyes for another minute before deciding not to waste any time. I wanted to wash my face in running water – one last time.

I drove hurriedly down the unlit, mile-long stretch of dirt and gravel that separated the campground from the motel at Grand Canyon Caverns. All hikers are required to check in here the night before to pick up their wristbands, and since it’s the closest lodging to the trailhead, many, like us, opt to spend the night.

My group was already at the motel – they’d crammed in four to a room, while I had opted for the solitude of my makeshift camper. We gathered, bleary-eyed but buzzing with anticipation, around a large table in the breakfast room, where we devoured cold breakfast burritos and hot coffee while figuring out how to squeeze 12 people and all our gear into the three cars we were allowed to park at the trailhead.

The sun was already up and we were well past our intended 5 a.m. departure when we turned west onto Route 66. We had an hour’s drive through the lonely desert before reaching the

trailhead where we’d begin our descent into the canyon.

Arizona’s Havasu Falls – one of the most coveted backpacking destinations in the U.S. – lies at the end of a strenuous 10-mile trek from Hualapai Hilltop into a remote section of the Grand Canyon. A permit, which costs $455 per person, is required and grants access to the Havasupai Indian Reservation for a four-day/three-night stay. The permit allows for hiking, camping, exploring the area’s iconic turquoise waterfalls, and experiencing the sacred land of the Havasupai Tribe.

The Havasupai Tribe, or Havasu Baaja – People of the BlueGreen Waters – have lived in the Grand Canyon for thousands of years. When the national park was established in 1919, their land was depleted to just 518 acres. After decades of advocacy, 188,077 acres were returned in 1975, forming the Havasupai Reservation – land the tribe now generously shares with visitors.

We began our descent around 7 a.m., which was fine for April. We started out wearing fleece, gloves, and hats, which were quickly shed once the sun was on us. We couldn’t shed our heavy packs though. In warmer months, hikers typically begin hiking before 5 a.m. to beat the heat and avoid trekking in the dangerous Arizona sun.

▲ Beaver Falls

words and photos by BRENDA AUTRY

This was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon, and for the first few hundred yards, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. I was so mesmerized by the vast, layered landscape that just five minutes in, I slipped on a patch of loose rock, the weight of my pack pulling me backward onto my rear. As a naturally clumsy person, this wasn’t exactly unusual, but the sting in my backside was a sharp reminder to keep my eyes on the trail – at least until we finished descending the switchbacks: a narrow, cliff-hugging, mile-long section that drops hikers 1,000 feet to the canyon floor.

Aside from the initial descent and another drop into the campground, the hike was surprisingly flat and easier than I expected. The landscape shifted dramatically every mile or two, and I was constantly in awe – especially when I first saw the turquoise waters of Havasu Creek.

Around mile 8, we reached Supai, home to about 200 Havasupai tribal members. Accessible only by foot, horse, or helicopter, it’s the most remote community in the continental U.S. – and the only one where mail still arrives by mule. Two miles later, we finally reached the stunning Havasu Falls.

Looking down onto the falls, the sapphire water at the base shimmered with an almost unbelievable hue – so vividly blue it seemed unreal. The intense color comes from the water’s high mineral content, particularly calcium carbonate, which reflects light in a way that creates that iconic turquoise glow. I stopped for a moment on the way down to admire the natural wonder before continuing on.

The campground is spread out over the mile-long stretch between Havasu and Mooney Falls. The gentle waters of Havasu Creek wind their way through the middle, dividing it into two sides. We got lucky and found a beautiful spot on the other side, close to the water and large enough to fit all our tents and hammocks. It had begun to rain on our way in, so we set up quickly, taking cover in our tents before a brief thunderstorm rolled overhead.

It had taken us just under five hours to hike in and set up the tents. The rest of that first day was for resting, relaxing and exploring Havasu Falls.

The next morning, the weather was perfect – clear skies and warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt, despite the forecast

calling for snow! After sleeping soundly for nine hours, we set off on the 8-mile hike to Beaver Falls.

A short walk from the campground brought us to the top of Mooney Falls. Towering at nearly twice the height of Havasu Falls, Mooney plunges 200 feet over the cliff’s edge, its thunderous cascade crashing into a brilliant blue pool below. The only way down is a narrow path carved into the cliffside, which leads you through two small caves before reaching a steep, harrowing descent down the rock face, with chains and ladders bolted into the rock to help steady the climb.

Not being a fan of heights, I moved slowly and carefully, navigating each foothold without daring to look down. After what seemed like an eternity we were all down safely – though, unfortunately, we’d have to climb back up on the way out.

The next three miles were among the most picturesque I’ve ever trekked. The trail winds alongside the creek, weaving past serene pools and small tumbling waterfalls. It crosses the water three times, with each crossing ranging from ankle to waist deep. The cold water was both refreshing on our sore limbs and mesmerizing to look at. The crystal-clear blues shimmered like liquid gemstones, and much of the surrounding greenery

▲ My first view of the Grand Canyon from the trailhead.

▲ Mooney Falls

felt almost tropical – a true oasis in the desert.

Much to my quiet dread, the latter half of the trail was far from flat. In several spots, we had to scramble up, over, and through narrow openings in the rocky cliffs. At one point, a hardware-store ladder – secured to the rock face with ratchet straps – served as the only way up and over. Farther along, a weathered wooden ladder with missing and broken rungs led us toward our final descent to the sapphireblue pools of Beaver Falls.

Rather than plunging in a single dramatic drop like Havasu and Mooney, Beaver’s falls spill gracefully over the edges of several tiered pools in wide, flowing curtains. Their gentle currents beckon trail-weary hikers into their shallow, vibrant blue waters like a siren’s song echoing through the canyon.

The sun was warm on the pools when we arrived, and we enjoyed a leisurely hour swimming, exploring and savoring our lunch in the shade.

When the sun began to cast a shadow across water, it was time to begin the journey back. Once again we clambered up and down the ladders, through the creek and along the trail, to the base of Mooney Falls. I mustered my courage and fixed my gaze skyward for the dreaded climb back up the cliff – which I’m happy to report was far less scary.

Back at camp, we spent the evening chatting, eating, and playing cards. After sunset, we hiked up to Havasu Falls to finally put the heavy camera gear I’d lugged into the canyon to use, capturing the falls in the starlight. It was a good day.

Our final day in the canyon came with a mission – to find and enjoy some frybread. The Havasupai Tribe’s frybread is famous among visitors, but so far, we hadn’t managed to catch the stand at the top of Havasu Falls during its sporadic opening hours. As luck would have it, our last day coincided with Easter Sunday, and we found them closed again.

Discouraged but not entirely defeated, we continued the two uphill miles to Supai. We had another errand in the village anyway. The information sheet we’d received at check-in mentioned that horses could be hired to ride out of the canyon, and we wanted to ask about the details.

After learning the price for the horses – $200 each – only three of us decided to hire them. When would we get another chance to ride horseback out of the Grand Canyon, after all?

There were no open frybread stands in the village center, but we heard a rumor that the stand on the far side of the village, which we had passed on the way in, might be open, so we headed that way. Our determination was rewarded, and at long last, we sat down to an Easter Sunday feast of sweet and savory frybreads – well worth the wait.

On our way back to the campground, we had just enough time to explore two of the three waterfalls along the trail: Navajo and Hidden Falls. Navajo Falls was the perfect place to relax, with

a large wide cascade and several small pools to swim in. Hidden Falls, on the other hand, required a bit of work to enjoy. True to its name, Hidden Falls is, well – hidden! The trail seems to dead end at the creek, but thanks to a few returning hikers, we learned that it actually continues under water. A short, five-minute trek through the creek and along a narrow ledge carved into the cliff led us to the elusive waterfall. We celebrated the discovery, took a few moments to admire its secluded beauty, then retraced our steps, eager to make it back to camp before twilight.

After dinner, we packed up what we could and turned in early. Those of us who were hiking out intended to leave by 5 a.m., and those of us riding out would be just behind them.

Those of us who were hiking out set off in the predawn light. “See you at the top!” we called as we settled back at the campsite’s picnic table to finish our coffee. Our gear, which had once filled the campsite, was now reduced to just our three packs. Our time in this magical place had come to an end. The short walk to the top of the campground passed quickly, and our horses and guide arrived right on time. With our packs secured, we mounted up and rode toward the sunrise and out of the canyon – for now.

▲ Navajo Falls

▲ Hidden Falls

▲ The taco frybread from the frybread stand south of the village.

Take Flight

Cascades Raptor Center’s Flight Shows

Author’s note: I have been a volunteer at the Cascades Raptor Center since June 2024.

As we ease into summer and class schedules lighten, it’s important to make time for yourself.

With a student discount and free admission for those on EBT, the Cascades Raptor Center, located in Eugene, is the perfect place to visit. It’s a charming location nestled in rich Pacific Northwest native flora, offering shade from the unrelenting summer heat.

Every spring and summer the trainers at the center put on a flight show with a few select birds from the ambassador team, making up what is called the Free-Flight Team.

I have enjoyed tens of these shows and can tell you no one is exactly alike.

Sidney Campbell has been working at the Cascades Raptor Center since April 2022 and is currently the ambassador curator (ambassadors are the birds that, for one reason or another, live full-time at the center and are out for guests to see). She is a talented, experienced trainer and, speaking from personal experience, an excellent teacher.

When did you get into training animals? Have you always wanted to work with birds?

My uncle was an elephant trainer at the San Diego Zoo when I was growing up, and I always wanted to grow up to be like him. I always imagined I would work with large carnivores like cats or canids, and instead I found myself with large predatory birds.

What's your favorite thing about running the flight shows?

There is a lot that I love about the flight show. First and foremost, flying birds outside is the apex of our goal to reduce our intrusiveness and increase their autonomy. They're making choices and using their bodies the way they evolved to. Second, I love all the moving pieces and finding an efficient way to see that they all get put in the right place to make the show happen – there are so many details behind the scenes to make it look like magic to the audience. I love controlled chaos.

What's the process of teaching a bird a new behavior like?

Training a new behavior is different for every bird and every behavior, but it is broken down into pieces.

I like to teach it as the ABCs – A is for antecedent, the environmental conditions that precede a behavior. Arranging antecedents is everything from setting up furniture and props to make a behavior easy and the timing of a session to ensure motivation.

B is for behavior, the actual observable thing that the bird is doing. We have a goal behavior that is always framed as what we want the bird to do (rather than what we want them not to do).

C is for consequence, the result that follows the behavior. We provide desirable consequences (tasty snacks) to let the bird know they did the thing and increase the likelihood that they will do it again. Using the ABCs, we break down the baby steps toward the goal behavior!

Do you have a favorite bird?

My "favorite" is generally whoever is learning the coolest thing at the time. I love each individual bird for everything about who they are, but my biggest passion is behavior so whoever presents the coolest behavioral puzzle at the time tends to be my crush.

Lastly, a question you get a lot. Why don’t the birds just fly away?

“Why don't the birds just fly away?” is one of my favorite questions because the answer is another question: why would they? All of their needs are met right here – they have food, safety, trusting relationships, etc. so why would they be motivated to leave? They may sometimes be interested in exploring their environment or frightened away by something unexpected, but they always return because they are intrinsically motivated to earn the consequences they earn here.

Cascades Raptor Center is a dual-function facility; on the public side guests can visit the birds, see programming, flight shows, and biofact tables, while behind the scenes wild raptors get the medical care they need. The Louise Shimmel Wildlife Hospital sees upwards of 400 patients every year, helping to get these important birds back into the wild where they can do their jobs.

This time of year many see baby birds who they think may have been abandoned. It is always important to talk to professionals before making any contact. If you encounter injured wildlife, please consult with a professional rehabilitator to get instructions before intervening.

Albany/Corvallis area: Contact the Chintimini Wildlife Center at 541-745-5324.

Eugene area: Rehabilitators at Cascades Raptor Center can be reached at 541-485-1320, extension 2.

Find out more about Cascades Raptor Center, the Louise Shimmel Wildlife Hospital, and more at cascadesraptorcenter.org.

words by SID MYDLAND

photos via CASCADES RAPTOR CENTER AND JESSE PLINE

▲ Sidney Campbell and Dante the Golden Eagle.

As the smallest and youngest of the Free-Flight Team, Guillermo has some big talons to fill. But don’t let his size fool you; this little bird has a big personality matched only by his own boyish good looks. Guillermo is an agile flyer and is currently learning to catch food in the air, a behavior his wild counterparts engage in.

Little Guillermo was raised by the staff at Cascades Raptor Center since he was hatched, and was the first bird Campbell got the chance to raise. “He learned how to fly all on his own, although I encouraged him to stretch his wings, and watching that process was my favorite part of the process,” she said.

PADAWAN is a beautiful barn owl who gets to show off his incredible skills during the flight show. His heart-shaped face isn’t for aesthetic purposes. This feature funnels sounds towards the owl’s ears; one ear is higher than the other. Barn owls also have extra soft wings, allowing them to be practically silent.

Padawan is quite the chatterbox, which would dampen his effectiveness as a hunter in the wild.

“Padawan, like most of the birds on our team, was raised by humans,” said Campbell. “That's why he doesn't exhibit a typical, healthy fear response to humans and also why he talks so much! Wild baby barn owls make that sound to beg for food from their parents. When they start learning to hunt on their own, they naturally quiet down – if they remained loud they would scare away all their prey!”

HANS is a freight train of an owl, weighing in at just about 4 pounds. It might not sound too impressive, but Eurasian eagle-owls are the world’s largest by weight. He has deep orange eyes and long tufts on the top of his head called plumicorns. Hans is one of three resident birds at the raptor center who are not native to North America.

During his segment of the show where he flies over the crowd, Hans shows off his incredible comfort with getting close to guests. No matter how much room he would give people at the beginning of his career, people would always duck, so now he expects it. When recounting a favorite show moment, Campbell said, “The funniest thing Hans has done in show is probably the time he flew so low that he knocked someone's hat off.”

You may be better off ducking on your visit.

KALI does a great job of representing her species in the show by “foraging” from a cow skull. She was quite scared of this skull when she first started learning to do this behavior. Campbell explains: “Turkey vultures are notoriously neophobic! Introducing Kali to the cow skull we hoped to train her to scavenge from took a long time, most of which was spent slowly acclimating her to the existence of the skull.”

Neophobic means afraid of new things. While many would think vultures would be innately comfortable with a dead object, they are actually quite cautious.

“It was scary [to Kali], so we started very small and gave her all the control over being able to get away from it,” said Campbell. “She got paid a lot of snacks for being brave and learning to approach it. Now she's so fearless she climbs on top of it without being asked.”

This charismatic vulture is quite the character.

Kali the Turkey Vulture

Guillermo the Aplomado Falcon

Padawan the American Barn Owl

Hans the Eurasian Eagle-Owl

FAMILY” “This Team's a

Recapping LBCC’s Year in Sports

As the school year ends, LinnBenton Athletics is wrapping up with its baseball program heading to the NWAC's postseason tournament.

It's been another successful year of sports at Linn-Benton, with the volleyball and baseball programs appearing in the postseason while the men's and women's basketball teams finished only a few games outside of a playoff spot.

Here's a brief overview of LBCC's four sports programs and their highlights during the 2024-25 school year.

Volleyball

To kick off the year, the LinnBenton volleyball program carried its momentum from 2023's NWAC Championship success and put together another impressive campaign.

Coming off of three consecutive NWAC Championships, the Roadrunners entered the 2024 season on a remarkable unbeaten run of 55 matches. The Roadrunners built upon their run by going 30-0 during the regular season and then 4-0 to start the postseason before the championship game.

Ultimately, Linn-Benton's unbeaten run and reign as defending champions ended in the championship game against Skagit Valley. The 34-0 Roadrunners fell three sets to two in a thriller against the Cardinals, earning Skagit Valley their first-ever NWAC volleyball title.

Despite coming up just short in the title game, the Roadrunners had plenty to celebrate on the season, setting multiple school and conference records while winning the program's fourth straight NWAC South regional title.

The Roadrunners also had five

players selected to the NWAC South's All-Region team, with head coach Jayme Frazier winning coach of the year and outside hitter Brooklyn Willard winning the South Region's most valuable player award.

With seven members of last year's squad set to graduate, the Roadrunners are losing half of their team from the 2024 season. However, the motivated group of returning players will be inspired to avenge their championship defeat.

"The family that we have on the court really makes us believe in one another," said sophomore setter Meah Carley. "We really are a family out there and that brings a lot to the team."

Women's Basketball

Entering the 2024-25 season, the Linn-Benton women's basketball program knew they would face strong opposition in the NWAC's strongest division. During the 2023-24 season, two of Linn-Benton's South Region opponents, Lane and Umpqua, took on one another in the NWAC Championship.

Despite the strength of their opposition, the Roadrunners battled hard throughout the 2024-25 season, finishing with an overall record of 14-14 and landing just two games outside of a playoff spot.

Highlights from the Roadrunners' season included the month of December, when the team won five out of seven games, and sophomore night, when the team won 67-63 in overtime against the then 19-8 Chemeketa Storm.

Sophomore guard Katelynn Weaver spearheaded the team's offense for much of the season, finishing the season with the highest averages for points, rebounds,

words by ETHAN BIRMINGHAM

photos by MICAH TEAGUE, AYDEN HORTT, AND LB ATHLETICS

assists, and minutes amongst her team.

On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore forward Natalia McBride led the team in blocks, averaging 0.9 per game, while also being just one of two players on the Roadrunners' roster to average two steals a game.

With only five sophomore players leaving the program, Linn-Benton will retain much of its roster for the 2025-26 season. With 11 players set to return next year, the Roadrunners’ team chemistry will be an advantage for them heading into the next season.

"I think the sophomores did a really good job of welcoming the freshmen in," said freshman guard Lidia Jacobsen. "It's a super close-knit team, it's like a second family here."

Men's Basketball

Heading into the season, LinnBenton men's basketball coach Todd Zimmermann knew that the team's offense would look different without his son T.J. on the roster.

During the 2023-24 season, T.J. Zimmermann led the Roadrunners by averaging a team-best total of 21.6 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Zimmermann's production played a vital role in leading the Roadrunners to an overall record of 15-14 and a postseason appearance in 2024.

In their first season since T.J. Zimmermann's graduation, the Roadrunners stayed competitive and battled for a postseason spot until the final week. Despite finishing with an overall record of 12-17, the team picked up impressive wins against two teams that would make the playoffs, Portland and Lane.

Highlights from the 2024-25 season included the team winning three intense overtime battles at home against Columbia Basin, Blue Mountain, and Portland, and a 19-point victory over Chemeketa on sophomore night.

On the statistical side, sophomore guard Liam Spencer led the team by averaging 19.4 points per game and 1.6 steals per game. The team also had plenty of production out of their first-year players, with freshman forward Jackson Oglesby leading the team averages in rebounds and blocks, and guard Eli Lerman leading the team with 2.9 assists per game.

In line with the women's basketball program, the Roadrunners will only lose five players ahead of the 202526 season. With a hungry group of returning players who have already proven their contributions to the team, the Roadrunners could be a team that

surprises next season.

"I love the team, I love the game. The fact that I get to do [basketball] for a couple more years, it's super awesome," said Spencer. "I'm just glad we got a great group with potential."

Baseball

While the season may not be over just yet for the Linn-Benton baseball program, the Roadrunners have officially put another successful regular season in the books.

After winning the 2024 NWAC Championship last season, the squad entered 2025 with heavy expectations after retaining over half of their roster from their title-winning run.

The Roadrunners didn't let the pressure get to them and wound up finishing the regular season with an overall record of 30-10-1 while clinching the program's seventh NWAC South title since 2017.

So far this season, the Roadrunners' success comes from two integral factors: dominant pitching and winning wild games. Before the NWAC Super Regional Playoffs, Linn-Benton pitchers Connor Mendez and Brody McMullen were each in the top 10 for ERA among NWAC pitchers.

In terms of winning wild games, the Roadrunners have had six games go past nine innings this year, but have managed to win five, including a 14-inning home victory against Mt. Hood and a 13-inning walk-off win against Umpqua.

If the Roadrunners win the championship again, it will mark the program's third NWAC title in the last four years, establishing them as a dynasty among the conference’s baseball programs. But no matter the result, Linn-Benton's players will have already left their legacy on the program and will undoubtedly never forget their time as a Roadrunner.

"This team's a family. Everybody loves everyone and everybody's always there to pick each other up," said sophomore pitcher Seth Dreeszen. "Even when guys fail, they're just excited to see the next guy come in and pick them up."

Follow along with LBCC baseball here:

Are you ready for pride? re

JUNE 3RD, 2025

12PM - 4PM

Albany CampusCourtyard

This year, the Student Leadership Council is planning a totally stellar pride festival - it’s bigger and better than ever. We would like to invite EVERYONE to kick-off Pride Month right with us on Tuesday, June 3rd. festivalto

Join us in the courtyard for a local resource fair, free face painting, snow cones, cotton candy, drag performances, and more!

With Drag Performances from:

*Performers from Haus of Dharma, including:

-Richard Rider

-Frisky the Transgender Reindeer

-Carmen Sutra

-Hue Phoria

*Kelsey Zephyr

*Hadrian Woodard

Check out the performers Instas at the website below, and please check out the proper Drag 101 ettiquette rules before heading to the show!

follows identical twins Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) as they open a juke joint in 1932 Mississippi. After meeting with their cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), they recruit Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), Pearline (Jayme Lawson), Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) and others to create music and run the joint. That night the club is a rousing success until everything is turned upside down by the vampiric Remmick (Josh O’Connell) who wants to free them from the society they are trapped in by turning them into vampires.

Ryan Coogler’s intricately crafted vampire tale weaves in the cultural legends of vampires from throughout history with the rich African American music culture like no other director has done. There isn’t a single piece of plot that is shoved to the side in favor of another. Coogler keeps a delicate balance of each piece so that they perfectly play off of each other during every moment of the movie.

The performances are absolutely fantastic. Michael B. Jordan plays both twins and makes each of them feel similar enough that they are believable as twin brothers, but different enough that they don’t become a single character. This is by far Jordan’s best performance in his career.

MOVIE: Sinners (2025) DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler

STARRING: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo, Li Jun Li

RATED: R RUNTIME: 138 mins

OVERALL

This is one of the best looking movies I’ve seen in a while. The color grading is done fantastically and the use of 70mm cameras comes through during a regular IMAX and even a nonIMAX screening. The lighting feels deliberate at all times and builds with the mood of the movie rather than simply being there so that we can see what’s going on.

Each set is realistic and creates an ambiance that is unmatched by most other movies. Because of this many scenes in Sinners are truly breathtaking to watch unfold.

The theming of the movie is beautifully done and uses the vampiric element to contextualize, deepen, and elevate the setting of the Jim Crow era Southern United States in a very unique way.

Although Remmick is the villain he almost feels like the lesser of two evils in many ways because of the looming threat that the American society surrounding the characters has on them. The first half of the movie builds this society up and shows the almost subtle evil that surrounds Smoke and Stack even in the absence of any supernatural threat.

By far the most striking and important piece of the movie is the music and it is spectacular on all fronts. Ludwig Göransson wrote the score for Sinners and if he hadn’t already proved it with Oppenheimer two years ago, this movie unequivocally shows that he is one of the best film composers of the 21st century.

Hailee Steinfeld is also giving a career-best performance and plays both sides of her character incredibly well. Josh O’Connell plays the Irish vampire Remmick in such a charismatic way that his evil ideals don’t seem that bad at first and at some points it seems like he is morally good.

Even with these three powerhouse performances the stand out is Miles Caton, who absolutely takes over the screen in his debut film role. Every performance helps elevate the already great dialogue and each contributes to the amazing atmosphere in the film.

Many of the original songs are surrounded by meaningful scenes such as “I Lied to You” which is surrounded by a mixture of past, present, and future music styles to create a visual representation of the way music can connect you to your ancestors.

Sinners is a monumental piece of original film that sets a new standard for what horror movies and vampire movies can achieve. Through the use of deep theming, a fantastically built setting, and awe-striking music, Ryan Coogler has created what may be the best movie of the year.

words

In the of

MarginsSpring

MIKA WINDER

As Oregon transitions from cold, rainy winter to the first sunny days and green leaves of spring, you may be craving something different from eggnog and cocoa.

Margin Coffee Roasters in downtown Albany is making that change possible with their new springtime special menu, offering four beverages to usher in the proverbial April showers and May flowers. Joining the Margin menu for a limited time will be the cozy lavender honey latte, perfect for the unavoidable rainy days that Oregon experiences even into June, as well as an adaptation of traditional Indian golden milk infused with turmeric and ginger.

For an all-time favorite that was kept throughout spring and summer in 2024, Margin's strawberry matcha returns for a victory lap, as well as the unique and refreshing espresso tonic that mixes fizzy tonic with ice cold espresso for a flavor experience that's an acquired but surprisingly popular taste.

I was excited for an encore of my favorite from last year, the strawberry matcha, and it did not disappoint. Served in a delicate glass,

sage to lavender to blush that calls to mind the appearance of budding spring flowers. The flavor is a fruity spin on the herbal taste of matcha, which has an iconic grass-like flavor that can be off-putting to some but is refreshing to fans of the tea.

Even those who think matcha tastes like drinking their front lawn should try this special, since the brand Margin uses (Jasmine Pearl) has a subtler flavor than many matcha brands and is also balanced by the sweetness and mild tart flavor of the strawberry milk. It's a great introduction to matcha, which can take time to get used to.

Margin Coffee Roasters opened on Second Avenue in downtown Albany in 2018, serving pastries, sandwiches, and various beverages. The owner, Gabriel Anderson, opened a second location on I-5 in 2022 with a stronger visual focus on the craftsmanship of the coffee and a more industrial design.

It's much quieter than the bustling downtown location if you don't want to have to (nonviolently, of course) fight for a seat on busier days. Either way, Margin is a staple of Albany's downtown culture and their new special menu

Anthem of the Month

“Colors” is about appreciating the world around you, a perfect sentiment for emerging from the school year into the upcoming summer.

and photo by

across down

01. "How's that again?"

05. Infiltrators

10. State firmly

14. Ararat settler

15. Marco Polo's home

16. Mongolian desert

17. Put one to sleep

18. Alex Haley's "Roots", e.g.

20. Evaluate, as a house for sale

22. Colorful garb at 1969 Woodstock Festival

23. GMA network

24. Insignificant

25. Thomas Tryon best seller of 1973

30. Transcript stat.

33. Landlady on "I Love Lucy"

34. Rice-A- ___

35. Prime or spare

36. Bar sign

37. Run on the bank

38. Move, in realtor jargon

39. "Awesome!"

40. Baldwin of "30 Rock"

41. Cast a ballot

42. Rage

43. Gene pool?

45. Small amounts

46. Yoko of "Double Fantasy"

47. Patterned sock

50. Yuletime mailer

55. Dracula, occasionally

57. Medicinal herb

58. Frozen treat brand

59. School in Soissons

60. Speak like Da y

61. Superior ___ cava

62. Renee Zellweger's role in "Chicago"

63. Kind of year

01. League with lady dribblers: Abbr.

02. Hula ___

03. Grp. for seniors

04. Poe's "nevermore" classic

05. Impersonates

06. Mayberry lush

07. 100 meter dash assignment

08. New Haven student

09. A ecting the entire body

10. Shake on it

11. No longer valid

12. Heed

13. Word with guy

19. Emerald Isle

21. First victim

24. "Friends" friend

25. Artist Toulouse-Lautrec

26. "Don't shed ___"

27. "Island" near Connecticut

28. Sung syllables

29. Sharpened

30. Screen legend Garbo

31. Heaps

32. Humble residence

37. One who caters to the base

38. It's ignored on a cellphone

41. Movers' trucks

43. Artist Salvador

44. Perfectly

45. Supercompetitive sort

47. "Tel" follower in Israel

48. Marathon or sprint

49. Feds

50. Microsoft gaming console

51. Landlocked country of Africa

52. "I cannot tell ___"

53. Santa ___, California

54. "Ed Wood" star Johnny

56. Environmental prefix

"You're In The Ballpark" by Terry Gergely

Drive Your Career Toward Success

CDL TRAINING

ENTRY-LEVEL DRIVER | OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Linn-Benton Community College has partnered with the Knife Rive r Training Center to provide a comprehensive learning experience, to get you on the road with your CDL!

Invest in your future today

• FMCSA-compliant CDL training

• Tuition cost: $6,499

• Comprehensive training materials

• Daily catered lunches included

• Third-party DOT skills test

• Unrestricted licenses

Why choose LBCC?

• Real-world experience delivered at the Knife River Training Center in Albany, OR

• Professionally trained and highly experienced instructors

• Start driving and backing the first day of class

• We don’t rely on simulators

Program highlights

• Just over 3 weeks, Monday-Friday, 7:30 am4 pm

• Manual transmission trucks

• 3:1 student-to-instructor ratio, resulting in a high first-time pass rate

• Students train on 1.5 miles of closed circuit training roads before driving on public roads

Simple application process

• Complete the Application at: www.linnbenton.edu/CDL

• Email it to CDL@linnbenton.edu

• LBCC Coordinator will contact you within 2 days